Into The Lake: A gripping psychological thriller

by LK Chapman

Natalie

  43

  By the end of her afternoon at Hartbury Hotel, Natalie’s head was spinning. Worries about Josh and her plan with Toby mingled with unease at what Angelique had told her about young female staff never staying long at the hotel. What was happening to them? Had Toby’s harassment been enough to make them quit, or was he taking things a step further?

  ‘Natty, Natty!’ Daisy’s little voice broke through her musings. ‘I want Natty to do my reading book.’

  Natalie let five-year-old Daisy climb onto her lap at the dining table, clutching her reading book. She’d started school the year before and was excited to be ‘grown up’ like her older sister Isabelle.

  ‘Okay,’ she said, ‘you read it to me then.’

  ‘Auntie Natty might be a bit tired–’ Rob started, glancing round from filling the dishwasher, but she shook her head at him. ‘It’s fine,’ she mouthed. But she did struggle to concentrate as she helped Daisy sound out the words. At the end, her niece said, ‘Am I going to be your bridesmaid tomorrow?’

  ‘Daisy!’ Rob said. ‘We’ve told you a hundred times Auntie Natalie’s wedding isn’t until July.’ His voice was pained, as if he was wondering how to tell his daughter the wedding was off.

  ‘Is it July next week?’

  ‘No,’ Rob said patiently. ‘It’s January at the moment. Next week it will be February, but that’s still the winter–’

  ‘Then it’s spring, and then summer,’ Natalie said.

  ‘So it’s spring tomorrow?’

  Natalie looked helplessly at Rob, who came to sit down beside his daughter. ‘And you know I told you that Auntie Natalie is here because she and Josh had an argument–’

  Daisy’s brow furrowed. ‘But I’ll still be a bridesmaid?’

  ‘Well…’ Rob started.

  ‘It’s a long way away yet,’ Natalie said. ‘Let’s not worry about it all right now.’

  ***

  ‘Natalie, we’re going to have to tell the girls sooner or later,’ Rob said as he caught her on the landing later that evening. ‘The wedding is off, you can’t pretend that it isn’t.’

  She tried to be patient. The wedding wasn’t off, she’d have sorted things out by then – at least, she had to try to believe that. But she couldn’t say that to Rob. ‘I know, but, not just yet,’ she said.

  ‘They’re going to keep bringing it up. Verity said Isabelle kept talking about it the whole time she drove her back from ballet class.’

  ‘I just need to be alone for a bit,’ she said, trying to get to her room. ‘It’s been a long day.’

  ‘Because you shouldn’t have started a new job the day after a break-up!’ Rob said, blocking her path. ‘This is insane, Natalie!’

  ‘I didn’t start properly. I was just meeting people and getting to know the ropes a bit–’

  ‘But you start tomorrow. Tomorrow. It’s way, way too soon. Toby shouldn’t be making you do this.’

  ‘He’s not making me do anything. Now, please, Rob, I just need some space.’

  Once she was sure Rob had gone downstairs and wasn’t lurking about outside her door, she sat down on her bed and took a deep breath. Her heart heavy, she dialled Gareth’s number. This was going to be an awful conversation, but she had to ask him how Josh was doing.

  ‘So now you care?’ Gareth said.

  ‘Of course I care!’

  ‘Then go and talk to him yourself and ask him how he is. He’s gone back home now after crashing at mine last night. Go and see him.’

  ‘I … I can’t.’

  ‘So you don’t care.’

  Natalie had to dig her nails into her palm to stop her emotion escaping. She picked up one of the scatter cushions from her bed and hugged it to her chest as she leant her head back against the wall. It wasn’t like she hadn’t realised Gareth would be unpleasant towards her – Josh and Gareth’s loyalty to each other ran deep. But she was drained from her afternoon at Hartbury hotel and her confrontation with Rob. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed. ‘Josh said all those awful things to me,’ she said, ‘I can’t just forget that–’

  ‘Then why are you asking how he is? If you’re just writing him off like that?’

  ‘I don’t want him to confess to hurting Mikayla. I know he didn’t do that, no matter what else he might have done.’

