Hunted

by Heather Atkinson

  “You can’t trust a word she says. She’s a lying, murdering bitch.”

  “I don’t care what she is. She can help find Ryan and that’s what counts. If this is all you can contribute to finding him then you can fuck off right now.”

  Jules sucked in a breath when he slackened his death grip on her neck.

  “What if she’s trying to lead us away from him?” said Riley.

  “She’s not. Now let her go unless you want to know what it’s like to be tasered.”

  Riley glanced up at Beth and was ashamed of the fear in her eyes. After everything Alex had put her through he’d spent so long trying to convince her he was different, now here he was holding a knife to someone’s throat.

  “Alright, I’m putting it down,” he said, slowly dropping the knife. The pressure on his back eased and he climbed to his feet and turned to see Rachel with the taser still in hand and pointed at him.

  “You okay Jules?” she called.

  “Fine,” she replied, dragging herself up off the floor.

  “You two have met before?” said Rachel, addressing the question to Riley.

  “After Zoe died. I thought she could lead me to Jasper.”

  “As I told you back then I had nothing to do with all that,” said Jules. “Then he tried to throw me out of a window.”

  “Riley,” breathed Beth.

  “As you can see I didn’t do it. I let her live.”

  “How big of you,” retorted Beth, folding her arms and turning her back on him.

  Convinced he was calm Rachel slowly lowered the taser. “I’m sorry for what happened to Zoe and the baby, really I am, but they’re gone and nothing is bringing them back. Ryan is missing now. He could be dead and you’re carrying on like this,” she yelled in his face. “Stop fucking about and get out there and find him. If you can’t do that then you can get back on a plane this minute.” Rachel’s eyes were as black as pitch, she was furious with him.

  Riley felt stupid and embarrassed. “I’m sorry.”

  He looked to Beth, who still had her back turned. He went to her and wrapped his arms around her, but she stubbornly refused to turn around.

  “Jules, what’s this lead?” said Rachel perfectly calmly, slipping the taser into a cupboard well out of reach of children. For the first time since Ryan’s disappearance she felt calm and in control. Sorting out Riley had done that for her.

  “Err,” she said, glancing at Riley, who was paying her no attention, too busy trying to coax Beth out of her mood. “I think I’ve worked out how he was taken, with a little help from these two,” she said, nodding at Battler and Bruiser.

  “How?” said Rachel, her gaze steady and intense.

  Jules explained her tranquiliser gun theory. When she’d finished Rachel looked to the two brothers, who both nodded.

  “We think she’s right,” said Battler. “We checked out the scene where Peter Everill was taken from. There’s a pub there now but when he disappeared it was just wasteland with plenty of trees to hide behind. Daniel Tebbs was snatched from the fields behind the Tebbs’s farm. Luke Jones disappeared on his way to Judo class, he always took a shortcut through the park to get there. I found out from a plod that John Owen was snatched while jogging. His route took him past Haldon Forest Park. We don’t know where the other victims were taken from.”

  Rachel looked to Jez, who gave her a told you so look. “Two men,” she said thoughtfully. “Makes sense. Actually your whole theory makes sense. It would take more than one man to abduct Ryan.”

  Jules smiled, pleased and very relieved.

  “So what now Rach?” said Battler. “You want to take this to Ashley?”

  “Not really. You three have got further than the whole Devonshire and Cornwall Constabulary, but they can run a search on who purchased a tranquiliser rifle better than we can. I’ll put it to him and they can be getting on with that.” She turned back to Jules. “Who do you think has my husband?”

  “They’re hunters. Hunters of humans. The tranq rifle and hiding in the undergrowth smacks of a professional, someone who’s got bored of hunting animals.” She glanced at Battler uncertainly who nodded, urging her to continue. They could all see the negative effect her words were having on Rachel but she had to hear it. “There is a link between all the men who were taken, more than one in fact. All fit and relatively young, good looking, strong and handy with their fists. They’ve picked the best of the best to hunt. They’ll have taken him somewhere secluded and rural to…”

  “Hunt him?” said Rachel.

