A Tapping at My Door: A Gripping Serial Killer Thriller (The DS Nathan Cody Series) (38 page)

She believes it, too. Murder is his ultimate aim here. Has been all along. The only thing she can hope for is that her death can be postponed long enough for somebody, somewhere, to take some action. But what she is also beginning to come to terms with is that such action may have to come from her. Dobson is a wreck, incapable of doing anything spontaneous and physical. And Chris will be aware of that. When it comes to the slaughter, it’s likely he will cull the most threatening of the pair first.

So, she thinks, the only person with the remotest chance of getting me out of this situation is me.

Great.

*

Cody can hear the impatience growing in Blunt’s voice as she demands answers from a uniformed inspector called Haynes.

She says, ‘What do you mean, you don’t know what’s happening up there?’

‘Just that,’ says Haynes. ‘We can’t see anything. There’s no building around here tall enough to look down on them, and Davies has already warned us what will happen if we send in a chopper.’

‘What about the CCTV? Place like this, occupied by a bank among other things, must be bristling with security cameras.’

‘It is. Everywhere but the roof.’

Blunt sighs. ‘So I suppose that means we can’t shoot the bastard either?’

Haynes shrugs. ‘Same problem. If we can’t see him, we can’t shoot him. Might be a different story if he comes to the edge of the building.’

Blunt looks up again, and Cody wonders if her gaze is directed beyond the building’s roof edge and on to the heavens above.

She says, ‘How’d he get up there anyway? Don’t you need keys?’

‘The doors are controlled by card scanners. Davies grabbed an ID card from the woman at reception. We’ve disabled the system now so that our guys can go where they need to.’

‘Has he told us what he wants?’

‘Nothing solid. We’re in communication via his mobile phone, but all we can get out of him is some nonsense about speaking for the birds.’

Cody knows he ought to make a contribution. He has information they don’t, but something tells him he needs to keep it to himself for the moment. It could prove to be his only way of getting to Webley.

And, to Cody, that’s the nub of it. Webley is up there, and although that’s not his fault, he somehow feels it is. Besides, he can’t let her die like this. He has already reached a decision that he will do everything in his power to prevent it.

He moves away from the crowd. Finds a quiet spot. He doesn’t know Chris’s mobile phone number, and he’s certain that the hostage negotiators won’t hand it over to him. But he does have Webley’s. He dials it. Waits. It rings several times and then goes to voicemail. He tries again, with the same result. Either she doesn’t have her phone with her, or else Chris isn’t allowing her to answer it.

He takes out his wallet. Fishes out a scrap of paper and tries to decipher his own handwriting. The note contains a hastily scribbled name, address and phone number. He got them last night from Ed Kingsley.

Dobson’s boss.

*

To Webley, it’s a surreal moment when Dobson’s phone comes to life. His ringtone is the theme music from
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
. It could almost be a direct reference to herself, Chris and Dobson, respectively.

Interrupting his own call to the cops below, Chris clicks off his phone and strides across to where his captives have been made to kneel on the paved walkway.

‘Who’s that?’ he demands.

Dobson gives him a fearful glance. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Fucking well have a look, then.’

Dobson reaches into his coat and takes out his mobile. Checks the screen.

‘It’s . . . it’s Cody.’

Something leaps inside Webley as she hears mention of Cody’s name. It fades when she notices the sly smile on Chris’s face.

‘Give it here,’ says Chris.

He snatches it from Dobson’s grasp. Stabs the call answer button.

‘Cody! Good to hear from you. Are you here, watching the show?’

Go and take a look for yourself, thinks Webley. Go to the edge and look over it so that a police marksman can blow your fucking brains out.

But he doesn’t. He merely turns to face Webley and Dobson again, that hateful grim smile still contorting his features.

She wishes that Cody could see this killer’s expression. He is wily, this man. Clever. Do not stray into his web, Cody.

Keep yourself safe.

*

‘I’m here,’ says Cody. ‘We need to talk.’

‘We’re talking now. What do you want to say?’

‘I’ll tell you in person. Face to face.’

‘Piss off, Cody. You’re in no position to make demands. This is
my
show. You do what I say. All of you.’

