Welcome Page
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter 1: The Thirteenth Day…
Chapter 2: Twenty-Six Years Later
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5: The First Day…
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19: The Second Day…
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27: The Fifth Day…
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37: The Fifth Day…
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42: The Ninth Day…
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56: The Twelfth Day…
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59: The Thirteenth Day…
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Acknowledgements
About the author
An Invitation from the Publisher
First published in the UK in 2019 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © M. K. Hill, 2019
The moral right of M. K. Hill to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A catalogue record for this book is available fromthe British Library.
ISBN (HB): 9781788548267
ISBN (XTPB): 9781788548274
ISBN (E): 9781788548298
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Cover design: kid-ethic
Images: © Shutterstock
Author photo: Tom Watkins
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For all the Hills and Herods
‘Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend.’
—PLAUTUS
Peter Carrington already had a steaming headache when he got the call that those missing kids had been found safe and sound.
‘And we’ve got an address,’ one of his detectives said, and hesitated.
‘Go on, out with it.’
‘It’s Jerry Swann’s place, guv.’
It took a couple of moments for the name to register above the din of the pub. Carrington wearily pressed his fingers into his eyes. ‘Are we sure it’s him?’
‘There’s no question, they all identified Swann as the abductor.’
The detective inspector cursed under his breath. The timing of those kids turning up couldn’t have been any worse. Carrington had been on the lash all night. What had been intended to be a single drink after work, just one for the road, had turned into a massive sesh with some of the lads from the station.
Minutes later, he was being driven at high speed along pitch-black twisting lanes towards the Wallasea Island wetlands, the headlights of the car carving out a narrow path between high verges. Carrington palmed a couple of dry aspirin into his mouth and wound down the window to blast his face with cold air, trying to sober up. He gripped the door handle tightly to stay upright as the vehicle flew around bends.
The car trundled into woods, the headlights jumping, suspension juddering on rough ground, making the contents of his stomach slop and lurch and churn. Acid surged in his throat to scorch the back of his mouth. And when they finally came to a stop, he stumbled gratefully from the car into the chill night.
Following his CID detectives through the trees beneath a silvery moon as wide as a dinner plate, Peter Carrington hoped the assembled officers wouldn’t be able to see how ill he felt. He saw lights blazing from an old farmhouse.
‘The kids said they ran into these woods and Swann never followed them,’ one of his team told him. ‘We think he’s still inside.’
‘Then let’s go pay him a visit.’
‘But one of the girls still hasn’t been located,’ said a voice, and Carrington turned to see a young female officer. She was barely even a woman, to his mind; she looked like she should still be at school.
‘Did all the children get out or not?’ he asked his men.
‘According to the kids at the station, they all escaped and ran together into these woods, but Becky Haskell is unaccounted for.’
‘So they got separated.’ Carrington nodded into the darkness. ‘Hardly surprising, it’s as black as the ace of spades. The girl is probably still wandering around somewhere.’
‘But, sir,’ the uniform insisted. ‘The children are in shock, their recollections of what happened are confused, what if they’re mistaken?’
He considered the girl. ‘How long have you been on the force, dear?’
The girl swallowed. ‘A week, sir.’
A probationary PC, a bloody sprog! Carrington, who had been a copper since before this little girl was even born, felt his headache crank up a notch. This investigation was going to come back and bite him on the arse, he felt it in his water, and he wasn’t in the mood to be interrogated by some upstart who had been on the force for all of two seconds.
‘What’s your name?’
‘Chancellor, sir.’ She swallowed. ‘WPC Chancellor.’
‘I like your attitude, Dawson, very admirable.’ Carrington appraised her; she was a pretty girl, he’d give her that much. ‘I’ve no doubt you’ll climb the ladder soon enough, you being a female and the world being what it is these days, and that right now you really want to help.’
‘Absolutely, sir,’ said the girl.
He stepped close, and the way she flinched when she got a rancid blast of his beery breath gave him a little bit of satisfaction.
‘It’s going to be a long night, sweetheart, and I could murder a nice cup of tea.’ Carrington winked at the other detectives. ‘So, be a love, pop back to the station and make us all a nice flask.’
The guys from CID sniggered and the girl’s cheeks reddened. With embarrassment or anger, Carrington couldn’t tell – and didn’t care. He had wasted enough time and had a job to do.
‘Let’s get this over with.’ He walked towards the farmhouse. ‘I met Swann, trust me, he ain’t going to give us any trouble, the man wouldn’t say boo to a goose.’ He clapped an armed officer on the shoulder. ‘You’re with me.’
The interior of the farmhouse was as grim and dilapidated as the exterior and he felt his shoes stick on the tacky hallway carpet. His colleagues moved quietly upstairs and into a kitchen on the left.
‘Jerry Swann,’ he called. ‘Are you here? It’s Detective Inspector Peter Carrington from Essex Police, Jerry. We’d like to talk to you.’
He walked unsteadily along the narrow corridor beneath the sallow light of a single bulb, crooked shadows conspiring with his headache to give it a lopsided aspect like a Krazy House at a funfair, and tried not to brush his shoulders against the curling wallpaper covered with ancient framed photographs. The overpowering smell of damp and drains made him gag. He sensed the armed officer at his shoulder.
‘Jerry!’ Carrington stopped. He heard something coming from ahead. Voices.
At the end of the corridor was an open door, with dark steps leading downwards.
‘Torch.’ He gestured to the officer, and a light winked on behind him, revealing a set of stone steps. Someone was crying below – it was a girl’s voice – and his stomach churned.
