Deadly Game

by D. S. Butler

  She closed her eyes, listening to the sound of children’s laughter and mother’s nagging them to hurry up. She was out of her depth. She should have confided in Kelly rather than telling her she was going to the gym and then slipping out via the car park entrance just in case the police were watching the front of Drake House.

  She looked again at the text message she had just received.

  She looked again at the text message she had just received.

  Take the girl with the blonde hair and the pink Paw Patrol lunchbox and bring her to the corner of Milton Road.

  Claire scanned the children already in the playground but couldn’t see anyone matching that description.

  And even if she could, would she really go through with it?

  She had no idea what they would do with the poor girl, so how could she deliver an innocent child to them?

  She closed her eyes and pictured Ruby’s face, trying to gather her strength.

  When she opened her eyes again, she noticed a small blonde-haired girl skip past. She carried a pink Paw Patrol lunchbox. The child’s hair had been scooped back into a ponytail, and her long fringe pinned back with sparkly pink clips.

  She pushed back a few loose strands of hair and dislodged one of the hair clips. It fell on the ground close to Claire.

  “Wait a minute, darling,” Claire said and hurried forward, picking up the hair clip, a pink one with tiny kittens printed on it.

  She smiled brightly at the girl. “Shall I help you put it back in your hair?”

  The girl nodded. The fact she was so trusting twisted Claire’s stomach and made her chest feel tight.

  “Thank you,” the little girl said.

  Claire’s hands were shaking so much she found it difficult to put the hair clip back in place.

  A voice behind her said, “Hello, Claudia.”

  The fair-haired little girl smiled and looked at someone over Claire’s shoulder. “Hello, Mrs Clark.”

  Claire turned to see an attractive brunette, wearing bright pink lipstick, looking down at them.

  “I don’t think we’ve met,” she said, looking at Claire with open curiosity. “Claudia is good friends with my daughter, Ella.”

  Claire turned back and smiled at the fair-haired girl. “Go on, sweetheart. You don’t want to be late.”

  She turned to the woman and tried to act naturally. “I am Ruby Watson’s mother.”

  The brunette’s forehead puckered in a frown. “Oh, I don’t think I know Ruby. Is she in the same class as Claudia and Ella?”

  “She is new,” Claire said. “Well, I’d better go. I’ve got a hundred and one things to do this morning. It was nice meeting you.”

  Claire turned and walked briskly away.

  * * *

  Toby leaned back after he’d finished tying the girl’s laces. “All done,” he said.

  The girl smiled at him, and he saw she was missing her front tooth. Memories of Lila at the same age and her overwhelming excitement over the tooth fairy leaving fifty pence under her pillow flooded Toby’s mind.

  He put his hand over his mouth. What were these people trying to turn him into? Some kind of monster, like them?

  He wouldn’t do it.

  He was not going to take an innocent child.

  He stood up and watched the child as she ran off towards the school, feeling further away from Lila than ever.

  * * *

  Marlo was watching from the other side of the road.

  He held his phone in front of him, recording the scene. Today hadn’t started off well. He had planned to have Rob here, recording the events, but there had been no sign of Rob since last night.

  The bloody idiot was probably still out looking for his stupid brother. Rob was supposed to act as a buffer. Marlo didn’t want his face captured on CCTV, and this morning he was taking a big risk, but he couldn’t get out of it. He needed the recording.

  He had smiled to himself as Toby George had picked out a child at random, and Claire had done his bidding and targeted the fair-haired girl as she’d been told. But then it all went horribly wrong when they’d both let the children go, and now the playground was emptying as the children filed into the school building.

  It was too late for them to take any child now.

  Furiously he clicked the red button, stopping the recording. The video file was too big to send via email so he uploaded it to the cloud.

  Marlo cursed.

  He’d performed his role to perfection, but they had let him down. They had ruined the game, and the person who was employing Marlo would not be happy when he saw this video.

  He gritted his teeth and typed a text message.

  YOU FAILED.

  Chapter 45

  At nine-thirty, Charlotte took a phone call. She had been feeling the effects of no sleep, and the words on her computer screen had been blurring together for the last half an hour as she went over interview transcripts.

  But the phone call had lit a fire underneath her and perked her up fast. She listened carefully and jotted down a few notes before heading straight over to Mackinnon.

  “Jack, I think I’ve got something.” She held up the piece of paper. “A man was admitted to the London this morning. He matches Benny Morris’ description, and he’s been stabbed. He’s going into surgery now.”

  “How sure are you it is him?”

  “I am not at all sure yet, but the physical description matches. He either wasn’t talking when he was taken in or he was unconscious because they don’t have a record of his name. He was found by a Mr Roger Sturgess at Stepney allotments.

  “I’ve emailed them the CCTV image of Benny, but they haven’t replied yet. If it’s all right with you, I’d like to go and talk to Roger Sturgess.”

  Mackinnon nodded. “I’ll come with you. We need to fill Tyler in first. How serious is his condition? Is he expected to survive surgery?”

  “It’s looking touch and go.”

