The Devil Inside, page 27
He leaned in close again, his gaze going to the screaming bundle in her arms. ‘Why would you think that?’ He gestured with the gun. ‘Get in.’
She glanced at Phil and Karl as she passed them. Blood darkened Karl’s shirt in a larger circle than before—was he dead? Oh god. Oh god. Then her eyes went to Phil. He didn’t have any obvious bullet wound on him, just blood trickling down the side of his neck. No blood pool though. ‘What did you do to Phil?’
‘Hit him in the head. He saw Jerry trying to get rid of the present I left for you.’
‘What present?’
He smiled. ‘Just another little thing I took care of today. You’ll see when we get where we’re going.’ He shoved her in the back, making her stumble forward, almost falling over Phil.
Her foot caught his shoulder and he groaned. He was alive. Thank god. ‘Please, let me help Phil and Karl. Or at least let me call help.’
He looked at her as if she was crazy. Then he lifted the gun and aimed it at Phil.
‘No! No. Please don’t. Please. I’ll do whatever you want. Go wherever you want me to go. I won’t struggle.’
‘You’ll tell me where it is?’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘The money. The accounts. The diamonds. Your mother and her lover stole them from us and took you away. My father died because of what she did. And only you know what she did with them.’
‘I was a child. How could I know?’
‘You know. Katya and Mikhail would have buried the information in your head somewhere, but it’s there. I know it is. I worked with Katya’s mentor. I know what she could do.’
‘I don’t know any Katya and Mikhail.’ But she did. Oh god, she did.
‘Your uncle and aunt, little sestra. They took you on our mother’s bidding. You and the accounts information and the diamonds. They hid it all somewhere. My father was certain you were with them when they did. You know. You know. And my stupid brother thought he could “friend” the information out of you.’
‘He was my friend. I would have told him what you want but I couldn’t tell him what I don’t know.’
He sneered at her. And waggled the gun towards where his brother lay sprawled on the ground. ‘He’s not your friend anymore, is he? But I can be. If you tell me what you would have told him. Tell me what you remember.’
‘But I don’t know anything.’
‘Oh, but you do. And I’m going to do what he was so reticent to do to get it. And you’re going to let me do it if you know what’s good for you and your baby.’
‘Not if you hurt Arwen or Phil. If you hurt them, I won’t make it easy for you to do what you want to do.’ He stared hard at her, making chills chase over her skin, but she wasn’t about to back down. Her arms tightened around Arwen. ‘Hurt them and you get nothing.’
He glared at her for a spine-chilling moment and then gestured with the gun. ‘Get in. I won’t say it again.’
Thank god, thank god. He’d leave Phil alone. She only hoped someone would come and find him and Karl and Jerry soon.
She got in the car, holding Arwen high as he leaned in and did up her belt then stood back. ‘No funny business now. You wouldn’t want me to come back and put holes in your husband and the others. Or hurt the baby.’ He ran his finger down Arwen’s cheek. ‘She looks like you did.’ It didn’t sound like a compliment.
He rounded the car and hopped in, then a moment later, they were driving out of the garage and up the road that led out of Storm Haven.
Melissa held Arwen in her arms, jiggling her up and down, trying hard not to tremble and cry, to calm the baby, willing with everything inside for Karl not to be dead. For Phil to be okay. He couldn’t die.
He couldn’t.
Her breath was a tight, hard thing in her chest and sparks danced before her eyes. She felt like she was going to throw up or pass out, but she couldn’t do either. Arwen needed her and somehow, somehow, she had to find a way to get through this, to save her daughter and find a way back to the man she loved more than her next breath.
Chapter 25
Pain. It was everywhere, radiating out from his head as Phil came to with a groan, eyes flickering open to see the polished concrete floor of the garage spread before him. Something wet was against his side. He touched it, lifted his hand. Blood.
Memory came flooding back. Mel. Arwen. He’d heard them, snippets of conversation as Tony—no, Anatoli—shot Karl then Jerry and took Mel and Arwen.
Ah god. He had to help them. Had to find them.
