The Island Angel

by Alex Slorra

  In the full moonlight, she could see him picking his nose. When he ate the fruits of his labour, it reminded her she hadn’t had any dinner. The quixotic notion of working for the Serious Fraud Office had notched down yet another dozen points.

  SOMETHING THE SIZE of a softball jabbed into Jessica’s back. She opened her eyes with the throbbing pain from her head repeating, I’m hurt, leave me alone.

  She could see nothing. When she tried to sit up, she bumped her ear against a hard surface. The jabbing behind her continued, then a larger thud against her shoulder blades. She tried to remember where she was and what had happened. In a flash of horror, it came to her. “Abbie!”

  A muffled grunt replied.

  “Abbie,” Jessica whispered. “Is that you?”

  A powerful blow from what she guessed was Abbie’s knee knocked her an inch forward.

  “Stay calm, stay calm.” But she was near panic herself. They weren’t moving, and Jessica could hear no other sounds except the occasional call of a bird and crashing waves somewhere in the distance. Those noises told her where she was, and her desperation grew higher. With no room to turn, she was only able to bend her elbow enough to feel around. There must be a way to get out of here! She searched for a latch: an emergency boot lever. Something glowed in the far top corner. She grabbed it only to discover the plastic handle was detached. If it had been the boot release, the bastard had snapped it off.

  Abbie’s screams, muffled behind tape, were getting worse.

  “Abbie, darling, I know you’re scared. We’ll get out.” Jessica’s words trembled. She wanted to tell Abbie to take deep breaths but knew it would be impossible for her. “Slow your breathing. Think of something else, like riding, or when we sang together.”

  After a minute, Abbie went quiet. The interlude had given Jessica an agonising period to consider what that animal might be doing to Anna. The person Anna feared the most, the demon who had murdered her sister and left Anna for dead, Abbie’s father, was out there. Fuck! Fuck! I’ve got to get out of here!

  “Abbie! Try to shift back, as far as you can… I need to flip over!”

  The space behind Jessica opened up, and she rolled over on to her back. She pressed her knees against the boot’s lid, pushing has hard as she could. The metal creaked and buckled, but the lock wouldn’t pop. “Shit,” she whispered. Twisting to face the front of the car, she felt for Abbie’s face and yanked off the tape covering her mouth. Abbie gasped in a deep swallow of air. Jessica quickly covered Abbie’s mouth with her hand. “Quiet. Very quiet. All right?” She felt Abbie nod in agreement. “Are you hurt?”

  “No, but I’m really scared,” Abbie murmured with a sob.

  “Shh, it’ll be okay.” Remembering she’d been able to release the boot from the driver’s compartment, Jessica prayed the mechanism was not electronic. Flipping again, she pulled at the lining from the trunk’s side until she was able to reach between the bodywork of the car. With her wrist pressed against a sharp edge of the steel frame, she fumbled further into the cavity. Grunting while ignoring the pain caused by the gashing of her skin, she hooked her fingertips around a cable. When she yanked down hard, the boot sprang open.

  Tears of relief filled her eyes.

  Their kidnapper had parked at the front of the house, rather than around the back in the farmyard. Jessica could see light in the bedroom window. A shadow that wasn’t Anna’s appeared. Her tears halted and her blood froze.

  She half clambered and half fell out of the car. Her legs couldn’t hold her weight, and she collapsed to her knees. Using the rear of the car, she dragged herself up and reached into the trunk to untie Abbie.

  In her struggles, Abbie had bunched the tape that held her ankles and wrists into thick bands, making it impossible for Jessica to rip. Blood dripping over her fingers from the cut on her wrist had also made the tape slick.

  “You can’t do it,” Abbie whimpered.

  With dread driving her haste, she searched the boot, but there was nothing to break the bindings. She thought about running to the building where Anna kept her tools, but she couldn’t risk the minutes it would take. I’ve got to get Abbie out of here! Attempting to clear her vision, she inadvertently spread blood across her eyes. The car cut me!

  Frantically, she ripped off the rubber seal that ran along the edge of the boot, exposing a spot-welded lip of metal.

