Be My Killer: A completely UNPUTDOWNABLE crime thriller with nail-biting mystery and suspense

by Richard Parker

  Hazel put on her jacket. ‘Sounds like a good reason to go. And if Rena’s hung-over we’ll probably be there and back before she rolls up with the bagels.’

  Sweeting sagged. ‘Wasn’t the plan to finish the interviews so we can get out of here?’

  She zipped up. ‘Yep. And I want to start with them.’

  Lucas stood. ‘What the hell. If it’s only down the road, I’ll take any excuse to get out of this place for a while.’

  Weiss nodded agreement.

  Hazel picked up her phone. ‘We’ll take my car.’

  Sweeting was the last to move. ‘Does your insurance cover me getting savaged by guard dogs?’

  76

  ‘It can’t be this way,’ Sweeting said for the second time.

  Hazel was guiding her silver CX-5 along a tight, rugged road bordered by two overgrown hedges. Brambles dragged at the bodywork as she nudged the touchscreen of her TomTom. ‘According to this it is.’ But the display had frozen. She recalled her father driving her down the same country tracks but they’d never been this neglected.

  The raised dirt in the middle of the trail scraped at the bottom of the car.

  ‘We’re being swallowed,’ Weiss warned.

  She looked in the rear-view mirror to where he was sitting with Sweeting. They were both peering out the back window at the branches closing behind them.

  ‘I’d stop now. We might not be able to reverse if we go any further.’ Lucas was in the front passenger seat, nursing the camera in his lap.

  ‘I’m sure this is it.’ Hazel kept her foot on the pedal; out of the corner of her eye she caught him shake his head.

  Soon they couldn’t see further than a few feet.

  ‘This is a Mazda not a John Deere.’ Weiss leaned between Hazel and Lucas.

  The car slewed and graunched as it hit a trough. Leaves were already building up on the wipers. She switched them on.

  Eventually the vegetation thinned out and they were in a dust bowl bordered by stacks of slate and roof tiles. Beyond them were three one-storey corrugated outbuildings.

  Hazel turned off the engine. Was this really where Meredith had grown up?

  ‘Looks derelict.’ Weiss pulled the handle of his door.

  ‘Stay in the car.’ Sweeting folded his arms. ‘We’re trespassing.’

  Hazel tapped the TomTom screen again but it was still motionless. ‘This is definitely their zip code, and it was the only place on the map for miles.’

  ‘Then try them again.’ Lucas grabbed Hazel’s phone from the dash and handed it to her.

  She speed-dialled and put it on speaker. Engaged tone.

  ‘Come on; as we’re here, let’s take a look.’ Weiss got out.

  The others followed, and Hazel slid her phone into her back pocket and led them through a gap in two stacks of the tiles to the plot the other side. ‘May as well record this.’

  Lucas lifted the Lumix and nodded he was running, hanging back to get them all in frame.

  They came to the end of another narrow road that wasn’t clogged by bushes.

  ‘That must be the right way in,’ Sweeting griped.

  Hazel made for the first structure. It had two buckled aluminium doors that were chained and padlocked. She tried to get a glimpse through the gap in them, but the interior was pitch-black. A sour smell from within wrinkled her nose. She moved to the next outbuilding and halted as something bumped inside it.

  She put her finger to her lips. Was it livestock?

  They all listened.

  No other sound came so Hazel continued until she was adjacent with the doors. They were secured in the same way.

  ‘That doesn’t sound like my fucking problem.’ Wade emerged from the furthest outbuilding, talking on his phone.

  The four of them waited to be discovered, but he started striding in the opposite direction.

  ‘Mr Hickman!’ Hazel called after him.

  He rounded the corner and disappeared from sight.

  ‘Jesus, they do live here.’ Lucas lowered the camera.

  Hazel gestured for him to keep shooting and hurried after Wade.

  ‘We shouldn’t be creeping up on him like this.’ Sweeting caught up with her.

  Hazel glanced into the dark recess of the third outbuilding. A large TV screen was showing a rerun of The Middle. Around the corner she found Wade getting into his blue Tacoma pickup.

