And then she realised where she was. Her head was in agony, and even moving caused a jolt of pain. She tried not to panic and shifted her body. Had she been tied up? No, she could move her legs and arms in the cramped space. A thin wire lay trapped under her left side, and she realised it was the headphones plugged into her iPhone. She groped around, reaching under herself with her free hand, feeling for the wire and taking up the slack. It seemed to go on for ever and ever. Had the earphone jack come loose? But the wire finally went taut and as she felt down her hand closed around her phone handset. In the darkness, she swiped at the phone with a shaking finger, and again. Was it broken? No. She had it the wrong way up. When she twisted it round, the screen light activated, illuminating the interior of the car boot: a carpet; a pair of jump leads; a roll of electrical tape. What looked like several pairs of women’s underwear.
‘Oh Jesus,’ she said, and she almost screamed. She gulped it back, pain shooting up her jaw to her temple. Her vision was blurred and it took a few attempts to remember the pin code for her phone and key it in. It seemed to take her an age to navigate through the phone; where she had been hit was affecting her balance and vision. Finally, she found the contact of her friend, Heather, and pressed call. The sound of the phone ringing set off even greater pain through her head, and when Heather’s chipper little voicemail message kicked in she thought she might throw up it was so bad. Beth left a babbling message, trying to articulate what had happened.
Then the car came to a stop. She held the phone away from her ear and strained to hear what was going on.
Chapter Sixty-Four
Before Darryl could put the car in gear and move off, Bryony lurched round the front of the car to the passenger door, and pulled it open. She threw her shopping bags into the footwell and climbed in, slamming the door shut.
He was lost for words. Her eyes behind her glasses were wild and unhinged; her face had a sheen of sweat. She pushed back wisps of hair from her face.
‘Tell me you didn’t mean it,’ she said without preamble. ‘Tell me you were doing a joke that I didn’t understand…about you and me and the flour… or that you made a mistake…’ She jabbed her finger into his chest. ‘Please, say it now, Darryl, or God help me, I’ll—’
‘Bryony, what the hell?’ he shrilled.
There was a honk from behind and he saw there was now a line of cars waiting, and the lights were green.
‘What you said to me was vicious. I invited you for my special birthday at the cinema. I did things to make you happy. Don’t men like that kind of thing?’
‘Bryony, you need to get out of my car.’
The cars behind honked and revved their engines; an elderly couple waiting on the pavement stared into the car curiously.
‘I’m not going anywhere until you tell me why!’ she shouted, locking her door. Her eyes burned with anger, and for a moment it scared him.
Don’t be stupid, it’s Bryony, the stupid lump from work, he thought. Take her home, get her out of the car. Reluctantly, he pulled away from the traffic lights, and the curious eyes on the pavement.
‘Where do you live?’ he snapped.
‘What?’ she asked.
‘I said where do you live? I’ll take you home, and we can talk there… I take it you live close by?’ he said.
She wiped spittle from her mouth, and nodded, looking hopeful. ‘I’m on Druid Street, it’s about a quarter of a mile along here…’
Darryl accelerated, the shops and takeaways flying past. Then without warning Bryony started to hit him, landing blows on the side of his head and neck.
‘Why? It was a perfect date, wasn’t it? I bought us popcorn! You were nice to me, I was nice to you, and then without warning you were so nasty… WHY? WHY? WHY?’ She thumped the dashboard so hard that her knuckle began to bleed. She put it to her mouth and sucked at it.
‘I didn’t mean it… I was just… You’ve hurt your hand,’ he said, trying to soothe her. He put out a hand to make sure she remained at arm’s length, whilst attempting to keep an eye on the road.
‘You didn’t mean it? Really?’ she said, tears now running down her cheeks.
‘Really. I’m sorry,’ he said.
He saw a right turn for Druid Street, and took it in fourth gear. Bryony wasn’t strapped in and was thrown against the window, hitting her head against the plastic handle above.
‘Ow!’ she whined. Druid Street was a cul-de-sac of small new-build homes.
‘Which house?’ he asked.
‘The third one,’ she said, clutching her head and looking at him.
He pulled the car to a stop by the kerb. Most of the street was in darkness, and only one of the streetlights was working at the dead end. Darryl slowed his breathing, working out how to get rid of her.
‘Bryony, you go ahead inside and make us some tea…’
‘Darryl, please. I love you,’ she said, launching herself at him. He turned, and her mouth glanced off his cheek. She sat back.
‘I love you Darryl, I love you so much…’ Blood was oozing from her knuckle, and she squeezed the skin hard and sucked up a little more of the blood.
‘And I love you, but I need to talk to you about something,’ he said.
‘You love me?’ she said, clasping her hands under her chin.
A horrible trickling feeling started to run through Darryl: was this normal? Is this how women in love behave?
‘What if you go ahead indoors. I can bring the shopping bags,’ he said, looking out at the empty street.
‘Yes. I’ve bought food. We could have dinner.’ She smiled. ‘Do you like Viennetta?’
Darryl nodded. She smiled.
‘It’s mint chocolate. Is that okay? I know some people don’t like…’
A thumping sound from the boot silenced her. She turned to Darryl. ‘What was that?’
‘I didn’t hear anything,’ said Darryl. There was another thump, and the car rocked.
‘Is there someone in the back?’ asked Bryony, looking out of the back window at the boot.
‘Course not!’ He grinned.
‘Help! Help me! Someone, please! He attacked me!’ cried Beth’s muffled voice, and there was a volley of kicks which shook the car.
Bryony slowly turned back to face Darryl, and it was as if the face she knew had fallen away. The kicks and screams continued from the boot.
‘Why did you have to get into my car?’ he said calmly. ‘Now I have to kill you.’
Bryony lunged for the door, unlocked it, and got it open. But as she made a dash for it, her foot caught in the seat belt and she tripped, landing on the tarmac and hitting her head.
Darryl opened his door and walked around the back of the car, scanning the road. The whole car was now shaking, and Beth was loud. He was torn about what to do.
Then he saw Bryony lying dazed in the road, reaching out for her phone, which had skittered across the tarmac. He went to her and kicked her in the face, then picked up her phone and dropped it down a drain behind the back wheel of the car.
At the end of the road, cars continued to whip past, and a man stepped off the pavement and crossed over, but he was engrossed in his phone, the wire hanging down from his earbuds. Darryl retrieved the leather sap from inside the car, and went to the boot.
When he opened it, Beth lashed out blindly. Her nose was bloody, but her eyes were wild, and she tried to fight him. He swung the sap at her head, and there was a nasty cracking sound, and then she was still. He looked up, and Bryony was now lurching blindly across the road towards her house, without her glasses, searching in her bag for her keys.