by Lynda Stacey
Ella tapped Josh on the arm and indicated over to Rick, who was standing around ten feet behind the rest of the crowd. Michelle’s parents glared at him, as they both sobbed uncontrollably. It was more than obvious that Rick wasn’t welcome. He looked stern, cold and almost as though he was lost in a nightmare that he had no chance of waking up from. His eyes were not fixed on the grave, but on a figure that stood in the distance. A figure that looked like Nina, but from this far away and with the driving rain, Ella couldn’t be sure, because the figure was partially hidden.
‘Look.’ Ella pointed. ‘Over there. Is that who I think it is?’ she asked Josh, who stood by a tree, discreetly taking as many photographs as he could. He carefully pulled the camera away from his face and looked in the direction Ella had indicated.
‘Who is it?’ he queried. He picked the camera back up and pointed it in the direction of the gravestone beside which she stood. He zoomed in and clicked. ‘Is that—’ He stopped, looked at the digital display and enlarged the picture. ‘What the hell is Nina doing here? I thought she hated Michelle. I remember Will saying so.’
Ella shrugged. ‘How should I know why she’s here? Besides, have you seen Rick’s face? He looks absolutely furious.’ She tapped Josh on the shoulder. ‘Look, he’s walking towards her.’
They both watched Rick. He walked past the head of the grave, briefly looked at the coffin, and then walked through the graveyard to where Nina stood.
‘Where the hell have you been?’ Rick grabbed hold of Nina’s arm, spun her around and paraded her away from the funeral. ‘You’ve been missing for days. You do know that you can’t just do that, don’t you?’ He paused. ‘With both Michelle and Tim gone, I’ve been doing it all on my own. Do you think that’s fair?’
‘Go to hell, Rick. I thought you were closing the place down.’ She looked up and spoke with tear-filled eyes. ‘I didn’t think you needed me. You always seem to need everyone else, rather than me. Now, I told you to get off me,’ Nina growled, pulling her arm from his.
‘Nina, of course I need you, God damn it. But remember I also pay your wages, which means that you turn up when the hell you’re supposed to. Do you get that?’ He looked her up and down and took notice of how she was dressed. Of how her coat was uncharacteristically dirty. She was drenched, her boots were covered in mud and her hair was wet, and greasy; she didn’t look as polished as normal and Rick suddenly felt concern. ‘Nina, are you okay?’
‘Get off me,’ Nina shrieked as Rick once again held onto her arm and practically dragged her across the cemetery to where his car stood.
‘What the hell are you doing here, Nina? You and Michelle, you were hardly friends, now were you?’
‘I came to pay my respects. Not against the law, is it?’
‘No it’s not. But I am surprised you came at all. Now. Where’s your car?’ he asked, looking up and down the street.
‘I got rid of it.’ She looked down at the floor as she spoke. She suddenly seemed to notice how muddy her boots were and pulled a tissue from her pocket, crouched down in the pouring rain and began to wipe them clean.
Shrugging he pulled her to her feet and marched her across to his car. ‘Here, get in there. You can polish your shoes later.’
Sarah paced up and down Will’s lounge, checking her phone for the twentieth time that minute. She stared out the window and through the driving rain that bounced on the pavement. She was waiting for her colleagues to arrive. Waiting for someone to confirm that what she’d seen on Will’s laptop was not just a coincidence and that, like it or not, Will Taylor was in some kind of trouble.
She felt the need to ring Ella, to tell her what she’d seen, but protocol forbade her. Right now, she had to do her job. Stick to the rules and follow the evidence.
Sarah had been working all morning. She’d borrowed Ella’s keys before she left and she’d sat for over an hour in her conservatory collating all of Ella’s evidence. She’d lifted one document after the other and studied it. There had to be a link. She was sure that there was something that connected all the deaths together. After all, could one person be so unlucky that almost every woman he’d ever cared about could die in so many strange or unexplained ways? Which left the question: was the person who’d killed Michelle responsible for killing both Rick’s wives? And how the hell was Ella connected to all of this? Why had she been beaten and how had she lived, when all the others had died? The questions spun around her mind like a fairground ride.
