Nightmares of Caitlin Lockyer by Demelza Carlton
angry.
I wavered, wanting to stay.
NO – don't think of that night on the beach. Concentrate on keeping her alive. Struggling to keep my focus, I crouched in front of her. "I can't. They might have seen me come in here. If I stay here and they come into the house before the police arrive, this is the first place they'll look, because they know I'll be here. Then they'll find you, too."
She bit her lip and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her eyes held mine. No longer terrified, she'd harnessed the fury. FUCK. "Make sure you kill them all," she told me through gritted teeth. "None of the people who hurt me deserves to live."
I nodded once.
It felt like forever, but barely a minute had passed, the time it took for the cistern to fill, ready to flush again.
I had to get out of there to keep her safe. I opened the door and pretended to zip up my fly as I shut the door behind me. I ran for her bedroom, praying I'd have time to get my vest on and some extra clips for my standard issue semi-automatic before they arrived.
The rip of Velcro as I fastened the vest, as fast as I could. Spare clips shoved in every available pocket. A loaded gun in my hands.
Please, just let her survive 'til tomorrow.
Would I? I wondered as I fumbled to fit the earpiece in place.
"Time's up," said a voice in my ear.
I jumped a mile, before I realised I was alone. The voice was Navid's.
"Coming through the kitchen now. Ready?"
No. Nevertheless, I nodded. Now or never. I need to end this.
Don't let her die!
71
"Rounding the corner, you should see him in five, four..." Navid's voice buzzed in my earpiece.
I heard him before I saw him, so when he rounded the corner he met the muzzle of my gun in his face.
He backed up a little and his hands went up, too. He didn't even have a weapon out.
"Which one are you?" I asked roughly.
"I'm Pete," he said through his nose.
"What'd you do to Caitlin?" I demanded.
"The little girl?" He grinned lazily. "I fucked her more times'n I could count. Broke her fingers, too, when she tried to fight me. She screamed real sweet then."
Caitlin screaming. Nothing sweet about that.
The sound of her screaming still echoing in my head, I shot the smile off his face. Okay, I shot off most of his face. The dead body crumpled to the carpet. One down.
I felt nothing but a grim satisfaction.
"Fuck, Nathan. Alive?" I nodded, knowing Navid could see me through the surveillance cameras. I'd try harder to resist killing the next one if I could. "Leaving the kitchen now, he's headed into the lounge..."
I stepped over the corpse and carefully continued up the passage. The clean-up crew could deal with it later.
I crept up on the next one from behind, my gun to the back of his head as he leaned over to look under a table. "Which one are you?"
A snort as he straightened. "I was Senior Constable Nick Dennis, before I got suspended after meeting you and your girlfriend."
"What'd you do to her?"
He grunted. "Nothing. It's what she'll do to you that matters."
I jabbed him with the gun. "What Caitlin will do to me?"
He snorted again. "Laura, fuckwit. It doesn't matter where you go or what you do, she'll find you and fuck you up worse than the little girl who killed her husband."
"Tell me where to find her," I said urgently. "I can get you into protective custody."
He let out a bark of laughter. "Not from her you can't. She'll pay whatever it takes to get whatever she wants. I'll lose my job as it is – I almost did when I shot you and her. Are you gonna shoot me?"
I pulled the gun back a little, so it wasn't pressed against his skull. "Maybe not, if you tell me where I can find her."
More laughter. "She'll find you and you'll wish she hadn't. Not me, mate." He lifted his own weapon. The barrel pointed at me over his shoulder and I ducked to the side. I was just in time to miss the shower of blood and brain that blew out the back of his head as he killed himself. Instead, I felt nothing.
"Number three, in the bush with the red flowers. Unconscious is fine but we need him alive."
"Do you want to do this?" I muttered. "I'll take your place in the van."
"Love to, mate, but you know Sam will kill me if I don't come home in the morning. I have to pick up nappies on my way home." It took me a minute to make sense of that. His wife would kill him if he got killed? I shook my head and decided I didn't need to understand it.
