That morning he drove her to work as planned and, after a long passionate kiss, he left her office and nodded at the two detectives outside her door. He had really wanted them to camp inside the room but she would not agree to that.
“Don’t be crazy Josh; the only way out of my office is the door unless I can parachute out of the third storey window. I will not have them staring at me all day. It’s creepy,” she insisted as she playfully pushed him out.
He spent the rest of the morning having long discussions with Marco, considering strategies and places they could meet in Murren if it came to that, however the date and time were still unknown and everything was planned hypothetically. Josh had committed to memory every street and house name in Murren and he was pleased with the tentative plan.
He was swimming in the pool with his children late in the afternoon when a flustered Marco approached him. Apparently his team’s suspicions were piqued well after lunchtime when she failed to emerge from her office. Her door was locked on the inside. However it did not take long to break down the lock and find an empty office with the note on her desk, and they informed Marco at once.
Josh looked around the room. The windows were firmly locked. She could not have vanished into thin air. He suddenly noticed that her books on the bookcase were slightly displaced. He went over to investigate. The bookcase had inbuilt wheels at the bottom. He had never noticed that. He pulled and it easily slid forward, revealing a small connecting door behind it. He swore and kicked it open. Marco’s men had in fact seen a man, whom they thought was one of the operating theatre nurses, wheeling a stretcher out of that adjacent room some time after they had started their watch. But that was nothing unusual in a busy hospital; some twenty stretchers had passed in front of them all throughout that day.
They needed to look at the CCTV in the building but they were not authorised to do that, so Josh phoned Freddie to ask him whether he would authorise it as the director of the hospital. Freddie was abroad with Tanya but he quickly agreed to anything Josh suggested.
“Sure Josh, you can do whatever you think is necessary, I’ll authorize anything. Just put the security team on the phone, I’ll speak to them and you can go ahead.”
Josh had expected Freddie to at least gloat over his situation but he had been very quick and helpful, perhaps he was too busy entertaining Tanya.
But the system in that block had strangely shut down for a couple of hours that morning and no one could get to the bottom of the problem.
Marco frowned. At face value it looked as though Maria had recruited the help of some lover who had fiddled with the CCTV and helped her escape from her oppressive husband’s tight clutches. But somehow that obvious picture jarred. Josh and his wife might have had their problems but someone as devoted to her family as Maria was would never leave her children behind without a struggle. Besides, he had been watching from the window the day they reconciled and that embrace had been truly genuine. But he could hardly expect the police to interfere, the presence of the note was enough proof that it was nothing but a domestic quarrel. And it was no secret that the couple had been going through a rough patch at the beginning of that year. That would strongly support the authenticity of the note.
Marco sat down, “We can report this to the police but I doubt if they would do anything about it. But I do agree with you Josh, something is not quite right. So let us assume that this is a premeditated kidnap and the person wheeling the stretcher early in the morning is responsible. Unfortunately he had a theatre mask and cap on. The wisps of hair beneath the cap looked dark and he’s relatively tall and slightly overweight. But that’s all we have...and all that could easily be a clever disguise. Now Josh, if you want me to help you, you need to tell me everything. How did you get to know about all this beforehand? Who is your informer?”
“That’s irrelevant. But trust me, I definitely know where he’s heading, Murren. We have no time to lose by opening investigations here.” He looked at his watch. “He has had more than twelve hours head start, so I think we had better set out immediately. You can organise a private jet while I sort out the kids.” Josh phoned Max and briefly outlined the problem without giving too much detail, and he asked him if Julie and the children could go over to Kemmuna and stay for an indefinite period of time. They would be accompanied by two of Marco’s men. He was not taking any chances. They would be safe with Max and his wife on the lonely island of Kemmuna. And in any case he had not dreamt of anything happening to his children yet.
He still did not know what he would do once he got to Switzerland; if he were to go all over the mountainous region around Murren he would surely be too late, but he hoped that he might sleep on the plane. He was banking on another dream.
****
“I’m cold Josh. I’m really cold and numb. Hold me Josh....”She called out for her husband, but he never came. He had always been there by her side, silently supporting her, but not today. Today she was on her own. The sharp knife blade was digging into her skin. The pain numbed her senses and clouded her mind, and she was hardly aware of her fate, which was good, she wanted the pain, she wanted to drift away and never remember. She wanted to sleep and never wake up.
The man was moving inside her. Her pain had excited him. He finally sat up, satisfied. He glanced down at his jacket coated red with her blood. He looked at her. She was hovering in a semi-conscious state. Right then he loved her more than anything. He did not want her to die.
He left the cellar only to return seconds later with his bag. She moaned as he cleaned her wounds with disinfectant. Then he set to work, suturing back her peeled skin. Her screams pierced the air as the needle tugged at her flesh, stitch after stitch...
