Kill Me Again Part 29

His head came back down to hers. 'We're waiting for a backup team. We need the place surrounded and there are too many windows. Five minutes, and they won't be going anywhere.'

Maggie felt a jolt of shock. Duncan was in there. What was going to happen? If they caught him now, everything was going to have to come out. She felt helpless and no longer knew what outcome she was hoping for.

The man she now recognised as Tom Douglas put his arm gently around her shoulders and led her towards the door. A thought flashed through Maggie's mind. If only she had told him everything when he had come to see her, perhaps all of this could have been avoided. But it was too late to think like that. Behind her, she heard nothing but sensed the movement of bodies, climbing the stairs silently to the room above.

She signalled to the detective that he needed to bend his ear to her lips. 'Ambulance,' she said softly. He looked at her as if to ask where she was hurt. 'Not me,' she mouthed. His eyes grew wide and strangely frightened. But she had no time to query that as he handed her over to a uniformed policeman, squeezed her arm and moved silently back into the loading bay, heading for the stairs.

The young policeman walked Maggie outside towards a police car, speaking quietly into his radio as he moved.

'Let the family know that we've got the mother. Yes, Mrs Taylor's with me. Let them know she's safe, will you.' He disconnected as they reached the car.

'Tell me about Josh? Do you know where he is?' she asked, pulling at the policeman's arm as his attention was diverted by some activity at the end of the street.

'Sorry, miss,' he said. 'I don't know anything about Josh, but as soon as we're sorted here I'll find out for you.'

He glanced back towards the end of the street where a crowd seemed to be gathering, clearly interested in what was happening. Two officers were manning a temporary barrier, but one or two people had broken through, phones at the ready to take photos.

'Can I put you in the police car?' the policeman said. 'I need to see what those idiots are doing at the top of the road. We could do without their interference.' He opened the car door for her.

'Thanks, officer,' Maggie said. 'I'm going to stand in the fresh air for a moment. It seems a long time since I was able to breathe.'

's.h.i.t. I'm not supposed to leave you, but I can't let that lot near the building.'

'I'm not going anywhere. I'm the victim, the one who escaped, remember.'

'I know.' He started to reverse down the street, talking to her and checking over his shoulder. 'Well, stay there, and if you see anybody, get in the car and lock it. I'll be right back,' he said, turning round and jogging down the street.

Maggie leaned against the side of the car, watching the policeman as he ran towards the onlookers, but thinking only of Josh. Tom Douglas had said he was safe, and she had to believe him. Thank G.o.d. All she wanted now was to get home to her children and keep them safe.

She thought back to the decision she had been about to make. Kill me she had been going to say. She had known she couldn't watch Duncan kill somebody else, but equally she wouldn't have been able to watch Samil kill Duncan. She had been going to take the coward's way out.

She felt her legs turn to jelly and pulled the car door wide to get in. Before she had the chance to move, a hard body slammed into hers, flattening her against the police car, a hand whipping up to cover her mouth. Maggie felt strong arms dragging her back into the shadows. She couldn't breathe. The hand clamped over Maggie's mouth felt rough and hard.

'Ssshh, Maggie it's me.'

It was no more than a harsh whisper against her ear, but a voice she recognised. She froze, unable to resist or to move away from his grasp.

'Quiet. They'll hear you. I got away down an old fire escape before they surrounded the place. The police don't need to know I was here. Don't say anything, Maggie. I love you. Trust me just for a little longer. Please, Maggie. For our children.'

Maggie saw the policeman turn back towards where he had left her. He stopped, stared and then started to jog back.

She felt a small push in the back as Duncan let go of her. Maggie stumbled out of the shadows back towards the waiting police car, then turned briefly to look over her shoulder.

There was n.o.body there.

61.

Pleased as he was that Maggie Taylor was safe, Tom was filled with a sense of hopelessness. If an ambulance was needed so urgently, Leo had to be in a bad way. Why hadn't he done more?

He had quickly pulled a team together as soon as they had realised that of all the places Adam Mellor might have chosen from his family's portfolio, one stood out as the most obvious of the small number of currently deserted properties. No buildings opposite, right by the ca.n.a.l, and it had what appeared to be a loading bay. They could have searched them all, but Tom had taken a punt by bringing the team here and sending a couple of uniforms to check the other buildings from the outside. He had been right.

Now the team leader was at the top of the stairs, trying to get a visual on the two men. If they were too close to Leo, who knew what they would do. There was shouting coming from the room it sounded as if they had noticed Maggie Taylor had gone and they were blaming each other.

