Lizzie
Lizzie opened the door to her bedroom and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. ‘Samantha?’ she said.
Objects came into focus: a dresser with a flat-screen television mounted on the wall above it; a night table with a light on top; her backpack resting against an armchair. The room was the mirror image of Samantha’s, without the paraphernalia of David’s attack – the phone wires, the blood, the broken lamp.
Lizzie’s eyes fixed on the bed and the shadowed profile of Samantha, sat bolt upright on the edge, staring at the blank screen of the television as if immersed in a film only she could see.
Lizzie kicked off her sandals and padded bare feet across the carpet.
‘How are you doing?’ Lizzie asked as she sat down next to Samantha.
‘I can’t stop shaking,’ Samantha said. ‘Look.’ She released her hands from their position clamped between her thighs and held them up. Even in the darkness it seemed as if an electrical current was running through Samantha’s body, causing her hands to judder back and forth, and her teeth to chatter.
‘It’s the shock. It’ll pass.’ Lizzie rubbed Samantha’s back and tried to formulate the words that would make Samantha all right again, before realising with a stab of pain to her chest that there weren’t any. Nothing she could say or do could wipe away the fear and hurt David had caused.
The last few hours had slipped away in a blur of police, crime-scene technicians and paramedics. The police had arrived minutes after the hotel security men had barged into the room. David had been dragged away by two uniformed officers, leaving behind a plainclothed detective to ask them question after question after question.
Only when they’d each told their part in the event three times, and each been given the all-clear from a paramedic, did the detective leave. Lizzie had guided Samantha through the living room to her own room, before going back to check on Jaddi.
‘I’m so sorry, Lizzie.’ Samantha dropped forward, burying her face in her hands and unleashing loud, weeping cries.
‘It’s not your fault, Sam.’
‘If I’d have known what David was capable of … I’d never …’ she sniffed and sat up. The whites of her eyes shone bright against the darkness as she stared at Lizzie. ‘This was supposed to be the trip of a lifetime for you, and I’ve ruined it. I’ve ruined your time with your family. I’ve ruined everything. I’m so sorry.’
‘Sam.’ Lizzie gripped her friend’s shoulders. ‘You have to hear me when I say this – this was not your fault. You had no idea David was a whack job, and you had no idea Channel 6 had invited him to Vegas, and you had no idea he’d do what he did. You’re the victim here. Understand?’
She shook her head, drawing in a shuddering breath. ‘I did know. Sort of anyway. In London, the day we left, when Caroline gave us the afternoon off, I saw David.’ Samantha paused for a long time before she continued. ‘He called it his game,’ she said, emotion rippling through her words. ‘God knows how he convinced me to do it—’
‘You don’t have to tell me now, Sam, if it’s too hard.’ Lizzie squeezed her hand tighter and wished again that she could take Samantha’s pain away.
‘It’s OK, I want to. It wasn’t like this; he didn’t attack me or anything. I agreed to it. I let him tie me to the bed and cover my mouth with tape. I let him … I let him hurt me. So I did know some of what he was capable of, and if I’d just said something, anything, they wouldn’t have flown him out here and he wouldn’t—’ The rest of her words morphed into a wailing cry.
‘I’ll say it again, Sam. It wasn’t your fault. Not even a little bit. And you haven’t ruined anything, I promise,’ Lizzie said in a voice she hoped masked the sudden rage pounding through her. How could he do that to her? Lizzie touched her head against Sam’s. ‘I would never have agreed to this trip without you, Sam. The only thing you could have done to ruin anything would be to have stayed at home.’
A gentle knock sounded from one of the inside doors. A moment later, it opened and Ben appeared, his profile illuminated from the light in the bedroom behind him.
‘Hey,’ he said.
‘Is that your bedroom? I thought that was a closet,’ Lizzie said.
‘Adjoining rooms. How are you holding up, Samantha?’
‘I’m OK. I can’t stop shaking, but I’m OK.’
Ben stepped forward. A moment later, a bedside lamp flicked on. He stepped around the bed and leant against the dresser opposite them. ‘Has someone looked at that cut?’ He nodded towards the line running from Sam’s elbow to her wrist, where it connected with the red bracelet grooves of the ligature marks.
She nodded. ‘One of the ambulance guys cleaned it. It’s not that bad.’
‘How about your head?’ Ben asked, glancing at Lizzie and causing a rush of gratitude to wash over her. How different would today have been without Ben? She couldn’t begin to formulate the answer.
‘Just bumped and bruised. I’ve got a headache but the paramedics said it wasn’t a concussion.’ Samantha touched her fingers against the top of her head and scrunched up her eyes. ‘Do I need to go to the police station?
Ben shook his head. ‘The detective’s gone. He has all of our contact details, but considering that David recorded the whole thing, and the statements we’ve already given, it’s more than enough to prosecute him.’
‘Will he go to jail?’ Samantha lifted her face and stared at Ben.
‘Definitely.’ Ben nodded. ‘I heard the detective talking on the phone. It seems David put up quite a fight getting into the police car. By the sounds of it, he bit a policeman’s ear. So even if they didn’t have enough evidence for what he did to you and Jaddi, he’d still be going to prison for attacking the officer.’
‘Good,’ Lizzie said.
‘Lizzie, your mum and dad, and Aaron, have gone to bed, by the way,’ Ben said. ‘They fell asleep on the sofa in the lobby waiting for us to come back.’
‘Oh,’ Lizzie said. ‘The helicopter ride, I completely forgot. We missed it. Is Caroline pissed?’
Ben laughed. ‘You’re kidding, right? She’s already fighting to get her hands on David’s video camera, so she can include it with the documentary. Obviously she’s glad everyone is OK too.’
Lizzie raised her eyebrows. ‘Obviously.’ Their eyes connected. For a split second, Lizzie found herself trapped in his gaze, like a piece of metal being pulled towards a magnet. She had a sudden urge to jump up from the bed, step forward and lean her body against him. She held his gaze for a moment more as her stomach flipped and turned inside of her.
‘Will they give it to her?’ Samantha asked.
Lizzie dropped her eyes to the carpet and tightened her hold on Samantha.
‘I can’t see how,’ Ben said. ‘The police are taking a look at the Channel 6 footage from earlier today. Caroline has sent Sandy and Bill down to the police station with them to protect the footage, but since David had nothing to do with the documentary, and considering that his camera didn’t belong to Channel 6, there’s no reason for the police to give it to Caroline.’
A lone tear escaped one of Samantha’s eyes.
‘Hey,’ Lizzie said, pulling Samantha closer. ‘It’s OK now. You’re safe. We’ll stay with you as long as you need. You can sleep with me tonight.’
Samantha nodded. ‘Thanks. I think I’d like to have a very hot bath and be by myself for a while.’ She stood up and stepped towards the door.
‘The maid service are cleaning the rooms now,’ Ben said. ‘Use my room.’ He pointed towards the door he’d come through. ‘You could practically fit my entire flat in the bathroom alone.’
‘Thanks,’ she said, wrapping her arms around herself and shuffling away.