The Girls in the Woods

by Helen Phifer

  ‘Shit, really? Oh that’s bad for whoever was driving. Do you know the injured officer?’

  ‘I do. I work with him almost every day.’

  Ben nodded. ‘Life is truly shit at times.’

  ‘You can say that again, but he’s in good hands. Tomorrow my main priority is finding Tilly and bringing her home.’

  ‘Thank you, Will.’

  Will left. Tess was in her dog bed next to the radiator fast asleep. He smiled. She was a good dog even if she was the world’s worst guard dog.

  By the time Will arrived back at their cottage he was exhausted; he’d had to drive with the radio on full blast and the windows down so the fresh air blasting his face had kept him focused on the narrow, winding roads which led to Hawkshead. He pulled into the drive and checked his phone; he had three messages from Jake asking if he wanted to stop there, how Annie was, if they’d found Tilly, and was it true Stu had thrown himself in front of a moving panda. He replied.

  ‘No thanks I’m home now, Annie is fine, no sign of Tilly and yes Stu has managed to splatter himself all over Biggar Bank.’

  As he got out of the car he rang the duty sergeant to get an update on Stu; he was told that he was alive, but in a bad way. He was still in the resuscitation room but was due to be transferred to Intensive Care soon. Will turned his phone onto silent; he’d had enough of shit news for one night. If Annie needed him she could ring the house phone. He walked inside and shut the door. The house was so quiet without Annie; he’d got used to her being at home since she’d gone on the sick and it felt strange not to hear her constant chatter. He kicked off his shoes and made his way upstairs to the bathroom. He needed a quick shower because he was convinced he had Stu’s brain matter splattered all over his jacket and hands, even though he’d wiped them several times with the hand gel he kept in the glove compartment of his car. He got into bed and reached out to pat Annie’s side. Pulling her favourite pillow towards him, he stuffed it under his head; lying on his side he could smell the faint, lingering notes of her perfume. He turned on his side so he was facing the window and didn’t see the faded outline of the young woman with long hair and blood dripping down her head who was standing on the landing watching him.

  Chapter 22

  Tilly couldn’t move. Her head felt too heavy for her shoulders to support. She blinked a few times then opened her eyes. It was pitch black. She had no idea what time it was – in fact, she had no idea where she was. She knew he’d moved her from the cold, concrete floor she’d been lying on, but she felt like she was lying on some kind of trolley. Hope filled her heart; maybe she was in the hospital – he might have changed his mind about whatever he had been going to do and phoned an ambulance. She moved her hands what little she could and they immediately hit a cold metal wall; she bent her elbow and that hit the metal wall on the other side. She couldn’t see anything, she couldn’t move anywhere, and it was so cold. Trying to kick out her feet, she didn’t have to move them far before they made a dull thud as they hit another wall. A chill spread over her. She still couldn’t see very well, but her eyes had adjusted slightly and she realised she was in some kind of container. Panic filled her chest as she wondered if she was already in a coffin. Was she dead? Is this what happened to those people you heard about on the news? Everyone thinks you’re dead when really you’re wide awake inside your own coffin with no one to hear or help you. Tears began to fall from her cheeks but then she realised that coffins weren’t generally made of metal or had metal trolleys inside them to lie on. The reality of where she was hit her and she tried to scream but the stupid, stinking gag in her mouth stopped her from uttering more than a muffled sound. She knew where she was. She watched plenty of those ghost shows on the television; in fact she was addicted to them. Especially the ones where they would go exploring in abandoned asylums or hospitals. They nearly always made one of the presenters climb inside the empty fridges that were kept down in the morgues for the dead bodies. She began thrashing around as much as she could as the panic took over. She had to get out of here before she suffocated. What if there was a dead body in the fridge next to hers. As she moved her head from side to side an explosion of pain made her see stars and she blacked out.

