by Helen Phifer
He took a table in the far corner where he could see who came in and out. Picking up a menu he pretended to read it, he felt too ill to eat anything.
The woman came over with her notebook, ‘What can I get you?’
‘Just a cappuccino please, I’m waiting for my friend so we’ll order food when she gets here.’
‘Fine by me darling, you’re the first customer this afternoon, it’s been dead. I won’t be long.’
She walked away and he picked up a paper napkin, lifting it to his head to wipe the sweat which had formed on his brow. There were a stack of magazines on a coffee table near to him so he picked one up and opened it to look as if he was busy but he couldn’t concentrate because the words and pictures were one big blur. What was he going to do? He should cut his losses and leave town, he had money in a bank account under a false name so he would be okay until he could find another job, but part of him wanted to finish what he’d started. Could he live with himself if the priest didn’t die? He didn’t know if he could.
The waitress interrupted his thinking and placed a large mug of frothy coffee on the table in front of him. ‘I’m just out the back baking for tomorrow, if you want to order anything else just give me a shout.’
He gave her his nicest smile and she smiled back. It was funny how women found him so trustworthy, they had no idea that given the right circumstances he would kill them and think nothing of it. He emptied four sachets of sugar into the steaming mug and stirred. Now what am I going to do?
***
Jake stepped into the church, closely followed by Annie. The light wasn’t very good and the stench was even stronger inside. They couldn’t see John but a groan came from somewhere near to the front of the building and Annie took off running in that direction; this time Jake followed her. Annie could just make out John who was lying on the floor near to the baptism font. He was clutching a crucifix but what did it for Jake was the dense, black shadow of a huge man who appeared to be sitting on the priest’s chest. Its outline was human but Jake could see all the way through to the other side and he felt his legs turn to jelly. His feet froze to the ground and he was unable to move any further.
Annie rushed forward and saw Sophie standing near to the altar with a look of terror on her face, ‘Sophie, tell me what I need to do.’ The girl didn’t lift her gaze from the priest on the floor so Annie stepped in front of her, blocking him from view. ‘Please Sophie, he’s killing him and then he’s going to kill me. What can I do?’
Sophie pointed to the font. ‘I don’t know Annie, try throwing some of that holy water on him and saying a prayer, John was saying a prayer to St Michael when he got really mad. Do you know it?’
Annie racked her brains; she had heard John recite it less than an hour ago. Running to the font she pushed the heavy piece of wood that covered it to one side with such force that it clattered onto the stone floor, then she looked around for something to scoop the water into. On the alter was a gold communion cup. Running across to grab hold of it she plunged it into the cold water and filled it up to the brim and then ran back towards John and the scary thing sitting on top of him. John’s face was grey and his eyes had rolled to the back of his head. Annie prayed to God then, begging him for his help, and at that moment she believed in him more strongly than she’d ever thought possible. She aimed the cup and emptied the contents all over the shadow man and John. She felt a tiny, cold hand grasp her left hand and the words flowed from her mouth and Sophie’s at the same time:
‘Saint Michael the Archangel,
Defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.’
There was a cry from the shadow in front of her and it shifted from John’s chest, pulling itself upright, and turned to face her. Annie felt her hands tremble but Sophie squeezed tighter. The shadow moved until it was standing directly in front of her, its face millimetres from her own, and the stench was overpowering. Its red eyes staring straight through her own and down into the very depths of her soul. It opened its mouth to reveal a set of razor-sharp, pointed teeth and Annie had never felt so terrified. Another hand grasped her right hand, this was one much bigger, the same size as hers, and it squeezed tightly. She looked over to see a woman who was an older, beautiful version of Sophie smiling at her. The woman nodded her head once at Annie for her to continue and Annie began to recite the rest of the prayer,
‘May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do Thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
By the Divine Power of God,
Cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
Who roam throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Now get away from here, I banish you for all of eternity from ever coming into the light. You mother fucker go back to hell or wherever it is you come from and let Sophie go!’
The shadow man’s mouth snapped shut with a look of surprise that this woman could do what the priest had failed to do. His piercing red eyes, which minutes ago had been searching for Annie’s soul, faded to a very pale pink and he began to disintegrate, like pieces of ash from a fire blowing into the wind. And then he was gone.
John opened his eyes and tried to sit up; he looked across at Annie and sobbed to see her standing with Sophie and Beth on either side of her; finally good had united against evil. Annie looked at Beth as she whispered ‘thank you’ and then she stepped to the side and watched with delight as Sophie stepped into her mum’s arms. A warm, golden light encased them both and they glowed so brightly that Annie had to shield her eyes to keep on looking; hot tears began to roll down her cheeks.
John managed to drag himself up and put his arm around her. ‘Thank you Annie, you have done a truly wonderful thing.’
