Then the woman turned to the man and ran her hand over the front of his cargo pants, stepping into him as she did so. His head tipped back and his hands found her breasts, gently moving his palms over them like a mime pretending to meet a window. She kissed his throat and he pulled her close in a tight embrace, pulling her blouse out of her skirt and running one hand up to find skin, caressing her backside with the other. She took a couple of steps forward, making him back up towards the stairs.
They let go of each other. She pulled his T-shirt over his head and dropped it to the floor. In turn, he unzipped her skirt and she stepped clear of it. ‘Oh my,’ Jacko breathed, seeing her stockings and suspenders. Sex had been the last thing on his mind, but he was already growing hard at the unwitting show the couple were staging for him.
He struggled upright in his seat, realising this could be his best opportunity. If they were fucking each other’s brains out, they wouldn’t be paying much attention to anything else. He grabbed a small holdall from the passenger footwell then got out of the car, still clutching the tablet, and set off on foot towards the barn. There was a path from the road to the main door. He’d seen it on Google Earth. Half his attention was on the screen, the other half on the terrain.
By the time he’d found the path, Vance had had to change screen views because they had made it upstairs to the gallery, a trail of clothing left behind. She was still wearing her stockings and suspender belt, he was down to one sock. Vance stumbled onwards, unable to stop watching as she kneeled on the bed and took his erect cock in her mouth. His hands were in her hair, then he was gently pushing her away, rolling her on to her stomach and entering her from behind, hands on her breasts, mouth biting her shoulder.
Vance broke into an awkward run. This was too good a chance to miss. The door, of course, was unlocked. This was the countryside, in the middle of the day. Nobody locked their doors. He opened it silently then kicked off his shoes. He stepped inside and suddenly the screen had a soundtrack of groans and grunts and half-swallowed words. Vance put down the tablet then took a pair of latex gloves out of the holdall and put them on. Next he took out the same knife that had worked so well on Terry. Noiselessly he mounted the stairs.
When his head cleared the stairway, he could see there was no need for silence. They were fucking like their lives depended on it, and Vance could feel his cock pressing hard against his clothes. Jesus, it had been so long since he had fucked a woman. For a mad moment, he thought about killing the man and taking his place. That would be the fuck of a lifetime. Then caution tripped in. Too many risks, too many chances for things to go horribly wrong. Hard enough to restrain a terrified woman with two strong arms, never mind one.
He climbed the remaining stairs, moving with ease and confidence. He was always at his best in situations where he’d planned ahead. But this was working out even better than he’d expected. He came up behind the couple just as the man moved into the final stages, his buttocks pumping, his breath coming in gasps. She was yelling too, pushing against him, her hand between her legs as she worked to bring their orgasms together.
Vance allowed himself to fall forward on top of them, his good arm snaking round under the woman’s throat. He ripped the blade from one side to the other before either of his victims had even realised what was happening. Blood began to gush from her throat as Vance grabbed the man’s hair with his prosthetic hand and pulled his head back. The man was panicking now, trying to buck Vance off. But the elements of surprise and control were against him. Vance dragged the knife across his throat and at once there was blood everywhere. He stepped back and flipped the man on to his back. The blood foamed and sprayed and fountained from the carotid arteries, driven higher and faster by the increased blood pressure provoked by the vigorous sex. His eyes rolled in panic, then dulled in seconds.
Vance rolled the woman over. She was already beyond help but the blood still spewed out of her neck, her skin visibly paling as he watched. He quickly stripped off his blood-soaked clothes and stood over her, hard and ready. He knew she was dying or dead, but life was so close, this wouldn’t be some weird perversion. Because he wasn’t a pervert. He was very clear about that. He didn’t enjoy killing and he certainly had no interest in necrophilia.
But still. The blood was amazing. And it wasn’t the killing that had aroused him, after all. She’d been responsible for that while she was alive. And yet … He didn’t want to look at that wound and the almost severed head. Her boyfriend had had the right idea. Vance turned her back on her stomach, then, slick with the blood of both his victims, he lowered himself on top of her.
30
Tony followed Carol into her office and hovered in the doorway. ‘I’ll head off home, then,’ he said. ‘Now Penny Burgess has her story, I don’t suppose she’ll be bugging me any more.’
Carol gave him a shrewd look as she sat down. ‘You seemed to be unsurprised by anything in Penny’s story,’ she said. ‘Or by what Stacey was working on.’
Tony’s smile betrayed his nervousness. He knew he should have kept his mouth shut. ‘I guess I’m getting better at keeping my reactions hidden.’
‘Or else you knew everything already.’
He shrugged, trying to look casual. ‘Most of these investigations follow the same basic patterns. You know that better than me.’
‘I suppose,’ she said, without conviction. A movement in the squad room caught her eye and she said, ‘Oh, shit. It’s Blake. And you’re not supposed to be here.’
‘I’m here to talk about Vance,’ Tony said indignantly. ‘That’s Home Office business. Nothing to do with him.’ But he knew that wouldn’t matter if Carol’s boss had come looking for a fight.
Blake was headed straight for them, his expression serious, his pink-and-white skin flushed around the eyes. Carol stood up as he reached the threshold. The Chief Constable nodded at Tony. ‘Dr Hill. I wasn’t expecting to see you.’ There was a surprising lack of hostility in his attitude.
‘I’m working with the Home Office on the Jacko Vance escape. I needed to talk to DCI Jordan. But I’ll be off now,’ Tony said, easing round Blake, hoping to get out before the trouble started.
Blake’s eyes wrinkled in a pained expression. ‘Actually, Dr Hill, I’d rather you stayed.’
Tony and Carol shared a quick glance of bafflement. He couldn’t remember Blake ever welcoming his presence, even when he’d been unequivocally on the side of the angels. Tony edged back into the room.
‘Could you close the door, please?’
Now Tony was seriously worried. Blake was behaving like a man on a grave mission. If that mission involved Tony as well as Carol, the overwhelming chances were that somebody was dead. He closed the door and moved round to lean against the filing cabinet, his arms folded across his chest.
Blake smoothed his perfectly barbered hair in a nervous gesture. ‘I’m afraid I have some rather bad news,’ he
