by R. J. Parker
‘That’s very convenient.’ But there was doubt in his voice.
‘I always visit him on Saturday afternoon.’
‘Maybe I should ask him.’
‘You can … but he may not remember.’ She could already hear Tate’s footsteps moving across the lounge floor.
‘Expecting you daughter today?’
‘Olivia? Yes,’ her father responded confidently.
‘That’s my sister. He often thinks I’m her. I visit every Saturday. That’s why I gave the police the address. You’d better get out of there. They’re here at the farm. They must have followed me. I lost them but if they can’t find me here…’
‘Then you’d obviously go to the place you gave them the address for.’ Tate replied sardonically.
‘They’d have to check it.’
‘You’re right.’ But Tate didn’t seem perturbed.
‘What’s going on? Is Olivia not coming?’
‘Everything’s fine,’ Tate placated her father.
‘Ask her about the garage key.’
‘She says it’s at home.’ Tate informed him.
‘Well, it’s not much good there, is it?’
‘I have to agree with your dad.’
Leah thought fast. ‘There’s a fishing lake, not ten minutes from where you are. In the grounds of a stately home. Isherwood Manor. It’s been closed down, but you can still access the lake behind the house. Nobody goes there.’
‘But we could?’
‘Yes. I can be there in twenty minutes.’
‘No,’ he eventually replied. ‘I have everything I need here. I’ll keep your father company until you arrive.’
Tate hung up.
Chapter Fifty-One
Leah tried twice to call him back, but her father’s phone was engaged. She got nothing but the answering service when she rang Elliot’s number. She remained motionless on the track, staring at the screen. She was paralysed, unable to decide what to do next. She had to get away from the farm and the police. God knows how long a cab would take to reach her. She turned the way she’d come. They were bound to have found Lownes by now. Would that keep them occupied?
She hurried back to the enclosure and slowed her pace as she reached the entrance by the bushes. She couldn’t hear any voices. Leah stole into the gravelled parking area. Three cars in a row now but nobody in evidence.
Should she risk it? If they caught up with her, she would be in a worse position than she was now. She couldn’t jeopardise her father and Elliot’s lives by telling them about Tate being at the cottage and it was likely they’d hold her because of the body they’d just discovered.
Getting her car was still the best option. She listened and could just make out low conversation from inside the building. Go now before it’s too late.
She crept over the gravel, her attention on the open sliding door. No sign of any movement within. Only one car was capable of pursuing her because she had the key to the other. Her eyes shifted to the yellow car that had parked up. She looked in the driver’s side. No keys in the ignition. She really had to shift as soon as she started her engine.
Echoing footsteps.
Leah halted and her attention swung back to the enclosure.
The footfalls sped up. At least one person was about to walk out.
Leah trotted to her car, opened it and slid into the seat. She closed the door as quietly as she could and then glanced up at the entrance. Nobody had appeared yet. She fired up the engine.
Two plain-clothes officers emerged from the sliding door. Looked like the ones who had just arrived.
Leah pulled out. She had to drive right at them to turn.
One of them held up his hands.
Leah accelerated hard. ‘Out of the way!’
As she closed the gap, the two officers stood their ground.
‘Move!’ She kept her foot on the pedal. She could see their expressions clearly now. Didn’t look like either of them believed she would keep going.
The other waved his arms.
‘Go!’ She thought of her father and Elliot and prayed they realised she was serious.
The two officers parted and dived in opposite directions. Leah wrenched the wheel and aimed for the exit. The back of the car skewed, and she fought for control. Behind her she could hear shouts and knew they’d be running for their car.
The Vauxhall righted itself and she negotiated the tight exit and was soon bombing back down the track, past the other enclosures towards the rusted sign. She checked her rear-view.
The yellow car appeared about a hundred yards behind her. She was almost at the exit.
The officers’ car surged forward and rapidly gained on her.
Leah turned left at the sign and shot to the gates that led to the main road. Please God the traffic wasn’t too busy. If she had to pause there for more than a few seconds, they’d catch up to her.
She looked right and left as she rocketed through. A car was coming from her left and she tried to estimate if she had time to pull out in front of it. No time to think.
Leah stamped the pedal and dragged the wheel right, turning in front of the oncoming car.
They held their hand down on the horn.
Was there time for them to decelerate?
Leah’s head snapped as the car struck her from behind. The impact made the Vauxhall veer to the left. She was hurtling towards a ditch on the edge of the road. She’d lost control.
She jerked the wheel right again but too hard. Now she was careering to the other side.
Leah managed to struggle the car back to the middle before she reached the roadworks there. In her mirror she saw the vehicle that had struck her was slowing down. She hoped they were OK. It had been quite a jolt, but it didn’t look like it had been severe enough for their airbag to deploy.
The two officers were close behind and swerved around it before they picked up speed again.
Leah knew there was a roundabout up ahead. But she was approaching the temporary traffic lights for the roadworks and they changed to red before she reached them. Any moment, there would be cars streaming from the opposite direction.
