by Emma Tallon
Thea raised her camera and was about to begin taking shots, but then she paused. She lowered it and watched Michael. He took a key from his pocket and unlocked a heavy padlock that was keeping the tall railings together outside one of the condemned houses. Locking it behind him again, he walked in through the front door and out of her line of sight. Thea frowned.
As the Tyler who ran all of the accounts, she knew about all of their businesses. There wasn’t anything she wasn’t privy to. But she wasn’t aware of anything they owned over this way. The house he had walked into was very obviously empty, and it was definitely not somewhere that he would ever conduct a meeting either. Which meant that whatever Michael was up to out here, he was doing it on his own. And that meant that Freddie didn’t know about it.
This immediately worried her. She knew Michael was part of the firm now, and technically he was all grown up. But he was still her little brother, and he was still the baby of the family. Freddie knew what he was doing – he had been running the show for years. Under his wing Michael had flourished, sure. But Thea knew that he was still fairly new to the business and a bit green around the gills. She guessed that Michael was probably just trying to prove himself, show that he could do something without any help. But Thea knew he could easily slip up on his own. She bit her lip. She should tell Freddie, but she needed more information before she could do that. Walking back to her car she waited for Michael to leave, watching for him in her rear-view mirror.
Barely fifteen minutes had passed when Michael’s broad figure came back into view. She waited another five minutes to make sure that he had definitely gone, before she stepped back out of the car.
As she reached the building Thea glanced both ways down the street. There was no one around. The padlock looked pretty heavy-duty so she didn’t try to pick it. Instead she quickly scaled the wire fence and jumped down the other side. Thea dusted her hands off, impressed that she had been able to do it so easily. She silently thanked her mother for insisting she did gymnastics at school.
Thea found herself standing in a small, overgrown front garden. The weeds had taken over completely, and even the slabs that lined the front path weren’t easy to pick out among them. Treading carefully, she made her way up the path. She gingerly pulled at the rotten front door. It didn’t open fully but enough that she could slide in without a problem. Once inside, she squinted and tried to make out her surroundings. It was dusty and dark where most of the windows were boarded up with wood. There was some light making its way in, but not much. Rummaging in her bag, she pulled out a travel torch and shone it around the room.
Clearly no one had lived here for a long time. There was no furniture, and even the carpet had gone. In the corner were a few rags and a ripped sleeping bag, signs that at some point this had been home to a squatter. A thin layer of dust had settled like a blanket over everything. Thea couldn’t understand why Michael would come here.
She froze as a thud sounded from upstairs. What was that? A second later, the same sound came through again. Ice trickled down Thea’s spine. She wasn’t alone. There was somebody else in the house. She quickly pulled her bag off her back and rummaged with one hand, until she found her Swiss army knife. She flicked the blade out and held it up in front of her. Just because Michael had been here didn’t mean it was safe. She narrowed her eyes and locked her jaw. She may not be one of the brothers, but she was still a Tyler and had the same steely blood running through her veins. She could hold her own, when it counted.
She quietly crept back the way she’d come, to where she’d seen the bottom of the stairs. Carefully, she climbed them, trying to stay silent. Cocking her ear to one side, she could hear a rustling sound coming from one of the rooms. As she reached the landing, she honed in on it. Whatever it was, it was coming from the back bedroom. The door was closed.
With a deep breath, Thea reached forward and pushed the door open, sending it banging against the wall. She jumped forward and scanned the room, ready to face whatever she found there.
The stench of urine assailed her nostrils at the same time her brain registered what she was looking at.
‘Oh my God,’ she breathed in horror. There was nothing in the room except for a young blonde woman lying on the bare floorboards, her wrist chained to the radiator. She pulled herself up into a seated position, leaning back against the wall in exhaustion, as Thea ran over.
‘Jesus, what is this? Who’s done this to you? Are you OK?’ Thea shook her head. She had never imagined finding this. She tugged at the chains, but they were thick and the radiator pipes were strong.