  He saw her and paused at the open door, his features flitting between hostility and recognition. ‘I didn’t give you permission to come out here.’

  Hazel turned to Lucas, but he’d vanished. Then she spotted his shadow at the corner of the outbuilding. He was hiding with the Lumix. Weiss and Sweeting had registered this so were staring straight-ahead at Wade. ‘I’ve been trying to contact you.’

  ‘Phones are for shit out here.’

  Hazel’s gaze dropped to the one in his grip.

  ‘What’s so important anyway?’ He seemed agitated.

  ‘The police are looking for Jacob Huber,’ Weiss piped up.

  Wade kept his attention locked on Hazel. ‘What’s that got to do with me?’

  Hazel held up her hands. ‘We just wanted to make sure you hadn’t seen Jacob since your last conversation with him.’

  ‘Why would I have?’ He swallowed and his leather necklace slid tightly up and down his throat.

  ‘Perhaps you saw him on the road back into town?’

  ‘No. And if the cops think I had something to do with it why am I not talking to them?’ He darted his tongue into the hollow of his cheek.

  ‘You might be soon.’

  Wade rolled his eyes to Weiss. ‘Thanks for the warning but I advise you all to go now. Tam’s nearly back from walking the dogs.’

  Hazel remembered Meredith mentioning her mother’s secret target practice in the woods and imagined how she’d punish unwanted guests. ‘We’re really sorry to come busting in like this… ’ but she could tell from Wade’s expression that her apology wasn’t cutting it. ‘OK, let’s move it, guys.’ She followed Sweeting and Weiss back the way they came but couldn’t see a sign of Lucas.

  77

  Lucas had crossed the yard and was crouching the far side of the middle outbuilding with the Lumix still running when the rest of the crew walked by. Hazel turned briefly in his direction but didn’t react. She looked quickly away, and Lucas figured Wade must still be behind them and she didn’t want to signpost his hiding place. He padded to the rear and slipped around the corner, leaving only his lens protruding to record their exit. Wade didn’t follow.

  A few moments later, he heard the Mazda start up. The engine noise got louder. They were leaving via the second road, and the motor quickly receded and left the scene in silence.

  They’d probably stop as soon as they were out of earshot. Lucas checked the battery supply – seventy-two per cent. He rested the camera on the ground and put his phone on silent.

  A door slammed. Lucas waited. Another vehicle fired up, and he saw Wade glide by in his blue pickup, leaving the same way as the crew. He had hardly any reception so quickly texted Hazel.

  W on his way.

  She responded.

  Have pulled off road. Shoot what you can.

  Lucas grabbed the Lumix. He didn’t feel safer with Wade gone. Sounded like Tamara would be here soon, and he guessed what sort of dogs she’d have with her.

  When Wade’s pickup had faded and he was satisfied she wasn’t around, Lucas emerged and skirted the rusty wall of the outbuilding.

  Something thudded inside, and he stopped and put his ear close to the corrugated iron. Were pigs kept in there and, if so, shouldn’t they be making more noise?

  The front entrance was padlocked so there was no way he could investigate. But Lucas could see a gap in the warped side panels and had an idea. He reached into his pocket and took out one of his miniature spy cams.

  ‘Here he comes.’ Sweeting leaned back in the front passenger seat, as if it would make him even more invisible.r />
  Through the overhang of trees that concealed them at the side of the road, they watched Wade’s pickup zip past them as it headed towards town.

  ‘We’ll give him twenty seconds then follow.’ Hazel put her foot on the pedal in readiness.

  ‘What about Lucas?’ Weiss asked from the back.

  ‘We’ll let him shoot around the farm awhile then come back for him.’

  Sweeting shook his head. ‘I don’t like this. He’s trespassing and we’ve been given an explicit warning to stay away.’ He folded his arms tightly. ‘I really don’t know what you’re trying to achieve with this, Hazel. Are we tailing him out of boredom?’

  ‘You can get out here, if you want. Walk back to base or find Lucas.’ Hazel knew he was going to stay put.

