The Paradise Trees

by Linda Huber

  ‘We can go up through the woods from the bottom of Alicia’s garden,’ he said to the Inspector. ‘It’s nearer the clearing than going up from the back road.’

  The Inspector looked at him, his face grim. ‘You know it too, then?’ he said, nodding when Frank confirmed this.

  The brakes squealed as they rounded the corner by the hotel. Alicia winced. She should have phoned Paul long ago. He could have been trying to reach her for ages, she had left her mobile on the kitchen table.

  ‘I should phone Paul,’ she said to Frank. ‘Have you got your phone? He’s at the King’s Hotel in York.’

  Frank fumbled with his phone, looking for the hotel’s website. His voice shook when he spoke but the connection was quickly made.

  ‘It’s ringing in his room,’ he said, handing the phone to Alicia.

  ‘Yes?’ Paul’s voice sounded sleepy. Alicia felt as if she’d been slapped hard in the face.

  ‘I’m sorry to interrupt your beauty sleep, but you might remember I told you our daughter is missing,’ she hissed, suddenly furious, more furious than she had ever been in her life before, as if being angry with Paul was going to help Jenny. She knew that Doug was the person who deserved her rage, but for the moment it was easier to let it out on Paul.

  ‘Well, we know now that she’s been abducted by a psychopath and they’re searching the woods again to see if they can find her alive. But don’t bother yourself about it, I’ll phone you again in the morning when you’ve had your sleep and tell you if you’ll need a black tie to come and see her next time.’ She broke the connection.

  ‘That told him,’ said the Chief Inspector, and Alicia nodded grimly.

  ‘He’s never been much of a father,’ she said, and tears poured down her cheeks.

  Another police car was parked in the lane when they arrived there, and the waiting Superintendent spoke briefly to his colleagues before turning back to Frank and Alicia.

  ‘Doctor, you’re with us,’ he said, striding up the back garden. ‘Mrs Bryson, I’d like you to wait here.’

  ‘No!’ she cried. ‘I must... ’

  ‘Wait at the bottom of the garden,’ said Frank firmly. ‘It’s better you don’t come up, Alicia. If Jenny’s there I promise I’ll take care of her until we can bring her down to you.’

  ‘No,’ said Alicia again. She knew there was no way she could simply stand and watch while the men went off to look for her Jenny. If there was the slightest chance that Doug had Jen up in the woods she wanted to be right there to help her daughter at the very first opportunity.

  The Superintendent looked at her and she could see frustration and understanding mingling on his face.

  ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘You can come, but if Patton is there with her I want you to promise you’ll stay back until I call you on. You do exactly as I say. Clear?’

  ‘Okay, clear,’ said Alicia, relief flooding through her. ‘Thank you.’

  She followed the five policemen up the woodland path, treading where they were treading, making as little noise as she could. Frank was up at the head of the procession, showing the way, and a young policewoman had appeared and walked behind Alicia. Chief Inspector Wilson and one of the others were carrying torches, which they shone on the ground before them, but it was still too dark to see properly. She knew they didn’t want Doug – if he was here – to get wind of their arrival.

  What would she do if Jenny was dead up there? Alicia felt sick with fear at the thought. Jen was only eight years old. Would she cope without her? Would Margaret? The thought was appalling. She would give up everything, she would do anything and go anywhere at all, if she could have Jenny back unharmed. How unlikely that seemed right now. Christ, how she wanted her old life back.

  The woods were dark but not cold, and somehow not as sinister as she’d have thought. It felt as if the trees and bushes were merely waiting for dawn and sunshine and the warmth of another day.

  Frank and the first policeman stopped to confer in a low mutter that Alicia couldn’t understand, and she strained her ears to hear something from the direction of the clearing. They were only about halfway there, walking quietly like this was maddeningly slow. Frank pointed out the way they should take, and the policeman stood back to let him go first before the procession started off again. They went on in silence for another twenty yards or so before the Inspector’s large shape appeared beside her.

  ‘Wait here, Mrs Bryson,’ he murmured. ‘We’ll call you as soon as we’re able. Marjorie’ll stay with you.’

