The Downfall Series Box Set

by Edie Baylis

  Seth had half-presumed Jane had taken Toby round to Maggie’s. That was until he’d pulled up on the drive to see Maggie banging fruitlessly on his front door and his unease had tripled. “There’s something wrong,” he muttered, finally jamming the key in the stubborn lock. “I can taste it.”

  Maggie thought so too, but was too petrified to say anything. Everything had escalated so violently out of control she was scared to move half of the time lately.

  Finally opening the door, Seth raced into the hallway. “Jane?” he roared, striding quickly along the corridor.

  Maggie followed, aware the house was unusually silent. Something didn’t bode well.

  “Oh Jesus!” Seth cried, rushing into the kitchen towards Jane slumped on the floor. “Jane?” He knelt down over his wife. “Jane? Can you hear me?”

  “Oh my God!” Maggie wailed. “Is she alright?”

  “Jane?” Seth shouted, panic rising rapidly in his veins. “JANE!”

  Groaning, Jane’s eyes flickered. “Seth?”

  “Oh thank God!” Seth cried relieved. “Are you ok?” He eyed the lump on Jane’s temple and guessed she’d taken a hard clump from something, most probably courtesy of Anna. His eyes narrowed. “What happened?”

  Jane struggled to push herself up. Groaning as the pain in her head intensified. “Oh God... No, I’m ok, I’m ok.” She tried to clear her head. Everything was slightly blurry and out of focus. She gingerly felt the swelling on her temple and tried to recall what on earth had occurred.

  “I’ll get an ambulance,” Seth muttered, getting up.

  “No!” Jane cried, grabbing his arm. “I’m ok really. It’s just a bash to the head. I’ll be fine in a minute.”

  As her memory caught up with her, she paled. “Shit! Seth, it’s Anna. It was Anna. I was going to tie her up in the cellar until she told me who was behind all of this. Who her boyfriend is and where to find him. I’d knocked her out, but she must have come round and bashed me with something.”

  Jane looked around for something Anna could have used as a weapon. Her eyes narrowed when her gaze fell on the copper saucepan thrown haphazardly on the side which was most likely the culprit.

  Suddenly panic overtook her and she struggled to her feet. “Toby!” she cried. “Where’s Toby?” The bitch! The fucking bitch! If Anna had her son... “He was upstairs having a nap...”

  “Shit!” Maggie cried, dashing out of the room and upstairs. Breathing rapidly she raced along the corridor and into Toby’s nursery. His cot was glaringly empty. Oh God, no! The baby was gone!

  Hot on Maggie’s heels, Seth barged in not two seconds later. His eyes searched wildly around the room. “Where is he?” he roared, eyes wild.

  Maggie didn’t know what to say. What could she say apart from the obvious? “I-I don’t know Seth...”

  Letting out a loud guttural howl, Seth dropped to his knees on the floor. His son had gone. “She’s taken my son!” he roared. “The bitch has taken my son!”

  Scrambling to his feet, Seth began trashing the nursery. Picking up Toby’s cot, he threw it against the wall where it smashed into pieces.

  “SETH!” Maggie cried. “Control yourself! This won’t help!” Dear God, this was a nightmare.

  “Nothing will help now will it?” Seth raged, swiping items from the top of Toby’s chest of drawers to the floor with a loud angry growl.

  “What’s happening? Where is he?” Jane yelled, rushing into the nursery and staring in horror at the wreckage of Toby’s cot. “Oh my God, TOBY?” She rushed towards the carnage.

  Maggie shouted, grabbing Jane’s arm. “Jane! It’s ok, he’s not under all that. Seth’s smashed it up.”

  Jane looked around bewildered, her eyes frantically searching. From the expression on Seth’s face she knew the truth. Anna Slater had taken her child. She’d now lost both her children, but wasn’t quite ready to admit that could possibly be the case. How could she? It hurt too much. “Seth?”

  Seth desperately tried to pull himself together and curb his out of control desire to trash the entire contents of this whole massive bloody house. Taking a deep breath to steady his ragged breathing, he walked over to Jane and grabbed her by both shoulders. “Ok, now you listen to me. We’re going to get him back do you hear me? I’ll get him back.”

