Even if she could somehow slip past them, there was only the road and further open moorland beyond. Behind her, the boundary of the woods was rapidly approaching. She needed to evade capture just for a few more minutes, but it was already feeling hopeless.
She continued to move backwards, hoping to buy herself more time. Her ears were straining to hear the sound of approaching police sirens, in the hope that that would deter her pursuers, but she could hear nothing. The two figures were still approaching, now only fifty or so metres away from her.
She took another step back and then, too late, realised another figure was waiting behind her. As she half-turned, she again felt a cold steel blade pressed against her throat and heard a woman’s voice whisper in her ear.
‘Hello, again.’
Chapter Forty-Two
‘Oh, Jesus Christ,’ Annie said. ‘We’re nearly there, too. Where are the bloody uniforms?’
Moments before, they’d heard the unmistakeable sound of Sheena Pearson being apprehended. Sheena had made sufficient noise to give them no doubt about what was happening, and then the call had been cut. Annie didn’t know whether Sheena had ended the call herself in the hope of keeping the phone undetected, or whether her captors had discovered the device.
She called back to the dispatcher and told them what had happened. ‘I don’t know where your guys are,’ she said. ‘But I want this area sealed off. There aren’t that many roads around this stretch.’
Finally, she saw a pulse of blue lights across the open moorland. At least one car approaching from the opposite direction. Whether there’d be enough resource to do what she’d asked or whether they could get it organised to do it speedily enough, she doubted.
She turned right onto the road leading up to the stretch of moorland that Sheena had described. Her attention had been momentarily focused on spotting the turning, so the oncoming vehicle took her by surprise. It was a large van, travelling well in excess of the speed limit in the middle of the road.
For a moment she considered trying to block it, but, given the speed and size of the vehicle, she knew she and Zoe could easily be seriously injured or killed by the impact. As it was, the vehicle caught the front wing of her car, driving them almost off the road, before continuing onto the road behind them. Annie did a rapid U-turn, thankful that the car was still drivable, and set off in pursuit.
‘You think that’s them?’ Zoe said.
‘Must be, mustn’t it? Going at that speed. They were hoping to get off the scene before we arrived. Which suggests they’ve discovered that Sheena made a call.’
In just the few seconds it had taken them to turn the car round, Annie had lost sight of the vehicle. They were still surrounded by open moorland, but the unevenness of the landscape meant their view was limited. The satnav showed that there was a crossroads a half-mile or so ahead. At that point, she’d need some clue as to which road to take.
‘There.’ Zoe pointed off to their left. As the road had risen again, a set of retreating red rear lights had become visible across the moor. The left turn, then.
‘I just wish we had some inkling of where they might be heading,’ Annie said. Then she stopped, struck by a sudden thought. ‘Werneth Holdings. Their offices were somewhere round here, weren’t they?’
‘I can’t remember exactly. Hang on. Let me check.’ Zoe pulled out her phone and found the Companies House website. It took her a few seconds longer to search for the entry for Werneth Holdings. ‘Looks like the offices are based at that guy Robin Kennedy’s house. Kennedy Farm, would you believe?’ She reached forward and keyed the postcode into the satnav. ‘Yup. Just a few minutes away and in that direction. You think that’s where they could be heading?’
‘We’ve no other leads, have we?’
After the crossroads they lost sight of the rear lights once more as the road ahead dipped into a valley. Unless they had another sighting of the vehicle, they had no option but to trust Annie’s hunch.
‘If that’s where they’re going,’ Zoe said, ‘it’s about a half-mile ahead. Somewhere on the right.’
There was no further sighting of the fleeing vehicle. The satnav directions were only approximate, and Annie initially missed the turning to Kennedy Farm. Cursing, she spun the car around and headed back, finally spotting the sign. She turned in to the entrance, feeling a mounting sense of panic and despair. Even if Robin Kennedy was involved in all this, they had no strong reason to believe that Sheena was being brought here.
