Twelve

John knew something was wrong the moment he drove into the street.

The red Jeep was easily recognisable under the glow of the street lights. As John drove closer, he could see that the Jeep was parked on an angle across his driveway and half onto his front lawn. The headlights were still shining and the front driver’s door was wide open.

John’s eyes darted up the street, looking for anything suspicious.

Nothing.

Then he peered around looking for Zoe. He couldn’t see her.

“Shit,” he mumbled as he swung the car into the driveway.

He parked the car just short of the rear of the Jeep and turned off the engine.

Slowly, he opened his door and climbed out. He tried hard not to make a sound; his ears reached into the distance to try to hear any noise in the darkness.

Silence.

Carefully, he walked towards the Jeep.

The Jeep’s headlights illuminated the area and made it easy for him to inspect the car for any sign of trouble. Everything looked normal, except the fact that it was parked at a strange angle and the driver’s door was open. The engine was silent and there was no other sign of danger.

But why leave it like this unless there was trouble? John thought.

“I shouldn’t’ve left her. Not even for a minute,” he whispered.

Taking one last glace at the Jeep and the area around it, John crept towards the front door of his house. He could see from where he stood that the front door was closed. Light was escaping from the crack underneath it.

At least Zoe’s inside, he thought.

Then he stopped in his tracks and studied the front door.

“Or someone is,” he whispered.

He unhooked the keys from his hip and searched through them until he found the front door key. Holding the key in his fingers, he started walking towards the front door again.

The night was beginning to get cold as the heat from the day evaporated from the air, and all of a sudden John was conscious of his breath fogging the air in front of him.

He climbed the front step and reached out for the doorknob. Slowly, he turned it.

The door was locked.

The silence seemed heavier now, almost unnatural, and it caused John to turn swiftly to one side and peer out into the street once more. He couldn’t see much from where he was with the Jeep’s headlights shining into his eyes. Suddenly he felt safer for what he couldn’t see.

If I can’t see it, I can’t worry about it, he told himself.

Turning back to face the door, he inserted the key and turned it.

Slowly, and as quietly as he could, he then turned the knob.

The bolt slid loudly and John cringed at the sound it made. He pushed open the door and stared into the house. Light streamed from the lounge room and into the other end of the hallway.

John stepped into the hallway and closed the door behind him.

He stood in silence and listened to the house.

Nothing. No sound at all.

It was then he realised he was holding his breath, trying hard not to make any noise himself. He let it out in one gush and placed his keys back on his hip. They jangled loudly in the silence.

He wanted to call out for Zoe, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He didn’t want to alert anyone laying in wait that he was there, and he didn’t want to face the horrible prospect of Zoe not answering his call.

I should’ve been here, he thought. I shouldn’t’ve left her for even a second!

As quietly as he could, he crept up the hallway towards the lounge room.

The closer he got, the more desperate he became.

The lamp from the corner table first attracted his attention. It was lying on the floor by the table; its shade bent to one side, throwing light at an odd angle down the hallway. The corner table had been turned upside down, its four feet pointing to the ceiling.

John’s pace quickened as he reached the lounge room door.

The phone was strewn on the floor. The receiver by the foot of the sofa while the cord snaked towards the bedroom door where its base lay.

A corner of the sofa was pulled out from the wall and one of the sofa cushions was standing at an angle near the main bedroom door. The book Zoe had been reading earlier was now sitting open, upside down and spine torn, at his feet just inside the lounge room entrance.

“Shit,” he muttered.

Suddenly, he felt weak and scared. The threats that Zoe had warned him about were now becoming real and very dangerous. There was no denying it. Fox was unhinged and he would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.

This is serious shit!

John reached out for one of the dining chairs and pulled it to him. Then he sat down on it with his head in his hands.

What have I got myself into? he wondered.

Events were starting to spiral out of control and he was powerless to stop them.

