The House In the Woods

by Marguerite O'Callaghan

  ‘You think they might have mistaken Melanie for Kate Stone? Or taken girls that look like that? Do you think Kate is alive, Mr Cooper? Could my daughter be alive too?

  Annie is suddenly animated, and her face looks pained. Her eyes fill with fresh tears, and Jared can see that they are tears of hope. He feels like he has failed again; offering a lifeline, and then failing to deliver anything at all.

  ‘Mrs Latter. Please. We don’t know anything yet, or even if we’re able to track these people down. But, we’re hoping that now that we have started to show their photographs on TV, someone, somewhere will recognise them. Then, we feel like we might be a step closer to getting the answers we need.’

  Jared wants to get out of there. He hands Annie his number and tells her to call him if she needs anything. He doesn’t want to get her hopes up too much. At the back of his mind he knows that the best they can hope to offer the Latters is the chance to bury their daughter when they find her body.

  ‘Thank you for seeing me today. I just wanted you to be aware of this. Please stay in touch, Mrs Latter.’

  Annie smiles weakly as she shuts the door behind Jared. Inside, she sits on a chair in the hallway and stares at a photograph of her daughter on the shelf across from her. A wave of pain washes over her body, moving from her feet up through her legs, abdomen, chest, shoulders. It travels down the length of her skinny arms, and into her cold, dry hands, then it seems to gather in the pit of her stomach like a heavy bowling ball. She felt sure she would never feel joy again; never feel the lightness or beauty of life. Without Melanie, she was a shell, and all she could do was go on as best she could, trying to be there for her husband and her two other children. But, what if this Jared Cooper was right, and Kate Stone was connected to Melanie’s disappearance? What if they were together somewhere? She could feel the hope, like a tiny butterfly, just leaving its cocoon, trying to gain strength. Could she let herself feel it? Was it possible that her daughter was still out there somewhere, after all this time?

  Back in the car, Jared checks his phone, and sees two missed calls from the London office, and fifteen from Lydia, as well as a text from her begging him to call as soon as possible. Without thinking, he makes the decision to call her first, and she picks up almost immediately; her voice is loud and excited; it sounds like she’s running and out of breath.

  ‘Jared. She’s alive! Oh my God, Kate’s alive...’

  Lydia bursts into tears.

  ‘Slow down. Slow down. What do you mean?’

  ‘She called us… said she was pregnant, Jared, and in the countryside. She said the people who had her were called Melvin and Christine. It’s definitely them and they have her!’

  Jared’s face drops in shock at Lydia’s words.

  ‘You... you called the station?’

  ‘Yes! The police are tracking the call right now! We’re on our way to the station. I’m going inside. Come!’

  Brian tugs at his daughter’s sleeve, and tells her to hang up the phone as they enter the station. He wonders why she has called Jared Cooper, and looks at her quizzically. But Lydia’s on a different planet, and barely feels his hand tugging at her or notices that he’s listening to the call in the first place.

  ‘I love you. I love you! See you soon.’

  Lydia hangs up, and then turns to see her father staring at her.

  ‘What the hell was that? Who do you love?’

  Lydia smiles, then laughs and points at him.

  ‘Your face! I’ll tell you later, Dad.’

  McCarthy meets them at the front desk, and asks them to follow him to his office.

  50

  Kate braces herself as she hears the key in the door. This is it. Melvin comes into the room much more calmly than she expected him to.

  ‘I’m sorry you had to hear us arguing just now. Christine was supposed to be doing something, and once again, she has ignored my wishes and... never mind. I don’t want to bore you with the details.’

  Melvin smiles, almost shyly, in Kate’s direction. He has never acted like this before. He looks at her like she’s a stranger.

  ‘How are you feeling, Kate?’ he suddenly asks.

  ‘How far along do we think you are again with the baby? Is it nearly six months now, or more? Not long to wait, huh? I mean, some babies are actually born after that length of time, and they survive, don’t they?’

  Kate is unsure what Melvin is trying to get at, but instinct tells her that he is having some very deluded thoughts.

