Deadly Intent

by D. S. Butler

  She heard the now familiar sound of the loft hatch scratching across the boards. She froze before slowly turning her head and looking at the dark opening.

  Brendan appeared. His eyes were cold and watchful.

  “Hello, Tammy. How are you feeling?” He set a clear box on the boards and hauled himself up.

  How was she feeling? How did he think she was feeling? Not only had he kept her up here against her will, but he’d also drugged her again. She felt terrible.

  She turned away from him, staring at the rafters and the dark material between them. She’d realised now that material was a type of soundproofing and that’s why nobody came when she screamed.

  “You’re ignoring me, are you?” Brendan said. “Well, that’s very mature. I have to say I’m very disappointed with you, Tammy. I really thought you were the one. I thought you would help me.”

  Tammy forgot all about creating a rapport. “Why would I help you? You’ve tied me up!”

  “I didn’t want to,” Brendan said, grabbing the box and walking awkwardly towards her. He cradled the rectangular box in his arms. It looked empty.

  “Then let me go. I could come back and help you, but you don’t need to keep me tied up here.”

  “I wish we could do it that way, Tammy. But it wouldn’t work. This is the only way. Believe me I didn’t want to do this.”

  “You’ve given me that sedative stuff again. I feel sick.”

  “You gave me no choice. He pointed at the bruise high on his cheekbone. This is what you did to me last time. So now for my safety, I’ve given you a sedative. If you start to work with me instead of against me, perhaps that won’t be necessary in the future.”

  Tammy felt a rush of rage and if her hands had been free… She swallowed her anger, remembering her plan. Get him onside. Create a relationship.

  “When are you going to tell me about this scheme of yours?”

  Brendan pulled a face. “I don’t really like the word scheme. It’s too close to scam for my liking. This is my research. One day, people are going to remember what I did.”

  “I’m sure they will,” Tammy said. But not for the reasons you think.

  Brendan pulled a Stanley Knife from his back pocket, and Tammy held her breath. He eased the sharp blade through the cable ties that bound her wrists.

  “Have you been chewing these?” he demanded, inspecting the teeth marks on the plastic.

  Of course, I have. I’m going to get out of here, and then you’ll wish you’d never crossed me.

  Tammy shook her head. “So you really are a scientist. You didn’t lie about that?”

  “Of course not. I mean, I have a day job, but science is how I spend my spare time.”

  He must have seen the scepticism on her face because he continued, “All the most famous scientists started out with science as a hobby, a passion. I don’t work in a commercial lab. A company doesn’t pay me a salary and dictate my research. No, I choose my own research subjects.”

  Her muscles were weak and her limbs flopped uselessly at her sides as the sedative took hold, but her mind was still active.

  She wasn’t sure how long she could remain conscious, but she didn’t want to pass out with Brendan so close.

  “And what are you researching?”

  A thin smile spread across Brendan’s face. “I’m glad you asked.”

  Tammy’s skin prickled, and her stomach rolled in disgust as Brendan shuffled closer. He pulled the rectangular box towards him until it sat between them.

  “What’s that?”

  “Some of my research subjects.” He tapped the side of the box.

  Tammy watched, horrified as tiny insects scurried about at the bottom of the glass box.

  “What are they?” Tammy asked, unable to keep the panic from her voice.

  Brendan angled the case so she could see there was a circular rubber seal on one side of the box.

  Tammy’s heart thundered. What was he going to do?

  “Now, this won’t really hurt. You’ll hardly feel it. So don’t give me any trouble, okay?” His eyes narrowed. “Otherwise you’ll find out I’m not always such a nice guy.”

  Tammy could have laughed. Nice guy? He really was delusional.

  He grabbed her wrist, and Tammy instinctively tried to pull away, but her limbs wouldn’t cooperate. She was completely at his mercy, and the thought terrified her.

