The sound of footsteps outside had him pausing and he relaxed his wrists, let them rest for a second.
Was the bitch coming back?
He listened, pretty sure he could make out voices. Two voices in fact, both female.
That had his heart beating faster.
He had watched the sun going down, darkness filling the room, knowing that time was running out.
Pressing the sole of his boot against the radiator pipe, holding on to his handcuffed wrist with his free hand, he renewed his efforts to free himself, yanking on the cuff as hard as he could.
It had been the photo that had led him to her.
A young Alice Grimes.
Although she had longer, darker hair, was a little plumper in the face, there was no mistaking who she was. Those taunting eyes and that familiar sneer she thought passed for a smile.
Molly Cross. Olivia’s lodger.
At that point Noah probably should have called the police, at very least told Daniella or tried to warn Olivia, but in his usual rash way he had seen red and gone straight after the target.
Which in this instance was really bloody stupid.
The fact Alice had used aliases that related to the Seven Judgements told him she was batshit crazy, but knowing she had gone to the elaborate length of integrating herself into Olivia’s life over such a long period of time warned him she was also determined.
Determined, crazy and dangerous.
Not a good combination.
She had passed him in her car as he was approaching Olivia’s house, planning to confront her, and curiosity had him swinging his Audi around, tailing her out to Black Dog Farm.
It was then he understood this was where she would have brought Fern St Clair, would likely be the place she intended to end her twisted murder spree.
He had held back then, knowing he had to find Fern and get her to safety.
Alice had gone into the main farmhouse and he had followed at a distance, watching her erecting what appeared to be a giant crucifixion cross in the bottom of the empty swimming pool.
He should have gone after her then, taken her by surprise, but he didn’t know where Fern was, feared Alice wouldn’t tell him. He needed her to lead him to where she was keeping her.
While she was busy with her little DIY project, he had used the time to scope out the building, then he had followed her out to the cottage in the woods, where she had constructed another cross, hammering wooden planks to one of the vertical beams that had withstood the fire.
Two crosses, two more victims. He understood now how this was supposed to end.
While she was outside and distracted, he had snuck into the cottage, assuming that this was where she was holding Fern.
He had a plan. Rescue Fern, overpower Alice, call the cops.
What he hadn’t counted on was Alice realising he was there. She must have seen him following her. He didn’t hear her as she crept up behind him, realised she was there at the last second, just before the hammer had smacked against his skull.
That was how he had found himself cuffed to the radiator, with a throbbing headache and his keys and phone missing, wondering why she hadn’t killed him outright.
Instead she was waiting for him when he awoke, sitting on an old crate, the hammer swinging in her hands, and that irritating smirk on her face.
Noah wanted to throttle her, realised in frustration that he couldn’t when his hand rattled uselessly against the pipe.
‘Well, well, well. This is an unexpected delight.’
She had shifted the crate closer, keen to goad him, and tell him all about how she had duped both him and Olivia.
‘It’s over, Alice. I’m not the only one who is onto you.’
She regarded him for a moment, not seeming the slightest bit perturbed. ‘I think if that was true we would have heard sirens by now. You followed me out here alone. My money says you didn’t tell anyone where you were going. I know you too well, Noah.’
When he didn’t respond to that, anger building, she added, ‘Recklessness leads to stupidity. You were careless and look where that’s landed you.’
Fucking bitch.
He rattled the cuff again in fury, tried to lurch towards her.
Although her eyes widened slightly, she didn’t flinch, sitting just an inch out of his grasp and seeming amused by his efforts.
‘Now let me tell you what’s going to happen.’ She absently tapped the hammer against her palm. ‘You’re going to stay right here and I’m going to go home to Olivia – who hates you, by the way – and I’m going to play the dutiful best friend. Oh, I forgot to say, I really do need to thank you for that. Your dirty little secret has really cemented our friendship. She was so mad at you, she even smashed up your stupid cameras, so I no longer have to sneak in and out of the utility room window.’
‘I already have you on camera.’
That had her pausing, looking wary. ‘No you don’t.’
It was a semi-bluff. He did have her on camera, but unfortunately the image wasn’t clear enough to make a formal identification. She didn’t know that though.
‘I went back over the footage. That night Olivia freaked and found the back door open, the camera picked you up in the back garden. You didn’t get quite out of the shot. It’s sitting right there on my computer. That’s how you’re going to get caught.’
Alice’s eyes narrowed. ‘I don’t believe you.’ But he could tell she wasn’t sure, that he had given her something to think about. She held up his mobile phone, taunting, the smirk back, widening to a grin. ‘I’m going to have fun being you.’
