Bound By Blood

by Paul J. Teague

  ‘I’ve got to follow them. They’ve got Tiffany.’

  ‘They’re gone, you idiot. This is not the sort of job Fabian gets some local knuckle-dragger in a Morecambe pub to carry out. These Russians are professionals. They’ll get you sooner or later. You’re a dead man, Brett. You should never have got involved in Fabian’s business.’

  ‘I have to follow them.’

  Brett ran towards where he’d parked his car. The headlamps were still off, just as he’d left it. Had Tiffany even made it as far as the car? He rushed up to the rear window; Rowan was gone. They’d got Rowan, his son.

  Then, in the silence of the night, he heard a gurgle from the boot of the car. He rushed to open it up. Rowan was there, wriggling out from underneath a blanket that he kept there for emergencies. Tiffany must have hidden him. She’d chosen to save one of her children, the son he had fathered.

  They were all his children, as far as he was concerned. When he met Tiffany, they came as a package, and he loved them all.

  He had to follow them, to alert Kate and get the police involved. There was no way out of it. He secured Rowan in the baby seat they’d bought for their escape, climbed into his car, started the engine, then moved around to where David and Tiffany’s second car was swiftly becoming a burnt-out metal carcass.

  ‘Help me with David,’ he cried to Joanne.

  ‘You’re not taking him. Fabian will kill him now. He’s useless to them.’

  ‘I have to get him to a hospital—’

  ‘They’ll kill him, you fool.’

  Brett looked at Joanne’s wound. She was hurt and bleeding, but in nowhere near as much danger as David. He moved to lift David, but Joanne tried to pull him away, screaming hysterically that Fabian would finish him and she was his best hope. Brett’s only chance of helping Tiffany was to follow the Russians along the country lane before he lost them. At this time of night, he could follow their headlamps in the darkness. Once they hit the main roads, they’d be gone.

  Even as he moved his hand towards Joanne, he despised himself for what he was doing. But they were out of options, so he had to go; he couldn’t stand there arguing with her. He pushed her, and she fell to the ground. Returning to David, whose clothing was now drenched in blood, Brett lifted him by the armpits and bundled him into the passenger seat, resting him on the blanket Rowan had been concealed in, to absorb the blood.

  He drove off, his mind a confusion of a million questions without answers. Would Joanne survive out there? Could he save David and get to Tiffany and the children in time? He floored the accelerator, aware there was so little time left now, throwing the car around the corners of the winding lanes as if he were auditioning on a rally track.

  Soon enough, he picked up two headlamp beams way up ahead. He switched to sidelights, not wanting to alert them to his presence. If they’d missed Rowan, they couldn’t have found his car. Maybe they’d decided to settle for the two children, bearing in mind the car was burning in the middle of nowhere and it might be spotted. Tiffany must have sacrificed herself and the girls to save Rowan. There was no other explanation. She’d saved his son.

  Brett kept at a safe distance until they joined a main road, then tucked himself behind them at a safe distance. The roads were deserted; everyone was getting ready to celebrate the new millennium. As he drove, he used one hand to dial Kate on his mobile phone. She answered immediately.

  ‘Brett?’

  ‘They’ve shot David, Kate. They’ve taken Tiff and the girls. What do I do? What do I do, Kate?’

  ‘Where are you Brett?’

  ‘Just coming into Morecambe now.’

  ‘I’m on the promenade, Brett. Near Woolworths. I’ll wait in the arcade next to the Winter Gardens. Come to me.’

  As Brett tailed the cars along the promenade, he watched as they turned off at the abandoned Midland Hotel. What were they going to do there? Torn for a moment, he hesitated. They had a gun. He was out of his depth. Kate would help. Kate would know what to do. Kate always knew what to do for the best.

  With every sinew in his body wanting to follow Tiffany, he drove on past the decaying hotel and pulled up opposite the dark arcade at the side of the Winter Gardens.

  Kate rushed out to him, dressed in her civilian clothes. Brett looked at his watch; this was the time they were supposed to meet. Only it was meant to be different.

  His sister rushed around to the passenger side of the car, her hands checking the lifeless body of Tiffany’s husband.

