My Heart Belongs To You: A Psycho Thriller (27 page)

Hanson felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle
, ‘
T
his
has to be
the
lead we are looking for
,
Jane.
’

‘
We feel the same here.
I’m sending you the postcode.
’

Hanson closed the line, paid at the counter and trotted to his car parked twenty metres away.
Logging in the postcode
,
he noted the estimated time was
forty-five
minutes
, but
he intended to make it
in
less
time
.
As he set
of
f,
his
Bluetooth
bleeped again.

‘
John
,
it’s Blue Eagle.
’

‘
What do you have for me
,
Sir
?’

‘
We came up with over a hundred matches for a Jaguar XJ6 with the partial that we had
.
I cross referenced it for any cars bought by companies
.’

‘
You’ve got something, I can tell
.’

‘
Dam
n right we’ve got
something.
Jewels of Distinction purchased a Jaguar XJ6
two years ago
.
The
owner
,
James Holt
,
made the selection personally
,
according to the dealership I spoke to just five minutes ago
.’

Hanson felt his stomach tighten
;
th
at
confirmed it.
Cupid was connected with
th
at
company.

‘
I’m on my way there now
,
Sir
.
ETA
is
thirty-eight
minutes.
Can you get
Turner
to send back up?
’

‘
He’s already on his way.
He should arrive
s
hortly after you.
Keep me posted
.
’

‘Roger that
,
Sir
.
’

Cupid hummed gently to the sounds of the love songs that
meant so much to him.
He ate his breakfast
as the wonderful music washed around him, reminding him of why he was on this mission,
and
why this quest was so worthy
of his time
.
At 10.38
a
.
m
.,
he stepped into his
shower and luxuriated as the st
eaming water cascaded over him, purifying him, preparing him for the day ahead, for the coupling of Tom and Karen.

…………
……………………………………………………………………………

Hanson pulled up
to the kerb
side in front of
‘
Jewe
l
l
e
ry of Distinction
’
at exactly 10.39 a
.
m.
Traffic had been heavy and a
dustcart
had refused to move as it loaded up outside of an old peoples
’
home halfway through his journey.
This was clearly not
an
outlet
for the general public
. There was
no shop window, no fancy stones on display
,
just an impressive pair of modern chrome and glass doors with a large brass plaque to one side bearing the company name.
Hanson waved the beeper at his people carrier as he covered the six metres to the chrome doors in quick purpos
e
ful strides.
Not
su
r
prisingly,
entry was by invitation only.
He pressed the
intercom and looked up at the c
amera above his head a
s
a
thin reedy fema
l
e voice came
through the grill within seconds.
‘Do you have an appoint
ment
,
Sir?
’

‘
No, I don’t
,
but I need to speak to James Holt
.’

‘
Mr
. Holt is not in today
,
S
ir
.
He
never works on Valentine
’
s
D
ay, something of a tradition
.’

Hanson replayed the words inside his head
he never works on Valentine
’
s
D
ay.
  ‘
M
a’am,
I can’t explain right now
,
but I need you to open the door and let me in.
’

There was silence for a few seconds before a male voice came through the intercom,
‘
What
is the nature of your bu
s
i
ness
,
S
ir
?’
C
risp, bus
i
ness like
,
slightly challenging.

‘
I have certain questions I need to ask
in
reference
to
Jame
s Holt
.
Now
please open the door
.
’ 
Hanso
n
studie
d
the lock on the door and reached inside his jacket
,
his hand closing around the butt of the S
ig
.

‘
Are you a police officer
,
Sir
?’

Hanson was about to pull out the
S
ig and blast the lock
,
when a sque
a
l of tyres behind him drew his attention.
He watched as the seventh cavalry made up of Richard
Turner
and half a dozen armed police exited a police car and a van.
He turned back to the intercom
, ‘
N
o
I’m not, but they are
,
’
he pointed behind him.

Two minutes later
,
Turner
was busy taking statements from James Holt
’
s secr
e
tary and the half a dozen other staff
,
ranging from the one security guard to the five jewel
le
ry workers who carried out ring and bracelet res
i
zing, resetting
of
stones, cleaning jewel
le
ry and the complicated procedure of gem cutting.

Hanson slipped away
,
entering
the inner sanctum of James
H
olt
’
s office.
On the face of
it,
just another office like thousands of other offices
,
but this had a feel about
it;
something Hanson couldn’t put his finger on
,
something inexplicable.
He sat in the
winged chair behind the desk
,
wondering
if
this was where Cupid sat,
and
if this was where he
planned his atrocities
. I
t was as that thought tumbled through his mind that Hanson looked down
at
the carpet and saw it.
It was the faintest of marks on the pile
.
A
mark that
would have escaped most people’s attention
,
but Hanson wasn’t most people
.
H
e
saw things differently than the average man and what he saw
th
ere
was an indication that something had swept across the face of this carpet on a regular arc, many, many times
. 
After a quick study of the bookcase
,
Hanson found the hidden spring lever
.
Five
seconds
later,
he was staring in disbelief at the heart of Brenda Stiles.
Ten minutes
late
r,
he left the office
,
having viewed some of the handy
work of Cupid
,
captured on the six DVDs he found on the shelf next to the
P
erspex
container.

Turner
saw him coming out,
and
saw the cold expression on his blanched features
.
‘
What is it
,
John
?’

‘
I’ll tell you later
.
What
have you got
?’

‘
James Holt seems to be our candidate.
’

‘
He’s not a candidate
,
Richard
.
He
is
Cupid
.’

Turner
’
s eyes slid across to the open office door,
‘
P
roof
?
’

Hanson simply nodded.

‘
Holt
’
s also got a gofer
,
John, guy called Adam Black
. He is a
huge mother from what I gather,
and he
drives a Jaguar XJ6.
’

‘
Where
’
s Holt now
.
We’re
running out of time
?’

‘
No
-
one seems to know
. None of the staff knows
why he never works on Valentine
’
s
D
ay or where he goes
,
but I do have his address
.’ 
Turner
handed Hanson a slip of paper.
  ‘
I could send a team over
the
re,
but
we, how shall I put this, we would be obliged to follow certain procedures.
’

Hanson fixed the detective with a rock steady gaze,
‘
I also have a certain procedure Richard and trust me I’m obliged to use it.
’ 
Hanson moved back into the office and came out with an object wrapped in a towel
that
he had taken from the small bathroom serving the office.

‘
Do I need to know what that is
,
John
?’
asked the detective
,
as Hanson headed for the chrome doors.

‘
It’s the heart of this whole affair
,
Richard
.
I suspect it’s where this whole thing started.
’

‘
Keep in touch
,
’
called
Turner
as Hanson disap
p
e
a
red through the door.

Hanson checked his watch
,
as he fed in Holt
’s address into his S
at
N
av
.
11.05
a
m
.
, seven hours and fifty
-
five minutes of life remaining.
He sped out of the road
,
heading for Cupid
’
s lair, travel time thirty
-
eight minutes.
He prayed Cupid would be there, prayed he could
end this
,
bring Tom and Karen home,
and
put an
end
to
this monster
’
s reign of terror.