‘What is it, Lauren?’ Jam demanded.
I repeated what Shelby had said. My voice felt somehow disconnected to the rest of me. Despite the need for the police officers stationed outside, I’d assumed the worst was over – that even if Cooper found out we’d escaped he wouldn’t risk approaching us . . . that Shelby would be found . . .
‘We have to get Annie and Madison,’ I went on, forcing myself to pull it together. ‘We have to go outside to the police car.’
I said the words, but I didn’t move.
Jam rushed out of the room. I could hear him pounding up the stairs, yelling Annie’s name.
The phone rang again. The same number.
‘Shelby?’ I said.
‘Are you out?’ she said.
‘Almost. How did you get away from Cooper?’
‘He drove to Norbourne. Left me locked up in his car. I got out . . . ran up this road . . . broke in here to use the phone. But I’ve hurt my ankle. I can’t walk. Are you out now?’
‘In a sec.’
‘Hurry!’ She ended the call.
I shoved Annie’s mobile in her bag, slung the bag over my shoulder and rushed into the hallway. Annie was on the bottom step of the stairs, Jam just behind her with Madison, fast asleep, in his arms.
‘What’s going on, Lauren?’ Annie was trembling, her hands twisting round each other.
The sight of her anxiety somehow calmed me down. Someone had to be strong.
‘Outside.’ I pointed to the front door.
She ran over, her fingers fumbling, flailing at the catch.
I pushed her hand away and opened the door. The night air was cool and smelled of rain. It was still drizzling. Annie stumbled outside. I held the door open for Jam. We raced along the path and onto the pavement. I pointed at the police car parked opposite. The officers inside would help us.
‘Over there!’ I said.
Annie sped off. As I followed her across the road, her phone – still in her bag over my shoulder – rang again.
‘Lauren?’ Shelby sounded more frightened than before. ‘Are you out of the house now?’
‘Yes.’ I glanced up and down the road. There was no-one about . . . no sign of Cooper Trent. ‘He’s not here yet.’
‘OK, good.’
‘Where are you?’ I asked.
Shelby hesitated. ‘Carter’s of Norbourne. It’s an office building. There’s a map here and I’m seriously like only a couple of minutes away from the holiday home . . . The stores at the end of our road lead down to the top of this one . . . it should be the first turning on the left. My ankle’s really bad. Er . . . can you send the police to pick me up?’
‘We’re with the police right n—’
Annie’s scream filled the air, stopping me mid-word. I spun round. I couldn’t see what had happened at first. Annie was in the way. She staggered backwards, her hand over her mouth.
‘Is that Mom?’ Shelby shrieked into my ear.
‘Oh, no!’ Jam said beside me.
I looked across the road and into the police car opposite.
Everything inside me seemed to shrink and crumple.
Both officers were unconscious, their heads lolling on their chests.
‘He’s here,’ Annie screamed. ‘Oh my God, Cooper’s already here!’
I met Jam’s eyes for a second, then looked up and down the street again. There was no-one around.
‘Call the police,’ Annie was still shrieking.
‘Wait,’ I said. ‘Where’s your car, Annie?’
Annie looked wildly up and down the road. ‘There.’ She pointed at the hire car. ‘But I don’t think I can drive.’
‘You have to,’ I said, fishing for the keys in Annie’s bag which was still over my shoulder. ‘Cooper’s obviously already here . . . he must have gone round the back of the house to break in. We have to get away before he realises we’re not inside.’
‘Oh God, oh God, oh God.’ Annie ran over to her car.
I followed, holding Annie’s phone while searching for the car keys in her bag. Shelby was still on the other end of the line. She could presumably hear what was happening, but there was no time to talk to her. I had to find those car keys.
There. I yanked them out of the bag and unlocked the car.
Annie’s fingers shook as she opened the driver seat door. ‘I can’t do this,’ she muttered. ‘It’s too much.’
‘Yes, you can,’ I urged.
Jam got in the back with Madison. I sat by Annie at the front.
She fitted the key into the ignition. The engine revved.
‘Let me speak to Shelby,’ she said.
