by Diane Hester
She manoeuvred herself to a sitting position and gasped at the sight of the large shard of glass protruding from her calf. She gritted her teeth—the bandages would protect her hands—then reached out and yanked it from her flesh.
Again she managed to stifle her cry, then stared in horror at the blood rapidly soaking her jeans. She’d need something to tie around it. What was left of her bandages! If she had time.
She struggled to her feet and glanced back to see if Ikeman was coming. The hallway was empty but for a large misshapen object sprawled across the floor. The thing she had tripped over. Ikeman had clearly fallen for her trick and taken the stairs.
She turned to run on and glanced again at the object on the floor. Bigger than a carpet, more substantial than a pile of rags …
Hand to her throat, she stumbled back.
This time her scream could not be contained.
Forgetting the tourniquet, forgetting her leg, Lindsay ran. Those bulging eyes. That swollen tongue. That bluish skin. She had to get … But her leg wasn’t working. Cold and heavy, it dragged behind her. Off balance, she crashed to the floor.
‘Is that you, my darling?’
She jumped at the sound of Ikeman’s voice. Her scream had given her position away.
‘I take it you just found Jennifer’s body. That would’ve been a nasty shock. I was planning to dispose of it properly, of course, but something came up. You know how it is.’
The voice was growing steadily closer. He knew where she was!
Lindsay tore the bandage from her left hand and wound it tightly around her calf. It wasn’t enough to stop the bleeding but it might keep her leg from buckling under her.
She got up and took two faltering steps. Dropped to her knees. Tried again. The result was the same.
Sprawled in the passage, breathless and bleeding, she gave in to despair. It was no good. She couldn’t run. Hobble at best, but she’d never out-distance him. Nor could she hide—the blood she was trailing would lead him right to her.
The moment passed quickly. She swiped at her eyes and clenched her fists. The bastard had won. But she would damn well meet him on her feet.
As she hauled herself up one last time, she noted movement in the shadows ahead. Something big and low to the ground.
She gasped as the hound slunk forward into view.
Chapter 48
‘I hope you didn’t cut yourself in all that glass.’ Ikeman’s voice rang out from behind her. ‘Jennifer made an awful mess when she broke that window. For all the good it did her.’
Lindsay stood staring down at the dog. Why was it here? Could she dare to hope it had come to help her? Show her a way out of the endless labyrinth? Could they reach it in time?
Well don’t just stand there.
The creature turned and started up the corridor. She stumbled after it.
‘I’m not sure if you realised it, but Jennifer was my gift to you, Lindsay.’
She cringed at the words. What was he saying? What sort of twisted—
‘I couldn’t let her get away with how she treated you. Spiteful cow. She really had it in for you, didn’t she.’
Dear god, was he saying he’d actually— She choked back a sob, trying to block the thought from her mind.
‘There was a time I’d have done anything for you. I’d certainly have given you more than he did. That halfwit cop. But you never seemed to return my sentiments. Still, I never dreamed you’d lower yourself to the likes of him.’
She tried to gauge Ikeman’s distance behind her by the sound of his voice. Maybe another thirty seconds before he came around the corner and saw her.
The dog had stopped before a door. In the deepening shadows she nearly fell over it. ‘Keep going,’ she whispered. ‘We can’t stop here.’
The hound stared impassively up at her.
She looked at the door. It wasn’t just closed, it was sealed with boards nailed across it. But clearly this was where he wanted her to go.
She grabbed a board and yanked it hard. The rotted timber broke in her hands, scoring her palms. She winced as she felt some sutures pull free, then ducked beneath what was left of the barrier and opened the door.
A twenty-foot-square room lay before her. Totally empty. No windows, no doors, no place to hide. If she entered she’d be trapped.
The hound slipped in ahead of her, turned and whined, leaving no doubt as to its wants. She had to trust it. She moved inside.
At her third hopping step across the room, the floor gave a menacing deep-throated groan. Lindsay froze. The groaning stopped, but after-creaks rippled beneath her feet.
The dog sprang forward, snarling and snapping at her legs. She fell back hard against the wall.
For a moment she stood uncomprehending. Then, looking across to the back of the room, her eyes widened in understanding. ‘My god, you can’t be serious.’
The dog had cocked its head towards the door.
‘Oh dear, I see you did cut yourself after all. And rather badly it would appear.’
Lindsay flinched. The voice had come from just up the hall. Ikeman had reached the spot where she’d fallen over Jennifer’s body.
‘My, my, so much blood. Does it hurt, my darling? Not to worry, I’ll take care of you. Pretty soon it won’t hurt at all.’
She looked again at the back of the room, then down at the dog. ‘Okay, you mongrel. Lead the way.’
***
‘You want to give me a hint what we’re looking for?’ Sam said, staring through the Prado’s windshield.
What indeed. Mac gazed despairingly out at the marina. Row upon row of derelict buildings receded towards the ocean. He’d forgotten how extensive the area was. Scheduled for demolition to make way for a housing development, it sprawled for nearly ten city blocks.
‘When I talked to her this morning, Lindsay said something about a church. She said in her vision she could see both a church and a park from the upper floor of the factory.’