  Alicia stopped immediately. This was no time to argue. She watched as they disappeared into the darkness, six men. Moving carefully, not wanting to disturb Doug if he was there, in case there was any chance of getting Jenny back alive. The young policewoman stood beside Alicia with a large torch, sharing the wait.

  ‘She’s my only child,’ whispered Alicia, and the younger woman nodded, making no attempt to offer consolation or false hope.

  After a moment there was no sound from the men. Alicia stood motionless, staring into the darkness. In a few short minutes she might know what had happened to Jenny. What would the police do if Jen was dead? Lying in a heap in the woods where she had once played so happily. Didn’t they have to leave bodies where they were found, and take measurements and photos and footprints? When would they let her go and see her dead daughter? Tonight? Tomorrow? Alicia raised clenched fists to her mouth, and the policewoman put a hand on her arm.

  ‘Steady now,’ she said. ‘Just keep it together, they won’t be much longer.’

  And still silence in the woods.

  The Stranger

  He looked down at little Helen, lying there on her cloth of gold, her arms and legs spread to the heavens. Beautiful, a little star waiting for her lord and master to send her off to Paradise. His own angel. But look, there were goose bumps all over the child’s body. She needed warmth, and what better way to give her that than to lie down beside her and take her in his arms? He lowered himself to the ground, gathering little Helen to him with one hand and pulling the golden covering over them both with the other. There, that was better. And how delicious it felt, holding her close like this in the holy place. Her head fitted snugly under his chin, and he could feel the movement of her chest as she breathed. She was still pretty much out of it, though she had stopped making the keening sounds and her eyes were now open. He arched his body against her, then winced as something sharp on the ground beneath him jabbed into his side. Lovely as it was, it had been a whole lot more comfortable on his bed at home. And lying with a child like this... it was sweet, but forbidden-sweet. Lying with big Helen tomorrow, on the other hand, would be completely natural, she was larger, softer, much more comfortable to hold and squeeze. Just like his own darling Helen, in fact. And it was time to finish up here, he was too impatient now to play more with little Helen, he wanted her to be where she belonged. Then he could go home and dream of his own two girls playing together. Riches indeed. How happy his darlings would be.

  He scrambled to his feet again and bent to brush a few twigs from the golden robe. A moan came from little Helen’s mouth, and he looked at her critically. She was nearly ready. A few more minutes and she’d be conscious enough to understand what he was going to do with her. He wanted to see the fear in her eyes fade away and be replaced by the silence and emptiness of eternity. He reached into his pocket and fingered the cord.

  She was looking at him now, and yes, oh yes, there it was, there was recognition on her face, apprehension too, she was afraid, she was ready.

  Alicia

  Alicia turned and looked back the way they had come. The streetlights of Lower Banford were glowing in a faded kind of way below the night sky, she could make out the nearest lamp at the end of the lane where her father’s house was. She would sell it, she knew. No matter what happened tonight she could never live in that house again, knowing the anguish she had endured here. That had started when she was a very young child, and the past few days had merely been
an extension of the horror. Multiplied a million times because now she wasn’t the one in danger, it was her daughter. And if Jenny was dead she would lose her chance of happiness with Frank. She would never think of him or of this place without feeling the grief and the dread.

  The events of the day suddenly caught up with her, and Alicia sank to the ground on her knees. The policewoman crouched beside her, and gripped her arm.

  ‘Look, Mrs Bryson. Alicia. There’s a stump over here. You can sit on that.’

  Alicia allowed herself to be led over to the tree stump. It was a relief to sit down, her legs were aching, but the moment she did sit her knees started to tremble and the shivering started again. It was the most horrible thing she had ever lived through, this waiting, not having any constructive role to play herself.

  And still there was nothing. It was so cold, oh God how cold she was.

  A rustling sound came from several yards further up the path, and Alicia leapt to her feet and strained to see who was coming.

  ‘Mrs Bryson!’ It was a deep male whisper, and she stumbled towards it, recognising it as the youngest policeman’s, the one who had been there when her father went missing too. Her heart went into double time. Frank and the senior men were still up there, so that must mean Doug was up there too. With Jenny.

  ‘He’s there. With Jenny. We can’t tell yet if she’s hurt or not. Keep very quiet and follow me.’

