Frozen Minds

by Cheryl Rees-Price

  Meadows could hear a high-pitched wailing as he opened the door. Eddy stood at the bottom of the stairs, hands over his ears and rocking violently.

  ‘Eddy, are you hurt?’ Meadows dared not touch him.

  Eddy continued to wail, seemingly oblivious to Meadows’ presence.

  ‘Harry will be here soon, it will be OK.’ Adrenalin spiked his skin and quickened his breath as he left Eddy and made for the sitting room. ‘Leah! Gemma! He called above the noise as he ran into the sitting room, his eyes darted around, nothing, he checked the kitchen then went back into the entrance hall. It was then that he noticed the blood smeared on the floor.

  Oh no, please don’t let me be too late. His heart beat widely as he pushed open the door heading for the sleep-in room. ‘No!’ raw pain gnawed at the hollow of his stomach as his eyes fell upon Kevin laying in a pool of blood. A broken chair littered the floor, one wooden leg covered in blood discarded at Kevin’s feet.

  Meadows knelt down and felt for a pulse. He’s alive. ‘Kevin! Kevin, can you hear me?’

  Kevin tried to move his head as his eyes fluttered opened. ‘Winter Man.’ He smiled.

  Meadows felt his stomach churn as blood trickled from Kevin’s mouth. He took a hankie from his pocket and gently wiped Kevin’s lips. ‘You hang in there, I’m going to get some help.’

  ‘Gemma,’ Kevin croaked, his body shook and a low gurgling sound came from his throat.

  Meadows became aware of the shouts and thumps coming from the cellar. He turned Kevin gently on his side, trying to ease his breathing. ‘Gemma will be fine, you just rest,’ he pulled off his coat and laid it over Kevin.

  ‘Bloody hell!’ Edris stood staring down at Kevin.

  Meadows looked up and saw Rowena and Blackwell rushing towards him. ‘Get an ambulance and find the key for the cellar.’

  Blackwell moved swiftly and rammed his body against the cellar door as Edris called an ambulance.

  ‘Val is with Matt,’ Rowena said.

  ‘Cillian,’ Kevin’s voice was barely a whisper.

  Meadows leaned in close. ‘I know, try not to talk now.’ He stroked Kevin’s head.

  ‘Liam doesn’t want to go.’

  ‘Go where?’

  ‘The place where no one’s been,’ Kevin’s eyes rolled back in his head.

  ‘What does he mean?’ Rowena asked.

  ‘I don’t know.’ Meadows leaned in close to check Kevin’s breathing.

  ‘Ambulance is on the way,’ Edris said as the sound of splintering wood echoed in the corridor.

  Gemma flew out of the cellar and threw herself down next to Kevin. ‘He was trying to protect me,’ she sobbed.

  ‘He’s still with us,’ Meadows touched Gemma on the shoulder. ‘Help is on the way.’ He stood and turned to the team. ‘Find them.’ Fury bubbled in his veins.

  ‘They probably left before we arrived,’ Blackwell said.

  ‘Both cars are outside, they have to be in the house. You and Rowena take upstairs, Edris and I will cover down here.’

  Meadows searched the ground floor checking all the rooms before meeting the others back in the entrance hall, where Harry had managed to calm Eddy and was trying to persuade him to go back upstairs.

  ‘They’re not here,’ Blackwell panted.

  ‘What was Kevin trying to say?’ Rowena asked.

  ‘The place that no one’s been,’ Meadows looked around. ‘I’ve heard that before, Kevin showed me around the house the first time we came here.’ He ran his hand through his hair as he tried to recall Kevin’s tour. ‘The bell tower!’ He ran to the door and yanked the handle. ‘It’s locked. Harry, where are the keys?’

  ‘There’s only one, it’s in the office.’

  ‘They’ve probably locked it from the inside, if that’s where they are,’ Edris said.

  ‘Give me a hand,’ Meadows threw his weight against the door. Blackwell joined in but the door wouldn’t budge.

  Meadows kicked the door in frustration. ‘See if you can find something to break it down, I’ll see if I can spot them from outside.’

  He ran to the side of the building with Edris close behind but the large oak tree obscured his view. He moved further along willing his eyes to adjust to the darkness.

  ‘There,’ he pointed up to the roof where Cillian, Leah and Liam stood on the edge, Liam was rocking back and forth.

  ‘They’re going to fall,’ Edris said.