  After they had updated Tyler, Mackinnon and Charlotte headed for Stepney allotments. They’d spoken to the local force who were managing the crime scene and they confirmed the victim was Benny Morris. They had informed Charlotte that Roger Sturgess, the man who had discovered the body, was still at the allotments.

  The allotments in Stepney were part of Stepney City Farm. There were enough plots for around sixty Tower Hamlets residents to grow their own fruit and vegetables. The project was set up in nineteen seventy-nine and made use of a site that had been levelled by bombs during the Second World War.

  Over the past few years, it’d had a bit of a facelift and there was now a permanent cafe on site and a farmers’ market held every Saturday.

  As Mackinnon and Charlotte walked through the farm towards the allotments, Charlotte grinned.

  “My Nan used to bring me here when I was a kid. I remember the cows frightened the life out of me!”

  They passed a group of schoolchildren lining up to buy pots of animal feed so they could feed the chickens.

  They’d already been to visit the crime scene, and the crime scene manager, Jacob Trent, had told them they could find Roger Sturgess sitting in the cafe, recovering from the shock of finding Benny Morris’ body.

  Although the cafe was busy, as soon as they stepped inside, they were able to identify Roger Sturgess. He sat on a wooden chair, bent over a cup of tea, with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. A woman with dark hair, pulled back off her face, stood beside him with one hand on his shoulder.

  Mackinnon and Charlotte approached and introduced themselves.

  When Roger began to struggle to get to his feet, Mackinnon said, “There’s no need to get up, Roger. We’ll join you here if that’s okay?”

  Roger nodded gratefully and sat back down.

  The woman who was still standing beside him held out her hand to shake Mackinnon’s. “I’m Leandra, I run the cafe, and Roger is one of my regulars. He’s had a terrible shock.”

  Charlotte nodded. “It’s good to see he ha
s people looking out for him.”

  Leandra shot one last worried look at Roger and said, “Well, I should leave you to it, I suppose. Can I get you a tea or coffee?”

  Mackinnon and Charlotte both asked for coffee.

  “I hope this won’t be too distressing for you, Roger. We just need to ask you a few questions,” Charlotte said as Leandra walked away. “Ideally, we’d like to identify the man as soon as possible.”

  Roger nodded. “Of course, ask away.”

  “I have a photograph here. It is not the best quality as it’s from a CCTV camera, but could you tell us if this was the man you found this morning?” Charlotte pushed across the image from the CCTV, showing Benny Morris standing outside Rose Hill Community Centre.

  Roger leaned forward to look at the picture and then patted down his shirt, looking for his glasses.

  He eventually found them in his trouser pocket and slipped them on. He studied the image for a moment and then nodded. “I am pretty sure that is the same man.”

  Charlotte smiled encouragingly. “Thank you.”

  “What’s his name?” Roger asked.

  “Benny Morris,” Mackinnon said. “Did he say anything when you found him?”

  Roger shook his head. “To be honest, I thought he was dead. He had blood all over his stomach, and the poor lad looked so pale. I felt for a pulse but couldn’t feel anything. I was about to leave him in the shed and go and call the police, when I heard him cough.

  “I don’t mind telling you, he gave me the fright of my life.

  “When I realised he was still alive, I ran out of there shouting for help. Luckily, Derek Sythe, one of the chaps who owns a plot closer to the farm, was just on his way in, and he had a mobile phone with him so he called an ambulance.”

  Roger raised his mug of tea to his lips with a shaky hand. “Do you know if he’ll make it?”

  “He is in surgery and in a very serious condition, but if he does make it through, it will be down to you,” Mackinnon said.

  Everyone at the table looked up as Leandra brought Mackinnon and Charlotte’s cups of coffee to the table. They thanked her and then resumed their questioning.

  “Did you notice anybody else in the area when you arrived at the allotments this morning?” Mackinnon asked.

  “No,” Roger said and shook his head. “It was a lovely, peaceful morning. I didn’t see anyone else at the allotments, and I didn’t even know Derek had arrived when he did.”

  Roger frowned and took another sip of his tea, pulling his blanket around his shoulders. “I haven’t got a clue how he even got in because the shed door was still locked when I got there.”

  Jacob Trent, the crime scene manager, had told Mackinnon there were a couple of loose panels at the back of the shed, and it looked as though Benny had been stabbed in situ, so somebody else had crept into the shed with him.

  There were a few CCTV cameras set up around the cafe area and one set up outside the cowshed on the farm, but the allotments were a camera-free zone for the most part, so they would need to rely on the crime scene team to get some answers.

  Mackinnon picked up his cup of coffee and took a sip. It was good.

  Roger looked up suddenly and waved at a man over Mackinnon’s shoulder.

  Mackinnon and Charlotte both turned. The new arrival had wavy brown hair and a concerned look on his face.

  “It’s my grandson. He’s come to pick me up. Did you have any more questions?” Roger asked.

  Mackinnon shook his head. “Thank you for your help, Mr Sturgess. I understand you’ve left your address and contact details with the officer at the scene.”

  Roger nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”

  After Roger left with his grandson, Mackinnon and Charlotte quickly finished their coffee and stood up ready to leave.

