‘Don’t make me do something I’ll regret. I need to know, I need to see with my own eyes, and the instructions that came with the body were clear. I have to do the identification.’
‘Mr. Davenport is right,’ added Detective Carter. ‘We have no idea if these kidnappers are watching us right now. They could have intercepted our calls this morning. Mr. Davenport has to be the one to identify the body or we could be receiving another body bag, and I’m sure no one wants that on their conscience.’
‘I have to do this, Lucas,’ I repeated. In reality, I wanted to be anywhere but here. Seeing it would make it real. I wanted to live in denial a little bit longer.
‘This is fucked up, that’s what this is! What the hell has Dan ever done to deserve this?’ bit Lucas, shoving both hands through his hair. ‘Fine, but I’m going with you, you’ll have to knock me out cold to stop me,’ he muttered as he pushed the double doors to the morgue open. He put his hand on my shoulder as we approached the white shroud on the gurney. The guy standing by it with a clipboard and white coat nodded to us. I shuddered. It wasn’t the freezing temperature in here, it was seeing that body, a body that I was responsible for.
Another one.
‘Ready?’ asked the mortician.
‘No,’ I croaked, wondering if anyone was ever ready for this. Even with your eyes closed, you’d know you were in the presence of death. Setting aside the sickly smell of chemicals and bleach, the place reeked of it. I gave him a brief nod as I let out a shaky breath, feeling Lucas’s fingers curling around my collarbone, trying to let me know that I wasn’t on my own. I held my breath as the mortician pulled the sheet back, then I gagged, slapping my palm over my face. I heard Lucas gasp, his fingers tightening painfully into my shoulder. I nodded and stepped back in shock. I’d been warned it wasn’t pretty, but that was an understatement. A silver bowl was suddenly thrust at me and I emptied the contents of my stomach into it. The silence, other than the sound of me retching, was eerie. Lucas handed me a handkerchief to wipe my mouth, and the mortician took the bowl and put it to one side. He hadn’t even batted an eyelid. I suppose he saw sights worse than this every day, not to mention people not handling it well. I said a silent sincere apology from the bottom of my heart as the sheet was raised again. Lucas hurried me back out into the corridor, stopping me from retching again.
‘Can you confirm the name of the deceased?’ Detective Carter asked. Andy stepped forward and nodded at me, bracing himself for the news.
‘Yes, it’s … it’s Jenny Parker,’ I nodded, clenching my fists tightly to try and stop my hands from shaking. Andy shook his head and dropped his chin to his chest with a sigh.
‘I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Davenport,’ Carter said quietly. ‘We obviously have questions that we need to ask. Once you’ve answered them, we can let you see the recording that was sent with the body.’
‘What about her parents?’ I asked quietly, still not sure I quite believed what I’d just seen. Any fleeting moment of relief that it hadn’t been Ellie had quickly been replaced with shame, then guilt, and an overwhelming sense of loss that it was Jenny. ‘They need to know, it should have been them to see her first, not me.’
‘I agree, but the instructions on the body were clear, we weren’t to divulge anything other than the fact that it was a woman and you needed to make the identification, or there would be severe consequences. Given the footage we watched, as well as the reason we’re all standing here now, there’s no doubting the validity of the threat. I’m very sorry if you thought it was your wife, but I couldn’t take the risk of telling you that it wasn’t.’
‘I’m not sure I feel any better for knowing it was the nanny of my children, as well as a close family friend,’ I bit, giving him a glare. Travelling to the morgue, only knowing that a woman had been brought in, had been horrendous. I’d really thought it was Ellie. The guy who had set the ransom had warned me it would be her body. He was toying with me, trying to get me to crumble. He was doing a bloody fine job of it. I looked over at Andy, he looked how I felt, happy to know Ellie was probably still alive, but totally devastated to have lost Jenny.
‘We’ll call Miss Parker’s parents now,’ Carter advised.
‘What about Dean?’ Lucas asked.
‘Shit, Dean,’ I groaned, covering my face. He was supposed to have been proposing to her last Saturday. How the hell was I supposed to break it to him?