  ‘So you want me to clear up your mess, right?’

  ‘Gareth–’

  ‘No, it’s fine,’ he said sourly. ‘I get it. Just walk out when things get a bit too real. Leave me to pick up the pieces. It’s not like I haven’t done it several times before. Let’s just hope that this time I can stop him doing anything stupid, because the last time he felt this hopeless it didn’t turn out so well. You might not have handed him the pills like Toby did, but–’

  ‘What?’ Natalie said. ‘Toby did what?’

  A few days after Mikayla’s death

  Josh

  44

  ‘Oh for fuck’s sake,’ Toby said, staring at him in disgust.

  Josh quickly swiped at his tears with the back of his hand. He started to stand, hoping to leave, but Toby was planted firmly in the bedroom doorway so Josh sank back onto his bed. He’d been sitting there most of the morning, his thoughts bleak and frightening. Was he going mad? It felt like he was.

  ‘She was my girlfriend,’ Toby continued. ‘So stop crying over her! She was never going to look twice at you–’

  ‘It’s not about that!’ Josh yelled, startling him. ‘It’s about the fact she was only sixteen! She had her whole life ahead … she…’ His voice broke and he stopped for a moment. ‘How can she be dead?’

  ‘Maybe because you drowned her, you little weirdo?’

  Josh leapt up from the bed and gave Toby a shove, anger making him brave enough to fight back. ‘I did not drown her! I tried to save her! How could you tell people that about me? How could you try to get people to believe that?’

  Toby shoved him back, harder. Josh stumbled against the edge of his bed, but managed to stay on his feet. ‘Why aren’t you upset?’ he asked Toby, ‘since she was your girlfriend?’

  ‘I don’t have to explain anything to you!’ Toby shouted. ‘Nobody wants you, Josh! Do you know why people have no trouble believing you weren’t really trying to save her? It’s because everyone hates you. Everyone wishes you weren’t here. I mean, what the hell have you ever done that’s any good for anyone? You’re messed up in the head. You’re just … I don’t know. You’re broken.’

  ‘You think I don’t know that?’

  Toby gave him a long look. ‘Just stop sitting in here crying. There’ll be plenty of time for that when they lock you up.’

  A heavy weight settled in his stomach. ‘Toby,’ he said quietly. ‘You know I didn’t do anything. You’ll tell them at the inquest that I didn’t do anything, won’t you? I was just trying to save her. I found her clothes and I went in the water, but I never even saw her. You know I’m telling the truth.’

  Toby shrugged.

  ‘Toby! I know you don’t really think I did it. If you really believed that, you’d be angry with me. You wouldn’t let me get away with killing your girlfriend. So you must know it was an accident.’

  ‘Look, Josh, you don’t belong in the real world,’ Toby said casually. ‘You’re made for some sort of institution.’

  ‘I won’t go,’ Josh said. ‘I’ll kill myself.’

  ‘Don’t be so stupid.’

  ‘I will,’ Josh said. Truthfully, he’d been thinking about it on and off for quite some time. ‘I will do it.’

  Toby paused for a moment, and then he left the room. Josh stared after him. Was he going out? Hopefully he’d go out. Josh threw himself back down onto the bed, and was startled when Toby came back and threw a couple of small boxes down beside him. ‘Go on then,’ Toby said as Josh picked up the packs of painkillers. ‘I’ll believe it when I see it. You don’t have the balls.’

  One week later

  Natalie

  45


  ‘Nat, could I speak to you in a minute? Once you’re finished in here?’

  Natalie nodded, her skin crawling. Toby was a murderer. There was no doubt in her mind now. He might have been the one to call an ambulance for Josh, but he’d given him the pills in the first place. He might as well have been the one stuffing them down Josh’s throat. It was barely a stretch now to believe he’d killed Mikayla, and every time she was near him her body filled with ice. She didn’t know if she was more angry, or more scared, but she knew she hated him with every fibre of her being.

  ‘Natalie? Did you hear me?’

  She turned. ‘Yes, sorry Toby. I heard you. I’m almost done and then I’ll come to the office.’

