Remember Me

  My computer screen is covered in photographs, and I settle down to edit the best, ready for use. I’m good at what I do, and I get respect for that. It has never occurred to me to run away.

  ‘Dal ati, Ava Cole.’

  ‘Keep on trucking, Ava Cole.’

  Chapter 28

  The lights of the truck cut a slash of whiteness through the darkness of the road, as Ava drove carefully out of Aberdyth, past Leo’s driveway, and onward. The wipers whined as they beat away the snow that clouded her vision. Her phone rang as she approached the bridge and seeing it was Penny, she answered quickly. ‘I’m nearly there, Pen, where are you?’

  ‘I’m stuck behind a massive truck. There’s been an accident, and I’m going to be another hour at least! Oh God, Ava, do be careful. Have you rung the police?’

  ‘Yes. They are going to meet me up there. I know you are worried, but we need their help. I’ll be there first though, so I’ll see if I can talk Huw down. I’ll ring you as soon as I have any news, and drive carefully, won’t you? It won’t do any good you having an accident either.’

  ‘Oh thank you, lovely, you are so kind. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. If anything has happened to Paul…’

  ‘It won’t. I’m sure Huw is just trying to scare us, the fucking idiot. He always did like to think he was the big man.’ Ava rang off, and changed gear up the steep hill. She was nearly at the top, going slowly, scanning the tracks either side for an entrance. Surely there was a pine forest before the turning… The snowfall intensified and she could see nothing but blinding whiteness. Distracted, she was only half-aware as another vehicle came at her head on. Fast.

  It was on her side of the road, driving far too quickly to avoid, and she instinctively hit her hand down hard on the horn. The two vehicles were head to head when she swung the wheel sharply to her left. There was a crashing rending of metal at the near miss, and the vehicles scraped bonnet to bonnet before Ava felt a jolt, and her truck was bumping off the road down a bank. It slid to the level ground, and the engine whined in protest.

  In those few moments, the other vehicle was still on the road, facing her, blinding her with their headlights. Nobody got out, and nobody rushed to see if she was okay. There was an eerie, icy silence and the half-imagined stretch of lonely white hills rising into the darkness, cloaked and softened by the snow.

  Ava made a quick decision, straightened the wheel, let the brake off, and carried on driving. There were no fences as far as she could remember, and she bumped along the tussocky grass and little drifts alongside the road. The bank back up to the road was too high for her to consider, but this was a deliberate attempt to get her off the road, or worse, and she was damned if she was going to stick around and let them finish what they had begun.

  As the terrain got worse, with bigger ruts and frosted holes, she would have stopped, but for the sheer terror and determination not to be caught. Sophie was right, it was a trap, and she didn’t doubt that Huw was behind the wheel of the Land Rover chasing her. She remembered the first few letters of his registration plate. The other vehicle had descended off the road, too, now, and was pursuing her. Slowly at first, but inching up behind until the metal screeched as the vehicles met, and Ava shot forward in her seat at the impact. It was a treacherous race. She had no idea what was coming and relied entirely on the tunnel vision of her headlights. It was so many years since she’d driven in the hills, so many years since she’d driven anything but an automatic, that the constant gear changes, the hauling of the wheel made her arm muscles scream in protest, and a whiplash pain gave her neck an electric shock of agony all the way around to her jawbone, every time she turned her head to the right.

  Sweat was pouring down her neck, her heart was pounding like she’d been running, and her back ached from constantly fighting to stay in control of her machine. For several miles they continued the reckless chase. Despite the cold, Ava’s hands were slipping on the wheel, and she tasted blood from a cut lip. The snow was easing, and it was possible to see beyond a torrent of icy drifts – the headlights showing more terrain and giving her more time to think. The snowy hillside rose in big tufted ridges, and she edged over rocks, and swung around a tree copse.

