by Kat Green
‘We have. They all know,’ Edith said trying to reason with her.
Nancy laughed; it was an evil sound. ‘Oh, Edith, always so trusting. You were so stupid.’
Peter stepped forward, his hand outstretched fear in his face. ‘Stop!’
Nancy moved to Matthew. The terrified boy was crying out for them to help him.
‘He will suffer if you don’t start talking.’
Peter looked at Edith, tears streaming down his face. ‘I’m so sorry.’ He fell to his knees, hands over his face. ‘I’m so very sorry, Nancy.’
Nancy didn’t respond but just moved back to Dean. The ice crept up his body, and he thought he would freeze to death. ‘Stop! No, please.’
‘Tell the truth, Peter.’
It suddenly occurred to Edith that she didn’t know the full story. The way Nancy was focused on her two friends gave her a sick feeling in her stomach. ‘Peter, what the hell is going on?’ Edith yelled, fear and rage boiling up inside her. ‘Now!’
‘He won’t, he won’t risk losing you. His precious Edith,’ Nancy breathed.
They all turned as they heard a scream. Ella, Lee and Jake stood watching. Their friends tied to trees and the ice forming slowly around them. The frost was coating everything in its path
‘Get out of here,’ Edith shouted, waving them away. Ella was white with fright at the scene in front of her. Lee shook his head; he wasn’t going anywhere without Amy.
‘Dean, Amy!’ Ella screamed, her voice shrill, and the tears flooded down her cheeks.
‘Get out of here, call for help,’ Peter yelled running towards his grandson. ‘Dean!’
Nancy whipped her hand upwards suddenly and Peter was thrown forward to the floor. Nancy pointed to Brenda who was in so much shock she hadn’t moved. Her trousers were wet, sheer terror causing her to release her bladder unwittingly.
‘Tell them or he dies,’ Nancy warned. Brenda was so numb and weak she could hardly open her mouth. All that came out was a whimper. The next sound was pure pain, screams of despair.
The girl rose to her feet and this time the blood pulsed from her eye sockets. ‘I gave you enough chances.’ She turned, and leapt forward, landing on Dennis. Her hands gripped his neck, and he began to freeze before their eyes.
‘Dennis!’ Brenda shrieked, her voice returning. But it was all too late. ‘No!’
Dean was next. The ice formed around his feet as Nancy held him by his ankles.
‘Stop! I’ll tell her, I’ll tell her. Just stop, Nancy, please.’ Peter wailed. Nancy stopped.
Dean was half conscious but couldn’t move. ‘Help, what’s happening?’ He looked bewildered.
Peter turned to look at Edith with a look full of regret. ‘Brenda and I didn’t tell the truth.’ Brenda sobbed by her son’s side. ‘Brenda, your son is gone and it’s time.’
Brenda held her son and nodded. She had just lost the last thing she had in the world, apart from her cat. She no longer had the desire to keep her secret.
20
The truth
(November 1956)
He heard the snap of a twig to his right and stopped to check around. His breath came out like mist and he rubbed his gloved hands together. He needed to get this done and quickly. He walked faster, but another snap confirmed that he was being followed.
‘Who’s there?’ His question met with silence. Another snap before a dark shadow appeared, and slowly moved forward.
‘Brenda, you scared me,’ Peter gasped as his friend emerged from behind a tree. Her nose dripped from the cold and she pulled a tissue from her pocket and wiped it away.
‘I…I needed to come back,’ Brenda stuttered. ‘What we did was so bad, Peter.’
Peter nodded in agreement and he wished he’d put on a thicker coat. It was bitterly cold, almost unbearable. ‘I know.’
They headed back to where they had left Nancy dreading what they would find. They couldn’t hear her cries but after a walk that seemed never-ending they saw her. They gasped. Nancy’s head hung forward and her sobs were painful to hear. Her violent shaking due to the cold made them shiver even more.
‘Let me go,’ Nancy screamed. ‘Please!’
Brenda went to her, pulling at the ties but Jimmy had knotted them so well it was impossible, and their freezing hands made it even harder.
‘I’m sorry, please don’t tell anyone,’ Brenda begged. ‘Please, my parents will disown me.’
Nancy looked incredulously at them, as both kids looked pathetically at her, and rage rose up in her. After what they had done to her, they were asking her to do them a favor.
‘I just want to go home. I’m so cold.’
‘Promise you won’t tell,’ Peter begged, the fear of the backlash simmering in his stomach. They’d be in so much trouble. The thought panicked Peter, and he made a decision that would define his life and his friends’ lives forever.
‘Brenda, stop.’
‘What?’
Peter grabbed her arm and pulled her away. Neither of their options would end well.
‘We need to go. If she tells anyone we’ll be in so much trouble, ‘Peter said, shaking as he said the words.
‘We can’t leave her,’ Brenda said, shocked at the turn in events.
‘We have no choice.’
Peter made her realize what they could lose if anyone knew, and even she couldn’t risk her family knowing what she had done.
