‘Yes, sir.’
‘Try to stay safe and keep me in the loop with everything. Despite what you think, I really want to keep you on this investigation, you’re my best detective. Some of us care you know?’
Did that mean the team or him? She hoped it was him. Her mind flashed back to their kiss, it had conjured all sorts of feelings within her and she knew that he could see that.
Forty-Three
Saturday, 11 May 2019
Sophie folded the silly masquerade mask up and placed it in her tiny handbag. That particular purchase from Ann Summers had been her husband’s idea.Let’s dress up a bit, make the most of it,he’d said. All it had done was make people think they were weird.
It had been a long evening and it was way past midnight. She sensed that something had gone down at the party, something neither the host nor the others really wanted to talk about. The single man in the trilby had looked put out for the rest of the evening. It hadn’t prevented him from propositioning her though. Any other night she may have accepted his offer, but he wasn’t really her type. Between him and the slimy sexist pig going by the name of Steven, she had written this one off. If this was all Swap Fun had to offer, she was probably going to delete her profile tomorrow. The others had left her alone, mostly showering all their attention on the sexy young woman in the blonde wig.
She walked alongside the river, leaving the distant lights of Bidford-on-Avon behind. She messaged her husband again.
I need you to come back and pick me up. You said you’d only be an hour and I’m on my own now. Just walking by the river. Call me as soon as you read this message. Did I say hurry?
He’d managed to get off with one of the other party attendees. They’d left in his car way over an hour ago and had probably pulled up in a lay-by. She should have felt something at that thought, but she didn’t. They weren’t jealous types. This was something they’d done many a time before moving to this area. She needed more, he needed more, but deep down they wanted to be together. This arrangement suited them well. Their only rule was, they were never to fall in love or have a continued affair. It was always merely physical and while it remained fun, it would always remain a part of their lives.
She checked her phone. He’d seen her WhatsApp message, there were a couple of blue tick marks at the bottom, so why wasn’t he answering? It was one forty-five in the morning. Her head was a little fuzzy from the champagne and she was feeling a little frustrated at not managing to meet a suitable partner. She gasped and turned as a branch cracked a few meters behind her. It had to be one of the losers she’d turned down. She stood tall and square, letting them know there was no way she’d be intimidated by them. With only the light of the moon, she caught an outline approaching. ‘Who’s there?’
He wasn’t wearing a hat, so maybe it wasn’t Mr Trilby. Or maybe he’d left his hat at the house. She’d walked a fair way. The house was now in semi-darkness with only a couple of bedroom lamps lighting the upstairs up. The beautiful outdoor lighting had now been turned off. Most people had gone home. The outline stopped, making no attempt to speak. ‘Look, don’t be a dick and just come out.’ She really wasn’t in the mood to play games.
He came closer and just as she was about to make out some of his features, he began taking photos. The flash blinded her. She stepped back, almost stumbling on the undergrowth. He snapped again and again, just giving the flash enough time to power up between takes.
‘Look, can you stop it? You’re blinding me.’
Her mouth began to water as she felt her stomach turn slightly. He was relentless with the camera. In a panic, she looked towards the road and noticed headlights heading towards the house or maybe that light was just the remnants of the flash, burning into her retina. ‘My husband has come to pick me up. You should go,’ she gasped. Her senses weren’t deceiving her. She heard the engine too. It was definitely an approaching vehicle.
She flinched as she heard a rustling sound. He was shortening the gap between them. All she could see were green blobs from the flash, clouding her vision. Which one of the party attendees could this be? ‘Steven? Is that you?’