Noah mentally kicked himself. Fucking stupid idiot. He could only hope that Olivia was still too mad at him to answer any messages.
‘You’ve made it so much easier for me to lure her out here tomorrow night. Lure her out here and hurt her the same way that she hurt my sister.’
‘She didn’t do anything to your sister. Olivia and Margaret were friends.’
‘That is bullshit. Olivia Blake killed my sister.’
‘You’re fucking twisted. She almost died in the fire too.’
‘Is that supposed to make me feel better? She survived and Margaret died. And it was all Olivia’s fault. Tomorrow night I am going to fix that. And you get to be here for the whole thing. To listen to your girlfriend’s screams and know you can do nothing to save her. Of course, you won’t have to worry about living with the guilt that you helped me do this. I am going to burn this place to the ground.’
She was crazy, Noah could see that now. Wondered how he had never noticed it before. He had never liked Olivia’s lodger, knew there was something off about her, but he hadn’t expected this.
‘I’m going to kill you,’ he promised. ‘I’m going to get free from this cuff and I’m going to kill you.’
She simply stared back at him, with eyes that were already dead.
Alice had left him after that and he had spent a frustrated night cursing himself for not telling anyone what he had discovered and worrying like hell about Olivia and what mind games Alice was playing with her, while trying to free himself.
There was a pile of wire on the opposite side of the room and he tried his damnedest to get to it, knowing he could use it to unlock the cuff. It was too far away though and there was nothing within reach that he could use to hook it. Instead he focused on snapping the radiator pipe, but the damn thing was fixed solidly in place.
Eventually tiredness had taken over and he had crashed and burned, falling asleep on the hard, dirty floor, renewing his efforts when the sun came up.
Now it was dark again, the evening of the anniversary of Margaret’s death, and time was running out for Olivia.
Noah knew Alice was planning one murder at the farmhouse, the other in the cottage, and assumed she planned to kill Olivia here, as she had mentioned wanting him to hear her die.
His worst fears were realised when he recognised the voices of the two women, heard Olivia pleading with Alice to let her go.
‘Olivia?’
His voice echoed through the cottage as he paused again with his efforts to free himself.
Unless he could find a way to break through the pipe, he couldn’t help her, but he needed her to know he was here with her and she wasn’t alone.
Alice had looped the end of the noose around the top of the cross she had Olivia pushed up against and was uncuffing her left wrist when the familiar voice had yelled out Olivia’s name.
She paused struggling, her eyes widening. ‘Noah?’
Alice smiled cruelly at her, the light from the candles she had lit making her look sinister. ‘He can’t help you now,’ she whispered and Olivia felt something hard press up against her thigh as Alice leant against her. The pocket knife.
Her left arm temporarily free, as Alice tried to cuff her right wrist to the cross, Olivia reached down, feeling for the knife, her fingers touching the metal casing. She plucked it out, fumbling to flick it open. As Alice went to lock the cuff, she stabbed the knife down, aiming for the woman’s neck, but catching her in the top of the arm.
Still, it was enough to shock Alice into dropping the cuff, and as she started screaming, Olivia kneed her hard in the stomach, sending her flying back.
‘Liv?’
It was Noah again. His voice was coming from somewhere above her.
Olivia struggled to remove the noose from around her neck, standing up on tiptoe and managing to loosen it, one eye on Alice who was still on the floor, already trying to sit up.
The loop now wide enough, she yanked it over her head, fleeing for the stairs as Alice’s fingertips brushed against her ankle, knowing she only had precious seconds.
‘Noah?’ It was pitch black upstairs, but his voice led her to one of the bedrooms. ‘Where are you?’
‘I’m right here.’ The sound of a rattling chain. ‘I’m cuffed to the radiator.’
Had he been here all this time?
‘There’s wire, Liv, to your left, down in the corner. I need you to pass it to me.’
As she felt her way to where he was telling her, she heard Alice’s footsteps racing up the stairs, immediately tensing at the shriek of outrage that pealed from her lips.
The light from her torch cast a faint beam on the room.
Spotting the wire, Olivia threw it in Noah’s direction, then she snatched up a loose piece of wood, slamming it into Alice’s chest as she charged into the room. As Alice fell to her knees, Olivia hit her again, this time catching her hard across the face.
‘Take that, you fucking crazy bitch.’
She turned to Noah, saw the wire had fallen just out of his reach. As she went to retrieve it, his eyes widened.
‘Liv, behind you!’
