Page 22 of Now Comes the Dark

“Waste of fucking time,” Ashley said.

They were in a corner table at Julie’s following the meeting, two long and unproductive hours that had done more to rattle the attendees than reassure them.

“I think they listened to some of our concerns,” Anjoa said. The tone of her voice lacked the conviction of her words.

“I bet they were taking note of everyone who was there, wondering whether they could add us to their suspect list,” Ashley said. “It’s obvious that they’ve got fuck all else to go on.”

“I don’t think it was quite that bad,” Phil said, trying to placate him.

“It was,” Ashley said vehemently. “It was a box-ticking PR exercise so they can pretend they are listening.”

Roman didn’t share Ashley’s anger at the lack of progress made by Blyham Police, but he had come away from the meeting feeling dejected and in a low mood. Why had the discovery of Benito’s work bothered him so much? He knew what Ashley would say—because you’ve been sleeping with the enemy. He couldn’t deny he did feel that way. And why had Benito kept quiet about his career? Had he been snooping? Gong undercover and pretending to be one of them? Overstepping professional boundaries to shag the suspects?

Benito hadn’t spoken once during the whole meeting, which made Roman wonder what he’d been doing there at all. Unless it was what Ashley suspected and he was there to keep an eye on the crowd and look for suspects. But if that was the case, why would he take to the stage at all?

Why do you even care? He was an okay fuck you weren’t even interested in. What’s the big deal now?

Something about his presence had angered Roman but he didn’t know what for sure. He wouldn’t have felt anywhere near as strongly had Benito been sitting in the audience with the rest of them.

“So, what happens now?” he asked. “If this guy is still around, the timer is running down on when he’s going to strike again. What are we going to do?”

“Keep safe,” Phil said, fidgeting with his cigarette lighter. “Remain vigilant and look out for one another. We owe it toourselves to make it as difficult as possible for this lunatic to claim another victim.”

Ashley nodded agreement.

“It’s going to take a lot more than that,” Anjoa said. “Those cops said they were going to put more officers on the beat. That’s fine for dealing with general hate crime, but this guy, this strangler, he’s not choosing his victims from the street. He’s killing them in their own homes. We need to educate people every single day about the risk they are in.”

“Agreed,” Phil said. “But it’s hard to see how we could be doing any more than we are.”

“Wehaveto,” she insisted.

Roman supressed a sigh. This was getting frustrating. They were going around in circles and achieving nothing. He didn’t know what the answer was either but was sick of the endless debate. Seeing Bentio had put him a foul mood he found difficult to shake. “I’m going for a piss,” he said, sliding out from behind the table.

It was almost nine, and the front of the bar was at a third of capacity. The DJ was in her booth paying the usual mixed of chart and camp hits, but like all the bars in Blyham, Julie’s had taken a hit, Roman doubted there was much future for any of the bars if the strangler wasn’t caught soon.

The thought only depressed him further.

Julie’s was an old pub, and the bathrooms hadn’t had a refit since the 1980s. The place was bare and functional with no heating. Roman’s breath rose in vapours around his face as soon as he stepped inside. He shivered as he unfastened his fly and pissed into the urinal. More steam rose from the gutter.

He needed to shake himself out of this mood. He could barely afford to come out tonight. His earnings were stretched so thinly that disposable income was a thing of the past. If he was goingto go broke over a few drinks, he’d make damn sure he enjoyed them.

He washed his hands under the freezing cold tap and tried to warm them beneath the drier.

Suddenly someone seized him from behind.

He gasped and panicked as strong arms closed around his trunk and squeezed him tight. He struggled to breathe.

Fuck. Not here. Not like this.

Roman was about to scream for help when he felt hot breath on the back of his ear and a heavily accented voice said, “I’ve missed that sexy ass.”

Now he gasped in pleasure.

Mallon loosened his grip and spun him around.

Before Roman could answer, Mallon forced his mouth on top of his. He thrust his tongue inside, and Roman did not resist.

Chapter Nine

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