My Heart Belongs To You: A Psycho Thriller (25 page)

He checked his watch, 21.25
p.m.
,
twenty-one
hours and thirty
-
five minutes of life remaining.  ‘
Okay,
Jane
,
let’s get started.’

Jane took a deep breath, ‘I thought I would give a quick recap of everything we have, including a r
e
s
u
m
e
of the reports Richard has provided. I thought it might help refocus us as a group.’

Hanson nodded approval.

‘Cupid first appeared in 2006
.
The
consensus from the profiler is that something happened to him in 2005, something involving a relationship that tipped him over the edge.’

‘Pity he didn’t shoot himself
,’
suggested
Myers
.

Several nods supported his thoughts.

Jane continued, ‘W
hatever happened
,
probably occurred on Valentine’s night at

7 p.m.  Somewhere in his mind
,
he has set himself a mission, a quest he calls it in his ramblings, to join lovers for eternity by…’ Jane hesitated
,
finding the words disturbing even now, even after reading the police reports many times, ‘
By
cutting out his victims hearts and exchanging them, stitching their chest
’s
closed after filling the cavities with a solution called lactated ringers solution.’

‘Is that the solution that stimulates the heart to keep beating?’ asked Blue Eagle.

Jane swallowed deeply
,
trying to keep down the contents of her stomach, ‘
Yes
… seems he wants the hearts to keep beating within the chest cavities after he has exchanged them, he…’ Jane paused for a second
time
,
trying to keep composed, professional
, ‘
He
cuts the hearts out while the victims are awake.  We know this because the autopsy reports show no sign of any sedative or an
a
esthetic.’

Her voice had dropped almost to a whisper.  The room went quiet for a second or two as each person dwelled on the horror that each of Cupid’s victims must have suffered
.
A
horror none of them wanted Tom and Karen to have to go through, or any other couples
, for that matter
.  This maniac had to be stopped.

‘Jane
,
are you alright to continue?’ asked Hanson gently.

‘Yes
,
’ she responded in a firm voice lifting her chin.  To fall apart would be a minor victory to Cupid.  She would not allow that.

For the next thirty
minutes,
Jane went through the information gleaned from Simpson relating to the Jaguar car,
and
the large man seen heading for the car park at the rear of the restaurant.  She recapped the details supplied by Fuller, the rambling e
-
mails from Cupid, confirming the profilers reports that something had tipped him over the edge back in 2005 and his twisted quest had begun.

Questions and suggestions came from each of the group as Jane spoke
,
but it was the final information
that
she revisited that caused the most excitement
.
The
link found from Stephanie was a breakthrough for the team.  To have a linking thread through all of the victims was a positive step to
wards finding
Cupid.

‘So we know that each of the female victims had rings that had to be altered, none of them were standard sizes?’ checked
Hanson
,
looking to
Jane
.

‘That’s correct
.  Stephanie did a great job.’

Hanson looked over to his sleeping sister, a slight lump developing in his throat at the thought of what she had gone through, at what he had put her through.  ‘
Okay
!’ he snapped trying to cover his emotions, ‘
Do
we have a link as to who carries out the alterations?’

‘There are half a dozen specialist firms that carry out this sort of work
,
’ confirmed Blue Eagle, ‘
However
by the time we had the lead from Stephanie
,
all of the companies had close
d
for the day.  We managed to get hold of some emergency numbers through the records on security companies who cover the premises
,
but they were only minor staff members who couldn’t give us any information of relevance.  We are not going to get anything of use until 9 a.m. tomorrow morning
,
John
,
when the businesses reopen.’

For the next few
hours, the
group twisted and turned the information, dis
sected it, revisiting every scra
p to see nothing had been missed.  By 1
.
30 a.m. on Valentine’s Day with 17 hours and
30
minutes of life rem
aining, Hanson called a halt, ordering
everyone to get some sleep.  Each was clearly exhausted
and that was not going to help.
So
Hanson told them to be effective in tracing Cupid
and
in finding Tom and Karen
, they needed to get some rest
.

