The office door is open. Chris follows the trail of blood across to the inspection pit. He sees Dragos and Kronid and pushes them into the pit. Chris picks up the jerry can and pours the entire contents over the dead bodies. Once the jerry can is empty, he places it down and takes a box of matches from his pocket. He steps back to allow some distance between the pit and where he is standing and strikes a match and tosses it into the pit. The flames jump six feet into the air. He takes a look around as he walks to the back door, locks it from the outside and goes to his car.
The drug has made both girls sleepy. Daniel drives them to behind the furniture store on Mitcham’s Corner and stops the car. He unlocks the rear entrance door and helps the girls into the courtyard and down the stairs to the basement. He unlocks the door and leads the girls inside and through to the bedroom. He lays them side by side on the double bed.
“Where are we? Who are you?” Erica asks.
“I’m Daniel. I’m here to protect you. I’ve just saved you from the kidnappers. Those men can’t hurt you now. We will become friends. I like you both a lot. You need to stay here for now. There are a couple of things I need to do. I won’t be long. I’ll come back for you in about an hour and then I will take you back to your parents. I promise.”
Daniel walks to the door of the bedroom and glances back at the two girls lying on the bed side by side.
He whispers, “I have to go. I’ll be back soon. Promise.”
Daniel locks the door of the apartment. He drives to his bedsit.
After what has happened, he wants to make himself more presentable and he has presents for the girls. He’s going to be their hero. The girls will be so grateful. So will their parents. They will all love Daniel. The girls are safe and he’s their knight in shining armour.
He also needs to phone the police and tell them the girls are safe and explain what has happened. He can tell them where the boss will be at five o’clock so the police can arrest him.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Daniel rushes up to his room. He has a quick wash in the small basin. He puts on fresh deodorant and changes his shirt. It got dirty when he dragged Dragos over to the side of the pit.
There is a knock at the door. Daniel opens it and sees two men he recognises. Before he can move, he is punched in the face. It knocks him back across the room. The men walk in and close the door.
Chris takes the gun from Daniel’s pocket. They tie him to the chair.
“Think we wouldn’t find you, eh? When you work in the car industry you know the ways to find someone from a registration number. And the car hire company were most helpful with your details and address. So tell us where you have taken the girls.”
“They’re in a secret place where they’ll be safe. You won’t find them. I’ll be taking them back to their parents later.”
“Well, well. So you still have the girls. There’s a bonus. Now you’re going to tell us where they are.”
“No, never.”
“Oh, I think you will.”
Twenty minutes later, Daniel’s landlord goes upstairs to find out what all the noise is about. Someone is screaming. At first he thought it was a couple enjoying themselves but then he realised it sounded like someone in a lot of pain. It is coming from Daniel’s room. It is most unlike him to make a noise.
The landlord knocks at the door. No answer but he can hear someone is inside.
“Daniel? Daniel, what’s going on in there? Are you alright?”
The door opens and two men rush past and down the stairs.
He sees Daniel slumped in the chair. There is blood everywhere.
The landlord takes out his mobile and dials 999.
“I need an ambulance and the police.”
The police arrive as Daniel is being helped into the ambulance. When he sees the female police officer, he beckons her over.
“Tell the detective I didn’t tell them anything. I didn’t tell them where the girls are. I promise. Make sure to tell him.” Daniel repeats the message over and over until he collapses.
The paramedics put him in the ambulance and one of them places an oxygen mask over his face. They close the doors and the vehicle rushes off with its siren blaring.
PC Pauline Underwood calls in the details of the incident to the control room officer.
“He kept saying something about not telling them where the girls are.”
Chapter Sixty
Eden and the team who have been working round the clock on the case are in the incident room. Everyone looks shattered. All the long hours and hard work they put into the investigation has come to nothing. Everyone is trying to come to terms with the discovery of the girls’ burned bodies.
Eden and Tracy are discussing the best way to inform the parents.
One of the control room officers approaches Eden and Tracy.
“We’ve had a report of a guy who has been attacked and he kept telling officer, ‘I didn’t tell them where the girls are.’ Apparently he kept repeating it over and over.
He has been beaten and severely tortured and stabbed several times. According to his landlord, his name is Daniel Zugravescu. The officer says there are photographs of the girls all over the walls of his room. She thinks he could be involved in their kidnapping?
“She’s checked every inch of the bedsit but hasn’t found much. But the officer spoke to his landlord and he mentioned a hire vehicle. She’s
