It Started With A House: Lizzie. Book 1 (The Westport Mysteries) (29 page)

“It’s okay,
Lizzie,” he said, reaching out and cradling my face in his hand. “It won’t
hurt. I would never allow you to feel pain. I’m going to give you lots of
sleeping pills and a large glass of vodka, that way you won’t feel anything
when I push you down the stairs and break your neck.” I could hear sympathy and
compassion in his voice. He honestly believed he was helping me. “I thought
about doing the same for Avis but decided in the end that pushing her down the
stairs just seemed easier. The stupid old woman didn’t die though, did she?” He
stepped away from me and started to pace the room, agitation building with
every step.

“Brian Hogan
was different though. I had to make sure he was dead before I started that
fire. Couldn’t make the same mistake twice,” he laughed.

My legs buckled
and I wanted to pass out as I slowly sank to the floor. Nausea rolled around my
stomach as I thought about Brian Hogan. He’d still be alive today if I hadn’t
asked him to help identify the owner of the ring. The bravery I felt before had
gone and what was left was pure, paralyzing fear. Maybe if I kept him talking
I’d have time to ask for a miracle.

“Why did you
kill him?” I asked, impressing myself with how steady my voice sounded,
considering I now sat on the floor, my knees hugged to my chest, using all the
self-control I could find not to cry.

“I had to. He
knew the truth. His father remembered who he made the ring for. I should have
killed him as well but I don’t really enjoy it, you know. I try very hard to be
a good person and only ever kill when I have to. I need you to believe that,
Lizzie. I
really
don’t want to kill you.” He looked at me, almost pleading for me to
understand and give him my forgiveness. “I wanted to find that ring so badly,”
he said, kneeling in front of me, his open palm running across my cheek, his
thumb trailing behind in a soft caress. “I looked and looked for it the day I
broke in here.” He paused and took a large breath. “This would have been so
much simpler if you’d just left it lying around. Do you understand that? We
would have had a chance Lizzie,” he said, agitation making his voice louder. He
sat back on his heels and the knife glinted under the kitchen lights as he
started to twist it around in his free hand. I watched as the emotion in his
eyes changed.

“But no - just
when I was happy and trying to work out how we would make this work, you moved
in with him,” he spat, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards him. “It should
have been me you were making love to,” he whispered dangerously, squeezing my
arm painfully tight, his agitation building. If I had any chance of getting out
of this alive I knew I had to keep him calm. I’d watched a lot of crime
television and knew an agitated killer was an unpredictable killer.

“I...I...I
don’t even know your name,” I stammered, trying extremely hard to settle the
hysteria
 
raging inside me.

“Joe. My name
is Joe,” he said, letting go of my arm and moving away from me. “You should
tell me, you know.”

“Tell you
what?” I asked, my voice giving up the pretense and wobbling.

“Tell me how
you made love to him. Tell me what he did to you and if you liked it.” He sat
down on one of my kitchen chairs, placing the knife on the table and waited for
an explanation.

I had no idea
what to do next. I could tell him the truth, but I don’t think he would believe
me. I could lie and probably piss him off even more. Weighing up my options, I
noticed Harper walk into the room. I’m not sure where he had been hiding up
till now, but if I was looking for a hero, he was not it. He took one look at Sedan
Man and came running to hide behind me. I felt Joe tense as he picked the knife
back up and looked at Harper, obviously trying to decide if he was a threat or
not.

“It’s okay. He
won’t hurt you!” I said, putting myself between Harper and Joe. “Please, don’t
hurt him,” I begged.

I could count my
heartbeats as I sat, barely able to breath, watching for Joe to put the knife
back down.

Slowly he did,
only briefly taking his eyes off Harper as he got back up, walked to the
cupboard above the sink and removed a glass. As he walked back towards the kitchen
table, he lifted his jacket from the back of the chair and pulled a small flask
from the pocket. He emptied the contents into the glass and pulled out a small
pill bottle. Lifting the glass to his lips, he took a swig and stood back
watching me.

