by JANICE FROST
Neal’s phone rang again. It was Hammond Bell.
“DI Neal?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve just had a call from Bran Gallagher — you know, the ranger out at the lime woods?”
“Yes, yes, I know who you mean, man. Go on.”
“Bran told me he saw a car he didn’t recognise driving down the track out at Holby Wood. He thinks the driver was a young girl. He called me because he’d just heard from Olivia Darby about the Pines’ baby being abducted and he thought it might be worth letting us know. That road’s been closed for years. There’s a dilapidated cottage down there, nothing else. Do you want me to drive down and take a look?”
Neal pondered for a moment. “Sergeant Merry’s at Olivia Darby’s house right now. Radio her and ask her to meet you near the cottage. Wait for her to arrive before you proceed.”
“Yes, sir.”
Neal faced the door David Pine had just slammed shut. He turned the handle and went inside.
* * *
Ava turned off the main road and followed a lane that dwindled into a dirt track about a quarter of a mile further on. She saw Ham’s car parked in a muddy lay-by near a leaky trough and some rusting farm equipment.
She pulled in alongside him and wound down her window. “Is it far from here?” she asked, straining to see what lay ahead, but her view was obscured by high hedgerows. Ham shook his head. Ava noted that he had a pair of binoculars dangling around his neck.
“About another half a mile up the road. There’s a spot I know where we can park up without being seen from the cottage.”
“I’ll follow you.” Just short of half a mile further on, Ham indicated right and took a sharp turn off the track into what looked like unused grazing land surrounded by hedgerows. Ava could make out orange pantiles and a ridged rooftop through the tangle of woodland encroaching on the cottage’s garden. They parked in the field and walked close to the treeline to avoid being spotted.
“It looks derelict,” Ava commented.
Ham held his binoculars to his eyes. “It’s been empty for a while, but it’s not so bad inside. Rosie and I rented it for a month or two before we moved into our caravan.”
“Can you see anything?”
“Not so far.” Ham trained his binoculars on a downstairs window, then tilted them upwards. “Nope. Not a thing.”
“Where’s her car? It must be round the other side — if she’s here at all, that is.”
They edged along the side of the field until they could see the other side of the house. A Mini Cooper was parked at the rear.
“Bingo,” said Ham. “What now?”
“We need to confirm that it is Tess Woodson in there.”
A few seconds later, the cottage door opened and a girl stepped out. She looked around her and then walked to the car, opened the boot and took out a large holdall.
Ham handed Ava the binoculars. “That’s her. The baby must be inside, if she has him. Do you reckon she could be armed?” The thought had not occurred to Ava. She stared at Ham and he shrugged. “A lot of folks around here have guns. Farmers and the like.”
“Tess isn’t a country girl. I don’t think she’s likely to be armed, at least not with a gun. Still, she could easily harm the baby if we alarm her.”
“So how do you want to play this?” Ham asked.
Ava fingered the phone in her pocket. Should she call Neal? Chances were, he would advise her to wait for backup. There was no way of assessing how Tess would react, and Ava wasn’t trained in negotiation techniques. She pictured the slender young woman she had met at Eloise Woodson’s house. Supposing she were to threaten Shaun with a knife? An image came into Ava’s mind of Maggie Neal with a knife slicing across her throat. She couldn’t provoke an incident like that again.
Ham stood quietly by, waiting for orders.
Ava looked at him. “I’m going to take a closer look. I need to know if she’s got Shaun in there. Probably best if you keep your distance, we don’t want to overwhelm her — we don’t know what state of mind she’s in.”
Ham nodded, but he looked uncertain.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to do anything rash,” Ava reassured him. Ava took a deep breath and began to edge along the hedgerow until she reached the ground floor windows. With her back against the wall, she sidled up to a window. She sneaked a look inside and then gave Ham the thumbs up. He stood watching from where the field met the garden.
