Hikers - The Collection (Complete Box Set of 5 Books)

by Lauren Algeo

  Ellen nodded along. ‘That sounds preferable to trying something in the house. We just have to get him out there on his own.’

  ‘Or with you,’ Brewer suggested. ‘We could tell Marie and Connors that you want to have a lesson outside with Daniel. Maybe the nature trail could be part of his geography or science work?’

  Ellen’s body had stiffened a little but she didn’t protest. ‘I’ll approach them about it tomorrow. I’ll tell them I want to do it on Sunday morning.’

  ‘It’s the best idea we have,’ Brewer said. ‘Everyone will be tired on Sunday after the dinner party and you can use a lesson as the perfect cover. I can get away from Seok while you’re out and sneak up on Daniel. If you keep him distracted then he’ll never know I’m coming.’

  ‘I’ll do my best.’ Her words were barely audible in the darkness.

  ‘It will be ok, I promise.’ Brewer put his arm around her shoulders. He wasn’t certain if he was trying to reassure himself more than her.

  Now they were here, the consequences of failure suddenly seemed very real. Seok would pounce if anything was the slightest bit untoward, and Connors and Marie were overprotective of their son – what if one of them insisted on going with him on the walk? The most dangerous, unpredictable part was Daniel himself. If the boy got any inkling of what they were up to then he could destroy them… very painfully. He was risking Ellen’s safety by having her play a large part in this.

  ‘What do we do after?’ she asked. ‘If we succeed in killing Daniel then how am I going to say it happened? I should have been watching him so they’ll blame me. I’ll be interrogated by the police… they’ll find out that we’re really married!’

  Her voice rose rapidly and he pulled her close to him. ‘Shh, it’s ok. Try not to panic.’

  His heart was racing and he hoped she wouldn’t feel it through the thin material of his t-shirt. ‘We’ll make a concrete plan once I’ve checked out the trail tomorrow but there will be no doubt that it was an accident. You could say he went to get some rocks or something to study, or that you turned your back for a moment. I could call your mobile so you can say you answered your phone and Daniel disappeared while you were distracted. There are plenty of excuses we can make – a young boy can easily wander off on his own.’

  ‘Ok.’ Ellen took a couple of shaky breaths. ‘I’m all right really; it’s just the constant pressure in my gut that’s getting to me. I’ll take a walk myself tomorrow too to ease it for a while.’

  ‘That’s probably wise,’ Brewer agreed.

  They were quiet for a moment and he listened for any sounds that stood out from the natural creaks and groans of an old house. He’d closed his bedroom door but he didn’t want Seok getting up and checking if he was there on his way to the bathroom or anything. He presumed Connors and Daniel were too far away in their wing at the back of the house but he didn’t want to risk bumping into the roaming boy in a dark corridor.

  ‘I better get back,’ he said to Ellen.

  ‘Ok. I should get some rest for tomorrow too. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day.’

  He kissed her tenderly on the lips then headed for the door. ‘I’ll see you at breakfast, Ms MacIntosh.’

  He gave her a wink and she smiled in spite of her obvious tension. ‘Goodnight.’

  He slipped out of the room and closed the door softly behind him. The hallways were still deserted as he made his way back to his room. No one stirred in the house and he got back into bed without incident. This time Seok had been snoring quietly when he’d passed his door.

  Brewer lay on his back in the soft bed and stared at the ceiling. He felt exhausted but his mind was racing too much to go straight to sleep. This was their one shot at pulling this off and it had to be perfect. Ellen was right, tomorrow was going to be a very long day.

  Chapter 34

  ‘I’m going to do a check of the grounds after breakfast,’ Brewer told Seok.

  The other man carried on eating his toast. ‘It’s going to be wet out there.’ His voice was muffled as he chewed.

  It had rained for most of the night but aside from a few rumbles of thunder, the storm hadn’t fully materialised. The morning was grey and damp although there was no more heavy rain forecast that day.

