Eleven

“Oh my God,” John whispered as he reached out to touch the bloodstain. “No!”

“That proves it!” Zoe sat down in the passenger seat and placed her head in her hands.

“Proves what?” John asked as he continued to stare at the blood.

“They’re here.”

“Huh?”

She turned to look at him, tears in her eyes. “Ricky’s here and he’s after me.”

John reached out and rubbed her hand.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions just yet,” he said.

“Jump to conclusions?” she replied. “How can we not?”

“I know it looks bad but –“

“It not only looks bad, Johnny. It is bad! Helen’s blood is all over that headrest.”

“I know that’s what it looks like, but there could be another explanation.”

Zoe stared at him and her head tilted, as if weighing up what he had just said.

“What other explanation could there possibly be?” she whispered.

John stared at her, and then back to the headrest covered in blood.

“I don’t know,” he mumbled. “But it’s not necessarily what we think.”

“How can it be anything other than what it looks like? That’s Helen’s blood – your wife’s blood – on that headrest. It sure as hell wasn’t there when I arrived last night!”

“But – ”

“It’s obvious, Johnny,” Zoe continued. “He’s followed me. Or one or more of his thugs have. They’ve been following me since I left. They must have. And Helen took my Jeep to come here. They probably thought it was me driving to the hospital and they followed her until she arrived here and then they attacked. They thought they were grabbing me but got Helen instead!”

“But you talked to her this morning! And again around two hours ago. So she was here and they must have grabbed her as she left to come and meet us.”

Zoe nodded. “You’re right. I didn’t think of that.” She looked back at the bloody headrest. “It’s the only scenario that makes sense.”

John agreed. It was the only logical reason. He looked again at the blood smeared on the headrest. He couldn’t tell how much was there, but patches of it hadn’t yet dried. Most of the headrest was covered with the blood; it didn’t look too thick, but some of it still felt damp to touch and it had seeped right into the fabric. John hoped Helen wasn’t wounded too badly. But he couldn’t be sure.

My God, he thought. Now we’re all in trouble…

There was a long silence between them.

“I’m sorry, Johnny,” Zoe finally said.

“Sorry?”

“For dragging you both into this. Now none of us can escape. If only I’d kept driving last night and not stopped to see Helen, both of you wouldn’t be involved in this mess now!”

John rested his head on the roll bar of the Jeep. His mind was spinning.

How can they do this? he thought. How can they just grab a person off the street in broad daylight and get away with it? If only I’d got home a few minutes earlier last night!

If only…

Events were moving too fast for him. He didn’t have time to take it all in, pause, and then work out the next logical step.

This can’t be happening, he thought. But it is…

“There’s got to be a way,” he whispered.

Zoe shook her head. “Ricky’s getting closer.”

“But how?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” Zoe shrugged. “Somehow he’s managed to track me down. I don’t know how. But he’s here now and he’s after me.”

She stared at him, confusion and panic in her eyes, “I told you he was powerful. I told you what he could do. Now do you believe me?”

“I always did,” John whispered.

At least, I think I do, he thought.

The whole scenario seemed so utterly unreal; just not possible. But now Helen was in danger, he had to see it through.

But is Zoe telling me the whole truth? he wondered.

He would have to bide his time to see how Fox’s game would play out to the end.

“Now you can see for yourself what he’s capable of. He can’t be stopped. He just takes what he wants. He always has.”

John nodded.

Things are starting to get very dangerous indeed…

“Then there’s only one answer,” he said. “We go to the police.”

“What?”

“The police can sort out this whole mess.”

Zoe let out a strangled laugh, “I don’t think so.”

“It’s the only way!”

“Are you crazy?” Zoe crawled from the passenger seat across to the driver’s side of the Jeep. “He’s got Helen! There’s no way he’s just going to hand her over now. Not to you, not to the police. He’ll want to make a deal for her. He’ll want to use her and blackmail you and me so he gets what he wants. That’s what he does, Johnny, that’s how he makes his money. He’s not going to be stopped by you or me or the police. The police aren’t going to find him. He’s too smart for that. He won’t let Helen go until he gets what he wants.”

“And that is?” John asked. He knew what the answer was going to be, but he felt compelled to ask it anyway.

Zoe’s face fell to the floor and her eyes began to tear.

“Me,” she said.

“And…?” John searched for more of the story.

“Just me.”

John shook his head and reached down to hug her. She kneeled on the driver’s seat and placed her hands around his body, hugging him hard.

“I’m so sorry, Johnny,” she sobbed into his chest. “So sorry.”

He hugged her and rubbed his hands on her back. She was cold and starting to shiver.

I’m in this now, he thought. To the bitter end. Whether I like it or not.

“So the police are out?” he asked.

Zoe nodded.

They hugged each other for quite a while.

Her unique smell enveloped him again and he thought back to last night and this morning. She was so innocent and yet on the other hand she knew how to get what she wanted. Had Fox taught her to act that way? Or had she developed the skill herself? One moment she could be a woman exuding sexuality and animal prowess, and the next she could be a frightened little child. She was hard to read on some occasions, and yet on others he could see right into her inner-most thoughts and soul.

