Fear Has Long Fingers

by Jeanette Taylor Ford

  “Mr Thompson, I’m Detective Inspector Cooke. I’m glad to see you awake.”

  “I’m glad to be awake, Mr Cooke. When I felt the shot, I thought my time was up.” The voice was weak but he seemed to be lucid.

  “Are you up to answering some questions, sir? Let me do the talking and you tell me if I’m right, okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Right. We believe you are George James Avery, known as Jimmy, adopted by Lucian Avery’s father, George, when he married you mother. You left his employ and took the name of George Thompson, your mother’s maiden name. We also believe Stephanie Townsend to be Sarah Avery, known as Sally. Is that correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “Sally faked her own death but somehow Lucian Avery discovered that she was alive and living in Sutton-on-Wye.”

  “Yes. Through me, it’s my fault. And now he has her. He forced me to lure her and I tried to warn her but they shot me.” Tears flowed from the man’s eyes and Netta rose to dab his face with a tissue

  “Okay, don’t get upset. We need you to help us. Do you have any idea where they might have taken her?”

  “No. But you have to find her, Mr Cooke. Lucian will kill her, or worse. He has Rowena and the other kids too. He told me he’d let them go if I helped him. I had to choose between my own daughter and Sally.”

  Dan put his hand on the man’s shoulder. “An impossible choice, George.”

  “I had to choose our Rowena, didn’t I?”

  “Of course you did.”

  “But it meant I had to betray Sally.”

  “Try not to worry, George. You made the same decision any father would.”

  The doctor came in.

  “Mr Thompson really needs to rest, Mr Cooke. He’s still very weak and we also need to do a brain scan to check there’s no brain damage.”

  “I’m okay, doctor, really.” The voice from the bed was weak.

  “I’ll be the judge of that. I’m going to arrange the scan now. I’ll see you later.”

  Dan went out with the doctor. “When can we move him to a safe house?”

  “If the scan shows there’s no brain damage, he can be moved but he must have proper medical care wherever you move him to.”

  “It will be arranged. Can you contact me when you consider him able to move, please? Or tell one of our officers so he can call me.”

  “Will do. Must get on now.”

  Dan poked his head round the door and signalled to Netta and told her what he and the doctor had discussed.

  “You and Harry should have a break. My officers will keep an eye on him while you’re gone. If the doctor gives the clearance, we will move you all tonight. The sooner we can get you away from here, the better. I’m going back to the station now, but I’ll be in touch.”

  Grant and Collins joined him in the car park.

  “Interesting news, Sir. That phone is George Thompson’s. The contacts are all George’s family and his work. The last two calls he made, were to his wife. Of the last three incoming calls, one was from an unknown number, which might be Stephanie Townsend’s and the other two were from his wife but weren’t answered.”

  “So, he was out on the Canon Pyon Road. I wonder where they went from there. Grant, I want you to go into the hospital and ask George if he knows where they went after his phone was thrown away.”

  Dan returned to police headquarters with Julie Coombs.

  “Julie, I want you to go home and get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a hard day. Time is of the essence. The longer Mrs Townsend is in the hands of that evil man, the less our chances of rescuing her alive. There’s also all those kids. We have to find them, Julie, and we have to find them fast.”

  Chapter 35

  The respite Lucian gave Rowena and Stephanie was only temporary. Once Rowena’s tears had slowed down, he strode over to them.

  “Right. You are under my care now that all your family are no more. No, don’t start crying again, I can’t be doing with emotional females. We have to make plans. I’m going to give you a choice. I’ll give you a chance to save Sally here. I will let her go if you will agree to take her place as my, erm, my right-hand woman. What do you say? I could use a bright girl like you.”

  “No! Don’t do it, Rowena. You don’t know what he’s like – don’t,” Stephanie screamed then

  because Lucian had grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back. It didn’t stop her though. “He’s wicked, he’ll use you like he used me – and he’ll do unspeakable things to you, he likes young girls. Ahh!”

  She was silenced by him twisting her arm further. Rowena heard a crack and Stephanie screamed again.

  “Don’t hurt her again! I’ll do anything you want! Just don’t hurt her anymore.” Rowena cried.

  “No! Don’t say that, Rowena! Don’t worry about me. He’s going to kill me anyway! Don’t believe that he’ll let me go, he won’t! He’s a monster! Oh!” This time Lucian hit her across the face. Rowena screamed and rushed at Lucian, kicking and hitting him.

  The door opened and the two burly men came in and grabbed Rowena, holding her fast. Lucian caught hold of her round her jaw and held her so she was eye to eye with him. His eyes were ice cold.

  “I like a girl with spirit, but you go too far. I will not tolerate such behaviour, understand? Don’t think I won’t punish you, because I will. Never underestimate me, Rowena. Get that?”

  She blinked, the only thing she could do. He let her face go and she spat at him.

