by R. J. Parker
The shape didn’t budge.
A low rumble built in Leah’s head. She recognised the waterproof light-blue jacket. It was the hooded one Elliot had been wearing when he’d left for the station that morning. ‘Elliot?’ She said, louder, her voice cracking.
Still no response.
Leah moved inside the room, her hand holding open the panel. ‘Elliot?’ She’d said it loudly enough. He should have heard. Maybe he was sedated.
Despite her frantic need to reach Elliot she spun round again, the torch going in every direction but finding nobody. She returned her attention to the motionless figure. As she took another pace forward, she could see that he was facing the wall.
The rumble became a boom, the pressure building to the moment she’d been dreading since she first had the phone call from Tate. He’d shown no mercy to Alice Booth, Katya Boyers or the Trents. Why would he towards a man he saw as a threat?
She covered the space between the door and where he was lying, but now she didn’t want to touch him. Leah tried to hold the beam steady. He was quite still. ‘Elliot?’
The door closed gently behind her, but she scarcely registered it.
She leaned over him. The hood was up and covering the side of his face. She whispered his name now, waited for any tiny movement. She couldn’t contemplate the reason for him being so still.
Leah put the crowbar under her left armpit, reached out and put her right hand on his shoulder. He didn’t flinch. The flesh was solid in her fingers. She gripped it harder, parted her feet and tensed her stomach. She tried to turn him, attempted to roll him towards her like she had Katya. He was too heavy.
Leah recalled the Trents in the bath. Their dead weight face down in their drained blood.
The body came with her third tug, twisting around, the back of his hand slapping against the floor.
Leah could see the blood on the side of the light-blue hood. One half of his face had been in a dark pool. It had been scored, multiple times. Slits cut at all angles in his cheeks, through his eyes and across his chin. But Leah still recognised him.
She straightened, her torch still spotlighting the notched features, her arm trembling as she took them in and a gasp escaped her. Her brain grappled with the dead expression before she realised how recently she’d seen it. It was Lownes, the man who had approached DI Byrne at the park gates.
As she repositioned her feet, her left boot slid in the dark slick that had been discharged by the movement of his body. Her low sound of revulsion seemed amplified by the low ceiling. There was a deep gash across his throat. He was quite dead. When had Byrne said he’d been released from custody?
Her beam remained on his face, his dead stare and his slit eyelids. Not looking away as if reassuring herself that it wasn’t Elliot. But Tate had dressed him in Elliot’s coat. Murdering an innocent man to deliberately traumatise her into believing it was her husband.
She remained there for another few seconds before lowering the light. But the image of his shredded face remained burnt into her vision as she turned and stumbled back to the door.
Using both hands she wrenched down hard on the handle.
It clicked and the door swung out.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Leah had to get out of the enclosure. Lownes and his mutilated face were behind her now, but every detail was settling in her mind. She was desperate to breathe fresh air. The darkness and the aroma had inflated a balloon in her chest that felt like it was about to burst.
Gripping the mini crowbar, she staggered down the steps. Leah swung her torch from side to side and headed for the plastic drapes.
Passing through them to the walkway, she anticipated footfalls behind her. Was Lownes the only reason Tate had summoned her to this place, dressing him in Elliot’s jacket to illustrate just what he was prepared to do if she wasn’t obedient? Or was he still concealed somewhere nearby? And what had he done with Elliot?
But she had to get out before the horror of the place overcame her. She started to run, the beam bouncing before her as she pumped her arms. The square of dirty white light at the doors grew bigger as she allowed herself to suck in a breath. If he was here, would he really let her leave?
She was about twenty feet from the sliding doors when she heard the noise. She slowed, whipping the torch behind her and confirming there was nobody there before she returned her attention to the entrance.
A car was pulling up outside.
Leah darted left and moved more slowly towards the door, using its edge as cover. Lurking in the shadows, she squinted against the daylight. It was a purple car and it had just finished parking next to hers.
As the door opened, she reversed a couple of steps. A pot-bellied, bearded man in a dark leather jacket emerged and quickly assessed his surroundings before quietly clicking his door shut. Leah shone the beam behind her again; the walkway was still empty.
In front of her, the man was looking over her car. He peered through the driver’s window and then took in the building.
Leah retreated another pace. Was he a police officer who had followed her from Alice Booth’s place?
As if to answer her question, the man took out a radio from his inside jacket pocket and spoke into it. ‘Just driven to the last enclosure. D. Her car’s parked outside.’
There was a response from the radio that Leah couldn’t hear.
‘The door is open so am assuming she’s inside.’
Another incoherent reply.
‘OK. Will hold fire until you arrive.’ The man put away his radio but started strolling towards the building.
Leah fought the impulse to approach him. She reminded herself that, if she did, she might never see Elliot again.
The man hesitated as he reached the doors, his expression nervous.
Leah slunk away, pointing her light at the floor and finding the rail of the pen. She could run her hand along it and use it as a guide. She swiped off the torch and looked back.
The police officer’s figure appeared at the door, but he seemed reluctant to enter.
