The Naked Room (24 page)

My heart beat faster as I watched James and his dog set off toward the distant garages and accommodation block, where Mrs Fox, her father and the chauffeur lived. With its imposing façade and clock-tower attic, it seemed an excellent place to store unwanted goods.

CHAPTER 39

As Dusk Falls

Ally

Saturday: sunset.

A stranger told me I am going to die tonight.

Ice chips of fear trickle through my veins.

Minutes race as seconds; if I hold my breath, will it keep me alive longer?

No.

Please…I have so much to do yet, a career that’s only just started and so many plans for my future.

I want to have a family one day, but now I’m being pushed out of the world before I’ve even lived.

The wooden floor feels like concrete beneath my knees. I wrap my arms around my body.

So cold. So scared.

My imagination forces the knife into my body—my stomach—my chest. Please, God, let it be a gun.

They’ve drugged my water for days. I could drink it all at once so I won’t know anything when it happens, but what if I get a final chance to run? Some small part of me is still hoping something will happen.

What did I do to deserve this? Deep down, I think I always knew I could never escape. The woman’s hatred grows stronger every day. It’s not all about the money, but what? They won’t tell. They’re too happy for me to beg.

God, please, someone find me before it’s too late.

I brace myself against the bleak timber wall and peer out into blackness.

The power of life and death.

Terror is giving way to rage.

How dare they decide how long I am to live?

CHAPTER 40

A Bit Of A Glitch

James

Saturday: 5.45pm.

A slight breeze stirred the leaves in the trees. The traffic on the main road murmured in the distance. A few early stars pierced the celestial canopy as the sun began its descent behind the hill, but still providing light for a walk in the garden.

Demanding the keys to the tower storeroom would allow me access to the immediate vicinity of the staff quarters. Despite the kidnapper’s threats, I intended to call the police when I satisfied myself there was good reason. Things had gone too far. Detective Senior Sergeant Susan Prescott’s warning about the consequences of not informing the police if we were in trouble kept returning to my mind. I had allowed the earlobe, along with a lock of Ally’s bloodied hair, to deter my intentions, preventing Eloise from calling the police after the first ransom demand and the phone calls since then.

My stupidity rankled. How could I overlook my staff’s access to the keys and to myself? It gave them a perfect opportunity, though currently a motive—apart from money—escaped me. I tried to comfort myself with the age-old assurance—surely people we know just don’t do things like that. It wasn’t working. Eloise’s return had clouded my judgment. My solitary life had made me complacent. Since Helen’s death, my emotions skimmed only the surface of my heart.

I walked slowly. Rage fought for control and I reminded myself to keep a sense of proportion. I needed proof of more than Mrs. Fox’s wig. There are many reasons why women wear them, but Eloise maintained Mrs Fox had beautiful natural hair.

Eloise. Her warmth, the incredible beauty of our love-making threatened to distract me further, but I needed my wits about me for the coming encounter. Fear for my daughter warred for first place with my love for her mother.

Benji hurled himself enthusiastically after the ball which I threw for him as I watched for signs of life. The staff residence, a medium-sized cottage adjoined to the workshop and garages, formed an L-shape. Two storerooms resided atop the structure.

I continued to let my gaze wander, seemingly aimlessly, skimming the windows, swinging across to the now defunct orchard and vegetable gardens at the far side of the compound, where lights showed behind the curtains of the staff cottage.

Inside Staff Quarters: 5.45pm.

They were pleased with themselves. The woman sipped her wine appreciatively between mouthfuls of food. The family munched on slices of roast lamb, gravy and mint sauce, crisp, roasted potatoes, pumpkin and onion with glistening, freshly-picked green peas on the side, washed down with Fourex. Pavlova would follow.

The stepson looked forward to an evening of clubbing, the grandfather, fixated on ‘The Bill’, chewed as fast as he could. The woman would attend her weekly card night. They left nothing to chance and would stick to their normal routine. The girl’s parents were so terrified that they wouldn’t—
couldn’t
—tell the cops. The primary reason for the kidnapping was about to play out, the money a welcome bonus. The Carpenter girl waited upstairs ready to be killed by Angelo after he arrived home from his night out.

It was a happy family party, until they heard the dog barking.

At first they took no notice, but as the barking grew louder, they realised his master would be close by. Three pairs of eyes met. The woman rose quickly, went to the window and peered around the side of the curtain. ‘He’s on his way here!’ She glanced wildly at her father, then at her stepson who pushed his plate aside and leapt to his feet.

‘I’ll head him off,’ he hissed, spun for the door, wrenched it open and barely avoided slamming it behind him.

The old man coughed nervously and spat into a pot plant. ‘Keepin’ her here under ‘is nose was always a mistake. I told
him
that,’ he snarled, staring truculently at his daughter.

She snatched up her glass of wine from which she proceeded to take angry sips between sentences. ‘No, it wasn’t! Where else could we operate without anyone knowing about it? He’s never come over here in all the time we’ve been working for him, so why now?’

