by K Leitch
‘Did you see which way they went?’ asked Carla frustrated to have missed them.
‘No…I didn’t see nothing after…she ‘ad car she say…but I don’t see it.’
Carla went back to the car and banged on the steering wheel in frustration…where to now. She put in a call to Mandy.
‘Mandy, we know they are in a red Volkswagen Polo…I don’t know the reg I’m afraid, you will be able to get it from her home address I expect, but can you get as many bodies available to scour the area for that make and colour…especially out near old outbuildings, abandoned farms those sort of places…’
‘Ok Carla will do,’ said Mandy, ‘oh by the way I had a Mrs Hinkly on the phone, she sounded really stressed out…something about her husband, I couldn’t quite get the gist of what she was going on about…she kept on saying how she tried to stop him but he’s so angry that he’s gone up there by himself, something about trespassers I think…’
‘Oh my god that must be May Hinkly, remember they own Roosters Farm, the farm where the last body was found…fuck!’ Carla and Frank shared a look. ‘What do you reckon…it’s in the right area…think she’s taken him up there?’ Frank shrugged, ‘Mandy can you text me her number, I’ll give her a call.’
Carla punched in the number as soon as it came through, and was soon speaking to an almost hysterical May Hinkly. Apparently an old neighbour of theirs had called Joshua to say that he’d noticed a car parked round the back of the old milking shed and he’d seen lights as well.
‘Joshua was so angry, he’s taken his shotgun… I’m so scared Detective Right, what if he shoots someone…he was so angry…’
‘Ok Mrs Hinkly, we’re heading up there now…does he have a mobile, your husband?’
‘Oh yes he does…but he’s left it here on the table…’
Carla raised her eyebrows in disbelief. ‘Ok well if he does by any chance get hold of you can you tell him that we are on our way and he is not…I repeat not, to approach anybody that may be up there ok?’
Frank did an impressive handbrake turn in the middle of the road and soon they were speeding on their way towards the farm just outside Bushstead.
CHAPTER 55
Duncan prayed for oblivion; he groaned as the belt hit his abdomen again ripping at his flesh, he couldn’t see what was happening to him his eyes were closing and bloody.
He had tried to plead with her…reason with her, but he had soon realised that she revelled in his helplessness…she wanted to break him.
He had never felt such terror as when she had waved that knife about in front of his eyes…he remembered crying out then for mercy…that had amused her greatly.
Then she had started beating him with the strap…the strap that tore chunks out of his flesh with every lash. He could see his blood covering her…splashing on her face and the strange overalls that she had donned for the occasion. Her eyes were those of a maniac…growing brighter the louder he screamed…and he had screamed, Duncan was ashamed to say…he had screamed as loud as he could with a rag stuffed in his mouth…vile animal screams and groans. She’d taken a hammer to his fingers…blessedly Duncan had passed out with the pain of that, only to be woken with and icy cup of water…she wanted him to feel everything.
His head hung down now in defeat, blow after blow she rained down upon him…flaying him alive, until…she stopped. She stood completely still…Duncan raised his head, then he too heard it, a car door slamming and footsteps walking towards the barn.
CHAPTER 56
Joshua Hinkly was furious; three times in the last fortnight Joe had called him to tell him that there were kids up in his barn again.
He wished somebody would just buy the bloody place, so that it was their problem not his. He actually had some fella coming in the morning to look the place over, so he couldn’t afford to have the place trashed again tonight.
He parked about fifty yards from the barns and, taking his shotgun from the passenger seat, he made his way up the track towards the old milking shed which was where Joe had said he’d seen a car.
Sure enough there was a little red car parked round the back he could just see it from where he was. As he got closer he could also hear noises…gasping and groaning noises…and a woman’s voice. Bloody hell they were bloody at it in his bloody barn…well he’d give them a fright they’d never forget he chuckled to himself as he raised the gun out in front of himself and walked through the door.
