‘I don’t know,’ says Nelson.
He taps the broken screen again and for a second it flickers, then dies.
Nelson swears. George wakes up and begins to cry. Michelle leans across to comfort him but Nelson can hear the fear in her voice. ‘It’s OK, Georgie. It’s OK.’
Judy appears at his side. She too looks worried but her voice is as calm as ever. Too calm, Nelson thinks. ‘It’s possible she just dropped it, boss.’
‘Then where is she now?’ says Nelson.
Clough has been walking along the verge. Now he comes towards them. ‘I can’t see any signs that anyone’s fallen. There’s no glass or brake marks on the road and no disturbance in the undergrowth. Also it’s hard to see how Laura’s phone could have got in the ditch if she dropped it when cycling past.’
Nelson thinks of the Jack O’Lantern badge and Mike O’Halloran’s theory that it had been carried away by a curious seagull. Well, a bird couldn’t carry an iPhone 10, those things are almost as big as a small TV.
‘I’m going to put out a MISPER,’ says Nelson.
Judy and Clough look at each other. Nelson knows that they are thinking that it’s overreacting to put out a missing persons’ report for an adult who has only been missing an hour. But these things are discretionary – something the public often doesn’t understand – and he, Nelson, is still is charge. He gets out his phone just as George shouts, ‘Laura!’
They all look at George and then in the direction of his fat, pointing finger.
There, on the horizon, is a small figure in pink and black, pushing a bike.
‘Laura!’ Nelson starts to run towards his daughter.
*
Ruth approaches the hide. ‘Laura?’ she calls. A bird calls, high above, and then there’s another crack of thunder, this time very near. She’d better get inside, if only to shelter from the rain that must surely be coming. Ruth climbs the wooden steps and looks inside.
‘Hallo, Ruth,’ says a man’s voice.
Chapter 31
It has started raining but Nelson hardly notices. He stops in front of Laura. She looks hot and cross and about twelve.
‘I got a puncture and I lost my phone,’ she says. Her lower lip is trembling.
Nelson wraps his arms round her, making her drop the bike. ‘Thank God you’re all right.’
‘Dad!’ Laura extricates herself. ‘Look what you’ve done. I was up in front too. I might have got a really good time. And I’ve lost my phone.’ This almost seems the biggest disaster of all and Nelson knows how to fix it. He holds up the precious black rectangle.
Laura gapes. ‘Where did you find that?’
‘It’s a long story. Let’s get you out of the rain.’ He picks up the bike and they walk to the car. Laura expresses amazement at, in turn, the presence of her mother, George, Judy and Clough.
‘It’s a welcoming committee,’ says Clough, giving her a hug.
‘But how did my phone get here?’ says Laura. ‘I had it with me at the last stage. I took a selfie.’
This is another youth phenomenon that Nelson doesn’t understand but he doesn’t say so. He is also trying to think of an innocent explanation for why Laura’s phone ended up by the side of a road that she hadn’t yet cycled along. Nothing springs to mind.
‘Did anyone approach you at the last stage?’ he asks. But Laura has got into the back of his car and pulled George onto her lap. He is delighted to see his sister, tears and tiredness forgotten. Michelle twists round in her seat to talk to them.
Nelson is left with the bike.
‘I’ll put it in my car,’ says Clough. ‘I’ve got the room.’
‘So that’s why you drive a farm vehicle,’ says Judy.
‘I’ll drop it off at your place, boss,’ says Clough.
‘Can you drop me off first?’ says Judy. ‘It’s only up the road.’
‘Just call me Dave the taxi,’ says Clough.
‘Always good to have a back-up career in case the policing doesn’t work out.’
Nelson hardly listens to the familiar cross-talk act. Who took Laura’s phone? Why had they then abandoned it? How did it get broken? It’s a new one, worth a bob or two. Why does he feel that, in some dark and unfathomable way, it’s all tied up with Ivor March?
‘Did you see Ailsa Britain at the last stage?’ he says to Judy. ‘What about Crissy Martin?’
‘They were all there,’ says Judy. ‘I remember Ailsa shouting good luck to Leonard.’
