by Sam Haysom
‘No,’ he said.
‘Huh?’
‘No, you weren’t washing your face,’ Tom said. ‘It’s dry.’
Tim’s mouth opened, then closed again. His eyes never left Tom’s face. After a moment Tom grinned.
‘Come on man, what’s the big secret? You can tell me.’
Tim said nothing. He continued staring at Tom, and his right hand moved in his coat pocket. He shook his head slowly back and forth.
Tom took a step towards him.
He hadn’t meant it to be threatening – at least he didn’t think so; he had no plan in his head when he started moving – but Tim flinched and took a step back, raising both hands in front of him. As he did so a small object went tumbling from his coat pocket onto the grass between them.
Tom paused and looked down, then bent to pick it up.
‘That’s… that’s not…’ spluttered Tim. ‘That’s just mine.’
Tom stared at the watch in his hand. It was bulky and black; one of those digital ones with two metal buttons on either side of the face. For a second he felt only confusion, but then a sudden realisation hit him and the feeling in his stomach went from a background gnawing to a horrible, wave-like lurch.
The watch was Gary’s.
Tom turned it over in his hand, held it close to his face, and saw two small stains on the black strap. Dark maroon splotches. They were faded, almost washed clean by the water, but they were there. Tom felt something hot rising inside him, a sharper version of the angry adrenalin he sometimes felt on the football pitch.
He held the watch out to Tim. His hands were shaking.
‘What the fuck is this?’
Tim still had his hands up in front of him. He took another step back away from Tom.
‘Listen, I can explain,’ he said. ‘I was trying to clean it off, and—’
‘I can see you were trying to clean it off!’ Tom shouted. ‘But where the fuck did you get it?’
‘I…no, I…’
Tim’s eyes were wide. His normally calm voice was a panicked, stuttering mess. He took another step back and shook his head.
‘Back at the tent, I knew I saw something,’ Tom continued. ‘I saw something in your eyes when we said Gary was missing. I thought maybe you’d heard something in the night. Then up on Hayworth Tor this morning you were about to say something to me, but your dad interrupted us. Now there’s this, and—’
‘I found it,’ Tim said suddenly. His eyes flicked from Tom’s face to the watch held in his hands.
Tom, who’d been on the verge of taking another step forward towards Tim, paused and stared at him. Tim started nodding his head.
‘Yeah, I found it on the grass this morning,’ Tim said. ‘By our campsite. I was going to tell you, but I didn’t want to scare anyone.’
Tom stared at the nodding boy in front of him. His eyes were wide and desperate, and in that moment Tom was sure he was lying.
Tom grimaced and took another step forward, and as he did so Tim’s eyes flicked up and over his left shoulder. Then they shot back to Tom.
‘No!’ Tim yelled as Tom took another step forward, and Tom thought he was yelling at him until he heard heavy footsteps crunching across the ground behind him.
Tom’s years on the football pitch and the many times he’d spent crouched on the school field waiting for the starting gun had given him quick reactions. At the sound of the footsteps he whirled to his left, spinning quickly away from Tim, but just as he was turning something that felt like a steel rod smashed into his left shoulder. Tom was thrown backwards. His legs caught against a tussock and he fell, landing on his back. His landing was cushioned by the grass, but his right thigh slammed into a rock and sent a sharp pain shooting up his leg. His left shoulder throbbed and burned.
Mr Stevens was standing a few feet away from Tom, looking down at him. He held a walking pole in his left hand. There was no discernible expression on his face. As Tom watched he took two quick steps across the grass.
‘Dad, no.’ Tom heard Tim’s voice up and over to his left. It sounded thin and scared.
Mr Stevens lowered himself to a crouch. Tom heard his knees pop. He looked at Tom for a moment, then smiled and removed his glasses.
‘What are you doing to my son?’ He asked the question pleasantly, as if they were still sat around the campfire and talking about the weather.
