* * *
Sally could now hear every detail. He’d pulled at the cord of the light switch and she had jumped so hard her foot had knocked against the bath and she’d silently grimaced in pain. Now Lee was inside the small room with her, everything he did seemed close and loud. She held the bath panel shut with the very tips of her fingers. She bit down on her bottom lip. The plastic was slipping from her grasp as her clammy skin lost its purchase. If she let go now it would swing open into Lee’s leg.
He was still on the phone. Sally heard him undoing a zip. The panel slipped again and Sally hooked her fingers round it to stop it moving further. She bit her lip, her eyes tight shut. She couldn’t pull the panel back in place, her fingers were in the way, their tips visible from the outside. She felt very vulnerable, exposed in the bright light from the naked bulb which ran down the centre of her face like a white scar.
Lee was so close to her. He was standing over the toilet, blustering, and swearing to himself. Sally dared to peer out. She could see Lee’s boots with the baggy jeans falling over them, the edges frayed where they dragged on the floor. They were badly stained across the shin. Sally knew blood when she saw it.
‘I’ll sort it!’ Lee shouted into the phone. Sally heard it crash into the bath above her head. It bounced a couple of times, then came to a stop level with her chest. Lee’s legs disappeared and the light clicked off.
CHAPTER 20
‘I didn’t want to call at first, you know. I felt like I was maybe wasting your time,’ Lorraine Robson said.
Martin gave her a warm smile. At the last minute he had decided to attend the missing persons call in person, partly because the area commander was aware of the incident, and partly because he wanted to be away from the office. This was the perfect excuse to be out, and out of reach.
Lorraine sat opposite him, on a single-seater couch. A woman constable sat at the dining room table, filling out the standard, and notoriously laborious, form for reporting missing persons.
‘It’s never a waste of time,’ said Martin. ‘You can never be too careful with this sort of thing. And he is your husband. You know better than anyone if his behaviour is out of character.’
Lorraine took her mug in both hands, her fingers barely visible under the sleeves of her hooded top. She was barefoot, the colour on her toenails flaking off. Her dark hair was tied back, but a fringe swept across her forehead. She had apologised for her appearance when she’d opened the door to the police officers.
‘Ex-husband,’ she suddenly said.
‘Are you officially separated?’
‘Separated, yes. We’re not divorced.’
‘Sorry, that’s what I meant.’
‘No, then. But Tony seems to think it’s only a matter of time.’
‘And you don’t?’ Martin usually hated asking people questions concerning their private lives. ‘Sorry, I don’t mean to pry. It’s just that I had quite a long chat with Tony yesterday. I felt like I got to know him a bit, but that doesn’t give me the right to dig into his private affairs.’
The woman shook her fringe. ‘It’s okay, don’t worry. Did he talk about me then?’
‘Well, your son mainly. We found something in common. I have a daughter, you see. She’s much older, but we were still able to talk about the joys of parenting.’ Lorraine and Martin looked up as a loud thud came from the first floor where the search team worked. Martin smiled. ‘They won’t be long.’
‘We’ve struggled a little for our joys.’ Lorraine looked around and made eye contact with the WPC who was waiting for something to write. ‘I don’t mean that Daniel’s a bad kid. He’s brilliant, he’s always brilliant, I just meant—’
Martin held up a palm. ‘I know what you meant.’ Lorraine stopped speaking.
Martin looked around him. ‘He hasn’t moved out of here, has he? I mean, he might have, but it’s still very much a house that both of you live in.’
‘You mean all his stuff?’
‘Yeah, I saw a few bits on the way in too.’ Martin was big on first impressions. The house was on a road he knew well. He had lived there for many years, and had only moved eight years ago.
‘I keep it here for Daniel. He’s not taken the split very well, and he’s holding on to us getting back together. I think if he saw me making it more final he would get upset again. It needs to be a slow process.’
Martin waved his hand. ‘Like I said, we’re not here to pry, but it can be important to get some idea of the circumstances. It’s common for a separation or even an argument to be significant when looking at why someone suddenly goes missing.’
