The Runaway

by Linda Huber

  ‘Phoebs – she’s here. Cellar. Bring water.’ He dropped his phone and sat rocking his girl in the darkness.

  Nicola drove past the last house in St Ives and continued across the belt of countryside that separated Coast Road from town. Now she was this far, she wished she’d agreed to Deb’s offer of help at the house; she didn’t want to be alone with Ed in his new role of ex-partner. She took a couple of calming breaths, forcing her foot to press harder on the accelerator. The sooner she got there, the sooner she’d be on the way back to London.

  Distant sirens had her glancing nervously in the rear-view mirror. Blue lights were flashing a hundred metres or so behind her, and they were catching up fast. Nicola’s mouth went dry – this was a narrow road, supposing a couple of fire engines needed to pass? She stared ahead, then pulled into a bus stop further along. An ambulance and two police cars sped past. But now it was hard to get going again, and she sat for a moment, gathering herself to go back to Coast Road, back to the man she didn’t know after seventeen years of marriage.

  Talking to the van hire man had been unsettling. A tough hitter… He was happy enough that morning… told me his dad was never coming back…

  Never coming back… that was what was wrong. Nicola’s blood ran cold. It was shortly after his dad left. How had Ed known his father was never coming back?

  She forced her fingers to switch on the engine, but several more calming breaths were needed before she was able to put the van into gear. This was all wrong and she didn’t know what to think about it, never mind what to do.

  Her mobile rang in her handbag, and she grabbed it, the van jerking to a halt before it had travelled half a metre. Melanie.

  ‘Nicola? I thought I’d call on the off-chance. Is everything all right?’

  ‘No. Nothing’s right.’ In a few sentences, Nicola outlined the events of the last two months.

  Melanie gave one horrified exclamation at the start, then was silent until Nicola finished. ‘Oh my God, Nicola. I don’t know what to say. I haven’t heard from Ed for months. I’m amazed he agreed to go back to that house. He had a dreadful time there as a kid. His father was – well, nowadays they’d call it emotional abuse, gaslighting, whatever. What’s happening about Kelly? Is there anything I can do?’

  Ed’s father was abusive? But it was too much to think about today. ‘I need to get on the road, Mel – I’ll call you when I’m back in London tonight, huh?’ Nicola ended the call, only for the phone to ring again in her hand. Dorothy. For a second she hesitated – she’d be able to speak to Dorothy in person in three minutes if she got going. But maybe better…

  The voice in her ear was high-pitched and trembling. ‘Nicola, Kelly’s here. At your house. I’m with her.’

  The world swayed, and black dots fizzed before Nicola’s eyes. ‘Is she all right? When did she get there? Can I speak to her?’

  ‘She’s unconscious, Nicola, she’s… she’s – I don’t know what’s happened to her.’

  At that moment a second ambulance screamed past the bus stop, and Nicola’s stomach twisted. She opened the van door and vomited into the gutter. Kelly. Spitting frantically, Nicola grabbed the phone to her ear again, but the connection was broken. She slammed the van door shut. I’m on my way, Kelly, I’ll be with you in two minutes…

  She was shaking so hard she could barely drive. The minivan kangarooed the last mile, stalling twice, and Nicola was in tears by the time she came to Coast Road, where the holiday lets people were all milling around, gaping at the sudden activity outside the end house. There was no space to park on the driveway… Nicola swung into Dorothy’s front drive, then leapt from the van and ran, her legs like jelly. Shit, why couldn’t she run now when she needed to? Phoebe was waiting in the hallway, and pulled her in when the police officer at the front door wanted to stop her.

  ‘She’s in the cellar. Mia was there too.’

  ‘I want to go to my girl.’ Her lips were numb. ‘In the cellar?’ But time for all that later.

  ‘Kelly’s mum’s here, I’m bringing her down,’ the policeman shouted, then led the way down the stairs. He went into the cupboard, and – hell, no, this wasn’t a cupboard – it was a room, lit only by a couple of torches, and there on the floor was her girl, two paramedics working on her. No–

  Dorothy stepped out of the dimness, hands outstretched. ‘Rob found them. Mia was here too but they’ve taken her up. I – Nicola – how is this possible?’

