Things were slipping from Barbara’s fingers.
She was losing her grip on life.
73
On the train journey home that evening, McCarthy watches the CCTV of the man in the mask.
He presses pause, zooms in, and swears to himself when he realises there’s no way it could be Hayman.
He glances over at Davies sleeping opposite him, his head awkwardly supported by the back of the chair, and his shirt and tie crumpled.
They were both exhausted from the long day, and had boarded the train half an hour ago, ordered four small bottles of red wine, four cheese and pickle sandwiches and two packets of salt and vinegar crisps from the refreshment trolley.
Davies had devoured the food and wine in about five minutes, and almost immediately fallen into a deep, silent sleep.
McCarthy could never sleep while he travelled, no matter how tired he was, and there was no way he could sleep after a day like today.
There was too much to get his head around, and he needed to make a plan to meet with the team first thing in the morning.
He takes a pen and notepad from his briefcase and writes down the new information.
Evidence like the CCTV and the missing trunk pointed to this masked guy having something to do with Kate’s disappearance, but Hayman was also still a suspect in McCarthy’s mind.
He had to be. There was little else to chase right now.
The CCTV wasn’t exactly comprehensive and there were lots of black spots, and unexplained things, like how the masked man could have lifted the trunk into the vehicle, and what vehicle he used to leave the location.
McCarthy hopes that in the morning the team will have some more information about any vehicle registration numbers identified by the cameras at the front of the club.
There has got to be something, somewhere.
74
Kate Stone wakes to a familiar sound.
Her captor is back, and in the haze and numbness of her dark cell, she almost smiles when she sees him.
He’s a mirage in this empty, lonely desert she’s in.
She forces a thank-you from her dry throat as he helps her to drink from a water bottle, and when she’s finished drinking, he opens a container of warm rice and minced beef, with tomato sauce.
Kate’s eyes open wide.
She’s literally starving, and seeing her so desperate, pleases him.
He smiles as he takes out a spoon to feed her with, and Kate devours the food.
He tells her to slow down in case she chokes, but she eats as quickly as she can, and tries not to let any of the food spill.
She felt so close to dying, and it feels like this is her second chance at life.
In a deep southern American accent, the man starts to speak.
‘Three days. Jesus was dead for this length of time, and then he rose from the tomb. You’ve passed my three-day test, little mouse. Now I can look after you properly, and we can do what we are meant to do, together.’
Kate looks up at him. She’s never been this close before, and sees that his eyes are almost black. He has a short grey beard, and he’s much older than she thought. Maybe in his late forties, or older.
His physique is impressive, and Kate can tell he’s very strong under his loose shirt. He’s tall too, maybe six-foot-two, or three, she thinks. She knows she would never stand a chance against him physically, even if she had a weapon. She dares not try, either.
‘You don’t remember, do you, little mouse?’ he suddenly asks.
Kate shakes her head, and manages to respond.
‘Remember what? I don’t know how I got here.’
He touches her cheek gently, before continuing.
‘I look different without the mask, huh?’
Kate suddenly connects him to that night at Haven, and things start to slowly trickle back into her consciousness.
He nods, smiles at her, and starts to untie her hands.
‘It’s all going to change now. You and I are going to make a beautiful family together, and make a beautiful life. In a few days, you’ll be well enough to make love. Don’t you think?’
His eyes light up at the words, and he licks his dry lips. Everything is a blur to Kate. She’s only catching certain words this man us saying, and although he’s speaking relatively slowly, it’s still too fast for her. She needs him to repeat himself.
‘I don’t under... understand. Why do we need to do that, to make a family?’
Kate is too weak and desperate to feel repulsion for this man, and knows that all she can hope for is to understand his motives. Maybe then, she can get some control back, even if it means engaging in his twisted plan and trying to understand the kind of sickness he possesses.
‘You owe me, Kate Stone. This was something that was promised to me a long time ago by your mother. Now, Margaret got away before I could get what she owed me, what she promised me, and now I’m making it right with you, her daughter. And you won’t be able to get away like she did. Not this time.’
This story continues in ‘This Dark Town II: The House in the Woods’.
You can find links to this title below, but if you want to find out how Barbara was involved with Kate’s kidnapper right now, without starting the next book, you can read an excerpt from ‘The House in the Woods’ book on the next page!
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Thanks for reading ‘When You’re Gone’ and I really hope you enjoyed it!
This is the first book I’ve written and I can’t tell you how grateful I would be for a short review if you have two minutes to write one for me! It’s such a valuable thing for a self-published writer to have.
THANK YOU so much if you take the time to write one. It is very much appreciated.
Marguerite x
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START OF EXCERPT FROM ‘The House in The Woods’…Melvin starts to tell her about life on the ranch in Texas, how many people lived there, how crazy a time it was, and how they had to hide from the law to keep the place secure.
They also needed to vet anyone who expressed an interest in joining them, and couldn’t have afforded to allow any spies in, or anyone that would spread lies about them in the outside world.
He speaks about the ranch like it was the best place on earth.
‘It was huge and beautiful. We had all these horses and cows. My father was the leader of course, and that meant I was one of the most respected of the men folk.’
Kate looks at Melvin and feels the urge to ask about her mother. He seems to know this.
‘You’re wondering about her, and her sister, aren’t you?’
Kate nods gently and tries to smile at him.
‘Only if you want to tell me.’
She’s learned that being submissive gets the best results when you’re in captivity, and guesses that by using simple reverse psychology, where she suggests he might want to tell her something more than she wants to know it, might just yield the results she longs for, to find out about her mother’s past.
It works.
‘Margaret arrived when she was sixteen-years –old, and I was eighteen. It was perfect. My father had been having the visions for years before that, and we all knew when we laid eyes on her that she was the one who would give birth to my child, and save our souls.’
Melvin goes on to speak for almost an hour about what happened after Margaret arrived at the ranch.
He thought that she would be afforded the same luxuries and treatment that he and his immediate family were, and that he was going to marry her.
But, there were men in the group who were suspicious of w
omen, and unsure about whether Margaret was really ‘the one’.
They insisted on putting her through a series of tests before she was allowed to marry Melvin, and if she passed, they would agree that she was the chosen woman, and give their blessing for him to take her as his wife.
Kate listens as Melvin describes the men. They sound like clan elders to her, older men who advised Melvin’s father, and made all of the laws for the church members.
They sounded like misogynists to say the least, believing that the purpose of women was to serve men, and they were cruel to their wives and daughters.
They were also involved in lots of other strange rituals that Melvin doesn’t want to tell Kate about, but he says they were very unusual and secretive.
When Melvin had asked his father about the men, and how cruel they were, his father explained they were the ones who battled with the dark side, and the evil in the world, so that the rest of them could live in peace.
Melvin says he never really understood that reasoning, but he trusted his father, nonetheless.
‘What tests did my mother have to pass, Melvin?’
Kate hadn’t planned on interrupting him, but she can’t help herself. These men sound awful, and she is terrified about what they might have done to her mother.
‘They would go off to do their rituals into the mountains for days, or sometimes longer, and they’d take girls with them. Some were only children, god bless them. I remember their mother’s faces, and the screaming and tears when they left. I guess they needed to weed out the weak ones and... well, not all of the girls made it back.’
Kate is forming a picture in her head. It was obvious that her mother had been taken, raped, and maybe beaten by these men.
It is also obvious that this ‘church’ that Melvin belongs to is actually a cult that he now believes Kate is part of…END OF EXCERPT FROM ‘The House in The Woods’
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