‘What exactly does she have to do with this?’ asked Alistair, moving to stand behind Jean, his hand on her shoulder.
‘She came to warn me, except she didn’t say it was a warning.’ Now the tears came and Lexie couldn’t stop them. Until now she hadn’t truly understood Dominique’s meaning. She did have a lot to lose, but it might be too late.
25
Lexie held Nathan’s hand and talked to him. She’d settled into this numbing routine with shocking speed. He had to get better. The day followed the same desperate routine. The doctor spoke to her for a few minutes. He said Nathan was showing some positive signs. Lexie stared at Nathan’s face, his eyes still closed and his arms lying still on the white sheets. What positive signs? He looked exactly the same. Why should Nathan have to be the one to pay for her sense of fair play for Patrick?
Her mother went off to do some grocery shopping to give her time alone with Nathan. Helen came during the morning. They talked sporadically to each other and to Nathan. Jean brought in Nathan’s iPod and they played his favourite music.
Should she let Tilly come to visit? If Nathan was showing positive signs maybe he’d come round soon. Perhaps she’d leave it another few days and see how it was. It was hard enough for her to look at Nathan like this.
Jean gave her a hug and said she’d go and pick up Tilly.
Lexie stroked Nathan’s face gently. ‘The doctor said you were showing signs of progress and you might be able to hear me. If you can, squeeze my hand. Let me know you’re in there. Flutter your eyelids, anything, Nathan. Please let me know you’re going to be okay.’ Her voice trembled, pitched higher than usual, but there was nothing.
Perhaps the doctor was just trying to jolly her along, make her feel better. Was he softening her up for the bad news that there was no hope? Lexie squeezed Nathan’s hand again and hoped for a response. Still nothing.
She sat. Time had no meaning in this room with the clicking machines overlaying the silence. She thought through all she knew or had read on head trauma and induced comas, but nothing comforted her.
All that mattered was here. She couldn’t bear to think of a life without Nathan. It was too scary to contemplate. Lexie kissed him and whispered she’d be back in the morning.
She wandered out to the car park. The car was warm and she sat with both the doors open, letting the breeze flow through. She should go home, but she couldn’t face trying to act normally with the children, to be Mummy so soon after sitting with Nathan. It was selfish, but her mother was fine with the girls. She drove away from the hospital with no destination in mind, the town roads gradually quietening into a few suburbs then scattered houses. The lanes and fields that surrounded Nettleford were peaceful. Lexie pulled over into a layby and watched four sparrows squabble over a sandwich tossed out of a car.
The sun was lower in the sky but still bright, making her squint, and she pulled on her sunglasses. She got out of the car and rested her elbows on the roof. To her right were buildings and roads in the distance. Lexie narrowed her eyes and tried to figure out exactly where she was. The buildings must be the business park at Compton Cheyney and what she’d mistaken for a wide road was the landing strip.
She’d never been round the factory. It wasn’t quite Nathan’s pride and joy, but it was important to him. She glanced at her watch. It was late, she should be at home to eat with the children, or at least pretend to eat. She pulled her phone out of her bag. No reception. She wandered around the layby trying to find a spot with some reception and followed a narrow track to a viewing area. Finally she had a couple of bars showing on the phone, but before she had time to do anything the phone rang.
‘Lexie, thank goodness. I’ve been trying to get hold of you. I’ve tried the hospital and everywhere.’
‘Mum, what’s the matter? Is it Nathan? Has something changed?’ A cold hand closed around Lexie’s heart. The panic in her mother’s voice was so evident, and panic was something her mother never showed.
‘Oh, Lexie, I don’t know how it happened.’
‘What, Mum? Just tell me.’
‘We can’t find Tilly. I was a bit late for school and everyone had pretty much gone. I thought she’d be at Helen’s. When I got there, Helen had the twins, but not Tilly. She thought I’d picked her up. Rachel was slow in coming out then appeared on her own.’ Jean was almost crying now.
‘Where have you looked? Have you called the police?’