  ‘Well?’ Weiss prompted him when he didn’t answer. ‘Are you in? We’re losing him.’

  ‘Of course I am. But I want you both to remember I think this is a fucking stupid idea.’

  ‘Noted.’ Hazel pulled out after the pickup.

  78

  April had her eyes firmly shut and thumbs back between her teeth. If she couldn’t see the grown-up, they didn’t exist and she’d decided to stay like it until the search party found her, or she was an old woman.

  There were insects on the branch she was lying along, crawling all over her hands. Without peeking, April couldn’t work out how many of them there were. Two, three, five thousand? She imagined herself covered.

  Their tiny legs pricked her skin, each tingle adding to the solid ball of a scream enlarging in her stomach. Soon it was going to be too big and burst out of her.

  But although the bough was riddled, it concealed her completely. The grown-up wouldn’t be able to spot her from the ground, even if they looked up directly. But perhaps they were playing a game now. Maybe they’d watched her climb the second tree and were just teasing April by making her think they’d left.

  But then April could hear the familiar sound of their distant boots on leaves again and squeezed her eyelids so tight the blood boomed in her ears.

  79

  Lucas squinted across the yard to the outbuilding Wade had emerged from. There were no windows and its aluminium door was now sealed. No sign of Tamara.

  If he were discovered, Lucas would say he got split from the rest of the crew and was looking for them. He decided to run the camera from under his arm. That way it wouldn’t appear as if he were recording. He checked the viewer to confirm the frame was elevated enough and stepped out of his hiding place.

  Lucas awkwardly covered the yard to the closed door, trying not to tread too heavily or act as if he was being stealthy. Tamara could be watching him, and he anticipated dog barks or even gunfire. Around the doorway crack he could see there was a light on. Did they really live in this hovel?

  He deliberated whether to check the interior or do a swift circuit of the dilapidated structure first.

  Hazel took her foot off the pedal as soon as they rounded the corner and caught sight of the top of the blue pickup winding through the hedges ahead.

  ‘Slow down.’ Sweeting’s shoulders were rigid.

  But before the tall shrubs obscured it she saw Wade take a sharp right. ‘He’s not going to town.’

  ‘I can’t see him.’ Weiss was craning through the front seats.

  ‘He’s just turned off. Keep an eye your side.’ But Hazel spotted the tight track before he did and swerved the Mazda down it.

  The wheels popped over gravel.

  ‘How are we going to explain this if he realises it’s us?’ Sweeting gripped the buckle of his seat belt.

  ‘There he is!’ Weiss exclaimed.

  ‘I can see him.’ She applied the brakes and allowed the pickup to draw a good distance away before she accelerated again.

  ‘Maybe he knows we’re following and is leading us somewhere to butt fuck us at gunpoint.’

  ‘Maybe that’s exactly what you need.’ Weiss leaned into Sweeting’s ear from the back seat. ‘Might make you less uptight.’

  He angled his face away. ‘Happy for you to take one for the team.’

  ‘Where’s he gone?’ Hazel picked up speed.

  ‘Careful, you’ll be on top of him in a moment.’ Sweeting braced himself.

  ‘He must have been shifting to leave us this far behind.’ She resisted the temptation to go up a gear as they glided around another corner and there was still no pickup.

  The three of them were silent as they waited to catch a glimpse.

  ‘There.’ Weiss pointed.

  They’d almost missed it; the Tacoma was parked to their right by an opening in a hedge that led into dingy woods.

  80

  Hazel stamped on the brake, and they jerked still a few feet behind the pickup. ‘He’s not in there.’ She attempted to peer through the trees beyond it. Were they about to witness the kind of criminal activities Bennett had alluded to, and had Meredith regularly been party to them?

  Weiss leaned forward to study the slow-moving TomTom. ‘Nothing nearby. Why stop here?’

  Sweeting glanced through the back window, as if expecting attack. ‘He must have seen us.’

  Hazel rolled the Mazda twenty feet past before switching off the engine. ‘Let’s follow him.’