On the other hand, she thought, if whoever had taken Sheena had been aware that the police were closing in, they’d have wanted somewhere nearby to lie low rather than being stopped on the surrounding roads. It was a long shot, but it was possible.
The uneven driveway led uphill, and somewhere ahead she could see a cluster of lights. As they reached the summit, the house appeared in front of them.
Annie slowed the car and took a breath.
The van was parked in front of the house, its rear doors still open.
* * *
‘It’s too late,’ Kennedy said. ‘You saw the blue lights back on the moors. There were half a dozen or more cars. They’re closing in.’
He looked like a different person, Rowan thought. Older, hunched, no longer in control. He’d lost it. ‘They don’t know we’re here,’ she said. ‘They don’t know who we are. I checked it all out beforehand because I always do. There’s no CCTV between that stretch of moorland and here. They’ve got no way of identifying us or the cars. We’ve always made damn sure that none of the vehicles can be traced back to you.’
‘What about that car we passed?’
‘They won’t have had chance to get your number. They won’t have known which way we were heading.’
‘What about Nolan and Charlie? They’ll find the bodies.’
‘It won’t take them long, no. But neither had a record. I checked all his clothing and there was nothing to identify them. They had no close relatives or friends other than us. It’ll take them a while to work out who they are, if they ever do. But, then, so what? They’ve no reason to connect them to you.’ She wasn’t sure she even believed all of this herself but she could see that, without some kind of reassurance, Kennedy would just freeze.
‘We’ve still got to deal with Pearson.’
‘And with Bamford and Wardle. So we kill them. All three of them. It won’t be the elegant outcome you’d envisaged, but I can’t see an alternative.’
‘And what do we do with the bodies?’
It was like dealing with a toddler, she thought. One of those spoilt kids who just tries to gainsay every argument. She sighed. ‘We drop them in the septic tank,’ she said. ‘I’m told it’s good for the system. And if they’ve no reason to suspect your involvement, no one will have a good reason to go searching in there.’
‘You’re a cold bitch, aren’t you?’
‘Luckily for you. Right, let’s deal with this one first, shall we?’ She gestured to Sheena Pearson, who was hunched on the sofa at the far end of the room. Sheena had already made one attempt to pull away as they were leaving the car, but Rowan had simply struck her hard across the face. For the moment, Bamford and Wardle had been locked in one of the bedrooms. Rowan expected little immediate trouble from them. Bamford had recovered consciousness but was still groggy. Wardle just seemed scared out of his wits. There’d be time to deal with those two later.
By this point, she was almost inclined to screw Kennedy over and simply disappear, leaving him to sort out the mess. After all, it was largely his creation. But she knew that if she left these loose ends dangling, she would always be vulnerable. Better to deal with them, and think about the future afterwards.
‘We’ll do it in the barn at the back. That way we can hose everything down afterwards. We won’t be able to clean it perfectly, but that won’t matter as long as the police have no reason to come snooping round here. I sent Mo out there to prepare it.’
‘I don’t know if I can do this.’
She stared at him for a moment. ‘Christ, Robin, you’ve got some brass neck. We’re all involved and we’re all implicated, remember? I was even involved in the murder of my own fucking son. Not that the little bastard didn’t deserve it. But that’s how it works. Unless you just want me to leave you in the shit.’
He nodded. ‘Okay. It’s all just been a bit of a shock. I didn’t expect it to turn out like this.’
‘Really? You’re telling me your smartarse plan turned out not to be foolproof? You’re a piece of work, Robin. Come on. Let’s get this done.’
She walked across the room, pulled Sheena Pearson up from the sofa and dragged her forcibly over to the door. ‘Now, Robin, you lead the way and I’ll make sure Ms Pearson follows.’
Chapter Forty-Three
Despite the strong wind, the night had remained clear, with only an occasional cloud scudding across the star-filled sky.
