Angel's Trap : Book 1 of The Secret of the Oxpen's Angel : Read One Of The Most Gripping Women's Crime Fiction Novels Here!

by Lei R. Tasker

  A price was agreed, and Tom’s car was driven away by its new owner. Paige’s mum came out to watch it drive away, gripping Paige’s hand tightly.

  “He always complained about that car, it was always breaking down,” she said as it rounded the corner, “he wouldn’t have wanted us to keep it.”

  “He had it for a long time. Since I was a teenager, I think,” Paige added. They knew they’d made the right choice, but the speed with which everything was changing was dizzying. Paige thought back to when her dad died – he was ill for years, but his death seemed to go so quickly. One moment he was laughing and joking with them from his hospice bed, and the next they were packing up boxes of his things to go to charity shops.

  At least with her dad, they had a detailed will to follow. Eddie Webb was a stickler for detail and had made sure to write a will as soon as he had been diagnosed. They had followed it to the letter – which items were to be sold, which were to be kept or passed to other family members.

  He had left no room for family arguments. His mum, his sister, his niece and two nephews, were all taken care of to help Paige and her mum as much as possible after he had gone.

  Tom hadn’t made a will. All of his things, his savings, his records, had all gone to Paige’s mum. He had no siblings and his parents had died decades ago. Paige wondered if he had even considered the fact that he might not grow old with her mum. Had he presumed that he would die of old age?

  Paige’s mum was distraught, as anyone would be. Tom’s death was doubly painful for her and it had destroyed another link to Eddie. She was losing a part of him as much as she was losing Tom.

  Three days after the funeral, Paige had run out of ways to keep her mind from Tom’s death. Being at home with her mum all the time was weighing on her mind heavily and she couldn’t bear going through any more boxes of Tom’s belongings.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The next day, after several hours of daytime TV and re-ordering the spices, she decided to return to the Ecklands, feeling that she needed the stability to anchor her back to real life. She got the bus just as she had before and worked throughout the day on Eckland’s essays and writings, pretending she hadn’t heard all that she had read about Eckland.

  Even though she was burying any thought of Ella and Eckland’s association with her, she still felt herself being a little colder with him. He gave his usual flamboyant rant every morning when she arrived, but instead of smiling politely and trying to guess his quotes, she had taken to giving the most basic greeting and heading up the stairs to the study. She had no interest in pandering to anyone right now, least of all him.

  A week or so into returning to work, Paige finished her work at 5pm, declining Arlene’s dinner offer as she had done every day since returning and walked out onto their road. After Tom’s death, she had gotten into a habit of leaving at this time to ensure she could get the 5.05 bus home in time to have dinner with her mum at 6pm. The routine brought her some comfort.

  Sitting on the wall of the Ecklands’ front garden, was Rufus. His hair was unwashed, and he had straggly stumble across his face. Paige had not considered the possibility that she would ever see him again and anger pulled her up the road and away from him.

  “Paige,” he said, genuine fatigue and guilt clouding his voice, “It was an accident, I promise. You will never know how sorry I am. I just need you to hear me out, please.”

  “Get the FUCK away from me,” she blurted out, tears breaking into her speech.

  “Please...” he begged.

  Heart hardened by the experiences of the past month, Paige blanked out his pleas by placing her headphones on and playing a Spotify mix as she continued walking to her stop. Through the pounding beat of “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey, she could hear sporadic words as Rufus followed her: “It was an accident... I didn’t mean for Tom... he was... I couldn’t... Marie... it’s not what you think... that girl, I was... Hate me if you like... the hotel... we talked, that’s all!” He was really shouting now, so Paige turned up the music, walking faster so that she reached in the bus stop in less than a minute.

  Why won’t he leave me alone? Paige thought, biting her lip against the rising sobs, Why isn’t he in prison? How did he get released?

