Read The Room on the Second Floor Online
Authors: T A Williams
The door opened and Cocker rushed back in. He came across to Roger and clapped him on the shoulder.
‘Well done. Is she all right? Did you hear her? And the man, did you recognise his voice? Know who he is?’
Roger had worked that out, halfway through the call. That crazy, vicious little bastard.
‘Yes, I do. At least Linda’s still all right. I heard her voice in the background. And he said he saw the police arrive, so he must be very close, somewhere here in the house.’ His mind was whirling, desperately trying to think of where the kidnapper might be.
‘So you did recognise him, then? Who is he?’
Cocker’s voice cut into Roger’s musings. He collected himself. ‘His name is Edgar Lean. He is one of my PhD students. At least, he was.’
‘One of your students? Trying to kill you?’ This was every bit as weird to the inspector as some of the things he had seen up in the Salon. But, there would be time to work out the why later on. For now, what mattered was to find out where Lean was, and to rescue the professor’s fiancée.
‘You say you reckon he’s here, in the house?’
Roger nodded.
‘Right then.’ Cocker pulled the radio from his breast pocket. Before he pressed Transmit, he looked across at Roger. ‘As long as you can keep him talking, Linda is safe. Do your best to keep him on the line. Tell him anything. Promise him anything. I’ll get my men to do a systematic search, room by room. I’m sure Mr Scott is right. That brick came from above, so we’ll concentrate on the second floor. My men have already started up there. Time is of the essence.’
‘I’ll do my?’ Before Roger could say more, the telephone rang again. He nodded to the inspector and picked it up.
‘Try to stop being sick this time, or else she will be more than sick. Got it, Dalby? Now, tell all the other people in the room to leave, including all the police. Yes, I know exactly what is happening in there. Do it now or Linda will drown in her own blood.’ Roger had no doubt he was dealing with a person who was completely unhinged. He sounded capable of anything. Roger shouted at the others to get out. The police sergeant looked across at the inspector, who thought for a moment and then, reluctantly, waved them out. The inspector’s final words were a whispered, ‘Keep him talking.’ And then they all left.
‘They’ve all gone, including the police. Can you hear me, Lean? They’ve gone.’
A shadow detached itself from the shelter of a chimney stack, just beyond the lighted window. Duggie followed its every move. As it approached the illuminated area, he saw who it was. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Rachel Turner was naked, all bar some ludicrously tiny underwear. The light from the window reflected on her pale skin, making her a large and unmissable target. Once again, Duggie found himself thinking nostalgically of his little Heckler and Koch with the cut-down barrel. However, even without a weapon, this one would be easy to stop.
She was walking with difficulty. Presumably she had hurt herself as she climbed onto the roof. Serves her right, he thought to himself. The image of the terrified girl who had been abused by her, flashed cross his mind. He would enjoy giving this psycho a good slapping. But, he stopped himself, Rachel Turner was not his target. At least, not yet. What he wanted was to know if the kidnapper was up here as well. And, along with him, Linda. The only person who might know this was Rachel Turner. She had been up here long enough. If there was anybody else on the roof, she would know.
He slipped away from his position against the wall and crept towards her. By now, the light from the bedroom had compromised her night vision. She wouldn’t be able to see anything outside the radius of the window. He knew the same would happen to him, so he ran the last few yards. With one foot, he kicked her legs out from underneath her. She didn’t have time to cry out before she found herself sprawled on the frozen roof, Duggie’s hand over her mouth, and his knee in her back.
‘Rachel, listen carefully.’ He kept his voice low, his tone insistent. This is about more than just you, Rachel. I need to know something. Something very, very important. Do you understand?’ To emphasise his point, he dug his knee down between her shoulder blades. He felt her squirm, and saw her head nod.
‘I’m going to release my hand from your mouth now, Rachel. If you make so much as the slightest sound, I will grab your hair and slam your face onto the lead. That will be very painful and will break your nose. Do you understand?’ Again she nodded.
He took his hand away from her mouth and felt her gasp for breath. She heeded his warning and stayed silent. He leant closer to her.
