Be Careful What You Wish For (25 page)

Chapter 17

My eyelids felt heavy, and I was sure someone was banging a pneumatic drill in my head somewhere. I tried to swallow but my throat felt like sandpaper.

I kept my eyes closed until my brain could string together rational thoughts again.

Come on. Think. Where are you? What’s the last thing you remember?

Edward. At Edward’s house.

I tried to block out the pain in my head and concentrate on what I knew without opening my eyes. If I opened them, there was no telling what Edward might do when he realized I was awake.

I concentrated on my body instead. I was sitting in a chair with my arms and legs tied to it. My chin flopped onto my chest.

Chloroform.

Edward must’ve used chloroform to knock me out.

I flexed one wrist slightly to test the bindings.

Tight. Very tight.

Oh.

Crapping.

Hell.

This was not good. Not good at all.

I was convinced that Edward had already killed Deborah to shut her up. There was nothing to stop him killing me, too.

My mobile phone was still in my back pocket, but how the hell could I get to it with my arms tied? I couldn’t feel Brad’s tool in my front pocket. Maybe it had fallen out when Edward grabbed me.

I heard movement coming from somewhere in front of me, and I slowly prised my eyes open, lifting my chin up. If I could keep him talking somehow, surely the cavalry would arrive any minute and I’d be OK. I’d left messages for Brad and Romeo. They knew where I was. They’d be here soon.

They had to be.

‘Hello again, Ms. Fox.’ Edward stood in front of me, arms folded across his chest, casually leaning against the kitchen worktop, pointing a gun at me. My gun.

I swallowed, trying to bring some moisture back to my dry throat. My stomach churned and a weird taste hung in my mouth.

OK, don’t panic. Panicking could get you killed.

‘I was going to let you live,’ Edward said. ‘I knew you would eventually let the police know what I was doing at the bank, but it didn’t matter really. By that time, I would have been long gone. I was just going to disappear to Rio and no one would’ve known until I was sipping strawberry mojitos on a sandy beach somewhere.’ He smiled, but it was evil and calculated, and his eyes glinted with excitement. ‘But you had to go and spoil it all, didn’t you?’

It took a moment to crank my brain into start mode. I inhaled a deep breath and ran my tongue over my mouth.

Take a breath. Keep him talking. It might be the only way to stay alive.

‘You killed Deborah, didn’t you?’ With great effort, I lifted my head, trying to stare him in the eyes as the room slipped in and out of focus. I flipped my head back to try and get the hair plastered to my forehead out of my eyes and instantly wished I hadn’t. The pneumatic drill had been replaced by an adrenaline headache, like a rhinoceros was sitting on my head, squeezing down on me. I settled for blowing the hair away instead.

He pursed his lips with distaste. ‘It was her own fault. If she hadn’t been poking around in the bank’s systems, she never would have been killed.’

‘So what happened, then?’ I blinked, trying to ignore the squeezing pressure in my head. ‘Somehow you found out she had evidence of the illegal betting you were doing and she wanted to use it against Carl so she’d get a good divorce settlement?’ My blinking turned to squinting. The effort of trying to keep my eyes open seemed to be almost too much.

‘That bank has been my life for the past forty years. Although Deborah set up our security systems, she didn’t know that I’d set up a flag in case anyone managed to hack into them. I knew she’d been poking around. She should’ve paid more attention.’ He glanced down at his nails with a smug smile. ‘I overheard a row between Carl and Deborah. She stormed into his office one day, threatening to take her evidence to the police unless he went along with her plan for a big payout.’

My eyelids drooped, succumbing to the chloroform in my system. Then a sudden, terrifying vision of Carl’s slit throat and Deborah hanging lifelessly from the beam wormed its way into my consciousness, spurring me on to concentrate on trying to get out of here.

I flexed my wrists behind my back again.

Nope. The rope wasn’t going to budge anytime soon. It was already digging into my flesh making the skin itch and burn.

My mobile vibrated in my pocket. Someone was trying to get hold of me, but I was powerless to answer.

I forced my eye to form into open slits. ‘And you broke into Ashcombe House looking for it?’ I croaked.

He nodded. ‘I didn’t think Deborah would be paranoid enough to hide it somewhere else. But our little Deborah always was a clever thing. I had to keep an eye on her. I had to watch her to see where she kept it.’ He chuckled. ‘In the end, she was stupid, though. She underestimated things. Even if I hadn’t killed her, Vinnie would have. He didn’t want that evidence getting out either. He was the one who gave me the insider tip-offs after all.’

‘So you found out she’d given the disc with the evidence on it to Eleanor, and you and Carl decided to stage a safety box robbery to get it back,’ I said. ‘But you ended up discovering more than you’d bargained for in the boxes.’

Edward shrugged. ‘Well it had to look real, didn’t it? We couldn’t get into the boxes unless we involved someone else at the bank, and I didn’t trust anyone else there to keep their mouths shut. Carl took what was in the boxes to make it look like a genuine robbery. I wasn’t interested in them. I’ve got enough money to last me the rest of my life.’ He grinned, his lips quivering with excitement. ‘Sipping mojitos!’

‘But Carl discovered the pictures of Levi involved in the fatal car accident that killed his sister.’

 ‘I don’t know why he didn’t just leave it.’ He waved a delicate hand through the air as if he were swatting a fly.

It was all an act, though. Edward wasn’t delicate at all. He was an evil, calculating killer. And to think I even felt bad for him. If my legs weren’t tied at this point, I would’ve kicked myself for being so stupid.

My mobile vibrated again. I desperately hoped it was Brad or Romeo, calling to tell me they were on their way.

