The Solace Farm Killings: A Snowdonia Murder Mystery (A DI Ruth Hunter Crime Thriller Book 7)

by Simon McCleave

  Which means it is likely that they do have someone keeping a watch for strangers. Maybe events of the last few days have made them paranoid?

  Ruth clicked her radio. ‘Gold Command, from three-six. Over.’

  ‘Gold Command. Receiving. Over.’

  ‘Three-six. We have arrived at target destination. Over.’ Ruth said.

  ‘Gold Command to three-six. Received. Proceed with caution. Tactical support only under extreme circumstances. Over.’ Drake said.

  ‘Three-six. Understood. Out.’ Ruth unclipped her seatbelt and got out of the car.

  ‘Here we go,’ Nick said as he closed the door. He went around to the boot and opened it.

  Pulling out two heavy Kevlar bulletproof vests, he handed her the smaller one.

  They weren’t taking any chances today.

  ‘I’m sure that this vest is shrinking in your boot,’ Ruth said with a smile as she fastened it up.

  ‘Fishing for compliments, boss?’ Nick asked with a grin.

  Ruth gave hand signals to the six AROs who had now got out of their black BMW X5 armed response vehicle. They were to follow at a discreet distance.

  Spotting that French and Sian had got out of their car, Ruth looked over. ‘You guys stay here. I don’t want us to go in there mob-handed.’

  They nodded and stood beside their car to keep watch.

  ‘Okay, let’s do this,’ Ruth said decisively as she unfurled the arrest and search warrants that Drake had hastily organised with the magistrate that morning.

  Ruth and Nick walked across the yard, stepping over water-filled potholes, and made their way to the large white-painted front door.

  Ruth rapped on the door three times and then looked at Nick as they waited.

  The wind sighed impatiently through the skeletal branches of a nearby tree. A few dry leaves rattled across the deserted yard and then changed direction.

  Ruth’s attention was drawn to the first floor where there was the sound of someone opening a window. She couldn’t see where.

  Then silence.

  The waiting was making her uneasy. She could feel it in her stomach.

  ‘I think it’s unlikely there’s no one home,’ Nick said sardonically.

  Ruth was about to bang on the door again when it opened.

  A man peered at them with a frown – it was Simon.

  ‘Hi there? Can I help?’ he asked.

  Ruth and Nick both showed their warrant cards.

  ‘We met the other day. We’re officers from Llancastell CID,’ Nick said.

  ‘Rachel Ryan around?’ Ruth asked.

  ‘Can I ask what it’s concerning?’ Simon asked very politely.

  Ruth shot a look at Nick and rolled her eyes. ‘Why, is Rachel not taking visitors today?’

  ‘Sorry, I ...’ Simon said, not understanding Ruth’s sarcasm.

  ‘We have a warrant here for Rachel Ryan’s arrest. We also have a Section 18 Search Warrant for officers to search these buildings and the farm,’ Nick explained gruffly.

  ‘So, we can either pull this house apart trying to find Rachel Ryan or maybe you could go and find her for us and suggest that she accompanies us back to Llancastell?’ Ruth said dryly.

  ‘Oh yes. Okay,’ Simon said, and with that he turned and closed the front door.

  Ruth looked at Nick. ‘Charming.’

  Taking a few steps back from the door, Ruth scanned the front of the farmhouse. The last time she and Nick had visited, the windows had been full of inquisitive faces. But not now.

  They were spookily empty.

  There were also two windows wide open further along, up on the first floor.

  Ruth edged back a few more yards. The stones crunching under her boots seemed louder in the stillness.

  What the bloody hell is going on?

  A few more seconds of complete silence.

  ‘Are we just meant to wait here?’ Nick asked impatiently.

  ‘No idea. Maybe Miss Ryan is debating whether or not to grace us with her presence,’ Ruth said with a shrug.

  She walked over to a window and cupped her hands to look inside. There was an empty room with some tables and a computer.

  Nick went the other way and glanced down the side of the farmhouse.

  ‘Anything?’ Ruth asked.

  ‘Nothing. This is getting ridiculous,’ Nick grumbled.

  The wind picked up a little and rattled the trees.