  ‘I’ll wear my boots,’ Brewer said. Seok hadn’t asked for any further explanation but he felt as though he needed to tell the lie he’d been rehearsing in his head. ‘Marie told me that a public path comes close to the house and after what you guys said about that crazy woman at the gate, I want to make sure there’s no one lurking out there.’

  ‘Makes sense,’ Seok shrugged. ‘There’s not likely to be anyone after that weather but you’re just like Richards, he insisted on checking the grounds last time too.’

  Brewer felt better knowing that he was not the only one to have used that excuse. It was more believable now Richards had done it previously.

  ‘You should stay close to Connors,’ he told him. ‘I’m not sure if he’s planning to go anywhere this morning so call me if he does.’

  ‘Fine by me.’ Seok took another bite of toast. ‘I don’t want to ruin my shoes.’

  They were temporarily alone in the dining room and Marco had made them bacon, eggs, toast and tea for breakfast. It was nearly 7:30am and Brewer’s eyes kept drifting to the door, expecting Ellen to appear, but she hadn’t surfaced yet.

  Once he’d finished his tea and the last of the bacon, Brewer stood up from the table. ‘I won’t be too long.’

  Seok nodded and sipped his tea. ‘I’ll see you in a bit.’

  Brewer headed for the front door first, where he’d put his Doc Martens in preparation for going outside. The style of ankle boot always reminded him of the hours he’d spent walking around in the dark, trying to track hikers. This pair hadn’t seen much walking yet and the material was still stiff.

  Brewer stood by the door and listened to the silence in the house. There were no murmured voices or quiet melodies of music from a radio. Nothing was stirring. He walked through the corridors to the back door near the kitchen. He could leave it unlocked for easy access once he’d scoped out the grounds.

  He stepped outside and breathed in the damp air. It wasn’t particularly cold so he didn’t need to go back in for a coat – his thick, navy jumper would suffice. His eyes roamed the gardens as he walked along the gravel path. The flowerbeds and lawns were carefully maintained although there was no sign of a gardener around.

  As Brewer walked, he had the uncomfortable sensation of being watched. The hairs rose on the nape of his neck and goose bumps prickled down his spine. He fought the urge to shudder and instead glanced casually over his shoulder. There was no one on the path behind him.

  His eyes flicked up to the house and he took in the vast number of windows looking back at him. Most of them were empty reflections of the sky, or the white of closed curtains, however a shadow twitched in one. His gaze only landed on the second floor window for a split second, as he started to turn his head forward again, but there was no mistaking who that small silhouette belonged to. Daniel was watching him.

  Brewer tried to prevent his body from stiffening and he kept his legs moving at a steady pace. He couldn’t let the boy know that he’d scared him. He had to keep walking slowly and ignore the deep-rooted instinct to break into a run. Sprinting away from Daniel’s gaze would only intrigue him – why would one of his father’s security team be running away at the sight of him?

  The maze loomed ahead and he fixed his sight on the perfectly trimmed hedges. As soon as he made it in there, he would be out of view of the house. He marched towards the opening and ducked into the maze without another glance back. He stopped behind the first tall hedge to catch his breath. If Daniel were still watching, he would just think his father’s bodyguard was checking out the grounds. Brewer couldn’t feel any intrusion in his mind so the boy hadn’t reached out to check for himself.

  The maze smelt heavily of wet evergreen and he could hear t
he occasional dripping of the branches. This maze was bigger than the one at the Grand’s house but it had looked fairly simple from the window last night; it wouldn’t take him long to get to the clearing in the middle then out the other side. What was that tip he’d heard on a childhood visit to Hampton Court – if you kept your left hand touching the left wall of a maze, you’d always find your way out?

  He walked to his left, following the foreboding hedge line. He hadn’t slept well the night before and his eyelids felt heavy. His mind had been preoccupied with their mission and concern for Ellen. He hadn’t been able to tell properly in the dimness of the bedroom last night but being so close to Daniel was taking its toll on her. Her skin had been pale at dinner and she hadn’t eaten much. He would feel much better when she was away from the boy.