  “... named Jade... make you believe me!” She could still make out the faint sound of his voice. A few hundred yards away from her stop, her bus rounded the corner. She ran to catch it, hoping to get away from Rufus. Scanning her return ticket, she leaned panting against the rail of the luggage area, noticing he hadn’t kept up to her. Looking out of the side window, she could see Rufus running up the road, screaming his pleas to her, and finally sinking to his knees as the bus pulled away.

  She paused wheezing in her breath, partly from the adrenalin. She could feel the rings on her fingers shivering against the cold metal of the rail and her heart banging against her chest.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED... she thought, Rufus was arrested for manslaughter. We gave statements. They took DNA from the scene.

  Almost falling into a young woman with a pushchair in the standing area as the bus lurched around a corner, Paige decided to head to the upper deck to find a quiet seat.

  There, in a window seat, was Leo, furtively looking through his phone.

  “Leo...” Paige said gingerly, walking up to him. Their encounter in Starbucks may have been a happy accident, but this coincidence didn’t feel right. She got this bus every day at around the same time and had never seen him on it. As he had told her the first day they met, his house was up past the station. This bus was travelling in the opposite direction.

  “Paige!” Leo said, smiling brightly as he cleared space on the seat next to him for her to sit. He had papers, books and a thermos on the seat, and scrambled to try and get them into his rucksack, “Sit here,” he said insistently, patting the seat next to him.

  Paige hesitantly sat next to him. Why is he on this bus? she thought, Does he know that I get this bus home?

  “Which stop is this?” He asked, peering out of the window, “I’ve just returned from a conference up north, and I never usually take this bus.”

  Some of Paige’s anxiety waned. It didn’t explain why he was getting a bus in the opposite direction to his house, but it wasn’t any of her business.

  “The one on Mill Street, just down from your parents...” Paige said, confused as to why he hadn’t realised that was where she was boarding from.

  “Oh, of course!” He added, “It looks different from this angle.”

  “Oh,” Paige said, unconvinced.

  “Have you been working there today?” Leo asked.

  Paige, thrown off by his apparent amnesia, stumbled over her reply, “Yes.”

  “Of course, of course...” Leo said, leaning over to look out of the window again. As he did, the rucksack on his lap slipped forward, opening the zip a fraction. The contents of the bag poked out, including a green bumbag. It was identical to the one she had seen in Starbucks.

  It took a moment for Leo to notice that his belongings were about to fall out, but as he began to rescue them, he clasped the bumbag.

  Shock was radiating from her face as she realised it had been Leo’s bumbag on the chair in the café. Was the phone in there? They locked eyes, Paige’s face saying everything, and in a moment of recognition Paige saw Leo’s face change in an instant. His usual cheeky demeanour dropped, and he looked at her gravely.

  She pressed the bell and stood up to get off at the next stop, too afraid to speak, but Leo grabbed her wrist, gently but firmly and pulled her back down.

  As the bus slowed to a stop he called out, “Sorry, pressed it too early!” to the driver. From the level below, Paige heard the driver tut before the bus continued on its route.

  Paige looked around the bus – there weren’t many people on it. At the far back was a pre-teen girl in school uniform reading a book. Two rows back there was an elderly man leaning against a cane, daydreaming, a
nd as she had seen when she got on, the only person downstairs was the woman rocking her baby. Paige felt isolated and knew the bus driver was her best chance of escape. She would have to alert him, but with Leo gripping her wrist so tightly, she wasn’t sure how to do so. If he meant her harm, he could have a knife in his bag.

  Before she could make a decision, Leo had pressed the bell and the bus slowed to arrive at the next stop. Paige looked out of the window – they were in a remote spot, outside of the main city, and the stop was flanked by woodland. Still holding Paige’s arm, Leo indicated that she should stand up. They shuffled forward together, and Leo went down the stairs first. At the bottom he pulled her back towards him and whispered so that no one else could hear, “Come with me, I don’t want to have to hurt you.”

  As they reached the bus door, Paige willed herself to say something to the bus driver.

