Josh nodded. "He's gone. He's been horrid and the police are going to beat him up and put him in prison and kill him."
"Did you hear Mummy calling?"
"Yes I couldn't say nothing because I had a thing on my mouth."
"Don't worry about that sweetheart. I love you."
"Me too."
"What are you doing down there?"
"Getting out of the rope. I'll come and I'll get you." He was quiet for a moment. Then without looking at her, "Mummy?"
"Yes?"
"Maybe he killed Smurfy." His chin trembled. "Cos I cos I don't know where Smurf is."
"Oh, Josh Benedicte's throat was tight. "You are such a such a good, such a clever… brave, brave little boy. Don't worry about Smurf, peanut, she's with me. She's feeling a little bit poorly but she's up here and she can't wait to see you. She sends you her love and a big lick on the face." She paused because now she could see that his fingers were bleeding. "Josh, I love you, darling, Mummy loves you so, so much '
In the hallway the doorbell rang. Josh's head snapped up, staring in horror at the door and Ben froze. No." She couldn't believe it.
"Josh," she hissed. "Quick now. Come on now, baby, move it now Beneath her Hal jerked frantically and noiselessly on the floor and Ben's voice rose hysterically: "Come on, Josh. MOVE IT. Just
MOVE!!"
He pulled frantically at the rope, tugging and pulling, biting it, the blood from his fingers staining his mouth. His teeth were strong but the rope was embedded.
"Quickly!"
He pulled harder, eyes on the door, preparing for the menace to hurtle down the hallway. Then Benedicte saw her little boy make a decision.
"No!" she screamed. Another crack ricocheted along the plasterboard. "No! Josh, RUN, Josh, please RUN."
But he couldn't have freed himself in time. So he took the brown parcel tape from the floor and pressed it to his mouth, smoothing it down with the flat of his palms, swivelling his little body round, pressing the rope behind him and turning so he sat with his back to the radiator. Ben's heart squirmed. "God, no." She began to weep, long silver threads falling out of the ceiling and landing next to Hal's face. "No!"
And then the doorbell rang again.
Everyone froze. Ben stopped crying and Hal stopped thrashing on the floor. Josh's eyes flew to his mother. The troll never rang more than once. For a long time no one dared to breathe. The bell rang yet again and in the hallway the letterbox clanged.
"Hello?" A man's voice. "Hello-oh?"
The police maybe Ayo's sent someone maybe… Benedicte opened her mouth to call out, but something stopped her, a survival instinct, maybe, a survival instinct older than her own cells. No, it's a trick it's him. It must be him. In the family room Josh was scrabbling at the rope again. "Josh, don't say anything, don't move," she hissed. "Keep quiet." He obeyed her, kept quite still, and in the silence she could hear her heart thudding. It's OK, she told herself. If it is the police they'll see something's wrong -they'll know something's wrong and they'll come and find us, I'm not giving myself away if it's him
The doorbell rang once more. She sucked in a breath, biting her lip, the look in her eyes keeping Josh pinned where he was. The sound of the bell hung in the silence. To anyone on the garden path at the front of the Churches' deluxe polished oak door, with double glazing and thermal seals, the house would have appeared quite uninhabited.
Souness came in, placed both hands on the desk and leaned forward. "Right."
"OK." Caffery threw his pen down on the desk. "Lecture?"
She nodded. "Lecture. I got through to the consultant. We had a wee slanging match about my DL'
"Great."
"Jack, what were ye thinking?" She pulled up her chair and sat down. "Can you imagine the field day Peach's brief'll have?"
"I don't care, Danni, I've got to speak to him. He's got someone else. I know it."
She closed her eyes, pursed her mouth and shook her head. "Jack, you're squeezing me. I've spoken to the gov and what he's saying is clear: you've got your man, put the resources into closing it, put your energy into being ready for the interviews when Peach is well enough. We've got another critical incident come in this morning, they want this Peckham rapist off the back-burner and we just haven't got the manpower, Jack, for what, in the cold light of day, is a domestic incident, we haven't got '
"Maybe I shouldn't be on the case anyway."
"Don't talk nonsense '
"Maybe I've lost my perspective."
"Oh, please, cut the melodrama She stopped. Caffery had stood up. "Jack? Ye've to try to see it from my point of view."
"I'd love to, Danni," he picked up his keys, his cigarettes and put them into his pocket, 'but to be-honest I don't know if I could get my head that far up my own arse."
Souness shot to her feet. "Don't ye speak to me like that." She lifted her finger to him, her lips a dry, angry pink. "I did nothing to merit that I'll discipline ye for it."
"Thank you." He stood, pushed some papers into a drawer and locked it. Pressed pens into the pen tidy and pushed his chair firmly under the desk so that it lined up perfectly. Suddenly his taste for the job had turned. "I think I'll go now. Since there's nothing else to be done but sit around with our feet up and wait for Peach to get better."
"Go on, then, fuck off home." She rubbed her head until it was hot. She was furious. "The rest should do you some good."
But when Caffery turned to the door Kryotos was standing there holding a green message form. "What?"
"Call from the hospital."
"That's OK, Marilyn." Souness reached past Caffery and took the form. "I got through to them on another line."
"No I mean, not the hospital, I mean the sergeant. On the ward. It's Alek Peach. They want one of you. Urgently."
"Josh The house was silent and Benedicte's heart rate had slowed. But now she was seized with the idea that she'd been wrong. "Josh, listen can you get out of that rope?"
He nodded and redoubled his efforts, gnawing at the nylon with his teeth.
"OK, darling, OK, listen. When you're free just go straight into the hall and open the front door. Into the hall and open the door." Josh looked from his father to his mother, his eyes huge with fear. "Go on, darling. I promise you it's OK. Just hurry."
With one last tug of the rope he freed himself. He was up, staggering a little, his leg muscles cramped, shooting out a hand to steady himself, but he was up. He held out his thin arms in front of him, as if it was dark, and pattered over to the kitchen sink, turning on the tap and putting his mouth under it to drink. Benedicte could almost smell how cold the water was. When he straightened, panting, water dripping from his chin, she whispered to him, "Good boy, now go and open the door."
But Josh pulled a glass down from the cupboard, filled it with water, and knelt down next to Hal. He pulled the packing tape from his father's mouth, rested the lip of the glass against Hal's lips, tipping water into his mouth. Hal bucked a little, almost choked, then greedily swallowed the water, his Adam's apple moving madly. Benedicte watched, impatient, resisting the urge to tell Josh to hurry. He was sitting next to Hal, as expert as a nurse, running a hand over his forehead and pouring more water into his mouth. "You next, Mummy," he said.
"OK, baby but first go to the door, OK, go to the door there might be someone out there to help us."
"OK." He put the glass on the floor and stood, unsteady on his feet, looking down once at Hal, who was thrashing his head from side to side, his mouth moving, trying to speak. Josh turned to the hallway, using the kitchen cabinets to keep his balance, jolting his way to the door. Benedicte could just see the bottom of his feet and his reflection in the laminate flooring. Tiny, thin little boy. He reached up, fumbled with the catch, and opened the front door.