by Helen Phifer
When the medium had spoken to the woman so bluntly he had been shocked. In all the years he’s sat there like the dutiful son he was listening to the drivel they usually spouted, he’d never heard one that didn’t say anything that wasn’t wrapped in cotton wool and sugarcoated. He had been glued to his seat while watching the exchange between them. When the medium dashed out of the door after the woman he was scared to death. He had excused himself and went upstairs to watch from the small window which overlooked the car park. He had taken a couple of photos on his phone, intrigued by the pretty woman in the blue hat, and then gone back down stairs to sit next to his mother. The guy had come back inside and tried to continue with his session but it was different, the atmosphere had changed from one fraught with tension to one of deflated energy, as if someone had cut the power cable. The medium had passed a few messages onto some old dears but he couldn’t concentrate and after thirty minutes of stumbling along he had excused himself saying he felt ill and left.
He had gone into the kitchen to help make the tea, just like he did every week, and to listen to the snatches of conversation to see if anyone knew who the mystery woman was. He heard one woman say she recognised her and his heart had begun to beat faster. His trembling hands managed to pour scolding water all over the worktop, narrowly missing Edith who had walked away shaking her head. He cleaned up the spillage before his mother came in and embarrassed him with her harsh comments.
When he had realised the woman from the farm was the woman from the church, he had been ecstatic: fate was finally shining his way. He decided to go to the supermarket where it would be busy and try and print out the pictures from his phone. He had to queue to use the photo machine. When it came to his turn he stood at the kiosk fumbling around it, he had never used one before and didn’t have a clue how it worked. A teenage girl came and used the kiosk next to him and within two minutes had printed off her pictures and was ready to go.
‘Excuse me, would you be able to help me. I’m not very good with this stuff and haven’t got a clue.’
She didn’t speak just smiled at him and then transferred his pictures onto the screen. If she thought it was odd that they were all a bit blurry and of the same woman in different situations she never said anything.
‘There you go, just press that “print” button and that’s it. You can pay for them at the kiosk over there or at one of the checkouts when you pay for your shopping. You just give them that receipt. Or if you’re skint like me you can just walk out with them. They never know if you’ve paid or not, no alarms go off or anything.’
He thanked her for helping him and went to queue at the cigarette counter. He had never stolen anything apart from the scarf the other day, and he hadn’t meant to do that. He watched as the girl walked out of the shop clutching her stolen pictures. She was right, not one person had so much as given her a second glance. He paid for his pictures and left the building holding a copy of the local paper under his arm. The headline KILLER ON THE LOOSE made the paper feel so hot it felt as if it were burning into his skin. He smiled. For the first time in his insignificant life he had made the headlines. He was untouchable.
Walking home he thought about the woman at the farm and exactly what he would like to do to her.
Chapter 24
Annie wasn’t about to explain to Jake that she was having a psychic episode. He would find it hilarious and tell her it was more like a psychotic episode and that she needed medical help. She made two mugs of coffee and got a packet of chocolate fingers out of the cupboard. Jake had stripped off his body armour, followed by a waterproof jacket and then a black fleece jacket. All he had left on was a skintight black polo shirt and a pair of combat pants.
‘God, you look hot in black. I like the new shirts.’
He flexed his bulging biceps. ‘You like, Miss Graham? Well, you can have a feel but don’t get too excited. I wouldn’t want Will to think he had some serious competition.’
She ran her fingers up his arms and across his chest. ‘Alex is one lucky guy.’
He laughed and turned, shaking his bum in his best Beyoncé style at her. ‘I do sometimes wonder myself. You know I did try and get it on with girls for years but it just didn’t work.’
‘Yeah, but that was before you met me.’
He snorted. ‘Bless you, I do love you, Annie, and you are really special and all that and just maybe if I didn’t live with a hot, rich man I would be tempted.’
She punched him in the arm. ‘You’re such a gentleman, Jake. I like it when you let me down gently. Will said they found a body but it wasn’t Jenna’s.’
Jake collapsed onto the sofa. ‘It’s shite, the poor girl earlier was left dead and naked apart from a purple scarf which was wrapped around her neck, which, according to Will, was holding her head onto her body and Jenna White is still missing. I hope I catch the sick bastard first because I won’t be giving him a caution then cuffing him, I’ll be kicking seven bells of shit out of him and then cuffing him.’ She flopped down next to him and he put his arm around her. ‘I’ve missed you. You’re like an annoying little sister but then again maybe not. I don’t think a little sister would get the hot’s for her brother every time he took his coat off.’
They both laughed and Annie felt her eyes getting heavy. Knowing she was safe she let them close and drifted off to sleep.
Jake managed to reach the controls and turn the television on. He was getting paid to look after her and couldn’t think of another job he’d rather do. She looked worn out, her head was a mess and she had big black rings under her eyes but, contrary to popular belief, he had managed to keep those observations to himself. His radio began to ring as he got a private call. Will’s collar number flashed on the screen.
‘All right, Will, what can I do for you?’
