Cold Revenge (Willis/Carter #6)(25)

Douglas went across and unlocked a metal shipping container that nestled between the cowshed and the stone-wall remnants of an old shepherd’s hut. He slipped between the layers of plastic curtain that separated the inside from out and the stagnant air hit him. It was the smell of human, existing in a pod of fear and filth. He flicked on the battery light and looked around. From the corner of the container, a pair of eyes blinked at him from behind the bars of a metal crate. Darren Slater, he was the quiet one, the shy one, the gay one. He was hardly older than Ash; the two of them had got on well. That had been a hook for Douglas. Ash was a lure, even though he didn’t know it. Darren was a perfect find for Douglas because he was so strong. In the two weeks he’d been locked up there, he’d managed to endure so much pain that Douglas felt a good deal of admiration and respect for him.

Douglas went across and opened the top of the cage and looped Darren’s bound wrists over a hook attached to a chain, and cranked a handle to winch the lad up and out of the cage. Darren was trembling violently, naked, cold and hurting. Douglas stood in front of him and toyed with the idea of letting him live a little longer but then he looked into his eyes and saw that Darren just wanted to die.

At the bungalow, Nicola was in bed with Cathy and Millie. The heat was stifling in the room: the smell of sex and sweat. Nicola scraped out lines of cocaine on a mirror on the bed. It was nearly eight in the evening now and the temperature hadn’t dipped below twenty-five degrees. The weather had gone mad with a heat-wave that caught everyone by surprise. Daytime temperatures had hit the mid-thirties.

Cathy got up and opened the door to the sitting room and walked through to stand at the open patio doors. She looked across at Ash’s van and called back to the others, ‘Shall we get Ash over for a foursome?’

Nicola laughed. ‘Poor Ash, he’s not happy with us at the moment.’

‘Heather makes him happy,’ said Millie, ‘they’re so cute together.’

‘Heather has a lot to learn about life,’ said Nicola as she watched Millie snort up more cocaine and then lie back on the bed to allow it to settle down her throat. Then she sat up again.

‘I’m going to make us cocktails,’ said Millie, jumping off the bed.

‘Go on then, not too strong, you have work tomorrow,’ said Nicola.

Millie clattered about the kitchen. She put on some music and started singing at the top of her voice.

‘You okay, Yvonne?’ Nicola asked as she reached over to stroke Yvonne’s arm. Yvonne was looking at the ceiling. She nodded but she didn’t answer.

‘How is your tattoo now?’

‘Itchy.’

‘Let me see it.’ Nicola took her wrists and examined each in turn. ‘That’s pretty good workmanship, if I say it myself.’

Yvonne sighed and turned her head to stare at the door. Millie was still singing.

‘Millie’s okay about it,’ said Yvonne.

‘Because, she understands it for what it was – nothing, he was nothing but a douche bag. You don’t need to worry about it any more, it’s over, forgotten.’

Yvonne started to cry. ‘I try to, but then I keep seeing his face.’

‘It’s the same with any person who’s gone through a trauma. You’re still in shock. Come here.’ Nicola held Yvonne close. They had had a lot of sex in the bungalow since the events of Saturday. All the women had needed some physical reassurance after it. They all needed Nicola to comfort them, even the ones who didn’t ask for it and didn’t seem to need it, like Cathy.

‘We are your family here, Yvonne, you belong here with us, and we’re always going to look after you.’

Millie shouted out from the kitchen.

‘Shall we get Gavin round?’

Nicola rolled her eyes as she looked at Yvonne with a smile; Yvonne smiled back and whispered, ‘She’s so obsessed.’

Yvonne shouted back to Millie, ‘This is a girls’ love-in, we don’t need him. No boys allowed.’

Cathy was still standing naked at the patio doors. She was watching Ash’s van.

Nicola came to stand beside her, to run her fingers over her back.

‘Incy wincy spider . . .’ She kissed Cathy’s shoulders. Cathy didn’t respond, she was still staring at the van. She could see Ash watching her. He was on his phone, his face was lit up. ‘What’re you looking at?’

‘Ash, he’s up to something. I think he’s scared of us.’

‘And so he should be. We are invincible. We are the warrior women.’

Cathy didn’t answer. Nicola knew what Cathy thought of her; she thought she was not very bright, she thought she was naive and she knew the only reason Cathy came around when Douglas wasn’t there was to leave her mark, to establish her presence, to be what Douglas would want her to be, dominant. She, out of all of them, completely understood what was happening. If only Nicola didn’t feel the knives being sharpened, she would share Douglas with Cathy, but she knew that was not what Cathy wanted.

‘My beautiful little spider about to mutate into a butterfly, aren’t you?’ She walked her fingers up Cathy’s back and made her shiver.

Cathy turned to look at her with a frown. ‘Do you mean a caterpillar? They are the ones that change into butterflies.’ Nicola smiled. ‘What will happen to Ash?’ asked Cathy.