“No, no, nothing like that. Have you eaten?”
“Not yet.”
“Me neither. We can meet for dinner somewhere. It will probably do me good to get out.” She gave him the address of a nearby restaurant and said she’d be there in thirty minutes.
Elliot took a quick shower before driving the short distance to the address he’d written down. The restaurant was a cheap and cheerful Indian eatery, enveloping him in the delicious aroma of herbs and spices as soon as he walked in. Ramona nodded at him from where she sat at a small table covered with a washed-out red tablecloth that dipped low on each corner. A tea light candle burned next to a tiny vase stuffed with a few strands of plastic flowers and a pitcher of water held pride of place in the middle of the tableau. She was grave and unsmiling as he pulled out the chair to sit beside her, but he was still mightily pleased to see her.
“Hi, Elliot. Sorry I haven’t been in touch for a while but I guess you’ve realised that we’ve pulled you of the case for now. The past few days have been crazy.”
“You’ve pulled me off the case? Why? Because the Knave knows that I’m following him?” This was disappointing but he supposed they were replacing him with another candidate unknown to the Knave, someone anonymous who could work undetected. It certainly made sense to do so.
“What? No.” She irritably shook her head and looked past him to the door. She lifted the pitcher to fill the glasses without saying anything more.
Elliot picked up the menu and casually glanced through it, leaving Ramona to her sullen mood. She probably wasn’t going to be good company tonight but at least he’d get to eat without needing to prepare his own meal. “Do you know what you’re having?” he asked politely.
She suddenly leaned forward, the huff of her breath making the yellow and purple flame of the candle flicker wildly. “He’s stalking me. This is entirely unexpected and we’ve had to make some quick changes to the scheduled plan.”
Elliot slowly lowered the menu, wondering if he’d heard her correctly. “The Knave is stalking you? How did he find out about you?”
“I don’t think we gave him enough credit, or perhaps he’s switched things up because we’ve stopped him from committing the crimes he’d already planned. I don’t know. I don’t know how his mind works and I don’t think I want to know.” Her eyes darted over to the door again.
“You’ll have to go back to the beginning because I’m completely lost. How did he find you? Are you using the dating app?” He wasn’t sure how he felt about this. Yes, she was a single young woman but he hadn’t realised she was actively seeking romance. The notion made him uncomfortable, especially as he was beginning to admit to himself his own growing attraction to her.
She reeled back, apparently horrified by the suggestion. “No! Of course I’m not using any dating apps.”
“Ramona, I don’t understand any of this. How did he find you and why is he stalking you?”
She gnawed at her lip and fiddled with the edge of the menu. “Do you remember when I told you that the daughter of one of the senior members of the corporation was in danger of losing her life at the Knave’s hand?”
“Yes…” Somewhere deep within in his brain, a cog whirred and clicked into place. His eyes widened. “That was you?”
Her nod confirmed it. “If we hadn’t intervened, he would’ve eventually found me anyway but things have sped up. It’s frustrating but we have to roll with it.”
There were still too many loose ends for Elliot’s satisfaction. “Doesn’t he only meet women through the app?”
“Mostly, but his meeting with me was always going to be a random act of chance. Now that we’ve altered future events so thoroughly, we’re dealing with a scrambled reality.”
“Are you ready to order?” A smiling young woman appeared beside their table and offered a distraction from the perplexing conversation. Elliot hastily ordered and waited for her to leave, anxious to have his multitude of questions answered. “A random act of chance? What was that?”
“He spotted me in a pub the other night and he followed me when I left. It was always going to happen and it’s just that it’s happened sooner than we thought because we’ve fiddled so much with time and space.”
He wanted to ask what she was doing at the pub and who she’d been there with. He felt vaguely miffed that she hadn’t asked him to go with her. He reminded himself that she saw him as an employee, a man selected simply for his ability to complete a job. She’d already given him a lot of her leisure time, probably more than she needed to, and she was unaware of his developing feelings. The idea of her enjoying herself on an evening out with another man rankled but he had no claim on her unless he declared his intentions. “Were you in danger? When he followed you?”
“I wasn’t in any danger but the corporation is worried that he’ll strike again. He was seen near my apartment building this morning.”
Near her apartment? His protective instincts reared up. “I’ll take care of you.”
“Thank you, but it’s all under control. It’s troubling that he hasn’t met our forecasts as to how we expected him to act but appropriate safety measures are now in place. I have several people checking on me and they know what they’re doing. There’s no chance of the Knave laying a single finger on me. I’m perfectly safe and you have to trust me on that.”
He had to do something. He couldn’t stand meekly aside and do nothing to help her. “I’m going find him and talk to him. We want to know what he’s thinking and you’ve admitted that your experts’ predictions were wrong. I want to try to determine how his warped mind works.”
“You can’t do that. As I said, you’re completely off the case and there’s no need for you to have anything further to do with him.”
“Why am I completely off the case? I’m sure there’s something I can do behind the scenes.” It was suddenly vitally important to him that he was still involved.
She stared down at the candle flame instead of meeting his gaze. “The corporation have decided it’s for the best. They have some concerns about breaches to the conditions of the operation.”
