Closing In

by Sue Fortin

  Yep, she was pissed off all right.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Silhouetted by the rising moon and against the backdrop of the grey sea, Toby’s shadowy outline flicked back and forth across the open doorway to the beach hut, his mobile pressed to his ear. He had retied Ellen and Izzy’s hands but, seemingly distracted, he had bound them together in front rather than behind their backs. He was agitated now and his voice rose.

  ‘I couldn’t help it. What was I to do? She would have blabbed if I hadn’t.’ A shudder rippled through Ellen. Toby clearly wasn’t working this alone. Someone out there knew exactly what he was doing. They were pulling his strings by the sounds of it. Toby, for once, wasn’t in control as he usually was. This frightened her even more. ‘Leave it with me. It will be my pleasure. Yes. Yes! Understood.’

  Ellen didn’t like the sound of it at all. Things weren’t looking good. She couldn’t understand why the police hadn’t found them yet. Surely they were scouring the beach and the local area with sniffer dogs. Someone must have seen Toby leading them away. Or had they? Everyone had been preoccupied with the accident. The memory of Kate falling in front of the traffic came rushing back. Bile rose in Ellen’s throat and she shook her head, trying to stop the incident replaying in her mind.

  Think. She had to think of something. And quick.

  She whispered to Izzy and then called out to Toby as he finished his call. ‘Both of us need to go the toilet.’

  ‘Can’t you wait?’

  ‘Wait until when? And actually, no, we can’t. Especially Izzy.’

  ‘This is so typical of you. Here, I’ll get you a bucket.’ Toby began rummaging around the beach hut, looking on the shelf and in the cupboard. ‘I can’t find anything.’

  ‘We still need to go,’ said Ellen, barely containing her relief that there wasn’t anything suitable in the hut. She needed to get them outside. ‘We will go round the corner of the beach huts.’

  ‘What and run off. Do you really think I’m that stupid?’

  ‘No, I’ll sing or whistle all the time, so you can still hear us.’ Ellen sent a silent prayer up that he would agree to this.

  ‘Okay, but I want to hear both of you.’

  She sent another prayer of thanks. ‘You will have to untie my hands, though. I can’t get my trousers down otherwise.’

  Toby pulled her by the rope around her wrists to a standing position. ‘I’m warning you, Helen,’ he said. ‘No funny business.’

  ‘I promise,’ she said, mustering as much sincerity in her voice as she could.

  ‘I tell you what. Instead of behind the beach huts where I can’t see you, I want you to go behind that upturned boat over there.’ He nodded towards the edge of the grassed area where a couple of small dinghies and an old wooden boat lay. ‘And I want one of you standing in the open while the other one’s doing … well, you know.’

  ‘I’ll have to help Izzy,’ said Ellen. She needed to be with Izzy just for a moment out of Toby’s eyesight. ‘She can’t do her clothes herself.’

  ‘Well make it quick.’

  Snatching a couple of tissues from her bag, Ellen hurried Izzy over to the boat. ‘Let’s get you sorted first.’ Seeing that Izzy was about to protest, Ellen called loudly over her shoulder to drown out Izzy’s voice. ‘Can you hear us, Toby? Is this loud enough?’

  Safely behind the boat, Ellen grabbed the phone from Izzy’s pocket, flipped it open. There was only Amanda’s number in the contact list.

  ‘I can’t hear you!’ bellowed Toby.

  Ellen began singing a nursery rhyme, encouraging Izzy to join in. ‘Sing louder, Izzy.’ Ellen pressed dial. The mobile made the connection and began ringing Amanda’s phone. Holding it close to her ear, she heard the click as it was answered. No one spoke at the other end.

  ‘Amanda? Is that you?’ she hissed. ‘Can you hear me? We’re at the disused beach huts at Old Point … Toby has us held hostage. Get help, get …’ She stopped. The line had gone dead.

  ‘You’ve gone quiet and I can’t see you.’ Toby sounded like he was getting nearer.

  ‘We’re still here. I’m just pulling Izzy’s trousers up. Won’t be a minute and then she’ll be standing where you can see her.’ Frantically, Ellen dialled Amanda’s number again. It went straight to voicemail. She turned to Izzy. ‘Okay, darling, you go and stand over there where Toby can see you.’