  “Oh! We have a little wildcat, do we? Well, I’ll enjoy taming you, my girl!” He swiped her a vicious back-hander and she gasped. The sting made her eyes water and she looked down, sniffing, trying to hold back the tears. She cast a glance at Stephanie under her eyelashes. The woman was sitting on a chair, nursing her arm and looking very pale under the purple of the bruises on her face. Rowena was desperate to help her but she was helpless. What could she do? Rowena realised that Stephanie was right. It didn’t matter what she agreed to, that monster was going to kill Steph. He’d already broken her arm, what else would he do to her before he killed her? Rowena didn’t dare to think. All she could do was pray that this nightmare would end and that somehow, someone would find them.

  ************

  “Sir, I’ve spoken to George. After they left the deserted cottage where the car was burnt, they travelled for around an hour, where, he didn’t know, because it was dark but they went to a large, derelict building with a wide drive and an impressive front door. He saw some broken windows and others boarded up. He was made to get out of the car and into another one. He also mentioned two names, Jake and Butcher. Oh, and the doc says there’s no brain damage and we can move him to the safe house, provided he has proper nursing.”

  “Great. I’ll arrange that. As for the derelict building, I don’t see how they could keep anyone there for a couple of weeks as there wouldn’t be any facilities. But we will look for possibilities. If they were using it as a meeting place, we might gain some forensic evidence from it that might give us leads. Let’s look at the map.”

  They looked at a detailed map of Herefordshire on the wall.

  “George mentioned seeing hills,” said Grant.

  “Well, that could have been the Malverns but it’s more likely, as they were on the Canon Pyon Road and Sutton-on-Wye is also over that side of the county, it’s likely they went in the direction of Wales. We need to contact the Dwfed and Powys force and ask for their help. They may know of the kind of building we’re looking for. Can you get in touch with them, Grant and I’ll make the arrangements for the Thompsons to be taken to their safe house.”

  **********

  It was only an hour later that Netta and Harry were on their way to the safe house. Netta hadn’t wanted to leave George but had been assured that he would be joining them very shortly, travelling separately, for safety’s sake.

  They were driven in an ordinary Ford Mondeo, which had darkened rear windows. After a drive of around an hour, they
arrived at some big gates. The driver spoke into an intercom and the gate swung open to reveal a large house up a long drive.

  A man and woman welcomed them. The man held out his hand to Netta.

  “Hello, Mrs Thompson, I’m Dave Blackwood and this is my wife, Margaret. And you must be Harry? Welcome to Castle Farm. Come on in.”

  Feeling rather shy and out of her depth, Netta followed the couple into their house. It was a lovely, welcoming house, reminding her of River View Farmhouse, although this was vastly different, having large, square rooms with high ceilings and luxurious without being too opulent. Margaret Blackwood, a pleasant woman, made her feel welcome very quickly.

  “I’m sorry to put upon you like this,” she began, but Margaret waved her apologies away.

  “Don’t you worry, my dear,” she said, in her soft Shropshire accent. “We’re happy to have you both and your husband when he gets here. I have a close friend who will nurse him. She’s single so she can stay for as long as he needs her. We love having visitors, don’t we, dear?”

  “We do indeed, my dear. Is this all the luggage you have?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid we lost everything in the house fire,” replied Netta. Margaret gasped.

  “Your house caught fire?”

  “Yes, it was set on fire. Fortunately, we’d already left but I think they meant us to die.”

  “Oh, you poor things! You have been through a dreadful time. Well, you can relax here, you’ll be quite safe. This place is like Fort Knox.”

  Netta felt her tensions easing away. She really liked this woman.

  “Now, my dearies, would you care for some food? It’s about four o’clock and I have sandwiches and things prepared.”

  Netta and Harry agreed they would indeed because they hadn’t eaten for ages. Soon, they were enjoying their afternoon tea with Margaret. Dave had gone back to his work on the farm. Although they appreciated the food and the company, Netta wouldn’t feel happy until George was at the farm with them.

  Chapter 36

  Lucian pulled Rowena up roughly as the two heavies came into the room.

  “Take her to the others. There’s a change of plan; we’re not going to let them go, they’re coming with us. We’ll leave after dark. Make the arrangements.”

  “Yes, Boss,” the one called Jake said and nodded to Butcher, who grabbed Rowena’s arm.

  “When you’ve seen to her, you can come back and escort my lovely wife to her room.”

  Butcher smiled, revealing a set of yellowed teeth with one of the front ones missing. It was not a pleasant sight. He pulled her arm and took her out of the room and up some stairs. In spite of the uncomfortable position she had to walk in, Rowena noticed that the staircase had an elegant sweep in the wide hallway and the banisters had once been attractive and ornate, although now they were scratched and in a bad way. Upstairs, the upper hallway was long, with several doors along the stretch. They stopped at last and Butcher unlocked and opened a door, pushing her in so that she fell. She heard the door slam shut behind her.

  Footsteps ran to her and arms helped her to stand up. “Are you alright? Oh!” The girl who was speaking had obviously seen the reddening of her face where she’d been slapped. Her hand went to her face, then to her knees. “Oh, my knees! He’s such a brute!”

  “Mark, bring a chair please!”

  A boy brought a chair over and Rowena sat thankfully, still shaking.

  “Here, have some water. It’s all we have to give you, I’m afraid.”

  “Thank you.” Rowena took the cup and took a sip or two. Feeling better, she looked around at the group of young people.