As Tom reached the top of the stairs he saw that there was a sort of window in the door to the room. It looked like it was made of plastic rather than gla.s.s and was scratched and filthy, but it was clear enough for them to be able to judge the moment.

The team leader was holding up a gloved hand, telling them all to wait. Tom couldn't stand it. He needed to get to Leo, but he knew that at this moment he had to leave this to the specialists.

Suddenly the hand dropped, the door was flung open, and six policemen flew through the doors, shouting at the tops of the voices, 'Police, police. Stay where you are. Don't move.'

The team leader had chosen the perfect moment. One man was on the floor, the other kneeling down with his hands around his neck, shaking him. Before they were able to struggle to their feet, the two fastest policemen were on them.

Tom scanned the darkened room, lit only by two dim fluorescent tubes, buzzing and crackling as they flickered. His eyes flashed around, looking for signs of Leo. And then he saw a dark patch half way across the huge pillared s.p.a.ce. A black mound among sc.r.a.ps of debris.

'Dear G.o.d,' he whispered. He ran. He didn't care about the two sc.u.mbags who had done this to Leo. All he cared about was getting to her.

He skidded to a halt, falling to his knees at her side. His voice caught in his throat, but he had to speak to her, to let her know she was safe.

'Leo? Leo, it's Tom. You're safe now, love. We're going to take care of you.'

He gently eased the damp fabric away from her mouth and wet the cloth again, trying in vain to cool the burning skin. What had they done?

'I'm just going to check you, to see what we can do to make you more comfortable.'

Tom lifted his head and shouted to n.o.body in particular, 'Where's that f.u.c.king ambulance!' then his attention went back to Leo.

Gently he pulled back the sleeve of the arm that appeared to be attached to one of the pillars. He bit back a gasp of horror. Leo couldn't know how bad this was.

Her arm was so swollen that the plastic tie securing her wrist was almost completely hidden under the pus-filled, hot flesh that surrounded it. The end of the tie was attached to a chain looped around the pillar, but he couldn't cut the plastic without cutting Leo.

Tom leapt to his feet and raced across the room.

'You b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. You f.u.c.king b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. Where are the keys?'

Tom turned to one of the policeman. 'Give me your baton.' The policeman hesitated. 'That's an order, Constable.' Reluctantly the PC handed over his baton.

Tom walked towards Adam Mellor, the weaker-looking of the two. He pushed his face right up to Mellor's and shouted, 'Give me the f.u.c.king keys, or I'll break both your legs.'

From across the room, close to Leo, Becky watched in horror. She stood up and raced towards Tom. The team leader had started to move too, but Tom had halted him with a warning glance.

'Tom,' Becky said, her voice strong. 'Leave it.'

'Not until this piece of s.h.i.t tells me what he's done with the keys. b.u.t.t out, Becky. You,' he said, waving the baton close to Adam's face. 'I am looking for an excuse to hit you, and hit you hard. Don't give me one.'

Becky didn't know what to do. She didn't want to undermine her boss, but he was in danger of getting himself into serious trouble here.

She heard a groan from behind her and turned. Leo was looking at her. She wanted something, and Becky ran back to her side and fell to her knees.

'Leo, I'm Becky. I work with Tom. We're trying to find the keys so we can get you out of here.'

Leo tried to speak. Becky squeezed some water between her sore, swollen lips from a piece of silk lying beside a bottle of water.

Finally Becky made out one word: 'Keys.'

'I know. We're trying to find them.'

Leo made a glugging noise in the back of her throat and Becky gave her some more water. She glanced up at Tom. He was waving the baton at the two men.

'Desk,' Leo said. At least, that's what Becky thought she said.

Becky looked around her. The s.p.a.ce was pretty empty, just some odd bits and pieces of broken furniture. But it was a huge s.p.a.ce, and there were areas deep in darkness.

Becky pulled a torch out of her pocket and flashed it around. There was an alcove at the far end of the room and Becky ran towards it. In it stood an old metal desk. She frantically pulled at each of the drawers shining the torch inside. In the top left-hand drawer was a small bunch of keys.

'Tom!' she yelled as loudly as she could. 'Leave it! I've got the keys.' She was running as she shouted, and she saw Tom spin round towards her.

He dropped the baton on the floor and ran back towards Leo. Becky threw the keys to him as he crouched down next to his ex-girlfriend.

'Leo,' he said, 'we can't take the plastic tie off your wrist, love, because we need a surgeon to look at it. But we can detach the chain. Becky, I need you to support her hand, because if it drops and hits the floor, it's going to hurt like h.e.l.l.'

