Angel of Death

by Anna-Marie Morgan

  Tasha took over observing through the gap in the hedge, while Yvonne called it in.

  When the DI finished, her screen displayed a call from the DCI.

  "Hello, Chris?"

  "Where are you? What's happening?"

  "We are up on the Kerry Ridgeway, We've found Eva. Trevor Tindall is with her and it looks like she is up against a tree. I'm not certain she is alive, but I think I may have heard her speak. I hope I'm right. We are looking at them through a hole in a hedge." She gave the DCI the same directions she had given when requesting backup.

  "Hold tight," he ordered. "Do nothing until your backup and I arrive. Got that?"

  "Got it, sir."

  "Good. I'll be with you as soon as I can. We'll have lights but no sirens."

  Yvonne ended the call and rejoined Tasha. "What's Tindall doing?"

  "He knows we're here."

  "What?"

  "Well, he doesn't know we are here, but I'm sure he heard the car. He's acting furtive and looking around. Eva is alive. I saw her head move. She's not in good shape, though. We need to end this now."

  "I know. The cavalry is on the way. Llewelyn ordered me to sit tight." She pursed her lips.

  Tasha placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm not sure we've got that long."

  The DI chewed the inside of her cheek. "How would we get to them without his seeing us? How close does this hedge go?"

  Tasha pointed to their right, speaking in a low voice. "I think we could go around the outside of the field, that way. Follow the hedge until we get to the field in front of the treeline. If we can get to the trees that side, without being seen, we could come around the back without him spotting us."

  Yvonne nodded. "Could work. What if he sees us?"

  "You’ve got your mace and cuffs?"

  "Yes."

  "Taser?"

  "No."

  "Better not be seen, then."

  "Are we going to jump him?"

  "We have to. Otherwise, he could kill her before the teams are ready to move."

  Yvonne took a deep breath. "Let's do it. I'll lead. I’m the one with the mace and cuffs.”

  She set off down the hedgerow, bent almost to a crouch, she moved as fast as that posture would allow, holding her breath as they picked over dirt and stone.

  Tasha followed close behind.

  It took two minutes to get down the side of the field to where another hedge ran perpendicular to theirs.

  "How do we get past this?" Tasha whispered, looking along its length for a way through. "We can't roll over the top, he'll see us."

  "There." Yvonne pointed to a gate twenty yards further on. "We can climb between the bars."

  "Good. Let's go."

  With reaching the trees, came the most difficult part of their journey and a greater chance of being seen.

  Yvonne put a hand out to stay Tasha. "What's he saying to her?" she whispered.

  "I can't make it out." Tasha pointed. "I could try and get an arm around his neck. Do you think you can mace and cuff him, when I get hands on?"

  Yvonne shook her head. "I can't let you do that. I'll grab him."

  "But I can't do mace or cuffs." Tasha grimaced. "And we have to go in, now."

  "Fine, but please be careful."

  "I'll move to that tree over there, then make a run for it. I will signal you just before I go, for you to follow me with the mace, okay?"

  "I'll be right behind you."

  As soon as Tindall had his back to them they made their move.

  All Yvonne could feel was her heart thudding in her chest. She prayed this wouldn't turn into a panic attack. She couldn't let Tasha down, not now.

  What happened next, did so in slow motion. Tasha leapt onto Tindall's back, her forearm pressing hard into his throat.

  He growled and grunted and the DI tumbled, as she moved in close enough to spray him in the face. What should have been two short bursts of mace, became a prolonged squirting in the face, as Tasha clung on, preventing him from getting a swing at her with his knife and coughing as she, herself, was caught in the spray.

  He bent over double, spluttering and swinging the dagger around in the air, looking to rip open anything that came into its path.

  Yvonne moved in to grip the knife arm, twisting it at the elbow and wrist, to take him to ground.

  Tasha jumped off and helped.

  With the DI's knee in Tindall's back, they managed to get the rigid cuffs on him and Yvonne kept him face-down in the dirt, while Tasha ran to Eva.

  After placing under arrest on suspicion of kidnap and attempted murder, Yvonne turned his head to the side, so he could speak.

  “Why?” She asked.

  “You wouldn’t understand.” The words were grunted and laden with disdain.

  “Try me.”

  He said nothing further, even as two uniformed officers grabbed his arms and hoisted him off the ground to take him away. But, if expressions could kill, Yvonne would have joined the other victims.

  By the time the DCI and the rest of Yvonne's team had joined them, three marked cars and two vans were in position alongside two ambulances. The dog team had not yet arrived.

  The DCI peered down the road. "Where are they?" He spoke into his handset to the leader of the armed response team, to check they were in position.