  After checking the function room had been set up properly for a dinner, she paused before heading to the office, steeling herself for being in close quarters with him. He’d said it was only a temporary arrangement to have her desk crammed into the corner of his office, but had it been deliberate? Had he planned for her to share a small, claustrophobic space with him? He’d certainly already made a few inappropriate remarks to her, which she’d had to brush off even though it made her feel like she wanted to wash herself from head to toe.

  ‘Sit down, Nat,’ Toby said as she joined him. As always, the room felt stifling even though it was winter. I wish I was anywhere but here. How had her life ended up like this? Sometimes it seemed like a living nightmare from the moment she woke up until the moment she slipped into uneasy dreams.

  She did as he asked, taking a seat at her desk in the corner, while he turned his own chair around to face her. ‘How are you?’ he asked. ‘Have you spoken to Josh?’

  She shook her head. ‘I don’t answer his calls or messages.’

  ‘Is he hassling you a lot? You could always block him.’

  Natalie’s stomach churned with hatred. How could Toby care so little about his own stepbrother? Did he find it amusing, this break-up he’d caused? Of course he does. He found it amusing to taunt him into a suicide attempt. He’s a psychopath.

  ‘He’s not hassling me,’ she said. ‘I haven’t heard anything the past couple of days.’

  ‘Has he stopped saying stuff about you? Commenting on your videos and stuff?’

  Natalie nodded.

  ‘Well, that’s something.’

  Is he serious? Anger overwhelmed her. She wanted to leap out of her chair and scream at Toby that she knew he was behind it all, but she held her tongue, her nails digging into the wood grain of her desk.

  ‘And how about your first week at the hotel? How are you finding it?’

  ‘It’s good,’ she said. This, at least, was true. Aside from the fact she had to work in close proximity to Toby, she did like the job once she was left alone to get on with it. But that was beside the point right now. She had to find evidence of Toby’s guilt and she had to do it soon, before she completely lost her mind. She was already distant, distracted, her head frequently pounding with the stress of it all. There was no one she could talk to. No one who could possibly understand the burden of being worried sick about Josh, scared of Toby, overwhelmed by lies, and having to stay in a cramped spare room in somebody else’s home. On top of that, even though she liked her new job, there was a lot for her already exhausted brain to take in. If it went on much longer she would start to completely break down.

  Toby nodded, looking satisfied that she’d said the job was good. ‘Well, I was thinking we could go for a drink later? It’s been over a week now since you and Josh broke up. Maybe it would help to get back out there. That would really show him, wouldn’t it? You don’t want him to think you’ve let those comments affect you.’

  No, her mind screamed, no, no, no! The idea of going anywhere with Toby went against her every instinct. But how could she get close to him if she didn’t spend time with him? He was giving her an opportunity to do exactly what she needed to do.

  ‘I don’t know…’ she said. She didn’t want to seem suspiciously keen, after all.

  ‘Come on, Nat. I know a nice little place. It’ll just be me and you, not a big crowd.’

  Just me and you. Did he really think that made it sound better? ‘I’m not really in much of a sociable mood at the moment,’ she said slowly, ‘but I guess one drink wouldn’t hurt.’

  ‘Exactly,’ Toby said, his face lighting up. ‘You can’t let Josh win. It’s a crime for such a beautiful woman to stay hidden away.’

  ***

  The evening passed excruciatingly slowly. Toby was apparently having a great time, chatting away to her animatedly, while she pretended to be interested. After a few drinks, she said she was tired, and although she had to repeat it a few more times before he understood that she wanted to go home, she did eventually find herself outside with him. She glanced around, unsettled now that they were no longer inside the bar where there was a comfortable buzz of noise from other people. The street was empty, and Toby was standing rather close to her.

  ‘I really enjoyed tonight,’ he said.

  ‘So did I,’ she lied. ‘I admit, I thought I wouldn’t – not so soon after the break-up.’

  ‘Perhaps you and Josh weren’t as well matched as you thought,’ he said. ‘If you’re not feeling that upset. Perhaps it was never meant to be.’

  Stepping even closer, he reached his hand towards her arm. He was a good couple of inches taller than her, and she felt suddenly very small. Her instinct was to pull her arm away, but she let his hand rest there for a moment.