She kept going and willed the Vauxhall to beat the signal for the oncoming traffic. There were only fifty or so yards of roadworks left. Could she make it to the end before the cars blocked her way out?
She darted her eyes to the mirror. The two officers passed the red light as well.
As she rounded the bend of the road Leah could see the traffic. A white van had already surged forward. They would collide with her, unless they saw her and slowed down.
But they kept coming. She was about to be boxed in by it and the police behind and she couldn’t allow that to happen. Leah floored it.
She was almost at the end of the roadworks. Could she turn left at the end of them before she hit the van?
The van beeped as she barrelled towards it.
Leah tugged the steering wheel and sharply turned left and the van just grazed her as it passed.
More cars beeped at her as she drove by them, but she’d made it to the roundabout and there were no other vehicles waiting there. She looked back in her mirror and saw the van stopped in front of the officers. They couldn’t get through but that wouldn’t be the case for long.
Leah joined the roundabout and almost took the second turning for Brockford. But she didn’t want them to know she was heading that way so she took the third. There was another route to her father’s.
But what would she find when she got there?
Chapter Fifty-Two
As she reached her father’s village, Leah wondered if any cameras had photographed her plate. The police would have registered it when they were in pursuit, so it wasn’t going to be difficult to find her. But she hadn’t spotted any traffic cameras as she’d passed through the little villages of Quigley or Honston. She wished she could take comfort from the fact that the police wouldn’t be far behind but if they turned up, it meant she’d be putting her father
and Elliot in even more danger.
Regardless of what she did, wouldn’t the police send an officer to the place she’d told Byrne she was visiting that day, anyway? Or would it be the last location they’d think she’d go? The only thing she could do was try to get to the cottage as quickly as possible and plead with Tate to release her father and Elliot. That was probably exactly what he wanted but she doubted he planned to let any of them go.
A stark sensation of foreboding overcame her as she drove down the hill to St Mark’s Church and took the turning for Menthorn Drive. Hock Cottage came into view through the four bare apple trees at the front. It was a converted cider press that her parents had bought nine years before her mother had died.
She parked outside the single rusted green gate, which was half open. Leah regarded the mini crowbar on the back seat for a moment. She grabbed it, lifted her right jean leg and slid it into her boot on the inside of her shin. Surely he would anticipate her bringing a weapon but she couldn’t go in unarmed.
Getting out of the car, her attention was already on the downstairs windows, but she couldn’t see any movement. As she walked through the gate, she tried not to limp because of the heavy, cold metal.
She had the key to the front door in her pocket, but hesitated there and pushed the bell, her heart pumping in her wrists.
The door immediately opened, and Tate was standing there, his face as welcoming as it had been when she’d called at Alice Booth’s home only the night before.
‘Leah Talbot, no problems on the road this time?’ The enquiry was convivial.
‘Where are they?’ she demanded.
‘Perhaps you’d better come in first.’ He stood back.
What choice did she have?
‘Did I bite last time?’
Leah reluctantly stepped over the threshold as naturally as she could. Would he search her as soon as she was inside? She turned and immediately put her back to the old red brick wall in the familiar hallway. She could hear the TV murmuring in the front lounge.
Tate closed the door and swivelled on his heel to her, a look of concern on his face. ‘You look very pale. Paler than last night even.’
‘Where’s my father?’
‘Interesting that Elliot’s welfare has taken a back seat now.’
‘If you’ve harmed him in any way…’
‘Is that because you care for your father more or because you’ve had time to think about what Elliot has done?’
‘Dad!’ she yelled without taking her eyes off Tate.
The house was silent except for the TV.
Tate blinked a few times, as if he were also awaiting a response. ‘Where’s your phone?’
‘I turned it off when DI Byrne tried to get hold of me.’
Tate extended his hand.
Leah took it out and gave it to him. He slipped it into his trouser pocket.
‘Tell me what you’ve done with him.’
‘He’s resting.’ Tate’s eyes tilted briefly to the ceiling. ‘We shouldn’t disturb him.’
Was that a trick or was he really up there? Leah fought the reflex to race up the stairs ‘I’ve warned you. The police know I’m coming here.’
‘So you said. Were you followed from the farm?’
‘They weren’t far behind.’
‘It’s your responsibility to keep them away. If they pull up here, you’ll have to do your best.’
‘I’ve just been chased by a police car. They’re definitely on their way.’
Tate considered this and nodded.
Leah noted that his trousers no longer had a belt. She could still see it around Katya’s throat.
‘Sounds like you might have led them here deliberately.’
Leah’s face flushed hot. ‘I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me. Do you think I’d endanger them anymore?’
Tate’s eyes darted as he tried to read hers. ‘Maybe you’re not trying hard enough for Elliot. Maybe, as I said, you care less about what happens to him now.’
Leah opened her mouth to respond but the hall phone rang.
Tate turned in its direction. ‘I’ve only just put it back on the cradle. Does your father get many calls?’
Leah shook her head. ‘Dad!’
Tate held up his palm to her. ‘Just a moment.’ He went to the handset and took it from the base. ‘Hello?’
