Spoilt (27 page)

“
Do you know what type of car he drove?”

“
Yeah, a dark blue sedan, um, a Ford, I think.”

“
Are there any other details about the car that you can
recall?” Maggie said.

“
No, I don’t remember the registration number or anything. I
just remember the car because I’d seen him arrive in it and thought
it was a nice car.”

“
Don’t you remember anything else about him?” Lucas demanded
impatiently.

“
No, I don’t.” She glared at him.

“
That’s okay. If you think of anything else give us a call.
Thank you for your time,” Maggie said.

“
Sure thing.”

“
Take it easy, Lucas,” Maggie said once they were outside. “We
need all the information we can get and being rude is not going to
get us anywhere. I know you’re worried about Chelsea but you have
to stay cool.”

He nodded. “I know, I’ll try and keep my emotions in
check.”

“
Good”

They went into the café and were fortunate enough to find
the waitress who informed Maggie about Chad. She had the same
‘could be him’ recognition as the bakery assistant towards Wesley’s
photo but didn’t know what type of car he drove
.
She thought he’d always walked to the
cafe and couldn’t recall ever seeing him in a car.

As they were driving back to the precinct, a call came over
the radio from a uniform who’d found a car parked outside an
abandoned building. The officer called in the registration number,
its description and its location.

“
That street runs behind Chelsea’s house and it’s the kind of
car we’re looking for,” Lucas said.

They waited for the dispatcher to come back with the findings
and she told the officer the vehicle was reported stolen three
weeks prior. The officer said he would have the car brought to the
impound lot.

Maggie jumped on the radio and advised the officer the car
could be part of a murder investigation and it needed to be checked
for evidence. The officer said he would make sure it was organised
for them.

“
Could he have been this close to her all along?” Maggie asked
him.

It’s like he knows when I’m home.

Lucas cursed.

“
What?”

“
Chelsea told me when the calls came in she’d been just
leaving or just getting home. He also called once when she would
normally be at the shop. She said it was like he knew when she was
home. I assumed he was stalking her and was making the calls from
the pre-paid phone while watching the house. It never occurred to
me that he could see her from where he lived.”

“
Didn’t Peterson and Stewart canvass all the houses on her
street?’

“
Yes, but there were a couple of houses where no-one answered.
I’ll ring Peterson now. They are closer than us. They can check the
building then canvas the street where the car has just been found.
Chelsea’s house has windows front and back, so it’s possible he was
living behind her.”

“
And we can check the other houses on her street.”

The first house they stopped at was down the road from
Chelsea’s and seemed unlikely as a possibility due to its location.
Her house was only partially visible but anything was worth a try.
The lady living in the house hadn’t seen anything and didn’t know
Chelsea or Elle. She also didn’t recognise Wesley Robinson’s
photo.

They knocked on the door of the second house directly across
the road from Chelsea’s and next door to the last house they needed
to visit.

A short, blond lady answered the door.

“
Can I help you?” she asked.

“
We hope you can, Ma’am. I’m Detective Johnson and this is
Detective Hudson. We were wondering if we could ask you a few
questions about your neighbours across the street.”

“
Oh yes, Chelsea and Elle. Very tragic what happened to
her.”

“
You knew Elle?”

“
Only to say hello or wave. Chelsea too.”

“
Chelsea was kidnapped last night by the man we think killed
Elle.”

“
Oh dear that’s terrible! She seems like such a lovely
girl.”

“
She is,” said Lucas. “Were you home last night,
Ma’am?”

“
No, I’m a doctor at the local hospital and I work long hours.
I was on call last night and was at the hospital from around five
until about one this morning. My name is Helen, by the
way.”

“
We’re sorry to disturb you so early, Helen, but we’re trying
to find Chelsea,” Maggie said.

“
That’s ok. Please ask me what you need to.”

“
As you weren’t home you probably can’t help us with what
occurred last night, but the weekend that Elle went missing did you
see anything?" Maggie asked. "That was the weekend before
last.”

“
No, I’m sorry
,
I’m not going to be much help there either. I actually had
the weekend off so I went to visit my sister and was gone from
Friday night till Sunday night.”

“
Do you know anything about the person who lives next door?”
Lucas asked her pointing to the neighbour on her left.

“
No not really. He lives there alone as far as I know. He must
be a shift worker like me as I have seen him leave the house at odd
times during the night. I remember because I found it strange that
he sometimes went out on foot in the middle of the night and didn’t
use a car.”

“
What does he look like?” Lucas asked her with
urgency.

“
Um, he has dark hair and is medium height. The few times I’ve
seen him he was wearing a baseball cap so I couldn’t really see his
face. He seems to keep to himself and he’s quiet.”

“
Have you ever seen him bring any women to the house?” Lucas
asked.

“
Once, she was a pretty little thing with dark
hair.”

“
Do these photos look like any of the girls he brought here?”
Maggie asked showing her photos of the four brunette
victims.

“
Um, it could have been but they all look quite alike don’t
they. I didn’t get that good a look, I’m afraid, but it’s
possible.”

“
When was this?”

“
Um, last week sometime. May have been Wednesday of last week
but I can’t be certain.”

“
Do you recognise this man?” Maggie asked, showing Wesley’s
photo.

“
He looks familiar.”

“
Could he be the man living next door?”

“
Well the hair colour is wrong and I haven’t ever really seen
his face properly.”

“
Is there anything else you can tell us about him?”

“
I can’t think of anything.”

“
Do you know if he is home at the moment?”

