Death on the Coast

by Bernie Steadman

  She stopped to answer her phone and his heart constricted. Who did she talk to on her own all the time? Who rang her? Who else knew about what they were doing? Everyone was a liability as far as he could tell.

  His hands hurt from shifting branches and twigs and cutting up old planks and logs. He worried about how much they had to do on their own to complete the next sacrifice. They couldn’t set up this fire until the actual day. Too many nosy old gits around, and the tide had to be low enough to allow him to drive along the sand. At least with a trailer he could dump it all in one go, and get the fire lit while Tana brought the sacrifice. On her own. That was a worry as well. How the hell would she manage that?

  He shifted in the car seat. The failed attempt to kill Jay had rattled her. Both of them, really. Kegan couldn’t believe he’d just gone along with it. It was different seeing off tramps – they were no-hopers with no future – but a member of their own clan? That was bad. It felt wrong. He could see she had gone beyond caring though. It was this third killing that mattered to her, and she knew they must be close to being caught if the police had the girls in custody. If Jay went to the police, or was caught, and told them all he knew, all the planning in the world couldn’t save him. Kegan had a record – from back when he was a stupid seventeen-year-old. A careless fingerprint would be enough for them to name him, and all three of the students could describe him. Kegan angled the rear-view mirror so he could see his face, and wondered what he could do to disguise his features.

  The door rattled as Tana climbed back inside the Land Rover and shook out her mane. ‘We have to move fast,’ she said, ‘there’s very little time.’ She reached across and took his hand in hers. ‘Kegan, this next one is the most important. All the others have been practice for this one. I have to do this right. You get that, don’t you?’

  Kegan nodded. He’d worked that out for himself. ‘What do you want me to do?’

  She stared through the runnels of rain on the windscreen and chewed on a fingernail. ‘I want to do the sacrifice on Saturday night. We must set the fire in the afternoon. The site is good and you can drive over the sand.’ She stared out at the rain. ‘It will be different this time. He has a girlfriend, and I think we’ll need to get him in the pub they go to on Saturday nights.’

  ‘A girlfriend? You never told me about this, Tana. I’m not killing a perfectly innocent woman.’

  ‘Calm down. I’m not saying we should kill her, just get her away from the action.’

  Kegan’s heart stopped pounding quite so hard. This was getting ridiculous. All this stuff was making it harder than the last two, and they had no help. Think. ‘Right. We could drug him. Put something in his drink at the bar. That should be easy enough. He won’t recognise you, will he? But what do we do about her?’

  ‘You know, we should drug them both, just to be sure.’

  ‘How are we going to do that? Get two unconscious bodies out of a pub?’

  ‘Leave that to me, I have an idea. Let’s go back to your flat and hide the trailer.’

  Kegan growled. ‘You have an idea. But you’re not going to share it with me, are you? I want this to be over, Tana. Do you hear me?’ She stared out of the window. Frustrated, Kegan started the engine and they drove slowly down the back roads towards his Exmouth flat. ‘Who was it on the phone?’

  Tana threw him a glance and shrugged. ‘You may as well know, now: my grandfather. We’ve planned this together, since I was a child. We’re picking him up at his hotel and taking him down to Lympstone.’

  ‘What? Why the hell would we do that? And why have you never mentioned him before?’ He pulled over into a layby and stared at her. ‘You haven’t really told me anything about this, have you? All this planning you’ve done with your grandfather, all the secrecy. What’s it all about, Tana? What are we doing this for?’

  ‘It will all become clear very soon, Kegan,’ she said. ‘It’s better for you if you know as little as possible. There are some pretty big fish in the pond here who would like to know more about my grandfather. Let’s just leave it at that. What you need to know is that this is the most important sacrifice. What it’s all been for – all this crap we’ve been spouting.’

  She leaned across and took his hand. ‘I may have to disappear for a while afterwards,’ she said. ‘Just until it all cools down a bit.’

  ‘You? What about us? I thought we were going together?’ Kegan tapped his breast pocket. ‘Passport, euros, got the lot, and I’m ready to split.’

