Wading Into Murder (18 page)

She thought in images instead, pictured finding the entrance road to Longleat and flagging down a car. Even if they didn’t believe her or thought she was crazy, she would be safe. The worst was being here, where no one could help her. Why had she let him chase her here, away from all sources of help?

Because he was an expert at stalking, at knowing how to cut his victims off from other people, knowing exactly how to terrify them so that they made the worst decisions, did stupid things. 

That was what he had done to her. He was playing with her, the way a cat played with a mouse. She pictured it; he was the cat, utterly without mercy, she was the mouse, running endlessly in a state of abject terror.

The image hit Laura with physical force. She sat up straight, astonished. And then she was suddenly furious - at her tormenter but even more at herself for allowing him to turn her into a victim, a silly little mouse with no defenses, no ability to think. Anger gave her unexpected strength, made her feel steely with determination.

“You might be expert at victimizing other people,” she muttered aloud through clenched teeth, “but I am damned if you’re going to victimize me any longer.” Instead, she would become expert at defying him, at thumbing her nose at him, at evading him at every turn.

Laura smiled to herself, a grim smile that forced a confidence she didn’t yet feel but was determined to develop. This was a test of wills, and a test of wits. That was the way she must think of it. There was too much at stake to fail. The baby and Rachel were in danger too, and needed her help. How could she have forgotten that?

Because he is an expert, she reminded herself, and renewed her resolve. What she had to do was anticipate his movements, his choices, instead of letting him anticipate hers. She needed a hiding place where she could wait until he gave himself away, either by coming after her or by failing to appear.

Laura rose and walked through the trees, sticking to the thickest growth, the shadows, and watching where she put her feet so she wouldn’t give herself away by tripping or cracking branches. The lake appeared suddenly before her, as calm and peaceful as a lake could be, its placid surface broken only by a small boat carrying the usual load of children and parents. The sight was incongruous but reassuring.

Maybe she could swim to the boat, Laura thought, or perhaps take refuge in that island in the middle of the lake. Then she spied a number of large dark animals roaming its shores and realized she couldn’t. Those were gorillas, and gorillas might not take to a drenched and unexpected visitor. For all she knew, those dark fins she saw sticking out of the water belonged to sharks, too.

She searched for another solution. To her left was a steep slope littered with piles of rock. They weren’t very big but they might be large enough to conceal her. She picked her way up the slope, stepping carefully so she didn’t dislodge pebbles. She was lucky and almost immediately saw a small cave behind one of the rock piles. It faced the woods so if he came through the trees, she would see him. Wriggling into the dark space, Laura sat down to wait and think.

She must plan for all alternatives. First, she couldn’t return to the station since he could be there. That one was easy. If he had followed her on the next train or by foot or car or both, she must plan how to evade him. If he looked up and saw her – well, she might just put the shark and gorilla theory to the test.

A movement in the trees caught her attention, and she drew in her breath. He was there. So he had come after her. Good. She had caught him in his game. Her game now, she reminded herself, discovering that her anger was still intact. And her mind, as if she had been given a shot of adrenalin.

She watched him, not staring lest he feel her gaze, but warily. He was standing perfectly still now, waiting for her to give herself away by running. Laura forced herself into total stillness.

A sound came from deeper in the woods, just the faintest rustle, as if a sure-footed animal were moving. The man crept stealthily toward it, his muscles tense, his eyes focused straight ahead.

Laura reached for a rock and lobbed it as far as she could from a sitting position in the direction of the first sound. It landed with a satisfactory thump. She saw the man smile, a confident smile that said:
I shall soon have her
. He moved rapidly in that direction. She waited, lobbed another rock, taking the chance of standing up for a split second to throw so it would go further. She had once played for a children’s baseball team, her only claim to sporting prowess, and she hoped her arm still functioned. It did. Her aim was true and the rock landed well ahead of the first. The man strode toward it with even greater confidence.

That wasn’t so hard!
Laura was astonished by her success, but she had no time to congratulate herself. As if sensing a trick, the pugnacious man stopped abruptly. She lobbed another rock, off to the side this time. Without waiting to see its effect, she slithered as silently as she could down to the lake and ran along its edge. There was sand under her feet and she didn’t think he could hear her. More trees stretched ahead; she slid into them and ran until she came to a road. A single car was driving slowly along it, as before. Could he have gone back for his car and got here already? It didn’t matter. She couldn’t take the chance. Laura crept back into the trees.

