Third Strike (Terror Unlimited Book 3) Read online

  ‘Maybe I should come in, put this little whore in her place,’ Kelly said.

  ‘I don’t think that’s going to help.’

  ‘Why, what have you got to hide?’

  ‘Nothing, I just don’t want you coming in the shop and going fucking apeshit.’

  She scoffed and shook her head, then got up and left the room in a hurry.

  ‘Fuck’s sake,’ he muttered.

  The next week was fraught with difficulties at home. Kelly was flying off the handle at the slightest provocation.

  Facebook made things worse, as messages from his colleagues appeared, further spreading the rumours that he had got off with Joanna at the pub.

  Needless to say, Kelly was not impressed.

  Their relationship was on the rocks, and all for something he hadn’t even done.

  Joanna was extra nice to him over the next few days and he was drawn to her, in spite of his anger. Still, she was caught up in all of this as much as he was, if the story about her friend posting the Facebook message was to be believed.

  She was certainly treating him a lot better than his wife was these days.

  He caught her eye and she smiled at him. He smiled and looked away, feeling a little uncomfortable.

  All around in his head revolved thoughts of how he could fix the situation at home, but at the back of his mind was the question: was it worth fixing if Kelly didn’t trust him and was going to resent his every move?

  It was Saturday night, a week after this nightmare had begun to unfold.

  He was on callout every Saturday – for his sins, why the fuck couldn’t he have a night out with the lads once in a while without worrying about getting dragged into work? – and this night was no different. He had a couple of beers, nothing too drastic in case he got the dreaded call and had to drive to the store.

  Sure enough, he was fast asleep when his phone began to blare on the bedside cabinet. He cursed and looked round for the source of the noise, utterly bamboozled at being woken so suddenly.

  Kelly cursed and nudged him in the back with her elbow.

  How suddenly he had grown to be annoyed by her little ways. A fortnight ago – before all this carry on with Joanna and the blatant mistrust Kelly now held for him – he’d have laughed at this, but now he felt like putting the pillow over her face and snuffing her out like a candle.

  He answered the phone with a drowsy, ‘Hi.’

  ‘This is Mike from Sentry Security Services. There’s an alarm callout for tonight and we’ve got your name against it to attend.’

  ‘Fuck’s sake. What type of alarm?’

  ‘Intruder. Best get there as soon as you can.’

  ‘No bother. Thanks for letting me know.’

  ‘Who was that?’ Kelly hissed.

  ‘Callout. Gotta go into work.’

  ‘Meeting Joanna are we?’ she spat.

  He ignored the comment, being too sleepy to have a decent comeback, and started throwing clothes on. In the end his shirt was on back to front but he didn’t care. As long as he had something on it didn’t really matter.

  He took the baseball bat from under the bed – if someone came uninvited into his house they were going on an all-expenses paid trip to the local A&E, fuck the legal implications – in case there was still someone in the store.

  He set off for work, feeling a little shaky after the few beers he’d had.

  He wound the windows down all the way, allowing the cold air to blast his face in a vain attempt at sobering up. The last thing he needed was getting pulled by the cops on the way in.

  Try explaining that to the asshole he worked for.

  His driving was a little shaky, and he prayed no one was watching him weave his way across the road. Thankfully it was only a short drive and he pulled into the retail park without seeing another car.

  Intruder alarm? His overwrought mind thought. What the hell does that mean?

  The car park was dimly lit, shadows lurking near the store.

  It looked decidedly creepier than it did in daylight. There were roughly a dozen hiding places near to the store, and he did his best to check them all out from the safety of his car.

  He parked as close to the store as possible and got out, the baseball bat in his shaking hand.

  Heart racing, he crossed the car park to the entrance.

  The store was still lit up, but it was the half lights used outside of trading hours. It would be hard to see what was going on.

  Funny how the solitude and circumstances could make something so ordinary terrifying.

  He decided his best bet was to get to the office, check the cameras and see if anyone was still in the store.

  Bat raised like Babe Ruth in his prime, he moved inside. Every muscle was tensed, ready to explode into a strike if an intruder leapt out at him.

  There didn’t seem to be any sign of forced entry, so he remained hopeful that it had just been something falling off the shelf and disturbing the motion sensors.

  He opened the door to the welfare block, quickly checked there was no one lurking in the toilets, then opened the office.

  The office door was solid, so he reckoned they’d have had real trouble breaking in here. Again there was no sign of forced entry, so he relaxed once the door clicked shut behind him.

  And as soon as his guard was down, a black-garbed figure appeared in his peripheral vision.

  He brought the bat back for a skull-busting swing, but paused as his bulging eyes registered long blonde hair.

  ‘Relax, it’s just me,’ Joanna smiled.

  ‘Joanna? What the fucking hell are you doing in here?’

  ‘I was closing down tonight. And I reckoned – after all the trouble with your wife recently – that you’d like to blow off some steam. I managed to wedge the back door open so I could get back in. We can finally have some time alone.’

  She approached him, opening the long black trench coat she wore to reveal a lacy black bra and thong set. Her shapely legs were clad in fishnet suspenders. He glanced away from the tanned breasts and stared up at her eyes instead.

