“Ah, brilliant you’re awake,” said a cheery tone.
“Adam?” she croaked with a dry mouth.
“That’s me.”
“What, where am I?” she asked, feeling a trickle of energy and apprehension as memories slowly began to return, incredulous memories in which Adam had looked at her with icy cold eyes and then…. And then he had struck her!
Oh God.
Slowly, her surroundings came into focus: she could see a star glittered sky, snow covered tree branches, and walls made of hardened soil, with a cross patch of twigs and hibernating larvae.
The air was snow fresh, laced with the heavy scent of freshly dug earth!
Towering above her, was the gigantic silhouette of a man.
She was fully alert now, as adrenaline began to rush around her body.
She was afraid, very afraid.
Her body had been squeezed into a hole, approximately six feet long, three wide, and four deep.
“Oh God, no,” she murmured, weakly.
“This is just perfect,” Adam said, gleefully. “For a moment there, I thought I was going to have to go through this part without audience participation.”
Ashley couldn’t see his face, since the flashlight was in his hand, and either dazzling her or shining on the ground next to him, but, from the intonation of his voice, he was probably grinning.
“What are you doing, Adam?” she asked, incredulously as she tried to move, but couldn’t.
Not only was her body heavy and her limbs weak, but her legs and hands were bound together with Gaffer tape.
“You remember William Barber, don’t you, Ash?”
“Who… who?” she stuttered.
“You know, the postman guy, the one who sent us that manuscript, the Tales from a Tomb bloke.”
“What…what about him?” she shivered.
“Remember what he did to his mother?”
A lightning bolt of terror shot through her, as a dust cloud of snow spontaneously fell on her like frozen tears.
“Adam …”
“…You see, that is exactly it, Ash. That is exactly what was missing from Barber’s manuscript. There was not enough description, like for example right now, your eyes are bulging wide with tears of terror, because you know what’s coming next. You know that any second now, I am going to cover this hole up with wooden planks, seal it shut with a mound of soil, and then, if we’re lucky, it might even snow to top that.”
“No,” Ashley whined, in disbelief, as her eyes welled with tears. “Please, Adam, Please don’t do this...”
“That’s exactly it! Terror. In that scene, Barber failed to capture the terror that his mum felt when he put her in her grave. Of course, she was already dead at the time. Or was she? I don’t remember, do you?”
Freezing crystals of tears formed around Ashley’s eyes.
“That’s brilliant, Ash!” Adam exclaimed, excitedly, “Tears of terror! On the other hand, please don’t cry. I may just start feeling sorry for you, and I don’t want that. I don’t want to feel sorry for you, I just want terror. You know, the kind that makes me feel better, makes me feel in control for a change. Because you know something, I am sick of not being in control. I spent all this time with that bitch, trying to get some control, and what does she do at the last minute? She fucking goes and carks on me, which would have been fine, I suppose, if only the greedy bitch had seen it somewhere in that miserable black heart of hers to leave me something. You know, I wasn’t asking for much, maybe a million or two, I mean, come on, Ash, what harm could that have done, huh? A few million quid to her would have meant nothing, especially as I did everything for the miserable bitch..!”
He hissed the last words through gritted teeth, as the memory of her perceived betrayal enraged him.
“…But no, that would have been too good, too decent of her. So instead, what does she do? She decides to give the whole fucking lot to your boyfriend!”
His incredulous laughter echoed around the surrounding forest, scaring some night creature to flight in a flutter of wings.
For a second, Ashley thought somebody had joined them until she realised that it was Adam’s manic cackle; the unmistakable cackle of a mad man.
“Can you see the irony in that, Ash? As if the man doesn’t have enough money as it is! Did she really think he needed several more million? Well, they do say that money goes to money. It’s the same old story. The rich just keep on getting richer and the poor; well they just keep on dreaming of becoming rich, but not me, not anymore. I’ve found a way to make my money and that way is lying in this hole beneath me right now.”
Ashley’s teeth were chattering, her whole body was shaking and she wanted to cry, but couldn’t, such was the coldness and the shock.
What she did try to say came out as a stutter and Adam laughed.
“Please……Ple.. ple…”
“Don’t worry, Ash. As long as lover boy pays up, you’re going to be just fine. Providing they get to you before the frostbite, of course.”
Adam paused, and looked at his watch. “Oh well, it’s time. I best get going if I am going to get out of sunny England tonight.”
“No... no… Adam, wait.”
“Don’t worry; you’ll be fairly cosy in here. Until your air runs out and your limbs freeze over. In the meantime, just to prove I’m not a complete shit, I’ve brought this for you”
He dropped a thin car blanket on top of her legs and midriff. “Snuggle up, you’re going to be here a while.”
“Nooooo!” Ashley shrieked as the sobs finally emerged.
“Shhh…. You’ll wake up the animals,” he said, leaning over the mound of dirt and dazzling her with torchlight as he picked up a plank of wood.
“No…no… please, Adam… please…” she begged.
“Stop begging, Ashley, it’s pathetic. Besides, I told you, as long as lover boy follows his instructions on time, you’re going to be fine.”
