The Wrong Boy

by Cathy Ace

  As they walked, then stooped and shuffled, Evan answered a call from Betty, whose concise recounting of what had clearly been an emotional heart-to-heart with Aled Beynon surprised him. He briefly passed these new and revealing insights to Liz, and checked facts with Stephen, who was horrified to hear about how Sadie had been treating Aled. The ex-soldier’s resolve seemed to strengthen even more.

  Liz observed, ‘Alright, Sadie’s less stable than we thought. We’ll need to be extra careful; if she sees Stew as a threat to her imagined relationship with Aled, she might be more likely to take action against him, or us.’

  ‘I never liked her. She was always just off-kilter,’ said Stephen, swearing quietly. ‘If she does anything to harm my boy, I’ll—’

  ‘Enough,’ said Liz. ‘You will not break the law while you’re under my command. Got it?’

  Evan could tell she was aiming to tap into the ex-para’s training to take orders from a superior officer. He wondered if it would be effective.

  They finally got close enough to their target area to have to stop even whispering, and made their way on their bellies for the last few minutes, creeping forward like three caterpillars possessed of varying levels of flexibility.

  Finally peering over the edge of the escarpment, the sight that met Evan’s eyes was remarkable, somewhat confusing, and potentially lethal. Stew Wingfield was limp, lying on his stomach on the flat, tabletop stone. Sadie stood astride him, her long dark hair streaming in the wind, her vivid orange top and trousers billowing. In one hand she held what Evan thought was a somewhat dilapidated stuffed rabbit and what looked to be a rusty old bayonet, in the other she had a gun – a revolver, as far as he could tell. She was ululating, swaying her hips, and waving the rabbit and blade above her head.

  Liz used her binoculars to survey the scene and hissed, ‘Can’t tell if the revolver’s loaded, of course; it’s certainly old. Bayonet in her other hand likely to not be sharp. We’re too far away to rush her without endangering Stew.’

  ‘She’s completely lost the plot,’ whispered Stephen. ‘She could do anything to my boy, at any minute. We have to act.’ Evan noticed the muscles in his face twitch as he spoke. It gave him great cause for concern.

  ‘I think it’s best we all follow the orders I was given, and wait,’ said Liz. ‘She seems to be more concerned with some sort of ceremonial whatever-it-is than harming Stew. He doesn’t seem to be in immediate danger.’

  Evan wished he were in charge, but he wasn’t, so he had to ‘make a suggestion’. ‘Given we don’t know her game plan, nor how long this incantation stuff might go on, we could split up, and make a three-pronged approach – left flank and right flank, with one of us remaining here, in the central location. The person in this spot would be the first to engage Sadie, if that’s what’s needed. Their subsequent descent to the Devil’s Table would also be the most precipitous.’

  ‘I’ll do it,’ said Stephen. ‘I’m trained to drop and roll – least likely to get hurt doing it. Also, I want my son to hear his dad’s voice . . . to see me, if he can, and know I’m here for him.’

  ‘I say we wait,’ said Liz, forcefully.

  But Evan knew it was too late for that, when Stephen rose to his feet and called his son’s name.

  Betty

  Maggie Wingfield shouted, ‘I need help out here – Helen’s on the verge of collapsing.’

  Betty helped Agata and Alis to drag Helen into the pub.

  ‘I think she’s past being walked about,’ said Maggie. ‘She’s conscious, but only just. I think we should lay her down on the floor in the recovery position. Can you all give me a hand?’

  Once Helen was correctly positioned on the floor, she seemed to come to her senses for a moment. Looking up at the battered and bloodied Aled she rallied, and began to crawl. Betty was amazed at her strength, given her state.

  ‘Keep away from Sadie. You’re my brother. It’s wrong. Disgusting. Leave her alone.’ Helen’s speech was slurred, as though she were heavily intoxicated.

  Betty had to stop Aled from getting up out of the chair to run away.

  ‘Keep her off me,’ he shouted. ‘They’re all nuts, the Jones women. Nan all but killed my grannie, Sadie’s made my life a complete misery, and now this one’s gone bonkers too. What the hell is she on about? I’m not her brother. She’s crazy.’

  ‘My dad. An affair with your mother. You – they had you,’ said Helen, reaching for Aled’s leg.

