Thirteen (Love by Numbers Book 4) (21 page)

I follow her in, panic coursing through my veins, fear churning in my gut and causing bile to rise in the back of my throat. I swallow it down, stealing myself for whatever is to come.

No matter what, I’m not going anywhere.

Lilah needs me.

I repeat these words on a loop as I walk through the door and come face to face with even more police officers, all picking through a scene that can only be described as utter annihilation. The whole place looks like someone went through here with a machete and a baseball bat.

It’s not the destruction that causes my knees to buckle, though, it’s the blood.

A steady splatter leads from the door towards the living room, and my eyes are locked on it. This is not like a horror film where you cannot tear your eyes away from the gore and bloodshed, nor is it like those who rubberneck at accidents on the motorway. This is horrifying and sickens me to the bone.

Fear, rage and nausea all battle inside me for dominance. Fear wins.

“Where is she?” I grab Boyd’s shoulder halting her in her tracks. Her eyes widen at my rough touch, then soften before she replies, “In the bedroom, I’m taking you to them. She’s not physically hurt; I promise you.”

It’s all I can do to nod, and she opens the first door on our right, pokes her head in and quietly announces my arrival. Then with a step back she motions for me to go in.

I do not hesitate and almost sideswipe her in my rush to get passed.

This room hasn’t fared any better than the rest. Feathers carpet the entire floor, covering my feet in a snow like dusting, my steps causing a few to float gently into the air. The bedding and pillows are piled up on the edges of the room, slash marks marring their fabric, while what looks like paint has been used to cover the walls in angry, blood red splatters.

I ignore all of this and focus instead on the two female forms huddled together on the bare mattress. A paramedic attends to the hand of one while the other stares aimlessly off into space.

Lilah’s weary eyes meet mine, and I watch helplessly as she chokes back a sob. The man treating her hand calmly asks her to remain still so he can help her.

I want to rush over to her, to scoop her up in my arms and take her far away from here, but I don’t know if I can or if she’d want me to.

“Harry.”

My name on her lips evaporates any worries I have, and I rush forward, stopping abruptly at the side of the bed to grab her free hand, which is icy cold to the touch. I clasp it tightly in the both of mine and kiss her knuckles, then I blow warm air over her skin, using my palms to rub heat into her cold flesh.

“What happened Lils? Who did this? Who hurt you?”

She flinches when the paramedic pours a clear solution over the gash in her palm, and I have to remind myself that he’s only helping her because I want pound my fist into his face.

“Wayne did this.”

Nicola’s voice is filled with anger but also sounds broken. I tear my eyes from Lilah and fully take in her twin who is curled up alongside her.

Her head rests on Lilah’s arm, a blanket wrapped tightly around her shoulders, engulfing her entire frame and making her look impossibly small.

The anger that I’m trying so hard to control seizes my insides, and my hands tighten on Lilah’s smaller one that is still in my grasp.

“Don’t, Harry. Don’t even think about it.”

Lilah’s warning is clear, and I look back at my girl to see her face determined, a fire burning behind her eyes.

“I have a lot to tell the Police, and once they find him, he won’t be a free man for a very long time.” She intertwines her fingers with mine and squeezes. “This is my fight, and it’s my place to put all his wrongs right, I don’t want you involved in this. I don’t want his filth to touch you. I’ve ignored this for too long, been weak for too long hoping it would all just go away. Hoping he would just go away.”

She turns her head and places a soft kiss on her sister’s forehead; her next words are said more for Nicola than anyone else. “I’m so sorry. I never saw this coming. I knew he was capable of violence, but I never thought he’d go this far.” Her eyes close briefly, and I know she’s trying to hold back tears.

Her anguish causes me physical pain; how can I ease this for her? What do I have to offer to make any of this better?

“Come and stay with me?”

The words are out before I fully think them through. I haven’t checked this with Nate but I’m sure he’ll be okay with it all.

“But…” Lilah starts to speak and I stop her, “There are no buts, Lils. I’m not letting you two stay here, I have a spare room as Nate is away for a few weeks and his building is like Fort Knox, I need you safe and I want you with me.”

They both look at each other, silently communicating and then Nicola speaks, somehow managing to smile despite all that she’s been through. “We’d love to come home with you Harry Brown. I always secretly knew that you had a twin fetish.”

Lilah’s responding smile is weak but it reaches her eyes, “Thank you.”

The weight of a double decker bus lifts from my shoulders. I can keep them both safe; I can help my girl when she needs me most.

“I’ll go and tell Boyd the plan, I guess they need to talk to you both some more before they let us leave, so I’ll see what I can salvage out of your stuff and pack it up ready to go.”

“There’s not much worth packing,” Lilah’s eyes fill up as she looks at me, “but thank you, Harry. It means more than I can say.”

We share a moment that ends too soon. Noise from outside the door catches all our attention and a few seconds later, a distinguished older gentleman and a woman who is the image of her daughters’, rush into the room.

“Oh, my girls” are the only words I hear through the woman’s sobs as they both dart towards the bed and scoop up a twin each, holding onto them for dear life. Their embrace soon turns into a four-way hug, and the paramedic quickly gives up doing anything more to Lilah’s hand.

I take a step back towards the doorway, wanting to give them some privacy and also to tell Detective Boyd that the girls are coming home with me. My hand hits the doorknob, and I hear Lilah call out, “Harry, wait.”

I turn my head towards her voice and watch as she tries to extract herself from her mother’s tight hug.

“I know this isn’t the best time for introductions but these are our parents, David and Anita, Mum and Dad, this is Harry.”

