Bloodstream: A gripping, unpredictable and shocking thriller

His voice was cut off, his words silenced. All he had was the vision of his wife sitting a few feet away, her eyes locked with his. He tried to communicate with her, not knowing if his unspoken message was getting through.

We’re going to be okay. We’re going to get out of this.

Ben Flanagan glanced Murphy’s way before stepping forward and placing a hand on Sarah’s face.

‘Remember,’ Ben said, holding the knife up to Sarah’s face making her flinch back. ‘I’ll slit his throat if you scream. Okay?’

Sarah nodded, then closed her eyes as Ben tore away the tape covering her mouth. She gulped in breaths; Murphy remembered how she hated things covering her mouth.

‘Please don’t put that back on me,’ Sarah said, looking up at Ben. ‘I can’t breathe properly with it on.’

‘Don’t you have more important things to think about, Sarah?’

Sarah went silent, looking across at Murphy as he slowly inched forward once more.

‘While we were waiting for you to come back, I had a bit of a look round your house. You don’t mind, do you?’

Murphy stopped moving and shook his head.

‘That’s good,’ Ben replied, standing closer to Murphy now. ‘Anyway, Sarah here was safe and sound, so I took the chance to search a real-life copper’s house. Bit boring really. Couldn’t find anything of interest at all. You must have a really dull life, outside of the big cases you always seem to find yourself involved with that is.’

Murphy continued to stare at Sarah, listening to Ben’s words but not reacting.

‘I started digging round a little more. I knew you would be back late, given what happened earlier . . . by the way, is Laura doing okay? She seems nice. Her and Darren may have a future, as long as they don’t lie to each other.’

Murphy didn’t respond; instead he raised his hands up a little more, resting them on the waistband of his trousers.

‘I only gave her a little scratch,’ Ben continued, as if Murphy had replied to him. ‘Just enough to make you go towards her rather than me. Almost didn’t get away either. But it’s amazing how quickly you can blend in when you’re in the city centre. All the rat-runs, the alleyways. Almost too easy to disappear. Anyway, I’m getting away from the point. I had a bit of a snoop, but didn’t find anything. That was until I persuaded Sarah to help me out and I found this.’

Ben moved something into Murphy’s line of sight. An envelope, with Sarah’s name and their address scrawled across the front. Ben turned the envelope round, displaying the return address.

HMP Manchester.

Murphy frowned for a second. Sarah was looking away from him now.

‘Don’t . . .’ Sarah said, her voice barely travelling across the room to Murphy.

‘I thought, we’re in the house of a copper,’ Ben said, ignoring Sarah’s interruption. ‘What’s a letter from a prison doing here? It’s not right. It doesn’t make sense. And it wasn’t even addressed to you, it was to her. So, I asked her about it.’

Sarah looked up towards Murphy, tears now falling down her face. ‘I’m sorry—’

‘That’s not the way we do it,’ Ben said, crossing the space to Sarah and grabbing her by the hair and pushing her head backwards. Murphy bucked in the chair, but couldn’t move any further. ‘Wait until I’ve finished.’

Murphy gripped the waistband of his trousers and moved his shirt tail aside.

‘I asked if I could read it, but she didn’t want me to. Said it was private. I came here because I thought you had the secret. I thought it was you who was lying, but it wasn’t. It was her, David. She’s been lying to you. Tell him. Now.’

There was silence for a few seconds. Murphy kept his eyes on Sarah, the effort to remain still causing him to perspire a little more.

‘I didn’t really want to go,’ Sarah said, normality gone. Her voice somehow different from how Murphy remembered it. ‘Not at first. He writes to me sometimes, but I always throw them away. I didn’t think you’d want to know, so I don’t tell you about them.’

Murphy thought about the only person he and Sarah knew in prison in Manchester. The man who had almost destroyed his life.

‘He said he had things to tell me. Things that I needed to know. I thought it was just another game to him. Another way to get back at me. But I wanted to know. Needed to know—’

‘I hope you’re listening to this, David,’ Ben said, cutting over Sarah’s words. ‘She’s been lying to you.’

‘Please, let me speak.’

‘Of course,’ Ben replied, his boyish features turning into a sick grin. ‘Your turn.’

‘He put my name down for visiting and I spent a couple of months thinking about it . . .’

Murphy’s hand rested on the case attached to the top of his trousers.

‘I’m so sorry. I should have told you . . .’