  Aled curled into a ball in the chair.

  ‘Shut up!’ he screamed. ‘I know exactly who my father is, thank you very friggin’ much; he’s from Newport. Lives in Spain now. Got a wife and four little kids. Just because my mum didn’t tell anyone else in this village who he was, it doesn’t mean I don’t know. It’s none of anyone else’s business. You’re allowed to keep secrets in a family, aren’t you? Everyone does.’

  Betty judged that Helen had used up the last remnants of her energy, and she collapsed, sprawling across the floor. Betty shouted, ‘Maggie, we might need CPR any minute. I think she’s going into respiratory failure – blue lips.’

  Maggie was shaking, and all but in tears. ‘Oh my God, I hope I can do this. It’s different when it’s a dummy, in training. And what about Stew? Is there any news about him? Oh my God, Stew!’

  Betty held both Maggie’s shoulders, and looked her squarely in the face. ‘You can do it, and it will be just fine, Maggie. And Stew will be fine too. Stephen, Evan, and Liz are on their way to where Sadie and Stew are now. They’re three highly capable people. Now, let’s get Helen into the correct position for CPR . . . there – listen. I can hear an ambulance in the distance. Come on – you can do it, Maggie. Let’s try to make sure the paramedics have a living patient to help when they get here.’

  Evan

  As Stephen towered above them, shouting down to his son, Liz swore under her breath. ‘You go right,’ she whispered, ‘I’ll go left.’ Evan nodded. They belly-wriggled away.

  The moist, springy grass smelled sweet; Evan tried to ignore the sheep droppings. He scrambled to his feet as soon as he dared, and looped around behind such mounds in the hillside as existed, aiming to approach Sadie’s position from beyond the Devil’s Table. He knew Liz would be coming from the direction of the Concubine’s Pillow, and would be able to use the wide curve of the hill to remain hidden until she was almost at the scene.

  In the distance he heard an ambulance siren, a faint sound of hope. Then it stopped. They must have been told to come in silent; lights only. He flattened himself against the steep incline of the slope behind the plateau upon which the massive monuments stood.

  He could tell he was getting close because he could hear voices, but he couldn’t make out what was being said. When he finally had a clear view, he could see Liz mirroring his actions. Sadie was still on top of the Devil’s Table, but now she was facing Stephen’s clifftop position, rather than the sea, and she was pointing the gun at his son’s head. Stew was still face down on the slab – and he wasn’t moving. Evan could see that his back and sides were bloodied. What had Sadie been doing with that bayonet?

  For what he hoped would be the only time in his life, Evan cursed his lack of familiarity with facing firearms. He was grateful he’d not had to do it before, and delighted it was a rarity for a non-specialized officer to have to do it at all. But he wondered how he would react. He was about to find out how brave he really was.

  He broke cover; Liz did likewise. Sadie reeled wildly, waving the gun around, aware she was surrounded. ‘Don’t come any closer,’ she screamed above the gusting wind, ‘or I’ll shoot him. He’ll be a worthy sacrifice.’

  ‘Touch my boy once more, and I’ll kill you.’ Stephen’s reply was guttural, menacing. Evan believed him.

  ‘Quiet now, Stephen. Come on, Sadie, love,’ called Liz. ‘This can all end now. Listen – your mum needs you, Sadie. She’s not very well. There’s an ambulance on its way for her. Why don’t you come back to the pub with us to see how she
’s doing? You’ll want to go to the hospital with her, won’t you?’

  Good approach, thought Evan.

  But it didn’t work.

  Sadie laughed dramatically, and play-acted shock. She mocked, ‘Oh my mummy’s not well? Taken a few nasty tablets has she? There’s no point me going in an ambulance with her, because if she’s not dead yet, she will be soon. Nan had some wicked pills hidden away – her secret stash – and I gave Mam some in her tea this morning. She shouldn’t have said she didn’t want Dad around, should she? We could have been a family again – but oh no, she didn’t want that, did she? Well I fixed her – she can go and join Nan, with the worms, for all I care.’

  Evan’s line of vision allowed him to see ant-like figures moving around the sweep of the bay, toward them; the armed response unit. He had to get Sadie to look at him, and away from them. He had to be the one to engage her now.