  ‘Come on. No one will ever know,’ she purred, rubbing his arm and staring deep into his eyes.

  The little head began to overrule the big head and she smiled as she felt him stiffen against her leg.

  ‘See, you know you want to.’ She flicked her hair back from her face. ‘We can be as long as we like. You can always just say the alarm took a while to reset.’

  He paused for a split second. There was no denying that he was tempted. She was stunning and the taboo of it all made it even more of a temptation. But, despite the troubles he and his wife were going through, he could not bring himself to hurt her.

  ‘Joanna, this is crazy. Come on, you need to cut this shit out. I’m very happy with Kelly and I’m not going to have an affair with you.’

  She gulped hard. Tears filled her eyes. ‘I thought you liked me,’ she sobbed.

  ‘Come on, there’s no need to get upset. Get yourself home to your boyfriend.’

  ‘There is no boyfriend. He ditched me cos I was talking about you so much.’

  Don’t blame ya, buddy, he thought with a grim smile. Run for the fuckin hills.

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

  ‘I’m not. Cos it frees me up for you. Come on, you’ll have the time of your life.’

  She moved towards him again.

  He raised his hands to stop her, but withdrew them when he saw they were about to land on her breasts.

  ‘Back up,’ he said, surprising himself with how furious he sounded.

  She did, apologising.

  ‘Right, I need to go and make sure the back door’s properly locked. I won’t tell Joe about this as long as you’re gone when I get back.’

  ‘That’s very good of you.’

  ‘But it’s also on the condition that you stop harassing me.’

  ‘I’m sorry if I’ve made you uncomfortable. That wasn’t my intention. Can I nip to the toilet be
fore I go? I’ve got a nervous bladder now.’

  ‘Yes. I’ll leave the office door open for you. But you go straight out and get yourself home, ok?’

  She nodded and backed up, her body language that of a defeated animal.

  When he was sure she had gone, he shook his head and pondered aloud, ‘What the fuck is going on in her head?’

  He was feeling flustered, which always made him hot, so he shrugged off his coat and hung it on the back of the chair.

  ‘Let’s lock this door and get the fuck out of here,’ he muttered.

  The back doors firmly locked and the alarm reset, he returned to the office. He half-expected the crazy bitch to jump out on him, naked, but she had gone.

  He breathed a sigh of relief and left the building. After waiting a few minutes to make sure the alarm had gone on properly, he crossed the car park to the car.

  Wanting only to get back home to bed, he pulled out of the retail park and turned the corner, not noticing the car that followed him with its lights off.

  He got home after a slightly dodgy drive, but, if anything, the unease had sobered him up slightly.

  He tried to be as quiet as possible when he made his way upstairs to bed.

  Sleep eluded him while his mind replayed the night’s bizarre turn of events.

  He wasn’t at work till eleven, so he was expecting a lie in since Kelly was starting work early.

  Instead, he was rudely thrust from his slumber by his beloved’s furious shouting.

  ‘Whur?’ he managed in response.

  ‘Open your fucking eyes and explain this to me,’ Kelly said, her tone utterly murderous.

  A gallon of espresso couldn’t have woken him better.

  She held aloft a lacy black thong, the gusset of which was clearly marked with white stains. It was unmistakably the same knickers that Joanna had been wearing when she’d turned up at work intending to seduce him.

  He was speechless for a second. ‘Where did they come from?’

  ‘I found them in your coat pocket. I was right; you went sneaking off to meet that whore from work, didn’t you?’

  He debated whether to tell her what had happened. He realised there was no chance of her believing him, but, since it was the truth, he was going to, as soon as he could get a word in edgewise.

  She cut him short. ‘And this was tucked inside them.’ She held up a note that said, ‘Something to remember me by. J XXXX’

  ‘Now I’m interested to see how you are going to talk your way out of this one,’ she said.

  ‘I can explain,’ he said, forlorn.

  ‘Do I look like a fucking idiot?’ Kelly said.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then why are you treating me like one?’ she spat.

  ‘Honey, I swear, she’s crazy. She broke into the shop and waited for me to come out. I had no idea she was there. There is – and never will be – anything going on between us.’

  ‘Then where the fuck did the pants come from?’

  ‘I don’t—’

  He racked his brain. Remembered taking his coat off while she was still in the toilets. The sneaky bitch must have written the note and put her knickers in his pocket while he’d left his coat unattended.

  He couldn’t help but be impressed at the slyness she’d employed, despite the shit it had landed him in with Kelly.

  ‘I took my coat off cos I was hot and getting stressed. I left it in the office and went into the warehouse to check the back door was locked. She went to the toilet and must have put them in my pocket while I was busy.’

  ‘You’re so full of shit it’s not even funny.’ She threw the knickers at him and stomped out of the room.

  He was out of bed like a shot. She was in the spare room, shoving clothes into a suitcase with frantic speed.

  ‘Kelly, I swear I would never cheat on you. She’s a sly bitch and she’s trying to split us up. I haven’t done anything with her.’

  ‘If that’s true why don’t you ask for a transfer? Get away from her?’

