The corkscrew penetrated the soft tissue under his chin, went up into his mouth and through his tongue.
Gates screamed as he clutched his jawbone and spat blood.
Spinning swiftly, she kicked him between his legs with every ounce of energy that she had. Gates groaned like an animal and crumpled to the floor.
‘Mum!’ Ella gasped.
‘It’s all right. I’m getting you out of here.’
Seizing the knife that he had dropped, Ruth quickly cut the ropes and pulled Ella to her feet. They staggered towards the door.
Turning to look back at Gates, Ruth wondered if she should finish Gates off there and then? It wasn’t her nature. It went against everything that she held dear. But he was a murdering monster.
‘Mum!’ Ella pulled her and they made their escape.
‘Are you okay?’ Ruth asked as they leapt down the stairs and sprinted into the darkness.
‘I am now. How did you find me?’ Ella asked.
‘Long story.’ Ruth pulled out her phone. There was a signal and she rang Llancastell. ‘This is DI Hunter. I’m at the Borthrodyn Holiday Park. I have my daughter Ella with me. Andrew Gates is injured and I need any officers in the area to attend now.’
After about a minute of running, Ruth and Ella slowed for a moment to get their breath. They looked at each other and hugged.
‘I thought I’d lost you,’ Ruth said, squeezing her daughter tightly.
They needed to get to the car, and then Ruth could get Ella away safely.
The darkness around them suddenly disappeared. As Ruth looked up, the ground before them was flooded with light. It confused her for a second until she saw Ella turn around.
Headlights.
A van was speeding up behind them. It was Gates.
Ruth kicked herself for not incapacitating Gates when she had the chance.
Ruth pulled Ella by the shoulder. ‘This way!’ They headed left and then back right, but Ruth was now disorientated. Which way were the exit and her car?
The lights of the van appeared behind them again.
Running at full pelt, and checking continually that Ella could keep up, Ruth looked at where they were going.
Ahead of them was the ten-foot wire fence that she had seen earlier. They were going the wrong way. They were trapped.
Gates sounded the van’s horn like a madman. Despite his injuries, he was getting off on chasing them down.
Ella pointed to a small gate within the fencing. They turned, sprinted and went through it. Ruth wondered if the fence would stop Gates’s van.
She soon had her answer as he smashed through it at high speed, sending poles and fencing flying into the air. He was now only a hundred yards behind and would soon be on them.
Heading down the steep hill, trying to maintain her footing, all Ruth could see ahead of them were the clifftops and the sea beyond that. Now where? Gravity pulled them as they ran downhill, now out of control. Ruth hadn’t realised how steep it was. Her feet banged on the frozen ground below, knocking the air out of her as she went.
Twenty seconds later, the van was only mere feet behind them. In front, the cliff edge was only fifty yards away. Jump to their death or get smashed by Gates’s van. Not much of a choice.
The van’s engine roared as Gates floored the accelerator and pumped the horn again. As they sprinted, Ruth could sense the van bearing down on them. She expected her heels to hit the bumper any moment now. Would she prefer they jumped and took their chances rather than let Gates use them as playthings?
Out of the corner of her eye, Ruth saw Ella’s hand reach out and grab the shoulder of her jacket. She then stumbled as Ella yanked her sideways. They lost their footing and tumbled over each other across the icy grass. For a second, Ruth wasn’t quite sure what had happened.
Sitting up, Ruth watched as Gates slammed on the brakes, trying to stop the van. The wheels locked and skidded on the grass, which was frozen solid. The van slid down the steep slope picking up speed. It was out of control.
Ruth realised that the van was about to go over the edge. Gates’s luck had run out. He was going to plummet to his death and there was nothing he could do about it.
Ella shot her a look as the women watched Gates sliding towards certain death.
The van slowed a little as the ground levelled out by the clifftop. The front wheels dropped over the edge with a metallic clunk. The van continued moving forwards.
And then it stopped.
Half the van remained on the clifftop.