He rolled over, pushing up onto his hands and knees. His head spun as what felt like a red-hot spike drove through it. Nausea roiled in his stomach. But he couldn’t stop. Couldn’t give in to it. Mel and Arwen needed him.
As he pushed up, he realised where all the blood was coming from. ‘Karl!’ He lurched forward, almost falling onto the older man.
Karl groaned and said weakly, ‘Bloody hell. What are you trying to do? Kill me?’
A laugh of relief exploded out of Phil. ‘You’re alive.’
‘Of course I’m alive. Tony couldn’t shoot for shit. Bloody bastard only got me in the shoulder.’ He patted his pocket. ‘Damn, the bastard took my phone.’
Phil’s eyes widened as he patted his pocket. ‘Mine too.’ The nearest phone was upstairs in Mel’s room. He looked back at Karl. The older man didn’t look good at all—he was panting and sweaty, his shirtfront dark with blood. ‘You’ve lost a lot of blood,’ Phil said. ‘We should put pressure on the wound.’ He should have thought about it before.
Karl pushed his other hand against his wound. ‘Not all of it’s mine. That bastard shot Jerry.’
Phil looked around. The puddle of blood that had touched him hadn’t come from Karl, but there was no Jerry there. ‘Where is he?’
‘I don’t know. Mustn’t have been too badly hurt if he’s gone.’
‘There’s a lot of blood. Maybe Tony took him.’
‘Doesn’t matter, does it? Here, help me sit up.’
Phil grabbed the older man’s good arm and helped him to lean against the wheel of the 4WD. Karl paled and gritted his teeth, breath blowing out his cheeks. ‘Are you okay?’
‘Fine. Had worse in Afghanistan.’ Phil’s head swam and he sat with a plop beside Karl. ‘You don’t look so flush yourself.’
‘One of them hit me in the back of the head.’ He touched the sore spot and winced, his fingers coming away bloody.
‘You were out cold when I walked in.’ Karl swallowed hard. ‘They killed Alan.’
‘I know.’
‘He took Mel and the baby.’
‘I know. We have to help them.’
Karl’s lips thinned as he tried to move, face paling further. Panting, he shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, lad. I’m not going to be much help there. I’m feeling a might woozy.’
‘You need to keep pressure on the wound.’ Phil pushed his hand against Karl’s chest.
Karl grabbed his arm. ‘I’ll be fine. Just call for help, okay?’
‘I can’t leave you.’
‘You have to. For Melissa and Arwen.’
Phil met the older man’s gaze then scrambled to his feet, staggered, steadied himself against the car. His head pounded, his vision swimming as he made it to the stairs. He had to sit for a moment and catch his breath—but only a moment. He couldn’t let time pass. Had to get help. Had to get help. Had to get help.
The words played a counter-rhythm to the pounding in his head, in his chest. He stilled, waiting for the panic, the nausea, but it didn’t come. The beat strengthened, became a focus point in his mind. He pushed himself up, concentrated on the counter-rhythm, moving with each beat, one step in front of the other, reaching for the clarity that the music of perfect, rhythmical beats brought him. The calm. It had failed him in recent months, but it couldn’t fail him now. He needed it to help save his wife and child. To help save Karl.
Had to get help. Had to get help. Had to get help.
His breathing evened out. His muscles strengthened as step after step, he made it up the stairs and down the hall to Mel’s room. Her room was a mess, drawers smashed on the floor, bits of wood tangled in her clothing, the mattress upended and leaning drunkenly against the wall, sheets torn. There was glass on the floor, their wedding photo torn into pieces and scattered around the broken frame. The innards of cushions and pillows vomited all over the floor amidst destroyed furnishings.
He stared at the damage. Who had done this? Jerry? He’d headed downstairs when he’d left. Had he come down here to toss the room? Why? Or had Tony or Anatoli or whatever his name was already been here? No. He couldn’t have been. They would have heard him. This had to have been done after he and Mel had gone to the stables and the others had left. Or it could have been done while they were all up at the house with the police that morning. Mel hadn’t been down to her room since last night.
What were they looking for?
He shook his head. It didn’t matter.
