“Oh,” says Grievous, relaxing. “Well, it was a pleasure meeting you, Professor.”
“You never did learn to call me Joe,” I say, shaking his hand, holding it a second longer than expected, studying his face. I release him. “Can I use your toilet, Grievous?”
“Sure, it’s up the stairs, first door on the right.”
I try to make eye contact with Casey but he’s talking to Grievous about kitchen renovations. As I climb to the first floor, I glance quickly over the banister before opening the bathroom door.
I run the tap and open the cabinet. Shaving foam. Dental floss. Toothpaste. Hair gel. No women’s products. Opening the door, I cross the landing to the nearest bedroom. I can hear Casey and Grievous popping cans of lager.
The room has been set up as a gymnasium with a bench and free weights that are stacked on a rack or threaded on a horizontal bar. The only other significant furniture is an old-fashioned roller desk with small wooden drawers. A laptop computer is closed on the slide-away table and the upper shelf has a police scanner blinking out green digital numbers.
I move diagonally across the landing and come to the main bedroom. It has a queen-size bed, unmade, cheap cotton sheets tossed aside. A flat-screen TV is propped on a stand in front of the bay window. DVDs are stacked on either side. Pirated movies. The large mahogany wardrobe has three doors, the center one with a full-length mirror. Two pairs of trainers are lined up beneath the bed. Clothes are folded on a chair. A comb is stuck on a hairbrush.
There are two more rooms. One is made up as a guest room with an old-fashioned bedspread and a dressing table with an oval mirror that pivots up and down. The other room is used for storage.
I go back to the bathroom and flush the toilet.
The only place left is the loft conversion, up a narrow set of stairs. I climb slowly, trying not to make a sound. I glance over the banister. I can’t hear voices any more.
The door is locked. My fingers turn the key. The door opens inwards and my pupils take a moment to adjust to the partial light. The roof slopes down on either side of the room. Against the far wall, beneath a covered skylight, I can see a bed and a bundle of bedclothes.
The room looks empty. I’m about to leave, when I hear a sound.
Crossing the room, I find a girl asleep beneath bedding, whimpering in her dreams, rocking her head from side to side. A nightmare has taken hold and her body jerks in protest. My fingers touch her arm. Her eyes open, but nothing registers.
“Piper?”
She doesn’t answer.
“Can you hear me, Piper?”
Her pupils are dilated. She’s drugged.
“I’m Joe. We talked yesterday.”
Her eyes are closing. She tries to roll over, but her left wrist is attached to the bedhead by a set of silver handcuffs. Police issue. There’s no way to free her without a key or a hacksaw.
I open my mobile and send a text message to DS Casey.
PIPER IS UPSTAIRS. BE CAREFUL.
I call Drury’s number. He’s still not answering. What next? 999. I ask for an ambulance and the police. The operator wants me to stay on the line, but I give my name and hang up.
I stroke hair away from Piper’s eyes. They open.
“You said you were coming to get me yesterday.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t let him hurt me.”
“I won’t.”
Her eyes close. She’s breathing deeply. Asleep again. I make my way downstairs, peering over the banister, listening for voices. Instead, I hear silence. I descend again, creeping towards the kitchen.
The room comes into view slowly. I see cans of beer on the table. Two glasses.
DS Casey is sitting in the same chair. His head has rocked forwards and his hand is clutching his throat, trying to stop the blood that is bubbling through his fingers. He groans and his chin lifts, his eyes meeting mine, death within them. Coming soon.
I hold my hand over his throat, my fingers covering his hand, increasing the pressure, but his carotid artery has been severed. He’s bleeding out. Losing consciousness. I want to tell him I’m sorry. I should have stayed with him. Together… maybe…
On the table in front of him a mobile phone, my message on the screen. The last thing he read. A humming refrigerator rattles into stillness. At the same moment, his head rocks forward and his body shudders once before his heart stops, the pump dry. In the sudden quietness, I feel a small ceaseless tremor vibrating inside me, expanding, filling my chest and throat. I look along the hallway. Grievous could be waiting in any one of the rooms.
I could run. I could get outside and wait for the police. But that means leaving Piper.
There is something else on the kitchen table: a small silver key lying next to Casey’s mobile. The key belongs to the set of handcuffs.
I look along the hallway again.
“Can you hear me, Grievous?”
The silence seems to be mocking me.
“We should talk,” I say. “I’m good at listening.”
Still nothing.
Maybe he’s gone. Fled the scene. He’s left me the key. Surely he can’t expect to get away. I wipe my hands on my thighs, pick up the key and move back towards the stairs, stopping at each door to glance inside.
There is a creaking sound above me.
“Grievous?”
Nothing.
From across the street, I hear a burst of laughter and the sound of Christmas crackers being pulled. Cheers. Applause.
I climb to the first landing, moving from room to room. Tiptoeing. Trying not to make a sound. Even before I finish the search, I know where I’ll find him. Mounting the final staircase, I nudge the door with my foot.
Grievous is sitting on the bed with his back to the wall. His arms and legs are wrapped around Piper, hugging her against his chest. She’s a human shield, asleep with her head on his shoulder.
“I thought you’d run away,” he says.
“Ditto,” I reply.
His hair is plastered down one side of his face and his eyes are like dark holes full of shadow and menace. He motions towards the end of the bed. There is a pistol lying on the bedspread, closer to me than to him. Polymer- framed, black as pitch. The ammunition clip has been placed alongside the weapon.
“That’s for you,” he says.
I stare at the gun, trying to make sense of the offer.
“Pick it up. It won’t bite.”
Piper is like a rag doll in his arms, her head slumped to one side, her eyes closed, her breathing shallow.
“What did you give her?”
He motions to the empty pill bottle on the table to his left. “Diazepam. She won’t feel a thing.”
“What isn’t she supposed to feel?”
“Dying, of course.”
“You don’t have to kill her.”
“It’s a bit late now. She swallowed the lot. We’re going to die together.”
He raises his left wrist and shows me how they are handcuffed together. His other hand, hidden until now, has a knife pressed flat against her body, the point roughly over her heart.
“There must have been thirty pills in that bottle. I don’t think she’ll survive even if they pump out her stomach. No time to waste, really. If you shoot me, you might save her.”
“I’m not going to shoot you.”
