Bound By Blood

by Paul J. Teague

‘I’ll need to be getting back soon. You know, I wish I’d had someone like Joanne when I was working through my post-natal depression. Preferably my husband wouldn’t have been sleeping with her, but a bit of support was all I needed. I wasn’t crazy, I just needed help.’

  Brett turned to face Tiffany and then kissed her.

  ‘I experienced some mild depression when my dad died. Nothing like what happened to you, but I was in a very dark place. I never spoke to Kate about it. I couldn’t see a path ahead without my dad; it seemed like my world had collapsed on itself. I owe my sister everything. She’s a formidable woman. After dad died, she sorted out all the finances, helped me buy my house, and made sure I was on the right track. I want to be that person to you, Tiffany. I don’t want you to feel like you’ve been abandoned ever again.’

  She kissed him on the lips and hugged him, certain she wanted him to be the person her children called their father.

  ‘What happened to your dad, Brett? You never talk about how he died. This is the first time you’ve mentioned your depression. Was he ill?’

  ‘No. It was horrible. Someone killed him whilst on duty. He got caught up in some mess of a situation and he was murdered.’

  ‘Oh, I’m so sorry, I had no idea.’

  ‘It’s okay. I was angry for a while. They got away with it; his killer was never found. I’m sure burying the anger caused my depression. It’s a hard thing to deal with. We always knew something like that might happen, him being a copper, but in Morecambe? You expect it in inner cities, not in sleepy seaside towns.’

  ‘I’m sorry about your dad,’ Tiffany said again. ‘What made Kate join the police force, given what happened to your father?’

  ‘Kate reacted in a more constructive way. She decided joining the police force was the best way to bring his killer to justice. Whereas I channelled my grief into anger, Kate resolved to find out who was responsible for his death—’

  ‘Has she found out?’

  ‘Not yet. But if there’s any kind of trail or a shred of evidence out there, I have no doubt she’ll find whoever it was and bring them to justice. She just doesn’t stop, my sister. She’s exactly the kind of person you want batting on your team. Whatever it takes, whatever the personal sacrifice, if it’s the right thing to do, she’ll do it.’

  Tiffany didn’t know Kate very well; they hadn’t got off to the best of starts during their altercation at the leisure centre. But sitting there with Brett, shivering from the cold, snuggling as close as their winter clothing would allow, she hoped she would get to know her better one day soon. She sounded like one hell of a sister.

  ‘Oh, I forgot my phone. It’s in the front of the car,’ Tiffany said. ‘You wouldn’t get it for me, would you? I’m feeling a bit stiff after moving those boxes.’

  ‘Sure,’ Brett replied, standing up to walk towards the vehicle. ‘I won’t be a moment, then we’d better get you back to Morecambe to collect the children from Joanne.’

  Tiffany watched him as he walked over to the car, his back to her. She slipped a folder out of her bag, walked inside the container and surveyed the boxes labelled Books, Office equipment, Shoes, Kitchen utensils and so on. A man’s life was packed up in here, yet it all fitted into a half-size container.

  Checking that Brett was preoccupied in the car, Tiffany looked for a safe place to hide the folder. He wouldn’t be coming back to the storage unit after they closed the doors that day, and she didn’t need to put anything else in there. She’d got his permission, but he didn’t need to know what it was.

  She slid the folder under a box marked Family photographs. She’d remember that; it was stacked up right at the front and there was only one box like it.

  ‘I can’t find it, Tiff,’ Brett shouted over to her.

  ‘It’s okay, I’ve found it in my bag. I forgot where I’d put it.’

  It was a white lie, but one which would protect them both. The folder held some particularly important information. She hoped it wouldn’t be needed. But if it was, it would blow the lives of Fabian and David into shattered fragments.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  ‘Careful, Charlotte. You’ll have the police after us if you carry on pulling stunts like that.’

  She’d just careered in front of an oncoming vehicle, darted towards the verge on the wrong side of the road and then screeched across back to the right side of the road again.

  ‘I’d rather have the police on my tail than Vinnie Mace. I don’t want either of them coming after me until we’ve extracted Kate from her hiding place. And I must warn her we’re on our way. She may be armed, and I don’t want her to shoot us.’

