by JD Nixon
“That’s not going to happen,” I warned. “What you’re going to do is put down your knife, let Annabel go, and give yourself up.”
“No, what I’m going to do is get the girlie to take my phone out of my pocket, ring my friend, and if you don’t let us go safely now, I’ll tell him to drop that baby on its head out of the second story window.”
“No!” cried Annabel. “My Jamie.”
“That’s your baby you’re talking about,” I spat out in disgust. Who could even think of doing such an abominable thing? “What kind of man are you, anyway?”
“A free man, Officer. Get the phone out, girlie.”
“No, please don’t make me,” begged Annabel.
I could only imagine what was going on in her mind right then – afraid for her baby’s life, afraid for her own.
“Put the knife down and step away from the girl,” I directed, wondering if this was just a gigantic bluff. But could I risk it being one if a baby’s life was under threat?
“Get it out, girlie,” he ordered, and a crying Annabel took the phone out of his pocket. “Give it to me.”
“Don’t move,” I warned again, beginning to wonder if I should just rush him. Or maybe shoot him. I began to curse my impetuousness. Why hadn’t I told the Sarge where I was before following this couple?
“It’s just a phone, Officer,” said Merrick. “Ring the number in it, girlie. There’s only one number.” He looked at me. “Don’t start thinking you’ll be able to trace it.”
“Let me guess. It’s a prepaid cheapie.”
“I knew you weren’t just a pretty face. Unlike this girlie here. She’s nothing but a pretty face and an average fuck.”
“She’s a mother,” I reminded him coldly.
“So what? I had a mother once. Didn’t much care for her. She was quite the cold, hard bitch. So save me your dewy-eyed views of motherhood. I’m not moved.” He shook Annabel again. “Ring the number then give the phone to the officer.”
With shaking fingers, Annabel called up the one number contained in the phone’s contacts section. I heard a voice answer and she held out the phone to me, her hand trembling.
“This is Senior Constable Tess Fuller,” I said into the receiver, wondering if it was a trick and making sure I kept up my vigilance and cover of Merrick.
“Where’s Merrick?” asked a suspicious voice.
“He’s here with me. Who are you?”
The voice laughed. “That’s none of your business, Senior Constable.”
Merrick smiled. “That’s just a good friend of mine. Let’s call him . . . Derek.”
“Right. Merrick and Derek, the diabolical duo. Don’t tell me, you also have a friend called Eric.”
“I might,” Merrick smiled. As a person under a police challenge, he was enjoying himself far too much for my liking. “Ask Derek what his instructions are.”
“Merrick has told me to call you Derek,” I said into the phone, getting rather tired of this run around. I should just shoot him right now and be done with it.
“Right.”
“What instructions did he leave you?”
“If Annabel didn’t cooperate, or if he was holed up by the cops, then I’m to drop the brat out the window, preferably on to its head.”
“How do I know you even have the baby?”
“They do,” Annabel said in a desperate voice. “Believe me, Officer Tess. I had to leave her with them.”
“Don’t believe me?” said ‘Derek’. “Listen to this.”
A horrible, heart-wrenching wail sounded into the phone, and I wondered what he was doing to her to make her cry like that.
“Are you hurting her?” I demanded, my fist clenching around the phone.
“I dunno. Am I?” he replied in a smug voice that made me want to punch him. The baby wailed again, more intensely.
“Just stop it. Leave her alone,” I said.
“Tell Derek he can hang up now,” Merrick ordered. “But he needs to standby in case I need him to carry out my directions.” He prodded Annabel. “Take the phone back off her, girlie.”
For some reason, I believed that he’d carry out his threat to harm baby Jamie.
“So, Officer. Are you willing to be the one responsible for hurting this girlie’s baby?”
“Her name’s Annabel,” I replied coldly. “And no matter what happens, it won’t be me who’s held responsible. So why don’t you put the knife down and step away from her? This isn’t going to end well for you. You’re in enough trouble as it is. Don’t make it worse for yourself.”
He laughed in my face. “You should hear yourself sometime. You’re the very model of trite cop speak, but you obviously learnt it well by rote.”
I felt like we were at an impasse. I was seriously weighing up the pros and cons of just shooting him now, before he had a chance to converse with his accomplice again.
“And just in case you’re thinking that if you take me down now, the baby will be safe, I feel I should let you know that I’ve told Derek that if I don’t return home by tonight, then he’s to carry out my instructions regardless. And don’t think that the girlie here will be able to take you to my residence to rescue the brat because she doesn’t know where it is. She’s always been blindfolded before we get there.”
It was like he read my mind. Great, what a dilemma, I thought. If I shot him or managed to arrest him, the baby would die.
“As I said before, Officer, I think you’d have to agree that I’m holding all the cards at the moment. So what you’re going to do is to put your gun on the ground and put your hands on your head.” He regarded me, his head on one side. “Three hostages are better than two.”
“Put the knife down and step away from the girl.”
“My baby. Please don’t let him hurt my baby,” Annabel cried.
“I’ll say this one more time, Officer, before I become quite angry with you. And just ask the girlie what I’m like when I’m angry. So put your gun on the ground and put your hands on your head.”