 She ran for what felt like a long time, and then permitted herself to stop, mostly to listen in case he was following. There were sounds, but faint ones. And then, close at hand, she heard a frantic squeal, as if a wolf or another predator had caught a small animal. It was followed by a long drawn out howl, as if one wolf were calling to another. Another howl came, this one further away.

Unnerved, Laura listened until the sounds had died away. She looked at her watch. Past eight o’clock already. Soon it would be fully dark. Maybe she should try to find her way back to Longleat House before all the light went.

She couldn’t do that, she realized. The pugnacious man was more likely to spot her if she went back the way she had come, and anyway she wasn’t sure which way was back. Better to look for the entrance road and walk out of the park. Closing her eyes, she tried to visualize the layout of the Safari Park in relation to the entrance road, but it was all a blur in her mind. If only she had her backpack, with its maps, its flashlight! But packs weren’t allowed in Longleat House, lest they inadvertently knock over fragile treasures, so she had left it in Rachel’s car.

Useless to wish; she must think instead. It seemed to her that the Safari Park described a rough circle, and she knew that the entrance road was above the steep slope that formed one side of the predator’s area. How far up did the animals roam, and how could she know when she was in and when she was out of their enclosures?

She couldn’t know. Laura shivered and wrapped her arms around her chest for warmth and comfort. All she could do was hope that an outer fence enclosed the park to protect her from night-hunting animals. First, though, she had to find it, and the only way to do that was to go toward the howls, the squeals of fright, and all the other unknown cries that came from the Safari Park at night….

Chittering sounds broke the stillness. Monkeys – they had made sounds like that when they’d climbed around on the bus. Monkeys wouldn’t harm her. She would go that way. 

Laura plodded wearily toward the chittering sounds but after a while they stopped. Was that because the monkeys had settled in for the night or because she was going in the wrong direction?

Footsteps sounded behind her. She whirled but saw no one. Resisting an almost overwhelming impulse to run, she stole silently along, imagining that she was an animal that must not be heard. The footsteps ceased but she kept going anyway. Darkness began to envelop her, stealing her vision, but she paid no attention. On and on she crept, until she had lost all sense of time, until she was so tired she couldn’t think, could hardly move. She wanted only to lie down and sleep, but she resisted. Oddly, the thought of prowling leopards and lions and tigers had ceased to bother her. Instead, fear of the pugnacious man was all that kept her upright.

After a long time, much longer than she had expected, she found a fence. It was lower than she had imagined. Any of the animals could get over it. Laura shook her head, dismissing the problem. She was too tired to care. She trudged on, putting one foot in front of the next automatically, stopping only to catch her breath. All light had long ago fled from the sky, so she kept one hand on the fence to guide her. A fence had to go somewhere, and that was where she would go.

The terrain became steeper, and she used the fence to haul herself up. Often, she stumbled and fell to her knees, because her legs wouldn’t hold her any more or because she had tripped over some unseen object. Each time she lay where she was until some impulse made her stagger up and blunder ahead again, mostly up but sometimes down slopes and over small streams. And all the while she listened to the sounds of the night. The wolves had ceased their howling but the lions roared from time to time, and there were other sounds she didn’t know, softer, less intrusive growls and whimpers. None of the noises frightened her any more; she liked them. They were company, assurance that she wasn’t alone in the darkness. Nor did the dark frighten her. It enclosed her, kept her safe. The man couldn’t see her in the darkness. That was good, though she couldn’t seem to remember why.

The fence was going down now, steeply down. It was almost harder than going up because it was like stepping out into space. Laura was ready to give up and simply lie down when the ground under her feet abruptly changed, became hard. Had she come to the road? She must have. That was good, too. She would follow the road instead of the fence. But which way should she go? The question roused her from her exhausted stupor, made her remember what she was doing and why. She must be careful again. He could be roaming the Longleat roads in his car, looking for her.

Was she on the entrance road or the road into the Safari Park? There was no way to tell. She must be sure to duck into the bushes if she saw headlights. She must be sure to stay on the road, too. That was important.

For another long time she saw nothing and simply walked, struggling to keep herself alert enough to remember why it was important to walk, to stay on the road, to hide from the man who wanted to hurt her. When she did manage to remember, she leaned down and put her hand on the ground to make sure she was still on pavement. After a while, though, even those necessities failed to rouse her. She was too tired to think or to walk or even to stand. She would have to lie down soon. She sighed. Perhaps that didn’t matter either.