‘There’s no time,’ I protested.
‘I want to talk to her.’
I handed Annie the phone, then glanced anxiously round. There was still no sign of anyone on the street – but I knew how fast Cooper could move. He could be here already, in the shadows, just seconds away.
‘Hello, Shelby?’ Annie turned to me. ‘She’s not there.’
I put the phone to my ear. It was true. The line was still open, but Shelby was no longer on the other end.
‘Dial 999,’ Jam said.
I tried to end the call, but the phone wouldn’t let me. ‘Something’s stopping me from making a new call,’ I said.
‘But it’s the only phone we’ve got with us,’ Jam said desperately.
A dark figure appeared at the end of the street. A man. He was walking briskly towards the car.
‘Drive!’ I shouted.
Annie screeched onto the road.
‘Where’s Shelby?’ she sobbed, the car veering wildly across the central line. ‘What’s happened to her?’
‘She’s in Norbourne,’ I said. ‘She said she’d hurt her ankle so she couldn’t walk.’
‘Oh God,’ Annie moaned.
The car reached the top of the road. The shops Shelby had mentioned appeared on the right. I pointed to them. ‘She said she was in a building just past these shops . . . first turning on the left.’
‘OK.’ Annie clutched the steering wheel tighter. Without signalling, she swung the car onto the road with the shops, cutting in front of an estate car. It honked its horn angrily, but Annie didn’t seem to notice.
‘Down there.’ I pointed to the road coming up on the left.
‘Wait,’ Jam said. ‘We should drive to the police station. Or stop and ask someone to use their phone.’
‘Shelby first,’ Annie insisted.
‘She’s hurt, Jam,’ I said. ‘She can’t walk.’
The office building Shelby had described was already visible. A sign reading Carter’s of Norbourne stood at the front.
‘Where is she?’ Annie pulled over, leaving half the car sticking out into the road.
She opened her door and got out. ‘Shelby?’ she yelled.
‘Mom!’ Shelby’s answer came from inside the building, her voice a mix of terror and relief. ‘Mom, is that you?’
I looked up. Shelby was silhouetted in a first-floor window. It was the only room in the building with the light on. Annie ran over.
I held the mobile up to my ear again, but there was still no sound from the other end. Why hadn’t Shelby hung the phone up properly?
‘I hurt myself, Mom,’ Shelby was sobbing as she called out from the window. ‘I can’t walk.’
‘I’m coming,’ Annie yelled back.
‘Annie’s going to need help if Shelby can’t walk,’ I said to Jam. ‘Stay here with Madison.’
‘No way,’ Jam said, laying Madison gently down on the back seat. ‘I’ll come with you. We can call the police from inside the building.’
Jam and I got out of the car and joined Annie at the front door. I glanced over my shoulder at Madison. I didn’t like leaving her, not after everything that had happened, not even while she was within eyesight.
‘I can’t see a way in.’ Annie was breathless with agitation, almost hopping up and down on the spot.
Jam pointed to the broken windo
w to the right of the door. ‘That must be how Shelby got in.’
Annie nodded. She glanced back at the car, wringing her hands. ‘Is Madison still asleep?’
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘I don’t want her to wake up and us not be there.’ Annie clutched at her hair. She looked over at the broken window, desperation in her eyes. I could see she was torn between going after one daughter and protecting another.
‘You’re right, you shouldn’t leave Mo,’ I said firmly. ‘Jam and I will go in and get Shelby. You wait here with your phone . . . see if it starts working again. You can keep an eye on Madison and call the police.’
‘OK,’ Annie gulped. ‘Be careful.’
Jam was already half through the window.
I scrambled after him, feeling the uneven crunch of the glass on the carpet at my feet. We were in some kind of storage room. We raced out into a hallway. The stairs up to the first floor were straight ahead of us.
Jam sped up them, two steps at a time.
‘Shelby?’ I yelled. ‘We’re coming.’
We reached the landing. The room at the front with the light on was on the left. That was, surely, where Shelby had called out to us.
‘Shelby?’ Jam said, walking in through the door.