  Evan sucked in air, and called out, ‘Did you hurt your grandmother as well as your mother?’ He moved toward Sadie, his hands raised, unable to let Liz and Stephen know why he was doing what he was doing. He hoped they both worked it out.

  Sadie laughed again, this time hugging the stuffed rabbit, and the bayonet, to her breast. ‘Nan? No. I didn’t need to. Went down all on her own, she did.’

  Evan was at least a little relieved. ‘And what about Aled’s Grannie Gwen – did you maybe have something to do with her becoming ill?’

  Sadie stopped twirling the gun. ‘Oh aren’t you a clever mister retired policeman. You guessed. Yes, it didn’t take much. I went over to her and gave her a mug of hot chocolate and her tablets, like Aled used to do every night. But a few extra, you know? Loved the fuss I made of her, she did. Missing him, you see – because you lot had taken him. Which wasn’t nice at all. I went and made her tea the next morning and gave her more pills. Do you know they use warfarin to poison rats? It’s horrible stuff. I wasn’t sure when it would kill her, but I knew it would. And it did, in the end. It was just good luck that everyone blamed Nan. She always thought she was the queen of the village. But that’s me – I’m the special one, not her. She’s in a box now. And I’m here.’

  Evan could see Sadie was about to turn in Liz’s direction, and he couldn’t have that.

  He shouted, ‘But why, Sadie? Why did you do that? Aled loved his grannie. Wouldn’t she have been a part of your family?’

  Sadie rocked on the balls of her bare feet. ‘No, she wouldn’t. She and Nan didn’t get on, and Nan was my blood. I didn’t know Nan would die, see? So Grannie Gwen had to go. Besides, Aled and I will need the money.’

  Each time Sadie spoke, Evan slithered his feet along the grass just a little, so she wouldn’t notice he was moving ever closer. Liz mirrored his actions, Stephen held his position.

  Evan pressed. ‘What money?’

  ‘The money for the cottage, of course. God, you old people don’t live in the real world at all, do you? Green Cottage is worth at least a quarter of a million, just for the outer shell and its location. People will be lining up for it. Do it up, keep the look of it right for the conservation lot, and sell it on or rent it out. Worth a fortune. And all of it for Aled and me. Of course, when Nan died the pub became Mam’s, and when she goes – if she hasn’t already – it’ll be mine. So we can live there, and have Aled’s money too. See? Perfect.’

  ‘You don’t want to leave Rhosddraig? You want to stay here?’ Evan had to keep her talking.

  ‘Leave my secret places? No, of course not. This is where I come to be myself – my true self. My time will come, very soon, then I can reveal myself, but not until I’m eighteen. Not long now. On May 27th the world will celebrate the Feast of St Melangell, and I will finally take my place here, at the left hand of my master, and will become her current embodiment; it is my day of final transformation. See here –’ she held the stuffed toy above her head – ‘hares are the lambs of St Melangell. They travel between worlds as they wish, they are my messengers.’

  Evan knew he was getting caught up in a lot of mumbo-jumbo that Betty would be much better suited to deal with. He wondered if he should follow Sadie down what might be a literal rabbit hole. Was that the best way to find out what he needed to know?

  ‘I saw some photographs of you here one night – on Halloween, in fact. Was that a special night for St Melangell too?’

  Sadie started to talk to Stew, poking his limp body with her foot. ‘He’s really thick, isn’t he? Everyone knows Halloween belongs to the devil himself – it’s his night, when all those he has taken come back to visit the world above. I was up here, communing with my master, when I saw flashes. Someone was taking my photo. A boy with a camera? On such a magical night? I didn’t want him seeing my secrets; we fought over the camera, but he was large, and clumsy. He fell into the chamber beneath the Concubine’s Pillow – I think the devil himself grabbed his ankles, and in he went. Poor thing – he cried like a baby. Said his leg hurt. There was blood, and it was all bent. He couldn’t leave, so I pushed him further down, right inside, and kept him there.’

  ‘You kept James Powell prisoner in the chamber beneath the Concubine’s Pillow?’ Evan wanted to be sure he got all the facts.