  ‘Cillian, get away from the edge!’ Meadows shouted.

  Cillian didn’t respond. He grabbed Leah’s wrist and peered over the edge.

  Meadows stepped back to get a better view. ‘Leah, come back inside. Liam is afraid, you don’t want him to fall, do you?’

  ‘It’s too late,’ Cillian shouted. ‘This way we stay together.’

  ‘They’re going to jump,’ Meadows turned to Edris. ‘We have to find a way to get up there.’

  ‘How? That door is solid and I doubt they have any ladders hanging around.’ Edris looked around helplessly.

  ‘It’s not too late, Cillian.’ Keep him talking. Meadows could feel the cold air biting his skin and imagined the three of them must be freezing up on the roof top. ‘I know you didn’t mean to kill Alan.’

  ‘You don’t know fuck all,’ Cillian shouted as he leaned forward.

  Leah screamed but Cillian yanked her arm. Liam moved closer and took hold of Leah’s other hand.

  ‘I know about Tara, the drinking and drugs. I know the pain she caused all of you. This is not the only way. Leah needs medical attention and Liam is petrified. This is not what he wants. He doesn’t understand. I know you want to protect them, now is your chance, come down.’

  ‘This is the only way for us all to be together,’ Cillian shouted as he teetered on the edge.

  ‘No!’ Meadows watched in horror as Cillian stepped over the edge. Leah screamed as she was pulled over but the inevitable thud didn’t come. To Meadows astonishment Cillian dangled in the air, his hand gripping Leah’s wrist. Leah’s other arm was stretched above her head and held by Liam, who was leaning back holding their weight with superhuman strength.

  ‘He can’t hold them much longer!’ Meadows leapt at the oak tree and hauled himself up the trunk. He felt the bark splintering beneath his nails, pain stabbed at his cold hands but he kept climbing until he reached the higher branches. He could hear Edris shouting below among the sirens. The sky was lit up with flashing blue as an ambulance tore into the drive. He tried to block out the pain as the bitter cold air bit into his skin, numbing his fingers.

  He saw an outstretched branch that ran parallel with the roof, he gripped the branch and lowered his legs, not sure if it would hold his weight. It took all his strength to move along the branch, one hand over the other, and his arm muscles screaming in protest. The branch bowed as he took one last swing and catapulted his body onto the roof ledge.

  ‘Hold on, Liam.’ He could see Liam’s face contorted with the effort of holding onto Leah.

  Meadows reached over the edge and grabbed Leah’s arm.

  ‘Let me go,’ Leah pleaded.

  ‘No, you don’t want to do this. Liam doesn’t want you to die.’ Meadows could see Cillian was struggling to hold on. The only way to save Leah is if he lets go. Below, Edris, Rowena and Val looked on helplessly. ‘Get a ladder or something to break the fall!’ He shouted but knew there wasn’t enough time. ‘Cillian, you’re going to have to try and pull yourself up.’

  ‘I’m coming!’ Blackwell appeared on the roof and started to make his way towards them.

  ‘I love you,’ Cillian said.

  ‘No, don’t!’ Meadows shouted.

  Leah’s screams rent the air as Cillian let go of her wrist and fell with a sickening thud.

  ‘I’ve got you, buddy.’ Meadows turned his head to see Blackwell wrap his arms around Liam and pull him away from the edge.

  ‘Let me go,’ Leah begged.

  ‘No, you don’t want to die and Liam needs you.’ Meadows pulled wit
h all his strength and dragged Leah over the ledge to safety.

  ‘Leah!’ Liam wrapped his arms around his sister.

  ‘Let’s get them inside,’ Meadows could see Leah trembling violently. He took hold of her arm and guided her off the roof with Blackwell and Liam following behind.

  They were nearing the bottom of the stairs, where the bell tower door lay torn off its hinges, when Leah broke loose and ran for the front door. Meadows gave chase and caught hold of her by the oak tree.

  ‘Let me go to him,’ Leah sobbed.

  Meadows held her tightly in his arms as snow speckled the dark sky and landed on Cillian’s broken body.

  Edris walked towards them shaking his head.

  ‘There’s nothing you can do for him now, come back inside.’ Meadows turned to walk Leah back to the house and saw the paramedics bringing out Kevin. ‘Look after her,’ he passed Leah to Edris and sprinted towards the stretcher.