  “Forward,” Jessica demanded, dragging Abbie’s wrists to the sharp rim. She rubbed the taut binding against it, and the tape was severed in a matter of seconds. Repeating the action with Abbie on her back and her knees bent, Jessica was able to free Abbie’s ankles.

  Abbie leapt out of the car and dove into her arms.

  “Where’s your phone?” Jessica whispered.

  “He threw it away. He’s going to hurt Mum! He’s going to—” Abbie stammered, her whole body trembling.

  “Listen! You need to go. Run to Katy’s. Tell her mum what happened, but not to come here. Tell her to call the police.”

  “I, I can’t… I’m too—”

  “Be brave. You can do it. Go!” Jessica released her and pushed her away.

  Abbie hesitated. “I love you,” she said and tore off into the night.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  NADIA WAS PRETTY sure school finished earlier than after midnight on a Saturday. To her left, her boss snored with his head against the glass of the driver’s door. The racket was only just preferable to his sexist anecdotes. She nudged him in the ribs.

  He grunted, sat up, and wiped saliva from his chin. “What’s up?”

  Nadia pointed. “She’s still in her school uniform. Where do you think she came from?”

  “I told you this place is fucked up. Go find out.”

  She rolled her eyes and got out of the car. Jogging to intercept the girl, Nadia was forced to break into a sprint when she flew past. There was no way she was going to catch her. “Hey! I’m a police officer. Stop!”

  The girl skidded to a standstill and spun around. “Help me!” she screamed.

  THE WRENCHING FEAR for Anna’s safety defeated its purpose. Jessica could barely function. She couldn’t think or work out a plan. Instead, she bolted into the house. The cooker’s hood light was on, dimly illuminating the floor, which was strewn with the contents of the kitchen cupboards and drawers. She froze when she heard a sound behind her and then grabbed for the nearest object—a Tupperware cake box. Spinning around, she threw it in the direction of the noise.

  It bounced off a goat’s head.

  “Kermit, get out of here!” she whispered through gritted teeth. Jessica heard a grunt from upstairs. She sprinted for the steps, knowing she was being reckless, but she couldn’t, not for a second, allow Anna to be hurt.

  As she shouldered into their bedroom door, her mind stuttered like a TV screen flickering to life.

  “Jessica!” Anna yelled across the room. “Run!”

  Anna was cornered next to the bed. Her eyes were filled with fear. Her pupils were impossibly large. A hammer shook where she held it in two hands.

  Jessica scanned the room. He was there, pushing himself up off the floor, his hair matted with blood.

  “You’re going to fucking regret that,” he swore at Anna as he got to his feet.

  Jessica leapt in front of him and backed up in Anna’s direction. “Look, just leave!” She pulled the hammer from Anna’s quivering hands. “Or, God help me, I’ll kill you.”

  “Fuck you.” He took a step forward, as the crunch of tyres on gravel and blue lights pulsed through the window.

  He glanced towards the window, then back at Jessica, his face twisted into a mask of rage. He charged, slamming Jessica into the wardrobe. Her hand went through the pine panel of its door, and the wardrobe toppled over. She tried to twist out of the way, but he shoved her underneath the heavy antique.

  Unable to see, Jessica writhed in a frenzied effort to escape, but her left arm was twisted and pinned.

  “You bastard, get out!
The police are here!” Anna screamed.

  “You’re coming with me, bitch!”

  From under the wardrobe, Jessica’s hand reached the frame of the bed. Tugging, she managed to free her shoulders, but her arm remained trapped.

  He came for her with the hammer.

  “Stop it, I’ll go with you! Leave her alone!” Anna yelled from somewhere behind him.

  He was about to take a swing at Jessica when he was knocked on top of the wardrobe, dropping the hammer. Jessica’s breath rushed out of her lungs as his extra weight pressed down on her. She sucked in air as he got to his feet again.

  She could see four white furry legs beyond his. A stink of decaying plants confirmed Kermit was in the room.

  “What the fuck!” he snorted. He took hold of Anna’s wrist and hauled her into the hall.

  Kermit stood a few inches away, his eyes unreadable. A strip of denim wobbled in his mouth as he chewed. Jessica lunged at Kermit and caught hold of his left horn. Startled, the goat shook his head and backed away from her.