  This wasn’t an encouraging development. According to the crime scene manager, Benny Morris had been stabbed once in the stomach and left to bleed out. It looked as though the abductors were now fighting between themselves, and that was not a good sign.

  Chapter 46

  Marlo was absolutely fuming.

  His game had been ruined, and to make matters worse, he’d just been screamed at over the phone by the prick who was organising the whole thing.

  It was the unfairness of the situation that really got to him. Marlo shouldn’t be blamed for other people not playing the game properly. He’d set everything up perfectly and should have been praised rather than shouted at.

  He was feeling uneasy now. He wasn’t used to caring what people thought of him, and he sure as hell didn’t put up with people treating him like he was a piece of dirt.

  He felt the smooth plastic of his mobile phone in his pocket. The anger had taken over before he could stop it. Now he’d had a chance to think, he realised cursing at the man on the phone hadn’t been the most intelligent move he could have made.

  He licked his lips and pulled his phone out of his pocket as he walked back towards the basement flat. Maybe he should call back and apologise? It made him feel sick to even consider it. Marlo was superior to most people he came in contact with on a day to day basis, but there was something about the chilled tone in the voice over the phone that made him anxious. Not scared exactly —Marlo liked to boast he was scared of no one— but he was wary.

  He shoved the phone back in his pocket. What’s done, was done. There was no point analysing it now.

  Besides, he thought, smiling to himself, he had an idea. He knew precisely how to cheer himself up.

  * * *

  Ruby Watson was finding it hard to breathe.

  The duct tape around her mouth forced her to breathe through her nose, and it felt like she wasn’t getting enough oxygen. She tried to slow down her breathing, realising it was her panic causing her erratic gasps for air.

  Logically, she knew by inhaling through her nose she would be able to get enough oxygen. She just had to get her breathing under control. She closed her eyes for a few moments, concentrating on each breath, and slowly her breathing rate fell back to normal, and her heart rate slowed a little.

  Relieved, her eyes fluttered open. Now she and Lila were locked in the other bedroom, they had more light. A thin, long window ran along the top of the room and told Ruby it was daylight outside. But after being held in the darkness in the other room, she didn’t know how much time had passed.

  She wondered how her parents would be reacting. Would they have called the police by now? The thought of her mother and father made Ruby’s eyes fill with tears.

  She just wanted to go home.

  There were so many things she wanted to do, so many experiences she hadn’t had yet. Would they ever get out of here?

  She didn’t know what the men were planning to do with her and Lila. Ruby had been sure that the kidnappers would have demanded money by now, but surely if they had, her parents would have paid the ransom straightaway.

  Because that hadn’t happened, Ruby could only guess that the abductors wanted something other than money.

  That sick man had duct-taped their mouths and wrists, and now she couldn’t even talk to Lila and get comfort from that.

  She glanced over to where Lila was sitting, leaning back against the wall. Her eyes were closed, but Ruby had no idea if she was really asleep. In the last few hours, Lila’s fiery temper had faded. They were beating down her spirit.

  Ruby blinked back her tears. She didn’t know what had happened to Benny. Even though she wanted to hate him for leading them into a trap, she couldn’t. She knew Benny didn’t really mean to hurt them and had no way of understanding the consequences of what he had done.

  She didn’t trust that man in the baseball cap, at all. The way he’d looked at them filled Ruby with terror. She’d like to think that the kidnappers were still planning to demand a ransom, but when she looked into that man’s eyes, there was an evil there that convinced her he was going to kill them and he would enjoy it.

  She was so thirsty. He hadn’t be
en back to give them water in hours, and it was hot today. The room felt so stuffy.

  She needed to go to the bathroom, but the bucket he’d left was set against the opposite wall, and there was no way she would be able to go with her hands taped behind her back.

  She stifled a sob, screwed her eyes shut tightly and tried to think about the future. What was she going to do when she got out of here? Maybe she would take some time off and spend the rest of the summer holiday abroad somewhere, on a beach sunbathing and drinking fruity drinks with cocktail umbrellas.

  She tried hard to picture herself at the beach but suddenly she heard a key in the lock.

  Her eyes flew open and she saw the man in the baseball cap standing in the doorway with a large pair of scissors.

  Her heart thudded in her chest.

  “I am afraid your parents aren’t cooperating. They obviously need some extra motivation.”

  His eyes gleamed with a manic glow as he held up the scissors. “Who wants to volunteer?”

  Chapter 47

  At nine thirty, Kelly Johnson, the Watsons’ family liaison officer, kept glancing at the clock in the kitchen. Claire still wasn’t back. She went up to the gym just before eight thirty this morning, saying she needed to work out her frustrations on the treadmill, which Kelly had thought was a reasonable request.

  The communal gym was on the fourth floor so Kelly took the penthouse lift down to check on her. She knew Peter was working, or pretending to keep busy in his home office, and Curtis wasn’t out of bed yet.

  Kelly walked into the gym, which was well kitted out with the latest equipment – treadmills, rowing machines and exercise bikes. A large flatscreen TV was displaying the morning’s headlines, and there were three women in the gym.

  None of them were Claire.