All that Sarah could really see was that if someone had hurt or killed them all then they’d ruined Rick’s life, just as much as if they’d killed him too. But that triggered the most obvious question, the one question she didn’t really want to ask: had Rick killed them and had he beaten Ella? It was a theory that went around and around her head, a theory that offered her no answers, especially after a jury had acquitted him.
Another thought crossed Sarah’s mind. Was it possible that Ella’s attack wasn’t related at all? The MO was different. No one else had been beaten. No one else had lived. ‘If Ella’s attack wasn’t related, then there could still be someone out there. Someone that still wants her dead,’ Sarah spoke out loud. The thought made her tremble and even though it was twenty degrees outside, she suddenly felt cold.
Again she thought of the evidence. Of how Nina’s face had tormented her from the newspaper clippings and now, back in Will’s cottage, she’d seen the picture on his laptop of Nina with her mother, stepfather and the car. Something wasn’t right. Sarah shook her head. ‘It couldn’t be, could it? What on earth would be his motive?’
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Nina paced around the edge of the lake and waited for darkness. She’d been standing there for what seemed like forever, not knowing where else to go. She looked down at her watch and knew that she’d have to wait for a few more hours before darkness would fall. She looked across to where Rick’s Outlander was parked between the trees with Rick, now unconscious, on the back seat. Another night, another victim.
She thought of the Golf, now burned out and dumped. She pulled at her hair and tore at the roots. She’d gone too far. Things had gotten far too messy. But then she thought about Will and felt an overwhelming sadness, followed by relief. She’d had no choice but to dump his lifeless body in a roadside ditch. She’d had to get rid of him. He’d seen too much. He was a reporter, after all, and she knew that without a doubt he’d have gone straight to the police. But then, she’d realised that it was the car that would lead to her downfall, not Will, and she’d had no regrets when she’d set the fire and the flames had finally taken hold.
She thought about her options. She had a plan. She had to convince the authorities that her stepfather was responsible. After all, the car did still belong to him, and no one knew that he was dead. In fact, by answering the fake phone calls, she’d kept him very much alive. Everyone would think that he was responsible. That he’d killed them all. He’d be blamed for everything and then, to top it off, he’d never be found. They’d presume he’d taken his own life and she, she would play the grieving daughter. She nodded. Yes, she could do that, she could sob for the cameras, beg him to hand himself in and then pretend to search for him herself.
A deep sense of ending took over her mind. She knew she was out of control. She was panicking too often, making too many mistakes and killing without thought and yet … a sly smile crossed her face, followed by a deep and evil laugh as she walked back towards the Outlander and peered inside. Rick lay on the back seat, his face pale grey, his eyelids fluttering.
It hadn’t taken much to drug him or to convince him to drink from her bottle, a bottle she’d pretended to drink from herself. After all, she couldn’t risk him fighting back. Not with what she had planned. He’d already ingested enough of the fluid to down an elephant and all she really needed to do was wait until he passed, and then … then she could bury him in the woods, right beside Pete. She’d got away with it before; she could get away with it again. Couldn�
��t she?
She was tired. She’d been awake for days. She was surviving on adrenaline and wondered if she’d have the energy to dig the hole. Leaving the Outlander behind, she walked back into the woods and stared longingly at the spade, wishing it were magic and would dig the hole itself. But then she began to laugh hysterically. The spade was old, it was the same one she’d used before and now it leaned against the tree, worn and battered with; for a moment she wondered if driving the Outlander into the lake would be easier. At least then Rick would be with her and finally they’d be together in death, as they should have been in life. She yawned and wondered what to do. She needed to sleep.
Nina looked up at the sky. ‘Come on darkness, we’re waiting.’ It was now late, but dusk still hadn’t fallen. She walked back to the car, to where still Rick still lay. She pulled open the door, climbed in the back seat beside him and rested her hand on his forehead.
