Follow You Home

by Mark Edwards

‘The man we saw must have been an accomplice.’

As he stared out of the photo, I stared back. It felt like he was looking right at me. Into me. And as I stared at the photo, I recognised him. I’d seen him before.

‘Don’t lie, Ion.’ He frowned with confusion. ‘He was there, on the train. He was the old guy that Alina helped with his luggage.’ ‘Helped with his . . .’ Realisation dawned on Ion’s face. ‘Oh my God. I didn’t recognise him. I didn’t remember.’

My mind raced, trying to make sense of it all. Gabor had been on the train. We had been kicked off close to his house. That couldn’t be a coincidence. He must have arranged it in some way.

interrupted him. ‘The old man she sold my laptop to—was it Gabor?’ ‘I don’t know. I never saw him. But he was Romanian, like us. That’s all I know.’

She said it was a weird coincidence: the day after we . . . came to your flat, he asked her if she knew anyone with a laptop for sale, because he needed one.’ No such thing as coincidences, I thought.

‘It must be Gabor. He must have been watching her . . . Saw her come out of my flat . .

‘He must have returned it. How did he get a key to my flat? Jesus, it’s like every-fucking-body had a key. Half of fucking Romania was waltzing in and out!’ ‘Why would he return it?’ Edward asked as we exited the hospital. ‘You checked it for spyware, didn’t you? When it first reappeared?’ ‘Yes. But . . . Oh shit.’ ‘What?’ I broke into a run towards the car.

if Alina was real flesh and blood, it followed that the old man driving the car was not a supernatural being either. He was just a man.

‘You thought you’d escaped me, didn’t you?’ Alina refused to look at him. ‘Remember when I came to take little—what did you call him?—Luka away? We should have killed you then. Dragoș was growing weak, as was his seed. Unless it’s you who are barren.’ His smile was cruel. ‘We shall soon see. I’m going to do the job myself now.’

‘This one will fetch an excellent price. I already know a couple who will be interested. A Russian couple, old acquaintances, who’ve moved to London. Too old to have a baby themselves now.’

‘Your friend here killed my son. A bastard, but still, my son. She ruined everything. You know how long we lived in that house, happily running our business? Twenty-four years. Since I was forced to flee my job because of the fucking revolution.’ Alina looked up at that point, her mouth slightly open, revealing the gap in her front teeth.

‘Constantin, that fuck, lied to me. You witnessed it, Alina. He blatantly lied, because he didn’t want me to know about the drugs he’d found in your backpack, Laura. He paid the price for that. I buried him in the forest. The last thing he said, thinking the information would save him, was your and your boyfriend’s names.’

The old man grinned and pointed a finger at Alina. ‘Because this naughty girl has been hiding from me. I’ve been waiting for her to show herself.’ Laura understood. When she’d told Alina about the devil rescuing her from Ion and the other Romanian girl, Alina had finally come out from her hiding place—revealing herself to the man who was hunting her. She snapped out of her reverie as she heard the old man speak again. ‘Alina, you destroyed what I had in Romania. But it’s fine.’ He smiled like a wolf. ‘I can start again. Here in England. And I already have my first little piglet to take to market.’

opened Google Maps and brought up the area in which the IP address was located. My eyes met Edward’s.

‘Back to the forest,’ I said, and a chill rippled across my skin.

had a nice little chat with the border guards, told them about the arrogant English couple travelling in the sleeper without a ticket. That I’d heard you boasting about it, saying there was no way these Romanian morons would throw you off the train in the middle of nowhere.’ He was talking faster and faster now, his breathing growing heavier, excited by his own tale. He pointed at Alina. ‘It worked out even better than I hoped. I wasn’t expecting this one to get thrown off the train too.’ ‘You’re going to die,’ Alina said.

And as soon as he’d gone, Oscar fell silent, as if it was the evil old man’s presence that had been making him scream. Alina stopped laughing and rolled her head towards Laura. ‘Do exactly as I say,’ she said.

We had figured out that Gabor must have seen me submitting the online contact form to Edward and felt compelled to act. I guessed that was his main reason for spying on me. To see if I had told anyone about what I’d seen in Romania.

This path was wider—was in fact an unmade road—but everything else felt the same. I had come full circle: back to the beginning of a journey I hadn’t wanted to go on. Tonight, one way or another, that journey would end.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Laura said, her voice cracking. ‘I . . . we thought he shot you as soon as we left. We tried to report it but . . .’ ‘I know.’ ‘The old man . . .’ ‘His name is Nicolae Gabor. I found his name on some papers in the house. Along with the names of all his victims. All the women he and his son raped and murdered in that place. They are here now, with us. Urging me on.’ Her eyes glinted. Laura looked at the air around Alina. She nodded. ‘I can feel them.’ ‘I have the names of all the babies too, the families they sold them to. It’s in my back pocket. Take it.’

was going to. But then I saw Gabor. At the hospital.’ ‘What?’ ‘He was looking for you. He got your name from Constantin, didn’t he? I think he must have been following you, hoping you would lead him to me.’

Edward stood in the doorway of his office.

She found her way back to her seat, saw the inspector coming towards her and took the ticket out of her purse, smiling sweetly as he stamped it, trying to ignore the way the air shimmered behind him, the crack she’d tried so hard to seal splitting open again, evil pushing through into the world. She closed her eyes, counted to three and forced herself to open one eye. The crack was gone. For now.