‘Fine. What about if we walk you a little further away? The cameras are only in the town centre bit — around McDonald’s. If we take you a bit further along the Leas, I can call someone to there?’
‘They’ll see us coming out on the cameras.’
‘Jesus, William! Help me out a little here! What can we do?’
‘It only hurt at first, Rhiannon.’
‘Yeah, you said that. That doesn’t help us if you bleed to death though, does it?’
‘I am bleeding to death. But it’s so peaceful, Rhiannon. This is my chance.’ William’s voice was even quieter now.
‘Your chance? What chance? What are you talking about?’
‘I get to go, quiet and peaceful. This is where I’m closest to Janey, right here and now I get to go to her. Leave me here, Rhiannon. Leave me in peace. I’ve got nothing left. This is my chance.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous! You can’t just give up! I’m tired of it, of people just giving up because life is a little bit hard.’ Rhiannon reached down, she took a firm hold of William’s right arm, hooking hers underneath and trying to stand back up. William was a dead weight; he hardly moved.
‘You can’t carry me, love, and I can’t walk. I’m too weak.’
Rhiannon changed her position, she grabbed hold of his hand to try and drag him, immediately she recoiled. ‘William, your finger!’ The little one on his left hand flapped like it had been almost completely severed. William looked at it, he was still smiling softly.
‘Nothing hurts anymore, Rhiannon. Nothing. This is the best thing for me.’
‘No, William. Please! For me, please try.’ She reached back down. Again she hooked him under the arm and tried to stand. William shuffled, he grunted as he tried to get to his feet. Now he did wince in pain.
‘You should just leave me here.’
‘Just walk with me, please, William.’ William struggled to move. He took tiny steps and pretty much all of his weight was on Rhiannon. It was hard going and it took every ounce of strength they both had to get back to the gate. Rhiannon tried to help him to the ground a few metres short but he ended up in an untidy mess. She saw him wince as he struggled to sit.
‘You need to leave me here, Rhiannon. You can’t be seen. Just leave me here and get on with your life.’
‘I can’t. Please don’t ask me to.’
‘This is it. I said you had to be more ruthless, love. I said you would know when it was the right time. This is the time. You need to let an old man like me slip away. I’ve got nothing left here now. But you? You’ve got a whole lifetime! Look after yourself.’
Rhiannon stared down at him. Her eyes flicked from him back to the gate. Even if she could get him to the gate there was no getting him over. She made her decision. She climbed back over the gate and dropped down the other side.
‘Look after yourself, my little cuckoo!’ William called out, his voice strained and mingling with the rustling of the trees.
‘I’m so sorry!’ Rhiannon’s voice broke a little. She didn’t wait for a reply. With tears stinging her eyes, she ran off into the darkness.
Chapter 26
Rhiannon ran the roads Danny had driven to get to William’s bungalow on the other side of the town. She didn’t think she’d taken the most direct route but then she had never walked the back streets of the town; she’d only taken buses or cars on the main roads. She couldn’t afford to get lost. It wasn’t a fast run; her bag was weighing her down and her arms were severely restricted. Her left arm was numb and she couldn’t swing it. Instead, she was using her right to try and keep the bag’s strap away from her wound. She was intensely relieved when she finally entered William’s road.
Despite the street lamps, there were still pockets of darkness that could conceal a sixteen-year-old girl wearing a dark hooded top and a dark-coloured bag on her back while she caught her breath. She tugged at her hoody, trying to pull it away from her neck to get some airflow. She was hot from her run; she could feel the sweat slick on her back. It also ran off her front and had loosened the fresh tape on her wound. She could feel moisture running down her stomach. She couldn’t be sure if it was sweat or blood.
A car turned into the road and moved slowly along. It seemed too slow. She ducked into the closest front garden — through a gate that squealed, and she immediately cursed her luck. It was a square slab of lawn, well lit by the light from the porch. The other gardens looked far darker and might have been better choices. This one did have a row of tall conifer trees on the outer perimeter at least, their tops trimmed neatly to form a solid square frontage. She pushed the gate shut. It squealed again and she moved behind the trees. They were thick and full and she couldn’t be seen from the road. She was just a few doors up from William’s place, but on the other side of the road.