‘No use, I’ve tried for days,’ the girl said, her voice weak. ‘Water, please…’
‘Yes, of course.’ Thea hurriedly reached into her bag and pulled out a water bottle. She held it to the girl’s lips patiently, while the girl slurped desperately at it. When nearly all of it was gone, she rested back.
‘Thank you. Haven’t drunk in two days.’
Thea looked around and realised that the girl was slumped next to a pile of her own excrement and urine. There wasn’t even a bucket nearby. She felt sick.
‘We need to get you out of here,’ Thea said, her eyes darting back to the door. She yanked the chains again.
The girl laid her hand on Thea’s and shook her head. ‘You need bolt cutters – you’ll have to go get some.’
‘OK, I will. I’ll do that, and I’ll be back soon with help, OK? What’s your name?’ Thea tried to sound calm and confident, but inside she felt anything but that. What was going on here? And what did Michael have to do with it?
‘I’m Carla,’ she replied. ‘Please – hurry.’ Carla’s eyes filled with tears and her body began to shake. She had been up here for days. He had taken her here after she’d seen the CCTV in his office; after she’d seen the captured girl on the cameras. Michael had been furious. She had begged him to let her go, had promised never to tell, but he hadn’t listened. He had chained her here and left her to rot. The slow death of starvation and thirst was her punishment for disobeying him and prying into his office.
She hadn’t been able to believe her luck when she’d heard someone else walking through the house. She’d known it wasn’t him – could tell by the softer sounds and lighter footsteps. She had used what little strength she had to bang on the floor with her leg. She thanked God it had worked.
‘I will, I promise, Carla. I’ll be back really soon.’ Thea stood up to leave, but Carla stopped her.
‘Wait, there’s something else.’ Carla’s expression was full of fear. ‘He has another girl. I think she might be here too, because he comes in and out. It looked like a basement on the camera, no windows.’
‘What?’ Thea was horrified. What on earth had she stumbled into?
‘You need to find her. She don’t look so good.’ Carla closed her eyes again, lethargic from several days without food.
Horror gripped Thea’s heart. This couldn’t be happening. She stood up and backed out of the room. ‘Just wait here, OK. I’ll check the house and be back soon. I’ll get you out of here.’
Almost falling back down the stairs in her haste, she ran through the abandoned house to the kitchen at the back. This was where the entrance to the basement would be, if there was one. She whirled around, looking for it. There was a door, a smaller one next to the one she’d come in through. There was an arc on the floor underneath it, clear of debris and dust. It had been opened recently. She closed her eyes for a second as her heart fell heavily into her stomach.
Without hesitation, Thea swung open the door. Just inside was a set of old, brick stairs that seemed to lead down to some sort of cellar. She ran down to the thick, wooden door at the bottom. The door seemed as old as the stairs themselves, and the handle creaked as she tried to open it. She pushed against it, but it held fast. Thea looked down and realised there was a key sticking out of the lock. She turned it and heard the lock click open.
She swung it open and the smell hit her like a brick wall. I
t was awful. It smelled like something had died down there. Ignoring it, she squinted and tried to make out what was inside, but it was pitch black. Running her hands up the brick wall just inside the door, Thea felt around for a light switch. She prayed there was still a working bulb down here. The walls were damp, and she pulled a face as her fingers made contact with it, but they quickly reached an old, round light switch. She flicked it on and with a tired buzz, a weak bulb woke up and lit the room.
Her hands shot to cover her mouth, and her eyes grew wide in horrified shock.
At the back of the room stood a broken bedframe with a thin, rotting mattress. But it was what was on top of the mattress that made Thea want to cry. On top of the mattress lay the dirty, thin, lifeless body of another young woman.
Thea jumped as the body stirred, and she realised in amazement that this girl was still alive. The girl blinked awake, in the weak light. She locked eyes with Thea, and Thea saw surprise finally register on her face. It was a slow reaction. This girl was in a very, very bad way.
‘Am I dead?’ the girl whispered after a long few moments.