He pushed his way through the mess to find the phone. He picked it up. Dead. The chord had been torn out of the wall. Fuck.
The beat was faster now in his chest, his head. He followed its urgings and ran out and upstairs, mind focused on one thing.
The phone on the kitchen wall was still there. He pressed the intercom button, hoping to catch someone in the kitchen—Dae and Craig had said they were going to play with the diaries more.
Bev picked up. ‘Bev. Karl’s been shot. Tony has taken Mel and Arwen. Jerry is involved somehow. I need help. I need help.’ Voices talked all at once, shouting questions. ‘Call an ambulance. Get down here, now.’
He left the phone dangling and headed back downstairs, grabbing one of Arwen’s blankets on the way. He might not be able to fix Karl’s wound, but this would help to put pressure on it. He noticed then it was the old mink blanket that Mel had found in the boxes. He didn’t really want to ruin it, but there wasn’t time to go back up and fetch something else, so he kept going, following the drum beat of his heart and the words he couldn’t let fade away.
The beat in his head got him downstairs and over to Karl without him needing to stop again. He knew CPR and First Aid—Billy had taken them through an intensive course last year after the accident and what had happened to Lexi and Cat. So he knew he had to pad the blanket up and push it against Karl’s wound. But it would help if he could bind the pad there with something to help keep it secure in case he had to leave Karl again. Inspiration struck as he stared at the blanket.
The satin edging that bordered the blanket would be perfect.
He gripped and with a silent apology to Mel, tore the first strip off.
Sparkles flew out across the floor. ‘What the hell?’ He couldn’t stop to see what they were, so kept going with the other edges. More sparkley-things spewed out of the padded border, but he ignored them too. Karl was pale and clammy and hadn’t opened his eyes when Phil rejoined him. He padded up the blanket as best he could and used the satin ribbon to bind around Karl’s shoulder and chest.
Karl groaned and opened his eyes. ‘That hurts.’
‘Good.’ He pressed harder. ‘I think you should lie back down.’
Karl grabbed his hand, but not to pull it away. Instead, he squeezed. ‘We’ll find them.’
Phil nodded jerkily. Yes. They would. They had to.
The door banged open behind him. Footsteps raced across the polished concrete. ‘Bloody hell.’
‘Craig is calling the ambulance and the police,’ Dae said as he and Lexi came down beside Phil. ‘And calling Stan and the men in from the fields to help search for Melissa and Arwen.’
‘What happened?’ Lexi asked as Dae helped him to lay Karl down.
‘Easy, old man.’
‘Old man yourself.’
‘Oh, Karl. Karl.’ Bev came running in.
‘Don’t fuss, love. I’m okay. Better for seeing you. Phil’s got a bump on his head too.’
‘I’ll live. You need to be looked after first,’ Phil said.
He moved back a little to let Bev in beside her husband. She didn’t falter as she tore open his shirt and dealt with the nasty wound underneath. ‘Take care of Phil’s head wound, Lexi love.’
Lexi nodded and grabbed what she needed out of the First Aid kit they’d brought with them.
As his head was being patched, Phil told them what had happened. ‘He has them. We have to find them.’
‘I’ll call the police to fill them in.’ Dae pulled out his phone. ‘They can start looking for the car.’
He was right, but Phil also knew it would do no good. The police here weren’t set up for something like this. They were already overwhelmed by the murders. How would they chase down a killer and kidnapper? Mel and Arwen were likely to be hurt in any chase. They needed to find her first. ‘We need to find Jerry.’
‘He’s not here.’
‘He can’t have gone far if he’s been shot.’
Phil pointed at Dae. ‘Right. There’ll be a trail. We can follow.’ He tried to get to his feet but the world careened around him.
‘Whoa. I don’t think you’re going anywhere,’ Dae said as he lurched forward to catch him before he went crashing to the ground.
Phil clenched Dae’s shirt. ‘I have to. You know I have to.’ The beats. The beats had helped him. They’d help him again.
Dae’s expression, grim, worried, flashed with an understanding that Phil had been banking on. He’d gone through this with Lexi only months before. ‘Okay.’