  ‘How is he?’

  ‘He’s lost a lot of blood.’ the paramedic looked solemn.

  Meadows took hold of Kevin’s hand. ‘You hang in there, Kevin, you have a snowman to build.

  Kevin opened his eyes. ‘Winter Man,’ His voice was weak as he stared up at the sky. ‘You made it snow.’

  ‘No, you did. It’s snowing just for you.’ The words caught in Meadows’ throat as Kevin’s eyes closed and his body started to convulse.

  Chapter Thirty-three

  ‘How is she today?’ Meadows asked the doctor who had just come out of Leah’s room.

  ‘No improvement, she’s still refusing treatment. I give her a week at the best,’ the doctor shook his head sadly. ‘There’s not much we can do without her cooperation. I’ll ask the duty psychiatrist to assess her but if I’m honest I would say she’s of sound mind. Grieving and understandably a little depressed but not enough to warrant a section order.’

  ‘It’s important I talk to her, maybe then she’ll change her mind.’

  ‘OK, but not for long, she is very weak.’

  Meadows pushed open the door. Leah looked like a doll laying in the hospital bed, her skin was as white as the sheet that covered her. She had an oxygen mask on her face and wires led from her chest to the monitor next to the bed.

  ‘Hello, Leah, can we talk?’ Meadows approached the bed.

  Leah pulled the mask away. ‘Have you come to arrest me?’

  ‘No,’ Meadows took a seat. ‘But I do need to ask you some questions.’

  She nodded and struggled to sit up. Meadows adjusted the bed and propped a pillow behind her back then poured a glass of water.

  ‘I need you to tell me what happened.’

  ‘You know by now that Cillian is my brother.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘We met when I was still at university. I was out partying with my friends, we were celebrating the end of exams. We hit it off straight away and then spent every spare moment together. We moved into the flat, both of us were working and life was great ... it seems like such a long time ago.’ Leah pushed her hair back from her face.

  ‘Then I got ill, I started on medication but knew it wouldn’t be long before I needed dialysis and eventually a kidney transplant. My PRA levels were high which made it more difficult to get a match, something like a five percent chance. So Mum and Dad had to tell me about the adoption. I had no idea, no suspicions. I was upset at first but Cillian said he would help me track down my real family, he said it would be exciting.’ Her breathing became laboured.

  ‘Take your time,’ Meadows handed her the oxygen mask and waited until her breathing became easier. ‘It must have been a shock for you to find out you were brother and sister.’

  Leah pulled the mask away. ‘You’ve no idea. Our world came crashing down, we were in love but at the same time disgusted. I felt dirty and ashamed. We couldn’t be together any more but we weren’t ready to let go, so we decided to stay together as a couple without the physical relationship. We should’ve split up. I blamed my parents, hated them for keeping me in the dark.’

  Meadows could see that she was tiring but wanted her to move on with the story. ‘You found Liam.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Leah smiled. ‘But I didn’t know how to introduce myself or if he would understand. I started reading up on his condition and the history of Bethesda House. It was then that I came across the abuse case. I needed to make sure that Liam was cared for. I couldn’t do that with weekly visits so we decided it was best that we went to work there. I changed my name back to what it should have been but chose Parry so no one would make the connection. Getting into Bethesda was easy. We got some false references, passed the CRB checks and we were in.’ Leah put a hand to her chest.

  ‘Are you OK to continue?’

  Leah nodded. ‘I loved working with Liam but it was hard not telling him he is my brother. I started to notice the lack of empathy Alan had with the residents. By this time I had befriended Gemma and she told me about Alan’s involvement in the abuse. I talked to Alex Henson and Rhys Owens who confirmed the story.’

  ‘But you didn’t do anything about it at the time?’

  ‘What could I do? As long as I stayed at Bethesda I could keep an eye on Liam. I started on dialysis, it wasn’t too bad at first, and I could do it at home and run it overnight. It was difficult when I had to take the turn on the night shift. Cillian wanted to give me one of his kidneys but it wasn’t a good match and he had his own health problems, he just hid them well. I guess we were all broken in our own way. Broken dolls our mother threw away.’ Leah turned her head and wiped a tear from her eye.

  ‘I don’t think Tara had a choice, social services intervened.’

  ‘She had a choice.’ Leah turned back to face Meadows with blazing eyes. ‘She had a choice not to drink, not to take drugs and to think of her children, but no, she was too selfish.’ The heart monitor increased tempo as Leah once more struggled for breath.