She heard the car stop, then the distinctive sound of it reversing. She peered around the bush a little. She couldn’t see the car but she could tell it was turned at an angle, its headlamps now skewed obliquely across the road. It was parking. Over the road it lit up a smart, white BMW parked directly outside William’s. Rhiannon recognised it immediately. Beyond it she could see that lights were on in William’s place. The curtains were half drawn; she could see a bulb hanging from the ceiling. She knew that was the living room. She had to move fast.
The parking car seemed to be taking an age to settle. Finally the engine was silenced and the lights were turned off. Rhiannon ducked back behind the conifers as she heard a car door open and close. Then, the sound of footsteps getting closer and a cough just the other side of the trees. Another car door opened and then she heard a voice.
‘Here we are then, Mum. Safe and sound!’
‘Thanks, love.’
‘You left your lights on, look!’
‘I do that, love, if I know I’ll be home after dark.’
The two voices were female; the second sounded elderly. Rhiannon’s attention was snatched suddenly back to the house in whose garden she was standing. It was a bungalow, in the same style as William’s, only this one was far better kept and it had the addition of a solid-looking porch with a bright light that poured out through its glass sides, flooding the damp grass. They were coming in here!
Rhiannon looked for somewhere to hide. There was a flat lawn. She could see a bin on the path near to the gate and then two pot plants either side of where the path lifted gently to the front door. Nowhere to hide. She turned back to the conifers; they were thick — maybe thick enough. She could see one of the street lamps through the trees. This had to be where there was a gap between the trunks. She stepped into it, pushing with her head and her good shoulder as best she could. The tightly woven branches pushed back, resisting her entry, scratching and clawing at her face. She shifted her weight and they started to give. She managed to force her body a step and a half in and found a sort of void in the middle. She fell silent. She couldn’t be sure her bag wasn’t visible; it still clung to her back and she was pretty certain some of it was at least. The voices had stopped. She could only stay still and hope that no one was taking much notice.
She heard the gate squeak; someone had pushed it open. The voices started again but they were muffled — she couldn’t make out the words. She’d had her eyes shut tight to protect them, but had felt a spiderweb push over her face. Now something ran onto her forehead. It moved down to her nose. Rhiannon held her breath, her eyes squeezed more tightly shut; she tried to shut off all her senses; she wanted to scream, to run back into the open and claw at her face.
She heard a noise behind her and thought it might be the front door closing. She held her breath for just a few more seconds. There were no more noises. She pushed herself back out into the open, bending forward and wiping at her face. She’d forgotten about her injury and now winced as she tried to lift her left arm. She watched a fat-bodied spider fall onto the damp grass and immediately scuttle back towards the conifers. Her whole body shivered.
Rhiannon checked all around her.
She was happy that the road had returned to silence. The people had gone into the house; they couldn’t have noticed her. She moved back out onto the pavement and used the parked cars as cover as she walked past William’s house, still on the opposite side of the road. William’s house had hedges, too, but they were unkempt and unruly. She got far enough so she couldn’t be seen from his house and moved across the road. She continued along a road that went down the side of his house. The entrance to the alleyway she had come out of earlier that day was just a few metres up and concealed in shadow. She ducked into it. The two bags were still where she had left them and she ran the light from her smartphone over them in turn; they hadn’t moved position at all. She knocked a couple of slugs off the bag with the drugs in it before picking it up and slogging around to the front of the house and to the rear of the BMW. She could see the lit window to her right and there was no movement inside. She felt exposed but, working on the logic that you can’t see well out of a lit room, she ducked down at the rear of the BMW and pushed the bag with the drugs and her own personal bag under its rear. She moved back to the alley. The bag with the money in it was heavier. She had to lift it over the fence and onto her good shoulder, and she felt it tug at her wound. It made her draw a sharp intake of breath. She dragged the bag with the money back around to the BMW and dropped it on the pavement.
She pushed a hand into her pocket and felt for the BMW’s spare key. She had to hold it up to the light to make out the right button. She pushed to unlock it. The car clunked and immediately lit up bright white in the interior and under all the door handles.
‘Oh, shit!’
She snatched at the boot. It lifted quickly and she grabbed at the bags, bundling all three of them into the back. She jogged to the driver’s door and pulled it open. She scrambled in and pulled the door shut. The interior light was still on — she was massively exposed. She dared to look right, up William’s path to the front door. The light was still on there too — and still there was no movement. She prayed nobody had noticed she was even there.