‘Now, all I need to know is whether there is anybody else up here on the roof. You’ve been here a good half hour. Have you seen anybody else?’ As he spoke, he realised that she was shivering all over. Her skin was cold to the touch. Borderline hypothermic, by the feel of her. For a moment he found himself wondering if Paddy would have shared his diagnosis.
‘No, nobody.’ She could hardly get the words out. Her teeth were chattering uncontrollably.
He tried again. ‘Seen nobody, heard nothing?’
‘No, nothing.’
Right, that ruled out the roof as the kidnapper’s hiding place. He lifted his weight from her and stood up. She lay where he had felled her.
‘You’re freezing, Rachel. Come back inside and we’ll get everything sorted out.’ He didn’t have time to waste on her for now. He left her lying there. The broken window to Whiplash was wide open. He climbed back inside and made his way along the corridor to the security door.
The constable on guard turned towards him as the door opened. He relaxed as he saw Duggie.
‘Anything happening through there?’
‘I think you’ll be getting a visit from a very cold lady very shortly. You might need a blanket.’ He left the reception area and went out on the landing. The corridor to the, as yet, undeveloped east wing of the house was swarming with police. He spotted Inspector Cocker, accompanied by a squad of uniformed police officers.
‘Anything I can do to help?’
Cocker turned and flashed him a smile. ‘No thanks. We are checking the rooms up here one by one. Nothing so far.’
‘The roof is clear.’
The inspector looked across at him. ‘Clear?’
‘I thought I had better go up and check whether the kidnapper might be hiding up there. All I found was a woman in her underwear.’ Seeing the expression on the inspector’s face, he explained. ‘Rachel Turner. A very cold Rachel Turner. She tells me she hasn’t seen any movement up there on the roof. I am inclined to believe her.’
‘Thanks for doing that, Mr Scott. But it could have been dangerous.’
‘I can look after myself.’
I bet you can
, the inspector thought. He had made a few discreet enquiries about the occupants of the manor, Duggie included. Ten years’ service in the Marines. Part of the time spent with the SAS in Hereford. A string of medals and commendations, but no details recorded. He knew they didn’t publish that sort of thing. Yes, he was probably better equipped for this kind of situation than his own police officers.
On the roof above, unbeknown to everybody in the house below, Rachel Turner pulled herself to her feet. She wiped the blood from her knees and straightened up. The light from the Whiplash room beckoned, promising blessed warmth. But she was past rational thought. She turned and staggered off at an ungainly run, back down the roof towards the east end. She was muttering over and over again to herself. ‘Bastard, bastard, bastard.’
Lean’s voice was getting more and more loud.
‘Did you know my research grant has been withdrawn since you left? Seems the foundation don’t think much of my ideas. That’s all your doing, Professor Bastard!’ The last words were delivered in a hysterical scream. ‘You sod off and leave me high and dry. And you get to have Linda. I know you did it deliberately to spite me. I’ll never forgive you for ruining my life.’
His screams were coming through the receiver so loud, Roger had to hold it away from his ear. The man was definitely off his head.
‘But I know how to ruin yours, starting with the love of your life. If she’s not going to be mine, she’s not going to be anybody’s…’
His voice was suddenly cut short. There was the sound of a horrific thud at the other end of the line. This was followed by a crash of breaking glass. No voices, no screams, no shouts. Roger stopped breathing, waiting desperately to know what had happened to Linda.
Then, faintly, through the receiver, he heard a rustling sound, like a weight being dragged across the floor.
Oh God, not a body, Linda’s body
. Roger almost screamed out loud. The noise slowly got louder as it approached the telephone. Then he heard the most beautiful sound in the world. It was Linda’s voice, very indistinct, no doubt through a gag, but still unmistakably Linda.
‘Roger, Roger. I’m all right, but I think they are dead.’
The scene that greeted the police when they broke into the old orangery, at the far end of the second floor, was grotesque. Lean’s bulging rodent eyes stared out in everlasting shock. His lanky frame was squashed beneath the bloodstained body of a heavily built woman. She was wearing very little, bar a black leather corset and stockings. Broken glass from the skylight, through which she had plummeted onto him, surrounded them. There was glass all over the floor, while a single long splinter transfixed their two bodies. The bloodstained point protruded upwards, between her naked shoulder blades. Both of them were stone dead.