  Alicia pushed him back the way he had come and followed close on his heels. She still had no idea what had happened to Jen, but within minutes she’d be with her daughter, and she would know the worst.

  ‘No talking,’ murmured the young policeman, gripping her arm. ‘He has no idea we’re here.’

  Alicia saw that Frank and the other men were in pairs, crouching behind sturdy trees around the clearing, and she followed the policeman to a tree of their own. Cautiously, she peered out from behind the tree and found herself looking at Doug from the side. He was about twenty yards away, bent almost double and arranging some kind of cloth over a light coloured bundle on the ground.

  Alicia’s head swam as she stared, blinking back tears of impatience and frustration and straining to see if the bundle was moving because that must be Jenny. But oh no, no, the bundle wasn’t moving and it wasn’t making a sound either. It was only the policeman’s hand gripping her arm that prevented her from running to her daughter herself. Doug stood up, dusting his hands and looking satisfied. Alicia winced. It was Doug, but the man’s whole posture was different, the set of his head looked awkward and he had a satisfied, sinister grin across his face. She had never seen him look like that.

  ‘Helen’s waiting for you in Paradise,’ said Doug conversationally. ‘When you get there you’ll see her. She’s just as lovely as you are, little Helen. And Big Helen will join you very soon. It’ll all be perfect, you’ll see. And now it’s time for you to go.’ He produced a length of cord from his pocket and started to wind it round his hands.

  The Superintendent stepped forward and Alicia saw with a stomach-lurching shock that there was a gun in the policeman’s hand. ‘Police!’ he yelled. ‘Hands over your head!’

  Doug started wildly, glared round at them and then made a leap for the bundle on the ground. With appalling suddenness a single shot rang out, and birds in the trees screamed skywards. Alicia’s ears rang and Doug crumpled over the small figure at his feet. The Inspector moved forward.

  ‘Wait there, Doc,’ he shouted, but Frank was right behind him, in front of the other policemen. Alicia forced her legs into action and ran across the clearing to Jenny while Frank helped the Superintendent and Chief Inspector Wilson pull Doug away. Alicia put trembling hands on Jenny’s face and felt warmth. Jenny’s eyes were half open and she was breathing, she was breathing. Alicia’s heart felt as if it would burst. Jen was alive. They could help her now. Frank was kneeling beside her too.

  ‘She’s alive,’ he said to the others, then bent over the child again. ‘Jenny? Jenny darling, it’s Frank, sweetie, we’ve got you safe, everything’s going to be alright. Mummy’s right here too.’

  He nodded to Alicia, but her throat had closed and no sound came from her mouth when she tried to speak. She put her head close to Jenny’s instead, smelling the heavy perfume and feeling oily slickness on the child’s skin.

  Frank put a hand on Jenny’s brow. ‘Temp’s okay,’ he said, and motioned to one of the policemen to bring a torch over. Alicia blinked as a sudden ring of light swayed over them, and saw Frank dash tears from his eyes before bending over Jenny again, shining the light into her face.

  Jenny’s breathing was ragged and Alicia saw that in spite of the torchlight, the child’s pupils were dilated. She must have been drugged, good, she might not have realised the full horror of what had happened to her. Alicia forced herself to speak.

  ‘Jenny? Does anything hurt, darling?’

  Jenny was staring at her, trying to focus. Frank took out his stethoscope and Alicia loosened the covering from Jen’s thin chest, her gut cramping when she saw that the oil was all over the child’s body.

  ‘Heartbeat’s strong and steady,’ said Frank reassuringly, brushing back the strands of greasy hair that were sticking to Jenny’s forehead, half-covering one eye. Alicia found a tissue in her jeans and started to wipe Jenny’s oily face. The child frowned up at them, and Alicia saw she was trying to assemble something to say.

  ‘Jen? Where does it hurt, lovey?’

  Jenny’s voice was a drunken whisper, ‘M - m - my head feels - fu - funny,’ she said, and tears rushed into Alicia’s eyes again.

  ‘I think you’ve had medicine to make you sleep, you know, like Grandpa gets,’ said Frank, putting his stethoscope back into his pocket. ‘Don’t worry, Jen, you’ll feel better very soon.’ He turned to the Superintendent who was bending over Doug Patton.