First Zoe had appeared on their doorstep, then Helen went missing and now Zoe was gone too. Was there any way to stop Fox? What could John possibly do against him?

John began to shake. He couldn’t tell if it was from rage or fear, but he suspected from both.

Come on, he talked to himself. Pull yourself together. Now both Zoe and Helen need you and you can’t let them down. They’re depending on you.

But what could he do? Fox always seemed one step ahead of them and knew what they were planning. He read the game so well, probably because they were playing his game. He made the rules, he made the plays, he knew the score.

John lifted his head and surveyed the room again.

And if I were Fox, I’d leave a calling card.

He peered around, looking closely at everything once more. He stood and walked into the kitchen and checked in there too.

Nothing.

No note, no threat, no clue.

Just a bunch of dying flowers, left strewn on the bench-top.

He walked back into the lounge room and stared at the closed door of the main bedroom.

His chest felt heavy and fear crawled up his spine as he stared at the door.

He hadn’t checked out the bedrooms or the bathroom, and his mind told him not to. It told him to get away from there and put as much distance between him and Fox as he possibly could.

But he knew he couldn’t. He knew he had to face Fox in a showdown just as certainly as he knew he’d have to check out the bedrooms and face whatever was inside them; whether that be a note from Fox, or maybe even Zoe’s mutilated body.

He had to.

He owed that much to Zoe and Helen.

He stared at the doorknob of the main bedroom. He focussed on it and walked quickly towards it.

Let’s get this over with, he thought as he reached the door.

He grabbed the knob and opened the door.

Taking a step into the bedroom, he stared into the darkness and listened to the silence. He could see nothing so he reached across and turned on the light.

The bedroom was unchanged. It looked exactly as it had when they had left it that morning. Zoe’s suitcase was still on the bed and the packages she had bought were beside it, exactly where John had placed them.

Their trip to the shopping centre seemed so long ago now, even though it was just a few hours before. John shook his head when he thought about it. They had acted so normal then, as if this threat wasn’t their concern or didn’t affect them. How could they have been so naive and flippant about the whole situation? They had no idea what sort of danger they were all in.

Or maybe Zoe did know, and she was living life to its fullest while she could.

She knew Fox would catch up with her, John thought as he switched off the light and turned to walk back into the lounge room. She knew. But she wouldn’t let it spoil the freedom she had just grasped.

Suddenly, John felt very tired and ashamed that perhaps he hadn’t taken her seriously enough. None of it seemed real until he had walked in on the mess in his lounge room. Only then did Ricky Fox become real and dangerous in his mind.

And now it might be too late for both Zoe and Helen, he thought.

John shut the bedroom door behind him and leaned back on it. He couldn’t let Fox walk away so easily. Someone had to show him that he can’t threaten and do these things to normal people in a normal, safe world. He had to fight back and somehow get Zoe and Helen back too.

He had to see this sick game through to the end.

Someone has got to stop this bastard, he thought. Fox dragged my wife and me into this, and I’m damned if I’m gonna sit back and not make him pay for crossing paths with me.

He sighed deeply as his mind began to spin. Slowly, he let his knees bend and he slid down the bedroom door into a squatting position.

“I can’t let him win,” he whispered.

And then he saw her foot.

First he thought it was just one of her sneakers, but then he realised that it was much more than that. 

He stared closely at the space behind the sofa. He could make out a pair of old sneakers and, above them, a pair of legs and knees pulled up in the tight, dark space. Two arms were holding them all together.

John lifted his eyes further and could now see Zoe’s head, resting on top of her knees, her face burrowed down between them.

His heart raced.

“Zoe?” John whispered as he crawled towards her. “Zoe?”

As he came closer to the space behind the sofa, he realised she was sitting up in a foetal position, slowly rocking back and forth in the one spot. Her breathing was fast and shallow. One of her braids had come undone and looked like a slowly fraying rope, while the other was tucked somewhere between her head and knees.