Nancy begged them to change their minds, promising not to tell. But they both knew that the moment they let her go that’s what she would do. They couldn’t risk it and panic made them decide to save their own selves at the sacrifice of Nancy Jenkins. They ran back through the woods with her cries fading as they left her to freeze to death
21
Once Peter had finished telling the full story, he fell to his knees sobbing. His accomplice clung to her son screaming, screams full of grief.
Edith was shaking, as anger surged up in her. Then she snapped, and swung her hand round catching Peter across the face. ‘You lied all these years, you blamed Jimmy. He lived with the guilt, died thinking it was all his fault.’ Edith felt the betrayal and it broke her heart. Her friend and her strength through all these years had duped her.
‘I’m sorry, Edith,’ Peter gasped, sounding full of remorse.
‘Sorry doesn’t cut it. Sorry doesn’t change what you both did. Sorry doesn’t bring back Nancy, and it doesn’t fix the years of deceit.’
They turned at the sound of Nancy. She seemed to be thawing, as she slumped to her knees. ‘Finally, the truth,’ Nancy said as a smile spread across her face. ‘Edith, I just wanted you to know what they did. It was only ever you I wanted to like me.’ Her hand reached for Edith’s and they held onto each other.
‘I’m so sorry, Nancy. I have never forgotten or forgiven myself for what we did.’
‘I know you’d have freed me, wouldn’t you? If you had known?’ Nancy asked, hoping that was the truth.
Edith nodded. She’d thought Jimmy was going back. ‘I had no idea until it was too late. I was promised you’d be OK, but I should have told the truth. I’m just as guilty.’
Nancy seemed to be at peace knowing that Edith hadn’t hated her or wanted to do her harm.
‘We’ll go to the police. The truth will finally come out, darling girl. It’s nothing more than we deserve.’
Peter tried to talk, to back up Edith, but Nancy snarled at him. She jabbed a finger in his face.
‘You…killed me. I can never forgive you. Jimmy, I forgave. He told me why he was so nasty as a kid. He told me he was coming back. I didn’t kill Jimmy, he wanted to die. I just helped him to do it. He died with my forgiveness.’
They were all shocked by what she was saying, her kindness to him after what they’d done to her.
‘You are better than all this killing, you can stop now,’ Edith said, hope setting in that they could fix it.
‘Oh, I haven’t killed anyone.’ Her laugh echoed around them, her sweet s
mile suddenly looking evil. ‘That’s not what they’ll say. It’s been a long time, walking these woods lost. Just waiting for you to come back.’
Nancy looked around and her eyes settled on Ella and Jake, and her hand whipped out. Ella fell backwards, hitting her head on a rock as she fell. Blood seeped from the wound as the impact killed her instantly.
‘Nancy, stop!’ Edith cried.
‘No, why should I?’
Next, she pounced on Jake, knocking him to the floor. He yelled and kicked out as she crushed his neck. His last breath came out like a punctured tyre.
Edith stared wide-eyed in horror as Nancy carried on with her rampage, and she knew nothing could stop her. She charged towards Peter’s grandson, placing her hands on the tree as the ice wove its way up the trunk trapping Dean in an ice box.
Peter cried out in despair and fell to the ground. ‘Dean!’
Edith screamed as Nancy looked at Amy. Her beautiful granddaughter was now fully awake and begging for her life. Lee raced to her, pulling at the ropes that bound her. ‘Amy, it’s OK, just hold on.’ Lee held back tears as he fought to free her, with Nancy coming towards him.
‘Nancy!’ Edith screamed in panic. ‘No!’
Nancy wasn’t stopping. She pounced on Lee and clung to his back with her legs, then her hands gripped his head and snapped his neck. It was like a movie playing in slow motion, Nancy moved towards the tree. The ice sealed Amy’s fate, and her muffled cries were silenced as the ice froze her mouth shut, life draining from her till there was nothing left.
Peter grabbed Edith and held her tightly but she didn’t react. Nothing could break her gaze on her dead granddaughter. ‘Get off me. I hate you,’ Edith spat at him. He recoiled at her harsh words.
‘I’ve loved you since we were thirteen, I never wanted this.’
Nancy shook at his words and lurched towards him. The blow from her knocked him out cold. He lay, sprawled out on the cold grass floor. Brenda met the same fate next. Then Nancy moved to the small frightened boy, her face searching around him.
‘Please don’t hurt the boy,’ Edith begged. She couldn’t bear that. He was just a child, innocent in all this. His confused and terrified face broke the last piece of Edith’s heart. Nancy searched the boy’s eyes and saw in them the same look she’d held that night.
‘Please, I’m sorry about what they did. Please let me go.’ Tears streamed down his face. Nancy softened and placed a hand on his cheek. ‘You be a good boy. It was all Peter’s fault.’
The rope snapped, and the boy was released. ‘Run and keep running,’ Nancy whispered, then leaned into the boy’s ear and Edith could no longer hear what was said. Matthew nodded then ran, his thin legs powered by terror.