‘If only you’d loved me, I wouldn’t have to do this, would I? And you do know that all of this is your fault, don’t you?’ She stroked his face. ‘We had a plan, me and you. It was all organised. All you had to do was love me, but you didn’t.’ Nina curled up beside him. ‘They all had to die, didn’t they? And then we … we were going to be happy together. But you couldn’t do it, could you? You never loved me. You kept looking for ‘The One’ and those other girls … when you could have just had me. So, you made me kill them. Don’t you see that?’ She smiled a half smile and stroked his face.
‘And Tim, he thought he could get away with taking all of our money too. But he didn’t. I got all the money back and the police … well, they’ll most probably find his body sometime soon.’ A deep throaty laugh left her. ‘I drugged his whisky. The whisky he hid in the filing cabinet, the whisky he thought no one knew about. Oh, he’ll have got home. He’ll have been so tired he’ll have curled up in his bed and I expect that is where they’ll eventually find him. So, no one wins, you see. All because you couldn’t love me as I love you.’
She searched around in the centre console of the car, found a pound coin and tossed it in the air. ‘Okay, heads, we drive into the lake. Tails, you go in the woods.’ She caught the coin, turned it onto the back of her hand and stroked his face. ‘Are you ready, my darling? Are you ready to hear your fate?’
A groaning noise came from somewhere deep within Rick and his eyes fluttered open and then closed. His mouth drooped to one side and Nina stared into his face. ‘Not your best look, my love,’ she said as she wiped his mouth free of drool with the back of her hand.
‘H-he-lp … me, pl-pl-leeeeeease,’ Rick moaned. His voice was faint and distant and Nina moved her ear close to his mouth to listen.
‘Of course I’ll help you, darling. That’s my job; that’s what people do when they love each other.’ She reached into a rucksack and pulled out a bottle. ‘Here you are, take a drink of this.’ The bottle was pressed to his lips. ‘I know you’re not feeling too well right now. But, I promise, this … this will help you sleep.’
She poured the cloudy liquid into his mouth. The more he drank, the drowsier he became and once Nina was satisfied that he’d had enough, she lay him back down and once again she curled up by his side. ‘That’s right. Cuddle into me.’ She closed her eyes. ‘We’ll wait here together, until it’s dark.’ She pulled a blanket over them both. Nina once again stroked his face with her hand. ‘If I can’t have you and if you won’t give me the chance to love you, then I won’t let anyone else have you. Is that clear?’ Nina closed her eyes, snuggled into Rick and waited for his breathing to deepen, before finally allowing herself to sleep.
It was dark and eerie in the back of the car when Nina woke. She looked at her watch. She took a few moments to enjoy the closeness that she shared with Rick and spent a short time just holding his hand, touching the finger where his wedding ring had been and tenderly stroking his face. He felt cold. Colder than she’d ever known and she listened carefully for the sound of him breathing. But there was nothing. She couldn’t hear his breaths and she jumped out of the car and gasped for air.
‘No, no, no, no. You have to breathe. Just one breath, please!’ She marched up and down, tearing at her hair, not knowing what to do. ‘You’re not supposed to die. Not yet. The coin said that we were going to drive into the lake. We were going to be together even in death.’ She looked at the spade and swallowed hard, just as a deep sob left her throat. She didn’t want to die. But what choice did she have? Nothing was left. Rick was gone and there was no one else in the world that loved her.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Will tried to open his eyes, but couldn’t. They were heavy, like lead. A bleeping noise began to annoy him and the smell of antiseptic filled his nostrils.
‘Where am I?’ He struggled to speak; his throat was sore. His breathing got faster and faster as panic set in.
‘Okay, Mr Taylor. Stay as still as you can. You’re in hospital. You were found by the side of the road in a ditch; it’s a wonder you didn’t drown.’ He felt his hand being lifted, his wrist being touched. ‘You’ve suffered a head injury.’ The voice was soft, gentle, and that of a woman. ‘It’s not too bad, don’t worry.’
‘What, road … what …’ He tried to think back. Tried to work out what had happened, but all that filled his mind was Ella; he could see her face, her smile and, most of all, he remembered her kiss. ‘We were … I was … Ella, I have to get to Ella.’ His breathing once again began to accelerate, and he purposely concentrated on slowing it down. He was in a hospital. But the nurse had spoken of a roadside. Had he been in a car crash? Surely not; if the car had crashed, how would he have ended up in a ditch? All he knew was that being in hospital wasn’t supposed to be the plan. Not today. Today … today he should have been with Ella. So, why wasn’t he?