  ‘Fuck that. I’m staying right here,’ Sweeting said, crabbily.

  ‘Suit yourself.’ Hazel was already exiting the car, and Weiss followed. ‘If we’re not back in ten minutes—’

  ‘Jesus. Wait.’ Sweeting got aggressively out.

  ‘Don’t slam it,’ Hazel hissed and made for the gap in the hedge.

  Lucas had circled Wade and Tamara’s rudimentary living quarters and ventured through a copse to the rear. He found empty wooden kennels and some smaller corrugated outbuildings. The camera was still recording as he tried the handle of the first. It was locked. Moving to the next he expected the same but the spring of the mechanism creaked loudly.

  He turned back towards Wade and Tamara’s place until he was sure nobody was about then pushed the handle the whole way. The metal door relaxed from its frame and swung heavily out at him. Lucas caught it and put his eye to the viewer as he pointed the lens inside.

  It was stacked to the ceiling with plain cardboard boxes covered in dirty green stains. He entered, and the interior smelt of mould. Putting down the Lumix, Lucas slid one of the heavy boxes from the top of a pile and set it on the floor. He didn’t have a knife with him to slit the wrinkled brown tape across the top but managed to unpick an edge and tear it up from the bottom.

  He hesitated after making the ripping sound then picked up the camera and opened the flaps with his other hand. ‘OK, let’s see what you’re stashing in here—’

  The door slammed hard, and Lucas was crouching in pitch-darkness. At first he thought it was the wind or that its weight had closed it, but then he heard a key turning in the lock.

  81

  ‘What the fuck is he doing?’ Weiss whispered behind Hazel.

  She held up her hand for silence.

  The three of them had tracked Wade via a barely discernible dirt path that slalomed through the trees until they’d spotted him standing on the edge of a stream below them.

  Wade jumped the water and began climbing the bank the other side.

  Hazel waited for him to get a good few paces up it before continuing.

  Sweeting grabbed her arm. ‘This doesn’t feel right. Why would he come here?’

  ‘Exactly why we’re following him.’ She lifted her elbow from his grip.

  ‘He’s right.’ Weiss still had his eye on Wade. ‘What if this is a trap?’

  ‘We’ll keep him in sight. That way, he can’t surprise us. But if we don’t move now, we’ll lose him.’ She started down the path again.

  After a few moments she heard Weiss and Sweeting fall in behind her.

  ‘Hello?’ Lucas felt foolish but it was all he could think of to say. He listened at the door and tried the handle again.

  The action prompted
several low canine growls.

  Whoever had locked him in was outside with the dogs, and he guessed who it was. Lucas hadn’t heard any footsteps away from the door. But, then again, he hadn’t heard her approach either.

  ‘Is that you, Tamara? I’m with the film crew and got separated. I was just trying to find them. Please, let me out.’

  There was no response.

  ‘We came to see Wade. You probably remember me. I was the cameraman when Hazel Salter interviewed you.’

  Snarling and a soft scrape against the panel. One of the dogs was getting his scent.

  ‘Look, I’ve got a phone. I can call her, and she’ll drive straight back and open this door.’

  ‘Phone reception’s lousy here.’ It was definitely Tamara’s voice.

  ‘Listen, Tamara—’

  ‘So if you knew she’d left, what were you doing snooping back here?’

  Lucas didn’t have an answer. ‘I’ve already sent her a text from here to pick me up so I know my phone will work.’ Taking it out he punched the button so the screen lit up. No reception. He found the torch and switched it on. The musty atmosphere was getting overpowering. ‘Please, just let me out.’

  One of the dogs barked harshly.

  ‘I’ll walk straight out of here so they can pick me up from the road.’

  After a few seconds, the door was unlocked.

  82

  ‘OK, so what now?’ Weiss halted on the hill and rested his palms on his knees.

  Hazel caught her breath and scanned the brow. Even though they’d quickly crossed the stream and had been striding rapidly up the incline, Wade had already disappeared over the top of it. ‘I don’t mind heading up there on my own.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid.’ Weiss gulped air. ‘We’re not about to let you go alone.’