  ‘Great, but I think we should travel separately for a while, just to put them off the scent, you know?’

  Kegan nodded as his hands twisted on the wheel. ‘Oh, I know. I totally get it now.’ She was going to dump him after the last murder. He fought down the treacherous worm that said: ‘and she’ll let you take the blame’. After all he’d done, all he’d given up for her, all he’d risked. Anger burst in his head. ‘I’ve walked out of my job, helped you with your “mission”, been involved in all of this …’ he struggled for a word, ‘all of this nightmare, and you’re dumping me?’ He slammed both palms against the steering wheel. ‘I don’t believe you, Tana!’

  Tana twisted in her seat to face him, blue eyes boring deep into him. ‘I’m not dumping you, you eejit. I’m saving you. If Jay talks, if any of them talk, who are they going to give away? Not you, darlin’. No, they’ll be after me, and I want to keep you safe. So, you run over to Spain for a few months and then I’ll come and find you. You can get a cheap phone and we can keep in touch. Trust me,’ she said, squeezing his large hand between both of hers. ‘It will be all right, I promise. We just have to do this last one.’

  He pulled his hand free. ‘I’m not an idiot, you know. I know that all this cult stuff has been about this last one. You have to get him, don’t you?’ He waited for her slight nod. ‘Then tell me about him. Why this guy? Why now? What did he do to you, Tana?’

  She turned away from him. ‘Better for you not to go there,’ she said. ‘I bear the scars for us all. Why now? Because we finally found them, all three of them together, after years of searching. But believe me, Kegan, believe me, the death of this one really will bring about the cleansing.’ She gave a shrug of one bony shoulder. ‘At least for me.’

  * * *

  ‘I had no idea you were going to come over,’ said Tana, clinging to her grandfather’s arm. ‘It’s great to see you, but did you not trust me to do the job?’

  Brendan Moore patted the hand that had snaked its way under his arm. ‘No need to worry yourself on that part, darlin’, I just thought you might need a bit of support for the last leg.’

  She swung round to face him, forcing a dog walker to break her stride and swerve round them on the path. ‘You mean you want in, don’t you?’ She let her gaze slide from her grandfather’s face, towards Kegan – who was leaning angrily against the Land Rover bonnet, staring after them as they walked down towards the estuary.

  Moore scratched the side of his nose and gave a small chuckle. ‘You have no idea how long I have waited to finish this. How much I … we have lost because of this man.’ He allowed himself a quick glance at the wire fence with rolls of barbed wire on its top, and dropped his head. ‘Though how the hell we get to him, I don’t know.’

  Tana laughed. ‘No need to hide yourself away. I’ve walked past here every day for weeks, and the only cameras seem to be on the gates and down the sides. I know how to get him out anyway, and I could use your help – seeing as I’ve a little problem: two of the followers seem to be in custody, along with the professor.’

  ‘Aye? That’s unfortunate. What happened there?’

  ‘They got to us through the professor, I think. Pathetic eejit. Then we made a mistake, a big one.’ Unconsciously, she picked at a scar on her arm, rubbing and scratching through the sleeve of her hoody. ‘I knew Jay Vine was going to run, and that he would talk. Knew it after the second sacrifice. Kegan and I, we went to his room. We tried to make it look like suicide, but we didn’t give h
im enough, or someone found him too soon. Anyway, he got away. Said on the news the police are holding three people, but none of them have been named yet. Jay texted one of the girls, so he could still be on the run, but I’m not hopeful. I’m sorry, granddaddy, I let you down.’

  ‘It’s always the same when you bring unknowns into a professional outfit, but it can’t be helped now.’ Moore stood, looked up at the blank windows of Lympstone Commando training base, and sighed deeply. ‘And when will the fire be ready for him?’

  ‘Two days from now, on Saturday night. We’ll have to set the fire on Saturday afternoon because of the tides.’

  ‘But worth the effort. Worth the effort to revenge our family, my darlin’.’

