Falling into Crime

by Penny Grubb

  ‘There, that’s Boxer,’ Mally whispered.

  Part of Annie wanted to stop now and get on her phone to call for help, but something in Mally’s tone stopped her. She had to be sure. All ponies looked much the same, but she’d seen Boxer several times and was fairly sure she could recognize him. ‘I want to see him closer up,’ she whispered back.

  Kay sat in the mud and stayed put. Mally and Annie crept closer. Annie half wished for a bigger moon, but at the same time wished for no moon at all so she could be sure they were invisible as they pressed themselves low in the sodden grass and slid forward towards the wall.

  They heard the clack of hoofs on concrete as the pony moved, its outline crossing their line of sight. Annie saw it in silhouette, heard it chuckle in its throat as it put its head down. She hadn’t a hope of distinguishing it from a beach donkey but Mally gave a sudden start.

  ‘But it is Boxer,’ she blurted out.

  Annie felt her heart begin to pound in reaction to the wave of fear she sensed from the girl beside her. Mally knew they’d find a pony here but she’d had no idea it was Boxer. What was she playing at? Why had she led them here?

  ‘Come on,’ Annie hissed, taking charge and backing away from the low wall towards where they’d left Kay. Mally scrambled after her.

  When they’d retreated up the slope, Annie put her arms round both girls huddling them all close together. Mally’s shivers were more than the lashing wind and rain warranted. The heat from Kay was abnormal but the high blush was gone from her cheeks as though the moonlight leached the blood out of her. As Annie spoke, she fought to keep her tone neutral.

  ‘Why did you bring me here, Mally?’ Suddenly she knew the question wasn’t why. ‘Who told you to bring me here?’

  Even in the scrappy moonlight, Annie saw the colour drain from Mally’s face as she looked first down into the gloom towards where they’d seen Boxer and then back towards the cliff top. She saw Mally and Kay exchange glances. Kay’s face, now wan from her illness, turned paler in the silvery light.

  Whatever the two girls had worked out between them, they wouldn’t share it. Annie guessed it was a dawning realization about Mally’s father.

  Annie thought of Jennifer, of the police search for Laura. They’d cast a wide net. Jennifer had mentioned Burton Constable and Wassand. They were way off course, far to the north of Milesthorpe when they should be east. She replayed Scott’s scathing comments about the great detective and knew she’d been right all along. Right about Terry Martin. Right about Tremlow. She’d even been right about what Vince could have done to her in the heat of temper. Now she had to be right about Laura before it was too late.

  Laura was here. Nearby. And Annie had been lured here, too. She couldn’t blame Mally. The girl’s motives had been to protect her father.

  She released the two girls and pulled out her phone, tried to shield it from the driving rain so she could see the screen, and called Jennifer.

  The ring tone crackled, broke up. She took the phone from her ear and pressed the buttons again.

  ‘You’ll not get much of a signal up here,’ Kay said. ‘We couldn’t.’

  We couldn’t? She realized she knew exactly where they were. On the cliff side of the building where the murdered woman’s body had been found. She’d never seen it from this angle. That pen where Boxer ambled about was the walled enclosure she’d crossed that day after the body was taken away.

  The two girls watched her in silence.

  She lifted her phone again and stared at the screen. It had to work. Terry Martin was silenced for what he knew. Tremlow too. He’d been about to tell her something and it was clearly more than that he hadn’t had his glasses on that night. And Laura had found the missing page from Terry Martin’s notebook. She had to ring Scott. She’d just talk over him if he tried to silence her.

  It took a second to realize what she was seeing in front of her. Oh no … Please, no. Battery low. She’d forgotten to charge it. It could give her no more than a few seconds. No time to waste stabbing at buttons. Return last call. She jammed it to her ear and prayed silently to whatever god grumbled its displeasure from the skies above her.

  The ring tone crackled but it didn’t cut out.

  You have reached the voicemail of …

  Oh Jennifer! No. Where are you? ‘Jennifer, you must …’ but the phone had gone dead.