  “You said that about Grace!” Jane spat. “And look at that!”

  Maggie looked down at the floor sadly as Jane crumpled into Seth’s arms in a mass of heavy sobs.

  ANNA CONTINUED HALF-RUNNING, half-walking despite her legs and feet being in agony. Each step she took caused a further jolt of pain to her arm that she suspected was broken when she’d been pushed from the car.

  She’d continued walking blindly, unsure whether she was going in the right direction – wherever that was. She had no idea where she was going or even where she should go.

  Whatever happened, she had to get somewhere to lie low for a while. She knew that even if Aiden didn’t return to finish her off to ensure she didn’t implicate him in anything, then it wouldn’t be long before the Wrights would be gunning for her. She’d bashed Jane over the head and took their child for God’s sake. What had she been thinking?

  Whatever she’d been thinking, she’d been so wrong it was an understatement. She accepted she’d probably get killed for her part in what had occurred and helped engineer, or at the very least, she’d get put in hospital for a very long time, but at this precise moment she needed to get away. Somewhere that she’d be safe and off the radar.

  Anna racked her brains. Where the hell could she go? She could hardly run to Tina, being as she’d been instrumental in all of this, not that she knew where she was either.

  Sweat poured down Anna’s back from a combination of exertion and fear. After the initial heat had died down she had to reach Jane and tell her what had happened. That she’d been wrong and most importantly, that she’d been wrong about Toby being better off without her. She’d thought she was doing the right thing. Instead, she’d inadvertently done the opposite. Regardless of anything else, she loved that dear little boy and now she’d unwittingly placed him in the hands of the one person who she now knew to be the problem all along.

  Tears ran freely down Anna’s face as she stumbled along. She didn’t care what happened to her anymore. She had nothing left to live for now. Nothing at all. It had all been lies. Nothing was real and she’d been stupid enough to think that it was.

  Everything had been bullshit from the off and yet again she’d fallen for it. All it this was her fault. If she hadn’t been so desperate to be loved, then none of this would have happened. It had been her who had given these people the ability to screw up Jane and Seth’s lives. How could she? How could she have done any of it? It was all so clear now.

  Oh dear God. She deserved to die. She really did. She’d relish the punishment that would be meted out to her, but even that wouldn’t lessen her guilt, or deliver the pain she deserved.

  Should she go to the police and tell them everything rather than stagger around for miles with no clue where she was heading? Was she causing even more harm by not saying what she knew right now? Or was she playing for time and looking for excuses? If she went to the police would she then be arrested for aiding such heinous acts? Oh God, everyone would find out what she’d done. Everyone. They’d all know what she was really like. What a dreadful, needy pathetic person she was and would always be. The sad, pathetic gullible bitch that everyone laughed at.

  No. Even putting herself to one side, the right thing to do was to tell Jane and Seth first. They wouldn’t want the police involved. She suspected if they were, then Jane and Seth would get into a lot more trouble.

  Anna came to the conclusion that she’d already done enough damage. The least she could do was not to cause any more. She needed to find somewhere to get herself together and work out what do next and exactly when to do it.

  Her brows furrowed together. That was it. She’d go to her mother’s house. She’d still
got the keys and the house was still empty. Going there would give her the breathing space she so desperately needed.

  Anna wiped the tears pouring down her face away with her hand and resolutely continued down the road, pleased to see some recognisable landmarks visible in the distance.

  FORTY SEVEN

  JASON MILLER WASTED NO time in getting a couple of his men together. He may have come to some unwise assumptions in the past about Seth Wright and knew he’d been wrong. All he could do now to rectify that was to help the man as much as possible.

  He screeched to a halt outside of the pub where he’d located Aiden Barber when delivering the news about his brother. Jason scowled. If only he’d known what he knew now. He’d have done more than deliver the news that his brother was dead – he’d have ensured he’d put Aiden in the same place.