He turned down the road that gave access to the rear of the first row of buildings. A dozen or so alleys ran off it, each leading to an individual dock. If he had to, he’d search them all one by one.
But would there be time?
‘So you reckon she came here hoping to see the church in the distance and then use it as a reference to pinpoint the factory.’
‘That’s all I can think of. Unless she saw something else in the meantime.’ Mac steered down the first of the alleys.
Sam shook his head at the sheer walls rising on either side of them. ‘We’re pretty boxed in here; can’t see much. Wouldn’t it be better to get inside one and check out the view?’
Mac gave a laugh. ‘Where do we start?’
‘Take your pick. Work your way through them one by one or go with your gut.’
He took a deep breath and blew it out again. Even a hunch required some insight. ‘All right, I’ll pull up and we’ll take a look.’
At the end of the alley, he did a U-turn in the space between the channel and the rear of the building. As the car swung around, a short length of each of the neighbouring docks came into view.
Behind one was parked a dark blue sedan.
***
Lindsay inched around the edge of the room, her back pressed firmly to the wall. The hound was ahead of her, moving slowly, its head lowered, ears pricked. By the frequent creaks of protesting timber beneath their feet, she felt they walked the edge of a precipice.
With a shudder she recalled how the boards over the door had snapped in her hands—boards obviously nailed in place because the floor of the room within was on the verge of collapse.
A groan issued from underfoot, accompanied by a tremor—the strongest yet. She froze and swallowed. They were on the third level. If the floor gave way would they merely fall as far as the second? Or was that in a similar state of decay?
Another step and another loud creak. She pressed back hard and held her breath. The pain in her leg was abominable but there was n
o way she could take her weight off it. As it quivered beneath her she prayed it wouldn’t give out and spill her forward. Surely the centre of the room would be weakest.
Please, just let me reach the back wall.
The dog looked around as though she’d spoken the words aloud, then continued slowly forward again.
The floor felt strongest in the rear corner but she couldn’t stop. To lure Ikeman into position she had to stand directly opposite the door. She crept the last few feet to that spot and turned to face forward.
She fixed on the floor. Could she really get Ikeman to walk across it, distract him enough that he didn’t hear it groaning until he fell through? And—the even more important question—would enough of the shattered boards remain that she could get safely out again?
Movement drew her gaze. The hound was continuing around the room, heading for the door.
‘Hey,’ she whispered. ‘Where are you going?’
The beast never slowed.
‘Wait, come back here; what are you doing?’ But it had already disappeared out into the hall again. ‘You bloody mongrel. Don’t you leave me.’
The spot where it had vanished was suddenly filled by a man’s silhouette. With a single clean chop of his hand, Ikeman broke down the remaining boards and stepped into the room.
‘Dear Lindsay. I won’t leave you. Though I do take offence to your term of endearment.’
Chapter 49
Mac pulled up beside the unidentified sedan and shut off his engine.
Drawing his pistol, he jumped out and looked through the passenger window. Lindsay’s wallet lay on the car’s front seat but her phone was nowhere in sight. The doors were all locked; there was no sign of violence.
As Sam came around to stand beside him, he looked up at the buildings on either side.
‘Split up,’ he said, waving his pistol between the pair. ‘She’s got to be in one of these two. You take that one, I’ll start over here.’
He ran towards the back of the neighbouring structure.
As Sam disappeared up the alley, Mac moved slowly along the rear wall. He noted the glint of glass on the ground and paused to look up. A third-floor window had been broken outwards. He hurried on.
Rounding the corner, he came to a ramp. At the top was a steel door mounted on rollers.
He tried to slide it. It went but a few centimetres and stopped. Through the crack he’d created, he glimpsed the reason—a chain stretched taut. Why would the building be locked from the inside?
He turned and raced back to his car for the boltcutters.
***
Lindsay stared at the man before her. The dog. Hadn’t he seen the dog? It would’ve run right past him leaving the room. Then she remembered—no-one else had ever been able to see it.
Ikeman took another step forward. The floor groaned loudly and he stopped to assess it.
‘Why?’ she said. ‘Why in god’s name did you bring me here?’ She had to distract him from sensing his peril.
He smiled fondly. ‘You have no idea how thrilling it’s been for me watching your transformation. From frightened denial to empowered acceptance. Being part of it in my own small way.’ He shrugged as though the rest was obvious. ‘I just had to see it through to the end. I had to witness that final moment when you made the ultimate discovery.’
‘And saw what a sick twisted monster you are?’
The smile grew taut. ‘Remember, Lindsay, I didn’t have a family like yours, however confused and ignorant they were. Those in my life reacted quite differently to my gift.’
‘Your gift. What gift?’
‘The one that’s guided me all these years.’ He tipped his head to the hallway behind him. ‘The gift that told me those woman needed to die.’
A chill swept over her, twisting her heart. She nearly cried out.
Ikeman took another step towards her.
Another loud creak.
Again he stopped.
‘You were so sympathetic, even protective.’ She had to focus, had to distract him. ‘I could almost have believed you cared. How could I have been so wrong about you?’