Annie had left their car in a shaded corner of the driveway. She’d called for backup and, given the police presence already in the area, she expected it to arrive imminently. But there was no time to waste. She and Zoe had approached the house, alert for an sign of an intruder alarm that might reveal their presence.
Although the rear doors of the van had been left open, as if the occupants had vacated it hurriedly, the front door of the house was closed and firmly locked. ‘Let’s have a look round the back,’ Annie said. ‘We need to get inside, but I’d like to get an idea of what we might be facing before we try.’
She led the way round the side of the house into a sizeable former farmyard, now largely converted to create an attractive-looking semi-walled garden, with views out over the moorland. This was a large and impressive place, Annie thought. However he might make his money, Kennedy was obviously doing very well for himself.
She took another few steps forward, Zoe close behind her. At the far end of the yard was a large open barn, which had presumably once been used for storing agricultural equipment but now appeared to be simply decorative, a renovated reminder of the house’s former life.
The interior of the barn was lit by spotlights and she could see, assembled as if on a stage, a tableau of four individuals. Two men and a woman standing. Beside them, another woman kneeling. The kneeling woman, Annie saw at once, was Sheena.
At first, Annie couldn’t work out what she was seeing. The second woman was standing behind Sheena, holding Sheena’s head down, a knife glinting in her hand. It took Annie a moment to realise what the scene reminded her of. Then it came to her. It was a painting she’d seen somewhere, years before, of Abraham preparing to kill his son Isaac. The figures were very different, but the pose was identical.
Her fear was that, by revealing her presence, she might startle the woman into completing the act she had already started. But they had only seconds to spare, and she was too far away to reach the barn in time.
‘Police! Don’t move!’ Her voice echoed around the yard. She could see the individuals in the barn look up in surprise, but the woman remained focused on her task and for a moment Annie thought she was too late. Then she realised that Zoe had already started running towards the barn.
The woman hesitated a moment too long, surprised by the sight of Zoe Everett pounding towards her. Then Zoe was on her, forcing her back, trying to wrestle the knife from the woman’s hand.
Annie was running too and had reached the barn. She’d been wondering how best to deal with the two men so that she could focus on helping Zoe. But neither man appeared to be in a state to offer any resistance. Both looked defeated, dispirited, as though everything had fallen apart for them. She was startled to realise that, now she was closer, she recognised the younger of the two men. That far-right bastard, Mo Henley. The other man, she assumed, was Robin Kennedy.
She had no time to consider the implications. Zoe was on top of the woman, forcing her back on to the ground, desperately trying to weaken her grip on the knife.
Then Annie realised the woman was saying something, a stream of venom directed apparently at Kennedy. ‘This is your fault,’ she was saying. ‘You’ve led us to this. You’ve never had any real belief. You’ve just used us for your own fucking ends. God, I hope you really do end up burning in the fires of hell. I just want to see your flesh melt.’
The effect on Zoe was sudden and unexpected. She jerked back as if the woman had physically struck her, and Annie could see a look of absolute terror on her face. It was as if she was frozen, struck down by the woman’s words as if by some kind of incantation.
The woman clearly realised that something had changed and pushed upward, forcing Zoe away from her. Zoe fell backwards, still apparently unable to move, as the woman raised the knife and began to swing it down.
Annie reacted instinctively, throwing herself forward and grabbing the woman’s arm, pulling the knife away from Zoe, pushing the woman back on to the ground. She realised immediately that the woman was going to be too strong for her, and she knew she was in no position to gain any further leverage. The woman twisted away, the knife still clutched in her hand. But instead of moving towards Annie, she moved to the left and grabbed Kennedy, who had been watching the scene in horror.
Annie moved to stop her, but it was already too late. She had plunged the knife into Kennedy’s chest and then, extracting it with unexpected skill, she drew it across her own throat. Annie closed her eyes as the blood spurted from the severed artery.
Beside her, on the ground, Zoe had begun to sob.