  ‘Try not to upset yourself,’ Meadows handed her the glass of water. ‘What happened with Alan?’

  ‘I noticed his attitude towards the residents was becoming cruel, particularly towards Liam and Kevin. He was clever though, he did it in such a way it would be difficult to make a complaint.’

  ‘So you decided to get rid of him?’

  ‘Not in the way you think. We planned to frame him in a compromising position. I spent months flirting with him but only when we were alone. I arranged to meet him that Monday night, I told him I’d leave the cellar door open and make sure we were alone. I slipped some diazepam into Gemma’s hot chocolate; it didn’t take long for her to fall asleep. I was supposed to do the same with Alan, then Cillian would come and we would put him in bed with Nicole. When the staff came in the morning he would be caught and it would be instant dismissal.’

  Meadows felt a flicker of anger. ‘What about Nicole? Did you not think of the distress it would cause her?’

  ‘Nicole was never going to be in danger and she wouldn’t have thought anything of it, her mind is innocent. It was for the benefit of all the residents and the only way we could think of getting Alan sacked.’

  ‘What went wrong?’

  ‘Alan turned up early, he had already been drinking and brought a bottle of wine. I had already opened a bottle and had planned to put the crushed diazepam into the glass. He came into the sleep-in room. He was in a strange mood, agitated. His hands were everywhere,’ Leah screwed up her face in disgust. ‘I tried to distract him but he was eager to ... I deliberately dropped my glass so it smashed on the floor. Alan went to the kitchen to get another one which gave me time to put the drugs into his glass. Then I heard Alan shouting, he had caught Kevin in the kitchen eating ice-cream. He was so vile, calling Kevin all sorts of names, it made me more determined to carry out the plan, no matter what it took. Liam came out of his room to see what all the noise was about. Alan said he would leave and that he obviously wasn’t going to get what I promised. I told him I would settle them down. I persuaded Liam and Kevin to go back to bed and Al
an suggested we go down the cellar where we wouldn’t be disturbed. He drank down the wine with the diazepam but it didn’t seem to have much effect. He grabbed me, tearing at my clothes,’ Leah rubbed her hands over her face. ‘It makes my skin crawl just thinking about it. He started to pull down his trousers, I ...’

  ‘It’s OK, I get the picture.’

  ‘He called me a prick teaser, then pinned me against the wall, I scratched at his face, but he took no notice. Liam must have heard because he came down the cellar steps. Alan had his back turned so didn’t see him. It just happened so quickly, Liam grabbed the iron from the shelf and started hitting Alan. Cillian came then but it was too late. Alan was on the floor, there was blood everywhere. Liam didn’t mean to kill him, he was trying to protect me.’

  ‘Why didn’t you call the police?’

  ‘We were afraid, Liam would’ve been taken away and how would we explain Alan and Cillian being there? I took Liam to his room, showered him and put him in fresh pyjamas. I gave him a sedative and he fell asleep.’

  ‘Cillian had already cleaned up most of the blood by the time I went back to the cellar. He came up with the idea of the freezer, he’d been watching all those crime scene documentaries and thought it best that Liam found the body so any hair or DNA could be explained. We put Liam’s pyjamas in Alan’s car with the food from the freezer then used the hoist to put Alan in.’

  ‘But he wasn’t dead.’

  ‘I swear he wasn’t breathing. We wouldn’t have put him in there to die if we had known.’

  ‘The diazepam mixed with alcohol likely made his breathing very shallow. Didn’t you check for a pulse?’

  ‘No,’ Leah bit her bottom lip. ‘We panicked, we weren’t thinking straight.’

  ‘What about Tara?’

  ‘I don’t know what happened. We were so scared that we were going to be found out, every day I woke up feeling sick and afraid. I didn’t realise at first that my health was deteriorating. That weekend I had been into hospital, the anaemia and high blood pressure was causing a strain on my heart. So now, not only had my one kidney failed, my heart was giving up. I told Cillian I wanted to stop the dialysis, there seemed little point. I told him to let me go and I would leave a letter confessing to the murder of Alan, that way Liam would be safe. I guess it must have pushed him over the edge. I really don’t know if he went with the intention of killing her or just to make her feel some of our pain. I didn’t know she was dead until you came to Bethesda asking questions.’