‘I …’
‘Hardy dies, his wife works at the hostel, my best mate is killed and his daughter vanishes and you know the reason why!’ Conway lifted the knife away from Rae’s throat and the big man gulped in a mouthful of air, the blood oozing from the slice in his neck.
‘Look, the woman contacted Phelps and he said killing Hardy was urgent and it needed to look like an accident and that is all I know.’
Conway still had his left hand clamped on Rae’s shoulder. ‘How does she contact you?’
‘I’ve told you she doesn’t, Phelps gets in touch, I’ve never seen her, don’t know her name, I swear to God.’
‘So, you’ve told us all you know?’ Conway asked, his voice no more than a whisper.
‘I swear …’
‘Then you’ve served your purpose.’
Rae opened his mouth, unsure what he was going to say but Conway slammed the knife into the back of his head, the heavy blade split the skull and skewered his brain. Jimmy Rae started to jitter as Conway snatched the knife free and thrust him forwards.
Marnie jumped back, shock keeping the scream locked in her throat as Rae slammed face first onto the table before crashing to the floor.
‘You murdering bastard!’ Reese gasped.
Conway jabbed the knife at his face. ‘I told you, anyone who gets in my way is fair game.’ Keeping the blade held out he moved left, Marnie looked for a chance to attack but the blade never wavered.
‘You won’t get away with this, you bloody animal,’ Reese snarled as Rae continued to jitter on the floor.
‘You don’t get it, do you? I have no interest in getting away with anything, all I want is to get Rowan back—’
‘And how do you think she would feel knowing you went on a killing spree to rescue her?’ Reese demanded.
Conway paused for a moment before answering. ‘She might hate me but at least she’ll be alive. Now, turn around the pair of you.’
Both Marnie and Reese held their ground, their faces stamped with shock.
Rae died with a final gasp.
Conway raised the knife. ‘I won’t tell you again,’ he warned.
As they turned, they locked eyes and Marnie could see in the DCI’s gaze, a look of disgust and sorrow.
Marnie opened her mouth to apologise, to say she was sorry for how things had turned out but then Reese crashed to the ground, his eyes flickering closed as he hit the floor. Marnie felt the anger wash away the fear, she spun around to find Conway backing off, the knife aimed at the oak boards.
‘You can either come with me to try and sort this or you can stay here, it’s up to you?’
Marnie looked at the two men sprawled on the floor, she could see the blood still seeping from beneath Rae’s head, mixing in with threads of grey brain matter. Reese had his hands out on front of him, his head on one side, eyes closed.
‘I’ll make you pay for this,’ she said in a cold voice as she looked up at Conway.
‘Yes, well it will have to wait because we need a word with Polly Hardy.’
‘Not a chance.’
Conway’s eyes widened in surprise.
‘If you think I’m going to provide the address so you can pay her a visit and start cutting her, then you are as deranged as he was,’ she said, jabbing a finger towards Rae.
The knife started to rise. ‘You have more invested in this than anyone …’
‘I won’t see anyone else hurt just so you can live out your vendetta.’
‘I need to find her,’ Conway said, for the first time Marnie noticed the shake in his hands.
‘And I need to call for help.’
‘No way …’
‘The second you hit my boss you blew your chance of me helping you,’ Marnie said. Conway looked at her, he could see the determination in her eyes, the unwavering belief that she would die rather than put someone else at risk.
‘If you come with me now, once we’ve found Polly Hardy you can ring for help,’ as soon as he spoke the words he knew she wouldn’t be swayed by his offer.
‘I won’t do it.’
‘But …’
‘Reese tried to help you, he said he would come alone and he did, and yet this is how you repay him,’ she leaned forward, the anger rising through her body in a black wave.
Tom Conway hissed in a breath, all at once he saw himself through Marnie’s eyes, saw the blood on his hands, felt the fanaticism that he knew would be shining from his eyes.
