Gwen stood outside the barn with her eyes shut as she tried to will the memories to surface. All she could see was the look of horror on her children’s faces as she sat them down to explain why their father had been arrested.
You owe it to them to remember, I have to be sure it was Matt, I have to see it. There is only one piece of the puzzle missing. She opened her eyes and stepped into the barn, Blue followed at her heels. An image of Epworth and Carl Perkins danced before her eyes. The shock on Epworth’s face, then the anger. She took a deep breath and left the barn. I ran. She retraced her footsteps to the place where she fell and felt the pain in her wrist from the memory. I was so very angry, Uncle David’s revelation, Bethan lying about being ill. She clenched her fist as she walked towards the quarry. She could feel the fear and anger rising in her body.
She entered the quarry and stopped next to the trees that had shielded her from Epworth. I didn’t know what to do. Epworth had gone back to the mountain so it wasn’t safe to go that way. I couldn’t go home and face Mum and Uncle David, besides Epworth could have walked back to the village and be waiting at the gate to the footpath. As she continued along the path, the memories became vivid until she was no longer observing from a distance but reliving each moment …
She could see the shack up ahead. I can hide out there for a while. Her wrist throbbed, making her feel nauseous. She cradled it in her arm and looked down, she could see the swelling spreading to her hand. As she neared the shack she heard raised voices. She crept to the door and peered through the gap. Matt stood rigid, his face flushed and fists clenched at his side.
‘Please, Matt, I’m scared.’ Beth approached him.
What the fuck is she doing with Matt? Gwen forgot the pain in her wrist and pressed her face against the gap.
‘This is nothing to do with me. Do you think I’m going to let a little slut like you ruin my life?’ Matt sneered. ‘You’ve screwed most of the rugby team so the baby could be from any one of them.’
Gwen gasped. Baby? No, she would’ve told me. Her confusion gave way to anger. She’s been with Matt. Bitch.
A crack rent the air as Beth’s hand collided with Matt’s cheek. ‘Don’t think you are going to get away with dumping me now. I’m going to tell my father you got me drunk and took advantage of me.’ Beth’s face contorted with rage as she lunged at Matt and pummelled him with her fists.
‘Get off me, you crazy bitch!’ Matt tried to fend off her blows as she continued to punch and kick. He put his hands around her throat and squeezed until she stopped fighting.
He’s going to kill her, good. Gwen was mesmerized as she watched Beth crawling at Matt’s hands as she struggled to breathe, her eyes bulging. He’s actually going to kill her. She flung open the door and grabbed Matt’s wrist.
‘Let her go!’ she screeched at Matt.
Matt looked stunned. Gwen wasn’t sure if it was from her sudden appearance or that he realised what he was doing but he dropped his hands to his side.
Gwen looked at Beth, who was bent double gasping for breath, her body shaking violently.
‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’ Gwen turned on Matt.
Matt looked from Beth to Gwen. ‘I should’ve known you wouldn’t be far away, you’re just like her. Pair of scheming bitches.’ He turned and stormed out of the shack.
Beth’s breathing returned to normal. She straightened up and smiled as she rubbed her throat. ‘It’s just as well you came in. Were you following me?’
I can’t believe she’s acting like nothing’s happened, she’s been shagging Matt behind my back. Gwen felt the anger burn through her body.
‘Bastard!’ Beth ran her fingers through her hair. ‘We’ll get him. I’ll tell my father he raped me and that I was too ashamed to tell anyone. I’ll say I went to your house after and you helped me, gave me fresh clothes. Are you listening to me?’
‘No, you’re off your fucking head. I’m not lying for you.’
‘Some friend you are.’
‘Friend!’ Gwen felt her body tremble with fury. ‘You’ve been screwing Matt! He’s supposed to be mine. You’re a selfish bitch, you don’t care who you hurt to get your own way. You’ve never been my friend, you just used me.’
‘Is that what you’re upset about?’ Beth laughed. ‘You’ve been dreaming after Matt for the past two years. If you would’ve been less of a prude and opened your legs maybe he would have been interested. Anyway, I thought you were after dirty Hippy Winter.’
‘Don’t call him that. If anyone’s dirty it’s you. You’re nothing but a filthy whore!’
‘So you do like him.’ Beth stepped closer. ‘My father says we shouldn’t let his family live in the village. He says it’ll encourage more to come. Dirty hippies running wild, stealing. Is that what turns you on, a bit of rough?’