  Risking a moment’s lapse of concentration, glancing down quickly for her phone, she saw the crash had jolted it onto the floor, where it rattled tantalisingly out of reach. Ava was beginning to think she might make it, as the bank between her and the road lowered considerably, when suddenly beneath her the headlights showed another river. It was all rushing, gushing and frothing white bubbles, edged with ice, and she plunged into it thumping the brake pedal uselessly. Mercifully the engine was still running, and the water reached only halfway up the side doors. But the truck kept moving forward, and she kept her foot hard on the accelerator hardly daring to hope she might make it. It was coming out of the river that her luck ran out. The gentle shingle rise was fine, but there was some kind of rocky outcrop, hidden under the snow, that caught on the undercarriage, and with an ominous grinding sound, the vehicle ground to a halt. The low chassis of the old truck, never designed for off-roading, had obviously caught on something.

  Shit! She bent down, grabbed her phone and leapt down. She was off like a hare towards the road, but with no cover the other vehicle, having navigated the river with ease, quickly caught up, pulling alongside. Her boots crunched through the snow, her head was down, arms pumping, but it was too late. Strong arms reached out and grabbed her, and she heard the sound of familiar laughter.

  ‘Paul?’ She was blinking, inhaling alcohol fumes, shoving his arms away.

  ‘That was so much fun, Ava. I had no idea you were such a good driver.’ Her ex-husband was beaming at her. His face in the torchlight was pale and sweaty, but his eyes glittered.

  ‘We only meant to frighten you into stopping. Having you playing chase games with us was just like the old days, wasn’t it, Paul?’ Huw, also sweaty, unshaven, and wearing just a shirt, was at the wheel.

  Having pulled her roughly into the Land Rover, Paul pushed her back against the seat, beaming as though he was thoroughly pleased to see her, and he hadn’t just nearly killed her. In her pocket she kept one hand firmly clenched on her phone. Huw was already back on the accelerator, and he spun the vehicle into a skid, letting out a catcall like some stupid teenager in his first car.

  Ava hung on to the door handle, wondering if she could jump out. But from what she could see there was no cover. They would run her down in an instant. Surely the police must be coming soon… She must keep them busy until that happened.

  Whatever they intended though, she needed to be careful, put them off guard. Both of them had such a low opinion of her, they might feel they were totally in control. She would use this. But they would expect her to be angry, and she allowed her genuine fear to break through, voice straining, as though holding back tears. ‘You stupid, fucking idiots! What the hell are you playing at? Penny is going out of her mind with worry. Where have you been, Huw? The police are treating you as a number one suspect, and this isn’t helping to find Bethan. They are taking everyone in for questioning, and avoiding them like this just makes you seem guilty!’

  Huw took one hand off the wheel, leant over, and slapped her across the face before she could even have time to dodge. ‘Don’t you even mention my girl. Someone has got her, I do know that, and you’re going to have a little chat with us and tell us who.’ He yanked the vehicle to a halt now. The headlights picked up nothing but the endless fall of snow, engulfing them, cocooning them together on the hillside. He killed the engine, and they sat, breathing heavily.

  ‘What are you even talking about, Huw? How would I know?’

  ‘I got a call today telling me that the police know where she is, and if they do, then you do too. They know someone is holding her, but they won’t move until tomorrow, because they need a warrant.’

  ‘But…’ Ava’s mind was spinning, and she ran her fingers gently across the buttons of her phone, ‘That
’s bollocks. Whoever called you, Huw, was trying to wind you up. If the police know where she is, they will be on their way to get her. Huw, have you seen the photographs?’ She tried to take him off at a tangent, steering him back to reality. Was he really crazy enough to be behind this, to harm his own daughter?

  ‘What photographs?’

  ‘You had those missed calls from that policewoman earlier,’ Paul pointed out.

  Ava looked him in the eye. ‘Someone has taken photographs of Bethan and emailed them to the police. She’s underground, in a cave somewhere. Before you ask, I don’t know where, but why don’t you stop this madness, and get back to finding your daughter?’

  For a long moment she thought he was taking in what she had said, that it was going to be all right. It wasn’t. ‘She’s alive then… That’s what the phone call said. Why should I believe you about the photographs? That could be bullshit. And you still know where she is.’ He was sulky now, yet still glittering dangerously. The drink had slowed his brain to such an extent that logical thinking was clearly impossible. ‘My beautiful little girl, and you know where she is.’