Ruth couldn’t believe it. You’ve got to be bloody kidding me!
‘Wait there!’ Ruth shouted to Ella as she clambered to her feet and jogged over to where the van was precariously positioned. The driver’s door opened very slowly.
Ruth slowed as Gates swung his legs out of the driver’s door. She watched as he tried to edge himself out. There was no way he could climb along the side of the van without it tipping over and dropping into the sea below. Part of her hoped that Gates would do exactly that.
Pausing for breath, Ruth arrived at the van and looked at him. He looked over and waved. ‘Looks like I’m stuck,’ he said as blood dripped from his mouth. He sounded as though he had been out for a leisurely drive.
‘Yeah, it does,’ Ruth called back.
‘If you put your weight on the back of the van by sitting on the bumper, I think you can stabilise it. Then I can try to climb back through the inside of the van,’ Gates said in a breezy tone and then spat out a mouthful of blood.
Ruth couldn’t believe Gates’s utter delusion. He had just tried to kill them.
‘I don’t think so,’ Ruth replied.
Gates frowned in disbelief. ‘You can’t just leave me here!’
Ruth shrugged. How could she possibly help save Gates? Her priority was her and Ella’s safety.
‘I think it’s best that we just wait for help. I’ve called for back-up. Just make yourself comfortable and sit tight,’ Ruth said.
Gates looked down at the drop and sea below. ‘We can’t wait. The van might tip over at any minute. You’re a police officer. You need to do your job and help me get out of here.’
‘Do I?’ Ruth couldn’t help the thrill she was getting from Gates being trapped with no power.
‘You need to do as I say, Ruth, or I’ll ...’ Gates paused. He was filled with rage.
‘Or you’ll what?’ Ruth said calmly.
‘Or I will organise from prison for someone to hunt you, your daughter and everyone you love down and kill them all in their sleep.’ Gates met her eyes. She could tell he meant what he said.
And in that moment, Ruth knew that while he was still alive, Gates would always be a threat to her life and those she loved.
Ruth nodded. ‘Get in the van and I’ll go around the back.’
Gates smiled at her. ‘Thank you, Ruth. Thank you. Things are better when you do what you’re told.’
Ruth looked down at the bumper. Was she prepared to help him live?
She opened the doors carefully and could see Gates looking back at her from the driver’s seat.
‘That’s it. Sit on the back of the van and I can make my way out,’ Gates shouted to her.
Ruth shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’
She turned and began to walk back to where Ella was standing.
‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Gates screamed. ‘Where are you going? You can’t just leave me.’
Ruth raised her hand as if to wave goodbye, reached Ella and put her arms around her.
In that moment, Gates made a move from the driver’s seat, swinging his leg over into the back of the van. The van tipped forwards, then back, like a seesaw.
Gates moved again impatiently. There was a low metallic groan as the van tipped and slid very slowly forwards.
‘No! Help me out of here!’ Gates screamed.
The van stopped as its back wheels, axle and tow bar caught on the clifftop.
Ruth and Ella wa
tched in horror as Gates gave a ‘Ha!’ and began pulling himself up the now vertical van. He found footing on the side door and pushed himself up again. His hand was now level with where the back doors of the van were hanging open. With another concerted effort, he might be able to pull himself out.
For a moment, Gates’s head appeared from behind the doors. Somehow, he was going to escape. He looked over at Ruth and Ella and gave his best smug grin.
‘Why don’t you do the world a favour and just die!’ Ella cried emotionally.
‘No thanks,’ Gates replied, emerging from the van.
Another groan came from the axle below. Gates looked down as the wheels turned and he and the van plummeted out of sight.
Ruth raced forwards as she heard the deep sound of a metallic crash and then a splash as she peered over the edge of the cliff.
The van lay mangled on some jagged rocks that were covered by shallow water as the tide came in. Beside that, Gates’s body lay prone on his back on a flat rock. His head had been split in two like a melon.