  ‘Oh my God, he’s dead, Brett. He’s already dead. What happened? Where are the children? Where is Tiffany?’

  ‘Joanne said they want to kill us and sell the children for adoption. There were Russians there. I didn’t know what to do, Kate—’

  He broke down in tears, out of answers, not knowing what to do for the best. As he sobbed, he sensed a calmness coming over his sister; he’d witnessed it once before, when the police officers came around to the house to tell them their father was dead. She was taking control.

  ‘Brett, I want you to take the baby and David’s body, and hide—’

  ‘But... Tiffany and the girls... they were taking them to the promenade, Kate. I don’t know what’s going to happen.’

  ‘I’ll handle it, Brett. I’ll get Tiffany and the children. David is dead; you can’t help him now. We must do our best for Tiffany and the girls. Trust me, Brett. I’ll get to Tiffany and call my colleagues. I’ll get them to safety where Fabian can’t touch them. But you must hide, Brett, in case they come to you. I’ll work it out, Brett. I’ll figure something out. Now go!’

  ‘But where shall I hide?’

  ‘Somewhere out of the way where nobody will see you. Remember the place we discovered in the summer? Sunderland Point? Nobody lives out there. Find a place to hide the car and lie low. I’ll get to you. Take the envelope from my mailbox, like we discussed. You’ll need your documents. Keep your mobile phone on. Now go! Go, Brett.’

  Brett drove off, watching his sister in his wing mirror as he did so. As she grew smaller in the distance, he watched as she calmly returned to the darkness of the arcade, carefully wiping the blood from her hands.

  Epilogue

  A cascade of coloured streamers shot out across the table as the gathered friends let out a cheer and a spontaneous round of applause to celebrate Charlotte and Kate’s arrival. The two women smiled, and Charlotte hugged her family members, but it was overwhelming and, on consideration, a little too soon.

  Charlotte lifted a glass of bubbly with her still-bandaged hand and made a toast.

  ‘To good friends and lucky escapes!’

  Laughter and cheering filled the room as glasses were raised.

  Charlotte and Kate were late for a reason. It was the first chance they’d had to talk properly since the events which had rocked their lives. They’d met up at a nearby pub prior to joining the group, keen to set things straight before getting caught up in the celebrations.

  ‘You got away with just a bandage then,’ Kate remarked as the two women embraced at the entrance to the pub. This was only the second time they’d hugged like this; the first time had been at the edge of the wind turbine as they’d sobbed together, relieved at having escaped with their lives.

  ‘The chain burned my skin as I tried to get hold of it. It’s still incredibly sore, but it’ll heal. Cream and bandages aren’t a bad price to pay considering what happened.’

  Kate wiped a tear from her eye, and they ordered soft drinks. They exchanged small talk until they’d found a quiet corner away from anybody else where they could speak freely.

  ‘So, where are you up to with your job?’ Charlotte asked. ‘Do you still have one?’

  Kate sighed, more weary than Charlotte had ever seen her.

  ‘Yes, just about, after the misconduct panel. I was saved by mitigating circumstances and the overall outcome of the case. I’m going to get a written warning that will stay on my record. The Chief Constable called me in. This is off the record,
by the way—’

  ‘Of course, Kate. This is between you and me now. There was nothing else you could do. You did your best.’

  ‘He basically said I did a superb job in exposing what Fabian and Vinnie were up to. But the historical error I made over concealing David Irwin’s death had to be noted on my record. He acknowledged I was a rookie copper at the time and that I was disciplined back in 2000 for disappearing for three days, but that my career has been exemplary since then. He’s made it go away, but he let me know how difficult it was for him to pull it off. It’ll always be there lurking on my personnel file, but I can go back to my desk at the beginning of next month. The suspension on full pay will continue until then.’

  ‘I’m so pleased, Kate; it was the right decision. You saved my life up there. It’s been constantly on my mind, and I’m still not sure how we made it out alive. I thought I was a goner after Vinnie threw me out towards the rear of the wind turbine. I’ve never felt a scarier sensation in my life; when I did the tandem skydive, at least I was strapped onto something.’