  The smarmy bastard. Pretending he was distraught when he was the one who’d allowed Alan to take the knock that should have been his.

  Jason could feel his temper surging in jerky bursts of adrenalin. This twat had disfigured his barmaid and caused all the unrest. He knew he’d find it hard to keep control if he got his hands on the prick first, but he owed it to Seth to have the satisfaction of personally destroying the bastard. Furthermore, this wanker had Seth’s son, therefore everything else paled into insignificance.

  No, it was Seth’s right to have the pleasure of this one and Jason would be doing everything in his power to serve the sly bastard up.

  Seth had been almost rabid with the need to accompany him, but Jason had insisted that it didn’t take two of them to bring the shithead in. Primarily he needed to check on Jane. He could tell how worried Seth was when she didn’t answer the telephone. This worry was well-founded, because too many bad things had happened - several of which he’d unwittingly contributed to... But better late than never to rectify that.

  Nodding towards his men, Jason barged through the doors of the broken-down pub and this time wasn’t surprised when the place fell into silence at their sudden appearance.

  Recognising the barmaid as the one he’d spoken to previously, Jason strode purposefully up to the bar.

  “Hello again,” the barmaid purred, a wide smile appearing across her pretty face.

  “Cut the niceties,” Jason snarled. “Aiden Barber? Where is he?”

  The barmaid’s face fell at Jason Miller’s tone of voice and she warily eyed the two unfriendly-looking large men flanking him. “He’s not here...” she muttered.

  “I can see that!” Jason snapped irritably. “Where is he?”

  “I-I don’t know. I haven’t seen him since the night I last saw you,” the barmaid replied nervously, suspecting this would not be the answer the man wanted to hear.

  “Where does he live?” Miller snarled, getting impatient. “Come on girl. This is important, so don’t play games. I’m guessing, based on the derogatory comments you made about him last time that you shared more than drinks, so tell me where he fucking lives.”

  The barmaid blushed. Grabbing a notepad, she scribbled down an address. “I’ve only been there a couple of times, but I think this is right.”

  Snatching the scrap of paper from the girl’s shaking hands, Jason nodded at her brusquely. “Thanks.”

  Jerking his head towards his men, he strode back out from the pub.

  JENNIE HAD MADE HER decision. After what she’d heard, she knew Lacey would not be returning to Pegasus Place. Sylvia had been wrong. Lacey was dead and there was nothing she could do about it.

  She was racked with guilt. If she’d gone to Jane Wright when she was first thought about it then perhaps Lacey could have been saved? Now she’d never know.

  Either way, she couldn’t leave it any longer. She doubted whether anything she had to say would be of use, but she had to at least try.

  Jennie hurried down the road, knowing she must be nearing the correct place. She gazed at the large houses sitting amidst their immense grounds and pushed down a pang of envy. Now was not the time to be resentful about the hand she’d been dealt in life. What mattered now was doing something that could, even in a small way, help to bring whoever had murdered her friend to justice.

  Rounding the corner, she gasped in amazement as the façade of the Wright’s house loomed imposingly in front of her. This had to be the right place. It was like a mansion.

  Taking a deep breath, she walked up the drive, almost having a heart attack when a burly man stepped onto the path, seemingly from nowhere.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” Martin asked in a loud menacing voice.

  Pulling her wits back around her, Jennie found her voice. “I need to see Mrs Wright.”

  “It’s not a good time right now, Miss,” Martin said. He hadn’t all the details, but the frantic call he’d received from Seth not an hour past, telling him to come around straight away had made it clear something serious had gone down.

  Seth himself had left shortly after Martin had arrived, but Jane was still in the house with Maggie and he felt it inopportune to disturb her with whatever this girl wanted.

  “Please!” Jennie begged. “It’s really important that I see her.” She knew there was no choice in it. If she didn’t get to see Jane Wright today, it was unlikely she’d summon up the courage again.

  Martin smiled thinly. “I’m really sorry. It really isn’t a good time. I don’t thi...”

  “I have information on Lacey,” Jennie spluttered. “Lacey Garner, the girl wh...”

