The Vine Cross (The Vine Series Book 1)

by S P Dawes

  Half an hour passed by before they pulled up outside a property. It was a detached house with a white wooden veranda on the front, a large flowery front garden with a white picket fence and a pebble dash path, leading up to a blue wooden door showing two thin glass panels running from top to bottom.

  Demy exited the car and offered her his hand. Refusing it until she got out of the car under her own steam. Standing staring at the house, Demy placed his arm on her shoulder. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” He whispered in her ear.

  She could feel a shiver run itself down her spine. This was an unfamiliar house, but she was more than aware of what to expect, once she crossed over the threshold. Taking her hand, he escorted her to the front of the house, letting himself in and closing the door behind her. She heard the click, suddenly all the light had gone. The dull surrounds mirrored her heart. The place was warm looking, clean and homely. Ahead of her was the dining room, which opened out to a kitchen at the back of the house. Which overlooked a vast garden. To her right was a door, she presumed to a sitting room or study of some description, and in the middle a set of stairs.

  “Sit.” Demy escorted her to a dining chair.

  Sitting down, she watched him as he strolled to the kitchen. Opening the fridge for orange juice and a cupboard for two glasses. Filling the glasses on the worktop, he carried them over to the dining table, placing one directly in front of her.

  “Not thirsty?” It wasn’t really a question, more an observation, so she remained silent. “I’m guessing you’ve got exits running through your head right now?”

  She remained quiet while staring back at him.

  “Well, there’s the door behind me, the front door, and then there are windows, on the ground floor and first floor. I’m sure if you needed to leave, one of them would suffice,” smirking wickedly as he put his glass back down on the table after drinking its contents in one gulp.

  “Oh, come on Hayley, you’re disappointing me,” Demy mocked, laughing at her. “You used to be a lot more fun than this, come on; I know you’re dying to say something,” he continued as he ran his finger along her jaw.

  She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction, but she needed to know what she was dealing with. He was being weirder than normal, calmer. “What do you want?” She asked finally, growing impatient with the entire thing.

  His smile almost split his face at his triumph, she’d spoken.

  “Us, silly,” he spoke gently but with a hint of malice. Brushing his thumb across her bottom lip, he could see her neck swallow.

  “There is no us,” she said as strongly as her voice would allow.

  Demy pulled his chair up to hers, so their legs were touching when he sat down. She straightened her back slightly to make a space between them.

  “Why? Because you left,” he whispered, pushing her hair behind her ears on both sides and then surveying her face. “Still as beautiful,” he beamed. “So, who took you?”

  Hayley looked at him, confused.

  “Well, someone must have, because you’d never leave me.”

  Hayley gulped, hoping he hadn’t seen it.

  “Because I said I’d break your pretty little legs if you ever ran away from me, so who was it?”

  Hayley glanced away. She would not get into this. He was starting an argument, and they only ended one way.

  “Was it Nick?”

  Hayley glared straight at him, panicky and unnerved. Exactly what he’d expected. She’d fallen into his trap, and she could have kicked herself. “What do you want?” She said, trying to remain calm.

  “You. It’s as simple as that,” he held his hands up in the air, in a surrender pose. His hands were enormous and soiled, she imagined, with a lot more than was visible.

  “And do I have a choice?” Asked Hayley.

  “Always!” He stood up from the chair, walking over to the kitchen sink. Demy picked up the carving knife from the sink, turning it around in his hand, whilst leaning up against the counter worktop staring at Hayley.

  “But?” She added, trying not to think about what he would use the knife for.

  “You want to know the terms?” He smiled. “Good.”

  He strolled over to her with the knife still in his grasp. “Good girl.”

  Placing the knife on the table, he sat back down in the chair opposite her. “OK, your sisters on her way to Russia, with a man; he will either look after her or kill her.”

  Hayley glanced at the blade. Could she get to it before him? It was doubtful. Fear was making her limbs ache. They would not be agile enough to beat him, especially since he was amped up on adrenalin.

