It had taken her a moment to work out where she recognized the female pig from; she knew she’d seen her before but she couldn’t immediately recollect where. Then it had come to her. She was a friend of that stupid bitch Louise. She was the one that Louise had been drinking with, the one Louise had blabbed to, the one who had seen a glimpse of Mina. Her presence made Mina distinctly uncomfortable.
Louise’s unfortunate phrasing about the ‘bondage killer’ had been a worry to Mina from the moment Louise had uttered it; for a split second their personalities had been too close and Louise had almost seen all of Mina’s memories. She’d quickly withdrawn hoping that the female pig hadn’t picked up on the word Louise had used. She hadn’t and Mina was pretty sure they’d gotten away with it.
Then Mina had almost taken over again and revealed her dark side. This, the copper had noticed, but Mina was confident she had put it down to the alcohol and Louise’s recent break up with that fuckwit, Steve. She certainly hadn’t said anything to make Mina think she had any cause to suspect that Louise possessed two personalities.
Even if the copper had pegged Louise for a killer from those two things alone, it was all circumstantial, Mina knew, so there had to be some other reason that these pigs were here now, sniffing around, trying to track her down like fucking bloodhounds sniffing out a rabbit. They wouldn’t have come all this way on a hunch. How had they even found the place? There had to be something else. Then it dawned on her – Derek fucking Cooper.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Mina was furious. She paced the bedroom thinking back to that night, the night when she had killed out of context, hadn’t followed her killing ritual. How could she have been so stupid? She had been so busy trying to protect Louise that she had failed to protect herself. She’d made a grave mistake and now the police were here.
Mina had taken it upon herself to kill Derek because Louise hated him and his threats against Ben were causing Louise a great deal of distress. Louise’s pain was Mina’s pain and as such she had wanted to remedy the situation, make Louise’s life a little easier. It would have been fine if she had just killed him and then left, but that wasn’t how she operated. Mina had a message; she wanted men to feel afraid and to realize that the only thing that set them apart from women was their genitalia – without that they were emasculated and weak, in the same way they thought women were weak.
The mistake she had made was not putting her glove back on after she had cut off Derek’s dick. She remembered that she had stumbled whilst fleeing the car park and had fallen against a car near the fire exit. She had touched it with her ungloved hand, leaving a lovely little clue for the Old Bill. Mina was so angry, she wanted to hurt herself. Or some police officers.
Ordinarily, the police having her prints wouldn’t have been a problem, but that stupid bitch Louise had gone and got herself arrested for punching that other stupid bitch Melissa. The police had her DNA and fingerprints on record and a speculative search of the prints recovered from the car would have identified Louise Jackson as the killer. Ultimately, Steve was to blame for all of this because if he hadn’t cheated on Louise, she wouldn’t have punched Melissa and she wouldn’t have been arrested; once again Mina’s problems stemmed from the actions of a man.
Mina sighed and shook her head. What was done was done and she couldn’t undo it. Time to stop beating herself up over it and deal with the present; the police were here and she was running out of time. She needed to prepare, to be ready for them when they came through the door. A quick glance out the window satisfied her that the pigs were still outside; they were now stood together next to the garage.
She dashed out of the bedroom and down the stairs, heading for the kitchen. She needed to find a weapon of some kind and she had seen a kitchen knife lying on the kitchen floor beneath the dirt and rubbish on her earlier scout around the house. The blade would be blunt as hell, but that didn’t bother Mina. She grabbed the knife off the floor, yanked open the basement door and ran back out into the corridor, pressing herself against the wall. She calmed her breathing and composed herself; she was in charge. She knew where they were and they hadn’t seen her yet, so she was in the strongest position.
In a few moments the pigs would be coming through the back door into the kitchen. But that was ok. Mina was ready for them.
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‘We need to call the DI, let him know what we’ve found,’ Greg said. Elizabeth nodded, not really listening. She thought she had heard movement inside the house, someone running down the stairs.