‘We’ve looked everywhere. We thought perhaps Tilly had wandered off with another friend. I spoke to the teacher and phoned all Tilly’s friends. Most of them weren’t sure if they saw her after they left the class, but one said she saw Tilly with a man.’
She had thought looking at Nathan lifeless in the hospital bed was bad, but her child, her little girl, was missing. She shivered in spite of the early evening warmth.
‘Your father called the local station to report Tilly missing, and he told them about Nathan in case it’s connected. The police are out searching for her.’
‘But Tilly wouldn’t go off with a stranger. We’ve told her so many times.’
‘Lexie, there’s something else.’
There was more. Lexie pressed the phone harder against her ear. What more could have happened? She wandered down off the viewing platform as her mother spoke.
‘Max isn’t here. He doesn’t wander away, so I wondered if Tilly might have gone with someone if they had Max.’
Her mother’s voice faded and disappeared. She’d lost what little reception she had. She strode back to the viewing platform and walked up and down until she got reception again, but her mother’s number was engaged when she tried it. The phone beeped showing a message. Lexie didn’t recognise the number, but a picture of Tilly appeared on her screen. Tilly had a biscuit in her hand, but her mouth was a tight straight line. Lexie recognised her expression. It was the one she saw when Tilly had a nightmare. Her daughter was alone and frightened.
There was a message.
If you want to see her again, don’t contact the police. Give us the journalist’s notes. We’ll be in touch.
Her hand was shaking so much the phone fell on the ground. She swore and jumped off the platform to retrieve it. Her daughter, someone had her daughter. She hadn’t got the message in time. The police were already involved. No bloody reception around this place meant she hadn’t known. Meant she hadn’t been able to make the decision. They, whoever they were, couldn’t have done their homework, her father was the police. And she didn’t have Patrick’s notebook, it was somewhere between Nettleford and the Winchester Police Station, or lying on her father’s desk.
The tears were hot on her cheeks, but she rubbed them away angrily. The battery had come out of her phone and her fingers fumbled as she tried to shove it back in. She looked at the photo of Tilly and the message.
She should go home, but what could she do there. The police were looking for Tilly, and her parents had Ruth and Fiona. No one would get close to the twins. Her father would make sure of that.
She bit her lip. The message was too late. The police were already involved, but they didn’t know enough. She wasn’t sure if anyone knew enough. Patrick had worked alone on the research for his stories. The police might not be aware of this group trafficking women from Eastern Europe. Her father had no doubt passed the scanned documents to someone else and got one of his colleagues to find the notebook, but it could take weeks, or more likely months before they could work with the police departments of other countries. Even with Patrick’s notes they didn’t know who was involved at this end. Her parents had done what they thought best, but it wasn’t going to help Tilly.
These people had injured Nathan so badly he might not live, and they had Tilly. They’d killed Caroline, Patrick and Evelyn, and possibly Max’s owner, and hurt so many other women. She couldn’t believe anything they said. If she sat at home and did nothing she might never see Tilly again.
She turned and stared down the hill towards Compton Che
yney, peaceful in the glow of sunset. She saw the pencilled notation in Patrick’s neat writing, C/Cheyney. They’d taken everything she had. What more could they do to her?
Lexie ran down the track to her car. She shoved the key into the ignition and slammed the car into gear. There were very few cars on the road, but she didn’t care about the speed limit and drove without any thought of the danger. At that moment she didn’t care about herself. She had nothing more to lose.
She wasn’t sure of the route, but when she drove along a road lined thickly with trees she guessed this was the road Nathan had talked about. He had parked somewhere along here and had hidden among the trees before finding the old man and Max.
She parked on the road and crept through the trees. It was darker under the canopy of branches as she edged towards the wire fence of the compound. There was no plane, but she saw two vehicles parked. The gate in the fence was open and faint voices carried on the breeze. Could she get into the compound without being seen?
‘You don’t know what’s best for you, and you can’t follow even the simplest of instructions.’
