Approaching Zero (24 page)

“He was abducted from the shops on Cohen Road this morning. He was there with his big brother who only took his eye off him for a few minutes.”

Kathy couldn’t take her eyes from his; they told her categorically that her former concerns had been misplaced. Together with Suri, she had eliminated eight perverts from the list. Miles was in prison; Michael Spooner was still inside and yet here was a picture of another missing child. They clearly hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface of this epidemic and if there were unnecessary casualties, well, it was their own fault for getting caught in the crossfire.

“Can I keep this?” Kathy asked and Spinoza nodded. “I’ll let you know if I come up with anything.”

Spinoza gave her an unconvincing smile but didn’t turn to leave.

“Was there something else?”

“Yeah, Kathy…”

“Look, if this is about–”

“No, look, I need to tell you something else. There’ve been a couple of murders.”

“Oh, yeah?”

Spinoza seemed hesitant to continue, but managed to ask, “Have you heard of a man called Leighton Collins?”

Kathy shook her head.

“What about Nigel Ericsson?”

Kathy thought for a moment and said, “He’s a psychic, isn’t he?”

“That’s right. They both are. Look, I don’t need to remind you about vigilante behaviour do I? You know you’re not above the law and I wouldn’t have a problem arresting you.”

“What? What are you talking about? Of course not. What’s this about?”

“It’s about a very clear message being sent, Kathy. Both of these men were murdered in their homes—beaten to death—and both were found with daisies in their mouths.”

“Oh my God!”

Neither commented for a moment and finally Spinoza turned to leave. “Just make sure you bolt everything tonight, Kathy. I don’t want you to take any chances. And tell your ‘niece’ the same.”

“But–”

“I have to go, Kathy. I think this is going to be a record long shift. If anything happens here, call me.”

Kathy nodded resolutely and watched Spinoza get in his car and drive away. Again she stood there longer than she had to, staring into the empty road and then Spinoza’s words rang in her head and she closed the door suddenly. The house beyond was dark and silent. It was obvious that Brady hadn’t shown her face, but Kathy double checked the fridge anyway. She was surprised, however, to see that both sandwiches remained untouched. Suri was obviously still out, too, which was surprising. Kathy looked down at her watch and saw that the time was approaching 11 p.m. She had never been out this late before. She had hoped to talk to her, show her the picture of Heston Wellsey, get her take on things, but it would have to wait until the morning. She grabbed the bottle of wine and a glass and decided to take all of the things spinning around inside her head to her bedroom, not least of which was now abject terror. The evil of the daisy skull was closing in on her and she now feared that she had underestimated it, not given it enough thought even. And just how powerful was the mysterious adversary, if one even existed? There had been no evidence to show that such a figure was real except images in two people’s heads—one a shamed psychologist and one a child—but the murder of two psychics now confirmed it, and clearly Spinoza saw it, although he obviously couldn’t make such a tenuous link official. Either a message was being sent to Kathy to scare her into terminating the open season on paedophiles that she had initiated with Suri, or, more frighteningly, whoever was doing this knew only that a psychic was on the rampage, closing in on the perverted operation, and he or she was working their way through a list of all known psychics, hoping they would stumble on the culprit. Kathy was comforted by the fact that she wasn’t a known psychic, but this didn’t put her mind at ease, especially as she couldn’t lock the front door because Suri wasn’t home yet, but she tested the backdoor lock twice before ascending the stairs. But did it even make a difference if she was or wasn’t a known psychic—working the scene of grieving pensioners or the sad and lonely, hoping for word from the grave or news of a future with more happiness in it than the present? There was clearly psychic activity behind the daisy skull and surely he or she would be able to sniff her out, at least this was what she assumed. She was dealing with power that far surpassed her own.

When she got to the top of the stairs, she saw that Suri’s door was closed. She passed by it and then dropped the wine and glass off in her room along with her bag and the photograph that Spinoza had given her. She envied Suri her skills; all she could do was look at the picture and fill with sadness. Suri would be able to tell her everything she needed to know. She then moved along to the bathroom, her body on red alert for the intruder that she feared would be breaking into the house at any moment. She opened the bathroom door and reached in to pull the light cord but as the light snapped on, the illuminated scene terrified a scream out of her body. Her scream tore through the silence but she clamped her hand to her mouth to stop the noise when she realised what was in front of her. Suri was in the bath, hugging her knees, looking straight ahead of her blankly. He lips were blue and her skin was mottled with goose bumps, but she didn’t move from the cold tub, even Kathy’s screams didn’t rouse her. There was no way of knowing just how long she had been sitting there in the dark.

