Breath of Life (9781476278742)

by Ellis, Tim

  Parish pushed Richards along the aisle with his good hand. At the end of the aisle they turned right, and ran towards the back of the hall.

  ‘You nearly got me killed then, Richards.’

  ‘Sorry. I saw that in a movie once.’

  ‘Movies aren’t real life, you know.’

  ‘Aren’t we going the wrong way?’

  ‘In an ideal world I’d like to use the Chief’s lift key to get out of here, but that isn’t going to happen. Those two thugs came in through the tunnels. The metal gate must be open, and there must be a way out.’

  ‘But... the Chief said that anyone who goes into the tunnels never gets out alive.’

  ‘You stay here then, try and talk some sense into Sir Vic. I’ll see you on the other side.’

  ‘You know I’m not going to stay here.’

  ‘Then stop whinging. Christ, you could whinge for England.’

  ‘Sometimes...’

  ‘You’re lost for words?’

  ‘Something like that.’

  ***

  The contractions had started hours ago after the Kincaid woman had left them. Now they were coming every three minutes, and lasting about a minute each time. She had a vague recollection of the pain that she’d suffered during Mary’s birth, and it was nothing like this.

  ‘It won’t be long now,’ the midwife said.

  ‘You think I don’t know that?’

  ‘Women giving birth are always horrible to the midwife, so feel free to tell me what you think of me.’

  Angie smiled. ‘Will it help with the pain?’

  ‘Not one iota.’

  She lay on the disgusting stained mattress in the filthy damp cellar with her legs spread. This was not how she’d imagined giving birth to her new baby. But it wasn’t her baby. It never would be her baby now. Another wave of pain gripped her insides.

  ‘As each contraction tails off, rest and try to bring your breathing under control.’

  ‘Very helpful.’

  ‘You remember the breathing exercises during the classes. Breathe in through you nose, try to hold it a short time, and breathe out slowly through your mouth.’

  ‘Does any of that crap actually work?’

  ‘No, but it give us something to say, and you something to do.’

  ‘And you haven’t brought any Entonox for the pain?’

  ‘This wasn’t exactly a planned visit.’

  ‘Oh God! Here comes another one.’

  ‘Yes, very good... Try not to push yet. Your cervix is only open about four centimetres. We have a while to go before the baby is ready.’

  ‘I’m ready now. I mean, who’s the boss here?’

  ‘Yes, you’ll find that you transferred control of your body over to the baby as soon as you decided to get yourself pregnant at your age... What were you thinking, Angela Parish?’

  ‘It’s a bit late to berate me for getting pregnant, Marveen. In fact, probably nine months too late. Oh God! Here’s another one. I have pain everywhere.’

  The cellar door opened and Karen Kincaid walked down the steps. ‘Good, it’s started.’

  ‘How long?’ she aimed at Hollingsworth.

  ‘It’s hard to say.’

  ‘Do you want me to hit you with the chain again?’

  ‘About two hours.’

  Karen Kincaid looked at her watch. ‘I think I’ll go and have a lie down. I didn’t know giving birth was so tiring. Try not to make too much noise, bitch,’ she threw at Angie. ‘I’ll bring hot water and a towel for the baby at about three o’clock.’

  She climbed the steps and shut the door.

  ‘Oh God!’ Angie said. ‘What are we going to do?’

  ‘You’re in no fit state to do anything except what you’re already doing. And even if you weren’t in the process of giving birth, we couldn’t do anything with these collars and chains round our necks anyway. I hate to say it, but I can’t see any way out.’

  She was drenched in sweat and her clothes were filthy. How had this happened? She would like to have blamed Jed and his job for her predicament, but it had nothing to do with that. It was that crazy woman’s fault.

  Another contraction wracked her body with pain.

  ‘It’s coming. I’d say you were dilated about five centimetres now.’

  ‘Knowing how much my cervix is dilated is not helping, Marveen.’

  ‘Some women like to know.’

