Chapter 58

Pembroke cruised along, looking at his bottle of wine next to him. He thought of the impossibly beautiful girls in their stunning lingerie, about to drink it. Would they convulse? Would they faint and just pass away? Or would they spit it out, scream, and force him to do the unpleasant task of stabbing them to death? He hoped not, but he had to prepare himself for that.

He saw some schoolgirls and realized school was just ending. He smiled at some of his own pupils. He wouldn’t be a teacher in a few weeks time, thankfully. But he would miss the sight of the lovely girls in their white socks, long tanned legs ... He should move somewhere near a school. Such a wonderful place for a pervert like him.

He passed Carrie Atkins, walking alone. He stopped beside her and rolled down his window.

“Hello Carrie, would you care for a lift?” Pembroke’s voice dripped with false politeness, a predatory gleam in his eyes as he watched her reaction.

“No sir, thank you...” Carrie’s voice trembled with fear, her body language betraying her unease. Pembroke couldn’t help but smirk to himself, revelling in the power he held over her.

As he drove away, leaving Carrie behind, Pembroke’s mind wandered to darker fantasies. He imagined Carrie being forced into his vehicle, just as Sophie and Darya had been before. The rush of control and dominance he felt was intoxicating, fuelling his twisted desires.

He knew he would never have dared to make such an offer if he wasn’t planning to leave the school. But now, freed from the constraints of his former life, he was able to enjoy this sinister game he played with unsuspecting prey. In another time, in another place, he would have seized Carrie without hesitation, dragging her into his world of darkness and never letting her go.

With a self-satisfied snarl, Pembroke watched Carrie disappear in his rearview mirror, the thrill of the hunt still coursing through his veins.

But his self-assured smirk disappeared as he turned the corner to his street. Outside his house, were four police cars.

Afshan, Molly, and Teresa had each independently singled out Edward Pembroke’s photo from the hundreds that had flooded in. He was a little older than they all remembered, but there was something about his awkwardness captured in the image that struck a chord with each of them; his hesitant, shy smile next to the cheerful Leah, the slouch of the shoulders, all immortalized in that single snapshot.

Further investigation revealed he lived alone and his mother had recently died. He was a computer science teacher with professional experience in the IT industry.

Afshan had insisted he be arrested as a suspect, if not for the murders, then at least for the revenge porn, and the blackmailed sex. Preliminary surveillance found he had just recently hired or owned a white van, matching the suspect, and used tampons had been found in his rubbish, leading to suspicions there was a female in the house.

When police arrived, they walked around the house, and inspected the white van, seeing nothing unusual. He was off work for a week and seemed to be in the middle of some huge project with junk in his garage.

A neighbour told them she had seen Pembroke drive out about twenty minutes ago.

As Afshan waited with the other officers, her mind raced with thoughts of how to handle the situation with Pembroke. Memories of their first meeting flooded back to her, how he had destroyed her confidence and taken her innocence. She also recalled a public talk she had attended at Pembroke’s school a year ago and couldn’t shake the realization that Pembroke may have seen her there.

But Pembroke never came back. The sight of the police at his home had hit him like a ton of bricks. Driving back through town, he thought he was having a heart attack and had to pull over. A young woman stepped over to help him.

“Oh my goodness, you should go to the hospital.”

“Oh I’m OK now, please, I’m OK” gasped Pembroke. The woman had long red hair, just like Sophie. Another young Asian woman approached looking concerned, she looked like Darya. He thought he was going crazy!

He weighed his options. He had his wallet, his car, and a bottle of wine. Why were the police at his house? Was it possible he could fob them off? Maybe it was just some questioning. God damn it, maybe some teenager had broken a window and they were investigating that.

He thought he would stay where he was, and wait it out. Perhaps the police would leave, perhaps they even had the wrong address. Maybe if he didn’t go home, they would break in. There was nothing suspicious other than the damn poison in the fridge.

Pembroke took a swig of the wine. He was so close. The girls were almost gone. In a few days, there would be no trace of any of the unpleasantness that had gone on over the last six years down there. God damn it! All he needed was an extra few days!

With shaking hands he drove back towards his house, hoping there would be no police there. As he drove along, eyes peeled, he spotted some police officers in the distance on the street next to his. He parked nearby, and took a walk to get close to his house, taking a shortcut he hoped the police might not be familiar with.

He saw three police officers near his house. Two were men, one was a woman, an Asian woman. Crouching behind a hedge, he feared how obvious it would seem to anyone passing that he, Edward Pembroke, respectable citizen, was hiding from the police.

He thought of those troublesome bitches in his basement, no doubt licking each other’s pussies right now. If he got in, he wouldn’t bother with the poison. He would tear them apart with his knife, to punish them for this hellish inconvenience. He just wanted them gone!

A police scan found that the van had a fake registration number. Old habits had died hard, and Pembroke had not really needed it for what he had planned, but his over meticulous planning had caused his downfall on this occasion. The police, on finding out, had returned to his house and were now not going to leave until Pembroke returned.

The sun started to get lower in the sky. Pembroke took another walk and saw they were still there. Could he risk it? Or should he run?

Sophie and Darya were dozing next to each other in the basement. Hours had passed. Where was daddy? They had been scared to take off their lingerie, fearing his anger might ruin what had been a perfect day so far. Cautiously they tip toed around the basement. It was not often they had the run of it down here. Sophie’s stocking feet padded around the workstation, as she ran her hands along the sharp edges of the saw, wondering what it was to be used for.