I joined him in the office room. A row of desks, complete with computers and phones, met my eyes. Piles of paper littered the floor. Blinds hung at the window. Two filing cabinets stood at either end of the far wall, a shelf groaning with box files running between them.
‘Shelby?’ My voice echoed Jam’s.
But Shelby was not in the room.
28
The Accident
‘Where’s Shelby gone?’ I said. ‘She said she couldn’t walk.’
Jam pointed across the office to the desk by the window. A phone receiver lay off the hook, on its side beside the landline phone base.
‘D’you think that’s the phone she used?’ he whispered.
I scuttled over and picked up the receiver. The office building suddenly felt creepily quiet.
‘Annie?’ I said quietly.
No reply.
‘If that was the phone Shelby used then Annie should still be on the other end of the line, shouldn’t she?’ Jam said.
I tiptoed to the window and peered outside. Annie’s car was still parked in the road. I couldn’t see inside to check if Madison was still lying across the back seat, but there was definitely no sign of Annie herself either near the car or by the front door where we had left her.
‘I can’t see her,’ I said.
‘Man, this is all really weird,’ Jam whispered, looking around the room. ‘Even if Shelby somehow managed to drag herself out of here why would she go? Where would she go? This is the only room with a light on.’
I gulped. ‘Let’s just dial 999,’ I said. ‘This place is totally freaking me out.’ I replaced the handset.
‘Help!’ Shelby’s shriek made me jump. Her voice came from the floor above us.
Jam gripped my arm. ‘She’s upstairs,’ he breathed.
‘Lauren?’ Shelby shouted. ‘Is that you?’
I rushed out of the office, Jam at my side. We raced up the stairs to the second floor. Several doors led off from a small landing.
‘Shelby?’ Jam shouted.
‘In here!’ Her voice came from one of the rooms on the right.
We darted inside.
The room was lit only by the moonlight that shone through a tiny dormer window. A storage space, far messier than the one on the ground floor, with filing cabinets lining the walls and a long chest of drawers under the window.
It took me a moment to spot Shelby. She was lying on the ground, hunched over beside one of the filing cabinets. She gazed up at us. Her face was white and tear-streaked. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said.
‘Why are you—?’ As I spoke, the door to the room slammed shut. A key twisted in the lock. ‘Hey!’ I spun round and yanked at the handle. The door wouldn’t open. ‘Hey! Let us out!’
There was silence outside in the small hallway. Then the sound of footsteps, pattering down the stairs.
I turned back to Shelby. ‘Who’s out there?’ I said, feeling desperate. ‘What’s going on?’
Beside me, Jam hurled himself at the door. It shuddered, but the lock didn’t break. ‘Oy!’ he yelled.
‘Shelby?’ I marched over to her.
She was staring at the thin grey carpet beneath her.
Wham. Jam barged the door again. It held.
‘Shelby, what the hell is happening here?’ My voice shook with emotion. My head was spinning. Fury filled me and I opened my mouth to yell.
But at that moment, Shelby looked up and I saw the red mark on her cheek and the thin metal chain that ran from her wrist to the filing cabinet she was leaning against.
Shocked, I sank to my knees. ‘Shelby?’ I stared at the chain. I couldn’t make sense of it. She’d been on the phone to us just minutes ago. How had she ended up here, in this storage room where – I looked quickly round – there were no phones?
Jam gave up on the door and strode over. His mouth fell open as he took in Shelby’s chain.
‘Did Cooper Trent do that?’ he asked.
Shelby nodded. Her lower lip trembled. ‘He made me call out to you downstairs, then he brought me up here and tied me up.’
I stared at her in horror. ‘You mean he’s trapped us here?’ I said.
Shelby nodded.
Jam raced to the dormer window. He pushed at the glass, but it would only open a fraction.
‘Hey!’ he shouted through the crack. ‘Help!’
I turned to Shelby. ‘But . . . but you said Cooper Trent was going to the holiday house,’ I said. ‘And he did. I saw the police officers he knocked out.’
