The Keeper

by Diane Saxon

She shook off the fear that raised the hackles on the back of her neck and ignored the trickle of ice as it skittered down her spine. Dina’s intensity startled her. The woman was seriously spooked.

  As a trained police officer of nine years, Jenna knew people overreacted to situations. She’d also developed a good instinct for the truth.

  ‘No one mentioned Domino before.’ PC Walker flicked with furious concentration through his notes, scratched his head with the end of his pen, his broad brow furrowed into deep lines.

  ‘No. The name didn’t register until I saw you, but the more I think about it, the more I’m sure.’ The woman’s panic pulsed off her, sending a shaft of fear to ball in Jenna’s stomach. It ran through her veins and try as she might to shake the feeling off, Dina’s conviction was contagious. Jenna should know better. People’s reactions wouldn’t normally touch her, couldn’t instill panic. She was trained to remain calm, but unease pricked at the sensitive skin on the back of her neck. The possibility that it could be her sister, or more likely Domino, in trouble stirred concern.

  She squinted at the woodland beyond the river. Would Fliss be up there? Tempted to shout out her sister’s name, just to test, Jenna clamped her lips closed. If Fliss was over there, she’d be fine. Physically fit, she was as sure-footed as a mountain goat as she climbed hills all the time, accompanied by the wild and wonderful Domino. She knew the Gorge pathways so well; it was almost a daily occurrence for her to walk them.

  Still, the dark was closing in and if Domino had managed to do something stupid…

  Jenna quashed the trickle of worry, stamped on it so she could focus. She glanced around, spoke to the crowd in general.

  ‘Excuse me, may I have your attention?’ As the voices fell away, Jenna held her warrant card in the air. There wasn’t really a need as most of them knew her, but protocol demanded she introduce herself. ‘Hi, some of you already know me, I’m Detective Sergeant Jenna Morgan and this is Detective Constable Mason Ellis. I assume you all know PC Ted Walker.’ At the general murmur of assent, Jenna continued. ‘Did anyone else hear what the woman shouted before she screamed?’ She kept her voice flat, even, despite the flutter in her stomach.

  Mason glanced over from where he’d taken up position. He raised his eyebrows, so she jerked her head in a ‘come over’ motion. His stride was long-legged and easy. His whole demeanour composed. She could always rely on him. Laid-back in any situation, he was almost comatose.

  ‘I’m not sure, but it was screeched. Quite desperate.’ A male voice grabbed her attention.

  Mason’s head swivelled in Henry’s direction, then back to Jenna, a question furrowed his brow as Henry spoke again.

  ‘Your sister’s car’s parked over there. But we haven’t seen her tonight. Could it be her over there?’

  Jenna blew out a long breath as her heart spiked. She hadn’t noticed her sister’s car, as they’d entered at the top end of the car park and walked through the main entrance into the park. Fliss would have parked her little white Peugeot, with its Dalmatian paw-print stickers strategically running along the bonnet, over the roof and sliding off the boot, at the lower end of the car park and entered through the river pathway.

  Henry moved closer as the crowd parted to let him through. A figure of authority, he still commanded a certain effortless respect.

  Holding onto her composure despite the lick of dread taking a strangle-hold, Jenna took a couple of steps to meet him halfway. ‘Hey, Henry, what you got?’

  His tan and white Spaniel nuzzled its cold nose into her palm and, with an automatic move, Jenna ran her hand over the top of the dog’s head to fondle his silky ears while the other two dogs sidled in to nudge at her knees.

  Henry kept his voice low, below the general hubbub of the crowd. ‘I’m sorry DS Morgan, I don’t want to add to the drama, but that was no kids fooling around. Someone over there’s hurt and the sooner the dog handler gets on it, the better.’

  Jenna raised the Airwaves radio to her lips. ‘Control, can you confirm if the dog handler has arrived at Ironbridge car park?’

  ‘Affirmative, Sarg. It’s Sergeant Bennett.’

  Relief coaxed a smile from her as she turned to reassure Henry.

  ‘The dog handler’s over there.’

  ‘Chris Bennett. Good man. I would have gone over myself, but you know what it’s like.’ He ducked his head and scanned the crowd. ‘You may have ended up with a self-elected posse trampling all over there and that wouldn’t do. I hope it’s not your sister. I didn’t catch the name that was shouted clearly enough, but Dina sounds pretty convinced.’

