Pia shook her head.
‘Do you know where she might go?’
‘Only to her mother’s.’
Gina looked down. Justine had run from her mother’s house.
‘We’re taking the threat in the message you received seriously. Do you have somewhere else you can go after this?’
She shrugged. ‘I’ll get Simeon to book a hotel when he gets here. There’s no way I want to go home until Craig has been caught.’ She bit her bottom lip and frowned. ‘Simeon’s not going to want to do anything for me when he finds out what I’ve done. I guess I’ll be staying in a hotel alone.’
‘We do have some more information. The message sent to you was from an account in Craig’s name. I know you guessed it was from Craig but we can confirm it.’
‘And I told you, he’s dangerous.’ She began to sob. ‘He has this way of making you do things you don’t want to do.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘When I went over to see Justine on the night the affair started, I didn’t intend for that to happen but it did. I weirdly didn’t know how to stop it, like I was under some sort of spell. I wanted to end it but… sometimes I didn’t even want to be with him near the end but he’d threaten to tell Simeon if I didn’t turn up and…’
‘And what?’
Pia stood and started to do her coat up, trying to speak as she choked back her tears. ‘I want to go. I don’t know anything else and I’m not under arrest. I’ll let you know which hotel I end up booking a room at. Get Craig so I can go back home, please.’ She shook her head and began doing the buttons up. ‘I really do hate him now. He’s ruined my life. He’s going to pay for what he did. He hurt me in that flat. I want him charged with assault. He hurt me and all this is going to come out anyway. What have I got to lose? He owes me too. You need to catch him and punish him. All debts must be paid in full. When you hurt someone you have to pay and I want him to pay!’ She scrunched up her fists and punched the door. Not an ounce of pain showed on Pia’s face. ‘I hate him so much, I wish that had been his face.’
All debts must be paid in full.Gina knew she couldn’t ignore the mention of paying in full. ‘What was that?’
‘Sorry, I’m just so angry and upset by all this. I don’t normally punch doors.’
‘Pia, what did you mean when you say that all debts should be paid in full?’
Pia scrunched her brow. ‘Why are you looking at me like that?’
‘Like what, Pia?’
‘Like you suspect me of something? I told you, I didn’t mean to punch the door and I shouldn’t have said what I said about wishing it was Craig’s face. Look, I’m sorry I hit your door. There’s no damage so we’re all good. I best go. Simeon and I have a lot to talk about.’
A sick feeling welled in Gina’s stomach. It didn’t feel good to do what she had to do next but with Lindy’s life on the line, she couldn’t ignore what she’d just heard. ‘Pia, I’m arresting you on suspicion of the murders of Kain Pickering and Zavier Sellers, along with the attempted murder of DCI Chris Briggs, and the kidnapping of Lindy Pickering. You do not have to say anything.But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’ Briggs’s attacker had said,all debts must be paid in full,just before trying to drown him with a hosepipe. She could not let Pia leave and vanish into the night.
Gina glanced at the clock. It was almost nine thirty that evening. She didn’t know how much longer Lindy had. Then Gina thought, if Lindy was relying on Pia to stay alive right now, she’d just killed her by arresting Pia.
FIFTY-TWO
LINDY
Another loud bang came from afar. No one had come up close and spoken to her. Maybe the bang was down to the kidnapper loitering around, planning what to do next. All she could do was endure the revolting stringy things brushing past her legs, suspended in the liquid and swishing as she gently bobbed. In her mind, she imagined worms swimming. She screamed again. ‘Let me out.’
Her stomach turned each time she inhaled the sulphurous air. The liquid in the tank had to be stagnant. She looked up, knowing that she’d tried but couldn’t reach the top of the lid, or whatever might be containing her. Above, all she could see was a crescent of night-time hue, only marginally lighter than pitch-darkness. Was it a relief that her captor had left her with a little bit of fresh air? Maybe he had no intention of killing her or he would have sealed her in and waited for her to suffocate from the stench or lack of oxygen. She had tried to climb out of the cylinder, but she’d slipped back into the liquid. Her captor knew she had no way of escaping.
She yelped as another cramp distorted her calf muscles and she kept thinking,stay upright. Don’t drown in this revolting stew.Was anyone missing her? Her neighbours all thought alot of her and they’d been more than supportive when Kain had come by making a scene. She hoped that everyone was looking for her. But where were they looking? Where was she? She’d been standing for a long time and the warmth coming from below had now gone. Iciness spread through her body and the constant teeth chattering was making her jaw ache.
Think about better times.She tried to conjure up her safe and happy place in her mind.It was always their first holiday as a family when she and Kain were kids, back when he was her adorable little brother. They’d jumped over the waves on the Costa Blanca and Kain had shrieked with delight each time. That thought never failed to maintain her inner calm. She tried to tap into the warmth of the sun, the smell of salt and the slapping noise her feet made on the wet, compact sand beneath them, then the tickle of seaweed as it brushed against her legs.
She stumbled, losing her balance. As she ducked underneath the liquid, she inhaled a mouthful of slime. She gasped and started coughing the foul gunk from her lungs while trying her hardest to hold back her nausea. Her mouth had never tasted more disgusting. ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ she said in a quivery broken up voice, wondering if anyone was actually listening. ‘Help,’ she cried one more time. If anyone heard how feeble she sounded right now they’d have surely thought she was giving up. Was she giving up? Never, not as long as she had a breath left in her body. She wouldn’t give up.
The sound of a metal door creaking sent her silent as she listened to the nearing footsteps. The scrape of a ladder made her hyperventilate and she worried her ordinarily healthy heart might pack up at any moment. She’d waited for ages in the hope that her captor would come back to free her but now that he was back, she hoped he’d go away again. But if he went away, she’d definitely die. Thoughts raced through her mind, making her panic even more.
Boots clunking up metal steps sent chills through her and that was followed by the scraping sound of the lid being moved. The crescent of grim light turned into a half-moon but it was still too dark to see anything. A figure leaned over and she could make out the goggles on his face and their devilish green lights again. She was almost blind but he could see like it was daylight.
‘Water.’ He unscrewed a bottle and held it above her.