‘Cooper went there earlier,’ Shelby explained shakily. ‘He brought me here, went to deal with the police officers outside the holiday house, then came back and made me ring you. He jammed the call too, so you couldn’t use the phone again. It all happened real fast.’
‘Help!’ Jam shouted through the dormer window again. He turned to me. ‘I can’t hear anyone outside.’
‘But Annie’s there.’ I jumped up. ‘What’s Cooper done with her?’ I said to Shelby. ‘What about Madison?’
‘I don’t know.’ Shelby’s mouth trembled.
I sank back down to the ground beside her. There was a short, tense silence.
‘I don’t get any of this, Shelby,’ Jam said gently. ‘Go back to the beginning. Why didn’t Cooper dump you in the bay like the rest of us?’
Shelby fought back her tears. ‘He still thought he could get a ransom from that man . . . my . . . Duchovny.’ Shelby sniffed. ‘But before Cooper could approach him again, Duchovny turned up . . . he must have followed Cooper home.’ She looked up at me. ‘Duchovny came for one thing,’ she said. ‘To get that painting back that you stole.’
I met Shelby’s gaze. The thought that she was only half expressing rang as clearly in my head as if she’d said it out loud.
He came for the painting, not to rescue me.
A confusion of emotions welled up inside me. I couldn’t look at her. I gave the chain tied to her wrist a tug. It was firmly fastened to the back of the filing cabinet. Unbreakable without proper tools.
‘I thought the painting wasn’t worth that much,’ Jam said, looking confused.
‘Apparently it was worth millions,’ Shelby said. ‘Anyway, they . . . there was a fight.’
‘What happened?’ I asked.
Shelby leaned against the filing cabinet. She closed her eyes and sighed. ‘Duchovny was hurt, but he got away with the painting. Cooper brought me and the money here.’
‘So you didn’t escape from him?’ Jam said.
Shelby shook her head.
I frowned. ‘I don’t understand. Why did he bring you here?’
‘So that I’d be away from his house when the police track him down and . . .’ Shelby’s face pinked, ‘and so that I co
uld make sure you two came here.’
‘Us?’ Jam said.
Shelby nodded. ‘Cooper found out you were still alive. He knew you’d be able to identify him and he knows that if the police get him they’ll need our testimony to convict him,’ she explained. ‘Once he knew you’d escaped from the bay, he came up with this plan to trap you here. I was just the bait.’
I sat back on my heels. It was an ingenious plan. And, so far, I had to admit that it had worked. But why? I looked round at the empty storage room. What possible reason could Cooper have for locking us into this office building?
‘What’s he going to do with us?’ Jam said, echoing my thoughts.
‘And what about Annie and Madison?’ I said, thinking again about how I hadn’t been able to see Annie outside.
‘I don’t know,’ Shelby said.
I stood up, my heart beating fast. ‘We have to get out of here . . . make sure the others are OK.’
I crossed the room and tried the door again. It was still locked fast. The only other way out was through the tiny dormer window that Jam had managed to open a few centimetres. I went over and pushed at it myself. It didn’t open any further, but the night air rushed through – cool and damp on my face and carrying the faint tang of salt from the sea.
‘We won’t get through here,’ I said.
Shelby held up her chained arm. ‘Well, I certainly won’t.’ She attempted a grin. ‘Or are you saying I’m fat?’
It took me a second to realise she was joking. Black humour was the last thing I’d expected.
‘Yeah, Shelbs.’ I forced a smile back. ‘You’re a hog.’
She smiled ruefully at me and it occurred to me how bizarre it was that these terrifying circumstances marked the first time, ever, that Shelby had made any attempt to be friendly with me.
Jam cleared his throat. ‘Er . . . Lauren? Shelby?’ He was standing beside the door that led out to the tiny second-floor hallway. ‘Look.’ He pointed to the base of the door.
I frowned, trying to work out what on earth he was staring at.
And then I saw it.
Smoke. Grey-white and wisp-faint, it curled under the door. Jam bent down and sniffed at the gap between the door and the floor.
‘What’s that?’ Shelby’s voice quavered.