His heart sank and a hollow sense of failure filled his belly. “This is because of what happened with Kacey Greene, isn’t it?”
The candle light gleamed yellow in the vibrant blue depths of her eyes. “No, it has nothing to do with that. Elliot, I can’t tell you anything more. You’ve been pulled off the assignment and the Knave is now stalking me. That’s all I can say.”
“I’ve made up my mind about speaking to him,” he said firmly. “I’m doing this for myself, I’m doing it for Annie and I’m doing it for all the other women who have needlessly lost their lives at the hands of a murderer. I want to know what makes such a man function, what it is that makes him think he has the right to end the lives of young women. I’m going to face the Knave, man to man, and I’m going to engage him in a conversation.”
The colour had drained from Ramona’s face and her hand visibly shook as she set her water glass back down on the table. “You can’t do that. You’ll ruin everything. As I’ve explained to you already, every minute detail of this operation has been meticulously planned. The project continues to be monitored and assessed on an hourly basis with adjustments made and changes introduced as necessary. A conversation between you and the Knave hasn’t been factored into any of it.”
“He’s now seen me on several occasions. He knows that I know what he’s trying to do. It’s time for me to face him and you can’t persuade me otherwise.”
“The corporation won’t be happy.”
“The corporation can be as unhappy as they like but they can’t stop me from drinking at a public bar in the city in my own free time, just as they can’t stop you from doing so. Ramona, I’m from an era where men fronted up to their enemies and fought their battles on the street. The Knave and I came close to a fistfight in an alley but words can be just as effective when there is a point to be made. I need to do this. You can’t s
it here and tell me that you’re not interested to know more about him yourself.”
She plucked nervously at her paper napkin but he could see she was beginning to waver. “I guess I can’t persuade you not to speak to him, but how will you find him? I refuse to help you by giving you any information. I can’t and won’t betray the corporation.”
“I’m not asking you to. The Knave seems to be a creature of habit. He’s already visited the same wine bar several times now. I’ll go there and wait for him, even if I have to wait for several evenings before he shows up.”
She still looked apprehensive. “Be careful. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
He told himself that she meant the corporation didn’t want anything to happen to him. It was foolish to pretend otherwise. He was here to do a job, she was his boss, and it would do him well to remember that. He raised his water glass to toast her, hoping to summon up a smile and chase away her bleak expression. “I’ll be careful. You can count on that.”
Chapter Thirty
For the next three evenings in a row, Elliot visited the wine bar where Amy had met the Knave but there was no sign of the man. On one of the evenings, he also paid another visit to the bar down by the docks but his intuition told him that the Knave would choose the wine bar with the LED lights and glass tables due to its proximity to a maze of narrow and lonely alleyways. The man was primed for murder yet he’d missed multiple opportunities and even now, Elliot’s replacement was tailing him and thwarting his attempts to claim a victim. Frustration would soon force him out to seek his prey via other means if his meetings via the dating app continued to be foiled.
Elliot walked into the purple-lit bar on the fourth night, fully prepared for this attempt to be just as fruitless as the last few nights. This errand was proving to be more tiresome than he’d anticipated but he was determined not to give up. It wasn’t as if he had anything else to do with his time anyway; since being relieved of his duties he’d found the days dragged slowly by. He’d managed to spend a few hours with Amy yesterday, which had gone some way towards relieving the tedium, but he was anxious for something more exciting to start and to have a goal again. He was beginning to understand just how isolating life in this century could be, despite the numerous comforts at a man’s fingertips.
He looked up as a shadow darkened the doorway and his heart gave a lurch. The Knave was here and he was alone. Tonight he’d chosen to present himself as a suave businessman, a successful and prosperous man about town. He wore his hair cropped short at the sides and longer on top and his suit spoke of quality tailoring and expensive threads. His innate arrogance paired perfectly with his well-groomed and well-chosen outfit. He went straight to the bar where he ordered himself a glass of whisky before turning to survey the room. His eyes skimmed across Elliot before rapidly returning to rest on him. Elliot saw the man’s gaze turn flinty. Elliot hardened his own stare and inclined his head a fraction to acknowledge that he knew he’d been seen and recognised.
The Knave twisted the ring on his finger before casually lifting his glass to take a sip, a man with all the time in the world at his disposal. He said something to the barman before sauntering across to stand beside Elliot’s table. “You come here often.” It was a statement rather than a question.
“I do. It’s an easy place to visit.” He gazed back into the Knave’s cruelly handsome face, taking stock of a man with murder on his mind. He was older than Elliot had first thought, perhaps in his late 30s, but his classic good looks and auspicious air clearly trumped any concerns about his age when it came to scoring dates with attractive young women.
“Do you mind if I sit down?” The faint smell of cigarette smoke teased Elliot’s nostrils as the man subtly shifted his position, already sure of a yes.
“I don’t mind at all.” They were both on their courteous best behaviour, which Elliot thought was laughable considering who the man was and that they’d nearly come to blows a week or so ago.
