couldn’t take it.’
Denise looked at the ceiling. She saw the exposed metal framework of the concrete. Sebastian moved the stool beneath it and ran the rope through a loophole. He tied it tight. The noose hung in the darkness, swaying slightly.
The next part of his plan needed to be instituted. He didn’t need Denise any more. She was no fun at all. She had served her purpose, to get Harper to pay attention. He would end it now. The killer flicked the rope. Then, in the distance, they heard a boom from the elevator shaft.
The killer leaned forward and turned his head. ‘He’s here, Denise. Time’s up.’
‘You can stop this!’
‘Denise, he’s coming to save you. The knight in shining armour might carry you away and you might live happily ever after. Or not!’
He grabbed Denise and held a knife to her throat. ‘If I kill you, it will be to hurt him, not you. I like you, Denise. I hope you realize that. Nick especially liked you.’
He was different now. He was in a mode she had not seen before. He was over-excited but under steely self-control, in a world of his own. Was this his kill mode? Was this where he went when he killed? She’d never been this close to a killer. Her mouth was so dry she couldn’t speak a word.
He breathed deeply, the excitement coursing through his brain. ‘This is the easy way out for you. You will avoid the agony and the pain. You won’t have to see me again.’ He bundled her on to the stool and put the noose round her neck. ‘Jump off if you want.’ He bound her hands behind her.
He knew what he wanted to see in this final scene. He wanted to see Harper’s eyes burn in pain as he looked at Denise, as his eyes had done when he read that Mo was dead. He had loved Mo.
It was all about love. That’s all. Love for Mo and love for his dead girls. They were all he wanted and all he could never ever have, and knowing that they had gone, nothing else in the world mattered.
Once they were dead, he loved them all. He didn’t know why, but he had such strong affection for them as their lives dripped away.
‘Love and death are so close, don’t you think, Denise? Love and death?’
‘No,’ she coughed. ‘I don’t think so.’ She knew time was running out. She wanted to keep him talking. Talking might help extend her life. ‘What happened with Lottie Bixley?’
Sebastian was silent for a moment. ‘I don’t like them looking at me, Denise. I don’t like people judging me. Lottie was a whore. I watched her die through a clear plastic bag. Do you want to know what I did to her?’
Denise couldn’t bear any more. ‘You’re nothing, you know that? You’re nothing.’
Sebastian reached up and held her throat. He watched her twist and panic. Outside, a door screeched against concrete. Then footfalls rushed along the corridor.
‘Harper’s here,’ said the killer. ‘He’s come to save you. Do you know about the judgement of Solomon?’
‘Yes,’ Denise whispered.
‘Which one of us wants you the most, do you think?’
The footsteps stopped outside the door. ‘Endgame,’ whispered Sebastian.
Chapter One Hundred and Fifteen
The Lair
December 4, 1.25 p.m.
A group of rats scuttled across the path and disappeared through an open drain. Harper’s small flashlight bounced from wall to wall. His nerves were wired. He was alone, but somewhere above the ground the task force was going in hard. He felt like every sense was heightened as he darted along the tunnel and reached the heavy door. He held his Glock firmly in his hand. Sebastian would be ready for him, he knew that. He kicked the door open and stood back, his gun raised, his body tense. Down the corridor was a barred door. Two bars had been removed. Harper moved towards it slowly, looking out over the barrel of his gun. The light was dim in the room. It was lit only by candlelight, but Harper could make out a figure standing on a small stool. He reached the bars and staggered back, shocked.
Denise stood in the centre of the cell, naked, bruised and bloody. There was a noose around her neck. Was this Sebastian’s final joke? To give him Denise, like this? To take something good and destroy it? Had he just killed her?
‘Denise?’ he called out, peering through the bars, looking left to right across the cell. No one else appeared to be there.
He heard a response. A muffled, low, cracked voice. He put one foot through the door and glanced left and right. No one. ‘Where is he?’
Denise shook her head. She couldn’t speak. Tom could see that Sebastian had wrapped something round her mouth. He shoved himself through the bars. The room was silent. He moved cautiously, aiming his gun, but he saw no one. The room was a simple box, and there was nowhere to hide. He moved quickly across to Denise and almost died inside looking at her. Her face was discoloured and swollen, but she was alive. That’s what mattered. Alive. He removed her gag. She was trying to speak, but her mouth was so dry couldn’t get the words out.
Tom was momentarily confused, then he looked above him. There was someone holding on to the concrete mesh that crossed the ceiling. A set of strange twisted eyes bore down on him. The moment he looked up the body fell on him, taking him to the floor.
Something heavy landed across Harper’s right shoulder, cracking bone as he hit the floor, causing the gun to fall and skid across the ground. The metal bar rose again above him. On his knees, Harper cried out. He felt the metal strike his back as the American Devil hit him again and again. His head caught a blow and blood ran down the side of his face.
Sebastian wanted pain, not death. Pain and plenty of it. He could’ve killed Tom Harper with the first blow but he wanted him to feel the pain. That was his first mistake.
Harper flicked his elbow back hard against the killer’s jaw. It was enough of a blow to make Sebastian step back. Tom turned, his fists clenched. He stamped his left foot into the ground and his punch rose from deep below his waist. His fist struck Sebastian’s jaw so hard, he felt the bones in his hand shatter. Sebastian flew off the ground and landed a few feet away. Harper moved across and leaned down to pull him to his feet. He found himself facing a long filleting knife. It touched his neck. Sebastian rose, holding the knife tight to Harper ’s skin.
‘I’m not going to kill you, Detective. I’m going to sacrifice you. You ready to be sacrificed?’
He pulled Harper’s head up by the hair and exposed his throat.
‘This the man you care for, Dr Levene? This pathetic specimen?’ He pushed Harper closer to Denise, searching for the artery with the point of the blade. He just wanted a small hole. He wanted this death to be slow. Real slow.
He smiled. He whistled. Denise felt saliva collect in her mouth.
‘You ready to taste his blood?’
Chapter One Hundred and Sixteen
The Lair
December 4, 1.35 p.m.
Within the dark cell, Harper ’s neck strained under Sebastian’s heavy arm. He gritted his teeth and his neck muscles started to shake. Sebastian pricked Harper’s throat with his knife. A small line of blood ran down Tom’s neck.
He stared up into Denise’s eyes. They were closed. He saw her eyeballs move under the lids. It was enough. Denise was thinking. What? Harper pulled his head round so he could see Sebastian.
‘I’m going to let her watch you die,’ Sebastian said as he looked at Denise. She was trying to draw spit into her mouth. She let the saliva gather and roll around her tongue.
