Page 80 of Between the Lies

‘How many times do I have say it? Give it to me!’

For fuck’s sake! ‘Gi-Give you what, you stupid bastard? You s-said you have the documents, and you own this shop. What d-do you want from me?’

‘I thought you and lover boy had a brain cell to stitch together. That you could figure it out.’ Once more, he reached down and grabbed her feet.

Dragging her across the floor like a heavy mop, the man continued to mutter about her lack of brains. Nina, on the other hand, was busy trying to protect her head from smacking into tables.

Holding her arms up like a shield, she yelped every time she banged into a corner and her elbows smarted. ‘S-Stop. Why…?’

‘Stop? I was living a good life, then you come along asking your stupid fucking questions. You—’ Another kick to her torso. ‘You couldn’t stop, could you? Where is it? What did you do with it?’

He smashed her legs into the counter. Glass cracked under her feet, but Shah wasn’t done.

He picked her up and threw her, bodily, onto the cracked counter. The sound of glass splintering echoed through the room, and then Nina landed on top of the shards with a loudthump.

If she’d thought she hurt before, now she wondered if Shah had set her entire body alight.

‘You and lover boy destroyed everything. I had to set my club on fire. Do you know how much money that place made for me? I had to sell off more businesses because you came around asking questions you didn’t need to. I lost money! MONEY!’ He laughed. ‘And you ask me why I want you? You threatened my livelihood and my life, so I willendyou.’

Nina felt herself being lifted once more. She also noticed her right hand shook, blood weeping out of her palm.

‘You,’ she whispered, ‘are behind it all.’

He flashed his teeth at her. ‘Where there’s money, I go. It’s how you survive in this world. And I don’t like pesky insects like you nosing around.’

‘Y-You want me d-dead. You weren’t going to a-abduct me – y-you were going to k-kill me.’

Instead of replying to her, he let her go. Nina’s feet landed on the floor, but with no energy to hold herself upright, she collapsed. Glass clinked underneath her, and Shah cursed. ‘The more you bleed on my floor, the more you leave your DNA around. And I can’t set you on fire here, not like I did the other bastard.’

Those words sent a trickle of fear scraping at her shredding resolve. Set her on fire? He had done this – he had framed her for murders she hadn’t committed.

Nina didn’t move, simply lying there, trying to think. She had no hope of overpowering him, and running away wasn’t going to work either. She needed to call for help. But Robert was still at her place, and the police weren’t likely to believe her and come save her. Besides, she didn’t have a phone anymore.

Shah’s footsteps crunched as he made his way over to a cabinet.

Nina blinked, trying to track him, but the darkness of unconsciousness approached, her body trying to protect itself from the trauma.

‘Aye, go to sleep.’ Shah’s leer came from somewhere above her head. She heard plastic ripping then thesnip-snipof scissors.

Nina fought to keep her eyes open; tried to use her palms and push herself up. Then something dark fell to the floor.

She watched it unfurl like a blanket on a bed. But it wasn’t thick…

Shah laughed. ‘I had to improvise. I can hardly stick you in a plastic bag, no matter how large it is.’

What the hell?

Now her limbs moved… or at least she thought they did. ‘N-No. Let me go.’

‘I’m not going to kill you right now, don’t worry. I’ll just wrap you up in this makeshift tarp… Aye, I’ve got some tape. So now you roll over.’

Nina couldn’t even fight the hands now digging into her torso. She rolled onto the black tarp like a corpse.

The black bin bags – that’s what he’d cut up and laid out on the floor. He planned to wrap her in them.

Nina’s muscles twitched – then gave up when Shah wrapped bits of plastic around her legs, around her torso. When he approached her head, the smile on his face was so bright, he could’ve been the fucking sun inThe Teletubbies.

‘You know, this is fun. More fun than killing someone quickly. Don’t worry – you won’t die for a while yet. This will ensure you get a few more stinky breaths.’ Another laugh. ‘Aren’t I generous?’

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