Nine Elms (Kate Marshall #1)(105)

“Hello, Kate,” he said. “It’s been a while.”

Kate shook her head and took a step back. For a moment she wondered if she was dreaming. It wasn’t possible that he could be here in front of them, out of prison. “How? How?”

Peter smiled.

“How? What, Kate? How do I keep looking so young?” He looked to Joseph, who stood beside him grinning wildly, as if he were being paid a visit by Tom Cruise.

“How are you here? Where are we?” she said, pulling Jake close to her.

“Joseph here hatched the most genius plan. The best plans are always the simple ones. He used a helicopter air ambulance,” he said.

“The police will know he stole a helicopter,” said Kate, looking between them.

“No they won’t,” said Joseph, still grinning and starstruck. “CM Limited, my family’s company, owns and leases the helicopter, and we flew under the radar to the outskirts of London, where we landed on farmland. They’ll find it, but not for some time.”

“Is this my son?” asked Peter, suddenly taking an interest in Jake.

Kate was unable to speak as he moved closer. His eyes were the same brown color she remembered. His voice sounded the same.

“Don’t you have anything you want to say to me after all these years?”

Peter’s presence seemed to fill the tiny room. Kate looked at Joseph. He was smiling, and his eyes were bright. He was drinking this in, loving it. Peter came closer, toward Jake. Joseph lunged at Kate, grabbed her by the hair, and pulled her out of the storeroom, holding a knife to her neck.

“You don’t touch him!” she cried, craning her neck to keep her eyes on Jake. Peter went to him and put out his hand.

“You’re a good-looking boy. You have the same eye as your mother,” he said, indicating the starburst of orange in Jake’s eye. “I’m your dad.” Jake looked bewildered, hesitated, and shook his hand.

“No! Jake! No!” she cried. They looked at each other, and Jake seemed fascinated. This was what she had always feared, that they would meet and have this father-son connection. She fought against Joseph, but he held her tight, one hand on her hair and the other wrapped over her chest.

“Let me see your teeth,” said Peter. He leaned over and pulled Jake’s gums back. Jake stared back in shock as his straight, white teeth were exposed. “Have you been brushing twice a day?” Jake nodded. “Good lad.”

Peter let Jake go and turned back to Kate, stepping out of the storeroom. Kate hoped that he would close the door, shutting Jake safely away, but he didn’t. “Kate. You probably know that Joseph here is a fan of my work. He’s been paying homage to me. He’s quite the Peter Conway aficionado. He was quite creative, don’t you think? Although bad luck with victim number four.”

“I’m sorry that happened,” said Joseph, his voice hoarse against Kate’s cheek.

“How have you been communicating?” asked Kate.

“Toffees,” said Peter with a smile. “My dear mother hid the notes in toffees she brought in during visiting. I, in turn, placed my replies in empty pill casings that I stashed far up in my mouth between my teeth and gums. When she visits, I’m allowed to give her a peck on the cheek. And when I did, I spat my reply in the empty pill casing out in her ear. Devilishly simple.”

“How did Enid manage to get them out of the hospital?”

“She wore a fake hearing aid. She’d switch it between her ears, pushing the pill up inside it. They always used to give my poor mother the once-over, checking every orifice with a flashlight, but they never thought to check that hearing aid.”

Peter smiled and came up to her. He ran his hands over her body, squeezing her breasts and smoothing his hand between her legs.

“Are you checking me for weapons?”

“No. I just wanted to cop a feel.” He grinned. Joseph laughed, his mouth close to her head. She wanted to close her eyes and turn away, but she was trying to catch Jake’s eye as he stood inside the open storeroom. She flinched as Peter lifted her sweater and found the scar on her stomach.

“That’s healed up nicely,” he said, tracing the tip of his finger along the puckered, hard line of the scar tissue. He smiled and then smoothed her sweater back down. “Right. Joseph, you know I have places to be, so shall we start?”

“Yes,” said Joseph, his mouth still close to Kate’s ear.

Peter turned and went to Jake, grabbed him by the hair, and pulled him out of the storeroom kicking and shouting. Joseph followed with Kate.

“You don’t touch him,” cried Kate, panicking. “You don’t deserve to touch a hair on his head!”

Peter came up close to Kate. “You don’t shout at me,” he said. He slapped her hard around the face. Jake cried out. It was so hard that she almost passed out with the pain. “You’re hardly mother of the fucking year.”

There was a large van parked a few feet from the storeroom. Peter and Joseph pulled them around it, and she saw they were in a large warehouse. In the center was a bedroom, but not a real bedroom. It was constructed like a film set. It had three panels making up the walls, and each panel had a bracket behind it, keeping it upright.

“Recognize it, Kate?” asked Peter. Joseph dragged her toward it, and Peter pulled Jake by the arm.