Leticia (41 page)

“I didn’t want to say anything yet, but he obviously wanted you to know. I’m sorry it came out like that.”

He didn’t say anything to
that;
he just walked out of the room. I went into the kitchen and shouted at Jackson. He didn’t care about what he’d done or how much it had upset Luke. He just wanted him to know he couldn’t have me. I could understand that, but told him he should have handled it better or let
me
tell him.

We spent the evening separately, each of us trying to think how we could find the others the guys in the basement were connected to. I tried to think to
o
hard and in the end, my mind went completely blank. The men had been shouting up to us for food all night, but nobody went down to them. Until they were ready to talk, they could shout all they
liked;
nobody would pay them any attention.

A week passed by, there were no fights, no intrusions, and to be honest, we started to think that Roger had given up. He must have known it was
us
who had taken Luke from the lab. Maybe now that he knew we were on to him and that we actually knew who he was, he had panicked and fled. We had fed the guys in the basement a couple of time
s
but not enough to stop them being hungry. They still refused to talk, so we refused to be nice to them.

Luke had spent most of his time alone, he tried to call
some of his friends, but all of them hung up
. When he continued to try and talk to them they threaten
ed
him with the police. They told him he was sick and that their friend died a long time ago
; when he tried to explain that it really was him, they threatened him again and hung up
. He was b
roken hearted to say the least.

On the odd occasion he did want to be sociable, he would spend his time talking to me or Nancy. He didn’t like Jackson at all and avoided him as much as possible; and he didn’t seem
too
keen on Tristan either
,
although
he was still very pleasant with him. He would have his down moments, where everything seemed to get on top of him
;
w
e all tried to comfort him, but he pushed everyone away. Jackson was the only one who didn’t seem to give a toss about him now
; but that didn’t bother Luke
. Even Nanc
y and Tristan had warmed to him
and didn’t mind having him around. It’s not like he caused any of us any problems. But Jackson disliked him; I’d asked him why
over and over, but all he said was “
I have my reasons”.

Jackson and I hadn’t been too close either. We weren’t being nasty with each other, or cold, it was just that we were busy. I’d had contact from my insurance company regarding my house and was busy sorting it all out. On top of that I would go out regularly to see if anyone was nosing around. Jackson was out and about, he owned several
businesses
and with everything that had been going on, he hadn’t been around to check how everything was going. I would watch him shift into different people before he left the house. Sometimes looking a lot older than what he was. I guess that’s how he got away with owning the business’s so long. Nobody would suspect anything strange was happening if he appeared to be getting older. As for Nancy and Tristan, they were pretty much the same as normal. Just looking after themselves. Enjoying
each other’s
company
and being all loved up.

Today I was bored, and I mean
really
bored. I had no work, which was really starting to get me down, nowhere to go and nothing to do. Jackson was out, Nancy and Tristan were doing the weekly shop and Luke was still asleep. So I decided to see if I could get the scumbags to talk. When I walked into the basement the first thing they asked me for was food. I simply laughed and stood in front of them.

“Now fella’s, are we ready to be a little more cooperative today?” I asked
.

“Kiss my
ass
,
” the blonde shot.

“Actually I’d prefer to
kick
it, from here to the North Pole and back again. I might just do that too if you don’t watch your tone.”

“Look, we’ve told you everything, you don’t believe us, what the hell are we supposed to do?”

“The last time you said that you’d missed out the part about Luke!”

“Please, please can we have some food and water?” The brunette asked.

“What’s
your
name?”

“I’m Tom... he’s David.”

“Well Tom, David is a loud mouthed jerk so I’m going to speak to you directly, and if he interrupts I’m going to remove his tongue,” I said, glancing at David. “Now, Tom, is there anything else, anything at all that you haven’t told us?”

He didn’t respond, but you could see he wanted to tell me something.

“I’ll make yo
u a deal, you tell me something and
I’ll take you into the house and make you something really nice to eat, a cup of tea or coffee too.”

“The guy we call
boss
...”

“Tom no!” David shouted.

“Carry on,” I urged.

“Well...
I’ve met him
.
I’m one of a few...
I don’t know his face, I’ve never seen it and that is the
god’s
honest truth but I know he’s addicted to the blood... I’ve
even
seen him drink it... a lot of it. When he
injects
us
with it, he uses a tiny amount, probably the equivalent
of... I don’t know... a tear drop. But when he injects himself he pretty much fills the syringe. I don’t know how he does it
,
” Tom informed me
.
“He’s selling it, that’s why he wants more... but he also wants it for himself
. He can only go a few weeks without it and then he goes crazy.
He can handle it a lot better than us though, he has to go a few weeks without it now before he gets sick. Even when it’s wearing off, it doesn’t really seem to affect him.
”

“Really?
What happens when it does affect him?
”

“
He starts
shaking, his voice
trembles
, but as soon as he’s swallowed
more he seems
fine again.
Like I said though, his symptoms aren’t as severe as ours.
”

“Tom do you know where I can find this man? Where did you meet him?”

