Scream, You Die (4 page)

It was Skender. He shouted for her to open up after making two quick unsuccessful attempts to push open the door. The action made her jump and she braced herself back against the headboard. As she watched the chair judder for the third time her mind began to race.

“Open door now!” Skender yelled in broken English.

She could sense from the tone in his voice that he was angry and the hairs on the back of her neck began to prickle. Realising that she couldn’t go anywhere she called back shakily, “One moment.”

Throwing back the duvet, she remembered she only had on a T-shirt and knickers and she sought out where she had dumped her clothes the previous night. They were draped over the bottom of the bed.

Picking up her skirt, she slipped it on, adjusted it around her hips and fastened up the zip. “One moment,” she called out again. She couldn’t stop the nervous inflection in her voice and as she padded towards the door she could feel her heart beginning to pound faster.

Removing the chair she stepped back. “It’s open.”

Skender pushed open the door.

He seemed even bigger in daylight. Grazyna noted that there was only a few inches gap between his shaven head and the top of the door.

For a second he stared at her, then switched his gaze to the chair she was still holding.“Why you do that?”

“I–I wasn’t dressed properly. I felt scared.”

He smiled, narrowing his eyes.

“You do that no more,” he said, stepping towards her.

She released the chair and edged back, catching her legs against the bed. “What do you want? Where is Kofryna?”

“She is in her room getting ready. It is time for you to get ready. You work for me soon.”

A sudden confusion engulfed Grazyna. After a few seconds’ silence she said, “Work for you? I don’t understand. Andrius is getting me work.”

He guffawed. “Andrius is gone. Gone back home.”

Her head went into a spin. “Gone back home? I don’t understand. Andrius is at work. He has a job at a hotel. He said he was going to sort out work for me and Kofryna and then come back for us.”

Skender’s mouth curled up.“You think Andrius is your boyfriend, yes?”

“Of course Andrius is my boyfriend. He is looking after me.”

Skender fixed her gaze for several seconds then with a sneer said, “Andrius is not your boyfriend. You and your friend Kofryna belong to me now.”

His words were like a blow to her stomach. She felt her chest tighten. “What do you mean belong to you?” she gasped.

“What I say: belong to me. I pay five thousand each for you to come here. Now you have to pay me back by working for me.”

The nervousness she had felt minutes earlier disappeared and changed to anger. “You are lying. I am not working for you. I want to see Andrius and I want to go home.” She jammed her hands onto her hips. “Right now.”

Without warning Skender lashed out, back-handing Grazyna across the face. The blow knocked her onto the bed.

A split second later he was on top of her, clamping a hand around her jaw. “You work for me now, you understand? You make no more trouble. If you do I hurt you. You understand?”

Tears welled in Grazyna’s eyes. Her jaw felt as if it was going to pop out of its joints. The pain was nothing like she had felt before. She managed to nod her head and he released his grip.

“Good, we understand one another, yes?”

Fighting back further tears, she nodded again.

“Good.” He stroked her face with the back of his hand. Looking into her eyes he said, “You are virgin yes?”

Grazyna’s stomach emptied. She felt sick.

Skender’s eyes tightened. “Answer me. You are virgin?”

“Yes – yes,” she managed to stammer out. Her throat was dry.

“Good, that is what I was told. I don’t care anyway. I already tell people you are virgin.” He fixed her with a threatening stare. “If anyone asks you tell them you are virgin. Understand?”

She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Licking her lips she said, “Please, I want to go home.”

Skender broke into a mischievous grin. “You go home when I say you go home.” He drew up a knee and straddled it across her thighs. “Now I try the goods.”

He reached a hand beneath her skirt and Grazyna tried to squirm free but he pushed himself down more firmly and squashed her further into the bedding.

She wriggled even harder. “No, please no.”

He hooked his fingers through the waistband of her knickers and yanked. Her knickers snapped.

“No,” she cried out louder.

Skender viced her jaw again. “Scream, and you fucking die!”

