Where There's A Will

Chapter Forty-Six

Exhausted and bleary-eyed, Lewis made his way slowly downstairs and along to the kitchen, where he switched on the kettle. After a restless night, in which he had gotten no more than a couple of hours' sleep, he needed the biggest and strongest mug of coffee available; unfortunately, the kitchen cupboards held no large mugs, they were all decidedly average in size.

Disgruntled, he took down the first mug that came to hand, and quickly filled it with a heaped spoonful of coffee, two similarly heaped spoonfuls of sugar, and a splash of milk. He then made himself some toast while he waited for the kettle to boil, slathering it with butter and a generous amount of strawberry jam.

With the toast in one hand and the gently steaming mug in the other, Lewis made for the living room. He was relieved to see that Crash was still asleep on the sofa - that meant he didn't have to try and pretend that there was nothing wrong; just being in the same room as the man who intended killing him was difficult enough. He tried not to do it, but he could not stop his eyes darting constantly to the man he now considered an enemy while he munched on his toast and sipped at his coffee. He found it impossible to shake the fear that at any moment Crash was going to leap to his feet strangle him, or choke him with his breakfast, or kill him in one of the hundred or so ways that were running through his mind.

Once he had finished his breakfast, which left him feeling no better than he had before, he made a second and took it upstairs to Alice – as he set it down in front of her, he wondered if it would be the last she would ever have. That thought made him feel even worse than he already did.

"You'll be back home soon," he told her. "Your dad will be paying the ransom for your release later today, and then you'll be going home." His good news failed to alter the look on Alice's face, she remained downcast, and he didn't waste any time with a second attempt at perking her up, instead he left and locked the door behind him.

On his way downstairs, Lewis wondered why he didn't just take Alice from the room and leave with her. He could drive her to the nearest police station and let her go down the road from it, she would be safe then, as would he; the only possible danger to Alice then would be Jim, who was close enough to the teen to get at her whenever he wanted, there was nothing he could do about that, however. The answer was obvious, and came to him almost immediately – he was afraid that Crash would catch them.