The third man was outside, keeping watch by Caitlin's bedroom window. I looped around the house, out of his sight, so I could come up behind him and surprise him.
I stuck the gun in his ear. "Which one are you and what did you do to her?"
He didn't say anything, so I repeated the question and jabbed the gun to emphasise each word.
"Tom," he grunted. "Held her down for the old bugger. Did her a couple of times, but I don't like leftovers."
"Are you going to tell me where she is?"
"Little leftovers? Or the bitch she made a widow?"
I spat the words out. "The bitch who's responsible for what happened to Caitlin."
"Focus, Nathan." I ignored Navid's voice in my ear.
"You won't get Laura. She had her husband in a gimp mask for a week for asking her if the dishwasher had been loaded. Whipped him raw, too. If she did that to her own husband, fucked if you have a hope in hell. Good luck!" He lumbered to his feet, reaching for his weapon.
"Stop!" I ordered, still aiming my gun at him.
He dropped his hands to his sides again. "You think I'm the last one who matters? She has the money to hire as many thugs as she likes. Tomorrow, she'll have replacements for the lot of us – all convicted rapists and child molesters, who'd pay for a bit of Little Leftovers. Don't know why – she's about as responsive as a corpse."
I wanted to kill him, my heart almost bursting out of my chest, I was so angry. "Not another step."
"Or you'll shoot me?" He smiled grimly. "It's nicer than what Laura will do to me, or to you when she finds you. She'll leave Little Leftovers for last."
I gritted my teeth. "Don't call her that. Her name's Caitlin."
He turned his back on me and started walking away. "Like I fucking care. She was just a little cunt to me and she's less than shit to Laura. She won't last long enough for me to learn her name."
The sound of the shot echoed between the brick walls of the front yard and the house like there was more than one. I fired before I realised I was going to. He fell face-first onto the paving as the acrid smoke wafted away in the wind. I left him where he lay. Like I fucking cared.
"Fuck, Nathan! You were supposed to keep him alive for questioning!" Navid complained. "There's none left now. She should be safe for a few minutes by herself. Come to the van, so we can talk face to face."
I started into the dark.
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,
I wavered, wanting to stay.
NO – don't think of that night on the beach. Concentrate on keeping her alive. Struggling to keep my focus, I crouched in front of her. "I can't. They might have seen me come in here. If I stay here and they come into the house before the police arrive, this is the first place they'll look, because they know I'll be here. Then they'll find you, too."
She bit her lip and closed her eyes. When she opened them again, her eyes held mine. No longer terrified, she'd harnessed the fury. FUCK. "Make sure you kill them all," she told me through gritted teeth. "None of the people who hurt me deserves to live."
I nodded once.
It felt like forever, but barely a minute had passed, the time it took for the cistern to fill, ready to flush again.
I had to get out of there to keep her safe. I opened the door and pretended to zip up my fly as I shut the door behind me. I ran for her bedroom, praying I'd have time to get my vest on and some extra clips for my standard issue semi-automatic before they arrived.
The rip of Velcro as I fastened the vest, as fast as I could. Spare clips shoved in every available pocket. A loaded gun in my hands.
Please, just let her survive 'til tomorrow.
Would I? I wondered as I fumbled to fit the earpiece in place.
"Time's up," said a voice in my ear.
I jumped a mile, before I realised I was alone. The voice was Navid's.
"Coming through the kitchen now. Ready?"
No. Nevertheless, I nodded. Now or never. I need to end this.
Don't let her die!
71
"Rounding the corner, you should see him in five, four..." Navid's voice buzzed in my earpiece.
I heard him before I saw him, so when he rounded the corner he met the muzzle of my gun in his face.
He backed up a little and his hands went up, too. He didn't even have a weapon out.
"Which one are you?" I asked roughly.
"I'm Pete," he said through his nose.
"What'd you do to Caitlin?" I demanded.
"The little girl?" He grinned lazily. "I fucked her more times'n I could count. Broke her fingers, too, when she tried to fight me. She screamed real sweet then."
Caitlin screaming. Nothing sweet about that.
The sound of her screaming still echoing in my head, I shot the smile off his face. Okay, I shot off most of his face. The dead body crumpled to the carpet. One down.
