I grab the plastic knife. It’s useless, I know that, but it’s all I’ve got. Maybe I can stab him in the eye. Or the throat. Perhaps I can escape. Maybe I can live again.
‘Are you away from the door?’ he calls.
‘Yes,’ I answer.
He enters. The smell of coffee hits me immediately.
‘Stay where you are,’ he orders. He sets a polystyrene cup on the floor, just inside the doorway.
‘Thank you,’ I say.
He nods.
And before I can stop myself, I ask, ‘Why are you being so nice to me?’
For a second or two, he doesn’t reply. Then he backs toward the door, opens it, and says, ‘I like you.’
The door closes, and I start crying.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Daniel
The air in Judith’s kitchen is thick with the scent of roast beef and potatoes, but it’s the absence of Jo that weighs heaviest. Sundays used to be a ritual at Hawthorn Lodge, filled with laughter, good food, and expensive wine, but today, it’s different. Jo’s voice is missing, and the kidnapper’s silence amplifies the tension.
We tiptoe around the unspeakable, avoiding the dark possibilities that loom in our minds.
Outside, Donald and Joel kick a ball around the sprawling lawn. Jo would have been out there too, her phone capturing every moment, hundreds of photos preserving our shared memories.
Suddenly, a loud bang from the kitchen startles me. Julia’s frustration echoes throughout the house as she slams cupboard doors. ‘Where is it?’ she says irritably.
‘Where’s what?’
‘The bloody gravy jug. For God’s sake, you’d think a house this size…’
‘You’ve already made the gravy, Julia,’ I say, pointing to the jug on the counter.
She looks at the jug, bursts into tears and collapses into a chair.
‘Why hasn’t he phoned?’ she asks pleadingly.
‘I don’t know.’ It’s all I can think of to say.
She grabs me by the arm. ‘Please, don’t let Donald ask for proof again. We can’t delay things any longer.’
I glance out through the window again and see Donald swinging Joel in the air. He would kill me if he knew I’d spoken to the police. But I owe them the truth. It’s their daughter who’s missing.
I see Donald heading back to the house, and I am bracing myself to tell him the news when my phone rings. I see Julia’s hands tremble. Donald shushes Joel and leads him to the billiards room.
It's an unknown number. ‘Hello,’ I say hesitantly.
‘Be at the library in Summertown tomorrow at eleven. Don’t look around. There’s an unused phone box outside. Idiots leave books in there. Leave the envelope between the books. I’ll be watching. Leave right away.’
‘Unused phone box,’ I repeat.
‘Act casual, you know, look at the books.’
‘And my wife, when will you let her go?’