Leah strained to hear the voice the other end. What was he doing?
‘Yes. Speaking.’
It was a woman’s voice. But Leah still couldn’t understand what she was saying.
‘My daughter?’ His gaze swung to Leah. ‘Not today.’
Leah tensed her leg. Could feel the cool metal. How long would it take her to retrieve it? She needed him to turn his back.
‘Yes. I’ll ask her to call you if I see her. Can you tell me what it’s concerning?’
Another incoherent response.
‘Wait a minute. I’ll write it down. I do forget things very easily, I’m afraid.’ But he made no move to the pad beside the phone. ‘Police? She’s not in trouble, is she? OK, as soon as I see her. So it’s DI Byrne.’ He repeated and paused as if writing the name and the number that followed down.
Tate’s eyes were still on her. He frowned. Could he see what she was concealing?
‘I certainly will. Right away.’ Tate cut the call and carefully replaced the handset on the base. ‘That was to be expected. I don’t think they’ll be calling in anytime soon though.’
Chapter Fifty-Three
Leah’s eyes were on the replaced handset. Had DI Byrne really believed she’d just spoken to her father? There was no reason why not. Unless they knew for sure she was here. She’d lost the police car at the roundabout though. How long would it take them to locate her via cameras? With none in the villages she’d cut through, could they work out where she’d really gone?
‘Let’s go into the dining room.’ He gestured to the door behind him. Then he snatched up the phone handset and put it in his other pocket.
‘Elliot brought you here?’ How else could Tate have found out about the cottage?
‘He didn’t really have a choice.’
Leah recalled the three bloodied razor blades she’d stepped on in the Trents’s bathroom. ‘Where is he?’
‘Will you follow me to the dining room?’
Leah didn’t move.
Tate raised his hands and walked backwards. ‘I’ll go first, if you like.’
‘Dad! Elliot!’ she yelled again.
Tate pushed open the door and entered the room.
It had to be a trap. But if he’d wanted to kill her, he could have already done so. She warily approached the door and looked inside.
Tate was standing at the head of the dining table. Five candles were burning in her mother’s old candelabra in the middle and two places were set at either end. There was no sign of her father or Elliot.
‘I’m afraid I had to improvise with what I could find. I know you prefer white?’ He nodded at the filled crystal glasses.
Leah took in the plate on the mat in front of her.
‘Egg mayonnaise. Perfunctory but a classic. Hungry?’
Leah looked sharply up at him.
He caught the disbelief in her eyes. ‘I’m starving but I’ve been waiting for you.’
Leah shook her head. ‘Tell me where they are.’
‘In good time. I really hope you’re not going to dismiss my hospitality a second time. I’ve gone to a lot of trouble.’
‘You expect me to eat … now?’ She couldn’t conceal her incredulity.
‘You will if you want to see your father or Elliot again,’ he stated simply and picked up his wine glass.
Leah shook her head. ‘I have to know they’re both OK.’
‘Of course. But, at the moment, you’re giving me no reason to tell you. You’re putting me on edge. Sit down.’
Leah didn’t move.
‘The quicker you indulge me the quicker I indulge you. They’re both perfec
tly safe but only I know where they are. Sit.’ He gestured to her high-backed chair and scraped his own out.
She remained standing. ‘What do you want?’
‘I’ve just told you.’ He sat and nodded towards her chair. ‘I would pull it out for you, but I don’t want to make you any more nervous.’ He took a small sip from his wine glass.
‘Not bad. Your father’s got good taste.’ He unfolded his claret napkin and then regarded her unchanged position. ‘I’d have preferred chives, but I could only find rosemary in the garden.’
Leah felt the grotesque situation shift her perception of the table. She looked down at the halved eggs on the plate covered in mayonnaise and sprinkled green. There was a set of cutlery. Was the knife sharp enough to use as a weapon?
He dropped the napkin into his lap. ‘No dessert, I’m afraid. Although I don’t really do desserts. Couldn’t find any cheese either so it’s just the two courses.’
Leah grabbed the back of the chair and pulled it out. It felt heavy as she shifted it and slowly sat. The wicker seat creaked as it took her weight.
‘I don’t want to hear mention of your father or Elliot while we’re eating. I want to get to know you a bit more. When was the last time anyone wanted to do that?’
‘Please.’ She looked down at the food in front of her. ‘Just let me know they’re OK and I’ll tell you anything you want to know.’
‘I expect you’ve enjoyed some great family meals around this table.’
She took a breath and realised she had no option but to play along. ‘This table was bought by my mother when my parents moved here. I’d left home by then.’
‘You see. Wasn’t that hard.’
She heard his chair creak and shot her eyes up.
He was leaning across the table, his glass extended. ‘Cheers.’
Leah fixed her eyes on him; his expression was expectant. She slowly picked up her glass and slightly extended it.
Tate leaned in further and clinked it. ‘To getting to know you, Leah Talbot.’ He sat back, seemingly satisfied with progress. ‘Right, I am ravenous.’ He quickly sipped his wine, put down his glass and picked up his cutlery.