I felt nothing but a grim satisfaction.
"Fuck, Nathan. Alive?" I nodded, knowing Navid could see me through the surveillance cameras. I'd try harder to resist killing the next one if I could. "Leaving the kitchen now, he's headed into the lounge..."
I stepped over the corpse and carefully continued up the passage. The clean-up crew could deal with it later.
I crept up on the next one from behind, my gun to the back of his head as he leaned over to look under a table. "Which one are you?"
A snort as he straightened. "I was Senior Constable Nick Dennis, before I got suspended after meeting you and your girlfriend."
"What'd you do to her?"
He grunted. "Nothing. It's what she'll do to you that matters."
I jabbed him with the gun. "What Caitlin will do to me?"
He snorted again. "Laura, fuckwit. It doesn't matter where you go or what you do, she'll find you and fuck you up worse than the little girl who killed her husband."
"Tell me where to find her," I said urgently. "I can get you into protective custody."
He let out a bark of laughter. "Not from her you can't. She'll pay whatever it takes to get whatever she wants. I'll lose my job as it is – I almost did when I shot you and her. Are you gonna shoot me?"
I pulled the gun back a little, so it wasn't pressed against his skull. "Maybe not, if you tell me where I can find her."
More laughter. "She'll find you and you'll wish she hadn't. Not me, mate." He lifted his own weapon. The barrel pointed at me over his shoulder and I ducked to the side. I was just in time to miss the shower of blood and brain that blew out the back of his head as he killed himself. Instead, I felt nothing.
"Number three, in the bush with the red flowers. Unconscious is fine but we need him alive."
"Do you want to do this?" I muttered. "I'll take your place in the van."
"Love to, mate, but you know Sam will kill me if I don't come home in the morning. I have to pick up nappies on my way home." It took me a minute to make sense of that. His wife would kill him if he got killed? I shook my head and decided I didn't need to understand it.
The third man was outside, keeping watch by Caitlin's bedroom window. I looped around the house, out of his sight, so I could come up behind him and surprise him.
I stuck the gun in his ear. "Which one are you and what did you do to her?"
He didn't say anything, so I repeated the question and jabbed the gun to emphasise each word.
"Tom," he grunted. "Held her down for the old bugger. Did her a couple of times, but I don't like leftovers."
"Are you going to tell me where she is?"
"Little leftovers? Or the bitch she made a widow?"
I spat the words out. "The bitch who's responsible for what happened to Caitlin."
"Focus, Nathan." I ignored Navid's voice in my ear.
"You won't get Laura. She had her husband in a gimp mask for a week for asking her if the dishwasher had been loaded. Whipped him raw, too. If she did that to her own husband, fucked if you have a hope in hell. Good luck!" He lumbered to his feet, reaching for his weapon.
"Stop!" I ordered, still aiming my gun at him.
He dropped his hands to his sides again. "You think I'm the last one who matters? She has the money to hire as many thugs as she likes. Tomorrow, she'll have replacements for the lot of us – all convicted rapists and child molesters, who'd pay for a bit of Little Leftovers. Don't know why – she's about as responsive as a corpse."
I wanted to kill him, my heart almost bursting out of my chest, I was so angry. "Not another step."
"Or you'll shoot me?" He smiled grimly. "It's nicer than what Laura will do to me, or to you when she finds you. She'll leave Little Leftovers for last."
I gritted my teeth. "Don't call her that. Her name's Caitlin."
He turned his back on me and started walking away. "Like I fucking care. She was just a little cunt to me and she's less than shit to Laura. She won't last long enough for me to learn her name."
The sound of the shot echoed between the brick walls of the front yard and the house like there was more than one. I fired before I realised I was going to. He fell face-first onto the paving as the acrid smoke wafted away in the wind. I left him where he lay. Like I fucking cared.
"Fuck, Nathan! You were supposed to keep him alive for questioning!" Navid complained. "There's none left now. She should be safe for a few minutes by herself. Come to the van, so we can talk face to face."
I started into the dark.
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
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,