The Forgotten Cottage

by Helen Phifer

  ‘Oh, shit, his car’s in the car park. Is there any other way he could get to your new house?’

  Annie stood up on legs that wobbled as she tried to walk on them and Jake caught her as he came back in.

  ‘Get back in bed—what do you think you’re doing?’

  ‘I’m going to find Will, that’s what, and don’t you dare try and tell me any different, Jake. He might be in trouble or ill.’

  Kav nodded at Jake then he stepped outside and asked if there was a dog handler on duty and for CSI to meet him at the hospital. Then he popped his head back into the room. ‘I don’t think he was in the car but I’ll go and double-check.’

  Kav began to jog down the corridor towards the stairs and the exit that would bring him out near to where Will’s car was parked. He made it out in record time, even though he had a stitch; why was it he only ever had to run whenever Annie was involved in something? He reached the car and peered through the windows, thanking God that Will wasn’t slumped over the steering wheel inside. He tried the doors but they were locked. Walking around to the front, he pressed the palm of his hand onto the bonnet. It was stone-cold. The car hadn’t been used for hours, so where the fuck was Will? He stood waiting for the dog and CSI to arrive.

  ***

  Jake paced up and down the small room whilst Annie tried to make herself look presentable but she was wearing a hospital gown and no clothes because they’d all been cut off her when she was brought in.

  ‘Annie, I know you’re worried but, seriously, you can’t go out of here wearing just that gown; it’s proper indecent.’

  ‘Well, be a gentleman and give me your jacket, then when we reach the car you can drive me home so I can get some clothes and then bring me straight back.’

  A nurse walked in with a tray of food and almost dropped it on the floor. ‘What are you doing, darling? Get back in bed and get your feet up.’

  ‘I’m sorry but I can’t; there’s an emergency and I need to go right now. I’m fine—thank you for all your help; I really appreciate it.’

  The nurse looked at Jake as if to tell him to get a grip and he shook his head in apology and rolled his eyes at Annie.

  ‘I’m sure this nice officer can deal with whatever the emergency is while you rest up.’

  Annie looked at the older woman and took a deep breath to calm her down before she spoke. ‘I’m sure the nice officer could, but I’m also a nice officer and I need to go right now.’

  Jake began to unzip his body armour and take off his black fleece jacket that he was wearing underneath it. He handed it to Annie, who slipped it on and wrapped it around herself, the sleeves dangling almost to her knees.

  She walked to the door. ‘Don’t worry; I know it’s my own fault if I go out of here and die but I’m sorry, I have to go. Thank you for everything.’

  With that, she began walking barefoot down the corridor towards the lifts. Jake ran after her and took hold of her arm.

  ‘Thanks, Jake, I owe you. What about the cameras? Should we go and check them before we leave the hospital, see if it has Will leaving on it last night? We only need to check the A & E and Maternity exits; all the others will have been locked up by the time he left—it was past ten o’clock.’

  ‘Cracking idea, Annie; you know I really miss working with you, even though right now you look like you’ve escaped from the Mental Health unit. People are going to think I’ve sectioned you.’

  ‘I don’t care what I look like, Jake, and don’t tell me you wouldn’t be the same if it was Alex we couldn’t find because I know you would be having a nervous breakdown.’

  He nodded. She was right; he couldn’t begin to imagine life without Alex in it and it didn’t bear thinking about because he loved him so much. They went to the small office near the main entrance where the security guards hung around drinking coffee and watching the CCTV. Jake knocked on the door and walked straight in, Annie following. The two guards looked over to him then at Annie and one of them stood up.

  ‘Cheers, mate, where did you find her? They didn’t even let us know one of them had escaped; they normally do. I’m telling you, they need better locks on the doors down there; it’s not safe.’

  Jake couldn’t stop the grin which began to spread across his cheeks. The guard walked over to Annie and took hold of her elbow.

  ‘Come on, love, let’s get you back down to your ward; it’s dinner time. Fancy a little walkabout, did you, a bit of fresh air?’

