Off the Record (26 page)

The next hour was a nightmare as the detective arranged for them all to give their statements separately. Kate hated to leave her mother alone when she was so distressed, and she was worried sick about Paul. His silence, his agony frightened her. But the detective in charge was already unhappy that Jake had reported to his employer before speaking to the police about what he knew, and quickly allocated everyone to a different policeman and interview room.

Finally they were free to leave. Paul still said nothing as he directed them into the car, grim-faced and alert. As soon as the doors closed, the car moved off. Kate snapped on her seatbelt, aware that Paul had settled himself on the other side of her mother. It hurt that he hadn’t sat by her. Right now they both needed some comfort.

‘Paul?’

He cut her a glance. ‘Yeah?’

‘Who is this woman, and why is she doing this?’

‘Not now, OK?’

‘Yes, now! Don’t you think Mum and I have a right to know?’

‘She’s right, Paul,’ Jake commented from the front passenger seat. ‘They need to know.’

Paul closed his eyes. ‘Sure, OK. You do it. Tell ’em the whole damned, sick story,’ he sighed, turning away to look out of the window, cutting himself off from the conversation.

Jake turned in his seat to face them, grim-faced.

‘She’s bad news, Kate. She once worked for Johnson as his housekeeper. Over a few months some of Johnson’s personal stuff went missing – nothing valuable, just photographs, clothes, books.’ He shrugged. ‘No one realised what was going on at first, but then one of my guys got friendly with Roxanne and he noticed a couple of Johnson’s shirts in her closet. When he challenged her, she said she’d been sleeping with the boss.’

Kate cast a brief glance at her mother. Alexandra kept her clear gaze on Jake. Well, if her mum wouldn’t ask, she would! ‘And was she?’

Her mother blinked and took a deep breath, as though bracing herself.

‘Hell, no!’ He looked apologetically at Alexandra. ‘Sorry, ma’am, I mean heck, no. The boss don’t mess with the hired help. Roxanne was sick. She was convinced she was having a hot affair with Johnson, and she was the
Dream Woman,
and he was going to marry her. But the truth was that he was hardly home, and when he was he treated her the same as everyone else.’

‘So what happened?’

Jake grimaced. ‘It wasn’t pretty, I can tell ya. Johnson got his stuff back and let her go. He didn’t press charges, just told her to go.’ He shook his head, disgusted. ‘That was our first mistake. Within a week she’d tried to kill one of my guys in a hit and run. He was lucky – just a few bruises. It took us months to track her down. And in the meantime that crazy damned … sorry, ma’am… Well, she’d caused havoc. Made Johnson and Paul’s lives he … um …’

‘It’s all right, Jake,’ Kate said drily. ‘She’s heard worse. So Roxanne made their lives hell. Just get on with it.’

He rested a beefy arm along the back of his seat and rested his chin on it. Kate thought he looked tired and fed up. She could relate to that. Add scared, and feeling helpless to the mix, and you could bottle it and sell it as Kate Armstrong’s life right now. It seemed that everyone she cared about was under threat from this woman. She badly needed to feel Paul’s strength right now, but it was as though he’d left the car. He sat motionless, refusing to look at her, completely cut off from all human contact. And the more she heard about the murderous Roxanne, the more she worried about his reaction. She’d once researched post-traumatic stress disorder for a piece she wrote on soldiers returning from Iraq. Paul was showing classic signs of a man in the grip of past trauma. She wanted to hold him, but he was too far away, physically and emotionally.

‘OK,’ Jake went on. ‘She started a stalking campaign. Wherever Johnson went, she was there. We still can’t figure out how she knew where he was, but she always found him. She sent letters, emails; she called him on the phone. Sometimes she’d talk, sometimes not. The woman was crazy. We got restraining orders. The cops picked her up a few times, but this was before the latest stalking laws were passed. Until she hurt someone, there wasn’t a lot they could do.’

‘She hurt someone?’ Alexandra looked worried. Kate felt her tension rise another notch.

‘No, but she tried,’ Jake answered, looking grim. ‘Paul was at college. We thought he was OK, because Roxanne seemed focussed on his dad. But when she couldn’t get to Johnson, she decided to go after Paul.’ He paused, looking from Kate to Alexandra and then to Paul. ‘You OK with this, man? If you don’t want me to …’

‘Don’t even think about stopping now, Jake,’ Kate interrupted. ‘Paul’s already told me the basics, but my mother doesn’t know, and she should. That woman has caused havoc, over the past few weeks, what with muggings and text messages and now the fire. She could have killed us so I’d say we’ve got a right to know everything, don’t you?’