  ‘I’m not one of them.’

  ‘Do you have a name for the baby?’

  ‘We did, but he’ll never know it now, will he? When she takes him away from me she’ll give him another name.’ Even after she’d promised herself she wouldn’t, she began to cry. The tears ran down the side of her face onto the dirty mattress. ‘He’ll never know who his real mother and father were. All he’ll ever know is that crazy bitch is his mother.’

  A wave of pain made her cry out. ‘Oh God! It’s getting worse.’

  ‘It will... It’ll get a lot worse before it gets better.’

  ‘Do you get paid for saying things like that?’

  ‘You’re obviously having delusions if you think what the NHS pays us constitutes a living wage.’

  ‘I don’t know if I can cope with another two hours of this.’

  ‘I was hoping you’d be in labour for at least two days, it’s the only thing keeping the two of us alive.’

  ‘Another one... Owwwwww!’

  ‘Don’t push. If you push now, the baby will end up with one of those flat heads. You’ll be pushing his skull onto an unyielding cervix. That’s why we need to know the diameter of the opening. When it’s open ten centimetres then you can push, but not before.’

  ‘It’s easy for you to say.’

  ‘I know. Helping babies to be born is the best job in the world. Sadly, your baby will be the last that I give the breath of life to.’

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  It was an hour and ten minutes before Toadstone rang them back. ‘We think there’s one place that she might be...’ He told Kowalski about the last cottage on the left on West End Road, just before Wormley Wood – five miles out of Wormley. ‘And we’ve obtained a satellite picture from earlier – there’s a vehicle parked up outside.

  ‘How come we never found it?’

  ‘Kincaid never lists it on any paperwork. His mother re-married, and therefore his parents weren’t called Kincaid. They also died intestate... It’s complicated, but apart from somewhere completely unknown to us, that’s the best we’ve got.’

  ‘Okay, we’re on our way, and while you’re on the phone you do realise I call you Toady because I like you? It’s a term of endearment. I wouldn’t call just anybody Toady, you know.’

  ‘I know that, and thanks, Sir.’

  ‘Hey, I’m the one who should say thanks. You might just have saved Angie’s life, and that of the baby.’

  ‘I certainly hope so.’

  The call ended.

  ‘Wormley is where this case began,’ Lola pointed out. ‘The landlady at The Snooty Pig.’

  ‘So it is.’

  ***

  They reached the gate. It had been cast from wrought iron, and filled the arched opening. It was unlocked, and the key was in the lock. The design in the centre of the gate was the freemason symbol – a square and compasses – but with P2 inside.

  After entering the tunnel Parish shut the gate, locked it, and put the key in his pocket.

  ‘Left or right?’

  ‘Left... No, right... No, left...’

  He turned right.

  Richards followed.

  ‘It’s a bit dark in here.’

  He stopped.

  She banged into the back of him.

  ‘Ow! Will you watch where you’re going. Remember that I’m a walking casualty.’

  ‘It’s your own fault for stopping so suddenly. You should give me some warning. You know, like an announcement, or something.’

  ‘Don’t be stupid. Here, help with the rucksack.’


  She eased the strap over his injured arm. ‘I don’t think I’m hungry just yet.’

  ‘But I bet you’d like a torch?’

  ‘Ah! Yes, please.’

  ‘Are you still carrying that gun?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘You’d better give it me before you kill a rat or something.’

  ‘Oh God! Are there rats in here?’

  ‘Can you hear any? Do you see any burning red eyes hopping about? Can you feel them crawling up your legs?’

  ‘There are no rats in here. You’re just trying to wind me up.’

  She handed him the gun. He applied the safety catch and slipped it into his jacket pocket. She then took out the two torches and passed one to him.

  ‘You can carry the rucksack now, but pass me a chocolate bar before you put it on. All this blood loss has made me hungry.’

  She shone the light at his arm. ‘Oh God! We’d better find an exit soon before you run out of blood. I don’t want to be down here on my own.’