‘Carl was going to get on a plane to South Africa on Saturday night and disappear, but he was an idiot. He should’ve just let it go when he found out about Levi killing Lisa. It was four years ago. It’s all over and done with. My brother was killed that night, too, and I was severely injured, but you don’t hear me harping on about it all the time.’ Edward tutted to himself. ‘If only he’d just got on that plane like he planned, none of this would’ve happened. Carl should never have messed around with Vinnie.’ Edward slowly placed my gun on the worktop and pulled on some leather gloves, making his hands into fists and releasing them. ‘I think a gun’s too good for you, Ms. Fox. I want to see you squirm like Deborah did when my hands are around your neck.’

Fucky fuck. I didn’t think I’d have much time left. Where the hell were Brad and Romeo?

My brain went into silent shrieking overdrive.

Keep him talking. Keep him talking.
Maybe that would distract him from strangling me.

I wished.

I tried to fight the waves of nausea and opened my mouth to speak when Vinnie and Thuggy suddenly strolled in through the barn door.

‘Well, well, well.’ Vinnie chewed on a toffee. ‘It’s Nosy Fox.’ He let out a hysterical cackle.

Thuggy cackled, too.

Vinnie stopped cackling and glared at me.

So did Thuggy.

Adrenaline raced around my body at the speed of light, counteracting the fuzzy brain fog of the after effects from the chloroform. Suddenly, I was thinking very clearly indeed. Somehow I needed to get the hell out of here.

‘What are you doing here, Vinnie?’ Edward’s eyebrows shot up. ‘I’m just about to get rid of her. You don’t need to worry.’

‘I’m taking her with me,’ Vinnie said, smiling at me. The smile was forced, though, like he’d had too much plastic surgery done on his lips and they wouldn’t move properly.

‘I wanted to kill her.’ Edward’s hands balled into fists. ‘She was about to expose me. I can’t let her and her big mouth get away now.’

‘No, I will,’ Vinnie said, giving me a caustic glare. Actually, caustic was too tame a word. More like acid burning through metal. ‘She knows where Levi is, and I want to get hold of him before he starts blabbing his cry-baby mouth about me and my business.’

‘Let me do it.’ Edward did the fist-pumping thing again. ‘I don’t take kindly to someone messing around in my business either.’

I couldn’t decide whether to scream or puke.

‘Me do it,’ Thuggy chimed in, practically foaming at the mouth with excitement. A rabid dog had nothing on old Thuggy here.

‘
I’m
doing it.’ Vinnie’s voice rose.

My gaze went from one to the other, like I was watching a tennis match with morbid fascination. At least if they were just
talking
about it they weren’t actually
doing
it.

‘Now, now, boys. No need to have a lovers’ tiff over little old me,’ I said. ‘If you can’t decide, why not just let me go? I’ve left a cake in the oven, and I need to get back before it burns.’

‘Flavour.’ Thuggy said to me.

‘Pardon?’ I frowned.

‘Flavour cake,’ Thuggy growled.

‘Who gives a shit what flavour cake it is?’ Vinnie’s top lip curled at Thuggy, and he walked towards me and tilted his head, examining the ropes. ‘Good job, Edward. Nice rope technique.’

‘Good rope.’ Thuggy nodded.

‘Well, if you’re sure you want to handle this little problem.’ Edward pulled off his gloves and stuffed them in his pocket. ‘I’ll leave her in your capable hands then. I have a flight to catch.’ Edward headed in the direction of the bedrooms.

Vinnie glanced at Thuggy, jerking his chin in my direction. ‘Untie her and get her in the car.’

Thuggy stomped towards me and fiddled with the ropes on my hands.

‘You’re welcome to kill her here.’ Edward reappeared with a suitcase. ‘It’s not like I’ll be coming back.’

‘Nah, I need to get home and feed the cat,’ Vinnie said. ‘We’ll take her to my place. It’s more private there.’ He raised an eyebrow at me. ‘It’s about time I taught her a lesson for messing with Lee, too.’ Vinnie stared off into space in a kind of manic trance. ‘I’m thinking a nice, slow, painful death.’ He cackled again.

So did Thuggy.

Yikes! Slow and painful didn’t equate to nice in my book. Slow and painful sounded a gazillion miles away from nice.

Where were the bloody cavalry when I needed them?

I felt the pressure release from my arms as the rope fell onto the floor, and Thuggy attacked the rope on my legs.

‘Well, in that case,’ Edward gave a bow to Vinnie, ‘goodbye. It’s been a pleasure doing business with you.’ And he disappeared out the door, singing, ‘Mojitos, mojitos, mojitos.’

Thuggy finally undid my ankle ropes and yanked me to my feet, pulling me towards the door on unsteady legs.

‘Are you really sure you want to take me to your place? I’ve got a cat at home that needs feeding, too.’ I struggled against Thuggy, but he was much stronger than me. ‘Just think – he’ll be starving. Poor little Marmalade.’ I faked a “woe-is-me” voice. ‘Starving away with no mummy to feed him. Getting thinner and thinner until he’s just skin and–’

‘Shut it,’ Vinnie said. ‘Get her in the car, Charles.’

‘Nice name. Charrrrles,’ I rolled the “r” with exaggeration. ‘You know, I’d never have thought you were a Charrrrles.’

‘Huh?’ Thuggy-Charles tugged my arm harder, causing me to stumble. ‘What you think I is?’

‘Can you translate that for me, Vinnie?’ I said as Vinnie led the way to his black Range Rover with dark tinted windows parked at the side of the road.

‘I told you to shut it.’ Vinnie opened the driver’s door, unwrapped a toffee and threw the wrapper onto the pavement. He popped it in his mouth and jumped in. ‘Keep hold of her in the back.’