Heart pounding, Carrington took the worn, slippery steps carefully, making sure to hold on to the wall. At the bottom, he signalled to the officer to stay out of sight.
Then he walked into the cold, dismal basement, squinting into the glare of light from the naked bulb in its ceiling cage, and saw the wiry figure of Jerry Swann standing against the far wall. He was holding a knife to a teenage girl’s throat.
‘Jerry.’ Carrington stepped forward, toeing a dirty blanket on the concrete floor. Knowing there was an officer with a weapon outside the door, he opened his arms so Swann could see he was unarmed. ‘Come on, son, let’s talk about this.’
The detective ran his tongue along his parched lips. He wasn’t a man who was ever lost for words – everyone knew he could talk the hind legs off a donkey – but the sight of the girl in Swann’s grasp was a shock.
‘And you’ll be Becky,’ he said softly. The girl’s eyes bulged with terror, please help me, as Swann’s trembling hand held the long, glinting blade to her white neck. ‘Don’t you worry, dear, we’re all going to walk out of here soon enough.’
‘Stay back!’ yelled Jerry Swann. ‘You keep away!’
‘It doesn’t have to be like this, Jerry. Let the girl go so we can discuss everything, man to man.’
Carrington heard a flutter of fear in his own voice. His vision was blurred, sweat was pouring into his eyes despite the cold of the basement, and he wiped it away with his sleeve.
‘You-don-unerstan.’ Agitated, Swann moved from foot to foot, pulling the girl with him. But his words were almost unrecognizable because of the tears and snot now pouring into his mouth. ‘I-do-i-fo-er!’
‘Sorry, Jerry, I didn’t catch that.’ Carrington was desperately playing for time. He wished he knew the right thing to say; that his mind was clear, and he hadn’t stayed in the pub for so long. ‘Slow down, son, take all the time you need, tell me again.’
But Swann kept crying. The girl’s petrified gaze never left Carrington’s face. Knife pressed to her throat, her body juddered, and her mouth was open wide in a silent scream.
Carrington wanted to make her feel better, convince her she was going to be safe, but all he could do was gently wave his fingers as if to say, everything’s going to work out.
‘Jerry, please, put the knife down and then we can have a proper chat. You can tell me anything you like, but let’s not do it like this.’
‘I-doin-fo-her!’
‘Say again, Jerry!’
Swann roared. ‘I’m… doing it… for… her!’
When Carrington looked into the man’s small eyes, swivelling crazily in their sockets, he saw fear and desperation.
‘The girl doesn’t deserve this.’ Seeing Jerry Swann hesitate, Carrington stepped forward. ‘Put it down.’
Swann looked in shock at the blade, as if he had realized for the first time it was in his hand, and began to lower it.
Carrington dared to breathe. ‘That’s right, Jerry, just put it on the floor.’
But then the armed officer stepped into the room with his weapon raised and Swann cried out in alarm. The knife flashed back in front of the girl’s face.
And in that instant Peter Carrington felt the situation slip out of his control. ‘No, no – no!’
He stumbled forward in a panic.
Swann clamped a hand around Becky’s forehead and yanked it back, exposing her soft neck. He shouted across the room. ‘This is for you, my love!’
Carrington flung out an arm—
‘Jerry, no!’
—as the glinting blade jerked across the girl’s throat.
‘Perhaps we should eat soon, before it gets too late.’
Karin straightened the cutlery on the table, adjusted the place mats. ‘Just give her another ten minutes.’
‘Nice spread as usual, Karin.’ Paul was the only person who ever made a point of thanking her. ‘Is there anything I can do to help?’
She tossed him a box of matches. ‘Do you mind lighting the candles?’
All Karin had to do was get through tonight, they’d have their usual reunion dinner, and then she’d let them all drift from her life. There was no point in their meeting any more. None of them had anything in common except that one thing that happened to them. The evenings were usually tense, and no one even pretended to enjoy themselves, except for Paul, who spent the whole night vainly attempting to encourage some kind of ridiculous camaraderie.
It was crazy that they still even had these reunions. Psychologists had suggested it when they were all too young to know better. They shared a bond, the shrinks said, nobody outside of their group would ever understand the sickening ordeal they had suffered. Coming together regularly to remember their shared trauma, to remember her, would help them heal.
Heal, Karin thought. As if.
The four of them would never heal – they were losers, rejects, misfits. And Lydia, when she eventually arrived, was in a worse state than any of them. Well, Karin would feed them all one last time, and then they could all finally go their own way. There was no rule to say that just because one awful thing happened to them a long time ago, they had to keep returning to it again and again, like an animal licking a festering wound.
The evening would unfurl exactly like every other year. Michelle would look down her nose at everyone; Paul would bang on about his faith; Simon would hardly utter a word; and Lydia would take them all aside, one by one, and ask to borrow money.
‘It’s really not on, Lydia should be here by now.’ Michelle poured herself another glass of wine. ‘Some of us have responsibilities. I’ve a multi-million-pound business to run and can’t stay out all night. I imagine she’s probably off her face on smack or whatever and has completely forgotten.’
‘She doesn’t do that any more, she’s clean.’
Michelle snorted. ‘If you believe that, you’ll believe anything. What does our chatterbox friend think, is she going to turn up?’ She waited for Simon to answer, but he just shrugged. ‘Don’t you worry about replying, darling, we don’t want your powers of conversation to peak too early.’
