‘I like Kapoor. She’s a good constable.’
The skin around Keith’s eyes crinkled. She’d never heard him pass a comment on anyone. ‘She is, and we’re going to find her. Now get me a match on that print. Call me as soon as you know anything.’
‘Will do.’ He turned away and headed to the kitchen.
Gina met Wyre by the door. ‘Anything of interest?’
‘I found a pad in her kitchen drawer and she’s written something on it. I’m not sure if it’s anything to do with the case but she’s written down a time and date, three a.m. this morning, and then there’s the briefest of descriptions. Tall, male, too dark to see. Then she drew a line through it. I wonder if she saw something in the night and, being a police officer, instinctively noted it down. On the other pages she has random notes and dates but nothing for the past three weeks.’
‘What type of notes?’
‘Things like youths hanging around by bin cupboard. Drunken woman falling asleep in communal area. Graffiti appearing on the fence at the back. Kids having a fight but no one hurt. The smell of weed. It’s like her own personal little log.’
Gina headed through to the kitchen to see for herself. ‘Let’s bag it up.’
Wyre took an evidence bag from her pocket and sealed the notebook in it.
‘She saw something in the night and then thought nothing more of it. If only she’d called it in for us to investigate.’ Gina placed her hand over her mouth and grimaced.
Wyre didn’t reply. They both knew that if their killer had Kapoor, there was a chance they’d never see her again.
Gina’s phone rang. ‘Jacob,’ she answered. ‘Right. We’re on our way back now.’ She ended the call and headed to the door. ‘We’ve had a breakthrough.’
41
The record comes to an end and Jhanvi hopes it’s the last time she has to hear it. She sees the flashing lights again.Keep your calm – he’s trying to confuse you.He hadn’t left earlier. She’d felt his breath on her neck as she remained in pitch-black darkness. It was like being with a ghost. Maybe he’d gone for a while, maybe not, but he was definitely back now.
She then hears him breathing from all parts of the room and pictures him watching through some night vision goggles.
Trying to loosen the binds around her wrists, she knows there is no point. The sores are just getting deeper and deeper and she’s not getting any closer to escaping.
He wants something but what is it? Think like a police officer not a captive. Better still, think like him. What does he want? The constant music is messing with her senses. He’s trying to break her, but why? What happens if it doesn’t or if she tries to yell and escape? She shivers as she thinks of Amber and what the post-mortem report had said. Amber’s lips had been superglued.
Panic builds up and the urge to throw all her strength into trying to break free overwhelms her. Her whole body aches for the chance. She wants a free hand so that she could punch him in the throat if he comes close enough. She might be small and slight but people underestimate her strength.
‘I’m not the enemy, you know.’ His voice is gentle.
Her chest feels as though her heart might explode from it at any moment. Her eyes searched for any glint of light in the darkness but there was none. Not a spec. She didn’t try to answer, leaving him to do the talking. Everything she could think of saying might antagonise him. He’d expect the following:Please let me go. Why me? My family will miss me. Someone will know I’m missing. They’re on to you. Please don’t hurt me.Amber Slater must have said all those things but he didn’t let her go. He stabbed her through the heart and dumped her body in the lake.
His hand brushes the back of her neck as he loosens the thin piece of material tied to the side of her mouth.
‘Who are you?’
‘PC Jhanvi Kapoor.’
‘You are not Jhanvi. She is dead. Do you hear me?’ A fleck of his spit hits her cheek.
A burst of perfume comes from nowhere, one that smelled of lilies.
She has an inkling of what he desires and she would give it to him. The superglue. Amber. The stab to the heart. She swallows, knowing that if her idea doesn’t work out, she’d be his next murder victim.
‘I won’t leave you and I’ll be quiet,’ she says.
She wonders who he thinks she is, if not Jhanvi Kapoor. Maybe him calling her Hailey earlier wasn’t a slip of the tongue.
‘Just go away, will you,’ he spontaneously shouts, then pauses.
Who is he speaking to? There is no one else in the room and his voice travels away from her. Maybe her only way out of this is to become Hailey.
