Chapter 76

CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX

A na could see the drug was wearing off. His face turned pale and Ana remembered how sick she felt when she'd come round.

‘Can't you loosen these ties?' he asked.

The hate in her eyes told him what a stupid question that was.

‘Like that's happening,' she said. She held up his phone like a trophy. ‘Nice photos of you and your family, especially of Zoe.'

His eyes showed his fear. ‘Don't say my daughter's name,' he barked.

She looked away from him and fiddled with the buttons on his phone. It was getting cooler now, but still the air was heavy, and Ana was sweating buckets. She removed her jacket and resisted the temptation to open the barn door.

‘You see, I think your pleasure didn't just come from that moment. I imagine you wanted to relive it over and over because you're a fucking pervert.'

He didn't reply.

‘I've heard about people like you. I was obsessed. You like to keep your trophies. Where are yours, Ray? In your hidden folder, am I right?'

Ana imagined his back was aching intolerably now, and his wrists must be raw from rubbing against the cables in his bid to escape.

His eyes flashed with anger. ‘You won't get away with this.'

Ana was sick and tired of his ego, which was bigger than his bank balance, and she was weary now. She wanted it over. ‘What's the password to the hidden folder?' she asked, her throat croaky and dry.

She took a long gulp from the bottled water she'd brought without offering him any. ‘You must be thirsty,' she said. ‘Give me the code to the hidden folder.'

He grinned at her. ‘Fuck off,' he snarled.

Ana slammed the water bottle to the ground, picked up the Rohypnol bottle and syringe, and walked slowly towards him. After all she had suffered, there was no way that she'd ever let him win. She'd come this far. There was no turning back now. She scowled at him.

‘Don't fucking mess with me, you sniffling little prick. If you don't give me the password, I'll inject you again and cut off your dick with your own Stanley knife. If you think you feel sick now, think how sick you'll be after that.'

She leaned in closer. ‘Don't underestimate me, arsehole, because nothing would give me more pleasure than stopping you fucking young girls.'

Ray struggled to breathe. She was close, so close, close enough. He lifted his head and head-butted her viciously. Ana, unprepared, slipped backwards under the impact, her head pounding. Ray fought for release like a caged animal, but she'd done too good a job.

Ana scrambled around for the syringe and leapt at him, screaming, ‘You fucking asked for it.'

Ana would never know if she would have gone through with it. Another dose so soon after the first would most certainly have caused him serious breathing issues if not death.

‘Life2live,' he yelled. ‘It's Life2live.'

The look of satisfaction on her face made him want to kill her.

‘It had better be,' she said, backing away from him. Her knees were weak from the shock, and her head felt muzzy. She felt his eyes scrutinising hers as she typed in the password. Watched in fascination first as her eyes flinched away, then as the colour drained from her face, and finally, the small whimper that came from her lips before she turned from him and retched onto the dusty floor of the cabin. When she'd finished, she wiped her hand across her mouth and forced herself to look at him.

‘You buggered her, you buggered Elaine Lees,' she said, her tone strangled.

He'd videoed it all. There were seven, some even younger than she'd been. He'd even made them perform oral sex on him. Thank God, she couldn't remember everything he'd done to her. Without even being aware of what she was doing, she picked up the Stanley knife and walked towards him.

‘You killed Elaine Lees. You injected her with Rohypnol and left her to die.'

‘It wasn't like that. You have to listen to me.'

‘Why the fuck should I listen to you?' she spat.

‘If you kill me, the truth will never come out.'

‘What makes you think I'm going to kill you? Maybe I'm just going to chop off your perverted prick, you fucking bastard.'

His head was fuzzy. He was struggling to keep his eyes open. He could feel a throbbing in his forehead where he'd head-butted her. He just needed time, time to think his way out of this.

‘So, just what was it like, Ray ?' she asked, emphasising his name.

‘She was blackmailing me dry. I never meant for it to happen. It was an accident.' It was true. He'd never intended to hurt Laine, let alone kill her. If only she hadn't been so difficult. ‘I tried to reason with her.'

He could remember it all as if it had happened only yesterday. ‘I told her, "Don't you understand, Laine? You can't just keep demanding money. You said it was a one-off".

‘"Yeah, well, I lied," she said flippantly. "Give me the money, else I'll tell the police and your wife".' He paused, and then continued. ‘I'd looked at her then. At her over-made-up face and slinky dress. She was a narcissistic little bitch who probably never gave anyone else's life another thought.'

He'd forgotten by now how he'd raped and buggered her.

He looked at Ana. ‘She wasn't like you,' he said, almost affectionately, making Ana want to puke. ‘She was a selfish, uneducated piece of scum who used people for her own means. I told her no one would believe her, but she'd laughed straight in my face. "I'm not a stupid kid, you know," she said, smiling. "I recorded the second time. I have it on my phone. Your groaning and everything".'

