by A. S. French
‘Perhaps she did, perhaps she didn’t.’ Astrid moved past her and around the other side. ‘But that doesn’t explain where she’s been for two months, or those cuts on her body. That doesn’t explain why she ran from a place where she was supposedly safe.’
Grace stepped across from her, placing her hands on the crumbling concrete top of the well. Astrid watched her avert her gaze from the drop below and stare at her.
‘What are you saying?’
‘Someone is taking kids and imprisoning them somewhere in this town, torturing them and worse. Katie managed to escape, only to fall into the river and hit her head. Whoever is doing this might also have taken Alex.’
‘You’re guessing.’
‘Some of it is supposition, but I see the pattern, Grace. I recognise it because I’ve seen it before.’
‘Is this what you did with the Agency?’
‘Partly. Serial killers, kidnappers, sadists were all part of the scumbag melting pot I dealt with. The consistent thing in every one of those cases was that someone always knew what was going on. They knew something, big or small, which could have ended the case early and saved lives. It will be no different in this town; nothing ever happens in isolation.’
‘And you think Manny could be the person who knows something about the abductions?’
‘Let’s hope so.’ She peered into the well one last time before turning to her partner. ‘What aren’t you telling me, Grace?’
A single word tumbled out of her shivering lips. ‘What?’
‘About your accident here, between these trees, and inside this well. I know when people are keeping things from me.’ Astrid moved closer to her. ‘The best purveyors of deception can hide things for a time, but even they give it away eventually. And, with all due respect, Grace, you’re not the best at keeping secrets. Something more happened here than you falling down this well.’ She was close enough to see Grace’s laboured breathing. ‘You don’t have to tell me, but since you mentioned it, I’ve seen something invisible weighing on your heart, and if you let it drag you further down, it will interfere with you doing your job.’ She touched Grace’s arm. ‘And I need you at your best to help me find Alex and discover what happened to Katie Spencer.’
She hated laying on the guilt, pushing Grace too far, but believed it would be for the best for both of them. She watched Grace struggle to breathe and scratch at the first bit of free skin she found on her arm. Her voice was hoarse as if the words refused to leave her mouth, and she only got them out by a force of will.
‘I’ve never told anyone the truth, not even Grandma.’ She scrutinised Astrid. ‘How did you know?’
She let go of Grace. ‘I’ve got so many secrets buried deep inside me; it’s sometimes easy to spot them in others.’
The only noise was the whisper of the wind and the flapping of wings far above their heads. Astrid waited for her to speak.
‘I said I didn’t remember how I got here, but that was a lie.’ She stepped towards the well, her fingers hovering over the concrete. ‘I was with a group of older girls that day, and they led me here.’ She placed her hand on the edge as Astrid joined her.
‘They brought you here against your will?’
Grace shook her head. ‘It wasn’t a kidnapping or anything like that. One of the girls said fairies lived in the well, and they granted you a magical wish for anything you wanted.’
‘So you went with them.’
‘My parents had died in a car crash six months earlier.’ She brushed her fingers across the stone. ‘It was my chance to bring them back.’
‘I thought they passed away when you were older?’
‘No, that’s just another lie I tell myself and everyone else. I was in the rear of the car, unhappy to be strapped in. Somehow I got out of the seatbelt and tried to crawl into the front. My mother turned to stop me, catching my father’s hand as she did so. I’m not sure what happened next, but we ended up on the other side of the road, heading straight into an oncoming truck.’ She scratched at her arm again. ‘The doctors said I was lucky to be alive, but I didn’t feel lucky.’
Astrid reached out to her. ‘I’m sorry, Grace.’ It wasn’t just for Grace’s suffering, but for her part in resurrecting those memories.
‘I’d forgotten or suppressed most of it until now.’ She took Astrid’s hand. ‘But you were right. It’s been killing me slowly ever since that day, and I’m glad to tell someone about it finally.’
‘You came here hoping to bring your parents back, but what did those girls do to you?’
