Jenkins’ face hardened. ‘And I suppose you only ever had the boy’s best interest at heart, is that right?’
‘We just want a word with Brian,’ Ellen said. ‘We’re not here to upset him.’
‘Well you can’t,’ Wilson said. ‘He’s not here. You can see that for yourself. I don’t know where he is. I came over this morning to check he was okay, he’s been acting a bit funny this last week or so, but when I got here there was no sign of him.’
‘So you decided to have a snoop around while he was out, is that it?’ Dai asked.
‘And you are?’ Wilson asked.
‘Detective Inspector Dai Davies. I’m working on the case of a little girl who’s gone missing. Jodie Hudson – heard of her?’
Wilson frowned. ‘What’s that got to do with Brian?’
‘Where is he?’ Ellen asked.
‘How the hell do I know?’ Wilson said. ‘Jodie Hudson. Course I’ve heard of her. Been following the story on the news. Terrible business. But it’s got nothing to do with Brian, if that’s why you’re here.’
‘How can you be so sure?’ Ellen asked.
Simon smirked. ‘Well she’s not upstairs, I can tell you that. Besides, I don’t have to explain myself to you or anyone else. I think you should all leave.’
‘Maybe if Brian spoke to the two detectives,’ Jenkins suggested. ‘Then it would clear things up quick and easy.’
‘Maybe if you shut up and stopped interfering in other people’s business, then they wouldn’t be here in the first place,’ Wilson said.
‘Hang on,’ Dai said. ‘Listen. What’s that sound?’
It was faint at first. Growing louder. An engine. Someone was driving towards the house.
Ellen got outside just in time to see a dilapidated white van stopping at the side of the house. The driver, a giant of a man, she recognised instantly. The same man she’d seen hiding behind Wilson the day she’d spoken to him in Greenwich Park. Brian Fletcher.
13:51
Things were unravelling. His head was too busy with images and sounds. Mam. Marion. The Rainbow Parade. Trying to sort out the different girls he’d watched it with – Marion, Molly, and now the one who called herself Jodie.
Except he couldn’t even picture the other girls. When he tried, it was only Marion’s face he could see. Her smile, her voice, her little hand slipping into his big one, asking him to make her a crown of daisies for her princess hair.
‘Little bitch had it coming.’
Simon was still at the house. He knew she was there. That’s why he’d come. And if he found her …
Brian braked. The van swerved sideways. Pulling hard on the steering wheel, he managed to turn it around, accelerating back in the direction he’d just come from.
Things were going wrong, slipping out of control, like they always did. It wasn’t his fault. He’d been so careful, done everything the way he’d planned it, and now look at the mess he found himself in.
Your father shouldn’t have been so greedy. Didn’t want to share her.
With Daddy out of the way, Simon didn’t have to worry about sharing any more. He had Brian all to himself and, later, Marion. No, not Marion. Molly.
The police thought he’d done it, putting him through it again and again. Words he’d never heard before but knew, just by the sound of them, that they were bad words.
Sexual assault, rape, strangulation.
Simon did that. It was Molly’s fault. She’d started crying. Brian could still remember the look on Simon’s face when he heard her. All delighted with himself, like he’d just found a sack of gold or something. He’d gone up there straight away.
After that, he’d made Brian go back to the house in Higham and told him not to worry about her. Said he’d sort it out.
Sexual assault, rape, strangulation.
Stop! He couldn’t think about all that. Not now. He needed to concentrate. He was nearly home. All he had to do was get there before Simon found her.
The keys. What had he done with them? He’d need them to get into the shed. In the kitchen. He’d left them on the table. Even if Simon found them, he wouldn’t know what they were for.
Brian swung the van into the laneway. He could see the house now. Nearly there.
He skidded through the gate, switched off the engine, grabbed Daddy’s gun from the passenger seat, jumped out of the van and raced towards the shed. Then he remembered the keys on the table inside. He turned around, and that’s when he saw them.
