‘Good work, Harte.’ He ended the call.
She wiped her bloodied hands on her jacket. The younger paramedic spoke softly in Cassandra’s ear and she responded with a pained smile.
‘Guv,’ O’Connor called. ‘I’ve just found an almost blank piece of paper in the study. It has today’s date and Birmingham Airport printed on the top right on an almost blank page. It’s page three of three. The other two have gone.’
She grabbed her phone again and got straight through to Briggs. ‘I’m heading to Birmingham Airport.’ She ran up the stairs and into the lounge. On the grand piano sat a large silver framed photo of Mr and Mrs Reed. She snapped it with her phone. ‘I’m sending you a photo of the Reeds. Send it to the force control room to get a log set up and to radio airport police and tell the duty inspector to meet me there. Tell them to look at the log urgently. If needs be, text them the photo. Just hurry. The Reeds can’t be allowed to leave the country.’
‘Okay. Doing it now.’
She hung up and pressed send.
‘Jacob. We’ve got to go.’
He ran across the kitchen. ‘The airport it is.’
‘We better not have missed them.’
Chapter Sixty-Eight
He couldn’t have timed it any better. They hurried through check in and he knew that a cold glass of champagne had his name on it. He’d earned it. The house he’d purchased under the new company name in Dubai awaited their arrival. The staff had made up the rooms and were prepped to pick them up at the airport when they landed. He thought of the desperate girl, lying dead in the cellar. No one would find her for ages and he knew they would both treasure that last memory forever – this time it was a shared memory.
He admired the beautiful woman walking next to him as they entered the executive lounge. He’d never loved anyone so much and Holly had threatened everything. That woman hadn’t been a patch on his wife. They had an understanding, a shared darkness. Other people would never understand. They reached highs that only being on the brink of death produced.
‘Let’s make a toast.’ He topped up her glass.
She took the bubbly and followed him to the vacant seats by the window. ‘I don’t want to make a toast.’
‘Just drink it, will you?’ He gently gripped her neck and felt her warm breath on his cheek.
‘I killed someone and the baby wasn’t even yours! I can’t get over this, I can’t—’
He couldn’t allow her to lose it. They were so close to their new life, besides, there was no going back. ‘Come on. Why did you play along then if you were so fed up with me?’
She shrugged. ‘I wasn’t prepared to lose everything. I’ve turned into something I hate. I’ve turned into you.’
‘I wasn’t a killer until you started that ball rolling, you can’t blame me for that one.’
‘What have I done? When I thought the baby was yours—’ Her eyes watered a little. ‘I wanted her dead and when I told you what I’d done, I thought you’d be horrified but you weren’t. Why weren’t you disgusted? Why didn’t you tell the police? It should have ended that night.’
‘I’m sorry.’
‘I knew then we’d started something and…’ She paused and stared into his eyes. ‘I wanted it. I looked into her eyes as she gagged for breath and I understood you. I enjoyed it and I wanted it and I wanted to share it with you.’
He let that sink in. His loving wife had done what came naturally to them, asphyxiation had been a part of their life for so long. He also loved that she played his victim in the cellar and he was happy to play hers sometime soon. He stroked his neck under his shirt – she certainly liked role-play. Trevor leaned over and kissed her. Was she enough? She had to be. For now, she was all he needed. Her gaze met his and he knew he could never upset her again, he could never be sure if she would end him. She could never be sure if he would end her either. Trust was so easily given and so easily lost.
‘Tell me again, what was it like, you know, when you—’
‘When I gripped her skinny neck in my hands?’
He nodded.
‘I felt it, her pulse, running through my fingertips and all through it, I thought of you, of us and I couldn’t stop. You felt it too, with Fran, didn’t you?’
‘Yes.’ A warm feeling rushed through his body as he thought of Cass, their shared kill. ‘We get to start again.’ They both had blood on their hands. He didn’t know if he could stop or if he’d want to. The final call was announced over the tannoy. Their flight was boarding. ‘We best go. No going back.’
‘I’ve been thinking about Kerry.’ Trevor knew their daughter would know everything before the day was out and that bothered him. Maybe he wasn’t as cold as he thought he was.
‘Don’t.’ She placed her finger against his lips. ‘We have to start again. We’re no longer Trevor and Alison. We’ve left her enough. If she blows it all, she’s on her own.’