  They sat in silence, replaying the events in their minds.

  ‘Oh,’ Charlotte said, remembering something else she had to thank Kate for, ‘the digital forensics people confirmed that the pornography Vinnie placed on our computers won’t be a problem for us. They’ve taken away our devices as evidence, but we’re not under any suspicion. That was a nasty trick. So was the haul taken from the doctor’s house to frame the kids. Doctor Henderson isn’t pressing any charges, he backed away completely. I’m not sure what will happen to him now.’

  Kate looked down at her drink.

  ‘Can I trust you with a secret, Charlotte?’ she asked. ‘This must stay between you and me. But I have to tell someone, after all the secrets I’ve been concealing.’

  ‘It’s safe with me, Kate. You saved my life; I owe you everything.’

  ‘Vinnie didn’t fall. I pushed him off the edge—’

  Charlotte gasped.

  ‘I haven’t admitted it in my official report. But the man was too damn strong, and he’d shot me. I told them he tripped over Joanne’s body. I was too sore and weak to fight him. Besides, we were right on the edge of the turbine. I was watching your grip loosen on the chain, and it was Vinnie or us; I chose Vinnie. The man wouldn’t have stopped until he’d finished us off.’

  ‘I heard the thud as he hit the concrete at the bottom of the turbine,’ Charlotte began, ‘it wasn’t a nice way to go.’

  She paused, the image of Vinnie’s final moments still vivid in her mind.

  ‘I have a secret too,’ Charlotte continued.

  ‘Charlotte, I know. I figured it out on my own a year ago. Why do you think I’m telling you this now? I realised you and Will were involved in Bruce Craven’s final hours much more than you ever admitted. It’s fine; he got what was coming to him, just like Vinnie did. Sometimes we have to make decisions that most people will never have to confront in their lives. I’m comfortable with mine. I suspect you and Will know you didn’t really have any other choice with Bruce. We’re all honest people; the guilt we’ll carry with us is punishment enough.’

  ‘I won’t say a thing,’ Charlotte said, after replaying the events in her head. Kate was right; it must have been a split-second decision. When Vinnie had pushed her out of the top of the turbine, she’d heard the swish of the blades outside. He’d not quite hurled her far enough, so she was able to grasp for something to hold on to. One of the chains that had protected her at the top of the turbine on her first climb with Sam Halford had saved her from Vinnie Mace. It had all happened so quickly.

  ‘Is there any way an investigations team can tell exactly what happened up there?’ Charlotte asked. ‘They have specialist crime scene people who can figure these things out, don’t they?’

  ‘You and I are the only witnesses left, Charlotte. Joanne’s body was still in the position where Vinnie had shot her. You saw how he got my prints on the gun and was trying to set it up as a triangle between the three of us. As for his fall... well, he probably died as soon as he hit the ground. It’s fine, Charlotte; he’s dead and we’re safe. Fabian Armstrong has been charged with a list as long as your arm: fraud, unlawful imprisonment, intimidation, murder, illegal weapons use... you name it, it’s probably on the list somewhere.’

  ‘Will he end up in prison?’ Charlotte asked. She already knew enough about men like Fabian Armstrong. They got thugs like Vinnie Mace to do their dirty work and expensive lawyers to take care of anybody who dared to challenge them.

  ‘I’m certain he will, eventually. He’s not a well-liked man. They’ll need to build a case against him and make sure it’s watertight, but his head will roll, I’m certain of it. So, what news do you have for me? How are Tiffany and the kids?’

  Charlotte didn’t know where to start. So much had happened since that night.

  ‘Well, Tiffany can’t join us at the meal this evening; she’s still in a bad way. But she’s getting the treatment she needs now. It’ll be a long haul for her to recover; you don’t spend your life tranquilised and get to walk away like it never happened. She’s addicted, I think. The poor woman lost so many years.’

  ‘What about the girls?’ Kate asked.