Sophie and Beth smiled at John, and again Beth spoke, ‘We’ll be waiting for you John, when your time comes I promise.’ And then they too were gone.
Tears fell from John’s eyes. Annie hugged him, then turned to face Jake who hadn’t moved one inch. His face was paler than Sophie’s, he tried to speak but all that came out was a mumble. John bent down to pick up the communion cup which had fallen from Annie’s hands and placed it back on the altar. ‘If only Sean could have such a happy ending. Come on, hadn’t we better get back to the house, there is still a killer on the loose.’
Annie grabbed hold of Jake’s elbow, pushing him forward to get his feet moving. She led him through the church to the door. It no longer smelled bad, the stench had been replaced with the sweet smell of the fresh flowers which adorned the end of each pew and they smelled of summer and hope. Annie had never felt so good. They had managed to send the shadow man back to wherever it was he’d come from and reunited Sophie with her mum. That was a truly wonderful gift and as scary as it was she felt as if she’d accomplished so much more in the last six months than she had in thirty three years. John lagged behind and she waited for him and then linked her arm through his. The presbytery was still locked up; Annie took the key from her pocket and opened the door just as a bleary-eyed woman was walking down the stairs.
Chapter 34
After almost two hours Will was beginning to get edgy. What if Sean had gone past and seen something was up? He might have no intentions of coming home tonight, what they needed was to get inside his house and get real proof that Sean Black was the killer. The DI agreed with him and began phoning the people who could get him a warrant, then he told the task force officers to come round ready to secure entry to the house once they had the go ahead. They couldn’t sit around much longer, there were officers stationed on each street corner watching out for Sean’s truck should he return in the middle of them searching his house.
Thirty minutes later Stu knocked on the window of the car waving a folded piece of paper at them. ‘Be nice to know what’s going on like? You sod off and leave us all wondering what’s happening and now this.’
‘Sorry but I couldn’t risk it getting out before I’d come up with something, you h
aven’t told anyone have you?’
‘Not a dicky bird Will, not even Kav, who has been looking for you for the last hour and getting in a shittier mood by the minute. He’s not going to be too impressed when he finds out what you’ve been sneaking around doing.’
‘Get in the car Stu and shut up, it’s on a strictly need to know basis.’
‘Yeah well I don’t know anything other than you just asked me to sneak around getting a warrant signed so you can go in and search Sean Black’s house, who by the way is off work today, rest days. I passed his truck two hours ago driving down Roose Road.’
‘Bollocks! Are you winding me up Stu, because it’s not funny if you are.’
‘No I swear it was him.’
‘Was he on his own, where do you think he was going? Are there any catholic churches down that way?’
‘I have no idea Will, but if you had told me what you were doing I would have known to follow him and tell you exactly where he went. Are you seriously thinking he’s the killer? I mean do you know what you’re saying – he’s one of us.’
Will wished everyone would stop reminding him that Sean was one of them, he felt bad enough about this and as much as he wanted to catch the bastard he was also hoping this was going to turn out to be some wild goose chase because it was morally wrong to even suspect one of their own of being a murderer.
‘I think so, from what Grace has said, and looking at the evidence it all ties in but your guess is as good as mine. I’d rather it turned out to be Mrs Plum in the library with a candlestick.’
Will passed the warrant to his boss who was now outside the car smoking the cigarette he’d blagged off the sergeant in Task Force, who himself must have smoked at least twenty in the last two hours.
‘Five years since I had a cigarette, five bloody years and this is the only thing I can think of to calm my nerves.’ He skimmed over the warrant, nodded at Will, then gave the all clear to the entry team. Within three minutes the door had been put through and the house secured. Will and Dave, who were now suited and booted, went inside. The house was clean, too clean for a single man, and very sparsely furnished. It looked like a show home, nothing out of place and all very modern; they went into the lounge where there was a sofa and a chair positioned to look out of the bay window. Next to the chair was a small table with two notebooks on it. Will walked across, picking one up he began to thumb through it. After several moments he realised it was a list of dates and times of when the other residents in the street came in and out of their houses. The other book was full of pictures of churches that had been cut from newspapers; he recognised St Mary’s and shouted over to Dave, who was bent on his hands and knees by the sofa. He looked at Will and Will waved the notebooks at him.
‘You can call CSI out Will, there are a couple of what look like strands of blonde hair down the side of this cushion.’
Will radioed the control room with his request and then he left the living room and went into the kitchen, pulling out drawers. They didn’t contain much but the last one he pulled out had some heavy-duty clear plastic bags and tie wraps inside. He left it sticking out so they could be photographed and wondered if this was what he had used. Matt had said the girls had died by suffocation, so it was a possibility. He opened the fridge, which was stocked full of chicken, fish, veg and other assorted healthy food. Sean was planning on coming back, he wouldn’t have stocked up if he was going to run. He moved a box of eggs and saw a prescription bottle of tablets – rohypnol, Sean’s back up if things went wrong or did he use it so they didn’t go wrong? He wondered if they should have waited until Sean came home before searching his house. Dave’s voice shouted from upstairs and he went up them to see him standing in the doorway to one of the bedrooms, his face somber.
