Someone Who Isn't Me, Danuta Kot [good books to read for adults TXT] 📗

Becca heard the sound of an engine and saw the shadow of something moving across the window.

Johnny Dip was gone.

‘Right,’ Alicia said. She came over to Becca with the tape in her hands. Becca tried to roll out of the way, and drew her legs up. She could still kick, try and keep the woman away from her.

‘If you kick,’ Alicia said, ‘I’ll hog-tie you.’ Without warning, she dropped onto her knees on Becca’s chest, knocking all the air out of her lungs. As Becca struggled to get her breath, Alicia pulled her head round, and wound more tape round her face, covering her mouth. ‘Yeah, right, Doc, we leave her to shout the place down. Clever, that.’

Becca, looking into Alicia’s eyes, thought they were older and colder than anything she’d ever seen.

It was hard to breathe. She heard the ripping sound of the tape again, and a strip was pressed across her eyes. She forced herself to lie still – panicking was the worst thing she could do. She’d learned that the hard way when they restrained her in the detention centre.

There were more footsteps, and someone else came into the room. A man’s voice said, ‘They’ve gone. What are we going to do?’

‘What Doc said. Get rid of the evidence.’

The man sighed. ‘OK. Shall we get her into the cupboard?’ There was something familiar… Becca couldn’t place it.

‘I said, evidence. I said, get rid. We can’t leave either of them here. They’ve both seen us. Doc’s lost it – he’s too soft. It’s dangerous. He’s got to go too.’

‘Yeah? And who’s going to see to that?’

‘You need to watch your mouth.’

‘OK, OK.’ The other voice sounded apologetic; a bit scared. Becca understood she wasn’t the only one who was frightened of Alicia.

‘The others know what to do. We don’t need to worry about Doc, we just need to get rid of this lot.’

‘Might have been better if you’d left the kid behind.’

‘To talk to the cops? Are you crazy? They’d have been waiting for us when we got here.’

‘Yeah, but… OK, OK. You’re the boss.’

‘Right. Just keep remembering that.’

‘Fine. But what if Doc’s right? We get rid of the stuff, they can’t prove anything. We’re clear.’

‘Don’t you get it? This isn’t the end. Don’t listen to Doc. We get out of the way, we lie low, then we come back.’

The kid? Who were they talking about? Becca tried to struggle to her knees, forgetting that she was blindfolded by the tape, she couldn’t see. A lump of cold fear began to grow inside her. Johnny Dip hadn’t said anything about a kid. He’d just told Alicia they should leave Becca in the house and dump the car.

‘So we don’t leave anything. Come on, help me put her in the car. We’ve messed around for long enough. Do you want to go to jail, pretty boy like you? You won’t be out again for thirty years.’

‘Shut up.’

‘Here. We’d better…’ Becca felt something soft land on top of her, then Alicia rolled her over quickly and something wrapped round her, covering her head. A blanket. They were hiding her in a blanket. In case anyone was watching? Who would be watching here?

She could hear footsteps as the man came across the room towards her. Becca tried to roll away, tried to draw her feet up to kick, but the pain and her struggle for breath had taken away all her strength.

‘Where is he?’

‘In my car – it’s just down the road. We can pick him up.’

‘OK.’

They grabbed her arms and legs and lifted her. She felt the chill of the night air as they carried her outside. The pressure on her arms made it hard to breathe, and her bladder was contracting with fear. She had to fight it or she would wet herself.

She wasn’t letting them see that; see how scared she was.

And she was scared. It was hard not to panic, not to scream, not to start crying – and if she cried, her nose would fill up and she wouldn’t be able to breathe. She’d suffocate, die, just because she didn’t have the guts to… The anger saved her. It didn’t take the fear away, but the rage surging through her was like new energy.

She was going to survive this. She wasn’t going to let them do this to her. She twisted her body and kicked her legs forward, hard, feeling the man stagger. He swore and dumped her on the ground.

Now! Free herself from the blanket, get to her feet, try and—

Her legs were taped and she fell. Her arms were held behind her so she couldn’t protect herself and she landed hard, knocking the breath out of her body.

‘I warned you,’ Alicia’s voice said. A hand gripped her hair. The blow across her face made her ears ring. They forced her to her feet. Becca, bruised, blind and dizzy, could barely keep her balance and the two of them half lifted, half dragged her across the rough ground. ‘Put her in,’ Alicia was panting a bit with the effort.

She felt them lift her into the boot, then the lid closed, trapping her.

Chapter 43

The drive through the narrow, unlit roads of Sunk Island was tricky at the best of times. When you were so tired you were falling asleep at the wheel, it was downright dangerous. As Kay turned right onto Stone Creek Road, she wound her window down to see if the cold air would keep her alert. At least the chances of meeting another car were small.

At the very moment she thought that, lights appeared on the road ahead of her, coming her way.

Fast. The idiot was driving far too fast! Her addled brain dithered, but reflex had her winding the wheel hard to the left and she was slamming on the brakes, scraping along the hedge as the car – some kind of off-road vehicle – shot past, its horn dopplering into the distance, leaving silence behind.

Kay gripped the