Jessica double-checked she had the right digits as each car pulled away, then stood and walked back to Adam. She was momentarily confused as the bench he had been on was empty but then she saw him walking away from her towards the play park. Jessica followed quickly, then realised he was talking on his phone. She slowed her pace, although the pitter-patter of the rain was preventing her from hearing anything. As Adam turned and noticed her, his eyes wide with surprise, she heard him say abruptly, ‘. . . anyway, I can’t talk now. I’ve got to go’, before stabbing the phone to hang up and pocketing the device.
‘Who was that?’ Jessica asked, trying not to sound as if she was accusing him of anything.
‘No one, just a marketing call.’ Adam locked eyes with her and she knew he was lying. Before she could reply, he added breezily: ‘Did you get the numbers?’
As Jessica stumbled over a response, he stretched out his hand for her to hold and they turned to head home.
13
The killer had endured a mixed week. What he hadn’t expected was for Kayleigh to spend almost seven days indoors following the discovery of Oliver’s body. He hadn’t necessarily thought she would return to work straight away but his plans had been put back by the fact she seemingly did not answer the door either. A few days before, he had watched a postman ring the bell three times before resting on the glass to write out a card and then leaving that. The killer knew the woman was in, yet no one else would have realised that unless they were watching as closely as he had been.
The only time she had left was to go to the local shop. Even though he had watched her every move, there hadn’t been a time when no other pedestrians were around. He had thought about simply smashing his way in for a second time but discounted it, assuming she would be far more alert. One quick mobile call from her would be enough to get her taken to safety and ensure he would not have his opportunity.
Instead, he watched and waited. His vantage point was a little unconventional, the long-closed public toilet block a few hundred metres from Kayleigh’s house. Although it was uncomfortable, it did at least give him protection. Apart from the odd drunk looking for somewhere to stay when it was raining – and they soon disappeared when he told them what he would do to them if they didn’t – the killer had the place to himself. Although he could not watch the house twenty-four hours a day, he knew there must soon come a time when Kayleigh went back to work, giving him the perfect opportunity.
Each morning, he would return to the block and watch until lunchtime. If she had not left by then, he assumed it would be one more day. Finally, she broke her isolation, the killer observing as she stepped nervously out of the house just as the sun was coming up. He could see her breath flitting into the air as she tested the front door handle half-a-dozen times after locking it. He didn’t know exactly what shift she was working – but had found out where she worked by checking through her cupboards after leaving Oliver. The mass of carrier bags from one supermarket under the sink had given him a clue and the nametag she kept in her bedside cabinet almost confirmed it. The fact she wrote ‘work earlies’ or ‘work lates’ on a branded supermarket calendar, coupled with a spare uniform in her wardrobe, gave him as much verification as he could hope for. He had thought it would be harder, but hunting for payslips or anything more official hadn’t been needed.
As she finally seemed to accept the door was locked, the killer quickly left the abandoned building and jogged out of sight towards the pavement. By the time she was back in his eye line, Kayleigh was hurrying away from him towards the main road. He walked as quickly as he could without drawing attention and gradually gained on her. As she turned a corner, he ran to catch up, slowing back down to a walk as he reached the point where she’d turned.
The distance was barely fifty metres as the killer pulled his hat down and then buried his hands in his pockets. This was about figuring out exactly what ‘work earlies’ entailed and discovering her method of transport.
Kayleigh checked nervously over her shoulder a few times but he kept his stride, making sure his matched hers and that he didn’t gain, except for when he wanted to.
He followed her across the main road and, as she leant against the glass of a bus stop, the killer slowed his pace until he had no choice but to halt at the same place. Although he didn’t think she would recognise him, he did at least have the cover of the other four people also waiting. While Kayleigh, second in line, was bobbing nervously from one foot to the other, he waited at the back and was soon joined by more people.
The killer took great pleasure watching the woman touching her ear and scratching her head nervously. She pulled her coat tighter and continued to stare at the ground until a bus pulled up next to them. After waiting until she had made a move, he slipped onto the bus, taking time to fumble with change to ensure Kayleigh had found a seat before he turned. She was sitting three rows from the back, staring at the rail in front and refusing to acknowledge anyone around her, or the surroundings outside the window.
Being careful not to risk any sort of possible recognition, he walked towards the back of the bus while looking out of the opposite window and then slid into the seat behind her. He saw Kayleigh’s body tense as she felt his presence. Her jumpy movements were so satisfying that he wanted to lean in and smell her. He could practically feel the fear in the air and took enormous delight from the fact he knew he had caused it. It had been quite an effort to find out where she lived, let alone Ellie Sexton, whose name change had not helped at all. Luckily, people’s carelessness with social networks and open access to the electoral roll through the Internet had made things easier than he could have imagined. It had still taken plenty of work but had not been as impossible as he first thought it might be.
As the bus made its various stops, Kayleigh did not move until they were outside the neon glowing sign that matched her uniform. The killer waited until she was off and then stood, ringing the bell again to ensure the driver did not pull away. He stumbled along the aisle and muttered a ‘thanks’, before following Kayleigh, making sure there was a greater distance than before. He knew she was untouchable at work but that wasn’t the point.
He first spent half an hour on a bench at the far end of the supermarket’s car park, waiting for the sun to fully come up. After that, he had a cup of tea in their cafe, before spending time browsing the store as aimlessly as he could. He bought a couple of items, paying with cash, then left and returned to the bench. He knew it would be a long day, but then it was always going to be. You had to make some sacrifices for the greater good, and this was his.
He didn’t know how long a shift Kayleigh might work but he could guess it would either be six, eight, or ten hours. With the time he had wasted inside the store, over two of those had already passed.
Although he thought about leaving and instead going to wait near Kayleigh’s home, he didn’t want to risk her heading somewhere else, certainly without his knowledge. Instead he sat and waited until, finally, the woman emerged not long after lunchtime. The man dumped his coat in the bin and put on the one he had bought in the store, removing his hat. While it had been easy to stay relatively out of sight on the bench away from the store, he didn’t want to be recognised by Kayleigh on the return journey.