‘Remember the woman who was talking to Heidi in the road,’ says Nelson, ‘just hours before she died. Could that have been Ailsa or Crissy? They’ve both got long, greyish hair.’
‘I suppose so,’ says Judy, ‘but it was such a poor description. The witness only saw them from the back.’
‘There’s something going on,’ says Nelson. ‘Too many of the Grey Walls crowd were here today.’
‘Never trust a grown man on a bike,’ says Clough. He takes Laura’s and heaves it into the back of the Land Rover. ‘Ready, Judy?’
‘Yeah,’ says Judy. She taps on the car window and waves goodbye to Laura, Michelle and George.
Nelson gets into his car.
‘You’re soaking, Harry,’ says Michelle, sounding, as she always does, as if the rain is entirely his fault.
‘Home,’ says Nelson. ‘Home and hot baths. Bruno will be missing us.’
‘Bruno!’ shouts George. It’s another name that he knows.
*
Ruth swings round. She doesn’t recognise the man and yet, somehow, she does. He’s tall and thin with grey hair in a ponytail.
‘Where’s Laura?’ she says.
‘On her bike,’ says the man. ‘Or off it by now. I rather think that she’s got a puncture.’
‘I know,’ says Ruth. ‘She sent me a text and told me to meet her here.’
‘Oh no,’ says the man, ‘I sent you the text.’
‘You did?’ Ruth turns to look at him properly. He has a mild-looking face with faded blue eyes. She knows immediately that she doesn’t trust him. The rain is thundering on the roof. Ruth realises that she’s very scared.
‘Speaking of which,’ the man reaches out and grabs Ruth’s phone, which is in her hand. ‘I’ll have that.’
‘What are you doing?’ Ruth grabs at her phone and, at the same time, the man raises his hand and strikes her very hard with something that feels like an iron bar.
The room tilts and spins. With a shock Ruth realises that she’s looking up at the wooden ceiling. And then, darkness.
*
Bruno is delighted to see them. He runs around the house looking for a welcome gift and comes back with one of Michelle’s bras.
‘Drop!’ says Michelle, wresting it from his jaws. She looks embarrassed though Nelson can’t think why. He knows all her bras by heart.
Laura goes to have a bath. Nelson gets a beer from the fridge. He offers one to Michelle but she puts the kettle on for tea. When Clough arrives a few minutes later he accepts a beer and the two men sit in the kitchen drinking while the rain sluices the conservatory windows. There’s a loud clap of thunder almost directly overhead. Bruno barks.
‘Dexter hates thunder too,’ says Clough. Dexter is his bulldog. Nelson sometimes wonders how Clough’s wife, Cassandra, copes with two small children and a hyperactive dog. Clough is a devoted father but, as a new DI, he works long hours. Nelson knows that Michelle found it difficult in the early days. Well, he knows it now. At the time he was probably blissfully unaware of anything except that he had the perfect family waiting for him at home.
‘What’s going on?’ says Clough. ‘You obviously thought that something had happened to Laura.’
That’s the thing about Clough. He’s not as dense as he makes out.
‘I think the Grey Walls lot are mixed up with the murd
er of Heidi Lucas,’ says Nelson. ‘You know, the girl that was found dead on the marshes recently? Well, we’ve got photographs of Heidi at a barbecue last year with Ivor March and co. And Heidi belonged to Lynn Wheels, the cycling club that organised today’s race. Laura’s a member of the club and, well, she looks a bit like Heidi and all of March’s other victims. Tall, blonde, good-looking. I thought someone might have abducted her.’
Clough frowns into his beer. ‘You say “all of March’s other victims” but March is in prison. He couldn’t have killed Heidi.’
‘I know,’ says Nelson, ‘but I still feel that he’s pulling the strings. The women, Ailsa, Crissy and Chantal, they’d do anything for him.’
‘You think they’d kill for him?’
‘You saw what Chantal Simmonds was like. She’s obsessed with him.’
‘She’s obsessed with something, all right.’
‘The last person to see Heidi alive was a woman with long hair. What if March told one of the women to kill her just to show that the Lantern Men were still at work? You know he confessed to killing Sofia Novak, the Hungarian girl they picked up?’
‘No,’ says Clough. ‘I didn’t know that. But he hasn’t confessed to the others, has he?’