Chapter Forty-Four
‘Christ, what a bloody mess.’ Stuart Jennings was sitting behind his desk, slowly rubbing his temples as though to soothe a headache. Annie guessed that the headache was largely metaphorical.
‘It could have been a lot worse,’ she pointed out. ‘You could have a dead MP on your watch.’
He nodded, wearily. ‘Sorry. I realise how traumatic it must have been. How is she?’
‘She’s okay. Was in shock at first, I think, but she’s getting through it. There’ll be nightmares and flashbacks, I don’t doubt, but we’ll organise counselling. We need to think about what we do next. But she’ll carry on. That’s who she is.’
‘I can see that. Speaking of nightmares and flashbacks, how’s Zoe?’
‘I spoke to her last night. She seems okay.’
‘You think she’ll be all right to continue?’
Annie looked up at him in surprise. ‘In the job, you mean? I don’t see why not.’
‘What was it, anyway? I mean, what happened to her?’
‘Seems to have been some kind of panic attack. But I’ve no idea what triggered it at that moment. She still doesn’t really want to talk about it, but Gary’s finally persuaded her to seek some help. Apparently she went through a phase of similar attacks when she was younger, but she thought she’d put it behind her. Gary reckons it’s something to do with her upbringing, but says she won’t talk about it. But I think it was probably at least partly work-related, maybe prompted by finding that first body on the moor. It was after that I first noticed a change.’
‘If it’s work-related, we have a duty of care. We can organise counselling for her.’
Annie had known that, whatever his other faults, Jennings was a stickler for following HR protocols, if only to ensure his own back was covered. One of her objectives in meeting him today was to secure support for Zoe. Much better if he thought it had been his idea. ‘That would be good, as long as we can coordinate it with whatever she organises for herself.’
‘And you think she’s up to the job?’
‘She always been a highly effective officer. I don’t see why that should change.’
‘Her panic attack could have resulted in more deaths. Including her own. Not to mention yours and Sheena Pearson’s.’
Annie took a breath. ‘Stuart, the only reason Sheena’s still alive is because of Zoe’s courage and quick thinking. If she needs some help now, we owe her the support.’
‘I’m not disagreeing, Annie. Bu
t there’s bound to be an enquiry into all this. We need to make sure we’re squeaky clean. If you’ve any doubts about Zoe, I need to know.’
‘I understand that, Stuart. I’ve every confidence in her. She just needs some time and support.’
He nodded. ‘Okay. I’ll trust your judgement. But keep an eye on her.’
‘That’s my job, Stuart. Or part of it.’
‘And mine. Along with sorting out all this. The only small consolation is that with Kennedy and Wiseman out of the picture, we’re not going to have the nightmare of trying to bring them to trial. It’s going to take a hell of a lot of disentangling as it is.’
‘Sounds like Kennedy had his finger in a lot of pies.’
‘Hell of a lot. He had a huge empire, and I don’t think we’ll get near a lot of it. Seems to have been cleverly set up so a lot of the lower links don’t directly connect to Kennedy or Werneth Holdings. The “left-hand” religious stuff seems to have been essentially a scam, a tool for recruitment and a front for some of their dubious activities. But there’s enough material in Kennedy’s house to suggest he was serious about it, and certainly his inner circle believed it. His technique seems to have been to persuade people to implicate themselves by committing relatively small misdemeanours for him, then gradually pull them in. With the kids it mainly started with drug dealing. But he operated at all levels, when it suited. This guy Gregory Wardle, for example, got suckered into taking backhanders for leaking planning information. It’s not even clear that the information had much value, but it meant Wardle found himself pulled further and further in.’
‘Until he was in too deep.’
‘And Kennedy was generally ruthless with the ones who couldn’t cope or who tried to double-cross him.’
‘Like Garfield, Parkin and Francis.’
‘That’s scary. The lesson is never try to scam the scammers.’
Small Mercies Page 27