  “Hello. Are you the kids who’ve been kidnapped?”

  “Yeah. I’m Gloria, and this is Mark, who brought the chair. This is Sarah, Mary and Alison and that’s Adam over there. Who are you?”

  “I’m Rowena. Have you all been here together all the time?”

  “Yes,” replied Gloria, who seemed to be the self-appointed leader and speaker. “Alison was taken first, then me, then Adam, Mary, Mark and Sarah last. Did they just take you?”

  “No, I was taken yesterday morning, at least, I think it was only yesterday. I was in a room on my own downstairs.”

  “I wonder why?”

  “Well, apparently, the dreadful man who’s in charge is my dad’s step-brother. He specially wanted me, but I put up a fight. He’s also got a lady who was his wife. She ran away from him years ago and he’s just found her. I think that was my dad’s fault somehow. She lived in the village where we lived after my brother had his accident in the river last year.”

  “Was it your brother that had the canoeing accident?” The boy called Adam came towards them. “I remember hearing about that. He was rescued in Sutton-on-Wye, wasn’t he?”

  “Yes, that’s right. I wish it had never happened, that’s what’s caused this, I think. And I have something awful to tell you.”

  “What?”

  “Well, from something he said before I was brought up here, I think they were going to let you all go but now I don’t think they are.”

  “What are they going to do with us then?”

  “They’re going to take us somewhere but I don’t know why.”

  “Hm. Not hard to guess,” muttered Gloria. Rowena gave her a sharp look. She was obviously intelligent. The other girl met her eyes and a message passed between them: ‘Don’t tell them.’

  ‘Yes,’ thought Rowena, ‘she knows as well as I do. I wish to goodness I could work out how to get us out of here.’

  **********

  Flora stood silently in the corridor not far from Stephanie’s room. Butch had taken the woman back to her cell and locked the door half an hour previously. Lucian had gone in a few moments ago. Flora pressed her ear up against the door after it had locked behind him. She heard him say,

  “Now. You’re my wife and I’m going to remind you of that fact.”

  Flora pulled her head away from the door and closed her eyes. She knew only too well what that man could do. He was evil. He got others to do his dirty work when it involved men but he loved to do unspeakable things to women. When the screams started, she put her hands to her ears and ran. She thought of those kids upstairs and her own life. Afraid as she was of the Boss, Flora decided she would do something. If he killed her, at least that would be a way out. But he didn’t kill. He abused and maimed but didn’t kill. No, he liked his victims to suffer as much as possible, just as that poor woman was suffering now. She already had a broken arm and Flora knew the wretched creature would suffer a lot more than that before he finished.

  Butcher and Jake were in the kitchen, laughing and joking. Karen looked up and the two women’s eyes met. Karen gave an imperceptible nod.

  “Hey, you two! It’s getting dusk, don’t you have things to do?” Karen spoke, sharply.

  “Oh yeah, ‘spose. C’mon, Butch, let’s get on.”

  They stood up.

  “Don’t forget we have to feed the kids before we go,” said Karen.

  “Oh yeah. Get it ready and we’ll be back. They’ll just have to hurry up and eat, won’t they?”

  When the men had gone, Flora ran to a cupboard, grabbed something and handed it to Karen, who put it in a plastic bag. They had made sandwiches a short time ago and they laid trays, ready to take them up. Flora prepared another tray with mugs of tea, which one of the men would carry. Karen knocked on the window, and Jake came in.

  “Ready, are yer?” he said.

  “Yes, let’s get this up to them and then we’ve gotta get ready ter leave,” replied Flora.

  Karen led the way, with Flora and Jake following. He had to put his tray down to unlock the door and they went in, setting the trays down on the tables. Jake immediately returned to the door, but Karen said,

  “Make sure you eat all your food because we’re moving out tonight.”

  “Yes. You need to make sure you do the job quickly,” added Flora, looking meaningfully at Gloria but avoiding Rowen
a’s eye.

  The two women hastened out and the door was locked behind them. Karen and Flora crossed their fingers behind Jake’s back and linked their little fingers for a moment, then followed him down the stairs.

  Chapter 38

  The youngsters waited until the door was locked and the footsteps died away. They looked at each other, curiously.

  “What do you make of that?” asked Mary. “They’ve never let us see their faces before.”

  “It means it doesn’t matter anymore,” came a voice from the back of the room. They turned to look at Adam. He shrugged. “I think they were going to let us go, that’s why they didn’t want us to see their faces. Something’s gone wrong and now the plans have changed. So it doesn’t matter if we see them.”

  After making that statement, Adam put his nose back into his book.

  “Well, there’s no point in worrying about it now. We’d better eat. There won’t be a cooked meal for us tonight, obviously.”

  Adam sat with them as they gathered around the tables to eat. There was a large pile of sandwiches and another plate with a sausage roll each. There were cakes and a packet of biscuits.

  “We should eat the sandwiches but we could take the biscuits with us,” said Gloria. They tucked into the mountain of sandwiches and silence reined for a while. Before very long, there were only a few left on the plate.

  “What’s that?” said Mark suddenly. He leaned forward and took something from underneath the bread. He held it up.