Grace dipped her head into the well for a brief second before arching upwards. ‘I told them I was there to be reunited with my parents. So they laughed at me and said the only way I’d be with them again is if I joined them in the next world. Then they picked me up and dropped me in there.’ She pulled away from the well, turned her back on it, and stared in the opposite direction. ‘I was so ashamed, I never told anyone, but Manny knew. He saw everything they did.’
‘Why didn’t he tell the police or someone else?’
‘Who would believe him, the town outcast against a group of kids whose parents were all upstanding citizens of Angel Springs?’
Astrid moved from the well and stood next to Grace. ‘Do you want to go back? I can do this on my own.’
Grace shook her head. ‘No, Astrid; we’re a partnership now, and we’ll do everything together while that lasts.’
‘Then let’s go and find your saviour.’
‘What if he isn’t in or he refuses to speak to us?’
‘Then we pay another visit to Alex’s mother. Christina didn’t tell us everything, of that I’m sure. How far is this place?’
‘A few more minutes on this path.’
She saw the cabin up ahead. Grace went to step off the path until Astrid pulled her back.
‘Stay on the Yellow Brick Road, Dorothy.’
‘There’s the cabin.’ Grace pointed towards it. ‘It’ll be quicker if we cut through the trees.’
‘Quicker and more painful.’ Astrid raised her head. ‘Have you seen the cameras above us?’
Grace twisted her neck up. ‘Are they on? I can’t see any lights on them. And why can’t we go through the wood?’
It was Astrid’s turn to point into the woods. ‘Look at the ground on either side of this path.’
Grace did. ‘Okay; there are leaves and branches everywhere. It’ll be tricky, but we can get through them.’
‘Not if you want to stay healthy. Look closer and you’ll see the bits of metal poking through.’
‘Debris?’
‘Traps and wires. Your former saviour only wants people approaching him along this path. Has he always been this paranoid?’
Grace knelt for a better look at the cluster of leaves, standing to answer the question. ‘I haven’t spoken to him since the day he saved me. I don’t know what goes through his mind. He keeps to himself and rarely ventures into town.’
It took a few seconds for that information to sink into Astrid. ‘You haven’t spoken to him since he pulled you out of the well?’
A breathless sigh escaped from Grace’s lips. ‘My grandma didn’t want me to. There was talk Manny had dropped me in the well so he could play at being the hero.’
‘So what did you say?’
‘That it was all my fault and I’d stumbled and fallen. And then he saved me. But you know how people are. There were rumours it was his doing, no matter what I said.’ She wiped the sweat from her chin. ‘Then it reached the point where even if I’d wanted to tell the truth about the girls, nobody would have believed me. Those that hated Manny would still have blamed him. I saw him, occasionally, on the periphery of the town, but there was never the opportunity to speak to him, to thank him properly.’
‘And what about when you grew up?’
The sigh was heavier, more noticeable. ‘Years had gone by. I thought it was too late by then. I was embarrassed, I think.’
The porch and the front door were
in front of them. Astrid scanned the rest of the surroundings.
‘Well, it appears you might finally get that chance to thank him.’
She stared at the cabin, noticing the dilapidated wood and the smoke drifting from the chimney. Grace nodded at it. ‘It looks like he’s home.’
She moved up the steps and on to the porch, raising her hand, ready to knock. Astrid watched her hesitate, recognising the nervousness of someone about to revisit their past.
‘Do you want me to do it?’
‘Hello,’ Grace shouted. ‘Is anybody here?’ Astrid stepped next to her and banged her fist on the faded wood. Grace frowned before turning to the door. ‘Manny, it’s Grace Crowley; Officer Grace Crowley. Is it okay for me to come inside?’
They waited for an answer, but none arrived. Grace turned to Astrid.
‘Maybe he’s hurt.’
Then something howled, and a shiver ran down Astrid’s spine.
15 Hounds of Love
Astrid pushed the door open. Grace’s hand rested on her gun as they went inside. It was the smell that hit them first as the stench of bleach hung in the air. The only illumination was from the open door and the flickering fire in the far corner.
