Cold as Ice (Willis/Carter #2)(25)

Danielle smiled. ‘You can make it up as you go along, Tracy, honestly. Jackson is usually in bed by seven-thirty but just do your best.’ Tracy nodded. ‘Don’t look so worried – honestly, he’s an easy kid.’ Danielle went in to kiss Jackson and give him a hug before coming back to Tracy. ‘Double-lock the door and put the chain across when I’ve gone,’ she said and then she raced out of the door.

‘Mummy?’ Jackson looked ready to cry. His eyes were on Tracy as she came back into the lounge. Tracy smiled and tried to look confident.

‘Mummy will be back in a little while, Jackson. She’s gone out to see some friends; that’s nice, isn’t it? We are going to have such fun, aren’t we?’ He nodded but his eyes were wide and full of fast-forming tears. ‘Come and show Nanny what else you can make with your Duplo.’ Once she felt he’d settled she left him and went into the bathroom and began running a bath. She was running it through in her head: anything she’d ever heard about small children and bath and bedtime routines. She finished running the bath and was on her way in to get Jackson when a banging on the door stopped her in her tracks.

Someone’s flat hand began thumping hard against the front door.

‘Hello?’ Tracy called out. There was a glance between Tracy and Jackson. He watched her from his seat on the lounge floor. She stood, frozen in the hallway. Her heart was racing.

‘Danielle? Open the door!’ someone shouted.

‘What do you want? Danielle’s not here.’

Tracy edged forward towards the door to double-lock it. She’d been so keen to distract Jackson when Danielle had first left that she’d not done it. She didn’t want to panic. She didn’t want to scare Jackson.

‘Tell Manson to get out here.’

‘I don’t know who you’re talking about.’

‘We only want to talk to Manson. Open the door.’

‘Go away; there’s no one here by that name.’ Tracy watched as Jackson put down his Duplo and crept towards her. She held up her hand to make him stay where he was. ‘I’ll call the police if you don’t go.’

Tracy screamed as the door flew open and crashed against the hallway wall and she was pushed backwards. Three men burst through. She rushed to pick up Jackson.

‘Get out! Who do you think you are? Get out now . . .!’

One of them came to stand in front of her as she held tightly onto Jackson.

‘Where is he?’

Tracy tried to stay back from him but he was in her face and shouting. She was trying to stay calm as Jackson began crying and clinging to her so tightly that his fingers were like needles in her arms. Tracy shook her head.

‘Who? Who is it you want?’

‘Manson? Where is he?’

‘I don’t know who you’re talking about. I don’t know anybody called Manson.’

‘Where’s Danielle?’

‘She’s out. I told you.’

Tracy shrieked as she was pushed into the lounge and then she and Jackson were forced backwards onto the sofa where they were ordered to stay. Tracy pulled Jackson onto her lap and they sat and listened to the flat being ransacked.

I can’t sit here and do nothing . . . thought Tracy. Her bag was the other side of the sofa where she’d put it when she was going to bath Jackson. Tracy kept one eye on the door to the lounge as she edged closer to it, still managing to hold on tightly to Jackson. She slid her hand over the side of the sofa and reached inside the bag for her phone. In one movement one of the men leapt into the lounge and snatched it out of her hands and threw it to the floor. She heard it crack as it landed on the wood veneer. He kicked it across the room and it slid beneath the television stand. She tried to shrink back into the sofa as he pushed Jackson to one side and pulled her up by the arm and shouted in her face.

‘Tell Manson he has two days. We hear nothing? We’re coming back. You listening?’ He breathed an inch away from Tracy’s face. ‘You tell the police? Then . . . we’re coming for you and him.’ He pointed to Jackson then jabbed Tracy’s chest hard to make sure she understood. After that the men left as dramatically as they had arrived.

Tracy rushed to the door to lock it with the remaining locks and she slipped the safety chain across and came back to Jackson, who was looking just about ready to start howling. Tracy couldn’t stop herself shaking.

‘Okay. Okay.’ She repeated the word to reassure herself and see how it sounded. She tried it on Jackson. ‘It’s okay, Jackson. We’re not hurt, are we? It could have been a lot worse, couldn’t it? We’re okay now. She sat beside him on the sofa and hugged him to her while at the same time looking at the mess and wondering if it had all really happened. Should she ring the police now? She kept thinking about what the man had threatened. Would he come for her and Jackson? He didn’t look like he’d think twice about slitting their throats. No – she wouldn’t be calling anyone, not just yet. They were gone, a few things broken in the flat probably – but she and Jackson were okay. She needed to ask Danielle first before doing anything. What did she know about this world? What did she know about any of it? All she knew was that Jackson was a little boy who was very scared right now and he depended on her as the adult to look after him. She would stay calm and talk to Danielle when she got back. Yes, she told herself, that was what she’d do – tidy up and wait for Danielle to come home and then tell her what had happened and let her deal with it.