Chapter 44
FORTY-FOUR
LINDY
‘Help…’ Lindy called out through chattering teeth. All she wanted was to hear someone’s voice, to know that Pia had called the police and they were coming to help her, but that was impossible. No one knew where she was. She’d called into the void over and over again but she’d heard nothing.
With her hands still bound and legs still tied together, Lindy stood in the tank of revolting slop, back against the cool metal curved sides while hoping with all she had that her body wouldn’t give in, or that she wouldn’t slip.
Head tilted back, she kept breathing fast as the liquid bobbed over her ears with each movement.
How long she could stay in this position was another question she couldn’t answer.
Her breaths came quicker and faster. She yelled as another cramp contorted her calf muscle.
The liquid wavered under her chin as she fidgeted to fight the cramp tearing through her.
She choked and heaved as a gulp got trapped in her lungs.
Her stiff neck failed to move, and even if she wanted to move it, it felt locked in place.
Warmth came from underneath her feet but it was barely reaching the top of the tank.
Was he going to boil her alive? Was she the proverbial lobster in the pot?
One minute the warmth of a nice bath soothing her, the next boiling to death.
She gasped for air and wondered if she was sealed inside this huge metal coffin.
It felt like it. Would the air run out? She needed to calm down but how could she when she knew that no one had a clue where she was.
The darkness was the worst. Was her kidnapper trying to deprive her senses and if so, why?
His words rang through her head. I always knew I’d get my day.
She begged him to tell her what she’d done but all he could say was, you know exactly what this is about, you just can’t remember but this is going to make you remember. She still couldn’t remember.
Who was he? All she could see was his outline. His voice was hushed and low, like a loud whisper and she wondered if he spoke out loud, would she recognise it?
She called out again and choked on another mouthful.
Her chest hurt, everything hurt. She racked her brains trying to think why she was there but nothing was coming to her.
Kain had been murdered. It had to be because of Kain.
She thought back, through their lives. She had spent so much of her time trying to help him, she’d barely had a life of her own.
She thought of her poor mother, trying to fix him to the end.
Her life had constantly been on hold because of Kain’s many dramas.
She thought of her new life since the move.
She’d wanted to be closer to her mum after Kain moved back in with her.
Meeting Justine and Pia through their shared love of yoga, seemed like a dream.
With her career on hold, she’d relished having more time to herself while she thought about her future – and now she was here, in a stinking tank of some description, waiting to die.
The gentle swaying of water around her ears reminded her of the lapping of the lake on a windy day.
She’d do anything to be at yoga right now while gazing at that lake.
The session before last, she’d sat in downward dog, staring out at that huge building on the other side of the lake and she’d wondered if it was being used for anything now.
She’d fantasised that she’d renovated it, that it was her home and she got to enjoy the view every day.
In reality, it was covered in graffiti and metal window shutters – it was an eyesore.
She tried to imagine that she was in a yoga class, holding a pose.
This was the same thing. She just had to hold the pose for a long time, and not lose consciousness, or fall asleep, or slip.
If she slipped, her tied feet might never regain their balance.
She couldn’t move an inch despite the cramps.
The drug had started to wear off, she was grateful for that.
Her breathing sped up. She had to find a way out.
She thought of her once chubby-cheeked little brother whose big dream was to be a police officer.
Kain did eventually realise his dream and join the police.
She smiled and almost cried as some of her most precious held memories began to flood her mind.
Then she thought of all the things she’d never get to do.
She’d never found the one, never had the child she’d always dreamed of.
She thought of Justine and her lovely son, how he’d helped her mum around the house, doing all the jobs her mum had struggled with for pocket money.
If she’d had a son, she’d have wanted one like Danny.
He’d stand in her mum’s garden vaping. She could still smell the toffee scent. She’d never have that. It was too late.
Hold the pose. Keep it steady, she imagined their yoga instructor saying.
She thought she heard a bang in the distance before the liquid swished over her ears again, taking away the only sense she had, her hearing.
As it stopped lapping around her head, she realised her one ear was blocked. She could barely hear anything.
‘Hello,’ she shouted, in the hope that rescue was coming.
One loud bang came from afar but it sounded distorted through her one good ear, adding to her disorientation.
Heart racing, she waited with bated breath for whoever was out there to reveal themselves.
She couldn’t control the trembling. It would be her kidnapper.
No one was coming. She closed her watery eyes and visualised being in yoga class and all she could see was that lake and that building.
Then there was another bang. She called again.
‘Help.’ No one ran to her aid which meant one thing, he was back and he was going to kill her, just like he killed Kain.