  A spear of dread knifed through her stomach and turned her knees to water. ‘Mason.’ She was used to good, hard evidence and there was absolutely no evidence other than a slightly hysterical woman who believed she’d heard Domino’s name. And Henry’s cool conviction. The small nugget of doubt rolled through Jenna until it became a great boulder of certainty. ‘Could it be Fliss?’ she hissed in Mason’s ear as he leaned in to catch her words. Her stomach quavered, sick nausea pulsing as her heart knew, knew without a doubt that her sister was in trouble. She was always in trouble. It had to be bloody Fliss, didn’t it?

  Concern wreathed his face as Mason drew her away from the group of people, dark gaze intense and piercing.

  ‘Have you tried her mobile?’

  She shook her head, disgusted that she’d not thought to do it immediately.

  Jenna fumbled as she dragged her phone from her pocket, her icy fingers stiff. She punched in the quick dial for Fliss and waited. ‘It’s gone straight to answerphone.’

  That knowledge pooled in her stomach, churning acid thick and oily until it clenched in painful contractions.

  Mason’s voice of reason cut through her worry. ‘Okay. She may be out of range here, it’s not always a good signal.’

  She gave him a jerky nod, then tried again. Calm, she needed to keep calm, but deep instinct ruled and the sick conviction her sister was in trouble refused to be pushed away.

  As Fliss’s phone flicked straight to voicemail again, Jenna glanced up and caught the light of concern in Henry’s gaze. She gave a swift nod and shot him a tight smile. ‘It’s okay, we’re going over to meet the dog handler now.’

  With a quick nod, the man shoved his hands deep into his pockets as his dogs shuffled closer to lean against his legs. ‘There’s a lot of ground to cover, and most of the light’s gone.’

  Mason scowled up at the darkening sky.

  It would be even darker over the river in amongst the thick covering of trees. Jenna squeezed his arm. ‘He’s right, we need to get going. Thank you, Henry.’ She raised her voice to speak to the rest of the crowd. ‘We’ll leave you with PC Walker. If you have anything more to add, please make sure you speak with him. He’ll take names, addresses, phone numbers.’ She glanced at PC Walker and he gave her a brief, calm incline of his head.

  Jenna swivelled on her heel, scrunched her shoulders up to her ears and gave her hands a brisk rub against one another as she strode off through Dale End car park to the far end, where her sister’s car was slewed into a parking space.

  Mason peered in the windows. ‘Looks like she was in a hurry.’

  ‘Mmm.’ Jenna tried the driver’s door, but it was locked. ‘Fliss is always in a hurry. I wouldn’t expect her to park any differently.’ And as a thought curled through her mind, she spat it out. ‘I pissed her off earlier.’ She chewed her lip as guilt wriggled its way through. ‘I texted her. Told her to take her bloody dog out.’

  Mason had worked with her long enough to know not to join in the condemnation of her sister. Fiercely protective of her, Jenna was allowed to criticise, but God help anyone else who did. ‘Uh-huh.’

  She stamped away from the car and headed back to their unmarked, black police issue vehicle. ‘He stole my bloody bacon sandwich when I called home at lunchtime. I didn’t even have time to make another one.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘No, you don’t se
e. I had to rush back for that stupid meeting. I never had time to walk him and he’ll eat my kitchen again if he’s not entertained.’ She raised her hand to tug at her hair as she reached the car and glared at him over the roof. ‘It’s not enough. He doesn’t have enough exercise. He’s lucky if between us he gets two hours a day. He needs more. He needs three or four hours. Dammit, I was meant to walk him, but I knew she had an early finish today.’

  Mason raised his eyebrow as he depressed the key fob and the door locks clunked open. “Okay.”

  Jenna slipped into the passenger seat and covered her face with her hands as her mind ran wild. It was her fault, she’d sent Fliss and Domino out and now something dreadful had happened to him. He’d hurt himself. Broken his leg or something or slid into the river.

  When she raised her head, Mason’s stare drilled into her, his face pale as the interior light cast a white glow over them. The panic inside her communicated with him.