Leah crouched where she was and didn’t make a sound.
The police officer stepped over the threshold and the beam of his phone torch came on.
It was too weak to reach Leah where she was, but she slid further along the pen, so she was in the deep shadows.
The police officer remained in his position.
She couldn’t afford to give her location away and prayed she didn’t disturb anything on the ground as she followed the pen to its far edge. If he found her, she’d have to tell him exactly what she was doing here. Was there another way out of the enclosure? She let go of the rail. Extending her hands, she carefully shuffled forward until her palms connected with cold, damp corrugated metal. She was at the wall. Maybe there was a side door. Chances were, it was going to be locked though.
Her phone rang.
Leah quickly scrabbled it out of her pocket and silenced it after two rings.
‘Who’s that? Mrs Talbot?’
Leah put a hand over her mouth, as if she didn’t trust herself to stay quiet.
‘Mrs Talbot, are you all right?’
She clenched her palm tight to her lips.
‘I’m Police Constable Miles. Are you OK?’ His voice echoed around the space.
Leah watched him take three steps inside and swing his light around. She crouched until her knee touched the floor.
‘Do you need help?’
When she still didn’t reply, Leah watched his outline stiffen.
‘OK. Backup’s on the way. If you can hear me, walk to the front of the building.’ He tried to sound officious but there was tension in his voice.
She stayed put and watched him venture further in, his torch now pointed between the pens.
The police officer paused. ‘If you can hear me, walk towards my voice.’ He waited.
Leah guessed he was hoping he didn’t have to go any further.
After a few moments of realising he did,
the police officer started making his way down the walkway.
Leah held her breath as his beam moved into her line of sight and then went beyond it. Should she risk trying to leave via the front entrance or would he see her silhouetted there and quickly intercept her?
‘Mrs Talbot?’ He briefly shone his phone back behind him before returning it to the path Leah had just followed.
He was now halfway along the walkway. Soon he’d be entering the dispatch area where Lownes was. Leah stood upright and crept towards the entrance. If she stayed in the shadows she could sidle right up to the door and only be visible when she slipped around the edge.
‘Mrs Talbot?’ He was at the drapes now.
Leah didn’t wait to find out if he was brave enough to enter. She strode towards the door, clenching herself as the daylight eventually fell on her face.
Chapter Forty-Nine
When Leah got outside, she swivelled back and saw the officer’s torch beam playing over the drapes. Looked like he was in two minds about whether to enter. In minutes he’d find Lownes, and she had to be long gone by then.
She walked delicately over the gravel towards her car. If she started the engine, he would definitely hear her. How long would it take him to exit the building? Time enough for her to get off the site, or would he be able to catch up to her in his car? It sounded like his colleagues were about to arrive. If she went on foot, she could skirt the enclosures and stay out of sight of police vehicles coming the other way.
Was she meant to stay on the pig farm? She quickly checked her phone. It was a missed call from her father.
Leah looked back again. Had she missed something else in there? Something the officer was about to find? Surely if Tate had been lying in wait, he would have made himself known to her before she’d left. Maybe he was giving her time to find the body before he called her with his next instructions. Being in the daylight did nothing to shift the spectre of Lownes and his carved-up face. She had to get away from the officer. Couldn’t afford to have him delay her and start asking questions while Elliot was still a prisoner.
Leah cringed as she used her fob to unlock the car doors but then a thought struck her. She peered in through the officer’s window and spotted his keys still in the ignition. She painstakingly opened his door, slid them out and then pocketed them. She’d hand them back when this was all over.
She got in her own car and threw the crowbar in the back. Once she started the engine, she’d have to shoot out of there as fast as she could. There was plenty of room in front of the enclosure though so Leah calculated she could easily exit in one arc and not have to slow down. She took a breath.
Suddenly there was the buzz of an approaching engine.
Leah froze and listened. It was definitely coming towards her. Must be the backup the officer had mentioned. Should she go regardless? The track in had been tight. They could easily block her escape.
She swiftly got out of the car. Scrambling behind it to the bushes there, she skirted the edge until she came to the side of the road leading in. Leah pressed herself to a fence post.
The engine got louder and a few moments later a yellow car entered the area in front of the outbuilding. As soon as it had passed, she slipped around the corner and scrambled up the track until she’d rounded the bend. Had they spotted her in the rear-view?
Leah waited there, chest heaving. She heard the engine switch off and two doors slam. Footsteps over gravel. Were they heading up the track towards her? The footfalls didn’t get louder. They changed pitch. They were following the first officer inside the enclosure.
She turned and started jogging along the track. She would get off it as soon as she could; just in case there were more cars headed the same way. Get behind the next enclosure, stay out of sight and decide what to do next.
Leah’s phone buzzed in her hand.
DAD.
She didn’t have time. But what if he’d had another fall in the shower? She would answer him quickly, find out if he was OK and tell him she’d call back.
‘Olivia?’
‘No, Dad. It’s Leah.’
‘Yes,’ he dismissed, grouchily. ‘Is your mother with you?’