Then, abruptly, there was light directly ahead of her. Laura stopped, blinded and confused. There was too much light, too suddenly. Instinctively, she whirled away from the light and held up a hand to shield her face.

And then he was there, behind her, twisting her other arm backwards at a cruel angle. Laura screamed and fell to her knees.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

“Walk,” the man commanded. Numbly, Laura obeyed. Prodding her with a gun, he forced her to go faster. She stumbled and fell. He pulled her savagely up again and shoved her forward. Gasping with pain, Laura staggered on.

They were coming to a parking lot. It held a lone car. His car. She saw figures, too, shadowy and indistinct.

“Damn!” His voice. He had seen the figures too, was alarmed. So he hadn’t known anyone else was there. What might that mean?

Help. It must mean help. The realization snapped Laura out of her numb exhaustion and forced her brain back into focus.

When he let go of her arm for a second to adjust the gun, she leaped away from him. He was too quick for her. Grabbing her again, he pulled her hard against his chest and pressed the gun to her head.

“Don’t come closer,” he warned the figures beyond him.

“Let her go and we won’t touch you.” Violet’s voice. Violet would stop him somehow. Laura’s body sagged with relief, and she slid toward the ground.

The man jerked her upright again. “Fat chance,” he sneered, and moved slowly toward his car, the gun in front of him now, aimed at the shadowy figures.

Just as he got there, the night seemed to explode into movement. Laura saw a hand holding car keys fly through the air in front of her and smash into the man’s face, keys first. He dropped her arm and put a hand to his cheek. Swearing savagely, he aimed the gun at his attacker.

Before Laura had time to react, Rachel, who seemed to be the source of all this movement, knocked the gun out of the man’s hand with a quick chop of her wrist and shoved the car keys into his face again, point first. He raised both hands to his eyes this time, screaming with pain. Calmly, Rachel delivered a powerful thrust with her knee in the direction of his abdomen. Her long blond ponytail swung in rhythm with the movement. He doubled over, clutching his groin. A sideways blow to the neck sent him plunging face first to the ground.

Laura stared in wonder, first at him, then at Rachel. She felt unable to move, unable to think. Other people came and bent over the fallen man, clipping handcuffs to his wrists.

“Laura! Laura! Are you all right?” Violet sounded frantic. Laura took a step toward her to reassure her, but for the second time in as many days her body betrayed her, and she crumpled to the ground.

Violet caught her just before she dropped. Laura heard her voice through a fog of semi-consciousness. “Water. Check the pulse. I think she’s all right, just exhausted.” A hand picked up her limp wrist. Rachel, she thought.

“Baby,” Laura muttered.

“Fine.Being checked out in hospital just in case.” Yes, Rachel’s voice, still calm, though she did sound out of breath.

Laura sighed, took a deep breath herself. “He came after me, stalked… I think he likes that.”

“He does.” Violet’s vice was grim. “Abusive bastard.”

“I’m tired.” Laura sighed again, tried to sit. “What time is it?”

“Well past midnight. We’ve been looking for you for hours.”

“Sorry. I got lost. It’s nice at night, though. You can hear the animals. Friendly.”

Rachel stared at her. “Lions and tigers are friendly? I would have been absolutely terrified.”

Laura tried to explain “Better than him. He’s… he’s not just terrifying. He’s… he’s monstrous, sadistic. Who is he?”

“Margaret’s erstwhile boyfriend,” Violet said, still in that grim tone. “We’ll tell you all about it later but now you need to rest.”

She helped Laura to her feet. “Once more, I shall greet you in the morning with a lovely tray of tea and ask you questions. Now, let’s go. Time for sleep.”

Laura made no objection. She let them haul her into a waiting car and back to the hotel. Once again, Rachel helped her out of her grubby clothes, into the pristine robe and tucked her into bed. She was so small to have downed that horrible man, Laura marveled as she watched Rachel smooth out the covers. So gentle and yet so strong.

“Where did you learn to do all that?” she murmured sleepily.

“Police Academy.” Rachel grinned. “I figured it would come in handy. Everyone is always bigger than I am. It’s fun, too. They always look so surprised.”

“I think you ought to teach me,” Laura mumbled, and closed her eyes.

“We’ll start first thing tomorrow,” Rachel answered demurely, but Laura was already asleep.   