  Annie pulled her arm away from his. ‘How dare you? I’m not a mental health patient. I’m a police officer and I work with this idiot. We need you to check your CCTV from last night around ten o’clock to see if you have one of our detectives leaving the hospital.’

  The guard looked at his mate then winked at Jake. ‘By heck, she’s good. Very convincing; you would have had me fooled.’

  Jake felt Annie’s fist bury itself into his left kidney, which wiped the grin from his face. ‘Argh. She’s telling the truth; she’s a police officer who was a patient here on the medical ward and has discharged herself—without the doctor’s consent, I might add.’

  He began rubbing his back. ‘We need you to check the cameras, please; it’s a matter of urgency. We need to see if the detective left the hospital or if he’s still inside somewhere because he hasn’t been seen since he left Annie’s private room last night.’

  The guard’s cheeks flushed red. ‘Sorry, officer, no offence. You’re not exactly dressed right—my mistake.’

  He turned and walked over to the monitors, where the other guard was stifling a giggle behind his hand. After what felt like forever he got the video footage up of both exits, checking the A & E one first. After watching it for a few minutes, Annie told him to stop it and let it play. Will could be seen walking past the reception desk, his head bent as he was looking at his phone. Annie clenched Jake’s arm, her heart racing. He walked out of the automatic doors and straight into a woman. Lifting his head, they had a brief conversation and Annie felt her world about to come crashing down. Please, God, don’t let him have left with her and gone back to her house, not now. Not after all we’ve been through. Annie could sense Jake squirming to the left of her and felt her cheeks begin to burn. The woman looked familiar but the footage wasn’t very clear and they didn’t look intimate; there was no kiss or touching, apart from Will walking into her, but it looked as if it had been a total accident.

  Jake turned towards her. ‘It’s not what you’re thinking; you can tell he wasn’t expecting to see her. But it does look as if she knows him—sorry, Annie.’

  They continued watching the screen. The woman turned and Will followed her out of the hospital.

  Annie felt sick with worry; it wasn’t right. ‘Please rewind it to the point where he knocks into her.’

  The guard obliged, rewinding it back then playing it in slow motion. Annie bent closer to the screen. She did know that woman – but she didn’t know her very well.

  ‘Oh, my God… I know her—I think it’s the ice queen.’

  Jake raised his eyebrow at her and the two security guards turned to look at her.

  ‘Well, me and Will call her the ice queen. It looks very much like Amelia, Will’s dad’s new housekeeper. Why would Will go with her, unless she came to tell him Tom was poorly? Oh, God, have you spoken to Tom and Lily? Is everything okay with them?’

  Jake relayed the conversation with Lily he’d had earlier.

  ‘Give me your phone, Jake; I need to speak to Lily.’

  He handed it over to her then turned to the guards. ‘Please can you burn a copy of that off for me in case it’s evidence? What about the outside cameras? Can you check to see if they are on that and which direction they headed off to?’

  The guard who was sitting down nodded and brought up the view from the outside camera. It showed Will walking along with the woman, past the Maternity Unit and down towards the steps which led to the lower car park, where they turned the corner and were gone.

 
‘Can you get them up once they’ve got to the bottom of those steps so we can see which car they get into?’

  ‘No, sorry, mate, someone broke the screen on the camera down on that part of the car park a couple of days ago and it won’t get fixed for a couple of weeks.’

  Jake felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. It was all too much of a coincidence. Annie let out a sob on the phone and he turned to her.

  ‘Don’t touch it again; tell Tom it’s okay, we’ll get someone up to you very soon.’

  The guard handed a disc to Jake. ‘Good luck, hope you find him soon.’

  Jake ushered Annie out of the small office and into the corridor. ‘Don’t touch what?’

  Annie, her face whiter than he’d ever seen it before, burst into tears, which was another first for Jake. Everything she’d been through the last couple of years, he’d never actually seen her cry and he felt his heart begin to pound.

  ‘Tom got a card in the post this morning with a ransom note in it.’

