Searching for Scarlet - part 5

Chapter 19

‘Awake at last,’ Aaron said as he walked into the room.

‘Sorry I slept in, was there something important I had to do today? I’ll just check my diary, let’s see all I’ve got is “be a hostage”.’

‘Really do have to admire the way you’ve kept both your feistiness and your sense of humour, despite the situation.’

‘How do you know I’ve kept it? For all you know I might never normally be like that.’

‘Good point. Don’t believe it, but good point.’

‘Any phone calls today?’

‘No, why? You expecting a call?’ Aaron chuckled.

‘Just wondering if maybe somebody had called and gave you a certain password?’

‘No I’m afraid not. Looks like you’ll be staying with me a while longer yet.’

‘You really have no idea why this person wants you to keep me hostage?’

‘None whatsoever.’

‘And you’re okay with that?’

‘Seem to be don’t I?’

‘They could be a murderer or anything, by keeping me out of the picture you could be helping somebody do something unimaginably evil.’

‘Really don’t think so somehow.’

‘How can you possibly know?’

‘Just a strong vibe I picked up off the person, I really think this is all about something that’s really not all that sinister.’

‘Person? Male or female?’

‘This isn’t twenty questions honey. You’re an actress right?’

‘Among other things.’

‘Maybe it’s something as daft as a rival actress wanting you out of the way for a while, whilst she goes for a part that you would have gone for.’

‘Now you’re getting far fetched. Do you really think that makes more sense than it being the guy who has been pretty much stalking my friend?’

‘What can I say, I like a long shot.’

‘Bookies must love you.’

‘Oh I rarely gamble like that, can’t see how you can ever make much money out of it.’

‘You’ll be surprised, that friend of mine who’s getting stalked makes some decent money from betting alone.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah, she treats it like a business, does loads of research.’

‘I suppose if you commit to it like that then I can see how you could make money.’

‘Hard work really can pay off in many things.’

‘It is amazing what can be achieved if you want something badly enough.’

‘You can even become the President.’

‘Not a Bush fan either then?’ Aaron picked up on her tone.

‘No.’

‘I’m not really into my politics.’

‘I’m no expert myself,’ she admitted.

‘But I must admit I’m amazed the guy got elected not once but twice.’

‘He certainly doesn’t help us try and change the worlds perception of us as a nation as being somewhat on the stupid side.’

‘Very true, he is very easy to make fun of,’ Aaron agreed. ‘I think a big problem with a lot of Americans is that they think that to criticise the President is to be unpatriotic. When really that is not true at all. To criticise the President is to criticise one person, not a whole nation. That would be like saying criticising your football teams coach is to criticise the whole club and all the players and staff,’ he continued.

‘Sport is so good for analogies.’

‘Sure is.’

‘What I really couldn’t believe was the way 9/11 became a reason to vote for Bush. That’s got to be some of the best brain washing ever. The way people said that he was the only one they could trust to defend them. Let’s see, the only American President to ever be in power when the main land has been attacked, and he’s the only guy people can trust to defend them?!’

‘That did strike me as odd. I think about ninety percent of the voters though will vote either Republican or Democrat, whichever ever is the party they like, no matter which individual is running for President,’ Aaron said.

‘Think you’re right there. Have you heard any of these 9/11 conspiracy theories by the way?’

‘Yeah one or two, they pose some very interesting questions if nothing else.’

‘Sure do. I love a conspiracy theory,’ she said with a smile.

‘Me too. My favourite is probably the one about faking the moon landing.’

‘That is a classic, it’s funny because it’s probably so difficult to definitively prove that they did land on the moon.’

‘Then there’s the one about the Titanic.’

‘Oh I haven’t heard that one,’ she spoke with a definite hint of excitement.

‘The theory is based around it being sunk on purpose as an insurance scam. There was another ship around at the time, can’t remember its name and that’s going to bug me. Anyway the theory goes that this other ship was extremely similar to the Titanic, but a bit older. So they are supposed to have swapped everything over that identifies a boat, like the name on the front and anything else that had the boats name on. So the boat that sets off from Southampton isn’t actually the Titanic at all but this older ship. Of course the Titanic sinking on its maiden voyage is going to pay out a lot more than a well worn ship.’

