Somewhere to Hide (The Estate, Book 1) (40 page)

‘HAVE YOU REMEMBERED WHAT DAY IT IS?’ Austin bellowed, bringing her out of her trance.

‘Of course I’ve remembered,’ she replied. ‘I gave birth to you twenty-one years ago, at two twenty-five in the afternoon. I would never forget that.’

‘You forgot me as soon as I was out of your belly, though, didn’t you? Please, after all this time, tell me why you gave me away?’

‘I was too young to cope with you. I –’

‘LIAR!’

‘I was! I swear.’

‘You didn’t care about me.’

‘No.’ Cathy took a tentative step towards him. ‘I’ve thought about you every day. You were always on my mind. I called you Simon.’

Austin’s face contorted with rage. ‘Do you think I’d want to stick with that name after you’d given me away with it, you stupid bitch?’

‘Please, let me explain. I –’

‘DON’T SPEAK TO ME!’ He pointed the gun at her.

Becky screamed again.

Cathy’s face creased in anguish yet she dared to take another step forward. ‘I tried to contact you,’ she said. ‘Just recently, through my solicitor. He told me –’

Austin crossed the room and brought the butt of the gun down onto her forehead. She hit the ground with a thud.

‘Cathy!’ Becky began to cry again. ‘Austin, this has gone beyond a joke now. Please let us go!’

‘This isn’t a
joke,
you silly bitch.’ Austin grasped Cathy under each arm, dragged her across the room and sat her on the chair next to Becky. He pulled out another piece of rope from underneath the chair, pushing her head back as it lolled forwards. He turned to look at Becky for a moment. ‘Now you have someone to keep you company while I decide whether to let you go or let you burn in hell with my mother.’

‘No!’

‘She obviously cares about you because she came here but she never gave a fuck about me. So maybe we should all go out of this world together.’

‘Austin, please!’ Becky wriggled about in her chair, hoping to loosen off the ropes. ‘You said you wouldn’t hurt me!’

‘Oh, dear.’ Austin grinned as he bound Cathy’s legs to the chair. ‘I lied.’

‘There’s her car!’ Josie pointed it out as they approached the disused pub. Matt pulled up beside it, got out and raced across the car park.

Josie turned to Jess in the rear seat. ‘Wait here,’ she told her. ‘Give us ten minutes and if we’re not back, call the police.’

‘But –’

‘Do as I say!’

After looking over each downstairs window, Matt pointed to the side of the building. ‘There’s no way in at the front. I’ll try around the back.’

When Josie reached him, he was at the far window.

‘Over here!’ He pulled up the metal sheeting and climbed through.

Josie stood for a moment wondering what to do. Should she go in or should she call the police and wait outside?

‘Come on!’ Matt whispered loudly. 

She didn’t hesitate this time. Within seconds, she was through.

‘What shall we –?’

He put his finger to his lips and they listened. Becky’s crying could just about be heard above the ranting of a man.

‘What are we going to do?’ Josie whispered.

‘I haven’t got a clue,’ said Matt.

Josie moved in front of him. ‘Let me see if I can talk to him.’

‘No, I’ll go first.’

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Josie followed closely behind Matt as they entered the lounge, shielded by him but trying to take in as much as she could about the room and the situation. They moved slowly forward into the main area. She could see Becky and Cathy, their hands and feet bound, ropes tying them to the chairs. Cathy’s head had been lolling to the right but now she seemed to be coming round.

Austin stood in front of them. Behind him, the door to the next room was ajar. Josie could see tables and stools piled up like a bonfire; curtains, cardboard and newspapers thrown on top. The whiff of petrol fumes more apparent as they inched their way forward, she realised his intentions. She gulped, hoping she could keep her fear concealed.

‘Ah, the cavalry has arrived.’ Austin pulled his legs together sharply, stamping his right foot and saluting them both. Then in a quick move, he brought his face down millimetres from Cathy’s. ‘I wish you’d told me that you’d invited other people. I thought the party was going to be an intimate affair with just the three of us.’

