Lying Beside You (Cyrus Haven #3)(98)

I interrupt her. ‘Lilah Hooper and Evie aren’t at the house. The front door was wide open and there were traces of blood in the hallway.’

‘Where’s Elias?’

‘No sign of him.’

‘Shit!’

My phone is ringing. I don’t recognise the number. I put Lenny on hold.

Cassie’s voice, ‘Don’t let the police kill him.’





66


Evie


The cold is leaking into my chest. It began at my fingertips and my toes and has slowly moved along my arms and legs, until I cannot stop my teeth from chattering. I tell myself I have been in colder places, darker places. I’ve been hungry and frightened and have listened to a man, my friend, being tortured to death. But I was always hiding, never held.

I call out, softly at first, ‘Is anybody there?’

I listen to the sounds. Water dripping. A crow calling. A tree creaking in the wind. In the distance I hear traffic, or maybe it’s a train, but no voices, or footsteps. No sign of life.

I can just make out the edges of a covered window because light is leaking through cracks where the nailed boards don’t quite meet. And there is another strip of light beneath a closed door.

The last thing I remember is hearing Lilah scream before I blacked out. Squeezing my eyes shut, I try to recall something more, and another image flashes into my mind. Elias is leaning over me. His mouth is on mine. I taste blood on his lips and smell his sour breath and the scent of cologne.

Another image. Lilah on the floor lying next to me. I touch her hand, thinking she might be dead, but her skin is warm. I press two fingers against her wrist, feeling for a pulse … she’s alive. I try to remember more, but the cold keeps snatching the memories away.

Where am I? Sitting on an unswept concrete floor with my back to a metal pipe that rises to the ceiling. Ropes are wrapped around my arms and wrists. Another is looped around my neck. If I lower my chin it cuts off my air.

‘I’m thirsty,’ I say. ‘Can you hear me?’

I listen. Nothing.

‘I need to use the toilet,’ I say, louder this time.

I wonder if Lilah can hear me.

‘Hey! Are you there?’

If I’m alone, I’m going to shout this place down. I’d do it now, but it goes against my every instinct. When I was hiding in the secret room, a child in the dark, a mouse inside the walls, I couldn’t make a sound. I tried to stop breathing. I could hear them calling my name, searching for me, ripping holes in the plasterboard walls, tearing up carpets and floorboards, overturning beds.

Shuffling on my bottom, I see how far I can move. Only a few inches either way. I stretch out my legs, one at a time, sweeping them across the rough concrete. My toe touches something soft. I pull away, thinking it might be a body, but stretch out again. It’s a blanket. I pull it closer.

Using my feet, I manoeuvre the blanket over my knees and then to my thighs but can’t lift it any higher without my hands. The effort has warmed me up.

Footsteps. The door swings open and a shadow fills the frame. He has a torch that shines in my eyes. I turn my head away.

‘Elias?’





67


Cyrus


Cassie is waiting for me when I pull up outside the Arncliffe Centre. She slips into the passenger seat and buckles her seatbelt, unwilling to make eye contact. I move off and drive the first few minutes in silence, waiting for her to speak. Expecting it.

‘When did you realise?’ she asks.

‘The obituary called you Cassandra. Your sister changed her name when she married Rennie. Before that she was Jolene Wright. Patrice is the brother-in-law you were worried about. You said he was a mess.’

‘I didn’t think he’d do this,’ she whispers. ‘Until you told me Maya once worked as a nurse, I didn’t even consider the possibility that she could be one of the nurses who …’

She seems to bite off the statement, swallowing the rest.

‘What about Daniela Linares?’ I ask.

Cassie doesn’t answer.

‘Where is Patrice?’

‘He’s been living in his food truck.’

‘Where?’

‘He moves around.’

‘What about a phone number?’

‘His mobile is turned off.’

‘How do you contact him?’

‘I can’t. I’ve tried. The last time I saw him was at the funeral.’

She is hugging her knees, pressing her chin between them. I am driving into Nottingham, heading to Radford Road station.

‘What does he want?’ I ask.

‘The truth.’

‘He knows the truth. The nurses made a mistake.’

‘They lied to protect each other.’

‘They raised the alarm. They tried to save the babies.’

Cassie’s eyes spark with anger. ‘They killed Oliver. They were negligent. Somebody should have paid a price.’

‘Like Maya?’

She stops and takes a deep breath. ‘No. Never. Not like that.’

There is a pleading tone to her voice when she begins again.

‘My sister was one of the kindest, warmest, most beautiful people you could ever meet. All she ever wanted was to meet someone like Patrice and have a family. When Oliver was born, it was like a dream had come true. I had never seen her so happy. And when he died, I had never seen grief consume someone like that.