‘You can just stop whatever it is you’re doing right now,’ he shouted, ‘this is private property…’
He got no further, there in front of him tied to one of the old animal stalls was a man…a naked man covered in blood…at first Joshua though he must be dead, his head was hanging down onto his chest and his injuries looked so horrific…he appeared to have been almost skinned alive. But then the man lifted his head and looked at Joshua.
‘Oh my god…oh sweet Jesus,’ said Joshua dropping his gun and starting towards the man, as he got closer however the man started screaming and roaring at him through his gag, his eyes wild, he began shaking his head backwards and forwards…and in that instant something flashed in the corner of Joshua’s eye…a movement behind him.
Duncan could see what Joshua Hinkly couldn’t, Dulcie emerging from her hiding place behind the door and picking up the abandoned shotgun.
Duncan tried to shout at the man…warn him… he writhed about screaming as loud as he could anything to get the man to turn round and see the danger behind him…at last he seemed to sense the danger…too late.
A huge explosion filled the barn, and half the man’s head landed in Duncan’s lap and the rest of him crumpled to the floor…Dulcie stood behind with the smoking shotgun out in front of her.
Duncan roared into his gag, he pulled frantically at his bindings his anger giving him extra strength, all to no avail.
Dulcie was laughing hysterically at him…roaring back at him…mocking him…loving his impotence.
Then she got serious and picked up the knife…trailing it up and down his stomach… going lower and lower.
CHAPTER 57 – CARLA
Carla and Frank parked the car at the bottom of the track and as stealthily as they could, made their way up towards the barns. An old Land Rover was parked at an angle half way up the track. Carla put her hand on the bonnet, it was still warm, presumably Joshua Hinkly’s car, she raised her eyebrows at Frank, they could do without that complication. She had called for backup when they had arrived stressing the need for a quiet approach, and she wished they would bloody well hurry up…Dulcie, if she was in that barn had weapons. A knife, for sure and if she was true to form probably a gun as well…not to mention that according to May Hinkly, Joshua had his shotgun with him. Carla and Frank had nothing…they were going to have to use their ingenuity if they were going to capture this maniac…and come out of it alive.
Suddenly a loud gunshot rang out into the night, making Carla jump with the shock of it…Bloody Joshua Hinkly…what the fuck was he playing at.
Carla and Frank broke into a run, they could see a light now from the bigger of the two barns and as they got closer they could hear hysterical giggling interspersed with low growling almost animal sounds.
Silently they approached the door, one on either side Carla, cautiously peeked her head round the entrance…
Joshua Hinkly, or what was left of him, was lying in a large pool of blood at the feet of a bloodied and squirming Duncan. From what Carla could see, Duncan was tied by his hands to one of the metal stalls that would have been used for milking the cows, his feet were tied together and he was hanging painfully by the bindings on his hands. He was gagged and the animal noises were coming from him…every time Dulcie ran the tip of her knife down over his stomach and down towards his genitals. She seemed to be playing with him, cutting him…little nicks all over his lower abdomen, and every now and then she would grab his testicles and twist them cruelly making Duncan roar with pain.
Frank…who had
been watching this in horror had seen enough. With a loud yell he ran into the barn, hoping to take Dulcie by complete surprise, but she turned and flew at him screaming like a mad woman, lunging at him with the knife. Frank, who had no weapons, tried to fight her off but she was incredibly strong and absolutely crazy flashing the knife out in front of her at Frank and now Carla who had run in after Frank. She held them both at bay backing round in a circle.
‘Come on Dulcie,’ Carla tried talking the knife out of her hands, ‘you must know it’s all over…we have cars on the way…even if you hurt us, you won’t get away…you must see, why don’t you make it easy on yourself…put the knife down…’
‘SHUT UP!...SHUT THE FUCK UP!’ shouted Dulcie wildly, as she circled round again she came upon her bag behind her and crouched down, still pointing the knife at Carla and Frank searching around in her bag with her free hand.
‘She’s got a gun in there Frank!’ shouted Carla just as Dulcie pulled it out in triumph and levelled it at them both. Carla and Frank both jumped back as Dulcie began pointing the gun gleefully at each of them.