  Ruth looked around and gestured for the AROs to move forward and fan out a little. She was starting to get a nasty feeling.

  Her instinct was telling her that this wasn’t going to be a simple arrest and search of the premises.

  She went back to the door and knocked again. She was starting to get annoyed.

  Open the bloody door.

  From the nearby trees, two crows flapped their wings noisily and cawed before flying to the next tree.

  Suddenly, one of the AROs reacted and aimed his Heckler & Koch MP5 machine gun at the first floor.

  ‘Armed police! Put down your weapon!’ the officer yelled.

  Now startled, Ruth glanced up to where he was pointing. She could see someone by one of the open windows on the first floor. A man with a beard was holding a rifle.

  And she could see it was aimed directly at where she and Nick were standing.

  Jesus Christ! What the bloody hell are they playing at?

  ‘Armed police! Put your weapon down now!!’

  By this time, all six AROs had their guns trained on the first floor.

  Ruth looked at Nick. He was already moving closer to her.

  ‘What the fuck are they doing?’ Ruth growled as Nick ushered her back from the house.

  CRACK!

  Suddenly there was a gunshot.

  Thinking the shot had come from the house, Nick and Ruth dived to the floor. Rolling over, Ruth could hear glass smashing. It had fallen from the first floor window.

  Hold your fire! yelled an ARO to one of the others.

  Did we fire first? Please God tell me we didn’t fire first!

  Squinting at the farmhouse, Ruth could see that the window where she had seen the bearded man had been shattered by a bullet.

  Who the bloody hell fired their gun?

  BOOM!

  The sound of a shotgun. This time the pellets hammered into the ground close to where Ruth and Nick were laying. Fragments of concrete were thrown into the air where the pellets hit the ground.

  ‘For fuck’s sake!’ Nick yelled.

  Now that did come from the farmhouse.

  CRACK! CRACK!

  As Nick hauled Ruth to her feet, she spotted an ARO returning fire.

  Oh my God. A shoot out! Are you kidding me?

  ‘Cease fire and get back!’ Ruth yelled at the AROs as she and Nick sprinted for the cover of their car.

  BANG!

  A bullet whistled past them and thudded into the rear door of their Astra.

  Fuck me, that was close!

  ‘I SAID GET BACK!’ Ruth yelled as the AROs moved back out of the yard.

  Scurrying behind the protective cover of their car, Ruth and Nick peered out towards the farmhouse. She could see three windows open. However, now that the sky was black and it was starting to rain, it was hard to see anything inside.

  ‘We fired first!’ Nick said, shaking his head.

  ‘I know. What the hell happened?’ Ruth asked.

  ‘A trigger happy ARO got carried away?’ Nick suggested, glancing over the bonnet of the car.

  CRACK!

  ‘Get your head down!’ Ruth said dragging at Nick’s jacket.

  Nick gestured to the car. ‘We need to get out of here.’

  Ruth reached for the handle of the back door on the driver’s side. ‘On three?’

  Nick nodded, reached up to the driver’s door and then frowned. ‘Wait. We go on three, or is it one, two, three, and then we go?’

  ‘Jesus, Nick. Does it matter? One, two, three, go!’

  Ruth pulled the door
open quickly, crouched, and launched herself into the car and across the back seat. At the same time, she saw Nick get into the driver’s seat, start the car, and stamp down on the accelerator.

  Ruth was thrown backwards against the seat.

  Suddenly the back window exploded in a thunderous shower of glass.

  Someone’s tried to shoot us as we’re going!

  ‘You okay, boss?’ Nick yelled over the roar of the engine.

  ‘Never better,’ Ruth replied, still shaking from the trauma of the last few minutes.

  The car bounced and dipped violently along the track.

  Sitting upright, Ruth shook the glass from her hair and picked it from her clothes.

  Jesus! What a nightmare.

  She glanced back at the farm as they sped away to safety.

  CHAPTER 21

  Rachel strode confidently into the chapel. Even though she hadn’t fired a gun herself, the adrenaline was pumping after the gunfight.

  The majority of The Family were assembled on the benches and seats. Some of the children were crying and being comforted by their shocked parents.