‘We didn’t argue. We don’t. He hates it. He just walks away.’ There was some bitterness in Lorraine’s words.
‘For long?’
‘Not for this long, if that’s what you mean.’
Martin shrugged. ‘I don’t mean anything. Is it possible that he’s just gone away for a while, maybe to avoid an argument or a difficult conversation?’
‘You mean about Daniel?’
‘Yes. This is a massive thing for you both.’
Lorraine sipped at her coffee. ‘I didn’t get that impression. I only saw him briefly, when he dropped Daniel back. He was a little rushed to get away, we talked about what the doctor had said but not much more. I could tell that he didn’t want to stay. That’s not unusual for him. When something upsets him he goes away, gets his head round it and then he’ll talk.’
‘Was he upset?’
‘Of course. I mean he wasn’t in tears or anything. He doesn’t cry — certainly not in front of me. He used to be a wrestler — amateur, but he probably could have gone pro. Anyway, he’s never been the sort to show emotion.’
‘And was that the last time you heard from him? Even a text or a Facebook post might be of interest.’
‘Tony doesn’t do Facebook,’ Lorraine scoffed. ‘No, that was the last I heard from him which was definitely out of the ordinary. He always contacted me at night, to speak to Daniel before his bedtime, but also to ask after us both. When I didn’t hear from him I sent him a message. When he didn’t reply, that was when I knew something was wrong.’
‘Was that when you called us?’ Martin looked over to the female officer, who was scribbling furiously.
‘I called the doctor first. We have a good relationship with him. I called him straight after Tony left — to get it from the horse’s mouth, you know? Then I called him again when Tony didn’t reply. I didn’t know what to do. I figured since Doctor Ngaye was one of the last people to see him, maybe he could tell me something I didn’t know.’
‘And did he?’
‘No. He said that Tony hadn’t taken it well at first, that he was upset and angry, which was perfectly understandable. He said that by the end he was actually starting to sound positive about raising the money he needed to sort it all out.’
‘He mentioned that. Three grand a month.’
‘Yeah. Or our son dies.’ Lorraine rubbed at her face and sniffed.
Martin watched her intently, guessing that it wasn’t yet quite real for her. She still hadn’t come to terms with the fact that things might not work out okay.
‘So as I said, you know Tony best. If he’s under a lot of pressure all of a sudden, where does he go and what does he do?’
‘Well, what he did this time is get himself arrested. You could have knocked me down with a feather when they told me that. And they didn’t say what for, either.’ Lorraine looked at Martin. ‘Can you tell me anything about that? About what he was arrested for?’
Martin shook his head. ‘No. It’s for him to tell you. We can’t give that out, even to the spouse. But I can tell you that he’s no longer under investigation. He was released with no case against him.’
Lorraine shrugged. ‘I guessed he had been fighting. He has a temper — never with me or Daniel — but he can go. I suppose you need to have one when you’re competing in the ring.’
‘It was nothing to do with fighting.’
Martin looked over to the officer who was busy filling in the form. ‘Is there anything else relevant you think we need to know? Something we haven’t talked about?’
‘Something’s wrong. I know something’s wrong, Inspector, because he didn’t even send a message that he wouldn’t be picking Daniel up. We’ve had our problems you know, times when the last thing we wanted was to talk to each other, but we always communicated over our son. Tony had never once let him down, in any way. He was our one constant and he is Tony’s whole world.’
Martin nodded. He felt like he understood. ‘This is a whole new level of stress though, Lorraine, and getting himself arrested was certainly out of character.’
‘We’ve had a lot of stress, and this has been a massive setback,’ she conceded, ‘But I do know Tony well and I know that he would come and speak to me about this sort of problem, and we would sort it out together. I can’t believe that he would just disappear like this and not talk to me. And even if he had, there is no way he would do this to Daniel — no way.’
‘Pressure is a strange thing. It manifests itself in different ways in different people. Sometimes people just need some space. I know that’s my first reaction when I feel like I’m under stress.’
‘You’re not Tony.’ For the first time Lorraine spoke sharply.