What I saw was
the sick look of pleasure sit happily in his eyes.

Chapter
Thirty

“Now,
I’m going to undo your handcuffs. I’ve imagined our love making many times and
I want our first time to be magical. It will be more exquisite if you can use
both of your hands.” He reached back into the jacket pocket and pulled out a
small key. As he walked towards me, I felt a tingle of hope. If I was released
from the refrigerator at least I had a chance to get away from him.

“Oops, almost
forgot,” he smiled, turning back towards the table and picking his knife back
up. “If you do anything stupid, I will kill you. I would much prefer you to be
alive when we make love, but it’s not a necessity.”

I felt my knees
buckle as any hope I may have had flew straight out the window. As he reached
out and lifted my wrist, I felt the sharp pain run up my arm and winced. Joe
gently caressed it as he released the handcuff.

“Is it hurting
you, Lizzie?”

“Yes,” I
answered, my wrist throbbing.

“I’ll give you
something for that in a moment. It won’t be much longer and you won’t feel any
pain. I promise.” he smiled down at me. In his world, he was a hero.

I could feel
Harper trembling at my feet so I reached down and gave him a pat as Joe walked
back to the table and upended the pill container. About fifty tablets fell out,
some hitting the table while others rolled to the floor. If I took all those I
really would be entering an eternal sleep. There were enough sleeping tablets
there to down an elephant. Grabbing a handful of pills and picking up the
glass, Joe started his walk back towards me.

Meow!

My attention,
momentarily, turned to Cat. Thinking it was suppertime, Cat walked into the
room and stood for a moment assessing the situation. I felt Harper’s body
tense. Cat was totally oblivious to the danger of the situation and sauntered
over to Joe. He started to wind himself around his legs, obviously thinking Joe
was probably his best option at getting fed. Joe didn’t even seem to notice Cat
as he walked back towards me, one hand full of pills and the other holding a
glass of vodka. I counted his steps as he moved.

Fear controlled
me and stopped me from thinking clearly. I needed to stop it but images of what
Joe wanted to do to me kept flashing in my mind. I knew I wanted escape and the
pills, alcohol and death would definitely be the easiest way out but there was
a part of me that couldn’t go through that without a fight. Fighting though
could lead to getting my throat cut. This was not something I wanted to experience
in a hurry. The closer he got, the faster my heart raced. I had to make a
decision and fast.

“When all of
this is over, I’m going to find that boyfriend of yours and slit his throat. I
hate him. I hate that he has violated you. I’m going to enjoy watching the
blood drain from his body.” Joe was so close now, the saliva from his mouth
sprayed across my face as he spat those last words.

“Excuse me?
What did you just say?” I asked, wiping his spit away with my hand.

“I said I’m
going to enjoy killing him.”

I felt myself
snap. A conscious decision on what I should do was no longer an option. Common
sense flew out the window taking the fear with it as anger took over. There was
no way in hell I was letting him anywhere near Riley while I still had breathe
in me.

“What’s wrong
with you? What are you doing?” he asked.

All conscious
thoughts gone, I made my Sensei proud and remembered everything he had ever
taught me. Pulling my hand backwards, I palm-heeled Joe’s nose with all the
strength I had. Somehow, adrenalin made me ten times stronger than normal, as
blood gushed from his now broken nose. I heard the glass shatter as it hit the
floor and took the opportunity of his limited vision to jump on him, gouging
his eyes as I did so. As he stumbled backwards, me clinging to him, I felt him
trip over Cat and fall. Somehow, I managed to keep my hold.

Joe, too
stunned to react straight away, howled in pain as I grabbed his ears and
started smashing his head into the floor. He recovered all too quickly as he
threw me off of him like a rag doll. My back smashed into the cupboard.