‘Oh that’s a gem.’

‘Like most of these theories, it doesn’t really ring too true when people analyse it from all angles. But like you said they are great fun.’

‘They come about because generally we take so much for granted and the governments and the media have so much control of the information we get. So we don’t really know what’s going on unless we are involved in it ourselves.’

‘“I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance”. That still rings very true,’ he said.

‘That’s two honourable mentions we’ve given Socrates. I would have liked to have met him.’

‘Yeah he would have added to our little chats.’

‘Bill and Ted were very lucky.’

Chapter 20

After ringing a dozen Cocktail bars between them, Sabine and Jordan did manage to find the one where Sandi had worked. The manager said he was happy for them to come to the bar and talk to him for a while.

‘Hey there, come on into my office,’ the bar manager welcomed them from behind the bar after Sabine had introduced herself and Jordan.

‘So you haven’t heard from Sandi for a few days?’ Jordan checked as the three of them sat down in the manager’s office.

‘No nothing. She was supposed to have a shift on Friday and Saturday night, but she never showed and I couldn’t get any answer on her phone. Now you’re saying she is missing?’

‘Officially she’s missing,’ Sabine said. ‘But really it looks very much like she’s been murdered.’

‘Wow.’

‘Sorry to have to tell you that.’

‘No that’s okay, not like we were close. She was just a member of staff. Oh God that sounds awful.’

‘Don’t worry we know what you mean,’ Sabine said.

‘So what can you tell us about her?’ Jordan asked.

‘Not a great deal really. She was fantastic at her job, the best drink mixer I had. As soon as she took my advice about changing her look she really became a big hit with the customers too.’

‘So you never really chatted to her, got to know her?’ Jordan asked.

‘No hardly ever. I never try to get close to my staff and Sandi was very introverted anyway.’

‘She ever bring a friend in with her?’ Sabine asked. ‘Particularly a girl around the same age with bright red hair?’

‘No she was always alone.’

‘Okay, looks like you’ve told us all you can.’ Sabine said. ‘I’ll leave you my card in case you remember anything else.’

‘Sure. Guess I better start looking for a new bar worker. Hey I don’t suppose you’ve ever mixed drinks?’ He asked Sabine.

‘Drunk a few over the years, but never made them.’

‘Shame, get you in the right outfit and the tips would come pouring in.’

‘I’ll keep that in mind,’ Sabine humoured him.

‘Please do, we can train you up in no time and lots of the customers like an older woman to look at.’

Sabine’s jaw dropped in shock and disgust.

‘Oh wow,’ Jordan said. ‘Even I know not to say that.’

‘No, I didn’t mean, I just, it’s, well, the girls in these sort of bars are usually, well you know,’ he floundered for all he was worth.

‘Young? Attractive? Sexy? Yeah I know,’ Sabine recovered the control of her jaw. ‘Actually if you don’t mind we’d like to talk to any of these young, attractive and sexy girls who are here right now,’ she added.

‘Yeah sure,’ he gave up trying to recover.

There were two girls working on the bar at the time, as there weren’t many customers it caused no problems to ask the girls questions as they worked.

‘So you two ladies know Sandi?’ Jordan asked.

‘Yeah sure we knew her, but only to work with. I never saw her outside work, did you Melissa?’

‘No and she hardly talked to any of us even when she was here. Not in a nasty way or anything, she just really kept herself to herself.’

‘Did you ever notice her bring a friend in with her?’ Sabine asked.

‘No, not at all.’

‘We’re looking for one friend in particular,’ Jordan said. ‘A girl about your age, similar build to Sandi but with bright red hair.’

‘Definitely not seen her. I don’t think I ever saw Sandi particularly talk to anyone apart from taking orders.’

‘Okay, thanks anyway,’ Sabine said with what was becoming an ever more familiar feeling of resignation, she left her card with the girls as well even though she knew it was extremely unlikely that they would ever be able to help out.