Something cold pressed against Lexie’s neck. She’d never felt a gun before but knew instantly the man behind her had a gun.
He pushed it harder against her skin, nudging her forward. ‘Go on then. You want to find out what’s happening. Let’s go.’
Lexie’s feet were rooted to the spot. He shoved her and she stumbled forward. Nathan had been right about the undergrowth and the trees roots poking above the ground ready to trip people at every step.
The man rammed the gun into the centre of her back. ‘Get moving.’
She recognised his voice. It was Connor.
He pushed her to the high wire fence, along the perimeter and around the corner towards the open gate. She didn’t resist now, if Tilly was there she needed to be with her daughter.
As she reached the entrance of the hangar, Lexie looked for any signs of Tilly. A man got out of the van.
‘Andy, come over here.’
Connor shoved her towards some rooms at the back of the hangar. Inside one of them, he pushed her onto a chair and rummaged around in the drawer.
Andy stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame.
As Connor strode towards her, he ripped a strip of tape from a roll. ‘I need you quiet while I make a phone call.’
They were going to tape her mouth. She wouldn’t be able to breathe. Lexie pushed herself off the chair but he had already reached her. She writhed and pulled away from him, but he swung his arm, hitting her cheek with his open hand. The strength behind it knocked her onto the floor and her head whipped back. She groaned, everything spinning. On the floor she was too vulnerable, she had to stand. As she attempted to get up, Connor pulled her head back and dragged the tape over her mouth. He wrenched her arms behind her and wrapped more tape around her wrists.
‘If you want to see your daughter, keep quiet and stay here. Andy, watch her.’
Andy looked her up and down but didn’t say a word. Lexie dragged herself to the wall and leaned against it, sick and dizzy from the blow. Connor disappeared into the main hangar leaving Andy standing just inside the room. He stared at her as if she were nothing more than an insect on the floor.
She had to control her breathing. In and out through her nose. Fight down the panic. Lexie closed her eyes but that didn’t help with the wooziness and nausea. Connor was away for what seemed like an eternity. She tried to concentrate. What was he doing? She heard his voice faintly. He must be on the phone outside.
Lexie glanced up at Andy. He stared at her with the same uninterested look. She shivered and looked away.
‘Right, Andy, let’s get this stupid bitch sorted.’ Connor was back.
She pulled herself into a sitting position against the wall. Rage had filled her since she saw the photo of Tilly on her phone. Rage had taken her along the road towards the compound, but now it left her and she trembled. What a stupid thing she’d done. How could she help Tilly like this?
Connor ripped the tape off her face in one stinging motion and she gasped a breath of blessed air.
‘What are you going to do? Where’s Tilly?’
‘So many questions,’ he sneered. ‘If it hadn’t been for your endless meddling and prying, you wouldn’t be here.’
‘Where’s my daughter.’
‘You’ll see her soon enough.’
Lexie shivered. She didn’t like the threat behind the words.
Connor hauled her up and dragged her out into the main area. She leaned against the wall; her legs barely holding her up. The tape around her wrists dug into her skin, cramping her fingers. She tensed and flexed her wrists finally feeling a tiny bit of jiggle space where the tape stretched. Connor obviously didn’t consider her much of an adversary. While the two men talked in whispers, she kept working on the tape. Goodness knows what she’d do if she got her hands free, but she’d feel less vulnerable.
A figure appeared at the entrance of the hangar and she looked across in hope.
‘Everything going according to plan?’ asked Sean.
Connor narrowed his eyes as he looked at Sean but grudgingly nodded. ‘Yeah, I’ve just made the call to the other van. Everything’s on track. Once we’re finished here we’ll clear up the place. You know we won’t be using it again because of that interfering journalist.’
Sean nodded and walked a few paces into the hangar. ‘What’s she doing here?’
Lexie stopped trying to ease her wrists out of the tape as she became the centre of attention.
‘Nosy bitch. I found her out the back.’