Right now, she was like a scared little girl, waking up from a nightmare.

Except we can’t wake from this one, John thought.

The events of the last twenty-four hours had just rushed out of control. John didn’t know what to think, who to trust or who to believe.

But Zoe has no reason to lie, he told himself.

And Helen’s blood on the headrest was very, very real.

A car drove into the car park and pulled into a space two rows down. John tensed as he listened to the engine die. He readied himself for anything.

He knew now that Fox was a man who couldn’t be taken lightly. He was a killer who would take what he wanted, no matter what. He had Helen, and that was enough to convince John that they were all involved in this situation. No matter what.

How quickly your life can change, he thought as he sighed. And now we have to play Fox’s sick, twisted little game.

He watched as a man climbed from the car and reached in for a briefcase. He looked like a doctor, but John couldn’t be sure.

Maybe they dress like doctors, he thought. Maybe that’s how they got in here and attacked Helen.

His mind played out a scenario of what could have happened to his wife. He pictured Helen walking from the hospital and into the car park towards Zoe’s Jeep. It would have been sometime after she called them at 4pm, so most of the car park would probably have been just like it was now.

She would’ve walked to this spot and climbed into the Jeep and placed her handbag on the passenger seat.

They would’ve moved fast and been at her door within seconds to stop her from starting the engine and driving away. Did they talk to her? Had someone in a doctor’s coat spoken to her before they attacked? Did they threaten her or just hit her in the head with something?

He had no idea what happened, but the scene playing in his mind chilled him and made him feel sick.

They can’t get away with this, he thought. I won’t let them.

Had they tried to get Helen to take them back to Zoe? Or had their plan gone wrong when they realised that the woman in the car wasn’t Zoe? Was that why they had attacked her? Had they panicked when they realised they had the wrong woman?

The man by the car turned and looked over towards John and Zoe. He stood there for a moment or two, looking at them, and then waved. John waved back. The man turned and headed for the entrance to the hospital.

John sighed deeply.

Calm down, he told himself. Don’t go crazy. Not everyone’s the enemy.

“Okay,” John said as he watched the man enter the hospital through the car park doors. He then pried Zoe from him. “We’re too exposed here. We have to get somewhere safe and work out what we’re going to do.”

“No where's safe now,” Zoe mumbled as she knelt back in the driver’s seat and pouted.

“Well there’s places safer than this,” John replied. “Fox could be watching us now.”

Zoe’s eyes grew large and fear stretched across her face as she realised John was right. Her eyes darted all around them and she turned and crawled back into the passenger seat to survey the other side of the car park.

“You’re right,” she said then. “Johnny, what are we going to do?”

“We’ll work something out. You know this Fox guy better than I do. What do you think his next move will be?”

“Whatever it is, it won’t be good for us,” she paused and stared back at him, “or Helen.”

“Do you have any spare keys?”

“Huh?” Zoe looked confused.

“Keys?” John repeated. “For the Jeep?”

“Ah, no.” Zoe replied. “I gave my only set to Helen.”

“Damn.”

“Why?”

“Because leaving the Jeep here will create suspicion. People are going to wonder about a strange car sitting here. They’ll start to worry. Carol already knows about it and wants security to move it. If they come over here and find blood, the police will be called in whether we like it or not.”

Zoe nodded. “So we need to hide the Jeep?”

That’s it, John thought to himself. Get yourself in deeper and deeper.

But what else can I do?

“We need to get it back to the house for certain. Maybe we can hide it in the garage and keep it out of sight.”

Zoe crawled over to the driver’s seat once more and put her head under the steering wheel.

“No problem,” she said.

“Huh?”

“Leave it to me,” she turned her head to look up at him. “I’ve got some skills you don’t know about.”

He stared at her and she smiled.

“Don’t worry, Johnny. I’ll have the engine purring in no time.”

“You mean you’re gong to –?”

“Don’t look so surprised,” Zoe frowned at him. “Girls can hot-wire cars too, you know.”

John smiled back at her. “You’re a woman of many talents, Zoe Barber.”

“You can say that again,” she giggled as she turned back to continue her task. “Some of my talents would simply amaze you.”

“I bet they would,” John nodded as he surveyed the area for any onlookers.

The last thing we need is to be hauled in by security for attempting to steal a car, he thought.

After a few minutes more, the Jeep engine suddenly roared into life.

“Yeessss!” Zoe hissed with delight.

“Well done,” John nodded. “I’m impressed!”

Zoe smiled at him as she sat in the driver’s seat.

“I told you I’m a woman of many talents,” she said.

John placed his hands on his hips and smiled, “And I believe you.”

Zoe’s smile turned to a frown.

“Now what?” she asked.

“You still have my spare front door key?” he asked her.