Becky watched as Tom undid the chain securing Leo's leg, and then found the key to detach the other end to the one leading to her arm. 'You ready?' he asked.

Becky gently held Leo's outstretched arm, one hand supporting it just below the elbow, the other under her hand. She could feel the throbbing heat coming through, and it was only then that she saw the sutures, pus oozing freely from around the puncture wounds; only then did she realise what they had done, and why Tom was more furious than she had ever seen him.

As he undid the chain, Leo's arm fell like a deadweight onto Becky's hands. Leo gave a small groan, and then Tom was by her side.

'We're going to wait here, Leo, until the paramedics arrive and can give your arm some support. Hang on, darling. Hang on.'

Without changing his position by Leo's side, he swivelled his head.

'Get those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds out of my sight.' Becky saw Tom look at the team leader and mouth the word 'sorry'.

The policeman shrugged as if to say, About what? and pushed one of the two cuffed men towards the door.

Tom turned back to Leo and she heard him whisper, 'It's over now.'

Only it wasn't.

62.

The ride in the ambulance had been agonising for Tom. He hadn't missed the looks exchanged between the two paramedics when they saw the state of Leo, so he told Becky to deal with the two sc.u.mbags who had put her in this dreadful state. He wasn't going to leave Leo's side until he knew she was going to be okay.

A forensics team had now taken over the mill, searching for evidence of the other killings. Tom wanted these two to be put away for life, but he had the horrible feeling that Leo's abduction and unlawful imprisonment might be the only crime they wouldn't get away with. Maggie's abduction too, but that wouldn't add much to the tally. He had nothing but his own personal certainty to go on that Adam Mellor and Ben Coleman were the killers.

Leo had been given something for the pain, and she had drifted off into either sleep or unconsciousness, Tom wasn't sure which.

The ambulance pulled into the accident and emergency bay at Manchester Royal Infirmary, the very hospital where Ben Coleman had operated on people daily, and at that thought Tom vowed to have somebody check out his mortality rate. A man like him might pick and choose who lived and who died.

As the ambulance doors sprang open, Tom moved out of the way so that Leo could be carried into the hospital, and he followed close behind.

A team had clearly been alerted that she was coming in, and a doctor spoke to Tom. 'Leave her with us for now, Mr Douglas. It would be helpful if you could let the guys at reception have some details. We'll let you know where we're at as soon as we can.'

'Her arm-' Tom started rather uselessly.

'We know about her arm. The paramedics called it through. If you'll excuse me, I need to get in there.'

With that, he patted Tom on the upper arm and turned towards the doors that Leo had disappeared through. It felt strange to Tom to be offered comfort and support. That was usually his job.

He gave the receptionist Leo's details and went into the waiting room, unable to sit for more than five minutes at a time. He had called Becky once, and she told him everything was in hand. Mellor and Coleman would be locked up for a long time whether or not the police could get the murders to stick. There was time to find the rest of the evidence they needed.

Becky also confirmed they had taken Maggie Taylor home. She had been in no fit state to give a statement and was so desperate to get back to Josh after all he had been through, they had decided she would be more coherent the next day. They had plenty to hold Ben Coleman and Adam Mellor in custody without relying on Maggie's statement.

The next forty-five minutes were the longest Tom thought he had ever spent. He had no idea what was happening, but he knew enough not to go bothering people with demands for updates. The A&E department was stretched enough as it was.

The doors behind which Leo had disappeared sprang open and a trolley was pushed through. Tom could see that it was Leo, and the same doctor walked towards him.

'Mr Douglas, we're taking Leo up to intensive care. We've managed to remove the plastic tie from her wrist, but her arm is, as you saw, acutely inflamed.'

'Because the b.a.s.t.a.r.d sutured her arm to the tie.' Tom spat the words out in disgust.

'It was brutal,' the doctor admitted. 'She's very poorly and also severely dehydrated, but we've given her a high level of antibiotics and she's a strong young woman. I'm sure she'll fight off the infection, but we need to keep an eye on her. Her breathing isn't good at the moment, and her blood pressure is dangerously low. We need to make sure she doesn't go into septic shock.'

'Can I see her?'

'I can direct you to the ICU. Speak to the team there about a visit. She'll have her own cubicle, but she's heavily sedated so don't expect to get any response from her at the moment.'

Tom held out his hand and the young doctor shook it.

'It must have been a tough night for you,' he said to Tom. 'I don't often see things as gruesome as that.'

Tom nodded. 'At least she's alive, which is more than can be said for some of the other victims of the two s.h.i.ts that did this to her. Take it from me, I'm not going to stop until I've caught each and every person who had the slightest thing to do with this.'

63.