“She won’t be doing that,” said the Sarge from the doorway.
Chapter 28
I didn’t turn around, keeping my aim on Merrick, but relief flooded my entire body at the sound of his voice. I didn’t need to see him to know that his gun was also drawn.
“Don’t come any closer,” Merrick warned, tightening his grip around Annabel.
“Put the knife down now,” ordered the Sarge.
“Go ahead and shoot me,” Merrick said. “But then this girlie’s brat will die.”
“No, please. Don’t let him hurt my baby.”
“Sarge, I’m going to do what he says.”
“Tessie, no.”
“He has Annabel’s baby hostage, and he has an accomplice who will kill her if he doesn’t return to his house by tonight.”
“Tessie, I said no.”
Disregarding him, I lowered my Glock to the ground, and put my hands on my head.
“Tess! What the fuck are you doing?” the Sarge said, and I could hear the furious distress in his voice.
Merrick, still holding Annabel, shuffled forward, crouching until he picked up my gun with his free hand.
“Excellent,” he smiled. “Thanks for the present.”
I could tell by his handling of the gun that he was confident with using it, so I resisted my urge to rush him. He shuffled over to me with Annabel and then pushed her aside to wrap his arm around my neck, the gun to my temple.
“Annabel, get behind me,” ordered the Sarge in a stressed voice.
“Stay where you are, girlie, or I’m going to shoot this officer.” Poor Annabel stood motionless, indecision stamped across her face. “I’ll shoot this officer and your brat will die. Do you want to be the one responsible for two tragedies like that?”
Annabel moved back to stand behind Merrick.
“Not behind me, beside me,” he demanded, and then smiled. “Not that I don’t trust you or anything.”
Annabel m
oved beside him.
“Tess,” the Sarge implored, his gun still trained on Merrick. I knew he was upset and angry that I’d capitulated.
“Sarge,” I said, locking eyes with him.
I desperately needed him to read my mind at that moment. I needed him to know that I wanted to be taken to Merrick’s dwelling, that I’d capitulated willingly. I couldn’t see how we could otherwise rescue baby Jamie and Annabel if we didn’t know where he was living and Annabel couldn’t tell us. We didn’t even know if he was still in Big Town or not. It would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. I wasn’t confident that we’d find Jamie in time doing it that way.
Having decided that, I wasn’t sure what I’d do when I got to Merrick’s place, but felt vaguely confident I’d think of something at the right time.
We exchanged a long glance, and he gave me a barely perceptible curt nod that assured me that even if he didn’t fully grasp my nebulous plan, then he trusted me enough to let me go through with it.
“Undo her utility belt,” Merrick ordered Annabel, and the girl spent a couple of minutes fumbling with it until she managed to unfasten it. “Drop it on the ground.”
“I’m sorry,” Annabel whispered to me, removing my belt and placing it on the ground.
I felt lighter and more vulnerable without any weapons. It wasn’t a state that I was comfortable with, or found myself in often.
“Take off your radio,” he ordered me, and I cursed, hoping that he’d overlook that vital piece of communication. I took it off and dropped it to the ground.
“Take her phone,” he instructed Annabel.
“I don’t have it with me,” I lied. “It’s back at the station.”
“A likely story,” he said. “Pat her down.”
Annabel patted me down and checked all my pockets, her hand closing over my phone. She released it and removed her hand, not making any eye contact with me.
“She doesn’t have one,” she said to him.
“I told you. It’s back at the station.”
“Did you check thoroughly?”
“Yes, Merrick. She doesn’t have one.”
“Okay. We’re all moving towards the door now,” Merrick said, and he and I did an awkward shuffle that way, Annabel next to us.
The Sarge tracked us with his gun.
“You,” said Merrick, indicating the Sarge. “Get in front of us.”
“Not happening,” he said.
Merrick laughed. “I’m not going to shoot you, if that’s what you’re worried about. It may come as rather a surprise to you, but I’m not a fan of violence. I dislike blood and gore.”
“Is that why you’re getting Derek to do your dirty work for you?” I asked.
He poked the gun into my temple. “Don’t make me break my lifelong vow of avoiding confrontations with the cops, because I can tell you that if it comes down to you or me, you are definitely going to be the loser.” He stared at the Sarge. “Move it. I haven’t got all day to hang around here. And girlie, you get behind him.”
With a desperate glance at me, the Sarge strode off into the bushes. We followed him in formation until we reached the road again.
“I’m very tempted to take your police car,” he said. “But it’s too obvious, so we’ll just have to settle for my little bomb.” We crossed over the road to his car. “You,” and he poked me in the temple again. “You can drive. Girlie, you sit in the front with her. I’ll be in the back with the gun. No funny stuff, Officer. If you veer off the road or crash or try on anything, I will shoot the girlie. Understand?”
“Yes,” I said curtly.
“No seatbelt for either of you,” he instructed, covering me with his gun as I climbed into the driver’s seat.
He dropped the car keys over the seat as he sat in the back. I heard the click of his seatbelt, which put the kibosh on any plan I had to crash the car. Annabel and I would surely be injured if I did, as the car was old and without air bags.
