Chapter 9
"Okay… well… we found several things and we spoke to Charlie and Nigel about the last time they saw you. Charlie says you went to the toilet and the next thing she knew was that you had text her saying you'd had enough and was getting a cab home. Nigel says that he saw you with a man of about 40 outside the ballroom; Nigel, being drunk, was on the way to the bathroom when he saw you kissing this guy. When he walked back into the ballroom you had gone but Charlie had said to him that you'd text her and he presumed you left with this guy for… well…I mean, Nigel feels terrible now but-" Nikki bit her lip and her grip on Harry's hands was immense. Uncomfortably Leo continued "so the police obtained the CCTV footage from the venue and most tapes didn't show us anything we could work on except the CCTV footage from the car park." Leo shifted uneasily on the sofa and looked at Harry for support,
"Go on" Nikki was firm,
"The angle of the camera is so that it displays the whole right side of the car park with the side of the building on the left, we can see… you and a man wearing a tux enter the frame on the side where the building is. You are … you, you're facing the camera but all we get of the guy is the back of him; you are…"
"I am what?"
"Well, it's obvious you're resisting him and the drug has started to take effect on you. You are stumbling and he's pulling you, you're not too distressed at first but then you slap him and he noticeably looses his temper." Harry places an arm around Nikki's waist and pulls her closer to him,
"Noticeably?" She is unable to prevent her inquisitive mind,
"He… erm, he has you by the neck against the wall and his free hand is inappropriately… on you. You clearly attempt to push him away and in doing so we, the camera, can see his profile, which the police are printing out for you to look at,"
"Okay" tears hopelessly fall from her eyes but she is set on getting the information she is missing from Leo.
"Then… and then" Leo sucks in a deep breath "then a dark Ford saloon pulls up into the frame, not 5 meters from you and… and he drags you into the back seat of the car and it drives away. The car plate was traced but it had been reported stolen earlier that evening… so we're at a loss there but the police have got a stop and search out on the registration number, again, nothing has come back yet, Sorry Nik… do you want me to carry on?" Nikki's face was burrowed in Harry's chest,
"Leave it there for now Leo-" Harry couldn't bare to hear anymore,
"I need to know, I have to," she raised her head and wiped her streaming eyes. Harry still held her close and he could feel every inch of her tense and tremble with each word Leo spoke.
"We lifted several prints from your house, particularly from the bedroom, doors and bathroom, we ran them but there's no match. Also there were 5 cigarette ends on your bedroom floor and we've taken samples and found there to be… there's 2 sets of DNA from them, also we lifted 4 bottles of Heineken: 3 from your bedroom one from the small table in your hallway. We tested the semen samples from the bedding… oh Nikki, Nik I'm so sorry love … there were… two, two different DNA samples; we won't be able to conclude that they both ra-I mean not definitively until your swabs are back from the hospital, but it looks like it was-" Nikki pushed Harry away and threw her arms up in protest,
"NO! NO! You're wrong, you must have mixed up the samples; you're wrong, that did not happen, Christ- I-I would remember that!" Harry attempted to keep her from throwing herself into Leo, but she escaped him and fled the room; Harry went to chase after her but Leo held him back,
"Let her go, Let her go-"
"Argh!" Harry yelled throwing his arms across Leo's desk so his work and computer came crashing to the ground. "I'll SMASH their brains in, I'll KILL each of them slowly and painfully for what they have done to her, I swear to God I will Leo" He fell to the floor and cradled his head in his arms as tears of anger and frustration fell from his ruthless eyes. "I will, I will find them and I will make them pay for what they have done to her," His voice broke but he managed to plead "Leo you have to help me."
The cold water from the tap seemed to ease Nikki's pounding head. She then used her hand to scoop water into her dry mouth. She did this 3 times until she feared she may vomit it back up. She gripped the sink and stared down the plug hole; she tried to gather her thoughts and she tried to think logically about the evidence Leo had presented to her and then: flashes of her screaming, pushing, struggling, then the text message EXACTLY HOW YOU'D IMAGINE HER TO BE… SHOULD HAVE HEARD HER SCREAM…LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT, her ears were ringing and her heart was hammering through her chest, her head was light and she sat on the floor of the ladies before she fell down. The image she saw earlier in Harry's car, of her at her front door must have been correct; there was another man, one used her key to let them in, while the other held her upright by her hair. She couldn't see as her eyes were flooded and when she blinked they simply flooded again. She can hear echoes of laughing in her mind, slowly she realises that it's the memory of both men laughing at her, taunting her, she can see that they're smoking and she is on her bed unable to move, her body is lead and her mind wont focus but she knows that she doesn't want either of them to stroke legs again. She remembers crying out for Harry; in her mind it is a scream but she knows in reality it was barely a whimper. She focuses all of her strength and rolls herself off the bed onto the floor, she feels their hands on her but she cannot make out their faces…
Harry began to check each cubical in the ladies toilets, then sees Nikki sat under the sinks at the far end, she is silent, arms around herself and rocking slightly. Harry sits next to her, pulling her arms around him, he pulls her into his lap. "I remember little fragments, it's so disjoined, I- I can't see their faces… Harry I'm so sorry, I – Can't… why can't I see their faces?" She then turned into him and cried loudly as sobs racked her whole body. Harry knew why she couldn't see their faces but his Nikki was brave and strong and beautiful and he knew that it wouldn't be long until she did.
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