Her father poured a cup of tea with a palsied hand, the pot shaking ominously, splashing droplets of hot liquid onto the tablecloth. Parkinson’s Disease had him in its rapacious grasp, but he could still function. His daughter made no attempt to help him. Her eyes flickered to the shotgun leaning against the kitchen cupboard and across to the door.

‘Calm down. It’s just a bit ‘uva glitch! No need to get yer knickers in a twist. He probably just wants to talk to Angelo about the cars. There’s no chance he knows she’s up there,’ her father re-assured. He glanced at the ceiling, then leaned forward and blew on his scalding tea before taking a long slurp of his beer.

‘Do you really think it’s about the cars?’ she asked.

‘Christ only knows, but the lad’ll divert him.’

She spared her succulent dinner a regretful glance and pushed her plate away. She opened the refrigerator and took out a brightly painted plate on which stood a glistening Pavlova, complete with strawberries on top, slathered in cream and dusted with icing sugar. Her father’s eyes focused greedily. ‘You’re not a bad cook, June,’ he conceded. ‘Not a patch on what yer mum was, but not bad for all that.’

His daughter cut a piece of Pavlova, eased it onto a plate and set it in front of him with rather more force than strictly necessary. The base of the meringue split, scattering sugary crumbs over the tablecloth.

‘Hurry up, dad. I’m going out shortly, so get a move on. You haven’t even finished your main course yet,’ she snapped.

Her father curled his hand possessively around the plate, guarding what was left of his meringue. ‘Oi! You didn’t hafta break it, luv!’

CHAPTER 41

A Just Reward

James

Saturday: 6.22pm.

As I neared the entrance to the workshop, Angelo burst out of the front door of the flat. I stopped and waited for him to approach. I’ve never thought about him personally one way or another, but Eloise maintains he is a cold, evil man. As far as I was concerned, he did his job and was civil, which was all I required.

My business agent advertised for staff just before I leased the residence the previous year, interviewed many applicants on my behalf and reported himself dissatisfied with most. Then Mrs Fox offered herself as package deal with her father and stepson as cook/housekeeper, chauffeur/ handyman and gardener. They produced impeccable references which were verified by a previous employer in Sydney. Only too glad to have my staff problems solved, I instructed the agent to hire them.

But as I watched Angelo come toward me, zipping up his black leather jacket against the cool night air, I understood why Eloise was uneasy in his presence. His dark eyes focused on me without expression; his muscular body appeared poised for combat. He stopped about a metre away, adopting a deferential pose. ‘Ah, Sir, I’m glad you’re over here because old Bob wants me to talk to you about a new bore.’

I was taken aback ‘A bore? That’s for the owners of this place to decide. Can’t Bob discuss this with me in the morning? Where is he?’

Angelo does not normally take an interest in anything other than maintaining the cars, driving me or my guests if required or doing mechanical repairs around the place.

‘He’s not well tonight, so I offered to come and talk to you instead.’

‘I see. Nothing serious?’

He shook his head and appeared about to expand on it, but I cut him short.

‘I came to check out the space in the tower storeroom. Where’s the key?’

‘We don’t have one, sir. There aren’t any in the flat or the workshops.’

He avoided eye contact. Behind me, Benji whined. I glanced down. The dog was looking up at the tower. Something was out of kilter in the shadowed window. I glanced casually up at the tower then without pausing, turned my head to scan the trees surrounding us. I allowed my gaze to casually drift across to the staff quarters and back to Angelo. The dog moved closer and barked. Angelo picked up the slimy ball and threw it awkwardly in the opposite direction to the buildings. Benji glanced after it, but resumed his surveillance of the building. I bent down quickly, grabbed his collar and shook him gently. ‘Be quiet!’ We needed to get back to the house, fast, before the dog gave my game away.

‘I want a full scale hunt for the storeroom keys, otherwise we’ll have to get a locksmith in on Monday. I’ll ring you in the morning. Goodnight to you.’ I nodded briskly and turned to leave. Angelo returned my salutation with due deference, but underneath the veneer of good manners he appeared shaken. Damn.

I maintained a steady pace back to the house, trying not to bolt. My mind bounced around ways of discovering what was different about that window. Mrs Fox had advised us she and her stepson were going out for the evening. Bob would be watching television and would turn the sound up because he refused to wear a hearing aid.

My first thought was to ring the police, but if I called them out on a goose chase I would lose my efficient staff and probably get sued as well. But what if they had taken Ally? What if the police stormed in and it started a siege? She might be killed in crossfire. Had I watched too many American movies?

The bad news was a hundred metres between the outer buildings and the back of the house. The good news was the number of shrubs and small trees giving cover. I tried to re-assure myself the police wouldn’t dream of jeopardising Ally’s safety. Perhaps I could lure the staff out of the flat while the police rescued Ally, if indeed she was there. But if that were the case, they would have someone guarding her.

I felt as though I had stepped into a war zone.

When I got back to the house, Eloise was working in the kitchen. ‘What happened? Did you find anything?’ she asked, nervously clutching my sleeve.

‘There’s something needs checking out. It won’t take long and then I’ll tell you all about it.’ I kissed the top of her head, bolted for the study and snatched my binoculars off the shelf. Two huge urns maintained sentinel each side of the front steps, perfect for my purpose. Steadying my elbows on the ledge around one, I aimed the binoculars at the tower and twirled the focus until it came into sharp relief.