  ‘You’re having a laugh… Why would anyone want to kidnap Will? I mean, that’s plain stupid. What did it say?’

  ‘Lily didn’t really say; she was too busy crying. What are we going to do? Poor Will.’

  Jake shook his head. ‘Let’s go find Kav and tell him, then get you home so you can put some clothes on and then we’ll figure it out.’

  They walked towards the exit and down towards the steps where Kav was standing next to Will’s car with Debs the Crime Scene Investigator already suited and booted and getting ready to start processing it for any evidence. Kav took one look at Annie’s face and knew something was wrong; Jake began relaying it all to him then turned to catch Annie just in time before she passed out and hit the tarmac.

  She woke up in the front seat of the CSI van being fanned with a crime scene logbook by Jake. He whispered, ‘Kav’s having a shit fit, wants you back in hospital and me and him to go to Will’s parents along with someone from Kendal CID.’

  ‘I’m okay; I haven’t eaten for God knows how many days. Please don’t let him send me back in there; I’ll only do one when his back’s turned and you know I will. Then I’ll probably fall out of the toilet window while I’m trying to escape and break my neck and it will all be your fault when you’re crying over me at my funeral. Just think of the guilt you’ll have to live with for the rest of your life.’

  ‘Fuck me, that’s emotional blackmail and a half. I’ll tell him but he’s not happy. He wanted me to carry you up there.’

  She began to laugh. ‘Then you’d have been in the bed next door, having a heart attack. Seriously, tell him I’m fine; I just need chocolate and Will.’ She felt her eyes brim with tears but blinked them back. Now was not the time to turn into a blubbering wreck. Kav would definitely send her back into the hospital.

  Kav walked across to them both. ‘Right, plan of action is to take Annie home and get her dressed; we can’t have her upsetting the upstanding citizens of Barrow looking like that, and then Annie can direct us both to Will’s parents’ house so we can speak to them, see what the hell is going on. Is that okay with you both? Annie, are you well enough for this because, quite frankly, I don’t want you collapsing or, worse, dying on us; I need you to be able to keep it together.’

  ‘I’m fine. I just need something to eat and some clothes; it will take me five minutes.’

  Kav nodded, satisfied for now. He knew that she would only be a complete pain in the arse if he left her behind.

  Jake handed his keys to Debs. ‘Give them to whoever comes to get the car and tell them I abandoned it outside A & E. Thanks.’

  She nodded, pocketed them and continued dusting for prints.

  1782

  Betsy opened one eye then tried to open the other and winced. Her head was throbbing, she couldn’t see clearly and for a moment she had no idea where she was or what was happening. A shadow fell across her as a man leant over her and then she remembered that she had been running away from them. He poked her in the chest with a stick and she flinched.

  ‘She’s alive, bit dazed but still breathing, unfortunately.’

  She blinked to make her eyes focus. There were at least seven or eight men standing around her in a circle, looking down at her, and for the first time in her life she felt pure panic fill her lungs and steal all the air from inside, making it hard to breathe. Rough arms came down, gripping hers, and then she was lifted to her feet. She felt sick as the pain made her head feel as if it was on fire.

  ‘Well, then, what have you got to say for yourself, you murdering whore?’

  Another voice spoke to the left of her. ‘Now, then, you all know what it says in the Holy Bible. Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. I say we take her back to the house and hang her high from the beams. That will chase the devil from her. Satan won’t want anything to do with her once her body is left to rot. Let the birds peck her eyes out and the animals scavenge her flesh. It will be a lesson for everyone to see.’

  Betsy felt bile rise in her throat and her stomach felt soured. It was all over. She knew that her life was going to end very soon and there was nothing she could do about it. She wanted to cry and beg Joss’s forgiveness but she would not show these men such a sign of weakness so instead she began to laugh.

  She let out a loud chuckle. ‘You foolish men, I am no witch. I tell you now; it is not the devil inside of me, as you may have yourselves believe. But if it makes you feel better then go on and believe your rubbish.’