Simon and a man he thought he recognised. The policeman. The nice one. What was his name? Two other people as well – a man and a woman. The man was tall with sandy hair the same colour as Daddy’s.
He opened his mouth to ask them who they were, what they were doing here. Simon stepped forward and said something, but Brian couldn’t hear him. In his head, Daddy was screaming at him, telling him he’d done it now. The police were here, they’d find the girl and then they’d kill him for what he’d done.
‘I didn’t do anything!’ Brian shouted.
But no one was listening to him. In his head, Daddy was still shouting, telling him to run. Simon was coming closer. Behind him, Brian could see the other man, the one who looked like Daddy, coming towards him as well. Not stopping to hear what either of them had to stay, Brian turned and ran.
13:52
‘Wait here for the back-up,’ Dai shouted. ‘I’ll catch Brian.’
For a big man, Fletcher moved quickly but Dai was fast too. The two men raced across the flat, open countryside towards a barbed-wire fence.
Ellen turned to Jenkins. ‘You stay here,’ she said. ‘Keep an eye on Wilson.’
She waited until Jenkins nodded, then chased after Dai and Fletcher. She didn’t like leaving Wilson. Didn’t trust the man an inch. But Fletcher had a gun. She couldn’t let Dai handle him alone.
Fletcher slipped through a gap in the fence and disappeared out of sight down a hill the other side. Seconds later, Dai did the same. By the time Ellen reached the fence, Dai was sliding down the steep, grassy incline towards the railway track at the bottom. Fletcher was there already, running along the track itself.
Ellen squeezed through the gap. Her jumper caught in something. Barbed wire. It scraped painfully along her back. She yanked the jumper free. A cold blast of air sliced her skin as she slid down the slope after the two men.
* * *
Daddy was chasing him. He was going to kill him. Brian ran as fast as he could but no matter how fast he ran, Daddy was there behind him. He thought Brian had killed Marion.
He ran for the train tracks, the only place he could think of where he might be able to get away. As he ran, a memory flickered through his mind. Sitting here one afternoon, wondering what it would feel like if he lay down on the tracks and let the train drive right over him.
Daddy crashed into him, and they both fell onto the tracks. Then they were rolling over and Brian could see Daddy’s face close to his. In his head, Marion was there and Daddy too. He was hurting her. Making her cry.
No more. Daddy wouldn’t make anyone cry again. He had him now, slamming his head against the metal tracks, over and over, making him stop. Keeping his promise so Daddy would never hurt anyone again.
* * *
She had almost reached the track when Dai surprised her by launching forward and tackling Fletcher, rugby-style, sending both men crashing onto the tracks.
Dai had the advantage, but not for long. Fletcher managed to roll them sideways so he was on top. He grabbed Dai by the collar of his jacket and slammed his head against the metal track beneath him. Then lifted him and repeated the action.
Ellen raced forward, screaming at Fletcher to stop. She saw the gun in Fletcher’s hand and stopped. Dai saw it too, tried to grab it. He missed and Fletcher dropped the gun. Fletcher’s fist flew up, swung through the air and smashed into Dai’s face.
There was a cracking sound. Dai cried out as blood exploded from his broken nose. Ellen was clinging onto Flet
cher’s back, her hands on his huge shoulders, trying to pull him off Dai.
Fletcher threw his shoulders back, putting the weight of his body behind the action, sending Ellen flying backwards. She landed heavily on the rocky ground.
When she sat up, Fletcher had the gun again and was pointing it at Dai.
‘No!’ Ellen dived for him, her body crashing into his. But it was like hitting a tree. He swayed but didn’t fall. A gunshot exploded, echoed across the empty fields.
For a split second, the world stopped.
Then Fletcher took aim again.
With the smell of burning in her nostrils and the sound of gunshot in her ears, Ellen lashed out, hitting wildly, trying anything that would stop him. She grabbed the arm with the gun, put all her weight into dragging that down, away from Dai. She bit into the hard muscles in his upper arm, her teeth sinking through the rough material of his shirt, biting into the flesh itself.