  ‘Of course I fucking don’t. Didn’t it occur to you that the call might be a prank? Didn’t you think to ring the police yourself and check? Ring them now – go on!’

  ‘He can’t ring them, can he? Because like you say, they probably reckon he did it. Killed Ellen, and that stupid PI, took his own daughter… And the reason they think all that is because of you, you stupid bitch. I rang them and they wouldn’t tell me anything either. Keeping their stupid information to themselves. A woman in charge is never a good thing,’ Paul told her, viciously.

  ‘Look, you need to understand, I don’t know any more than you do about Bethan. She’s in a cave and we need to find her. Surely that is the most important thing, especially in this weather.’ Ava inched her fingers along the key pad and tried hard to dial 999. It was practically impossible. She pressed another couple of random buttons. ‘As for Ellen, if you had told me the whole story years ago…’

  ‘If we had told you the whole story, you would have gone straight to the police,’ Huw said grimly. ‘And screwed things up, like you have done now. Everything was fine until you came back.’

  ‘Right, well, I’m not going anywhere now, suppose you tell me. Who did kill Ellen? You might as well tell me, because it will all come out in the end.’ Unable to believe their single-minded stupidity on the subject of Bethan, Ava tried a snap change of subject. Sophie Miles and her team would be at the outward bound centre by now, wondering, waiting, then becoming alarmed.

  The men exchanged glances, and Ava caught the amusement flash between them. More than amusement, a tangible evil. How had she ever been married to this man? She wriggled slightly away from Huw, and he pulled out a packet of cigarettes. Lighting one, he put it in Paul’s mouth and then lit his too. Paul now had a firm grasp on Ava’s other arm.

  ‘How stupid do you think we are? It was dark that night. Lots of drugs and alcohol going around. Far as I remember, Ellen went off into the woods with Leo. I reckon Leo must have ripped her knickers off and killed her. What do you think, Paul?’ Huw waved his cigarette within inches of Ava’s cheek, and she flinched.

  Paul blew out a lungful of smoke right into his ex-wife’s face. He was choking with laughter. ‘Naw, I’m sure Ellen was off under that bush with Rhodri. She was such a slag. In fact, I’m certain that we were just talking by the fire, weren’t we? Then when Rhodri dragged her body back we tried to resuscitate her. Ava woke up and came running down, far too late to do anything. You were crying with Penny, all over Ellen’s poor dead body. Women!’

  ‘You do know Rhodri took an overdose this afternoon,’ Ava told them, hoping to jolt either man out of their complacency.

  Paul shook his head, but his eyes were glittering. ‘So what? It was going to happen. I suppose he was just saving it for when we were all back together. Is he dead then?’

  ‘Your concern is overwhelming. No, he isn’t dead.’ Neither man seemed especially surprised at the news of Rhodri, but then he was a known addict.

  ‘Actually, Ava, I do remember something else,’ Huw added thoughtfully, and Paul glanced sharply at his friend. ‘That night Ellen died, I think I might have heard her call out. I walked through the woods in the general direction, and found Rhodri and Jesse.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘They were together, if you get my meaning. You’re not the brightest, Ava, and I reckon you must have shagged your boss to get where you are, but use your imagination. So, I say Ellen found out Jesse put it about both ways, and she threatened to tell everyone his dirty little secret. So he tried to prove he was a man really, and roughed her up a bit.’

  They were clearly throwing out names at random, trying to hurt her, covering for themselves maybe? Ava was digging her nails into her palms. Actually, she had known about Rhodri and Jesse. She and Ellen had argued about it, and Penny took Ava’s side, saying there was no reason to out them, and if Jesse still liked Ellen too, perhaps he would need to make a choice. It had been a shock, but the girls had agreed in the end to keep quiet, and then Jesse had seemed to be making more effort with Ellen.

  Huw and Paul were silent, staring at her, wolves with their prey, waiting for her answer. Ava knew she shouldn’t antagonise them, but she couldn’t help herself. ‘Because that makes you a real man, does it? I don’t believe Jesse did it, and you wouldn’t know the truth if it came up and smacked you in the balls.’