  How indeed? Nicola grasped the other woman’s hands, hands that were shaking as much as hers were, and pulled Dorothy over to Kelly on the floor.

  Dorothy resisted. ‘I should go up to Rob and Mia.’

  Someone was pounding away at the window outside, and sudden light poured into the room.

  Nicola dropped to her knees beside the mattress. ‘Kelly?’

  The paramedic motioned her to the top of the mattress. ‘Come round here, Nicola love, but stay back. We need space. You can talk to her. We’re putting a line in, and we’ll be off to hospital when she’s more stable. She’s very dehydrated.’

  Kelly wasn’t stable… Nicola could barely speak; her voice was shaking and her lips were tingling and she was not going to have another panic attack. She bit down on the inside of her cheek. ‘Kelly? I’m here, lovey. I’m not going away. We’ll get through this.’

  Her heart broke as she leaned over the figure on the mattress. Kelly’s eyes were closed, huge dark circles in a chalky face under the filth. Her hair was in knots and her mouth beneath the oxygen mask was crusted and dry. The arm the doctor was putting a drip into lay limp and floppy, and the thin chest was barely moving.

  The doctor grimaced. ‘It’s in.’ He stood up and fiddled with the infusion bag a police officer was holding above Kelly. ‘Keep talking to her. We’ll get her into the ambulance and do an ECG there. Scoop, Dave.’

  Nicola leaned forward and touched her girl’s head. ‘Hang on, Kelly. You’re safe now, and the doctor’s here.’

  No response on the still face. Nicola bent and kissed Kelly’s cold forehead, taking a colder hand in her own and squeezing. No answering squeeze came.

  The stretcher arrived, and Nicola drew on reserves she didn’t know she had to keep up a stream of reassurance as Kelly was lifted upstairs and into the waiting ambulance. The doctor and a police officer followed, and Nicola hung back on the driveway. There was no room for her in there.

  Dorothy clambered down from the other ambulance. ‘Mia’s been talking, Nicola. I don’t think – the worst happened.’

  It didn’t help. No rape or torture for Mia, but Kelly had been down there weeks longer; no one would know what had happened to her poor girl until Kelly told them. Nicola reached out to Dorothy, then dropped her hand. Dorothy’s eyes met hers, then she gave Nicola a quick hug and went back into the other ambulance without speaking. Nicola slumped against Kelly’s ambulance. She had married a monster; who would understand that?

  The paramedic jumped down. ‘In you get, Nicola – we’re leaving now.’

  Nicola sat with her eyes fixed on the still form on the stretcher as they bumped down Coast Road and picked up speed on the main road, blue light flashing and a police car in front. Kelly’s eyes remained closed, and her heart rate on the monitor was blipping frantically. But she was breathing, and if Nicola leaned forward, she could touch her child. It was so much more than she’d dreamt of that morning, but oh, such shallow breaths. And no one had said, ‘She’s going to be all right.’

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  The Man

  It was over, and the red mist was gone at last. Ed drove to the park on automatic pilot. How quickly the end had come. He’d gone for supplies; he’d only been away for half an hour, then when he was turning back into Coast Road there was Rob Gillan pelting out of their driveway, and something about his body language told Ed this was it. It was the end of the madness and the end of him, too.

  He drove into the park, lifting a hand to Andy on the gate as he went through, p
icturing the conversation Andy would have with the police pretty soon. ‘He was alone, was he?’ ‘Yes, seemed just the same as usual. Gave me a wave. No, he didn’t come out again.’

  He drove to the far end of the park and pulled up close to the river. The park was a big country estate around an old mansion that had once belonged to a minor royal. The place was partly woodland, with deer in large enclosures, and a pleasant river walkway popular with tourists. There were a lot of them here today, out enjoying the lovely summer weather.

  For a few moments Ed sat in the car, his head swirling with the suddenness of it all. Was this fixable, if he went to the police and pleaded insanity? But he’d still end up locked away. And yet… he had been insane; he’d been mad when he’d finished Dad off too. The boxing had made him like that and it was Dad’s fault. Dad had taught him to get mad, and when he did the red mist descended, like in the very first tournament. It wasn’t my fault, your honour.