“Zoe?” he whispered once more as he reached her. Carefully, he lifted the sofa away from her so he could kneel next to her.

“Zoe, are you okay?” he whispered as he reached out to stroke her hair.

As he touched her, she jumped in fright and let out a muffled scream.

“Get away from me,” she sobbed without lifting her head.

“Zoe? Zoe, it’s me. John.”

There was a moment’s silence and then slowly she lifted her head to look at him.

“See? It’s me, Zoe. It’s John.”

Her tear-streaked face tried to smile, but she couldn’t manage it. Her half-smile split into a sob and she reached out and hugged him.

“Oh, Johnny,” she whispered into his ear. “You’re here.”

Fear suddenly gave way to relief as John realised Zoe was probably unharmed. He hugged her back.

“It’s okay,” he said. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

“You’re here,” she said again.

“Yes, I’m here. And everything’s fine.”

“You’re here to protect me.”

“Everything’s okay.”

“Make them go away,” she whispered.

“Huh?”

“Make them go away.”

“Who?” John stared into her eyes for what seemed like minutes. Then, he pulled away from her and got to his feet. “Come on,” he said in a low voice as he helped her stand. “Let’s get to the sofa and you can tell me everything.”

John led Zoe to the sofa and then retrieved the cushion from near the bedroom door. He placed it back on the sofa and then sat down next to her.

He took her hands in his and smiled at her.

“Who are you talking about?” he asked.

Her face was a whirlpool of emotions that changed from fear to sadness to relief and everything in-between.

“They came for me, Johnny,” she whispered. “Ricky’s men,” her eyes burrowed into his soul.

“Here in the house?”

She shook her head and ran a hand through the hair that was continuing to unwind from her braid.

“No, not here,” she continued. “They followed me.”

“From the hospital?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I think so. Maybe. I’m not sure.”

“What did they do? Did they try to hurt you?”

Zoe’s bottom lip began to tremble. She tried to stop it, but couldn’t. She let out a sob and then leaned forward into John’s arms. He comforted her as best he could while she cried into his chest.

Fox, you bastard, he thought. How can you put her through something like this?

After a few minutes, her crying began to ease and John rocked her back and forth in his arms.

“They’re not here now,” he whispered to her. “I’m here and they’re not. Don’t worry. They can’t harm you now.”

After Zoe stopped crying, there were a few minutes of heavy silence between them. Then, as if readying herself, Zoe let out a big sigh and sat back to look at him. She wiped at the drying tears on her face with the backs of her hands and then tried to smile at him.

“Will you hold me some more?” she asked.

He nodded.

She turned around so her back was facing him and then she leaned backwards onto him. Her head rested on his chest and she stretched her body out on the sofa.

John placed both arms around her and let them rest just above her breasts. His eyes ventured further down her body and came to rest on her belly button. The diamond and the ring holding it there were in clear sight. His eyes watched as the diamond rose and fell in time to Zoe’s breathing. Occasionally, the light would reflect from the diamond. It was one of the most endearing things he had ever seen.

God, he thought. She’s beautiful.

She held on tight to his arms, took another deep breath and said, “Okay, from the beginning.”

John didn’t say anything. He just waited for her to start when she felt ready. His eyes slowly moved back up towards her breasts.

“I left you at the hospital, right?” she began.

“Yep.”

“And I started driving here.”

“Okay.”

“I’m not quite sure when I first saw them, but I guess it was about half-way here that I realised that the car behind me was travelling way, way too close to me. So, I think to myself, ‘Okay, Zoe. Don’t have a panic attack. It’s probably just one of those crazy drivers you hear so much about.’ So I take the next turn and head off on a little detour.”

“But they follow you,” John said.

“Yeah. But I still don’t panic. I take another corner, and another, but they still follow and now they’re even closer.”

“Ricky’s thugs?”