  Will lurched sideways in his seat as Charlotte made a sudden turn to the left, taking them down a leafy avenue, but said nothing.

  Charlotte was relieved he’d chosen to let her get on with it. If she had to debate every crazy manoeuvre she was making, it would be a long drive.

  ‘Keep checking the mirrors please, Will. I’ll make sure I don’t hit anything coming towards us if you can be on the lookout at the rear. Are they still there?’

  ‘I can’t see... damn it, yes. How is he doing that? No normal driver could stay on your tail the way you’ve been driving.’

  ‘He has to be tracking us,’ Charlotte replied, frustrated and angry. ‘How would he do it?’

  ‘Satellite or something?’ Will ventured.

  ‘This is Morecambe, not Mission Impossible,’ Charlotte snapped at him. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to have a go at you. It must be something simpler... The phones. I’ll bet it’s the phones. When Vinnie grasped my finger and I thought he was about to remove it with the circular saw, that’s when he did it. He must have unlocked my phone with my fingerprint. I was so relieved he hadn’t sawn it off, I didn’t think about what he was up to. Check my phone; see if he’s put an app on it.’

  She tossed her smartphone over to Will, who began searching its contents.

  ‘This looks fishy,’ he said after a short time. ‘Locatrr is an app on your phone; did you put it there?’

  ‘Nope, it’s not mine. Open it and see what it does.’

  ‘Oh hell yes, this is the one. It’s like watching ourselves on an Uber delivery app, it shows which road we’re on, our speed, direction and route history.’

  Will pressed a button at his side so his window glided open. He was about to throw Charlotte’s phone into the road.

  ‘Whoa, stop,’ she shouted. ‘Don’t throw it out of the window. It’s our only link with the outside world. Just remove the app or disable location settings, but don’t get rid of my phone.’

  Will said nothing for a moment.

  ‘It’s gone,’ he said. ‘I’ll check mine.’

  He pulled out his own phone.

  ‘For fu—’

  ‘Same on yours?’

  ‘Yep, he’s installed it on mine too. Right, we’re clear. Let’s see some more of that driving again. You must be able to shake him off now.’

  Charlotte floored the accelerator, taking a sharp right turn, then a left, then another left. The tyres screeched on the last sharp turn and Will whistled through his teeth.

  ‘You’ve got to admit it, that was a little bit Mission Impossible.’

  Charlotte needed to be heading over Heysham way, but she’d lost her bearings in the back streets now and was fearful of moving too far away from her destination.

  ‘I can’t see him,’ Will confirmed after turning to look through the rear window. ‘I think you’ve done it.’

  ‘Will you put your maps app on your phone and set Heysham as the destination? I need you to act as navigator for a bit; we have to get back on track now.’

  As Will tapped on his own phone, Charlotte’s gave an electronic beep as it sat on his lap. He picked it up and read the message.

  ‘It’s DI Comfort. He says it’s all set up. He’s also cautioning you against going it alone, but I’m guessing you’ll ignore that bit. It says he’s heading to Lancaster Police station now,
and he’ll see you there.’

  ‘Great, now get me over to the Heysham Road via the back streets and let’s shake Vinnie off our tail.’

  ‘Okay right at the end of this road, then left at the first junction.’

  Charlotte was driving much too fast for residential streets and she knew it, but it was late at night, as safe a time to break the law as any. She scanned the road as she drove, looking for movement. She was just about to take a fast-left turn when an elderly man appeared out of nowhere, with a fluorescent vest over his coat and a matching canine equivalent on the two Scottie dogs which were on a lead at his side.

  ‘The fluorescent jacket doesn’t act as a force field,’ Charlotte cursed. The old man gave a friendly wave as he and the dogs toddled across the road, oblivious to the fact they’d narrowly avoided becoming roadkill.

  ‘People seem to think those jackets make them indestructible. What is it with people in this country? Anything fluorescent seems to assume magical powers.’

  ‘I’m sure you’ve lost him. There’s a phone box over there. Want to risk it?’

  Charlotte pulled over abruptly at the side of the road.