  He hit the start button and the engine fired to life as Jenna raised the radio to her mouth. ‘Juliette Alpha 76. On our way to Benthall Edge Wood now. Inform Dog Handler we’ll meet him.’ Her fingers trembled so she could barely depress the talk button while Mason stabbed his finger on the blues and two-tone buttons in the centre console and whipped the car right out of Dale End car park, straight up the hill through the almost deserted town.

  ‘Control. Acknowledged.’

  As they passed the Ironbridge on their right, Jenna squinted into the distance. Her heart sank with little hope of seeing her sister and the handsome Domino trotting by her side over the pedestrian-only bridge.

  Mason swept the car over the mini-roundabout and raced along the riverside as Jenna tapped her foot on the floorboards, wishing she was the one in control of the car. Almost a mile to the suspension bridge and then they needed to backtrack along the opposite side to reach the Railway Inn car park at the furthest side of the Ironbridge.

  ‘Shit.’

  Glancing sideways at her, Mason kicked down a little harder on the accelerator, took the bends faster than he should. Her shoulder rammed into the door as the car raced over the small suspension bridge and dodged around a sharp right-hand bend.

  ‘She’ll be fine. She probably knocked the damned stupid dog into the water.’ But Mason’s voice vibrated with concern.

  Icicles rushed through her veins. Every step of her life was marred by a ‘Fliss’. Her family had referred to incidents as ‘doing a Fliss’. Why in hell’s name did it have to be her sister again? She could be at home, wrapped in a fluffy dressing gown with a nice glass of New Zealand Pinot Noir in her hand, heating on and Domino lounging next to her on the sofa. But, no. It was Fliss. Fliss with her innocent green eyes and mass of curly honey blonde hair. Who would ever think she was a disaster zone?

  ‘Almost there.’ Mason pulled her out of her reverie.

  ‘Shit.’ She repeated as though there was no other word in her vocabulary. Her stomach clenched until she wanted to curl into a ball.

  Jenna’s instinct howled that Fliss was in trouble. She’d never been wrong before. Her sister. Prize candidate for getting into trouble. If anyone could find it, Fliss could.

  She punched Fliss’s number into her phone again and snapped it off as it went straight to answerphone.

  Car screaming into the parking lot, Mason slammed on the brakes and sent it into a sideways skid, but Jenna whipped off her seat belt and leapt out of the car as it came to a halt, kicking up stones. Her terror escalated the more she contemplated the situation, adding wings to her feet as she raced, her legs eating up the short distance between the car park and the start of the woodland walk.

  A quick shaft of relief slowed her pace as she spotted the dog handler already on the main thoroughfare. Sergeant Chris Bennett. Reliable. Experienced. Cool-headed. Exactly what she needed.

  As he approached with Blue, his large Belgian Malinois police dog, Chris spoke into Airwaves. ‘I don’t quite know what we’re looking for…’

  ‘My sister,’ Jenna interrupted.

  ‘You don’t know for sure, Jenna.’ Mason’s agitated tones interjected, but he was rattled too, every muscle in him vibrated with tension. She’d caused it with her uncharacteristic panic. ‘It could be anyone.’ She knew he didn’t believe it. Maybe he wanted to defuse the situation, calm her down.

  ‘I know.’ She made a conciliatory effort, but she didn’t agree.

  Turning to the dog handler, she placed her hand on his arm. The dog growled low in his throat. Bloody thing had let her scratch his belly two days before. He was too well trained to bite unless he was given the command, but the mere sound of it had Jenna retracting her hand with studied care.

  ‘Chris, I know it’s my sister. She’s in trouble. I feel it here.’ Patting her own chest, she stared at each of the men. ‘The twilight walkers said they heard Fliss’s voice screaming Domino’s name. Please.’ God, if she was wrong, she’d be in the shit for wasting police time and resources. But she’d never been wrong about Fliss; every damned time that sister of hers was in a scrape, Jenna had known. Gut instinct told her now.

  ‘Okay.’ Chris touched the dog’s head and Blue sat. Chris knew Domino, had helped with his training when Fliss first got him. He’d a soft spot for both dog and owner. ‘What do you need, boss?’

  Jenna took in a long pull of air. ‘Right! Whether it’s my sister or not, someone is along here, possibly injured, so the question is, should we deploy Air Unit One?’

  She glanced between the two men. Chris kept his gaze firmly on her face while Mason sucked air in through his teeth.