‘Please.’ Cathy’s voice was no more than a croak. ‘Let Becky go. She has nothing to do with this.’

‘That’s where you’re wrong.’ Austin shook his head. ‘Because I know that you care about her, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ Cathy whispered.

‘DON’T YOU?’

‘Yes!’

‘That’s better. Now, all I need –’ He turned his head towards Josie and Matt and pointed the gun at them. ‘Come any closer and I’ll blow your fucking brains out.’

Matt froze in mid step. Josie walked into him with a thud.

Austin sighed loudly. ‘Can’t you see that I’m busy?’ He circled the two chairs. Then he stopped in front of Cathy and held the gun to her forehead.

‘No!’ Matt stepped forward.

‘I told you to stay where you were! But if you do insist on joining in, pull up a chair, why don’t you? You can watch the show for free. You can even join in, if you so wish.’ He flashed them a smile, using the gun to point out the seating. ‘Sit.’

As they sat down, Josie wondered if she should reach for her phone and see if she could alert the police. They were several feet away: maybe Austin wouldn’t see her. But she didn’t dare provoke him. There was no telling what he was capable of in his frame of mind. All she could do was hope that Jess would ring for her. And… stuff it.

She decided to try and talk him down.

‘Austin, my name is Josie,’ she began, ‘and I’m one of Cathy’s closest friends. She told me all about you. How she made a mistake when she gave you up. How she wished she’d never been so stupid. She’s always wanted to meet you to apologise, get to know you so that you could become a part of her life now. Please, I think you should give her a chance to explain.’

‘She doesn’t deserve a fucking chance!’ Austin bellowed across the room before lowering his voice back to normal. ‘And she needs to listen to me first.’

‘I’m listening,’ said Cathy. ‘But I want to talk too. I need to tell you how sorry that –’

 ‘You left me in care to rot!’ Austin moved to the middle of the room again, the gun down by his side. ‘Because of you, I didn’t have a decent start in life.’

‘I thought you’d be better looked after by someone else. Someone more stable, who could give you a good grounding. I couldn’t do that on my own.’

‘But you had a man then, didn’t you? Why didn’t you want me?’

Cathy began to cry. ‘Because I –’

‘SAY IT!’

She shook her head.

‘JUST FUCKING SAY IT!’

‘Because I didn’t want to lose him!’

‘That’s right.’ Austin nodded. ‘You thought more of him than you did of your own son, didn’t you?’

Cathy couldn’t look him in the eye. She knew he was right. She’d tortured herself for years over the same thing. But she had to lie to him to make him understand.  

 ‘No,’ she said. ‘I – I was too young to realise how important you were.’

‘But I knew how important Mr Mason was to you, didn’t I… Mummy?’ Austin bent down to her eye level. ‘Which is why I can now take great pleasure in telling you that he didn’t fall down the stairs on that fateful night. I gave him a helping hand – well, a helping shove, actually.’

Cathy frowned. The knock on her head was making it hard to think. What did he mean by that?

 ‘Once upon a time there was a man called Rich Mason,’ Austin continued. ‘He loved his wife, Cathy, and she loved him. She loved him so much that she didn’t tell him she had given away her baby.’

‘It wasn’t like that. I –’

‘You didn’t want him to know about me.’

‘NO! It wasn’t –’

‘He knew who I was before I pushed him.’

Cathy felt bile rise in her throat. Oh, God, this couldn’t be true. Not her son, who she had longed to see again for twenty-one years. No.

But she had to ask.

‘You… you killed my husband?’

‘Of course I killed him. I wanted to take away the one thing that you loved, that would cause you the most pain. So I took his life in return for the life you refused to give me. It was easy really.’

‘No!’ Cathy sobbed loudly, images of Rich rushing to the front of her mind.

‘Austin,’ said Becky. ‘Please don’t –’

‘I watched him for a few weeks, learned his routine: what nights he went to the pub, which way he walked home. I must admit, the steps at Frazer Terrace were an added bonus.’

