Текст книги "Evil Games"

Автор книги: Angela Marsons

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Текущая страница: 21 (всего у книги 23 страниц)

SIXTY-SEVEN

Kim heard the splash in the distance. The water had made many sounds beside her but nothing as forceful as that.

She stopped dead and listened keenly but the only sound she could make out now was the blood thundering around her body.

She moved forward quickly. There were still a couple of miles of canal before she reached the meeting point she’d agreed with David, which meant she was clearly on her own.

There was no time to consider her options. She needed to find whatever, or whoever, had made that splash.

As she turned a slight bend in the towpath her eyes fell upon a figure bent over, shining a torch into the lock.

If she hadn’t known before what Alex was capable of, she had no doubt in her mind now. The psycho had pushed Dougie in.

Kim could hear the splash of arms flailing about in the water.

If she tried to save Dougie, Alex would have plenty of time to get away and Kim was dealing with no ordinary criminal.

She would never find Alex again.

Kim leaned around the corner and quickly judged the distance between them. Fifty feet.

Once she moved she would have to be quick, making use of the element of surprise, but she knew what she had to do.

Hastily, she removed her jacket and threw it to the ground. The boots would have to stay. She didn’t have time. The splashing was becoming quieter.

She took a deep breath, counted to three and launched herself across the distance.

Kim kept her eyes on Alex the whole time. Although she couldn’t see her face, she could guess at the shocked expression. Good, that was all the distraction she needed.

Ten feet, five feet and bang – she sent Alex hurtling into the water.

Kim took a deep breath and dived right in after her.

SIXTY-EIGHT

Bryant faced Robin Parks across the table.

He wasn’t one for making snap judgements or even going with his gut. He left that to the boss. If Bryant didn’t like someone initially, he tried to give them the benefit of the doubt.

The man sat back in the chair, lifting the two front legs. His right foot rested on his left knee. He wore dark jeans and a V-neck sweater.

‘Mr Parks, thank you for agreeing to speak to me this evening.’

He opened his arms magnanimously. ‘Anything I can do to help.’

Bryant heard an underlying sneer but forced himself not to react.

‘Detective Inspector Stone and I recently spoke to you …’

‘Detective Inspector? Don’t you mean bulldog? She shouldn’t be allowed out without a muzzle.’

Bryant kicked his own ankle beneath the table. Oh, this was not going well.

‘We informed you that we had discovered that there was someone else in the room with your brother-in-law on at least one occasion.’

‘You might have mentioned it whilst terrorising my sister.’

He rocked to and fro on the chair.

‘Do you have any idea who that person could be, Mr Parks?’

‘Truthfully, I don’t think he exists. I think it’s a story your bulldog invented so she can continue to make Wendy’s life hell.’

‘And why would she do that, Mr Parks?’

Damn it, he’d bitten.

Robin Parks leaned forward. ‘Because she is a bitter, lonely woman that clearly wishes she’d been born a man and she’s taking out her every frustration on innocent people. That’s why.’

He returned to rocking back and forth, utterly pleased with himself.

‘That may be your opinion, Mr Parks,’ Bryant said, trying to keep his voice even.

‘Surely you have to agree. She is rude, obnoxious …’

‘And clearly memorable, as you haven’t stopped talking about her since I sat down.’

The rocking stopped but Bryant forged ahead.

‘Mr Parks, we have forensic evidence and a hair. And neither belong to Leonard.’

The front legs of the chair came in to land. ‘Really?’

Bryant nodded and then spoke for the tape. ‘Yes. As you know, Daisy has confirmed that she knew whoever was there. Is there anything you can offer to help?’

The mood in the room had changed.

‘I’ve been in that basement …’

‘If you’d like to offer us a sample, I can …’

‘Not a fucking chance. I’ve seen how you lot work. Your boss would have fitted my sister up if she’d been given half the chance.’

Robin Parks pushed back his chair and stood.

‘I believe I am here of my own volition?’

Bryant nodded his head. He didn’t bother to confirm it.

‘I see how this is going, so I shall take my leave now.’

Bryant stood.

‘Mr Parks, please. It’s your nieces we’re talking about here. I know how much you love your sister but please remember she’s not the victim. Don’t let your anger at my boss get in the way of our investigation.’

Bryant was shocked to see the man’s eyes were filled with rage. ‘Don’t you get it? I have to be angry at someone. This is my family and I love those girls like they were my own. I would give my life to protect either one of them. I have struggled to believe that I didn’t spot what my bastard brother-in-law was up to but I categorically refuse to believe there was someone else. I would have known.’