“Suri,” Kathy said quietly and reached into the bath to let the water out. “Sweetheart, I’m going to wrap a towel around you now, okay?” Kathy knew exactly the tone to take. Although she didn’t know what was behind this behaviour, she knew what was behind behavior
like
this. “Can you stand up for me, Suri?”

“I just cannot get clean,” the young girl said sadly and the phrase confirmed the fears that were in Kathy’s head.

“Come on, now. Let’s try and get up and then we can get you back in the warm.”

Instead of answering this time, Suri just sobbed and nothing Kathy could say would stop her. She cried and cried, wrapped up in the towel as the water slurped down the plughole, until there were no more tears to be cried. All the time, Kathy’s arm remained around her and she didn’t try and move her again until she was a little calmer.

“Let’s get you in the warm,” she said softly and Suri finally responded. Kathy got another large towel to wrap around her and helped her onto her feet and then onto the bathroom floor; she was so weakened by the moment that Kathy had to physically help her to walk to her bedroom. Once inside, she dressed the girl in her Dora the Explorer nighty and helped her into bed while she stared blankly beyond Kathy, her face full of despair.

“Just stay there,” Kathy told her when she had managed to get her into bed, and she darted out to the airing cupboard for more blankets. She threw them over Suri and then ran downstairs. She flicked the kettle on and set up a cup for hot chocolate, but not before lacing the mug with whisky. Although unorthodox, it would do the girl good; hers wasn’t a Prozac or diazepam house and Suri clearly needed something to sooth her and jolt her back to reality.

When she returned to Suri’s room, nothing had changed. Suri was sitting up, wrapped in the blankets, silently crying to herself. Kathy held out the mug and urged the youngster to drink; she had added sufficient milk for it to be instantly drinkable and Suri eventually held it herself and drank until the mug was empty.

“It’s all right,” Kathy reassured her and reached out to hold her hand. “Nothing can hurt you here, Suri. I’m here to look after you.”

Suri smiled weakly, whether she was actually reassured or still trying to please Kathy was unclear, but at least she had snapped out of the blank staring and Kathy was able to communicate with her.

“You don’t have to worry about a thing, sweetheart. And you never have to use your powers again if you don’t want to.” Kathy couldn’t believe the words were coming out of her mouth, but she truly meant it. “You don’t need to do this just to stay here. You’re welcome here.”

Suri nodded sadly and then let out a long sigh that showed Kathy just how much frustration was locked up inside of her.

“What happened, Suri? You don’t have to tell me, but it might help you if you do. What happened to you in Malaysia?”

Tears formed in Suri’s eyes again.

“Just take your time.”

Suri cleared her throat and then began to tell her story. “I am a healer, Kathy. In my country people come from a long way to see me and for me to make them better. I have been doing this since when I was two years old and I saved my mother from dying with the birth of my brother. That I could make people well would mean that we had a good life in the village. We would take no money but people would offer gifts for my mother and I and it would mean that we were comfortable.”

Kathy nodded her understanding and urged Suri to continue.

“I was ten when I realised that also I am able to harm to people. But my mother made promise that I would not exercise this gift. It is dark gift, Kathy. And I was good for my promise. I did not want to hurt people. I
do
not want to hurt people; although there are people in village who do not like us. They say we are not welcome. Even healing is dark gift to them and I was blamed for anything that was wrong in village. A young boy died in an accident and his father burnt our house to ground. This was when I was fourteen. People do not know what to believe after this, Kathy, but people in the village still come to me when they are sick and want to be healed, even when they are calling me names behind my back. My brother was beaten at school because of me and we eventually decided that we would make fresh start somewhere new, somewhere people not know I am special and I can be a normal girl. We decide to go on my sixteenth birthday, but then something of very bad happened.”

Suri closed her eyes, sat forward and was gripping her knees again, clearly struggling with the words. Kathy stroked her back and reassured her once again. “It’s okay, Suri. No one can hurt you now.”

