Beautifully Irresistible (44 page)

“Jennifer, I want to show you something.”

“What is it?”

“Close your eyes,” he instructed, taking my hand.

He led me into the lounge and then stopped.

“Open your eyes.”

I slowly opened them and stared straight at a painting that was positioned above the fireplace.

The painting depicted me from the back. I was naked. My hair fell gently over one shoulder and the curve of my breast could just be seen. I was looking back and you could see straight away that it was me. The woods were in the distance and in the painting it was night-time.

It was absolutely breath-taking. My eyes filled up with tears as I turned to look at Zack.

“It is beautiful, Zack. I don’t know what to say.”

“I’m glad you like it. I took some sneaky photographs of you to give to the artist. Faith put me in touch with her.”

“Yes, you can tell that a woman has painted it. It has a delicate touch to it. I love it!”

He stepped closer to me as I stared up at the painting, taking in more of the details.

“It is not as beautiful as the real thing but when you are not around, I can gaze at this. I will probably get a hard on though!” he laughed.

“You bad man, Zachary Cole!” I giggled, swatting his arm.

“Feeling better?”

“Much. I am going to meet my friend Rosie tonight, if you don’t mind. She has been going through some bad stuff recently,” I told him, not daring to look him in the eyes.

“So have you!”

“Cool painting, Dad. It’s quite horny though! Nice side boob, Jennifer!” Jasper informed us as he walked into the lounge.

His blue eyes glittered as he studied it.

“It’s very tasteful art, I will have you know, son!” Zack laughed, playfully punching Jasper’s bicep.

“Jesus, Dad, you don’t know your own strength,” he grumbled, rubbing his arm.

I smiled. “Jasper, thanks for being the man of the house when your Dad wasn’t here.”

“You are welcome, Jennifer. I am glad the bastard didn’t hurt you.”

“No, he didn’t, thanks to you. You are really tough, Jasper. Just like your Dad.”

Jasper’s chest puffed up with pride that I had compared him to his Dad.

Enough was enough.

Tonight this assignment ended.

Chapter Sixty Four

I loaded my gun and made sure my recording device was empty and ready for use.

After dinner, I went up to my room to collect my bag containing my gun. My heart was pounding and my stomach turned over and over.

Strictly speaking I knew that I was being completely reckless going after David Simms on my own but I could always call for backup if it was required.

“Are you okay, Jennifer? You seem a bit tense,” Zack asked, surveying my face as I stood in the hallway.

“I’m fine, just tired after everything,” I told him, kissing him.

“Are you sure you should go out tonight?”

“I won’t be long. I need to.”

“Okay, see you later and have fun, baby.”

I accelerated out of the driveway, spraying gravel up.

I was certainly going to miss this car.

Stop being so negative!

Inputting his address into the satellite navigation, I saw that he lived ten miles away in a nice suburb.

David Simms was thirty two, single, loaded, fluent in six languages but he was still a dick.

Well, this was it!

I pulled up to the kerb on the other side of the road, a few houses down from him and parked the Audi.

Quietly crossing the road, I crept up the driveway. David had a black Lexus parked there. There was an unlocked gate at the side of the house. His house looked stunning.

The lounge was to the rear of the large property and his curtains were open in the darkness. David was sitting in front of a laptop. I craned my neck from my hiding place to see what he was looking at. It came as no surprise to find that he was looking at porn and that he was also masturbating.

What a creep, but it was the perfect time to take him by surprise.

I crept along to the kitchen door and bingo, it was unlocked. I pushed down the handle as quietly as possible and entered the house. My gun was in my hand at my side and adrenaline surged through my veins.

The kitchen door led into the lounge that had an archway into the dining room. David was seated on a leather sofa with the laptop to the side of him. I watched him playing with himself with his trousers around his ankles. He looked so pathetic. His eyes were closed and I seized my opportunity. I turned on the recording device and quietly entered the room.

“You love playing with yourself, don’t you, David?”

I had stashed the gun in my waistband. I prayed that I wouldn’t need it.

“What the fuck do you want?” he shouted, covering himself up.

“Don’t bother, I have seen it all before and believe me I have seen a lot better than you! I thought you and I could have a talk, David. Pull up your pants and put your revolting little dick away.”

He stood up and pulled his trousers up quickly buttoning them up.

He exhaled noisily.

“I want to know exactly why you have been following me, breaking into Zack’s house and assaulting me. I don’t even want to think about what you did to me the other day, you fucking sicko!”

“I don’t know what you mean, you crazy bitch!”

“Look, I know it’s you. Stop lying to me, David.”

He looked at me with his bloodshot brown eyes. A shiver went down my spine.

“Okay. What do you want to know?”

“I want to know why you shot Billy and if you killed Phoebe.”

“Who are you, the fucking police?”

“I am actually, DC Jennifer Black, Ashford Constabulary,” I smugly told him, showing him my badge.

“Jesus, I was only joking! Does Zack know that you are the fuzz?”

“No, he doesn’t. I am undercover.”

“You should ask him what he knows about his wife, not me.”

“What do you mean?” I swallowed noisily.

It felt like the walls of the room were quickly closing in on me. My heartbeat quickened pounding loudly in my chest.

“Ok, I admit that I killed Billy, I really didn’t mean to. I liked the old man but he found out the truth and I couldn’t have that, Jennifer.”