  ‘I’ll keep the van running. You move into the driver’s seat. If you see Vinnie, let me know and I’ll come running.’

  ‘What if we damage the van?’

  ‘We’ve stolen it, Will; it’s a bit late for that. Besides, does Tom Cruise check the insurance certificate every time he jumps on a high-powered motorbike?’

  ‘Okay, point taken,’ Will replied. ‘I guess it’s a bit late to be thinking about that anyway.’

  Charlotte was searching for loose change in the dashboard compartments of the vehicle. She found a one-pound coin and picked it up.

  ‘You see anything, and you alert me, okay?’

  Will nodded.

  Charlotte found Kate’s number and dialled it. It rang several times before being picked up.

  ‘Kate, it’s Charlotte,’

  ‘Oh, thank God. I thought you’d never call. There’s been movement outside where I’m located. They may be on to me—’

  ‘You’re at the turbines, yes?’

  ‘How did you know?’

  ‘I forgot to tell you about a message Sam Halford left on your answering machine. You know him, I take it?’

  ‘Yes, he’s been helping me with my informal investigations, but I suspect he doesn’t realise how helpful he’s been yet. I stole a key to one of the turbines at our last meeting. I’m not proud of it, but I needed to hide somewhere where they’d never think to look for me.’

  ‘Look, Kate, I’m coming to get you. But we’ve been followed. I hope I’ve lost him now, but I’m coming to get you out of there. We have all the paperwork, Tiffany is safe, and DI Comfort is waiting for us at Lancaster Police Station. We just need to get you in safely.’

  ‘There’s movement on the wind farm, Charlotte.’

  ‘Have you got a weapon?’

  ‘What weapon? This is the UK, Charlotte. It would be a lot easier if I was issued with a firearm, but that’s not how it works in Morecambe.’

  ‘Sorry, silly question, where are—’

  Will was flashing the headlamps on full and waving frantically at her through the driver’s side window.

  ‘I’ve got to go, Kate; can I call you on my mobile now?’

  ‘Yes, call me back. This might be nothing or it might be something.’

  The phone went dead.

  Charlotte left the phone box and ran across to Will, who’d moved the van closer.

  ‘Get in,’ he said, ‘he’s back.’

  Charlotte climbed in the passenger side and Will accelerated fast, before she’d even got the door shut.

  ‘You’re sure it was him?’ Charlotte asked, fastening her seatbelt.

  ‘As sure as I can be in this light,’ he replied. ‘If only we could change vehicles. We’re a sitting target in this rusty old van.’

  ‘Let me call Kate again; she might have some idea what to do. Keep taking turns into side streets, but take us towards the turbines if you can.’

  She dialled Kate on her mobile phone. It would have been a lot easier if she could have done that all along. Were they tracking her calls too? She’d keep the conversation non-specific, just in case.

  ‘Kate, it’s me again. We think we’re being tracked. Any idea how they’re doing it? They had trackers on our phones, but we got of rid of them.’

  ‘They could do it via phone masts, but it’s not so accurate. Is there a tracker attached to the car? They’re pretty easy to come by these days; people get them sent over from China via eBay and the like.’

  ‘That would make sense. It would explain how Vinnie always seems to be one step ahead of me. What do they look like?’

  ‘It’ll be fastened to the vehicle somewhere, either on the inside or outside. They use them in the US now for insurance purposes. Big Brother and all that.’

  Charlotte’s shoulder struck the side of the passenger side door as Will flung the car around a sharp corner.

  ‘Steady,’ she said. ‘I thought you were nervous about the insurance.’

  ‘Oh hell—’

  ‘What is it, Kate?’

  ‘One moment.’

  The silence was unbearable. All Charlotte could hear was the rhythmic sound of the turbine blades turning while she waited for Kate’s response.

  ‘I’ve got trouble,’ she said at last. ‘I’m not alone.’

  ‘Where are you, Kate? Which turbine?’

  ‘Unit 12,’ she replied. ‘Come quick. You may need to get DI Comfort out here.’

  ‘What’s happening, Kate? Are the turbines clearly marked?’

  Kate was speaking in a whisper now.

  ‘Yes, there are lots of numbers on the chassis, but you’ll see the Unit 12 wording, it’s clear enough. I’m going to lie low and find somewhere to hide in this generator room.’