Gwen drew her hand back and slapped Beth hard across the face. She felt the sting on the palm of her hand.
‘Bitch!’ Beth lunged at Gwen and shoved her up against the wall.
Gwen felt a sickening thud as the back of her head impacted the axe hanging from the wall. She put her hand to her head. She could feel a gash and her stomach lurched. ‘Look what you’ve done!’ She showed her blood-covered hand to Beth.
‘Serves you right, you hit me first.’ Beth’s laughter filled the shack.
Gwen felt the blood drip onto her neck and fought against the dizziness. Uncle David, Epworth, Beth, I hate them all. She threw her body against Beth, knocking her to the floor.
Beth rolled over until she straddled Gwen. She gripped a handful of her hair and repeatedly smashed her head against the floor. Gwen put her hands up and tried to scratch at Beth’s eyes but Beth grabbed her injured wrist and began to twist.
Gwen yelped and felt around the floor with her free hand. When her hand met with a stone she grabbed it and with all her strength brought it crashing against Beth’s head. Beth’s grip loosened on her wrist and she toppled over. Gwen twisted her body until she was leaning over Beth.
‘I hate you!’ She smashed the stone against Beth’s head again.
There was silence in the shack; Beth lay still with her eyes staring.
‘Beth?’ Gwen shook her. ‘Beth, oh no, Beth, say something!’ Gwen got to her feet and looked down at Beth. Her skirt was bunched up, revealing her thighs, while her top was smeared with blood. She felt bile rise in her throat as she saw the blood leaking from Beth’s head and soaking into the ground.
I need to get some help. She backed out of the shack and onto the path, she couldn’t tear her eyes away from Beth’s lifeless figure. I’ve killed her. She could feel her body shake as she continued to back away. Her vision blurred as dizziness overwhelmed her. She felt her foot slip, and her body tilted backwards and the stone she held in her hand fell from her grasp and clattered against the cliff face before falling into the depths below.
I’m going to die.
She could see the leaden grey clouds drifting across the sky as drops of rain fell on her face. There was no sound other than her heartbeat ringing in her ears as adrenalin pumped through her body, kicking her brain into survival mode. She flailed her arms, trying to grasp at anything that would stop her falling, but only air swished through her fingers.
Time slowed as gravity pulled her down; she was falling, the air whistling through her hair. Fear froze her thoughts. She closed her eyes and waited for the impact.
As Meadows approached the shack he saw Gwen standing by the railing staring down into the ravine. Blue lay at her feet.
‘Gwen.’
She turned and stared at him as if he was an apparition. Pain filled her eyes. Blue stood up and wagged his tail.
‘I came up here because I wanted to remember everything that happened that day. For once I wasn’t afraid.’ Her voice was distant, she appeared to be lost between the past and present. ‘It must have only taken a few seconds for me to fall over yet it seemed like a lifetime.’
‘Do you remember what happ
ened?’ Meadows stepped closer.
‘Yes.’ She shrank back from him. ‘You know, don’t you?’
‘There was only one set of footprints at the edge of the ravine. Yours. Your blood was in Bethan’s hair and over her clothes as well as the floor. I’ve heard enough about Bethan over the last few weeks to know that she could be thoughtless and selfish. Then there was Matt, he was supposed to be yours. Everyone has a breaking point, a moment of madness. First you find out that your uncle is your father, then seeing Epworth with Carl Perkins, and to top it off Bethan is with Matt. You must’ve been in a lot of pain from your broken wrist.’ He wanted to give her an out, some sort of justification.
‘I was so angry that day, it felt like everything had gone wrong and my world was tumbling down and crushing me. I killed her. There’s no excuse for what I did. I’m so sorry.’ She sank to her knees and buried her face in Blue’s fur. ‘I honestly didn’t remember. All these years I have been afraid that there was someone out there responsible and the only person I should’ve been afraid of is myself.’ Sobs shook her body as she clung onto the dog.
Meadows knelt down beside her and placed his hand gently on her shoulder. He wanted to offer some comfort, tell her that everything would be OK, but he knew they would be pointless, empty words. It’s wasn’t OK and he was going to have to take her to the station and charge her with murder.
‘Come on.’ He pulled her gently to her feet.
She stood facing him. ‘How could I have done such a thing? What’s going to happen to me? What about my children?’
Meadows pulled her into his arms and stroked her hair as she clung to him.
