by Anita Waller
Taking a deep breath, he moved towards the car, then knelt down as if tying his shoe lace. He slid his hand holding the magnetised bomb under the driver’s side of the car, then positioned it directly under the driving seat area.
How to kill in one easy movement.
He stood, dusted his knees, and moved back to the safety of the gennel. He took out the small remote activator, and pressed it twice, watching the green light glow. The man had told him it would remain active for seven days. The bomber hoped he wouldn’t have to reactivate it, he needed Bethan Walters dead before her memory re-surfaced.
He walked quickly back to his car, and drove home sticking carefully to speed limits, the remote activator nestled inside an empty cigarette packet.
He was in bed by half past three, his last thoughts before falling asleep were of a Bethan-free future. It briefly occurred to him that meddling Kat Rowe might know where she was, but that was a last resort. He knew the bomb would work, it had to.
The house was an early morning hive of activity; all four occupants had bumped into each other as they tried to get ready and, as they eventually gathered in the kitchen for breakfast, Leon said he would be looking at building an extension on the house if the two ladies were staying with them for any length of time. Luckily his grin told them he was joking. They hoped.
Leon left first, kissing Kat and telling her he was going to see Brian. He would be available all day if she needed him. She kissed him back and said she wouldn’t, she was going to wear her clerical collar. That would stop any nastiness on the part of the insurance company, and Mouse would get everything she wanted. She smiled as she said it, but Leon knew his wife.
Doris, Mouse and Kat had a second pot of tea, and then left just before half past nine for their journey into Sheffield.
Doris sat in the back of the car, and Mouse in the passenger side.
‘You okay?’ Kat asked.
‘I will be when I can see some direction after today. And it’s getting urgent that I do some shopping. I’ve very few clothes, Kat. I lost everything inside the house.’
‘Get your knickers from Marks and Spencer,’ Doris said, absentmindedly, from the back seat. ‘They last for ever.’ She was busy scrolling on her phone.
‘Do I look like a Marks and Spencer gal, Nan?’ Mouse said with a laugh.
‘You’ve changed your life.’ Doris looked up and over the top of her glasses. ‘Are you listening to me, Bethan Walters? It’s either Marks and Spencer or a chastity belt. Make your choice.’ She returned to her phone to feed the pigs on her virtual farm.
Mouse turned to Kat, her eyes wide. ‘If I buy some from Marks, can I shop online at Victoria’s Secret? And did you notice she called me Bethan? That means I’m in trouble,’ she whispered.
‘I’m old, not deaf,’ came the voice from the back seat. ‘I’ll be checking out all parcels that arrive at Kat’s house.’
Mouse sank back into her seat. ‘I can’t win.’
‘No, you can’t,’ it came once more.
Kat laughed aloud. ‘You two are amazing. You have a wonderful relationship, but Mouse, you should know this. Your nan will always win, and quite rightly so.’
Mouse sank back into her seat, a smile on her face, hoping Marks and Spencer’s didn’t just do big girls knickers, and could offer her something with a bit of lace attached. She was getting her car back and in a couple of weeks would be able to escape to different shops…
They pulled up outside the fire-ridden house, and all three sat for a moment and just looked at it. In there, two girls at the beginning of their lives had died, and each person in the car said a small prayer for them. Nobody spoke, they just stared.
Eventually Doris voiced all of their thoughts. ‘Can that really be put right?’
‘According to the surveyor, it’s structurally sound. It will need a new roof and everything knocking down inside it, but it depends what they decide today, I suppose.’
‘What do you want, Mouse?’ Kat asked.
‘I want to re-build it, want to see it looking good again. I’ll be selling it, I won’t hang on to memories, and I don’t want to live here any more, but we’ll have to see what they say today.’
A large four-by-four pulled up behind their car, and a man got out clutching a clipboard.
They joined him and he introduced himself as Henry Overend, handing out cards to them all.