  “I literally hold her life in my hands, and in turn, so do you.”

  Hayley looked back at him.

  “While you play nice, she’s safe.”

  That was it, that was his plan? To hold her sister’s life in the balance forever, to get what he wanted. Why hadn’t her sister just left with her when she begged?

  “The doors maybe left unlocked, but you’re mine, in every aspect, and you will do as I say, or I’ll tell him to kill her. I’ll ring every week, and if I don’t, he’ll kill her,” he watched his words being processed and enjoyed watching the enormity of the situation take hold of her.

  “Why?” She asked, but what she really wanted to know was how? How had a young man who’d cared for her as a child turned into such a monster? What had happened to him to change him so dramatically? Would she ever find out? Would it ever make her not hate him, the way she hated him now?

  “Because you seem to think you can humiliate me as though you have some God-given right,” he snarled in her face, spittle arriving on her lips as he did. “I will ruin you, destroy every part of you, and then when I’m finished, I will dispose of you like the excrement that you are. And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.”

  He leant back in his chair to watch the full effect of his words on her. “Take it. Use it,” he said glancing towards the knife. “She’ll be fine as long as you can get to her within a week.”

  Hayley looked away. She couldn’t speak, her throat felt too tight, her brain was heating and she could feel the flood of tears being held back by a single straw. “Say it.”

  Hayley glanced at him, unsure what he meant.

  “Say you want me.”

  She couldn’t. She couldn’t open her mouth, it had locked. Her jaw refused to move. Her head screamed obscenities.

  “Say you want me inside you.”

  The damn broke, the tears spilled, she couldn’t stop them, and he laughed at her failure.

  “You will.” Demy got up from the chair and walked out of the front door.

  Hayley quickly grabbed for the knife and held it across her wrist. Her hands shook. If she did it, he’d just send a death sentence to her sister, but it would be over. They wouldn’t feel any more pain. If there was an afterlife, they’d meet up and share the rest of time together. But then there was Jesse.

  She let out a cry of agony. Unable to avoid the noise that escaped her throat, she’d never wanted someone so badly in her life. Where was he?

  Chapter 19

  Jesse walked into the petrol station showing his warrant card as he got closer to the till. “Hi, are you the man I spoke to on the phone?”

  “I’m Matt.” He held out his hand, and they shook. Kneeling down behind the counter, Matt reached for a mobile from a box and handed it to Jesse.

  “Whereabouts was it?” Asked Jesse.

  Matt pointed to the second pump near the green plastic dustbin.

  “You got CCTV?”

  “Yep, come through,” said Matt, lifting the levered counter top before walking through the back. Clicking on the computer, Matt brought up the CCTV, then rewound it back by two hours. Pressing play, they both watched as cars came and went, until Jesse spotted Caitlyn’s car pulling up to pump two. Standing with bated breath, Jesse watched Hayley run towards the shop, while someone in the front seat threw something out of the window. “That�
��d be the phone,” stated Matt.

  Jesse nodded, trying not to show his irritation at being told the bleeding obvious.

  “And inside?”

  Tapping away on the computer again, Matt brought up the inside camera near to the till. Jesse watches Hayley enter. Piling snacks into her arms quickly and then paying.

  “Did she say anything to you?” Asked Jesse, pointing to Hayley.

  “Only that she had to get some stuff for her boyfriend in the hospital. She was in a rush.”

  “Can you go back to the outside?”

  Matt nodded, and they watched Hayley get back in the car. Caitlyn drove off, her face clearly visible, as she turned back onto the A1.

  “Is that time correct?” Asked Jesse, pointing to the time display in the top right corner, Matt nodded.

  Gathering the tapes and thanking Matt for his help, Jesse jumped back in the car. Holding the side button on Hayley’s phone, it lit up with the wallpaper of the castle picture she’d taken. He’d seen the same photograph in her flat in a frame. “It’s Hayley’s. They left here at twelve-forty-eight.”