Zoe nodded and slapped her hip pocket with her hand. “Yep. I took it from the key holder by the front door as we left. Just like you told me to.”

“Good. And you know how to get home from here?”

She nodded again. “I think so. It shouldn’t be too hard. I found your house once, I can find it again.”

“Okay,” John moved away from the driver’s seat and shut the car door. “Go there now. Don’t stop for anything. Go straight to the house and get inside.”

“Ahuh,” Zoe bit her bottom lip and wound down the window. “But what if they –”

“No ‘what ifs’. Drive the car straight to the house and get inside. We’ve got no other option.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be right behind you in my car. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“We’ll work out some sort of plan when we get home.”

“Okay,” Zoe’s face changed again. “I’m sorry, Johnny.”

John reached through the window and brushed her cheek with his hand. “Stop apologising. It’s not your fault. Just start thinking of ways to fix the problem.”

He smiled at her and she smiled back. But he could tell it was a fake smile. She was worried. And scared.

So am I, he thought.

“Now go!”

Zoe nodded. She backed the Jeep out of the spot and John watched as she drove it out of the car park.

Helen, where the hell are you?

Once he could no longer hear the Jeep’s engine, he turned and slowly headed back through the hospital and to his car.

Now we’re all in trouble, he thought again as he walked. Big trouble.

 

He pulled the car over to the curb on Painted Hills Drive.

He stared out the windshield at the road in front of him. The sun had set and the evening twilight was giving way to darkness. There was no one on the street in front of him.

He checked his rear-view mirror as well. No one there either.

Since leaving the hospital, John had been extra careful and was on the lookout to see if he was being followed.

As far as he could tell, no one was on his tail. But he knew that if Ricky Fox or any of his thugs were following him, they weren’t going to stand out.

So, he’d taken a detour.

It was a risk, he knew that, but he’d taken it anyway. He had to make sure no-one else got caught up in this mess and got hurt.

And he needed time to think.

He also needed time and silence and an opportunity to put things right in his mind without Zoe around to distract him.

So he sat in the car and tried to put all the events of the last twenty-four hours into some sort of order to find an explanation for it all.

Things had started to go haywire from the moment Zoe had arrived. She’d landed on their doorstep and brought all her troubles with her. First she dragged Helen and then John into this mess.

And now Helen is in danger. Probably more danger than the rest of us, he thought. And just what can I do about it?

She had gone to the hospital to help her friend, only to get attacked by the thugs that had been following Zoe.

Helen must’ve believed her story, he thought.

Don’t you?

Yes, I do, I guess… It’s just so hard to believe!

But now Helen’s missing.

Yeah.

That’s a solid fact!

It is.

Whether you believe her fully or not…

I know, I know. I’ll have to play Fox’s game until it leads us to Helen.

Exactly.

But if they’ll go to those sorts of extremes, what chance do we have to stop them? he wondered.

“The police should be involved,” he whispered to himself as he looked out the driver’s window to the house directly opposite.

105 Painted Hills Drive.

But getting the police involved will place everyone at risk, he thought.

And it could mean Helen would be in even more danger. If they’re willing to kidnap a complete stranger to get what they want, there’s no reason why they wouldn’t just kill her and make a run for it if they’re cornered by the police.

“Shit,” John said as he thumped the steering wheel.

They needed a plan.

But there wasn’t one.

Zoe was the key. To everything.

And she was the only one who knew how to play Fox at his own game.

So, she had all the answers too.

John took the keys from the ignition and climbed from the car. He shoved his hands in his pockets and glanced down both sides of the street.

The street was empty. No sign of anyone.

Slowly, he walked across the road and up the front steps of the house at number 105.

Better make this quick, he thought.

He rang the doorbell and heard the chimes sound deep within the house.

He turned around on the doorstep to survey the street once more.

No one.

But he knew the longer he stood there, the greater the chance of him being seen.

Don’t make yourself an easy target, he told himself. Get back in the car and head for home!

He turned to face the front door once more.

“Come on,” he whispered. “Come on!”

There was no sound of movement from inside.

He rang the doorbell once more and slowly counted to ten.

He glanced up and down the street again.

No one.

“Damn,” he said as he finished counting.

He pulled his wallet from his pocket and grabbed one of his business cards. He slipped the business card into the grill of the front wire door.

He waited a few seconds longer, his ears desperately trying to search out a sound from within the house.

But there was only silence.

“Shit,” he mumbled as he turned and headed back towards his car.

He kept his head down and glanced from side to side, waiting for someone to call his name or run up to him. But the street was still deserted and there was no sign of anyone.

John reached his car and climbed back inside. As he started the engine he looked back across the street to the house. He could see his business card stuck in the wire door and wondered how long it would take to be found.

As he drove from the street and headed for home, he thought about Zoe and hoped she had made it back to his house safely. Leaving her unguarded for even these few minutes was a risk, but it was a risk he had to take.

Because with Ricky Fox or his thugs on the loose, there was no telling how far they would go, or how many risks they would take, to get Zoe back.