  She took Izzy to the edge of the boat and looked over at Toby. He had stopped to answer his phone. Going back behind the boat, Ellen closed her eyes for a moment. She needed to get hold of Donovan. She didn’t have time to go through emergency services and try to explain everything. She had no idea of his mobile number but tried to recall the home phone number she had put down on a school form for Izzy the previous day. What was it, now? At the time, Ellen had thought it was an easy number to remember. Five-eight-five … Oh God, what was it? She tapped in the first three digits. Five-eight-five … seven-five-eight. That was it!

  It was answered within a few rings. Ellen could have cried to hear Donovan’s voice.

  ‘Donovan, it’s me, Ellen.’

  ‘Ellen! Jesus Christ! Thank God. Are you okay? What about Izzy?’

  ‘We’re fine. Listen. We’re at the beach huts. The ones that are going to be demolished at Old Point.’

  The shot rang out loud in the night air. Ellen and Izzy screamed simultaneously. Ellen looked up over the boat. Toby was pointing the gun directly at her, his arm fully outstretched. He began walking purposefully towards her. He fired another shot and Ellen automatically ducked down. She could hear Donovan shouting down the phone at her.

  Izzy ran straight into Ellen’s arms and the two of them cowered behind the boat. Ellen looked behind her. There was a drop of about ten feet from the seafront down onto the shingle beach. But where would she run? It was too difficult to run on the stones. Too noisy. He’d pick them out easily.

  And then he was upon them. Waving the gun from side to side as if making up his mind who to shoot first. Instinctively, Ellen hugged Izzy to her body, shielding the child’s eyes from the sight before them.

  ‘Please, Toby, not Izzy. Please don’t hurt her. She’s only a child.’ She heard the click of the safety clip being released. Tears sprang to her eyes and streaked their way down her cheeks. Dear God, he really was going to shoot them. ‘I’m begging you…’

  A small smile crept its way across his face. ‘Begging me. I like that. Go on, Helen, beg some more.’

  The bastard. He was enjoying this. She didn’t have any choice. Perhaps if she could stall him long enough for the police to arrive. ‘I beg you, Toby. Please let Izzy go.’

  ‘You know what, Helen? You keep that up and I might just do that.’

  ‘Ellen!’ Donovan was screaming down the phone. He could hear shots. He could hear crying. He was sure he could hear Izzy. What the fuck was going on?

  ‘What is it? Donovan, tell me!’ Amanda was tugging at his sleeve.

  ‘Ken!’ shouted Donovan, pushing his wife away. Ken was in the room in seconds having been in the hallway taking a phone call. ‘Ken, that was Ellen. They’re at the abandoned beach huts. There were shots. Ken, get a team down there!’

  ‘We’re already on it,’ said Ken. ‘The car has been discovered at Old Point, at the back of the disused car park. The sniffer dogs and the armed response team are practically there already. I was just coming in to tell you.’

  Amanda was pulling on Donovan’s arm again.

  ‘Has he shot them? Tell me, Donovan, what’s happened?’ She was crying when Donovan turned to look at her. She was mumbling half to herself. ‘He wasn’t supposed to harm her. I told him not to.’

  Donovan grabbed her by her shoulders. ‘You bitch,’ he hissed. ‘You were behind this.’ It was a statement, not a question. Suddenly it was all falling into place. The phone call about the artwork. There were no paintings. No portraits. It had been Izzy and Ellen she had been referring to. He pushed her to the sofa. She was poisonous. ‘What
sort of mother are you? You set your own daughter up to be kidnapped?’

  ‘It wasn’t like that.’ Amanda’s eyes were wild and pleading. ‘He wasn’t supposed to take Izzy. He wanted Ellen. He wanted her back. And I wanted to get rid of her.’

  ‘You used her as bait. You wanted to use it against me. All the things that happened to Ellen, you and he planned it together. He, so he could get revenge and you, so you could get custody of Izzy. You wanted the courts to think it was too dangerous for her to be with me.’

  ‘I’m sorry. It wasn’t meant to end like this. He wasn’t meant to get Izzy.’

  ‘But taking Ellen was all right?’

  ‘He said he merely wanted to frighten her a bit. I didn’t think he was going to do her any real harm.’

  ‘Merely,’ he scoffed at the word. ‘How the hell did you two come to this arrangement?’