Mouse turned to Doris. ‘Nan, please don’t come in here. It’s not safe for you. Wait in the car for us. Go feed your sheep.’
Doris gave a nod of assent. If the truth were to be known, she didn’t want to go in. She didn’t want to see where those two beautiful young women had died, and she hoped it had been quick. She hoped they had silently slipped away through smoke inhalation, and not had to be burned while they were alive. And she cursed whoever had done this.
Returning to the car, Doris watched as the three people went around the back of the property.
She took out her phone and scrolled through her long list of contacts, stopping at W. She pressed the call button and waited.
‘Wendy? You busy for a moment?’
‘No, I was going to ring you later. I’ve missed you. I won last night, but I’ve saved you your half. Called on number thirteen as well!’
Doris laughed. ‘How much? Can I retire to Florida?’
‘Sixty pounds each. Wouldn’t even get you to the airport. But it’s a start. You coming home soon?’
‘Not yet. I don’t want to leave Mouse. Wendy, I know we said we’d always share even if the other one couldn’t make it, but I could be a few weeks yet, so until I get back you keep all the winnings, okay?’
‘Nope. It’s not as though either of us needs the money, so we’ll stick with our arrangement. You would, wouldn’t you?’
‘I would, so thank you. We’ll go out for a meal when I get back, my treat.’
‘So how are things? How’s Mouse?’
‘She’s still sore, but getting better every day. She’s at her house at the moment, with the insurance chap. I’m waiting in the car. She says I’m too old and doddery to go in.’
Wendy laughed uproariously. ‘She’s joking, isn’t she?’
‘I agreed with her. I didn’t want to go in. It was a beautiful little house, and now it’s just a shell. I’m not sure if they’ll recommend demolition or rebuild. It’s an end terrace, so it could be knocked down. We’ll see when they come out, I suppose. But that’s not why I rang. Can you put your taxi head on?’
‘I can. You want one?’
‘No, I want some info, if you’ve got it.’
‘Go ahead.’
‘Does your company have spare black cabs that don’t normally get used for jobs, or are a bit dodgy in some respect, perhaps with false plates or something? Or that just sit round the back not working, except if they’re needed for specials?’
‘Whoosh! You don’t want much then. I can state quite categorically that we don’t, not to my knowledge, anyway. But ours is the biggest company in Sheffield, so we are very much above board with everything. There are one or two small businesses, though, that are definitely only just legal. Why?’
‘Mouse was in a taxi with false plates the night she was attacked, and her feller was killed. You’re the only person I know who actually works for a cab firm, so I thought it was worth a try. Thanks anyway. I’ll let you know when I’m back home. It should only be a couple of weeks, I hope.’
‘Take care, Doris. And I’ll text you a list of dodgy companies. See what I can find out.’
‘You’re a star, Wendy.’
‘I know,’ she said with a laugh. ‘Keep out of trouble, Doris, and if you need anything, just ring. Bye, love.’
Doris held her phone in her hand for a minute, staring out of the car window. She didn’t know why she had done that, she presumed the police had everything in hand for the investigation – they just weren’t passing anything on.
Three figures came around the corner of the buildi
ng, spoke for a minute, then Kat and Mouse shook the man’s hand. She hoped it meant that they had agreed a way forward that didn’t involve demolition.
Doris got out of the car and waited. She needed Mouse’s car keys, and they could head off home to discuss the happenings of the morning. She could try to take the horrors of the derelict house, and the ghosts, out of her two girls’ minds.
They walked over to her, and Mouse pulled the keys out of her bag.
‘It’s over there,’ she said, and pointed to the side street at right angles to the road on which they were congregated. ‘Can you see it?’
Doris nodded. ‘I presume it will start?’
‘Hope so, but we won’t leave you until you bring it to us, and then we’ll follow you home. Take care of it, and no speeding,’ Mouse said, trying to inject threat into her tone.