She found herself suddenly caught by the question. She’d received impressions from lifeless objects yet nothing from him, even when he’d touched her. How could she have sensed no evil in a man who with callous indifference—
‘You weren’t wrong, Lindsay. I did care. I cared a great deal. And I knew, even if you didn’t, that you’d have returned those sentiments eventually.’ His expression soured. ‘If he hadn’t come along.’
Oblivious to the peril beneath him, he never glanced down when the floor creaked loudly with his next stop. ‘You seemed so fragile, so vulnerable. But that was just part of your game, wasn’t it?’ Another step. His lip curled. ‘Well we’re playing my game now, Lindsay. Do you like it so far? The others did.’
She stared, incredulous. He was standing in the very centre of the room. Why isn’t the bloody floor collapsing?
‘But when I handled the victims’ belongings,’ she blurted. ‘Weren’t you worried? Weren’t you afraid I’d see the truth then?’ She was clutching at straws. Anything to stall him, keep him where he was.
‘Oh, there was never any chance of that. I made sure of it.’
She blinked at him. ‘What?’
‘I slipped a little something into your coffee. A smaller dose of that sleeping pill I’d given you the night before.’ He let out a laugh. ‘I was surprised you could even sense where you were.’
A spark of anger flared within her. He’d deliberately hampered her efforts to find Shaunwyn, a move that could have cost her friend her life.
His sneer had returned. ‘You’re all the same. You all need your games to get you excited.’
She glowered back at him, thinking of the young lives lost or threatened. Martha. Bethany. Jennifer. Shaunwyn.
The spark ignited into flame.
‘I’d say I discovered the ultimate game, wouldn’t you? You’re certainly excited, aren’t you, Lindsay?’ He started forward.
He was past midway. Each step was bringing him closer to safety. Closer to her. There was no way out. She was going to die. But at least she could take this monster with her!
Lindsay stepped away from the wall. With an ear-splitting screech, the floor splintered and fell away beneath them.
***
Mac left the boltcutters on the ramp and slipped through the open factory door.
At his feet lay a metre-long section of pipe. Like everything else in the derelict chamber it was coated with grime. Except where that coating had been smudged away by the hands of the person who’d recently held it.
Scuff marks in the dust on either side appeared to have been made recently as well. But, as with the pipe, it was impossible to tell by whom.
Following the trail of partial footprints, he started for the door at the end of the room. It wasn’t clear what the area had been used for. Proximity to the dock and the rotten crates scattered about suggested it was once the packing area for whatever had been manufactured here. Yet despite the evidence someone had recently walked this way, he saw nothing to convince him Lindsay was somewhere inside the building.
A rustling sound stopped him as he reached the door. He swept his gun towards a mound of debris in time to see the tail of a rat vanish beneath a sheet of iron. One last scan of the area behind him revealed nothing else moving.
Yet even as he turned back to the door, he felt another sound swelling around him. In rapid crescendo, what began as a rumble, grew to the roar of a passing freight train and ended with a window-rattling crash.
Aftershocks battered the walls and ceiling, shaking down dust and debris from the rafters. Just when he thought the structure was doomed, the settling noises faded to silence.
Mac stood braced, waiting for a follow-up tremor to finish him. The building held.
He wiped the dust and grit from his face and pulled out his phone. ‘Sam, get over here. Something’s happening.’
***
The roar of the ocean. Tumbling waves. A hideous cacophony of sound. Then finally, silence.
Slowly her senses reassembled. A cloud of choking dust hung around her. Eyes streaming, she strained to take stock of her new situation.
From the waist up she lay prone on what remained of a section of flooring—two beams angled sharply downward with a ladder-like series of boards connecting them. Somehow she’d managed to latch onto one of the ‘rungs’, her hips and legs dangling over the edge. A ragged hole where the floor had been. A mouth of splintered wooden teeth gaping to swallow her.
With the dust still settling, she couldn’t see anything below her legs. But above her was clear. Enough to see that Ikeman was gone, already devoured; the only good outcome from her predicament. Still, it left one chilling reality.
She was alone.
Terrified, she peered once more into the swirling dust below. How far down? How far to fall?
Judging by the enormous cascading crash, at least two floors had given way. Was there a basement? Could the drop be even greater than that?
The platform she clung to lurched in her hands, spilling grit and dust in her face. Lindsay spat, coughed and retched, tried to scream.
Nothing but a gargled moan emerged.
Chapter 50
Mac doubled back to the last intersection and took the corridor he’d passed the first time. He was sure he’d heard something. Something unrelated to the crash, possibly even a human voice. But with the way sounds echoed along these passages he was finding it difficult to locate the source.
Ten steps further he began to notice a change in the air. Prior to this it had been heavy with the reek of mould and decay. Now he was noticing a great deal more dust. A shaft of light from a grimy window showed the hall was filled with billowing clouds of it. He had to be nearing whatever had happened.
Resisting the urge to call Lindsay’s name, he quickened his pace. Spots on the floor glistened in the half light. He bent to examine them. Blood. Still wet. This time he couldn’t fight back his fears.