As Sabine and Jordan were walking back to the car a thought flashed into Jordan’s mind.

‘There is one guy who we really should be questioning again,’ he said.

‘Who?’

‘The next door neighbour, who told us he never spoke to the girls and didn’t know them at all. Since when, we’ve found out that he did a lot more than talk to Scarlet.’

‘Of course. Lets go, at the very least it’ll be fun grilling him about it.’

Sabine knocked on the door, the resignation had been replaced by anticipation. She was looking forward to the interrogation.

‘Hi there,’ she beamed as he opened the door.

‘You again?’

‘Afraid so.’

‘Look I’ve told you and the police all I know about them two, which is very little.’

‘Not what we’ve heard,’ Jordan said.

‘What?’

‘And I thought guys were always quick to brag about any sexual exploits, especially with someone as hot as Scarlet,’ Sabine said with a smile.

‘How did you find out about that? Have you found them?’

‘No we haven’t found them, and the how we found out really isn’t the issue here,’ Sabine replied.

‘Look I have nothing to say about it, I haven’t done anything wrong.’

‘We’re not saying you have,’ Sabine said. ‘Except lying to the police of course. Because you’ve done that you are going to get some more questions. Now you can either tell us to go away and have your question session down at the station with the police, or you can have the session with little old me and my partner here in the comfort of your own home.’

‘All right, come in.’

He showed them into his living room and they made themselves comfortable.

‘So why don’t you tell us all you know about Scarlet,’ Sabine suggested.

‘Really isn’t that much to tell. One day I was in the garden when she was running past. She stopped to say hello and introduce herself. I’m not normally too good at picking up signals that girls give off, but she was being very full on. I decided to see how far she wanted to take it, so I invited her in for a tour around. To her that somehow seemed to translate into “come inside for some sex”. I promise it was her who took the initiative and made it almost impossible to say no. Quite frankly I think pretty much any single guy would have said yes to her.’

‘She is quite a hottie by all accounts,’ Sabine conceded.

‘She certainly is.’

‘So was it just that one time?’ Jordan asked.

‘No, we did it a few more times, every week or so. Never formally arranged or anything, she made it clear from the start she wasn’t interested in a relationship.’

‘And you were happy with that?’ Sabine asked.

‘I have to admit I was, again I think most single guys would be.’

‘So what about Sandi?’ Jordan asked.

‘I was telling the truth there, I hardly ever saw her. Think I only spoke to her one time when she came round to introduce herself. Other than that the only things I knew about her came from Scarlet.’

‘Like what?’ Sabine asked.

‘Not much, just how shy she was and how she seemed to be the complete opposite of Scarlet, but they still got on great.’

‘Anything else you can tell us about Scarlet? Anything about her life at all, about her work maybe?’

‘She told me that she worked as a lap dancer to fund herself whilst she was trying to become an actress. She got a bit of acting and modelling work but it all seemed to be low budget stuff, as well as some adult photo shoots.’

‘When was the last time you saw her?’ Jordan asked.

‘She came round last weekend and I haven’t seen her since.’

‘All right then, you sure you’re telling us everything this time?’ Sabine checked in the manner of a disappointed headmistress talking to a naughty pupil.

‘Yes.’

‘There now, it wasn’t too difficult was it?’ Sabine said and once again left her card.

As Sabine and Jordan walked back to her car Sabine checked her phone.

‘Message from Fred,’ she told Jordan then listened to the message.

‘They’ve found a couple of Sandi’s hairs and a trace of her blood in Joe’s car. They’re going to question him again soon.’

Chapter 21

This time Joe had his lawyer sat with him, everything else about the room was the same as before. Fred sat across the table from Joe and his lawyer, there was a uniformed officer stood by the door and the machine was recording the conversation.

‘Now then Joe, you tried to explain away the panties in your house and the pictures of her on your computer by telling us you had an online affair and nothing more. How then did Sandi’s hair and blood get in the trunk of your car?’