Myers
and
Turner
each
took a bed in one of the rest rooms
.
Blue Eagle’s silhouette simply faded out.  Jane lay on the
large sofa in the rest area
,
while
Hanson took a seat next to his still sleeping sister
.
He
wanted to be near to her.  Within seconds of closing his
eyes,
he dropped into a black pit of
disturbing images
. He twisted restlessly as vivid images
of
mutilated
bodies, open chest cavities
and beating hearts
besieged him
.
It was a haunting place,
a place
where Cupid
peeked
out from the dark corners
,
his face just an outline, a dark mask that
taunted Hanson, challenging him to find him
.

…………
……………………………………………………………………………

Forty miles away, as Hanson
twisted and turned
, Tom
snapped awake
from a troubled one
,
screaming out his
friend’s
name
,
‘
Joooohn
, Jooooh
n
!
’

Chapter Twenty Three

14 February -
01
:
35

(
L
ife remaining 17 hrs 25 mins)

‘Come and get us
,
John, for God’s sake
,
come and get us!’

‘
Joooohn
, Joooohn!’ 
Tom’s eyes flew
open
,
his own screams
waking him up.  He found he w
as shivering badly
,
despite
the fact that
Cupid’s
hench
man had thrown some kind of cover over them
.
The
temperatu
re in the building they were in
had dropped dramatically.  Added
to this was the fact
they
hadn’t had anything
to eat since they had been snatched and only a few mouthfuls of water.

Tom cursed himself for letting his guard down in the restaurant car park.  He remembered the sound of footsteps coming up behind them as they strode towards his car.  The call Karen had received on her mobile during their meal telling her that her mother had been taken into hospital with a suspected heart attack
,
completely occupying their attention.  Now
,
he had time to consider it, Tom knew it
was
a bogus call to get them into the car park.  The blast of the spray in their faces as they turned must have been some kind of nerve gas
,
because everything went instantly black.  The next thing he remembered was waking up tied to the table
where they now lay.

Blinking rapidly he tried to gather his senses
.
He
could feel Karen’s hand in his
,
but unlike his,
which
was shaking with
a
shivering reflex
that
he was unable to control
;
his fiancées hand was motionless.  He made a conscious effort to control the shaking,
and
to hold his breath
,
so
that
he could listen for Karen’s breathing. 
He sucked in air noisily as he picked up her shallow breaths
.
She
was alive.  ‘Karen, Karen, can you hear me?’  Her breathing remained low and even
, so he
decided to leave her
alone
.  He didn’t believe she was asleep
,
but that she had shut down, gone into herself
, gone
to a place of safety.  He had seen it
many times
before in combat with many people.  He would leave her there
.
It
was the only thing he had control
of
at present,
and
the only thing he could do for her.

Tom closed his eyes, his voice horse, barely a whisper.  ‘
Come and get us
,
John
.
For
G
od
’
s sake
,
come and get us
!’

………………………
…………………………………………………………………………

Forty miles away
,
John Hanson twitched in his sleep
,
something disturbing him, something like a voice at the end of a long tunnel, a plea, a cry for help.

…………
……………………………………………………………………………

At a detached house in an affluent suburb not an hours travel from where Tom and Karen lay, an area occupied by teachers, bankers and professional people with an average of two point two children per household, Cupid
slept
.  A man liked by his neighbours, known as a quiet, priva
te person; a dream neighbor you
would want living next door, someone you would ask to keep an eye on your children while you popped to the shops.

The following day
,
Cupid would not be going to his place of work.  He never worked on Valentine’s Day
,
wanting no distraction from enjoying this most important day in the year.  His mobile phone would be shut down on this day
,
so he could follow
a ritual he had developed over the years
,
leading up to the most magical, most ethereal of moments, the coupling.

His
day’s
ritual
would begin with a late breakfast
,
while he listened to their favourite music
. H
e and Brenda had their own tape that contained many poignant songs that they shared, special songs, songs that spoke of commitment, eternity,
and
of love. 
Just before lunch, he
would leave his house after showering and travel to a local park where they used to walk. 
There
he would watch couples
taking a
walk during their lunch break
.
There
he would reaffirm his commitment to his mission, his quest. 
Next,
he would travel into the city to th
eir restaurant and eat lunch,
again watch
ing couples as they spoke,
exchanging special words, committing to each other, promising their love,
and
their hearts.  At three
thirty,
he would begin his journey to the place of coupling
,
arriving at 4 p.m.  He liked to have time with his chosen couple, to prepare them for their journey into eternity,
and to
prepare them for the coupling.