True to her word, Violet appeared the next morning, followed by Rachel bearing a pot of tea and what smelled like freshly baked croissants.

“Magnificent,” Laura exclaimed, sniffing. She poured out a cup of tea, stirred in milk and sugar and sipped ecstatically.

“You have remarkable powers of recovery,” Violet remarked admiringly as she poured a cup for herself and for Rachel.

“Believe me, it feels so good to be away from that man and to know he can’t get at me again, that no amount of aches and pains can compare,” Laura replied.

“But how about all those wild animals,” Rachel protested. “I can’t believe they didn’t frighten you at all.”

Laura popped a bite of croissant into her mouth and considered. “They did frighten me at first, but after a while he seemed so much more of a threat that I began to see them as allies. If he had come at me out there I would have leaped into an enclosure if I’d been sure where one was.

 “I think you were the really brave one,” she added, “to take on a huge sadistic bully all by yourself.”

“Well, I know how to do that,” Rachel answered nonchalantly. “It’s just a matter of training.”

 “If you have two have finished arguing about who is bravest,” Violet remarked, “I should like to hear Laura’s story. If, that is, she has time to talk between bites.”

 “I should also like to say,” she went on severely, “that I am tempted to dump you in a cell until this is over. That might be the only way to keep you safe. Unless you promise not to go exploring again I damn well will!”

“I didn’t mean to go exploring,” Laura pointed out. “And it isn’t my fault they chose yesterday to put a baby in Longleat.”

“I imagine they chose yesterday either because they thought you were out of commission or because they wanted to set a trap for you,” Violet answered. “Regardless, I should have insisted that you stay here.”

“But then I wouldn’t have been able to see Rachel do her stuff,” Laura teased, with her mouth full of croissant, “or to commune with the animals.”

She almost choked as she grasped the implications of Violet’s second statement. “But how could they set a trap for me unless they knew I was going to Longleat House? Even I didn’t know until just before I left.”

“Exactly,” Violet agreed. “That’s why I want you to try to recall who was nearby when you asked me if you and Rachel could go to Longleat.”

“You mean someone in this hotel arranged for a baby to be put in that cradle just so I would find it and they could grab me?” Laura’s voice was unbelieving.

“Seems incredible I know, but we have to take the possibility into consideration. We think it unlikely that the organization would plan another kidnapping right now, and that they would carry it out right under our noses, so to speak, unless they had some other powerful motive, like trapping you.”

“I see what you mean,” Laura agreed, “but I still don’t understand why it’s so important to them to catch me. What have I done?”

“I suspect it has a lot to do with your research,” Violet replied. “Your field is the treatment of women and children in areas of the world where fundamentalism is taking hold. You have been particularly vocal about female circumcision. If you add that to the fact that you found the first baby and haven’t stopped hounding them ever since, their assumption that you are dangerous to them or know something they don’t want you to know makes a good deal of sense. They might even think you came on this tour to spy on them, right from the start – you saw the first baby’s family in the airport even before you got here, don’t forget.”

Laura blinked. “I hadn’t thought of that!”

“Well, they did,” Violet retorted. “Now, who was nearby?”

“Okay.” Laura took a deep breath and tried to recreate the scene in the hall. “I saw Claudine in the next room with Richard, and I think I saw the Takaras near the door, cameras in hand. One of the maids was carrying towels up the stairs…”      

Her voice trailed off, and she shivered. The list of suspects was shrinking. Who among that small group could have betrayed her?

 “Roger Brown must know who it was,” she said. “Has he told you anything?”

“Not a thing,” Violet answered. “Abdul is more cooperative since he’s facing a murder charge. He told us that he works for an organization that procures baby girls from Islamic backgrounds for wealthy Saudi men. He says he isn’t sure what it’s all about and that he doesn’t know who else is involved. I don’t believe him.”

“Roger could be the brains behind the organization, but maybe Abdul is afraid to say so,” Laura suggested. 

Violet shook her head. “I wish it were so, but I don’t think he is. Roger recruits workers and parents in this country, but someone else runs the operation. When we ask who it is, both Abdul and Roger get a frozen look on their faces and won’t utter a word. They’re afraid, very afraid, so whoever is in charge must be formidable.

“They can’t or won’t reveal the identity of the Saudis who organized the group, either,” she added in frustration. “So we’re stumped on those essential pieces of evidence. We need a breakthrough, and I’ve got to figure out how to get one.