“
I don’t know.”

“
Thank you for your help, Helen,” Maggie said and handed her a
business card. “If you think of anything, no matter how small,
please give me a call.”

“
I will. Have a nice day, Detectives.”

“
Is it possible he lives right there?” Lucas said.

“
It’s possible but the description doesn’t match.”

“
Even if he’s not our man, he may have seen
something.”

They knocked on the door and got no response. Lucas walked
around to the back of the house, checking all the windows as he
went, but the blinds were all down. At the back of the house was an
alley which could easily be used as a service road to the garage,
also in the rear. If someone wanted to get in and out undetected,
they could.

He came back around the front and there was still no response
at the front door. Maggie saw the look on Lucas’ face and knew what
he was thinking.

“
You can’t go in there, Lucas. We don’t have probable cause
and if it’s not the right house, you’ll have a serious
problem.”

“
But what if it is, Maggie? She needs me and she could be
right here.”

He took a step forward and Maggie grabbed his arm

“
We’ll continue looking, try to find a reason to go in there
or we just have to wait for him to be at home.”

“
How can I wait?” He shrugged off her arm.

“
Lucas, if you go in there and you’re wrong, you could be
taken off the case. You won’t be able to help her at all if that
happens. Think about it.”

He frowned. His eyes went between Maggie and the door until
they finally came to rest on her. “Fine, you’re right. I’m just
going out of my mind.”

As they got back into the car Maggie called Peterson to
discover the abandoned building, where the car was found, had been
searched and was empty. They were also part way through canvassing
the street so, Lucas and Maggie went to give them a
hand.

After making no headway with their interviews, they tried the
house on Chelsea’s street again and there was still no response.
Peterson and Stewart left for the evening and would continue with
their interviews in the morning. Two detectives were assigned to
stay on the house and watch for any movement. They would also keep
knocking until they got an answer, in case he arrived home through
the back. Lucas and Maggie went back to the station, they needed to
start again.

Chapter 30

Despair

Friday

Chelsea blinked several times after opening heavy eyes.
Disorientated, she took in her surroundings. The room was dim and
unfamiliar. The goose bumps on her skin suddenly made her aware of
the cold.

What happened? Where am I?

She felt something dry and sticky near her lips while her
chest throbbed and stung. When she attempted to lift her hand to
her face she realised her wrists and ankles were bound.

As she remembered, despair engulfed her. The crazed killer,
the one who thought she should know him, had cut her and this was
the source of the severe ache. Her mouth and left eye felt swollen
where he’d hit her. She glanced down to see her clothes were in
tatters and did little to hide her nakedness. Her mind, although
cloudy, began to regain its memory, bit by bit. Who was this man?
She searched her memory trying to find the answers. Why did he seem
vaguely familiar and a complete stranger at the same
time?

Then she remembered Charlotte and
prayed she was alright.

S
he’d begun to devise a plan of escape when the man walked
into the room.

“
Well, you’re finally awake.”

“
C
an’t we work this out?” Chelsea pleaded urgently. “We could
leave together – run away. You don’t have to do this. I can access
my trust fund and we can use it to escape.” Chelsea didn’t know
what he wanted but she hoped this was it. She had to try
everything.

“
What, you think we can be together, that this is what I
want from you? Didn’t you listen to me? Why would I want to be with
you now? It’s far too late for that. Even if that was what I
wanted, I’ve killed five people, six including the cop. You are my
final mission. I don’t want to spend time with you. I want you to
scream in pain. I want to see you suffer and I want to watch you
die as I slit your throat.” He snickered. “You’re a spoilt bitch,
and soon everybody will know.”

Terror seized her chest and stole her
breath
. His
words echoed in her mind as fear overcame her. Then suddenly she
remembered, an image flashed through her mind. She knew who he was.
Andrew Smyth. From school! The dirty, scruffy guy who hung out with
Wes, before Chelsea and Wes were together. People used to say how
similar they looked. “You’re Andrew Smyth.”

His expression changed to betray the truth before he could
hide it from her. “Who is Andrew Smyth?”

“
You. I recognise you. We were at school together.”

“
Very clever, Princess. We did go to school together. So you
do remember me. Who would have thought? You always looked down your
nose at everyone
-
such a snob. So beautiful though. Too good for
me.”

Chelsea looked at him earnestly. “What did I ever do to
you?”

“
You really don’t know?”

Chelsea frowned. “No, I honestly don’t.”

“
You treated me like I was a nobody, like I was worse than a
nobody.”

“
I didn’t know you.”

He smirked. “Well you’
re about to get to know me much better …” He
started to unhook his pants.

Quick, Chelsea. Think of something.
“Weren’t you friendly with
Wesley Robinson at school?”

He stopped.
“Wes? Yeah, you could say we used to be friends. Actually,
we were team. He was my cousin”

Was?

He spat out an ironic laugh when she frowned.
“You didn’t know
Wes was my cousin, did you? Of course you didn’t. He wouldn’t have
admitted knowing such low life as me. He became far too good for
me. When he met you, he immediately broke off all contact with me
because I was never good enough to be around someone like you. Mind
you, neither was he, but you probably didn’t know that. If only you
knew the truth. We were tight, Wes and me, once. We were family and
we were both treated like shit by our families. Our mothers were
sisters and they both left us to the mercy our drunken, abusive
dads. We suffered in the same way. We were like twins. People said
they couldn’t tell us apart. The only real difference between us
was that I didn’t get lucky with you and he killed his
dad.”