Her words seemed to spur Thea into action. She rushed forward, dropping to her knees, and grasped at the chains attached to the ropes around the girl’s wrists. ‘I’m going to get you out of here, OK? Both of you. It’s going to be alright.’ Thea wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince more, as fear tightened its grip on her heart.
With shaking hands, Thea used her Swiss army knife to try to saw through the ropes. She looked the girl over as she worked. Gaunt to the point that she was skeletal, her eye sockets were sunk into her head, the skin around her eyes dark as though bruised. She had cracked, white lips, and her hair looked as though it might be blonde, but it was filthy and matted to her head, so Thea couldn’t be sure.
Thea stifled a gasp as she saw the girl’s ankles. They were raw through to the bone at some points, and the torn skin around them was angry and red with patches of rotting, dead tissue. This was where the stench of death was coming from. The girl’s feet were black from the ankles down. Thea didn’t need to be a doctor to tell that she would never have use of them again.
Bringing her eyes back up to the girl’s face, she could see she’d passed out again. ‘Wake up,’ she said, alarmed. ‘Please – wake up. I need you to stay with me.’
The girl’s eyelids fluttered, and her eyes opened again with a small frown.
‘Come on, love, please,’ Thea begged. ‘You need to help me get you out of here, OK? Can you sit up do you think? Can you get your arm around my shoulders?’
The girl mumbled incomprehensibly.
Thea stood up and pulled her phone out of her pocket. There was no signal – she was too deep underground.
‘Shit,’ she cursed. ‘Listen, I’m going to go and get help, OK? I’m coming back – I’ll get you both out, I promise.’
Thea ran up the stairs two at a time and fled back out of the house the way she’d come in. Bursting through the stiff front door she fell to her knees amongst the weeds and proceeded to be violently sick. She heaved again and again until the entire contents of her stomach were out. Tears streamed down her face as the full realisation of what she’d just uncovered hit her. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and, ignoring the full-on panic attack she was having, she pulled her phone out and quickly made a call. It was answered by the third ring.
‘Freddie,’ she sobbed, ‘you have to come. It’s bad. It’s really, really bad.’
51
Freddie and Paul sat side by side on the small grey sofa in Michael’s flat, both in complete silence. They had never seen Thea so shaken up. As soon as they heard her story and saw the girls, they could understand why.
Freddie could see straight away that the girl in the basement was Katherine. Even through the dirt and the extreme deterioration of her body, he could tell it was her. He had been staring at her picture for so long now, he could tell even just by her bone structure. He had been hard pushed to keep his lunch down at the sight of her and the realisation that it had been Michael all along. He closed his eyes now, thinking about it.
After they’d cut Carla loose, she’d told them what she’d found in Michael’s flat, and how he had left her chained up to die. It was unthinkable. And yet it was happening.
Paul leaned forward and rested his head in his hands. Freddie knew he was torturing himself. He knew Paul was wondering what had gone wrong, how he hadn’t picked up on it, what he could have done to stop Michael doing something so horrendous. He knew all of this, because he was wondering the same. He was blaming himself for this too. Perhaps, though, it really was his fault.
He thought back to the angry boy Michael had been three years ago, when he’d first returned home. The anger and hatred that he’d spewed at Freddie had been deep. Michael had blamed his older brother for the torture he’d been put through at school. The prestigious private school that Freddie had proudly sent him off to without a thought for how he might fit in. It had taken months for Michael to calm down and come back into the fold. Freddie had kept him close ever since, brought him into the business, taught him everything he knew. Perhaps that had been a mistake. Perhaps Michael had never truly forgiven him and had been biding his time, waiting to get his revenge. If that was the case, he’d done a good job, Freddie thought sadly. If Thea hadn’t stumbled across the house, they never would have found Katherine, and in a few days Freddie and Anna would have been fugitives, never able to return. Freddie sighed sadly. Whatever his reasons for doing this, Michael was their brother, their flesh and blood.