‘Where is he?’ Astrid waited for the howl to come again, relieved when it didn’t.
‘I can’t find a light switch,’ Grace said in a half-whisper.
‘I don’t think there’s any electricity in here.’
Astrid removed the phone from her pocket and turned on the torch. She swept it in front of her, catching glimpses of tattered furniture, bunches of newspapers and a pile of crumbling bricks on the carpet. Jam jars brimming with nuts, bolts and screws sat stacked on top of each other on a bench in the corner.
A large shadow moved on Astrid’s right. She stepped back from it as it growled. The growl grew into stereo, two pairs of red eyes flashing into life, porcelain-white teeth baring their fangs.
‘You shouldn’t have come here, Gracie.’ The voice came from the space in front of them, drifting between the dogs. ‘Now, they’ll get you as well.’
Astrid heard the striking of a match as he lit candles at his side. His long elephant-grey hair cascaded on to his shoulders, the shaky light shadowing his aquiline features: Manny Burns wearing mismatched hunting clothes and patterned slippers at least a size too big. Two bored-looking Alsatians flanked him. He stood with the help of a giant silver cane gripped in his hand. The dogs took a step forward with him. His face was so grim it could haunt a house; the blue of his eyes piercing Astrid’s gaze. Grace gave him that warm smile that had so enchanted Astrid.
‘You’re not in trouble, Manny.’
‘Your friend won’t be able to help you, Gracie.’ One wave of his fingers and the dogs slipped into the background. He reached down and flicked a switch, a cluster of small light bulbs springing into life through the room like fireflies dancing on the wind. ‘Please, take a seat.’ He sat in a large chair.
Grace strode over and threw her arms around him. Astrid stiffened her back, expecting the dogs to charge out of the dark, happy when they didn’t. She took the seat closest to her. When Grace pulled from Manny, Astrid scrutinised him some more. The flesh hung off his face like snake skin, while the remains of his teeth were as yellow as rotten mustard. Grace gazed at him as if he was a long-lost friend.
Which, I suppose he is. He’d saved her life, and she’d never had the chance to thank him until now.
But they weren’t there for reminisces or Grace’s childhood; they were there for Alex and Katie, and who knew how many others? She kept her eyes on the dogs and inched forward. ‘Who do you think is coming for you, Mr Burns?’
‘Call me Manny, Ms...?’
She smiled at him. ‘Astrid.’
‘Someone is always coming for me, Astrid. When I was a kid, it was my father and his belt. Then it was the other kids at school, followed by the older teenagers where I lived. The Viet Cong came for me next, not that I blamed them; I shouldn’t have been there. When I returned home, the government came for me, then forgot about me, and then came for me again. Now, it’s those who don’t want me here anymore, who don’t want me in this town.’
‘Is that anyone specific, Manny?’
He shuffled in his chair. ‘It’s those who don’t want me watching them.’
Grace placed her hand on his arm. ‘Did you see what happened to the girl who drowned in the river?’
His eyes shrank a little, and Astrid noticed the added tremble in his fingers. ‘She came up out of the earth, and she ran, ran as if the Devil chased her. That’s why she didn’t watch the ground properly and fell into the water. By the time I got there, the current had taken her downstream.’ He stared at Grace, a lifetime of struggle and sadness flowing from his gaze.
She let go of him. ‘What did they say to you at the station?’
He stroked the head of the closer dog. ‘They had nothing but claimed they did, saying my DNA was on the girl. I just sat there and let them ramble on. They were trying to tire me out; too stupid to know I haven’t had more than two hours of sleep a night for more than forty years. They threatened me, and then released me.’
Grace dug her nails into her palms. ‘What did they threaten you with?’
He sputtered out a throaty laugh. ‘Something vague and unknowing.’
Astrid pulled Grace to her. ‘Why would Cope and Wylie try and force a confession out of him if it was an accidental death?’
Grace shrugged. ‘Perhaps it hadn’t been confirmed by Dr Jones when they spoke to Manny.’