‘Mr Parks, I understand …’

‘The hell you do,’ he spat, before storming out of the room.

Bryant fell back into the chair. ‘Was Parks really letting his ego get in the way of the investigation? He couldn’t accept that he had not seen the abuse of his own nieces but was no longer able to argue in the face of the evidence. But to have missed the involvement of someone else? Or was his refusal to acknowledge the possibility due to a more sinister reason entirely.

It was time to speak to the boss.

SIXTY-NINE

The water hit Kim’s face like an ice sheet.

She felt her left hand collide with a limb on the way in, but she wasn’t sure whose it was.

To the left she could hear spluttering and movement. To the right she could feel much slower, less frenzied activity but she couldn’t see a thing.

Kim took a chance; kicked out to the left and swam to the right.

She was rewarded with a shriek of pain from Alex. She’d suspected the weaker movement somewhere on her right was coming from Dougie, already fatigued.

The canal water moved in all directions around her. Kim took a second to get her bearings and worked from where the torch had been dropped. She swam across the space widthways.

Come on Dougie, where are you?

Her foot became entangled in metal and helplessly she tried to kick it free. It felt like a spider’s web around her ankle. She reached into the water and dislodged her leg from the spokes of a bicycle wheel.

On her third trip, she swam into the form of Dougie, barely afloat. His arms still patted the water in a doggy-style movement but his head was bobbing underneath. He made no sound at all.

She reached and grabbed Dougie at the neck, hoisting his body up so that his face was out of the water and he coughed and spluttered the water from his mouth. But instead of relaxing into her, Kim’s touch seemed to galvanise him into action, giving him an extra bit of fight. And he was fighting her for his life. Great, he thought she was Alex.

‘Dougie, it’s me, Kim,’ she said.

She raised her left hand from the water and laid it gently on his cheek while her legs worked furiously to keep her afloat. She had to let him know he was safe.

She could feel the exhaustion taking over his body.

‘It’s okay, Dougie, just go limp. Don’t fight me.’

On cue, he relaxed his body completely and Kim silently thanked him for his trust.

She placed her right hand under his chin and turned on her back. Her legs worked like a steamer beneath the water. Her only source of energy to get them both to safety.

The top of her head banged against the side wall of the canal.

She manoeuvred their position so they were moving alongside the wall. She dragged Dougie with her right hand and guided with her left.

She knew these locks had ladders, but God only knew where they were.

A couple more strokes and her hand hit a metal stanchion. Finally. She grabbed on but before she could pull Dougie in, she felt something against her cheek. Too slowly, she realised it was leather and then she felt the full force of the heel stamp down on her head. The pain blurred her vision for a split second before she realised what it meant. Shit, Alex was above her. She was climbing the ladder out.

Kim could not allow the woman to get away.

‘Dougie, paddle,’ she screamed, momentarily letting him go.

She twisted her body and reached upwards. Her left hand clamped around a stockinged ankle trying to make its escape.

Kim closed her fingers around it and yanked it down.

She heard Alex gasp and although she hadn’t dislodged her from the ladder completely, she was down a few rungs.

The metal edge of the ladder pressed against Kim’s cheek.

She reached out for Dougie and, managing to capture his hood, held onto the stanchion and pulled him towards her. Every muscle in her body burned.

‘Climb the ladder once I’m gone but don’t get out, understand?’

She felt him nod against her arm.

Once she was sure he was holding onto the metal, she forced herself onto the ladder. As her body rose above the surface, gallons of water drained from her clothes, almost drawing her back into the lock.

She held on tight to the railings and forced one foot to rise in front of the other. Hers was the only movement on the ladder. Shit, Alex was already out. The climb seemed to go on forever, her muscles screamed louder with every rung.

As she neared the top the torch offered some illumination but there was still no sign of Alex.

She pulled herself free of the ladder. Her legs were weakened and the water in her clothes added the weight of a person on her back.

She stumbled forward but righted herself. Now she could see that Alex was only ten, fifteen feet in front.

Kim willed her legs to move quicker. She flew over the gravel path, gaining every second.

She gave one last kick and lurched forward, slamming Alex right into the ground.

SEVENTY

Kim realised she had miscalculated when her arms encircled the fabric of Alex’s sodden trousers instead of her waist. But she had hold of something and she was not letting go.

Alex gasped and fell forward. Kim hung on tightly, gathering Alex’s limbs to her body tightly like a hard-won rugby ball.

Alex was now writhing on the ground, trying to pull herself forward and out of Kim’s grasp.

Kim felt the fabric of the trousers slipping through her arms as the stockinged feet pounded her chest. Kim was grateful the shoes had been lost.