When they’d arrived at the abandoned house earlier, Freddie had carried the unconscious Katherine out in his arms. She had lain there in his grip, limp and barely holding on to life, her breath shallow and her skin deathly pale. Freddie hadn’t been sure she would make it. He had driven her straight to hospital, praying the whole way that they’d found her in time. He couldn’t take Katherine directly into A&E, as he would be questioned, so carefully keeping out of the way of the cameras, Freddie had driven round to one of the side doors and laid her on the steps. It was a busy hospital – he knew she would be found in minutes.
Paul and Thea had helped Carla walk out of the house. Physically she would be OK; she was just weakened and stiff from her days chained up. Mentally, Freddie wasn’t so sure. The girl had been left to die – slowly, painfully and with all dignity taken from her. Freddie doubted anyone could endure that fate for a few days and walk away unscarred.
Leaving Thea to tend to Carla back at his flat, he and Paul had come straight here, to Michael’s little sanctuary. Freddie knew this would be where he would go tonight. It was just a question of when. They’d been here a couple of hours already, and Freddie couldn’t bear to carry on much longer with so many unanswered questions. But he would have to. He didn’t want to alert Michael to their presence until he was inside the flat. He’d hidden the car on the next street and jimmied the lock with two pins to get in. Now he realised why Michael had never let any of them have a spare key. He hadn’t wanted them to stumble across the cameras he used to keep tabs on Katherine.
Freddie knew that he was going to have to tell Hargreaves something, but what that something was he hadn’t decided yet. He knew that it should be the truth, but he needed to see Michael himself first before he could make a solid decision. All he had relayed to Hargreaves so far was that he had found Katherine, that she was in a bad way but still alive and where he’d left her. He had closed the call off before he could be asked any questions.
The noise of Michael’s key in the door sounded through the flat and Paul stood up. They waited as their youngest sibling came through and watched as surprise registered on his face.
‘What are you two doing here?’ He gave them a confused half smile. ‘How’d you even get in?’ His eyes flicked quickly to the door of his office, an action Freddie would have missed had he not known what was in there.
Paul walked across the room and stood behind him,
closing the front door softly. A look of annoyance flashed across Michael’s face as he realised what Paul was doing.
‘What’s all this about? You don’t need to do the fucking round-up on me! What would I run from you two for?’ he asked scornfully, taking offence.
Freddie stared at Michael, his handsome, well-built, suave little brother. He suddenly had no idea who he was, this man who could do such terrible things to innocent women. A man who could put his own brother in such a terrible position.
‘There’s only one day left on the clock now,’ he said huskily. ‘One more day until Hargreaves fits me up. I’ll have to disappear – Anna too. You and Paul will be taken in, not long after.’
Michael gave him an odd look. ‘We still have a whole day to find her then. This isn’t over yet – you shouldn’t let yourself get so down.’
The concern in Michael’s face and voice nearly pushed Freddie over the edge. It enraged him. It was all lies. It had all been lies from the start. ‘Well,’ he said, keeping his voice level, ‘we still have no clue as to who it might be.’
Freddie watched as Michael slid his gaze sideways, subtly eying Paul before giving Freddie a meaningful private look. That was what did it. Freddie lost control and leaped off the sofa, punching Michael in the face with all his strength.
‘How could you?’ he yelled as he bent over Michael, who sat stunned on the ground. Freddie moved away and ran his hands over his head. ‘How could you?’ he repeated quietly, his voice breaking, defeated. ‘How could you do this to us? You tried to make me believe that it was Paul! You’ve had me putting together contingency plans to stop Anna being fucking killed by Ben Hargreaves! You took an innocent young woman from outside my club, raining hell down on my head and ruining her life! You tortured her—’ Freddie searched for the right words but none were bad enough. ‘You’ve had her chained up all this time! That girl, she will never recover from this. Hargreaves, her dad, when he sees what you’ve done… God, Michael, he ain’t going to let that lie. What have you done?’ Freddie shook his head from side to side in disbelief. Grief clouded his face. ‘Why would you do it?’