  She looked down the slope into the gloom. Boxer was in that enclosure at the side of the building. She remembered the dank corridor, the raised stalls to either side and the slimy green fingers of lichen and moss that reached down the walls. At the far end was a sturdy wooden door behind which a rotting body had lain.

  Boxer was outside. Laura must be inside. And she’d given away the key to Colonel Ludgrove.

  When she focused again on the girls it was to see Mally’s rainstreaked face looking up at her, expression stunned.

  She pulled them close again, heard Kay’s laboured breathing, felt the fire from the girl’s body. ‘Tell me about the building. Everything. How can I get in? Is Boxer shut in? Where’s the gate?’

  ‘Straight down from here.’ Kay pointed into the darkness, her voice slurred. ‘If you go straight you’ll get to the side of it. On your left’ll be the yard bit where they used to put the sheep. That’s where Boxer is. The first door goes off the yard bit and the locked door’s inside.’

  Yes, thought Annie, I know about that. ‘Is there any other way in.’

  ‘No, but there’s a gap in the wall at the back.’

  ‘How do I get to it? Can I see inside the building? Is it big enough to get in?’

  ‘You can’t see in. We think there’s sacking or something covering it inside. You just feel along the back wall and you’ll come to it. You’d be able to see in a bit probably if there was any light inside. We never saw anything. We never came at night.’

  Annie looked again at her useless phone. Even if she could call anyone, help would come too late. Laura’s two and a bit days were up. She was on borrowed time.

  ‘You want to phone the police, don’t you?’ Mally’s tone was sombre.

  ‘Yes, of course. We have to. And it’s what you two are going to do now while I go down there.’

  ‘We’ll come with you, Annie.’

  ‘No Kay, you mustn’t. You must go back until Mally’s phone works properly. How far did you have to go that night you called me?’

  ‘We used Laura’s phone,’ said Kay. ‘Mine and Mally’s wouldn’t work at all, would they, Mally?’

  Mally shivered as she reached into her pocket. ‘D’you want this?’ Annie looked at the object in Mally’s hand. The key Maz had given her. ‘I took it out of Grandad’s pocket, but Annie you mustn’t tell. You won’t, will you?’

  ‘I won’t.’ As Annie felt the key in her hand she felt a surge of something that felt like fear but approximated optimism. She could get through that door. Get Laura free before … before whatever was going to happen was scheduled to happen. But Laura’s time was up. It was already too late. There was no point in doing anything unless she moved fast.

  ‘Please,’ she begged the two girls. ‘You must go back. Call the police.’ As she begged, she knew they wouldn’t phone and speak to an anonymous voice. They’d go all the way back to Milesthorpe before they told anyone. ‘Do you remember Jennifer Flanagan? That nice policewoman. Ask to speak to her. Or a man called Scott Kerridge. He’s Jennifer’s friend. He’ll know how to help. Now go on. Quick.’

  Kay wiped her hand across her face. ‘We have to go back to the edge of the cliff,’ she said.

  ‘Yes, you have to go that way, but take care. The wind’s strong.’

  Neither girl took any notice of her. Annie saw through the last vestiges of light that they were staring hard at each other. Some byplay that she couldn’t understand sizzled between them.

  After a moment, Mally gulped and then spoke. ‘It’s not my dad.’ It was a whisper.

  ‘No, I expect it isn’t,’ Kay replied, in
a voice that sounded as though it deliberately humoured her friend.

  ‘It isn’t!’ Mally insisted.

  ‘But we’ve got to clear the way,’ said Kay.

  Annie couldn’t stay to help them and didn’t have time to try to work out what they were talking about. They’d turned in the right direction. ‘Phone Jennifer Flanagan, Mally,’ she urged. ‘And look after Kay.’

  With terrible misgivings, she pushed them into starting the scramble back up to the path at the edge of the cliff, then she turned and began the muddy slither back down towards the building.

  Chapter 27

  Annie made out Boxer’s outline as the pony shifted his weight and took a step forward. For a moment he stood bathed in a pale silver light as the moon pierced the storm clouds. In front of him was a net like those Annie had seen at Tina’s, but it wasn’t stuffed with fodder; it hung limply from the wall. Boxer placidly picked strands of hay from the ground. Wisps blew from his mouth and eddied around the yard. In close to the building, he had some shelter from the worst of the squall.