‘No,’ says Nelson. ‘But he killed them. I’m sure of it.’
‘Are you?’ says Clough. His tone is casual but he’s looking at Nelson with an uncomfortable degree of understanding.
Nelson stands up to avoid answering. ‘Another beer?’
‘I’d better not. I’m driving.’
Nelson opens the fridge and stares at its blue-lit contents: milk, juice, beer, a bottle of Prosecco with a fizz-containing cork, salad tray, yoghurts, two pork chops encased in plastic, Tupperware containers. Does he, in fact, think March killed all the women?
‘Your phone’s buzzing,’ says Clough.
Nelson picks it up. Unknown number.
‘DCI Nelson,’ he barks.
‘Nelson, it’s Frank. Ruth’s . . . Frank Barker. Is Ruth with you?’
*
Judy feels oddly restless. Maybe it’s the thunder. By the time she gets home it is rumbling around the house, circling it like a tiger.
‘Thor the Thunderer,’ says Cathbad. He is sitting on the sofa with Michael, Miranda and Thing. Michael and Thing are obviously slightly scared. Miranda loves it.
Judy looks out of the window. Lighting is flashing out at sea, illuminating the strange yellowish sky.
‘It’s fun, isn’t it?’ she says, for Michael’s sake. She doesn’t think it’s fun at all. She can quite see why ancient religions both worshipped and feared the elements.
Another crash, right overhead. Michael moves nearer to Cathbad. Thing seems to be trying to burrow into him. Miranda screams with laughter.
To distract Michael, Judy kneels down to look at his Polaroid photos, which are spread out on the coffee table.
‘Good pictures,’ she says, squinting at the tiny rectangles. ‘There’s Laura and there’s Kate. There’s Ruth talking to Crissy. The boss scowling. And there’s Laura on her bike. Great shot, you’ve caught her just as she’s leaning over to get some water. Oh my God . . .’
She goes over to a side table to look at the picture under a lamp. Outside the lightning flashes like a distress signal. On off, on off.
‘What is it?’ says Cathbad.
Chapter 32
Dark, light, wooden beams, a cobweb, pictures of birds, their outlines black and shaky. In a moment of clarity Ruth realises two things: she is drifting in and out of consciousness, and a man has his hands around her neck. From somewhere inside her own head she hears Cathbad’s voice. ‘Dig deep, Ruth.’ She makes an almighty effort, pushes the man away and staggers to her feet. He comes towards her again. He’s like some malevolent spirit, an elemental, unknowable and unstoppable. His hands are on her neck, their grip superhumanly strong. He pushes her against the wooden wall of the hut. She gasps and tries to kick out but her strength is fading. In a moment she’ll pass out and then he’ll kill her. She can feel the man’s breath on her face, she smells sweat and something sharp and chemical. Dig deep, she tells herself. Then the ground comes up to meet her.
*
‘What do you mean, is Ruth with me?’
Frank’s voice is anxious and for a moment Nelson forgets how much Frank annoys him. He even forgets the pretentious American accent.
‘She texted me at six twenty to say that Laura had a puncture and she was going to pick her up. At the Saltmarsh. It’s past eight now and she’s not answering her phone.’
‘She texted you?’
‘Yes.’ Frank is obviously reading from his phone. ‘“Laura has puncture. Near Saltmarsh. Going to get her. See you later.”’
‘Laura’s home,’ he says. ‘She did have a puncture but it was nowhere near the Saltmarsh. What time did Ruth send her text?’
‘Six twenty-two.’
Twenty-two minutes past six. Laura went through the Burnham stage at six sixteen, he had asked her in the car. She had hoped to be in Wells by six thirty. Nelson found her at ten past seven. It’s eight fifteen now. Someone took Laura’s phone at Burnham, left a message for Ruth and then abandoned the phone by the side of the road, from which position it could issue misleading messages to Nelson. Why?
So that Ruth could be lured away.
‘I’m going to the Saltmarsh,’ he says to Frank.
‘I’ll meet you there.’
‘No, you stay there in case Ruth calls. Besides,’ a slight pause, ‘you need to look after Katie.’
‘OK.’
