by Joy Ellis
Nikki murmured some soothing words to Sylvia, assuring her that she was safe and they would soon get her freed, then she pulled Ben away. ‘Avril! We have to make sure they don’t lose her!’
She ran towards the stairs, calling back over her shoulder, ‘Gill! Look after Sylvia! Get an ambulance!’ Without waiting for an answer, Nikki, with Ben and Yvonne in hot pursuit, ran down the stairs, through the now empty hall, and out into the night.
* * *
Outside, the garden was in chaos. No one knew what was happening. One minute the hostage was safe, then the hostage was not the hostage at all, and now someone had run away.
Ben stood in the middle of the muddy lawn, trying to think. Something was prickling at the back of his mind, and then it came to him. ‘Ma’am, quickly!’
Nikki and Yvonne ran towards the 4x4, where Ben was waiting.
Nikki jammed her foot hard on the accelerator while Ben explained. ‘On the way to this lane I saw an old hatchback parked beside a derelict farm building. I’ve just remembered. It wasn’t there when we did that first drive-by!’
The lane was dark and rutted, and Nikki narrowly avoided hitting the hatchback, throwing Ben and Yvonne forward.
With its headlights off, it shot out from its hiding place, just in front of the Land Rover.
‘Ma’am!’ Yvonne pointed. ‘She’s heading for the seabank!’
Nikki turned, and the Land Rover’s tyres bit into the muddy verge. The hatchback appeared to be making for the drove that led up to the marsh, and the dead end of the seabank. Ben kept his eyes on the brake lights.
‘She’s turned off! Charlene’s taken the fen road to Quintin Eaudyke!’
Soon they were on the single-track lane, out through the dark and dangerous fen. Ben radioed their position to the other squad cars in the area.
‘This is one piss-poor route to take on a night like this! Lucky I know it,’ Nikki said.
‘At least she’s had to put her headlights on. We can see where she’s heading now.’ They rounded a sharp bend and crossed a wide, water-filled ditch. Ben held on tightly to the armrest.
The car rocked from side to side on a long bend. ‘How long were you on traffic, ma’am?’ Ben swallowed hard.
‘Long enough to drive a damn sight better than her! She just overcooked a corner and almost ran out of road. If I can push her hard enough, she might just lose it. Does this lane go where I think it does, Yvonne?’
‘Yes, it’s the back way into Quintin village. There’s one or two really remote outlying homesteads. Nothing else.’
‘So Avril’s finally going home.’
‘What for?’ said Ben.
‘Don’t try to get into her head, Ben. It’s too poisonous for the likes of you. She has her reasons. How far to Quintin, do you reckon?’
‘Two miles, maybe a bit less,’ said Yvonne.
Ben looked over his shoulder and saw pinpricks of light in the distance. More police cars were entering the fen.
They continued along the treacherous lane at breakneck speed. Suddenly Ben sat forward. ‘What on earth is that?’
From the black horizon over to their right, came two shafts of light.
‘Headlights?’
‘Could one of our cars be coming in from a different direction?’ asked Nikki.
‘No way, boss.’ Yvonne assured her. ‘That’s the very edge of the marsh out there. It has to be from one of the . . . hang on, that’s where Cyril Roberts lives, right out on the far point of the fen.’
‘Well, if that’s Cyril driving like that, we should offer him a bloody job! Look at those lights!’ Ben squinted through the windscreen.
The vehicle must have been travelling as fast as they were, on what was little more than a cattle track.
‘Ma’am? He must be almost at the fen lane, but he’s not slowing down,’ Yvonne said anxiously.
‘It’s a truck, a flat back pickup, and you’re right, he’s not going to stop! Good God! Look!’
Just ahead of them, the Toyota left the narrow track and ploughed, full tilt, up the grassy bank to the road they were on. With all the force of a goods train, it smashed into Avril Hammond’s hatchback.
Nikki brought the car to a halt at the very moment the two vehicles exploded in a giant ball of fire.