  ‘Toby–’

  ‘I know,’ he said, ‘I know it’s soon.’

  ‘My head’s still all over the place,’ she said. ‘There’s been a lot of change for me recently, and it’s work tomorrow–’

  ‘Well, I guess I should be glad you’re so conscientious,’ he said.

  She laughed at his ‘joke’, relief flooding through her as he moved away from her. Did Toby have no shame? Was this his plan all along? Had he wanted to break up her and Josh so he could have her himself? It seemed far-fetched, but who knew what was going on in his head? And his poor wife, Jodie, did she have any idea how he really behaved?

  Toby was giving her a look that made her stomach clench. She was just the latest prize he’d set his sights on – he was eyeing her up like a piece of meat. It was the same way he’d looked at Chantelle that time she’d interrupted them in the conservatory: Toby had barely tried to hide the fact he was staring at the young woman’s curves as she’d walked away. No doubt he’d done the same to all the other women he’d driven out of the hotel with his advances, since he apparently thought he was entitled to behave this way. She tried her best to smile, while panic welled up inside her. He killed Mikayla and he nearly killed Josh. I really have no idea what he could be capable of.

  ***

  Natalie slipped quietly back inside Rob and Verity’s house. She tried to stay out of their way as much as possible now as their questions were too difficult to answer. She took off her coat and her high heels, grateful for the soft carpet on the stairs after a long day on her feet.

  As she crept upstairs, she paused in surprise. Verity was crying in the bedroom, and there was the soft murmur of Rob’s voice. She quickly made her way to her own room. Was it because of her? Had she been unreasonable, moving in here, burdening their marriage and children with her own problems? I have to sort things out. I have to get what I need from Toby.

  After a surprisingly deep sleep, Natalie showered and dressed hurriedly, catching Rob in the hall on his way out to work.

  ‘Rob … is everything okay?’

  ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘of course it is, what–’

  She lowered her voice. ‘I heard Verity crying last night.’

  He was silent for a long time. ‘Nat, I’m on my way out the door, I can’t really talk right now–’

  ‘Please, Rob.’

  ‘Verity has been unhappy for a while,’ he said reluctantly, as he realised she wasn’t going to drop it. ‘And this stuff with the business doesn’t he
lp.’

  ‘Well, let me look after the kids after school tomorrow,’ she said. ‘I’m not working, and she could have a bit of time to herself. Maybe you could take her out for dinner or something.’

  ‘You have enough on your plate.’

  ‘I know, but I need to pull my weight – I’ve just descended on you without warning–’

  ‘You’re not the problem,’ he said. ‘You don’t owe us anything, you’re family. Of course we want to help you.’

  ‘I’ll not be here much longer. I’ll sort something else soon.’

  A strange expression crossed Rob’s face. A sad one, she thought. Bleak. ‘Rob, tell me what’s wrong, please.’

  She trailed off as Verity made her way down the stairs with the two girls in tow, hair freshly plaited and their uniforms particularly neat. ‘It’s school photo day,’ Verity said.

  ‘Oh, lovely!’ Natalie said to Daisy and Isabelle. ‘You both look very smart.’

  Rob had taken advantage of the distraction to scurry out, with a quick goodbye shouted back over his shoulder, and Verity herded the girls towards the door.

  ‘V…’ Natalie said.

  Verity turned to her, shadows under her eyes.

  ‘Uh, it’s nothing,’ Natalie said. It wouldn’t help to bring it up, not when Verity was busy taking the girls to school. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

  ‘You on your way out?’ Verity said.

  ‘In a minute. I’m just going to grab some breakfast first.’

  After Verity left, the house suddenly seemed very quiet. In the past her brother’s place had been a kind of sanctuary for her, a dose of normality when her life had felt hectic and ungrounded during her modelling days, and scary after her accident. Now it wasn’t like a sanctuary at all. At times the house was as claustrophobic as Toby’s office. She sighed. Was anything normal any more?

  46

  ‘It was great getting to know you better last night,’ Toby told her as she sat down at her desk to catch up on emails. ‘I think we have a real connection.’