He grinned and bent down to look under the bed and she squealed.
‘Ooh I say, don’t you go finding my private toy box.’
Kav dropped the sheet and stood up, his face burning, and she laughed even harder.
‘You’re so gullible. You always were. That was one of the things I loved about you back in the day. I would like to think, if I did have a vibrator, that I’d hide it a bit better than that.’
He started to chuckle. ‘So are you going to offer me a coffee for being such a gentleman and making sure there are no scary men hiding under your bed?’
‘Of course, but I can do better than coffee if you want something stronger?’
‘No, coffee will be fine. I don’t drink a lot these days. It messes with my…’
Cathy laughed. ‘Stop right there. I don’t want to know.’
He followed her into the kitchen and sat on one of her bar stools.
‘Do you ever wonder how come you and me both ended up divorced and on our own? I do. Not that I wasn’t glad to get rid of my wife. It was a bit of a relief, to be honest, but it does get lonely. Did you miss me at all after we split up?’
‘Yes, I did miss you, but be thankful you weren’t married to “I can’t keep it in my pants if they are blonde and under thirty”. The only thing I miss about him is having someone to cut the hedge and put the bins out. Even the sex wasn’t that good.’
She passed him a cup of coffee and leant over to pour the milk in; Kav grabbed hold of her and pulled her close. Cathy paused for a minute then pulled him even closer as he kissed her. When she pulled away she smiled.
‘Forget about the coffee. Come and warm my bed up for me. It’s been a long time, too long.’
She took hold of his hand and led him back to her bedroom, shutting the door behind her just in case Georgia came home for anything. Seeing her mother having sex and finding a severed head in one night might just be too much for her.
Chapter Seventeen
Will and Jake were already in the blue room waiting for the briefing to begin. Will had left Annie with Alex. She was giving Alice a bottle. The sight of them both curled up on Jake’s sofa had melted his heart. Even Jake had commented when they got into the car that she was a natural, which was a polite hint from him that they should stop messing about and have kids – another reason why he hated Henry Smith. He was ruining Will’s chance of having a happy family. There was no way he could bring a baby into this world with a sadistic killer waiting in the background to steal everything away from him.
There was no sign of Kav or Cathy yet and Jake rolled his eyes at Will, who shook his head. The task force were there lined up against the back wall, and so were the chief super and the detective chief inspector, along with Stu and the rest of Will’s team. No one had noticed that Jake shouldn’t be there, so he kept quiet. It was funny watching the super’s face getting redder and redder. He kept looking at his watch, no doubt thinking that Cathy was being late on purpose just to piss him off. There was the sound of footsteps as someone ran down the four steps that led to the room and in walked Kav with Cathy behind him. Jake whispered in Will’s ear. ‘You owe me a tenner. As if they haven’t been shagging all night. She’s actually smiling.’
Will grinned. The super eyed them suspiciously, then he eyed Kav and Cathy as they took seats at opposite sides of the table. He coughed into his hand.
‘Right. Morning, everyone. I’m glad you could make it.’ He stared at Cathy when he said this; she yawned loudly and looked at her watch but he turned away from her, his face a shade of crimson that you would normally associate with someone about to burst a blood vessel.
‘As you know, we have a problem, a major problem. There are two women who have been killed and correct me if I’m wrong, DS Ashworth, we don’t have a bloody clue who is doing it. Any evidence, suspects, motives?’
‘Not really, sir. We all know that the number one suspect is Henry Smith, who walked out of his secure hospital three months ago, but there is nothing concrete to suggest that it could be him. It’s a completely different MO from his last killings. There is a small chance it could be someone trying to emulate Smith’s killings but taking it one step further.’
‘You mean a copycat? Jesus Christ, why would you want to do that?’
‘I can’t say. Maybe because Smith got his fifteen minutes of fame, someone else wants theirs.’
‘So what have we got, exactly? I want it from top to bottom.’
Will stood up and Cathy winked at him. He walked over to the front of the room where the whiteboard was and began to tell them everything he knew. He had never been a violent person, but now that Annie was under threat, he had realised quite calmly that he was willing to do anything to keep her safe.
An hour later and they were no wiser than before they’d begun, except that they had agreed to search the houses and outbuildings near the barn where the bodies had been discovered. Photographs of Henry and Megan, taken from the hospital CCTV cameras on the day they escaped, had been handed round to everyone. The whole area was to be canvassed and all residents spoken to. Will had offered to coordinate it and told Jake to go back home and tell Annie what was happening. They were both on shift at Windermere at two, so they were going to make a start on the camp and caravan sites up there. Will had tried to persuade her to phone in sick but she’d told him no way. She wanted to find Henry as much as anyone else and she couldn’t do that from home. After the briefing Cathy had pulled Will to one side.
‘I’ve spoken to the sergeants in my spot; they are all aware that Annie and Jake are to be teamed up and not separated at any cost. I’m pretty sure she couldn’t get a better bodyguard than Jake and we both know he’d never let Smith anywhere near her. We need people on the ground up there in case he’s staying in that area. Personally I think he’ll be somewhere between the two, but then again he could be anywhere. It’s anyone’s guess.’
‘Thank you, Cathy, I really do owe you one.’
‘No, you don’t. I needed a little excitement in my life. I just didn’t realise it.’
He walked off back to his office and Cathy made her way to the sergeant’s office to see Kav, who was in the middle of lecturing one of the new recruits. He looked at her and grinned; she saluted and then went to find her car. Last night had been the most excitement she’d had in years. She could get used to it.
1 January 1931
James approached the men who were waiting for him in the hall with trepidation. He was desperate to find this creature but terrified at the same time.
‘Can I just take this moment to thank you from the bottom of my heart? I suppose I should explain to you why I asked for guns. My wife heard a noise in the cellar last night and went to investigate hoping to find our son. What she saw was a large creature that she thinks may have been responsible for taking Joseph. I have no reason to disbelieve her. She does not have cause to lie. Eleanor doesn’t have an overactive imagination. If she says she saw something in the cellar, then she did, and now I want to go and find whatever it is and shoot it dead. Because if it took my son and scared my wife then it doesn’t deserve to live.’
Davey was shifting from foot to foot, looking scared and uncomfortable. Mitchell nodded his head in agreement with what James had said and the policeman looked so far out of his depth James wanted to tell him that they didn’t require his assistance. Nevertheless, if they did find a creature, he wanted him to be a witness to it and its destruction. James began to unbolt the padlocks and the atmosphere was so fraught with tension, if anyone had said boo it was possible Mitchell would have shot them.
James thought it only fair that he go first, so he did. The light was never bright enough to cast out all the shadows and he stood on the bottom step with the three men behind him while they listened for any noise. There was none, and James shone the lantern he was holding around. The cellar seemed empty, desolate. He strode towards the iron drain, which was the only way anything could get in or out, and waved the lantern over it. The hole looked empty but the grating wasn’t down properly. It had been moved. He turned to Davey.