‘I’m uncomfortable being judgemental about Lydia,’ said Paul primly. ‘She needs our love, not our criticism.’
‘So sorry, Paul.’ Michelle smirked. ‘I must have missed that lesson in Bible class.’
Paul ignored the jibe. ‘She won’t let us down, but maybe we should do the toast now, just in case.’
They all gathered behind the chair that would remain empty for the evening – because it always did.
Six places set – but only ever the five of them in attendance.
‘To our absent friend.’ Paul lifted his glass. ‘You’re in a better place, but you will always remain for ever in our hearts. God rest your soul.’
‘To Becky,’ they all said.
Karin dropped her gaze to the floor, unable to look anyone in the eye. After a moment’s tense silence, Michelle reached for the wine and Paul chatted to Simon, who stood – as always – near the door. It wasn’t unusual for him to slip away early without saying goodbye.
Pretending to arrange napkins, Karin watched these sad, broken people. They may all have survived that ordeal, but none of them had come out the other side of the experience intact. None of them, her included, had gone on to enjoy anything remotely like a normal life.
Simon was a solitary wanderer who disappeared off the grid for weeks, sometimes months, searching for solace in distant places. Paul was a charity worker who had battled desperately to find meaning in his life, finally announcing that he had become a born-again Christian. To look at her you’d think blunt, forceful Michelle, with her expensive clothes, thick mask of make-up and towering bouffant of hair, was every inch the successful businesswoman. She lived in a big house along the coast, had a flash car, enjoyed luxury holidays. But Michelle was a three-time divorcee with a drink problem, and behind her brittle exterior she was as emotionally insecure as the rest of them.
And Lydia was… it was difficult to know where to even begin with fragile, damaged Lydia.
As for Karin herself, well, things hadn’t worked out the way she expected. ‘I’ll heat up the food.’
In the kitchen, she pulled silver foil off the lasagne and placed the dish in the oven.
‘I don’t know how you do it.’
She turned to see Michelle in the doorway, a large glass of wine pressed to her chest.
‘Do what?’
‘I don’t know how you put up with her.’ It was still early, but Michelle was already slurring. ‘Oh, I know what you do for Lydia. Giving her money, running around after her like a headless chicken. Mark my words, darling, she’s going to bleed you dry.’
‘Pass me those plates.’
Michelle picked up five plates from the counter and handed them to Karin, who placed them in the microwave to warm, and continued.
‘Let me give you some advice. Mollycoddling Lydia is a waste of time. She’s all take, take, take. Tough love is what she needs. Sooner or later she’s going to fling your friendship back in your face. She’s that type, she’ll always be that type. But you know that.’ The doorbell rang. ‘Speak of the devil.’
Karin called, ‘Can you get that, Paul?’
‘Or maybe,’ Michelle lifted the glass to her lips, ‘there’s some other reason you keep her close.’
Karin looked up sharply, just as they heard a commotion in the hallway. They headed out to see Lydia pressed against the wall. She was sobbing, hands lifted to her face, as she fended off Paul’s attempts to calm her.
‘What’s going on?’ asked Karin. ‘What’s happened?’
Paul stepped back. ‘I don’t know, she’s upset.’
Pressing the wine glass against her cheek, Michelle leaned against the door frame. ‘She looks how I feel.’
Lydia moaned.
‘If she’s upset, we should take her home,’ said Simon.
‘How about we all go home?’ suggested Michelle.
Lydia’s scrawny body, her stick-thin legs, were smothered by the giant parka she wore. Her long, lank hair stuck damply against her wet cheeks. Her tears soaked into the matted faux-fur lining of the parka’s hood. She cringed as if she was scared of being struck.
‘I saw it… We have to help…’
‘What did you see?’ Lydia slid down the wall, pulled her legs to her chest, as Karin kneeled in front of her. ‘Someone get tissues.’
‘We’ve got to help her!’ Lydia gulped down big, juddering breaths, as Paul rushed away. ‘We have to!’
Karin tried to lift Lydia to her feet, her malnourished frame was as light as a feather, but was shoved away – ‘No!’ – and she crashed against a side table, causing a vase of flowers to smash to the floor.
‘What’s wrong with her? Is she on drugs?’
‘Please, Michelle,’ said Karin. ‘You’re not helping.’
Sobbing, Lydia wrapped her arms tightly around herself.
‘I don’t need this madness in my life.’ Michelle took a swig of wine. ‘It’s just not healthy.’
‘Where’s your compassion?’ Paul was returning with paper from the bathroom. ‘Lydia needs our prayers.’
Michelle gave him a withering look. ‘Stuff your bloody prayers. We’ve all had our demons, Paul, but some of us have managed to make something of our lives. Once upon a time you were a gobby little shit, now you’re a self-righteous little shit.’
Paul flapped a hand at her. ‘You’re not very nice.’
She placed her long nails to her chest. ‘I’m truly heartbroken about your opinion of me.’
‘Guys, let’s not fight,’ said Karin.
And then Lydia let out a piercing scream that shocked everybody into silence.
‘You’re not listening to me!’ She looked at each of them in turn – at Karin and Simon, at Paul and Michelle – and her eyes were wide with fear. ‘We have to help her, she needs our help!’
‘Who does, Lydia?’ asked Karin softly.
‘The girl.’ Lydia let out another sobbing gasp. ‘The one who was taken.’
‘Who was taken, Lydia? What’s happened?’
The terrified look on Lydia’s face sent a chill down Karin’s spine.
‘He’s back.’ Her eyes bulged in terror. ‘Jerry’s back!’