  The decision was hers.

  ‘Right! Risk assessment. Is life at risk?’

  Both officers inclined their heads.

  Mason murmured, ‘Possibly.’

  Her heart kicked up a notch, but she held back the panic.

  ‘Is the area accessible?’ She counted the questions off on her fingers.

  ‘No.’ Mason glanced along the deserted woodland track. ‘Not easily.’

  ‘It’s getting dark. The weather’s setting in.’ Chris tossed in.

  ‘Yep.’ Again, Mason agreed.

  ‘What other resources do we have?’ She looked to the others for their suggestions.

  ‘Bugger all, unless you count Malinsgate. Twenty minutes away before they even start to look.’ With a snort, Mason shook his head. ‘They have to round up the resources first. They could be deployed anywhere, and how many will we get, how many do we need?’

  That answered several of her questions.

  ‘Is the air unit going to take longer than getting more resources here?’

  Mason’s flat-eyed gaze met hers. ‘No, boss. Do it.’

  She hauled in a long breath. ‘Let’s see how long they’ll take from Halfpenny Green.’

  ‘Ten minutes – fifteen tops if they’re not deployed elsewhere.’

  Decision made, she gave him a nod.

  ‘Call it in, Mason.’

  Aware of the dark blanket settling in around them as Mason spoke into Airwaves, Jenna spared the car a last glance before she set off, regretting the stupidity of not bringing a coat.

  The radio crackled to life. ‘Juliette Alpha 76 from Control.’

  Her gaze met Mason’s as he spoke into the Airwaves terminal. ‘Go ahead, Control.’

  ‘Air One dispatched. ETA seventeen minutes. Over.’

  ‘Acknowledged. Out.’

  ‘Seventeen minutes. A lot can happen in seventeen minutes. We can find her in seventeen minutes.’ Chris regarded them each in turn and then twisted around to unstrap his dragon light from around his shoulder and flick the switch. A wide arc pushed back the darkness, illuminating everything in stark white light. ‘I’m guessing you two don’t have a torch between you?’ Chris shot Jenna a dark look, her smart mid-grey suit and two-inch-heel boots earning her a raised eyebrow.

  Jenna shrugged. ‘Who’d have thought I wouldn’t be confined to my desk all day? I didn’t expect to be called out to the b
ack of beyond.’

  Clucking his tongue, he gave Mason the same perusal. Dark charcoal suit, white open-neck shirt, black shoes bulled to a high shine. You could take the uniform off the man, but you couldn’t take away the training. Chris shook his head and Jenna could have sworn he bit his cheek to stop himself snapping out a comment about their apparel. Instead, he scratched the top of his dog’s head, earning a wag of the tail. ‘If your sister’s out there, we’re going to find her. Aren’t we, Blue?’ Leaning down, he released the dog.

  Short, square and muscular, when Chris started to stride out, despite being long-legged, both Jenna and Mason were hard-pushed to keep up.

  ‘Stay close. We don’t want Blue biting either of you in the arse if we lose you in the dark.’

  With a rude snort, Mason tucked his hands into his jacket pockets and hunched his shoulders against the cold. They all knew Blue was far too well trained to bite the wrong person and nowhere near as vicious as Chris would have liked him to be. A sheep in wolves’ clothing, the dog was great at tracking, but attack was his weaker point.

  Boots already sliding in the thick, sticky mud, Jenna huddled her arms around herself to keep out the chill wind as it bit its way through her jacket and T-shirt. She wished she’d put an overcoat in the car, but she thought she was just going to be on a paper chase. Damned if her mother wouldn’t have told her to put a coat on the back seat, just in case. Jenna blinked away the sharp prick of tears. What would her mother think, if she was alive today? She’d scalp her for not taking better care of her little sister.

  Jenna shook off the self-pity, irritated she’d even let it sneak through when she needed to remain focused. It had only been three months since their mother had died, and a sharp pain lanced through her every so often just to remind her she was human, and sorrow didn’t always like to be ignored.

  She scanned the area, following the wide crescent of the dragon light while Chris swung it back and forth to push back the black curtain which had dropped with a suddenness that took her by surprise. When had the dark nights drawn in? Only yesterday they were drinking wine in the mellow warmth and sitting out on the patio until the sun went down.