  ‘No. That’s very rare. I mean, sometimes in hospital, babies can survive if they are premature but it’s extremely dangerous.’

  She laughs nervously and adjusts the covers over her belly.

  ‘It could be another ten weeks, or longer, before this baby is ready to be born.’

  At hearing this, Melvin looks distressed. He has suddenly started to sweat, and mutters something to himself, then swears loudly. Kate is pretty sure the is having some sort of psychotic episode; his eyes are almost black, and he keeps on opening his mouth and showing his teeth. He loosens his shirt collar as if he’s having trouble breathing. Kate has to tread carefully now, and still doesn’t know if he is aware that she went downstairs and used the phone. But there is a chance that Christine took the blame, or covered for her in some way. She has to stay on his good side to stay safe.

  ‘Melvin, are you alright? Do you need some water? Or a rest maybe?’

  He turns and glares at her.

  ‘Don’t you tell me what I need! You’re causing me so much trouble right now! You have no idea!’

  His nostrils flare and his whole face burns red. He looks like he’s about to keel over and go in cardiac arrest, and Kate wishes with every bone in her body that he would. If there is a God, surely, he will act now, and get rid of this pathetic monster from the planet. Her mind wanders. Maybe the police are already on their way. They could have traced the call by now. Maybe she will be with her family tonight, and the nightmare will finally be over. Melvin is staring at her again.

  ‘You think I’m stupid, don’t you? You think I don’t know what I’m doing.’

  Kate is dumbstruck.

  ‘What do you mean? No, no. I don’t think that at all.’

  Melvin snarls at her. His face is contorted. He doesn’t look like himself.

  ‘Get up! Get up now, before I make you, stupid bitch!’

  Kate cowers in the bed. He comes closer, pulls the covers from her, and she moves one hand behind her back to feel the knife handle pressing hard against her fingers.

  51

  McCarthy and Davies are on the M1 headed out of London. It’s been four hours since Kate made the call to her father and sister. It seemed to take forever for the trace to be complete, and when they finally got an address, it made more sense for them to engage the help of the Banbury police. They could at least get some men on the ground to assess the situation and report anything unusual, as well as secure the spot so no-one could get in or out. It’s going to take at least another forty minutes for McCarthy and Davies to reach the location, even at this speed, and every minute that goes by means that Kate is in more danger. If it wasn’t for the fact that they ran Melvin and Christine’s photographs on the news today, McCarthy would have wanted to get there himself before doing anything, but he couldn’t risk the wait now. If Melvin knows they’re on to him, he’ll be on guard, and more vigilant than ever.

  Eventually, the Banbury team arrive at the location and begin to assess it, letting McCarthy know about the security gate, dogs, and truck inside.

  ‘There’s a light on upstairs in the house that corresponds to the room the girl spoke about during the phone call, sir. There is a security light at the gate that’s come on, but there’s no obvious way to get past it without drawing attention to ourselves.’

  ‘Scale the wall for God’s sake.’

  McCarthy barks down the phone, then changes his mind, almost immediately.

  ‘Look, we are less than half an hour a
way. Maybe you should wait. Just wait, alright. Back off.’

  The siren blasts out loudly through the darkening country roads, and they’re going over ninety miles an hour. Davies has never seen his partner so agitated. Twenty-two minutes later, they approach the long, bumpy driveway to the farmhouse, and McCarthy slows right down, instructing Davies to call the officers back to let them know that they’re approaching. They drive past the woods towards the main gate where the officers are waiting, and McCarthy gets nervous, very nervous. Kate was alive this morning, and it’s up to him to make sure that she stays alive. These next moves are the most important; the Todds could turn violent with her if they feel under threat. Davies stops, and turns the car lights off about twenty metres from the gate. McCarthy gets out, quickly walks towards the group, and orders everyone to stay silent and keep all lights off, except for the small torch that he and Davies will take with them. It’s not even five o’clock but already dark.

  ‘I’m going over this.’ he tells Davies quietly as he assesses the ten-foot wall, either side of the security gate.