  “They? So, is she’s with Caitlyn?” Asked Martin.

  Jesse nodded thoughtfully.

  “What now?”

  “We need to find Caitlyn,” said Jesse pulling out his own phone to call Rob. Apologising for disturbing him at work again, he asked him to ring Caitlyn.

  Five minutes later, his phone rang. “Rob.”

  “She’s been to Peterborough; she’s on her way back now though.”

  “Did she say why?” Asked Jesse.

  “Shopping. What’s going on?”

  “Rob, did Caitlyn ever tell you who the guys were, that came to the party that night?” Jesse looked at Martin while he waited for Rob to answer.

  “Yeah, some blokes called Paul, Mark and Dennis or something.” Jesse sighed and rubbed his forehead. She had lied; she’d said she didn’t know who they were.

  “Jesse?”

  “Hayley’s missing.”

  “Shit! You think it’s the guy from the party?”

  Jesse sighed, hoping this was all some huge mistake.

  “Listen, Jess, you probably know, but Hayley’s got some scars on her back. She told me it was a long time ago, but if this guy…,” panicked Rob

  “It’s OK, I know, thanks.” Jesse hung up, not wanting to discuss it further. “She’s been to Peterborough, which makes sense on this road, but she’s on her way back, and I assume without Hayley.”

  “We need to speak to her. Do you want me to do it?” Asked Martin, concerned his friend might actually lose it.

  Jesse shook his head. “No. Walker said no mess,” he sighed, knowing too well he’d have to keep his cool, when he only felt like strangling her. “Go back to the office. Check cameras along the A1. Hayley would have known something was wrong by now.”

  Martin looked at him to explain.

  “The guy in the shop said she was going the hospital, to visit her boyfriend.”

  “Crap! OK, I’ll drop you home, make my way to the station and see what I can dig up.” Martin pulled out of the forecourt and carried on up the A1 till the roundabout came up to turn back to Newark. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he warned as Jesse exited the car.

  Jesse didn’t answer, just slammed the car door shut. When he walked inside the house, his mother was wiping the fridge down with a rag. “Have you seen Caitlyn in the last hour?”

  Marie shook her head.

  “Can I borrow Dad’s car?”

  Marie nodded suspiciously, handing him the keys from the dining table.

  Jesse rushed out, jumping in the car. Getting to Rob’s house five minutes later, he banged on the door as loud as he could. When there was no answer, he strolled round the back and peered through the unlocked gate to the patio doors, but the house looked empty. Jesse kicked the gate on the way out and marched back up to the car, deciding to drive to Hayley’s just in case he had missed something.

  Arriving at Hayley’s he quickly realised nothing had changed since he’d last been there. Remembering he still had Hayley’s phone on him, he took it out of his pocket. Recollecting Hayley’s pass code, he put it in and swiped through her text messages. Unable to see anything out of the ordinary, he continued to scroll through her call history. Seeing all the calls he’d made, having been left unanswered and then three from an unknown number, gave him chills. Taking his own mobile out, he rang Martin.

  “Have you got something?” Asked Jesse urgently.

  “Not yet, still looking, you?” Martin had only just received the footage he needed.

  “She had three calls to her mobile this morning, unanswered. They’re from an unknown number. Can you look at tracing them?”

  “Sure, you on your way back?” Inquired Martin while scanning CCTV from the A1. But the click came before he finished speaking.

  Jesse walked into the station as Martin came out of his office holding a printout. Showing him, he could see Caitlyn coming off the A1. “Where’s Hayley?” Inquired Jesse.

  “No idea, but I don’t think the car stopped. I followed it from the garage,” answered Martin.

  “So, she could be in the back?” Jesse handed him the phone, and they went off in search for a computer. “What’s around that slip road?”

  Martin hurried his pace to keep up with Jesse’s.

  “Nothing, just some disused buildings. But they could have carried on, obviously.”

  “Still worth checking it out,” countered Jesse.