Arriving at the speed-dating, Sasha Dawson took off her wedding ring and dropped it in her pocket – leaving it on would send all the wrong signals.
She parked her Spider in the car park behind the pub, applied lippy in the rear-view mirror, tugged a brush through her silver hair and climbed out to a chorus of squawks from the noisy gulls gliding on the thermals high above the seafront.
‘Lovely evening!’ Sasha gave a big smile to the doorman who let her inside.
The interior was dark and shabby, and a smell of vinegar and ketchup lingered. Among the round tables arranged in a loose semicircle, a scattering of men and women waited for the event to begin.
At the bar, Sasha ordered a Coke with ice and lemon, pointedly ignoring the attentions of two men to her left. Lips pursed in an arrogant pout, a faint smile playing across his rugged face, the taller of the two was a handsome black guy. He nudged his friend and said, loud enough for Sasha to hear, ‘There’s plenty of talent here tonight, some right crackers.’
The shorter Asian man smiled, embarrassed. Sasha turned her back on them just as a figure, face hidden beneath a hoodie, slipped in a side exit at the back of the room.
‘Hello, madam!’ A small, curvy woman, with a head full of white-blonde hair, perfectly straight white teeth sparkling in her fake-tanned face, and wearing a dress shimmering with a million sequins, came over. ‘I’m Lolly!’
‘Hi, Lolly, I’m Sasha. You look nice.’
Lolly beamed with pleasure at the compliment. She spoke with a bubbly estuary accent. ‘And you’re totally stunning for an older lady, you don’t mind me saying, I bet you’re going to be very popular tonight! Ready, Sasha?’
‘As I’ll ever be.’ Sasha’s thumb rubbed guiltily against her naked ring finger. ‘I’m a bit nervous. It’s been a while since I’ve done anything like this.’
‘Just be your fabulous self.’
‘That one…’ – Sasha nodded at the man who had spoken at the bar – ‘is too cocky by half.’
Lolly followed her gaze. ‘Craig, you mean? Don’t worry about him, he fancies himself something rotten. Anyway, chin chin!’
She raised a glass of tonic water and Sasha clinked her Coke against it. A bell dinged.
‘Are we ready to start?’ Everyone gathered round while a woman explained the rules. ‘I want all the ladies to take a table and a gentleman will talk to each of you. Have a chat, get to know each other. When I ring this bell after three minutes,’ – she struck it again just in case anyone was still unclear what it sounded like – ‘all the gentlemen will move to the next table in a clockwise direction, and so on. There are pencils and score sheets in front of you, ladies, and when we’re finished, I’d like you to tell me which of the gentlemen you’d be interested in seeing again.’
‘Good luck, Sasha.’ Lolly sat to her left. ‘Knock ’em dead!’
‘Are we all ready?’ The woman rang the bell, just as the man who had slipped in at the back of the pub took off his hoodie to reveal a loud Hawaiian shirt, and stepped forward to join the fun. ‘Happy romancing!’
The first man to sit in front of Sasha was the Asian guy from the bar. He squirmed in his chair, his gaze roaming everywhere but never quite landing on her face.
‘What’s your name, sweetheart?’ she asked.
‘Ajay.’
Bless him, he looked terrified. ‘Why don’t you tell me a bit about yourself, Ajay?’
‘I had a turtle once.’ His face reddened. ‘When I was a kid.’
It wasn’t much to work with, but it was a start. ‘What was his name?’
‘Frank.’ Ajay searched the ceiling. ‘And I had a guinea pig called Marmite.’
Sasha saw the man in the Hawaiian shirt chatting to Lolly. ‘Anything else, Ajay?’
‘I like sports and eating healthily. I’m a very spiritual person, I meditate. I try to hit the recommended daily intake of proteins and fats, although it’s true to say the data changes regularly.’ Sasha felt sorry for him, he looked like he’d rather be anywhere else. ‘After all, we only have one life and then we’re dead.’
‘You’re quite right.’
‘So I think it’s important to look after your mind, body and soul.’
‘That’s so true.’ Sasha was struggling with Ajay’s intensity. ‘Do you want to ask me any questions? My name, maybe?’
He looked surprised. ‘What’s your name?’
She smiled sweetly. ‘Sasha.’
‘What’s your favourite colour, Sasha?’
‘I’m glad you asked me that.’ Finally, here was something she could work with. ‘I have several. Cyan, mauve, I’m partial to aquamarine.’
Ajay thought about it. ‘Aquamarine is good.’
The bell rang – ‘All change!’ – and Ajay stood.
‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘Have a nice evening.’
When he walked to the next table, she picked up the pencil to give him a score, but thought better of it.
Then the man in the Hawaiian shirt dropped into the chair, swinging one tattooed arm over the back, opening his legs wide – manspreading, she believed was the term – and favouring Sasha with an excellent view of his groin. Middle-aged, thickset, hair slicked back by lots of product.
‘Now you look interesting.’ Sasha leaned forward. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Darren.’ The man’s legs opened and closed like a pair of elevator doors. ‘Call me Daz.’
‘Hello, Daz, I’m Sasha. Tell me about yourself.’
He grinned. ‘I’d rather we talked about us.’
Sasha gasped. It was an audacious start.
‘I’ll be honest with you, Sasha.’ His knees snapped together so that he could swing closer to the table. ‘You’re not my usual type, you’re probably a decade older than I’m used to.’
Sasha smiled sadly. ‘Devastated.’
