WILL TIME WAIT: Boxed set of 3 bestselling 'ticking clock' thrillers (10 page)

I
sent a quick
text to Laura to say I was going to go to Lee’s house, and tagged his address
on the end.  The phone beeped as I put it, along with the charger, into my
bag and dropped it in the hall.  “I’ll charge my phone at your
place.  I think it’s about to die.”  I went up the creaking stairs
and, unsure of the dress code for a death threat occasion, I decided just to
grab basic toiletries and a change of clothes, seems as I didn’t own a bullet
proof vest. 

I
entered the bathroom first, and headed forward to the shower.  I collected
shampoo and gels from the rack inside and held them in my arms.  A cap
popped off and landed on the floor.  While nudging the glass shower door
shut with my elbow, I must have squeezed the bottles.  A zesty-lime
fragrance filled the air.  Shampoo seeped over the rim and slid like neon
slime down the side of the bottle to my top, and then blobbed on the thighs of
my jeans.

“Damn!”

I dumped
the bottles, grabbed a flannel from the edge of the sink, wet it and
wiped.  The stain only spread.  Dampness soaked through to my
bra.  I kicked the bathroom door shut and stripped down to my
knickers.  While waiting for the sink to fill with hot water, I wrapped
myself in a towel.

Keys
jangled from the hall below.  I assumed Lee was getting impatient. 
So, I dunked my top in to soak, and left my jeans and bra on the floor. 

My
face cream and toothbrush were in the mirrored cabinet on the wall above the
sink.  I opened it and grabbed the tub of cream from inside, vaguely aware
of having seen something which didn’t belong. 

Lee
shouted, “How long will you be?”

I
closed the cabinet.  Stumbling, I backed away.  My fingers had wiped
a clear patch in the steamed-up mirrored door. 

Through
the patch, I saw it clearly.

My
palm fell open.  The tub rolled off my hand and thumped on to the
floor.  I blinked, shifting my focus to the left of my scarlet-faced
mirror image.

Five
red words reflected in the mirror from the wall behind me.  Steak knives
were sticking out of the plaster.

I
whirled around and stared at the wall above the toilet.  I jerked my head
up as though I’d taken a punch under the chin.  It read:

‘TICK
TOCK.  SLAG.  YOU’LL PAY.’

Standing
two metres away, heart thumping faster, I followed the trail of letters with
horrified eyes. 

The
red curves and tails of the giant-sized handwriting looked almost friendly, but
the meaning, for sure, was not.  The words, written in deep red lipstick
across most of the wall, were no less frightening for not having been written
in blood.  Seven of my own steak knives had been rammed into the plaster,
sticking out of the wall at different angles.  They circled the word
‘slag,’ like a clock face.  I scanned the floor.  Where’s the eighth
knife?  The end of the lipstick had broken off and was squashed on the
wall creating a full stop.

I
screamed.  The towel slid off my body.  I caught my toe on it,
stumbled and twisted around. 

Rapid
footsteps pounded up the stairs.  Thump, thump.  The door flung open
so violently that its handle crashed against the heated towel rail.  The
rattle caused two knives to drop out of the wall. 

“Chelsea,
Chelsea.  What’s wrong?”  Lee grabbed my shoulders from behind. 
He spun me around to face him. 

Disorientated,
I stood with my face an inch from Lee’s, my legs so weak I expected to drop to
my knees. 

“What
happened?” he said.  His hand squashed against my bare breast as he leaned
back to look at me.  His eyes ran up and down my body.

With
a quivering finger, I pointed over his shoulder at the wall.  “L...
Look!”  

A
beat later, Lee turned his head.  “Bloody hell!”  He gathered me into
his arms and stared at the writing.

“Exactly.” 
I couldn’t breathe deep enough, like woolly cobwebs were smothering my
face.  “Oh, God.  Oh, God.  What the hell’s going on?” 
Cloaked in terror, but little else, I stood in shock, held up by Lee. 
Tears poured down my cheeks. 

How
did someone get into my house?
  The doors weren’t kicked in, the windows
weren’t smashed – not in the rooms downstairs.  Did someone have a
key?  While clinging to Lee, I tried to think of the last time I’d been in
the bathroom, or at least looked up at the wall above the toilet.  Surely
I didn’t pee with my eyes shut?  How long had this been here?  Who
did it? 

