He bent towards her and, gently wrapping his arms around her, he lifted the heartbroken woman to a sitting position. Sharing eye contact for the briefest of seconds, he hugged her tight against him, pressing his wet cheek against hers, the pair of them sobbing like babies.
“Laura-Loo-Loo loves you very much…” he whispered in her ear.
They were the only words of comfort he had to give.
Laura’s mother broke their embrace and stared at him, her wet eyes telling him that they were the only words she needed to hear, before she ran to the bathroom, locking herself in, alone with her grief, her anguished sobs now louder than ever.
Roger picked up the third largest teddy-bear from the row, intending to dispose of Laura’s secret at his earliest opportunity so that her distraught mother could never find it, would never have her memories of her lost daughter tarnished. Carefully rearranging the other toys to hide the gap, he exited the room. He paused on the landing for a second and listened to the woman crying in the bathroom before quietly descending the stairs and heading for the front door.
He had barely put the bungalow behind him before the pain in his guts returned. This time, however, it was a milder tugging, a gentle reminder that he still had a job to do.
14
“Caught you!”
Steve turned away from the bedroom window as Sam stepped up behind him, triggering the squeaky floorboard as she walked.
“So,” she laughed, “what’s the score?”
She pushed in front of him, trying to block his view of the schoolgirls and their short, thigh-flashing, PE skirts. “I’ll be glad when you’re back at work and those poor girls are safe from your perverted ogling.”
“Don’t knock it, babe. My ogling does have its advantages…”
“Such as?”
She groaned as she heard him unzip his fly.
“Watching all these fit, sweaty girls has got me nicely warmed up for a quickie.” He nuzzled her neck as he lifted her dress, allowing his erection to probe at her panty-clad butt cheeks.
“Sorry, baby...wrong time of the month.”
Steve nibbled on her earlobe for a few seconds, pressing himself against her, before whispering, “Since when has that ever stopped me?”
Without waiting for her reply, he slipped her underwear down over her curves, allowing the flimsy item to fall to her bare feet. He winced slightly at the sight of the stained sanitary towel stuck to the gusset as Sam lifted her feet out, kicking the garment to the side.
“I knew you couldn’t resist me, babe.”
He glided into her blood-slicked vagina, pumping slowly as he kissed her shoulder, one eye glued firmly on the schoolgirl's hockey game.
A loud knocking came from the front door.
“Ignore it, baby…” Despite her earlier protestations, Sam was enjoying herself.
The knocking came again. More insistent this time.
“Oh, for fuck's sake…Just a minute…” Steve yelled. He began thrusting faster, the pair of them moaning as their excitement grew to a peak, the hockey game forgotten.
“You’ll have to clean yourself up, babe. I’ve got to answer the door.”
Steve zipped himself up as he padded out of the bedroom towards the front door.
“Thanks…” mumbled Sam under her breath as a glob of blood-stained semen dribbled from between her thighs, splashing onto the dark knots of the squeaky floorboard beneath her.
“Hi, Steve. I do hope I’m not disturbing you…”
Steve frowned at the sales rep, “Well, we were just in the middle of something actually…” He followed the woman’s eyes as her gaze dropped to his loins, his semi-soft erection straining against the partially unzipped fly of his jeans.
The woman blushed as she caught his drift.
“Ah, well…I just popped by to tell you that someone will be round on Wednesday to sort out the squeaky floorboard.”
“Oh, right…we’re both back at work on Wednesday and won’t be home until the evening.”
“Oh, that’s not a problem. Just drop a key into the sales office before you go and he can let himself in.”
Steve reluctantly agreed and shut the door, quickly heading to the bedroom to wipe himself off properly. Sam was just coming out of the ensuite as he entered the room, a wad of white toilet tissue in her hand.
“Who was it?”
“Just that woman from the sales office. Apparently, someone’s coming round to fix our squeaky floorboard on Wednesday.”
She laughed, waving the toilet paper. “Not if they knew what was on our squeaky floorboard…”
“Why? What’s on it?” Steve shouted from the ensuite as he cleaned himself up.
“A load of your spunk…oh!”
“What’s the matter?”
“It’s gone…”
Squatting down, she examined the floor, brushing her fingertips over the grainy surface - the floorboard was as dry as a bone.
It was as if the blood-streaked semen had just soaked right into the wood.
15
The house stood at the end of an overgrown lane. Dilapidated and in need of some serious TLC, the building looked at first sight as if it was abandoned. Its garden was a tangled mess of briars and weeds, a cracked concrete path struggling to define itself amongst the dandelions and tufts of grass that sprouted from every nook and cranny. Only the beaten up black van parked outside, the early afternoon sun glinting off its wing mirrors, gave Roger confirmation that he was at the right place.
The sight of the van flashed a sudden memory.
Laura’s memory.
His fists clenched - anger rising, hatred surging, as recollections of the torment he had vicariously endured came flooding back. He wanted to make this hideous excuse of a man – this Bob - suffer. He wanted to torture the foul creature for hours, to make him endure the agonies that Laura - and possibly many other young women – had suffered at his filthy, perverted hands. With loathing leaking from every pore, he snatched a length
