I paused for a second, then hurried on up the alley, sure now of where I was going. I stopped at the corner where the gunshot had blasted the chunk of brick from the wall. The lane that led to the warehouse was empty, and I approached with trepidation. The security cameras above the door were gone, and I didn’t know why, but that made me even more scared. Before I approached, I got out Nick’s phone, opened the voice recorder app and pressed the red record button, then slipped it into the back pocket of my jeans. I took a deep, shuddering breath and tried the door.
This time it was unlocked. My stomach churned as I opened it and slipped inside. It shouldn’t have been this easy. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the gloom, but it was already obvious that the warehouse was vacant. With the mountain of drugs gone, the long room looked huge and yawningly empty. I walked the length of the room to the red double doors and back again, but there were no signs of any recent activity. I don’t know how they’d done it, but the footprints were gone and the floor was still covered in dust. The place looked as if it hadn’t been used in years.
I fought to control the panic rising within me. This couldn’t just be it. Adelita had come back here. If they had her, surely they wouldn’t have taken her far? Then I heard shuffling sounds from above me, and my gaze fell on the staircase beside the back entrance. My heart quailed. It was even darker in the narrow stairwell. My feet were barely visible as I began to climb the first flight. I didn’t even have time to scream when a dark figure loomed before me. A hand shot out, gripped my neck and slammed me back into the wall.
His face was in shadow. All I could make out in the gloom were his glittering eyes and the white of his teeth as he spoke.
‘Well, well. I thought I’d be seein’ you here again, lass.’
Angus Bright. I struggled to speak, but his hand tightened around my neck and all I got out was a gurgle.
‘No talking.’ His teeth were bared in an unpleasant grin. He fumbled in his pocket with his other hand, and I felt a sharp point in my side. Terror surged through my entire body.
‘Up there.’ He gestured up the next flight of stairs. I didn’t dare disobey.
He transferred his grip to the back of my neck and guided me roughly up the five flights of stairs to the top floor. My breath escaped in a rush as he shoved me into the first room along the hallway. I staggered forward and almost collided with the single chair that stood in the middle of the room. A coil of thick, coarse rope lay on the floor beside it. The room was dark, the sun blocked out by the cardboard that covered the window. I turned back to Bright. He was holding a knife.
There were a thousand things I could’ve said, but my throat was frozen with fear. Bright pushed me back into the chair. I hit it hard and it almost toppled over backwards. He moved behind me and tried to wrench my arms behind the back of the chair, but he couldn’t manage it while juggling the knife. It hit the floor with a clatter. I could see it out of the corner of my eye, not far from my left foot. Bright yanked my wrists together and it was an effort to prevent myself crying out in pain. The knife glinted up at me. I tried to will myself to kick at it, to launch myself upwards, to strike out at Bright. But I was paralysed with fear. Bright looped the rough rope around my wrists multiple times, twisting it and tying a tight knot. I winced as it pinched my skin.
‘That’s better.’ He picked up the knife and stepped around me to survey his handiwork. ‘It’s much easier for me to talk to you when I don’t have to worry about you trying to escape.’
I finally found my voice. ‘Where’s Nick? What have you done with him? And Chris and Adelita?’
‘I thought I said no talking.’ He shook his head with reproof.
Somehow I felt far braver now that he wasn’t touching me. ‘Guess things have changed for you since you left The Fords, haven’t they, Angus?’
His face darkened. ‘The band was starting to tank. I had to hedge my bets.’
‘There are safer careers you can get into,’ I said. ‘You could’ve become a band manager, like Grady. Oh, that’s right, I forgot, he’s in the drug business too, isn’t he?’
He sneered. ‘It’s easy money. Far easier than spending all my time rehearsing. Playing the same songs over and over. It’s enough to drive anyone mad.’
I twisted my wrists in an attempt to loosen the rope as I spoke. ‘Surely you must miss some parts of that life? The cheering crowds, the adoring women, the groupies? I’m sure when you were a kid you dreamt of being on a stage in front of thousands of screaming fans?’
He paced to one end of the room and back again. The dim light reflected from the surface of the knife as he gesticulated.
‘It was always Chris’s band,’ he said. ‘It got his name and everything. He was always the good looking one, the talented one, the lead guitarist, the singer. He wrote the songs, he got all the media.’ He laughed. ‘All the women lusted after him, too. No one cares about the bass player.’
I worried my wrists against the rope. The harsh fibres burned into my skin, and I spoke quickly to cover my grimace. ‘So you thought you’d take away his career? Get him off the scene?’
He paused to look at me, then resumed his pacing.