‘What?’ This time Joe was completely ruffled.

‘Switching to the playing dumb tactic? Was that the advice given by the overpaid lawyer?’

‘Seriously there’s no way her hair and blood could be in my car.’

‘They are, so you better start talking.’

‘What else can I say?’

‘You can tell us where you were on Thursday night.’

‘I already have.’

‘Sorry Joe, your wife has blown that one out of the water already. She’s told us that she was at home on Thursday, but that you were out for a large chunk of that night and you told her you were going to an all night card game at one of your buddies.’

Joe looked at his lawyer who nodded to him. ‘All right, I’ll tell you what happened that night. I got an email from Sandi telling me to come to meet her at her UCLA dorm room. She said that she didn’t care about me being married anymore, that she just wanted to be with me for one night. So I went there to meet her at 10 o’clock as she’d requested. I get to her room and it’s locked and there’s no answer when I knock on the door. I wait around outside her room for a little while then I call her mobile. Again no answer. So I go back to my car and wait some more. Keep trying her phone every now and again and go back to her room a couple of times. By the time it gets to midnight I give up and go for a drive on the way home.’

‘You’ve had over fours hours with a very highly paid lawyer and that’s all you can come up with?’

‘We haven’t come up with it. It’s the truth.’

‘So at what point in your little story did Sandi’s hair and blood get into your car?’

‘I told you I’ve no idea how they got in there.’

‘Maybe you’re right, maybe she did send you that email telling you to come around. But maybe she was there and she did let you in, you guys fucked and she was oh so good. Then when she confirms that it was just a one off thing you can’t handle that. Now that you know how good it is to be with her for real you just have to have her again and again. When she insists that there will be no more you lose the plot completely and you can’t stop yourself stabbing her to death.’

‘No, no way. You are not going to pin this on me with some fake evidence.’

‘Maybe she threatened to tell your loving wife if you didn’t leave her alone.’

‘No.’

‘What did you do with the body Joe?’

‘Didn’t do anything, because I didn’t kill her.’

‘What about her friend Scarlet? Did she catch you at it? You have to kill her to keep her quiet?’

‘I’ve never even seen this Scarlet girl.’

‘So you really think that your version of events, which includes Sandi’s hair and blood magically getting into the trunk of your car, is more believable than what we think happened?’

‘I know it’s more believable because I know it’s the truth.’

Fred officially arrested Joe on suspicion of murder and terminated the interview. Joe was taken to his cell where he would spend the rest of the day and that night, the only thing he had for company the whole time was a letter. Sabine and Jordan had again been watching the interview with some police officers. After he’d finished with Joe, Fred went into that room.

‘What do you think now?’ Fred asked Sabine.

‘Must admit now I’m confused. All the evidence is against him but I’m actually finding him more believable than before. Of course he might just have deliberately held something back, so that this time he could reveal something to us and make out that he’s now telling us the whole truth.’

‘That’s my bet,’ Fred said.

Chapter 22

Sabine was stood, waiting on the street at night at the end of an alley way.

‘Well, well, well if it isn’t Lieutenant Larksson,’ a big man with a sinister smile said, as he walked aggressively towards Sabine.

‘Actually it isn’t Lieutenant anymore,’ Sabine tried her best to not look intimidated.

‘Oh that’s right I heard about that, what happened? They get rid of you because you kept putting innocent people like me behind bars?’

‘I left by choice. Being very loose with the term innocent, perhaps I should get you a dictionary.’

‘Nothing I did was any of your business,’ he became angrier and he kept walking towards Sabine who slowly backed away from him but kept looking at him.

‘Wife beating is everybody’s business.’

‘Can’t tell you how many times I dreamt of this moment whilst I was inside.’

‘Sure your wife has had a few nightmares about you,’ Sabine said with the slightest quiver in her voice as she backed up until she bumped into the wall of the alley.

‘What I used to do to her is going to look like nothing compared to what I’m about do to you. And you know what the best part is?’

‘You get to bully a woman who is less than half your size and a lot weaker than you? That’s when you’re happiest isn’t it?’