“I think James Green is more calculating than we give him credit for.” Scarlett was addressing members of both syndicates who were clustered around her and Tarn’s desk. DI Taylor-Butler was among them. He had drawn up a chair and had his daily journal open across his lap. He was fiddling with his pen and unlike the other members of the HSCU his face showed no emotion. She continued, “I thought at first his attacks were impulsive, in as much as he cycled around, especially through the university grounds, until he spotted his victim, checked it was quiet, then dumped his bike, hid among the trees or bushes and struck as they passed.” Pausing, she checked a few faces. The DI’s face still bore a dead-pan look. “As I say, that’s what I first thought. Now I believe that’s not the case.”

“What makes you say that, Serge?” Ella Bloom asked. Slightly built with short white-blonde hair and elfin-like features, she had the appearance of being a lot younger than her twenty-six years, making her a no-brainer for the undercover work.

Scarlett replied, “Since we charged him I’ve been going back through the evidence, especially the video interviews. If you recall, our first two victims were just groped by him, in as much as he ran up behind them and grabbed their breasts and then fled. But the third girl” – she glanced down at some notes she had made – “twenty-one-year-old Adelle Harrison, was also grabbed from behind, but on this occasion he put his hand over her mouth and dragged her towards some bushes. Thankfully, she managed to fight him off by back-heeling his shins – something she’d learned in self-defence classes. As he let go she screamed and he took off.” Scarlett looked back up. “Although the light was fading she managed to get a glimpse of him and she said in her interview that she thought she had seen him before, although she couldn’t place him.” Scarlett gazed down at her notes again. “And then we have the two rapes, both girls again grabbed from behind, their mouths covered and dragged into bushes. On these two occasions they both had knives put to their throats and were told to be quiet or he would kill them. The first girl, twenty-year-old Claire Ridgewell, froze completely and kept her eyes shut throughout the whole ordeal. She’s one of the girls who has been unable to carry on with her courses and gone back to her home in Maidstone. The second girl, nineteen-year-old Penny Wilkins, got a good look at him, and although he had a scarf covering his mouth she also thought she had seen him somewhere before.” Scarlett paused again, taking in the thoughtful expressions on some of the faces. “If you also remember, although Claire kept her eyes closed she thought she heard clomping sounds as he ran away afterwards. When we arrested Green, following his attack on Ella, he was wearing cycling shoes with cleats attached, which you will recall gave off a clomping noise as he walked. And finally, we have our witness, Emma Caroll, who saw a cyclist on two occasions at the main entrance, who she describes as being in the act of repairing a puncture. On the second occasion she was very suspicious, because she thought he appeared to be looking around rather than working on his bike. This is the witness who picked out Green from the video identification parade.”

DI Taylor-Butler spoke, “As you’ve pointed out DS Macey, we know all this. And so, your point is?”

Scarlett could feel her heart starting to race. She drew in a breath and held it briefly. Letting it out slowly and keeping her composure she said, “I think he stalked his victims.” She focussed her gaze on the DI. He gave back an empty stare. “Two victims thought they had seen Green previously before the attacks.” She deliberately paused a few seconds then continued on a stronger note. “I think they had definitely seen him before. Because he chose and targeted them.” She pulled her eyes away from the DI and returned them to her team members. “This is where we need to do some extra work. Speak with those victims again and see if we can narrow it down to when and where they had seen him. It may well have been just a chance meeting – in a pub somewhere, for instance – but after that I’m convinced he targeted them.” She paused again, gathering her thoughts. “We’ve got Green on remand for seven days on a holding charge of attempted rape following his attack on Ella. We all know that’s a flimsy one and the likelihood is it’ll be reduced to sexual assault, but it gives us the opportunity to do a thorough search of Green’s flat. We’ve recovered the clothes he was wearing when he attacked Ella, but the cycling shirt in particular is a different colour according to two of the witnesses, so let’s see if there are anymore. Also, strangely, he didn’t have a mobile phone with him. Let’s see if that’s at his flat, then we can track his movements. Also see if he has a computer and check if he’s on social media. With a bit of luck there’ll be some incriminating evidence. I also want to know if he owns a vehicle. And whether he has a girlfriend.” Scarlett paused, dipping her head, looking at the list she had compiled and mentally going over it. Satisfied that she had ticked each point she looked back up and roamed her eyes around. “I want to find out everything about James Green. I want every detail of his life examined. I’ve just got a hunch these aren’t his only victims.”