‘You shouldn’t go anywhere,’ Lexi said. ‘Not with that head injury.’
‘It’s nothing,’ Phil said. ‘I’ll get it looked at after we’ve found Mel and Arwen. Nothing else matters until we have.’
‘But what if you’ve got a serious brain injury? You need to go to hospital.’
‘We don’t have time!’ His voice rang around the garage. He stared at his friend. ‘Please. I have to go.’
‘There’s a couple of shotguns in the lockbox in the stable office,’ Bev said, the first to speak. ‘Ammos in the kitchenette third drawer from the left.’
‘I’ll get it,’ Lexi said. ‘You stay with Phil,’ she said to Dae.
‘Be careful.’ Dae gave her a swift kiss and then she left.
‘Follow the blood, son,’ Karl said to Phil. ‘Find Jerry. He’s your best chance of finding them.’
‘I’ll send the men after you as soon as they get here,’ Bev said.
Phil nodded then headed off with Dae.
The blood trail wasn’t hard to follow. It went out the garage door and up the path towards the house.
‘But why head to the house?’ Phil asked. ‘Anyone could come in at any time. Surely it would make more sense to go for a car.’
Their eyes met. ‘The diaries.’
The blood spatters led them all the way to the kitchen door. He lifted his hand to pull the wire door open, but Dae put his hand out before he could open the back door. ‘Craig.’
Phil stilled, listened. He heard it. Craig’s voice. Then another voice. Jerry!
Phil gripped the door handle, ready to rush in there, but Dae put his hand against the door, shaking his head. He moved over to the wall where the kitchen window was, and very slowly, peered in. He ducked down quickly, turning back to Phil, face pale. ‘Gun,’ he mouthed.
Shit. Jerry had a gun on Craig. If they went in there now, Jerry could turn the gun on them and they wouldn’t be any better off than they were now—worse perhaps if the fake nurse decided to use it.
Horse hooves sounded behind them. They swung around to see Stan, Karl’s right-hand man and old army buddy, followed by a handful of the men who worked on the farm, ride around the corner of the house heading to the stables at a gallop. He ran a few paces down the hill to grab their attention. Stan peeled off, face grim. A few of his men followed while the rest rode towards the Barn House. ‘How’s Karl?’ Stan asked as he drew closer.
Phil signalled for him to be quiet then gestured at the house. Stan swung down from his horse. ‘What’s going on?’ he whispered.
Phil filled him in, thankful once again that Karl had hired a number of his old army buddies. Stan would know what to do.
‘Where’s Lexi?’
‘Down at the stable getting the rifle and ammo.’
‘She won’t find it,’ Stan said. ‘The men and I took them all when we went out this morning, just in case we needed them.’ He grabbed a rifle from his saddle and gestured one of his men forward. He quickly instructed him to take his horse then go find Lexi and get her to go and help Bev. He then told the other man to grab the others to start the search for Tony—there were only a few roads he could have taken in that car. Then he turned back to Phil and Dae and quickly laid out a plan to capture Jerry.
Moments later, whispering ‘be careful’ he headed around to the front of the house.
Phil and Dae waited at the back door for the signal from Stan—a simple thumbs-up emoji he’d send to Dae’s phone.
That was when Phil and Dae were to enter, making some kind of distraction to pull Jerry’s attention to them. Stan would come at him from down the hall and catch him unawares.
Phil’s nerves jangled through his skin, buzzing in his head, creating a counterpoint to the hammer that still banged away despite the adrenaline pumping through his system. A cow lowed in the distance. A caw of a crow echoed from the orchard behind him. The hot sun beat down on his back, making sweat prickle his skin and drip under his t-shirt. Hurry up. Hurry up. Every moment wasted here was a moment longer Mel and Arwen were on their own.
Craig was talking to Jerry. Phil couldn’t quite hear what he was saying, but his mate was doing a bloody good job of keeping Jerry there, even though he had a gun in his face.
Christ. He needed to get in there now. How would he live with himself if Craig was hurt? He couldn’t. But Stan knew what he was doing. He said to stay put, so they had to stay put.