  Annie hadn’t slept much, short bursts in between the noise of the nurses in the wards going about their business and patients ringing bells and groaning. As the sun came up she felt relieved. As long as the consultant didn’t take forever she would wait, but if they weren’t here by eleven she was leaving. She was convinced the pain in her head was something to do with the dead girl she kept seeing – when Mike had hit her with the empty champagne bottle, he’d cut the back of her head open. Then when she’d come off the road and hit the tree it had been the front of her head. This pain was more to the side, above her left ear, and for all she knew she might have just passed out last night with the shock of Stu doing what he did and her ungracious tumble down the stairs. Plus it wasn’t unusual for pregnant women to pass out for no reason whatsoever. A gentle knock on her door snapped her out of her daydream.

  ‘Come in.’

  Jake walked in and grinned at her, relieved to see she wasn’t bandaged up or cut and bruised.

  ‘Seriously, Annie, this has to stop. Have you got an obsession with doctors or something? It’s any excuse for you to spend a night in here.’

  ‘Bugger off. Did you only come to insult me?’

  He shook his head and brought out the grease spotted brown paper bag from behind his back. Closing the door behind him he came and sat on the end of her bed.

  ‘No, you ungrateful wretch, I brought you food, hot, greasy sausage muffins and hash browns. You want some or you want me to leave and go and eat it on my own in the car like a saddo?’

  He waved the bag in front of her nose and she felt her stomach rumble. She hadn’t eaten for hours.

  ‘Jake, I love you. I’m sorry – please stay.’

  ‘Ha – you love the food, more like – but seeing as how I love you and you had a tumble I’ll forgive you.’

  He passed her a muffin.

  ‘Here, you’d better eat that before the nurse comes in and catches us. I always feel guilty bringing food into hospital, although you would think I’d have learnt to get over it the amount of time you spend in them.’

  Annie didn’t speak. She was too busy eating so she nodded in agreement with him.

  ‘Here, what about Stu then? I couldn’t believe it when I heard. Will must have told you. I mean, what an idiot. Poor Ian will never get over that; he’s had to go on the sick. Apparently it was a right mess; there were blood and guts everywhere.’

  She felt the mouthful of muffin she was chewing stick to the back of her throat and she had to force herself to swallow it; suddenly she didn’t feel so hungry.

  ‘What do you mean? I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. What happened?’

  ‘Well, I only know half the tale but apparently Kav and Cathy were driving him home because he was too pissed to get there himself. He told Kav he was going to be sick, so he pulled over near the play park on Biggar Bank and Stu did a runner. He ended up hiding from everyone so they called all available officers to go over there and look for him. As Ian turned into the street Stu threw himself in front of the panda car. Apparently there was blood and brains everywhere. Why would he?’

  Jake never got to finish his question as Annie threw back the sheet and climbed out of the bed. She ran into the small bathroom and threw up the muffin she’d just eaten. Jake knocked on the bathroom door.

  ‘Are you okay? I didn’t realise you still had morning sickness.’

  Annie couldn’t think straight. Oh God, poor Stu. What an idiot. What was he thinking?

  ‘Be out in a minute.’

  Her stomach lurched again as a vivid picture of the scene last night filled her mind. She could almost smell the blood; it was everywhere. Squeezing her eyes shut against the pictures, she blocked them and tried to clear her mind. Think good thoughts, think
of flowers, the apples in the orchard, the baby. Think of anything but that.

  She stood up and washed her mouth out with cold water, splashing it all over her face. She needed to see Stu, tell him she wasn’t angry with him and that she realised now he wasn’t himself last night. As she walked out of the bathroom Jake looked at her. She waited for an insult but none came.

  ‘Are you okay? I don’t just mean generally; I mean are you okay as in your whole, mad life. Is there something you’re not telling me, because I’ll find out so you might as well just spill now and save the hassle.’