Time stood still, and no one spoke. Then they leapt from the Ford and ran towards the twisted mass of burning metal. They could get nowhere near the blazing vehicles. The intense heat came at them in waves, blown towards them by the breeze from the Wash.
‘Ben! Over there, on the bank!’
He found Cyril Roberts lying in the long, soaking wet grass of the bank at the side of the lane. There was a crescent shaped gash on his forehead, and his head seemed to be bent at an odd angle.
‘Dead, ma’am. Came through the windscreen by the look of it. Neck’s broken.’ Ben knelt down beside the body. ‘Whatever were you trying to do, you crazy old coot?’
He felt Nikki’s hand on his shoulder. ‘I think he knew exactly what he was trying to do, my friend. And a most spectacular job he made of it too.’
* * *
The flames lit up the fen, and soon several police vehicles were drawing up at the scene. Nikki walked up to the top of the bank and watched the men and women talking excitedly on their radios or pointing to the entangled truck and car.
So it was all over. Avril Hammond did not, in the final instance, leave this world on her own terms. Her father’s best friend had avenged his death and for once in her life, Avril could not manipulate or alter the course of events. And she hadn’t gone out in a blaze of glory. Nikki smiled grimly. It had just been a blaze.
EPILOGUE
St Augustine’s Church
Christmas
In the new part of the cemetery, two recent headstones glittered in the early morning frost. There were no mourners gathered around them, just some friends who had come to pay their respects.
On one of the graves, Cat and Ben placed a wreath of fresh holly and pine, adorned only with a cluster of pine cones, a red ribbon and a small card. It said that Cyril was held in affectionate remembrance. On the other was a single bunch of white lilies.
They stood for a while, and then Cat looked up to the old church behind her. The winter sun had caught the facets of the great windows which twinkled like a thousand crystal raindrops. The church looked as it should, a welcoming haven, a shelter from the storm, and a safe place to be.
She heard voices raised in quiet laughter.
‘And by next winter we will have a completely new heating system! No more preaching to a congregation of Eskimos!’ Father Aidan stood with Joseph and Dave, his face alight with pleasure.
Nikki appeared next to Cat. ‘So your friend left all his money to St Augustine’s?’
Cat smiled. ‘On the understanding that Father Aidan would give Cyril’s old friend, Gordon Hammond, a proper funeral service and a proper grave, with a carved headstone and a marble surround. The rest could go to the restoration of the church. Nothing at all for his dear daughter, Delia.’
‘And she won’t need it where she’s going, will she? I wonder how long she’ll get for perverting the course of justice?’ Nikki pushed the hair from her face, and her eyes flashed. ‘I find it hard to believe that she knew about Avril, and what she got up to, for so long. She was as bad as Avril in some ways.’
Cat nodded and rubbed her cold hands together. ‘All to keep her top job and fantastic income. She was never afraid of her old friend. She faked her injuries and fooled her parents, but she was never a victim.’
‘No, and it seems that when Avril returned to Greenborough as Charlene Crawford, Delia told her friend that she could do as she pleased, as long as she left her alone. Other than Sally, Delia was probably the only person that Avril ever respected, if indeed she was capable of respect. She certainly admired strength, be it for good or for evil, so Delia was never really in danger. I don’t think she was ever an actual accomplice, but she was callous enough to a
ccept the awful things that Avril did. ’
They stood in thought for a moment, then Nikki said, ‘I can’t help wondering what would have happened if you had contacted Cyril earlier and warned him to lock himself in until we caught her.’
‘Me too, ma’am. I only got hold of him after you and Ben took off across the fens like bats out of hell! I was frightened that she was going to hurt Cyril, so I told him exactly what I’d just heard on my radio. I had no idea he would turn the tables on her!’
Nikki watched a robin land on the Hammond headstone, tilt its head to one side and stare intently at them. ‘Some say that robins are messengers from souls that have passed over.’
Cat looked at the bird and smiled. ‘Well, perhaps he’d be kind enough to tell Gordon that he can finally rest in peace.’