‘You think you’re so smart, think you’ve got me all figured out.’

‘Doesn’t take too much to figure out that you’re a bully and a coward.’

‘I’m going to ram those words right down your throat, along with some of your teeth. The best part actually is that you’re not a cop any more. So I can beat you up as much as I want right now and there’s nobody who’s going to be able to stop me,’ his sinister smile increased as he got right up close to Sabine.

This time Sabine responded to the sinister smile with a beaming one of her own, a moment later her attacker felt a big hand grab his neck from behind.

‘I’m no Scientist,’ Jordan said to the man’s whose neck he was squeezing. ‘But I am going to love testing that theory,’ he added then pushed the man against the wall as Sabine quickly got out of the way.

‘Who the fuck are you?’ The man said after he bumped into the wall then turned round to look at Jordan.

‘Just because I’m not a cop anymore, doesn’t mean I haven’t got a partner,’ Sabine said. ‘Oh and by the way, I’m smiling because I know what’s about to happen.’

‘Sorry I’m late partner,’ Jordan said to Sabine without taking his eyes of the man.

‘No worries, it was me that was early.’

Thinking that Jordan was distracted by talking to Sabine, the man stepped towards him and swung a fist wildly. After easily evading the blow Jordan landed a quick punch to the stomach, forcing the wife beater to bend over. Jordan then held the head in that position with one hand whilst he landed half a dozen upper cuts to the face with the other. When Jordan stopped punching, the pathetic excuse for a human being collapsed to the floor with blood pouring from his nose and mouth.

‘So good to be able to do that without getting sent off for it. Friend of yours?’

‘All part of being a cop, you’re always going to annoy some people.’

‘Didn’t hurt you did he?’

‘No, your timing was perfect.’

‘Happy to help.’

‘Not sure I’m going to be able to handle the bragging from the Doc when he finds out that you saved me from a beating.’

‘I won’t tell him if you won’t.’

‘Really?’

‘Can’t promise anything to be honest, just thinking that it’ll be good to have you owing me a favour.’

‘Don’t know whether to say thanks to that or not. I’ll call the cops to report the attempted assault.’

The police arrived within a few minutes of Sabine’s call and took the bloodied criminal away, who had hardly moved in that time.

‘So now he’s been dealt with, let’s get on with what we came out to do,’ Sabine said.

‘Must admit I kind of like the idea of having an excuse to go into a Lap Dancing bar,’ Jordan replied.

‘We’re just going in there to ask some questions about Scarlet.’

‘You never know, you might get another job offer.’

‘But surely I’m too old.’

‘Just remember it wasn’t me who said that.’

They went into what turned out to be a big club with plenty of girls dancing. Jordan managed to stop his eyes wandering too much as they headed for the bar. Sabine shouted above the music to ask a girl behind the bar where the manager was, this girl pointed to a door at one end of the bar. After knocking loudly on the door it was opened from the inside by the manager.

‘Hi, I’m Sabine the private investigator, we spoke on the phone earlier.’

‘Oh hello, come on in,’ he said then gestured for them to come in and closed the door behind them. ‘Have a seat. I’d like to be able to help you, but like I said on the phone I haven’t seen Scarlet for a few days now. She’s missed her last couple of shifts.’

‘We wanted to come down anyway, to talk to some of the other girls if that’s possible. So we thought we may as well come to see you too,’ Sabine said.

‘So has Scarlet been working with you for the last few months?’ Jordan asked.

‘Yeah she started early this year. Been one of our more popular dancers. Some guys really like those skinny chicks.’

‘Like I told you on the phone, Scarlet has gone missing and it looks like her house mate has been murdered,’ Sabine said. ‘Did Scarlet ever have any problems with any customers?’

‘No, at least nothing she told me about and I’m always insisting that if any of the girls have any problem customers, they can come straight to me. Always got the impression that Scarlet could look after herself though.’

‘Was she a reliable worker?’ Jordan asked.

‘Yeah, that’s why I thought that her missing a couple of shifts without letting me know was really weird. She’s been a little late a few times but nothing major.’