“Noooooo!” Ashley screamed as she saw the wooden plank float over her. “Heeelp! Somebody heeelp me! Please! Help!
Adam paused, “Come on, Ashley, stop being silly. Don’t waste what little energy you have left, you’re going to need it if you want to survive.”
“Ple.. please, Don’t do this to me. Please, Adam…Don’t.”
“It’s nothing personal, Ash, nothing personal.”
“NOOO!” HELP ME!” She screamed with all her energy, as another plank of wood floated into place, “SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!”
“It’s no use, nobody’s going to hear you, Ash. Nobody has any idea you’re even out here, and, in the infamous words of Annie Wilkes, you better pray nothing happens to me, because if it does... Is that how it went? I can’t remember…”
Another plank was pushed into place, leaving just a slither of a starlit sky.
“Now, how the hell did it go? Do you remember?” Adam asked, picking up the last plank, “Oh yeah, I’ve got it, I’ve got it; you better pray nothing happens to me because if I die, you die.”
With that, he pushed the last plank into place and Ashley’s world turned black once more.
She tried to move, she tried to sit up but to no avail. Her bound hands and legs were making it impossible to move as she lay on her back, all but wedged into her shallow grave.
“Nooooo!” She screamed, huskily, through frozen vocal chords as the hopelessness of her plight became clear to her.
“NOOO!”
But nobody was listening.
The world above was silent, but for the distant thud of earth as it fell in clumps onto the planks. Some, sifted through the gaps and fell onto her face, as if her last rites were being read.
The thuds continued, shovel after shovel, until the planks were firmly secured in place turning her screams into nothing but murmurs to the rest of the world.
Ashley Marshall was entombed.
Adam grunted satisfactorily when the work was done. Then, he zipped his coat up against the freezing still of the night
and whistled as he made his way back up the path, from the lake to the mansion.
66 Ransom
The snow had stopped falling and the skies had cleared, leaving the sub-zero temperatures to ice over the already treacherous roads.
When Rupert received the call on his mobile, he nearly crashed into the car in front of him; Adam, his dead cousin’s boyfriend, was telling him that unless he transferred two million pounds into an offshore bank account, details of which would be text messaged to him, he would never see Ashley alive again.
Of course, Rupert’s initial reaction was to think that Adam was playing a practical joke. It was only after considering the man’s voice that he fully understood what was being demanded of him.
The cars behind the Lexus honked as he absorbed the instructions in stunned silence.
“You have roughly an hour, maybe two before your beloved either freezes or suffocates to death. Now, you can use that time playing heroics, Rupert, trying to get the police and all their bureaucracy involved, or you can just pay the money and get her back. It’s not like you can’t afford it. The choice is yours.”
“Adam, I don’t understand….Why?”
“All you need to know is, if you don’t get that money organised soon, Ashley will die, and it will be because you didn’t think she was worth it.”
Rupert flared, “Adam, I just don’t understand…”
“…You’re wasting time. Right now, she’s probably passed out from the shock. Eventually, she will come round to realise the predicament she’s in, and I guarantee you, if the cold doesn’t claim her then a heart attack will.”
“Please Adam, I will give you whatever you want, just don’t hurt her.”
“Then do as I said, and everything will be fine. As soon as I’m safe, I’ll let you know where she is.”
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“You don’t. But all you have to do is transfer the cash, and pray nothing happens to me, because if I so much as get a whiff of the police anywhere near me, I swear, she’s dead, and it’ll be on you. I have nothing left to lose while you, on the other hand, stand to lose the only thing you have left. Can you live with that? Can you lose another person so close? Can you live with both hers and your brother’s death on your conscience?”
“You fuck..!”
“…Your time starts now.”
“Adam…? Adam?” Rupert yelled into his mobile but the line went dead.
Meanwhile, the honking continued while he gripped the steering wheel in an effort to stave off the rage and fear that had enveloped him.
It was all so surreal. This couldn’t be happening to him, but it was.
67 Vanished
Lurch fixed Rachel with a stare as he reached out to the bedroom door and pulled it shut.
Rachel crawled backwards before blurting out, “I was looking for my boyfriend, Jason Tyler. You were talking to him earlier.”
She managed to scramble to her feet.
“I believe he’s downstairs,” Lurch said in a slow, unaffected tone.
“I couldn’t find him down there,” Rachel said, dusting her clothes self-consciously.
“Rachel?”
She turned around, Jason was walking up to her, and she rushed over and threw her arms around him.
“Where did you go?” she asked, quickly.
“I went to the toilet, why?”
Rachel looked behind her; Lurch was still standing there. She grabbed Jason’s hand and led him past the giant, and back down the stairs.
“You won’t believe what I’ve just seen,” she said under her breath, glancing back to make sure they weren’t being followed.
“What?”
“Oh God, Jay, you won’t believe it.”
“What?”
“I just saw something happening in one of the bedrooms.”
“Something? Like what?”
“I don’t know. Some bloke was doing something to some girl.”
Jason stopped and turned to look at her.
“Don’t stop!” she whispered loudly, pulling him after her.