  “I know who Lacey Garner is,” Martin interrupted. He also knew the girl’s disappearance had caused a lot of upset within the house and raised more than several links to other untoward aspects which had been happening. Perhaps he should double check to see whether Jane wished to speak to this girl? “Wait here. I’ll see if she can accommodate you.”

  “Thank you,” Jennie replied, buoyed slightly with the prospect of finally being able to tell someone what she knew, however irrelevant it may be.

  MAGGIE WAS SURPRISED that Martin should even ask for something so absurd under the circumstances. Had Seth not informed him Toby was missing? From her experience, Martin was switched on, so surely if he knew what had happened then he wouldn’t be pestering Jane with requests from random passers-by?

  Jane was in no fit state to deal with anything right now. She’d wanted to accompany Seth when he’d left earlier, but Maggie had to agree with Seth on this one. When he’d insisted she remained at home in case someone called with news of Toby, Maggie had strongly agreed this was the best thing to do.

  Although Maggie would have quite happily remained in the house to take any calls or anything which enabled Jane to accompany Seth, the sad truth was that Jane was a complete and utter mess. As it was, she’d sat stationary in a chair without speaking for the last half an hour, despite Maggie’s attempts to keep her spirits up.

  She can’t say she was surprised. It was bad enough to lose one child, but to then lose a second – and to some kind of vendetta, well – it didn’t bear thinking about and she could only imagine how Jane must be feeling.

  “I don’t think it will be possible Martin,” Maggie said. “You obviously haven’t been filled in with what’s happened this morning, but Jane’s in no fit state to sp...”

  “I’ll be the judge of whether I’m in a fit state or not don’t you think Maggie?” Jane said sternly as she appeared in the doorway, resolve back in her shining eyes.

  “Oh, erm...” Maggie flustered, colouring slightly. She didn’t want Jane to think she was calling her useless. She was just trying to take some of the pressure off. “I was just sa...”

  “Yes, I know. You’re just trying to help. It’s ok,” Jane said, forcing herself to smile. “Who is it and what’s it about?”

  “I’m sorry, Mrs Wright. I’ll tell her to come back another time,” Martin said, realising rapidly he was right that something serious had occurred.

  Jane held her hand up. “Who is it and what’s it about?” She was determined to be in
control of at least some aspects of her life. Ones that she still had left that was.

  Martin glanced at Maggie apologetically and then turned to Jane. “A young girl’s outside asking for you,” he said. “She says she has information on Lacey Garner.”

  Maggie huffed. “Oh for God’s sake – Lacey Garner! Hasn’t she caused enough problems already? It’s probably some silly girl trying to get her hands on that reward money you offered. Tell her to go away! You’re got more important things to deal with.”

  Jane’s eyes narrowed. “Do you not think I know what’s important? You’ve obviously forgotten Lacey Garner was linked to Anna’s boyfriend. You saw him remember? This same guy is also linked to everything else,” she spat. “So yes Martin. I will see her – straight away. Please show her in.”

  Maggie stared at her feet contritely. Maybe it would be easier if she said nothing?

  She despondently followed Jane back into the sitting room to wait to hear what this girl had to say.

  FORTY EIGHT

  “YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE to get it out of here,” Digger said, staring at the small child.

  Eliza glared at Digger. “I’m not a fucking retard!” she snapped. “Don’t you think I know that?” His attitude was doing nothing to help her irritation. “It wasn’t like I’d planned to get dumped with a random baby was it?” Wincing when Toby yanked down hard on her gold hoop earrings, she swallowed down the urge to snap his pudgy little arm.

  Digger scowled sarcastically. “It’s hardly a ‘random’ baby is it? It’s Seth and Jane’s random baby. That won’t draw any more attention to us will it?”

  Eliza clenched her teeth. “This isn’t down to me!” She glared at Tina sitting dejectedly in the corner, occasionally whimpering from the pain radiating from her smashed teeth.

  “I’ll get rid of it!” Steve Lomond piped up eagerly, holding his large calloused hands out. “I’ve got no problem with chucking it in the river!”