‘Did you know anything about her outside of work?’ Sabine asked.

‘No, I make a point of making sure I only ever be a boss to these girls nothing more.’

‘Was she friends with the other girls?’ Sabine asked.

‘I guess you’ll have to ask them for a better answer, but I don’t think she was particularly friends with any of them. She seemed to get on well with them and I never heard any of them say a bad word about her, but never got the impression she was friends with any of them outside of work.’

‘All right then,’ Sabine said. ‘I’ll leave you my card and if you hear or remember anything that you think might be of interest to us, then you can give me a call.’

‘Will do.’

‘We’ll go and ask a few of the girls some questions now if that’s all right?’ Sabine checked.

‘Yeah sure, as long as you don’t bother any of them while they’re in the middle of a dance.’

‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ Sabine said.

When they got out of the managers office Sabine and Jordan went up to the first dancing girl they saw who wasn’t otherwise occupied at the time.

‘Hi there, I’m Sabine,’ Sabine raised her voice to almost shouting level to make herself heard over the music.

‘Sorry honey, I don’t do girls. Quite a few of the others do though,’ the dancer said.

Jordan couldn’t help but let out a little laugh and even Sabine found herself smiling.

‘At least she doesn’t think you’re too old,’ Jordan said loudly.

‘I don’t want a dance,’ Sabine leaned over to talk into the girl’s ear. ‘We’re private investigators, we just want to ask you a few questions about Scarlet a girl who dances here.’

‘Oh okay,’ the girl spoke loudly and nodded. ‘We should go out the back so we can hear better,’ she added and pointed to a door on the opposite side of the bar to the managers room.

To save her voice Sabine just raised one of her thumbs and nodded, then her and Jordan followed the dancer into the quieter room, where the dancing girls can come for a break from time to time.

‘So has something happened to Scarlet? She’s not been in for her last couple of shifts, we just assumed she was ill or maybe she’d got an acting job.’

‘I’m afraid she’s missing, nobody seems to know where she is and it looks very much like her house mate has been murdered,’ Sabine told her.

‘Oh wow that’s awful.’

‘Did you know her well?’ Jordan asked.

‘No not really, I suppose. Only ever saw her at work but I did like her, she’s was really nice and I could have a laugh with her.’

‘Did she ever talk to you about her life outside of work?’ Sabine asked.

‘Only that she wanted to be an actress and she was auditioning for stuff all the time. Other than that I hardly knew anything about her. Funny how you can work with somebody for the best part of a year, chat to them quite a lot and still hardly know anything about them.’

‘Do you know if any of the other girls knew Scarlet better?’ Jordan asked.

‘No I don’t think any of us ever saw her out of work. She always arrived for work on her own and left on her own. Well maybe not on her own but never with any of us.’

‘She often take a guy home?’ Sabine asked.

‘Don’t want to make her sound like a slut, but she was so popular that she could always pretty much have her pick. So who can blame her for picking some good looking guys and a few girls to go home with?’

‘Oh I wasn’t judging her at all, just making sure that’s what you meant,’ Sabine said.

‘Did she ever have a problem with a particular customer?’ Jordan checked.

‘No nothing out of the ordinary. At least nothing she told me about. We all get the odd guy that takes it too far at times, but stopping the dance and a good slap usual sorts that out. Scarlet was very capable at looking after herself.’

‘Okay thanks, sorry what’s your name?’ Sabine asked.

‘Jay.’

‘Thanks Jay, you can get back to work now. I’ve left my card with your manager, so if you ever want to tell us anything about Scarlet just give me a call.’

‘Sure.’

Sabine and Jordan interviewed every one of the ladies that were working that night and none of them could help out with any more information than they had got from the manager and Jay.

Chapter 23

Just after nine o’clock the next morning, Sabine sat in her car outside Jordan’s house and beeped her car horn. Within a few seconds of the horn noise Jordan was out of his house and jogging towards Sabine’s car.

‘So he’s ready to confess now?’ Jordan said as he got into the car.

