Chapter 3
“Your despair is my promise...”
London, Windsor
Susan and Walther were startled awake by the sound of the front door bell. It was 8:30am the next morning, she had slept in the bedroom and Walther had spent the night fully dressed on the sofa. He opened the door as Susan hurriedly wrapped herself in a dressing gown.
“Mr Bryant? Thames Valley Police...” Two plain-clothed officers stood close to the door, “...May we come inside sir?” They brandished I.D. as they stepped inside without waiting for an answer. Susan, looking as if she’d been awake most of the night, joined them in the small hallway,
“Is it about Richard? Have you found him? Is he all right?” Her voice sounding almost desperate. The two officers looked at Walther, then at each other, appearing somewhat puzzled,
“Sorry madam, you’ve lost us, has he been reported missing?” Then turned to look at Walther who then introduced himself,
“I am Walther Von Vohberg...” He paused for a moment, “...A friend.”
They all stood in the hallway with the front door slightly ajar, Susan reddening as she answered the officer’s questions,
“He didn’t come home last night, Richard, my husband.” She spoke guardedly, not willing to mention anything about Eve, it was obvious to the policemen that she was hiding something. They took Walther’s name and address and asked him to show some I.D. before continuing to press for information,
“We really came to speak to Mr Bryant about last night’s fire, the Fire Brigade have confirmed it was definitely arson...” The policeman spoke with professional authority, “...And Mr Philip Leach, do you know where he is?” Susan’s jaw tightened,
“No, sorry.” The second policeman raised his eyebrows while the first spoke,
“Are you telling me, Mrs Bryant, that both your husband and his business partner have gone missing, and by coincidence on the very same night that their premises happens to be burned down?” Susan didn’t reply, she could easily imagine what they were thinking. For a while none of them spoke, it was the oldest trick used by the police to intimidate a suspect into breaking the silence, in this instance it failed and the officers decided nothing more could be gleaned at the present,
“We shall need a statement off Mr Bryant when he shows up, get him to call me at the station?” She led them to the door,
“Yes. I will…” She feigned a polite smile, “…Thank you.” let them out and closed it.
The two officers sat in their car for a few minutes before driving off, not happy with the situation,
“So what do you think’s going on then?” The one behind the wheel asked.
“I’m not sure, but my first hunch is that the two blokes, Bryant and Leach, have got themselves mixed up in something they can’t handle and done a runner, Porn maybe, or counterfeiting.” The other nodded in approval,
“Yes, and they could’ve burnt down their own premises in an effort to destroy the evidence.” He started the engine
“What about those two in there?…” He nodded towards the house, “…She knows something that she doesn’t want to tell us.” They both nodded,
“Oh well, let’s put in the report and see how it pans out.”
Susan came back down the stairs whilst Walther looked out of the front window,
“They’re going.” He murmured.
“Yes, and so are we, come on.” She was dressed, and had decided they were going to call on 22 Old Bridge Street, after stopping off at Walther’s boat to collect the gun. She bustled him out of the house without breakfast or even coffee.
The house in the Countryside
Richard regained consciousness in semi-dark on the back seat of a large car, sandwiched between the twins. Franco was driving and Eve sat in the front passenger seat. The drug had worn off leaving Richard in a lot of pain, he groaned and tried to move his arms but found himself handcuffed to the twins’ wrists.
“Look Pip, he’s awake at last!” Emm declared as she turned to face him,
“We’re going to stay in the countryside for a while.” A hand pulled his head around to face Pip,
“That’ll be nice won’t it?” Richard closed his eyes and groaned again,
“Yes delightful.” He mumbled ironically. Even with his eyes closed he could still feel them staring adoringly at him, and it occurred to him that if he was ever to find a way out of his predicament it would be with the help of the twins, whether by choice or design. He realised that it might be to his advantage to play along,
“I’ve always wanted to live in the countryside.” He opened his eyes and gave them what he hoped was a friendly smile, they beamed in return. All were quiet for a while and Richard noticed the time on the dashboard, 10:00. A road sign flashed by stating Wallingford 8 miles. Shortly afterwards they turned off the main road into a narrow lane lined by bushes and trees,
“We must be in ‘the countryside’.” He observed to the delight of the twins.
And sure enough, moments later, a large country house loomed up ahead, lit up by rows of decorative lamp-posts around a circular front lawn. The grand front doors opened as they approached and they were greeted by a surly-looking young man who, somewhat grudgingly, helped Franco with the bags. Eve ordered the twins away to the servants quarters with Richard in tow. They formed a short Conga-chain as they wound their way upstairs, finally climbing a very narrow staircase to the top floor. He was led into a small attic room, with bare floorboards and no other furniture than a single iron-framed bed, small table and a brown wooden wardrobe. Handcuffed by his right wrist to the bedstead they told him to lie down and wait,
“We’ll be back soon. We promise!” Emm crossed her heart,
“And we’ll bring you some food,” Pip added sounding very organised. They were turning to go as Richard dropped a bombshell,
“I need to use the bathroom.” Their jaws dropped, neither of them had considered his toilet requirements, and there was the usual short silence before Emm inquired delicately,
“For number one, or number two?”
“Number one.” He groaned.
They overcame the problem by providing him with a plastic bucket and some toilet tissue, he heard them giggle as they waited outside for him to finish. They took the bucket away with more giggles and a promise to return with some food, Richard called out to them as they were closing the door,
“Could you get me some painkillers as well?”
With the barmy girls gone the little room was suddenly very cold and empty, he couldn’t move away from the bed so he dragged it with him to the small square window. He pushed the sash lever across and struggled to raise the window high enough to put his head out. He guessed that he was at the back of the house, although it was too dark to see clearly. Then he hauled the bed across to the wardrobe and opened the door,
“Empty.” He noticed a scuff mark on the floorboards as if the wardrobe had recently been moved away from the wall. He thought about trying to shift it but decided to wait until later, “Those two nutters might be back at any moment.” He lay down painfully on the narrow bed, just as footsteps heralded the twins return,
“Here we are again!” They marched in, each bearing a laden tray,
“Sandwiches first.” Emm proclaimed,
“Then you can have some cake.” Pip added.
They placed one tray on the little table and the other on the floor, then they helped him to a sitting position and offered a cheese sandwich. Richard dutifully took it and remembered to smile, asking
“Did you bring the painkillers?” They solemnly shook their heads,
“You mustn’t take pills on an empty stomach.”
“But I'm eating right now you bloody-” Richard blurted out angrily, stopping himself before he cursed them. And then after silently consulting each other they uttered together,
“We’ll bring you some later.” The conversation lapsed after that while they gazed saucer-eyed at him eating. When he’d had
enough they took up the trays without a word and left.
“He doesn’t talk very much!” He heard one complain as they locked the door.