For one horrible moment Tom didn’t think he’d be able to get any words out – he felt dazed, as if none of this was really happening – but he swallowed and licked his lips and they finally came.
‘Tim’s got… Tim’s got Gary’s watch,’ he said.
Mr Stevens frowned, then turned and looked up at his son.
‘Is that true?’ he asked.
‘Dad, I—’
‘Answer my question.’
‘Yes, I’ve got it.’
Mr Stevens’ frown deepened. Tom thought for a moment he looked angry. Then the frown broke and he sighed and shook his head. ‘And you let him see you with it just now?’
Tim didn’t say anything. Mr Stevens sighed once more, then looked back at Tom.
‘I want you to know, Timothy, that you did this,’ he muttered.
Tom heard Tim scream, and as his head turned automatically towards the sound Mr Stevens reached down with his right hand and clamped it around Tom’s throat.
Tom gasped in shock and managed to pull in a half-breath. He kicked his feet and pushed himself back across the grass, feeling the rock beneath his right thigh tear across his skin. He could taste sweat in his mouth. In the background, the stream gurgled.
Moving with the speed of a much younger man, Mr Stevens scampered forward and dodged Tom’s kicking legs. Keeping his right hand on Tom’s throat he jumped to one side, then moved his left leg over Tom’s waist so he was straddling Tom’s stomach. Tom bucked and thrashed from side to side, but Mr Stevens was much too strong. He shifted his weight, dropped the walking pole, then brought his left hand down and fastened it around Tom’s throat along with his right.
Tom tried to breathe in again, couldn’t, and squeezed his eyes shut. He opened them again and saw Mr Stevens’ red face straining above him. The hands around his neck felt like a metal collar. His vision was starting to swim. Tom closed his eyes, desperately trying to pull in breath, but it was like trying to breathe through a straw. His chest throbbed and his eyes stung with tears and he tried to drag some air into his lungs, anything, but Mr Stevens was crouched on his stomach like some giant bird and his hands were metal talons, and surely all of this was just some sick dream anyway? Surely it wasn’t happening?
A distant image of them all sat around the campfire on Thursday night flashed across Tom’s racing mind and he saw Mr Stevens smiling and adjusting his glasses with a map balanced on his lap, and in that moment Tom knew that this wasn’t real, of course it wasn’t, he must be hallucinating or still trapped in a nightmare because it just couldn’t be. Blood thumped in his head. Fingernails dug rivets into the flesh beneath his chin. Somewhere deep in his mind, Tom felt something fragile starting to give.
When he opened his eyes again he saw that Mr Stevens’ face had changed.
His mouth was hanging open slightly to reveal sharp needle-like teeth, and his cheeks were slack around his face. The skin was loose around his jaw like a badly fitting mask. Spittle fell from his mouth in thin streams.
The thing Tom noticed most, though – the lasting image that stayed burned into his retina and followed him into the darkness – was Mr Stevens’ eyes.
They’d been brown before, like his son’s, but now they were a muddy yellow. They looked sharp and ancient, like the eyes of an old cat. He was in a nightmare, of course he was. None of this could be real.
Mr Stevens’ grip tightened.
Blood pounded through Tom’s head in hard, thudding heartbeats. He could taste sweat in his mouth.
Somewhere, way off in the distance, he heard Tim continuing to shout and scream.
Tom
reached out with his mind, looking for something to hold on to, anything else, and he found the gurgling noise of the stream. He could no longer move his head but he shifted his eyes to the left, away from Mr Stevens’ sagging face and in the direction of the water.
The gurgling of the stream was still there; it would always be there.
The world started to blur and his eyes drifted shut.
News Cuttings (1998–2015)
From the Southampton Daily Star, 8 October 2007
Dog found DECAPITATED in suspected satanic ritual
The gruesome discovery was made by an elderly couple out on their morning walk.
The decapitated and mutilated corpse of a dog was found on Sunday morning in a field beside Southampton’s River Itchen, leading police to look into the possibility of a Satanic cult.
