Darkness Looking Back, The (15 page)

'Well, when I
did
try to help the police, oddly enough I got dragged all through the media. And so did my girlfriend. This is
exactly
why I prefer to stay quiet.'

Burgess cut in. 'But without revealing what you told the police, is there any new light you can throw on the murders? Are you getting other feelings about the case?'

'I can't really tell you that, Simon. I'm sorry. It's not really the right time or place.'

'Does it hurt that the police have just dropped you like this?'

Paxton shrugged. 'I have to say, given public opinion, I can't really blame them. They have a certain image they need to uphold. They've been copping a lot of flak lately.' A split second later he realised. 'No pun intended.'

Burgess snorted with amusement, but Paxton didn't join him. It did sting.
They couldn't run fast enough.

'Well, what about you, Cristiana? What else can you tell us?'

She looked at her hands, and paused. 'I'm seeing a loner, someone with no friends, and with a previous criminal record.'

'As you've told us before,' said Burgess, unimpressed.

Cristiana didn't miss a beat. 'Yes. What I'm sensing definitely reinforces that. I think he's lying low because of the media interest at the moment, but as soon as the heat dies down, he'll be at it again.' She paused, then nodded. 'Twice. Twice more. Can you give me some more details?' She nodded again. 'In roughly the same area.'

Paxton was hard pressed not to roll his eyes. Burgess turned to him.

'Would you agree, James? Surely you must have some intuition on the matter.'

Paxton opened his mouth to deny any knowledge, when he saw Cristiana's expression out of the corner of his eye. Suddenly he found himself saying, 'No. I don't agree. I think he'll kill once more, but the second time he'll be caught.'

He was as surprised as they were. The tightness of Cristiana's mouth was worth it, though. She sneered.

'No, I'd have to say you're wrong there.'

'My sources are wrong, you mean. As you know, we mediums only channel messages from spirit.'

She had to keep her temper in front of the cameras. 'Has he told you anything about the killer?'

Paxton's mind went blank — then someone else filled it for him. He thought he knew who it was. 'He's almost a charity worker — he thinks he's doing the world a favour, getting rid of the cheating women.'

'He's just fulfilling his own sick fantasies!'

'No. There's a lot more to it. Every time he kills he sees
her
— he knows it's illegal, but he thinks he's right.'

'And is his name George or Jordan?' Burgess asked.

'No,' said Paxton automatically. He waited for the confirmation in his head, but it didn't come. Cristiana and Burgess were watching him, waiting. 'I can't tell you what it is,' he said lamely.

Cristiana smiled.

'Is Cristiana your real name?' he asked suddenly.

'Of course it is!'
Bullshit
. She looked at him, her mouth smiling, but her eyes like a stalking cat's. 'So how is the next person going to die?'

'Your turn, isn't it?' said Burgess. 'Ladies first.'

Paxton had a momentary flash of fellow feeling for the man, though he quickly suppressed it. He'd always thought the TV host was little different than an undertaker, making money off other people's grief. It was just that he made more and cared less.

Unruffled, Cristiana closed her eyes for a few seconds. 'In her own home, as usual . . . She'll be discovered by another deliveryman.'

'And when will this be?'

'One week. Possibly just over.'

'No. It'll be tonight.'

All three of them looked stunned, Paxton included.

'
Tonight
?' said Burgess.

'I don't know where that came from. Sorry.' Paxton tried to clear his mind, but the feeling wouldn't lift. He looked straight at Burgess, his voice disbelieving.

'Another person is going to die tonight.'

IT WASN'T POSSIBLE to bash his head against the steering wheel and drive at the same time, which was the only reason Paxton wasn't doing it. What the hell had he been thinking? He'd have looked less of an idiot if he'd announced that his guide was Elvis Presley. Every time he replayed his last declaration in his head, he wanted to die himself. His conviction that someone was about to become number four had gone now, leaving a cold ball in his gut. It was his own damn stupidity.

What the
hell
was Lena going to say? Far from causing an uprising at her mistreatment, he'd probably just guaranteed her a career waiting tables.