This is not the way I envisioned meeting her folks, and all I can offer is a quiet, “I want to say it’s nice to meet you… and it is, but I’ll leave you guys to have some privacy for a moment.” I look back at Lilah, “I’ll be back, okay?”

She smiles tentatively and gives me a soft “Okay.”

I turn my back on the Tremere family and slip quietly from the room, instantly catching Boyd’s attention.

“Lilah and Nicola are coming home with me; I just need to see if I can salvage any personal belongings from this mess if that’s okay with you?”

She nods at me, “We have a few more questions for them both, and I think the medics are trying to convince Nicola to spend a night in the hospital so they can monitor her, but we can talk more with them both tomorrow and get their official statements. Officers will need to accompany you to your home and stay on site until we have the accused in our custody.”

I survey the destruction in front of me, “God, I still can’t believe he did this, I saw with my own eyes that the bloke was a bit crazy, but Lilah never said he was capable of this.”

“We’ll need to talk to you as well, Mr Brown. Any information you can give us will aid the investigation.”

I look from the chaos in the room back to Boyd, “I’ll be there tomorrow, not that I have much to tell you, but I’ll be there.”

She nods once more and I reach out to grab her arm but think better of it, my hand hovering redundantly in mid-air.

“We’ll find him; don’t you worry about that. We already have a few leads. You just concentrate on getting those two girls out of here. They’ve been through enough.” Her professional mask has once again slipped slightly, and I’m grateful for it, even though I don’t have the words to thank her.

“Here,” she thrusts a black sack in my hand, “Let me help you pack what we can, let’s start with the bathroom.”

I silently take the bag and thank her with my eyes, unable to vocalise anything. The strain of the last thirty or so minutes is finally making an impact.

We walk towards a door that’s a few steps down from the bedroom I just left, and Boyd takes a step in before me. Her abrupt halt almost causes me to slam straight into her back. She turns quickly and goes to grab the bag from my hand. “I can take this room, why don’t you go back into the bedroom and see what clothes you can salvage.” It wasn’t a question; it was an order.

I keep a tight hold of the black plastic sack and take a step forward. “It can’t be any worse in here than the rest of this place, I’m a big boy; I can handle it.”

“You don’t need to see this, let me do it for you.” Her hands tighten on the sack, and I internally debate letting it go, but something inside me needs to see what else that fucker has done. I need to know what my girl is fighting.

“No.” The anger I’m trying desperately to contain leaks through that one syllable. “I need to do this for her.”

She doesn’t look impressed by my pig-headedness but allows me entry into the small room.

The glass of the shower cubicle door is smashed to smithereens, jagged pieces of it litter the floor. The lotions and potions that you’d typically find in the bathroom of any female have been poured and squirted everywhere, but his finest work is left on the large bathroom mirror.

He didn’t smash it, instead, in what looks like blood but is likely the same paint he used to splatter the walls of the other rooms, he’s daubed
GIMP HOARE WILL PAY
in big bold letters on the entire surface, frame and all.

“
Motherfucker.”
I grit the word out through my teeth, and I’m torn between punching my fist through the mirror or finding some bleach to scrub it off.

“He never could spell.”

Both Boyd and I spin towards the doorway to see Lilah standing there, eyes locked on the threatening words. I immediately stand in front of her to block them from her view.

“Fuck getting any of your things; we’ll buy new ones. Let’s just get out of here, Lils. You don’t need to see this shit.”

I look back at Boyd and she gives me a nod, “I’ll get the officers ready to escort you, we can chat to all of you tomorrow when we take your formal statements. You’re all free to go.”

One step forward and I’m toe to toe with Lilah; I ache to touch her, to gather her in my arms and comfort her, but I’m lost here, not knowing if my touch would be welcomed.

Indecision clouds my head and Lilah makes the choice for me when she launches herself at me and buries her face in my chest. My arms envelope her; one hand goes to the back of her head to hold her to me, the other to her lower back. I bury my face in her hair, breathing in deep, allowing her scent to soothe me, letting the knowledge that he didn’t get to hurt her physically, calm the beast that is raging inside me.

She’s here.

In my arms.

Safe.

“Let me take you home, Lils.”

She nods once into my chest but doesn’t let go. Her muffled words are barely understandable, “Nic is going home with my parents, they want me to go too but I want to be with you. I
need
to be with you.”

I lift her head gently and force her to look at me. “Then you have me; I’m not going anywhere. Even if you’d decided you were going back with your parents, I would have followed you there. You might need me right now, but it works both ways. Call me selfish, but I need you too.”

She repeats my words back to me on an exhale, “Then you have me.”

I have the urge to never let her out of my sight again.

Yes, I’ll do just that. I’ll handcuff her to me.

“You’re not handcuffing me.” I blink and look down into her tired but smiling eyes.

“Did I say that out loud?”

Her smile softens, “Yes, you have a habit of doing that, you know, and I have to say, I like it. It’s almost like being a mind reader.”

“You like the weirdest things about me.”

She holds onto me tighter. “I more than like
all
the weird things about you.”

“That makes you weird too; I hope you know that.”

“I never said I was ordinary.”

“Ordinary is not a word anyone could use when talking about you. You’re
extra
ordinary, and you’re coming home with me. So let’s go and tell your folks and we can be on our way.”

Her eyes lock with mine and a multitude of emotions pass over her beautiful face before she speaks again. “When I was younger and had my first crush on a boy, a boy that didn’t even know I existed, my mother told me that it was for the best, that if he didn’t notice me, it was a sign. She said that I should never give my love to anyone who makes me feel ordinary. I’ve waited my whole life to be someone’s extraordinary.”