HE STOOD BY THE WINDOW, took a long drag from the cigarette as he watched the bright orange flames spread across the hillside. A deep sense of satisfaction welled up in him and he smiled, looked over at the woman sleeping on the bed.
She was pretty in an obvious sort of way, pretty enough to make the job enjoyable as well as useful.
But she wasn’t Jo.
He sighed, looked back at the blazing hillside, felt a small pang of regret. If only she’d listened to him none of this would have happened.
And now the whore was screwing him around, fucking that bastard.
Well, hero boy, he thought, we’ll see who wins this one. She’s mine and I’m not going to let her go. Not now, not ever.
He took a deep breath, told himself to be calm, patient. Soon this too would pass, the guy would be history and Jo would be back, begging him for it. And he’d give it to her.
Then he’d kill her.
He glanced down at his watch, went over to the chair and pulled on his clothes, the adrenalin suddenly rushing through his system. Time to execute part two of the plan.
Jo hurriedly pulled on a pair of track pants, sneakers and a T-shirt, rushed out the room, found Will in the kitchen on the phone to Shaun. He hung up, locked the back door and headed back upstairs.
`Where are you going? Shouldn’t you go see what’s going on outside?’ she asked, following him up the stairs.
`I am. No point trying to fight the fire, it’s too far gone and I can’t do anything by myself. Grant’s already called it in and Shaun’s on his way over.’
`What are you doing then?’ she asked as he went over to the cupboard.
He didn’t reply, instead opened the door and pulled down a shoe box.
Her jaw dropped as she saw him take out a gun, load the magazine, snap it into position and pull back the slide.
`What the hell are you doing?’ she asked, shocked.
He stood up, looked at her, calm, his gaze steady. `Stay here, lock the front door after me and don’t leave the house until Shaun or I call you.’
He walked past her and she stood, staring after him, frozen in shock until he was at the end of the passage. Then the adrenalin kicked in and she raced after him.
`Wait. No way am I staying here alone while you go off with that … that thing,’ she said, jogging down the stairs after him.
He didn’t reply, instead opened the front door and turned. `Lock it. If you follow me, I’ll take you upstairs and lock you in the damn room.’
`You wouldn’t dare.’
`Try me.’
His voice was steady but the threat was obvious. She stared at him, knew he would do it, clenched her fists, her stomach churning with anger and frustration.
`Lock it,’ he said again and stepped outside, the door slamming shut behind him.
She stared at the door for a second, gritted her teeth, debated going after him anyway, knew it was futile. So she locked the damn thing, kicked it in anger then switched the lights off, went over to the window to try see what was going on outside.
Nothing. Only the hot blaze of the fire on the hillside opposite, too far away to illuminate the pitch black darkness in front of the house.
She felt her stomach knot with anxiety, strained her ears for any sound but all she could hear was the rhythmic knocking of Nemo’s tail against the leg of the table.
She patted his head absently, glad to not be totally alone, trying not to feel the fear that threatened to overwhelm her.
God. This was taking forever. What the hell was going on out there?
She must have been standing for close on twenty minutes when she felt Nemo’s body tense, saw his ears prick forward. Her heart stopped as his hair stood on end and he let out a low growl, started towards the window. Jess came inching up behind him and Jo jumped as she let out two sharp barks.
There was a sudden crash and the sound of breaking glass.
Terrified, Jo rushed out the room, ran into the kitchen and battled with the back door, looking over her shoulder anxiously, her hands fumbling in her desperation to escape.
At last the door opened and she rushed out, ran straight into a solid mass, felt arms tighten around her and screamed as someone pushed her roughly to the ground, twisted her arms behind her back.
`Miss me, Jo?’
She froze at the sound of his voice, couldn’t move, couldn’t believe what was happening.
He pulled her roughly to her feet, snapped her head back by yanking on her hair and she flinched, heard his low chuckle against her ear.
`Thought you’d get away, did you?’ he asked, almost conversationally, yanking harder on her hair and she felt tears welling up at the sudden pain.
`That’s it, you’re going to do more than cry when I’m finished with you,’ he said menacingly, his breath chilling her cheek as he held her against him, forced her chin up, bent his head and kissed her roughly, forcing his tongue into her mouth.
She bit down, tasted blood and he jerked his head back, swore, slapped her hard against the cheek.
