My Heart Belongs To You: A Psycho Thriller (28 page)

…………
……………………………………………………………………………

Cupid left his house at 11.42 a
.
m
., later
than he had planned
,
but he had wanted to he
a
r certain tracks a second time befor
e
he left.
Now
,
he was feeling mellow,
and
ready for the day ahead
,
with the culmination of the coupling of Tom and Karen to lo
ok for
ward to. As he drove sedately out of his road
,
he had to swerve to avoid
a
black people carrier speeding along at breakneck speed
,
but he refused to allow a crazy driver
to
spoil his day
.
This
was his day, Cupid
’
s day.

Chapter Twenty F
ive

14 F
ebruary
-
11
:
43

(
L
ife r
emaining 7 hrs 17 mins)

‘Happened again
,
Sir, missed Black by seconds.’

Hanson pulled up outside of Cupid
’
s address at 11.43 a
.
m.
Locking the
doors,
he trotted to the front door and rang the bell
with
his hand inside his jacket on the butt of his
S
ig.
He waited
,
the adrenaline pumping freely into his blood sy
s
tem
,
as he willed
the door to open.

‘
You just missed him
,
love
,
’
a voice from behind him
came
.

Hanson wheeled around
,
his hand staying under his jacket.

‘
Left about two minutes ago
,
’
continued the chirpy woman leaning over the party fence.

‘
Do you know where he’s gone
?’
asked Hanson
,
with no real hope of an answer.

‘
Couldn’t tell you
,
love
.
Don’t
really speak to Mr
.
Holt much
.
He
keeps himself to himself does that one
,
’
she chuckled.

‘
Do you know what
kind of
car he drives
?’
asked Hanson hopefully.

‘
Yes dear
,
’
she beamed
,
‘
A
red one
.’

Hanson smiled we
a
kly and walked past the woman
,
hitting speed dial as he walked back toward the people carrier
.  ‘
Richard
,
it’s John
.
I missed him by a couple of minutes.
See if you can get any information from the computer in his office
.
We’re
looking for a
rent
al
property
,
if things follow the same MO as p
r
evious years,
and
something isolated, probably been rented for at least six months
.’

‘
In all honesty that’s a long shot
,
John
.
We
tried tracing that information over the last six years with the previous victims and ended up in a maze of bogus companies set up in countries around the world
, countries
where information is like trying to grab hold of smoke.
’

‘
Do what you can
,
Richard
.
Also
see if you can find out what
type
car he’s driving
.
Maybe
you could feed the information to your eye in the sky boys and the cit
y’s
CCTV network.
Only information I have is that it’s red
.’

‘
It’s
r
ed
?’

‘
Yeah, yeah
,
I know, cuts it down to a couple of million.
Do the best you can
,
Richard
.’

‘
On it
,
John
.’

Hanson hesitated befor
e
he asked the next question,
‘
H
ave
you seen those DVDs in Holt
’
s office
?’

There was a slight delay from
Turner
,
‘
Y
eah
, I saw them.
Make sure you get this bastard
and
use whatever procedure you have to
.’

‘
Count on it.
I need the address for Adam Black
,
Richard
.’

‘
You need to take care with this guy
.
From
what I can gather
,
the man is built like the p
ro
verbial brick outhouse.
’

‘
Like I said, I need his address
.’

‘
O
k
ay
h
old
,
’
instructed
Turner
.

Two minutes later
,
Hanson was heading for a small
terrace house in North London.  H
e had a couple of questions he wanted to put to Adam Black
,
ETA 12.45 p
.
m.

…………
……………………………………………………………………………

Adam Black also had his own routine for Valentine
’
s
D
ay, in fact most days.
It involved a massive breakfast of
ce
real with
h
oney
,
covered in skimmed milk, followed by four poached eggs on four slices of whole wheat bread and a plate of pasta and chicken.
All of which was washed down with a protein shake.
There followed a punishing session at his local
g
ym four miles away between 7 a
.
m
.
and 9 a
.
m.
This routine never varied
,
even though he often worked out
un
til 2 a
.
m
.
in the morning.
Other hardcore clients at the gym called him the animal behind his back
.
That’s
where they felt safe.
Most of the regulars remembered a bloody scene when a giant of a power lifter had made fun of Adam
Blac
k’s
lopsided smile.
There followed a three week stay in hospital for the power lifter
,
while his broken ribs mended, fragmented cheekbones were set and internal bleeding brought under control.

In truth,
B
lack was a walking chemistry set
.
The
anabolic steroids he took on a daily
basis
mimicked the body’s natural testosterone
,
causing acne on his face, chest and back
,
as well as a multitude of side effects
,
i
ncreased aggression being just one
.
Other
more dangerous effects included the enlargement of the left ventricl
e
of the heart
,
which could lead on to heart d
i
sease
,
further ag
g
r
a
vated by the fact that the blood chemistry often changed with e
x
ces
s
ive use of the drug.
The increased sexual desire it created within him was in complete opposition to the fact that the drugs he took
,
actually shrank his testicles, a fact he was aware of
,
but chose to ignore.

At 10 a
.
m
.
,
the mountain that was Adam Black was in a small greasy spoon
just
ten
minutes’ drive
from the gym
.  H
e liked
it
th
ere
,
because they gave him huge portions, they
lik
ed
him there.
Truth was they feared him there
.
He
had raged around like a bull elephant one day
,
when he found a hair i
n his scrambled eggs, threatening
to feed the chef through the food blender.
Now they smile
d
for England when he walk
ed
in,
load
ed
h
is plate with whatever he ordered
,
but only ever charged him
the standard price
.
Their
benign smiles
remained
in place
until
he le
ft
.
On this particular morning
,
his mobile rang at
exactly 10.15 a
.
m
,
as a fork full of scramble
d
eggs was about to
be
shovel
l
ed into his gaping mouth.
 
Blac
k checked the
screen
;
he knew it would be him.
‘
Good morning
,
Sir
.
’

‘
Are
there
any
problems,
Adam
?’

Cupid
did this every year, ‘No sir
,
there are no problems
.
I’ll be there at

2
.30
p
.
m.
’

‘
This is going to be our finest achievement
,
Adam, a moment that will leave its mark,
and
its message in the sands of time.
’

Black wasn’t sure about any message
,
but James Hol
t
believed it and he wasn’t about to rain on his parade,
‘
Y
es
,
Sir, a special moment.
’

‘
The eyes of the world will be on us
,
Adam
.
Perhaps
at last they will understand.
’

Black wasn’t sure about welcoming the eyes of the world
,
but his thoughts didn’t really matter.
James Holt believed it, wanted it
,
and so it would be.
  ‘
Yes
,
S
ir
,
I’m sure you
’
r
e
right.
’

‘
I’ll see you at 4 p
.
m
.
, ensure all is ready.
’

‘
You can rely on me
,
Sir.
’