  Jules nodded solemnly.

  Rachel got to her feet and went to the window, turning her back on the room while she got herself under control. Battler was the only one who approached, sliding an arm around her shoulders.

  “I’m okay,” she said, voice as hard as stone. She turned back round to face everyone, keeping close to Battler, his big warm body reassuring.

  “How do you even know this?” said a sceptical Riley, his arms still around an unyielding Beth. “What if you’re way off and you send us on a wild goose chase?”

  “Because I’ve hunted humans myself, lots of them and I’m good at it, so I know I’m right,” said Jules.

  “You can help us Riley,” said Rachel. “With your background you could narrow down the search field. Where could someone do this without being noticed?”

  “We’re on the edge of Dartmoor National Park,” said Battler. “And Exmoor isn’t far away.”

  “Has anyone got a map?” said Riley, eager to redeem himself.

  Bruiser held up his hand and nodded before heading outside to his car.

  “Beth, please,” Riley whispered in the lull that followed while they waited for Bruiser to return. “I’m sorry.”

  “I thought you were different Riley,” she whispered back.

  “I am.”

  She shrugged him off. “No you’re not.” Beth walked over to Rachel and stood by her side, taking her hand.

  When Bruiser returned with the map Riley took it from him and spread it out on the dining table, determined to use his expertise to win back Beth. “How big is Dartmoor?” he said.

  “About the same size as London,” replied Battler. “Four hundred and fifty miles of paths and bridleways.”

  “Shit,” sighed Riley. “Then this must be someone who knows the area like the back of their hand.”

  “There are towns and villages in the park,” said Rachel. “We’re on the very edge of it right here. It’s not just a huge expanse of emptiness.”

  “Does any hunting go on in the park?” said Jules.

  Just the sound of her voice was enough to set Riley’s nerves jangling but he forced himself to keep it in. If he didn’t control himself Rachel would chuck him out and he’d lose Beth forever.

  “Shooting and hawking,” replied Battler.

  “What sort of shooting? Deer, that sort of thing?”

  Battler shook his head. “Nah. Birds, pheasants mainly. They’re driven game. Could be a beater as well as a hunter?”

  “Maybe,” said Jules.

  “I’m going to call Ashley. We need him looking for people who’ve ordered tranq guns,” said Rachel. “There can’t be too many of them.”

  “Vets, farmers, zoos, big game hunters,” said Riley. “You don’t use a tranq rifle on a bloody pheasant.”

  “You’re calling the police,” said Jules disapprovingly.

  “I am,” replied Rachel, picking up the phone.

  “They’re useless, they’ll only slow us down.”

  “Do you know a better way to do a search on anyone whose ordered a tranquiliser rifle in the last seven years quickly?”

  Jules had no answer.

  Rachel punched in Ashley’s number, feeling a little breathless, her heart pounding. This could be just what they needed to find Ryan.

  “Ashley, it’s Rachel,” she said the second he answered. “Could you come over right now? We think we’ve found something.”

  After a
ssuring her he’d be right there she hung up and turned to the others, Jules clearly very disapproving of her involving the police. The police were the hated enemy of most of her family but Rachel didn’t care what they thought, she’d do anything to find Ryan.

  “If you don’t like it Jules you know what you can do,” said Rachel. “Ryan’s my priority, not your feelings.”

  “This is your show Rachel. I just hope you’re doing the right thing. Sometimes law and order can really slow justice down,” she replied.

  “I need their resources. I’m not discussing it any further. Now, is there anything else we can be doing?”

  “We can start asking around the area, see who uses tranquiliser rifles,” said Battler. “No reason why we can’t get a head start.”

  “Go for it,” said Rachel.

  “You two stay here with her,” Battler told Riley and Jules. “Make sure she’s not on her own, just in case we’re wrong and this isn’t the serial killer.”