The sudden ringing in her ears made her dizzy but she clenched her jaw against the pain, drew in a sharp breath and finally found her voice as he grabbed her around the waist, twisted her arms behind her back again.
`Fuck you! Let me go!’ she yelled, renewing her struggles and somehow finding strength she didn’t know she had, she stamped down on his foot with her heel, twisted her body sideways. The momentum of her movement caught him off guard and he fell to the ground with her.
She managed to roll free, scramble to her feet and rush back into the house, heading for the lounge and the dogs.
But the room was empty, the curtains billowing out at a rush of air. Hearing Jack in the kitchen, she bolted out the open front door, ran down towards the maize field, her breath coming in short gasps, her hands clammy with fear.
Oh God, where to now? Where the hell was Will?
She tried to force herself to be calm, think rationally. It was dark, that was an advantage. If she could only find a place to hide until Shaun showed up, or the firemen, then she’d be okay.
Looking around in desperation, she ran towards Grant and Shelley’s cottage, slid down against the wall and tried to keep her breathing steady.
`You think we’re stupid honey?’ a voice said from somewhere just in front of her and she screamed again, jumped up, tried to run, tripped as someone stuck out a leg.
Then there were hands on her again, someone hauling her to her feet and she whimpered, overwhelmed now by panic as the man pushed her forwards and she stumbled onto the driveway, grazing her hands.
She cried out in fear as he pulled her back up to her feet, wrapped his arms around her, leered as he reached for the bottom of her T-shirt, started yanking it up while she struggled to escape.
`Get your fucking hands off her.’
She started breathing again as she heard Will’s voice and made out the shape of him as he emerged from the edge of the maize field a few yards in front of her, heard the click as he cocked the hammer of the gun, pointed it steadily at the man behind her.
The sound of the shot rang out in the night and she felt the man holding her slump forward, saw him fall down next to her and she stepped back hastily, glanced up to see the surprised look on Will’s face. She looked behind her, confused, not able to see anything in the vast black that surrounded them.
Then she was on the ground, felt Will’s weight on her, his hand on her head.
`What the hell are you doing?’ she hissed.
`Shhh,’ he said, pressing her head down.
All she could hear was the chirping of crickets, her own unsteady breathing and the heavy whoosh of the blood rushing through her ears.
`Okay, get up, slowly, crawl towards the cottage,’ Will said finally and she did what he said, could sense him close behind her.
`Ouch,’ she cursed as she cut her hand on something sharp, not able to see a thing in the pitch black surrounding them.
`Shhh.’
She clenched her jaw, annoyed, her heart still pounding.
At last they made it to the cottage and she sat against the wall, waiting as Will moved away. She was surprised at how quietly he could move and couldn’t help but feel another jab of panic at being alone again. Somehow, she’d relaxed when she’d seen him, known Jack couldn’t get her so long as he was there but now, alone again, she could feel the trembling starting.
`Okay, it’s clear, let’s go into the cottage,’ Will said suddenly, close to her ear and she jumped, not having heard him come up, but managed to contain the scream as she recognized his voice.
She followed him into the cottage, slumped down against the wall in the hall as he closed the door and came over to sit next to her.
`Why the fuck didn’t you stay in the house?’ he asked, his voice low, the anger unmistakable.
`I did, someone broke the window,’ she replied, felt the tears burning in the corner of her eyes as the reality of the situation hit her forcefully, told herself to take a deep breath and try stay calm.
`What about Jess and Nemo?’
`I don’t know. They growled and I ran out the back door … he was there, waiting for me, like he’d known all along that’s what I would do.’
`Who? The guy in the driveway?’
`No …. Jack.’
They were talking in hushed whispers and she felt rather than heard the string of curses he spat out.
`Where were you?’ she asked, heard her voice break, tried to hide the accusatory tone.
`In the field, I went to check out the fire. How the hell was I supposed to know there’d be two of them?’ he retaliated.
They were silent for a minute, Jo straining her ears for the sound of sirens.
`Why aren’t they here yet?’ she asked.
`Who?’
`The police? Firemen?’
`They’re at the field, only Shaun was going to come over to the house. I don’t know where he is. Where’s Jack? How’d you end up with the other guy?’
`I stomped on his foot,’ Jo said, trying to bite back a giggle. For some reason she found that hilarious.
`Good girl.’
He paused.
`That must have been him who shot the guy then … I wonder why he didn’t aim at me?’