‘As if,’ Doris said with a grin, and crossed the road to walk towards the little car. It was only as she reached the far pavement that she could see the two boys sitting on the Mini’s bonnet, enjoying the rays of the sun.
16
‘Oy!’ Doris yelled, ‘Get off that bloody car, you little scrotes!’
Both boys looked around and saw the elderly lady waving her arms at them. They turned to each other and grinned. Joey Cooper and his cousin Will Towers clambered onto the bonnet, waved back at her, and jumped up and down.
Once.
17
The explosion rocked the area, and DI Marsden was on the scene within an hour, once Mouse had explained to the attending police from Sheffield who she was.
The blast had knocked Doris to the ground, and she had shrapnel embedded in her right arm as she had lifted it to protect her face, an automatic reaction that had possibly saved her life. She was still sitting in the ambulance, shocked but with no life-threatening injuries, when Marsden arrived.
Mouse was in the vehicle with her, holding her hand, eyes full of tears.
Doris attempted to console her, to little avail.
‘It’s my fault, Nan. Somebody wants me dead. You’re injured and two more people have died because of me. Two little lads, Nan.’
‘Hush, Mouse, sweetheart, none of this is your fault. You’re the victim, not the blasted murderer.’
‘Beth, Mrs Lester. I’m so sorry, but I just need to find out what you remember.’ Marsden climbed up into the back of the ambulance. ‘Then they can take you to hospital. I’ve spoken briefly to Reverend Rowe, but I understand you two were outside your home,’ she said to Mouse.
‘We were. Nan was going to drive my Mini over to Eyam because my shoulder is still uncomfortable, and we thought it was the safest way of getting it there. Nan had left us to walk to the car, and I heard her shout. We could see her and we could see the Mini. We saw the boys stand on the front of the car and wave at Nan, then they jumped. It was meant for me, wasn’t it? Who wants me dead so badly they’re prepared to take such a stupid risk as this? I was supposed to sit in that car and it would blow up as soon as I moved.’
‘It seems like it,’ Marsden conceded. ‘It will be some time before we can move what’s left of the car, and there are body parts…’
‘Oh God.’ Mouse sobbed, leaning against her nan’s undamaged arm. It was too much. All this death because… because the driver of the taxi thought she had recognised him, but couldn’t remember who he was.
She knew she was right. Find the driver, find the man who had killed these little boys as well as her two friends. And Anthony.
She watched as the paramedic pulled the oxygen mask up on to her nan’s face, and heard him say, ‘Stop talking, Doris. You need to keep this on.’
Mouse smiled weakly. Stop talking. They were asking the impossible.
‘Are you going with us, Beth?’
‘No, she’s not.’ Doris once more removed the oxygen mask. ‘I want you home with Kat. You’re safe there. And don’t you move anywhere, not even to Marks and Spencer’s, I’m warning you. I don’t want to see you, Mouse, until I’m back home with you. Wendy will organise a taxi for me to get me back to Eyam as soon as they discharge me. Are you listening, Mouse?’
‘I am.’
‘Not good enough. I am and I promise not to leave the house.’
Mouse sighed. ‘I am and I promise not to leave the house.’
She kissed Doris, and jumped down from the ambulance. The paramedics closed the back doors, and headed off to the other side of the city; another family member for them to treat.
Mouse walked across to where Kat was talking to DI Marsden. Henry Overend had given his brief statement and been allowed to go, and Tessa Marsden was organising with Kat to go into Chesterfield with Mouse to give their statements.
‘No,’ she said. ‘Sorry, but I’ve just promised Nan I won’t leave the house until she’s back there. And even without that promise, this is clearly targeting me so I’m going nowhere outside of our fortress at Eyam. I feel safe there. If you want a statement, you’ll have to come to us.’
‘Okay, tomorrow morning, I’ll be there for ten. I do understand your concerns and we’re going to have to look at ways of protecting you, a safe house maybe.’
‘I’m in a safe house.’ Mouse could hear the challenge in her own voice.
