Maggie stretched and picked Scrappy up when she felt him rub against her hand. Petting the cat usually calmed her, but not this morning. She put Scrappy on the bed and picked up her mobile from the nightstand. It was 4.30am. No messages or calls from Kate or Nathan. Although she’d barely slept, she knew she wouldn’t get anymore sleep, so went and had a shower.
She returned to her own room to get dressed and heard her mobile phone ping. Nathan had texted her to say that she should get dressed and he’d be at her house in twenty minutes. Maggie threw on her black jeans and a burgundy blouse. She rushed around, picking up the things she would need for the day and slipped on her trainers. Grabbing her black leather coat from the hook by the door she had just enough time to put her hair in a bun before she heard two quick taps on a horn. Stepping outside she waved at Nathan and locked her door.
She ran down her steps and got into the car. ‘What happened? Have you found her?’
‘No. Field Officers went to her property and found her neighbour’s door was open. When they entered, they found him tied to a chair with a gag in his mouth. It looked like he may have choked on his own vomit. Forensics are there now.’
‘Nothing at Kate’s flat? I mean, that could just be a coincidence, right?’ Maggie was in denial. She didn’t want to think that anything had happened to her friend.
‘I wish I could say it was. The neighbour’s mobile phone was checked and there were messages between him and Kate. Or more likely, the killer and Kate. Looks like Kate was lured to the property under the guise that something was wrong with her cat. It’s more than likely the killer waited for her to arrive and then she was taken elsewhere. There was some blood in the flat, but until forensics test it, we can’t say for definite who it belongs to. What they have told me is that it’s not enough to assume someone was murdered. They think the neighbour was left in the hope that he would eventually be found and released.’
‘That would suggest the killer either wore a disguise or a mask to hide his face.’
‘Yep. But for whatever reason – panic, or perhaps he was injected with something – the neighbour ended up vomiting and, with the gag in his mouth, he choked.’
Maggie shook her head. ‘How awful. But we still can’t say that Kate made it to the property, can we?’
‘I know you hope that’s the case, but we have to be realistic here. I think it’s safe to assume that Kate has been abducted. What we can hope for, though, is that her abductor was foolish enough to leave some evidence behind. Something that might lead us to finding Kate.’
‘Fuck. I should have kept a closer eye on her. We shouldn’t have argued. This is all my fault.’
‘You argued? About what? And can I just say, none of this is your fault. We know this person is obsessed with Kate. If it wasn’t today, it would have been another day that he attempted to take her.’
‘No, you don’t understand. We left things on bad terms. Andy and Kate really hit it off and I’ve just been a total bitch about things. I had no right to be. I was just thinking about myself because my ego was bruised. She didn’t even talk to me before she left yesterday morning.’ Maggie rubbed her temples. ‘If she had texted me to let me know she was going to check on her cat, I could have made sure someone went with her.’
‘Well that could have ended badly for another person. Take a deep breath, put those feelings on the back burner for now, and let’s focus on finding Kate, OK?’
‘You’re right.’ She opened the window and let the cool air hit her face. She took in three deep breaths.
‘Are you OK now?’ Nathan looked at her before turning his attention back to the road.
‘Yeah. Much better.’
‘Good. Can you close the bloody window now, I’m freezing.’
Maggie couldn’t help but laugh as she hit the switch and closed the window.
They arrived at Kate’s flat and headed directly to the neighbour’s. They signed themselves in and put on the requisite gear for entering a crime scene. Just before going into the neighbour’s flat, Maggie noted that a camera had been installed in the corner outside Kate’s door.
‘Look.’ She tapped Nathan’s arm. ‘The security team Kate hired must have started their work. I’ll leave a message for Bethany to contact them when she gets in. Maybe we can get some footage from this entryway at least.’
‘Good spot. I’m just going to talk to the Duty SIO.’ Nathan walked into the flat.
Maggie radioed into the call centre and left a message for Bethany asking her to ring her back as soon as she heard anything. Maggie didn’t know how long they would be at the property.
Guilt flooded through her but she shook her head, took a deep breath, and walked into the flat. Fear gripped her as she took in the scene.