Page 48 of The Taskmaster
“You coming here was a mistake.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.”
Angela Maynard was sniffling and sobbing through her gag now, but I kept going.
“Rule number two, secure the area. I just walked right into this house through the back door. So could anyone else. Youneeded to lock that shit down at the same time you cut the useless, out of date phone lines.”
“Why would anyone else come in here? You’re only here to taunt me,” she sneered, giving me a look that would have me dropping down dead if I wasn’t immune to that shit.
“Anyone could come in here,” I told her. “You have to plan for every eventuality. And I’m not here to taunt you, Abigail. I’m here to help.”
She didn’t respond, just clenched her jaw even more, so I continued.
“Rule number three, bring your own fucking weapon. Why are you using her blunt carving knife?”
“I wasn’t planning on using this,” she replied, looking affronted.
“I’ll refer you back to the rule about planning for any eventuality. And please don’t tell me you were gonna take her out with the wrench on the floor there, the one that’s already left a lovely gathering of DNA and evidence on the carpet underneath it.”
“I don’t use weapons,” she said, and I narrowed my gaze.
“Clearly you do. You have one at your feet, one in your hand, so... let’s cut the crap, shall we? And while we’re at it, why aren’t you wearing gloves?”
She huffed, and I reached into my pocket. “Lucky for you, I brought a spare pair.” I threw them across to her, but she didn’t catch them. She let them fall to the floor and kept her eyes pinned on me. I wagged my finger at her and told her, “And don’t wear the gloves and leave them behind.” I chose to ignore her blatant disregard of my help. “They can still get fingerprints from the inside of a latex glove.”
“I’ll bear that in mind,” she replied in a bored tone.
“And rule number four,” I went on. “The most important rule. Don’t get caught.”
“If it’s the most important, why isn’t it at number one?”
“Semantics.” I shrugged.
“I don’t think that’s the right word to use here.”
“Says the girl about to commit the messiest murder that’s going to end in her doing a life sentence.” I tutted again. “You don’t want me here, but admit it, youneedme.”
“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you want this to be fun?” I moved closer to the armchair. “Look, she can’t even talk. Where’s the fun in that? Don’t you want to hear what she has to say?”
I leaned forward, ready to tear the duct tape from her mouth, but as I did, Abigail panicked and plunged the knife right into her neck, severing her carotid artery and causing blood to spurt everywhere.
“Oh God.” Abigail dropped the knife and put her hand over the wound, but it was pointless. The woman was about a minute away from death, and all Abigail was doing was dousing herself in more evidence.
“Yep, that’ll do it.” I took a step back as blood pooled on the floor beneath me. “I’ve gotta admit, I wasn’t sure how this was gonna go, but you’ve just surprised me.”
Abigail started panting, her breaths becoming more rapid as she stared down at the woman, and then, when she lifted her bloody hands, she started to panic.
“What have I done? What have I done?” she repeated over and over, and seeing her so distressed broke my fucking heart.
“It’s fine. You did what you had to do. Whatever your reasons were, I’m sure they were right.” But she couldn’t hear me, she was too caught up in her trauma.
“Was this your first time?” I asked, but again, she didn’t respond. So I moved to stand in front of her, taking her bloody hands in mine to get her attention, telling her, “Breathe, Abigail. You’re okay. I’m here. Just breathe.”
I started to take slow deep breaths, encouraging her to copy me as I held her hands, and stroked her gently with my thumbs. Feeling my touch and hearing my voice seemed to help ground her. She looked in my eyes and copied my breaths, nodding as I told her, “You’re okay. It’s going to be okay.”
The vulnerability in her eyes reached inside me and grabbed a hold of some part of me, a part that I didn’t know I had. A fractured inner chasm that wanted to wrap her up and keep her safe from the world. Hide her in the crevices of my very soul, never to share her with anyone.