  She sat back down on the bed next to him; resting her head against his shoulder she began to tell him about last night, the woman she kept seeing in her house, and as she finished she told him about Tilly. She sat upright; she needed to speak to Ben… then she remembered she didn’t have her phone; it had disappeared last night. To say she was annoyed with Will was a bit of an understatement, but she knew why he was avoiding talking to her; he wouldn’t want her to worry over Stu when she already had Tilly to worry about. She borrowed Jake’s phone and rang Ben who answered; his voice was hoarse and she knew he’d been crying. Bugger – no sign of her niece then. She talked to him for five minutes then ended the call, saying she needed to ring Will. She did ring him, but his phone kept on ringing and ringing. She knew he was incredibly busy or might be driving but it irked her that he hadn’t answered. Then the door opened and in he walked. She took one look at his pale, unshaven face and felt bad for being angry with him. He walked over and wrapped his arms around her and she squeezed him back.

  ‘I thought I’d have got here before Mr Social Media, but obviously he didn’t have to come as far.’

  Jake pretended to look hurt.

  ‘I didn’t come to gossip. I brought her some breakfast. Which she very ungraciously threw up, but never mind. I’ll forgive her because I love her.’

  Will turned to Annie.

  ‘How many times have you been sick? Have you told the nurse?’

  ‘Just the once and no; it was the shock of hearing about Stu – nothing else. I’m fine, I promise.’

  Jake stood up, letting Will sit next to her.

  ‘I’ll be going then. Ring me when they let you out or if you need a lift home.’

  He kissed her cheek and she smiled, grabbing hold of his hand.

  ‘Thank you for my breakfast. Sorry I didn’t manage to keep it down.’

  He laughed. ‘You’re forgiven, but next time I’ll bring fruit. Actually, there’d better not be a next time because I’m sick of this place.’

  ‘Me too, Jake.’

  He left them, closing the door behind him, and Will pulled her close.

  ‘God, I missed you last night. I woke up and thought it had all been a bad dream and then it hit me that it wasn’t. I feel like shit, but he got me so mad – I can’t believe I hit him – and then… trying to kill himself… What had got into him, coming into our house and treating you like that? I don’t understand.’

  ‘Alcohol is what got into him. Have you ever seen him drink more than a couple of pints, ever? Doesn’t he always cry off and go home to Debs after a couple of hours on a night out?’

  Will nodded. ‘Tilly hasn’t turned up either.’

  ‘I know, I’ve just spoken to Ben – he sounds awful. Why does everything in my life happen at once? It’s like someone has said, “Right that Annie Graham has had enough of a nice time, now let’s break her heart and make her feel like shit again.”’

  Will couldn’t answer her because their life was exactly like that. The last four months had been perfect – no worries or stress – and now they were back to square one.

  ‘Come on, things will get better. Stu, I’m afraid, has been the master of his own disaster and it has a lot to do with Debs having an affair. His actions are his alone; you didn’t tell him to do what he did to you. Kav didn’t tell him to throw himself in front of a fast-moving car. When Stu wakes up he has to realise that all of this was his own doing.’

  Will didn’t add that Stu might not wake up. He’d been to see him in Intensive Care before he’d come to see Annie and had spoken to the consultant, who had told him at the moment they were taking it hour by hour. Debs had been coming out from the ward when he’d turned up, her eyes bright red and full of unshed tears. He’d given her a hug and told her once more how sorry he was. It hadn’t been that long ago that he’d had affairs and changed his girlfriend as often as he’d changed his socks – until the day he’d set his eyes on Annie and something inside him had changed. He didn’t know what it was that had turned him from the equivalent of a male slut into a completely besotted, one-woman man but he was glad that it had. She had changed his life completely and for the better; he had never felt so happy. He knew that Debs would blame herself for the rest of her life and no one should have to carry that sort of guilt around with them. Things happened and sometimes for a reason.

  ‘I’m doing everything I can about Tilly. I’ve requested a cell site analysis of her phone so we can get a location on her. Maybe she just needed to get away for a few days, have some time to herself and think about her life. Let’s face it, Lisa is not an easy woman to live with; she’s so opinionated and overpowering. I’d have run for the hills years ago. I have no idea how your Ben puts up with her.’