Slowly, he lowered the blade as if the weight of it was too much to bear. ‘John Hall was a good man, one of the best, he served his country with honour and he didn’t deserve to end his life on some garage floor while some bastard took his daughter.’ He pointed down at Rae. ‘If we lived in a world where the likes of him had their way then life wouldn’t be worth living, he spent a lifetime using people, getting young girls like Emma Winstanley hooked on drugs and then selling them for sex while he hid behind the façade of a property developer. Whitlow’s sister told me of at least two men she knows he had murdered, and the thought that a bastard pervert like Phelps has been holding Rowan prisoner for five weeks turns my stomach,’ he finished with a shuddering gasp.
Marnie felt her resolve start to waver, everything that Conway said was true but then she looked at her boss on the floor and shook her head, her teeth grinding in anger.
‘Please help me sort it.’
She looked up to find Tom Conway crying, the tears rolled down his cheeks, the sight of his grief took her breath away.
‘I can’t do this alone,’ he paused to wipe the tears away, ‘I’ve got cancer, the doctors have given me six months and that was over four months ago.’
Marnie was suddenly at a loss for words, he wiped a hand across his brow leaving a smear of Jimmy Rae’s blood on his skin.
‘Dying doesn’t bother me but I can’t go to my grave not knowing what happened to Rowan.’
Reese groaned and Marnie looked down in relief, her mind still frozen with what Conway had revealed.
Dropping the knife, he stepped closer to her. ‘Rowan’s a good kid, she lost her mother when she was eight and John brought her up the right way, he taught her how to look after herself and she will have tried to stay alive no matter what and I can’t just leave her to some bastard, I just can’t,’ his voice cracked as more tears flowed.
Marnie felt his pain, felt it resonate with her own, the lost years, the years of torment that she carried with her every second of every day.
‘I need to get help for my boss and then I’ll find out where Polly Hardy lives but I want your word that you won’t hurt her.’
Conway nodded in understanding. ‘I swear to God I won’t harm her.’
Marnie drew in a deep breath before pulling out her phone, outside the rain increased, blowing in through the broken glass of the French windows.
82
Reaching the boundary wall, Rowan rested her hands against the wet stone, legs shaking with fatigue, breathing laboured, her hair plastered to her head, the rain continued to batter down on her from the black sky.
Beyond the wall, she could see the narrow lane snaking away into the darkness, hear the rain as it beat a tattoo on the black, pitted tarmac.
Looking over her shoulder, she swallowed in relief when she failed to see the beam cutting through the darkness. She looked left and right, desperately searching for a gate or a break in the wall but there was none. Another glance over shoulder, the fear spearing through her mind, if she stayed here and the man with the torch reached the top of the hill then he would see her clearly and she would be trapped in the glare of the light.
She started to climb, her feet scrabbled, looking for a foothold, her tired arms trying to haul her upwards, reaching the top she swung her legs over and risked another look back. When she saw the light crest the hill she gasped before leaping from the wall into the muddy verge below, her feet sinking ankle deep in freezing water.
Standing up slowly, she turned left and starte
d to run, her eyes looked longingly at the road to her right but she knew she couldn’t risk moving to the tarmac for fear that the beam of light would find her and track her as she ran. So, she stayed close to the wall, running in a crouch; back aching, she tried to pick up the pace but every footfall seemed to find a divot of muddy water. Twice she fell to her knees, her hands grasping at the grass trying to regain her balance before staggering forward again.
She was so absorbed with making her escape, so locked in her own insular world of terror that she never saw the flash of light in the distance, a brief, twin sparkle that flared and died as a car vanished around a bend. The ache in her legs increased with every painful step and her body started to shake as her rain-drenched clothes sucked the heat from her body. Yet still she stumbled on, the determination burning inside, her father’s face planted in the forefront of her frantic mind. Another ten feet and she stopped and moved to the wall, taking a lungful of wet air, she rose slowly and peeped over the top of the stone, sure enough the torchlight was there but this time it was moving over to the right and she made fists of her blue-knuckled hands as she felt the euphoria soar through her body.