I screamed in
frustration, got back to my feet and ran at his back. Jumping up, I wrapped my
legs around his body and held on tight as he thrashed around trying to shake me
off. I felt the pain rip through my back when he body-slammed me backwards
against the wall. My breath whooshed out as I crumpled to the floor again.

Harper barked madly
as I watched Joe stagger around the kitchen looking for his knife, blood still
gushing from his nose. I tried to catch my breath, and took the opportunity to
open the cupboard door and pull out whatever could help me. Feeling around in
the dark cupboard, my hands closed around a spray can of what I hoped to be my
trusty old bug spray. Now Sensei always told me that unless you were far enough
away from your attacker to run, you needed to get in close because you could do
far more damage from there.

I slowed my breathing
and waited until Joe walked back towards me. I had my finger on the trigger ready
and just waited for Joe to get close enough. Hearing his steps echo across the
wooden floor, I counted to three and pressed that trigger for all it was worth.

It was like
killing a cockroach. You don’t stop spraying until the bug is dead or you run
out of spray.

Joe dropped the
knife and screamed as the spray made precision contact with his eyes. With my
finger on the trigger, I followed him around like a heat-seeking missile as he
screamed in pain.

Harper will
forever be my hero for what happened next. Up until this point, he’d been
hiding but Joe’s attack on me must have triggered his protective instinct. He
ran across the room, his few teeth bared, as he lunged at Joe and bit down
hard, locking on and not letting go.

The scream that
emerged from Joe will be a noise I will never forget. He dropped to the floor,
powerless to even swat Harper away.

Suddenly noise
filled the room, as the back door was kicked in and the room filled with police
officers, including Officer Wilkins and Helms, and Riley’s brother Jared.

I stood frozen
as they rushed in, guns first and descended on Joe. I have to admit breathing
was difficult with all the spray in the air and I succumbed to the fumes,
dropping to my hands and knees. From this position I looked over and noticed
Harper had latched onto Joe’s privates and even with a room full of people with
guns, he was not letting go.

“Harper! Come
here, boy,” I called.

I figured the police
had this under control now and didn’t like the idea of Harper being in the line
of fire. He immediately came running to me, tongue out, licking my face in his
attempt to make sure I was okay.

Once Joe was
secured and no longer a threat, and the guns were holstered, Officer Wilkins
stepped over to me.

“Lizzie, can
you stand?” she asked.

I looked up at
her and nodded my head. Holding out her hand, she helped me to my feet.

Watching as Joe
was handcuffed and almost dragged out of the room, I saw the blood seeping
through his pants, leaving a big red stain as it soaked into the fabric. I
should be feeling elation, but honestly, I wasn’t feeling anything.

Sure, relief
was in there somewhere, but all I felt was numb. It was as if I was having an
out of body experience, where my soul floated somewhere around the ceiling,
observing everything from a third party point of view.

“Lizzie, this
is Tom, a paramedic. He’s going to help you,” said Officer Wilkins as another
man in uniform approached me.

Tom sat me down
on a chair he’d pulled towards me and wrapped a silver foil blanket around my
shoulders. He took my pulse and my blood pressure, hooked me up to various
mobile machines and determined I would live. Apparently though, my wrist needed
an x-ray and it was probably a good idea to have a brain scan, as it appeared my
head had taken a few knocks. Humph, he was telling me!

A gurney was
wheeled in and another paramedic tried to help me onto it. Harper however, was
not leaving my side. A younger officer stepped up and reached out to Harper,
the trepidation showing on his face. I looked down at Harper and gave him a
reassuring pat.

“Good boy,
Harpie. You’re a good dog.” I smiled. This seemed to be enough for Harper as I
could see his body physically relax. A lead miraculously appeared from
somewhere and was clipped onto Harper’s collar, as he was lead out of the room.
Watching Harper’s disappearing back, I felt the numbness start to wear off. The
void was now being filled with that many different emotions, I didn’t know what
would surface first.