To postpone the inevitable, he took the long way home, past Anubis. He felt guilty, seeing it so crowded after taking the night off, but the contrast between it and the streets hit him hard. The waterfront was strangely empty. Despite the heat, no one was out walking, watching the lights in the fountain or eating ice creams on the beach. Those Paxton did see were heading straight from the restaurants to the carparks, in packs.

Had they been watching his announcement in the bar, or had they been like this for a while now? Three women dead, and a fourth on her way. No one needed that said.

Paxton pulled into his driveway and sat for a few moments before going inside. He stuck the key in the lock and snapped on the hall light, shuffling into his bedroom. So engrossed was he in his own thoughts that he didn't even notice someone was there, waiting, invisible in the pitch black. Two hands suddenly went round his neck.

Before Paxton had time to cry out, a mouth pressed hard against his, and the arms tightened their grip, then finally let him go. Paxton's heart was cracking his ribs.

'Holy shit! You scared me!' he told Lena breathlessly, as her face came into focus.

'So did you! Arsehole, I thought you were breaking up with me.'

'You saw me on TV?'

'Bev rang me,' she said.

Bev Davenport was Lena's godmother, married to her father's best friend, Colin. If anyone else would be on his side, they would. He'd become fond of them both, when their cat turd of a son wasn't home.

Paxton flipped on the light switch, blinking for a moment in the sudden brightness. 'But wait a minute — I didn't see
you
. Where did you park your car?'

She grinned slyly. 'In the side street. I wanted to surprise you.'

He grinned back. 'You wanted to scare me.'

She kissed him again, lightly. 'Thank you. It was really sweet what you did. You idiot. Did you think I was going to break up with you for
that
bitch?'

Paxton didn't respond right away, loosening his grip. 'We got together so fast,' he said slowly. 'I helped resolve your dad's murder. Are you sure this isn't just a case of misplaced hero worship?'

Lena looked back at him for a second, then burst out laughing. '
Hero worship
?'

Paxton felt his face flushing. 'Well, I . . . That's not exactly what I meant . . .'

'A martini — shaken, not stirred. That'll be eight dollars, please.' She doubled over, losing it completely.

Paxton looked at the floor, his jaw tightening with embarrassment. 'That's just it.'

She caught the expression on his face, and all the laughter went out of her. Paxton hesitated before he said anything, but just as he started to speak there was a familiar noise — Lena's cellphone.

'Here we go . . .' Wearily, Lena went to fetch it from her handbag.

'Hi, Mandy. Yeah, I saw the whole thing.' A few seconds went past, and Paxton saw a frown bloom on Lena's face. She looked over at him and away again. 'He wasn't trying to get me fired, he was trying to help me! He
knew
it wasn't going to work, he's not stupid — he just wanted to make them squirm a bit, and it serves them right.'

She gave it another second, her expression getting positively scary, then glanced at Paxton again and hit the speaker button. Mandy's voice blared out of it, in full spate.

'. . . at him, raking in all the publicity he can get! He's loving this, Lena — all the problems he's causing you are just more chances for him to blow his own trumpet. He doesn't care about your feelings, just about getting his face on TV.'

'All I can say is that you don't know him at all. If you'd bothered to talk to him, you'd know how totally off the mark you are. Don't you remember how quiet he was when I introduced you? He's shy!'

There was a moment of agonised silence. 'Lena, I just don't know how I can get through to you! Does a shy person go on
Cross
? Think about it for a moment,
please
.'

Now Lena had her back entirely to Paxton, and her shoulders were stiffer than a corpse in ice. Her voice was deadly cold. 'Why would he do it? Try being so loaded with guilt by other people that he thought he'd ruined my life. That's
your
doing, Mandy. You're just as bad as Veronique. You made him feel like he had nothing left to lose. He's been kicked so many times by ignorant people like you he just couldn't take it any more, even if it meant messing up his own life! Why don't you just
fuck off
and leave my boyfriend alone.'