  ‘Is everyone all right?’ Rachel asked in a gentle voice. ‘Everyone okay?’

  ‘Mummy!’ Abel said, as he ran to her from the protection of several families.

  ‘Darling! Are you okay?’ Rachel gasped as she knelt down and ran her hand through Abel’s thick blonde hair.

  ‘Why were people shooting, Mummy?’ he asked.

  ‘You don’t need to worry. The bad people have gone now. You’re safe,’ Rachel said as she hugged Abel close to her for a moment. She knew that God would protect her only son, as he had done his own.

  ‘You were right, Rachel,’ Maria said, her eyes widening. ‘They really don’t want the truth to come out about what you’ve told us.’

  Rachel ushered Abel back to a seat and looked around at her flock. ‘They started this. They fired first and we acted, as God would have wanted us to do, in self-defence. God is now on his throne looking down upon us, and as we’ve discussed before, this is it. Revelations 22. “And behold, I come quickly.” That is repeated. When the Lord, our Saviour, returns to our world it will be quickly. It is what we have been told in the Bible.’

  A sudden thunderous noise came from above that seemed to make the ground shake. For a moment, Rachel wondered if an act of God and the Second Coming was about to take shape right there, right now, in front of them.

  The whirring and rhythmic deep growl became a recognisable sound – a helicopter hovering over them. Then it left as quickly as it had arrived.

  Rachel looked back at her congregation. ‘The wicked men and women who came upon us this morning will soon be punished for their sins. And we will be rewarded. They do not understand what just happened, but we do ...’ Rachel nodded at them with a meaningful stare. ‘It has started. So we need to prepare ourselves.’

  Simon came into the chapel and headed for Rachel. ‘It’s David. He’s not good. We need you,’ he said quietly.

  ‘All right. I’m coming,’ Rachel said, and then turned to those inside the chapel. ‘I suggest we remain in here for the meantime. Now is a time for prayer and reflection for all of us.’

  Rachel and Simon hurried down the corridor and into the main part of the farmhouse. It was deserted as nearly everyone had taken refuge in the chapel.

  Arriving at the storage room, Rachel could see that David had been laid out on a table with towels and blankets. His bloody shirt had been cut from him. There was a dark gunshot wound to his chest and his breathing was heavy and laboured.

  ‘David, it’s Rachel,’ she said quietly, laying her hand on his shoulder. His beard and his face were splattered with specks of blood from where he had been shot. David, a good humoured Glaswegian, had been at Solace Farm for over fifteen years and was essentially regarded as a gentle giant.

  His eyes flickered open. ‘The wind caught the window and when it banged open that’s when they shot me,’ he whispered.

  Simon looked at Rachel. ‘He needs help.’

  ‘I can’t seem to stop the bleeding,’ said Hannah, a young American woman in her twenties.

  ‘Maybe they can take him to hospital if we tell them he’s been shot?’ Simon suggested.

  ‘He’s not going anywhere,’ Rachel growled. ‘I’m not letting those people take him away.’

  Rachel and Simon moved away from David and went to the doorway.

  Simon looked at her. ‘If we don’t get him help, then David’s going to die ... Maybe they could send in paramedics to help him?’

  Rachel shook her head in fury.

  Simon just doesn’t get this, does he?

  ‘I’m not going to let them in here,’ Rachel said close to Simon’s face. ‘What are you talking about, Simon?’

  ‘If we don’t do something, Rachel, he’s going to die,’ Simon whispered desperately.

  ‘If that is God’s will, then so be it. We cannot begin to understand God’s plans.’

  ‘David being shot dead isn’t part of God’s plan,’ Simon said getting angry.

  How dare he challenge me!

  ‘What do you know about God’s plan? You are nothing. Like an insignificant grain of sand on a vast beach. And yet you have the vanity to think you understand what God has planned for us?’ Rachel scorned angrily.

  ‘The man is going to die. We can’t just let that happen in front of us and do nothing,’ Simon said, shaking his head in disbelief.

  ‘If David dies, then the world will understand us. His death will not be in vain.’

  ‘You can’t use his death as a PR opportunity!’ Simon snapped.