‘I’m so sorry, Gwen.’
She looked up at him, her eyes searching his. She placed her hand against his face and he didn’t resist when she placed her lips on his mouth. He felt the warmth of her mouth, tasted the salt of her tears as he allowed himself this moment when nothing mattered but the two of them and what might have been. Reluctantly he pulled away, took her hands from around his neck, and held them for a moment before letting go.
‘Please let me take Blue to my mother and let me explain to her, I want her to hear it from me.’
They walked back to the village in silence. Sue Collier’s welcoming smile soon disappeared when she saw the devastation on her daughter’s face. Meadows stood in the kitchen while Gwen sat her mother down in the sitting room and knelt at her side. He observed them through the doorway, listening as Gwen went through the events of that day. He saw Sue crumple and Gwen fold her mother in her arms. He felt like crying watching the two of them. I could walk away, she’s not a danger to anyone else, but then Matt would likely go to prison for murder. Can I live with that?
As much as he disliked Matt Thomas his conscience won over. He stepped into the sitting room. Gwen looked up and nodded.
‘Mum, I have to go now.’ She untangled her arms from her mother’s grasp and stood up. ‘Please look after the kids for me, you’re going to have to tell them what happened. Tell them I’m sorry and I love them.’ She hugged Blue and handed the lead to her mother.
As they left the house they could hear Blue’s whining mixed with Sue’s howls of despair.
Chapter Twenty-nine
The light was fading outside the office as Meadows sat at his computer typing up the final chapter of the case. He felt numb. The interview with Gwen was just a formality; she didn’t want legal representation, just wanted to make her confession and take the consequences. Meadows couldn’t bear to hear the story again so he let Edris and Rowena conduct the interview. Now Gwen sat in a cell beneath the office. Tomorrow she would be moved. Meadows had been tempted to go and see her but couldn’t stand the thought of seeing her locked up. I’m going to have to distance myself, for her sake and mine.
Edris placed a cup of tea on the desk and pulled up a chair.
‘I’m really sorry about Gwen, it must’ve been difficult for you to bring her in. I don’t understand how it could’ve been missed in the original investigation.’
You’ve no idea how difficult. ‘Gwen had lost her memory and there was a dead girl with an unidentified DNA sample under her fingernails and signs of sexual activity. Matt did attack Bethan even if he didn’t kill her, the crime scene was compromised. It makes sense to assume that someone was in the shack with the girls and attacked them. Gwen was devastated by the news of her friend’s death, there was no reason to believe that she had anything to do with the attack, especially given her horrendous injuries.’
‘But you worked it out.’
‘Only because we had more information this time around. Gwen gave us most of the information and it was just a case of fitting all the pieces together. Even then, we nearly put an innocent man away.’
‘I don’t think Matt is completely innocent. He could’ve come forward at the time and if Gwen hadn’t walked in on him that day, who knows what would have happened? I feel sorry for the children, both parents in custody. Do you think that Gwen will get bail until the hearing?’
‘I don’t see why not, but then Matt could also get bail.’ Meadows sighed. ‘What a mess. He knows that we’ve charged someone with Bethan’s murder and it’s only a matter of time before he finds out that it’s Gwen. I dread to think how he will react. I expect under the circumstances there will have to be a restraining order to keep him away from Gwen. Maybe Gwen won’t apply for bail and stay in custody until sentenced.’
‘I think that would be best.’
‘It’s ironic, all these years Matt thought he was protecting himself by staying close to Gwen.’ Pain gnawed at his stomach. He picked up his cup and took a sip. He didn’t want to talk about the case anymore. ‘So I guess you’re going to go back to work with Blackwell.’
Edris pulled a face. ‘I would rather stay working with you if you’ll have me. If not, I’m putting in for a transfer.’
Meadows laughed. ‘I’ll see what I can do. Go home and get some rest.’
‘How about I buy you a pint?’
Meadows looked at Edris. Despite his initial reservation he had enjoyed working with him. If he’s going to stick around then I guess I have to get to know him. ‘That sounds like a great idea.’
He closed Gwen’s file, stood up and picked up his jacket. ‘Come on, let’s get out of here.’
Cheryl Rees-Price
The DI Winter Meadows Series
The Silent Quarry
Frozen Minds
Published by Accent Press Ltd 2015
ISBN 9781783759682
Copyright © Cheryl Rees-Price 2015
The right of Cheryl Rees-Price to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The story contained within this book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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