‘Shhhh, try and relax.’ The voice came again and Will forced his eyes to open. He could just make out the woman, a nurse. She smiled down at him, while all the time looking at a monitor. ‘Now, your next of kin? We’ve tried to contact them, but the phone numbers are not recognised.’
Will once again closed his eyes. He could see his mother’s face, the flames that had engulfed his home and then … then he was standing by the graveside, where all his family had been buried together, and tears began to fill his eyes.
He tried to shake his head. ‘They’re dead. They’re all dead.’ He moved his hand to wipe the tears, but felt the nurse restrain him.
‘You have a drip in the back of your hand, Mr Taylor. We sedated you a little when you first came in, to monitor how bad the injury was.’ She gently held his hand down by his side.
Sedation? That explained the way he felt. The heavy eyes, the numbness and the need to sleep. But he couldn’t sleep. Not now. Now he had to remember what had happened. And then suddenly, like a flash of lightning, he saw the Golf. It was standing right there before him. He mentally turned around, visualising all that stood around the car. He saw the tarpaulin, the bloodstains and then … then he turned and saw … Nina.
‘Jesus …’ He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. Adrenalin coursed through him and, without a thought, he sat up on the bed. ‘I … I have to go.’
The nurse jumped back, and pressed a buzzer. ‘Can I get some help in here?’ she screamed as the room lit up with red flashing lights.
Will held up his hands. ‘Please. I’m not dangerous. I just really need to go.’ He looked down at his hand. ‘You said my injury wasn’t so bad … so you can take this out, right? Or shall I pull it out? I’d really prefer it if you did it for me.’ He held out his hand to her as four other nurses ran into the room. They stopped in their tracks as though weighing up what to do, all waiting for instruction, all waiting to pounce.
‘Mr Taylor,’ came the first nurse’s voice, ‘I’d strongly advise that you lie back down. The sedation you had should have begun to wear off, but to be sure, I’d give it another hour before you try and move.’ She stared into his eyes. ‘Please?’ She looked over at the incom
ing nurses, shook her head and watched them retreat.
But Will shook his head. ‘What time is it?’ He glanced through the room and to a window beyond.
‘It’s nine o’clock,’ the nurse confirmed. ‘You’ve been here most of the day. But I can see you’re determined to leave.’ She reached out, lifted his hand and took his pulse. She then sighed as she pulled the cannula from the back of his hand and wiped the area clean. ‘You’re not allergic to plasters, are you?’ She pulled a small plaster from a pack and as Will shook his head, she attached it to his hand. ‘Now you shouldn’t drive, operate machinery or make any life changing decisions, not for twenty-four hours. Do you understand?’
Will nodded in agreement. He did understand. But that didn’t mean he’d comply.
An hour later Will was unlocking his car. It was still hidden in the trees near Nina’s farmhouse and he stepped through the long grass to pull open the door. After locating his wallet in the glovebox, he paid off the taxi driver. And then, without thought, he jumped into the driver’s seat. His mobile had died some hours before and he plugged it in, only to watch it light up like a Christmas tree with messages and missed calls. Everyone in the world had been trying to get hold of him. He looked for Ella’s name. It was there, just before eight and then nothing. He knew she’d be angry and kicked himself for having left her alone. He should have told her where he was going. He should have left a note, a text or made a call. But he’d been so sure he’d be back, so sure she’d still be sleeping once he returned and after he’d watched the nightmares she’d suffered, he hadn’t wanted to disturb the only peaceful sleep she’d seemed to have had. But right now he owed her one hell of an apology.
He glanced back at the farmhouse as he drove away. He was still unsure what had happened there, of what Nina’s involvement was or how he’d ended up in the ditch where he’d been miraculously found. What he did know was that none of that had happened by accident. Someone knew the answers and he was determined to find out what they were.