‘Not got anything to say now Carla?’ she smirked. ‘Right tie his hands up…use that rope down there…come on move it!’ she walked towards Carla, gun levelled between her eyes, ‘DO IT BITCH…OR I WILL SHOOT HIM RIGHT NOW!’
Carla scrambled to get the rope and tied Frank’s hands together, and then to the animal stall as directed by Dulcie, who then pushed Carla backwards towards the stall herself with the gun and began to wrap the rope around her hands…she was struggling to do this with one hand, in desperation Carla saw her chance and jerked her head backwards cracking it painfully against Dulcie’s and knocking her off balance for just a second…but in her panic Dulcie pulled down on the trigger of the gun…two shots fired out.
Carla felt a sharp burning pain in her side and realised immediately that she had been shot. The front of her blouse was turning red already, she was losing blood at a terrible rate and she could feel herself edging towards unconsciousness. She was only half aware of a screaming banshee, shouting obscenities as she came bursting into the barn spraying a white foam in front of her… before everything went black.
CHAPTER 58 – MAGGIE
Maggie thought about keeping her promise to Carla for all of a minute, and then she grabbed her coat and car keys and headed off towards Epsom to see if she could spot Dulcie and Duncan. There was no way that she was going to let that nasty sick bitch hurt her man…and yes she had decided that Duncan was indeed her man, at least she hoped that he would be…and no one was going to deprive her of the opportunity of at least giving him the option. Life had fucking kicked her in the teeth too many times just lately…time to take control.
She had no idea where she was going but headed out towards ‘Fucking Fredo’s’ restaurant, which she was pretty sure was somewhere around or just before Epsom. As luck would have it, not far from Epsom, she spotted Carla’s car…Frank was driving and they were heading in the opposite direction. They were in a hell of a hurry it seemed, as they shot passed her…Maggie found a place to turn round, which took some time (small country roads, humungous great car), and tried desperately to catch them up. Unfortunately they were long gone; Maggie could see no sign of them as she drove along the road until she was almost back to Godstone.
‘Fuck!’ she swore to herself, ‘they must have turned off somewhere.’ She turned the car round again and began to follow the same road back, looking carefully up each lane to see if she could spot them, which amazingly she did. Carla’s car was parked at the bottom of a farm track… Maggie pulled up behind it and got out. The car was empty, obviously Carla and Frank had walked up the track towards the old deserted buildings…Maggie took a deep breath, it was pitch black on the track, the night was a cloudy one, so she didn’t even have the moonlight to guide her. Maggie grabbed a torch from her car with trembling hands and tried to flick it on…nothing, batteries were dead. Just then an enormous explosion rang out sending electric shocks of terror through Maggie’s body.
‘Oh god no…not Duncan…no no no,’ she muttered as she started running up the track towards the barn, her fear being overshadowed by the thoughts of Duncan in danger.
There were muffled shouts and screams coming from within the barn, and a sort of high pitched manic laughter…Maggie edged her way round to the side of the building where there was a small window…
The scene inside the barn was one of carnage…she could see Duncan tied up and covered in blood…Dulcie was holding a gun towards Carla and Frank, directing Carla to tie Frank’s hands…there was the headless body of a man on the ground near to Duncan…Maggie pushed her hand over her mouth to prevent herself from screaming out at that point…she took in a few deep calming breaths and waited for the nausea to pass before looking back in through the window.
Frank was now tied to the animal stall and Dulcie was struggling to tie Carla’s hands…Maggie hunted frantically around the outside of the barn looking for something…anything that she could use to disable the bitch. Her eyes fell on an old fire extinguisher that was propped up beside the wall of the barn…would she have the courage to use it, would it even work…? Just then two more gunshots rang out into the night.
‘Fuck it, there’s only one way to find out,’ she said to herself, grabbing the extinguisher Maggie ran round to the front of the barn and, screaming like a mad woman, charged in.