  ‘…and you’re coming.’

  Davies thinks he can see that the wall ends about thirty metres from where they’re standing.

  ‘Should we not try to go through the line of trees, and get in round the back, boss?’

  McCarthy scolds himself for not exploring that option, and starts to walk towards the line of trees without saying a word to Davies, who follows him diligently, waving and shrugging to the other officers. But, the wall continues behind the trees and McCarthy swears at Davies for making him look like an idiot. His patience is wearing thin.

  ‘Let’s just get over this thing, yeah?’

  Davies offers to give McCarthy a leg up, and when McCarthy’s on top of the wall, he starts to scramble up himself.

  ‘Not so hard, is it?’ McCarthy whispers.

  This was it. This is a moment he never thought they would get to; having an actual location that Kate Stone was at. The past nine months flash through McCarthy’s mind from that first day he heard that Kate was missing. He thinks about Haven and the strange masked man that they saw on CCTV footage. This was one of the biggest and strangest cases he had ever worked on, and now he needs to make sure he doesn’t mess it up at the last hurdle. He needs to get Kate out of there alive.

  He and Davies jump from the wall, and land on the damp grass at the same time, then slowly make their way to the back of the house. They peek in the windows; every curtain and blind is open, and every room looks empty, or nearly empty. McCarthy can hear the dogs barking at the front gate. He radios the officers, and tells them to move further down the wall to see if the dogs will move down that way too, and away from discovering McCarthy and Davies. The less noise near the house, the better. It works, and the barking becomes more distant and sporadic.

  ‘It actually helps to keep them occupied down there, eh?’ Davies whispers.

  McCarthy is walking slowly around the side of the house.

  ‘Right, I want you to knock on the door at the front. I’ll stay around here because I’ve got a view of the inside. That will give us the advantage, if and when one of them answers.’

  Davies looks terrified, and McCarthy gives him a stern look.

  ‘Do it. We’re good to go. Don’t let me down, Davies.’

  Davies nods at his partner, looks away for a moment, then back to him again. He trusts McCarthy more than anyone he knows, and he doesn’t want to do anything wrong here. He wants to prove that he’s a good detective and can keep his cool. McCarthy, sensing what’s going through his head, gives him a firm pat on the shoulder, then pushes him gently towards the front of the house. McCarthy waits by the window at the side of the house, and keeps an eye on the hallway inside, leading to the front door. Davies pushes the doorbell, and the sound rings out loudly throughout the house.

  52

  Jared answers Lydia’s call on the fourth or fifth ring.

  ‘Where the hell have you been? I’ve called you about twenty times in the past hour.’

  Lydia doesn’t even wait for him to answer, and immediately announces that she and her dad are on the way to Northamptonshire.

  ‘They haven’t given us the exact address, Jared. Can you help?’

  Jared had a feeling this would happen. It’s precisely why he didn’t pick up the phone earlier.

  ‘There’s no way you can go there. It’s too risky, Lydia. You know that. The police will know exactly what to do, and having anyone else around could ruin things. It could put Kate in even more danger.’

  Lydia’s heart sinks. She knows he’s right.

  ‘Okay. Okay. We know that. We do. But we want to be nearby, in case... when they find her, we want to be there for her, Jared.’

  ‘Look, why don’t you both just go get a coffee somewhere and I can meet you later? That sound good? There’s a little village called Southam. Put it into your GPS. Let me know when you’re there, and I’ll drive to you, okay?’

  Lydia is already typing the destination into the navigation system in the car, and can see that they’ll be there in less than thirty minutes.

  ‘Half an hour, okay? Please tell me as soon as you hear anything.’

  ‘Okay, Lydia. See you soon. Careful on the road.’

  Brian is staring, wide-eyed at the dark road ahead. He hasn’t said anything for the last twenty minutes, and is just concentrating on getting close to Kate, as quickly and safely as possible. But he can’t ignore what he’s just heard.

  ‘What’s going on with you and this man, Lydia? How old is he?’