I
felt violated, and totally exposed as though the letters had eyes that were
scrutinizing every inch of my naked body.  With those kinds of thoughts
making my head spin like a washing machine, I pulled away from Lee and crossed
my arms over my chest.  As he stepped forward to examine the writing, I
turned my back to it. 

“Takes
some force to ram those knives in.  The plaster on these walls must be
pretty thick.”

“It
is,” I said.  “Keeps the room warm.”  I dashed past him, grabbed my
dressing gown from the back of the door and left the bathroom.  Breasts
bouncing, I raced down the staircase so fast that I practically slid off the
edge of each step.  When I landed on the floor at the bottom, I gripped the
banister rail to right myself, wiped my eyes then looked up.  “Come
on.  Let’s get out of here!”  My screaming words sounded too big for
the house.  I slid my arms into my dressing gown and pulled it
closed.  “Hurry!  What the hell are you doing up there?”

In
five seconds Lee made the bottom of the stairs with my jeans and bra bundled in
his hand.  I grabbed my bag and a random pair of shoes from the
hall.  We shot one by one through the front door.  I moved barefoot
like a runner in a race after the starting gunshot. 

“Your
keys?”  Lee said.

“Stuff
that.”  I threw them to him anyway.  “Let’s take your car,” I said,
as he locked my front door.  “That’s what people do, right?  Switch
vehicles when they’re being tailed.”

Lee
pointed a fob at his Leon.  It beeped and the headlights flashed. 

I
slammed down into the passenger seat.  As soon as Lee opened his door and
sat down, I banged the dashboard with my palm.  “Step on it!”

Lee
threw my clothes and keys onto my lap and then turned the engine on.  A
dreadful thought leapt into my head as he released the handbrake.  I
gasped and turned, expecting to find a balaclava-wearing madman waving the
missing steak knife in the back.

It
was empty. Phew.  I slammed back against the seat.

Tyres
screeched on tarmac as he shifted into first and sped off. 

“Hold
on tight,” he rasped, skidding out of my street. 

His
daredevil driving had me clamping the seat, although I didn’t want him to slow
down.  He took the second corner at high speed.  Packets of gum slid
off the dash and a bottle rolled around in the footwell. 

“Anyone
following?”

I
looked behind.  “Er, no.  I don’t think so.”

All
I wanted was to be somewhere else, somewhere safe.  Now that my home had
been invaded, I felt more vulnerable than ever.  A nightmare was closing in
on me, like the whole town was one dark room with fast shrinking walls. 

While
we raced through the streets, I saw death on every corner.  The words may
as well have been stamped across my inner eyelids like a logo.  Someone in
a smart suit was swinging a long slender object. 

“What’s
that in his hand?”

“Relax,”
Lee said.  “It’s just an umbrella.”

It
looked like a sawn-off shotgun.  A child threw a tennis ball into the air,
it seemed like a hand grenade at first.  I didn’t need any more reminders
that I was in trouble.  The message in my bathroom had done enough. 
Something inside the car beeped, making me jump.  I scanned the interior
of Lee’s car, wanting to hide my face under some ingenious disguise.  But
there was little even the most creative of people could do with a packet of gum
and Bart Simpson air freshener.

“Take
a different route,” I said.

“I
already am.”  Lee’s answer came short and fast.  His face was a tight
mask of concentration. 

I
searched out of every window, clocking the cars, checking for a tail.  My
eyes were so full of tears it was like looking through warped glass. 

“Almost
there,” Lee said.  “Hold on a little longer.”

I
wiped my eyes and nodded to myself, certain I hadn’t seen the same car twice in
the last five minutes.  Only then did I take my eyes off the streets to
wriggle into my jeans and slip my shoes on.  I pulled my phone out of my
bag.  “Damn it!”  My mobile was dead altogether now.  I had to
phone the police, and warn Laura. 

Lee
slowed down and pointed at a white door with a little window, but didn’t stop
outside.  “We’ll park further up the street, just to be sure.”  He
glanced into the rear-view mirror. 

“I
don’t think anyone followed us,” I said.  “I’ve been watching.”

