Axe to Grind

by A L Fraine

  The men turned to face Jon, the light from the fire and the sky catching their faces, revealing them. He recognised both. Abban stood closer, a couple of metres in front of Kate, his hands behind his back, watching calmly as Jon drew closer. The other man was younger and stood beside Kate, holding a huge pair of bolt cutters. The jaws of the cutters gripped Kate’s little finger as he sneered at Jon. It took Jon a moment to place who he was and then he recognised him.

  “Brendan,” Jon muttered and saw Kate look up.

  “Jon… Nathan…” she croaked weakly.

  “Shut it, you,” Brendan hissed, twisting the cutters and making Kate wince.

  “Indeed,” Abban replied. “Like father, like son. Nice of you to join us for our little ceremony, Jon. I did wonder if you might work it out before we finished here today. And you, Nathan.”

  “Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Nathan replied sarcastically.

  “I really did think you would work it out a little earlier,” Abban continued, before raising his right hand. Jon could clearly make out the missing two fingers on Abban’s right hand, leaving just his forefinger and middle finger which he held in a V shape.

  “We worked it out early enough,” Jon replied.

  “Not really, Jon. You have three promising young ladies’ deaths on your conscience now, all because you couldn’t work out my frankly obvious clues.”

  “My conscience? Hardly. I wasn’t the one who slaughtered them and watched them bleed out.”

  “No,” Abban agreed with a smile and a look of pride. He glanced back at Brendan. “That is true, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

  Jon took a step forward.

  Brendan shifted, lifting the bolt cutters. “A-ah, no you don’t.”

  Kate hissed in pain and whimpered.

  “Oh, I do love that sound, don’t you?” Abban said, looking back to Jon. “That helpless, pained sound that women make when you hold their life in your hands. They plead with you, offering anything in exchange for their life. They’ll let you do anything to them if you’ll just let them live. It’s so exquisite, so choice, don’t you think?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, you sick fuck,” Jon grunted. “Now you shut up, and let me tell you how this is going to play out.” He looked over at Brendan. “Son, you’re going to lay down those cutters and move away from her, and then you’re going to get down on your knees.”

  Looking to his right, Jon could see the two uniformed officers had their Tasers out and ready. He caught the eye of one of them and waved him to wait. If Abban got hit first, or they shot Brendan, he could take off Kate’s finger in a heartbeat.

  “Jon. You’re new around here,” Abban replied, “and I don’t expect you to fully understand things. Plus, you’re a northerner, which tells me quite a lot about you, but you’re not in a position to order us around. You need to know your place, frankly.”

  “Don’t be such a jerk, Abban, there’s no winning this. You can’t escape,” Jon replied taking another step forward.

  “Don’t you come any closer or I’ll do it! I’ll cut her finger off,” Brendan warned.

  “Do it,” Kate urged. “I don’t care.”

  “Quiet,” Brendan shouted and kicked Kate in the gut. Jon winced, hissing through this teeth to see her in such pain.

  “What do you want?” Jon asked, wanting to keep him talking. “Why do this?”

  “It’s none of your business, frankly,” Abban replied. “This is between Kate and me.”

  “Fiona,” Jon muttered.

  “Oh, so you know? Well then, maybe that changes things. Yes, I suppose that comes into it a little. You see, I’ve relished tormenting little Kate here from afar for years. It’s been a nice little distraction when I’m bored. But I did make her a solemn promise, one that I always intended to keep. Do you know what that promise was, Jon? How about you, Nathan?”

  “You said you’d show her what a real killer can do,” Nathan replied.

  “Correct,” Abban replied, as Jon inched slowly closer. He kept his movements slow and non-threatening hoping to get just a little closer to them, but mainly to Brendan, hoping to stop him from hurting Kate.

  “Now, isn’t that interesting,” Abban continued. “Kate trusted you with that piece of information, Nathan, but not you, Jon. Hmm, makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

  “Not really,” Jon replied. What was his game, why was he talking like this? Normally they didn’t want to talk, but Abban here actually seemed like it’s exactly what he wanted. It felt like he was stalling for time. “I’ve only known her for a few days.”

