The Girls in the Woods (19 page)
Annie looked at the nurse, who was just trying to be friendly, and wondered if she even had the slightest inkling of what a fucked-up life the woman on the bed in front of her led. A nice peaceful sleep would be wonderful, but it was very unlikely – it would be filled with the strange sounds of patients on the ward and the snatches of sleep would only come between the worry for her niece and trying to figure out who this latest ghostly visitor was. Who was she talking about when she said he was at it again? Annie needed to figure it out, fast.
‘Yes, it sounds wonderful.’
Annie lay back and closed her eyes as they began to wheel her bed out of the cubicle and down towards the corridor which led to the lifts and the wards.
Will walked out of the hospital. He had so much to do he wasn’t sure where he should start and he was so tired of all this. He wanted to speak to Smithy again. Annie was right to be so worried about Tilly. As far as teenagers went she was a good kid; she didn’t go out and get drunk or take drugs. She idolised Annie and there had been a few times she had mentioned joining the police. Will had laughed at her, telling her there was no way he could babysit two Grahams and do his own job, but he had been secretly pleased that she wanted to do something with her life. Tilly even looked a little like Annie; she had the same thick, black curly hair – although she straightened hers to within an inch of its life – and she had Annie’s kind eyes. Oh God, what if somehow Henry had made the connection and had arranged for one of his sick friends to pay her a visit? The thought made his stomach lurch and he tasted stale coffee in the back of his throat. His phone began to ring and he answered it to a breathless Kav.
‘The stupid fucker has run off. We can’t find him anywhere.’
‘Where are you?’
‘At the playground near to Biggar Bank beach. We were taking him home, but he wanted us to pull over. Said he was going to puke, so I got out of the car with him… the next thing I knew, he’d booted me in the balls and was running away.’
‘Jesus Christ, maybe he’ll make his way home anyway.’
‘I doubt it. He’s never stopped crying the whole way here and mumbling to himself. The tide’s coming in, Will. Cathy and I have looked all over and been shouting him for the last five minutes. It’s so windy I can’t hear a thing. I’ve had to get back inside the car to phone you.’
‘Jesus, have you phoned it in?’
‘Cathy is on the phone now to call Handling, and officers are on their way. Sorry, Will, I had no choice. What if the stupid bastard runs into the sea?’
‘I’m on my way.’
He put the phone down. No need to ask where exactly they were as the circus of blue and white flashing lights should give it away by the time he could get over there. He started the car and swore.
‘Come on, someone give me a break. I’ve had enough of this shit to last me a lifetime. No more, please.’
He drove way too fast, but he didn’t care; there wouldn’t be anyone to pull him over because hopefully they would all be over at the beach searching for Stu. He made it across town and over the bridge in record time. There were a couple of police vans already parked up. It was so dark – the sky was full of black clouds and there was no sign of the moon; none of the streetlights were working because the council were in the process of replacing all the ancient ones with new ones. Only the bright blue lights illuminated the inky night sky. He got out of his car and ran across to where Cathy was standing with her arms wrapped around herself, talking to the duty sergeant. A couple of officers were down at the shore line, walking along with one of the bright dragon light torches and scanning the beach, shouting Stu’s name. Will cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted.
‘Stu, Stu, come out – it’s okay, we can sort this out. It’s just been a misunderstanding. Come and talk to me, buddy.’
Will’s words were carried away by the wind and he just hoped that wherever Stu was he heard some of it. Sirens and lights filled the air as more patrols drove along to the stretch of road where they were standing, to join in the search. It was cold tonight. If he curled up and fell asleep behind some bushes or a rock he’d get hypothermia and die – that was if he hadn’t already thrown himself into the sea.
‘I don’t think he’s chucked himself into the sea – for one thing it’s too cold, and Stu’s a bit of a wimp.’
Kav took the words from Will’s mouth; Will nodded in agreement.
‘I think you may be right; that means he’s probably hiding somewhere. We need a dog.’
Cathy nodded.
‘There’s one on the way. Shite, we should have just locked the stupid bugger up. We try and do him a good turn and this is how he repays us. I sure as hell don’t want him doing any harm to himself, even if he is number one on my hitlist.’