  Pushing Simon outside, Rachel fixed her stare on him. In that moment, she could have easily taken his life for his words and his challenge to her authority.

  Leaning close to his face, she narrowed her eyes. ‘Challenge my word or my authority again, Simon, and we will have a serious problem. And you, more than anyone else, know how I deal with serious problems.’

  CHAPTER 22

  ‘What a shit show,’ Ruth said under her breath as she blew smoke from her cigarette into the cold air.

  It was now ninety minutes since the short gun battle at Solace Farm. An incident location had been set up at the surveillance cottage down the road. Drake was en route, as were more armed response officers, armed vehicles, and two specialist snipers.

  Ruth looked into the sky as a police helicopter circled past them and then over the farm. She had just received a phone call from the Chief Constable of North Wales Police who told her that he wanted a full report of the incident on his desk within 24 hours.

  Ruth had already made it clear that one of the AROs who had accompanied them to the farm had fired first. At this moment she didn’t know who, and the AROs had closed rank.

  She had no choice but to seize all their firearms, gloves, and vests as evidence and bag them. She didn’t want anything to go missing. As long as she was SIO on this, there were going to be no cover-ups. The AROs had been sent back to Llancastell to give witness statements and be put on a temporary suspension of duty while an enquiry took place.

  Ruth turned her gaze towards the farm, trying to deconstruct the disaster. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t hear Sian come out and stand beside her.

  ‘Well, that could have gone better.’ Sian smiled.

  Ruth blew out her cheeks with a sigh. ‘We might have fired the first shot, but they then fired at police officers. What a fucking mess.’

  ‘What now?’ Sian asked, and then touched her hand for a second. Ruth squeezed it back for a moment and looked at Sian. Where the hell do we go from here?

  They had to concentrate on the job in hand but the momentary contact was nice – especially after the events so far.

  ‘Rachel Ryan has to give herself up to the police. We also have to arrest anyone who fired at us from the farmhouse,’ Ruth said. ‘How we do that, I’m not sure.’

  ‘I do think that Rachel will listen to reason. I don�
��t understand why they decided to arm themselves like that,’ Sian said, deep in thought.

  ‘First thing is to make contact. We’ll see where we go from there,’ Ruth said. ‘Someone’s trying to link me up to the farm landline.’

  ‘We can’t use force. There are so many children up there,’ Sian said anxiously.

  Ruth touched her shoulder. It was poignant to see Sian’s concern. ‘Don’t worry. I think force is our last resort at the moment. I’m waiting for a trained negotiator.’

  They both looked over as Drake’s car drew up and he got out. Pulling up the collar of his coat, he came towards them with his distinctive calm swagger. However, the demeanour of serenity dissipated the closer he approached.

  Drake’s voice boomed. ‘What the bloody hell happened?’

  Ruth took a moment to revert to DI mode as Sian scooted away and went to talk to French.

  ‘One of our lot fired at someone with a gun at a window on the first floor. Next thing it’s like the OK Corral,’ Ruth said.

  ‘Jesus! Have we made contact yet?’ Drake asked.

  ‘I’m about to get hooked up to the landline.’

  ‘The media are going mad. They think we’re going to have another Waco on our hands,’ Drake said.

  ‘Boss, I’m not convinced that we aren’t.’

  Drake smoothed his hand over his goatee. ‘Oh God, don’t tell me that.’

  ‘Armed religious cult in a farmhouse. Gun battle with the police,’ Ruth said with a shrug.

  A police engineer came over and handed Ruth a phone. ‘Ma’am, we’ve disconnected the landline to the farm. And we’ve patched this phone into it so no one else can ring in.’

  Ruth nodded as she took the phone. ‘Good. How do I call?’

  The engineer pointed to a red button. ‘Press that, ma’am, and their phone will ring.’

  Ruth nodded as she pressed the red button. After two rings, someone picked up.

  ‘Hello?’ said a male voice.

  ‘Hi there. This is Detective Inspector Ruth Hunter. Can I ask who I’m talking to?’ Ruth asked in a gentle tone.

  ‘My name is Simon,’ said the voice.

  ‘Okay, Simon. First things first. Do you have anyone wounded in there? Anyone that needs our help?’ she asked.