He was dead.
CHAPTER 37
It was Christmas Day. Nick lay on the sofa drinking tea and watching irritatingly chirpy television. He had already stuffed himself with an enormous bacon sandwich.
He had to concentrate on the things he should be grateful for. He was still sober – just. It had been two weeks since he poured a litre of vodka down the sink. So, four months of good sobriety was something to be very grateful for. He had even had a semi-truthful conversation with his sponsor Bill. He admitted that his relationship with Amanda had gone too far and that it was his fault. He got a bit of bollocking. In fact, Bill’s exact words were, ‘Yer head’s up yer arse, yer wee twat!’ Nick got the gist of what he was saying.
At midday, he was going to drive over to Llanberis and have Christmas dinner with Auntie Pat, Cerys and baby Alex. He and Cerys would mock each other and they would laugh and have great food. Having a baby there would make it even more special and festive.
Yet however hard he tried, Nick’s mind was still drawn back to Amanda. He couldn’t help it. He was addicted to the very thought of her. The what-ifs and could-have-beens. What was she doing? Was she thinking of him or was he out of sight so out of mind?
The only way he knew how to deal with this repetitive thinking was to take life a day at a time. It was a well-worn mantra, but really there was only one day he could control: today. He couldn’t do anything about yesterday or tomorrow. If he woke and concentrated on the next twenty-four hours, then life felt manageable.
Clicking the channel, he watched an advert for a sweet liqueur being poured over ice in slow motion. The liquid glistened in the light as it splashed into the glass. Behind the glass, an open log fire roared with Christmas stockings hanging down from the mantelpiece.
Bloody hell, Nick thought. Alcohol was never that glamorous when he drank it. But then again, swigging cheap Russian vodka from the bottle when you’ve just been sick and fallen down the stairs is probably as far from glamorous as you can get.
Getting up and heading to the kitchen to make more tea, Nick heard a noise. At first, he thought it was birds outside. And then it came again. A rapping sound on his front door. Someone was knocking.
Who the hell was knocking on Christmas morning? Neighbours inviting him around for a Christmas drink? Not likely, since he had drunkenly insulted them while lying hammered in his front garden two years ago.
Tying up his dressing gown, he smoothed his hair and beard and opened the front door.
It was Amanda. She smiled awkwardly.
Nick didn’t know the right thing to think or feel. All he knew was that a powerful wave of relief and joy crashed over him. He could barely breathe as his heart banged through his chest.
‘Happy Christmas, Nick,’ Amanda said quietly. She moved a hair that had fallen in front of her eyes behind her ear nervously.
‘Oh my God.’ Nick shook his head and then gave a half-laugh.
‘If you want me to go away, then I completely understand,’ Amanda said, gesturing to her car and taking two steps backwards.
‘No, no. Please ... come in.’ Nick took a breath as he felt a tear forming in his eye. Don’t cry, you prat, he scolded himself.
Nick closed the door and turned to look at her.
‘I knew when I woke up this morning that I needed to see you,’ Amanda fiddled nervously with her hair and then swept it from her face.
‘I’m so pleased to see you.’
‘Are you?’ Amanda flashed a glimpse of a smile. She obviously had no idea how Nick would react when she left the house that morning.
Nick took her hand and put it to his chest where his heart was pounding. ‘Feel.’
Then Amanda reached for his hand and placed it on her chest. It was banging just as fast.
‘What are we going to do?’ Amanda asked.
‘I know the sensible thing for us to do. But the thought of not being with you makes me miserable. Actually, it’s making me ill,’ Nick admitted.
‘I love you ... you do know that?’ Amanda gasped as tears streamed down her face.
It was too much to bear. He grabbed her to him and hugged her tightly. They pulled back to look at each other and he wiped the tears from her face. Then they kissed, softly at first and then deeper, like they needed each other to survive. He ran his hands through her hair as she gasped.
He stopped and put his hand to her face. ‘This is the best Christmas present ever. Swear down.’
