Mortal Crimes: 7 Novels of Suspense (91 page)

“What do you think we should do now?”

Jim glanced up at the flat. “Well, I warned him off earlier, and that seems to have backfired. I think we should go in there together and force him to leave.”

“Hold on a minute. This place is open to the public. It’s not as if Mum can just throw the bolt on the door to keep him out, is it?”

“You have a point. How was Mum when you walked out of there?”

“All over him like a rash. What a fucking mess!” Ellen sighed deeply.

“Yeah, you could say that. We can’t throw him out if Mum doesn’t want us to.”

They both looked up at the lounge window and saw their mother gazing out at them.

“I can’t tell what she’s thinking,” Ellen said.

“Neither can I. I’ll get out. Let’s see what her reaction is then.” Jim got out of the car, and her mother’s eyes widened in fear. She glanced nervously over her shoulder and then back down at her son.

Ellen joined her brother. “I say we go in.”

“I’m not sure. I think she’s trying to tell us to keep back, to go away. It’s hard for her to communicate if he’s still in the room with her.”

Just then, Colin came to the window. After one look at Jim, he fled. “We’ve gotta get in there. I know he’s going to do something bad,” Ellen shouted as she charged towards the back door of the pub.

Jim caught up and passed her in a flash, his black jacket billowing out behind him. He stormed through the back door and was at the top of the stairs, just disappearing along the hallway, as Ellen entered the pub.
Don’t do anything stupid, Jim, please!

Out of breath, she walked into the lounge to find Jim with Colin’s head in a headlock. Her mother was yelling at her son to let Colin go, but Jim’s grip held firm. Ellen pulled her mother away from the two men in case Colin summoned up enough strength to shrug Jim off, which looked unlikely, considering the way her brother was holding him, but stranger things had happened. “Let Jim deal with this, Mum. Colin has to learn that he won’t achieve anything by abusing you.”

Her mother wriggled out of her grasp and turned to glare at her. “He doesn’t abuse me. This was an accident. A one-off, you hear me?”

“Really? Oh, come on. Who are you trying to kid?” Ellen looked over at Jim, shrugged, and shook her head in disbelief.

“If I let go, you’re not going to do anything stupid, are you?” Jim asked Colin.

“No. Your mother and I are very happy together. All this has been a terrible misunderstanding. I never meant to hurt her. I’ll never do it again. I swear.”

Jim released his grip. Colin stood up, and their mother ran into his arms. Her brother seemed as disgusted as Ellen was by their mother’s puzzling display of affection.

“Come on, Ellen. Let’s get out of here.”

Ellen could tell Jim was well and truly pissed off as he moved toward the door. “This is your final chance, Mum. We could arrest Colin now for what he’s done, but if you won’t give us a statement, then there’s little we can do. You let this drop, and Jim and I won’t bother coming to your rescue next time. We’ll turn our back on the situation, just like you’re doing now. Have the courage to fight to have a stress-free relationship. You shouldn’t live under a cloud the way you do. No one should,” Ellen said calmly, letting her mother know that neither she nor Jim had the time to keep bailing her out every time her husband used her as a punchbag.

Her mother thought it over for a few seconds before she hugged her husband and nodded at her children. “We’ll be fine. Won’t we, dear?”

Colin looked down at his wife and smiled, but when his gaze met Ellen’s, she saw a different story written in their depths. What could she or Jim do? Her mother had apparently made her choice, and she knew the score going forward. Whether Ellen kept her word not to interfere in the future remained to be seen, however.

Neither Jim nor Ellen said another word before they made their way back downstairs.

“God, how infuriating is that woman? I’m so sorry for dragging you out here, away from work.”

“No bother, Sis. We’re just going to have to leave them to get on with their miserable existence. Mum isn’t fooling anyone but herself. She’ll come round in the end, if it’s not too late by then. That’s the last time we intervene, though, right? I’d better get back to work. See you at home later.” He leaned forward and pecked her on the cheek.

Ellen smiled at him before her gaze drifted up to the lounge window of the flat to see Colin staring down at her, with yet another triumphant expression pulled tightly across his ugly face.

________

Sitting on an old milking stool that he’d inherited with the farm, he watched and listened. Both of the girls were asleep when he’d entered the barn and taken up his seat in the corner of the stable where Diane, the new girl, was shackled. Admiring her naked body, he felt his erection quickly spring to life. He let his hand settle on his crotch, then stroked his manhood through the fabric of his jeans. Diane stirred. He doubted she’d heard him—he’d been as quiet as a church mouse since his arrival, just watching and admiring the perfect view.

“Who’s there?” Diane asked.

He almost sniggered but stopped himself before he gave away his presence. His ears pricked up when he heard the straw moving in the adjacent stable.

“Can you hear me?” Diane called out in a hushed voice.

“Yes. Who are you?” the other girl answered.

He could tell both girls were excited to have company, and maybe he’d recognised a sense of relief in their responses to each other, too. He watched and listened with a freakish interest as they continued their communication, their voices never going above hushed whispers.

“My name’s Diane. Yours?”

“Tina. Is
he
here?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Diane said.

He watched her twist and turn her wrists, trying to get out of her restraints, and noted that he would have to increase the sedative to keep her under control. He had sensed she would be trouble. He would deal with her before she got out of hand.