  ‘He found me, actually. Followed me after I had been visiting here. Asked me if I knew what sort of nanny I had.’ Amanda’s face crumpled. ‘I didn’t think it would get this bad … I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to Izzy.’

  ‘You’d better pray nothing does or I swear to God I won’t be responsible for my actions.’ The tug on his arm this time was from Ken.

  ‘Come on, Donovan. That’s enough for now.’ He looked up at the sound of a knock at the door. A female police officer came into the room.

  ‘Sir. We’ve just had this information come in.’ She held out a piece of paper, which Ken took and read before turning to Donovan.

  ‘Well, it seems there was an emergency 999 drop call earlier, from a mobile phone registered to a Mrs Amanda Donovan.’

  Donovan sucked air through tightly gritted teeth. He had to turn away. He couldn’t bear to look at Amanda. How could she be so deceitful? So self-centred.

  ‘I’m sorry.’ Her pitiful voice was strangled by a sob.

  ‘Crocodile fucking tears,’ muttered Donovan.

  Ken motioned to his officer.

  ‘Sit with Mrs Donovan. Don’t let her go anywhere.’ He tapped Donovan on the shoulder. ‘Come on. I dare say the first person both Ellen and Izzy will want to see is you. Let’s go and get them.’

  This time Donovan felt reassured by the DCI’s positive words.

  Donovan’s heart leapt and fell at the same time. The sight of his daughter running out of the darkness and being swept up by a fully kitted-out member of the armed response team brought a tidal wave of relief crashing over him.

  Taking her from the police officer, he held her tightly. So very tightly. Kissed her, and kissed her again. She was unharmed. She was safe. The paramedics were there and reluctantly he passed her over to them so they could check her over. He pulled the blanket around her.

  ‘Okay, angel. Everything’s going to be all right. I promise.’ He kissed her again on the forehead. ‘These nice ambulance people are going to keep you warm and safe. They’re going to make sure you’re okay.’

  ‘What about Ellen?’ Izzy voice was full of concern.

  ‘I’m going to wait for her here and then we’re both going to come into the ambulance with you.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘See you in a minute, darling.’

  As Donovan watched the paramedics take Izzy away, the relief that she was safe was immediately replaced by fear for Ellen. The fear was of epic proportions as he looked on at the scene playing out before him. Once the police had arrived, Toby had apparently discarded Izzy, his focus now on Ellen.

  A helicopter circled above, the light shining down onto Toby and Ellen. Toby had his arm around Ellen’s shoulders, pinning her back to him, using her as a human shield against the armed officers now spread out around the beach-hut area. In his right hand he held the gun against Ellen’s temple.

  ‘Put the gun down.’ Ken’s voice sounded out over the megaphone. ‘Let Ellen go. It’s over now. Come on, lad.’

  ‘Fuck the lot of you!’ shouted back Toby.

  ‘Take him out, for God’s sake, Ken, give the order!’ Donovan realised it was his own voice shouting out.

  Ken waved his hand at Donovan. ‘Keep it together, Donovan, or get out of here. You won’t help Ellen getting all wound up like that. Go and sit with your daughter in the ambulance.’

  ‘I’m not going anywhere without Ellen,’ said Donovan. ‘Just get her out of there, Ken.’

  ‘That’s what I fully intend to do,’ said Ken. He held the megaphone to his mouth again. ‘Toby, we can end this now without anyone getting hurt. Think about it. This can all be over in a matter of minutes. Release Ellen.’

  ‘How can I trust you? You’ll shoot me as soon as I do what you want.’

  Without thinking, Donovan jumped up. He shouted out, ‘Look Toby, you can trust me. Let Ellen go and I’ll come to you.’ He held his arms outstretched, he could hear Ken ordering him to get back. Donovan ignored him. ‘Toby, take me instead.’

  ‘You think I can trust you?’ shouted back Toby. ‘How do I know you’re not as bad as your wife? She told me she wanted Helen out of it then starts ranting at me because the kid got involved. That wasn’t my fault, you know. I never planned to take her. She was there. That was Amanda’s fault. She shouldn’t have brought her back to the house. Stupid, fucking bitch.’

  ‘I’m not like Amanda,’ said Donovan. He took three more steps. ‘That’s why we’re separated. Amanda and I are nothing like each other. You can trust me. I give you my word.’ Donovan began walking again, slowly but without stopping this time. ‘We can talk about this. I can help you. I can vouch for Amanda being involved. She confessed to me earlier.’