‘Bloody good shout Will, he’s our man.’
He stepped to one side and Will walked into the small office, his eyes fixing on the corkboards. One each for Tracy Hale and Laura Bailiss. Each one was named after an angel. There was a third board with a name on and a couple of pictures of a blonde-haired woman who didn’t look a day past twenty three; Annie had been right, what if they were too late?
‘Fuck me, this is wrong on so many levels.’
Will turned to see Dave standing in front of an open wardrobe. He walked over to see what was wrong and saw the suit Laura had been wearing in the pub hanging up all neat next to another set of clothes which he assumed belonged to Tracy Hale.
‘Will, he is one sick bastard.’ The DI took out his phone and began a heated conversation with someone about making Sean Black top wanted and that he was not to be approached by uniformed officers. He finished his call. ‘Well Kav’s not too happy to put Sean Black as top wanted. As you may have heard he didn’t really agree with that last bit of advice and said he was going looking for him. He’s a wee bit pissed off we didn’t involve him in our enquiries.’
‘Kav will come round, he’ll be as shocked as we are. But it won’t take Sean long to realise we’re looking for him, he’s either going to go to ground or flip and I wouldn’t want to bet on which one.’
***
Sean finished his coffee and wondered if he should kill the waitress. No-one else had come in but he needed another car and could take hers. None of this was in his plans but he’d come to realise now that he was going to have to take some risks if he wanted to carry on. His hand had been forced and it there were any more deaths it wasn’t his fault, it was Will and whoever had helped him to figure out that Sean was the killer.
The waitress came out, balancing a huge Victoria Sandwich cake on a glass stand. ‘Your friend’s late, did they stand you up?’
‘She’s just texted to say she can’t get her car started, I’m going to go and give her a hand.’ He stood up and walked towards the woman who was busy sorting out the fridge to make room for her magnificent creation.
Ten minutes later he was holding her car keys in his hand. He turned the sign on the door to Closed and turned off the lights. Then, locking the door behind him, he strolled over to her car. This was a beautiful place, so peaceful. The sound of running water was very soothing and he thought that if he pulled the next two murders off he would leave and go as far away from Barrow as possible. Look for a small cottage in the country, one with a stream running through the garden. He could imagine stringing a hammock in a tree and lying there reading on a summer days, just like this. He would get all his groceries delivered, grow his hair and a beard and no-one would have a clue who he was; a fresh start.
He drove back into town completely avoiding the area that surrounded his house, taking the long way round and the busy road that cut through the industrial estate. He passed a couple of police cars but he had a baseball cap pulled low down on his head and sunglasses, none of them gave him a second glance. He knew they would be on high alert looking for his truck. He had purposely picked the most popular model so the police would be busy looking for every similar black truck in a five-mile radius. He had another hour before it was time to meet Sophie, so he parked at the back of Marks and Spencer’s along the side street which was permanently busy. It was a one-hour parking bay but the cars came and went so often it was hard to keep a track of them; he got out of his car and strolled around to the small shop on the main street near to the hairdressers. He got a bottle of water and a paper then went back to his car to wait, he looked like most of the other drivers who were waiting for the wives or girlfriends to finish shopping.
It was finally time for her to finish work and he drove around to pick her up. He could see her all alone inside the shop and wondered if he should just go in there and kill her but then he realised that was a stupid idea, how was he supposed to get her body out to the car without being seen. Subway was just a few doors down and it was always full of teenagers. He wasn’t thinking clearly and needed to get a grip before he did something totally stupid. She looked out of the shop window and he waved frantically at her from across the street; she grinned and waved back. Within a m
inute she was out of the shop, the door locked and crossing the street to get into his car. ‘Hiya, thanks for picking me up, it’s been a long day.’
‘No problem, I bet it has. Your poor feet must get so tired standing in the same spot all day. I was wondering if you fancied a change from round here and going up the Lakes? It’s such a beautiful night. This car isn’t mine, it belongs to a friend – he’s a priest but don’t let that put you off! I thought we could stop off for a bite to eat and then while we’re up there I can return his heap of junk and collect mine, which has been parked up outside the church in Windermere whilst his was getting repaired.’
He tried not to look at her whilst she made up her mind, it was a lot to ask and he didn’t want her freaking out but she nodded her head. ‘It sounds great to me, I love Windermere, it’s one of my favourite places. I love the pubs up there and I haven’t got anything to do tonight because my friends are either away at Uni or skint.’