by D. S. Butler
She saw the white container nestled underneath the street sign. It was a five-litre tub and had no labels, just a small metal handle.
There was nothing to indicate what was inside the tub.
But she supposed it didn’t really matter. Whatever was in there, she would throw it over anyone to get her daughter back.
With a shaking hand, she reached down and picked up the container and began to walk briskly towards Monument Underground Station.
Chapter 18
Rob was waiting by the entrance of Monument Underground Station. Claire Watson should arrive at any moment, but would she really participate? Surely she would have told the police about Marlo’s sick game, and they would have advised her not to take any part in it. That was the sensible course of action. Even Rob knew that. The more he thought about it, the more he was convinced that Claire Watson wouldn’t turn up.
The underground station was busy and with so many people going in and out, Rob had to keep a close eye on the commuters, so he didn’t miss Claire slipping in.
Rob stuffed his hands in his pockets and exhaled a long, slow breath. If only he could turn back time. He should never have got involved with Marlo.
When he’d first talked things over with Marlo at the White Hart pub in Ealing, they’d laughed over the pictures of Claire Watson and her husband. The couple were quite the socialites. There were pictures of them in Hello magazine and articles in various social columns about their charity work. He and Marlo had had a good laugh at that. Marlo had said that charity started at home and raised his eyebrows meaningfully.
Rob agreed. He had grown up on the Towers Estate, and all his life he’d seen bankers growing fat and rich while his family and friends grew poorer. Perhaps the Watsons did give some money to charity, but compared to what they kept for themselves it was only a drop in the ocean.
He did feel a little bad about Ruby, though. She’d been doing voluntary work, and Benny really liked her. He said she’d been kind to him. When Rob had mentioned the fact that a girl with mega rich parents worked at Benny’s community centre, Marlo had formulated a plan. It had seemed so straightforward at the time. Easy money and nobody was supposed to get hurt.
Lila had been a complete surprise to Rob and Marlo. They hadn’t planned on abducting two girls. He had to hand it to Marlo, though. He was a quick thinker. When they’d got the girls in the van, Marlo had copied their contacts to his own phone before they dumped the mobiles.
Rob was convinced now that Claire Watson wasn’t coming. He pulled out his mobile phone ready to call Marlo and tell him he was heading back.
But then he saw her.
She looked awful. Her face was pale and pinched, and she had a light sheen of sweat on her forehead. She was carrying the white container and staggering under its weight, bumping into people.
Nobody spared her a second glance, and Rob couldn’t understand why. She was clearly a woman in distress, but no one cared. None of the crowds of people rushing past stopped to ask if she was okay or if she needed any help. They were all far too busy with their own lives, most of them looking at their smartphones as they ignored the world around them.
He wished he could reach out to her and tell her that Ruby was okay and wouldn’t be hurt so long as she waited until Marlo had finished playing his stupid game. Ruby would soon be back at home with her parents, and everything would be fine. The Watsons would be one hundred grand poorer, which was nothing to rich people like them, and Marlo and Rob would be fifty grand richer.
Claire slipped into the underground station, and Rob followed. He waited for her to purchase a ticket and then pulled out his wallet, tapped his oyster card against the sensor pad and followed Claire down the escalators.
He didn’t want to get too close and alert Claire to his presence, so he let three people stand between them on the escalator. But he needn’t have worried. Claire was in a world of her own. She was staring blankly ahead, and her whole body was trembling.
A businessman dressed in a navy blue suit, which probably cost a ridiculous amount of money, started to march down the escalator, mindlessly hitting people with his umbrella and laptop bag as he went.
His bag knocked the container, and for one horrible second, Rob thought it was about to tumble down the escalator, but it didn’t. Claire guarded it fiercely.
When she reached the bottom of the escalator, Claire only took two steps forward before coming to an abrupt stop. People behind her were trying to get around her quickly, away from the rush of people descending behind them. As the swell of people began to build up behind her, she got a little shove from behind from one of the commuters. That seemed to jolt her into action, and she chose to head towards the platform on her left.
Rob followed her, feeling increasingly nervous. Marlo was a power hungry fool, but Rob wasn’t really scared about what might be in the container. He was sure it wouldn’t be anything dangerous. Even Marlo wasn’t that stupid.
He watched Claire as she approached a couple of people sitting on a bench. Her hands were trembling as she lifted the container and began to peel back the lid slowly.
But an elderly lady hobbled up to the bench, and the young girl who’d been sitting there stood up and let her have her seat. That seemed to throw Claire for a moment, and she hesitated before turning away.
She walked slowly to the next bench, towards Mr Umbrella Man, the idiot in the navy blue suit who had rudely hit everyone with his umbrella and laptop bag on his way to the platform.
He could tell from the way Claire had set her head and swallowed hard that she had chosen her victim.
Rob approved. If anyone deserved to be targeted, it was him.
He fumbled for his mobile phone, tapped on the camera app and began to record. Nobody paid him any attention. It was such a normal sight these days. Rob wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary.