‘Leave them alone you fucking bitch…you sad fuck…take your hands off her,’ she shouted at the top of her voice…at the same time pulling on the rusty old lever of the extinguisher and pointing the hose straight at Dulcie’s shocked face.
White foam and gas shot out of the hose and all over Dulcie, who was completely knocked off guard for a moment…enough time for Maggie to punch the gun out of her hand and throw herself on top of her. The two women rolled around on the floor, Dulcie was incredibly strong and managed to get a few good punches in, but Maggie was fuelled by her desperation and pure hatred and eventually began to get the upper hand punching Dulcie over and over using her fists and her nails, gouging at her eyes and mouth until eventually she began to weaken.
Maggie didn’t know how long she would have been able to keep it up however, and was never more relieved about anything in her life than when Carla’s back up eventually arrived and armed police stormed into the barn pointing a gun at Dulcie’s head. The barn was suddenly full of people, police shouting for everyone to get on the floor, and paramedics who immediately ran over to take care of Duncan as he had slumped lifeless to the ground when his hands had been freed.
Frank had been screaming desperately at them to look at Carla and Maggie could now see why. She let out a wail of despair and limped over to where Carla was lying in a pool of her own blood which was seeping from the gunshot wound in her side.
‘CARLA!’ screamed Maggie, pushing the paramedic who was examining her out of the way. ‘CARLA…NO DON’T YOU DARE… CARLA,’ she collapsed on the floor next to her friend sobbing, Frank put his arm round her.
‘Hey Maggie…it’s ok love…she’s going to be ok, it’s only a flesh wound they think…she’s lost a lot of blood, but…’
‘Oh thank god…I…I just don’t think I could take it if anything happened to her…she’s my best friend…you know?’ sobbed Maggie. Frank nodded and wiped away a tear from his own eye as he went over to supervise the arrest of Dulcie Rushton…or Kerry Webb as he now knew her to be.
The hideous demon that possessed Dulcie’s soul was now showing its face. With manic eyes… spitting and snarling, biting and scratching as it fought against capture. It took four large police officers to get some cuffs on her and drag her to an awaiting police car.
Maggie had tried to get near to Duncan, but he too was surrounded by paramedics…putting in drips and strapping him to a stretcher. Anyway he didn’t seem to even know she was there, which wasn’t surprising given his dreadful injuries. Maggie’s heart had broken when she had seen what that maniac had done to h
im…there didn’t seem to be any part of him that wasn’t covered in blood…but at least he seemed to be alive…for now.
She was shivering uncontrollably; someone, a policewoman, put a blanket round her shoulders.
‘You’d better get to the hospital yourself love…get that head injury looked at,’ she had said gently. Maggie put her hand to her head and noticed for the first time that she had a nasty bash on the side of her head that was bleeding profusely. She couldn’t remember that happening at all, she had been so driven by her fury and desperation that she had felt no pain…now though, it was hurting like hell!
Maggie went in the ambulance with Duncan…she wasn’t leaving his side until she was sure that he was going to be ok. As they were loading him onto the ambulance he had opened his eyes and looked straight at Maggie.
He smiled painfully through bloodied lips, ‘Maggie,’ he had croaked, ‘Maggie…my love…’ and then he had slid back into unconsciousness… so Maggie was going nowhere.
CHAPTER 59 -CAULDRON MEETING
At Carla’s bedside in Hillary ward at Redbank General
‘Oh god don’t make me laugh,’ gasped Carla holding onto her side, and laughing despite the pain.
Maggie was acting out what was probably the most terrifying night of her life, in such a way that the girls were crying with laughter.
‘So I picked up the extinguisher and ran at her, shouting at the top of my voice and squirting what looked like squirty cream at the mad woman holding the loaded gun,’ Maggie continued chuckling, ‘You should have seen the look of shock on her face…she couldn’t believe it…it was like she was thinking, surely not…not with squirty cream. And then of course we were rolling round in all that foam…it was like something from a cheap porno film. I am sure Frank managed to get a short video of it for his more private moments.’ She finished wiggling her eyebrows.