  ‘You’re at the top of the turbine? I thought you were at the base, Kate.’

  ‘I’m at the top, it’s safer. It’s one hell of a climb. Someone’s started to come up the ladder, Charlotte. If it’s not an engineering team, I’m in deep trouble.’

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  ‘We need to step on it. Is he still tailing us?’ Charlotte asked.

  ‘Every time I think I’ve thrown him off, he pops up in front of me or behind me.’ Will answered. ‘There can’t be a device attached to this old van. The company car, maybe, but not this old thing. He didn’t have time, did he?’

  ‘Who knows? Perhaps he just got lucky after I removed the apps from our phones. It’s not like we’re trying to lose him in the centre of London. This is rural Lancashire. We have to get to Kate now; she’s got visitors, and they may not be friendly.’

  ‘What’s the plan?’ Will asked, taking what felt like the hundredth sharp turn into a back street.

  ‘We’re getting nowhere with this. I’m going to take a chance. I want you to drive towards the wind farm. As we’re going down the country lanes, you can switch the lights off, stop the car and let me get out. We need to do it fast. Then you can switch your lights back on. I want you to lead Vinnie away from there.’

  ‘What about you? I’m not leaving you on your own.’

  ‘I’ll cut across the fields when we get close. Vinnie can’t track me with the app off my phone. Drive towards Overton; let him think we’re heading back to Sunderland Point, then drive on to Lancaster Police Station. I’ll meet you there.’

  ‘How will you get there?’

  ‘Will, I don’t have all the answers. We’re reasonably competent between the two of us. I’m sure we’ll figure something out. In the worst-case scenario, Kate and I will hide in the fields somewhere and DI Comfort can send somebody out to collect us. I still have documents hidden which I’ll need to present as evidence, but what we’ve got in the car is good enough for starters. They’re under the carpet in the footwell. Get to the police station and make sure those documents are receipted properly, with
a legal witness present, before you hand them over.’

  Will’s silence told her he was uneasy about the plan, but there was no other way around it. Besides, she owed Kate this.

  Will found the main road once again, and they headed towards Heysham, still driving at speed.

  ‘We’re going to hit the country lanes soon, so be ready for me to give the word.’

  Will nodded his response, flicking the car headlamps on full beam as they left the street lighting behind them.

  The lanes were narrow and winding now, often single track, with hedges so high at their sides that they might as well have been walls. Charlotte wasn’t sure they were in the right place; it was much easier in the light of day when the wind turbines were visible. Then she remembered there were small red lights at the top of the structures, to warn low aircraft of their presence in the dark. She focused on them in the distance.

  ‘Veer to the right as soon as you can,’ she told Will. ‘Get ready to lose the lights.’

  ‘I won’t be able to see the road—’

  ‘The moon’s bright enough and it’s only a couple of minutes. We have to do it this way.’

  Up ahead, Charlotte noticed an illuminated area in a dark field. It looked like somebody had placed a flood lamp there. After a moment, she realised it was a tractor and a farmer doing some night-time ploughing.

  ‘I can’t believe I’m going to do this.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Stop the car.’

  ‘What about the headlamps?’

  ‘Just stop the car, Will.’

  He braked hard, and their seat belts locked.

  She leaned over and kissed him before turning to open her door.

  ‘Remember what I said. Meet me at Lancaster. DI Comfort is your man. Make sure Kate has legal representation when she arrives.’

  She slammed her door and made a motioning sound with her arm to encourage Will to carry on driving. She’d seen stubborn mules look more willing, but he did as he’d been urged and set off down the country lane.

  She walked through the open gate of the field and ducked in behind the hedge. The farmer had stopped the tractor, leaving the engine running. The cab door was open too, but he wasn’t visible in the darkness. Then, some way up ahead, she saw the lit screen of his mobile phone. He was answering nature’s call at the edge of the field, avoiding the glare of the tractor’s headlamps to hide what he was up to in case anyone came along. As Charlotte activated her phone to send a message to Will, a car engine sound came out of nowhere. It was Vinnie, with his headlamps off, following Will in the van.