Chapter Seventy-Four
Joanna
My heart is shattered. I cannot process, or even comprehend, the notion that not only did my husband arrange my kidnapping, but also my murder.
I glance at Nev. He looks wrecked. ‘If I call the police,’ I say, ‘you’ll go to prison. It’ll be your word against Daniel’s. You could leave now.’
His gaze meets mine and, to my surprise, he smiles. ‘You’ll put me in it the minute I walk out the door.’
I shake my head. ‘No, Nev, I wouldn’t. You could have told that man where I was and then made a run for it, but you didn’t.’
He grimaces. ‘Daniel stitched me up. I’m not letting him walk away from that. I’ve lost everything; what more have I got to lose from doing the right thing?’
***
Neville
I knew it was all over from the day Joanna saw my face. I had to tell Neal.
After several glasses of wine, I phoned him. He replied immediately.
‘It’s all gone horribly wrong. We need to meet. Tonight,’ I said.
‘What do you mean by gone horribly wrong?’
‘We have to meet.’
There was a long pause before he replied, ‘We can’t be seen together. What’s happened?’
My heartbeat pounded in my ears. I had to tell him. ‘She saw my face. She knows it’s me.’
‘What the fuck?’ he thundered. ‘How the hell did that happen?’
‘When the guy came to read the meter. She got out and saw me. I’ve managed to get her back in the basement, but she’s been screaming abuse at me for ages. What are we going to do?’
‘Jesus! I don’t know. I’ll have to think it through. Fuck, how could you be so stupid? Everything was going to plan. Fuck it!’ he yelled.
I pulled the phone from my ear and waited for a moment of calm. ‘Maybe if you talked to her,’ I suggested.
‘Are you fucking insane? I’ll lose my kids.
One of her friends is a bloody lawyer! I wouldn’t stand a chance.
Let me think. I need to work something out.
Fuck! How could you let this happen?’ He paused, presumably thinking, and then: ‘There’s a park at the end of Millwall Lane.
Meet me there in thirty minutes. Use the burner phone to let me know when you’re there, and I’ll tell you where to find me. ’
Fear gripped my stomach and I realised that I wasn’t sure I wanted to meet Daniel Neal. I couldn’t trust him. But what choice did I have, now?
It took me fifteen minutes to walk to the park. Neal directed me to a bench opposite the duck pond. I sat next to him, feeling the tension emanating from his body.
‘How did it happen?’ he asked, looking straight ahead.
‘I don’t know. I got sidetracked by this meter bloke and rushed down.
I thought it was the police. She must have caught the door before it closed.
I thought she was locked inside, so I left the hatch unlocked.
’ I took a deep breath. ‘What are we going to do?’ I asked, trying to disguise the panic in my voice.
Neal looked around the park, as though the answer would magically appear there. ‘I don’t know.’
‘I’m sure she’ll understand. If you talk to her, explain why you had to do it. I feel…’
He turned, his face red with anger, his eyes blazing.
‘Are you fucking stupid? I’ll be finished, done for, within twenty-four hours.
Her father will see to that. Do you really think Jo will forgive me for taking her away from Joel all this time?
He’ll finish me, Nev. I’ll lose my job, he’ll make sure I never work again unless it's sweeping the roads. I won’t see my son.
You know how that feels. I’ll lose everything. ’
‘I…’ The words wouldn’t come. I didn’t know what to say. ‘If you explain that you did it for the right reasons,’ I managed eventually.
He nodded, then said, ‘I need to think things through. Give me a bit of time to work out what I’ll say to her. Maybe I can talk her out of telling her father.’
‘I’m sure if you explain… After all, we kept her in luxury, didn’t we?’
He glared at me. ‘Everything was going perfectly to plan until you fucked it up.’
I felt anger rising within me. ‘Don’t you dare blame me. You got yourself into a mess. You broke our contract and put me in a right mess, too. Now you should tell her the truth and face the consequences.’
‘Like I said, I just need time to work it out.’
‘You owe me money,’ I reminded him.
He looked at me with hatred in his eyes. ‘I think you forfeited that money when you messed this up,’ he said cruelly.
He stood up and walked away, leaving me shaking with anger. My mouth was so dry, I could barely swallow. I clenched my fists until the nails bit into my flesh. The cold crept into my bones, and I finally pulled my weary body up and walked back to the house, feeling lost and exhausted.
I believed that Neal meant business, and that, despite all I’d done, he wasn’t going to pay me.
***
Several days after our meeting, Daniel finally called. Relief washed over me as I picked up the call. Anything was better than this nightmare. At least Joanna would finally know that I’m not the bad guy. That had become important to me. I’d found myself drawn to her in ways I didn’t expect.
‘I’ll be over this evening,’ he said.
He must have heard my sigh of relief.
‘That’s good. You’ve thought it through?’
‘It’s not going to be easy,’ he said. ‘I don’t think she’ll forgive me.’
He paused. I felt the need to encourage him. ‘I think she will. Do you know what time you’re coming?’
Was I sounding too eager?
‘I’m not sure. I’ve got a client first. I’ll see you later. You’ll back me up?’
‘Of course,’ I said, relieved it would soon be over.
He hung up. I felt light, almost hopeful. Maybe Joanna could convince him to pay me after all. Perhaps she wouldn’t call in the police, once she knew the truth.