‘I meant…’
‘I know what you mean, DI Marsden, but I’m going nowhere unless Kat and Leon throw me out. I don’t think they’ll do that.’
‘Of course we won’t,’ Kat said. ‘Can we go now? I don’t think we’re helping by being here, and it’s distressing.’
Marsden nodded. ‘Yes and drive carefully. You’ve both had a shock. I’ll see you in the morning. Just an idea, Beth, but have you thought about hypnosis to see if that can revive memories?’
‘I haven’t, but I’m prepared to try anything. Especially now. Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Find the taxi driver, we find the murderer? And he thinks I know him but haven’t remembered his identity yet. You are, aren’t you?’
‘I am. And we can’t force that memory to surface. I’m just concerned he’ll finish the job before you remember. Did you know him?’
‘I’ve no idea. There’s something in there…’ Mouse tapped her head. ‘That’s like a fleeting feeling, as though I should know who he is, but I really don’t. The only thing is, if he is thinking I know him, it means he knows me. But the men I escorted rarely came with their real names, so I wouldn’t know him anyway.’
‘Get off home, you two. I’ll see you in the morning. Think about the hypnosis, Beth, but I’m not going to force it on you. I think your memory will return and we’ll know more then.’
‘Those two boys,’ Kat said. ‘Did they live around here?’
‘The car was parked outside one of their homes. The other one was visiting. They were cousins.’
The distress was evident on both Kat and Mouse’s faces. Innocent lives. All they did was sit on a car; they did nothing to merit such a horrific end to their young lives, lives that had hardly started.
‘God bless them both, and their families,’ Kat whispered, then pulled a distraught Mouse back to her car. ‘Let’s get you home. This wasn’t your fault, Mouse. It’s the fault of the maniac who can’t let you go. We have to talk to Leon, see if there’s anything else we can do to step up our security until this man is caught.’
Leon was furious. ‘You’re putting both your lives in danger. And where’s Nan? In the bloody hospital because you don’t care about anyone’s safety.’
‘Leon,’ Kat said softly, trying to calm him down. ‘We do care. It’s why we’ve come to you. We need to know if there’s anything else we can do.’
Her words didn’t help. He had heard the news of the explosion as he had driven home and although no names had been mentioned, he knew. He didn’t ring Kat from the car. He waited.
And then his anger poured out of every pore. He didn’t know what he would do without her, and she seemed to have taken the other two women to her heart, putting herself in the firing line alongside Mouse.
‘There will be no further disappearances from this house until this murderer is caught. Do I make myself clear?’
‘No,’ Kat responded. ‘Actually, wrong answer, you’ve made yourself very clear. What I meant was that you can’t really issue orders like that. Not to me, and I’m pretty sure not to Doris and Mouse.’
Mouse hoped she wouldn’t giggle. The poor man didn’t stand a chance against his wife.
He visibly weakened. ‘Kat…’
‘No, Leon. I watched two young boys blown to pieces this morning, God bless their souls, and if you think I can sit back and take that then you’re living on a different planet. You do your job, and I’ll do mine.’
‘Job?’
Kat looked startled. ‘Did I say job? Well… whatever. Now stop trying to lord it over us because it won’t work. We’re three against one when they’ve dug the bits of metal out of Doris’s arm, and we’re not going to sit in this house, scared to death to move because of one man. Now, is there anything else we can do security-wise to make sure we’re all as safe as we can be?’
He growled. ‘We’ll get two bloody big dogs.’
‘Tibby won’t let them live here. That’s not an option. I was thinking in terms of alarms, rather than animals.’ She smiled at her husband, he didn’t like losing.
Mouse simply sat quietly at the kitchen table and waited for the storm to blow over.
He spoke with less stress in his voice. ‘I don’t think we need any more alarms but I will check every window and door lock before we go to bed tonight. And if necessary, I can station somebody in our car area, although it is a little full these days, to sit in the car all night and watch the house.’
‘What? Is that necessary?’