The Silent Ones by Ali Knight Read Free Book Online

collapsed on the floor on top of the pile of broken vinyl. It seemed to Darren now that he had never managed to get back on his feet.
    Darren imagined his mum, the devastating news about the cancer still being absorbed, sitting opposite Olivia just a few weeks ago, in a sad room somewhere in this building, begging her for Carly, trying to prompt a sliver of pity in the Witch’s heart. It hadn’t worked. Yet here the killer was, strolling down a sunlit corridor, a spring in her step, receiving one-on-one attention. The injustice of it pressed down on him in a way he had never felt before. It was as if a piece of dry tinder had finally been touched by the spark it had been waiting for and exploded into life, igniting the fiercest anger he had ever known.
     
    That night he woke with a start in his narrow bed, sweat pouring from him. He scrambled for the reading light, gasping as if drowning. Something horrible had stalked his dreams, but it vanished as soon as he flooded the room with light. The image that remained with him was Olivia’s head, its high forehead, symmetrical and lined, and her big brown eyes, as she walked in slow motion past him, those eyes never leaving his face. Behind those dark pupils were the five secrets of England: Molly, Heather, Isla, Rajinder and Carly. The five women and girls, desperate to get out.
    He got out of bed, his phone showing 3.30 a.m. He had worked just two shifts at Roehampton and he had already seen the Witch, could have reached out and touched her. He felt the euphoria of possibilities crackle in him. He scratched and twisted, then dropped to the floor and did twenty press-ups, the blood flowing through his forearms and biceps. He did chin-ups until he was exhausted and his muscles burned. He couldn’t wait for morning. He was going back to the hospital to face the demons that were chasing away his sleep. He would go back through the gates and into her world. Carly would have wanted it. More than that, he thought, his sister demanded it.

10
     
    ‘I heard you saw Duvall yesterday.’ Kamal was smiling slyly as they pulled buckets and mops out of a cupboard.
    Darren was taken aback. ‘How?’
    ‘Remember, everything you do is on those.’ He pointed up at the camera in the corner of the ceiling. ‘Got friends in security, they saw the whole thing. They said you nearly fell over you were so surprised.’
    Darren tried to smile, feeling exposed. ‘Yeah, I guess it was freaky.’ He shuddered. ‘How many women did she kill?’
    ‘Five. Fi-ive.’ Kamal waved his hand. ‘You know the rumour why she’s here, got transferred from that place up north?’
    Darren leaned closer as Kamal unlocked a door. ‘Had a thing with a guard at the other hospital. They had to keep it hush-hush, would have caused a scandal.’
    ‘What kind of thing?’
    ‘Sexual thing! She is one twisted bitch, I tell you. He was doing her in her cell! Got inside the guy’s head, sent him mad! He apparently still sends her love notes. Now he’s out of a job and probably lost his wife too. Imagine saying that to your other half! I’m in love with another woman, and it’s Duvall.’ Kamal shuddered.
    ‘She never told him where she put the bodies?’
    Kamal looked confused. ‘No man, they were fucking, right at it. She’s an evil, mad bitch on heat.’ He said it with a touch too much admiration, before turning back to the huddle of cleaners.
    ‘Right. Darek, you do Newman, Yassir the offices upstairs. You, Darren, can do the corridors down to the dayroom.’ Kamal barked out further instructions to two female cleaners and they all pushed their buckets and trolleys to the door and waited for it to buzz open. ‘Wave to security once in a while. It keeps them awake. It’s not like they’ve got much to do all day, unlike the cleaning team.’ Kamal turned and moved away and the door buzzed shut behind them.
    Darren pushed his bucket towards another security door and held up his ID badge. A woman at a