Part 34 (2/2)

On the tap.

He went closer to the basin. The smear of blood was unmistakable - as if someone had turned the tap on or off with a bloodstained hand. A little drip ran down the porcelain.

He frantically looked around with eyes attuned to this one thing, and found more. Two drops on the floor, a smear near the laundry basket, what looked like half a handprint on the outer edge of the basin - four slightly splayed strips where someone had rested their printless fingers.

Jonas turned sharply to go and caught a movement close to his head that made him flinch and put up a hand in self-defence.

He almost laughed. He'd jumped at his own fuzzy reflection in the cabinet mirror!

He stopped dead.

In the lingering condensation on the cold gla.s.s mirror was a message he had no doubt was meant for him.

'Lucy!' he cried in strangled horror, and ran to the bedroom, slapping on lights. She was not there. He ran into the box room. Empty. Jonas was no longer looking for, or afraid of, the killer. He only wanted to see his wife. he cried in strangled horror, and ran to the bedroom, slapping on lights. She was not there. He ran into the box room. Empty. Jonas was no longer looking for, or afraid of, the killer. He only wanted to see his wife.

The back bedroom. His childhood room. She wasn't there but, behind the door, the loft ladder had been dropped from the attic.

'Lucy?' he hissed. He was wary again now. He couldn't see how Lu could have extended the ladder, let alone gone up it, without help.

Or without being forced.

Halfway up the ladder was a long smear of blood.

He bit his lip to keep himself quiet. He peered up into the black hole. There was no light in the attic; they used a camping lantern. A lantern that was no longer in its usual place on the bedside table.

Jonas gripped the ladder and slowly climbed into the dark.

From his secret place the killer watched with a dispa.s.sionate eye as Jonas Holly warily ascended the ladder. He knew what he would find up there, and knew that this would soon be over.

It was sad, but it was the way things had to be.

Reynolds and his team were lost.

They had run across the fields more slowly than Jonas because they did not have a wife in danger on the other side and because they were not as fit, as fast or as tall as him. The snow was a problem - both that which was deep underfoot and the fresh flakes that were whipped stingingly into their faces.

They followed Jonas's tracks to where they appeared to run straight into a hedge.

's.h.i.+t,' said Reynolds.

They could see the lighted window in the cottage on the other side of the hedge, but there seemed to be no way to get to it.

'There must be a gate,' Reynolds said, and so they started to look for it, splitting into two groups, each going in opposite directions down the hedge-line.

Singh tried to find a place to burrow through, but learned a quick lesson in blackthorn and sheep wire.

They reconvened at the place where Jonas's tracks were now filling with new snow, and Reynolds turned towards the lane and started a methodical circ.u.mnavigation of the field in an attempt to find a way out.

Lucy jumped at the rattle of the ladder. The yellow patch of light in the attic floor was darkened by a shadow and she got out of the armchair, groping for the knife.

She saw the silhouette of a man's head rise into the attic s.p.a.ce and held the blade out towards him in hands that shook uncontrollably.

'Who's there?' she said in a tremulous voice.

'It's me!' Jonas sounded hugely relieved. 'Are you OK, Lu?'

'Don't come up here!'

His head and shoulders were already in the attic and she could see him c.o.c.king his head, trying to squint into the darkness to make her out.

'Sweetheart, what's wrong?'

He stepped up another rung so he was up to his waist in the attic.

'Stay there!'

Jonas stopped dead. Lucy's head spun. This was ridiculous. This was Jonas. He had come to help her, not to harm her. But she needed some ... explanations.

'I found the missing b.u.t.ton!' she cried.

Of all the things he'd expected Lucy to say next, that was the stone-cold last. Jonas almost laughed. Would have, if he hadn't been able to hear the shake and the fear in Lucy's voice.

'What b.u.t.ton?'

'The b.u.t.ton you found on Margaret Priddy's roof. It came off your trousers.'

'No it didn't. I checked when I found it. What's this all about, Lu? How did you get up here?'

'It did, Jonas! I found a pair of your uniform trousers tonight with a b.u.t.ton missing.'

Jonas still failed to see how that would scare his wife so badly she would hide in the attic. She'd always been so objective and sensible. He couldn't understand-- Panic suddenly made him tingle all over.

'Lu? Did you take anything? Did you take any ... thing?'

'No! Jonas! Something's going on here, but it's with you you, not me! me! I think ... I think something's I think ... I think something's not right not right with you, Jonas.' with you, Jonas.'

He was not convinced. The note of hysteria in her voice worried him. He started to move up as if to make the final climb into the attic, but her scream cut him short.

'Stay there!'

'OK. OK, Lu. I'm not moving. I'm staying right here.'

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