My Heart Belongs To You: A Psycho Thriller (12 page)

‘
Please, don’t do this.  I’m begging you
,
’
croaked Tom, ‘
L
et
us go.
’

‘Oh you are going
to go
,
Tom
,
trust me
. Y
ou
’
r
e
going to a much better place, a place where you will spend eternity at Karen
’
s side and
her
by yours.’

Cupid moved for
ward and pressed the hidden button bringing the table back down to
it
s previous level position.
He then
t
urned
, unseen by Tom and Karen
,
and
he
pointed
a
small remote control at
the camcorder
,
bringing it to a halt. It would lie dormant until needed again, dormant until Cupid commanded it once again to capture the culmination of
Cupid’s quest; the
coupling
.

Once again,
Tom could see his reflection and that of Karen at his side.
He choked back a sob
,
trapping it in his throat, unwilling to allo
w this monster to see his grief
.

Cupid s
trolled towards the door
,
feeling
calm and relaxed, which he was.
‘I will return tomorrow
,
Tom,
and then
you and Karen will make your final journey, your journey to paradise
.
’

Tom stared
at the reflection of Karen lying
naked at his side,
fe
eling
the surge and anger run through him
at her degra
dati
o
n, ‘
Why
…
why did you have to take our clothes
?
’
Ca
me
his strangled voice.

Cupid paused
,
turned
and said
, ‘
Don’
t
you see
,
Tom
?
It’
s how we come into this world
.
We
enter
with nothing
,
and
we
leave with nothing. That is how
you
will leave
,
with nothing, nothing but your love.
’ 
Then he was gone, swit
c
hing off the light as he went
,
leaving
the cloak of darkness falling over them once again.

‘
Karen
!
Karen
! 
To
m tried and tried to get through
, but
the shield
of
her subcon
s
cious had formed around her
.
He
sq
u
eezed her hand
,
and he
called her name constan
t
ly
,
but she had now gone over the edge, hi
ding some
where deep with
in her
self.

The frustration
Tom
was feeling, the dread for Karen that was twisting withi
n his gut
,
brought forth a cry
bursting
through his lips
.
It
was the only release he had
,
and
the only thing left in his control. ‘
Jooooohn
!
Jooooohn
!
’
 
Tom scre
amed at the top of his voice,
screamed until he couldn
’
t scream any more, until he was so hoarse he could barely speak
,
and through it all
,
Karen never made a sound, never uttered a word.
His breathing collapsed into a panting rasp
.
His
throat
was
stinging as he greed
i
ly sucked in each breath
,
but in his
mind,
he was still yelling, still calling for his friend
, because
he knew in his heart
,
felt it i
n his soul
that
John
was their only hope.
If any man on earth could find them
,
it was John Hanson.

Chapter
Eleven

13
February
-
11
:
48

(
L
ife r
emaining 31 hrs 12 mins)

‘I always have tea and biscuits at twelve o
’
clock.’

Turner
stepped up next to Jane at the refreshments table and grabbed a disposable cup, ‘Any coffee left?’

‘Gallons
,
’ she smiled
,
passing him the
ever-working
coffee
pot.

‘How does she do that?’ he frowned
,
nodding towards Stephanie as the last of the six files was placed
back
onto the centre
worktable
.

‘She’s amazing
,
isn’t she?’ replied Jane
,
following his gaze.  ‘Do you know she can read two pages at one time, one eye on each?’

Turner
looked at her waiting for the punch line.  ‘You’re making that up
,
right?’

Jane shook her head, ‘S
een her do it a number of times
.
Like
I said
,
she`s amazing.’

‘What are we actually hoping she can do
.
I mean, it’s a great party trick
,
but… what is she actually gonna bring to the table?’

‘You mean apart from the files?’

‘Was that a joke?’ responded
Turner
poker
-
faced.

‘Apparently not
,
’
w
inced Jane.

Turner
winked, ‘G
ot you.’

‘I´ll give you that one
,
’ smiled Jane
,
glad the detective had a sense of humour.  As far as she was concerned it was the grease of life, it smoothed everything.  ‘Anyway to answer your question
.
John is hoping that his sister might be able to find some kind of common thread within the files, something missed when the files are all viewed in isolation.  He knows it’s a long shot
,
but…’ Jane shrugged
, but
what she thought
was
what else is there but long shots.

‘You got those coffees
,
Richard
?
’
called Donald
Myers
.

‘Caffeine’s on the way
,
’ responded
Turner
,
heading back to the white board that was slowly filling with photos, notations and
Post Its
.

‘It’s twelve o’clock
,
’ whispered Stephanie
,
coming up behind Jane
with
her eyes glued to the floor.

Jane automatically looked at the large clock on the command centre wall
.
She
tried
,
but couldn’t stop her gaze sliding across the digital counter next to it.  Her heart jumped as she took in that it had already counted down over an hour and a half.  Tom and Karen’s lives were slipping away before her eyes.  Shaking her
head,
she managed to conjure up a smile as she turned back to John’s sister.  ‘You’re right Stephanie
,
’ responded Jane brightly, ‘
Time
we were getting on
,
I suppose.’  Jane hesitated as Stephanie remained rooted to the spot and flicked Jane a quick searching look.

‘But
,
it’s twelve o’clock
,
Jane.’

Jane frowned, what was she missing?  Clearly there was something about twelve o’clock
,
‘
What
happens at twelve o’clock Stephanie?’

‘I always have tea and biscuits at twelve o’clock.’

‘Tell you what, you sit yourself down and I’ll bring you over a cup and a couple of biscuits.’

Stephanie didn’t move.

Jane had to think quickly, ‘
Three
biscuits?’

Stephanie nodded, happy now as she
moved back to the seating area where she began reading the newspaper articles
that Jane had
printed out.

Jane was on her way back to her computer
when
the hotline allotted solely for John burst in
to
life.  Jane hit the loudspeaker button
and heard
Hanson’s
voice crack the
relevant
silence
like a whip
.

‘Any new Intel?’
No
chewing the cud, no greetings, no time.

‘John
,
it’s Jane.’

‘Speak to me
,
Jane.’

Stephanie stood and walked over and stared into the speaker perched on the central table, a wide beam on her face at the sound of her brother’s voice.

‘I got pretty much everything available from the net on Cupid
,
John
. I’ve
given it to Stephanie
,
’ replied Jane.

‘
Okay
Jane
,
I should be
at The Spinning Wheel shortly
.
I’ll feed you any Intel that turns up.’  Hanson’s voice dropped to a soft tone, ‘
How
you doing
,
sis?’

Stephanie’s gaze never left the speaker,
but
had it been John in person
,
she would have only given him a few
seconds of eye contact, ‘I
finished reading the files
,
John
,
’ she beamed.

‘That’s fantastic
,
Steph, remember if you think of anything that links the couples
,
just
tell
Jane.’

‘I’m going to try really hard
,
John’.

Hanson smiled, ‘I know you will
,
sis, I know you will.’

‘Are you coming soon
,
John?’

‘I need to find Tom first
,
Steph
,
and
then I will come and get you
,
but don’t worry, Jane will look after you.’

‘Jane
,
I forgot to mention, at twelve o’clock…’

Jane cut him off, ‘
Tea
and three biscuits.’

Hanson chuckled, ‘
Thanks,
Jane.’

‘
You there
,
Richard?’
Moved
on Hanson
,
his tone switching immediately back to business as usual.

‘Fire away
,
John
,
’ responded the detective.

‘You told me earlier that you had the city on high alert yesterday
,
waiting for a report of a couple dropping off the radar.’