  Tana nodded seriously. He was the only person who could still make her feel like a child. Comforted by his presence, but slightly scared of his temper, she wanted to please him. It seemed sad that she had only found out he existed after the death of her parents and little brother, but, since then, he had been a constant in her life and that of her adoptive family. And he had helped her to understand that to let the people who had killed her family just walk away, just go back to England, with nothing but a pat on the back, was not acceptable. So, they had waited and planned, and searched and planned some more – for years – until she was ready for the task and they had found a way in. And, watching the first two lieutenants burn had felt good, liberating. She wanted to look this last one in the eye before he died. Wanted to make sure he knew who she was, and that he understood why he had to die, like her family had died, in the cleansing fire.

  ‘Come on,’ said Moore, ‘walk me back up the path and drop me at the hotel. Let’s eat together tonight. Lord, but you’re awful thin. I sent you money, what did you spend it on? Not grub, that’s for sure. Skinny wee thing. I like the blonde hair though, suits you better than that awful red.’

  Tana smiled. He was the only one who could talk to her like this and get away with it. Brendan cared about her, and it was good to know she had one person in the world who cared as much about her mission as she did.

  ‘What about this boy, Kegan, you call him? Do you trust him?’

  ‘I do,’ she said, ‘he loves me.’

  ‘But you’ve told him he has to go away on his own? That we can’t take him with us?’

  ‘I’ve told him. Why do you think he’s looking daggers at you? He thinks you’re some sort of rival.’

  Moore snorted. ‘Let him think that, if he likes, it’ll make the end of all this a little easier for him.’

  They arrived back at the Land Rover and Tana seated her grandfather in the passenger seat. Kegan, sulking, threw himself into the driver’s seat and swung out into the traffic. This was going to be a bit awkward, she knew, but it was only for two more days. Her pulse quickened. Please let this work, she prayed. We only have the one chance.

  36

  Early on Thursday morning, Jay Vine huddled in the lee of a white-painted metal bulkhead. The ferry bucked and thumped in the rough seas, sending spray crashing over him every few minutes. He didn’t care; it was better up here than in the seating areas with the smell of puke and chips and screaming kids. He pulled his hood closer around his newly-shaved head. Could he call Scarlett? Make sure she was okay? It wasn’t about her, he admitted, he was just desperate to talk to someone he knew. He stared at the screen. This was hard. What if the fuzz were waiting for him in Jersey?

  He dropped the phone back into his pocket and wrapped his hand around the wad of notes. Eight hundred pounds should see him right for a while until he got a job. It wasn’t as if he was out on the streets, right? At least he was away from Tana, the mad witch. Aching from sitting in the same position for so long, Jay hoisted himself up and turned to let the full force of the wind crash against his face. Other hardy passengers clung on to the rails and ignored the constant blaring of security alarms from the vehicles swaying in the hold. He could just see the outline of Jersey in the distance.

  Jay knew he was up against it as soon as he joined the foot passengers in the queue to show passports. The boy staring unsmiling at him from the back page of his passport looked nothing like Jay did now. He had blond hair for a start, and the passport was eight years old. It didn’t look a lot like him any more, but he didn’t look a lot like himself either. What on earth had he been thinking, shaving his hair off in this weather? He pulled the hood further down over his freezing head. Maybe he should make a run for it, but as he’d never been to Jersey he had no idea where that would get him. Or maybe, because he was exhausted and close to collapse, he could just give himself up? He tapped the passport against his teeth and weighed up how long it would take him to get to the gate and the notion of freedom beyond, but he didn’t stir as the queue shuffled along. It was beyond him to make a move.

  In the end, the decision was made by a sharp-eyed border officer who recognised him from the faxed copy of the photo his mother had given Hellier. The firm grasp on Jay’s arm came as a huge relief and he didn’t struggle. No more running. No more anything for a long time, he thought, as they marched him into an office nearby.