She punched the off button with her thumb and flung the phone across the room, where it landed on top of her bag. Paxton sat in silence until she turned around. Then suddenly the biggest grin broke out on his face. He knew it was insensitive, under the circumstances, but it was impossible to hold back. He stood up to grab her in his arms, and she hugged him with surprising force.

'
I love you.
' Eventually she pulled back and stroked his cheek, and gave a small smile. 'Hey, even Dad likes you.'

Paxton's gaze slid sideways. 'Actually, he says he likes me better than you.'

She burst out laughing again, shoving him. 'Bastard!'

Paxton hugged her so tightly she almost stopped breathing. 'So you're not angry with me for completely blowing my credibility, and
your
job?'

'This was never about you in the first place. It's about
them
.' She ruffled his hair, as she always did, with a half-smile.

'You'll give me a bald spot doing that,' Paxton replied, unbelievably happy.

'Too late.'

'Whoooh! It's not too late to change my statement. I'll just call Burgess back, shall I?'

A small frown appeared on her face. 'So, was it true, what you told him? About someone dying tonight?'

The smile disappeared from Paxton's face. He'd actually forgotten. 'I hope not. I just opened my mouth, and — out it came. I'm wondering if it wasn't just sour grapes. And anger. God, that Austin woman pisses me off.'

'I kind of sensed you didn't like her.'

'Her head rotates 360 degrees.'

Lena laughed, but the worry returned. 'So you don't think someone really
is
going to get murdered tonight?'

Paxton planted another kiss on her forehead. 'Don't lose any sleep over it.'

'I don't intend to. I took your phone off the hook.'

Paxton laughed. 'Fond of doing that, aren't you? What if there's something important?'

'Do you want me to put it back?'

'No.'

He took her hand, switching off the light.

'Glen's in the lounge,' she whispered into his ear. 'I didn't want him home alone tonight.'

'Awfully sure of yourself, aren't you?' Paxton said, kissing her. 'You just want to sleep with me because I was on TV.'

'Are you going to send me home?' she asked, kissing him back.

Paxton smiled, his voice lowering even further. 'Home is not
where I had in mind.'

HE HEARD THE sound of the door opening. The man stepped out first, turning to kiss her goodbye, smiling, as she gently pushed him away. Then she stood, waving, as he got into the car in the driveway and reversed into the road.

Goodbye, sweetie, goodbye! Come back and screw around with me behind my boyfriend's back soon! Tee hee hee . . .

He stopped pretending to look at a road map, and edged the car forward, closer.

He was looking forward to this. He checked the clock on the dashboard. Only about half an hour before the little tart's boyfriend was due home. Any minute now . . .

He got out of the car without haste, as soon as the cheating bastard had disappeared down the road. Briefly he wondered if the poor sod who lived here would be taking the same street home, held up in traffic, crawling past the same man who'd been christening his own sheets with his own girlfriend. Would they recognise each other? Were they best friends? He felt his blood pressure rise, giving a mental nod to the other man.
This one's for you, mate
.

He carefully watched the road, and the windows all around. Darkness was finally encroaching, and all the curtains were shut. It was just a little side street — lucky to see a car every hour. He'd done his homework. It was perfect. He walked up to the door, knocking firmly but politely. Within seconds she answered. He wanted to smack her, right there in the doorway, where anyone could have seen. Her face was still flushed — her expression was positively expectant, but fell when she saw who it was. Or rather, who it wasn't. There was a wary look in her eyes, as if she was afraid she'd been caught.

'Oh. Hello?'

He kept his voice down, considerate of the neighbourhood. 'Hi. Sorry, I'm here a bit early. I was expecting your boyfriend.'

There was just the tiniest flicker of guilt in her eyes. 'Oh, sorry, Luke's not home yet. He usually gets home around nine-thirty.'

Recognition dawned on his face, and he smiled. 'It's Shannon, isn't it? I think we met at someone's party.'

'Yeah, that's right!'

She plainly had no idea who he was, but seemed pleased to be remembered. She couldn't have known that he'd overheard her name while she ate at the café, over the course of a few dirty lunches. Slut slut slut . . .