Greg took out his mobile and phoned Robert. After a short conversation Greg hung up the phone and said: ‘He doesn’t want us to go inside. He wants us to wait for back up because if she’s in there she could be dangerous.’
‘No shit she’s dangerous!’ Elizabeth scoffed. ‘But we can’t just wait here. What if she has another victim in there? What if she’s holding someone captive?’
‘I know what you’re saying, but if we go in there now, just the two of us, one of two things may happen. One, she may attack us and do us serious harm – not being funny but my can of pepper spray does not make me feel entirely safe. And two, she sees us and legs it out of the house and we lose her for good,’ Greg argued.
‘Or three, we go in, stick together and arrest her like we’re supposed to,’ Elizabeth added, looking at Greg, hopefully.
‘Come one Greg! There are two of us and one of her.’
‘That’s debatable!’
‘But we can’t just sit here and wait. We need to do something,’ Elizabeth beseeched.
‘You watch plenty of horror movies. You must know that it’s always a bad idea to disobey orders.’
‘Yes, but the bad guy always gets caught in the end.’
‘After one of the two heroes dies,’ Greg countered.
‘Greg, I want to catch this woman. I went to school with her, I was out drinking with her for Christ’s sake. I have to do this, I have to put right that missed opportunity.’
Greg looked at Elizabeth’s earnest face; she reminded him of himself when he was younger. He’d been so keen, so up for it. He understood how she felt and truth be told; he didn’t want to stand there waiting for backup when there was a murder suspect loose in the house anymore than she did.
‘Ok, we go in. But we stick together. No heroics. Batons ready,’ Greg said.
‘Of course.’
Together the two detectives walked towards the back door, their hearts pounding in their chests, adrenaline pumping through their veins. Elizabeth took the lead, Greg following close behind. When she arrived at the back door, Elizabeth noticed it was ajar, and there were fresh footprints in the dust around it. Elizabeth looked over her shoulder at Greg and pointed the footprints out to him. He nodded in acknowledgement and motioned to Elizabeth to continue.
The back door didn’t need much persuasion, a gentle push was sufficient to open it wide enough to allow ample room for Elizabeth and Greg to pass through.
With a deep breath, Elizabeth stepped across the threshold, gripping her baton tightly, her senses heightened.
It took Elizabeth’s eyes a moment to adjust to the comparative gloom of the kitchen and she waited just inside the door until her vision returned to normal.
She moved further into the room, Greg just behind her, and listened carefully for any noises elsewhere in the house. Cautiously, Elizabeth moved further into the room, carefully stepping over the detritus and debris that littered the floor. Elizabeth moved towards the kitchen sink, when she noticed a door to her right; it appeared to lead down to a basement area and the door was open.
She moved towards the open door and poked her head inside. Beyond a set of wooden stairs leading down to the basement, Elizabeth couldn’t make out any of the features of the room. It was pitch black down there and she would need a flashlight. This must have been the basement where Mrs Adams had murdered her husband. The thought brought chills to her skin and caused the
hair on the back of her neck to rise.
Just as she was about to turn to mention this to Greg, Elizabeth was pushed roughly in the back, the force of the blow catching her off balance and sending her tumbling down the stairs into the impenetrable darkness. She rolled over and over, falling for what felt like for ever, the wooden steps hard against her body.
Finally, she came to rest at the foot of the stairs, dazed and in pain. Her right wrist was broken and she was pretty sure she’d felt a rib crack as she’d smashed against the stairs during her plummet. The only source of light available to Elizabeth was coming through the open basement door and she looked up towards it to see if anyone was coming down the stairs after her.
Then she heard Greg shout out and heard feet moving rapidly about the kitchen above her. She tried to get up, wanting to run to the aid of her partner, but she was too dazed. Her head was spinning and the dizziness was affecting her vision. She managed to pull herself up onto her knees, but promptly fell backwards again as her body struggled to regain balance, the lack of light adding to her disorientation.