“Don’t try to follow us, Officer,” Merrick said to the Sarge. “If I catch sight of you, I’ll shoot the girl. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” he said coldly. “But you must realise that every cop in the district is already out looking for you and that will now be stepped up exponentially. What are you planning on doing with Senior Constable Fuller?”
Merrick laughed. “I think an exchange between her and my property, which I understand is currently being kept at the Wattling Bay police station, will suit everyone, don’t you? I get what’s precious to me, and you get what’s precious to you, and we all live happily ever after. Nobody wants to see a female police officer injured, or even killed, in the line of duty, do they? Not even me. So yes, I think that sounds like a fair exchange. I’d be satisfied with that.”
“What if the Superintendent doesn’t agree to an exchange? What will happen to her then?”
“Not sure yet. I might have to hurt her a little to make your Superintendent come around to my point of view. Otherwise, she’s no use to me. I’m not dragging her around with me everywhere. I’ll probably tie her up and abandon her somewhere where I’m sure you’ll find her . . . eventually. But why so pessimistic about the outcome? I’m very positive that we can sort out this little situation amicably.” He poked me in the back of the neck with my gun. “Drive.”
I started the car and eased back out on to the road. The last view I had of the Sarge in the rear view mirror, he stood watching after us, a mix of frustrated despair across his face.
Merrick spent the first five minutes of the drive on his phone, clearly speaking to Derek, assuring him that he was on his way home.
When he’d finished, I said, “I’m going to discover where you live. You can’t blindfold me and expect me to drive.”
He laughed. “It’s no big matter to me, Officer. We’ll be moving on again as soon as my property is returned. It’s getting a bit too hot for me around here now anyway. We might go back to the city. Good pickings there. Or we might go somewhere entirely different. Up north might be nice now that summer is back.”
“If I agree to speak to the Super personally, as a hostage, and intercede on your behalf to retrieve your valuables, can we make a deal that you’ll leave Annabel and her baby behind when you move on?”
“Listen to you, trying to make a deal with a gun pointed at your head,” he laughed. “You’re ballsy, Officer, I’ll give you that. But as for your offer, we’ll see. I haven’t decided yet if I even want to keep the girlie. As an employee, she’s not much chop. As a companion, she hasn’t proved to be as loyal or grateful as I’d have expected.”
“Employees? Is that what you call your little gang?”
“Why not? They work for me, after all. I pay them in kind with shelter, food and teaching them life skills.”
“Theft skills, you mean.”
“So cynical, Officer,” he tutted. “I think you’d have to agree that I’m quite the benefactor.”
“Quite the beneficiary, I’d prefer to say.”
“You’re a bit lippy for a hostage, aren’t you? But I must say that it’s quite delightful to have another adult to converse with for once. My employees are charming in their own youthful ways, but they lack a certain something.”
“An education?”
“Now, now,” he tutted again. “They’re learning about the important things in life. They don’t need any book learning. Now, enough yapping from you. Just drive.”
“Where am I driving to?” I asked when I reached the turn off to Big Town. I wanted to keep him talking in case he told me something that could be used for my advantage in this situation.
“Wattling Bay.”
“Are you still hanging around there? We were all so sure you’d have taken off by now.”
“I would have, believe me. But I have some, er, friends, who owe me money for some goods I sold them. And I’m not leaving until they pay up.”
“And who are your friends?”
He laughed heartily. “Oh, Office
r, if you’re going to try to pump me for information, at least be more subtle about it.”
“You know how it is – once a cop, always a cop,” I said congenially, looking at him in the rear view mirror.
Perhaps if I was moderately friendly to him, he might let his guard slip? Then again, probably not. He was a seasoned professional criminal, and it was beyond the realms of likelihood that he’d suddenly feel amicable towards a cop.
Annabel sat in the passenger seat, her body stiff and her face pale with anxiety. She hadn’t uttered a word since we’d driven off. Her hands twisted uncontrollably in her lap, and she wore an expression on her face of all-consuming worry about her baby.
“It will be okay, sweetheart,” I assured her in a low voice.
“No, it clearly won’t be okay,” Merrick said stridently. “If I don’t retrieve the property that she stole from me, it will be far from okay for her. Or you.”
Silent tears plopped off Annabel’s chin on to her jeans. Not wanting to make matters worse for her, or to cause her any further mental anguish, I kept quiet for the next hour until we reached the outer suburbs of Big Town.
Merrick directed me along a route that I tried to memorise, but it was impossible. He took me on a torturous twist of streets to get there that I’d never be able to replicate. Eventually, we turned into a street similar to the one on which his other house had been located. A mix of residential and light industry, most of the houses in the street looked as though they’d seen better days.
“Pull in here,” he instructed. I turned into the driveway of one of the more dilapidated specimens as the sun set. “Park around the back.”
I did what I was told, drinking in every detail of the property, including the fleet of old clapped-out vehicles parked haphazardly.
“Out,” he ordered. “And don’t forget I have a gun, so don’t try on anything funny.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” I lied, looking at the house.
It was utterly without any redeeming charms, a virtual box of a house, two storeys high, paint peeling, and part of the roof guttering collapsed.
“Lead the way, girlie.”