  As the storm threw clouds across to shroud the moon and the scene darkened Annie thought back to Tina’s words. ‘She’s safe with Boxer. Even if she gets lost, he won’t.’ And there stood Laura’s symbol of safety wearing a saddle and bridle as though all ready to set off with his rider. But even through the gloom and driving rain Annie could see the leather was soaked through. The stirrups swung beside the pony as he moved. How long had he stood there?

  If Laura was inside and if Annie could get her out and on to her pony …

  She looked at the entrance to the yard. A pole was balanced across. It would be the work of a moment to lift that clear.

  The first door, the one that led to the corridor Terry Martin along which had crept, was a dark outline in the far wall. A perfect trap. She remembered how it had felt to sneak inside in the daylight and tried to imagine herself creeping down into the yard, slipping through that door … She couldn’t.

  She eased back and made her way through the wet grass towards the other end of the building feeling along the wall as she went. The wind screamed, but in the shelter of the wall, couldn’t batter her as well as it wanted. The rain made up for it. A relentless barrage pounded down. Then, as her hands began to track along the cold wet surface of the building proper, a soft moaning reached out to her over the howling of the storm. She saw a dark shadow like a gash in the wall. The gap Kay had told her about. And the low keening she could hear could only be Laura.

  When she reached the slit in the wall, Annie pressed her ear to the sodden surface and heard the subdued wailing. It was all that was left of long burnt-out hysterics. Low cries, barely sobs. What state was the poor child in? How long had she been in that hellhole?

  The gap was no more than a fissure where the cement bed crumbled away from between two uneven slabs of concrete. Annie found she could slip her hand through but there was no chance to get inside or to get Laura out. The despairing sound seemed right beside her, but that might be the echo from the cave-like structure.

  Could she risk calling out?

  She pulled her hand back and pressed her face to the opening straining for any glimpse of the interior. Kay said it was covered with sacking. Annie eased herself sideways into the wall to get the longest reach, and gingerly stretched her arm through. Her hand went beyond the concrete of the wall, felt flimsy material that trailed on her skin like spiders’ web and then touched cold metal, some sort of wall bracket. She walked her fingers along it. They pushed up against something warm and soft.

  There was a shriek from inside as she recoiled. Oh my God! Laura!

  ‘No, Laura. It’s OK. Be quiet. It’s Annie. I’ve come to get you out. It’s OK.’

  After the first petrified shriek, Laura quietened, as though too exhausted to scream. What had she been through these last two days? Annie could almost lose her fear of the dark corridor in her determination to get this child out of her prison.

  She reached back in through the gap. ‘Laura, it’s Annie. I’m going to reach through and touch your arm. I’ve come to get you out. The police are on their way.’ Please God.

  ‘Annie?’ Barely a whisper that Annie couldn’t be sure she’d heard.

  ‘Yes, I’m going to get you out. Just keep calm.’

  ‘But my arm’s in this thing.’ As Laura spoke, her voice broke up into sobs.

  ‘I know it is. I’ll get it out. Who locked you up, Laura?’

  ‘I don’t know. I was waiting for Mally then I woke up in here. Annie, get me out. I’m frightened.’

  Annie knew she had to keep the girl talking. ‘Is your other hand tied?’

  ‘It so isn’t fair, Annie. I want to go home.’

  ‘I know, Laura. I’ll get you out. Please tell me, is your other hand tied? Are your legs tied?’

  While she talked, Annie felt as best she could round the metal of the wall bracket.

  ‘No,’ Laura sobbed. ‘It’s so not fair. It hurts my arm.’

  ‘Are you sure, Laura? This is really important. Try and tell me. Is it just one hand that’s tied?’