Lee’s
street was easily busier than mine.  Two-story narrow houses stood
together like an over-stuffed bookcase.  Cars were parked bumper to bumper
with only a few empty gaps between them.  Anyone could have been spying on
me.  It was hard to know who to look at. 

As
the car slowed, my nerves kick-started again.  Although I wasn’t cold, my
body shivered nearly enough for my teeth to chatter.  I didn’t need anyone
to tell me it was scary.  If someone knew I’d gone to Lee’s then I wasn’t
safe here either.

Lee
pulled to the curb.  “Let’s go inside.”

The
thought in my head that someone was watching me refused to budge, and
therefore, so did my legs.  Someone was threatening to kill me.  I
had every right to be on edge. Part of me felt like running to the hills and hiding
out.  But if I did, how would I ever know it was over and safe to come
home?  This maniac might just await my return. 

A
line of traffic zipped past.  An elderly lady emerged from a house a few
doors behind, strolling along as if time didn’t exist in her world.  I
wished it didn’t in mine.

I
stared into the wing mirror, waiting for her to pass so I wouldn’t hit her with
the car door. 

Lee
waited with me, walked his fingers along the dash.  “If I could get them
to threaten me instead, Chelsea, I would.”

Shocked
by his statement, I looked him in the eye.  “That’s so, so… nice.”

“It’s
not,” he said, and shook his head.  “I just can’t bear to lose someone
else.  I’m being selfish.”  He opened the car door and stepped onto
the street. 

Staring
at his butt, I wondered if there was another meaning behind his words.  On
top of being nervous, I now felt confused.

W
hen we reached
Lee’s front door, he unlocked it and hurried me into the lounge. 

I
pulled the charger out of my bag.  “I have to warn Laura.  Where’s
your plug socket?” 

Lee
pointed past the end of the sofa.

I
crossed the room and rammed the plug into the holes, connected my mobile and
waited.  I glanced at the curtains.  Wanting to draw them closed, I
walked across the room and tugged at the fabric, but Lee set his hand on my
arm.

“No,”
he said.  “We need to see if anyone is watching.  Just try to stay
away from the windows.  You’re a walking advert.”

I
thought about it, then stepped away and nodded.

He
lifted an eyebrow and squinted at the ceiling, suggesting he’d had a
thought.  He didn’t share it. 

More
concerned with contacting Laura in case someone was about to break into her
house, I turned my attention back to my mobile.  “I should have known
someone had been coming in and out of my house when my photos were in the wrong
place and the table lamp kept switching on,” I muttered, waiting for my mobile
to come to life. 

“When
did you last use your bathroom?” Lee asked.

“Yesterday. 
Someone must have broken in last night while I was at Laura’s.”

The
screen lit up, and I pressed the call button.

Laura
answered on the third ring.  “Hey, Chelsea.”

“Someone’s
been in my house, Laura.”

“Eh?”

“It’s
a mess.  There’s swearing... writing... ‘you’ll pay, slag.’  And my own
goddamn steak—”

“Jesus,
Chelsea.  You’re kidding!”

“No. 
Quiet a second.  I need to—“

“Where
are you?”

“At
Lee’s.  Just listen, will you?  Look, I spoke to the police earlier,
but we’ve got less time left than we thought.  My timer runs out before
yours.  Tomorrow night.”

“Really? 
Oh, Christ!  So who was in your house?  When?”

Panic
shrivelled my voice.  I needed Laura to be safe.  “I want you to go
to Emma’s or your aunt’s.  Anywhere.  Just go!  This is not a
prank, not a virus.  It’s definitely a death threat.”

“I’m
fine here,” she said, bringing her voice down.  “Paul’s home.  I’ll
ask him not to go to the gym.  We’ll lock up and put the alarm on. 
It’s like Fort Knox here, remember?  You sound terrible.  Come to my
place.”

“No. 
It’s too dangerous if we’re together.  Makes it easy for them to get to
both of us.  Listen, do you still have my house key, Laura?”

“Yes.”

“Are
you sure?”

“Hold
on.”  There was a pause.  “Yes.  It’s here on the same keyring
as mine.  Did someone use a key to get in?”

“I
think so.  I’ll phone you later.  I need to get in touch with Officer
Baines.  Stay alert.”  I hung up. 

“Is
she safe?” Lee asked.