Her attention shifted to the car’s interior and she tried to remember what Danny had shown her. There was a button somewhere to start the car. She bent her head. The button was on the dash, behind the steering wheel. She rested her finger on it. In the silence of the car, she could hear her pulse in her ears; it was quick and strong. She was breathing heavily, too, and her mouth was dry with the tension. But she didn’t press the button. She looked back out at the door to the bungalow. She couldn’t help but wonder what was going on behind it. What had happened to Danny? They would surely know the bags were missing by now. Aaron would be looking for someone to blame. They might even have worked out it was her who had taken them. And what then for Danny?
She pushed open the door and stepped out. She was careful to lock the car so it fell back into darkness. The night was still, but with her heightened senses, every sound made her jump: a cat ran up and along a fence; glass was dumped into a bin a few streets over; a car passed at the far junction. She moved silently up the path to the bungalow. It was all as she remembered: the gate stuck open; the unruly bush that reached out over the entrance; the mobility scooter left to rust in the rain. She held her breath as she walked further up the path. Still she couldn’t see any movement through the window. She stepped off the path into the long grass to get closer. Immediately her shins felt damp. She pressed up against the glass. She could see Aaron sitting down in his usual place on the sofa, practically facing her. His attention was focused downward. Danny appeared behind him wearing a pair of shorts and a clean-looking white jumper that clung to his body as if it was damp. His hair looked damp too. He had his hands on his head and his eyes were wide with what looked like fear. He said something. Aaron reacted immediately, his head jerking around. Then he sprang to his feet, his arms falling to his sides. He walked round the sofa and past Danny, veering off to the right where William’s bedroom was. He was back out in just a few seconds. Danny had stayed rooted to the spot, his hands moved from his head to form a new gesture, it was aimed at Aaron; it looked like he was trying to calm him down. Aaron walked out into the kitchen and turned behind the dividing wall. Rhiannon couldn’t see him anymore but she could see the loft hatch swing open. She saw movement around it, an arm maybe, a head moving into the space. Danny still hadn’t moved.
Rhiannon watched as Aaron reappeared. He paced the floor directly towards Danny. He lifted his fist and lashed out at the last minute. The punch was well aimed, and Danny stumbled back and hit the floor. Aaron was over him, she could hear raised voices now and Aaron was shouting.
‘You brought her here! Who else could have known?’ There were other words too, but she could only pick out a few sentences through the window. Rhiannon ducked instinctively, she turned back towards the road, checking her exit.
‘He could have told anyone! It don’t have to be her!’ Danny’s voice, higher pitched than usual; she could tell he was terrified. She could pick out every one of his words, as he was closer to the window. She heard a thud, then another and someone shouted out in pain. She was certain it was Danny.
‘Get her back, get her back, GET HER BACK!’ Aaron’s voice. More thuds and another shout of pain. Then all fell silent, not a single sound. Rhiannon wasn’t sure how long the silence lasted but it gave her a bad feeling. As slow as she could manage and with her thighs burning she raised her head up to look back through the window. She couldn’t see either man, the thuds had been close to the front door, which was to the left of the window. She tried to position herself so she could see the left side of the room. Her attention was drawn to movement directly in front. Aaron appeared from the kitchen carrying a hammer, the same hammer she had used before dropping it on William’s mattress. Aaron’s walk had menace, slow and deliberate, and he was looking at the hammer as if it was a thing of beauty. Suddenly she could hear a voice again, Danny’s voice, the same high pitch.
‘Aaron, listen, man! I can still sort this shit out. You gotta let me sort this out!’ Danny carried on, but his voice dropped a little lower and Rhiannon couldn’t make out the words.
Aaron smiled. Rhiannon wanted to duck away, to run off into the night, but she was transfixed. She watched him walk towards the front door. She still couldn’t see Danny but she could guess his position. Aaron had stopped close to the window, right in front of her and looking down to her left. Danny had to be just the other side of the window, lying on the floor.
‘I’M DONE! YOU’VE LET ME DOWN ONE TOO MANY TIMES!’ Again there was more, but Rhiannon could only pick out the first sentence, which Aaron had shouted at the top of his voice.
Rhiannon heard a reply, then a scream, then a whimper. She couldn’t make out words.