  ‘Thanks for your concern.’

  ‘You’re welcome.’

  When they shone the torches all they saw was a brick arched tunnel that seemed to go on forever. There were other tunnels to the left and right, but they decided to keep going in a straight line. As soon as they veered off they’d be lost. At least, they reasoned that if they couldn’t find a way out they could always re-trace their steps.

  Parish sniffed. ‘Can you smell burning?’

  ‘I was hoping I was mistaken.’

  ‘Yes, there’s a fire.’

  ‘Bradshaw’s destroying all the evidence, isn’t he?’

  ‘I’m not bothered about that. What I am bothered about is that the smoke will follow us up this tunnel.’

  ‘Oh God! We’re going to die of smoke inhalation down here, aren’t we?’

  ‘Stop being a drama queen. Move a bit faster.’

  ‘What if there’s no exit in this direction. What if we come to a dead end? What if...’

  ‘What if you shut up and give me a bit of peace and quiet?’

  ‘I can do that.’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘You’re welcome.’

  ‘You always have to have the last word, don’t you?’

  ‘No.’

  ***

  He’d failed. He would like to have phoned Olivia, and maybe had a few words with the children, but there was no signal down here. He knew that if he returned to the surface to make the call, he’d never come back down again.

  Parish and Richards might escape through the tunnels, which would no doubt cause chaos among the P2 members. His failure wouldn’t be tolerated by the Worshipful Grandmaster. The best thing he could do for all concerned was to destroy the evidence and throw himself on his metaphorical sword.

  He began making a bonfire in the middle of the tables, and then set fire to it. As the fire took hold, he threw more and more of the paperwork from the shelving into the pyre.

  But there was only one of him, and such a lot of shelving with papers that had accumulated over so many years would take one man an age to put on the fire. He began making paper trails to the other shelves, and then between shelves, but it was like pissing into the wind.

  After creating a torch he moved around the paper trails and lit each one. Soon, tables and shelves had caught fire and the heat was terrific.

  He had an idea that burning to death would be quick. After the initial searing pain, he hoped he would be unconscious and then die very quickly.

  It wasn’t something he wanted to do, but he knew that if didn’t kill himself he would be sacrificing his wife and children, and then they would still kill him. At least this way, Olivia and the children would be safe.

  The hall had filled up with smoke and fumes. He could hardly see or breathe. It was time to go. If he didn’t do it now, he never would. He walked into the fire.

  ***

  The cellar door opened. Karen Kincaid walked down the steps carrying a bowl of hot water, a fleece blanket, and a towel over her right arm.

  ‘If I thought you were delaying the birth of my baby because of what I’m going to do to you afterwards, you’d make me very angry.’

  ‘The baby is coming now,’ the midwife said. ‘She’s just coming out of the rest and be thankful phase.’

  Angie knew she couldn’t hold onto him anymore. He was impatient to be born now. She’d always known it would be a boy, and that had been confirmed by a scan. It wasn’t a Christmas Day birth as Jed had wanted, but Christmas Eve was close enough. Where was Jed? She hoped he’d found what he was looking for. In the end, it didn’t matter. If she’d learned nothing else these last few hours, it was that the only thing that mattered was now. You had to grab the now with both hands and never let go. It was all well and good planning for tomorrow, but she knew better than anyone that tomorrow might never come.

  ‘If that’s not ten centimetres, I don’t know what is,’ Marveen said to her. ‘I can see the baby’s head.’

  Angie thought Marveen was the loveliest person she knew, and such a marvellous midwife. The woman knew she was going to die, yet she kept Angie’s spirits up. If they got out of this alive she’d recommend her for a bravery award.

  Another contraction arrived. She was so tired. Sleep had come in fits and starts throughout the night.

  ‘I’ve got the urge to push,’ she said.

  Marveen nodded. ‘You push away, love. He’s coming now whether you like it or not.’