Tess was sitting in an old armchair, feeding Shaun from a bottle. There was such a look of tenderness on her face that Ava longed to believe that Shaun was not in any danger. But she couldn’t take that chance. She edged back to the door and tried the handle. Tess had forgotten to lock it. Quietly, Ava turned the handle and opened the door. In front of her was a flight of stairs, and to her right, the room where Tess was feeding the baby. Ava moved towards it silently, afraid of startling Tess and causing her to panic.
“Tess?” she said, softly, pushing open the door.
Tess leapt to her feet, still holding the baby. The bottle dropped to the carpet and lay there, oozing droplets of milk. They stared at each other. Tess said, “I haven’t harmed him.”
“I know.” Ava could see that Tess was tense. She was suddenly afraid of misjudging the girl and everything going terribly wrong.
“You can’t keep him here, Tess. We have to take him back where he belongs, with his parents.”
“I can do what I want with him. I could take him somewhere far from here. I could end his life if I chose to. A life for a life.” She gave a shrill, hysterical laugh.
“Tess, Shaun’s just an innocent baby. He isn’t responsible for what his parents did or didn’t do.”
“I don’t care. What about the damage they did to me? They took away my feelings. I didn’t just lose a mother, you see, I lost whatever it is that makes us human. So I don’t care about this brat.”
“But you have been caring for him.” Ava pointed at the tin of formula milk visible through the kitchen door, the opened pack of disposable nappies on the sofa.
“I needed to keep him alive, that’s all.”
Ava shook her head. “You didn’t have to keep him dry, well-fed, comfortable.”
“It stops him crying. How did you find me, anyway?”
“Hammond Bell saw your car. He’s outside. It won’t be long before the rest follow. What was your plan, Tess? Surely you realised half the county would be out searching for a missing baby? You must have known you’d be found.”
A blaze of anger lit up Tess’s face. “It’s not fair!” she cried. “I tracked down Ewan Cameron so I could prove that he harmed my mum and then someone killed him. He probably didn’t even suffer.”
“He suffered. Someone suffocated him. They had given him a drug that paralysed him but left him aware of what was happening to him. He would have felt real terror. He would have known his life was about to end.”
Tess didn’t flinch.
“Shaun’s innocent,” Ava said again.
“His parents aren’t. They lied to give Ewan Cameron an alibi. Gabe said he went to their flat that night and they weren’t there. I just want them to tell the truth!” Tess began to sob.
Ava’s heart ached for her. She looked so young and fragile. The eight-year-old child, who had woken up one morning to find her mother gone and her whole world shattered, was still hurting. Ava knew that Tess would not hurt this child.
Tess stepped forward and placed Shaun in Ava’s arms. “Will I go to prison?” she asked, her wide, frightened eyes still focused on the baby’s face. “I wouldn’t have hurt him. I just wanted to make them feel what it’s like to lose someone you love.”
“I know,” Ava said, and added, “I honestly can’t say whether you’ll go to prison.” Shaun squirmed in her arms. “Let’s begin by taking him home.”
A sudden noise behind the door made them both start. “It’s only Ham,” Ava said, and looked round. But it wasn’t.
“DI Saunders?”<
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“That’s right, Blondie. Nice work finding the baby. I’ll take him now. You drive young Tess here back to the station. I’ll let DI Neal know the kid’s safe.”
Ava stared at him, sensing that something wasn’t right. But Saunders did outrank her. “Come on then, hand the nipper over. I’m looking forward to seeing his mum’s face when I bring him back safe and sound.”
So Saunders wanted all the glory for rescuing Shaun. How predictable. The three of them walked to the car and reluctantly, Ava passed him over to Saunders and he made some unconvincing cooing noises. Ava watched him strap the car seat in.
“How did you know we were here?” she asked him.
He didn’t reply immediately. Then he said, “I heard Ham on the radio asking you to meet him. I was on my way out to the Pines’ place and thought I might be more use here if a situation was developing. You’re only a DS, remember, Merry. I’ve had experience of this sort of thing before.”