  Annie cracked a smile.

  ‘Me too. He must take after me.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean? I hope I’m not like that to live with?’

  ‘Don’t be daft – I meant the me before you. Afraid of what might be waiting on the other side, staying in a violent relationship because it was the easiest thing to do. You, Will Ashworth, are the very best thing that has ever happened to me and I still can’t believe that you love me so much.’

  He pulled her close.

  ‘And you are the best thing that ever happened to me… except for the murderers – I’m not too keen on your ability to attract them from a hundred miles away, but everything else about you is wonderful.

  Chapter 23

  Heath didn’t eat his breakfast. Jo had made him bacon, tomatoes and poached eggs – his favourite – but he couldn’t face it. His stomach was in knots; the police were still out in the woods and there was a girl in his fridge. He looked across at Jo who was tucking into her food without a care in the world. She stopped eating and put her cutlery down.

  ‘Is there something wrong with your food?’

  He shook his head.

  ‘Are you feeling okay? It’s not like you not to eat. Would you like some toast and jam, or I could make you some cereal?’

  The plate whistled past her head, narrowly missing her ear, and she jumped as it hit the cupboard behind her and smashed into pieces. The egg splattered everywhere; mixed with the tinned tomatoes it looked like someone’s brains had just exploded all over her white kitchen cupboard. Drawing into herself, ready for his fist to come flying at her next, she bowed her head and waited. His chair scraped as he pushed himself back; he was raging inside at the injustice of it all. Just when things were starting to look promising the fucking police were on his doorstep. He should have buried the bodies much further away. Why after all this time had this happened? He wanted to finish his photo collection.

  He pulled on his coat and boots and stepped outside the back door, needing some fresh air. He needed to clear his mind and seriously think about what he was going to do. There was a lone policewoman standing in the distance behind the tape that was stretched across a huge area of the forest. He wondered what would happen if he took her and added her to his collection? There were three more empty fridges in his garage. His feet began to walk over to her and his mind became blank as he fixated on her bright yellow body armour and blonde curly hair. She had her head bent, staring down at her phone; obviously she was bored of standing in the middle of nowhere, so what were the police still doing here? He carried on walking towards her. She had her back to him and he was very good at moving without making a noise. He knew these
woods like the back of his hand. As he got closer the radio clipped to her body armour began to ring and he heard a man’s voice speak on the other end. She began relaying how bored she was to him and asking him what time he would be there. Heath was almost behind her when he stood on a twig which snapped in half. The noise was like a gunshot as it echoed through the trees and she screamed loudly, turning around. His hands flew up in the air.

  ‘Jesus, I’m so sorry. Did I scare you? I just wanted to know if you needed a drink or something. I live in the house back there.’

  The man’s voice on the radio was frantic.

  ‘Are you okay? What’s wrong? I’m just parking my car.’

  ‘I’m fine. Sorry, just had a bit of a fright.’

  The man cut her off and she looked up at him then started to laugh.

  ‘Sorry, I guess you could say I’m just a bit nervous out here on my own. It gets a bit spooky but thank you and I’m okay for now. I’m hoping to get relieved soon. I’ve been here four hours and I really need the toilet.’

  Heavy footsteps came crashing through the woods towards them and they both turned to see Will with another couple of PCSOs following behind him.

  He stopped when he saw that Claire was in one piece and hadn’t been injured or hurt herself in any way. She looked at him and smiled.

  ‘Aw, did you run all the way from your car to see if I was okay? That’s really sweet of you, Will.’

  Heath recognised the policeman standing in front of him from the other day and felt his knuckles clench into tight, white fists.

  Will couldn’t catch his breath and bent down. When he could finally put a sentence together he stood upright.

  ‘Yes, I did – you gave me a heart attack. People normally scream like that when there’s something wrong.’

  Claire blushed. Will looked at the man standing there and realised it was the guy from the cottage.

  ‘Is everything okay? Can I help you? You shouldn’t be out here – it’s a crime scene.’