‘No!’

‘On the night I killed him, I hid behind some hedges until he’d staggered past. Then I called him back. I told him who I was.’ He pointed the gun at Cathy. ‘Told him you were a fucking BITCH. When he lunged towards me with his fists flying, I pushed him and down the steps he went. One, two, three, four, ten! But he didn’t die straightaway.’

‘No more. Please!’

‘When I got down to him, he was lying in a huddle on his side. He’d taken a knock to his head, there was blood everywhere. His leg was twisted underneath him. I remember his arm hanging funny too. He spoke to me then.’

‘You mean he was alive!’ Cathy gasped.

Austin nodded. ‘Right until I kicked him in the head a couple of times. I’m not stupid, though. I only kicked him twice so that it wouldn’t be noticed. And I could hardly make much more of a mess.’ He laughed.

‘Austin.’ Becky tried again, wanting to say something – anything – to calm him down. ‘I think –’

‘There were others too. Tell them who, Becks, if you’re so desperate to talk.’

‘He killed the homeless boy dumped in the canal and he killed the security guard at Cookson’s. It wasn’t Danny Bradley. He set him up.’

As everything clicked into place, Cathy felt distress like never before. Suddenly everything she stood for seemed like a lie. Her son, standing in front of her, was a killer. She wanted to hate him for what he’d done but she couldn’t. She couldn’t blame him because she had set the ball rolling.

In silence, she watched him cross the room to the double doors. She watched him flick open his lighter. Glancing over at Matt and Josie, she urged them to help. But what could they do? Austin had a gun. They’d all witnessed how unstable he was. She couldn’t blame them for sitting this out.

She tried one last time to talk to him.

‘Why now?’ she shouted. ‘Why come back now?’

‘Because I watched you with him and it made me sick. And then you made me even angrier at his funeral. I could see how much you cared about him. You should have loved me that much!’ Still he kept his back towards them. ‘There was so much rage inside me that I stormed off: ended up kicking someone half to death. I got caught and did time, three years. While I was in there – every fucking day I was locked up – I thought of what I would do to you when I got out. It kept me sane, working out my revenge.’

He flicked the lighter and ignited the flame. For a second, he turned back to them all, a smile on his face, his eyes darker still. Then he threw it into the room.

The flames took hold almost immediately. Cathy gulped. My God, she had created a monster. A demon that was not only hell-bent on destroying her but was prepared to take everyone she cared for down with her too. Feeling helpless, she writhed around, trying to free herself. 

‘If you want to survive, I’d leave now,’ Austin turned towards Josie and Matt. ‘The room back there will go up pretty sharpish. I reckon the smoke will become unbearable first and then… what the fuck are you doing?’

Josie looked up sharply. All the while Austin had been talking, she’d been trying to send a text message to Andy. She’d typed a letter at a time and was about to press send. Before she could finish it, Austin ran over and swiped it out of her hand.

Matt spied his chance and reached for the gun. As they grappled, Josie ran over to retrieve the phone. She pressed send, willing it to go faster. When the screen was clear again, she dialled 999. But instead of putting the phone to her ear, she left it connected and slid it underneath one of the tables. There wasn’t enough time: she could see the flames catching hold in the other room, smoke starting to bellow out.

‘Help me, Josie!’ cried Becky, wriggling in her chair.

Matt tried to knock the gun from Austin’s grip but he was too strong. Austin struck it across his face. As he fell to the floor, Becky screamed.

‘No, Austin! Leave him alone.’

‘Matt!’ Helpless to do anything, Cathy screamed too.

Josie stayed poised. She had no choice. Austin had turned the gun on her.

‘Did you send it?’ he asked.

Josie nodded. ‘The police will be here in minutes.’ She hoped that he believed her. How was she to know if Andy was able to read the message straight away? Or if the operator had taken the call seriously and was busy trying to locate them – or if it had been dismissed as a nuisance call.