Martin sat back in the chair and put both his palms down on the arms. ‘You’re right. I’ll let my colleague run through the bits on our form that I’ve missed out, make sure we get all the information we need, and I’ll keep you up to speed with what comes of it.’
Lorraine stood up and gestured at her cup. ‘I’m going to need another one then. Do you want one?’
Martin smiled and passed over his mug. The woman constable declined and Martin knew she was looking at him. As soon as Lorraine was out of the room, she said, ‘Sir, does she know about the abduction?’
Martin spun round to face her, his voice hushed. ‘No. We don’t know for sure that it was Tony. She doesn’t need to know anything about that until we are sure.’
She nodded. ‘Okay,’ she said without conviction.
CHAPTER 21
Lee Chivers was furious. His phone crashed into the bath and he became a blur of movement and noises, grunts and shouts, as he punched doors and walls and brought his fists down so hard on the kitchen worktop that the plates in the cupboards rattled. It ended with him tearing off his clothes and throwing them into a pile in the middle of the room, where he stood naked, breathing heavily.
He marched back into the bathroom. Lizzy watched him go and let herself breathe again. She had been holding her breath, waiting for him to rip up the bed and stamp on her head in his rage. In the bathroom, he snatched his phone from the bath and turned the taps full on. He left it filling, striding back into the living room and prodding his phone angrily. He lifted it to his ear, talking to himself as he waited for the phone to connect. ‘It’s gonna get fucking hot round here. Time to get rid of the fucking money.’
Then Lizzy’s phone erupted in a loud rendition of “Shake it off,” by Taylor Swift.
It was in her back pocket. She reacted as if she had been stung, pulling the phone out and pushing it face down into the carpet, her mind racing.
‘What the fuck?’
Lizzy’s head was pressed against the floor. Lee’s feet appeared at the side of the bed. His knees bent and they splayed slightly. In seconds she would be discovered, and then there was only one outcome. In a last desperate move, she pushed her phone a few inches away from her hand, closer to Lee, and the edge of the bed. She didn’t move, didn’t dare breathe. Her mind teemed with options. Maybe she could crawl out of the end of the bed and run for it — she had a clear path, with Lee standing at the side. But she wouldn’t make it. She was so rigid with fear she wasn’t sure she could even stand up. She remained with her eyes on Lee’s feet, her hand still outstretched, resigned to her fate.
Lee’s knee came down. A hand appeared, palm down on the carpet, and moved around under the bed, feeling for the phone that still blared, “Shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, shake it off, shake it off!” She watched his hand get closer. His fingers almost touched hers as he felt around. Then he put his hand on the phone, and pulled it out. His knee was still planted on the floor.
‘Stupid fucking bitch!’
Lizzy closed her eyes as her phone clattered against the far wall, breaking into pieces. This is it, she thought, This is when he looks back under the bed and finds me lying here. He’ll realise I know that he murdered a man in cold blood. And that he fucking enjoyed it.
Lee got back to his feet and strode into the kitchen. Lizzy heard cupboards open and slam shut. She dared to open her eyes, and watched him go through to the bathroom.
* * *
Sally had heard Lizzy’s phone ring. She pushed the panel open, convinced he had found her friend lying under the bed. She would have to try and do something. Then, when the phone had bounced off the wall and she hadn’t heard any screaming, she had hurriedly pulled the panel back, but it still wouldn’t fit into place. She was holding it shut when Lee stomped into the bathroom and pulled at the light switch. He had his clothes in his arms and he threw them into the water. He stood over the bath for another thirty seconds before he left the room and Sally could smell bleach mixing with the rising steam. She realised she had another problem.
The pipes that fed the taps were still digging into the back of her neck. The pipe that supplied the hot tap was old, with no lagging, and it was warming up. If she didn’t move she would soon be scorched. She pushed herself away from the wall with her shoulder to try and put some distance between the skin on her neck and the pipe, but it was no use, her body rocked back into the hot pipe. Sally was jammed up against it, with no room to move away, not without completely changing her position, and she couldn’t do that without pushing the panel open.