‘But when I saw you earlier, I knew immediately, I said to myself, Daz, there’s something about that woman. She’s got a…’ Wiggling fingers heavy with jewellery in front of his face, he struggled to conjure the exact word. ‘A twinkle.’
Sasha listened gravely. ‘Do I really?’
‘You got a way about you. A mystery. Despite the…’ He grimaced at her unexpected shock of long white hair.
‘Go on,’ she said.
‘Wanna know what I’m thinking?’ Darren gestured around the pub. ‘This whole event is a big fat waste of time. It’s a charade.’
Sasha blinked. ‘Is it?’
He jerked his head, come closer, and Sasha leaned in. Darren picked up the sheet of paper and tossed it over his shoulder.
‘You don’t need to mark a stupid scorecard, because our attraction is obvious. We’re like two ends of a magnet, me and you, compelled to attract. I see the desire in your eyes.’ His hands framed her face in the air. ‘Your beautiful eyes, which are like two hazel windows to your soul.’
‘Oh, Daz.’ Sasha swallowed. ‘And what do you see in my windows?’
‘I see a sensitive, sophisticated woman with womanly needs and appetites. You’ve got a thing for me.’ His eyes fastened on hers, tongue sliding slowly along the length of his top teeth. ‘And, no bullshit, I’ve a serious thing for you. So let’s get out of here, let’s go somewhere more… intimate.’
‘I’d love to talk to you more. I know just the place we can go.’
Darren gave a satisfied grunt. ‘Now we’re talking.’
His hand crept across the table, but she coyly moved hers into her lap.
‘Let’s go to the station,’ she said.
‘The Station.’ Darren narrowed his eyes. ‘That a trendy new bar, is it?’
‘Oh, Daz, you’ve been to the police station many times.’ The bell dinged and Sasha made a sad face. ‘Time’s up, I’m afraid.’
Darren turned to see everyone in the pub staring at him. The men and women sitting down, the guy behind the bar, the doorman who had slipped inside.
‘Shiii…’ He jumped out of his seat and raced towards the door. But before he’d managed to get two yards, half a dozen plain-clothed police rushed at him from every direction. Darren lashed out and an officer went down. Lolly leapt across her table to land on his back, yanking his arm behind him and slamming his face into the diamond-patterned carpet.
‘Get off me!’ he screamed.
‘Stay still, mate,’ she warned him.
‘Darren Gary Walters,’ said DC Craig Power, hauling him to his feet. ‘I’m arresting you on suspicion of aggravated theft and assault with intent to rob. Robbery, burglary and attempted murder. You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.’
‘You’re a difficult man to find, Darren,’ Detective Inspector Sasha Dawson said as he was pulled upright. ‘We thought we’d never catch up with you.’
Darren had been on the run since taking part in a series of Post Office robberies. With a network of known associates across the county to hide him, he’d gone underground. But he had a weakness for the ladies: he couldn’t resist turning on the charm at clubs and pubs, and the regular speed-dating event at The Crown was a favourite hunting ground.
‘Your long-suffering wife suggested we’d find you here, Daz, she’s a bit fed up with your roving eye,’ she said. ‘Take him away.’
‘You were terrific, Sasha,’ said DC Lolly Chambers as they walked towards the car park.
‘I enjoyed that.’ Sasha marvelled again at the young woman in a figure-hugging sparkly dress who had floored a man twice her size. ‘Remind me never to mess with you, Lolly.’
Behind that winsome Essex Girl exterior, all glittery lipstick, false lashes and bronzer, was a tenacious and capable officer.
‘I’m out tonight,’ the detective constable said in her cheerful sing-song. ‘Might as well since I’m all glammed up. You have a nice evening.’
‘Good work,’ Sasha called to Ajay, who was talking to the officer who had stood outside the pub pretending to be a doorman.
‘Sorry.’ He blushed. ‘I kind of froze in there.’
‘You did magnificently,’ she lied. ‘Got anything planned?’
‘Picking up Scott from his Caribbean Fusion cookery course, and then we’ll probably grab a Pilates class.’
Sasha was fishing for her keys when she saw DC Craig Power finishing a call on his mobile. He walked over with his usual rolling swagger.
‘Nice work, Craig,’ she told him.
‘No problem,’ he said, peering towards the sea, which thrashed against the shingle on the beach. Approaching seven in the evening, it was still bloody hot, another scorcher. Southend-on-Sea, along with everywhere else in the south-east, had been basking in a relentless spring heatwave.
‘You out on the town tonight, too?’ she asked.
He took out a packet of cigarettes. ‘We’ve had a report of an abduction in Alexandra Road. I thought I’d check it out.’
‘That’s out of your way.’ She watched the red tip of his fag fizz when he dragged on it. ‘Give me the address.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘No, I’m not. I really want to soak in the bath and grab a glimpse of my kids – I’m reliably informed I’ve two of them – so just say yes, Sasha, and walk away before I change my mind.’
Craig nodded. ‘Thanks, boss.’
‘You’re welcome.’
He saw the way her eyes followed the coiling plume of smoke dancing on the breeze and offered his cigarette between thumb and forefinger.
‘I shouldn’t, I really shouldn’t.’ She shook her head, she had given up months ago, but was still buzzing from the arrest, and one tiny little puff wasn’t going to do any harm. ‘Oh, go on then, just don’t tell my kids!’
With a furtive look round – an old habit from when she used to have a secret smoke up the end of the garden – she inhaled deeply. The smoke filled her head. She exhaled into the clear blue sky and handed the cigarette back as the nicotine rushed along her bloodstream, making her feel slightly giddy.