  * * *

  The call from Jersey police was put straight through to Dan in his office at just after 11am. He held the phone to his chest. Could he justify the expenditure to fly the lad back? It would be a hell of a lot quicker than waiting for a ferry. ‘Stuff it,’ he said to the sergeant in Jersey’s main police station. ‘Book two tickets on the next plane into Exeter, one return for an escort, and we’ll arrange to pick him up from the airport.’ He grimaced when the email to confirm the booking came through, and he hoped this young man would prove to be worth the expense.

  Dan surveyed his notes. He felt the need to do something decisive, but, so far, they had several suspects, none of whom had given him a clue about the real identity of Tana. Surely someone had seen her out and about? Knew where she lived? He had the identities of three of the suspects, and could work out their pseudonyms, but who was this unidentified Kegan bloke, and was he hiding Tana somewhere nearby?

  He clicked on the Fire Goddess social media links for the third time that morning. Nothing new, thank God. Still full of hyped-up excitable nonsense, but he had the cyber team working to ID anybody they could from the comments that kept coming. He was preparing to do another press briefing, and dreading the point where he would have to admit they had no idea if there would be another murder, or who might have organised the first two.

  Sally Ellis tapped on his door. ‘Come in, Sal. Nick of time – I was about to slit my wrists.’

  ‘You know, boss,’ she said, folding her arms, ‘you have to stop watching all those American crime series where they solve murders in an hour. We’re less than two weeks into this case, we have suspects coming out of our ears, and the chance of several prosecutions for aiding and abetting. It’s only a matter of time before we get the breakthrough.’

  Dan regarded her from the desk. ‘You’re in a better mood,’ he said. ‘Coming in here and cheering me up.’

  ‘Lost weight,’ she said, seating herself opposite him, ‘all is good in my world. Well, apart from chickenpox in the Ellis household, but that comes with the parent territory.’

  ‘I haven’t had chickenpox,’ he said, ‘stay back, pestilent one.’

  ‘Too late now. If you’re getting it, you’re getting it,’ she said, with a sly grin.

  Dan brushed off an immediate panic about the state of his sperm count if he caught the virus, and updated Sally on the capture of Jay Vine.

  ‘See?’ she said. ‘Another one bites the dust. Now, if we can identify Jay as Kegan, we’d have the gang.’ She paused. ‘No, we wouldn’t, would we? There’s the other unidentified male. We need him, too.’

  ‘One of them must know where Tana is. She can’t be invisible, can she? One of them must have a clue.’

  ‘Or be willing to tell us, that’s the crucial point. Amber has told us what she knows, I’m sure. Scarlett? She may know more. I’d like to sit in on the Jay V
ine interrogation with you.’

  Dan nodded. ‘Okay. To change the subject, have you met with the awful Lisa Middleton again?’

  ‘I have. I am here to serve. You may find a change in the direction of her articles from now on. Mind you, I did have to sell my soul. It physically hurts to be nice to that woman. In fact, now we’re best mates, I’ll give her a quick ring and tell her to be at the back door when Vine arrives, that’ll go down well in the evening paper.’

  ‘Thanks for taking this on, Sally, I appreciate it.’

  Sally raised her eyebrows. ‘Do you? How much? Are you willing to put the frighteners on young Adam regarding cakes?’

  Dan laughed. ‘No, I’m bloody not. Sort it yourself!’

  * * *

  As with the other members of the gang, Jay Vine was brought into the interview room under caution. Dan reckoned on forty minutes questioning before offering a solicitor. Any longer and it could look like avoidance. He didn’t mind, Amber had given them enough to hold Vine. Dan leaned against the wall outside the room, watching through the window as Bill Larcombe handed the boy a drink and a sandwich. Apparently, the plane journey, only thirty-five minutes long, hadn’t included refreshments. He supposed that would save the department some cash. He waited until Bill and Ben had set up the communications room and were talking into his ear.

  Dan checked his watch, it was after 3pm and he wanted a briefing with the team before he held the news conference. He waited for Sally, watching the boy eat, and wondered how long it would take Linda Vine and her husband to arrive from Bodmin. They were so relieved when he’d rung them, he hadn’t the heart to remind them their youngest son was wanted for murder.