Chapter Twenty #2
He cranked up the CD, the infectious rock music suiting his mood perfectly.
Even the hideous traffic on the A4 couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.
Olivia’s sultry voicemail message showed a new side to her, one that he’d like to get to know better.
Although looking at the time, her bath water would be stone cold by now.
He’d have to scrub her back another day.
Damn, the traffic had come to a complete halt now. If only he’d left work early like he’d intended, instead of getting stuck in a meeting that had dragged on and on. It meant hitting the worst of the rush hour.
When his phone rang, he reached eagerly for it, hoping it might be Olivia but to his dismay it was Emily.
Christ hadn’t she said enough to him? Boy, he’d been taken in by the soft, breathy voice and winsome smiles.
He hadn’t told Olivia half of the things she’d spat at him.
Disappointment rankled and he couldn’t decide which was worse, that he’d been such a dickhead for being so taken in or that she could be such a bitch when she didn’t have to be.
Hell, she had tons going for her. She didn’t need to behave like that.
He shook his head grimly. Thank goodness for Olivia. Straight down the line. He knew exactly where he was with her. How could he have ever believed Emily’s lies? He had to concede she’d been smart in knowing which buttons to press.
He tossed the phone back on the seat. Within seconds he heard the strident beep of the phone again. She wasn’t giving up that easily. Eyeing the standstill traffic he warily answered.
‘Daniel, its Emily. Do you know where Olivia is?’ Her words tumbled down the phone in a breathless rush.
‘Yes, she’s at the flat.’
He heard muffled conversation as if Emily had put her hand over the phone.
‘Are you sure?’
His senses went on alert, the hair on the back of his neck rising.
‘Yes, she rang me a couple of hours ago, said she was at home. Planning to have a bath.’
Another voice muttered in the background and then Emily spoke again. ‘Barney’s been doing some digging . . . I’ll hand you over.’
‘Daniel,’ Barney’s voice, clipped and decisive spoke. ‘It’s Barney. I’m trying to get hold of Olivia but she’s not answering her phone or the one in the flat.’
Daniel’s heart faltered and for a second, he felt as if he were falling. Her message had told him she was waiting for him. She’d hardly have gone out.
‘Where are you?’ he snapped, trying to work out how long it would take him to get there.
‘On my way to the flat. Emily’s got a key.’
Daniel didn’t ask why Emily was with Barney. At this moment it didn’t matter.
‘How far away are you?’
‘About ten minutes. Do you think Olivia’s home? Any chance she might have gone out?’
Daniel wanted to think she might, but in his heart of hearts he knew it was unlikely.
He tried to think of all the reasons she might not be answering the phone.
Her battery could be flat but then the landline would ring.
She had her music on full blast and couldn’t hear a thing.
Maybe she’d slipped in the bath and had had hurt herself and couldn’t get up .
. . or lying unconscious . . . and might have drowned.
Or, he didn’t want to think it but the idea wouldn’t go away, Peter had found a way in. But that wasn’t possible. They’d changed the locks.
‘I’m about twenty minutes away. Have you phoned the police?’
‘No, don’t you think that might be a bit—’
‘No!’ he snapped. ‘They’ve got the address flagged. Call them. Did you track him down? I thought you were going to give details to the police.’
‘Turned out the guy I knew who brought Peter along shared a house with him. I went round this afternoon.’ Barney paused.
‘Not good, I’m afraid. Shares a place with a couple of other guys.
They let me in. Said he was odd but thought he was harmless.
I saw his room.’ An uneasy silence followed the words.
‘And . . .’ Daniel dreaded to think. Peter had killed a cat and put it in a fridge, that wasn’t normal behaviour on any level. The guy was a nutjob.
‘Weird. Loads of photos of Olivia and Emily. Looks like he’s been following them for weeks.
Work, home, in the street. And their stuff, clothes, underwear .
. . really creepy.’ He paused. ‘It gets worse . . . there were knives, a couple of kitchen ones lined up in size order. He’d slashed a lot of the pictures and clothing. ’
Bile rose and Daniel’s stomach churned. A horn blared behind him. Dazed, he looked round to see that the traffic had miraculously freed up and they were moving again. Numbness spread through him as he tried hard to quash the images of the damage a blade could do to a face, to skin. To Olivia.
Barney spoke again, ‘If it’s any consolation, it looks as if his main target was Emily.’
Daniel slapped the steering wheel. ‘No, it fucking isn’t.
What the hell were you playing at? Didn’t you check on any of the psychos?
Your own fucking cousin.’ Part of him knew losing his rag like this wouldn’t help but he needed to rage at someone.
If this traffic didn’t start moving, he’d just get out and leave the damn car here. It would be quicker to run.
Up ahead a space in the traffic opened. He let out the breath he’d been holding for too long.
‘Don’t hang up. I’m on my way.’ Tossing the phone, the line still open, onto the passenger seat, he floored the accelerator and raced down the wrong side of the road, darting in front of the queue slowly crossing the traffic lights.
By the skin of his teeth, he whipped back into the line of traffic to a chorus of angry horn blasts.
‘I’ll be there in ten,’ he yelled, hoping that Barney could still hear. ‘Meet me, there.’
Driving like a complete maniac, he managed to piss off virtually every driver south of the river. Overtaking on corners, cutting people up, tailgating . . . the adrenaline coursed through him as he weaved through the traffic without a care for the paintwork or bumpers of his or any other car.