The tiny bird burst into song, and then, with the final few notes lingering in the morning air, it spread its wings and flew away.
THE END
OTHER BOOKS BY JOY ELLIS
THE BEST-SELLING NIKKI GALENA SERIES
Book 1: CRIME ON THE FENS
Book 2: SHADOW OVER THE FENS
Book 3: HUNTED ON THE FENS
Book 4: KILLER ON THE FENS
Book 5: STALKER ON THE FENS
Book 6: CAPTIVE ON THE FENS
Book 7: BURIED ON THE FENS
JACKMAN & EVANS
Book 1: THE MURDERER’S SON
Book 2: THEIR LOST DAUGHTERS
The DI Nikki Galena books
CRIME ON THE FENS
https://www.amazon.co.uk/CRIME-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01H98SG5G/
https://www.amazon.com/CRIME-gripping-detective-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01H98SG5G/
A NEW CRIME THRILLER WITH A COMPELLING DETECTIVE WHO WILL STOP AT NOTHING TO AVENGE HER DAUGHTER
DI Nikki Galena Book 2
SHADOW OVER THE FENS
https://www.amazon.co.uk/SHADOW-gripping-crime-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01HHA49SY/
https://www.amazon.com/SHADOW-gripping-crime-thriller-suspense-ebook/dp/B01HHA49SY/
TWO BRUTAL KILLERS ARE LOOSE ON THE FENS BUT WHO CAN DI NIKKI GALENA TRUST?
Detective Nikki Galena’s friend and neighbour meets a tragic end but there’s more to his death than meets the eye . . .
And someone terrible from DS Joseph Easter’s past is back . . .
NIKKI GALENA BOOK 3
HUNTED ON THE FENS
A vicious criminal is targeting DI Nikki Galena and her team. One by one he will hunt them down and destroy their lives, unless she can stop him first
https://www.amazon.co.uk/HUNTED-gripping-crime-thriller-twists-ebook/dp/B01IYIDWCM/
https://www.amazon.com/HUNTED-gripping-crime-thriller-twists-ebook/dp/B01IYIDWCM/
JACKMAN & EVANS BOOK 1
THE MURDERER’S SON
https://www.amazon.co.uk/MURDERERS-gripping-crime-thriller-twists-ebook/dp/B01LWY0PUJ/
https://www.amazon.com/MURDERERS-gripping-crime-thriller-twists-ebook/dp/B01LWY0PUJ/
"What if your mother was a serial killer?"
A BLOODY KILLER SEEMS TO HAVE RETURNED TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE FENS
A gripping standalone crime thriller by the best-selling author of the Nikki Galena series.
Twenty years ago: a farmer and his wife are cut to pieces by a ruthless serial killer.
Now: a woman is viciously stabbed to death in the upmarket kitchen of her beautiful house on the edge of the marshes.
Then a man called Daniel Kinder walks into Saltern police station and confesses to the murder.
Character List
Detective Inspector Nikki Galena
Nikki is a brave, honest and dedicated police officer who started at the bottom and clawed her way up through the ranks. Although once a loner, hardened by personal tragedy and some of the terrible cases that she has dealt with, the formation of a new, close-knit team has given her drive and enthusiasm.
She is based in the Lincolnshire Fens and her ‘patch’ includes miles of agricultural farmland, massive stretches of dangerous marshes and Greenborough, a big market town with as many criminals as some urban areas. Nikki is divorced and her only child Hannah died tragically in her teens.
Detective Sergeant Joseph Easter
Joseph had a middle-class upbringing, good education, went to university and then left to join the military. He keeps this fact a secret from most of his colleagues as he became bitterly disillusioned after an operation went wrong and innocent people died.
He has a quiet way and a calm, reasonable attitude, and he is completely unaware that he is a very attractive man. He is divorced from wife, Laura, and has one daughter Tamsin, who has recently married one of the uniformed officers, PC Niall Farrow. Joseph lives in a small cottage close to Nikki’s farmhouse on Cloud Fen, and over the years they have become close friends.