  “What are you doing?” Tammy screamed as he forced her hand into the rubber seal, pushing until her whole forearm was enclosed in the glass case with the insects.

  She wanted the darkness to claim her now. She wished she could pass out so she didn’t have to remember any of this. Her breathing was fast, too fast, and her heart was beating so hard she felt a pain in her shoulder and wondered if her heart would give up.

  When he’d first shoved her arm into the box, the bugs had scurried away, but now they were tentatively making their way back towards Tammy’s skin.

  “What are they going to do to me? Get them off!” She could feel their tiny feet as two of the bugs crawled onto her hand.

  “They need to feed,” Brendan said. “Don’t worry. It doesn’t hurt. Most people are asleep when they bite, and it doesn’t wake them up. They secrete anaesthetic and anti-coagulant when they bite. They’re fascinating little things really.”

  “Then you put your arm in the box and you get bitten. Get this off me right now!”

  Brendan looked at her coldly. “I’m very disappointed, Tammy. As I told you, this is research. These little bugs contain parasites. When they bite, the parasites will be delivered into your blood and I’ll be able to study them using my microscope downstairs.”

  “You’re giving me parasites?” Tammy was shaking and her voice came out slurred. It wouldn’t be long now until she was completely out of it.

  “Yes, but I’ve got the cure. I told you. Don’t worry. You can trust me.”

  Trust?

  Tammy’s eyes flickered closed as the welcome blackness finally enveloped her.

  Brendan carefully carried his precious bugs downstairs.

  When Tammy had kicked off, he was scared she was going to squash them. Of course, he could always get more, but that wasn’t really the point. Tammy was severely testing his patience.

  Still, she would be an adequate incubator for the parasites, and whether he had to drug her for the whole time was neither here nor there. He would do what was required.

  He put the case down in the kitchen and studied the insects. Most of them had taken the opportunity to feed and were swollen and engorged with blood.

  He hadn’t been completely honest with Tammy. So far he’d been unable to see the parasites under the microscope, using his own blood. But he knew they were there.

  He’d picked Tammy because of her symptoms. He believed she was already infected and after the bugs had fed on her blood they would become carriers. He strongly suspected he’d see the parasite when he examined the bugs under the microscope, and he’d finally get the result he’d been searching for.

  He poured himself a glass of water. As he put the glass on the counter, he noticed his hands were shaking. That was Tammy’s fault. She made him nervous and doubt himself. Typical woman. Nothing was ever good enough.

  He raised the glass to his mouth, took a sip, then heard a voice behind him.

  “You, dirty boy. What have you brought into my kitchen?”

  Brendan coughed, spluttering water all over the counter.

  He turned around and stared at his mother with wide eyes. “N…n…nothing,” he stammered. “I just… I’m doing an experiment.”

  “An experiment? You? Don’t make me laugh. Good for nothing, you are. You’re always bringing dirty things back into my home, you disgusting boy.”

  Brendan’s whole body began to shake. “No, this isn’t real. You’re not real. You’re dead.”

  “Dead, am I?” His mother cackled. “If I was dead, could I do this?” She thrust her face an inch from his and scr
eeched in his face, smacking and pinching him at the same time.

  Brendan sunk to the floor, pushing himself back against the kitchen cupboards and cradling his head from the blows.

  This isn’t happening. This isn’t happening. It’s not real.

  But the abuse continued. She screamed at him over and over, kicking and shouting. Telling him he was worthless, a waste of space and sick in the head.

  Dirty. Dirty. Dirty.

  Brendan remained crouched on the floor for a long time after his mother’s voice faded. When he finally dared to look up, the kitchen looked normal and there was no sign of his mother.

  It had been a hallucination. Another one. They were getting more and more frequent.

  Trembling, he pushed himself up from the floor, leaning on the counter for support. She wouldn’t leave him alone.

  He wiped tears from his cheeks. Would he ever be rid of her?

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Collins took Julie Holt to the open-plan office area so he could call the office manager to book an interview room.