Fletcher cried out and the gun clattered to the ground. At the same time, his other arm swung around, punching Ellen in the side of the head, knocking her off his arm. Dazed, half-mad with fear, adrenalin and rage, she managed to grab the gun again.
Her head was pounding where he’d hit her, felt like it was going to explode. Her fingers tightened around the gun and she aimed.
‘Freeze! Stop right there, Brian, or I’ll shoot you.’
* * *
Someone else was there now. On top of him. Brian hit out, trying to shake off the person who had grabbed him. As he fought his way free, he saw the gun, got hold of it, aimed it at Daddy and pulled the trigger.
It was harder than he’d expected, the impact of the gunshot throwing him back so he nearly fell again. Hands grabbed him, fists pummelling his upper arm. Teeth sank into his flesh, making him shout out with the pain of it.
The gun fell from his hand and he shoved the other person off him and ran on, his only thought now to get away.
‘Freeze! Stop right there, Brian, or I’ll shoot you.’
Mam?
No, when he turned he saw it wasn’t her. A different woman. A flash of rage burned through him. What was she doing? He hadn’t hurt anyone. Why was she pointing the gun at him?
‘It wasn’t me,’ he shouted. ‘Why won’t you believe that? I wasn’t the one who hurt her. I’d never do that. It was Simon. He did all those things to her. I thought she was Marion.’
But she wouldn’t listen, just pointed the gun at him like he was the bad person, not Daddy. Not Simon.
* * *
‘I thought she was Marion.’
To her surprise, he stopped and turned around. When she saw his face, she winced. He was crying. Coming towards her now. Still talking. Still crying. Instinctively, she took a step back.
‘Don’t come any closer,’ she warned.
Suddenly, it wasn’t Fletcher in front of her. It was Billy Dunston. His head already half gone and she was holding the gun up, ready to pull the trigger again.
‘Please, Brian. Stand back.’
But it was like he couldn’t hear her. He just kept coming for her. She raised the gun higher, her hand shaking badly now, her head full of Billy Dunston.
Behind Ellen, there was a new noise. A roaring that started at the same time as the tracks under her feet started vibrating. Instinctively, she jumped sideways, off the track.
‘Brian!’ she screamed. ‘Get off the track. Now!’
He didn’t seem to hear her. Didn’t seem to notice the rumbling along the track as the train got closer. Dai dragged himself towards Brian, grabbed the big man’s ankle. Realising what he was trying to do, Ellen ran forward to help.
Brian stumbled but didn’t fall. His swung his fist at Ellen’s face. The impact knocked her off her feet. She staggered back, then crashed down to the ground, the back of her head smashing against a stone. An explosion of colour and pain and noise blocked out everything else.
And still the train was coming closer.
She dragged herself up to sitting. Saw Brian and Dai on the track. Brian on top of Dai, fist smashing into his face. Over and over.
Ellen’s fingers tightened around the gun. She aimed at Fletcher. Dunston was there again. Not just his face. The smell as well. The smell of burning, where the bullet hits the flesh, scorching it as it enters the body. She pressed her finger against the trigger, tried to pull it, but couldn’t do it. Head full of the stench of burning flesh. Vinny’s voice, a reminder of who she’d once been.
What you doing, Blue?
* * *
He was crying so bad it was hard to see, but he could feel Daddy, hitting him, pulling at him. Blindly, Brian lashed out, fists landing on Daddy, punching him as hard as he could.
Somewhere, he could hear screaming. That was blocked out by another noise, distant at first, then getting louder. Briefly, a shadow appeared in front of him, replaced immediately by Marion’s face. The crown of daisies was on her head and she was running towards him, laughing – a lovely sound full of life and love.
* * *
Ellen’s scream was no match for the roar of the train or the deafening screech of the warning signal or the screaming of the brakes as the driver tried to stop the train.