‘Kate, please!’ Alex shuddered.

‘Sorry, Mum, but you know what I mean. If this Roxanne is still out there, and she’s including us in her shenanigans, then we need to know what she’s capable of.’

‘I think we have a pretty good idea, darling, but I know what you mean.’ She gave her daughter’s shoulder a squeeze and looked across at Paul, her worry evident. ‘Paul?’ she asked.

For a moment Kate thought he hadn’t even heard. But then he nodded. ‘She’s right, Jake, tell her.’

‘Yeah. Well, she turned up at Paul’s college with a knife.’

‘Oh, dear God!’ Alex exclaimed, horrified.

Kate closed her eyes. She’d suspected this was coming.
This Roxanne was same woman who had attacked Paul, and now she’d tried to kill her!  Had she thought Paul was in the vicarage too? Was Roxanne still trying to kill him? Was he as scared for her as Kate was for him?

‘It’s OK, the kid’s fast. She didn’t touch him. Paul and his friends jumped her, got the knife away and held her, kicking and screaming until the cops arrived.’

‘We thought it was over,’ Paul spoke at last. ‘Roxanne was committed to a psychiatric hospital. She should’ve gone to jail.’

‘How long ago did this happen?’ Alex asked eventually.

‘Well, Paul was eighteen,’ Jake answered. ‘That must be more than ten years ago. Long enough for us to miss the signs, when things started going crazy here.’ He shook his head, his expression grim. ‘Man, what I’d give to figure out how she got out and followed us over here without anybody knowing about it.’

‘You don’t think it was a coincidence she met Mum and I in Manchester, do you?’

‘I don’t know, Kate. Maybe. But how would she make the connection?’

Kate shrugged. ‘She could have read one of my columns and then found out what I look like – there’s probably a shot or two of me on the internet if you look hard enough. Or she might have been hanging around near the band and seen me with the crew. I don’t know.’

‘We’d have spotted her if she was around the band,’ Jake disagreed. ‘Even after all these years I recognised her on that tape.’

‘Do you think it was Roxanne who pushed you?’ Jake asked Alexandra.

‘It’s possible, I suppose. But why?’

The answer came to Kate, like a light being switched on in her brain. ‘Because you’re the real
Dream Woman
,’ she said. ‘The woman who broke Johnson’s heart. It’s easy enough to work out if you’ve got the basic facts.’

‘Yeah,’ said Paul. ‘And you look just like your mom did at the time.’

‘Oh, man!’ Jake shifted round in his seat and began punching numbers into his phone. ‘Coincidence or not, as soon as Roxanne spotted you gals, you were marked. Now we’ve gotta work out whether she’ll keep coming after you, or if she’ll go for Johnson again.’

‘Or Paul.’ Even with her mother sitting between them, she felt his tension rise. ‘If I look like Mum, we can’t discount the fact that Paul looks just like his dad. Maybe she’s getting everyone mixed up.’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t help thinking that if she really is as mad as everyone thinks she is, how come she’s managed to get to England and do everything we think she’s done? She must be getting help, but how is she convincing someone to give it to her?’

‘She’s crazy, but she’s not stupid,’ said Paul. ‘Her family has money, and she’s smart. Working for my dad as a housekeeper was a means of getting to be with him. As to who is helping her, I’d sure like to know that myself. I can’t believe any of our guys would be dumb enough to do anything like that – it would be professional suicide. They’d never work again.’

‘Well, someone close to you must be helping her,’ said Kate.

‘Will this nightmare never end?’ asked her mother.

It’s only just beginning, Kate thought. She could see that this latest development was sending Paul into retreat again. Just when they needed each other most.

Chapter Thirty-two

‘Were you ever going to tell me about Roxanne?’ Alex pinned his dad with her gaze.

Johnson closed his eyes. He was pale and drawn, his handsome features ravaged by the stress of the situation.

‘She was history. Until Jake identified her on the tape, we thought she was locked up for good.’

‘So you never intended to tell me?’

‘There was no point,’ he shrugged.

‘No point? Of course there was a point!’

‘That’d be my fault, ma’am,’ said Paul quietly. ‘No one talks about it, because I didn’t want them to.’