  With Anna’s life depending on Jessica’s grip, she ignored the intense pain, and the unnatural movement of her trapped arm as Kermit pulled her out. When, finally, her arm ripped free from the broken wood, she let go of the goat’s horn and slid the rest of her body out from under the wardrobe.

  She tumbled down the stairs and managed to get to the kitchen, only to see he’d taken Anna’s car rather than go around the front to his, where the police had arrived. She watched him speed away with Anna slumped in the passenger seat.

  Outside, Jessica rounded the corner of the farm. A black BMW was reversing. There was no time. Opening the rear door as it began to drive off, Jessica jumped in.

  “He has her!” Her words were no more than strangled gasps.

  “We saw,” the woman in the front said, accelerating with blue lights flashing. “He won’t get far. The tide’s in.”

  ALTHOUGH THE PUNCHES had been painful, Anna pretended she was badly hurt. If he thought she was too weak to act, she might get a chance to escape. The seatbelt alarm beeped incessantly as they sped along the approach road to the causeway.

  “Put on your belt, and it’ll stop beeping!” she told him.

  Mike cursed and plugged in his belt. Anna did the same but fixed it behind herself when his attention was on the road ahead.

  After the long stretch through the sandbanks, they made a sharp left to face a great expanse of water. The small wave tops glistened under the moon as they moved swiftly north into the bay.

  Police car lights flashed behind them. Now was her chance. She reached for the door latch.

  “You’re not going anywhere!” Mike elbowed her hard in the chest, forcing her back into the seat. And again, as he floored the small Ford Fiesta. Water sprayed up in great arcs on both sides of the car.

  At this point, true panic set in. Anna’s chest constricted, agonising her bruises, as fear took hold. Her breathing was now so shallow her head felt like it would implode. It was a fear greater than any she had ever felt. Mike had been a constant threat for most of her adult life. But in front of them was the merciless sea. For a split second, she was back on the dock at the cabin in Michigan. Her grandfather throwing her off to teach her how to swim. She had never learned. It would be her grandfather, as much as Mike, who sealed her end.

  A wave rolled over the bonnet in a great bulge.

  “Go back! It’s too deep!” she screamed, reaching for the latch on the door again.

  Then everything happened at once. The car shuddered to the right and, before he could correct it, they tipped into deeper waters. The engine stalled and the car pitched to the driver’s side, floating for a moment in the waves.

  The sea seeped in through the doors, the windows, and vents, filling the footwells.

  Mike was struggling to unfasten his seatbelt. Its broken latch required a knack Anna prayed he’d fail to master. The car sank deeper, until only six inches on Anna’s side were above the surface.

  “Get me the fuck out of this!” Now up to his shoulders in the ice-cold sea, Mike yanked at the seatbelt, causing the inertia locks to further tighten the strap around him.

  “Fuck you!” Anna said, unrolling the window, allowing a surge of water to fill the interior. Against the torrent, she heaved herself through the window into the frigid flow. The car moved beneath her as she tried to kick free, disappearing beneath the surface.

  She felt his fingers take hold of her ankle. She was being pulled under. All her limbs desperately thrashed, but she couldn’t escape. This is it! I’m going to die!

  From above, a hand hooked under her armpit. She was being tugged in both directions before the grip on her ankle slipped away. Her head broke the surface of the water, and she gasped for air. Salt stung her eyes as she choked, coughing out a mouthful of brine.

  “I’ve got you!” a shaky voice told her. She was hauled up onto the roof of her car, to stand next to Jessica. Waves from the sea rolled up to their knees. Jessica held her with an arm around her waist.

  Anna clung on, her mind still many steps behind what was actually happening.

  Twenty feet away, the undercover police car idled, with waves to the top of its wheel arches and its engine revving noisily.

  A man swam towards them.

  “Get a move on!” a woman shouted from the driver’s seat.

  “Mum! Mum!” Abbie called from the back of the vehicle.

  “Abbie, stay in the car!” the female police officer yelled.

  Underneath their feet, the Fiesta shifted. An air bubble popped around them as Anna’s car disappeared beneath the water.

  “I can’t swim!” Anna screamed.