  Toby’s arm relaxed slightly and he lowered the gun as far as Ellen’s shoulder. ‘Why would you stand up for me when I’ve kidnapped your daughter?’

  Play it cool. Play it cool. Donovan took a deep breath. He was only a few metres away from Toby now. ‘Because I believe you when you say it was Amanda’s idea.’ He didn’t actually know what to believe at the moment but if it meant winning Toby’s confidence and saving Ellen, then Donovan was prepared to say anything. He would lie through his back teeth. ‘Come on, Toby. You can trust me. You don’t want to take all the blame.’

  A movement in the shadows to Donovan’s right caused him to hesitate and turn. Shit! Some bloody over-zealous officer was moving in. Pandemonium broke out. Toby began shouting at Donovan.

  ‘You liar! You’re just like the rest of them!’

  He lifted the gun to Ellen’s temple.

  ‘Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!’ Donovan wasn’t sure who he was shouting at the most, Toby or the armed officer.

  Ellen let out a scream and thrashed wildly at Toby’s arm. They stumbled backwards. A shot went off, then another. Donovan watched in horror as both Ellen and Toby fell backwards over the edge of the sea wall. There was a thud and a crunch as their bodies landed on the pebbles ten feet below.

  Immediately there was running and shouting as the armed officer tore towards the drop. Donovan willed his legs to move. They felt heavy and sluggish but, somehow, he got to the edge first and, without thinking, hurled himself down onto the stones. Two bodies lay perfectly still. The helicopter hovered lower, the sound of the rotor blades drowning out the crashing waves of the incoming tide; the draught from the machine whipping up Donovan’s hair and jacket. He looked at Toby lying there staring straight up into the sky. No sign of life. The angle of his neck told its own story. Donovan pulled at Ellen. Sliding his arm under her back, he cradled her head in the crook of his arm.

  ‘Ellen! Ellen!’ She wasn’t responding. He rubbed his hand up and down her to try and invigorate her into life. He realised his hand was wet. Wet with blood. A bright-red stain was spreading out across her shoulder. He looked wildly around him and shouted over his shoulder. ‘Someone get a paramedic! NOW!’

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Donovan didn’t know how long he had been sitting beside the trolley in the crash room at St Richard’s Hospital. Holding her hand, willing life into her. The nurses had tried to persuade him to leav
e but he couldn’t leave her there alone. They were going to move her soon, that much he did know.

  ‘Mr Donovan.’ The touch of the nurse’s hand on his shoulder made him jump. ‘We need to take Ellen down to theatre now.’ He looked up at the dark-haired nurse as she spoke. ‘DCI Froames is here. Why don’t you go with him?’

  Donovan stood up, still holding Ellen’s hand. He couldn’t bring himself to let go. The nurse gently took his hand away while the porters released the brake on the trolley and began wheeling Ellen away.

  ‘What time is it? I need to call Carla, make sure Izzy’s okay.’

  ‘It’s nearly midnight. I’ve spoken to Carla. Everything is fine. I promise. Carla will ring if there’s any problem. Come on, mate. Let’s get a coffee.’ Ken steered Donovan out to the waiting area. ‘It’s going to be a good few hours before we know anything more about Ellen.’

  Donovan watched the trolley with Ellen on it disappear behind the closing doors of the lift. A unexpected feeling of nausea bubbled up from his stomach. He had never known what it was like to be sick with worry before. He now had a pretty clear understanding of the phrase.

  ‘If she doesn’t make it, I don’t think I’ll be able to bear it,’ he said.

  ‘Think positive. She’s young. She’s strong. The bullet has missed her major organs and arteries. You said yourself that she’s a fighter. She has everything going for her.’

  ‘If I believed in God, I’d be praying right now,’ said Donovan. Despite this declaration, he found himself offering up a plea, begging that Ellen pulled through.

  The pain was excruciating. The lights were blinding. Ellen groaned as she tried to move her head. Every part of her body hurt but her shoulder felt like it was on fire. She was aware of a nurse at her bedside, talking to her. She couldn’t make out what the nurse was saying but it sounded soft and gentle. Ellen’s head lolled to the other side. The voice changed. It was deeper. Tender. Full of concern.

  On the third attempt she managed to open her eyes for more than a few seconds and focus.