  Lydia hasn’t really planned what to say about the relationship. It was an accident that she had said ‘I love you’ on the phone to Jared earlier. She had just been so excited about the call from Kate that she wasn’t thinking. How could she deny everything now?

  ‘Dad, I’m so sorry that I didn’t tell you. I wanted to, and I’m glad you know, now. But Jared would get into so much trouble at work if anyone found out about us. Dad, we’re in love. He’s amazing, and he makes me so happy.’

  Brian interrupts her, and without even glancing in her direction, he angrily asks again, how old Jared is.

  ‘He’s not that old Dad. He’s just turned thirty. He’s so much better to me than Simon was, and he listens to me.’

  Lydia can see that her father’s having a hard time digesting the information he’s just heard. She decides to give him a moment to take it in, and looks out the window, instead. A light drizzle covers the car in tiny zigzags of rainwater, and Lydia traces one with her finger on the inside of the passenger window. Her mind goes to her sister. For all they know, they might have found her already. She tries to imagine what it will be like to see her, and hug her again. She’d said she was pregnant. Kate was going to have a baby! Lydia was going to be an aunt, their parents were going to be grandparents! Lydia can feel the conflict of emotions warring inside of her; the joy and expectation of Kate being returned safely, and the nightmare finally being over, and the opposite; a fear that she will never be the same, and the horror of what happened to her while she was with this evil man damaging her forever. Lydia reminds herself that she has to be strong, and feels a pang of guilt for causing her dad to worry about her and for lying to him about Jared. She was supposed to be mature and dependable, and had told him to treat her like an adult and confide in her, but she hadn’t afforded him the same respect.

  ‘Dad?’

  Her voice is soft, childlike, and she clears her throat to try to make it stronger.

  ‘Dad?’ she proffers again.

  Brian stops the car at traffic lights, and indicates left. He glances at the GPS screen first, then looks at his daughter. His face softens.

  ‘We’re going to be alright, Lyds. Don’t worry about this Jared thing. I get it. Your secret is safe with me, and… I won’t tell anyone. I get it.’

  Lydia smiles appreciatively at him, and nods her head at his words, but before she can respond, the phone rings on her lap.

/>   ‘Shit. It’s Mum. What should I say?’

  ‘Don’t answer, darling.’

  Lydia scrunches her nose in discomfort at the incoming call, and thinks about her mother, worrying in the hospital bed.

  ‘You’re right. It might be too much for her, and she’ll feel awful that she’s not with us. Okay. I won’t answer.’

  A few minutes later, Lydia listens to Barbara’s voicemail. She sounds confused and emotional. Her voice is almost a whisper.

  ‘Lydia, p-please... I need someone... anyone to talk to me, and listen. Oh... I’ve had the most awful, terrifying dream. I dreamed that someone was trying to rescue your sister. They came close to getting to her and then... oh... then there was an awful struggle and blood and screams... please call me, darling. I love you.’

  Lydia’s whole body feels hard and cold at hearing her mother’s message. She tries to shake it off, but as they pull into the carpark at the pub in Southam, she feels scared. The reality of the situation hits her, and she turns to her dad. He’s already thinking the same thing; what if it all goes terribly wrong?

  53

  When no-one comes to the door, McCarthy tells the men outside to climb the wall and join them. A few minutes later, two armed officers follow McCarthy’s instructions, and break the side window so they can enter the house. Two other officers take the dogs outside now that they can open the security gate, and McCarthy and Davies wait outside, as the men clear the first room and make their way down the hallway. One of the officers continually announces that police are entering the home and are looking for Melvin and Christine Todd. In less than five minutes, McCarthy hears them say something that he has dreaded hearing all day:

  ‘We have blood, lots of blood in here.’

  McCarthy climbs through the window with ease. Davies follows closely behind. The officers have turned the lights on, and when McCarthy gets there, he sees blood smeared all over the floor. It looks there was a struggle, or whoever was bleeding was moved. One of the officers looks at McCarthy and then points around the corner.