‘You look absolutely gorgeous.’ Tina had no doubts.
‘Stunning. He’s a lucky man.’ Mo stood back and surveyed her handiwork.
Linda risked a glance in the mirror.
I’ll do
, she thought to herself, as she subjected the dress, her hair and her make-up to a critical study.
‘Now, you’re sure you’ve got all the bits?’ Tina was taking her job seriously. ‘Something old, something new?’
‘Yes, Tina, and I’m wearing blue pants and you’ll get your earrings back in the morning.’
Tina and Mo exchanged glances. Normally very understated, Linda was glowing as only brides on their wedding day are allowed to do.
‘So, will the groom be equally gorgeous?’ Ingrid’s blond head looked round the door.
‘Not equally,’ Tina was sure of that, ‘But I’m sure he won’t disappoint.’
On the floor below, in Roger’s private apartment, Jasper couldn’t work out what all the fuss was about. All morning, people had been coming and going. First it had been his old friend Duggie, then a succession of others bringing flowers, clothes on hangers and cups of coffee. He had greeted all of them, received a few pats and a biscuit for his pains and had now retreated to his bed for a well-earned rest.
‘Are you sure the cover story has worked?’ Duggie was doing his best to make Roger’s tie knot look respectable. ‘Stop moving, will you?’
A few days earlier, Roger had deliberately left a printout of a booking for two at a hotel near Fontaine-lès-Dijon on the corner of his desk for Linda to see. Since then, she had stopped asking about where they were going for their honeymoon. The air tickets to their real destination were locked in the desk drawer.
‘Yes, I think so, Duggie. I’ll have to tell her it’s Mexico soon. She’s going to want to pack totally different stuff. It promises to be boiling hot over there.’
Duggie glanced out of the window at the clear blue August sky. ‘It can’t be much better than here, today. You’re a lucky man, Rog.’
Not for the first time, Roger allowed himself a few moments of appreciative reflection. He certainly was a lucky man, and not just because the sun was shining on his wedding day. He had everything a man could wish for: good health, financial security and wonderful friends. He glanced across at his best man, his best friend if you didn’t count Linda, and smiled. And he was marrying the most wonderful woman in the world.
‘I’m glad it has all worked out, Duggie.’ He turned to the mirror and checked the tie knot. It was impeccable. ‘I’m glad you and Tina are married and I’m glad the club’s doing so well and,’ he shot Duggie a look, ‘I’m glad the Salon is, well, just a salon now.’
Duggie looked up and met his eye with an apologetic smile. He would never forget what Roger had said to him the day after the awful business of deaths of the would-be killer and the mad lady. Roger had called him into the study, along with Paddy, Stan and Henri. Linda had served them all with glasses of champagne, while Roger had said his few words. First he had expressed his relief, then his thanks to them all. Finally he had surprised nobody in the room by quoting his favourite saint.
‘I am reminded of the words of St Bernard after the reconciliation of the Milanese.
It would not do for the faithful servants who have laboured so hard in your interests to be put to shame
. So let us drink to the forgiveness of sins.’ He raised his glass.
Nobody in the room knew why, when or with whom the Milanese had been reconciled, but they echoed his words joyfully.
‘The forgiveness of sins.’
Duggie concentrated on straightening Roger’s buttonhole, wondering if he should remove the silk handkerchief from the top pocket. At least there was no danger of the colours clashing. Tina had whispered to him some details of the wedding dress, so as to ensure that Roger’s outfit complemented it. He wondered how Linda’s preparations were going up on the second floor. Thought of the second floor brought a smile to his face.
‘The changeover has been remarkably easy.’
Roger gave a satisfied smile in his turn. It had been Roger, prompted by Linda, who had come up with the solution. Building upon their success at providing Linda with her makeover, the decision had been taken to transform the Salon into a true beauty salon. Overnight, the clientele had changed from male to female. Most of the girls had jumped at the chance to go legit. With the amazing profits accrued over the short life of the old Salon, Duggie had been able to pay for the girls to gain qualifications in beauty therapy and massage. The new Salon was now doing very well indeed under Mo’s enthusiastic guidance. Downstairs, Rocky was riotously happy as a fitness trainer in the gym.