She thought fast. With her left hand still holding the panel shut, she moved her right hand to the bag that lay along the front of the bath. Her finger and thumb found the zip. Mercifully, it was at the end of the bag closest to her, and she was able to tug it down far enough to reach inside and grab a thick wad of notes. The pipe was starting to burn her neck. She let out a whimper, and beads of sweat erupted on her forehead. Some of the notes fell from her fingers, spilling in front of her. The rest she held to her neck. It took all her strength to push her head forward, thrusting her forehead into the plastic of the bath. She managed to wedge a few notes between the scorching metal and her neck, enough protection to buy her a little time.
* * *
Lizzy dared to open her eyes. She could hardly believe she was still breathing. She could see bits of her phone littering the floor at the far end of the flat. She saw Lee’s feet emerge out of the bathroom. He walked to the bottom of the bed, his hands reached down and her mind raced. ‘The bastard, he knew I was here all along and he’s just playing with me.’ But the hand gripped the object in the black sack. Lee lifted it up out of her sight, and she heard the sound of material ripping. The sack fell to the floor in front of her and she watched him disappear back into the bathroom.
She heard something heavy drop into the bath. The water stopped running. Lee reappeared, he was swearing to himself. He went in and out of the bathroom, getting dressed. He put on a pair of blue shorts and slip-on shoes. She could see his lower half, the visible skin on his legs was scrubbed red. He moved to the front door, leaving the keys to his truck lying in the kitchen. And then he was gone.
* * *
Neither of the girls moved. They didn’t dare. Eventually the burning at her neck forced Sally to push at the plastic panel. She struggled a little to get to her feet, stiff from lying in one position. She rolled the carpet flat and straightened it. Her hands were shaking and her feet still bled freely. There was no time to tend to them — Lee could come back at any minute. Sally burst into the living area.
‘Lizzy?’ she hissed, afraid to speak aloud.
‘Yeah, yeah, I’m here.
’ She scrabbled out from the under the bed.
‘We need to get the fuck out of here.’
‘Yeah, now! He killed someone, Sally! Fuck, he killed someone!’
‘I know, Lizzy, I heard.’
Lizzy got to the front door before Sally and sprinted past her. Sally pulled the door shut and followed. As Lizzy ran past, a door to another bedsit opened and a bleary-eyed, obese man watched them go.
* * *
Lee was two floors up. He’d gone to see Mick, the caretaker, in order to bark some orders at him, ignoring the disapproving stare of Mick’s Thai wife. She had never liked Lee. She had once goaded her husband into standing up to him, but the head injuries Lee had inflicted had put him in hospital. She didn’t try again.
Lee told Mick to reset the key fob passes on the doors so that the cops couldn’t use theirs. On his way back down the stairs, Lee nearly collided with a fat man coming from his own floor.
‘Everyone’s in a rush today, ain’t they?’ said the man.
‘What’s that you say?’ Lee stopped and looked the man up and down. ‘You got something to say to me, fat shit?’
The man sniffed. ‘Nah, nah, man. It’s just I saw your two fucking women running past me door, I thought they were back.’
Lee came closer to the fat man. ‘What you mean, “your two women?” What women?’
‘I don’t know, Lee. You know, your two women. They’re always down there.’
‘When d’you see them?’
‘Fuck me, Lee, they were just here, I thought they were with you, like. I thought they were staying in your place.’
‘Running?’
‘Running, yeah, running. Down the stairs and off like, you know? I thought they’d come out of your place, that’s all. I didn’t talk to ’em or nothing.’
Lee turned and strode back into his own flat, and into the bathroom. He tore at the carpet and pulled the bath panel away, holding his breath.
The bag was there.
He pulled it out from under the bath. It was partially unzipped and wads of money spilled out. It looked like it was all there. He peered back under the bath and saw that some notes had come loose, three twenties at the tap end of the bath and another four folded together and stuck between the two water pipes at the top.
BLOOD MONEY a gripping crime thriller full of twists Page 12