  Paul pushed his friend back, and turned to Ava. ‘Always did have a big mouth, didn’t you? If you think Jesse didn’t do it, perhaps you should be more careful. You might be speaking to a murderer, for all you know. We could easily kill you out here on the hill and bury your dead body like we did Ellen’s.’

  ‘The police know exactly where I am, and who I’m with. Don’t be stupid, Paul. Do you really think it will help Stephen if you kill me?’ She spat back in his face, pushing his arm away.

  ‘Anyway, enough of this shit. Ava, you going to tell us where Bethan is?’ Huw was close again and she could smell the drink on his breath.

  ‘I don’t know.’

  Huw looked uncertainly at Paul, who nodded. ‘I think she’s telling the truth. We should have thought it might be a prank call, really. But it’s been fun hurting you, Ava. I was so glad when you ran away, you know. You always were a pathetic, whining cow. If you hadn’t got pregnant, I would never have had to marry you. Even that was only because my bloody dad would have disinherited me if I didn’t. The only good thing you did was leave me a son. He’s a good lad, Stephen. He’ll have the farm when I’m gone.’ The pride in his slurred voice was obvious. Whatever he had done, he had been a good dad to her son.

  Ava tried to breathe normally. She didn’t tell him she had figured all this out years ago, and Leo had tried so hard to persuade Ava not to stay with Paul. She obviously didn’t share the knowledge that Stephen was Leo’s son. If Paul hadn’t figured out what was staring him in the face, given his condition, why would she be the one to break it to him? What an idiot she had been, ricocheting from one boy to the next, fighting with all of them, struggling to come to terms with Ellen’s death. Only Penny had really understood, but she had also lied.

  As the silence stretched into minutes, for one awful moment she thought Paul had realised the truth about Stephen, and was just toying with her, but he clearly hadn’t. She took a deep breath, and said firmly, ‘So you might as well let me go. Thanks for a fun night out, but I have to check in with my boss. I’m late already, and given the situation over here, he’s probably on the phone to the inspector you despise so much, asking where the hell I am. She’ll be coming with a response team soon, and I’m sure you don’t want to be arrested.’

  Ava sensed indecision. After the thrill of the chase, the excitement of the prey being captured, the men seemed at a loss. She could imagine the prank call coming in, after they had been drinking beer, the instant decision that the police where hidi
ng something, and everyone was conspiring against them. The drunken agreement to snare Ava, without much thought or planning, would have come easily from either man.

  ‘Penny wouldn’t call the police. She hates them as much as we do,’ Paul said.

  ‘I called them, you idiots! Penny’s that worried about you though, she would have agreed to anything. She loves you, much as I find that extremely hard to believe at this moment in time.’

  Paul hesitated some more, and looked at Huw, who shrugged. ‘Might as well go home then. I’ll drop you off, Paul. You let me know if you hear any more about my daughter, won’t you?’

  Bewildered at this sudden change of heart, Ava didn’t see the blow coming until she sprawled head first out of the door, plunging into the icy ground. Beside her the engine revved, horn sounded and the Land Rover drove off in a slipstream of diesel fumes.

  The darkness closed around her, and her head ached. She spat snow and grit from her mouth, and wiped her face. Fucking great. Minus degrees, and she was stuck in the hills with no coat. At least the snow had stopped. She peered at her phone and the low battery icon flashed, once, twice. Ava called Sophie, but the signal was so bad she couldn’t even hear if she had picked up. Without thinking, she rang Leo.

  ‘Ava?’

  ‘Leo, I need your help. I’m somewhere north of Aberdyth, maybe near the old outward bound centre. Past the bridge where Jesse died. I’m going to try and get back to the road… I tried to call DI Miles, but her phone signal is too weak… Leo?’

  The bleep cut her off and her own phone died. Total blackness, as the clouds rolled over the hills. The ground was hard, icy, and packed on top with this new fall of snow. She thought hard, trying to get her bearings, but the run had zig-zagged her off course, and the men had driven her even further away from the road. Although she peered intently into the night, it was impossible to tell which way the road was now. Literally, impossible.