'Sorry to come round unannounced like this. Luke invited me over for a beer, but I forgot whether it was nine or nine-thirty.'

'Typical of him to tell me. Come in. He shouldn't be long.' She was fully relaxed now. He smiled suddenly, in very good spirits. She was far too easy in every sense.

She waved him to a seat on the couch. 'Can I get you a drink while you're waiting?'

He wondered if she'd ever done it on this sofa. Probably. It gave his anger an extra edge.

'Oh, yes please,' he said politely. 'Have you got Coke or something?'

'We've got Sprite.'

'That'll do. I'll come and help.'

He followed her into the kitchen. It was a bit eighties, with lino — it actually reminded him of his old fat. It wouldn't look like this after he'd done some redecorating.

'Any idea who else is coming?' she asked him. 'So like him not to give me any warning.' She rolled her eyes, with a silly laugh.

'Just me.'

'Oh really?'

'Yeah. See, it's kind of a surprise.'

Her head was in the fridge; she didn't quite get that. She looked around at him, confused but still smiling pleasantly, clutching the bottle of Sprite.

'Hey?'

She frowned. He was pulling on a pair of gloves.

'It's him I feel sorry for.'

Her eyes went from his hands to his face. His voice was conversational, but his eyes were fat and cold. 'Do you enjoy making a fool out of Luke while you fuck around before he gets home?'

Shannon's jaw dropped. 'You creepy bastard. You were spying on me! That's bloody stalking!'

'That's doing your boyfriend a favour. How would you like me to tell him? Watch his little heart break into pieces? I bet you'd enjoy that.'

Her eyes dropped back to his gloved hands. It was a hot summer's night. She started to back away. 'What were you doing, peeping through the windows?' Now her face was burning red.

'I didn't have to. It was pretty obvious just from watching you on the doorstep — and all the other times you two are together. What's his name? Spike?' He shrugged. 'Dick?'

He'd casually stepped between her and the door. The only place she could retreat to was the corner.

'Get out! Get out
right now
. What the hell are you, some kind of private detective?' She threw the can of Sprite at him, making him duck. She was scared, he could see that. She was making a lot of noise. 'Did Luke hire you? The little prick . . .'

He smiled at that. 'I guess you could call me a private detective.'

She opened her mouth to scream. He kicked her, right in the stomach. She doubled over in pain, groaning and gasping.

'I found out
your
little game, didn't I?' Now his smile was entirely gone, and he was hissing. 'You
slut
.'

He kicked her again, in the head, sending her backwards. There was a crack as her head hit the edge of the bench. She crumpled to the floor as if boneless.

He grabbed her hair, yanking it up to stop her from screaming, clapping a gloved hand over her mouth. 'Tell me why I'm here.' He started dragging her to a set of drawers. 'Tell me . . . what you . . . did to him . . .'

He stood on the backs of her knees to stop her escaping, freeing a hand to pull a drawer open and then another, soon finding what he was looking for. Shannon just barely managed to raise her head as he pulled out a rolling pin, her eyes rolling in terror.

'
Tell me what you did
!'

He took his hand from her mouth. She was sobbing so hard now her words were barely intelligible. She knew it was too late to scream now.

'
I chea . . . I cheated . . . on . . .
'

He brought the rolling pin down. She made a choking sound, which went quiet as he brought it down again. It came down harder and harder.

'
You're just — like —
her!'

When he could see nothing but a mass of red he threw the rolling pin down and gave her another kick, just to make sure. She didn't move.

He checked his watch. Luke should be home any minute.

Poor guy. He'd be horrified at first. But not as much as he would be later on, when the truth came out.

He pulled open a cupboard door and found a blanket, then wrapped her inside it, just in case. Wouldn't do to get sloppy, and get caught. He dragged her into the lounge, an arm around her shoulders. He fetched a tarp from the car, wrapped her carefully and let himself out the front door. The streetlights were spaced far apart, on the other side of the street. He was almost invisible as he walked back to his car. No one was watching, anyway. It was a cul-de-sac, and everybody's blinds were shut.