‘She went to see him,’ Ben said, almost jumping round the room. ‘She told me all about it. How this man had beaten her half to death while they were together. How she found the courage to get away from him and then find love with you. Then, the revenge he took on you both. Killing your parents in their own homes. He ruined your life, I remember it. I read about you back then, years ago. I was working away at the time, but used to read about stuff that happened in Liverpool. Sarah told me you spent almost a year apart, before getting back together. You forgave her, and now she does this to you?’

‘It wasn’t like that—’

‘Can you believe anything she has to say now? She’s a liar. Who knows what really happened. Maybe she put him up to it. Thought that killing your parents would be enough to make you disappear. Didn’t want to kill a copper, so went for the next best thing. His only mistake was in going too far and he got caught. But they still love each other, so she agrees to wait for him. It’s almost like a fairy tale romance . . .’

‘It wasn’t like that, you sick bastard.’

Ben turned on Sarah, as if he were shocked she was still there. ‘How would we ever know? You brought lies here. You kept secrets. You don’t love this man, how could you?’

‘You don’t know anything about love,’ Sarah said with an edge to her voice. ‘David knows how I feel.’

Sarah looked across at him, her breathing wavering. Murphy stared back, thinking about nothing other than the fact that his wife had recently sat opposite the man who had killed his parents. The man who had also destroyed his marriage.

‘Love isn’t this,’ Ben said, stepping between Murphy and Sarah. ‘It’s not sneaking around behind each other’s backs. It’s not hurting each other with lies and secrets. You need to understand it shouldn’t be this way. It’s supposed to be about being truthful and loyal. Becoming one person, together.’

‘I walked out, David,’ Sarah said, Murphy not looking at her now. ‘It was just a game to him. He had nothing to say. I thought I could find out a reason for it, something, but he didn’t have anything. He disgusts me. I told him that. Please believe me.’

‘Now she begs to be believed. It’s not right. What you have here is not right. You don’t deserve this of each other. It has to be stopped.’

Ben crossed the room towards Murphy, ripping off the duct tape from his mouth. ‘Speak to me, Detective. Tell me how hurt you are, how much she disgusts you.’

‘I understand,’ Murphy said, staring at Ben whilst he spoke to Sarah. ‘I know why you did it. You don’t need to explain yourself to me.’ He turned towards Sarah.

‘I love you.’

‘No. This isn’t right,’ Ben said, beginning to pace up and down between them. ‘She betrayed you. I need to stop this . . .’

‘Ben, we’re stronger than you think we are. We love each other, more than you could ever know.’

‘That’s right,’ Sarah said, her voice stronger now.

‘No. I can’t have this,’ Ben said, coming towards Murphy again. He replaced the duct tape across his mouth. ‘You’re lying. Both of you.’

Murphy stiffened in the chair as Ben walked back towards Sarah.

‘I can stop all this now. I can make it all better. You want me to hurt her, don’t you, David? I can see it in your eyes. No matter what you say, you’re broken now. Both of you. Nothing will repair this relationship. I have to stop it. You need me to hurt her.’

Murphy strained violently against the tape binding his hands and feet and shook his head.

‘You want to do it yourself. I see that. Don’t worry, David, I can do it for you.’

Murphy straightened up and sat back into the chair. He snapped open the case tucked in the waistband of his trousers and, with shaking fingertips, removed the short-handled knife within.

Ben moved closer to Sarah, looked down at her and then replaced the tape across her mouth as she screamed.

‘This is it. The best way, the only way. I’m helping you get out of this. I can show her what real love is. I can do this and then she’ll know. Number Four will know. So much better than the other three. She’ll know why I took her away from that place. Working where she was, no future, only dirty old men leering over her as she served them. It’s better this way. You’ll see. You’ll understand. You will, won’t you? She’ll love me. She will.’

Murphy held the knife behind his back. He pictured the duct tape binding his hands together and knew he would only get one shot.

‘Watch this, David,’ Ben said, pulling back Sarah’s head to expose her throat. ‘This is what lies bring.’

Murphy didn’t feel time slow down. He felt every moment. The glint of the knife pressed against Sarah’s throat, the feel of escape in his fingertips. He jerked upwards with his blade, praying in an instant that it would work. He sliced through the duct tape binding his wrists, freeing his hands. He watched as Ben turned his face away from his, the look of concentration and disgust the last thing Murphy saw of him.

His legs were still bound to the chair legs, but it was a short distance to the chair holding Sarah.

It took just seconds. It was all one motion. After the blade sliced through the tape, freeing his hands, he planted his feet and dived across at the man who was about to cut into the throat of his wife.

He knew he would only have one shot. Once chance to stop what was about to happen.

Murphy jumped, the chair coming with him, still attached to his legs.

All one movement. One last hope.