Dead in the Water

“I need to see you, Doug. I’m scared. Really scared.”

“What are you scared of?”

There was a pause before she replied. “Someone has been following me.”

“Just wait there. Lock your car doors. I’ll be with you in ten minutes.”

Mullen glanced across towards the entrance to the flats. There was no sign of Rose. That was good. He got into his car and started the engine. The last thing he needed was her getting in the way and complicating things. If Becca was in danger, there was no time to lose. Besides, one woman who needed protecting was quite enough. He slipped into first gear, released the handbrake and moved off without a backward glance.

* * *

When Mullen swung into the drive of the Cedars, he was expecting to see Becca’s red Fiat Punto standing on the gravel. It wasn’t there. He stopped ten metres short of the house and switched off. He felt himself tense. Where the heck was she? He opened the door, got out and stood there for several seconds, listening. Not a sound. Nothing significant anyway. There was a mower being gunned across some distant lawn and children giggling and screaming, but there was nothing close at hand. He continued to wait. He could hear vehicles now, advancing along the road from the Oxford direction. He hesitated a moment or two longer before running forward swiftly and stealthily, slightly crouched as if expecting someone to take a pot-shot at him any moment. The sound of gravel crunching under his feet was muffled by the engine noise from the road. He reached the corner of the house and stopped. Looking down as he reviewed his next move, he noticed tell-tale tyre marks on the lawn and the tension inside him eased a notch. He peered round the corner and saw, as he thought he would, Becca’s red car pulled up under the large oak some fifteen metres away. He looked for the outline of a figure in the front seat, but there was none. Had she gone into the house? He advanced cautiously across the grass, eyes scanning left and right, until he reached the car and peered in through the side window.

Becca was lying on the back seat, arms clasped round her legs in a foetal position. His first thought was that she was terrified and alive, his second that she was extremely dead. He wrenched the driver’s door open and for a few milliseconds hope and fear grappled together on the edge of the abyss. Then Becca Baines screamed.

* * *

Rose had never been stood up before and for several seconds she stood in the parking area outside her block of flats unable to comprehend why Mullen wasn’t there. He wasn’t the sort of guy to do that sort of thing, surely? That had been her assessment, but clearly she had misjudged him. She walked over to the road, but there was definitely no sign of Mullen or his car; just an empty space where his scruffy green Peugeot had been parked.

Rose wasn’t a woman who swore, even in private, but the words came out nevertheless. But swearing changed nothing — it didn’t cause Mullen to magically reappear nor did it make her feel any better. She retraced her steps, back to the entrance and then up the two flights of stairs to her apartment. She knew she was on the verge of bursting into tears and she had no desire to do so in public. She had barely slammed the door behind her when her mobile rang. She pulled it out of her bag and studied it. It was her mother. She let it carry on ringing until it kicked into the answering service.

She went to the kitchen, poured herself a glass of water and tried to think. But thinking wasn’t very profitable because whichever path her thoughts started out on, they always seemed to end up at the same place with the same bitter thought: Mullen prefers Becca to you and doesn’t have the guts to say so.

* * *

Mullen started by giving Becca a cup of tea. She had wept all over him when she got out of the car, clasping him tight, but now as she sat at the kitchen table, she was still and silent, hugging herself and staring vacantly down at the table. Mullen hadn’t seen her like this before. He added a couple of sugars to her mug. He didn’t know if she was technically in shock, but it seemed to be the right thing to do. Anyway, when she took her first sip she showed no sign of objecting to the sweetness.

Mullen sat down opposite her. “Do you want to tell me about it?”

She sipped at her tea and sniffed.

Mullen tried another approach. “You said on the phone that someone was following you.”

She sniffed again and wiped her nose with a tissue extracted from her sleeve. “I wasn’t sure at first. I noticed this car following me the other evening. I’d been out to Horspath to visit a friend and it was behind me when I left her house and it was still behind me when I parked my car. To be honest, I didn’t think anything of it at the time. In fact I probably wouldn’t have noticed him if he hadn’t been one of those drivers who tailgate you.”

“The driver was a man then?”

“I can’t be sure. The headlights were bright. I guess I assumed it was a man because it’s usually men who drive like that.”

“What about the colour and make of the car?”

“I’m not that much of an expert on cars, and it was getting dark.”

“OK,” Mullen said, though he felt disappointed and slightly suspicious at her vagueness.

Becca continued. “Then, the next evening, I noticed this person hanging around across the road. It was a guy, wearing army fatigues.”

“Would you recognise him if you saw him again?”

She shrugged, sipping her tea.

“I doubt it. He was wearing one of those peaked caps with material hanging down the back and sides aga

inst the sun, so really I didn’t get much of a view of his face. And it was quite dark of course.”

Mullen shivered. Camouflage clothing. He had a sudden flash of memory: Gina Branston tossing a camouflage jacket off the stool just before she began to sketch him. But why would either of the Branstons be following Becca? Did they even know her? Or was it because he and Becca were friends?

Becca tipped her head back and drained her mug of tea. “Haven’t you got anything stronger?” she said. “Gin ideally. Or Vodka. Preferably without the added sugar.” She raised her eyes. “That was probably the worst cup of tea I have drunk since I was a schoolgirl with plaits.”