  Annie kept up the questions to distract Laura and keep her calm, but she also needed to know because the wall bracket holding Laura was old and loose. She was sure she could jiggle it out far enough for Laura to slide her hand free. And if sliding her hand free would release her properly, then Annie could creep round and down that corridor knowing that if she could get the door open, Laura had a chance to get away. A tremor ran through her as she saw herself wrestling with the key in the lock, just as she’d seen Terry Martin on the film, but now she pictured a figure in the darkness behind her watching, waiting for the moment to grab her and push her inside the trap with Laura. If she was prepared for it, she might be able to hold out long enough for Laura to run down the corridor, get on to her pony’s back and away. If she could only stop Laura’s fear pinning her inside the dark cave.

  ‘Laura, have you heard anyone else nearby?’

  ‘No, Annie, not for ages.’

  The killer had imprisoned Laura and left her, but he’d be back to finish the job. She had to work quickly and somehow, while she worked Laura’s arm free, she must coach her to have the courage to run. Because once Laura was in the saddle no one would catch her on this terrain.

  ‘Laura, listen carefully. I’m going to get your hand out of here and then I’m coming to unlock the door. Boxer’s waiting outside.’

  At once, Laura’s half-sobs changed to rapid breaths that made Annie fear the girl would hyperventilate herself into a faint. ‘Annie … Annie, get me out. I knew he was still out there … I knew it …’

  Annie felt excitement rise inside her. The thought of her pony nearby would bolster Laura. Whoever put her in here should have freed the pony to wander off but had maybe been afraid the loose pony would alert people. Laura must have been persuaded to ride him here. That’s where she’d gone after she’d left Kay on the old railway. No. No, it wasn’t. It was where she’d been persuaded to go after she’d emailed Annie. When had she found the torn page and made a copy for Maz? She couldn’t stop to work it all out now.

  ‘It’s important to keep calm, Laura. Keep calm for Boxer.’ Annie gritted her teeth as she pulled at the bracket through the narrow opening. The angle was almost impossible, but she could feel it loosening. Now she must rehearse Laura in the detail of her escape, because it was possible she’d have to do it all on her own while Annie struggled to hold back a killer. Don’t think about it. Focus on the girl.

  ‘Now listen, Laura. When I unlock the door, you come out as quickly as you can and get to Boxer.’

  ‘I’ll wait for you, Annie.’

  ‘No, no. You mustn’t wait for me.’

  ‘I’ll be frightened on my own. I so won’t go on my own.’

  Annie knew Laura would panic if she hinted the killer might be close. She sought for inspiration as the sharp sting of the rain hit the side of her head and water poured down her face. ‘You must take
Boxer straight home, Laura. He’s been standing out in the rain. He needs his warm dry stable. You’ll take him straight home, won’t you, Laura?’

  ‘Oh yes. Yes, I will. Poor Boxer. Let me out, Annie. Quickly.’

  ‘No, Laura, don’t pull yet. Let me loosen it further. Laura, when you get outside … this is really important, Laura … when you get on Boxer you need to go out of the yard here. And then you must go along till you get to the track, then turn towards the sea and you can get to the cliff path.’

  ‘Yes, I know Annie. I’ve done it loads of times.’

  Annie smiled in the darkness as she redoubled her efforts with the metal bracket. Of course Laura knew. She had done it loads of times. ‘Hold still, Laura. Nearly there.’

  ‘I saw Terry in Mally’s house with Mr Tremlow.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter now, Laura. You can tell me later.’

  ‘It was after Mally’s mum had gone away. Mr Tremlow so shouldn’t have taken Terry in there. It’s not his house. He shouldn’t have taken him, should he Annie?’

  ‘No, Laura, he shouldn’t.’

  ‘I went to call for Mally. I forgot she wasn’t there. And I saw them.’

  ‘What were they doing, Laura?’

  ‘Terry said, “It’s Mrs Atkins’s money isn’t it?” And Mr Tremlow called him a blackguard. What’s a blackguard, Annie?’

  ‘Blackguard? I think it’ll have been blaggard. It’s an old-fashioned swear word.’

  Laura babbled on as Annie gritted her teeth in frustration at the awkward angle, the pounding of the rain and the pain in her arm as she struggled with the ancient structure.

  ‘I didn’t tell Mally ’cos she was horrid about the Showcross. It wasn’t my fault. It was clever of me to make a copy of that paper like that, wasn’t it, and send it with Maz?’