  “But you did go on a nice date with our dear sweet Kate last night, didn’t you? You ended up going back to hers, as well, for some alone time, right? Was she good? Did she please you, Jon?”

  “That’s none of your business, sicko.”

  “Oh, come on. I think it’s very much my business. I’ve made Kate’s business my business for a long time now. Besides, I think Nathan here might be interested in your womanising ways when it concerns our darling Kate.”

  “Womanising ways? What are you talking about?” Jon replied, flustered. Abban was playing divide and conquer. Did he expect to make Nathan turn on him? “She invited me…” Jon added as he glanced right. He could see the anger in Nathan’s eyes as he stared at Abban.

  Nathan glanced at Jon, meeting his gaze before looking back at Abban.

  Jon couldn’t read anything in those eyes and wasn’t sure how this might turn out. Was it working? Would Nathan’s protective instinct towards Kate make him turn on him?

  It all felt like it was on a knife-edge as if it could tip either way, and all it would take would be just one little push.

  “Don’t listen to him,” Jon muttered towards Nathan.

  “Ignore him,” Kate added.

  “Shut up, the lot of you,” Nathan growled.

  “Oh, this is too delicious,” Abban replied, grinning like a Hyena. A cloud swept away from the sun, and light broke over the horizon, splashing over the stones.

  Abban’s smile turned cruel. “Now.”

  Brendan tensed, closing the cutters and Kate screamed.

  Turning, Abban raised his hand, brandishing a knife, and lunged at Kate.

  Jon broke into a sprint.

  Tasers popped and buzzed, but hit nothing.

  Dropping the cutters, Brendan tackled Jon. Kate’s scream became animalistic. Nathan charged past, and Abban shouted.

  Jon landed on the ground with Brendan atop him, his face was rage and fury. Spittle flew as Brendan went for his neck and then punched him.

  Seeing stars, there was a blur of black, and Brendan’s weight was suddenly relieved. Coughing, Jon rolled over, catching his breath. Grunts and frantic shuffles to Jon’s right forced him up. With a shake of his head, Jon got to his feet to see Brendan wailing on his uniformed colleague, outclassing him, and turning his face into a bloody mess.

  Glancing right, Kate was still tied to the stone with a knife embedded in her upper left chest, hissing and writhing in pain. Beyond her, Nathan chased Abban into the morning sun, followed by the other officer.

  Focusing on Brendan, Jon gritted his teeth and pulled his baton. Extending it with a flick of his wrist, he stalked towards the fight and then rushed in, shoulder barging Brendan. The man grunted as he fell, but rolling to his feet.

  “You bastard,” Brendan cursed.

  “Do you talk to your mother like that?”

  Brendan roared and rushed him. Dodging right, Jon swung the baton and caught him on the side. The uniformed officer rushed him and slammed into Brendan, dropping him to the ground where they rolled.

  “Get off me!” Brendan shouted.

  He kicked, throwing the officer off of him, and started to rise as Jon rushed in.

  Jon knocked Brendan back. Falling, the younger man tripped and toppled over, landing in the flames of the nearby campfire. Brendan panicked and screamed as he tried to get out of it.

  Jon
hesitated, torn between helping him and letting him burn.

  Brendan finally got out of the fire pit, but his clothes had caught fire. Flames licked up his torso and face. He dropped and rolled, wailing and whimpering until the flames went out. Rushing up to him, Jon held his nightstick ready and stood over him.

  “Stay down.”

  Brendan’s face was badly burnt, his skin black and cracked, his hands were a mess too. The killer stared up at Jon through hate-filled eyes, shaking with pain.

  “I’ll fucking kill you,” he hissed as saliva bubbled and out of his mouth.

  “Shut up,” Jon said and grabbed him. Rolling him over, Jon pulled the man's hands behind his back and cuffed him. “You’re under arrest for the murders of Harper Richards, Mollie Hayes, and Emily Murphy,” he said and recited the police caution. The uniformed officer came to his side and put his knee on Brendan’s back. His face a bloody mess.