‘I’ll tell him,’ Lucas offered. ‘You have enough on your plate. You came here thinking it might be Ellie, there’s only so much you can handle in so many hours.’ He gave me a nod, but I shook my head.
‘He’s my employee, my friend. I should do it.’
‘Don’t be so bloody stubborn, Dan. Let us help, you can’t shoulder everything,’ Lucas urged.
‘I don’t think he should see her like that, she’s …’ I shook my head again. I didn’t have words for what that exiting bullet had done to her once-pretty face.
‘That’s his choice, I’ll warn him. But if it was Summer, I’d still want to see for myself, no matter how ugly it was. I’ll wait here for him and her parents, let me know when you’re done.’
‘Ok,’ I relented, feeling totally overloaded, and I hadn’t even seen the recording yet. ‘Thank you. I need to speak to them all myself, but I need to see what these sick fucks are asking for now.’
‘Go,’ nodded Lucas. Andy stepped forward to walk by my side.
‘I’m so sorry, Sir, she was an amazing young woman. It’s a very sad day.’
‘I’m sorry, too. She was one of your team, under your care. I know how personally you take a loss like that.’
‘Very personally, Sir. But you’re not to blame, you did everything that you could. You didn’t force them to take hostages and you didn’t pull the trigger.’
‘Well, I feel to blame,’ I said firmly.
‘Sick bastards,’ muttered Andy, both of us flinching as we watched one of the captors swing his gun from the back of James’s head to Jenny’s. I closed my eyes as I heard the shot, shuddering as I heard the thud of her body hitting the floor, then Ellie and Oliver screaming and James roaring with anger.
‘Ellie chose, she did what he asked, why did he put her through that if he was always going to kill Jenny?’ I said under my breath, unable to comprehend how someone could do that, then laugh.
‘He’s showing us that he holds all of the cards, that no one can influence him or steer him. He wants you to know that he’s in control and will do whatever it takes to make you pay up,’ Andy confirmed.
‘You’re dealing with some serious individuals here, Mr. Davenport,’ Carter added, stating the obvious.
‘Sir,’ Andy cried, grabbing my arm. ‘Look,’ he urged. I opened my eyes to see the view had changed. It looked like the interior of a cottage with white-painted stone walls. There were floral curtains pulled across the window in the background. The face of someone in a balaclava came into focus, their lips curling up into a sickening smirk.
‘Send me a quarter, lose a quarter. Maybe now you’ll take my threats seriously, Mr. Davenport. Now that you know just how far I’m prepared to go, you’ll trust me when I tell you that if I don’t have that remaining balance by Thursday morning, I will hurt someone else that you care about. Starting with this bitch here.’
‘No,’ I yelled as the camera panned around to Ellie struggling to get out of the hold of another captor. She had tape over her mouth, her eyes were red, puffy, and swollen from crying, and she looked so pale. Even the grime on her face couldn’t disguise that.
‘Brace yourself,’ Carter warned. He’d already told me what they’d done to her, but seeing it with my own eyes was far worse than I’d imagined. I jumped as the shot was fired. Ellie’s eyes went wide and filled up with tears as she sagged against the man holding her. The camera panned down to her leg, where blood was trickling out, then up to her face. She was in real pain, I could read it in her eyes, but I was convinced it wasn’t as much as I was feeling,
sitting here helplessly watching the woman I loved suffering.
‘One limb for each hour you go over the deadline. If you’re more than three hours over, then it will be her in the next body bag for real this time. I know your history with women, Mr. Davenport. If you lose this one,’ the guy in charge chuckled, running his fingers down Ellie’s cheek and making my blood boil, ‘you’ll never forgive yourself. I could kill your brat, but you have two others and can have more to fill the void. You’ll never fill it if you lost the third woman in a row and that’s what I’m banking on. You have until ten a.m. on Thursday. You’d better hope the police are more effective at delivering my message than they’ve been at trying to find me.’
‘I’m going to kill you,’ I hissed as I watched him rip off the tape from Ellie’s mouth and saw her wince and gasp for air.