Will took out his phone; it was almost dead.
‘Has anyone phoned Debs? He might be making his way there.’
There was an almighty screech as the panda car that was driving round the corner at high speed slammed its brakes on. They all turned in time to see Stu, who had stumbled across the road from wherever he had been hiding, as he hit the bonnet of the car. His body flew up into the air and landed with a sickening thud in the middle of the road. Will ran as fast as he could towards the lifeless form, dread forming in the pit of his stomach. All he kept saying under his breath was ‘please God, please God’. He reached the bloody, crumpled mess that was his colleague and knelt down, pressing two fingers against his neck for a pulse. There was a lot of blood but there was also a pulse and he felt a sigh of relief escape his lips. Within no time at all an ambulance arrived and he felt himself being lifted up by Kav’s strong arm and led away.
‘Let them do their stuff, Will. He’ll be fine eventually. It might take a little while – but you never know, that knock to the head might just give his brain enough of a shake to do him some good.’
Will looked up at Kav’s grim face. He wasn’t smiling; in fact he looked grey in the blue-tinged light. Cathy was standing with her arm around the officer who had been driving. He looked as if he was going to pass out.
‘I didn’t see him, he just stumbled out. I swear to God I didn’t see him.’
‘Son, we all saw him stumble into the road. None of this is your fault, but we have to go through the procedures, you know how it is. There was nothing you could do. Do you understand that?’
He looked at Cathy.
‘I repeat, this isn’t your fault. Stu was the worse for wear; he’s been drinking a lot and was hammered; he wasn’t thinking straight. Say it after me, “This wasn’t my fault.”’
‘This wasn’t my fault.’
‘See, I told you it wasn’t. It’s a complete mess – I’m not going to deny that – but you can stop blaming yourself right now because it wouldn’t have mattered who was driving; the outcome would have been the same. If some idiot is going to throw themselves in front of a fast-moving car they are going to come off a lot worse than they ever imagined.’
There was some heavy banging and clattering as the lift was lowered from the ambulance. Will felt guilt begin to weigh heavy in his heart. This was all his fault; if only he hadn’t been so angry with Stu. Kav looked at his friend.
‘Will, you’d better stop that now or I’ll set Cathy on you as well.’
‘But this is all my fault.’
‘How is this your fault? Did you tell Stu to go and get so steaming drunk that he thought it was a good idea to go to your house and assault your wife?’
‘No, but...’
‘But what? The only person who is at fault here is Stuart, and I’m afraid if he makes it then he’s going to have plenty of time in hospital to mull over what a fucking prick he has been.’
‘I just feel responsible.’
‘Well, stop it. You have enough to worry about. How’s Annie?’
‘She’s fine. They’re keeping her in overnight for observations.’
‘And she agreed? There’s a first.’
Will smiled at this. The ambulance drove off with the unconscious Stu and he watched it leave. He wanted to go with it but the duty sergeant had gone instead. A car pulled over and the duty inspector got out; he pulled his cap on, which was immediately blown off by a gust of wind. Will stopped it with his foot then bent down and picked it up, handing it to him.
‘Sir.’
‘Will, how is he?’
‘A mess.’
‘Jesus, what a night to pick to swap my shift. I should have known better. There are plenty of witnesses to say that this was all his own fault, is that right?’
Kav nodded, ‘Yep, there are.’
‘Dare I ask what he was doing in a car with you and the inspector?’
‘He turned up at Will’s house in Hawkshead very drunk just as we were leaving; we offered him a lift home. He said he was going to be sick so I pulled over and he ran off.’
The inspector nodded his head.
‘Bloody idiot. Has anyone called Debs?’
Will showed him his phone that was still in his hand.
‘I was about to when he ran into the road. I think you’d better send an officer around to be fair. I know they’ve split up but she’s still going to be upset.’
‘If I can find an officer that isn’t involved in this mess then I will; crash scene investigation are on their way. We’ll sort something out. Can you all get your witness statements to me by tomorrow night and I’ll pass them on?’
