My Heart Belongs To You: A Psycho Thriller (26 page)

As Cupid slept
,
now in his well-kept house amongst the teachers and the bankers, his mind was already looking to next year, to his next couple.  Tom and Karen would be a triumph
,
but next year would be even better, even more magical.

…………
……………………………………………………………………………

At 1.48
a.m.,
Adam Black grunted as he
bench-pressed
600 pounds in the converted garage of his small north London house.  It was a colossal amount of weight,
and even though it was
nowhere near the world record of over a thousand
,
it was
still an awesome amount
being pushed
by huge arms and an incredible
58-inch
chest.  He liked to work out late at night and into the early hours of
the
morning.
It
was his time,
his alone.  He would
take
another hour and then he would sleep
, because
tomorrow was a big day.  Not so much for him
,
but for
Cupid
,
whose entire life revolved around building up to this one day each year, the coupling.  Tomorrow there would be no work, no errands to run, no daily work out with his employer
.
This
was the day each year where so much planning came to fruition
.
The
day that sated Cupid’s hunger to achieve his mission, his purpose.

At exactly 2
.30
p.m.,
Black would go to the place of the cou
pling and ensure that the chosen ones
we
re made pure
,
as Cupid called it
,
and
ready for the ceremony.  Black smiled at the thought of further antagonising the man Tom
,
as he washed down his woman, watching him buck and kick,
making wild threats.  He wished he could release him and challenge him to carry out those threats
,
but that wasn’t going to happen.  He
never
would disobey James Holt
.
In
truth
,
he feared no man
,
but what he had witnessed at the
hands
of the man known to the world as Cupid, chilled him to the bone. 
No,
he would settle for a little fun with the couple before Cupid arrived at 4 p.m. and the coupling
would
beg
i
n.

He would wait outside
during the
ceremony.
Witnessing
just one
of the couplings had been more than enough for him
.
Outside
he would block out the screams that would eventually slide into quiet whimpering.  Cupid would leave around 8 p.m.
,
leaving Adam to check that nothing of any
significance was left behind
, and that
all of the blood around the table was cleaned away so that the couple looked th
eir best before
revealing them
to the world.

Following
,
there would be the period of calm, the period where they would not speak of such things again until
Cupid made his new selection
.
Then
the cycle would begin again.  Adam would begin to stalk the chosen pair, building up a file of where they lived, where they worked, telephone numbers, any information that would be of use as they built once again towards the coupling
,
but that was the future
.
For
now,
he had to focus on tomorrow, this year’s coupling, this year’s lucky pair, Tom and Karen.

…………
……………………………………………………………………………

Exhaustion eventually took Tom, sleep slipping its cloak around him again as the demons that came with it attacked him once more
.
It
was 2.30 a.m., life remaining 16 hours 30 minutes.

Chapter Twenty Four

14 February
-
08
:
00

(
L
ife remaining 11 hours)

‘It’s about the problem with the cockroaches
,
Jarvis.’

By 8
a
.
m
.,
Hanson had showered, dressed with a clean set of the same clothing and kit as the
day before, had a quick breakf
ast and
was at the doors of the McD
onalds outlet along the road from The Spinning Wheel.
He had left instruction with Jane and Donald to chase down any links between the jewe
l
l
e
ry shops who supplied the engagement rings to the victims and the specialist companies who carried out alterations.

As Hanson entered the burger
outlet,
he was surprised how many people
used it for the special breakf
ast deal
being offered
.
Striding towards the counter
,
he hoped the spotty youth behind the counter dishing out orders left and right to half a dozen even younger youths was not the manager.
‘
Could I speak to the manager
,
please
?’
asked Hanson to the entire group.

‘
That would be me
,
’
beamed the spotty youth.

Hanson sighed deeply,
‘C
ould I have a word in private
?’
Hanson studied the
nametag
on the youth
’
s shirt,
‘
Jarvis.
’

‘Bit busy now
,
S
ir
.
Could
you come back in an hour or so
?’
h
e
responded
,
thinking that Hanson was probably a rep.

Hanson raised his voice,
‘I
t’s about the problem with the cockroaches
,
Jarvis
.’

Jarvis went white
,
as all heads in the restaurant turned
,
and
all burgers stalled
in mid-
air. Moving
as if
a scalded cat
,
from behind the counter
,
he took hold of Hanson
’
s elbow, something Hanson would not normally allow
,
and led him towards the back of the restaurant where there were no clients.
  ‘
There are no cockroaches in this restaurant
!’
H
e hissed
,
a frozen smile locked onto his features as he wilted under the gaze of the many
c
ustomers
whose eyes moved between their food and the spotty manager.

‘
Yes
,
I know
,
’
responded Hanson calmly,
‘
B
ut
I needed to get your attention.
’

The youth now looked confused,
‘
W
ho
are you
?’

‘
My name is not important
,
but what I’m about to tell you is.
You have a CCTV camera that points to the front street
.
I need to see the film from Sunday night
.’

‘
I
…
I don’t understand
, a
re you a policeman
?’

Hanson shook his head
, ‘N
o
,
I’m not and I
don’t have
time to explain.
I just need to see that film
.’

The youth raised himself to his full height
,
which was stil
l a foot shorter than
Hanson was
,
and
threw back his head,
‘
I’m sorry
,
S
ir
,
but I would need to get permission from
the
head office before I could do that
.’

For a second or two
,
Hanson considered dragging the youth to wher
ever the unit was positioned to persuade
him that it might be a good idea to show him the film.
Instead,
he punched one of the speed dials on his mobile and turned from the youth.
Blue Eagle answered after two rings. Hanson explained what he needed and then rang off.
The youth had returned to the counter where a que
ue
had started to build up
,
despite the rumour of cockroaches.
In less than five
minutes,
a phone on the back wall pulled spotty boy away from his chores.
The glance that he shot across to Hanson told him that Blue Eagle had done as asked.
 
The youth strode quickly across
,
‘
I
’
ve been instructed
…
’

‘
Let
’
s not bother with any explanations
,
Jarvis
.
J
ust
show me the film
,
’
cut in Hanson
          
.

At exactly 8.35
a.m.,
Hanson was striding out of the
b
urger outlet
with
his
Bluetooth
connecting him with Blue
E
agle.

‘
What do you have
,
John
?’

‘
Got a partial number on that Jag
,
Sir
.
Texting
it through to you now
.’

‘
O
kay
, I’ll see what we can do with it
.’

‘
Anything on the
j
ewel
le
ry shops
?’

‘
Not yet
,
John
.
If
I were you
,
I would head into the city, most of them are based the
re
.
May have something for you by the time you get there
.’

‘
On my way
,
S
ir
, s
peak to you soon
.’

Hanson
s
at in a coffee shop in the centre of the city waiting for a call
.
He
had nowhere else to look, no clues to follow
.
He
felt completely helpless as the minutes slipped by taking Tom and Karen
’
s remaining life with them.
It was now 9.48 a
.
m
.
, nine hours and twelve minutes of life remaining.
He jumped as his
B
luetooth suddenly bleeped
,
his mind coming back into focus from the dark avenues it was reluctantly being sucked into.
  ‘
Hanson here
.’

‘
John
,
it’s Jane.
’

‘
Give me something
,
Jane.
’

‘
You need to head for a
company called
,
Jewels of
D
istinction
.
All six victims had their rings alte
red
by
th
at
specialist firm.
’