“What about Phoebe? Were you the man seen in the woods arguing with her that day?”

“Yes, I was.”

He smiled at me. His teeth were bared in a grimace.

“How did you kill her?” I calmly asked him.

“I followed her into the woods where I fired my gun twice. This frightened her horse and it reared up. She fell off and hurt herself quite badly. Phoebe asked me to help her but I refused.”

“Then what did you do, David?”

“While she was lying on the ground, I considered having sex with her but she really revolted me. I shot her twice at point blank range in the head. Then I found a quiet spot to bury her. She is quite far down in the ground.”

“Can you show the police the spot that you buried her?”

“Yes, I know the exact spot. I will show you.”

Relief seemed to wash over him at unburdening what actually happened that fateful day.

“Why did you keep trying to hurt me, David? You could have killed me several times!”

“Zack mentioned that you were poking around trying to figure out about Billy so I thought I better try and get rid of you too. Unfortunately you seem to have more lives than a cat!”

I absurdly wanted to laugh at his last comment.

“What does Alex know?”

“Alex? Nothing, he just hates Zack because of Phoebe. She painted him as a monster.”

“I see. Please stand up and put your hands behind your back, David. I am going to take you into custody now.”

I switched off the recording device and put it in my bag.

Stupidly, I took my eyes off him for a moment.

He stood up quickly and turned around but at the last minute he spun back and grabbed my arm. I tried to twist away from him. The gun crashed loudly to the floor and before I knew it, he had me pinned underneath his heavy body.

“Get off, David, you are just making it harder for yourself,” I told him, struggling like a wild cat.

Why didn’t I cuff him earlier?

“Give me a kiss, Jennifer. I know you feel the sexual tension between us,” he said before plunging his tongue into my mouth.

I felt sick at his touch and memories of my attack at Cole Enterprises and in Zack’s bedroom came flooding back to me. I squirmed helplessly beneath him. My arms were trapped underneath him. His breathing was heavy and ragged. He smelt of whisky.

With all my strength, I managed to push him off me and I reached out to grab the gun but he pulled me back to him, ripping my top. He clawed at my breasts, grabbing me roughly.

Pushing me onto my back again, he undid my jeans and yanked them roughly down my legs.

Jesus! He was so strong!

I could hear someone screaming loudly.

I realised that it was me.

“No, get off me, David. Please!” I shouted.

Think, think Jennifer!

He was just too strong for me. David started spreading my legs. He fiddled with himself pushing closer to me. I could feel him pressing against me. Tears streamed down my face.

I turned my head as someone barged noisily into the room.

“Get the fuck off her, David!”

I looked up and saw Zack standing there. I had never been so pleased to see someone in my life.

“Zack, get the gun!” I screamed.

He walked over and picked it up then he hauled David off me with one hand.

“Sit down, you bastard!” he shouted, right in his face after hitting him hard.

Blood poured out of his mouth. David took a seat on the sofa and looked genuinely scared of Zack.

I fumbled around for my clothes and I found that I was shaking like a leaf.

“What are you doing here, Jennifer?”

His eyes flashed angrily at me.

“I had my suspicions that David was the killer so I came here to confront him. Turns out I was right.”

“Why the hell do you have a gun, Jennifer?”

“She’s a detective, Zack, that’s why!” David shouted helpfully.

His trousers were still around his ankles. I didn’t want to look at him, I just wanted to kill the bastard.

“You’re a what?” Zack shouted, glaring at me.

His face dropped and he wore a very hurt expression. Oh no, this was worse than I thought.

“I’m sorry. I have been undercover,” I told him quietly.

“So none of our relationship was real to you, Jennifer? It was just some sick fucking joke! You lying bitch!”

“Of course it was real. I love you. Look, can we discuss this later? I need to take him into custody and face a shit load of trouble for coming in here on my own. Anyway, what are you doing here, Zack?”

“I followed you, you were acting weird. I can’t believe you could lie to me like that!” Zack shouted, clearly furious.

“Stand up, David. Now!” I instructed him.

He obeyed me and put his hands behind his back.

“Zack, I didn’t tell her anything!” David told him.

“What are you talking about, David?” Zack said.

I looked at them both. They eyed each other cautiously. A tense silence enveloped the room.

“David, I need to read you your rights before you say anything else,” I told him quietly.

I started reading him his rights and put the handcuffs on him when Zack suddenly grabbed the gun out of my hand and shot David at point-blank range in the head.

The gunshot echoed around the room as his large lean body slumped to the floor. His head banged off a low coffee table as he went down. I felt the warmth of his blood as it splattered into my face. My stomach heaved at the revolting sight of the bullet in his forehead.

It was surreal scene, like we had stepped onto a Tarantino film set. Bright red blood seeped around his head as he lay on the cream carpet. His glassy brown dead eyes were looking right up at me. His mouth gaped open.

“Zack, Jesus! What the hell did you do that for?” I screamed.

I couldn’t believe what he had just done. My heart was pounding loudly in my ears. My mouth was dry. I stared at him, waiting for his answer. He turned to look at me.

“He was going to attack you again. He moved towards you. I took action to protect you or you could say you shot him. Whatever you like, Jennifer. You are the police, after all,” he calmly told me, looking blankly into my eyes.

He was acting as cool as a contract hit man. A shudder passed down my spine. My hands were shaking.