  “I’ve got him,” the man said. “See to her.”

  Jon nodded once and rushed over to Kate. He could hear sirens and spotted flashing blue lights along the road at the bottom of the hill.

  Rounding the central stone, Kate was still bound to it by ropes, her arms held out wide. The little finger on her left hand was missing, and the stump was bleeding badly. But more worrisome was the dagger she’d been stabbed with. It was embedded in her upper left chest, just below her collar bone.

  Breathing hard through gritted teeth, her eyes watering, she looked up at Jon.

  “Did… Did you get him?” she asked, struggling to speak.

  “I got Brendan,” Jon replied and looked off down the hill. “I don’t know about Abban.”

  “You have to get him.”

  “We will. Don’t worry, Nathan’s on it. But I need to help you. Let me untie you.”

  “Okay,” she grunted and winced with pain.

  Carefully, Jon untied her right wrist and then her left. Kate gasped and clutched her injured hand as he went to work undoing the other ropes. As they loosened, she dropped into a sitting position.

  “Oh god, it hurts so much,” she said and looked down at the knife.

  “I don’t know if I should pull it out,” Jon admitted. “I think we should leave it.”

  Kate nodded, her eyes closed tight, her face a mask of unrelenting pain.

  Looking left, Jon made out blue lights parked up in the same car park they’d used, and what looked like figures running their way.

  “Help’s coming, just hold on, okay?”

  Kate nodded.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

  “No, it’s not,” she replied, looking up at him. “You didn’t do this.”

  “I’m cursed…” he muttered, ignoring her as thoughts of Charlotte appeared in his head. He should never have gotten so close to her. He brought this upon her.

  “Don’t be silly, This would have happened with or without you. Abban hates me, not you.”

  Jon sighed and nodded, but wasn’t convinced.

  “Sir?” Jon turned to see the paramedics rushing in. “Move aside sir, let us get to her.”

  Jon shuffled back and sat in the grass as he watched the paramedics go to work, setting up a stretcher and moving Kate onto it.

  He shifted further back and felt something odd under his hand. Looking down, he saw Kate’s finger in the grass, bloody and pale.

  “Oh, shit. Hey, I’ve found her finger!” he called out, pointing to it.

  “Where?” the paramedic asked and rushed over to collect it.

  “Do you think you can put it back?”

  “I don’t know, we’ll try,” the man replied as they continued to work, before finally lifting her up on the stretcher and setting off down the hill. By now, a couple more officers had arrived, Brendan had been taken away, and as Jon looked around he spotted Nathan and the other officer leading Abban back up the hill towards the circle.

  Abban looked furious.

  “Not smiling anymore, are you?” Jon stated.

  Abban spat at his feet, before being led off by uniforms.

  “Kate’s on her way to the hospital,” Jon told Nathan who stood beside him as they watched Abban being led away.

  “Good. I hope she’ll be alright.”

  Jon nodded. “I’m sure she will be, and I hope you don’t harbour any bad feeling towards Kate and me after…”

  “Hey,” he said, cutting in. “What you and Kate get up to is none of my business. I’m not her dad, and she’s a grown woman. She can make her own choices.”

  “Yes, she can.” Jon nodded. “So, you got him then?”

  “Ah, yeah,” Nathan replied. “With a little help. My legs aren’t what they used to be.”

  “Amen to that,” Jon replied, feeling the ache in his own joints. “Come on, let’s go.”

  “I’m going to enjoy putting these two behind bars,” Nathan commented as they walked down the hill.

  “You and me both,” Jon replied. “You and me both.”

  28

  “Knock, knock.”

  Jon looked up to see Chief Superintendent Collins stood at his office door.

  “Sir,” Jon said.

  “Good work today, Jon. You did well. You found your man and saved one of our officers. You should be proud.”

  Jon sat back and offered the chief a seat. “Thank you, sir. Although, Nathan deserves as much of the credit as I do.”

  “Don’t worry, he’ll get it. So, it was Abban and his son?”

  “That’s right. It was a campaign of terror aimed squarely at Kate and to a lesser degree, myself. As far as they were concerned, they were proving a point. This was all a sick power trip to them.”