  He stopped by his desk and picked up the phone. “This won’t take long. Do you want to sit down?”

  But Julie remained standing, moving constantly. Nervous energy, Collins guessed.

  While he was on the phone, Julie stood beside him. Her hands tightly gripped the strap of her handbag, and she chewed on a thumbnail.

  “Thanks very much.” Collins said to the office manager when she’d assigned the interview room.

  He hung up and smiled at Julie, trying to put her at ease. “Right, we’ve got interview room two. Ready?”

  It wasn’t the nicest of the interview rooms, but it was a fair size and the chairs were comfortable.

  Julie nodded.

  “Can I get you a drink? Coffee?”

  She pushed a few loose strands of hair back from her face. “Just some water, please. It’s really hot up here.”

  “Sure. There’ll be bottles of water in the room. And sorry about the heat. Our air-conditioning system isn’t exactly state-of-the-art. We’re not really used to hot weather in the UK, are we?” Collins said. “It never lasts very long anyway, so we make do with box air-conditioning units that make a lot of noise but never seem to cool anything down.”

  Julie nodded absently.

  She was extremely tense, which was understandable. Collins wanted her to see him as someone she could trust and talk to. Someone to confide in. He’d dealt with cases in the past when the police hadn’t had the whole story because the family were ashamed or embarrassed to tell them. Sometimes that meant it was too late to make a difference.

  Collins opened the door and let Julie enter the room first. He was pleased to see a fan in the corner of the room. Bottles of water and stationery had been set out on the table. He pulled out a chair for Julie.

  He switched on the fan and angled it towards her. “Is that any better?”

  She nodded. “Yes, thank you.”

  Collins sat in the seat opposite her, grabbed a notepad and picked up a pen. “Now, I know you’ve already spoken to DC Black about your sister’s disappearance, but I want you to tell me about the last time you saw her or spoke to her and what you think might have happened to prevent her coming home.”

  Julie nodded. “Okay. My sister hasn’t been well recently. She’s been ill for the past year or so. Fibromyalgia. It really gets her down. And I suppose it makes her vulnerable. I worry about her.

  “I got a text message to say she was meeting somebody from a forum because they could help with her recovery. She said his name was Brendan.”

  Julie paused and her lower lip wobbled. She covered her face with her hands. “I should have told her not to go. I can’t believe I just let her meet somebody off the Internet on her own. It’s my fault.”

  “How old is your sister?”

  “She’s twenty-three.”

  “Then she is responsible for her own decisions. It’s not your fault.”

  Julie shrugged miserably. “It feels like it is. I’m sure my mum thinks it is, too. She was horrified when I told her Tammy had texted me her plans and I hadn’t tried to stop her.”

  “Do you know the name of the forum?”

  Julie nodded. “It’s called cureityourself. Tammy had been spending a lot of time on there recently. She said people understood her there in a way others couldn’t—meaning Mum and me, of course. She had a point. I wasn’t always as sympathetic as I could have been. I thought if she got some fresh air, ate better food and did some exercise regularly, she’d build up her immune system and start to feel better. But I think Tammy took it as a criticism when I suggested that. She probably just wanted me to listen and I didn’t.”

  Julie’s shoulders slumped.

  “When was the last time you saw her?”

  “The last time was at home last Tuesday. We had dinner together with Mum. Tammy still lives at home, but I’ve got a place in Ealing.”

  Collins made a quick note on the pad in front of him. “And the last time you communicated with her via text was this message saying she was going to see Brendan?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Did she tell you where they were meeting?”

  “Yes, in a Costa Coffee near Whitechapel station. In fact, I’ve got my phone. The messages are on there if you want to see them.”

  Collins said that he did and waited while Julie rummaged around in her bag. After unlocking it, she pushed her white iPhone across the table towards him.

  Collins read the messages.

  “I should have told her not to go, shouldn’t I?” Julie said miserably.