  ‘Well, not really as a prisoner. He couldn’t walk, so of course he had to stay there. I fed him, gave him water. Right there and then I gave him a little bit of my holy food, and that’s when I knew he’d been sent to me that night. He saw the truth, like I do. He saw the colors, and the way the earth and the air move.’

  ‘So you kept James Powell hidden up here, all the time from Halloween until November 5th? Why, Sadie? And why did you kill him then?’ Evan could see the tactical team fanning out from the path in the distance.

  ‘I didn’t kill him. Why would I do that? The devil was the one who took his life-breath. I came back one morning, and he was dead. Hadn’t even eaten the sandwich I’d brought him the night before. I stayed with him for a bit, and ate it for him.’

  Evan was working his way mentally through the timeline on the wardrobe door of his spare bedroom. ‘So why did you burn his body on November 5th? It was you who did that, wasn’t it?’ He felt he was getting closer to the truth at last.

  ‘Oh yes, that was me. I had to really, because it was meant. See, to start with, I couldn’t move him when he died, of course, because he was a real lump. So I set fire to him where he was, inside the mouth of the door to the other place, beneath the Concubine’s Pillow. It took hours for him to burn, but that was okay – there weren’t big flames, so no one saw anything. I left him to it. Came back the next morning, and he’d transformed, as I knew he would. But I didn’t want him telling tales in the other world, so I had to take his teeth out, of course. Did you know it’s really hard to get teeth out of a skull? I thought they’d just fall out, but it seems they don’t; I had to go and get a big hammer from the pub’s cellar and smash his skull to bits. Once the skull was smashed, I just kept going. It didn’t take long. In fact, once I got into the swing of it, it was fun. It’s amazing how brittle bones can be. Some of the big bits were tougher, but even they gave way when I really put some effort into it.’

  Evan hid his creeping disgust at Sadie’s unfeeling words. He was now within about six feet of the Devil’s Table. ‘So why the big fire on November 5th? And why place his remains in a pile where they could be found, covered with stones?’

  Sadie bent down on her haunches, poking Stew’s back with the barrel of the gun. Evan was horrified to see that the boy still didn’t react. He couldn’t see his face. He wished he knew if his eyes were open or not; that would tell him a lot . . . maybe too much.

  ‘You’re so thick. It’s true what they say about policemen. It was a full moon on the 5th, of course. Don’t you know how special a full moon is? How powerful it can be? Well, take it from me, it is. Very. I didn’t know the boy’s name, didn’t really care, though I did think it was weird that he ended up being related to the bloke who killed Aled’s mother – so it definitely must have been meant – but
I knew he’d been sent to me even before I learned that. You see, I’d been planning to sacrifice a sheep to my master, but I couldn’t find one, then along he came and . . . well, there you are. He was sent to be a sacrifice. He gave his life so I could become stronger, more fit for my master; so I felt it fair to mark his passing with a memorial – his own cairn. I couldn’t believe it when everyone got so excited about it. That came as a surprise.’

  Evan was truly puzzled. ‘You didn’t think people would be interested in a pile of bones buried under stones? You must have suspected the police would want to know whose body it was.’

  Sadie stood again, and began to sway. ‘No, not really, because it wasn’t a body you see. The boy had transformed. No one ever talked about “a body” did they? Everyone talked about “remains”. That was all they were – bits of leftover stuff from when he’d been a person; he doesn’t need them in the other place – ask Mrs Hare, she’ll tell you . . . no one there has need of a body, they’re just raw emotion.’

  Sadie whispered something into the ear of her stuffed toy, and laughed, nodding her head.

  Evan’s gut was all over the place; he knew this girl had killed, he knew she had weapons at her disposal which meant she could do so again, and he didn’t doubt she might. But surely she was mentally ill? Some sort of psychosis? He wished he could ask Betty a few questions. Sadie was spouting a lot of mixed-up, made-up twaddle. He couldn’t imagine where she’d dredged it from. But he was in no doubt that, to her, it all seemed real, and meaningful.

  So dangerous.

  What would a teenager with such a warped set of beliefs do when confronted by masked men brandishing firearms and loudhailers?

  He couldn’t be sure – but what he did know was that he might find out in a few minutes; the response team had stopped moving. He reckoned they must be getting into their final positions. But to do what? That was what worried him.