weak and faithless as I'd feared. And yet another part of me was almost uncontrollably excited by what lay ahead, whether love or death, or both.
"It's too late for words," I said.
"It's time for actions. You said you wanted us to be lovers, but that's not what your body's saying.
Maybe you're scared. But there's no need to be. I'm a generous person, a loving person. You could find that out for yourself. I'm going to give you one last chance to atone for your betrayal. I'm going to leave you now for a while. When I come back, I expect you to be able to control your fear and show me how you really feel about me. "
Chapter 9
I let him go and walked over to the cam corder I took out the tape that had been recording our encounter and replaced it with a fresh one. At the top of the stairs, I turned back.
"Otherwise, I'll be forced to administer punishment for your treachery."
"Wait'." he howled desperately as I disappeared from sight.
"Come back," I heard as I dropped the trapdoor into place. I expect he carried on yelling. But I couldn't hear him. I went upstairs to Auntie Doris and Uncle Henry's bedroom. I slotted the video into the player I'd set up on the chest at the end of the bed, switched on the TV and climbed between the cold cotton sheets. Even if Adam didn't want me, I couldn't escape my desire for him. I watched him on his rack, my hand stroking me, touching myself with all the skill and ingenuity I wanted from him, imagining his beautiful cock swelling in my mouth. Every time 1 reached the point of orgasm, I stopped, gripping myself tight, forcing myself not to come, to save myself for what lay ahead. After I'd gone through the video for the fourth time, 1 decided he'd had long enough.
I slipped out of bed and went back downstairs. I looked at him spreadeagled on the rack.
"Please," he said.
"Let me go. I'll do anything you want, but let me go. I'm begging you."
I smiled and gently shook my head.
"I will take you back to Bradfield, Adam. But first, it's time to party."
People begin to see that something more goes to the composition of a fine murder than two blockheads to kill and be killed a knife a purse and a dark lane. Design, gentlemen, grouping, light and shade, poetry, sentiment, are now deemed to be indispensable to attempts of this nature.
Work might not solve anything, but it was a great diversionary tactic.
Tony stared into the screen, scrolling down through the tabulated information he'd gleaned from the police reports. Satisfied that he'd incorporated everything useful, he switched on the printer. While it chattered and stuttered its way through the print-out. Tony opened another file and started to sketch out the conclusions he had drawn from the raw data. Anything, anything to keep her at bay.
He was so absorbed in his work he barely registered the doorbell's first peal. When it rang out a second time, he looked up, startled, at the clock. Five past eleven. If it was Carol, she was earlier than he'd anticipated. They'd already agreed that there was little point in beginning their trip before midnight. Tony got to his feet, uncertain. Since she knew his "phone number, it wouldn't be too hard for Angelica to discover his address too. He arrived at the front door just as the bell rang for the third time. Wishing he'd installed a peephole. Tony cautiously inched the door open.
Carol grinned.
"You look like you're expecting Handy Andy," she said.
When Tony said nothing, she added,
"Sorry I'm a bit early. I did try ringing, but you were engaged."
"Sorry," Tony mumbled.
"I must have accidentally left it off the hook from earlier. Come on in, it's no problem." He found a smile from somewhere and led Carol into his study. As he reached his desk, he slid the phone back on the hook.
Carol registered that the phone's engaged signal had been no accident. Deduction: he didn't want to be disturbed, not even by the answering machine. Probably, like her, he couldn't resist a ringing phone. She glanced at the sheets of paper sitting on the printer table.
"You've obviously been busy," she said.
"And there was me thinking you were taking your time answering the door because you'd gone for a quick zizz."
"Did you get some sleep?" Tony asked, noting that she looked more clear-eyed than she had done earlier.
"Four hours.