She nodded. ‘He glues their lips and stabs them. He’s trying to shut them up. Why them? It’s not them, it’s who he thinks they are, or who they represent. What happened to him?’ No one answered. ‘Time is running out. He is going to kill PC Kapoor, I know it. Why?’ She slammed her other hand on the desk and stepped back to the board, leaving a ring of spilled coffee around her cup.
‘We definitely need a break.’ Wyre sat at the table, head in hands.
There was one person on the board and she walked up and stared at the photo. It was a long shot but they had to dig deeper. His name had come up, he’d seemed okay but had she trusted all that he’d said? She placed her index finger over her lips as she tried to think back to the times she’d spoken to him.
O’Connor barged in as Gina placed her finger on the name. ‘You read my mind,’ he said. ‘I’ve just come off the phone to his course lecturer.’
The tremble in O’Connor’s voice told her that he had something. ‘Spill it out.’
‘The lecturer doesn’t know of that student’s name and has never heard of him. I emailed his photo over and he said he’d definitely never seen him before. He then delved into the records for me. This student,’ O’Connor jabbed at the name on the board with his finger, ‘studied this course six years ago and didn’t finish it. His name was in the old college records, way before this lecturer started two years ago.’
Gina turned, drank her coffee in one go and enjoyed the feeling of adrenaline that coursed through her veins. ‘What are we waiting for? Get everyone ready. Get one of the team to delve further. Find his past addresses. His parents – look them up. Everything. Now.’
The room began to hum with voices as they all jumped to action.
‘Kapoor’s survival depends on us getting this right.’ Gina paced out of the room and stood against the hallway wall as she waited for the trembling in her fingers to pass. It was time to go.
Briggs approached. ‘Are you okay?’
She shrugged and left him standing alone. She was not okay. They were not okay and their colleague might be dead. Nothing about today was okay.
63
‘Go check out the side window.’ Tyrone pointed in the direction.
Madison kicked snow as she walked through the bin store leaving Alice and Tyrone fiddling with the sash window. She could almost taste the revolting odour from the bins as she passed. These apartments were a filth tip, she could see why Tyrone wanted to leave – well that and the kitten he was hiding. As she kicked the snow, she pushed the bottom of the gate with her foot and it pinged open. The frosted window that led to his bathroom was open, just a little. A couple of nub ends were balanced on the ledge where Curtis had been smoking out of the window. ‘Here.’
Within seconds, the other two arrived. Tyrone stared at it. ‘I’m far too big to fit in there.’
‘I’m far too curvy.’ Alice stood back with a puzzled look on her face.
Madison shook her head and pointed to her wounds. A shiver ran through her body and it wasn’t from the cold sting in the air. Her mind flashed back to the night in the toilets at the pub, then the dark lane. The build of the man following her was covered up by clothing but now it was all coming back. She gasped as she thought of the hospital car park. Through the clothing, the scarf and the walking stick, she could now see his eyes. Her dream of the faceless man in the front row of the university auditorium had now been filled and it was as clear as daylight.
‘Do you want to know who attacked you?’
‘Yes, but—’ Something was forcing her back – fear, apprehension. She gasped and turned away. ‘I can’t do this.’
Tyrone chipped in. ‘You can. You have to if you want to find out the truth. He’s not in. I saw him leave and I know what I saw through the window. Like I said, we have to get in there, see if he’s left it behind. That’s the evidence and we can’t let him get away with it. If we find what we’re looking for, we can call the police. Maddie, if you take your coat off, you’ll fit through. You can then go straight to the front door and let us in.’ His dark eyes had a pleading look about them, like a puppy begging for a snack.
‘Okay! I can’t believe I just agreed to this.’ And she couldn’t. It wasn’t either of them who had been attacked. They had no idea how her stomach churned and her vision swayed. All her body’s responses were telling her to run away as far as possible but running doesn’t uncover the truth.
Tyrone ran into the bin store and came back with an old bedside table. He brushed the snow from the top. ‘Just step up onto this and pull yourself through. Simple.’
‘For you, yeah.’ She rubbed her head. It already pounded. Alice was right. She shouldn’t have come. She should have stayed wrapped up in Alice’s bed with the television on. Sleeping in ignorance as to what they were up to, but she’d insisted. ‘What am I going to fall on? Do you know the layout behind this window?’ She pressed her nose to the frosted glass and could make out blurred shapes.
He shrugged his shoulders as Alice helped her to step up. A fine flurry of snow blew into their faces. Madison picked at the window, getting her fingers under it and pulling until it was open. ‘Great, it looks like I’m going to land in the bath.’ She pulled off her coat and thrust it towards Alice’s face before pushing herself through the tiny gap. Squirming with a few groans and moans, she eventually reached down and fell into the bath. ‘Ouch.’ The tap dripped cold water onto her hand.
‘Are you hurt?’ Alice sounded worried.
‘Why are you both still there? I’m going to open the door now. Hurry.’ As she listened to them scarpering off, she heaved herself out of the scummy bath and regained her balance. She pushed the creaky door to the hallway and glanced through the other open doors. The sight of an ornamental skull made her jump back, her heart beating like a jack hammer. ‘Chill, chill. It won’t hurt you.’ She swallowed, wondering what it was that Tyrone had seen.
Alice tapped on the door. ‘Let us in.’ She paused and tapped again. ‘Maddie? Are you okay?’ They both began to bang away.
Madison ignored them and glanced across the lounge and kitchen. The clutter that adorned every surface and floor was a distraction but there was something that sent a chill through her body. The photo that Alice had used to set up her AppyDater profile, the one of her eating the hotdog at the German Christmas market in Birmingham had been torn into four pieces and left on his desk. There was an open notebook. She glanced down. It had times and dates of where she had been on the Monday she was attacked and there was so much more. He’d been the one following her. She stepped back and gasped, her heart banging and stomach gargling. She couldn’t swallow and the banging in her head almost knocked her sick.
‘Open the door!’ Tyrone was banging away. ‘What’s going on? Say something.’
As tears spilled down her cheeks, she breathlessly stumbled back into the hallway, banging against the walls until she reached the door. As she opened it, she fell into Alice’s arms gasping for breath and sobbing. ‘He was going to kill me. You saw the photo of me, didn’t you?’