  “You still think it could be Katia?” said Rachel calmly.

  “No. Daniel Tebbs’s mum said after her son disappeared she and her husband thought someone was watching them. Some of the relatives of the other victims said the same. My guess is the killer uses the victim’s family to keep them in line.”

  “That’s horrible,” said Beth, sickened.

  “Think you two can work together?” Battler said, looking from Jules to Riley and back again. “If not we’ll stay and you can get out there.”

  “We can handle it, can’t we?” said Riley, looking to Jules.

  She shrugged. “I can if you can.”

  “You’d better because there’s no room for petty arguments. If you can’t work together to bring Ryan home then you can both fuck off. I don’t have time for your shit.”

  Riley had never heard Rachel speak so coldly before. He was seeing the gang boss in her for the first time. Not even when tracking down Alex had she been so hard faced, so determined. The only thing that mattered to her was finding her husband.

  “We can handle it, can’t we Jules?” said Riley, forcing himself to look at the bitch. It took everything he had to do that without throttling her but he managed it.

  Rachel assessed him coolly before nodding, acknowledging the effort he was putting in. “Good. While Battler and Bruiser get on with checking out the tranquiliser rifle lead you and Jules can look at that map and figure out where Ryan could be.” The doorbell rang. “I’ll deal with the police.”

  She went to answer it, Battler and Bruiser following.

  “Hello Rachel, I came as quick as I could…are you two leaving?” said Ashley when Battler and Bruiser hastily squeezed out past him.

  “Sorry, lots to do,” Battler called over his shoulder, Bruiser giving a curt nod, both hurrying to get out of the way before he could question them further.

  “Come on in Ashley,” said Rachel.

  “Right, okay. Any news?” he said, stepping inside.

  “We have turned up something,” she replied tightly, striding back into the house.

  “Oh, full house,” he said as he followed her into the kitchen and saw everyone standing there.

  “Detective Inspector Boyle, you remember my brother-in-law, Riley Cutter?”

  “Yes I do,” said Ashley.

  Riley nodded in acknowledgement.

  “This is my sister-in-law, Jules.”

  “Hello,” he said pleasantly.

  Rachel’s eyes burning into her encouraged Jules to say, “hello.”

  “And my best friend Beth.”

  He eyed Beth with interest and she caught this. “Nice to meet you,” she said sweetly.

  This made him smile and, realising how inappropriate this was, he dropped the inane grin and cleared his throat. Riley watched all this with a frown.

  “Jules has come up with something,” said Rachel.

  “Oh yes?” he said, turning to her.

  “I think someone was waiting for Ryan in the trees outside the spa, they shot him with a tranquiliser rifle.” The words came out hard and staccato because Jules begrudged every one of them.

  Ashley gave her an indulgent smile. “We’ve had our best scenes of crimes officers, forensics and seasoned detectives on the scene and they didn’t come to that conclusion.”

  “Because I’m smarter than they are.”

  “That’s a big statement.”

  “I’m a big girl,” she replied with a gruesome smile.

  Ashley raised his eyebrows.

  “We thought you could do a trace, find who’s bought a tranquiliser rifle in the area,” said Rachel hopefully.

  “I’m afraid I need more than the word of this lady,” he said, nodding doubtfully at Jules, “before committing valuable resources that might be better spent on other leads.”

  Jules bristled with anger at her deductions being swept aside so easily. “I’m right,” she hissed through a tense jaw.

  “And what makes you say that?” he said, as though talking to a three year old.

  “The blood spatter was small, too small to be a knife or a gun. A small scratch indicating something that penetrated the skin but didn’t go in too deep. Battler and Bruiser found the spot where the shooter waited in the undergrowth, there was broken bracken, the foliage squashed down from where he’d been crouching. Ryan was shot, he went down and was then loaded into a van.”

  “Why a van?”

  “Because he’s a big man, it would have been easier and quicker to throw him into the back of that than bundle him into the boot of a car.”

  “They?”