In a dreamlike moment, Dai Davies and Brian Fletcher disappeared as the blue and yellow engine of the huge freight train smashed into them, crushing their bodies into the railway track. Killing them instantly.
14.10
The train driver was speaking. She could see his mouth moving, but couldn’t make out the words. Her ears were still full of the sound of the train, brakes screaming as it ploughed into the two men. Behind the driver, lying on the grass like he’d casually kicked it off, was one of Dai’s brown brogues.
Her mind had fractured. All the different parts were working, but separately from each other. Images and sounds floating around that she couldn’t make any sense of. There was a woman as well, wearing the same blue uniform as the driver. Had she been in the train, too? Someone had wrapped a blanket around her shoulders and she hugged this around her body, but it didn’t seem to be doing any good. Wasn’t helping warm up the deep cold that had set in.
Cup cakes on the kitchen table. Pink packaging. A selection of old-fashioned children’s videos but no television. Tears streaming down Fletcher’s face as he came for her.
‘Jodie.’
She looked around, trying to force the different sections of her brain to click into place. This was important. Fletcher had said something. She had to remember what it was. She looked up. Somewhere, the other side of the railway bank, was Fletcher’s house.
She turned and started climbing the hill, forcing herself to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other. The train had cast a shadow over them, right before it drove over them. Meant that right at the very end, the only thing she saw was the shadow, not Dai.
At the top of the hill, she could see the house at the far end of the field. Something felt heavy in her hand and she looked down, surprised to see the gun still in it. She should have fired it. If she had, Dai wouldn’t have died.
From the house, a girl’s scream broke through the noises in Ellen’s head and suddenly she remembered. The blanket slipped from her shoulders as she ran towards the sound as fast as she could.
* * *
No children. Nothing now. My tummy’s sore but so is everything else so it doesn’t really matter. Cramps are getting worse. I suck my thumb harder because that helps sometimes.
Mum’s here now. Beside me on the bed, snuggled up close, stroking my head and whispering that I’m her little princess and she loves me and everything’s going to be okay.
‘I love you too, Mum.’
The words are only in my head, but I know she’s heard me because she smiles.
We’re on a picnic blanket. The sun is bright and even though my eyes are closed I can feel it, warm on my face. I have to be really careful and stay so still because if I move, even a teeny bit, then everything disappears: Mum, the picnic blanket, the sun, ev
erything.
Then there’s this big crash and it’s all gone anyway. I open my eyes and see him. Standing in the doorway, his face all red as he stares at me. It’s not Brian.
Now he’s coming towards me. His body’s blocked everything else out so it’s like there is nothing except me and him. I try to sit up, but he gets to me first.
‘Mum!’
I scream. Just once. Then there’s nothing.
His eyes are black.
The children’s faces are all white.
He’s too strong and I’m screaming again for Mum to come back, but it’s all inside my head and no sounds are coming out and he probably thinks I don’t even care that he’s lifting me. But I do. And his hands are crushing me. And I want him to stop because I can’t breathe. I think he’s killing me …
14:15
A man was lying on the kitchen floor. Ellen saw his feet first, and moved forward slowly, dreading what else she’d find. His body was face down, unmoving apart from the slight rise and fall in his middle when he breathed. He was wearing a navy blue, standard issue police uniform.
She knelt beside him, wishing she could remember his name. She shook him gently.
He groaned and his eyes flickered momentarily.
‘Where is he?’ she asked. ‘Where’s Wilson.’
But she got no answer. Whatever reaction her initial contact had triggered disappeared. She could see blood matted into the hair at the back of the head and guessed that Wilson had hit him with something. She looked around, trying to work out where he could have gone. Her eyes swept across the videos and pink box on the table. She frowned. Something was missing. Keys. There had been a set of keys there, right beside the videos.
Quietly, she pushed herself off the ground and moved through the house. Beyond the kitchen, there was a tiny hallway and a wooden staircase, leading to the upper floor. The kitchen was the only room downstairs.
Hunting Shadows Page 32