“I met him a couple of weeks ago at Dovestones Reservoir, before that, it was at the lab.”

“Could you arrange to meet him?”

“No, I don’t have his contact details.”

“
OK
, anything else?”

“No, that’s it I swear it.”

I untied him from the chair. I thought he would try and run for it, but he didn’t. After leading him into the kitchen, I made him some soup and sandwiches, along with a cup of tea and sat him down in the living room.

“Leticia,” he
said
after finishing his food.

“Yes
.
”

“I lied down there, I
do
know
more
but
I couldn’t say it in front of David... David knows who this man is. He’s seen his face. He can make contact with him; he’s done it several times before. But he won’t tell you. More importantly...
h
e’s wearing a wire...”

“WHAT!” I said standing.

“Wait! The batteries must be dead by now, but the people we’re working with... they know where we are, they
will
come for us. Especially David, he’s a leader, but he told them to wait... I don’t know why. Leticia, I don’t want this... I don’t want to hurt you. I just want my life back and I don’t want to die. I’m in this way too deep and I don’t know how to get out, but I swear I don’t want any part of this. Originally I signed up because this guy said he was looking for someone; that they had been missing for a long time and he had received a tip that they could be here. He said he was a private investigator and needed my help. I was gullible and needed the money, so I said I would help him; then he told me I had to kill you and bring your body to him and that if I left
or
called the police he would kill me and my daughter.”

“Daughter?”

“Yeah, she’s only five years old.
Her mother and I
split up
while
she was still pregnant. She’d met someone
else
and
he wanted to take her and
my
daughter on. She wasn’t nasty though, she let me see her whenever I wanted to. Her partner was understanding and always made me feel welcome. Then I was made redundant, I couldn’t get another job quickly enough and had very little savings, so I lost ev
erything...
this seemed like a dream come true at first, but now,
it’s
just a nightmare.”

“Look, I’m sorry for what happened to you, but at this moment
in time
all I’m interested in is going down there and killing your friend.”

“He’s no friend of mine so do as you will. I really don’t care
anymore
, I just want out.”

I heard the front door open and a few seconds later Jackson walked in the room. He was surprised to say the least when he saw Tom in the living room.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded to know.

I made him sit down
while
I quickly told him everything I knew. He was livid and as soon as I’d finished speaking he charged out of the room. I grabbed Tom’s arm and dragged him down into the basement after Jackson.

“You lying piece of shit!” He shouted, walking over to David. He ripped his shirt open only to find the wire. “Now you die!”

“No wait, please, I can explain
,
” David pleaded
.

“Too late
,
” I told him, letting go of Tom and walking over. “You should have thought about this before you betrayed us.”

Jackson freed him from the chair. He tried to run, but I blocked his path.

“And where do you think
you’re
going?” I asked, before striking him so hard that he flew across the room, crashing into some boxes that were being stored down there. “You won’t be leaving this room alive.”

As soon as he got to his feet again Jackson gripped him and pushed him towards me.

“Please
,
” he begged
.
“Please don’t kill me.”

“I would say I’m sorry... but, I’m not!”

I grabbed his head and turned it almost 360 degrees, killing him instantly, then I just let his lifeless body hit the floor.

“Err, where’s Tom?” Jackson asked, looking behind me.

“Shit!”

We ran upstairs and into the hallway only to see Tristan stood there and Tom’s body twisted in a disgusting position on the floor.

“How did he escape?” he asked, stepping over him and coming towards us.

Nancy walked in, looked at Tom and shivered. She too wanted to know what had happened. On top of that, Luke came downstairs and panicked when he saw the man on the
floor
. Jackson said he would explain things
while
I saw to Luke.

Once I’d explained everything to Luke, he seemed to calm down a little and again said he needed time alone. I didn’t argue with him; I knew he had a lot to take in and deal with.
I walked back out into the hall. Tom’s body had disappeared and Tristan and Nancy were in the living room.

“What did you do with the body?” I asked them.

“I buried him,” Tristan answered. “Along with his mate, they’re side by side forever now.”

“Where?”

“A few fields away.”

“
Y
ou know, at this rate these hills are going to become a mass graveyard.”

“So be it. It’s marsh land, the bodies will move over time. They’ll never be found and nobody will ever know
,
” Nancy added coldly.

“Are you
OK
?” I asked her
.

“Yeah, apart from being pissed off. I can’t believe we were stupid enough to bring those two idiots in here and not search them. I feel ashamed o
f
myself. But I honestly didn’t think about it, it never even entered my head that one of them would be wearing a wire.
I mean, where have they got all this equipment from? I think all of them have lied so far about everything. I think they’ve all seen this creep
’
s face and I am certain they know how to contact him. Think about what they have all said to us; they all say the same thing. It’s as though they’ve rehearsed or they’re reciting something.
”