“Has he raped you?” Tina asked hesitantly.

“More than once, I think. Although I’m not sure. What about you?”

Tina sniffled. “Yes, it’s a daily occurrence. What have we done to deserve this? Do you know him?”

“I don’t think so. Do you?”

Tina sniffled again, and her chains rattled. “I’m not sure. I’m confused most of the time because of the medicine he gives me.”

He raised an eyebrow.
So, she thinks she knows me, does she?

Diane gulped before she asked her next question. “What do you think he intends on doing with us? He can’t keep us here indefinitely, can he?”

Tina let out a sigh. “Why not? I can’t see anyone finding this place. There’s no point in us screaming, either, because we’re way out in the sticks.”

He smiled when he saw tears glisten on Diane’s cheeks as Tina’s words sank in.
You’re right! No one is going to find you or anyone else I bring here.
He rose from the stool, and Diane’s head turned when she heard the movement.

“Why are you doing this?”

He ignored her and went over to adjust the flow of the drip. Within seconds the girl’s head sank to her chest, and she fell back to sleep again. He decided to leave them for the night. He needed his strength for later, when he went out on the prowl again. The idea of having a harem kept prodding him, urging him to quickly capture more girls.

As he left the barn, he heard Tina still trying to communicate with Diane. He chuckled and looked up at the clear night sky. The stars were at their brightest, and somewhere in the distance, he heard a barn owl hoot. Bats circled overhead, adding to the drama of the scene.
Maybe I could turn into a vampire and start sucking their blood.
He laughed at his own bizarre joke and headed for the car. The time on the dashboard was 10:00 p.m., so he decided to go for a pizza and wait for the next victim to come his way.

CHAPTER TWELVE

“Christ! You look rough.”

“Thanks, mate. Just what a girl wants to hear first thing in the morning.” Ellen glared at Brian and slipped out of her coat. She’d had a very long night. After spending half of it thinking up ways to get rid of the dreaded Colin, she took the other half, telling herself she was being stupid and that her mother would never forgive her if she did anything underhanded towards her husband. He, on the other hand, could do what he liked. She had tossed and turned so much during the night that, at one point, she’d fallen out of bed and ended up on the floor of the spare room. Jim had come in to see if she was all right and ended up spending half an hour telling her to stop worrying and to get some sleep. She’d finally drifted off at five o’clock, only for the alarm to rouse her at seven.

“Dare I ask how your mum is?”

“Still battered and bruised. She ended up going back to the pub to be with him.”

“You’re joking!” Brian’s eyes bulged in disbelief.

“I wish I was, but I’m not. I think Jim and I are more worried about Colin than she is. Christ, you should have seen the way she was fawning all over him, even after the knife incident.”

“Whoa, hang on a minute. I didn’t know about the knife part.”

She fell into her chair, exhausted. “That all happened after I took her home. He was there, waiting for her—us. I went to check around to see if everything was okay, and when I walked back into the lounge, he was holding her hostage, a knife at her throat, nicking the skin.”

“Jesus! What did you do?”

“I told him I would leave if he put the knife down. I left and rang Jim. He came over. We rushed the place and were all geared up to throw the scumbag out, but Mum stopped us.” She threw a pen across the desk. It bounced on the surface, then hit the floor. “She thinks she can change him. She’s in
lurve
with him.”

“Bloody hell. Well, there’s little you can do then, except be there for her in case things go wrong again.”

“You mean
when
things go wrong again? I’m not sure I can keep picking up the pieces, Brian, only to have it flung back in my face the way she has. What’s the point in intervening if she isn’t going to kick the bastard out?”

He leaned back and folded his arms across his broad chest, which was inflating and deflating briskly. “I’m so sorry, Ellie. Try not to be too harsh on her, though, eh? She needs to know that she’ll still have your support should things go awry in the future, hon.”

“Sure, she has my support. But it sucks when that support is flung back in your face,” she repeated angrily.

“I understand. Maybe work will help take your mind off things.”

“Yeah, maybe. I guess I better pick up where I left off yesterday.”

“That’s right. You only got to see one of the families.”

“Yeah, plus I want to call at the gym. Any news on the nightclub yet?”

“The manager wasn’t available again. I’ll look into it again today.”

“Christ, anyone would think they have something to hide down there,” Ellen said, reaching for her notepad and pen.

“It does appear that way, doesn’t it?”

“Maybe I’ll pay them a personal visit after I go to the gym.”

The phone rang. Ellen grabbed it before Brian could. “Hello, Worcester Missing Persons Hotline, how may I help you?”

“I’m not sure if you can or not,” a man said somewhat hesitantly.

Ellen frowned. “Has someone you know gone missing, sir?”

“I’m not sure. Yes… No… Umm, I think so.”

“Okay, let’s start at the beginning. Who are you contacting us about, sir?”

“It’s my wife. She went out with friends last night and didn’t come home.”

“Your wife’s name is?”

“Sorry, Sandy Cox. This is so unusual. She never stays out all night, never.”

Ellen could hear the distress resonating in the man’s voice. Her heart went out to him.

“When did you last see Sandy?”

“Last night. She was going into town with the girls. I said I would drop her into town, but she insisted on getting a cab.”