Kate’s mother went from angry to repentant in a moment. ‘Of course. It must have been awful for you, Paul. And for you, Johnson. I’m sorry. It’s just that this is all such a shock. I’ve been face to face with this woman. And last night … if Paul hadn’t … my Katie, she could have …’

Kate moved to comfort her mother, but Johnson got there first. He wrapped Alex in his arms and let her weep.

Kate’s expression made Paul’s heart break. He wanted to gather her up too, to feel her safe in his arms. But he was still reeling. The old feelings of isolation and unreality were threatening to overwhelm him. He put out a hand, Kate took it. He couldn’t figure out if it was her hand or his that was trembling.

‘Hey now, it’s OK, my love,’ Johnson soothed. ‘You’re safe. Kate’s safe. We’re all OK. I won’t let anything happen, I promise.’

Paul felt as though a nuclear explosion was detonating in his head. He dropped her hand. ‘Dad, don’t!’ His terse words caught everyone’s attention. ‘Don’t make promises you can’t keep. She’s out there somewhere, and she won’t quit. As long as Alex and Kate are with us, they’re not safe. We should to send them away until this is all over.’

Kate laughed.

She laughed!

‘If you think I’m leaving now, Brand, you’ve got another think coming,’ she declared, sounding stronger than she had since the fire.

Part of him was glad she was in a fighting mood. Another part was pissed at her attitude. He felt his own temper spike. He welcomed it. Anything was better than the awful feeling of dread that had been eating at his stomach since the moment he’d seen Roxanne’s face on the tape.

‘Maybe it’s not your decision,’ he said quietly. He was aware of their parents watching silently. He could feel their disapproval.
Dammit, why doesn’t Dad understand? He’s been there! He can’t possibly want to put Alex through that!
Unable to look at any of them, he turned and walked out of the room.

‘Paul! Wait,’ Kate followed.

‘Leave it, Kate,’ he snapped, and kept on walking.

She stopped him by simply putting her hand on his arm. The heat of her branded his skin and took away his ability to escape. He couldn’t walk away, but that didn’t mean he had to look at her. He kept his eyes resolutely on the wall, but couldn’t help but be aware of her in his peripheral vision.

‘But you said … You said you would never let me out of your sight again,’ she accused.

‘I made a mistake.’

Kate flinched as though she’d been slapped. For a second he thought she was going to cry, but she blinked a few times, her pretty mouth a firm, thin line as she breathed deeply through her nose. He felt like a heel, but he didn’t, couldn’t move.

‘I see.’

No you don’t. I should have known. I should have stopped it before it was too late.
‘What do you see?’ She shook her head, turning away from him. Paul wanted to reach out, but still he didn’t move.
It’s better this way
, he told himself.
She’ll be safer this way.

‘I thought you were a shallow idiot when I first met you,’ she rounded on him, making him look at her. ‘But over the past few weeks I’ve got to know you better, and sometimes – just sometimes – I get a glimpse of someone …’ She stopped, her voice fading as though her throat was closing up. Once again tears filled her eyes and Paul swayed, reaching for her. But at the last moment she caught herself and pulled back. She swallowed hard, closing her eyes momentarily, lifting her face, staring up at the ceiling as though she couldn’t bear to look at him. He could almost feel her willing herself not to let the tears fall.

‘I get a glimpse of someone,’ she went on, ‘who is smart and clever and talented. Someone I could love. Someone I thought might actually care a little about me.’

‘Kate,’ he breathed, unable to stop himself. ‘I …’

‘Don’t. Don’t you dare tell me you care. I know you feel
responsible
. You definitely feel
lust
. I’m guessing because of that you even feel a little
guilty.
Or maybe it’s just
pity
!’ She spat the last word as though it tasted bad in her mouth. ‘But don’t you dare talk to me about love, Paul Brand!’

He’d never felt so helpless in his life. Even when Roxanne had attacked him, he’d known what to do, how to protect himself and his friends. It had all happened ten years ago – ten damned years! Why the hell couldn’t he get over it? After the attack he’d simply carried on, refusing offers of shrinks and counsellors, insisting everything was OK. But it wasn’t. Right now he just didn’t know what to do. This woman – this beautiful, beautiful woman – had him tied up in knots. He looked at her and was scared to death. Because there would always be a Roxanne out there.

Kate had almost died once, already. He’d thought he could keep her safe, but right now he felt so weak he wasn’t sure he’d be able to do it. Fear was overwhelming him, and he didn’t know how to stop it.

What the hell is happening to me?