“Your turn now,” she ordered. “Tell me everything that happened.”

Obediently, Laura related her story, complete with baby, French students atop her spread-eagled assailant and her flight from the pugnacious man.

“He was so confident, so cruel looking,” she said with a shiver. “If you two hadn’t come I would have been… Well, I don’t want to think about it.”

A voice came from the doorway. “Bravo! Bravo!” Lady Longtree stood there, with William behind her. “A woman after my own heart.”

Laura felt herself blush, outrageously pleased at the compliment. “You should check out Rachel,” she said hastily. “She felled the guy who had a gun at my head with a few well directed blows and her car keys.”

“Wow! I’d like to be able to do all that stuff.” William’s face registered awe. Laura frowned, aware that a delicate piano concerto was floating up the stairs. How was that possible? William was here, not in the music room.

He seemed to realize it at the same time. “Whoops! I forgot to turn it off. I leave it going, a recording, that is, when I want to do some sneaking around,” he explained. “It’s amazing how much you can learn when people think you are somewhere else.

“Who is that guy, anyway?” he asked Violet. “Did you lock him up?”

 “Locked up tight,” Violet answered. “And he calls himself Roger Brown. We don’t know much about him except that he says he’s British and that he has a reputation for charming women. Apparently, they find him irresistible, at first anyway.”

“Which means he can get them to do anything he wants and believe anything he says, and that he can do anything he wants to them, like abuse them,” Rachel contributed. “I’ve seen quite a few of those types. Bastards, all of them.

“It was a pleasure to knee him,” she added matter-of-factly. “Men like him deserve a good deal of punishment in that area.”

“True enough, Rachel,” Violet agreed, “but be careful who you say it to. Someone behind you is taking notes.”

Laura turned and saw that her audience had grown. Richard was there, busily scribbling on a note pad. He smiled at Rachel. “May I quote you, Madam?”

“In general terms, you can. About this specific man you cannot,” she answered. “You’d get me in real trouble.”

Laura gave Richard a quelling look and turned to Rachel. “I haven’t asked what happened to you after I got abducted at gunpoint. Did someone come after you, too?”

Rachel nodded impishly. “They did. Or rather he did. Another underling, I expect, sent out to do the dirty work.”

“Did you knock him out, too?” William asked eagerly.

“No. I was a bit hampered by the baby. It was screaming at the top of its lungs and I suspect the poor fellow couldn’t think straight. He just poked a gun at my ribs and told me to drive out of the park. I happily obeyed knowing we would run straight into Violet and her reinforcements, which is exactly what happened.”

Lady Longtree moved aside to let another visitor enter. It was the doctor. He took one look at Laura and her audience and threw up his hands in despair. “Young lady, you are an impossible patient. I tell you to stay quietly in bed for a day or two and instead you get chased through a Safari Park by a maniacal stalker, and now I find you surrounded by chattering people. What do you do for a living to merit such unusual attention?”

“I’m a professor,” Laura admitted in a chastened voice. “It’s usually a very quiet occupation.”

“Perhaps we should remove ourselves,” Lady Longtree suggested politely. “I shall be back,” she added in a stage whisper as she went out the door. William and Richard trailed after her.

The doctor frowned at their departing backs and made a quick examination. He scowled at Rachel. “See that she stays quiet this time. She has an excellent constitution but she’s not twenty any more.”

“Yes, Doctor,” Rachel replied obediently. “I will try. I will certainly try.”

“See that you do,” the doctor growled, but he sent each of them a charming smile as he hurried through the door.

“Nice man,” Laura said drowsily, aware that every muscle in her body ached and her legs felt like lead weights. “I guess the doctor’s right and I’m not twenty any more,” she grumbled. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be so tired. I’ve only been sitting here talking.”

Rachel raised her eyebrows in disbelief. “You are the limit. Of course you are tired. What you did last night took more out of you than you think. So go to sleep again and stop prodding yourself into action.”

Gratefully, Laura closed her eyes, but a steady stream of visitors precluded sleep. Mrs. Takara was the most persistent. She kept turning up with packages of biscuits or pieces of fruit - no doubt cadged from the kitchen - to tempt Laura’s appetite, which she seemed to assume had been compromised by her experience. Laura finally asked Rachel to warn her so she could feign sleep when Mrs. Takara came to the door. She meant well, but she was as annoying as a mosquito.