Chapter 25
Crash
“Don't hurt him.”
Was she f*cking kidding me! The guy was fit for a straight jacket. Or a jail cell. Probably both.
Why was she protecting this psycho stalker? He'd made her life a f*cking misery, forcing her to move away from her family and friends and start a new life somewhere completely alien to her. And now he'd tracked her down and wasstill tormenting her.
The guy deserved a beating, and more.
I called Jones, yet another job for him to do. This guy deserved a serious pay rise with all the work he'd put in for me recently. Although, something told me that money wasn't much of a motivator for him.
I had total faith that he'd track this guy down in the blink of an eye. It didn't matter how many Brad Scotts there were, he'd find him. He knew which college he went to, he knew he was here, in town, right now. That would be enough for a guy like Jones. More than enough.
He had contacts all over from his days as a detective. He'd be able to use them to access police databases and track credit card transactions. I could find out Brad's mobile number and he'd be able to use that to pinpoint exactly where he was.
This one would be an absolute walk in the park for Jones. I had no doubt about that.
....
It was only about 2 hours after I'd called Jones that I found myself standing outside a cheap motel on the outskirts of the city. The night was drawing on and the place was enveloped in silence, not a light on inside the row ofrooms lined up to the side of the road.
Jones had traced a credit card transaction in Brad's name to the place, and now I was there to have a little chat.
I saw a large handwritten sign saying 'reception' over to the right and walked towards it. Inside a stout elderly woman sat heavily behind a plexiglass window, busily scratching a worn pencil on a crossword. I tapped on the glassand saw her head rise slowly to meet my face.
“I'm looking for a friend of mine.” I said.
Her face was stony and disinterested.
“He's medium build, about 21 years old, blond hair. Name's Brad.”
She continued to look at me with a completely neutral stare. It was like she didn't understand what I was saying.
“Can't give away information about our guests,” she said, dropping her head back down to her crossword.
“Look, I'm just looking for my friend. Do you want me to start knocking on each door looking for him, waking up your guests? That wouldn't be good for business, would it?”
She kept her head down but reached out her left hand towards the telephone. “Do that and I'll call the police.”
Stupid stubborn old bitch. Tell me which f*cking room he's in!
“No, look, don't do that. Please, can you just do me this favor, just this once.”
Her face when her eyes lifted to meet mine told me all I needed to know. Screw it.
I dipped my hand into my pocket and pulled out a $100 bill, slapping it down on the counter in front of me. “How about now?”
Her hand crept forward through the small gap in the glass and snatched the note. She briefly held it to the light before turning her head down into some sort of log book.
“Room 4. He didn't call himself Brad but he matches the description.”
A smile hit my lips. Perfect.
I turned and walked back out into the night. A long trailer-like building stretched out to my right, broken down into different rooms, each with their own number.
I walked along the front, passing by rooms 1 to 3 before stopping at 4. There was no light inside, not a sound coming from within. He was either sleeping or he wasn't there. I was about to find out.
I reached for the handle and turned it, expecting the door to be bolted shut.
But no, it slid open a fraction. I felt an excitement building as I pushed slightly harder, opening the door wider to reveal a single bed lined up against the wall in the middle of the room.
The faint light of the moon spilled inside, illuminating the silhouette of a figure lying on the bed. My heartbeat was rising fast now, the situation getting to me. I wasn't used to this sneaking around stuff, this was usually Jones' forte. No, I was always in your face and direct, not slinking in the shadows.
I stood in the doorway, waiting a moment for my eyes to adjust. I could hear a light breathing, the body on the bed moving slowly up and down. The room was basic and bare, a closet in one corner and a small table in front of the bed, an archaic television set sitting on top of it.
The walls seemed to be covered in some sort of decoration. It looked like pictures in the dim light, pinned up against it.
I turned and gently shut the door, drawing a crowbar from behind my back. It was time.
I hit the light switch and the room was quickly bathed in a sickly orange glow. I squinted as I saw the figure on the bed stir, Brad's face now revealed as he lay on his back. His eyes flickered, his left hand lifting to cover them as he sat up.
It took a while for things to dawn on him as his mind came into focus. His hand dropped and the confused look on his face turned to shock and fear as his eyes found me, standing in the doorway, a crowbar dangling menacingly at my side.
He scrambled up out of bed and into the corner of the room. It was the reaction of a f*cking coward. When he spoke his words were rushed, cracked, and broken in terror.
“Who..who...are you!” he said, cowering in the corner of the room like an abused dog.
“Brad Scott?” I asked, my voice cold and dry. My heart was pounding inside but I didn't show it. I had grown used to reigning in my emotions when I needed to.
He nodded. “What's going on? Who are you?”
“I'm a close friend of Elle Harper. I think you know her don't you?” A growing menace infected my words as a questioning frown dipped over my eyes.
“Erm, yeah.” His face was white, the blood rushing out of it. He looked like he was going to faint.
And yeah, he knew exactly why I was here.
“I've come here tonight for one reason.” I let my words hang as I slowly walked further into the room towards him.
“I've come here to tell you what you're going to do. And if you don't, well...” I lifted up the crowbar as his eyes widened.
“OK Brad, here's how things are going to go. You have two choices.” I played this part well. It was what I did with anyone who tried to cheat in my casino, anyone who tried to wrong me. I gave them two options, and they alwayschose the one I wanted.
Brad, I knew, would do the same. Because really, there was only one choice he could make.
“You can either leave this motel right now, tonight, and never come back here again, and never, ever, ever, speak or go anywhere near Elle again or....”
I walked in further, watching him shake and cower, my eyes growing ever more fierce.
“...or I can take this crowbar here, and do what I'm best at.” I didn't need to clarify what that was. The threat was enough.
His reaction was instantaneous.
“No, I'll go, I'll go. I'll leave in the morning.” The words came tumbling out with such speed and fear that I could hardly understand them.
God he really was pathetic, squirming around on the floor like a worm. He'd been hiding out in this motel, creeping into town and looking for Elle. There was probably no other reason for him to be here. He was just a f*cking stalker, a low-life. He f*cking sickened me.
I looked briefly to the table with the TV on it and saw pictures scattered over it. They were all of Elle, pictures of her with him, pictures of her with friends, pictures of her on her own. My eyes drew up to the wall where I thought I'd seen decorations. They were images, as I thought, once more of her. They littered the wall, pinned up all over it.
My eyes began bulging in anger at the sight.
His face looked even more sheepish and scared when I turned back to face him. I gritted my teeth and growled through them, my words vibrating out of my throat.
“No, you'll leave now. You'll leave tonight. If I don't see you coming out of this motel and driving off in the next 5 minutes, I'll come in here and give you option 2. HAVE YOU F*ckING GOT THAT!”
The last words thundered out of my mouth, my calm suddenly shattered.
I couldn't tell whether he was nodding on the floor or just shaking, but I didn't care. He'd got the f*cking message.
I took one last glance at the images on the wall, my eyes stopping on one of Elle smiling in the sunshine, her face lit up. She looked so happy, so at ease, so free. I smiled lightly as I looked at it. I'd love to see her like that again.
I ripped my gaze from the image and back towards the door. “You've got 5 minutes.” I growled again. “I'll be watching from my car.”
With that I stormed out of the room, leaving the door hanging open as the cool night air spilled inside.
I'd kept my promise. I hadn't hurt him.