Leah briefly closed her eyes. There was no time for the usual conversation. ‘No, she’s not.’
‘Well, she’s not here.’ There was accusation in his voice.
‘I’m in the middle of something, Dad. I’ll call you back as soon as I can.’
‘I need to go outside but I can’t find the key to the garage.’
That wasn’t good. The last time he’d journeyed out they’d found him in the local library after hours of searching. Panic heaped on panic. ‘There’s no need for you to go to the garage.’ Leah had the key. It was permanently locked up. They’d had to sell the car to stop him from wanting to take it for a spin, but he often assumed it was still in there. ‘You can’t go out in the BMW, Dad.’
‘I know that,’ he said with hostility, as if she were patronising him. ‘I just need the key.’
Leah trotted faster down the path. ‘What for?’
Silence. He’d forgotten.
‘You don’t need to go out there. It’s freezing today. Stay in the warm and I’ll be there as soon as I can.’ She felt a pang of guilt, knowing that as soon as he’d put the phone down, the promise would be forgotten anyway.
‘Ah, wait. I do remember. I need to get some things out but I’m not sure where they are. Put your mother on.’
‘She’s not here.’ Leah could feel her chest tightening. ‘Don’t try to go out there. Promise me. I have to hang up now.’
‘Don’t know why I bothered calling. I’ll find them myself.’
Leah stopped on the track. ‘There’s nothing out there you need, Dad.’
‘How do you know?’ he snapped.
‘The car is gone, Mum’s gone – she died two years ago, and you were too ill to go to the funeral!’
Silence.
Leah sighed. It wasn’t the first time she’d broken the news to him but never with such anger. It would be forgotten but for the following moments it would be as raw to him as the first time she’d told him. ‘Dad…’
‘I remember that. I know…’ But his voice was small, his confusion barely concealed.
She steadied her voice. ‘I’ll be coming as soon as I can. Just see what’s on TV ’til I get there.’
He sniffed. ‘Now you’ve got me upset in front of my guest.’
Leah started to shake her head but froze. ‘What guest?’
‘Your friend. The one who wants the things from the garage.’
‘What friend, Dad?’ The booming in her head was back.
The phone clunked. A low voice spoke to her father.
Leah immediately recognised it.
He breathed in before he addressed her. ‘Now this is the sort of place that I can really inhabit. Care to join us?’
Chapter Fifty
Leah’s stomach lurched and Tate’s presence in her father’s world struck her briefly dumb.
‘Did you find Lownes?’
‘What are you doing there?’
‘I needed somewhere intimate. This cottage is really something. Chocolate box.’
‘Don’t you dare hurt him.’ How had he inveigled his way in?
‘Why don’t you rustle up that coffee you were talking about?’ Tate said away from the phone.
Leah heard her father say something incoherent and his footsteps shuffle off to the kitchen. ‘Get out of there. Now.’ She couldn’t restrain her anger.
‘But we’ve made ourselves at home.’
‘We?’
‘Elliot and I.’
Should she be relieved or was he lying? ‘Put Elliot on.’
‘Unable to. He’s still in the car.’
Leah imagined him tied up there. If he was there at all. ‘I’m not doing anything until I speak to Elliot and you get out of that house.’
‘The kettle’s on again. It would be rude of me to refuse yo
ur father’s hospitality.’
‘Why have you involved him?’ But she already knew the answer.
‘Making sure you know what’s at stake. With all Elliot’s done I wouldn’t blame you for leaving him in my tender care but your father ... he seems like a good man.’
Hatred coursed through Leah now. ‘He’s got Alzheimer’s.’
‘Yes, Elliot told me. Pretty advanced too. I’ve told your father I’m Elliot. I could see he doubted that when he opened the door and I introduced myself. But I think he’s playing along because he’s not sure.’
‘I’ll meet you anywhere. Do anything you ask.’
‘You’ve promised that already.’
‘And I’ve done it!’
‘Sorry. Do you have sugar? I should know by now…’ her father said from the kitchen.
‘No sugar for me.’
‘What did you want from the garage?’ Leah demanded.
‘Said I needed to borrow his tools.’ Tate lowered his voice. ‘He’s been very helpful, but he can’t find the key.’
‘I have the key. It’s in the drawer at home.’
‘Not much use there then. I’ll have to improvise with what I can find in the house.’
‘Tell me where you want to meet me.’ Her plea dried in her throat.
‘I think here’s good. We have privacy. Oh, thank you.’
Leah could visualise Tate accepting a cup from her father.
‘Go and take the weight off and we can have a good catch-up.’ Tate said to him. A few seconds’ pause. ‘Anything I should know, to put him at his ease while we wait for you to arrive?’
‘I told the police I was going to visit him,’ she blurted.
A moment’s silence. ‘Why would you tell them that?’ he asked sceptically. ‘You were going to the pig farm like Mr Lownes. I told him he could have the rest of his money when he met me there. I don’t think he could have been trusted to spend it wisely though.’
Leah repelled the image of his mutilated face. ‘Before I left the police station, I told them I was going to the cottage. They took the address from me.’
