‘You said you have a safe?’ he asks the husband.
He nods. ‘It’s in the study, on the next floor down.’
‘What’s in it?’
‘Some cash, jewellery.’
‘How much cash?’
‘About ten thousand.’ Ben adds, ‘It’s for emergencies. Take it, and leave us alone.’
John unplugs the landline phone on the desk, takes the two cell phones and the two laptops, goes out into the hall and throws all of it over the railing to the floor two storeys belowso that they can’t call for help. He likes the sound they make as they hit. He returns to the bedroom and bends down and cuts the ties on Lara’s ankles. He grabs his backpack from the floor and says, ‘Show me.’
‘Leave her alone. Let me show you,’ the husband says.
‘No.’
He pushes her down the stairs at knifepoint, and she leads him to the study. He flicks the light switch with his finger, illuminating a large room with an enormous desk, sofas, a fireplace, and walls of books. She lifts her bound hands to point to a portrait of a woman on the wall. ‘It’s behind that one.’
He lifts the painting off the wall, revealing the safe. ‘Open it,’ he directs her.
With her hands bound and visibly shaking, it takes her some time to make the combination work. Finally, the door swings open and he grabs the money, counting it roughly and stuffing it into his backpack. He looks the jewellery over carefully but leaves it behind. Then he marches her back upstairs to the bedroom and thrusts her back onto the bed. He says, ‘I’m going to go now,’ and the husband looks up at him with fury and revulsion. She merely seems weak with relief.
John shrugs his backpack on, then leans forward and grips her face roughly in his right hand. ‘If either of you tell anybody about this I’ll come back. Understand?’ They nod back at him, mute.
He steps backward, watching them, then turns and walks out the bedroom door. He’s getting out of here. But as he walks down the hall, he hears the unexpected sound of rushing feet behind him. Surprised, he turns to see the husband hurtlingtoward him, his right hand pulled back to throw a punch. John is thinking,How did he get untied?He hears the woman screaming from the bedroom.
And then it all happens so fast. Reacting quickly, John bends low and flips his assailant over the railing. He rises and watches the man plunge two storeys to the floor below. He hears the sound of the body landing and looks down over the railing in disbelief. The other man is lying in an unnatural position, one leg obviously broken, blood seeping out from the back of his head onto the floor. Even in the faint moonlight, John can clearly see that he’s dead.
Lara comes to, groggy and in pain. At first, she doesn’t remember what’s happened, and she simply lies there, her head throbbing, her arm aching, and something hovering on the edge of memory that’s too frightening to allow in. All at once her eyes fly open.Ben.She sees the blood on her arm, all over her nightdress. Her hands are still tied. She remembers Ben running after the intruder, she remembers screaming, and running out of the bedroom to see what happened. She’s afraid, so afraid…Ben, oh god, where’s Ben?
She’s in the hall. She gets up, dizzy from being struck on the head– she remembers that too now, the stranger looming over her again just before he struck her to stop her screaming. She stumbles down the hall and looks over the railing. Sees Ben, splayed out on the floor far below. She sinks to the floor in shock and stares down through the railings at her husband.
She begins to cry. She doesn’t know how long she does this. She feels like she is drowning. But finally, she pulls herself up and makes her way down the stairs, to Ben.
Chapter Forty-Three
LARA USES THEphone in the kitchen.
It’s not long before help arrives. She opens the door to flashing, revolving lights, red and blue, on the street outside the house; they’re mesmerizing. And then she is surrounded by medics and police. They observe her with concern. Wordlessly, she lifts her bound hands and points in the direction of her husband. Everything after that happens in a blur.
An officer carefully removes the zip tie from her hands and puts it in an evidence bag. The medics treat her arm and look at her head. And then the questions begin. Somehow, she is in the kitchen, sitting at the table with two police officers. All the lights are on. She’s aware of other people in the house, bending over her husband, just out of sight.
‘Can you tell us what happened?’ one of the police officers asks her.
She looks back at him, stupid with shock. Her head ispounding. She can’t focus. He asks her again. Finally, she manages to say, ‘There was an intruder. A man.’
‘Was he alone?’ He’s writing in a notebook.
‘Yes.’
‘Can you describe him?’
‘No.’ She tries to concentrate. But she’s confused. She can’t remember what she’s confused about.
‘Was he tall? Short?’ the officer coaxes.
‘He was tall, maybe just over six feet,’ she says, trying to think. Ben was about the same. ‘Fit. Strong.’ She adds, ‘He was wearing a mask– a black balaclava. And he was dressed all in black. Black pants, black running shoes, black jacket.’