‘We need to get her out of here before the van arrives,’ said Sean.
Connor stared at him and then over at Lexie. He shook his head slowly. ‘Nah. We’ve got plenty of time, but that don’t matter. She already knows too much.’
‘So, another accident.’
Lexie looked at both men and then a quick movement of her eyes towards Andy. He leaned against the wall, but his body tensed. She worked feverishly on the tape around her wrists; it was looser now and she might be able to pull one wrist out, but that would attract attention. She needed noise or a diversion.
‘Where’s my daughter?’
Sean raised an eyebrow at her and then looked at Connor.
Connor pulled out his phone and made a call. ‘Ian, how far away are you?’
It wasn’t much of a distraction, but while they watched Connor she pulled her left wrist out of the tape. She kept her hands behind her back as if they were still secured. Her head ached from the blow. It might have been open-handed but her neck felt as if she had whiplash from a car crash.
‘Ian and the kid are a couple of minutes away,’ said Connor.
She had until Ian arrived with Tilly, but probably not much more than that. What type of accident would they come up with for them? She couldn’t afford to give in to the dizziness and shook her head. Bad move. Her neck ached and her head throbbed. She had to do something but not just yet. She’d wait for Tilly.
A car approached the compound. The gate must still be open.
Connor and Andy muttered together about the arrangements for the cargo. How could they talk about women as if they were goods? Lexie moved her neck gently, wary of causing another bout of nausea. She glanced at Sean. He stared at her intently. Goosebumps rose on her neck and arms. What did she know about him? Nothing.
There had been intelligence in his look that first day in the back of Peter Webber’s car. His warnings could have been for her safety rather than to frighten her, although they’d done that, just not enough to stop her. No time now for regrets, she needed to look for any chance to get away, but not without her daughter.
Where was her car in relation to the compound? It was getting gloomy in the hangar, the shadows in the entrance longer than they had been when Connor had shoved her in here.
She heard a voice from outside. ‘Move it, or I’ll sling you over my shoulder.’
&nbs
p; ‘What are you doing with Max? Where’s my mummy?’ To anyone else the tone might sound defiant, but Lexie heard the wobble in Tilly’s voice. Somehow these men would pay.
She strained to hear more, desperately needing to see Tilly. She shivered and glanced at Sean. Had she imagined it, or was there the faintest movement of his head towards the hangar entrance? What did he mean, and when?
‘I’m leaving him here, and your mum is inside.’ Ian sounded angry that he was even taking part in this conversation with a child.
‘You’re hurting my arm.’ Tilly again.
‘Get a move on in here,’ yelled Connor moving to the entrance.
There was a furious sound of barking. Ian appeared in the hangar doorway, his large hand firmly around Tilly’s wrist, but he was looking behind him towards the barking.
‘Do something with that bloody dog,’ yelled Connor, pulling out his gun.
As if Connor’s voice stirred memories, Max hurtled into the hangar and launched himself at Connor, barking and snarling.
Tilly twisted away from Ian and kicked him hard on the shin. ‘You’re nasty.’
He swore and dropped her arm as Lexie ran towards them. She kneed him hard in the groin and he collapsed, groaning and holding himself. Lexie grabbed Tilly, hoisting her onto her hip and rushed to the entrance. Just outside she stopped and turned.
Max lifted his head to look at Lexie and Tilly and gave a quick bark. Connor moved to get away, but Max was faster. His jaws fastened on Connor’s neck, growling threateningly. Connor stilled immediately. Ian lay huddled in a fetal position on the floor.
Sean now held a gun pointed at Andy. He gestured with it and Andy stumbled towards Ian.
‘Are you all right, Lexie?’ Sean asked, without taking his glance away from the other men.
‘Yes.’
‘You’re squishing me hard,’ murmured Tilly into Lexie’s neck.
‘I’m sorry, sweetie.’
‘’S’ok, it’s nice and safe. I’ll tell you when to stop.’
Still Death (A Lexie Wyatt murder mystery Book 1) Page 25