Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer

Part 72

72

I tapped lightly on the van's side door. Navid opened it for me, a tight smile on his face and a phone jammed between his ear and his shoulder. "That's the lot, mate." He nodded in greeting. "All clear. You can stand down." He beeped the end of the call and stuck his phone back in his pocket.

"Any sign of her?" I asked tersely, slamming the door hard behind me. The icy fury I'd started with now burned white-hot and I had no one left to kill.

"Nope. Did you get anything out of them?"

I shook my head. "They said they hurt Caitlin and they'd prefer a clean death over the one she'd give them, so they wouldn't say a thing about her, except how shit-scared they were." I thought back to things I hadn't noticed at the time. "They were all limping, though, walking stiffly the way you do with a knee injury." I felt some satisfaction that Laura had already fucked them up before they died. Only now did I wish that Caitlin or I'd had some hand in that, but it was too late.

I looked up to find Navid's eyes on me. He looked like it pained him to say, "You should have left at least one of them alive, mate. You're going to get in trouble for killing them all."

I shrugged. "One of them killed himself instead of coming with us. He was police, or ex-police. The one who shot me and her. Fucking crazy."

Navid looked worried. "Him or you? Now we have no choice but to get the woman alive. You've killed the rest."

I nodded. "Yeah, she's next. Time to get the clean-up crew in here, I think, then we'll plan out her capture. It won't be easy." Easy to resist strangling her with my bare hands. I flexed my itching fingers.

Navid laughed. "We've been after that crazy bitch for months. If it was easy, we'd have her already."

I nodded again. "But first – Caitlin. I need to get her somewhere safe."

He shot me a sideways glance. "Didn't you already hide her somewhere safe? She gave me the shock of my life when she came sliding out of the ceiling, right in front of one of my cameras. Some very close-up curves." He smiled.

I stared at him. "I didn't hide her in the roof. Show me."

He checked the surveillance footage and replayed it, from maybe twenty minutes ago, when I'd headed for the third bloke in the bushes. A clear hallway, then a pair of black-clad legs dangled in front of the camera. She descended slowly, as if she was carefully letting herself down from the access cover by her hands. Her hair swung a little, too short to touch her shoulders. It looked like a black helmet, matching her dark clothes. She hung suspended from her fingertips for a moment before she dropped to a crouch in the passage.

My heart plummeted, watching her pull out her handgun and hold it out in readiness, as she rose smoothly to her feet. She strode down the passage, scanning from side to side, rolling out like a tank on patrol.

"It looks like she's doing your job for you," Navid said with a smile.

"That's…that's not Caitlin," I managed to say. I stared at him in horror as my heart froze.

We both dived for the door, fumbling with the lock, losing precious seconds to clumsiness. Released, I sprinted back to her house, Navid right behind me.

"How far away are the rest of them?" I panted.

"Ten minutes," puffed Navid, struggling to keep up as he pressed buttons on his phone. I heard him recall the team that should have been here by now, but I made no move to slow my pace.

I was out of breath by the time I reached the toilet, but I wasn't sure if the pain in my chest was from trying to breathe or trying not to shout at Navid for putting Caitlin at risk and not fucking telling me. I had to get her out and somewhere safe, before Laura found her.

The toilet door was still shut, as I'd left it. But, when I tried, the damn thing didn't open. There wasn't a lock – she must have somehow wedged it shut on purpose.

"Caitlin, angel, it's me," I called through the door, but I got no reply. The door was still stuck. I shoved with my full weight and it opened a little. I pushed and widened the gap further, now big enough to get my head inside for a proper look. She was there – lying face down, the soles of her shoes jammed against the door. I'd never felt so relieved.

Laura didn't get to her. I got here in time. Oh, thank God.

"Hey, it's okay. It's me." I knelt and moved her legs so that I could open the door fully. Strange – she was limp. I shook her shoulders, her nightie sliding off her and revealing her bare skin, but she didn't react. I turned her onto her back.

"My God!" The black tiles beneath her were slick with blood, and her face was a mess. Feeling sick, I felt for a pulse that wasn't there. And the smell...

Had all this been for nothing? Stupid, stupid, to have left her alone!

I should have stayed with her – that was what she'd asked me to do. Now she couldn't even have the satisfaction of being right. She couldn't have anything. I may as well have killed her. This was my fault.

I'd as good as killed her.

She was dead.

Shit.

I'd killed Caitlin.