She smiled. ‘So, Craig, I’m a right cracker, is that right?’
Loosening the knot of his tie, DC Power peered over the top of his fag.
‘I was merely getting into character, ma’am, playing a role for the benefit of the operation. I would never have the insolence to call a senior-ranking officer a cracker.’ He began to walk away, but turned, and there was a devastating glint in his eye. ‘Even if, hypothetically, she was.’
‘Goodnight, Craig,’ she said cheerfully.
When he walked off, Sasha took her wedding ring from her pocket, and slipped it back on her finger – where it belonged.
Sasha Dawson waited patiently for Lydia to pull together her chaotic thoughts. ‘It must have been a terrible shock for you.’
‘Yeah, I was in bits.’ Despite Karin’s attempts to get her to take it off, Lydia looked hot and uncomfortable in her massive parka. Shadows fell across her gaunt face in the lamplight. Her eyes, puffy from her earlier crying, darted regularly to Karin for support – don’t worry, Karin smiled, I’m here for you – and back to the policewoman. ‘Shouldn’t you be writing this down?’
Hands clasped in her lap, Sasha sat on a dining chair, which had been moved into the living room. ‘I will, but first I want to hear in your own words what you saw. Take your time, nobody’s in any rush.’
‘You say that.’ Michelle checked her watch. ‘But it’s not like we all need to be here.’
Karin shot her an annoyed look and Michelle shrugged.
‘There was this girl standing on the corner of the street.’ The tendons in Lydia’s hand slid beneath the skin as she gripped a phantom mobile. ‘She was looking at her phone.’
Sasha studied Lydia again, her thin, unnourished hair, the way the skin stretched tightly across her pockmarked face. ‘How old was she, would you say?’
‘I dunno, she was a teenager, fourteen, fifteen. They all look the same at that age, don’t they?’
‘Can you describe her, Lydia?’
‘She had a short skirt on, and these cool trainers, which were really white. Blonde hair to her shoulders, one of them shiny jackets, you know, like they all wear.’
‘And then what happened?’ asked Sasha.
‘There was a noise behind me.’ Lydia glanced again at Karin for encouragement. ‘And a van passed me. Well, I didn’t think anything of it, but it stopped further up, next to the girl, and then she was gone.’ She clicked her fingers. ‘Just like that.’
‘Gone?’
‘She seemed to tip forward, like she’d been pulled into it.’
Bum perched on the edge of the chair, spine perfectly straight, Sasha crossed her legs. Her lean body broadened to wide hips. A coil of hair from her long wavy bob – prematurely icy white – bounced across her eyebrow. She lifted it clear with the tip of one slim finger to reveal the sharp point of a widow’s peak against her olive skin. She smiled encouragingly at Lydia, and it occurred to Karin that the entire time she had been here, that gentle smile – by turns concerned, encouraging or sympathetic – never left her oval face.
‘Have you had any other reports?’ Karin asked. ‘Did anyone else see anything?’
‘We’ll have officers knock on the doors of the houses along the street. It’s possible someone else saw the… incident. But until a girl fitting that description is reported missing, there’s not a lot we can do. At this point, a crime may have been committed, or it may not.’
‘What if it’s him?’ Lydia looked anxiously at Karin. ‘What if he’s back?’
Michelle made an exasperated noise. ‘Get a grip, Lydia.’
But Sasha Dawson must have sensed the change in atmosphere in the room because she turned in her seat to look closely at them. At Karin, and Michelle clutching her glass of wine; at Simon, beside the door; and Paul, his small hands folded in front of him. Karin saw the policewoman trying to work out why they were all so familiar. She had seen that same look many times.
‘I imagine it must have been a shock when Lydia turned up and told you what she saw,’ Sasha said to nobody in particular. ‘Were you having a party?’
‘Just a meal,’ Karin said. ‘We get together occasionally.’
‘And has one of you gone home?’ Sasha nodded at the dining table. ‘There are five of you, but six places set for dinner.’
Michelle sipped her wine, said, ‘I can see why you’re a detective.’
‘We always leave an empty place,’ admitted Karin. ‘One of us… can’t make it.’
Sasha Dawson’s smile drifted. ‘So you’re all friends?’
Michelle snorted. ‘Oh, we all love each other to bits.’
Breath caught in the detective’s throat. ‘You’re those children who were taken to the Bad…’
‘Oh, you might as well say it,’ said Michelle. ‘We were the kids from the Bad Place.’
‘I was there,’ said Sasha. ‘The night you escaped. I was at the station when you were brought in.’
Michelle snorted. ‘What, were you on work experience?’
‘I’d been on the force all of a week. I was there when Becky Haskell was…’ There was an awkward silence. ‘I’ve often thought about you all.’
‘Can we go now?’ Michelle drained her glass. ‘I have to get home.’
Sasha cleared her throat, getting back to business. ‘The incident Lydia saw was around the corner, so if the rest of you were here and didn’t see anything, there’s no reason for you to stay.’
Michelle didn’t need telling twice. She pulled on an expensive cashmere coat. ‘Well, I’d like to say it’s been fun, but I can’t.’
Paul took Lydia’s hands in his. ‘I’ll pray for you.’
‘Pray for that poor girl instead, yeah?’
‘And for her, too. Take care, all.’
‘Yeah.’ Michelle rolled her eyes. ‘Can’t wait.’
‘Thanks,’ said Simon, avoiding everybody’s eye as he left.
