A Tapping at My Door: A Gripping Serial Killer Thriller (The DS Nathan Cody Series) Read Online Free

rattle and crack against their concrete support posts, and even in her confused state she wonders how it is that she can hear that and not her own voice. So she reaches up a hand to her mouth to check that it’s working as it should be. Only it doesn’t get that far. It doesn’t reach her mouth because it feels the hot, sticky wetness that seems to be all over her neck. And when her fingers investigate further, they discover the reason for her silence. They disappear into the huge hole in her windpipe, and she freezes with the horrific realisation that this man has cut her throat.
    And then there is no more time for thinking, because he is on her again. He is pulling her away from the fence and dragging her down to the ground, and she sees a smug smile on his face that tells her he knows he has won and that she cannot summon help and that she cannot fight back. Because she is dying. She knows this. Her wounds are too great, too life-threatening. Her mind is going into shutdown, and she wishes it wouldn’t. She wishes she could hold on to something. A chance. A possibility. But her mind has decided otherwise. It has weighed things up and decided to cut its losses, to put what is left of its energy into closing down its consciousness and detaching itself from a reality that is too appalling to take in any longer.
    And if that were the end, it would be a mercy. But there is more to come.
    The man straddles her. Takes hold of her chin and turns her head to face him. She sees his face again, and as the blood continues to pour from her throat she wonders with almost serene detachment what might be going on in this man’s mind. She wonders what experiences, what tragedies in his life have led him to this. She wants to know why.
    As if in answer, he shows her the knife in his hand. Shows her from a couple of feet away, then brings it closer and closer. Until she knows what he is going to do with it.
    She somehow finds it within herself to scream again then. But her pleas never escape her body. They remain locked within, tearing her apart, shredding her from the inside.
    On the windowsill, the bird dips its sleek head and watches in rapt silence.

2
    All eyes are on him when he enters the room.
    There’s a little shuffling. A little unrest. A little trepidation, perhaps. But they all watch and wait. Every one of them.
    ‘I did it!’ he yells, pumping his fist in the air. ‘I bloody well did it!’
    The room erupts. Becomes a maelstrom.
    He shines his cheesiest grin at them.
    ‘I didn’t think I could do it,’ he says. ‘I thought it would be too hard, you know? I wasn’t even sure I’d get over the fence at the back. Not that it was too high or anything. I mean, I could climb it no problem. But I thought I’d back out. I thought I’d end up coming home again with nothing to show for it. But I did it. I actually did it.’
    For a moment he can’t say anymore. He is too overcome with the emotion of it all. He stands there with tear-filled eyes and pushes his hands through his hair and listens to the chattering around him.
    ‘I need a beer,’ he says. ‘Wait there while I get myself a can.’
    He hurries off to the kitchen. Reaches out a hand to open the fridge. Sees that it is caked in blood. Her blood.
    Suddenly he is dashing over to the sink and being violently and copiously sick.
    When his retching is over, he turns the tap on full force and washes the mess away. Squirts some Fairy Liquid onto his hands and washes those too.
    He heads back to the fridge. Takes a can of Carlsberg from the shelf, pops it open, then takes half a dozen deep swigs before coming up for air.
    When he gets back to the room, he has calmed a little. His hands are less shaky as he raises the can to his lips again.
    ‘She deserved it,’ he says. ‘Bloody hard head, though. I hit her twice with a brick – twice! – and she still didn’t go down. Had to use the knife in the end. Got a bit messy then . . .’
    His thoughts drift off,