`Because you looked so cool with the gun,’ she said, laughing again, hearing the pitch of her voice heading higher, biting her lip to try stop the sound but not succeeding. Then suddenly she was sobbing, felt his arm round her shoulders and buried her head in his chest.
They only left the cottage when they heard the crunch of tires on the gravel in the driveway; saw the flashing lights of the patrol car. Jo had calmed down sufficiently by then to be aware of what was going on around her, but was still almost numb with nervous exhaustion.
Will helped her to her feet and opened the door cautiously. Once he was sure it was Shaun, he grabbed her hand and they went over to the car. Shaun was leaning over the body on the driveway, highlighted by the headlights of the car. He looked up when he saw them, his face grim.
`What the hell did you do Will?’ he asked and she felt Will tense behind her, was only half paying attention as she stared at the man in the driveway with a sort of helpless fascination.
It was the man from the beach.
`Oh no, that wasn’t me. Where the fuck were you?’
Shaun stood up, came over to them, his eyes still on Will. `Give me your gun,’ he said, holding out his hand and Will swore, handed it to him.
Shaun removed the magazine, visibly relaxed when he saw it was full.
`Happy now?’ Will asked and Shaun nodded, turned his attention to Jo and she saw him wince.
`What?’ she asked.
`What happened to you?’
Will looked down at her then, saw her face in the light from the car, and cursed again.
`What?’ she repeated, frowning.
He raised a hand, ran his finger over the edge of her cheekbone, near her eye and she flinched.
`You’re going to have a real shiner in the morning,’ Shaun said.
`Goddammit. Where the hell were you?’ Will said, turning to Shaun in sudden anger. `You were supposed to come keep an eye on her.’
Shaun clenched his jaw. `I got a flat tire. Somebody put spokes at the start of your driveway.’
`Fucking useless.’
`Hey, watch it,’ Shaun said, shoving Will backwards and Jo stepped back at the tension suddenly buzzing between the two men.
`I’m warning you Will, get yourself fucking together.’
She saw Will clench his fists as he stepped forward, could feel the anger emanating from him but Shaun stood still, glared at him, his own anger tightly controlled, their faces inches apart.
Finally, Will stepped back, kicked out at the patrol car and went over to the body, stood staring down at it.
Shaun watched him, took a deep breath then turned back to Jo. She raised a hand to her face and gingerly tapped at her cheekbone and he sighed, reached out a hand and squeezed her shoulder before sitting back down in the front seat of the car, calling the station and giving the address.
They waited for back-up to arrive, not talking. Jo was shivering so Shaun opened the back door of the car for her and she climbed in, wrapped the blanket on the back seat around her shoulders and sat there while Shaun went over to talk to Will.
She was relieved to see the two men back on a reasonably amiable footing, didn’t think she could handle any more trouble. At last, a second car pulled up behind them and Shaun walked over to greet a large, rotund man and his dark-haired female partner, introduced them to Will as Rob and Cherie.
Jo huddled into the corner of the car, not wanting to talk to anyone else, only stepping out when Shaun opened the door. He stuck an arm around her shoulders.
`Come, let’s go into the kitchen and you can tell me what happened,’ he said and she nodded, didn’t look at any of the newcomers. She started walking towards the house but stopped when Will didn’t come after them.
She went over to him, grabbed his hand.
He looked up, frowning, then nodded and followed her into the house.
His hands were shaking. How could he have missed? What a fuck up. They’d be able to tie it to him now. Once they found the body they’d trace him. All those months of planning down the drain.
Holy fuck.
He’d never missed a shot. Never.
He touched his tongue to the roof of his mouth, flinched at the pain, felt the rage boiling over.
No, he must be calm. Think rationally. So they were a step closer, that didn’t mean anything. They were too far behind him now to catch up, he’d planned too well. They’d never find him.
He took a deep breath, got out the car and went back to the room.
`Hey, where’ve you been?’
He looked at the woman on the bed and smiled coolly.
No, all wasn’t lost, no need to scrap the plan, it had merely been delayed.
`I needed some fresh air,’ he said now, smiled again with a fake charm, watched her smile back and almost puked. Not long now, he told himself, not long now, but in the meantime, the show must go on.
He smiled again, walked over to the bed and tried to lose himself in her body, heedless of her cries of sudden pain.
Afterward he was contrite, consoled her as she cried and she forgave him.
Women always did.
Stupid bitches.