He watched Claire as she ripped off the lid and heaved the container up to chest height. She paused for a fraction of a second before she threw it.
There was an audible gasp from commuters standing nearby. Even though he knew what was coming, a small gasp escaped Rob’s lips, too.
The man was covered in bright red paint.
In her eagerness to complete her task, Claire had let go of the container and thrown that along with the contents at Mr Umbrella Man. The paint was dripping from his face and hair. He let out a roar of outrage and shot to his feet.
But Claire was already darting for the exit. Rob knew he should have left too but he was transfixed.
A few seconds passed before he heard an alarm sound, and he knew that staff would be arriving soon, asking questions and looking for witnesses.
It was definitely time for Rob to go.
Chapter 19
Janice George arrived at Tanner Street with her heart hammering. She wanted whoever had taken her daughter to be there so she could rip their eyes out with her own hands.
She was scared, absolutely terrified for her Lila, but it was the anger that surprised her. She had a raw, furious need to rip those bastards to pieces.
If they had been standing in front of her now and somebody handed her a knife, she’d be able to stab them in the gut and smile while she did it.
But unfortunately for Janice, there was nobody on Tanner Street, only a paper note taped to the street sign. Janice ripped it in two in her haste to read it.
She swore under her breath as she held the two pieces together. Her grip tightened on the piece of paper as she read.
First level completed. To complete the second level and have a chance to save your daughter’s life take the white container to the bus stop on Bryant Lane. You must throw the contents of the container over a person of your choice. No peeking at the contents before you throw. We will be watching.
Janice looked down at the white bucket. She didn’t know what was in it but she didn’t much care. She reached down to snatch it up and marched around the corner to Bryant Lane.
She wouldn’t
let herself think about the situation too deeply. If she did, she was scared she would hesitate and maybe even bottle it. She needed to do this for Lila. God knows, she’d let the poor girl down in the past and she wasn’t about to do it again. She swore to herself if Lila came home she could go to any bloody college she wanted and she would have Janice’s full support.
Janice licked her dry, cracked lips and tried to breathe normally. Her chest felt too tight, as though someone had wrapped a tight band around her ribs.
As the bus stop came into view in front of her, Janice began to shake. She could see there were two people sitting down at the bus stop and another person leaning against the bus stop sign.
She had to pick one of them.
Janice chewed on a fingernail as she slowed down. She needed to be smart about this. If any of them sensed what she was up to and ran away, that would mean she failed.
She didn’t understand the purpose behind this game. Was one of the people at the bus stop someone the abductor wanted to punish? But if that was the case, why had they told Janice she could throw it over whoever she liked?
She had a sickening feeling that this was all for the enjoyment of whoever had taken her daughter. They were playing with her life, treating her like a puppet.
But as much as Janice hated the fact they were pulling her strings, she couldn’t refuse, not when Lila’s life was at stake.
She lifted the container, put one hand beneath it and then began to peel back the lid. She grimaced at the smell and then stepped forward.
A girl sat at the bus stop. She couldn’t have been more than eighteen, and she was heavily pregnant, so Janice ruled her out straightaway. Beside her was an elderly gentleman, dressed in a suit and leaning heavily on his walking stick.
How could Janice throw the stuff at an old man like that?
That only left one option. The young man leaning against the bus stop sign. He hadn’t even noticed her approach. He wore baggy cargo pants that were splattered with paint and some kind of plaster. She guessed he’d been carrying out building work in the area.
It would have to be him.
She muttered an advance apology and then lifted the container.
* * *
Rob skidded to a halt opposite the bus stop. He’d only just made it in time. Marlo really hadn’t timed this very well. Janice George was already there, standing at the bus stop, clutching the container.
Rob could see she had already picked out her victim, a young man dressed in casual working clothes.
He was completely oblivious to Janice’s presence. He was preoccupied with his phone, tapping away, unaware that Janice was about to dump a load of paint over his head.
Rob shook his head as he pulled out his phone to start recording. This was such a pathetic waste of time. There was no point behind this silly game, and it had just occurred to Rob that when the police discovered he had been at both scenes, they would put two and two together.
If they did arrest him, then Rob would spill the beans on Marlo. He owed the man nothing. He was furious with him and determined never to work with him again. As soon as he had recorded Janice throwing the paint, he intended to head back to the basement flat and tell Marlo it finished today. He would force him to send a text message with a demand for money and a drop-off point.
There was no way he was going to waste any more time playing Marlo’s stupid game.
“Come on,” Rob whispered under his breath.
He just wanted her to get on with it so he could get back to Benny and make sure he was all right. He hated the thought of leaving him alone with Marlo. Anything could happen if he wasn’t there to look out for Benny.
He zoomed in using the viewfinder on the phone to get a better view, and he saw Janice’s arms tense a fraction of a second before she flung the contents of the container at the man beside the bus stop.
He was tall and that stopped the contents reaching his face. Instead, it splattered over his grey hoodie and cargo pants.