Beneath the bedclothes Grazyna hugged herself tighter into a ball. She had given up crying hours ago.

Now she was alone and her thoughts were roller-coasting. She couldn’t stop thinking what Skender had said about Andrius. He had to be lying. The Andrius she knew was kind, thoughtful and gentle. Andrius would come soon and rescue her. She just knew he would.

And she could not stop thinking what had happened to her. The images of what Skender had done repeatedly played themselves out inside her head, plaguing her consciousness and making her feel sick. It was as if she was living a nightmare. She tried to tell herself that at least she was alive.

A sudden creak on the stairs pricked her ears and she could feel her chest beginning to tighten again. She balled her hands into fists.

The creak became distinguishable footsteps that stopped on the landing outside her door.

Grazyna caught her breath. Her head screamed,
Please, go away
.

She caught the sound of a key turning in the lock – she hadn’t realised she had been locked in.

I’m being held a prisoner!

The door opened slowly and Skender stepped into the room.

For a few seconds he just stared at her, not speaking. Then he said, “Now you make phone call to your mother, yes?” He strode towards her holding out a mobile phone.

“I put in your mother’s number. You now ring her and tell her you are okay. If you say anything wrong or make trouble I hurt you, you understand?”

Grazyna remained in a tight ball, though she had lifted her head from her pillow.

“You understand?” Skender snapped.

Grazyna jumped. “Yes.”

“Good.” He passed her the phone.

She uncurled herself and took it.

Fixing her eyes he thrust a piece of paper towards her. “You say to your mother that you have job, and everything is good and you tell her this is where you are living.” He shook the piece of paper. “You read out to her the address I have written down there. You tell her you will ring her again in a couple of days. You understand?”

Skender narrowed his eyes as Grazyna hesitantly took the piece of paper.

“You do as I say and everything will be okay. If you do not, not only will you get hurt but I will make sure the same thing happens to your sister.”

Grazyna’s eyes widened. Her stomach emptied again.

“Your sister is fifteen, yes? And she is also virgin.”

The inflection never changed in Skender’s voice but Grazyna sensed an underlying threat.

Skender leaned forward, towering above her. “I am right, yes?”

“Yes.” Her response quavered.

“Good. I think we understand one another. Now you call your mother. And you be very careful what you say. I put phone on speaker so I hear. I know Lithuanian.”

Pushing herself up, yet still cowering to keep some distance from the Albanian, she viewed the number on the phone and then hit the call button. Listening to the dialling tone, a chaotic thought raced into her brain despite Skender’s threats. Something was telling her to fight back. To tell her mother to call the police the moment she answered, but as the dialling tone prolonged she caught herself. If it was true what the Albanian had told her about Andrius, then the same could happen to her sister.

After a few seconds her mother answered. The sound of her voice caused a surge of emotion to wash over her. She almost let out a cry and at first she couldn’t speak.

“Hello?” her mother called again.

She had to hold it together. Not just her own life depended upon it but her sister’s as well. Grazyna swallowed. “Hello Mama, it’s me.”

“Hello beautiful, I was just thinking of you. How are you?”

“I’m fine, Mama.”

“You don’t sound fine. Is everything okay?”

Grazyna looked up. She caught the threatening look on Skender’s face. His eyes were drilling right through her. She gulped. “I’m fine, Mama. Just tired.” After taking another deep breath she followed Skender’s script, only slightly expanding on what he had told her to say. She mentioned that she had a job, that everything was good, and then she read out the address from the piece of paper he had given her. Then as she told her that she had to go she could feel her voice beginning to break. “Speak to you soon, Mama,” she finished on a brittle note. As she ended the call tears welled in her eyes.

Skender held out his hand and Grazyna handed him back the phone.

He reached towards her face and she sharply pulled back her head, catching the headboard. She winced.

With the back of his hand he stroked her cheek. “That is good. Now we are friends.” He turned away and made for the door.

Hearing the key turn in the lock, she began to shake uncontrollably. Then she sobbed.