The struggle above her continued for a few seconds longer then stopped suddenly and Greg fell silent.
‘Greg!’ Elizabeth shouted up from the basement, wincing in pain at her broken rib. The absence of noise was worse than hearing the scuffle because she had no indication, no clue whatsoever, as to what was going on above her head.
The silence was eerie.
Then, the basement door slammed shut and Elizabeth was alone in the dark.
Chapter XXXVIII
Robert was worried. Neither Greg nor Elizabeth was answering their mobile phone; Greg’s just rang out and Elizabeth’s went straight to voicemail. Robert had been in the game long enough to know that this meant trouble.
When he had spoken to Greg, Robert’s instructions had been explicit – do not enter the house, wait for back up, keep an eye on the place and we’ll be with you soon. Although, he hoped they had listened to his orders and were still standing outside, calmly waiting for back up to arrive, Robert suspected his words had fallen on deaf ears. Elizabeth definitely would not have wanted to hang about, Robert was sure, but he was hopeful that Greg had been able to convince her to do as she was asked for once in her bloody obstinate life. He could but hope. He knew they were both competent detectives with good unarmed combat skills, but Mina was a vicious murderer who undoubtedly had a few skills of her own.
The unmarked car was travelling as fast as it could in the rush hour traffic, its sirens blaring, the blue and white lights in its grill flashing as JB negotiated the roads and swore profusely at the drivers that did not immediately get out of his way. Tony, who was in the back, echoed JB’s sentiments and joined him in his insults like a vociferous parrot with Tourette’s Syndrome. Because the car was unmarked, other road users didn’t always realize that it was a police car and that the sirens were in fact coming from that vehicle, and as such they didn’t always move out of the way, costing valuable time, and frustrating the hell out of JB.
A marked police vehicle was also en route at Robert’s request. He didn’t know how many officers they would need to apprehend the suspect and to ensure Greg and Elizabeth were alright, but there were now six on their way in total.
Robert pressed redial on his phone and tried to call Greg again for the umpteenth time to no avail.
‘For fuck’s sake!’ Robert threw the phone onto the dash board in temper, the device skittering across its surface before dropping to the floor as JB made a tight turn.
‘Anything from Elizabeth, Tony?’ Robert asked.
‘No, I can’t raise her. Her phone is still off or out of range. I’ll try sending her a message again. It may get through if she moves location.’
Tony was beside himself with worry; he needed to know Elizabeth was alright. He couldn’t bear the thought of her getting hurt, or worse. She had only just come into his life and he did not want to lose her. He typed out a quick text simply asking her to let him know she was alright and pressed send. He sat staring at the phone for a few minutes then returned the device to his pocket. Wherever she was, she was out of reach.
‘Get out of the fucking way you fucking reject!’ JB shouted at a silver Honda Civic that was failing to move over. He gesticulated angrily with his hand, eventually catching the driver’s eye. The car finally moved over and JB stuck his middle finger up at the driver as he screeched past.
‘Sorry Guv. But seriously, these fucking people!’
Robert didn’t say anything. He didn’t care how many people JB offended on the drive to the house, he didn’t care how many complaints they generated from the general public. All he cared about was getting to his officers as fast as possible. He just hoped they weren’t already too late.
************************************************
Mina’s mood had greatly improved now that she was back in charge. She’d even impressed herself by how easily she had managed to take care of the two pigs. The female pig was now trapped in the basement, and Mina had just finished strapping the male pig to the circular kitchen table, each of his dangling limbs fastened to a table leg, his head hanging over the edge. Despite her earlier reservations, the male pig hadn’t proved that difficult to take down after all, the element of surprise working in her favour.
