‘Hello? Are you still there?’
Nothing.
‘Hello?’
Nothing.
Panic began to rise within Suzanne once more. Stuck here on her own and now hearing voices. Or maybe it was her captor, taunting her. Pretending she wasn’t alone, trying to drive her mad. Trying to get her to…
What? Get her to do what?
She didn’t know. Nothing made any sense any more.
‘Please…’
Nothing.
She sighed. Heard her breath trail away. Her heart felt like a huge black stone inside her. A dead, dark lump. She felt cold and empty. She felt, suddenly and totally, devoid of hope.
This was it. The rest of her life. No rescue. No Hollywood ending.
She was going to die here.
She didn’t realise she was crying until she felt the tears run out of the corners of her eyes and into her ears. They tickled and she couldn’t reach to scratch them. That just made her cry all the more.
‘Hey… hey…’
Suzanne stopped herself crying. Was that the voice again? Talking to her?
‘Hey… hey you…’
‘Yes? Yes, I’m here…’ Suzanne was shouting, her voice verging on hysterical. ‘Hello, hello…’
No reply.
‘Hello… are you still there?’
A silence that stretched for a hundred years, then, ‘Yes I’m still here. Where would I be going?’
Suzanne could almost have started to cry again. From joy this time. Someone else there. She wasn’t alone. She didn’t have to suffer this – whatever it was – alone.
Questions began to tumble out of her. So fast she could barely articulate them. ‘Are you… are you here like me? Held here… Are you… what’s going on? Who are you?’
‘It’s best not to talk. They don’t like it when we talk.’
‘We? There’s more than you and me here?’
A silence. A sigh. ‘Not any more.’
‘What happened?’
‘Don’t know. She went, you came.’
‘Why? What’s going on? Why am I here?’
Another silence. ‘I cried at first. Just like you. And all the questions. But you get used to it.’
‘Get used to it? How long have you been here?’
‘Don’t know.’ Her voice faded a little. ‘Try not to think of it.’
Panic began to rise in Suzanne again. ‘But we’ll get out, won’t we? They have to let us out eventually.’
‘Do they?’ Another silence. Suzanne thought the person speaking had disappeared again. ‘That’s what the other one thought.’
‘The one who was here before me?’
‘Yeah.’
‘And what happened? Did they let her out?’
Suzanne heard a bitter laugh. Tinged with hysteria. ‘Oh yeah. She got out.’
‘Good…’
‘I heard the screams. I heard what they did to her…’ The voice broke, sobbed away into silence.
‘Hello?’ Suzanne felt like she was throwing her voice into a void.
‘I don’t want to talk any more.’
Silence returned.
Suzanne tried not to panic, not to cry.
For the first time in her life, Suzanne knew what it was like to feel totally, utterly, without hope.
38
‘Oh my God…’
Hazel Mills, the woman sitting opposite Anni, had
Hazel Mills, the woman sitting opposite Anni, had her hand over her mouth in a gesture of shock that would have looked caricatured if she hadn’t been so sincere and upset. ‘Oh my God…’
Speechless, thought Anni, then felt guilty at even thinking of a joke like that.
She was on Gainsborough Wing, in the office of the Head of Speech Therapy at Colchester General Hospital. The unit was as institutionalised as the rest of the building but efforts had been made to make it appear more colourful and comfortable. Anni had glimpsed primary coloured chairs and tables in the treatment rooms as she had been led along the corridor. Boxes of well-used toys were stacked and overflowing in corners where small children weren’t playing with them. Charts adorned the walls, phonetics and letters in bright, bold letters interspersed with positive messages.
Hazel Mills’ office was just the same: big, bright and bold. But there was little positivity at that moment. Anni had just told the head of department about Suzanne Perry and Zoe Herriot.
Anni had spoken to Rose Martin before she left the crime scene for the hospital. Asked her about her chat with Mark Turner, seeing if there was anything he had said that could have thrown some light on the situation. Given them something to work on. She had been tight-lipped about it.
‘I don’t think it’s him,’ was the first thing she had said.
Anni was taken aback by her defensiveness. ‘I didn’t ask that. Look, I’m sorry that Phil made you do it. It should have been me.’
Rose had said nothing, just looked at Anni as if waiting for her to finish talking. She barely blinked.
‘It wasn’t my decision. He’s the boss.’ Anni sighed. ‘Look, if it’s any consolation, I’ve just had a big bust-up with him.’
A light came on in Rose’s eyes.
Anni sensed a breakthrough. She smiled. ‘He’s not the easiest of people to get on with. I know.’ Phil was probably the best boss Anni had ever had if she was honest but if it would bring Rose Martin onside she would say what the woman wanted to hear.
Rose seemed to snap out of it then. She shook her head, gave a small smile. ‘We had a bit of a… difference of opinion yesterday.’
‘First day?’ Anni laughed. ‘Good going. I waited at least a week.’
Rose’s turn to laugh then. Anni joined her. More out of relief than anything else. She hadn’t known her long, but already she found the DS hard to get along with.
‘So, I’m sorry, yeah? Apology accepted?’
Rose nodded, the hint of a smile playing at her lips.
‘So what happened last night? Anything I should know about?’
Rose shrugged. ‘He’s a bit of an odd one. Typical student, I thought. Dull and nerdy. Not much to him. I doubt he’s a serious contender.’
‘Why not?’
‘Well, for one thing he’s got a girlfriend who he says can give him an alibi for when Suzanne Perry reckons the intruder was in her flat, and another thing…’ She tailed off.
‘Yes?’
Rose smiled. ‘He’s just not that into her.’
Anni laughed.
‘Really. Had to be prompted to see if she was OK or not. Sounds like he’d moved on. No great loss, she can do better than him.’