‘That’s what Fred has just told me. They’re going to bring him into the interview room in about half an hour.’

‘Looks like our work here might be done.’

‘Maybe.’

‘Doesn’t feel like it though does it?’

‘No, still feel like there’s something missing.’

They got to the police station just as Joe was being escorted into the interview room. Once again the set up in the interview room was the same, with Fred doing the questioning.

‘So they tell me you have got something to tell us,’ Fred said.

‘Yeah,’ Joe was on the brink of tears and both hands were shaking a little.

‘No time like the present Joe.’

‘Everything you’ve said is true, I’m an evil, evil man,’ tears started to form in Joe’s eyes.

‘Kind of hoping for more specifics,’ Fred looked at him stony faced, without the merest flicker of sympathy.

‘My wife can’t know, she can’t know, I couldn’t handle that,’ Joe was now rambling as he stared down at the table.

‘Let me make this real easy for you, did you kill Sandi Lords?’

‘Yes.’

‘Why?’

‘Just like you said, I wanted her so bad and she wouldn’t let me have her.’

‘How?’

‘I went round to her UCLA room late that Thursday night, desperate to convince her to have sex with me. Even if it was just the one time. I needed to fuck her to get her out of my system. She kept insisting she could never have sex with a married man, especially one that would never leave his wife for her. In the end I just lost it, I grabbed hold of her and threw her onto the bed. By this stage I wasn’t thinking at all, I grabbed a pair of scissors off the table by her bed and before I knew it I’d stabbed her five or six times in the chest,’ as he spoke the words the colour was draining from Joe’s face. ‘I froze for a few moments whilst I realised what I’d just done, then my instinct to hide what I’d done took over. I found a couple of bed sheets in one of her drawers and I wrapped her up in both of them then I carried her out of her room and into my car. Luckily for me with it being so late there was nobody else around,’ Joe looked disgusted by himself and as if he couldn’t talk any more.

‘What about Scarlet?’ Fred continued relentlessly.

‘Oh God, can I take a break? I’ll tell you all you need to know, but I just need a break from this.’

Chapter 24

Aaron came into the room to take away the empty breakfast bowl he had taken in, full of cereal, some thirty minutes or so previously.

‘So did you like that film you watched last night?’ He asked.

‘It was okay, must admit I was expecting more from an Oscar winner.’

‘I gave up on the Oscars after the Titanic fiasco, personally I don’t think that was the best film that year about a boat. I’d never really thought of them as a good way to judge a film, but Titanic was the comprehensive last nail in the coffin for me.’

‘One thing about the whole Oscar thing that really makes me laugh is when a few years ago they changed what the person said as they gave the award out. They always used to say “and the winner is”, then they changed it to something like “and the Oscar goes to”. All because they thought calling one of them a winner made it sound like the other nominees were losers. That is pathetically protecting some massive ego’s, ego’s of multimillionaire actors who we really don’t need to feel sorry for or be worrying about.’

‘That is the sort of thing you do for eight year old kids, so none of them get upset at losing,’ he agreed.

‘Exactly. Everybody seems to be so sensitive, that everybody is falling over themselves not to insult anybody.’

‘I think the worst thing is that people are worrying too much about upsetting people because they might be sensitive about something. Take your example, I’m sure that at least ninety percent of actors really didn’t mind at all the person saying “and the winner is”, but some wannabe do gooder thought up the whole making the others sound like losers theory.’

‘You’re probably right. It’s like all the political correctness around. Nobody knows what their allowed to say anymore,’ she said shaking her head.

‘Oh don’t get me started on that. Again I wonder who it is that is locked away in some room somewhere who decides what we are and aren’t allowed to say. I’m sure very few black people for example are offended if they hear somebody order a black coffee, rather than a coffee without milk.’

‘It all has gone a little crazy. Not sure if I should take it as a good sign that I seem to agree so much with a killer.’

‘I prefer the term executioner.’

‘That’s some spectacular hair splitting.’

‘You’re not pigeon holing me are you?’