Shock arced through me.
A grill on the inside of the window?
It had not been there when I inspected the property before taking up the lease. I carefully adjusted the focus. Definitely a security grill and even allowing for the failing light, the glass shone black. Tinted?

Something moved.

I squinted into the lens, trying to make the image sharper. Was Angelo keeping a girlfriend up there? Or was it Ally? My mind whirled through various impractical plans, then rejecting them almost immediately.

‘James? Where are you?
James?’
Eloise came up behind me, a note of panic creeping into her voice. I stood up and gently propelled her back inside, where I recounted my suspicions. She wanted to dash over there immediately, but I talked her out of confronting the family, laying out my reasons for taking precautions. As I had expected, it wasn’t easy.

Having calmed Eloise down, I telephoned the staff quarters and called off the search for the key, advising Mrs Fox I had changed my mind and explaining that my cartons could stay in the upstairs rooms at the main house.

The relief in her voice terrified me. While Eloise bobbed around in agitation, I located the key to a locked room where the owner of the house kept personal property. In the event of fire or water damage, he had shown me the blueprints of the buildings. A few minutes of examination and I saw the possibility of a plan.

The first part was to find out if there actually was someone, a woman, in the tower room, and the first opportunity to reconnoitre would be that night. Mrs Fox and Angelo planned to go out and Bob was, to all intents and purposes, out of the equation. Everything hinged on keeping the trio lulled into a false sense of security.

I’m pretty fit for my age, but young muscles could carry it out faster and I knew just the lad for the job. As I picked up my mobile to call Briece Mochrie, I reflected grimly that since my parents ousted Eloise twenty-six years ago, no one has gotten the better of me until now.

Things were about to change.

STAFF quarters.

June was in a frenzy of fear, but Angelo reassured her. ‘He wanted to look in the tower. Needs a place to store some of his stuff, but I said we didn’t have keys to it. He said we gotta hunt for them tomorrow. He’s gone back to the house, but we’ve got to ring dad. We could be in deep shit. Bastard dog started whining at the tower! I’ll knock the fucking thing off too if I get a chance.’ He balled his right hand and punched it into the palm of the left, face twisting with rage.

‘I’ll call Tommy,’ his stepmother announced. ‘He’s down at the yacht club checking on the boat.’

Angelo took a deep breath, sidled to the window and peered around the edge of the heavily-lined curtain. The old man resumed eating, as June talked to her husband ’Yes, we’ll sit tight. Go ahead as arranged? Of course … that late? Well, we were going to do it tonight anyway, so there’s no reason to change anything is there? It won’t matter what he does about the keys after that.’

She glanced at her father and stepson, biting her lip as she shifted from one foot to the other. The ticking of the wall clock echoed the thudding of their nervous hearts. Angelo smiled and fingered the pristine blade of his knife. The old man chewed slowly, trying not to let his teeth clack. He didn’t want to miss out on anything.

‘All right then, around midnight. I’ll remind Angelo to leave the gate open to the back road.’ June hung up and turned to face them. ‘Right, we stick with the plan. You can still go out, Angelo, but make sure you’re back before midnight. I’m going to cards, but I’ll be back in more than enough time. Dad, you just carry on as normal. For two pins if it wasn’t that I want to be there, I’d get you to finish her off now, but he wants to be back here for it too, in case of trouble. Says it’s safer to stick with what we arranged.’

She jerked her head in the direction of the house. ‘They spent the afternoon in bed, so they’ll be sleeping together tonight. That’ll keep them out of the way.’ She laughed. ‘Your father’ll get rid of the body. By morning there’ll be no trace of her upstairs. We’ll keep working here for awhile and then resign, as planned. I’ll enjoy organising the food for her wake. Stop that!’ she added irritably, as Angelo flicked the edge of the blade over and over, against the ball of his thumb.

Reluctantly, he put the knife on the table and smiled. He expected to have a little fun as a suitable reward for his diligence. He just hoped they would give him enough time to finish what he began the day his stepmother copped him with Ally. He would have been into her, given a few more minutes. Now there was a second chance. The fact she’d be drugged like last time was neither here nor there. He would prefer she fought him because it was more fun and appealed to his need for power, but it didn’t matter in the long run. He remembered the feel of her full, rounded breasts in his mouth and her lush, soft body beneath him. His fingers twitched with the urge to pleasure himself.

Just then, the phone rang. They glanced apprehensively at each other. June picked it up. ‘Hello…oh I see, yes. Very good, sir.’ She put the receiver down, relief easing the harsh lines between her brows and around her mouth. ‘He’s changed his mind about finding the key. Going to keep his stuff over at the house.’ She stood silently for a moment, looking at each of them in turn, her dark eyes burning with a deep, agonising pain, carefully nurtured for thirteen long years.

‘Remember, I’m going to see her before you do it, Angelo. She knows she’s going to be killed tonight. Tommy told her this morning, but she has to know why. Ally Carpenter is going to pay for what she did.
And that’s my just reward.’