Remembering how Mark had boasted about how he’d found her in the end. Play your role, she reminded herself.
You are the victim here.
You are the one lying in this hospital bed.
‘He’d been stalking me, all this time. He was the one watching me. He told me he could see me all the time. Though my webcam and my phone. He said he’d hacked into the security system too and accessed all the cameras. He’d been watching me for weeks. And he was in our house the other night. In Ella’s room. It was him.’
‘A Ratter? What the hell does that even mean?’ Lisa interrupted, her expression a mixture of confusion and horror, as she looked from Rebecca to Officer Blythe, hoping someone would explain.
‘Remote Access Technology, or RAT for short.’ It was a term Officer Blythe was only too familiar with. ‘There’s a network of them out there. Young men, mainly. They are known to hack into unsuspecting victim’s computers and phone devices. The motive more often than not is of a sexual or voyeuristic nature. It’s rare that they ever venture beyond the realms of technology though. They’re normally just kids, hiding behind their computers,’ Officer Blythe said, more than aware of the kind of anonymous creeps that were lurking around out there on the web, making the force’s job to track them down almost impossible.
‘But this went beyond just watching Becks through a laptop? He was following her? He’d gained access into her house. When she was alone at night. Shit. How? Why?’ Lisa said, panic rising inside her at the thought of what could have happened to Rebecca and Ella.
The man sounded deranged, as if he was capable of anything. Stalking Rebecca, and breaking into her house? That wasn’t the actions of a normal person.
‘What did he want from her?’ Lisa asked.
‘Well, I’m afraid that it can be much more complex than just watching their prey. The Ratters only operate through the Dark Web and mostly it’s just a game to them. Teenage boys with a sick hobby, if you like. First, they infect your computer so they can get in and start gaining some control. Recording images and copying information, accessing bank details, calendars. Obtaining control over your whole life. They can find out everything. Your name and address, your passwords, your online banking details; and that’s just the start. Some of them take it much more seriously than that. They build a profile of you, to sell on to other Ratters. That’s how they make their money. They call them Girl Slaves. We’re doing our best to crack down on it, but it’s a tough job to trace these people back to the direct source.’
Officer Blythe was well aware of Ratters. It was becoming more and more common as technology progressed, and they were becoming better and better at covering their tracks.
‘And that’s what happened with Rebecca?’ Lisa asked, feeling sick to her stomach. ‘Someone collected all her details and sold it on to this fucking psycho? So that he’d own her? And what, he was trying to kidnap her?’
‘It certainly looks that way,’ Officer Blythe said, sadly. ‘Did he say anything else, Rebecca? Anything that might give us a clue about his identity? Did he mention a name, a place? Is there anything that sticks out in your mind?’
So far, they had nothing on the man. No identification. No leads as to who he might have been.
All they had was a body. Their only hope was trying to find out who he was by trailing through dental records. But that could take months.
‘No, only that he admitted that he’d hacked into the security footage and played a small part of the recording on a loop. So that you’d all think I was lying about him being there. He said that was half of the fun for him. Fucking with my life. Making me and everyone around me think I was crazy. And that it would make his plan easier.’
‘His plan?’ the officer asked.
‘To take me. He said that he wanted me to take Ella and leave Jamie. For him,’ Rebecca said now, her voice cold and hard. ‘He kept saying “you’re mine”. He was acting crazy, deluded. He wouldn’t listen to me, just kept talking in rhymes, but none of it made any sense. Then he started getting angry. Saying that he if he couldn’t have me, no one could. That he was going to kill me. And if I didn’t take the tablets so that it looked like an overdose, he’d kill Ella too.’
Rebecca was crying again, relieved that she’d survived. That she was still here, for Ella’s sake.
It could have all turned out so differently.
‘Can you lay her next to me on the bed, Lisa,’ she whispered. Grateful as Lisa placed Ella in the crook of her arm. Rebecca kissed Ella gently on the top of her head.
‘I begged him not to hurt her. I pleaded with him.’
‘Did he hurt you, Rebecca? Did he do anything to you? Anything at all?’ Officer Blythe said carefully.
Lisa stood next to him, holding her breath, scared of what Rebecca’s answer might be. She’d already been through so much; Lisa couldn’t imagine what else her poor sister-in-law had been subjected to. She let out a sigh of relief when Rebecca shook her head.
‘Jamie must have let himself in through the back door. I don’t know how long he was inside the house, or how much he heard. But the man heard him, and everything just happened so quickly after that. Jamie tried to fight. God, he tried to fight so hard to help me. But this guy was like a crazed animal. He just stabbed him. And it was a blur after that. I remember seeing Jamie on the floor and thinking I need to help him. That he was going to die. But I was powerless, and I was scared for my life. My only option was to try to escape, because I knew I would be next, but I could barely move. He’d given me too many tablets, and I knew I was going to pass out. So, I just started crawling. Dragging myself across the carpet with all the strength I could muster. Only the man was on me in seconds, dragging me back across the room by my ankles. That’s when I picked up the glass that was on the carpet, from the photo frame of Ella he’d smashed earlier.
‘I just tried to protect myself. He was going to kill me. Jesus, there was so much blood. It was everywhere. But I didn’t mean to kill him, I was just protecting myself. I just wanted to get him away from me. I was scared. And then I don’t remember anything else. Just darkness. I must have passed out. And then I woke up here…’ Rebecca tails off.
‘I know this is difficult for you, Rebecca, but did you see the man stab your husband?’
Rebecca shook her head.
‘No. I don’t know.’ She was crying again. ‘I saw the knife… he was on top of Jamie. Holding it above him, but I was trying to get out. God, I feel so gutless for trying to escape, but I was trying to get help. I couldn’t do it by myself.’
Rebecca looked at Lisa then and broke down crying. Knowing how devastated. Lisa would be at learning her brother’s awful fate. How Rebecca had tried to save herself.
‘There was nothing I could have done. How will I live with myself knowing that I left him? You must hate me?’
‘Don’t, Rebecca.’ Lisa said, crying too now. ‘It wasn’t your fault. You loved him too.’
She was sobbing loudly now as Nurse Rath walked back in the room.
‘Okay, Officer Blythe. That’s your time done, I’m afraid. My patient needs her rest.’ Annoyed with the officer now for upsetting her patient, she cut the conversation short, before making a note of the high blood pressure readings on the monitors which only confirmed Rebecca’s obvious distress. ‘That’s your lot for today, I’m afraid.’
Officer Blythe nodded. ‘Thank you. I have everything I need right now.’
It wasn’t much else to go on, there was no information they didn’t already have. But at least they’d established that the intruder wasn’t known to the Dawsons and they now had an idea of his motive. They’d already taken away the computer and the phones from Rebecca and Jamie’s house. Hopefully they’d get something from them.