  A hand slapped her across the face, leaving red fingerprints across her cheek. She lifted her head to see Joss standing in front of her and knew it was him who had hit her.

  ‘Why, Betsy? Why would you want to kill my sons, my mother and father? Was I next? I loved you and this is how you repay me, by killing the people that mean the most to me.’

  Before she could answer, he turned his back on her and walked away and she felt her stomach roll and a tear fell from her eye. She had wanted him all to herself; was that such a bad thing?

  Another voice began to chant. ‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live; thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.’

  Over and over again, it was getting louder as more voices joined in and she shut her eyes. She felt herself being dragged forward and knew they were taking her to the house that she had longed to be her home, but there was nothing she could do. She wasn’t strong enough to overcome seven grown men and she had nothing left now that Joss had turned his back on her.

  It didn’t take very long before they reached her beloved house that had started all of this. Her vegetable garden was still a mess from when the boys had thrown the soil and seedlings everywhere and there was the big hole that she had frantically dug in the middle of the other. She wondered if dying would hurt. There was a lot of chanting, pushing and shoving. A rough rope was hooked around her neck, the strands so coarse they were cutting into her flesh even before it tightened. She opened her eyes to look at them, the men who were going to kill her and take her away from her beloved Joss.

  ‘I’m no witch, you fools; I just wanted to be on my own with Joss. I’ll tell you one thing, though—I do like to kill people… I very much enjoyed killing my mother, listening to her groans of agony. Don’t think that I won’t come back for you all once I’m dead, because I will haunt each and every one of you until the day you all die and then you can meet me face to face once more. This time it will be one on one and we will see how brave you are then.’

  Betsy felt them pause; her words had struck fear into some of them. She knew every single one of them because they all drank in the pub she had worked at; she knew where they lived and hoped they would spend the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders. She looked at Marcus then nodded for them to get on with it.

  The rope went taut and she gasped, her fingers automatically reaching up to try to loosen it. She felt her feet lift from the ground. She looked around to see where Joss was and saw him standing at the back of the crowd, a shovel in his hand
ready to bury her, but what made her eyes pop open and her heart stop beating was the sight of her mother standing next to him, with rotting flesh hanging from her bones, her arms stretched open wide and a huge grin spread across her mottled green face that had black sockets for eyes. Betsy began to frantically kick her legs and pull at the rope around her neck, wanting to be free, not wanting to have to meet her mother again, but there was nothing she could do and she began to lose consciousness…

  ***

  As Betsy took her last breath the men around her began to panic, and the two holding the rope bent their heads.

  ‘What have we done?’

  The words broke the silence. Joss looked around. He didn’t know who had spoken them but he felt as if his whole world had crashed down onto his shoulders. He didn’t look at the woman who had once held his heart in her hands and at the same time taken it and ripped it in two. He turned and walked across to the vegetable beds he had spent a full day digging and preparing for her to grow her own vegetables in. She had been so sweet and funny when he’d met her.

  He went to the hole that she had begun—one big enough to put her body in. Two of the others joined him and they began to dig, and before long the hole was deep enough. Joss didn’t want to touch her; he didn’t want her corpse in his garden either but if the law got hold of this they would all surely hang as well for were they not just as bad as she was? He wiped his brow with his sleeve; it was warm work digging.

  He turned to Marcus, who had been the ringleader in all of this. ‘Cut her down and put her in that hole.’

  ‘I thought you might want to leave the witch there for a few days, let the locals see what happens when you dare to mess with us.’

  ‘Are you serious? We have just killed her in cold blood, hung her like a pig about to be slaughtered and you want to leave her there hanging, dead and rotting, from my front doorstep for the whole village to see? Just bloody cut her down, Marcus, and be done with it and may God forgive us for our sins.’

  Joss stood with his back to them; he couldn’t watch. There was some grunting and a loud thud as Betsy’s body hit the ground. He didn’t watch them carry her over to the hole and put her in it. Instead, he passed his spade to the man nearest to him so he could begin to cover her. They worked fast and before long the only sign of what had happened was a mound of fresh soil.