‘Of course not, I would never do that.’

‘Didn’t think so.’

‘So what are the chances of me getting out of here today?’

‘No sign of that happening at all yet, but it only takes one phone call and you’ll be free.’

‘You just have to hear one word and you’ll let me go?’

‘Simple as that,’ Aaron said as he took the bowl in his hand and made his way out of the room.

‘Is it just one word? Or is it more than one?’

‘That would be telling,’ Aaron stopped and turned around to look at her as he spoke, then turned again to face the door and continue to walk out.

‘So you’ll set me free when you hear somebody say; “Let them eat cake”.’

Aaron stopped dead in his tracks, lost his grip on the bowl, instinctively reached out to catch it, juggled it a couple of times then caught the bowl but sent the spoon flying out of the room. He turned round slowly.

‘What did you just say?’

‘Judging from your reaction, you know exactly what I said. Now be a good little kidnapper and let me go,’ she held her handcuffed hand up and gestured towards it with her eyes.

‘How did you know the password?’

‘Because it was me who paid you $5,000 to kidnap me,’ she said. ‘Don’t you recognise my voice?’ She added with a much huskier voice than normal.

‘What?’

‘I’m not going to say it again it hurts my throat, just release me.’

‘Why, why on earth would you pay somebody $5,000 to kidnap yourself?’

‘That would be telling,’ she said and gave him a deliciously mischievous smile.

Aaron couldn’t stop himself from laughing a little. ‘You really are one weird chick,’ he said as he put the bowl down by the bed and got the keys to the handcuffs out of his pocket.

‘Aaron honey, you don’t know the half of it,’ she said as he unlocked the handcuffs.

‘I bet I don’t. So are you going to tell me the other half?’

‘No, trust me you don’t want to get inside my head, all you need to know is that I couldn’t afford to be seen for a few days, but I needed to stay in town until some business was finished. If I told you any more I’d probably have to kill you. Sorry did I say kill you? I meant to say execute you.’

‘I always thought you were way too cool about being kidnapped.’

‘Nice place you got here by the way.’

Aaron looked a little bemused then it dawned on him. ‘Oh yeah I did tell you that I could use my place to hold the hostage.’

‘Indeed you did. Pity I never got to see any more than the bedroom, apart from those accompanied trips to the bathroom.’

‘I take my job seriously.’

‘Absolutely, I needed somebody to keep a strict eye on me. That’s why I picked you.’

‘And here’s me thinking you picked me because of my looks.’

‘That was just an added bonus. Now I’ll be on my way, follow me if you want paying.’

Aaron followed her out of his front door.

‘Nice car,’ she said pointing at a car parked on the pavement outside his house.

‘Not mine, it’s been there for a few days, no idea whose it is.’

‘It’s mine, I was just saying nice car. Don’t normally like to brag but it just slipped out,’ she said and then bent down and picked up a flower pot by the front door and pulled out a set of keys from under the pot.

‘I really am beginning to feel like a puppet in a show.’

‘There are worse things to be,’ she said as she walked towards and pointed the keys at the car and pressed a button to unlock it. Once she got in the car she reached across into the glove compartment and pulled out a brown envelop. ‘$5,000 cash. You can count it, I won’t be offended.’

Aaron looked into the envelop and flicked through the wad of cash.

‘No that won’t be necessary, looks good to me.’

‘All right then Aaron, good talking with you, I’ll be on my way now,’ she said as she started up the engine and then pulled out a pair of sunglasses from the inside of the door and rested them on top of her head.

‘Pleasure was all mine, oh and Olympic,’ Aaron said as he looked at the money then back at her and shook is head, totally bemused.

‘Olympic?’ It was her turn to look confused.

‘That was the name of the boat they were supposed to have swapped with the Titanic in that conspiracy theory. Enjoyed meeting you Scarlet, if that’s even your name.’

She looked at him, gave him a big smile, pulled down her sunglasses.

‘Aaron, you can call me anything you like,’ she pulled away quickly with a slight wheel spin and set off up the quiet beach road.