Grabbing hold of Alex’s left ankle, Kim twisted it sharply to the right.

Alex shrieked out in pain but continued moving forward. It was useless, Kim needed something else.

‘Alex … I … have the answer … that you want.’ Kim forced the words out on the short, sharp breaths she had available.

Alex stopped fighting for a second. And that was all it took.

Kim turned Alex onto her back and scrabbled up her body. She locked her knees against Alex’s ribs.

They were on the edge of a pool of light cast by the street lamp on the bridge.

Kim could feel the movement of Alex’s chest as her lungs expanded, fighting to fill them with air. Her proximity to this woman left a worse taste in her mouth than the water.

‘Get … the hell … off me,’ Alex raged.

Kim shook her head. ‘Not a chance … you damn psycho.’

Kim ached to punch and kick the life out of this woman beneath her, but first they needed to talk.

Kim felt as though they had been staring at each other across the dance floor for weeks. She wiped a strand of wet hair from her eye.

‘I have the answer you want.’

‘What are you … talking about?’

Kim smiled. ‘I left Jessica’s house two hours ago.’

‘So?’

Kim laughed. ‘Is that it?’

‘You’ve lost me.’

‘You manipulated Ruth into murdering Allan Harris. You were behind the actions of Barry Grant. Jessica Ross came to you for help, but she was far more disturbed than the authorities knew. You know what she’s done but you couldn’t give a shit. It’s about how she felt afterwards. Isn’t it?’

Kim felt Alex stiffen beneath her.

‘Were you as disappointed in Ruth as you were in Shane?’

‘I haven’t seen Ruth since …’

‘You didn’t need to. Bryant and I told you what you needed to know. You never asked to see Ruth again.’

Alex said nothing.

‘Jessica; your latest guinea pig. The woman who left your office this morning and went home to suffocate her child.’

‘Oh my God, she …’

‘Cut the bullshit, Alex. You wanted me in this game and here I am, so don’t insult me. There’s nothing I can do about it and that is exactly what you wanted.’

Kim felt the body relax beneath her.

‘If you say so.’

‘Do you want to find out what happened?’

Alex remained still. Kim could tell that she desperately wanted to know. The woman was soaked to the skin, lying on her back on a canal towpath and she was offering no resistance. Oh, she really wanted to know.

‘Ask me the question and I’ll tell you.’

Kim could see the tension in her jaw.

‘Come on, Alex. Ask the question.’

‘How does Jessica feel?’ she asked, softly.

‘Point proven. Don’t you even want to know if the baby is dead or alive? I’ll answer that, even though you don’t give a shit. Jamie is alive, Alex. But you only want to know how Jessica feels.’

Alex’s stare burned into her.

‘Well, let me tell you. She feels as guilty as hell.’

Alex bucked against her but Kim was ready. She bore every ounce of her weight down onto Alex’s stomach and lay down low, as though riding her bike, altering her own centre of gravity. As the flailing arms attempted to hit her face, she grabbed them and held them tight.

‘All your life, you’ve lived with no conscience … no accountability. You know that a sociopath can never develop a conscience and you wanted to turn that around. You wanted the power to take conscience away. All this to try and turn a vulnerable person into a dangerous sociopath, get them to carry out despicable acts without guilt.’

Alex’s mouth had formed into a hateful line. All attempts at rebuttal were gone.

Kim continued. ‘You knew you could manipulate your test subjects into doing what you wanted, but you wanted them to do it without guilt. You were arrogant enough to think you could control human nature.’

‘Good luck in court. You have no …’

Mid-sentence, Alex bucked her body upwards and dislodged Kim’s right knee.

Kim tried to push her back down but she was wriggling every limb she had. Kim reached for Alex’s right hand but Alex had got to hers first.

Seizing her bandaged palm, Alex dug her fingers in, hard. The stars in Kim’s eyes were immediate as the pain shot as far as her head.

She tried to break her hand free, but Alex squeezed it again.

Kim felt the sickness rise up in her stomach.

Alex squeezed again and Kim fell sideways in agony.

In one swift movement, Alex was astride her and the position of power had been reversed.

‘Right, Kimmy, now it’s time to talk about you.’

SEVENTY-ONE

Bryant stormed into the squad room.

‘Tell me one of you has heard from her?’

Dawson and Stacey shook their heads.

Bryant took out his phone.

‘Christ, Bryant, we’ve probably killed her battery with missed calls.’

Bryant tried again anyway. As the call rang out, he had an ominous sensation.

A feeling of trepidation rolled around in his stomach that was mirrored by both of his colleagues. He had the inexplicable feeling that he’d let her down.