  ‘It would fuck up my chances of getting the promotion I’ve been after for years. I’m like this close,’ he held his thumb and forefinger half an inch apart.

  ‘And is that more important to you than what we have?’ she glared at him, her face beetroot, a vein standing out on her right temple.

  ‘No, of course not,’ he replied instantly. ‘Of course not. I’ll ask for a transfer today.’

  ‘Fucking good. If – and it’s a big if – the story you’re spinning me is true, then you’re best off away from her.’

  ‘Yes, I am. And I swear I’m not making this up. Are we ok?’

  ‘We will be. But if you’re lying to me—’

  ‘—On Jason’s life I’m not.’

  ‘I gotta get to work. Try and keep away from that whore.’

  ‘I will.’

  Joe, Thomas’s boss, was on one when he got to work. Not a good time to drop a bombshell like asking for a transfer, especially since the store was going through a rough patch at the moment. Without him the place would fall to bits for sure.

  He put off asking, at least until later. When Joe was in a mood everyone suffered. Best to just get your head down and plough through the graft, hope the shit went over your head.

  He checked his watch to see that most of the day had gone without him noticing. Joe was going soon, so he knew he needed to ask now, before he lost his nerve.

  But when he got to the office he saw that Joe had already gone.

  He cursed aloud.

  ‘Hey, what have you been upto, you naughty boy?’ Bobby, one of the delivery drivers, grinned.

  ‘Nothing. Why?’

  Bobby leered at him. ‘I hear you been having midnight callouts and bending that fucking blonde stunner over the desk.’

  ‘Who the fuck has told you that?’

  ‘Just the word on the street. Hey, fair play, man.’ He whistled appreciatively and held his hand up for a high five that didn’t come. ‘Fuck me. I’d never want to take my dick outta that.’

  ‘Nothing is going on. I’ve knocked her back every step of the way.’

  ‘Not what I’ve heard, mate. Not what I’ve heard. Give her one from me n’all next time, you jammy bastard.’ He tipped him a wink and walked out.

  Thomas shook his head. It was a nightmare once a rumour got going on the shop floor.

  It was a relief when home time came and he hot-footed it to the car in case he got roped into anything else. If Joe was keen to bail early when they were in the shit why should anyone else stay late to help out?

  He sat in his car for a few minutes, his head pounding. How the fuck had word got round already about Joanna and him?

  He dreaded going home and facing Kelly cos she was bound to have changed her mind and started kicking off again.

  He pushed the front door open, called out to his wife. The house was all too quiet with Jason staying at Kelly’s parents while they sorted out their problems.

  His heart sank a little at the thought of him and Kelly splitting up and only seeing Jason at weekends or whenever Kelly felt like it. He felt sure that was the road they were on, through no fault of his own.

  He cursed the day Joanna had ever came along; fucking his marriage up with her obsessive and downright psychopathic behaviour.

  ‘Kelly?’ he called out when there was no reply. ‘You home?’

  Great, fucking silent treatment again, he thought with a grimace.

  He checked the front room, dirty dishes spilled across the table and onto the floor. That wasn’t like Kelly, but he could understand why she hadn’t been arsed to clear them away. She was hardly herself at the moment.

  He checked the kitchen and the library, but there was no sign of her.

  The floorboards creaked as he moved upstairs.

  He called out again, in case she was in the bath. No one in there. He pissed and went into their room to get changed.

  It was obvious something was wrong as soon as he got into the bedro
om.

  Chunks of broken vase crunched beneath his feet.

  The roses he’d brought home a few days ago to try and placate her were trampled into the carpet.

  His heart leapt into his throat when he saw her on the bed, the sheets around her in a puddle of gore, thick arcs of blood up the walls most of the way to the ceiling and thinner trails where it had started dripping down.

  He drew closer, the tears in his eyes blurring his view of the woman he loved more than anything in the whole wide world. He glanced down upon her, hoping for signs of life, but the way her head was caved in like a burst football, there was just no chance.

  Uttering an urgent prayer to a God he didn’t even believe in, he pushed his trembling hand to her throat to feel – in vain, of course – for a pulse. Her skin was clammy and cold and sticky and the feel of it sickened him.

  He tried to figure out what had happened, and the answer was too horrible to comprehend. But comprehend it he must, for that was the most likely outcome.

  The crazy bitch was whacked out enough to do something like this, no fucking doubt about it.

  She would have killed to have him, of that he had no doubt.

  The situation got even worse when his eyes fell upon the bloody baseball bat that sat on the bed next to his wife’s shattered, oozing skull.

  The bat he’d left at work on the night he’d been called out.

  The bat Joanna must have taken with her in the hope of doing something just like this.

  And, as the blue lights began to flash through the curtains, he realised just how devious she had been.

  ‘This is not how it looks,’ he insisted as the police raced into the bedroom to find him staring at Kelly’s body with the murder weapon in his trembling hands.

  The cop scoffed and began reading him his rights.

  ‘I swear it wasn’t me, it was Joanna,’ he said. ‘She’s a crazy bitch who’s in love with me. She wants me so bad she killed my wife cos she thought that would bring us together.’

  ‘Of course she did,’ the cop chuckled. ‘Pull the other one, mate.’