  If all went to plan, this was the last full day she would have to spend with him. By tomorrow lunchtime, he would be dead and the reign of hikers would be over. He was positive that there were no more out there. The Grand’s family had been large but not enormous – the odds of there being another child out there who had been born around the time he died were slim. Children had been few and far between in the last couple of years of the Grand’s brood. Daniel was the last one.

  If there was still a solitary child of the Master’s smaller family in America then it hadn’t caused enough damage to make itself known yet. Brewer knew that even when Daniel was dead, he would never stop checking the news and looking for signs of them.

  At least Mitch could pick up the watch after he was gone. The man was far younger and he had the ability to hear them too. He hadn’t used the skill since that hiker had tried to drown him in a bathtub the day they took Ellen but Brewer could tell him what to look out for. He could leave specific instructions and send his journal for reference.

  Thoughts of his death were morbid, and hopefully it was far off in the future. Daniel’s death was the priority right now. Brewer emerged in the middle of the maze, where there was a white bench flanked by two oversized flowerpots. He strode across the space without stopping and entered the gap in the hedges on the opposite side.

  He twisted and turned, and occasionally hit a dead end. After a couple of minutes, he came to the opening he needed. From the back of the maze he could see the woodland to the right, where Marie had said there were tennis courts through the trees.

  He took a stroll over there to confirm it and didn’t need to go far. The woods were thin and he could see the courts from the edge of the trees. There wouldn’t be anything in there that would benefit them – the nature trail was their best bet. There would hopefully be thicker trees to hide in, or ridges to duck behind.

  The land around the house rose and fell in steep hills and a sea of greenery. The trail could be in any direction. He walked to the right first, towards some more trees. How far would Ellen be able to take Daniel? A mile from the house? More? If there were long hikes through the Chilterns then no one would expect them back for a couple of hours, which would give them plenty of time.

  Brewer walked through the trees for a few minutes, keeping an eye out for anything that would help their story. It was quiet and secluded, and there was no one else around. The bad weather and early hour was keeping people away. He didn’t know how busy the area got in October, nowhere near as popular as summer he hoped, but there was more rain forecast overnight, which couldn’t hurt. The mud in the woods was fairly thick from last night’s downpour and it would only get worse.

  Brewer spent the next hour hiking around the fields and climbing hills. His legs began to ache and his boots were coated in heavy mud but he’d seen several areas with potential. He’d found a children’s play area at the start of the trail that was made of natural logs and beams. The obstacles were dangerous and signs warned people to use them at their own risk. It was possible that Daniel could fall from one of the slippery logs and crack his head on another slab of wood.

  The only downside of the play area was that he couldn’t guarantee there wouldn’t be other children there tomorrow. Not unless it was raining heavily, although if it was, Marie wasn’t likely to let Daniel out in that either.

  He’d managed to walk to the top of one of the steepest parts of the landscape, which had a monument at its summit – another hazard for a small boy in the wet weather. He could slip on the concrete while climbing up to get a better view, or he could fall down the slope itself. Again, it was another plan that rested on the presence of other people. The slope was open and anyone approaching the top would be able to see what they were up to.

  The woodland areas were the wisest choice. He needed to be able to sneak up on Daniel without being seen. Some of the denser trees would give him that coverage. There were all sorts of tripping hazards in there too, with tree roots, stumps and brambles. He would discuss it all with Ellen when he got back and see what she thought.

  Satisfied that he’d made some positive progress, Brewer headed back to the house. The air was clearer and he’d worked up a light sweat with his brisk walking. His feet were heavy with the extra weight of the mud and he would need to give his boots a good clean.

  He kept his eyes on the windows as he approached the house but there was no one watching him. Daniel would be up and about by now and the Connors family had probably had breakfast while he was gone. If he could get Ellen on her own briefly, he could fill her in on what he’d seen. Putting it in to text messages wouldn’t reassure her as much as seeing the surety on his face. He was adamant that this plan would work. They were nearly through this final ordeal.