  “There’s two of them. One to shoot from the trees, the other to drive the van.”

  “There’s nothing to indicate…”

  “I’m right.”

  “There’s no evidence.”

  “Fuck evidence, I’m right,” she said savagely.

  “Jules,” said Rachel in warning. She turned her attention to Ashley. “Please listen to her, she knows what she’s talking about.”

  “How? What are her credentials?”

  “I track people for a living.”

  “Jules,” repeated Rachel, eyes flashing anger.

  She produced a card from her jacket pocket and brandished it at him. “I’m a private-sector bounty hunter,” she said while the others looked on in stunned horror.

  Ashley accepted the card and frowned at it. “Bounty hunter?” he said doubtfully.

  “It’s a real job,” she retorted. “Companies employ us for finding illegal immigrants but I’m freelance. You can run checks if you like, it’s all legit.”

  He pocketed the card. “I will.”

  Rachel stared at Jules in astonishment before shaking herself out of it. “Please Ashley, just look into it. So far you’ve turned up nothing to indicate where Ryan might be. This is all we’ve got. Don’t ignore it.”

  She turned the full force of her best pleading look on him while raking her fingers through her hair and tousling it in a way he seemed to like.

  “Alright,” he relented. “I’ll do what I can.”

  “That’s not good enough Ashley. I need you to promise me.”

  Unable to withstand the force of her will, he nodded. “Okay, I will.”

  “Thank you,” she replied, relieved.

  Ashley looked to Jules. “So, any other nuggets Miss Marple?”

  “Yes actually,” she replied smugly. “You’re looking for two hunters who have got bored of hunting animals and are now after humans.”

  “And how did you deduce that?” he said tolerantly.

  “All the victims were relatively young, fit, healthy and well able to take care of themselves. The best of the best. Where’s the sport in hunting an old man with a heart condition and a wheeze?”

  “Maybe fit young men is just his preference?”

  “It’s their preference.”

  “You really will look into it Ashley?” said Rachel, wanting to draw his attention away from Jules.

  “I said I wou
ldn’t leave any stone unturned and I won’t,” he said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

  “Thank you.”

  On his way out Ashley glanced at Beth with definite interest, who gave him her best come to bed eyes, just to annoy Riley, not because she was interested.

  Rachel watched Ashley drive off and gazed out into the garden and the boundary beyond. Ryan was out there somewhere, unable to come back to her and the knowledge tore at her heart. She hesitated at the door, praying to see him stroll up the drive, that seductive smile of his playing on his lips, his arms opening out to her in welcome. She would run into those arms and hold him again, feel his warmth seep into her, the warmth of life…

  She blinked back tears when a shiver ran down her spine. Her eyes shot to the trees surrounding the garden, sensing someone was out there, watching her. Recalling what the relatives of the previous victims had said she slammed the door shut and locked it, hurrying back through the house to the others.

  “You okay Rach? You look a bit freaked out,” said Beth, moving away from Riley, who had been attempting to hold her, and taking her friend’s hands.

  “I just had the strangest feeling someone was watching me out there. I might be being paranoid,” she called when Riley made for the door.

  “We’re taking no chances,” he replied. “Jules.”

  “Right behind you.”

  He threw a mistrustful glance over his shoulder. He didn’t like her being where he couldn’t see her.

  “You okay?” said Beth when they’d gone.

  Rachel planted her hands on her hips and sighed. “Holding up. Do me a favour?”

  “Whatever you need mate.”

  “Forgive Riley.”

  “He held a knife to Jules’s throat,” she exclaimed.

  “It was a momentary madness brought on by the trauma of the past. He realised what he was doing and he got over it.”

  “It proved violence comes easy to him.”

  “Course it does, he’s a soldier, but he can control it. He’s not Alex.”

  “What if he is? What if I end up with another psycho?”

  “Riley’s not like that and you know it. I would give anything to have Ryan here right now. Don’t push away the man you love and I know you do love him. Just be with him and be glad.”