  ‘They seem good now. Joanne Taylor had set Hollie up. She’d spent years and years tracking the kids down. She probably couldn’t believe her luck that Hollie had gone to university in Lancaster. She created a connection between Hollie and Will, to get to me and you. Hollie’s a good kid. She’s confused by it all, but Joanne had convinced her you were to blame for all the secrets in her life. She was trying to do the same to Callie too, but she fell into police hands before Joanne could get her claws into her. It’s lucky Callie came to me when she fled from the hospital. Joanne was completely screwed up by what had happened in the past. I’m not sure we’ll ever know the full truth.’

  ‘It was a mess then, and it’s still a mess,’ said Kate, shaking her head again. ‘Joanne was confirmed as Evan Farrish’s killer, by the way. She’d planted evidence from my house at the scene to make them suspect me. I’m not sure why she killed Evan. I suspect he may have recognised her and threatened to inform the police. We can’t tell for sure though, not with both of them dead. You saw the look in her eyes; she was crazy for revenge. Poor Evan. I hope I don’t end up that way when I retire.’

  ‘He was a good guy; he didn’t deserve it,’ Charlotte agreed.

  Kate sighed. ‘It’s those kids I feel sorry for. What a terrible start to life.’

  ‘Well, we managed to save the original will and testament covering Tiffany’s inheritance of the land, thanks to you and your information about Brett’s container,’ Charlotte said, smiling. ‘At least Tiffany can prove it’s all hers now. Fabian got their father to make a new will. He knew about the original but kept quiet about it once they’d had Tiffany committed. What a brother. I wouldn’t fancy having to unpick that legal knot.’

  ‘Neither would I,’ Kate agreed. ‘It’s going to take some sorting by the sound of it. But with Hollie’s DNA test confirming her identity as Jane, it’s only a matter of time until the kids and Tiffany get what’s due to them. There’ll be an investigation into the adoption of the children twenty years ago. From the parents’ point of view, it seems they believed it to be a legal and legitimate arrangement. The paperwork was forged. They paid a lot of money to a private agency to adopt those children. I hope there are no charges pressed; it would destroy the children.’

  ‘So, what of Brett?’ Charlotte asked, after mulling over Kate’s words. ‘What happened to him? It’s the only part of the story that seems unresolved.’

  Kate smiled, looking as if she’d been bursting to share the news.

  ‘I’ve been in contact with him, but I couldn’t tell anybody. As far as the authorities are concerned, he died at Sunderland Point, though as his only next of kin, I’d never asked them to declare him dead.’

  Her eyes brimmed with tears.

  ‘He’s alive,
Charlotte. He reached out to me when he read about Callie being found. He saw it on the internet. That’s when he told me about the documents in the container. He’s been living in Australia for twenty years, raising Rowan on his own. He still feels like a fugitive and won’t dare show his face while Fabian Armstrong is still alive. I’m travelling to Australia next month for a reunion with him. I’m not telling anybody until I can be certain he won’t get into trouble with the UK justice system. I still don’t know who the bad apple is among my police colleagues, so I’m playing my cards close to my chest for now.’

  ‘Will he come back to the UK? What about Tiffany?’

  ‘There’s too much water under the bridge to say,’ Kate answered. ‘But Rowan was their child, so he’ll possibly come back to the UK when she’s well enough. Only if it’s safe for him, though. I guess they might pick it up from there. Until then, Brett and I are getting to know each other again over Skype. I feel so angry about the time we lost. I thought he was dead, Charlotte.’

  The two women hugged again, reluctant to leave for the celebration meal until they’d worked through everything.

  ‘What happened during the three days you went AWOL from the police, Kate? Were you protecting Brett?’

  ‘He was hiding out at Sunderland Point with Rowan. I took food to him, as well as nappies and milk for the baby. We were young and scared, Charlotte; we didn’t know what to do. Then, one day, I woke to the news that they’d found the car on the slipway. Like everybody else, I assumed Brett was dead. David’s body had vanished, Joanne had disappeared into the night, and Brett and Rowan were gone too. When I spoke to Brett on Skype, he told me he’d put David’s body in his car so it would be washed out to sea. He hoped it would clean the blood off the car, so the police wouldn’t think he’d killed David. He was so scared, Charlotte. But he protected me. He knew he had to disappear to keep Rowan and me safe. The whole thing was just a big mess.’