  If they’d never come back to St Ives… That was Nicola’s fault. Why should he make things easy for her? She deserved to be haunted. He would disappear now, and she would never, ever know when he was coming back.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Friday, 24th August

  They were over halfway to the hospital now. Nicola held onto the edge of her seat, cursing the fact they’d ever come to Cornwall. In London, the nearest hospital would be reachable in minutes, not miles away in a town she’d only been to a handful of times. She couldn’t see out, but they were driving faster than she’d ever travelled along a country road. No siren, though – was that a good sign, or was it because there was no traffic?

  ‘Is she okay?’ The tenth time of asking. Kelly was still unresponsive and barely breathing, but the light on the paramedic’s ECG machine was blinking in time with the beep of Kelly’s heartbeat. Her girl was alive, and surely everything else was fixable?

  Had Kelly been raped? Could Ed do that to his own child? But Ed was mad and Kelly wasn’t a child, she was a young woman who liked her independence and wasn’t afraid to say what she was thinking. And rape was about control. Nicola retched, and the paramedic scrabbled for a grey bowl and shoved it under her chin.

  ‘Steady. You’re okay. We’ll be there in no time.’ He turned back to Kelly, and Nicola’s world swam.

  He hadn’t answered her question… And the beep of the ECG – had it jumped? Yes, there it was again, beep beep beep-beep beep beep-beep, no, what was happening? Nicola leaned forward, but the paramedic pushed her back.

  He raised his voice to his colleague in the front. ‘ETA, Jill?’

  ‘Five minutes.’

  ‘Foot down.’

  The siren wailed abruptly, howling through Nicola’s soul.

  ‘Hang on, Nicola. We’re in town now, Kelly’s heart’s a wee bit irregular but we’ll be there in no time.’ He was speaking to her but all his attention was focused on his patient.

  Nicola didn’t reply.

  Rob stepped down from the ambulance. They were parked behind another ambulance at the entrance to A&E, and Mia was still clinging to him, her face buried in his neck. She hadn’t let go for a second, and although she responded when they asked her questions, it was with a nod, a shake or a shrug. He followed the paramedic inside, through the A&E reception area. There was a flurry of activity around a trolley as they passed, and Rob’s breath caught in his throat. Nicola was standing to one side, hands clasped to her mouth as green and blue-clad staff surrounded a figure he couldn’t see. Oh no. Nicola didn’t see him, and he moved on, shaken.

  ‘This way.’ A nurse appeared and whisked them into a room labelled Paediatric Trauma, which did nothing for Rob’s stress levels. Curtains were pulled around the cubicle as Rob perched on the trolley and murmured in Mia’s ear.

  ‘Do you want to sit next to me and let the doctor look at you?’

  A shake.

  ‘She’s okay there for now,’ said the doctor, a dark-haired woman who looked too young for her ‘Consultant’ name badge. ‘Any history of serious illness, injury, diabetes, allergies? No? That’s good, Mia. Here’s what we’re going to do. We’ll take some blood to test, and have a look at you right there on your dad’s knee, then we’ll give you some medicine to make you feel much better. We’ll start now, so Daddy’s going to count to ten with you and then it’ll be time for a sweetie.’

  Rob counted while another doctor took two phials of blood from Mia’s elbow, then to Rob’s relief she sat straight to choose which plaster she wanted and which sweetie.

  ‘They’re dextrose,’ said the doctor. ‘And a nice big drink of water to go with it, Mia. Good girl.’

  Dorothy and Phoebe arrived, having followed the ambulance in the car, and Mia allowed them both to hug her. The band of tension in Rob’s gut slackened, but until he knew what Ed Seaton had done to his child…

  A nurse appeared. ‘Mr Gillan, the police are waiting to talk to you, now Mia’s mum and her grandma are here.’

  ‘It’s my nan and my – my other mum,’ said Mia, and Rob let out the breath he was holding. Mia speaking to a stranger had to be a good sign.

  ‘I took a photo of Scout for you before we left, do you want to see it?’ Phoebe sat beside Rob on the trolley, phone in hand, and Rob was able to put Mia down and follow the nurse past the police officer waiting on the other side of the curtain.