Josh woke up with a gasp as the plane started to land. He had got his dream and he knew that if he could find Freddie he would find Maria. He had recognised his medical bag and expert hands at work. A wave of remorse flooded him. He had been unable to stop the course of events even though the odds had been against fate, even though he had got Marco to trail her every move. Lady Destiny had still found a loophole through which she could pass. He himself had created that loophole by not trusting his first instinct regarding the identity of the insane bloodthirsty man, just because he was a doctor...and his brother. Subconsciously he had always known, but he never wanted to acknowledge the fact that his own brother was capable of doing such extreme and evil things just to get his hands on someone he couldn’t own.
But he did not have time to feel guilty and miserable, he had to act fast. He laid his sorrow to one side and started thinking. Josh was on the phone the second he landed. “You filthy insane lowlife, where is she?”
Freddie’s cool voice answered back, “What are you talking about, have you gone mad, Josh?”
“You know pretty well what I am talking about, you filthy sadist. I’m in Switzerland and I want to see her.”
“So the police ignored the note and trailed me here. She’ll be dead by the time you find her and I will be long gone relishing the fact that you will be miserable all your stinking life.”
“Don’t hang up.” Josh was desperate now. “The police believed the note but I didn’t. I’m on my own. I just want to be with her and I’ll come on your terms. Come on Freddie, you don’t want to see her dead anymore than I do. Please, you have nothing to lose, you’ll have us both. Just state your conditions and I will comply.”
There was a long pause as Freddie started to think through his options. He had not thought that Josh would get to the bottom of this. He had been banking on being able to return to his life under the protective umbrella that marriage with the gorgeous Tanya would provide. His intentions were to leave Maria out on the mountains and hire thugs to keep her alive and he himself would visit regularly. Eventually everyone would forget Josh’s runaway wife and he would smuggle her back to the States where he could enjoy her whenever he felt like it. He had gone through great lengths to cover up his tracks; he had gone away on holiday and returned in
disguise. The plan was airtight and no jury would have found him guilty, he had too many alibis. But Josh, with his weird sixth sense, had followed him to Switzerland where he was supposed to be having a romantic holiday with Tanya.
His first instinct was to kill Maria and run…..but...he did not want her dead, he loved her in some strange way, he was totally obsessed with her. She was the first to reject him and he had to make her his. And besides, he hadn’t planned on being a fugitive all his life. Bringing in Josh was the only way. If he left him out there someone would eventually listen to his far-fetched accusations.
“OK, that might make things more interesting. She was so unconscious when I had her this morning, having you watch might raise the excitement a notch. Right, we’ll meet outside Interlaken West train station sometime this evening. I will approach you only if I’m sure that you are alone. The consequences will be painful if you try to double-cross me. Tanya will gladly blow her brains off, she hates her even more than I hate you, and that is really saying something. My, you really should have slept with her the day Ben was born, that stiff rebuff filled her with this profound vengeance. You could say that she’s the brains behind the whole operation.”
“I want to meet now. Why wait till this evening?”
“Because I wanted to brand her first so that if you ever make love to her again you would remember that I have had her too.”
“You mental sick pig. Fuck you.”
“Mind your language, Josh. Oh well, those are my terms, take it or leave it. You’ll never find her otherwise.”
Josh bit back his frustration. He took a deep breath and refocused. He knew that Interlaken was some distance away from Murren but he could not suggest meeting there. That would make Freddie suspicious, and so he just had to agree with the terms. He switched off the phone, burning with regret. So that was the significance of the slicing of skin and the red hot metal rod, Freddie just wanted to leave his permanent mark on her, back and front. And Josh could prevent neither.
“How did you know that it was Freddie?” Marco asked, slicing through his reflections.
“I just put the pieces together, that’s all.”
“This can get dirty; we have to inform the authorities. We have proof. He just admitted to everything on the phone.”
“No,” Josh barked, “you heard what he said, no outside interference. I will go to Interlaken by myself. No one is to follow me. I will find a way to get her out of that chalet and I’ll follow the signs to Murren. I know the map of the village off by heart and I’ll find you near the helicopter base. So you must go there and have everything ready for this evening. You must hire the best medical team available. They have to stay on site. Tell them that she will be bleeding heavily and in need of urgent medical attention. Her blood type is O positive. They must have everything ready for this emergency.”
“How do you know all that?”
“I’m only assuming. She was pregnant, you know, and the ordeal will threaten the child.” Josh looked at Marco with sorrow in his eyes as he remembered his unborn child. Marco nodded with a look of sheer pity on his face. He had come to greatly respect Josh and his eccentric demands.
Josh took a deep breath and continued, this was not the time for sentimental thoughts. “So, you must have everything ready on the Murren side of things. In the meantime you can try to discreetly track down his girlfriend Tanya. As soon as Maria is safe on the helicopter I want the authorities informed and I want both of them jailed for life. If I have not returned by eight in the morning you can then report this, but not before eight. You have to follow my precise instructions. Do you understand?”
Marco nodded and they went their separate ways.
