The Next Girl(Detective Gina Harte #1)(83)

He turned to the side. ‘We can’t do this.’

‘We were doing it alright the other day.’

‘Brooke, I don’t want to argue with you. Besides, the social worker is in the kitchen. I thought you understood,’ he whispered.

‘I do, I do. I just… I don’t know why I came. It was stupid.’

‘Look, a lot has happened…’ He pushed back his wet hair with his fingers, wondering what to say next. On the TV, a mid-morning debate was in full swing about whether further cuts to the NHS budget would cost even more lives. He grabbed the remote control and turned it down.

‘I should go.’

‘Shh—’ He stepped in front of Brooke as he heard a cry, followed by a thud, coming from kitchen. Was his overtired mind playing tricks on him? ‘Hello?’ he called. The house was silent. ‘Devina?’ His heart rate sped up with every step he took through the hallway. He felt Brooke’s trembling hand on his back as she followed.

He pushed the kitchen door and inhaled with a force that almost made him faint. Brooke gasped. Standing in front of him was a damp and dishevelled man, gripping Isobel in his arms. Devina was slumped beside the chair she’d been sitting on, unconscious, with blood dripping from her head.

He recognised the man, but it took a few seconds to place him. The pub. He’d seen the cellar keeper on only one occasion, all those years ago, when he’d made his own enquiries into his wife’s disappearance.

‘She’s mine. I’ve come for her,’ the man said as he took a step closer to the back door. As he turned, Luke spotted the knife pointing directly into Isobel’s stomach. Luke took a step forward, and the intruder stepped back, squelching as he did. A trail of wet footsteps led from the back door to the baby basket.

‘You work at the Angel, don’t you?’ Luke said as he stared at the man. ‘I know you don’t want to hurt her. Please, just pass her to me.’

‘Hurt her! She’s going to a better place. She belongs with her mother and father.’ Isobel stirred in his arms but didn’t wake. Luke trembled as he watched Debbie’s baby in the grip of this madman.

‘Where’s Debbie? Where’s my wife, you prick?’ he yelled as he took another step forward.

‘I’ll take her now if you come one step further,’ the man shouted. Luke stepped back and exhaled as the man moved the knife away.

‘Why have you done this to us? Where’s my wife?’ he said, his voice cracking with emotion. He’d become attached to little Isobel over the past few days. He stared at her innocent face. All he wanted to do was walk over to her, take her away from him and protect her.

The man headed towards the door, smiling his revolting smile. ‘I loved her more than anything, more than you did. I treated her like she was a princess, but she was an ungrateful bitch.’

‘Loved,’ Luke said. ‘What have you done to her?’ He stood helplessly in front of the kitchen door, his gaze on the knife.

‘Luke?’ Brooke reached for his arm and began to sob.

The man began pacing by the door. ‘I’ve done nothing but the right thing. I loved her and you didn’t. She knew about your other woman. Your whore. I once knew a whore, you know. She was the first girl. She got what was coming to her.’ Jeff stared at Brooke and grinned. ‘Debbie knew everything before she died, I made sure of it. I’m the only person to have ever loved her wholly and truly.’

Luke ran his shaking hands through his hair and wiped a tear from his eyes. He placed his hand on the worktop to try and regain his balance. Deborah was gone. His wife’s killer was standing in front of him, threatening the life of his wife’s baby. He had to do something, but what? The man was pointing the knife towards Isobel’s heart, muttering to himself as he stared out of the window.

‘The time has come. Try to stop me and little Florence will die here without her mother. Let me go and they will be together forever. Get back.’ Luke took a small step back into the doorway. ‘Out of the room!’ the man shouted. ‘Now. Both of you.’ Luke took another step back into the hallway and Brooke ran behind him.

Luke knew he’d have to leave by the garden gate. Maybe he could stop him out the front. He heard the kitchen door open, then he heard the sound of sirens fast approaching. The back door slammed shut. Luke peered into the kitchen. The man was still there. Isobel began to scream as he paced up and down, holding the knife to her little chest. The phone in the living room rang.

‘Answer it,’ the man yelled, sweat dripping down his face.

He dashed to the phone and held it to his ear. As he waited for someone to speak, he watched as several police cars pulled up and a police van arrived. An ambulance followed. ‘Listen to me, Luke. Is he there?’

Luke nodded at Detective Harte, who was standing in his front garden with her mobile to her ear. Isobel’s screams filled the house.

‘Tell them to leave or I will kill her, I swear,’ the man said from the kitchen. ‘Shut up!’ he yelled at the baby.

‘He said you need to leave. He has a knife held against Isobel’s chest and Devina is lying unconscious on the kitchen floor. He will kill Isobel if you don’t all leave.’

Gina placed her hand on her forehead as she paced in the garden. ‘Can you put him on the phone?’