‘Yeah, right. What did you make of Mr Collins?’
Jacob paused. ‘I’m trying to see the other side but then again two relationships with students, that screams inappropriate. He’s not worried about pushing boundaries. Could there be more than two?’
‘Did you try calling his wife?’
He nodded. ‘There was no answer and the call didn’t even connect. It could be that she has her phone turned off. I found the number for her workplace, she’s a teacher by the way. The school receptionist confirmed that there’s a staff meeting this evening and she will be in it for another half hour.’
Gina glanced out of the window, through the dripping condensation. Darkness had fallen and she could feel the chill in the air. ‘That’s great news. Is the school local?’
‘Cleevesford High.’
‘Bingo, we’ll head over there before the briefing. Drink up.’ Gina stared into her cup.
‘What are you thinking?’
‘I don’t trust Clayton Collins. With Scarlett Gregory’s allegations of stalking everything was dropped because it was short-lived and there was no real evidence. She went to the effort of trying to get a restraining order against him and then she withdrew because the stalking and harassment stopped. We really need firm evidence.’
‘It does appear that Mr Collins likes to be a bit of a knight in shining armour. He said that he walked Amber to her car after his lectures to make her feel safe.’ Jacob scrunched his brow.
‘Am I the only one thinking that he could have engineered that fear in her? Turning himself into her protector.’ Gina glanced at the emails. ‘It was Amber who ended what they had after only a couple of weeks. He takes it well when you read the emails but then she received a lot of texts from a person she has called ‘NoName’ who came across as a bit of a stalker, calling her a stuck-up bitch after Amber ignored whoever it was. I checked his phone number against any that Amber had in her burner phone and it wasn’t a match… but if he was having an affair it stands to reason that he may have another phone too, one which his wife didn’t know about. Was it really over for him or was Amber’s rejection just the start? Or, was Amber going to say something to his wife and did he need to shut her up? Maybe he took her somewhere to talk and it all got out of hand. Would he have gone as far as to glue her lips together in a temper and then stab her to death as she struggled?’
23
I pace back and forth, hidden by the darkness of nightfall. With each step, I crunch through the thin layer of ice that has settled on wet pavements. Rewrapping my scarf around my neck, I gaze up. She got home later than I expected and that worried look on her face tells me something has happened. My beautiful Maddie. Seeing her appear as a local on AppyDater made my day because I’ve been watching her. It has to be fate.
She crosses her living room, walking right past the front window with her phone to her ear. I’m excited. I can’t wait to have her and I think the time is right.
Madison captivates me. My pretty student nurse at the University of Worcester. I imagine her tending to people with love and care, then I realise my teeth are clenched. She loves the old woman she visits. I wonder if she’s a relative.
I shake my head as an image of Amber creeps in. All I wanted to do was love and care for her but she couldn’t shut up and talking leads to bad things. People get to know your business and they ruin your life. Amber should have just kept her mouth shut. I urge the tension to go away, to leave me alone. I need to play my part if I’m to achieve my objective and I can’t think about Amber while I do that. This is all about Madison now. As long as she accepts her fate and shuts the hell up, all will be fine. I shake my body and tilt my head from side to side until I loosen up – that’s my warm-up complete. Transformation wasn’t complete with Amber but now I get another chance to get my perfect life back.
I stare at the window again. Madison’s long black hair is now tucked up into a cute beanie hat. The redness of her lips can be seen all the way from the back of the car park which is only minutes away from Amber’s apartment.
Another resident peers from the top window so I duck behind my car, not taking any risks that she might see me. It’s Miss Cat Café. Her stupid-looking friend.
The orangey glow from a street lamp to the left of the dilapidated old house shows up the pile of dumped rubbish at the bin store. A mattress leans up against the side of the building. My heart rate picks up as I hear a rustling noise. I peer over the bonnet of my car and wait for whatever lurks amongst the litter to show itself. A fox maybe, a hungry crow or maybe it’s a cat. No, none of the aforementioned. It’s a filthy rat. I watch as it scurries from behind the mattress and heads for one of the industrial-sized bins.
The curtains close on Madison’s room and I can no longer see into her world, but that’s okay. She’s all dressed to go out and I’m waiting.
I glance at the time. Why is it going so slowly? It must be because I’m freezing to death out here. Miss Cat Café has now closed her scraggy curtains. Standing, I begin to pace once again to keep warm. Come on, Madison, come to me.
More minutes pass. Hurry up. Hurry up. Those words keep repeating themselves in my mind. My plans keep churning away. I think back to my mother. She always said that a person had to go out there and take what they wanted. Nothing is handed to a person on a platter. I think she meant through ambition and hard work. Back then, she had something about her but that fizzled out when my father left. It was soon replaced by venom and nastiness. I wonder if she got everything she wanted.
Come on, Maddie. Show me your face.
I step onto the pavement, never allowing my gaze to leave the building in front of me, then I tread on broken glass. All my fault for smashing the street lamps. I can’t have her seeing me. It only took me four attempts with the rock in my pocket and now I have my cloak of darkness, my corner of the car park where no one will see what I’m up to.
Brr. I shiver and flex my fingers. That’s good, I can still feel each and every digit. My toes are thickly quilted in the walking socks from when I did the Three Peaks, and the walking boots are the best. Not a spec of water has seeped through them. Both the socks and the boots are keeping my feet warm. A few flakes of fresh snow begin to fall and a perfectly formed flake settles on my nose. Hopefully it will be a fleeting flurry. I almost go cross-eyed trying to get a closer look but it’s too dark to see properly. Hurry up, Madison.
Apartment block is too kind a description for what I see before me. It’s a typical house of multiple occupancy with some shared bathrooms. Each floor has a kitchenette. I know this – I’ve been in. I’ve looked at living here myself once I knew that Amber lived nearby, thinking I could spend time getting close to her but something better came up. I wished I’d taken it now. But still, I like watching them from afar. Half of the fun came from orchestrating ways to bump into Amber. I was charming, kind, and complimentary but doing everything right doesn’t always pay off. They don’t see you until you make them. My fists are balled. Why do I allow myself to get worked up?
I flinch as the main entrance door clicks and she steps out. ‘I’ll call you from the hospital,’ she shouts back to her cat café friend.
Now, I have to act. I kneel down on the floor and begin making cutesy noises at the nothing that is under my car. What will it be? A hedgehog maybe, or a cat. She’s always going on about how much she loves hedgehogs if her Instagram is anything to go by.
‘Come on little hedgehog.’ I’m good, so good even though the voice I’m using sounds pathetic. I’m wasted in life. Maybe I should have taken up acting. As she clanks past me in her awkward heels, I turn to catch her eye but she can barely see me. My hood half covers my eyes and I put on my telephone voice. ‘There’s a little hedgehog sitting under this car and it looks hurt. I think it might be a baby. It’s probably lost its mother.’ I can see her trying to focus in the dark but she can’t see me properly under the overhanging trees.
She stands for a second and glances over, trying to focus on me in the dark. ‘Poor thing.’ She pops her phone in her pocket and gets down on the ground. ‘Let me help. If we can get hold of it, I can drop it at a rescue centre. Should it be hibernating?’
