TOYL

of your nightmare? All you have to do is walk away. You can leave this building and get on with your life. You just have to have the courage to do it.’
    ‘No. You go if you want to, but I can’t just leave him to die.’
    ‘Then you’re a bigger fool than I ever gave you credit for,’ Edward spat, turning and walking out of the flat.

    ***

    ‘Do you think Eric was telling the truth, about being threatened?’ Lizzy asked as they sat in Trafalgar Square.
    ‘He looked like he was,’ Emma said. ‘But if he was telling the truth, then I don’t know how that fits with everything else.’
    ‘I know,’ Lizzy said, pondering on the implications.
    ‘I was thinking,’ Emma said. ‘Whoever has Dan must have written that letter, pretending to be from him. The person who has Dan also accused you of having an affair with him. Why would they do that?’
    ‘I don’t know. I really don’t.’
    ‘But you know what this means,’ said Emma, realisation suddenly dawning. ‘Whoever has Dan knows us all. It’s probably someone close to us, Lizzy.’
    ‘What makes you think that?’ Lizzy looked shocked at the suggestion.
    ‘Well, they must do, otherwise how would they know about you, to include you in the letter? If it was someone that just knew Dan, they probably wouldn’t know anything about you.’
    ‘Okay,’ Lizzy said, not sounding as convinced. ‘But if it is someone who knows all three of us, then that narrows it down quite a lot. We’d be talking about someone really close, Em. Why would one of our friends kidnap Dan and attack Richard?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Emma said, trying to think.
    ‘And why would they pretend to be Dan and say I was having an affair with him?’
    ‘No idea.’
    ‘Em,’ Lizzy said. ‘There could be another explanation.’
    ‘Go on.’
    ‘Maybe the person who sent the letters, and the person who threatened Eric, was Dan after all.’

    ***

    Will replaced the receiver and moved across to Stuart, kneeling next to his head. ‘Don’t worry, mate, you’re going to be okay. The ambulance is on its way.’
    He felt completely useless, and just had to hope that the ambulance would arrive quickly. He thought back to how his dad had just walked out. How could he have done that?
    Then there was a knock on the outside door.
    Will raised himself up and poked his head out of the kitchen, looking down the corridor at the door.
    Again a knock – maybe his dad had come back, having had a change of heart. He took a step out and moved closer.
    ‘Stuart Harris?’ an unfamiliar voice bellowed.
    Will froze to the spot.
    ‘Stuart Harris – this is the police. We’d like a word.’
    Hell, Will thought. What would it look like if the police found him in the flat with Stuart dying? Would they think he’d forced him to take those tablets, in some sort of attempt to murder him?
    He ducked into the room opposite, which turned out to be Stuart’s bedroom. He closed the door. His heart was pounding and his breath shallow. He just stood in the middle of the room, listening for the police.
    But no one else spoke.
    Had they gone?
    He waited for a few more minutes, taking a look around the room. Stuart had a computer set up in the corner, and Will was surprised to find it on – currently the screensaver was running. Intrigued as to what Stuart had been typing just before his death, he slid into the chair and hit the space bar.
    ‘What the hell…’ he mouthed as the sickening image appeared on the screen.

51

    The photo had been taken up close. Dan’s head was thrust back, his eyes bulging as if they were about to explode out from his head, and a gag visibly tight around his mouth – Will could make out marks on either side of Dan’s mouth where the gag had rubbed his skin raw. He was tied to a chair – you could just make out its back, and what looked like rope around Dan’s waist.
    ‘My God.’
    Will’s first reaction was to switch the computer off, to get rid of the image. Then he wondered what else the computer might contain. But as he was about to grasp the mouse he suddenly thought of the police. They would be taking this computer as evidence. It was best if he left it alone. He rose from the chair, unable to keep his eyes from the image of Dan. He had been in trouble, all this time.
    And it had been Stuart all along – just as he had first suspected. If only he had mustered the courage to tell Emma the truth at the outset.
    He prayed it wasn’t too late to save