In the hallway, Karin opened the front door and her guests stepped out into the warm evening.
‘I’m happy to stay.’ Paul looked with compassion at the others. ‘If you need me.’
‘I think DI Dawson is nearly finished.’
‘Take care of yourself.’ He kissed her cheek. ‘Same time next year, I suppose.’
Karin smiled at the inevitability of it. They would all meet up again, because these people were the closest thing to a family she had, and because some people could never escape each other’s orbit.
‘Bye,’ she called to Simon, but he was already striding down the path.
‘I don’t want to go home,’ Lydia said when Karin went back into the room. ‘I’m all agitated now.’
‘You know you can stay. You’re always welcome.’
‘I might go up now, yeah? I’m shattered.’
When Lydia went upstairs, Sasha stood, tugging her skirt back into place over her knees. ‘Do you think—’
‘That she saw someone getting abducted?’ Karin listened to Lydia thumping around above them. ‘We have these reunions once a year to remember what happened to us, and every year I think, never again. But it’s important to remember that we were the lucky ones.’
‘Lucky?’
‘We came home.’
Sasha glanced again at the six places set at the table.
‘But these nights stir up a lot of emotions.’ Karin sat heavily in a chair; it had been an exhausting couple of hours. ‘And Lydia’s… fragile, she finds these evenings particularly stressful and upsetting. So, yes, I think she was mistaken. I’m sure she saw something – a van stopping sharply, even a girl climbing in – but an abduction? I don’t think so.’
‘And when she said, he’s back…’
‘She was talking about Jerry Swann, the man who abducted us. But as we all know, that’s not possible.’ Karin began to clear the table. ‘I’m sorry if you came for nothing.’
‘Better safe than sorry.’ Sasha Dawson looked like she was about to tell Karin something… but lifted her nose. ‘Do you smell burning?’
The stench hit Karin’s nostrils just as brown smoke tumbled from the kitchen and across the ceiling. An alarm filled the room with noise.
‘The oven!’ Rushing into the kitchen, Sasha stood on a chair to wave a tea towel beneath the smoke detector, and Karin pulled on oven gloves to lift out the blackened, smoking lasagne and dump it in the sink.
‘Oh dear,’ said Sasha. ‘It’s just as well everybody’s gone home.’
When the detective left, Karin opened windows to let out the smoke. She took the plates from the microwave – her best china would go back in the cupboard for another year – and binned the salad.
Above her head, a floorboard creaked. Karin stopped to listen.
‘Lydia?’ she called, going into the hallway. ‘Is that you?’
Karin jumped when she saw Lydia at the top of the stairs, her features mostly hidden in the dark.
‘I hope you didn’t say mean things about me,’ said Lydia. ‘Cruel things.’
‘I would never do that.’
Lydia’s eyes glinted down at her, and then she dissolved into the shadows on the landing.
Karin went back next door, just as a message dropped into her phone.
When she saw it, her heart leapt with hope – and fear.
I ♥ U
BeXxx
Nobody even noticed when a stranger climbed into the minibus and drove them to the Bad Place.
It was pandemonium inside, and stifling hot. The air-conditioning wasn’t on because the youth worker who was driving them had jumped out to nip to the toilet in a pub across the road. The interior was rank with the heavy musk of body odour after a day in the sun. All the kids were sweltering in their T-shirts and jeans.
Becky and Karin were sitting in the back row discussing everything under the sun, enjoying each other’s company, the conversation jumping from one subject to another: the boys Becky fancied at school, her favourite boy bands, a sparkly nail varnish she’d discovered.
Paul’s hand swung suddenly over the top of the chair in front of Karin and swiped at her head, giving her a shock, and Becky launched herself out of her seat to try to slap him back. The second time he appeared, Becky was ready with her fists clenched. ‘I mean it, Paul, leave us alone!’
In the row ahead of Simon and Paul, Michelle was nodding to music on her headphones, while Lydia watched gulls swoop to the pavement on the seafront to grab morsels of food.
That was when the driver’s door opened and someone climbed in and turned the keys in the ignition. The engine roared and the minibus swung away from the kerb.
‘Seriously?’ said Becky when Paul reappeared over the back of the seat, looking to make more trouble. ‘If you lay another finger on either of us I will destroy you.’
Becky raised her eyebrows in a steely challenge, ready to teach him a lesson. Karin loved the way Becky’s eyebrows arched like fighting alley cats.
Paul froze, weighing up the odds, and then waved her away, as if he couldn’t be bothered. ‘You’re lucky this time,’ he said. ‘I’m going to let you off.’
Becky made a sarcastic face. ‘Yeah, big man, we’re so lucky.’
Simon laughed like a drain, because he knew Paul didn’t fancy messing with Becky. Karin’s heart swelled with love for her friend, because Bex didn’t take any shit from anyone, certainly not some divvy boy like Paul. Karin didn’t care that she felt sick from all the sweets and fizzy drinks she’d consumed, and that it was sweltering in the vehicle, because she was with Becky. She dreamed they would be best friends for ever, and they would take the same exams at school and get the same grades, so they could go to the same university to study on the same course, and live together into old age.
Rain clouds rolled in over the sea, but the streets were still packed with sightseers and holidaymakers, as the minibus turned north past the town centre and picked up speed. Nobody noticed they were going in the wrong direction, or even that the man driving them wasn’t Greg, the volunteer from the youth club, until Becky saw how his hair hung lankly over his ears.