She blinked several times, trying to clear her eyes. He was almost upon her. Run, that’s what she had to do. She loved a kinky encounter but there was something about this set-up that didn’t feel right. There were no boundaries discussed, no safe words, nothing. This person was trying to scare her, to intimidate her. Fighting her way through the bushes she darted towards the road, dragging a dead stick along that had caught on her jacket. If she reached the road, she could run along it and back towards the house. She stumbled and half-ran, her head full with the sound of blood pumping hard and fast around her body. His footsteps were behind her. She slipped under a hanging branch and almost slid in a patch of mud.Get up, Sophie.‘Ralph,’ she yelled. If it was her husband, he’d be at the house by now. She almost cried as she imagined what he’d be doing. He’d be sitting in the car, trying to call. Why hadn’t he called? She’d have heard her phone buzzing. She had to call the police. She pulled her phone out. As she went to press the buttons, she crashed into a tree. Slightly stunned, she turned to her pursuer. ‘Please don’t hurt me,’ she yelled as she pressed another button, unlocking the phone. The flash went again. She felt the weight of what felt like steel toecaps connecting with her hand. He wasn’t going to let her make a call.
Laughing, he was laughing. One thing he hadn’t banked on was her ability to keep calm in such a tense situation.Don’t show him that you are terrified. Fight back.She slipped her shoe off as he leaned over her. Before he had a moment to react, she slammed the heavy wedge into the side of his head, or was it his neck?As hard as you can, first time –that’s what her father always said, and he was right. She had given all she had to that blow, no warning, just a swift whack.
He groaned and shuffled beside her. Now they were even. She was stunned and so was he.
Get up, get up now!She dropped the one shoe and ran, her bare foot being stabbed by sticks, nettles and stones. That didn’t matter. She’d tend to her feet when she was safe. She waved frantically from the roadside and the branch that had hitched a ride on her jumper dropped to the road. Her husband turned around and was coming back up the windy path. She continued flapping her arms. With one shoe missing and her clothes torn, she knew he’d be worried. As the car approached, she squinted. Her vision was returning. It wasn’t her husband. Had someone else come to help her attacker? Why hadn’t her husband called her back? She began to hobble up the road but the car was catching up with her. What if it was him? What if he had gone back for his car and was coming to finish her off. Her weak arms dropped as she hobbled ahead, but she was no match for a car.
Forty-Four
Gina lay in bed. It was almost three in the morning and she’d failed to sleep for more than twenty minutes in a row. Not knowing who sent the flowers and chocolates to the station was the worst. Had it been Rex and was he denying sending her the gifts now that he knew she was angry? Had it been someone else? If so, who? She turned again, dragging the ill-fitting sheet from the corners of the bed. Great – she wasn’t destined to get any sleep at all. Not only was she uncomfortable, her bed was a creased up mess and the bedroom was cold, much like her love life. She flung her pillow towards the wardrobe and sat on the edge of the bed rubbing her eyes.
Her mind flashed back to a previous case where an attacker had broken into her house and almost strangled her to death. She rubbed her neck. The marks were long gone but the memories were still clear. She flinched as her cat scurried up the stairs and jumped on the bed beside her. ‘It’s not time for breakfast yet, Ebony.’
She glanced at her phone. There were no messages and no missed calls. All the personal calls she had expected would only have caused her more trouble anyway. Trouble, however, was better than the intense aloneness of her house right now. Ebony jumped to the floor and began prancing around, tail in the air as she meowed. Gina stood and the cat ran ahead, darting down the stairs and into the kitchen. A loud crash filled the silence. Gina’s heart began to pound. There was someone in her house.
She took her phone from her dressing gown pocket and pressed Briggs’s number.
‘Gina. Is everything okay?’ he answered almost immediately. Had he been lying there awake, just like she had?
‘I think there’s someone in my house,’ she whispered.
‘Go back upstairs and shut yourself in the bedroom. I’ll call for backup.’
‘No, I’m nearly there.’ She took the last step and listened to the rustling just a few feet away. Creeping through her lounge in the dark, she grabbed a vase from the fireplace and continued stealthily towards the kitchen. With shaking hands she kept the line open so that Briggs could hear anything that happened.
‘Talk to me, Harte.’