‘Swear down? What are you, twelve?’ Amanda laughed.
‘Stay here. With me. For as long as you like.’ Nick was running ahead of himself but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to be without her ever again.
‘You might not want me to.’ Amanda looked a little serious.
‘Why?’ Nick held his breath. What was it? He didn’t want anything to come between them.
‘I’m pregnant, Nick.’
AS SHE POURED MORE Buck’s Fizz, Ruth realised that she was already tipsy. She didn’t care. In fact, she fully intended to be drunk and merry for the next few days. ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’ by Michael Bublé was playing from the living room. There’s nothing quite like a total Christmas cheese fest. Especially after what they had been through only weeks ago. Although the thought that Gates hadn’t revealed the whereabouts of the remaining bodies still lurked in Ruth’s mind when she let it.
Ella was under a duvet on the sofa with silver tinsel wrapped around her neck. She had been staying with Ruth and Sian since her kidnapping. Although Ella claimed she was okay, Ruth knew that there had been some nightmares and panic attacks. Promising that she was still intending to buy a flat, Ella said she would start looking again in January. As far as Ruth was concerned, Ella could stay for ever.
Sitting in front of the log fire, Sian was in pyjamas opening a large present. She squealed in delight at the designer gift set Ella had bought her and hugged her.
That reminded Ruth. She had ordered Sian something online that still hadn’t arrived. It was only a small gift, but it was annoying.
Opening her emails on her phone, she saw a message from the company she had ordered it from giving a delivery date of 27 December. She shrugged. It was Christmas Day and nothing was going to annoy her.
An email from 23 December that she had somehow missed caught her eye. It was from Steven Flaherty. The email was titled: Nothing on the CCTV – Just a quick update. Breathing a sigh of relief, Ruth put away her phone. Not that long ago, no news would have worried and disheartened her. Today, it was a relief not to have any drama. She would open the email another day.
Watching Sian and Ella lying on the sofa together, giggling at some video that Ella had found on her phone, Ruth knew that she had all she needed. At least for today.
THE CHRISTMAS-DAY AA meeting was busy. People were dressed in Christmas jumpers, hugging and laughing with the knowledge that a sober Christmas for them was a good one.
Nick and Amand
a sat on the front row to one side. As the meeting started, a middle-aged woman read a passage from The Big Book. Nick reached surreptitiously for Amanda’s hand and they interlocked fingers.
‘“A complete change takes place in our attitude to life. Where we used to hide away from responsibility, we find ourselves accepting it with gratitude. Instead of wanting to escape some perplexing problem, we experience a thrill of challenge in the opportunity it affords for another application of AA techniques, and we find ourselves tackling it with surprising vigour.
“The last fifteen years of my life have been rich and meaningful. I have had my share of problems, heartaches and disappointments, because that is life, but I have also known a great deal of joy and a peace that is the handmaiden of inner freedom. I have a wealth of friends and, with my AA friends, an unusual quality of fellowship. For, to these people, I am truly related. First, through mutual pain and despair, and later through mutual objectives and newfound faith and hope. And, as the years go by, working together, sharing our experiences with one another, and also sharing a mutual trust, understanding and love – without strings, without obligation – we acquire relationships that are unique and priceless.
“There is no more ‘aloneness,’ with that awful ache, so deep in the heart of every alcoholic that nothing, before, could ever reach it. That ache is gone and never need return again.
“Now there is a sense of belonging, of being wanted and needed and loved. In return for a bottle and a hangover, we have been given the Keys of the Kingdom.”’
The reading was over and room responded, ‘Thank you, Sophie.’
There was a moment as everyone quietened to invite anyone to share what they wanted.
Nick felt Amanda’s hand tense for a moment.
‘Hi, my name’s Amanda, and I’m an alcoholic. And Merry Christmas to everyone here.’
‘Merry Christmas, Amanda,’ the room replied.
The Dee Valley Killings Page 27