  “So, nothing to do with Harper’s gang contacts or the drug deals that Mollie and her friends made.”

  “Nope,” Jon replied with a shake of his head.

  “And Harper’s missing father?”

  “He got in touch today, this morning. He’d been on a camping trip in the Highlands and had no mobile signal. He’s coming down to see Iris and talk to us.”

  “Good, good. So, how did Abban get Kate’s number to call her this morning?”

  “They got it from Francine, her neighbour. Turns out Brendan had been doing some handyman work for her to get access to her phone, and thus Kate’s number.”

  “Jesus. That woman can’t catch a break. She was the one that Abban kidnapped the first time around.”

  Jon nodded sadly, aware of this. “He knew she was a good target.”

  “Seems so. Okay, well, this all sounds like it’s wrapping up nicely.”

  “Thank you, sir, it looks that way,” Jon agreed. There were some side issues we could look into, such as Seth’s gang contacts and the Millers, but that’s a little beyond the scope of this case.

  “Sure. So, what do you think? How have you found your first few days on the team?”

  “Honestly, I’m tired and looking forward to a rest, but I like the team and have no plans to move back up north.”

  “I’m glad to hear it, Jon. I’m pleased to have you as part of this team. Keep me informed as to how things pan out, okay?”

  “I will,” he replied before the chief wished him a good day and left him to his work. The rest of the afternoon was taken up with reports, statements, and filing as they prepared for the interviews and got the case ready for court. But as the day wound to a close, Jon finally left the office and jumped into his car, making for Guildford.

  Forty-five minutes later, after making his way through the evening traffic, he pulled into the Guildford Hospital car park and made his way up to the ward where Kate was recovering.

  Walking into a room lined with beds, Jon spotted Kate easily, sitting up in bed, her arm held in an elevated position.

  She turned and smiled as she spotted him walk in. “Hey,” she said, her voice tired.

  “Hi. How’re you doing?”

  “I’ll survive. You’re not getting rid of me that easily.”

  “Goo
d,” he replied with a smile. “How’s your hand?”

  “They reattached my finger, and they think it’ll work fine. Might be a bit gammy but, I’ll be okay.”

  “Glad to hear it. So, I was wondering, why your left hand and not your right, like the others?”

  “Circumstances, I think. When you showed up, Brendan just grabbed the closest finger he could.”

  “Heh, yeah. Suppose that makes sense.”

  “So, we got them, right?”

  Jon nodded. “We did. Abban and Brendan are in custody. We’ve already started on the interviews, and they’ll probably be charged tomorrow. Then, it’s in the hands of the courts. We even have footage from a camera in the transport van of Brendan freeing his dad.”

  “Good. Hopefully, they’ll both spend the rest of their lives in prison.”

  “One can hope,” Jon replied. “Look, I know you don’t think this was my fault but—”

  “But nothing, Jon. You didn’t cause this. Abban would have done this regardless of who became our DCI. You’re not to blame.”

  “Okay,” he replied, but deep down he wasn’t quite so confident. He knew it was silly, all this thought of being cursed, but he couldn’t help it. A part of him couldn’t let go of the idea that at some level, he’d been a part of what caused them to kidnap her.

  “You need to let go of that guilt complex, Jon,” Kate continued. “You really do. Charlotte’s death and my kidnapping are not your fault. You need to stop tearing yourself apart over things beyond your control.”

  “I know.” He sighed. “But I’ve been carrying this around with me for a while, and I don’t think it will be that easy to stop. Also, I should have come with you. I might have been able to stop this from happening,” he said, pointing to her hand. “I should have done better.”

  “Stop, Jon. Just stop. You can’t think like that, it’ll tear you apart.”

  “I guess,” he replied reluctantly, staring at the floor.

  “Look, Jon. I’ve been thinking, I need to talk to you.”

  “Oh?” He looked up, sensing this would be a serious conversation.

  “Yeah. Look, I like you. I do, but I think we might have moved a little too quickly. You know?” She looked over at him earnestly.