She’d heard them creeping into the kitchen and had waited in the corridor, perfectly still, perfectly silent, poised and ready for the perfect moment to launch her attack. That moment had come when they had both had their backs to her; the female pig had been at the top of the basement stairs, and the male pig had been stood just behind her. Mina had come barrelling into the room as fast as she could, the male pig had only had time to turn his head halfway before she had shoulder barged him in the back, her momentum carrying him forward and causing him to ram into his colleague, sending her flying down the basement stairs.
He’d only just managed to save himself from sharing his colleague’s fate by spreading his arms out and catching hold of the door frame, his defenceless position allowing Mina to attack him with impunity. She had struck him around the base of the neck repeatedly with the knife handle, aiming for the vagus nerve, knowing that if she hit him there enough times and hard enough he would eventually experience vasovagal syncope and become temporarily unconscious.
After a brief struggle with him as he fought to push himself away from the door frame and Mina’s incessant onslaught, he had finally fainted, falling backwards onto the kitchen floor, catching the back of his head on the kitchen table as he fell.
Once he was incapacitated Mina slammed the basement door shut and pushed a rickety kitchen chair under the handle so that the female pig couldn’t escape. She knew she didn’t have long before the male pig woke up and so needed to act expeditiously.
It was not going to be easy to get the man onto the table; he was big and he was heavy and Mina suspected that knocking him out was going to prove the easy part of this endeavour. However, Mina was nothing if not resourceful.
She lay the kitchen table on its side and rolled the male pig over, rubbing him in the dirt like a breadstick in flour, until his back was firmly pressed against the table top. Then she ripped off the pull from the blind in the kitchen and promptly fastened his right arm to a table leg. Mina ran into the living room and ripped down the curtains, and with the aid of her blunt knife shredded them into strips she could use as restraints.
Back in the kitchen, she tied Greg’s right leg to another table leg, giving him the appearance of a broken marionette, two limbs up in the air, two limbs on the floor under his body.
All she had to do now was stand the table upright. Mina placed her hands on the two raised table legs, gripping them near the bottom for extra leverage, and then leant forward onto her arms, effectively pushing her entire body weight onto the table legs. She grunted with exertion.
For a brief moment nothing happened and Mina thought the table legs would actually break under her, but then the table rocked towards h
er, raising off the ground a couple of inches.
Encouraged by this, Mina tried again and after a few failed attempts eventually managed to tip the table upright. Her father had liked expensive furniture and the sturdiness of this table was testament to the old adage: you get what you pay for. The legs of a lesser quality table would most likely not have withstood her weight.
As the table tipped upright, Greg’s body flopped to the side so that he was hanging half on and half off the table. There was a pop as his arm was pulled out of its socket and his shoulder dislocated, the force of his body falling off the table too much for his restrained arm to take. Now that two of his limbs were fastened to the table legs, supporting half his weight, it wasn’t hard for Mina to maneuver the rest of his body onto the table top.
She quickly fastened his free arm and leg to the remaining two table legs and shoved a dirty piece of fabric into his mouth, securing it in place with more of her improvised curtain restraints by tying it tightly around his jaw and across his mouth. Satisfied that he would not be able to break free or spit the cloth out, Mina stood back to admire her handy work and mentally applaud herself for her ingenuity.
She was breathing heavily, tired from the push-pulling and lifting of the table and the body, but she still had lots to do – there was no time to catch her breath. She considered killing the male pig there and then but decided she wanted him to wake up before she began her ritual. It was no fun if she couldn’t see the fear in their eyes. She needed her victims to know that she was the one in charge, she had the power to kill them or let them live, and she liked to hear them beg for mercy.
The sun was setting fast, shadows were beginning to shroud the house, and the growing darkness was rapidly reducing visibility. Mina knew the approaching dusk was going to make it very difficult for her to carry out the rest of her tasks. She searched for a flashlight under the sink to no avail. She didn’t bother heading out to the garage to look in there because she’d already noted that the garage was pretty much empty except for the timber and roof tiles from the sections of collapsed roof.
Sweet Oblivion Page 35