He was silent for a while, the confusion inside his head making him want to throw up. She stood there, waiting, not backing down. He couldn’t handle this right now. He needed to get away and be on his own. For the first time in years, he wanted to give in and howl like a baby.

‘OK,’ he responded quietly, his voice sounding scratchy as he formed words through the tightening of his throat. ‘So I feel responsible because I acted on my lust, and didn’t feel like spilling my guts to you about everything that happened years ago. It was a shit time, so excuse me if I didn’t feel like having “a jolly old chat” about it. Since I met you, I’ve been too busy thinking with my dick than my head, but I don’t suppose you wanna hear that. I guess the fact that you’re a reporter might have kept my lips zipped too, eh, babe?’

Kate sucked in an outraged breath. ‘Don’t call me …’

‘But you are a babe. How could I have resisted?’ He shook his head, a rueful smile on his face. ‘Like I said, thinking with my …’

‘Shut up! That’s a horrible thing to say!’

‘Come on, Kate, you didn’t want to know.’

‘Of course I did! I kept asking you to talk to me, to tell me why …’

‘Go figure,’ he taunted. ‘If you really wanted to dig into the past you’d have done your job – the information was out there. You could have found out, Kate, but you didn’t want to know. Instead you wanted to play kissing games and expected me to fall to my knees in gratitude and spill my guts!’

When she said nothing he went on, hating himself for the devastation on her face, the pain in her beautiful eyes.

‘You almost had me, y’know? After we finally did the dirty deed at your mom’s house, I woke up and reached for you. If you’d been there I’d have given you anything you wanted. But you weren’t.’

‘I was! I was there!’ she whispered.

He shook his head, nausea increasing, forcing himself to direct his anger at her. ‘No, Kate. You ran for the phone like it was a life-line, then you couldn’t wait to get me out of there.’

‘No, I …’

‘Face it, Kate. You were right. I am a shallow idiot. I don’t do love. I don’t spill my guts. I know where I’m going with my life and I want to go it alone. But you?’

He couldn’t stop himself reaching out and running a gentle finger down her face. She closed her eyes. When she would have leaned into his hand like she usually did, he withdrew as though he’d been stung. He turned away, unable to look at her any longer.

‘But you, you don’t know what you want, do you, Kate? You’ve been playing at being an ace reporter, but you don’t have the killer instincts. You’re too much your parents’ daughter. You’re sweet and trusting. You’re being eaten alive, and instead of doing something about it, you’re hanging around hoping for the best.’

For what seemed like an eternity, she said nothing. He didn’t dare look at her, but he was aware that she was crying silently. He concentrated fiercely on the view from the window, wondering bleakly how the scene should look so peaceful when his whole world was crumbling around him.

‘You’re right.’

He frowned at her dull tone, but didn’t look round.

‘I suppose I should thank you for that frank assessment of my life, Mr Brand. I’m a lousy journalist, and a pathetic judge of character. After all, I never pegged you for such a coward.’

He flinched, feeling her words cut through him like a knife. But he didn’t turn round.

‘But if you’re going to live the rest of your life in fear of the Roxannes of this world, that’s your choice. I can’t and won’t accept that. I refuse to let fear stop me from living my life to the full. OK, I’m a useless journalist. But at least I tried. I didn’t let fear of failure stop me. But you are letting fear cripple you, Paul. So, bad things happen. But so do good things! If you don’t rejoice in those, then the bad just takes over. You’ve let Roxanne win. You’re locked up as tight as she’ll ever be.

‘I should be angry with you, but you know what? I’m not. I just feel … such … 
pity
for you! You’re not living, Paul. There’s a beautiful world out there, with beautiful people in it. But all you allow yourself to see is the darkness. Don’t you realise, you’re showing classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder? You need to get help. Please, Paul. Not for me, but for yourself.’

Paul could barely breathe. When at last he dragged some air into his lungs and turned to confront her, she was gone.

Kate wanted to leave the hotel and get as far away from Paul and anything to do with the JBB, but she knew that it wasn’t possible until someone worked out their next move. With Roxanne still at large she would be a fool to go out alone. And that made her so angry she could scream!

Unable to face anyone, she made her way to the hotel’s indoor pool and tried to work off her tension swimming lap after lap, not allowing herself to stop, punishing herself for her foolish dreams. While the activity kept her body occupied it couldn’t stop her mind going over everything that had happened, everything they’d said, and she wept as she swam.