  “Thank you,” Leo said to the bus driver, feigning politeness. The bus driver nodded in reply, returning to look out of the front window. Paige urged herself to shout for help, to make some kind of signal to him, but fear froze her tongue and she continued to walk off the bus with Leo still holding tightly onto her arm.

  “This way,” he said quietly, pushing her into the woodland.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  AS LEO PUSHED PAIGE on into the woods, she realised she had been here before, just a few years ago.

  “This way, P,” Tom called, walking down the road, beckoning Paige to follow him.

  “How much further?” Paige had asked, cold to her bones and stumbling on numb toes.

  “Not far, I promise,” Tom said.

  The road was flanked by woodland, which Tom had just headed into. Paige sighed. She was already shivering against the bleak Autumn wind and they had been walking for over an hour.

  “Tom, wait,” Paige jogged to catch up a little. She found Tom bent down at the base of a tree in a little copse, moving dead leaves away to reveal a plaque.

  “See?” Tom said, gesturing for her to come closer.

  The plaque read “For all those angels who haven’t grown wings yet.”

  “What does it mean?” Paige asked, dancing from foot to foot to try and warm up.

  “That’s you,” he said, pointing back at the plaque, “You’re an angel who hasn’t grown wings yet.”

  “Tom...” Paige’s frustration with the weather had affected her patience for these types of things.

  “I just mean, you haven’t found your niche yet,” Tom said.

  Paige realised he meant her career. Ever since her dad had died, she’d struggled to find any passion for work, accepting any job, whether it utilised her skills or not.

  Paige shrugged, not knowing what to say. Tom added, “I just wanted you to know that I’m proud of you, wings or no wings, and so is your mum and so would your dad have been if he was still around.”

  “Thanks Tom,” Paige said, walking forward to help him up from a kneeling position and hug him, “I’m just a little lost.”

  “I know you are, P,” Tom said, hugging her tightly back.

  The memory dispersed as Leo pushed her further into the woods. She had never questioned why that plaque was there, or who had put it there. Tom had made her walk for miles to reach it, seemingly for no reason other than to offer his support. Had Tom put the plaque there?

  “Where are we going?” Paige asked Leo, finally plucking up the courage to speak.

  “Just keep walking and you’ll see,” Leo said, still keeping a very firm grasp on her wrist.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “I’M NOT GOING ANY FURTHER!” Paige wrenched her arm away from Leo. If she was going to die here, she’d rather face it head on.

  “Fine,” Leo sighed, holding his hands up, “We can talk here.”

  “Talk?!” Paige exploded, “I don’t want to talk to you about anything! You’ve been following me, you forced me off the bus, and now you’ve brought me to this forest. And I’m sure you won’t show me what’s in that green bumbag – it’s Ella’s phone isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is her phone, but it’s not what you think. I’m sorry, but I promise I have my reasons,” Leo said, rummaging in his bag to bring out the bumbag.

  “I don’t care, I’m leaving,” Paige said turning to walk back to the bus stop.

  “You’re in danger,” Leo said, “I know you know that, somewhere deep down. The attack wasn’t random.”

  Paige stopped in her tracks. How could she leave without finding out what he knew?

  “So, you sent someone to attack me? Killed Ella and stole her phone?” Paige said, turning back to face him.

  “No!” Leo said, genuinely taken aback, “No, Paige, you have this the wrong way around.”

  “What are you talking about? You’ve been following me. And the phone that’s been texting me all those weird messages was in that bag, I’m sure of it.”

  “Yes, you’re right, but I didn’t kill Ella or attack you Paige,” Leo said, unzipping the bumbag to reveal a Nokia.

  “You did send the texts then?” Paige said, anger rising into her throat.

  “Yes, I did, to warn you,” Leo said.

  “You could have warned me in person. You had plenty of opportunity. Why did you use Ella’s phone? And how do you expect me to believe that you didn’t kill her seeing as you have her phone?”