The Knave lowered himself into the chair with all the elegant finesse of a king ascending his throne. He set his glass down on the table and leaned back in his chair far enough to enable the crossing of his legs at the ankles. He oozed careless confidence and Elliot would have believed his pretence if he hadn’t seen him nervously twist the ring on his finger earlier.
Elliot glanced across at the empty doorway. The wine bar was mostly empty this evening, with just a few small groups of people quietly talking and drinking. “No date tonight?”
“I’ve given myself the night off.” The Knave rested his hand on the table and silently tapped his fingers, as if he were playing an imaginary piano.
Elliot studied him without speaking, trying to understand how this apparently normal and self-assured man found it acceptable to snuff out life with those very hands.
The Knave returned his stare. “I deduced early on that you were a wild card.”
The statement irked Elliot. “You don’t know anything about me.”
The Knave’s mouth broadened into a smirk. “You’d be surprised what I do know about you, Elliot Cinder.”
That voice. “You called my number. You said to tell Elliot that Jack called.”
“Now why would I do that?”
“We can keep talking in circles or we can speak to each other as adult men.”
“Interesting concept.” The Knave’s restless hand moved to his glass and he swirled the alcohol and ice in a lazy circle.
“Have you killed anyone yet?”
Something shut down deep within the Knave’s eyes with all the finality of a dropped hammer. “That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”
“What gives a man the desire to kill?” Elliot asked bluntly. This had bothered him ever since the Whitechapel Murderer made his first ghastly attack, long before Annie was unfortunate enough to cross his evil-minded path.
The Knave uncrossed and stretched out his legs again, taking his own good time with his answer. “We are both men of the world, intrinsically bound by both our backgrounds and our gender. Desire is a fickle beast. One man’s desires are difficult to explain to another, unless those men are inherently two of a kind and can understand the need behind the desire.”
“That seems to be a coward’s way of avoiding a direct answer to a direct question, and you have also judged me wrongly. I am nothing like you.”
“We are more alike than we realise. We both love women for example, but in very different ways.”
“You’re fooling yourself if you think you love women,” Elliot sneered.
The Knave tapped his fingers on the table again, annoyed now. “Very well. Let me answer your question. To hold a person’s life in your hands, to control whether they live or die, is the ultimate high. It is a feeling that is impossible to surpass. It is both seductive and addictive, and a man is left wanting more.”
Elliot felt nauseous. The Knave game was speaking so casually of murder, as if they were discussing a card game or a football match. “You deserve to spend the rest of your life rotting in prison.”
This seemed to amuse him. “We don’t always get what we deserve.”
Annie. She certainly hadn’t deserved to die that awful death. “What do you know of my personal history?”
A tiny flicker of compassion flared in the Knave’s eye but it was just as quickly gone again. “I have had glimpses.”
“How? I am not from here and my friends are few. I also trust them implicitly not to reveal my secrets.”
“I have my means and we both know that the measures put in place by men to make themselves feel safe are more fluid than they look. Time is but a whisper in a world gone mad. The concept of time itself has little meaning once we find a way to bridge it.”
He seemed to be talking about the time machine, but how could he know? Elliot watched him, suspicious of whether he was telling the truth or not. How could he believe anything uttered by a man who made a sport out of murder? “What about Darcy Darcel? Do you know him?”
The man’s blank look seemed genuine enough. “I had never heard of him until this very minute.”
Elliot exhaled, ready to call an end to their meeting. This man, and the knowledge of what he wanted to do to innocent women, made his flesh crawl as horribly as if he was lying on a mattress full of bed bugs. “I don’t know much about you but what I do know, I don’t like,” he said flatly. “I cannot stomach your cruelty and your vindictiveness, regardless of what it is in your life that has made you into the pitiful excuse for a man that you are today. I cannot bear to breathe the same tainted air as you.” He lowered his voice menacingly. “Stay away from Ramona or you’ll regret it.”
The Knave smirked again. “Ah, the beautiful and aloof Ramona. I wasn’t aware that you desired to possess her yourself, although I think we can both agree that she would make a lovely possession.”
Elliot had had enough. He abruptly grated back his chair and stood up, glaring down at the Knave’s hateful face. “Remember this - let the cards fall where they may but all players must play. Don’t forget that there comes a time when every man must pay his dues for the life he has chosen to lead.”
“Fancy words.” The Knave looked amused, although he was spinning the ring on his pinky finger with carefully controlled agitation. Perhaps this meeting hadn’t been completely in vain after all.
“That may be so but my words have deadly meaning. Lay down your hand. Overcome your lust for violence and murder because you can never win.” Elliot strode away to the accompaniment of the Knave’s jeering laughter, anxious to put some distance between himself and this vile man as quickly as he could.
Chapter Thirty-One
Elliot had finally managed to get hold of Ramona. He was eager to share the details of his evening with the Knave with her, but she hadn’t answered her phone for days. He was almost beside himself with boredom and even his car had begun to lose some of its earlier appeal when she finally answered her phone. He didn’t realise it was her at first, thinking her voice mail had picked up yet again, until she spoke. “Is that you, Elliot?”
Lay Down Your Hand Page 15