Zoe nodded. “Yeah, that’s them. Anyway, I get lost with all these turns and everything and I end up in some dead-end side street. There’s nowhere for me to go other than to reverse and drive out the way I came, but they’re too close to me for that. So I sit in the car and I think they’re going to come and get me, but they just sit at the other end of the street in their car, with their lights on high and they’re just sitting there and doing nothing. It really freaked me out. It was like they were waiting for me to make the first move or the wrong move or something so they could come after me.”

“Bastards,” John couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He held her tighter. “Go on.”

“Well, I’m almost beside myself with fear and I didn’t know what to do. All I wanted was to get out of there and get home here and make sure you were safe too. I mean, there could have been another load of thugs after you.”

She turned her head to stare up into his eyes.

“No,” he replied. “No one followed me.”

She smiled and looked back down at her hands.

“Good,” she continued. “I’m glad. So, I had no choice. I put the Jeep into reverse and floored it and backed straight up the street at them.”

“Really?” John was amazed.

“Yeah, I mean, what else could I do?”

“Good for you. That’ll show them you’re not going to be frightened so easily.”

“But that’s the weird thing,” Zoe said. “As I started to reverse, so did they.”

“Huh?”

“They wouldn’t let me get any closer than about twenty-five feet from them. They reversed when I did, they stopped when I did.”

“Weird.”

“Yeah, like it was all some big game of cat and mouse.”

“Some game,” he said.

“Yeah. Loads of fun. Anyway, I stopped the Jeep and they stopped their car. I started to reverse again, and so did they. I thought that there was no way they would allow this to go on forever, so I just kept doing it, waiting until they changed the rules. But they didn’t. Eventually, I reversed so far that they reversed past an intersection and I was able to drive down it and get away.”

“They didn’t follow you?”

“Nope.”

“They just let you go?”

“Yep.”

“But that’s crazy!” John said.

“I know. But that’s Ricky for you. You never know what he’s going to do.”

“Did you get a look at the car, or the licence plate?”

Zoe shook her head. “One car looks the same as another to me, unless it’s a Jeep! It was big and black. And I never even thought about looking at plates.”

“So then what happened?”

“Well, I speed home here and I’m sure you’ll already be here and in a panic because I’m nowhere to be seen, but when I get here, there’s no sign of you. Nothing!”

Silence settled between them again.

“Sorry about that,” John mumbled.

“Where were you?”

“I…I needed to make sure no one was following me, so I took a detour or two myself to make sure.”

“But you said no one followed you from the hospital.”

“No one did. But I had to make sure of that. So I took some detours to make certain. They just took a bit longer than I expected.”

“Oh, okay. Maybe I should’ve done the same thing. Anyway there’s no sign of your car and no lights on in the house, so I naturally panic and think the worst. I charge up the drive and run inside looking for you, but there’s no sign of you anywhere. Then I really get scared.”

“And the place was trashed?”

“Huh?”

“This room, it was all messed up when you got here?”

“No, why?”

John was confused, “Well, I thought the thugs must have been here and messed up this room a bit. You know, to scare us.”

Zoe shook her head, “No, Johnny, this room was fine.”

“So they didn’t call by?”

“No.”

“But look at the state of this room!”

There was a long pause.

“I did that,” Zoe mumbled.

“You?”

She nodded.

“Why?”

Zoe turned to look up at him again. Her dark brown eyes were pools of sadness. “I’m sorry, Johnny, I didn’t mean to. I just lost it for a moment.”

“Lost it?”

“Yeah, went crazy.”

“Why?”

She turned from him and began re-braiding her hair.

“Why?” he asked her again, more forcefully this time. “When I walked in here I thought they had come and taken you away.”

“Not yet,” she muttered.

“What made you do it, Zoe?” he asked. “What made you trash the room and cower behind the sofa?”

“Ricky,” she whispered.

“Ricky?”

“Yeah.”

“Ricky was here?”

She shook her head, “No. He phoned.”