Mind made up, she squelched her way to the road and started to run, instantly her feet felt lighter on the solid surface and she sped up; the wind howling in her face, her teeth flashing white, she sprinted forwards.
When the headlights swept around the corner and blasted into her face Rowan gasped and threw up her arms in an effort to block the assault on her eyes. She heard the screech of tyres on the wet surface and stopped, her heart leaping in her chest in fear.
She could see the rain falling in the headlights glare and she waited, waited for someone to step forward to ask her what she was doing running down a rain-swept lane in the middle of the night.
Seconds seemed to turn into minutes, she could hear the rumble of an engine then the sound of a heavy door being slammed shut.
‘Run!’ her father’s voice screamed.
Rowan leapt back at the deafening sound, her hands raised as the shape appeared in front of the car.
‘You’re a slippery little fucker, aren’t you?’ the man asked.
Rowan felt everything inside her drain away, all hope gone leaving only a black pit of despair.
The man strode forward out of the darkness.
83
Marnie didn’t give time for Bev Harvey to interrupt, the words flowed out as she explained all that had happened at Rae’s house, ending in the death of the big man and DCI Reese being knocked out cold.
‘Is he OK?’ Bev eventually managed to ask, her voice high-pitched with disbelief.
‘We stayed with him until the ambulance arrived,’ Marnie explained as Conway concentrated on the road ahead, the headlights punching holes in the darkness.
‘And you’re sure he’s going to be all right?’ Bev repeated nervously.
‘Yeah, Bev, he’s going to be fine. Listen, I know after what’s happened I have no right to ask,’ she paused, ‘but I really need a favour.’ The silence stretched out and Marnie waited with bated breath.
‘If I can help then I will,’ Bev replied after what seemed like an age.
‘I need an address for Polly Hardy?’
‘She lives at number two Leyland Avenue.’
Marnie sighed, a mixture of surprise and relief.
‘I only know because I acted as liaison after her husband died,’ Bev explained.
‘Thanks, Bev, I owe you one.’
‘Why do you want her address?’
As Marnie explained what Rae had said about Doctor Hardy’s death not being accidental but murder, Bev gasped, ‘I bloody knew it was dodgy from the off, I mean, we spoke to security at the car park and they said that Hardy had worked at the hospital for over eight years and in all that time he had always used the lift, never the stairs.’
‘What about the security cameras?’ Marnie asked.
‘They were checked but you know what that place is like, there are always people coming and going all day, we checked everyone we could trace but nothing flagged as suspicious.’
Marnie watched as the road straightened out. ‘What else do we know about Hardy?’
Conway indicated and pulled over to the side of the road before pulling out his tobacco pouch and rolling a cigarette.
‘He was a consultant paediatrician, very highly thought of, a member of the Rotary Club, he sat on two boards of charities and as far as I can gather he seemed like one of the good guys.’
Marnie felt something shift inside as Conway blew out a plume of smoke.
‘But I take it we didn’t dig too deep?’ she asked.
‘As soon as the coroner put accidental death on the certificate we closed the case,’ Bev explained.
‘What about the wife?’
‘Well, she worked at the hostel but I think it was on a temporary basis and I’m pretty sure she worked there voluntarily.’
‘She wasn’t on a salary?’
‘Wait till you see her house, then you’ll know why she didn’t need the money.’
Conway looked sideways at Marnie who nodded and pointed down the road, Checking the mirrors he pulled away from the kerb.
‘What about children?’ she asked as Conway went through the gears.
‘They have a daughter, though to be honest they hadn’t see her in years.’
‘Any idea why?’
‘Not sure to be honest, when I asked Mrs Hardy about any relatives that needed to be informed she said she had a daughter but that they didn’t speak, hadn’t done for quite a while.’
‘Do you know if she managed to contact the daughter to let her know what had happened?’