“I don’t want
to go to hospital,” I said, turning back to Tom. “Can’t it wait till morning
and I’ll go to the x-ray place? Please?” Okay, anxiety seemed to be topping the
list. This would have to have been the worst day of my life and to finish it
off, I had to go to hospital?

“Sorry love. It’s
for the best. They’ll get you through nice and quickly and then you can go home
for a good sleep.” Tom seemed like a really nice man, but honestly, he had no
idea.

“This is my
home and I’m not sure I ever want to come back here again,” I whispered.

“Well then, let’s
get you sorted and see how you feel tomorrow.”

Looking around
the room, I recognized no-one. Even Jared, who I’d only met once, had
disappeared. I felt desperate, and lonely. Tears were threatening an
appearance, but I knew if I started to cry, I would never stop, so I tried my
hardest to bite them down. Slowly climbing onto the gurney, I felt about a
hundred years old as the paramedics strapped me down to stop me falling off and
wheeled me outside.

The scene outside
was completely different to anything I’d imagined. Blue and red lights flashed
everywhere, casting strange shadows over my neighbors who filled the street,
eager to know what was going on. Police tape was strung across my driveway,
preventing any unauthorized entry. I could see Joe being wheeled into another
ambulance, closely followed by two police officers. I hope he wasn’t going to
the same place I was. Lying back, I closed my eyes and wished for this to all
be over. I wanted to be anywhere but here.

A hand touched
mine. I briefly opened my eyes and came face to face with Riley. He was the one
person I really wanted to see and suddenly, everything seemed all right.

I was safe.

I could no
longer hold them back. The tears ran down my cheeks. I struggled to keep
control of my emotions as the shock registered on his face.

God only knows
what I looked like. I’d had countless hits across the face, dried blood on my
throat, congealed blood oozing from my swollen lip, my left eye was swelling
shut and I had stubble rash on my chin from where Joe had kissed me. Oh, and my
wrist could possibly be broken and I’m sure I had tufts of hair missing. Holding
my breath for the thousandth time tonight, I realized I was probably more
scared of his reaction than of anything else that had happened.

The paramedics
stopped my gurney just short of the vehicle and were running around doing God
only knows what, but I was completely unaware of any of them as I waited. Riley’s
face was illuminated from the light coming from the inside the ambulance and I
could see the torture in those beautiful blue eyes.

“What did he do
to you?” he whispered as tears wet those gorgeous lashes.

That was all it
took. Sobs escaped me and I no longer had control over my emotions whatsoever. Riley
leaned closer as I sat up and held me against his chest.

God I loved
this man. I clung to his shirt as I felt him start to shake. I don’t know how
long the paramedics allowed us to sit like that but before long, Riley’s shirt
was soaking and I struggled to control my breathing. The sobbing would not
subside.

Riley only let
go when the paramedic forced the oxygen mask over my face and patiently told me
to try to to take deep breaths and slow my breathing. Within a few minutes, I’d
regained some control. Let me tell you, if I looked bad before, now both eyes
were swollen from all the crying and my nose was pouring snot by the barrel
load. Riley was obviously a very brave man, as he seemed undeterred by it all.

* * * *

The
paramedics kindly allowed Riley to stay with me on the way to the hospital
along with a uniformed police officer. On the ride, I’d tried to recount the
events of the day with as much clarity as I could find. I had a monster
headache and IV catheters poked into both arms, so my ability to recall events
was not at its best, but I tried. Trying does not however, imply succeeding so
by the time we got to emergency, I’d merely confused the poor rookie police
officer who was taking my statement.

“Why don’t you
allow Lizzie some time to be looked after and when she’s feeling better, I’m
sure she’ll be able to give a statement,” Paramedic Tom suggested.

Sighing, I
watched the young officer close his notebook.

“Okay. I’ll be
staying close though. Don’t worry, you’re safe now, Lizzie. Joe Woods has been
brought to the same hospital but he is heavily guarded.” He smiled reassuringly,
his voice very official.