but the call diverted to voicemail as she picked it up. She pressed the answer button anyway.
‘Hello? Nola?’
‘You missed the call,’ Olivia sighed as she launched herself onto Rachel’s bed. ‘You should’ve kept it on you.’
‘The caller ID says unknown, it might not have been her.’
‘Probably Daryl then.’
Rachel was silent and stared at her phone, willing it to ring again. After a few minutes the phone lit up and let out a beep.
1 New Voicemail Msg
Both girls looked at each other, then the phone.
Rachel hesitated.
‘You gonna listen to that or what?’
Rachel looked at Olivia then the phone again. She swallowed hard as she pressed the button to retrieve the message. Warily, she held the mobile to her ear.
Her eyes widened as the message played out. It sounded so surreal, she didn’t even know whether to believe it or not. She remained silent and when the message finished, she felt tears pricking at the surface of her eyes, like thousands of tiny red-hot needles.
*
08:45 a.m.
Nola wailed as the man hung up her mobile and tossed it to the floor. The lid of the battery compartment came away on impact and cracked, but the phone itself seemed to be intact and working. He’d deliberately withheld the number when placing the call moments ago.
As she hung upside down, tethered to a steel framework attached to the ceiling, her arms hung down, hands grasping at nothing but air. She knew she was too far from the mobile to reach it but still she tried.
She saw his big black boots come into view. He placed his foot on her mobile, then raised it high before bringing it crashing down. The cracking sound from her only source of help resounded in her ears. Her eyes clamped shut, her mouth pinched, as she fought back fresh tears.
Her senses were tingling. She was so cold. A draught was coming from a gap under the wooden door to the building. She’d been stripped naked and was now hanging precariously from the rafters, open to whatever torment was to come.
Her blood rushed to her head and she prayed she would black out.
The man watched her, eyes looking like dark holes. The pits of hell set deep in his pale face. She pleaded with him as he drew nearer but it was pointless. He held the knife at his side for her to see. The best she could now hope for was that it would be over quickly. She closed her eyes tight, bracing herself.
Then she felt the blade.
*
08:46 a.m.
‘We’ve got to go to the police.’
‘And tell them what?’
Olivia was now losing patience, and paced the room. Rachel was already getting dressed, stumbling as she pulled her trainers on her feet.
‘I’ll tell them Nola’s missing and about the call,’ she rushed, grabbing her coat as she made her way to the front door. ‘They’ll help.’ Olivia, following behind, reached out and grabbed her hand as she touched the door handle.
‘We’ve got to work, Rach,’ she said, her eyes looking deadly serious. ‘Daryl wants to see us.’
Rachel was frozen by her words. Daryl wanting to see them suddenly meant one thing – trouble. ‘What’ve you told him, Livi?’
‘Nothing,’ she said, averting her glance from Rachel.
‘You’re lying to me.’
Olivia was silent, but her face gave her away. Rachel’s body tensed and she raced back into her bedroom and went to the bed. ‘I can’t believe you’ve told him what’s been going on, that I’ve lied to him.’ She reached under her pillow and pulled out a knife.
Olivia’s eyes widened. ‘What the fuck, Rach? You’re not taking that out with you. I’m not letting you.’ She grabbed her wrist, squeezing hard, but Rachel refused to drop the blade.
‘Don’t you remember how long it took me to heal the last time Daryl messed me up?’
‘He won’t touch you this time, I promise.’
‘I’m going to help Nola. I’m going to help myself.’ Tears were now falling down her cheeks. ‘I need to get away from Daryl, from all of this.’
‘You don’t know if the voicemail’s real or fake, Rach. Wake up!’
‘I heard her screams in the background.’ Her words ensured a long desperate silence between them both, until Rachel managed to find her voice again.
This time she spoke softly. ‘I heard her. She was crying for help. She said he was going to kill her, whoever he is,’ she said, dropping her knife to the floor. ‘I can’t ignore that. She wouldn’t joke about something like this.’
Olivia’s face softened. ‘I’ll go with you to the police, but let me call Daryl first.’
‘No!’
‘All right, no phone call,’ she said, putting her mobile back in her pocket, ‘but you got to talk to him sometime.’
Rachel nodded. ‘I know… Let’s just find Nola first.’
Present Day
6th November
Ice crunched under her feet as she walked over the grass verge, towards the lake where the body had been pulled from the water. Smoke from the fireworks still hung heavy in the air.
The winter sun was just beginning to break through the darkness, lying low on the horizon, and as she walked towards the white incident tent ahead, she stifled a yawn.
It had been a long night for forensic pathologist Dr Danika Schreiber, having been on call, and she could barely keep her eyes open. She was met by Claire, who was shivering in the cold, puffing on a cigarette.
‘Thought you were giving up?’ Danika said as she placed her case on the ground next to her. Her faint German accent was still audible, despite the fact she had lived in England for several years.
‘It’s been a long night.’ Claire stomped her feet against the ground, trying to revive her frozen toes.
‘For us both. That’s why I’m late. The last job took longer than expected.’ She peered over Claire’s shoulder and stared out towards the broken ice floating on the water. ‘Is that where you found the body?’
Claire flicked her cigarette from her fingers and it rolled across the ground. She nodded as she exhaled a plume of smoke. ‘Yep, and