  ‘Unconscious but alive,’ he said, in answer to Frank’s look. ‘The bullet’s in his shoulder. Don’t worry about him, the police doc will be here any minute. Is Jenny going to be alright?’

  ‘Yes, she’s going to be just fine.’ Frank had uncovered Jenny completely and was checking for broken bones. Alicia leaned towards him and gazed at her daughter’s oily body in the light of the torch. There was no blood, thank God, no blood.

  ‘All in one piece. I want to take her back down now,’ said Frank. He was smiling at Jenny but Alicia could hear the strain in his voice. It was only now that they had Jenny back that Alicia could allow herself to acknowledge just how terrible the past twelve hours had been.

  She knew that Frank’s ‘just fine’ and ‘all in one piece’ had been for Jenny’s ears too. They wouldn’t know until later how badly she’d been hurt.

  ‘There’ll be an ambulance waiting in the lane,’ said the Superintendent, moving aside as the police doctor arrived. ‘Young Joe over there’ll go with you. I’ll wait for our doc to finish here and give a hand with this one.’ He jerked his head at Doug.

  Frank rolled Jenny up in the blanket again and lifted her. ‘I’ll carry you, Jen, and Mummy’s right beside us,’ he said, and Jenny reached for Alicia’s hand and then wriggled until her head was tucked into Frank’s shoulder. Alicia took a deep breath. Jenny’s eyes were fixed on her face, and she kissed the oily wrist.

  ‘It’ll all be okay in the end, lovey, you’ll see,’ she said. Please God she hoped it would be.

  The policeman called Joe went in front with the torch, lighting the way, and Frank walked slowly and carefully behind him.

  Alicia almost crept along beside them, as if she was afraid Jenny would disappear again if she moved too quickly. She put her free hand round Frank’s shoulder and walked down through the woods with Frank and Jen encircled in her arms, and really she didn’t care where she was as long as they were both there with her.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Alicia

  Two paramedics were running up the garden with a stretcher.

  ‘We’re okay, she’s quite comfortable like this, let’s g
et her into the ambulance and have a proper look,’ said Frank, striding towards the vehicle parked in the lane.

  Alicia stumbled along beside him, still clutching Jenny’s hand and Frank’s shoulder. Thinking about what Frank might find when he examined Jenny made her feel as if she would throw up any minute. How quickly things change. Jenny was here, she had her daughter back alive, and already that wasn’t enough. What had her child been forced to endure today? And how horrific it was that ever since they’d arrived in Lower Banford, Alicia had been wondering and worrying about the abuse her father had inflicted on her, and now the same hurt might have been happening to her daughter. Here and today. At Doug’s flat.

  Frank stepped nimbly up into the back of the ambulance and laid Jenny on the trolley there. The paramedics followed, and Alicia remained standing on the step because there was no room for her in the back too.

  ‘I’m right here, Jen,’ she said thickly, reaching out and squeezing Jenny’s foot. ‘Frank’s going to check you over. Don’t worry, darling.’

  Any second now Frank would be able to tell her what Doug had done. Shit, if she could have two minutes alone with Doug Patton, what wouldn’t she do to him. She could kill for her daughter, she knew. Mother’s instinct, maybe. She had never felt such apprehension; it was more than torture. Her breath was coming in painful, shallow gasps.

  Frank jumped down from the back of the ambulance and walked her a few steps away. Alicia pressed both hands to her chest, bracing herself for bad news.

  ‘Has she been... ’ She couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud. He shook his head.

  ‘I don’t think so but I can’t tell without a full examination,’ he said. ‘There’s no blood, but that might have been washed off. There are no obvious signs that she’s been sexually assaulted but there’s bruising on her thighs, her back, her ankles and wrists – looks like he tied her up – and she’s definitely been drugged, too. We’ll have to go to hospital, Alicia, she needs a full examination and a police doctor, but you’ll be able to stay with her the whole time. I don’t think she remembers much of what happened, so don’t let her see you’re so upset, okay? It’s not time for her to start dealing with this yet. We’ll get her on her feet again, see what she remembers and take it from there.’