But there was something different this time…
For one thing, the container’s contents wasn’t red.
Rob had been watching everything through the screen of his phone, but he now looked up so he could get a better view.
The young man wasn’t acting outraged or angry like the man at the underground station. Instead, he let out a high-pitched scream, and Rob noticed there was smoke or steam coming off his clothes.
Janice dropped the container by her feet and looked horrified as the young man tried to yank off his hoodie, screaming as he did so.
Whatever liquid Janice had thrown over him was now burning a hole through his T-shirt.
Rob forgot all about the fact he was supposed to be filming the incident. His hands dropped to his sides as he looked on.
He took two steps forward, intending to go over there and help, but then he realised he couldn’t. If he did, he would definitely be caught, and if he went to prison, what would happen to Benny? He couldn’t leave Benny to face something like this alone. If the police found Benny at the same flat as the girls, they wouldn’t listen to Rob if he tried to tell them that Benny wasn’t involved.
The young man had flung his hoodie on the floor and ripped his T-shirt over his head. Even from the other side of the road, Rob could see that his chest was red.
Jesus Christ. What had Marlo done?
He’d used acid.
The other two people who’d been waiting at the bus stop had scattered sharpish, but another young man who had been passing had stopped and was now on his mobile phone. Rob guessed he was calling an ambulance and the police.
Janice hadn’t run away like Claire. She stood there, horrified, with the empty container by her feet.
Rob knew he had to get out of there and he had to move now. He turned his back on the gruesome scene and charged up the road.
He had been prepared to confront Marlo and force him to demand the money today, but after seeing that sick game unfold before his eyes, he realised all the stories about Marlo were true. He was a psychopath.
Right now, the money was unimportant. Rob needed to get Benny out of there as soon as possible and get him away from Marlo.
Chapter 20
Mackinnon didn’t need to tell DI Tyler what Glenn Calvert had said. The detective inspector had already guessed what had happened from reading Mackinnon’s expression.
Tyler shook his head. “Don’t tell me. Janice George has disappeared as well.”
Mackinnon nodded. “Yes, and she has taken her phone.”
Tyler was barely holding his emotions in check. He marched out of the sitting area, through the hallway and straight out of the front door without turning around.
Mackinnon turned to Peter Watson as he began to demand to know where his wife had gone.
“Try not to panic, Mr Watson. We have cameras everywhere, and we will be able to follow your wife’s movements. We just need a little time.”
“Do you think the abductors have taken Claire now as well as Ruby?”
“There’s no reason to think that. We still believe they are after money, and it’s possible they saw Claire and Janice as easier targets.”
Peter Watson shook his head. “I can’t believe it. Why is this happening to me?”
As Peter Watson spoke, his son, Curtis came out of his bedroom and walked into the open plan kitchen. That boy seemed to get stranger and stranger.
His father had been yelling only a moment ago. Surely there was no way Curtis could have missed that. Even Mackinnon and Tyler had heard him from outside the apartment, and yet Curtis was only now coming out to investigate.
He looked at his father and then turned to Mackinnon. “What’s happened?”
When Peter Watson didn’t answer his son, Mackinnon said, “Your mother has gone out, and we’re not sure where she is. Did she say anything to you before she left?”
He kept his voice calm, not wanting to alarm Claire’s son. He needn’t have worried. The boy was cool and unru
ffled by the news that his mother had left the house while kidnappers still had his sister.
Curtis shook his head. “No, but I’m not really surprised. If she told me she planned to go out, I would have tried to talk her out of it.”
“You would?”
Curtis nodded. “Of course. It’s quite clearly a ridiculous thing to do, especially after what has happened to Ruby. She should have stayed here.”
Mackinnon didn’t elaborate on the note that his mother had left and didn’t tell him they suspected the kidnappers had told his mother she had to go alone in order to save Ruby’s life. It was up to Peter Watson to tell the boy the details.
Kelly Johnson stood beside Peter, murmuring reassurances, but Mackinnon wasn’t sure Peter Watson was even listening.
“So what happens now?” Curtis asked.
“We are going to track down your mother and keep looking for your sister. I need to head back to the station now, but I’m sure your father would really appreciate your support at the moment.”
Mackinnon nodded at Peter Watson, who held his head in his hands as he slumped down into an armchair.
Curtis rolled his eyes. “We’re not really that kind of family.”
Shocked at the boy’s reaction, Mackinnon left the apartment and took the lift down to the lobby. He found DI Tyler outside, pacing in front of the entrance. He was clearly furious.
He looked up as Mackinnon stepped out onto the pavement.
“I should have confiscated their phones,” Tyler said. “I should have insisted and said they were part of the investigation.”
Mackinnon shook his head. “It’s not your fault. We couldn’t exactly put them under house arrest. They left of their own free will.”
“I wish I bloody had put them under house arrest. If I had, this wouldn’t have happened.” Tyler shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “This isn’t going to go down well, Jack. It’s my first big case, and this is a screwup of epic proportions.”