‘Out of my way, you arse,’ he yelled, as a young woman dithered at the roundabout ahead of him. Why was the world filled with crap drivers? Couldn’t they see he was in a hurry?
Finally he pulled out into the stream of traffic ignoring the indignant blares of horns in his wake. This was life or death.
Twisting and turning through Wandsworth, he thought he’d never hit the Earlsfield Road.
‘Come on, come on,’ he muttered, tapping the steering wheel, his foot hopping up and down on the accelerator revving the engine rudely. ‘Now lady, now.’
Narrowly missing two schoolgirls hopping off at their bus stop and trying to cross the road, he swerved round the bus and picked up speed down Garrett Lane. Sod the thirty-mile-an-hour signs. If anything, he hoped the police would spot him. He’d lead them straight there.
Finally he turned into the street and threw the car into a space, uncaring that most of the back end stuck out into the stream of traffic.
Grabbing his phone, he cut Barney off and tried Olivia’s phone again.
It rang and rang eventually cutting to her voice, perky and upbeat inviting him to leave a message.
His voice dried in his mouth. What to say?
There were a million things he wanted to tell her but he couldn’t get the words past the lump in his throat.
How he felt? Where was she? Why wasn’t she answering?
Punching the off button, he stuffed the phone in his pocket, threw open the car door and slammed it shut behind him.
Horns blared as he raced across the road, putting his hand up in apology at the oncoming cars.
As he came to a stop outside the flat, he anxiously scanned the first-floor windows above the shop. Nothing. No sign of life. No lights.
Then he went cold. The noise of the traffic receded and for a moment everything went black. He struggled to take a breath as his chest tightened at the sight of the scarlet coil of wool nestling into the doorstep like a pool of blood.
Every pulse point pounded as he tried to focus, the horrible facts adding up faster and faster.
‘Daniel! Over here.’ Barney’s voice came from a few houses up the street. ‘We just got here.’
Daniel immediately zoned in on Emily and without preamble, said, ‘We have to go in.’
‘We?’ In another situation the horror on her face might have been comical. ‘I’m not going in. What if he’s there?’
‘Exactly,’ snapped Daniel. ‘He is here. Look.’ He pointed to the cashmere scarf.
‘My scarf. I’ve been . . .’ her words ground to a halt and she stared up at Daniel, her face paling.
‘I thought we’d agreed that neither of you would be alone in the flat until he was caught,’ accused Daniel.
Emily opened her mouth as if to come up with an excuse but quickly thought better of it. ‘I . . . I . . . I thought you were being over the top. Besides, he’s probably harmless. It’s probably nothing to worry about.’
‘Nothing to worry about.’ Rage pulsed through him.
‘Which bit of weird do you not get?’ he asked through gritted teeth.
‘This guy broke in and a message. A fair clue he’s dangerous, don’t you think?
I’d say we can be reasonably confident he’s here.
Olivia’s on her own, she said she would be here .
. . and she’s not answering either phone.
It’s not looking that great to me.’ He’d never hit a woman in his life but the urge to slap Emily itched at his palms. Even Barney looked impatient.
‘What if he’s holding a knife to Olivia’s throat?’
For a moment she looked shamefaced.
Barney turned to her. ‘Em, you have to go in. See what he’s doing? Find out the lie of the land. We can’t all just barge in there.’
‘You are joking.’ Her eyes widened. ‘No way.’
He took a step towards her and drew himself up. ‘Olivia could be in a lot of trouble in there. We have no idea what he’s capable of . . . but given his track record to date, I’m not prepared to risk another minute. You have to go in. We’ll follow behind quietly, he won’t be expecting us.’
‘Besides,’ Barney looked at Emily briefly and gave her an apologetic smile, ‘having seen those photos, it’s you he wants.’ He took both her hands and held them, looking sincerely into her eyes. ‘Don’t worry, we’ll be right behind you.’
‘Actually,’ he had had a moment to think.
It was no use blindly charging in, they had no idea where Olivia was, where Peter was and whether he had any weapons on him.
‘It would be better not to scare him or alert him to the fact we know he’s dangerous.
Emily should go in as if she were coming home from work as normal.
’ He paused to make sure Emily got the point.
‘You and I, Barney, need to go in quietly as backup, so that we can surprise him. I suggest Emily leaves the latch off and you sneak in after her and I’ll try and get in at the back so that we’ve got two lines of attack, especially as we have no idea where they are in the flat. ’
‘Or even if they are in there!’ snapped Emily bitchily.
His palms twitched. ‘Let’s stick with worst case scenario.’
He gave her a look of disgust and focused on Barney. ‘We’ll time it exactly. Emily, you need to make as much noise as you can so that I can come in through the back. I might have to break the window in the kitchen or force the door. Give me five minutes from now and then you go in the front.’
Emily put her hands on her hips but he could see her defiance deflating rapidly. ‘Do I have to?’
He glared at her.
‘You’ll be a hero,’ said Barney, hugging her to him, eying Daniel over the top of her head.
He swallowed the metallic taste of fear in his mouth and glanced again at his mobile phone, willing it to reveal that he’d missed a call from Olivia and this was all crazy supposition. The screen remained blank.
Where was Olivia? And why wasn’t she answering her phone?