Ava thought the only thing Saunders was experienced at was being an arsehole, but she kept it to herself.
Close behind her, Tess whispered, “I think I know him. He used to go out with my Aunt Eloise, when I first moved in with her.”
“DI Saunders? Are you sure?”
Tess nodded.
“After your mum went missing?” It was quite possible they had met in the course of the investigation. Saunders would almost certainly have come into contact with Eloise, and probably even questioned her.
But Tess said, “And before. She knew him before too. I didn’t know he was a detective.”
“He was one of the detectives who investigated your mother’s disappearance.” Ava stared thoughtfully at Saunders, slowly reversing his car. Her mind was working overtime.
Ava pulled out her phone and called Hammond Bell’s number as Saunders pulled out into the side road. There was no answer.
“Shit. Where’s Ham?” With Tess following, Ava ran back to the place where Ham should have been waiting.
“Ham?” The young officer lay face down on the ground a few feet away from the hedge. Ava ran across to him and saw blood trickling from the side of his head. “Oh no. Ham! Ham! Wake up!”
Ham stirred and groaned. He felt his head and squinted up at Ava.
“Ham, are you okay? What happened?”
“Uncle Reg whacked me on the side of the head.”
Ava turned to Tess. “Call an ambulance and stay with him. He’s been unconscious, he shouldn’t be left alone.” Before Ham could protest she added, “That’s an order, PC Bell.” Ava began running towards her car. Over her shoulder she yelled back, “Call Neal! Let him know that Reg Saunders has Shaun and that he could be our killer.”
She had no idea where Saunders was headed and to her dismay, Ava failed to catch up with him before the junction with the main road. She guessed he would go back into Stromford. The alternative would have been to make his way deeper into the Wolds and eventually to the coast, effectively a dead end. From Stromford, he could get on to the town bypass and head in any direction he chose.
As she pulled onto the main road, Ava slapped on her police siren, forcing startled motorists to move aside.
A car in front of her drifted into the middle of the lane. Ava slammed on her brakes and yelled a string of expletives as she overtook it. At the approach to a roundabout, she slowed down and looked along the line of cars ahead of her. She caught a glimpse of a flash of red and shouted, “Yes!” It was Saunders’s red car.
Ava pulled out and put her foot hard on the accelerator. She wove between the cars in front, dodging oncoming vehicles and drawing nearer to the red car. Saunders must have seen her for he pulled out and sped across the roundabout, narrowly missing a van coming from the right.
“Shit!” Ava yelled. The same van had swerved, and was blocking her way. She struck the wheel with both hands in frustration.
She put in a call for backup. There was a burst of static, a couple of seconds’ silence. Minutes later, control informed her that Saunders’s vehicle had turned off the main road and had been intercepted by two patrol cars.
The turn-off lay just ahead. Less than half a mile along she saw the two patrol cars, one on either side of the road, doors flung open, lights flashing. Saunders’s car had crashed into the hedge of a lone house set back from the road. She pulled up alongside the first police car and waved her ID. “Sergeant Ava Merry, Stromfordshire Police. Where is the driver of that car?”
The police officer pointed at the house. “He went in there.”
“Was he carrying a baby seat?”
“Yes. Is it his kid? He threatened to hurt it if we intervened.”
“No. Look, I don’t have time to explain now. The man in there has probably killed already and he’s using the baby as a hostage. Do you know if there’s anyone in that house?”
The police officer shook his head.
Ava drummed her fingers on the roof of his car. She pictured Shaun as she had last seen him, snuggled under a blanket in his baby seat. With a sigh, she said to the officer, “I know the man. If I go in, I might be able to persuade him to hand over the baby.”
The officer looked uncertain.
Saunders’s car had flattened the section of hedge that faced the road, but the rest was still dense and thick enough to conceal her. Ava crept along behind it, crouching low until she reached the end. Then she did a forward roll to the side of the house, straightened up and sprinted round to the rear. A long back garden ended in an open field. If Saunders decided to run, he wouldn’t get far.