There was a slight pause. ‘Did you manage to get up to Annie’s?’
‘Yep, I’m sat on the sofa with my arms wrapped around her and she has her head buried in my lap.’ Jake smiled at the sharp intake of breath on the other end of the radio.
‘Cool, as long as she’s OK. Please can you stay with her until I get up there to take over. Do you mind?’
‘I told you it’s fine. Take as long as you want. Oh God, she’s good, you don’t know what you’re missing mate.’ With that Jake ended the call.
He sat in the chair in his bedroom staring out of the window until he heard his mother turn off the television downstairs and lock the front door. Lifting his arm he checked his watch. It was still early; she must be tired. Her nightly ritual involved rattling every door and window to make sure they were secure. Once she had made the slow trudge up the stairs and spent her five minutes in the bathroom she would go past his door and shout ‘goodnight, god bless’ making him cringe every time. Somehow he didn’t think that God was ever going to bless him again, not after the terrible things he had done.
The fire had started inside him two hours ago. Determined not to give into it he had sat glued to the chair. Images of such sickness and depravity raged through his brain and they made him feel both repulsed and excited. He didn’t understand how something so sick and disgusting to him could make him so aroused. He had stared at the metal sign outside the newsagents watching it sway in the breeze. The hypnotic effect had cleared his mind for a little while but then the owner had come out and pulled the metal shutters down, dragging the sign back inside the shop and now he had nothing to focus on.
He wanted the woman from the farm.
The computer screen glowed on the desk and he thought about logging on and watching the little whore for a while to see if she could take his mind off the blood and death that he so craved. He pictured Jenna’s smiling face and it made him feel even worse. He was in such turmoil he stood up and caught his reflection in the mirror and stared. He didn’t remember having such a hard face.
The voice whispered to him, ‘Why don’t you pay our friend a visit, you know you want to?’
He shuddered. Unable to stop
himself he got dressed and crept out of his room. The loud snores coming from his mother’s bedroom masked the sound of the front door opening. He drove to the small car park across from the ruins and parked next to the public toilet: his was the only car there. Taking the dog lead out of the glove compartment – who would have thought something from the pound shop would be so useful? – he took his backpack from the front seat and slipped the knife inside with the rest of his carefully assembled kit: a torch, rope and some duct tape.
He thought about the room in the cellar of the mansion; his room. The first time he discovered it he had found himself drawn to the rocking chair in the corner. He had sat there for a long time; happy to be there. After a while he began to dig with his hands in the soil underneath the chair and found the knife. Its worn wooden handle had felt so right in the palm of his hand, as if it had been made to measure, just for him. He had known instinctively that this room belonged to the young man on the photo and now it was his. Jenna had made a nice addition to it. He wanted to show the woman from the farm the room but needed to lure her there somehow. It was just a matter of biding his time. He knew the opportunity would arise and he began to feel a tingle of excitement as he reached the old trail with the steep sandstone steps that, after quite a climb, would lead into the woods.
Jake extracted himself from Annie, whose head was almost resting in his lap. He slid a cushion underneath her and went to find something to eat. He was halfway through eating a mountainous sandwich, which contained one of everything edible from the fridge and cupboards, when the beam of a car’s headlights lit up the kitchen. Jake opened the door and watched Will make the effort to get out of the car.
‘When was the last time you had something to eat? You look like crap, mate.’ He handed over half of his sandwich to Will.
‘Erm thanks but it depends what’s in it.’
‘Trust me, it’s better that you don’t know. Just eat, it tastes fine.’
Will took it from him and bit into it. ‘How’s Annie?’
‘Sleeping beauty is fast asleep on the sofa. I had to move in case she got the wrong idea and thought I was you when she woke up.’
Will was too tired to take the bait this time. ‘Thanks, Jake. There’s still nothing on Jenna. I had the PCSOs canvas every house and farm building in the area: everything within a three-mile radius has been searched.’
‘She’ll turn up eventually, one way or the other. I’ll get off now. I officially finished three hours ago.’ Jake began the ordeal of getting dressed again. ‘Oh and I’m sorry about this morning, it was way too early for that kind of shit.’
‘No, you were right. I have got a lousy track record with women but there is something about Annie that makes me want to wrap her up in bubble wrap and keep her safe.’
Jake laughed. ‘Oh well, good luck with that one, she isn’t your typical girlie girl. Although I think even girls as tough as old boots dream about being swept off their feet. Just don’t mess her around.’ He went out into the courtyard and began the walk down the path back to the car he’d left parked near the big wooden gates at the entrance to the woods.
Annie sauntered into the kitchen rubbing her eyes. ‘Where’s Jake?’
‘He had to go and change his pants. He said that you drooled all over his crotch.’ He winked at her and she smiled.
‘Oops. Hi, how are you doing?’
‘I’m fed up and starving. Jake gave me half a sandwich he’d made but I was too scared to look inside. It was edible though.’
Annie set about pulling pots and pans from the cupboard. ‘I can cook pasta without too much trauma. Is that OK?’