  “She asked me to keep it safe,” Leo said, “And I couldn’t just talk to you in person, we weren’t ever truly alone.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The first time we met we were with my parents. Then in the pub, I tried to get you alone in the beer garden, but Rufus’ calls interrupted us. Then when you texted Ella’s phone to meet you at the Starbucks, I thought I had an opportunity, but Elaine Lemmy was there.”

  “Who is Elaine Lemmy? You’re not making any sense, Leo,” Paige said, pacing up and down the copse.

  “There was a woman, about my parents’ age, sat not far behind you. She’s a friend of my dad’s, they used to work together,” Leo explained. Paige thought back to that day in the Starbucks and the elderly woman behind her using her index finger to type stilted messages on her smartphone.

  “That still doesn’t explain why you wouldn’t talk to me – why would a friend of your dad’s care about this?” Paige said, her exasperation overtaking her anger.

  “Don’t you understand this is all to do with my dad!” Leo said, edging closer. Paige stuck out a warning finger.

  “Don’t come any closer,” she said. Leo backed away again. Paige sighed and added, “No, I don’t understand. It seems to me that you’re the problem, not your dad.”

  “I’ll explain it all, just please come with me,” Leo said, gesturing to continue further into the woodland, “I have to show you something first.”

  Paige reluctantly followed him, keeping a few feet behind Leo.

  “Oh no,” Paige whispered, as she realised where they were going. They trampled through the undergrowth until they reached the tree with the plaque that Tom had shown her so many years earlier.

  “You recognise it, don’t you?” Leo said, pointing to the plaque, “‘For all those angels who haven’t grown wings yet.’”

  “Tom brought me here,” Paige said, even more bewildered than before.

  “Not many people know this is here, Paige,” Leo said, “Only my dad’s close friends.”

  “What?” Paige started to back away again in disbelief, “Tom barely knew your family. He did a job for your dad, that’s all.”

  “That’s not true,” Leo said, “They had been friends for years, but in secret.”

  “In secret?” Paige said, “What do you mean ‘friends in secret’, how does that work?”

  “Tom did do work for my dad, Paige, but not as a plumber.”

  “What does that mean?! Just tell me what is going on, please!”

  “I don’t know the full story, only what Ella was able to tell me before she died,” Leo paused, shaking his head, the weight of what he was about
to share showing in his eyes.

  Paige had lost all patience. “Leo, please just be honest with me. Since I arrived in Oxford, I’ve been attacked, stalked, threatened and my step-dad was killed.”

  “I can apologise for two of those – I honestly was just trying to keep you safe,” Leo said.

  “From who? Why am I in danger?” Paige said.

  “From what Ella has told me, my dad is part of something underhand. He lures young women to him with the promise of academic work. The money he offers, as you know, is quite substantial, and so very attractive to students at the university who don’t have financial support. Ella said that he built a connection with her, introducing her to his friends.”

  “I’m not seeing the problem with that?” Paige said.

  “Neither did Ella, at first. She enjoyed socialising with his circles, meeting influential academics and businesspeople. Until one day she woke up in my dad’s spare room, not remembering the night before. My dad told her she had too much wine and he offered for her to stay over to sleep it off. But, she didn’t remember the party or going back to my dad’s house.”

  “My god...” Paige muttered involuntarily.

  “She tried to brush it off and continue the work – like I said, she was enjoying it and the money was good. A few days later she found the poem – the one that quotes from ‘The Trap’ by Lindsay, you found it too didn’t you?”

  “Only after the text- I mean your text...” Paige said.

  “It was clearly about Ella, mentioning her lioness tattoo. That’s when she came to me. I’m sorry that I lied to you, saying that I only met her once. The truth is I met her many times at my dad’s. She was nice and very intelligent.”

  “You were friendly with her?” Paige was still trying to wrap her mind around everything she was being told. So much had been held back before now that she didn’t know how to feel and what she had been told and what the truth had been revealed to be were blended in her mind.