But Daniel didn’t show. He sent a killer instead. In the few days I’d waited for him to make contact, he had been arranging our murders.
***
Daniel
The morning after the second drop, I wake up feeling lighter, even though the drop was all an act.
But it is as if someone’s lifted a slab of concrete off my chest. I don’t crave coke.
There’s no panic in my gut. Everything will be fine now.
I’ll pay off the loan sharks, clear the cards.
All I have to do is stay away from the casino, and we can get back to where we used to be.
I’m almost buoyant as I head to the car.
The office hums with energy, voices overlapping, phones ringing. It feels like I’ve been asleep for years and just woken up into a better world.
Then my phone rings.
‘She saw my face. She knows it’s me.’
I rush to the loo and throw up. Nic must have noticed because the next thing I know, he’s right there with me. ‘Christ, how much did you drink last night?’ he asks.
I pull myself up and grab some toilet paper. My legs tremble and weakness washes over me.
I’m about to lose Joel. Damn it, I’ll lose my job, my reputation. Hell, I could end up in prison. Would Jo really let that happen?
‘It was something I ate,’ I mumble.
Nic frowns. ‘You look like a corpse. You’d better go home.’
‘Yeah, I think I will.’
The drive home is a blur, and I stumble into the apartment.
Nicola startles me when she walks out of the kitchen. For a split second, I mistake her for Jo.
‘Jo,’ I blurt out.
She stares at me, eyes welling up with tears.
‘I’m sorry.’ I rush to explain. ‘I’m not feeling well. I left work early.’
Nicola studies me. ‘Do you want me to leave?’
No, I can’t handle taking care of Joel in my state.
‘No, it’s fine. I’ll work from my office here.’
‘Can I get you anything?’ she asks kindly.
If only she could get me out of this mess.
‘Thanks, I’ll be fine,’ I say, closing the office door.
I glance at the wedding photo on my desk. Will Jo understand if I tell her everything? Will she forgive me? Deep down, I know she won’t. She’ll divorce me and ensure I never see Joel again. Maybe Gil could talk her round, but I doubt it. My head pounds. I’m lost in a maze of my thoughts.
Once Donald learns the truth, I’ll be finished. He’ll make sure I never work again. I’ll be lucky if I even get a job sweeping the streets. I’ll have to confess to the gambling, the drugs and the loan sharks. I’ve dug myself into a hole too deep to escape from.
‘Fuck!’ I yell, pounding my fist on the desk. How could Neville be so stupid?
There’s a light tap at the door. ‘Mr Neal, are you okay?’ Nicola calls.
‘Yes, sorry,’ I reply, opening the door. ‘Big problem at work.’
‘I’m picking Joel up. We usually go to the park, but I can bring him straight home if you prefer.’
‘No, stick to his routine,’ I say, grateful for the chance to be alone with my thoughts.
There’s only one way out of this mess, but I’m not sure I can take it.
How did it come to this? It’s not my fault.
I tried my best, right from the start of my relationship with Jo.
But Donald always demanded more. Maybe if I hadn’t felt pressured to impress him, I wouldn’t have been tempted at the casino.
Perhaps I wouldn’t be here now, with my life collapsing around me.
I pour myself a whisky, nursing it between sips. There’s only one way out of this mess. I know it. But every time the thought takes shape, my stomach turns. Can I go through with it?
I keep telling myself it isn’t my fault. I tried, God knows I tried. But Donald always wanted more.
I let the whisky calm me. The same solution keeps circling back, relentless. My only choice. My last card to play. Nic once showed me how to get onto the dark web. We were both wasted, laughing about how easy it was.
‘Best porn, mate,’ he joked.
Five minutes later, I’m pulling an old laptop out from under the bed, brushing off a coat of dust. It’s been dead for months, but I put in the charging cable and it boots up. My hands tremble on the keyboard. My heart feels like it might tear itself out of my chest.
I’ve spent hours searching for another way, but there is none.
I have to let Jo go.
Click by click, I work my way through, following link after link until I find the kind of place I’m looking for. My finger hovers over the chat room link for almost thirty minutes. I know that once I enter, there’s no undoing this.
When I finally click, something strange happens. I feel detached, like I’m watching someone else on the computer. Not me. Just a man who looks like me.
It takes a while to find the right person. We talk in a clipped, emotionless manner. It’s as if we’re arranging a courier delivery rather than a murder. We use code names. No trace.
We haggle over the price. Arrange a rough timeline. I learn how to buy Bitcoin, which turns out to be easier than I thought. He says he needs time to watch the house and plan the hit properly. He’ll need a key and sends me a PO box address. I’ll ask Nicola to post it.
‘How do I know you won’t just take the money and vanish?’ I ask.
‘You don’t,’ he replies. ‘You have to trust me.’
He says it will be done within days. If there are any problems, we’ll use the chat room.
‘I’ll need proof,’ I tell him.
‘The police will get a letter and a flash drive from your kidnapper. You’ll have proof.’
‘I want the bodies destroyed,’ I say, my voice catching on the word bodies.
‘Costs more.’
I pay the extra. He promises to dump the van. ‘You just forget all about it,’ he says.
And that’s it. In less than an hour, I’ve arranged for my wife to die. My freedom has a price, and it’s higher than I imagined.