  Jessica was struggling to keep both of them afloat when the male officer reached them. “Grab my neck!” he shouted.

  “Jessica!”

  “Go with him, Anna! I’m right behind you.”

  Anna felt herself being pulled through the water.

  “Stand up!” The officer’s voice rang loud in her ears. She straightened, finding firm tarmac beneath her feet. With the sea up to her thighs, she waded through the water to the police car, its blue light reflecting off the waves in dazzling pulses. Jessica was soon behind her and Anna leaned on her for support.

  “Let’s go!” the policewoman yelled against the roar of the engine.

  Abbie flung the door open, and the male officer helped them both in, before skirting around the car. “Holy brass monkey balls, Nadia, that was cold,” he said, jumping into the passenger’s seat.

  “What about the other person in the car?” Nadia asked, shifting into reverse.

  “No hope in hell. He’s fish food! I’ll call it in. Now, get us out of here!”

  “All right.” She leaned to look through the rear of the car and backed up slowly in the direction of Holy Island.

  “I know you can’t see it. But, for God sake, don’t go off the road,” he said, cranking up the heat.

  “No kidding,” Nadia muttered.

  Curled up against Jessica, with her arms around Abbie, Anna was grateful for the warmth of her body.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” Jessica whispered, her face tucked into Anna’s neck.

  Anna could feel the heat from Jessica’s tears and reached up to caress her head. “You didn’t, baby. You didn’t.”

  In the sanctuary of Jessica’s embrace, she half listened as the officers made phone calls, reporting the incident and requesting maritime support to recover the lost car. But beyond that, there’d been no mention of taking Jessica into custody.

  As soon as they had pulled into Anna’s drive, she directed them to park around the back.

  “I’m going to call for an ambulance,” Nadia said.

  “No. We just need to get warm,” Anna said feebly.

  “It’s my duty of care. I have to. But let’s get you inside first.”

  In the kitchen, shivering in sodden pyjamas, Anna went to the thermostat and flicked it to maximum. The boiler fired to life. Sh
e was tired, bruised, freezing cold, and alive… Abbie was safe— Why is Abbie here?

  Jessica had fetched a blanket from the lounge and placed it around Anna’s shoulders.

  An hour later, Anna sat on the sofa in the lounge. It was still dark outside, and Nadia had lit a fire. Her male counterpart sat opposite, close to the wood burner. He was wrapped in a duvet and wearing Anna’s pink robe and matching slippers.

  A paramedic from the air ambulance tended to her injuries while another spoke to Jessica. Two more police officers had arrived with the medics.

  Anna gathered the full story of what had happened as statements were taken. Numb, she found it hard to process the details. The thought of Abbie trapped in the boot of a car—she couldn’t bear to think about it. Jessica had saved her. She had saved them both. They were safe. That’s what she had to keep in her mind. They were safe.

  Next to her, Abbie slept with legs stretched out over Anna’s lap and her head against Jessica’s shoulder.

  “I’d suggest a trip to the hospital,” the medic said to Jessica. “But I can’t see anything that needs immediate attention, beyond what I’ve already done. If you start to feel dizzy or nauseous, don’t hesitate to call for an airlift.”

  Once the medics had left, Anna lifted Abbie’s legs and went into the kitchen.

  “I suppose you’re going to arrest Jessica now?” she asked Nadia, who was adding sugar to a cup of tea.

  Nadia returned a sympathetic smile and asked, “Do you want a cup?”

  Anna lifted her laptop from the old farmhouse table and put it on the counter in front of Nadia. “I need to show you something.”

  Together, they watched the video that had been sent to Anna’s phone.

  “How did you get this?” Nadia asked.

  “A message to my landline. I don’t know who sent it. I’d hoped—” A tear fell, and she wiped it away.

  Nadia pulled her phone out of her pocket. “I need to talk to my chief.”

  JESSICA WOKE AT ten and got dressed in the bathroom so she wouldn’t wake Anna and Abbie. They’d shared the double bed after all three of them had managed to right the wardrobe. Pulling on one of Anna’s old sweatshirts, she had to take care with her left arm, which was wrapped in a bandage. Her head still rang with a dull ache.