Marla Francis, 73, and Sam Francis, 79, said they made the discovery while going for their weekly stroll along the banks of the river.
‘We were just out walking when Marla saw something lying in the grass a little way off the path,’ Mr Francis told the Daily Star. ‘We thought it was a rabbit or something at first. When Marla walked over to it she dropped her bag and screamed. That’s when I knew something was wrong.’
The dog, which police report was a black labrador, was found with its head missing. Police later recovered the head from a neighbouring field after conducting a search of the area.
At this stage little information is being made publicly available, but an inside source told the Daily Star that there are even more disturbing details to the case.
‘The head was lying in the middle of a stone circle,’ said the source. ‘Its eyes and tongue had been removed.’
The Daily Star understands that police are now investigating the possible involvement of ‘devil worshippers’.
No collar was found on the dog, but the owners are believed to have been located and informed.
Police are appealing for anyone who lives on Woodmill Lane and who may have seen or heard anything suspicious on the night of Saturday 6 October, or early Sunday 7 October, to come forward.
When asked about the case, a spokesperson from Hampshire Constabulary said they are pursuing a number of lines of inquiry, and it would not be appropriate to go into more detail at this stage.
*
From the Bournemouth Herald, 6 August 2008
Police hunt for suspect after failed abduction attempt
Dorset police are looking for a man, described as being tall and of slender build, who attempted to snatch an 8-year-old boy from Christchurch Quay on Tuesday.
A manhunt is underway after an unidentified man attempted to abduct an 8-year-old boy from Christchurch Quay on Tuesday afternoon.
The man, who was wearing a dark blue tracksuit and a green baseball cap, has been described as ‘tall and slender’. The boy did not get a good look at his face.
Dorset police say the child was cycling along Christchurch Quay when he was approached by the man, who asked him if he’d like to see a puppy he’d just bought. When the little boy asked where the puppy was, the man responded by saying that it was in his car, which he said was parked nearby.
‘He’s a bit scared and he needs someone to give him a stroke,’ the man reportedly said.
When the boy tried to ride off on his bike the man reached out and grabbed his arm, but after the boy screamed he panicked and fled.
The boy then cycled home and his parents contacted police.
Dorset police are asking anyone who was in the Christchurch Quay area on the afternoon of Tuesday 5 August to come forward with any information.
‘This type of thing is unusual, and we take it very seriously indeed,’ said Chief Inspector Marcus Porter. ‘If someone is approaching children in broad daylight it implies that they’re either very unwell or very desperate. I’d advise parents in the area to make sure their children are accompanied, both at night or during the day, when they leave the house.
‘Anyone who may have seen a man matching the description given by the boy should contact us as soon as possible.’
*
From the Southampton Echo, 16 March 2010
Missing twin girls: have you seen Samantha and Marie Plumber?
Samantha and Marie Plumber, two 6-year-old twins, have been missing since last Sunday evening.
Hampshire Constabulary have issued an urgent appeal to anyone who may have information regarding the whereabouts of two 6-year-old twin girls who have been missing since Sunday, 14 March.
The girls were last seen by their mother, Sally Plumber, at around 5.30pm on Sunday afternoon at their family home on Cemetery Road.
Miss Plumber told police she let the girls out to play in front of the house while she prepared dinner, but when she called them half an hour later they didn’t respond.
‘I shouted for them to come in because dinner was ready,’ Miss Plumber explained at a press conference on Monday afternoon. ‘When they didn’t come in or reply, I looked out the lounge window and saw that they weren’t in the front garden. They’d been out there playing with their Barbie dolls; I saw the dolls lying in the grass near the front gate but there was no sign of the girls.’
After searching the house and the surrounding area, Miss Plumber contacted the police. They are currently conducting a thorough search and appealing for anyone who may have been out walking on Southampton Common on Sunday afternoon to come forward.