A window at the back of the house revealed an empty kitchen. Expecting the back door to be closed, Ava tried the handle and it turned. A laundry basket full of wet washing lay just inside. Someone had been disturbed on their way out to the dryer.
The kitchen door was ajar. Ava crept over to it and paused, listening. She could hear quiet sobbing coming from the front room. It sounded like a woman. Ava inched along an endless hallway and peered in through the half-open door. Sitting on a chair in the corner of the room was an elderly woman. Shaun’s car seat was on the floor near her feet. The child seemed to be fast asleep. Saunders was standing by the window, peering out through the partially closed curtains. He seemed to flicker and jump as the patrol car flashing outside sent striations of light pulsing through the room. Ava tried to swallow but her mouth was dry. Her heart hammered in her ears. She took a deep breath and stepped through the door.
Saunders spun round and levelled a gun at her.
“Reg? What the fuck?” Ava instinctively raised her hands. It had never entered her head that he might be armed. The whole situation was so surreal that Ava could feel no fear. “Oh come on, Reg. You’re not really going to fire that thing, are you?”
Saunders swivelled and pointed the gun at the terrified woman. “I could shoot her instead, I suppose,” he said.
The woman screamed, waking Shaun, who began to yell.
“Reg, you’re not thinking straight. There are two patrol cars out there and more on the way. This can only go badly for you unless you put that gun down and give yourself up.” Ava had no idea if she was saying the right thing. What if her words provoked him further?
She saw the gun shake in his hand. Shaun cried louder, and Saunders was clearly rattled by the noise. He glanced at the child almost fearfully. Sweat made its way down his forehead into his eyes.
He blinked. “Move out of the way, Merry. I don’t have time for this.”
“What’s going on, Reg?”
“You and Scotty make a crap team, Blondie. I thought the two of you might have figured it out by now.”
“Figured what out? That you killed Ewan Cameron? Why? What happened to Steph, Reg? Did you kill her too?” It seemed important to keep Saunders talking, but Ava had no real plan. She sensed that he too was floundering.
“My car’s outside, Reg. Leave Shaun here with this lady and take me along as your hostage. Drive anywhere you like. I’ll tell Neal not to have us followed. You can
get away.”
Saunders seemed to consider this. Then, still pointing the gun at Ava, he cocked his head towards Shaun. “The kid comes too. Pick him up.”
Ava moved gingerly across the room towards the crying baby. She bent to pick up the car seat and as she straightened, she glimpsed a shape flit across the lawn outside the window. She felt a surge of relief mixed with fear. Saunders had his back to the window and the person outside could not know that he was armed.
Ava tensed. She kept her eyes on Saunders, trying to think how she could distract him, giving the figure outside a chance to take him by surprise. Without much hope, she acted. Ava gave an exaggerated start and looked straight over his shoulder at the window. Saunders took his eye off the gun. It was all she needed.
She dropped Shaun’s car seat to the floor and lunged at Saunders, delivering a swift kick to his groin. She grabbed his wrist and tried to wrest the weapon from his grasp, but Saunders held it fast.
A figure burst through the door. “He’s armed!” Ava yelled.
They collided in the middle of the room, and three pairs of hands fought for control of the gun. The old woman and Shaun screamed, and the gun went off.
Suddenly there was silence. Ava clutched her ringing ears, and shook plaster from her hair and face. Hammond Bell, still bloody from the cut on his head, grappled the gun from his startled uncle, and threw him to the floor in a single deft move. Ava gave a slightly hysterical laugh at the look of sheer surprise on Reg’s face.
Chapter 19
Ham snapped the cuffs on his uncle’s wrists. “Is anybody hurt?” he asked.
“I think we’re all good.” Ava looked at the elderly woman, who was now holding the crying Shaun. She appeared shocked but unharmed. Ham got to his feet, brushing plaster from his clothes and shaking it from his hair. Ava coughed, tasting dust. “You’re bleeding, Ham. Are you okay?”