‘Any last words for your husband? It could be the last time he ever hears your voice.’
‘I love you, Dan,’ she sobbed, looking straight at the camera, straight into my eyes. ‘It’s not your fault, please don’t take this on yourself. Whatever happens, look after our children, tell them how much I love them and miss them every single day. Don’t ever let them forget me, promise me, Dan. I don’t want them to forget me. And I want you to find someone, your heart is too big not to share. No,’ she screamed, struggling as a fresh piece of tape was moved towards her mouth. ‘I love you,’ she screamed.
The screen went black.
I shoved my chair back as I shot to my feet, barely even registering the crash as it hit the floor. I felt numb. Totally overloaded with emotions. There were so many things I wanted to say to her. How much I loved her, that I’d never let our children forget her, not least that I’d never find someone else. Who could ever replace my Ellie? No one could ever fill her shoes.
No one ever would.
‘We’re home, Sir.’ Andy’s voice broke the stretch of silence. After returning to the morgue, I’d had to face Jenny’s devastated parents. Worse was watching a distraught Dean trying to slip his engagement ring onto Jenny’s stiff finger, it had broken me. I hadn’t said a word since. I slid out of the car, following Lucas as he opened my front door. My legs felt like I’d done a marathon. Every step up to the first floor was an effort, like I had lead weights attached to my ankles. I ignored everyone who was standing in the lounge, watching me with sympathetic looks on their faces. I couldn’t deal with them now. I was done with being strong, Ellie was my strength and I could feel her slipping away from me. I turned and started climbing the stairs again, heading up to my bedroom. I found myself lying on top of the bed, hugging Ellie’s pillow, even though the scent of her had already faded. Why was I so numb? Why couldn’t I tune into the utter devastation that had laid waste to my rapidly wilting heart?
‘Brooke, leave him, he needs some space,’ Lucas’s voice called from outside.
‘No,’ she bit back. ‘If Ellie could call right now, she’d tell me not to leave him on his own. He’s not good on his own, Lucas. He’s never been good on his own. He shuts down. I’m going in there and if you try and touch me, or throw me over your shoulder like he’d do, I’ll scream the house down.’
‘You’re so fucking stubborn, Brooke Hanson.’
‘If I wasn’t, they might have never got together again. Trust me, Lucas. He needs me, I’m the closest to Ellie he’s going to get right now,’ she urged. There was silence, then I heard the door open and her feet padding across the carpet. I closed my eyes as she climbed onto the bed behind me and put her arm around my waist, curling around my body. ‘Don’t you dare bottle it up or shut down, Davenport. You know what Ellie would think of that. She’s opened your heart, made you feel again, and she wouldn’t want you to close it now. Let it out, pretend I’m her and it’s all over, let yourself deal with all the shit that has just been thrown at you. If you need to cry, cry. I promise I’ll never bring it up with you or anyone again if you’re embarrassed, but you can’t keep holding it all in.’
I nodded. She was right. Ellie wouldn’t want me to be strong, she’d want me to feel, to suffer, to grieve, to have a chance to move forwards without the guilt weighing me down. I felt tears starting to roll down my face. I still tried to fight them, but Ellie had spent so long getting me to deal with my emotions, to deny them now felt disrespectful. I started sobbing, proper gut-wrenching sobs like Oliver did when I injected that tracker into him. What good had that done? So far it had all been for nothing. My body jerked as I let four days’ worth of frustration, guilt, and despair out.
I cried for Jenny.
I cried for her family and Dean.
I cried for James and his loved ones.
I cried for Oliver, for his brother and sister that might never see him again.
I cried for Ellie, for the woman who’d given me a reason to get up every morning and look forward to life. She was the love of my life. She’d be the love of my afterlife.
Lastly I cried for me, for the life that I’d thought I was going to have with her, that might never happen. I had no idea that I had so many tears inside me.