‘BE A MAN, DANNY! AT LEAST BE A MAN NOW!’
Rhiannon heard more whimpering from the floor, then a few words. ‘No, Aaron, don’t! Don’t, Aaron. DON’T!’
She ducked away and looked back at the street. She could see the BMW just a short sprint away. She reckoned she could be in it before anyone even got out of the house. She moved under the window then straightened up at the front door. Her hand rose in a fist, she held it at the door, hesitating. Then she pulled it away. Those words of advice from William — she couldn’t shake them from her mind: You can’t be nice. Not round here. You’re gonna have to be ruthless, Rhiannon. You’ll know when. She turned away and took a step towards the car. Suddenly she heard another thud, this one louder than those previous. It was sickening and accompanied by a horrific shout. Acting on instinct, she spun back to the door and rapped on it.
She froze. She couldn’t believe she had done it. She stared at the door, focusing on the wood. There was nothing but silence. Then a single word projected from the other side.
‘What?’
It fell silent again, the voice had been close — just the other side of the door. Rhiannon could still walk away. Aaron would think it was just some neighbour who couldn’t hear their television over the noise. But the
n he’d go right back to Danny and she wouldn’t have changed anything at all. She thought about shouting — but shouting what? She raised her fist and thumped again.
‘Fuck OFF!’ came Aaron’s reply. Rhiannon’s focus was back on the door. There was no spyhole and the three panes at the top were small and heavily frosted. She had to find her voice.
‘It’s Rhiannon! I thought you might want to know I have your stuff. You won’t be seeing it again. Bye!’
Rhiannon twisted away from the step and she sprung towards the car. She was at the bottom of the path before she heard the door open and slam shut behind her. She could hear heavy footfalls, too. She already had the car keys in her hand and the lights were on where she had unlocked the car from the path. She grabbed at the driver’s door and slammed it shut behind her, her eyes narrowing in the startlingly bright light. She tried to calm her hands, reaching out with her left for the button in the middle of the dash that locked the door. She pushed it firmly and heard a reassuring clunk. A split second later, she heard her door handle being rattled from the outside. The car rocked and she heard shouting. She tried to keep her focus forward, the movement in her driver’s window caught up in her periphery. She remembered where the start button was. The engine fired immediately and the interior light faded to off. Her window thudded. A fist. Two hits in quick succession. Then all the noise stopped, she dared cast a look to the right, where she saw the image of Aaron running back up the path. Away from her. Her left hand moved to the gearshift. She spoke out loud: ‘How did this work? How did this WORK!’ She needed to steady her hands, silence her mind and focus. She pushed the handbrake down then grabbed the gearshift. She remembered it was a click down. She did that but something bonged at her to say she hadn’t done it right. Her panicked eyes moved to the screen where it was pointing out her mistake.
The driver’s window shattered into a million white fragments that instantly froze in place. It was like a dream, Rhiannon hadn’t even known anyone was back. She ducked instinctively away from the noise, but she stared back at the vivid white pattern filling the window. Suddenly the window smashed in, a hammer carried through into the interior and coursed into the driver’s seat, claw end first, clanging into the metal post of the headrest. Rhiannon could see Aaron’s face, his eyes wide, his nostrils flaring as he tried to pull it back out for another blow. He couldn’t. The claws of the hammer had lodged in the headrest. He let go of the handle and the hammer slipped down. Almost immediately she felt a blow to the right side of her face — Aaron’s fist. It hit her so hard that her vision went fuzzy and she felt dazed. Instinctively she pushed out with her right hand, out through the shattered window and towards the noise. She felt her nails scrape skin and something soft and wet at the end of her fingertips. She heard Aaron scream in pain. He stepped away from the car, his hands lifted to his face. Rhiannon’s attention moved back to the instrument panel. It showed the gearshift with an arrow pointed at the side. She grabbed the shift and could feel a raised button. She pushed it and pulled the stick back. She felt the car shudder under her and she lifted her foot off the brake. The car rolled immediately forward into the parked car in front causing her head to jerk forward. She took another blow to her right side but it was weaker than the first; her shoulder took some of the power. She could hear a hand scrabbling at her door — Aaron was trying to pull the inside door handle. If he got the door open she knew she was done.
Ruthless a Gripping and Gritty Crime Thriller Page 19