‘Do those Detectives have reputations for framing people?’
‘I don’t know. There were problems with some officers before I joined the police, but I haven’t heard anything since then.’
Astrid turned to Manny. ‘What do you mean when you say Katie came up from the ground?’
He peered at her. ‘There are tunnels all over this place, some of which are hundreds of years old. Most have connections to the mines. Kids are always going down them, messing about and causing trouble. I’ve heard the noises; sometimes they mess around too much and bring parts of the walls down.’
‘Can you show us where this was?’
He nodded. ‘I can, but don’t you want to hear about the other girl as well, the one those fanatics hurt?’
Astrid glanced at Grace. ‘Do you mean Alex Sanchez?’
His hands trembled as both dogs whimpered. With more light now, Astrid checked the rest of the room as he reached for a bottle of clear liquid she assumed wasn’t water. Debris cluttered the cabin: broken boxes crammed with dusty photographs, rusted tools, yellowing newspapers, moth-eaten clothes, orphaned single shoes, and cracked crockery.
‘The girl wandered into here, looking for a phone. I don’t have one, but I gave her something to eat. I also told her the quickest way from the woods and into town.’
‘Did Alex say anything to you about what had happened to her or where she was going?’ Grace said.
‘She explained what those bastards did to her.’ He gritted his teeth. ‘I always knew they were up to no good inside Brady’s little cult. She still had bits of feathers stuck to her. I asked if she wanted me to go to the police with her, but she refused. She’s a brave girl, stronger than I could ever be, but after she got cleaned up and I gave her a drink, I think the shock finally hit her.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Just before she left, she went into a bit of a daze and kept on repeating the same thing.’
Astrid stepped towards him. ‘What was that?’
‘She kept saying she was going to make him pay.’
‘Who was she going to make pay? Was it Senator Brady?’
Before he could reply, the dogs stepped forward and growled. He held on to them. ‘There are people outside.’
Tension rippled through Astrid. ‘Do the cameras work?’
He shook his head. ‘Not for years.’
Someone howled in pain as she went to the window, t
aking a quick scan of the area. Grace was moving towards the door when Astrid stopped her.
‘There are at least four of them, including whoever stepped into one of the traps. You keep an eye on them while I check the back of the house, but don’t go outside.’
The dogs stared at her with glowing eyes. There was enough light for her to see where she was going, avoiding the tray of dog food and water on the floor. Old newspapers and records lay scattered everywhere, and she picked her way through them.
When she got to the back, an unusual sight waited outside: rows of electrical equipment were piled together like a wall. Rusted refrigerators bumped shoulders with washing machines, big-screen TVs, freezers, tumble dryers and cookers. She wondered if they’d make a good defence against the four men approaching the cabin, carrying rifles. She returned to the living room, wishing she had a weapon and immediately seeing that wish come true.
‘Do you know how to use one of these?’ Manny held a shotgun towards her. The dogs were panting as if expecting to be fed.
She took the firearm from him. ‘Point, aim and pull the trigger.’
Grace held a revolver. ‘How do we know these are hostiles?’
‘Why else would they be here?’ Astrid said.
They both looked at Manny, who shrugged. Grace moved closer to the window.
‘I can show them my police badge.’
A bullet smashed through the glass and into the wall before Astrid replied. She pulled Grace to the floor as the dogs barked. Manny stood there grinning as if he’d been waiting for this all his life. Astrid examined the escape maps unfolding inside her head as more bullets crashed through the cabin. There were only two ways inside, and they had a clear sight of both those approaches. Then she glanced up.
Unless they come through the roof.
‘Grace, take Manny and the dogs to the back. Get your line of fire through the windows on either side of the door. Shoot anyone who tries to come in uninvited. I’ll cover the front.’
Astrid moved towards the window. She pushed her shoulder against the wall and slithered up to peer through the glass as Grace helped Manny into the back. The bloke who’d stood in the trap was gone, with no sign of anybody amongst the trees.