‘No demands, Chris. An offer.’

There’s a pause. A brief one, but at least he’s not rejecting it outright.

‘What kind of offer? What could you possibly have that I might want right now?’

Here goes, Cody thinks.

‘Me. I’m offering me. As a hostage.’

The laugh is deafening in Cody’s ear. ‘What? Are you serious? You’re taking the piss, aren’t you, Cody?’

‘No, I’m not. But it’s conditional. I’m talking about an exchange. Me for Webley.’

‘I knew there’d be a catch. Forget it. I’ve got a copper already, and she’s better looking than you. Why would I replace her pretty face with your ugly mug?’

‘Two reasons. First, I’m the one who assaulted you. Have you forgotten about that already? My fingers around your scrawny neck?’

Another silence. Cody pictures the man on the other end of the line fingering his throat and contemplating the only opportunity he’ll ever get to wreak revenge on the policeman who attacked and humiliated him.

‘I remember. What’s the other reason?’

‘I understand why you’re doing this. I know the reason. I know why you killed the police officers, and I know why you’ve got Dobson up there with you. You don’t need Webley. She knows nothing about what you’ve been through – what you’re still going through. She doesn’t understand why the birds are so important in all this. I do. You want to broadcast a message to the world? Then at least do it with a copper who has some idea of what you’re trying to say.’

Cody stops talking then. There’s no more to say. Either it has worked or it hasn’t. It’s all up to Chris now.

‘You can come up,’ says Chris. ‘Alone. No weapons, no body armour, no radio.’

‘I’m on my way.’

He clicks the phone off.

And wonders what he’s done.

52

He finds Blunt in discussion with Haynes again. His mouth dries up as he approaches her. She’s not going to like this, he thinks. Actually, that’s putting it mildly. She’s about to go ballistic.

‘Ma’am,’ he says. ‘There’s something I need to—’

It’s clear from the way she rounds on him that she is already aware of what has just taken place without her authorisation. Chris must have made another call.

Blunt glares at Cody. Haynes glares at him. It feels as though the whole crowd is glaring at him.

‘Well, well. Detective Sergeant Cody. It seems you’ve got explaining to do.’

‘Er, well, ma’am. I’ve been talking to Davies, and—’

She holds up a palm. ‘Stop right there. You’ve been talking to Davies.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘The killer of four police officers.’

‘Yes.’

‘The man now standing on top of the Liver Building with a crossbow and a pair of hostages in tow.’

‘Yes.’

‘The man at the centre of delicate and complex negotiations that, if they are not handled in a sensitive way by appropriately skilled and experienced people, could easily result in the deaths of everyone up on that roof.’

Cody says nothing in reply. He is getting the feeling that she is not entirely impressed with his efforts. In fact, she looks ready to burst into flames.

‘What the hell do you think you’re playing at?’

‘I . . . I think I can help. I know this guy. I know what makes him tick.’

‘
What makes him tick?
Cody, the man is a deranged killer. He loves nothing more than to take the lives of police officers. Even you, with all the mental anguish you’ve been through in your past, don’t know what makes a lunatic like that tick.’

Cody is taken aback at the reference to his history. Blunt wouldn’t normally fire off such a below-the-belt punch, especially in front of others. It’s another indication of how upset she is at the moment.

He decides to try another tack.

‘I’ve had dealings with this guy in the past. He knows me. He’ll talk to me. He’s not letting anybody else up there, but he’s willing to make an exception for me. Surely that’s a way in we should exploit?’

Cody knows he’s being disingenuous here. The only real dealings he’s had with Chris are when he cut off the man’s air supply. But he’s not about to tell Blunt that. He’s also not about to reveal that, for the time being, he alone knows why Chris is doing this. Chris will undoubtedly announce that himself soon enough. Until that time, it’s the only thing giving Cody the edge he needs to get Webley out of there, and he’s not about to pass that advantage on to anyone else, police negotiators included.

Blunt aims a stubby thumb at Haynes. ‘These chaps are the experts, but one thing I do know about hostage situations is that you do all you can to reduce the number of hostages. The one thing you never do is increase that number.’