His expression turned angry. ‘She had no right to record anything. I panicked and demanded her phone, but she wouldn't hand it over. In the end, I tried to grab her bag off her.'

‘She shouted, "Get off me! My boyfriend will be here soon." But I had her boyfriend's phone,' he said proudly. ‘That shut her up.'

He was getting carried away with the story, almost boasting now. He was so immersed that he'd forgotten where he was. ‘You should have seen her face when I held it up.'

Ana fought the urge to slap him.

‘I was in control again, and she knew it. I could tell by the fear on her face. Then the stupid bitch began to run, but in her drunkenness, she lost her footing.'

He suddenly seemed to remember that Ana was there. ‘It wasn't my fault she knocked her head on the ground, you know that, don't you?'

He was breathing heavily now as he remembered looking down at Laine, layers of pine needles sticking into her face. He could remember the earthy smell of decomposing leaves and the sight of her sticky, bloody face. He'd watched as she'd scrambled in the dirt, trying to crawl away from him while in a weak voice, begging, ‘No, please,' as she felt her bag pulled roughly from her shoulder.

‘She should have given me the phone. It was that simple. I felt her pulse. It was too weak. Jesus, why did she have to run? It was her fault she slipped and smashed her head on a rock. It wasn't as though I'd pushed her. If anything, she'd pushed me with her threats. Pushed me to the limit.'

Sweat was pouring off him. The heat and anxiety of what Ana would do next were taking their toll, and he was feeling light-headed.

‘It wasn't supposed to be like that,' he said, tears running down his cheeks. ‘It was to frighten her. Just slap her around a little. Hand her the card and run off. I just wanted her to back off. She'd become a vampire, draining me of emotion and money. I couldn't concentrate. I'd lie awake at night, worrying that the police would knock on our door.'

‘My heart bleeds for you,' said Ana caustically.

He didn't seem to hear her. ‘That's all it was meant to be, a frightener. But she'd seen me. So what the fuck was I supposed to do? She'd arrived before I'd had time to put the balaclava on. It was her fault. We could have avoided all of this if she hadn't come early.'

He clenched and unclenched his hands several times. Adrenalin was rushing through his body. He looked around anxiously, remembering the blood gushing from her smashed skull. Even with the wetness of her blood running into her eyes, she'd still pleaded with him.

‘Oh Jesus,' he'd moaned. ‘Jesus, why did she have to run? The laughter from the fair seemed all wrong. She'd fallen, and it wasn't even my fault, and they were laughing, having fun. I'd laughed like that once before she came into my life. I got scared. What if she confided in someone? Or got brave and went to the police? I couldn't let her do that. Everything we had, as a family, would be gone in a flash.'

‘So you murdered her?'

‘No,' he denied hotly. ‘She was dying. It was her own fault. I put her out of her misery,' he said, his voice bland. ‘She would have died anyway. I had one of those cards ready for when they found her slapped about. They'd blame it on The Vigilante.'

‘Then, you wiped Sajid's phone and put it back on the ground. What did you do with Laine's phone?'

‘I threw it into the lake on my way back through the meadow.'

Ana took a deep breath. ‘What were her last words?' she asked through the blurriness of her tears.

‘Sajid,' he said, without emotion.

Rage that had slowly been consuming Ana now burst into flames, and she flew at him, the Stanley knife shaking with her anger. Ray desperately tried to free himself, but it was useless. Neither of them heard the creak of the cabin door. Ana's mind was focused on one thing. She wasn't thinking of the consequences, or maybe at that moment, she didn't care.

‘Stop,' said a voice from behind her.

Ana turned to see Sandy Grace pointing a shotgun at her.

Jonny checked his phone. His messages hadn't even reached Ana's mobile. He tried to ring her again but got her voicemail like before. It was getting late. Surely, she would have turned her phone on by now.

Something wasn't right. He could sense it. This wasn't like Ana. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then phoned the station.

‘DC Wilkins.'

‘Oh, hi, it's Jonny Manners.'

He heard Matt sigh. ‘She's not here,' he said.

‘Do you know where she is exactly? Only I can't get hold of her.'

‘I can't divulge that information to a member of the public, I'm afraid.'

Jonny felt sure that if Matt stood before him, he'd punch him in the face.

‘As far as I know, she's finished for the day,' said Matt.

Jonny cracked his knuckles. ‘Thanks.'

He hung up, stared at the unread messages, and then tried her phone again, only to get her voicemail. He hesitated and finally tapped into Google Maps. That showed him where Ana was and had been for the past two and a half hours. Perhaps she was okay and just had no signal. If she really wasn't interested, the last thing he wanted to do was hassle her.

He ran his hands through his hair and finally stood up. No, something wasn't right. He just sensed it. He grabbed his keys and phone and made for the front door.