‘We’re speaking to neighbours and asking anyone who may have been around the Southampton Common area at the time to come forward urgently,’ said Detective Inspector Bill Timber. ‘Cemetery Road leads on to the common, so it’s possible the girls wandered out of the garden to go and explore. We’re carrying out a search of the area and doing everything we can to ensure they’re returned safely to their mother.’
‘I just want them to come home,’ Miss Plumber said. ‘I just really, really want them home safe with me. They’re only little, and I keep thinking about how scared they must be. I feel totally powerless.’
Anyone with any information regarding the whereabouts of Samantha and Marie Plumber can contact Hampshire Police or speak anonymously to Crimestoppers.
*
From the Southampton Echo, 18 March 2010
Police find the bodies of two girls in the River Itchen
Hampshire Constabulary have released a statement saying the bodies of two young girls were found in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Police searching for missing twin girls Samantha and Marie Plumber have found two bodies on the bank of the River Itchen, near the train track south of the A335.
At this stage, the bodies have yet to be identified. Police say no one has been charged with any crime, but a 58-year-old man has been taken in for questioning.
‘We can’t give any more details at this stage,’ said Detective Inspector Bill Timber. ‘We’re currently following up on a number of different lines of inquiry and we’re speaking to several people who may have information relating to the bodies.’
When asked if he could confirm if the bodies were those of missing twin girls Samantha and Marie Plumber, Detective Inspector Timber said he couldn’t comment.
‘As soon as we have more details a press conference will be called,’ he said.
*
From the Southampton Echo, 19 March 2010
Mother of murdered twin girls said to be ‘devastated’
Miss Sally Plumber has released an emotional statement following yesterday ’ s discovery of two bodies, now confirmed to be those of missing 6-year-old twins Samantha and Marie Plumber.
The 32-year-old mother of murdered twin girls Samantha and Marie Plumber has said she’s ‘devastated’ by what has happened and urges anyone with any information to come forward.
‘I sent my girls out to the front garden to play while I cooked dinner,’ she said in an emotional press conference on Thursday afternoon. ‘They were just two little girls, playing with their dolls, who’d never dream of hurting
anyone. For someone to do this to them…
‘Please, please, can anyone who may have seen or heard anything, no matter how small it may seem, come forward to the police so we can find the person or people responsible and I can get justice for my girls.’
Hampshire Constabulary led a four-day search after Samantha and Marie went missing from their front garden on Cemetery Road last Sunday. On Thursday they discovered two bodies on the bank of the River Itchen south of the A335, which were later confirmed to be the bodies of the missing twins.
The cause of death hasn’t been released, but police say the deaths have been classed as suspicious and they’re following up various lines of inquiry.
‘We’re speaking to a number of people and following up on various leads,’ said Detective Inspector Bill Timber. ‘But we’d urge anyone who knows anything or saw or heard anything suspicious in the Southampton Common area last Sunday, to come forward immediately. This is now a murder investigation.’
On Friday morning police released a 58-year-old man, who’d been taken in for questioning, without charge.
*
From the Plymouth Daily Herald, 29 September 2014
Teenage boy reported missing on Rutmoor camping trip
Devon and Cornwall Police are searching Rutmoor after a 13-year-old boy was reported missing by his family on Sunday.
A teenage boy has been reported missing after his family woke to find his sleeping bag empty on Sunday morning.
Thirteen-year-old Philip Railman was on a weekend camping trip with his mother Jenny Railman, his step-father Paul Simons, and his younger brother Seth Railman when he went missing.
According to Devon and Cornwall Police, Philip was sharing a tent with his brother Seth on Saturday night, but when Seth woke at around 7am on Sunday his brother’s sleeping bag was empty.
‘This is obviously an unusual case,’ said Chief Inspector George Boering. ‘The younger brother didn’t see or hear anything in the night, and at this moment in time we’re working on the assumption that Philip may have wandered off on his own. The moor is a big place but we’re putting together search teams made up of police, family and local volunteers.’