  Chapter 35

  Brewer glanced from Ellen to Seok then back at his plate. He opened his mouth to speak then closed it again. The only sounds were the scrape of Seok’s cutlery on his plate and the tick of a large ornamental clock in the corner of the room.

  The three of them were sat in a small dining room, along the corridor from where the Connors family were currently hosting their dinner party. Every now and again a particularly shrill laugh from Marie would drift down the hall to them.

  They’d been allowed to dine at the same time but on their own. The conversation between the three of them was awkward. There was so much that Brewer wanted to say to Ellen however he couldn’t with Seok there. They weren’t supposed to know each other.

  They’d asked polite questions at the start of the meal for show: where are you from, do you have a spouse or kids, how are you liking the job, etc. Now they’d run out of vague topics and Seok wasn’t contributing anything.

  ‘This beef is amazing,’ Brewer said to fill the long silence.

  They were eating the same main course as the dinner guests – beef wellington with red wine jus, fresh vegetables and dauphinoise potatoes. They’d been given a bottle of red wine to share but none of them had drunk more than a few sips yet. Brewer’s stomach was churning too much to enjoy the rich food. Ellen had blind-sided him just before dinner, when she’d asked Marie whether she could take Daniel out the next morning. She’d said that there was an Iron Age fort on one of the walks that she thought would be interesting for Daniel’s history studies.

  Brewer had been loitering around the corner in order to listen and he hadn’t expected that part. He’d thought she was going to tell Marie that it was to teach Daniel about wildlife and natural habitats – that was what they’d agreed via text messages. Now there was this Iron Age fort excuse that he hadn’t heard of. He hadn’t seen it on the route he’d taken earlier and he had no idea if it would be a suitable place for Daniel to have a convincing accident. Maybe she’d seen it online and decided it would be better?

  He was desperate to talk to her about it and from all his panicked glances, she was fully aware that he wanted to. She’d given him a brief hand gesture to tell him to calm down – patting her palms down as if she were motioning to a child. He couldn’t wait for Seok to leave so they could discuss it properly.

  ‘It really is delicious,’ Ellen agreed, cutting off another piece of beef.

  ‘Mm
.’ Seok gave an agreeable murmur.

  ‘How long have you worked for the team, Gi Joon?’ Ellen asked.

  The question was mainly a silence-filler but a small part interest. She was curious about this man, who seemed to keep everyone at a distance.

  ‘A year,’ Seok answered immediately however there was no further elaboration.

  ‘Do you enjoy your role?’ she pressed further.

  ‘Yes.’ He put another forkful of potatoes into his mouth.

  She had to settle for the fact that she wasn’t going to get any more out of him. Brewer gave a discreet shrug of his shoulders across the table – he couldn’t work him out either. He picked up his fork and carried on forcing food into his mouth.

  Without warning, Daniel’s voice filled his head and he jolted in surprise. There was a loud clatter as Ellen heard it too and dropped her fork in alarm.

  ‘Another helping of those cream-covered potatoes?’ Daniel tutted. ‘You really are a greedy bitch.’

  There was a masked spitefulness to his tone that Brewer had heard with many hikers before. This would be a passive aggressive attack on someone insecure.

  ‘No one will be interested in you if you keep packing on the pounds,’ the boy sighed with disappointment.

  Ellen’s eyes were wide with horror as she stared at him across the table. Deep down, they’d both anticipated that Daniel would try to attack someone at the dinner party but hearing his voice out of the blue was always surprising. Brewer forced himself to keep chewing the piece of beef in his mouth even though he’d temporarily forgotten how to swallow. Seok drank some more of his wine then picked up the bottle from the middle of the table.

  ‘Anyone want a refill?’ he asked.

  Ellen shook her head. Her lips were pressed tightly together and Brewer didn’t think she trusted herself to speak yet.

  ‘No thanks,’ he replied to Seok.