He had known that Kim was still investigating Doctor Thorne, because she was unable to leave it alone. So many times she had tried to speak to Bryant about her suspicions and he’d blown her off; told her she was imagining things. He knew he’d underestimated her resolve. In Kim’s world, no one got away.

And now no one knew where she was.

‘Should we go looking?’ Stacey asked.

‘And start where?’ he asked.

The three of them running around the West Midlands looking for their boss was bound to get back to Woody, and that would not be a good thing for Kim.

‘Shit, guys, we’ve just gotta trust her.’

Perhaps they were worrying for nothing. She was entitled to turn off her phone. Have some time to herself. It was a lovely thought but not one he could actually believe.

He just knew his friend was in trouble and there was nothing he could do to help.

SEVENTY-TWO

‘Don’t you fucking dare call me that,’ Kim screamed at her.

Alex offered a smile in response, finding this position far more comfortable. She preferred to be on top looking down.

Now she was going to have some fun.

‘Sorry, that’s a term used only by your mother.’

Alex was suitably rewarded by the utter hatred she saw reflected in her adversary’s eyes. Love, hate, so clearly entwined. She’d take it.

Kim bucked and thrashed against her, but she had the thigh muscles of a horse rider and held Kim firm. All the time Kim had been talking, Alex had known if she could just get on top, the game was hers for the taking.

Violence had never been her forte. And physical combat was not where Kim’s weaknesses lay. Alex had no wish to break Kim’s bones. Because eventually they would heal and she would remain unaffected by their game. No, the frailties of the woman beneath her were deliciously set in the past. Playing around with the mind was her art and it was time to break the detective in half.

‘You intrigue me, Kim. You’re highly intelligent but isolated within yourself. You constantly fight against the life that fate had mapped out for you.’

‘Fabulous insight but can we get to it? I have things to do.’

‘Sarcasm, Kim, your usual defence of choice. But don’t you think about that all the time? Every day you battle against what you should have been.’

‘And, what should I have been, Freud?’

‘An alcoholic, a drug addict. The fact that the only person you’ve ever truly loved died so horrendously right beside you should have produced a bitter, mean individual full of hate. Your early life experiences at the mercy of your own mother …’

‘Is this your idea of a pissing contest, Alex?’ Kim asked, turning her body to the side.

Alex readjusted her position. She leaned forward, pinning Kim to the floor by her forearms, forming the woman’s body into a cross.

Their faces were much closer now.

Alex paused to enjoy the hatred. She lowered her voice to a whisper. ‘I’ve read the book and I understand the way you live. You will never trust another human being for as long as you live, and who could blame you? Your brother …’

‘Leave him out of this, you fu– ’

‘Mikey was the only person you’ve ever loved and he was taken from you by your mother. She abused and neglected you both until he could bear it no more. And yet you still call your mother once a month, don’t you, Kimmy?’

Alex allowed herself to enjoy the triumph that was sweeping through her. This woman was so badly scarred by the past that any trip back could break her forever.

‘Your hatred for her is what keeps you together. Every achievement, every victory is two fingers to her. You don’t even ask why she did the things she did. You can’t afford to. If you did, you might be forced to forgive. So she must be completely evil, right?’

‘You don’t know anything about …’

‘I know your mother has violent episodes right before every parole hearing. Yes, Kimmy, your mother keeps herself locked up for you. It is the only gift she can give her daughter. So, how does that compute with the image you’ve built?’

No response from the eyes. Not even a flicker or a blink.

Alex was thrilled that the bullets were hitting their target. Every single one of them.

‘The bruises and hospital visits are documented in the book. Your mother’s delusions persuaded her that Mikey was the devil and she constantly tried to kill him. You had to watch constantly just to keep him alive.’

Alex smiled to herself as the eyes so close to her own began to empty of emotion. Kim was travelling back to the past and Alex would happily take her there.

‘And yet in the end you could do nothing but watch him slip away. You lay beside him with a few crackers and a bit of Coke. You rationed those supplies; fed Mikey but took little for yourself, but it still wasn’t enough, was it? You told him it would be okay, that someone would come, but they didn’t, did they? And you lay there holding him as he quietly lost his fight for life.

‘How long did you lie beside his dead body before help came, Kim?’

Alex expected her adversary to buck but there was no movement from between her thighs. The gaze stared unseeing right past her. Alex knew that she had broken this woman. She had played on her weaknesses like a violin. Not a flicker of movement or emotion was present. She had taken Kim back to the past and left her there. Alex prayed that she never made it back.

Kim Stone would never be the same again.