Suri swallowed hard and then continued, “I have told you that it is fishing village, Kathy, our village. It was my birthday and we were busy planning for the future and packing our possessions and the door burst open. We are surrounded by lots of fishermen. I do not know names, but I know some from village. One big man take me from family and I can hear Mother screaming behind me. My father is try to reason with them, but they are determined that I will pay.”

“But what for, Suri? What happened?”

“I do not know, but in morning the fish—all of fish in the rivers—are floating on the water. They are all ruined and will starve and it is my fault.”

“But you didn’t…?”

“I promised Mother I would not to cause hurt and I was true to this. I did not hurt people and did not hurt fish. I do not know what must have happened. I do not know if it was even true or if it was—what is the word? – epidemic of some kind.”

“But they blamed you?” Kathy ran her hand through her hair, trying to understand where this was going.

“They took me into big fishing building with hooks and smells and…” she closed her eyes again. “They tied me to posts and I cannot move. I try to move, Kathy, but it is too tight.” Tears filled her eyes and Kathy rubbed her back again, letting her know again that she was there and nothing bad was ever going to happen to her again. “They said terrible things about sacrificing me. About that they could give me as an offering and the river would be healed. They put rags in my mouth and I could not scream. Then he—I do not know his name—say that there was a way for my life to be saved and for the river to be healed. He rip of my clothes, Kathy and… and…”

“It’s okay,” Kathy soothed and brought Suri to her chest. She held her as she sobbed and sobbed and continued to hold her until she eventually calmed enough to tell the rest of the story.

“I was on my own with man and then he leave and another man come and then another and another and they all smell of fish. This happen for, I don’t know, many hours and I am bleeding and crying in the start and then I am just quiet, Kathy. It is like I am somewhere else. And then I am on my own and this is when I break promise to Mother. I feel it here.” Suri held her hand to her chest and brought her teary eyes to look deep into Kathy’s. “I close my eyes and let heartlights shine out to them all. And then I finally see my father. He is in the big house with me. He untie me and wrap me in blankets and then he say we must leave right now. We are soon running through the village and it is after we have been running for days that we discovered by Brady and her good people. We are in such danger because I saw them, Kathy. As we run through village, all of men are dead. I have killed them all. Their bodies are everywhere and the women are screaming.”

“Holy shit!” Kathy said before she could stop herself. “You killed them all?”

“Yes.”

Kathy held Suri to her chest again. “Good for you—rapist bastards! Good for you. I’m just so sad that you had to go through that, Suri. And we’re going to get you some help. I know some great psychologists who can help you, Suri, to cope with this and put your life back together.”

“Can help me?” Suri said, but now it sounded as if she were simply repeating Kathy’s words. She was clearly exhausted from telling her tale, from the relief of unburdening herself as well as the act of reliving such a cruel and violent attack.

“Look, you get some sleep, Suri, and we’ll talk again in the morning.”

Suri nodded and snuggled down into the blankets, seemingly asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, but she was murmuring as Kathy made the room ready for her slumber, drawing the curtains and tidying away her things as if she were her mother.

“I lied. I am not just here to do job. I wanted to help you. I wanted to make all bad men stop. Now I want to stop. I want to keep promise to mother, Kathy.”

“Just sleep now, sweetheart. We’ll talk about it in the morning.”

Chapter 23

Kathy stood by Suri’s door for some time and didn’t leave until she could hear the soft purring sound that she had come to recognise as the young girl’s snores. Her insides were being tugged in all directions as she watched her and she only just managed to hold back her own tears. At first it was sadness but then guilt; why was she only now finding this out and what kind of person was she for adding to Suri’s load, having her continue with the work when it was not only hurting her, but clearly killing her inside?
But she must have got satisfaction from it
, she thought. If Kathy had been through that, she would want every man in the world strung up, but there was no getting away from the fact that Suri just wasn’t like that; she was soft and playful and—Kathy thought back to the way that she had held the old lady’s hands in the waiting room of the hospital—she was clearly a healer and this was rubbing her fur completely the wrong way. But as much as Kathy hated herself for thinking about it at this time, she still couldn’t help wondering where this left the case. There was still a missing child who was hopefully alive, there were any number of paedophiles involved and there had to a ringleader of some kind who had now declared open season on psychics. As much as she wanted it to be over for Suri, what choice did she actually have?