Will nodded. He walked back to his car, which was inside the perimeter of the cordon of blue and white police tape which was whipping itself into a frenzy with the wind. Thank God he was parked behind where it had happened so he could leave – he needed to get out of here. He felt as if he should be the one to go and speak to Debs. He jogged back to where the inspector was talking to Kav and Cathy.
‘I’ll go and speak to Debs, let her know in case she wants to go up to the hospital.’
‘If you’re sure, that’s much appreciated.’
Will wasn’t sure, but it was the least he could do. She would have been expecting Kav to be dropping Stu off half an hour ago and news travelled fast. He didn’t want her reading about it on the internet. The officer standing at the end near to where he was parked lifted the tape up for him to drive through and he waved his thanks. The radio began to play George Michael, singing about how he needed faith, and Will had to admit that at this moment in time he needed a whole lot more than faith. The thought of passing the news about Stu on to Debs made him feel even queasier than he already was. For the time being he forgot all about Tilly being missing; he even forgot that he’d had to leave Annie in hospital once again. All he could see was the image of the crumpled, bloodied mess that was Stu.
It was getting dusky. Heath looked out of the window to see a solitary police van parked near to the woods. It still made his heart race, despite the fact that he knew they couldn’t be any closer to finding the killer or else his house would have been crawling with police. There would have been a welcoming party waiting for him earlier with tasers and the full works, but it didn’t stop the bitter taste in his mouth. What was he going to do with the girl? She couldn’t die just yet; he was going to have to keep her alive and run the risk of his wife hearing her – or even worse, the police.
He wondered how long she would last in one of the morgue fridges, if he turned them off at the mains so she wasn’t slowly frozen to death. Even if he only put her in it for a few hours at a time – as long as he remembered to take her out, feed and water her. It might just work; they would be pretty soundproof and the dogs wouldn’t be able to smell her inside one of those. If she did suffocate then he’d just switch it on at the mains and freeze her. For the first time in hours he smiled to himself; it sounded like a great idea. Jo had gone upstairs for a bath, telling him that she felt unwell and wanted an early night. He’d waited for her to go then he’d scraped his fish straight into the bin, covering it up with some kitchen roll. The smell was offensive, but at least that would throw the police dogs off kilter as well. He made a couple of sandwiches and took two cans of cola from the fridge. He would go and sit with her. Make her promise not to make a noise so he wouldn’t have to hurt her.
He carried the food through into his studio then locked the door behind him. Pocketing the key, he did the same with his darkroom door, glad he had spent a full afternoon installing a lock now. He listened at the door before opening it; there was no movement inside so he opened the door and stepped into the narrow room. Placing the sandwiches and drinks on the counter he locked this door as well, just in case she felt brave and tried to escape. He tugged on the light pull so the single bare bulb spread some light onto the floor. She was lying on her side in a different position to when he’d left her; kneeling next to her, he listened to see if she was breathing. After what seemed like forever she let out a small sound and her chest rose and fell again. He nodded in approval, then he shook her arm to try and rouse her. She didn’t respond so he shook her even harder. He lightly slapped her cheek and she let out a small groan. One eye opened and she stared at him for a moment before the realisation of who he was struck fear into her and she flinched away from his touch. He smiled, then tucked both his hands under her arms, pulling her up into a sitting position.
‘Come on now, there’s no need to be so stubborn, is there? I thought you might be hungry and thirsty, so I’ve made you a sandwich.’
He picked up the plate to show her. She shook her head and muttered something into the gag that was tightly bound across her mouth.
‘Sorry, I didn’t catch a word of that. Now, if you are a good girl, I’ll remove the gag for a while so you can eat and drink but if you make a sound I’ll kill you.’
He didn’t shout or speak in a menacing tone; he just stated the facts and Tilly found this far more scary than if he’d been in her face threatening her. He bent over her and undid the knot at the back of her head, pausing before he completely removed it.
‘Did I make myself clear? You do understand that if you make a sound I’ll strangle you with my bare hands. I’ve done it before, so bear that in mind, should you think I’m full of shit.’