It was three in the afternoon and Josh was already waiting outside the train station. He knew that it was far too early but Freddie would probably observe him for hours before making his appearance and the earlier he presented himself the quicker he would be approached. He fumbled with his set of keys, checking that all the gadgets were in place. He then put them back in his pocket, hoping that Freddie would find them innocuous.
Hours passed as he sat there, wallowing in self-pity. The sun went down and the darkness started to creep in.
“Hello Josh.” Freddie sat down beside him. He was all muffled up in a loose jacket and cap, apparel that would not stand out on the mountains but obscure his appearance just the same. “How on earth did you figure this out? But then you do have that uncanny ability to know what is going on. Though I bet you didn’t picture her lying scared and naked next to me when you phoned about the CCTV. Did you know that I had just raped her, literally seconds before the phone rang? And I’ve enjoyed your wife for a total of four times in the space of thirty-six hours...not bad, eh?”
Josh grabbed his jacket collar and was about to strangle him but Freddie just laughed smoothly, “Tanya is expecting me to call every hour. If I don’t, your wife will die.”
Josh reluctantly let go. Freddie smiled, “Ok Josh, I dictate the rules and you obey. Is that understood? Walk to the outskirts of that forest and wait for me there.”
Josh grudgingly stood up and walked to the forest. Freddie slammed him against a car parked off the track. He frisked him meticulously. He confiscated the phone but he did not seem to find the credit cards in his wallet or the bunch of keys suspicious. He securely tied his hands with a thick rope and blindfolded him. The gathering darkness shrouded all this activity. Freddie smiled. He had everything under control.
“I’m curious Josh, why did you hire those bodyguards to follow her around? Is there really a crazy fan or was it intuition from your end?” Freddie asked as he started the car and set off.
Josh scoffed, “Intuition! There’s no such thing as intuition. I’ve had some mail. It was a coincidence.”
“So, why not go after this fan? Why follow me here?”
“Only you had the knowledge and authority to interrupt the CCTV footage.” Josh did not want to give away too much. “But tell me, why are you doing this to me? Sure, she’s a pleasant sight to look at but there are plenty of beautiful fish in the sea, why her?”
“Maria singled herself out when she chose you over me. I had to take her away from you because she was making you too happy. I despise you Josh,” he spat. “You have always taken away everything I ever loved, even as a child. And you continue to do that now.”
“That’s nonsense, you were the one with the loving family and I was the charity cousin grovelling for some affection. I had no father and my own mother wanted to abort me. Surely you have not forgotten that, you really drummed it in at every opportunity you had,” Josh returned, not seeing any logic in the argument.
“Yes, charity cousin, or shall I say charity brother. I guess you are both, my brother and cousin. I know about your filthy mother’s affair with dad. I was a boy and I heard them arguing once. Your mother wanted to resume their filth and her only threat was to disappear with you, but of course dad never fell for that because he knew that she never wanted you tagging along. He challenged her, “Take the damned bastard, I don’t care,” he told her and she scuttled off faster than lightning. But I knew that he cared. He needed you in his life. He had become obsessed with your memory and he could not help comparing you to me. His bastard son was better than his legitimate son. You outshone me in everything I did, you started reading way before I could even speak, you always had the leading part in plays, and you always did better at school. No matter what I did, you were always better and brighter...and dad knew this, and even you could not fail to see his pride.”
“He never loved me enough to tell me who he was.”
But Freddie continued, lost in his bitter memories, “I realised that your filthy mother must have told you the truth on her way to hell. You never visited after her death and dad was miserable. Of course you had the stable family and grandchildren he loved, and I had nothing. You could do everything better than me...but things changed the night Ben was born. You became the crying fool while
I fought hard to save your son and wife. From that day on their lives belonged to me. I started to scheme to take back what was mine. I offered her a job. She was so gullible; she thought that I only wanted her to improve our research department. Of course you saw right through me, but she never listens to what you say, and you always give in to her every wish. Why do you do that? Are you afraid of losing her if you go against her wishes? Is her love really that fickle?”
Josh clenched his teeth; his brother was exposing his fears and insecurities.
Freddie laughed, “I am right, am I not, Josh? You do think that her love is as fickle as a candle in a hurricane. And you are spot on as always. She is just like any other female, just like your filthy mother. They are all after the same thing; money, sex and power. She was flattered by the favours I bestowed upon her; the dashing medical director wanting to spend time with her. Some of the things we did at work were beyond appropriate but she never complained. I treated her like a queen, taking her out to lavish restaurants during our lunch break and oh, we really had the time of our lives, talking, flirting and laughing. She thought that it was harmless and she never saw beyond my smile just as she never sees through your smiles. The physical attraction was definitely there.”
Josh shrunk back in pain.
But Freddie sighed sadly. “You might say that I did win some tiny battles but in the end I lost the war because there was a line she would never cross with me.” He remembered his near victory. “Tell me Josh, how much did she spit out about that wild Christmas party eight months ago?”
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