Detective Caitlin ‘Cat’ Cullen
Cat is tough and shrewd and the most streetwise copper on the team. Since joining Nikki’s team she had redeemed a failing career and is now an excellent and dedicated detective. Cat is a chameleon and works brilliantly undercover. Nikki recognises her skills and knows that she can trust her. One of Cat’s strengths is that once she gets her teeth into a problem she never gives up. Another is her keen interest in technology and computer skills. After a string of failed romances she is now going out with a new member of Nikki’s team, DC Ben Radley, and for the first time in years, is happy.
DC Dave Harris
Dave is good old cop and a proud man who chose to hide serious family problems in order to cope alone. Nikki found out about his background, helped and protected him, and now he has repaid her with years of faithful service. He brings with him a wealth of local knowledge and old-style intuitive policing, and although he is approaching retirement, intends to return to the team as a civilian interviewing officer.
DC Ben Radley
Recently transferred from Derbyshire, both to work with Nikki, whom he admires enormously, and to be closer to Cat Cullen. Ben is a tough-looking man, but beneath the hard exterior he is a very sensitive and caring policeman. He, like Nikki, lost his only daughter and his marriage ended in divorce. He is determined to make his mark and become a valued member of the team.
WPC Yvonne Collins
Yvonne has spent almost two decades as a uniformed officer on the streets of Greenborough. Although a highly decorated police woman, she loves being a ‘beat bobby’ and knows more about the town and the surrounding Fens than anyone else on the force. She has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the law, but relies on her good instincts that come from experience. She lives alone, and has recently lost her old dog, Holmes.
Superintendent Greg Woodhall
Greg is struggling to keep Greenborough afloat through all the changes that are hitting the police force. He was a good solid copper, so understands the problems that the working men and women go through, and does his best to support them, even though tied up with red tape. He is a quiet supporter of Nikki and her team. He knows that her methods can be a little gung-ho, but she gets results, and Greg likes that.
Sarah ‘Spooky’ Dukes
Spooky is an old friend of Nikki’s. She started her police training, then gave up to go into computer technology. She now runs a new specialised civilian IT unit based at Greenborough Police Station. She is in her late thirties and lives with her partner Angie Blissett in Greenborough town.
DI Gill Mercer
Gill is another detective inspector who works alongside Nikki in Greenborough CID. They are good friends and allies and get along well working occasional cases together. She is married with two grown-up children. At present she is trying to rebuild a new team, after losing several of her detectives through illness and retirement, and one who turned ‘rogue.’
Professor Rory Wilkinson
Rory is the area’s Home Office pathologist, and after being closely involved with Nikki Galena in some terrifying cases, he has become her friend. He lives with his partner, David
. He has a wicked, dark sense of humour, but is fiercely intelligent and treats all the souls that end up in his care with the utmost respect and sensitivity.
Dr Sylvia Caulfield
Sylvia is a medical doctor and GP for the West Salterby area. She is a charismatic woman, tall and imposing, and wears distinctive brightly coloured clothing. She is a tireless charity worker, and organises and hosts a variety of events to support Greenborough hospital and other local charities. She will always go the extra mile for her patients, and few dare to contradict her opinions, or refuse her demands for charity donations!
Dr John and Mrs Linda Draper
Now an elderly couple, they have lived for most of their married life in Quintin Eaudyke. John is still the local GP and tries to look after the strange rural community of suspicious and taciturn Fenlanders. His wife, Linda, is a motherly sort of woman, deeply caring about children, despite having none of their own. She is, and has always been, hugely supportive to her husband, and has seen him through some very dark days in Quintin Eaudyke.
Glossary of English Slang for US readers
Abdabs: anxiety
A & E: Accident and emergency department in a hospital
Aggro: violent behaviour, aggression
Air raid: an attack in which bombs are dropped from aircraft on ground targets
Anorak: nerd (it also means a waterproof jacket)
Artex: textured plaster finish for walls and ceilings