‘I’m sorry, boss, I’ve not a clue to be honest. You know how it is, something else always comes along and with it being pegged as accidental, we backed away and left her to it.’
‘No problem, and listen, Bev, if anyone asks you where I am then—’
‘I’ll act dumb,’ Bev interrupted.
‘I was going to say you let them know.’
‘Look, I take it none of this is being done by the book?’
Marnie smiled sadly. ‘You could say that.’
‘OK, I’m not due on shift till eight in the morning so if anyone apart from you or DCI Reese ring then I’ll ignore my phone.’
From the corner of her eye Marnie saw Conway nod in satisfaction.
‘Thanks, I’d appreciate that, Bev.’
‘OK, and good luck,’ Bev replied.
The phone flashed and died, Marnie slipped it into her pocket.
‘Which way?’ Conway asked, approaching the roundabout.
‘Take a right, and head out of town.’
Conway did as she said and Marnie took the opportunity to study the man behind the wheel. His face had, at first, appeared lean, only now she re-evaluated her appraisal, he looked gaunt, haggard even, his chin and cheeks covered with stubble and not of the designer type, his eyes red rimmed with black smudges beneath. She watched as he wiped a film of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, his eyes haunted, his lips moving as if he were whispering some silent prayer to a God he probably didn’t believe in.
Ten minutes later, they pulled up in front of the large house.
‘Your colleague was right when she said Polly Hardy didn’t need the money,’ he said, unclipping the seat belt.
Marnie eased back in the seat. ‘Do you trust me?’
Conway turned to face her, his face inscrutable. ‘I don’t trust anyone, not at this stage.’
‘I want you to wait here while I go and see her.’
‘No way, I—’
‘Listen to me, it’s—’
‘I said no,’ he growled, reaching for the door handle.
Marnie shot a hand and grabbed his arm. ‘You’re not thinking this through. I have a reason to be here and you don’t, how do you think she will react when she sees you there with blood on your hands and clothes?’
Conway looked down
at his blood-stained hands, his lips pressed together. ‘I don’t care, she’s—’
‘A victim,’ Marnie snapped. ‘Her husband was killed, now, she thinks it was accidental so how will she react when I tell her he was murdered?’
He looked at her, his eyes narrowing. ‘Yeah, but why was he killed? – that’s what I want to know.’
‘And that’s what I’ll be trying to find out but I refuse to do it with you looming over her looking like that.’
Conway frowned in confusion. ‘Like what?’
‘As if you’re ready to commit another murder,’ she replied, snapping open her seat belt. ‘This is my job, it’s what I do, so leave me to it; if I don’t come back within the next half an hour then you can come and find me.’
‘I—’
‘That’s the deal,’ she said fixing him with a hard, brittle stare.
Tom Conway thought for a moment, part of him wanted to walk up the long driveway and kick down the door but another part of his psyche told him to trust Marnie. She had stuck to her word so far so why should she change now.
As soon as he nodded, Marnie had the door open, the wind howled and he watched as, seconds later, she vanished into the darkness.
Conway pulled out the makings and rolled a cigarette, his trembling fingers leaving the stain of Jimmy Rae’s blood on the white cylinder of paper.
84
‘Thank fuck you found her,’ Williams said, climbing into the passenger seat and wiping a hand across his rain-wet face, mimicking the wipers that cleared the rain from the windscreen.
Acton’s hands gripped the wheel tight, he could feel his balls tighten in fear. ‘Listen, I shouldn’t even be here, I did the job and I know Jimmy Rae – he’ll have sussed what’s going on and he’ll have every fucker out looking for me.’
Rowan lay on the back seat, her mind slowly closing down as she realised that her escape had failed and she would never get another chance. This time, she somehow knew that the men wouldn’t be satisfied with keeping her locked in a room, this time they would kill her and her father would never know what had happened to her. Tears leaked from her eyes, her soul shrivelling in fear of what was to come.
Cut The Threads Page 27