  ‘How’s Kelly? The girl who–’

  ‘They’re treating her now.’

  She led him to a relatives’ room further along the corridor, Rob’s anger growing with every step. He wanted answers; he needed to know why no one had known Ed Seaton was a psychopath, and what they were doing to find the bastard. His mind raced through the events of the morning Mia had vanished. He’d seen Ed leave home. And he’d seen him come back after the police had arrived. He must have returned in between too, found Mia in his house, and imprisoned her with his own daughter.

  Two burly officers were waiting to speak to him, but the conversation did little to soothe Rob’s nerves. Ed’s whereabouts were unknown, and what the officers really wanted was to talk to Mia.

  ‘Can’t you ask Kelly? She was there longer, and she’ll be a lot more lucid than an eight-year-old.’

  ‘I’m afraid Kelly isn’t well enough to speak to us.’

  Rob was silent. He should go and see Nicola; she was alone here and the one thing he could be sure of was that Nicola had no idea what her husband had done. This wasn’t her fault, and if Kelly was harmed worse than Mia, Nicola would be in a new kind of hell right now.

  The officers were waiting, and Rob thrust his hands into his pockets. He had to agree to this, because Mia might tell them something that would help find Ed. ‘I’d want to be there during the interview. And I’d like a woman officer to do the questioning.’

  ‘Of course – that’s standard practise. But you mustn’t speak or otherwise influence Mia. We’ll be along in a few minutes.’

  Phoebe and a nurse were washing Mia when Rob arrived back in the cubicle, and Dorothy pulled him to one side, out of earshot of the little girl.

  ‘They were able to examine her. She’s not hurt, they said it’s just dehydration and shock, and she’ll improve quite quickly. If the blood tests are okay she can come home later.’

  Rob slapped a hand on his chest. When had he ever been this thankful? Or grateful, and if Kelly hadn’t looked so rough, he’d be shouting from the rooftops now.

  ‘Thank God. Mum, I think Nicola might need some help.’

  Dorothy dabbed her eyes with a tissue. ‘I’ll go and see. She shouldn’t be alone with this.’

  Mia’s interview made Rob ball his fists. He sat to the side of his daughter on the trolley, Mia’s hand in his. She answered readily enough when the officer asked about her time in the cellar. These girls had gone through hell… And one thing came over clearly; Kelly had helped Mia all the way. Rob wiped his eyes with his free hand. Please God he’d get the chance to thank the girl.

  Mia cuddled up to him when the officers
had left. ‘I think Kelly wanted to die. She was talking in her sleep yesterday. Will she be all right, Daddy?’ Her eyes were huge.

  He kissed her. ‘Kelly was in the room longer than you, so she’s more poorly. But the doctors and nurses are looking after her, don’t worry.’

  The little face relaxed, but Rob’s gut was churning. ‘Don’t worry’ was easy to say.

  Nicola had dreamt of this for weeks – sitting beside Kelly, talking to her girl. But she’d wanted to be at home, in a restaurant, anywhere but the intensive care unit in a hospital, with Kelly unresponsive on a bed. Nicola gaped at the bank of monitors attached by leads and tubes to Kelly’s body. All these numbers and flashing lights meant nothing to her, and she didn’t have the inner peace to work out what was what. Kelly’s heartbeat had steadied in comparison to their arrival two hours ago, but those irregular beats were still coming, and dread sliced through Nicola every time.

  ‘Is she doing okay?’

  The nurse was adjusting a monitor. ‘She’s more stable, yes. And we’re getting fluid into her.’

  Another non-answer. ‘When will she wake up?’ Nicola knew the question was futile, but she asked anyway.

  ‘The doctor will – look, he’s coming now.’

  ‘Mrs Seaton? Let’s go somewhere and have a chat, shall we?’

  The consultant was a small, grey-haired man. You’d barely notice him if you saw him on the street, but the air of authority he carried here was impressive. Nicola allowed him to usher her into the relatives’ room. He didn’t look sorrowful, but he must have been in dire situations countless times; he’d be able to switch his emotions off. She couldn’t remember his name, but a glance at his lapel told her.