  And he was. She could feel him sliding from her body. The contractions came in waves and she had to push. She pushed, and pushed, and pushed, until...

  ‘Here he is,’ Marveen said. She cut and clipped the umbilical cord, and then held him upside down by his ankles and cleaned his nose and mouth. They all watched as the baby took the breath of life, and then burst into song. ‘He’s very beautiful, just like his mother.’

  ‘Don’t let her touch him,’ Karen Kincaid said.

  Marveen turned to her. ‘Surely you can’t mean that?’

  ‘If you don’t, I’ll take the baby and I’ll smash your skull in.’

  ‘Do as she says, Marveen,’ Angie said. ‘I’ve seen him, that’s enough.’

  ‘Clean him up, and then give him to me.’

  Marveen did as she was told.

  Kincaid took the baby, wrapped him in the fleece blanket, and climbed the cellar steps.

  ‘Here, let me clean you up,’ Marveen said. ‘I don’t know what to do with the placenta, but I suspect we’re not going to be here very much longer to worry about it.’

  Angie felt empty in every way. That woman had taken her baby. She would never see her son again. She wept softly. Marveen sat by her and held her hand. Words were meaningless now.

  Kincaid returned without the baby, but holding two full syringes in her left hand. ‘Because you gave me the baby I always wanted, I’m going to give you a choice. I can smash your skulls in, or I can inject you with Tamazepam. Which is it to be?’

  They both agreed to the injection, and sat there meekly as Kincaid stuck the needle in their neck and forced the plunger down.

  Without her baby what was there to live for anyway? She had let Jed down. The one thing she had to do was protect her baby, but she had failed to do so. Now, it was right that she forfeit her life...

  ***

  They kept walking.

  The smoke from the hall followed them.

  Parish was beginning to feel faint, and knew he didn’t have a lot of time left before he collapsed from loss of blood. And they were fifty feet underground. If he had to climb up a ladder to reach the surface, he’d never make it.

  ‘I feel cold air on my face, Sir,’ Richards said.

  ‘That’s good.’

  ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘Are we there yet?’

  He stumbled.

  Richards caught him and lowered him to the ground. ‘Oh, Sir.’

  ‘I can’t go on. You have to get help.’

  ‘I can’
t leave you here.’

  ‘You have to. If you don’t, I’ll definitely die.’

  ‘Oh God, Sir.’

  She stood up. ‘You’d better not die while I’m gone.’

  ‘If I do, I’ll never hear the last of it.’

  ‘That’s right. I’ll be as quick as I can.’

  The last thing he heard before he passed out was Richard’s running footsteps.

  ***

  Using the same blanket as she’d used before, she dragged the bodies up the cellar steps, along the hallway, and outside into the snow. She bundled them into the back of the Range Rover, shut the door, and then went back inside.

  Her newborn son was in his cot sleeping. She leaned over and gently stroked his forehead with her fingers. ‘You sleep, my darling. Mummy will be back soon, and then we’ll go and find paradise.

  She returned to the Range Rover, climbed in, and started it up. It was nearly five o’clock in the morning, and still dark. When she reached the end of the track from the cottage, she turned left into the forest and drove about a mile to a shallow grave she’d had great difficulty preparing earlier because of the frozen ground. There she dumped the two women into the hole and began shovelling the dirt over them.

  Soon, she knew, snow would cover the gravesite. More had been forecast over the next few days.

  ***

  Kowalski and Lola arrived at the cottage at ten past five. Back-up was on the way.

  ‘The vehicle ain’t here,’ Lola said. ‘But there’s lights on.’

  Kowalski’s face looked as though it had been chiselled from granite. ‘Let’s see what’s inside.’

  ‘Don’t we need a warrant?’

  ‘You wait out here for one to arrive, I’ll go in and rip the place apart.’

  ‘If’n you ain’t bothered about a warrant, Lola sure enough ain’t.’

  Kowalski shouldered the front door open.

  ‘You go up, I’ll look down here.’