Damien Daniels
I paced the bedroom that Alfa had confined me to. Everything was out of fucking control. It was supposed to be a simple kidnap. I’d get paid, pay off the team, release Jenny, James, and Ellie, then I’d disappear with Oliver and start afresh. I’d puked all over myself when Alfa made me go down to the bunker and help Charlie wrap up the girl’s body in the blood-soaked plastic. I’d never seen a dead body before. Ellie was curled up sobbing, her head in James’s lap as he just stared blankly at the wall opposite. Oliver was crying as well, cradled in Ellie’s arms. What the fuck had I got mixed up in here?
The team had all laughed when they’d seen the state of me as I’d helped drag Jenny’s body up the stairs and out to the van. I’d tried to ignore them and use the daylight to check out my surroundings. There was still a chance I could get out of this intact with that twenty million Davenport had already paid. I could call in our location, they’d have a team here within hours. I could claim I’d been threatened, coerced into helping them. Better still, I could use the inevitable gun fight to make a run for it. I just needed access to my phone or laptop, but the paranoid bastard had confiscated them. He only let me log on to check the bank account balance while he stood close by, timing me with a gun to my head. Right now I was fucked. I had every reason to believe that once I transferred their share of the money, I’d be wrapped in a blood-soaked sheet, just like Jenny.
Day Twenty Three
Tuesday 15th September
Ellie
‘Ellie … Ellie … wake up.’ James’s whispering voice had me yawn and slowly open my eyes. I could hardly see. I’d cried so hard over losing Jenny that my eyelids were almost swollen shut, not to mention the pain in my leg where I’d been shot. James had examined it and told me that whoever did it obviously had field medical experience as he’d done a good job. The bullet hadn’t hit any major arteries, but I’d passed out when they pinned me to the dining table, cut that large hole in my jeans, and extracted it. When I came to, I was back in the bunker on my mattress with Oliver sleeping, his head on my stomach. Right now, he was asleep by my side, sucking his thumb. ‘Are you ok?’ James called as quietly as possible.
‘Define ok?’ I whispered in return, not wanting to wake Oliver. ‘We’re being held by a load of lunatics, my best friend is dead, shot right in front of me, we’re cold and hungry, my little boy is terrified, and I’ve been shot. I’ve seriously had better days!’
‘I meant your leg, it must be hurting with no painkillers.’
‘Given what happened to poor Jenny, my leg pain is pretty insignificant.’
‘We need to get out of here.’
‘I agree, but how? It’s solid concrete with a thick metal door. They’re watching us on the damn camera and even if we made it outside, from what I saw yesterday out of one of the windows as they filmed me, we’re in the middle of a dense forest, God knows where.’
‘If we can block the visual on the camera, I can free myself from my hand restraints and take down whoever is accompanying me to the bathroom.’ James said. Bathroom? That was putting a spin on the dirty toilet and cracked sink, with its tap that barely even dripped, in the corner.
‘How will you get out of your restraints? They have to cut the ones off your feet with a knife.’
‘I’ve broken my thumb, I could slip my hand out right now, but they might be watching.’
‘You’ve done what?’ I gasped.
‘It was necessary. Any hope I had that we might be released unharmed is fading after what they did to Jenny. Escaping is our only chance,’ he urged. ‘They didn’t take my watch off me, so I know what time it is. If we do it at nightfall, it will make it harder for them to track us.’
‘But how would we see? Surely daylight would be best.’
‘You need to trust me, Ellie. I was trained for night-time manoeuvres. What harm can it do? We’re likely to die if we stay here. Better to have a fighting chance than be sitting ducks.’
‘Shit,’ I moaned, dropping my head back onto the mattress and covering my eyes. The logical part of my brain knew that he was right. The sooner we got out of here, the better, but James against those men, I wasn’t one hundred percent confident that he could take them.
‘Ellie. They use tranquiliser guns when they’re bringing us food and water. If I could immobilise one long enough, you could shoot him. I’d be ready to take the next one as he came in to check on his friend. He wouldn’t be expecting an ambush.’
‘They could kill you, James, and I can’t lose anyone else, please don’t make me lose anyone else.’ I swallowed hard, determined not to cry anymore. It wouldn’t bring Jenny back, it wasn’t helping anyone, and seeing me upset just upset Oliver even more.
31 Days of Autumn Page 25