‘Perfect.’ Will slumped onto the kitchen chair and relayed the day’s events to Annie while she cooked.
He had a close call as he came up the last of the steep steps that led onto the main path through the woods. The biggest policeman he’d ever seen was walking along the path, talking loudly on his phone about what to have for tea. He stepped to the side behind a holly bush, not daring to breathe. After ten minutes he summoned up the courage to move. There weren’t any more police around so he relaxed a little as he made his way along the path. When he reached the house he took his familiar route to the hay barn to watch. The woman was busy cooking in the kitchen, occasionally turning to speak to the man who was sitting at the table. She wasn’t wearing the blue hat and when she turned her back to the window he saw the terrible wound running across the back of her head.
He had shivered, feeling guilty for wanting to cause her any more pain than she had already suffered. This was more like his normal self and for a moment he realised that he didn’t want to be a killer. So what was he doing stalking some woman he didn’t know? It was wrong; he knew it was. And then, like snapping his fingers, his mood changed and he no longer cared what was right or wrong.
He watched her take a bottle of wine from the fridge, pour out two glasses. He felt a prickle of hope. If they got drunk it would be easier to overcome them. The man would be the problem: if he went for him first and knocked him out cold he should be able to handle her. One hit over the head would wipe her out and that would be the pair of them sorted.
He began to hum some strange song from a long time ago, a song that he couldn’t remember the words to but knew the music all the same.
They ate in silence and then carried their glasses through to sit on the sofa. Will groaned when he sank down into it, afraid he would go into a coma for the next twelve hours. Annie sat next to him. She could still smell his aftershave but very faintly. Mike never used it even though she bought him some every Christmas.
If anyone asked her how she felt right now she wouldn’t be able to explain how, in such a short space of time, she was completely head over heels for Will.
He nudged her. ‘Tell me to mind my own business but I can’t stand it anymore. What did happen to your head?’
She sucked in her breath and took a moment to exhale. ‘You mean you haven’t heard the gossip around the station; I find that hard to believe. It must be the hot topic of the year.’
‘Yes, you would think so but, surprisingly, it’s been the best-kept secret of the year. I think Kav must have threatened everyone involved with working everyone’s favourite council estate for the next ten years. I did try to quiz Sally but she only told me she had been sworn into the secret society of keeping Annie’s secrets safe and even good old Jake has contained himself, so it seems as if you have some very loyal friends and colleagues.’
Annie blinked away more tears; she was turning into a right softie. ‘Well, seeing as how you asked me so nice I’ll start at the beginning.’
Chapter 25
Mike didn’t want to stay in this place full of skanks any longer. He’d never been in a bail hostel before and didn’t want to go in one ever again. Yes, he’d hit his wife over the head with a bottle but it had been her own fault and she’d broken his nose. It wasn’t like it was the crime of the century and if it wasn’t for the fact that she was a copper he wouldn’t even be in here. He went upstairs to his room, which was so tiny their garden shed at home was bigger. He filled his holdall with what few belongings he had and threw it out of the window onto the grass below. Then he walked downstairs and out of the front door as if he was supposed to be leaving at this moment.
He wasn’t familiar with Carlisle but he managed to find his way to the train station easily enough. He spent the journey from there to Lancaster in the toilet to avoid the guard. From Lancaster he scraped enough change together to buy a ticket and an hour later was sitting in his garden shed waiting to make sure she wasn’t at home or likely to come home soon. She would be staying with those two gay men who she preferred spending time with than him. Well, he would show her he had changed. How after almost losing her he couldn’t live without her and he would treat her like she deserved. He was lonely without her and if he was lucky she might just drop the charges and they could start again, maybe go on a holiday abroad somewhere.
After a while
he took the spare door key off the hook in the shed and was now sitting on his own sofa drinking a can of cheap beer, which contained more water than alcohol. When he’d opened the door the air had smelt stale so she hadn’t been home for a while.
Because of the nature of the assault he wasn’t even allowed in the same town as her. Why should he have to stay in a dump full of paedophiles? He didn’t see why he should be the one banished from his own home. Once the staff at the bail hostel reported him missing the first place they would check would be here, but if he kept the lights off and the curtains closed he should be fine. They needed a good reason to knock a door down and he didn’t think that his wife was that important.
As he walked into the kitchen he wondered who had cleaned up the blood; there had been a lot. He picked up the carrier bag of beer he’d left by the back door and carried it into the living room, for once not bothering to kick off his shoes. Instead he took pleasure in walking on the new carpet in them. None of that crap mattered now. He sat back on the sofa and sipped at the can of the worst lager he had ever tasted.
His eyes adjusting to the dark he could see the outline of the frame that contained the photo of them on their first holiday to Hawaii. Getting up he walked across and picked it up then smashed it against the corner of the fireplace. Fragments of glass crunched under his foot and he dropped the frame to the floor and used his foot to grind them into her smiling, happy face. Tiny cuts appeared on the picture and it wasn’t long before she was nothing more than an outline. He wished the picture in his mind could be erased that easy.