‘Who is that?’ She prodded Paul, but he was too busy lunging back and forth, avoiding Simon’s playful punches. ‘Who’s driving us?’
And when the others finally saw it wasn’t Greg, but somebody else completely, nobody was too concerned. Greg had gone home, they thought – he’d been taken ill, or there had been a change of plan and they hadn’t been told – and another driver had stepped in to take his place. All they could see was the back of the man’s head, and an occasional flash in the rear-view mirror of the orange lenses in his glasses.
The two boys thought it was a big joke.
‘Hey, fella, who are you?’ Paul made a funny remark about the man’s hair and everyone laughed. But the driver didn’t respond at all.
‘This isn’t the right way,’ said Simon as the minibus passed the designated drop-off point and headed out of town towards Rochford. ‘Where are we going?’
Seated behind the driver, Michelle told the others in a low voice, ‘I don’t recognize him, he’s not from the club!’
Becky reached over to tap her on the shoulder. ‘Tell him he’s going the wrong way!’
‘Excuse me, but this isn’t the way!’ Michelle told him, but he ignored her.
‘Tell him again,’ Becky insisted. ‘Find out who he is!’
And this time Michelle leaned forward between the front seats to get his attention. ‘Excuse me—’
She screamed and fell back in her chair.
‘What is it?’
Michelle turned to the others. ‘He’s got a knife – a big knife in his lap!’
They all huddled together to talk, trying to work out what was going on, hoping that Michelle was mistaken, or that she was joking. But they knew she wasn’t, because she was weeping with fear.
Sitting quietly at the back, forgotten in the heat of the moment, Karin’s eyes lifted to the rear-view mirror and the man’s orange lenses briefly met her gaze.
‘Let us out!’ screamed Michelle. ‘Let us out now!’
Her panic frightened the others as the minibus headed further into the countryside. The man drove calmly, hands placed on the wheel at ten and two o’clock, pulling up slowly at junctions and lights, staying within the speed limit. Becky beat on the window when a vehicle came the other way – help us! – but it whipped past in an instant.
And after their initial terror, all the kids could do was sit stunned and bewildered as the road narrowed and the lanes became more twisted and the minibus drove into the countryside, past fields and meadows. Then tall trees loomed on either side of the road, their reflections climbing the windscreen, and a low, red sun emerged from the clouds to flash behind the trunks.
If any of them had been thinking straight, they could have made a note of the few features of the flat landscape, the way the last rays of sun sparkled on the surface of the River Crouch; or the name of one of the country pubs they passed; or they could even have tried to memorize the turns the vehicle made, left and right and left again, down a lane where a tractor was crashed into a ditch, along a bumpy rutted track, past a burbling stream. But everyone was too disorientated to track their progress – and too scared. Not even Simon knew what to do.
And then the minibus swung down a darkened lane barely wider than a pitted pathway. The clawed fingers of the bushes on either side scratched at the windows, pressing so close that it would be impossible to turn the vehicle or even reverse. The kids bumped up and down in their seats as the vehicle hit one deep hole after another, and emerged into a clearing to park outside an old farmhouse at the edge of a thick wood.
The man cranked the handbrake, killed the engine. His neck was slick with sweat, the shoulders of his shirt dark with damp where it pressed against the leather of the seat. The kids watched with a sick fascination as he took off his glasses to wipe them on his shirt.
Replacing the glasses on his nose, he turned to face them – they gasped when he lifted his hand to reveal the blade – and nodded at the door of the farmhouse.
‘I’m going to let you out and you’ll walk inside one by one. But if anybody tries to make a run for it or makes any trouble,’ – he jabbed the knife, making them all scream – ‘I’ll kill every single one of you.’
This is how the day always began. With a big, screaming row.
Sasha listened to the yells and shouts, the doors slamming, the floorboards pounding above her head. She was going to get dragged into it any moment… now…
‘Muuuum!’ shouted her daughter. ‘Tell him to leave my stuff alone!’
‘I didn’t take your stupid hairdryer,’ her son bellowed. ‘I don’t want your dandruff blowing all over me!’
Angel screamed in frustration. It wasn’t difficult to light a fire under her fragile emotions and Denny knew how to strike the match. Sasha went to the bottom of the stairs. ‘Hurry up, please, I have to go!’
Her thirteen-year-old came downstairs, his thick mop of hair swinging across his eyes. Sasha grabbed his school tie to yank his face close to hers.
‘Breathe,’ she said.
He opened his mouth wide and let out a foetid breath.
‘Yuck! Go and clean your teeth.’ She spun Denny around and pushed him up the stairs, her son trudging away like a condemned man to the gallows. ‘And brush your hair!’
In the kitchen, she took a last gulp of tepid coffee and chased a shoe around the tile with her foot.
‘Got a fiver?’ Denny came back into the room. There was little evidence to suggest he’d made any attempt to brush his hair; it stuck up every which way.
‘What do you need it for?’
‘We’ve got a geography field trip today so I need to buy lunch.’ He lifted her purse from her bag. ‘I told you about it.’
She grabbed the purse out of his hand. ‘You didn’t tell me about it.’
Denny rolled his eyes. ‘I did.’
‘Don’t act like a sulky teenager, Denny, you’re better than that.’ She pulled out the single note. ‘I’ve only got a tenner.’
He took it quickly. ‘That’ll do.’
‘Don’t snatch.’
Her son lifted a remote at the TV on the wall and the room was filled with the sound of screeching tyres, explosions and gunfire. Cars leapt about on screen, defying all gravitational logic. Sasha could barely hear herself think.