  “It’s easy to think of things you could have done differently in hindsight. You can’t blame yourself.”

  “I can’t help it.”

  Collins paused. There wasn’t anything he could say to make her feel better. The only thing that would help was finding Tammy and getting her home safely.

  “You said Tammy lives at home with your mum?”

  “Yes, that’s right. Mum came to the station with me yesterday to report Tammy missing, but she didn’t want to come here today. She wanted to stay at home in case Tammy comes back.”

  “And what about your dad?”

  Julie shrugged. “He’s not on the scene. I haven’t seen him since I was two.”

  “And you and Tammy share the same father?”

  Julie nodded.

  “You’ve tried to call Tammy?”

  “Of course, loads of times. I phoned all the friends I could think of and posted on social media, but there’s been no sign of her. No one’s seen her since she met that man, Brendan.”

  “Okay. Do you know how Tammy accessed the forum? Was it on her phone or on her computer?”

  Julie thought for a moment. “Both, I think.”

  “And Tammy didn’t leave her phone at home?”

  Julie shook her head. No she must have taken it with her. That’s another reason I know something is very wrong. She’s got a popular account on Instagram. She posts every day at the same time. She’s got loads of followers, and she wouldn’t let them down. Plus there’s all this stuff about demographics and the best time of day to post. She is pretty obsessive about it.”

  “Okay. So it’s likely Tammy can’t access her phone. Do you know what mobile network she uses?”

  “O2, I think.”

  “And the number?”

  Julie reeled it off and Collins made a note.

  “What about her laptop?”

  “I think that’s still at home.”

  “Then it would be really helpful if we could take a look at that. If she met Brendan on the forum, then we may be able to see their messages and find out who Tammy met at the coffee shop.”

  “Do you think Brendan was a fake name?”

  “It’s possible. But even if it isn’t, a first name doesn’t give us much to go on. If we can get more information we might be able to find out where he lives and then we can question him.”

  Juli
e nodded slowly and gave Collins a tearful smile. “Thank you. Thanks for taking it all seriously. I didn’t feel like they really wanted to do much about it when we first reported her missing.”

  “We’ll do our best to find her, Julie. I’ve just got a few more questions. It won’t take long. Afterwards, could you go back to your mum’s place and explain the situation? I’ll send some officers round to pick up the laptop, and if you and your mum agree, they’ll take a look around Tammy’s room to see if they can find anything to help us discover where she’s gone.”

  Julie agreed and looked at him full of gratitude. Collins really hoped he didn’t let her down.

  Mackinnon stood up and looked at his grey suit jacket on the back of the chair. It was too hot to even contemplate wearing it today. He usually wore a tie and a suit when he was working. But today, he would have to lose the jacket.

  The case seemed like it was slipping away from them, and he was pinning his hopes on the addresses where the bedbugs had been recorded. They needed to make progress. He had two appointments lined up for the residential addresses but still hadn’t been able to get in touch with the owner of the empty three-storey building. He’d have to try them again later.

  He picked up his wallet and mobile and was heading out of the office when the phone on his desk rang.

  He walked back and picked up the handset. “DS Mackinnon.”

  “Jack, it’s Bob down in reception. I’ve got someone here at the front desk asking for you.”

  “Did they give a name?” Mackinnon glanced at his watch, a gift from Chloe on his last birthday. He still had some time to spare before he needed to be at the first address on his list.

  “She says her name is Sarah,” Bob said. “Shall I tell her you’re coming down?”

  “Yes, thanks, Bob.”

  Sarah. So she’d turned up? At least he guessed it was Chloe’s Sarah. He wasn’t expecting anyone else. He considered texting Chloe to let her know Sarah was safe but decided to wait until he’d seen her for himself.

  Mackinnon headed down the stairs, taking them two at a time. He checked his watch. He didn’t know how long this was going to take, and he had those appointments to keep.