  “Already on it, Hale and Pace are on their way,” answered Martin, referring to DC Turner and DC Hancock.

  An hour later they had the phone records and numbers plastered all over the desk. Looking up the telephone number, they realised it was a land line in Averham. Grabbing the address, they rushed back out.

  Martin pulled up outside a dilapidated house, with chipped window sills and a battered front door which expressed a dire need for a repaint or a bonfire. Exiting the car, they ran up the hazardous path to the door. Waiting for it to open, they looked at the unkept garden. Thinking it was as vacant as it looked, they turned back to the car before the door creaked open. An old man, with an old tatty striped collared t-shirt and baggy worn jeans stood in front of them. His hair sat as disorganised as his house, sprouting out from his head like an unkept shrub. Martin flicked open his warrant card and made his way in before he could object. Jesse followed, wondering why the man had been trying to get in contact with Hayley.

  “Derek Baxter, I’m DS Wells and this is DI Hallam.” Martin placed his card back within his inside pocket. “Is there anyone else here?”

  The man didn’t answer but looked away sheepishly.

  Martin and Jesse glanced at one another before Jesse wandered around the ground floor to inspect the premises. “We have identified this address through phone records. You were trying to contact Miss Timpson?”

  The guy remained neutral while watching Jesse intently and ignoring Martin.

  “Do you know Miss Timpson?” Asked Martin, trying to grasp his attention.

  Mr Baxter looked back to him before shaking his head.

  “You don’t know Hayley…”

  On hearing her first name, his head snapped back, eyes blown wide. “What’s happened to Hayley?” Demanded Mr Baxter.

  Jesse heard the urgency in his voice and re-entered the living room to watch Mr Baxter’s body language.

  “How do you know Hayley?” Asked Martin. They needed information, but Martin could see Jesse’s interest had been peaked and he needed to keep a close eye on him, less his emotions take over. Mr Baxter lowered his head, scratching his jaw. Jesse prowled closer to him, and Martin held his hand out to stop him from getting any closer. “You’re not in any trouble, sir. Why were you calling her this morning?”

  Jesse didn’t have time to be tiptoeing around, but realised if they came on too strong Mr Baxter would clam up and leave them with nothing. Jesse stepped back, not trusting himself to keep a h
andle on his own temper, he allowed Martin to handle it.

  “I didn’t get through; she didn’t pick up,” he answered sadly.

  “We know sir, but we need to know why you were calling?” The man wasn’t budging, and his expression was solemn. “It’s just that we think she might be in trouble, and we’d like to know what time you’d called. It might place when she was last available,” lied Martin, hoping the guy in front of him was as uneducated as he looked.

  “I have nothing to say. I’ve no idea where she is,” with that, he turned towards the door and opened it.

  “Sir, if you can help in any way, we could find her quicker. We believe she may be in danger.” Martin tried to appeal to his humanity.

  Suddenly Jesse spied the glint of a chain under Mr Baxter’s T-shirt. Rushing over to him, he flipped it out of his collar. Holding the pendant in his palm, he instantly recognised it.

  “Where did you get this?” Asked Jesse.

  The man refused to look at him, instead keeping his eyes diverted to outside.

  “Sir?” Interjected Martin.

  “It’s mine,” said the man making a grab for it. But Jesse yanked it, snapping the chain.

  “Where did it come from?” Shouted Jesse as he shook the offending item in his hand. When Mr Baxter refused to answer, Jesse couldn’t keep his temper in check any longer. He smashed his hand into the door at the side of the man’s head, making him jump back, looking terrified.

  “Jesse.”

  He knew it was a warning not to go any further, but this guy was stretching his patience to the brink. It was obvious to Jesse; he was holding out on them, and he needed answers.

  “It’s mine,” replied the man.

  “Hayley has this,” he said, waving the chain in front of his face.

  “We all do.”

  “We?” Urged Martin.

  “The church, they give them out to the congregation,” he answered, still visibly shaken by Jesse’s outburst.