‘Ruth didn’t say where on the Saltmarsh? It’s a big place.’ It’s a godforsaken bloody wasteland, in Nelson’s opinion.
‘No. Sorry.’
‘I’ll find her,’ says Nelson. He nearly says ‘don’t worry’ but thinks better of it. He ends the call to find Cloughie staring at him.
‘Trouble?’ says Clough.
‘Trouble,’ says Nelson grimly.
*
Ruth is lying on wooden boards. She can hear someone breathing, very close to her. What has happened? Is she actually dead? But her throat hurts. Surely she wouldn’t be feeling pain in the afterlife? But she can hear the rain drumming on the roof and, very faint and far off, the rumble of thunder. She opens her eyes and sees rafters. She’s still in the hide and the killer is with her. She can see him sitting, hunched over, beside her. His back is towards her and she can see a long, white ponytail. He’s panting, as if he’s exhausted. Maybe he thinks she’s dead, or at least unconscious. Now is her chance. She moves her hand to the side and touches something metallic. Just the feel of it seems to give her strength. She wraps her hand around the metal bar and, very slowly, raises herself up. Then she hits out at the white head with all the power in her body. She must have made contact because the man gives a kind of grunt and falls forward. Ruth gets to her feet and staggers towards the door. The trouble is that she’s unsteady after her ordeal. She hardly knows how to put one foot in front of the other. The man is groaning, so she knows she hasn’t killed him. The room tilts and sways. And then, suddenly, there’s a space in front of her. She falls through it and finds herself on the ground. She’s on her hands and knees in the mud and the rain is still falling. Somehow she gets herself upright. She has to get away. Dig deeper, Ruth. She lurches forward, into the storm.
*
‘Let’s go in my car,’ says Clough. Nelson hates being driven but he concedes that the Land Rover might be more able to cope with the rough terrain of the Saltmarsh. He climbs into the ridiculously high seat and tries Ruth’s number again. ‘Hi, you’ve reached Dr Ruth Galloway.’ Trust Ruth to put the Dr in there. Clough performs a neat three-point turn and heads for the main road. Nelson’s phone rings. Judy.
‘Have you heard?’ says Nelson. ‘About Ruth?’
‘No,’
says Judy. ‘What about Ruth? I just rang because I saw something weird on Michael’s pictures.’
Nelson seems to be having trouble processing information. Michael. Pictures. Something weird.
‘I was looking at his Polaroids,’ Judy goes on, ‘and I saw one of Laura getting her drink from the pit-stop place. And guess who was in the background? Bob Carr.’
‘Bob Carr? Why is he even here?’
‘I saw him in the crowd earlier but in the picture he’s kind of hovering over Laura. It’s possible that he took her phone. And stuck a pin in her tyres too. It’s hard to tell in a Polaroid but his expression is odd. Malign.’
Malign. It’s an unusual word but it sounds like the right one.
‘Someone texted Ruth from Laura’s phone,’ says Nelson. ‘The message was that she’d had a puncture and was at the Saltmarsh. We’re on our way now. Cloughie and me.’
‘I’ll meet you there,’ says Judy. ‘In the car park.’
*
Ruth runs, zigzagging across the path. Her throat hurts and, when she puts her hand up to her head, she realises that it is bleeding. Don’t worry about that, she tells herself. You just need to escape. You need to get home to Kate. The thought of her daughter spurs her on. She stumbles through some reeds and finds herself knee deep in water. Wrong way. She stumbles again and falls, face down this time. Suddenly, overhead, there’s a tremendous crash of thunder. It seems to shake the whole world on its axis. The sky turns white. Ruth has a dim feeling that it’s a bad idea to be submerged in water during an electrical storm. Somehow, she wades forward and finds dry ground, heaving herself upwards by hanging onto the long grass. Where is she now? The trouble is that the rain has reduced everything to a grey no-man’s land, a place that seems neither land nor sea, a waiting room between the worlds. She turns and starts running in the opposite direction.
And finds herself facing the man.
*
Judy is already at the car park when Nelson and Clough arrive. She is sheltering under the awning of a kiosk advertising ice creams. It’s still raining hard.
‘Ruth’s car is here,’ says Nelson.
The Lantern Men Page 25