“Rachel, what are you talking about?”
“I saw something in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Some bloke was doing something to some girl.”
“Yeah, you said. But doing what exactly?”
“I don’t know. Just, his hands were covered in blood!”
“What?”
Jason stopped again.
She pulled his hand, “We need to go home.”
“Rachel…”
“Now, Jay, we need to go home now!”
“Don’t be stupid,” Jason said, as they reached the foot of the stairs. “I can’t go home now, you know I can’t.”
“Please Jay; I don’t want to be here anymore. I saw something up there.”
“What? You mean like two people going at it?”
“No, no, it was more than that. He was doing something to her, she was bleeding.”
Jason smiled at a couple that walked by and then looked at her and added, seriously, “Look Rach, I don’t know what you think you saw up there, but babe, I can’t go home, not yet. You know how important these people are to me.”
“Of course I do, but….” She stopped in midsentence as Lurch appeared on the stairs, and began to descend towards them. “Oh My God, he’s coming.”
Jason looked up and smiled. “You mean, Jerry?” he asked her.
He then moved to greet the man.
“No!” Rachel hissed, but it was too late.
“Is everything okay, Sir?” Lurch asked.
“Yes, everything’s cool. Just my girlfriend thinks she saw something in one of the upstairs bedrooms.”
Rachel closed her eyes as her cheeks burned.
Lurch asked, “What exactly did you see?”
Rachel shot evil eyes at Jason, swallowed and said, “I saw a man up there doing something to a girl.”
“Doing something?” Lurch repeated as his bushy eyebrows lifted, inquisitively. “What exactly was he doing to her?”
“I don’t know. He was just, well, there was blood all over his hands.”
“Really?” Lurch asked, unperturbed.
“Yes.” Rachel said, petulantly. She really hated Jason right now. “You saw them anyway.”
“I did?”
“Yes, you closed the door.”
Lurch smiled. “Yes, I did. I’m sorry, but it isn’t appropriate for guests to wander around the bedrooms. Especially as it’s very easy to get lost in this house,” he said, looking at her. “However, back to the girl, the man and the blood. We must go investigate at once,” he said, climbing the stairs.
Jason followed up a few steps and then stopped and turned to her. “Are you coming?” He asked with an outstretched hand.
Rachel hesitated, but followed.
When they reached the landing, the door to the bedroom was already open and Lurch inside.
Rachel gasped; the room was empty, all the lights were on, and the bed looked like it hadn’t been disturbed in days.
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “There is no way.”
She walked into the room and up to the bed and felt it; it was cold. “I saw them, they were both on this bed, and she was strapped down.
“Strapped down?” Lurch echoed.
Jason smiled, embarrassed. “Steady on, babe.”
“I am telling you, Jay. They were on this bed. He must have moved them,” she said, looking at Lurch with accusatory eyes.
Jason bowed his head as if he had just seen his favourite car smashed to pieces. He grabbed Rachel’s hand, smiled at Lurch and led her out into the corridor.
“Jesus Christ, Rach.” he said in an angry hushed tone. “What the hell are you trying to do? That man is our host for Christ sake!”
“I don’t care who he is, Jay. I know what I saw.”
“So do I. Too many glasses of champagne and no bloody food. I also know that if you carry on like this, you may as well piss all over any chance
of us getting any funding. Is that what you want?”
Rachel hesitated, avoiding his gaze for a few seconds and then she looked at him, sheepishly, “Of course not. But I know what I saw in there.”
“Fine. If you really think it’s going to make a difference, we can press that point on our host.”
She hesitated. She had had a few and she was feeling light-headed, but could she really have imagined what she saw?
“Is everything alright?” Lurch asked, joining them out in the corridor.
Jason said nothing but looked at her, pointedly.
Rachel hesitated an agonisingly long time before finally saying, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I saw.” She forced a smile. “I think the champagne truly got the best of me.”
Lurch smiled. “Not to worry, my dear.” He glanced at Jason. “Now,” he added with a sigh and holding out his arm, “would you do me the honour of accompanying me downstairs where, I promise you, the real fun awaits us.” Lurch’s lips curved into a rare smile as he waited.
Reluctantly, Rachel took his arm and they descended the stairs back to the party, back to the fun.
68 Escape
Adam was parked at a service station approximately three miles southwest of London Heathrow Airport.
It had been just over an hour since he had placed the call to Rupert’s mobile and it was with a great deal of trepidation that he tapped the icon on his mobile phone. He entered his credentials and waited for his bank to log him in.
Seconds ticked by until a summary of his accounts and their respective balances appeared on the screen, and a smile spread across his face.
It took him a few more seconds to truly register what it meant but, ultimately, it was true; Rupert had complied and transferred the money as instructed.
“YES!” He yelled, punching the roof the car. “I’M FUCKING RICH!”
Okay, maybe not as rich as I would have been had we taken over the bastard’s company, but this will do nicely. Fuck you, Elisabeth Bitch!
He held up his middle finger at the empty passenger seat.
Adam was overwhelmed with excitement. His pulse was racing, his heart thumping.
Unspeakable Page 40