Edith sighed with relief as the boy disappeared to freedom. Maybe it was over; revenge served very cold.
‘You did the right thing,’ Edith said, her voice sounding slightly patronizing as she turned to find Nancy’s face almost touching hers.
‘I’m sorry, dear Edith, but you have to go too.’ She did it quickly, just like Lee. Her neck cracked and Edith fell backwards. Silence fell upon the woods and Nancy cried, this time with joy. Her own personal hell was almost over. Once she had completed her plan she would finally rest peacefully. She laid her last victims out on the ground, a slight sadness creeping over her for what she had become. The woods had become her home and a part of her would miss it. It was all her soul had known, but she was exhausted and wanted to rest in peace.
22
Peter gasped as he came to, and as he sat up he saw the destruction around him. The bodies were laid out in a circle with him in the middle. A sound alerted him, and he turned to see Brenda wrapping a rope around her neck. She was balanced on a tree branch, well off the ground, and jumped. Peter heard the crack of her neck, but didn’t move to try to save her. He thought now he could run, pretend he was never here, just like he had done that night. He knew he was a coward, but there was nobody to tell any more, it was all done. He said goodbye to his grandson and Edith and started walking away when a shout came from the trees.
‘Police. Stop right there.’ The barrel of a gun was pointed at him. He was dazed and confused, but then relief filled him. The police were here to help, and he held up his hands. ‘Thank god,’ Peter said. ‘Help!’
The line of police advanced towards him but the look on the officer’s face in front of him wasn’t friendly. Peter’s arms were yanked behind his back and handcuffed. The words that filtered through struck him dumb.
‘You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defense if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’ The words murder and abduction rang in his head, they had left him dumbstruck.
He was frog-marched to a waiting police car and pushed inside. Time seemed to slow down, as if everything was in slow motion. He took one last look at the bodies laid out as the police car pulled away.
‘I hope you have a good lawyer because your reign of terror has come to an end.’ The officer’s voice was low but the contempt in it was unmistakable. He said nothing more during the journey, but Peter put the pieces together and his heart hammered in his chest. The realization began to set in and the acrid taste in his mouth grew stronger and the dread grew. They thought he had murdered them, not just Nancy, Edith and the rest, but was responsible for all the strange deaths over the years. He knew he had no defense or a chance in hell of claiming a ghost did it. He was paralyzed by it all, unable to think straight or know how he was going to explain any of it.
Matthew had run through the trees and not stopped until he’d reached the first house on the estate, and hammered on the door. A woman in her thirties had opened it and looked flustered when she saw the small terrified-looking boy on her doorstep.
Matthew had no idea of the time but it must have been late. He was muddy and shaking violently, muttering something about a man in the woods, killed them all. He couldn’t say anything else apart from that the girl had said she’d find him if he didn’t do as she asked. Matthew had been so scared that he’d told the police about Peter killing Nancy and abducting him along with the other. The statement from the little boy had been all it took. Peter’s claims of it being Nancy’s ghost fell on deaf ears making him look even more insane.
“BREAKING NEWS’’
“Today, April 16th, 2019, the jury in the Peter Windsor case were unanimous as they found him guilty of the murder of fifteen-year-old Nancy Jenkins sixty-two years ago, plus forty-eight further counts of murder and the abduction of nine-year-old Matthew Jones. The court will reconvene on April 25th to decide the sentence, which most people claim would probably be life. The Ice wood killer has finally been brought to justice.”
The sound of the door shutting and the clunk of the lock made Peter jump, the shock holding him firm in its grasp. He was now known as a serial killer. He had lost everything, and Nancy had executed her revenge perfectly. The dim lights of the highly secure unit dimmed, and Nancy’s rattle filled the room and he shivered in the icy air.
‘Now I can rest,’ she breathed in his ear. Then she was gone and he was the one left alone. He’d lost everything. His secret had tracked him down and punished him. At least the woods were safe now, no more innocent lives would be taken which would only seal his guilt even more. He couldn’t fight it. The truth was bitter, but it was right.
He deserved all of it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kat Green was born Nov 1979 into a military family and moved around a lot during her childhood. This shaped her into the person she is today. She is at ease with meeting new people and adapting to new surroundings. Her family roots are from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
Kat now lives with her husband and son on the south coast of England, Portsmouth. She doesn’t pretend to be the best and is still growing as a writer and having fun along the way. She loves books and has a busy imagination. Her love for music plays a big part in
her first novel called Strings. Kat loves to watch live bands and can usually be found at gigs around the UK. In 2010 she lost her mother to blood cancer, and it was time to put her words on a page and stop worrying about what people might say ‘Life is too short and precious to waste’ is her motto. Writing is her passion and her escape.
More works by Kat Green
Strings (The Black Eagles Series Book 1)
Encore (The Black Eagles Series Book 2)
Finale (The Black Eagles Series Book 3)
Girl at the back
Veiled
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