‘That’s not going to happen. I’m going up there to talk to him – that’s all.’

It’s a lie, of course. He just hopes that Blunt can’t read his mind.

‘That’s if Davies plays ball. What makes you think he will? He’s a psycho, Cody. Don’t forget that. He might just decide to keep you too.’

‘I won’t let it come to that. I’ll stay close to the door. If things start to get hairy, I’ll be out of there in a flash.’ He pauses. ‘Look, if it’s a choice between letting those people up there be killed or sending in someone who might be able to make a difference, then why are we even wasting time discussing it? And if he does start anything, there’ll be three of us against one. He’s got a crossbow. He’s got just one shot. The odds are pretty good that we can take him down.’

‘One shot is all it takes to kill one human being, Cody. Don’t underestimate this guy.’

‘I’m not. But we’ve got to try something. This is our only chance to send someone up to talk to this guy face to face. We shouldn’t throw that away. And if he won’t listen to reason and I have to come back down, then at the very least I’ll return with a good appraisal of what the situation is like up there.’

Blunt mulls it over. She looks to Haynes, who simply shrugs. Cody figures that the officer knows exactly how the discussions have gone with Chris. He will know that Chris has been unwilling to accept any offers in return for the release of his captives, and that time is running out for them.

‘Come here,’ says Blunt.

She drags him away from the crowd, out of earshot of other police officers.

‘What is this, Cody? I mean, really? This is confidential, off the record. Tell me what’s going through your head right now.’

He sees how earnest she is, how desperate to know the truth. There’s a pleading in her eyes that touches him deeply.

But he doesn’t think she really wants to know what’s going on in his head. Doesn’t believe that she would like to be made privy to the terrors that parade regularly through his mind, or the fact that, right now, he doesn’t care whether he lives or dies when he gets to the top of this building.

‘Ma’am, I—’

‘Stella. My name’s Stella. For this one brief moment there are no ranks, no badges. We’re just two friends discussing something important to both of us. Now talk to me properly. Tell me why you were so desperate to go into that building on the docks. Tell me why you came running out of there like you’d just seen a ghost. Tell me why you now want to put your life in danger yet again. That man up there will kill you as soon as look at you. Maybe he does have only one shot, but if I were him, I would use that shot wisely. I would take out the biggest threat first. And if I let you go up there, I might as well paint a bullseye on you before you go. So come on, Nathan. Talk to me. Tell me why you might want to throw away your life like this.’

He wishes she wouldn’t keep doing this: offering him the chance to ask for help, offering him a way out. He doesn’t need a way out. At least not the way she envisions.

‘I’m not throwing away my life,’ he says. ‘It’ll be okay, I promise.’

He watches her mull this over. When she opens her mouth to speak again, he swears there’s a slight tremble in her lower lip.

‘I could put a stop to this, you know. Order you not to go up there.’

He looks directly into her eyes. Not with anger but with empathy.

‘You could. But only if you stop being Stella and go back to being DCI Blunt. And that would be a shame.’

She has no answer to that, and she looks away. Cody moves past her before he can see what might be in her eye.

53

It feels to Cody like a walk to the guillotine. The corridors and stairs are lined with police officers, many of them wearing body armour and carrying semi-automatic weapons. They stand in silence, their eyes on this lone man in a suit, slowly passing them by on his way to the roof door, step by solemn step. Cody reckons that the necessary orders have already percolated down. These officers will have been commanded to allow him through, but they will not have been made privy to all the details. They will be wondering what the hell this unarmed, unprotected young fool possibly thinks he will be able to accomplish other than the discarding of his remaining years on this earth.

Cody is starting to think along similar lines. He has no plan, but he does have a straightforward objective, and that is to get Webley off this roof alive. If necessary, he will end Chris’s life and he will sacrifice his own; and if he is to be frank with himself, Dobson’s fate can go one way or the other. Webley is all that matters. Anyone else that lives will be a bonus.

And then he’s past the last man. He’s on his own. Nobody to shield him from harm. He pauses for a few seconds behind the last door separating him from a confrontation that might mean his death. Then he opens it.