  Dr. Rainer, the trained negotiator, arrived with a loudhailer. One of the armed officers ushered her to the DCI. They could hear a helicopter approaching in the distance.

  The DCI held his hand up to stop Dr. Rainer. "Wait a minute, I'm not sure what's happening. My DI said she'd wait here and there's no sign of her."

  A call came over the handsets.

  It was Yvonne, asking for immediate medical help for Eva, as she struggled to keep Tindall under control.

  Tasha untied Eva's legs and supported her arms to prevent further tears to the flesh of her palms.

  “He hated us for caring.” Eva sobbed.

  “I don’t think it was as personal as that.” Tasha shook her head. “There is so much more to what he did. He has deep psychological problems, that meant that he would have killed, anyway. If not environmentalists, then some other group. It was as much your availability to him as it was your beliefs. You were out and about on his patch, when others were not. If you hadn’t been, he’d probably have been driving around looking for other victims, such as those out alone, late at night.”

  Tasha squeezed Eva’s shoulder as the medical teams and other officers took over. “You were so brave, Eva. You’re a survivor. We’ll check on you, later.”

  Tasha straightened up and winced in pain. Yvonne ran to her. "You're bleeding." She pointed to Tasha's left side, and a bloodied tear in her blouse.

  "Oh, wow." Tasha lifted the material. "I thought I'd kept his knife away from me, but I guess he must have caught me, anyway. It's nothing major, just a scratch. I didn't feel him do it."

  "Let me see," Yvonne ordered, bending to examine the wound. "You're right, you were very lucky, it's not too deep. You're coming with me. The paramedics can check you over."

  34

  Revelation

  Yvonne arrived at the cottage at around six-thirty, a little later than she intended, having followed a trailer for the last third of her journey. She hoped she hadn't spoiled whatever Tasha was preparing for dinner, not that she could eat much. The shivering in her stomach would make eating difficult. It was time to let out everything she had buried deep within, to be honest with herself and the person she loved more than anyone in the world.

  As she entered through the front door, the smell of cooking hit her and she inhaled with a smile, heading for the lounge. Instead of the psychologist, she found the sliding doors wide open and ran through them to the dunes.

  Standing atop the sandy mounds, she scoured the beach for Tasha and saw her dark form near the sea. She jogged towards her.

  The sound of the waves prevented the psychologist from hearing Yvonne's feet on the sand or her heavy breathing as she
ran. Yvonne slowed to a walk and caught her breath, coming up behind her friend whose wistful gaze was still out to sea.

  She warmed her hands by rubbing them on her sides, before placing them over the psychologist's eyes. "Surprise!"

  Tasha swung round, a grin lighting her face. "There you are. I worried that you had changed your mind."

  "What?" Yvonne laughed. "Never." She tilted her head, her face sobering. Her heart skipping beats as the sun glinted off Tasha's chocolate hair, and sparkled in her dark eyes, just like it danced on the sea. She placed her hands on the psychologist's arms, her gaze flicking around Tasha's face.

  "What? What is it?" Tasha asked, her brow furrowed, eyes holding tremulous questions, fragile as birds.

  "You have never looked so beautiful."

  Colour rose along the psychologist’s neck, spreading into her cheeks. "Oh, stop it." She smiled, looking at her feet.

  "I mean it." Yvonne put a hand underneath Tasha's chin, raising it to look into her eyes. "There's something I've been longing to tell you. Something burning a hole in me for weeks. I have to tell you now, or I swear I will spontaneously combust."

  Tasha searched her face. "Then tell me," she whispered, her expression paused between sorrow and ecstasy.

  "I love you." Yvonne's gaze was steady. Sure of itself. "I don't know why it has taken me so long to admit it to myself, much less why I never admitted it to you. But, I love you. I love you. I love you. I don't want to be with anyone else."

  Tasha looked at her, open-mouthed, unsure if what was happening was real or created by her own imagination, wanting it for so long.

  "Am I too late?" Doubt invaded the DI. Her hands trembled.

  "Oh, Yvonne." Tasha pulled her into her arms. "You're shaking."

  "So are you."

  "I adore you, don't you see that?" Tasha put a hand each side of the DI's face. "I thought this moment would never come. I thought I would only ever be your friend. I rebooted my life to be near you. To be where you are. Did you not realise?"

  Yvonne wasn't sure who started it, but their lips met and the kiss took over, deep, passionate and unfettered.

  Everything that had been wrong, was right. Everything confused, made sense, the way nothing had since she lost her husband all those years ago.

  As they walked, arms around each other, back to the cottage, happiness uplifted every part of the DI. The future invited her with open arms and she was finally ready to walk into it.

  Afterword

  Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this book, I’d be very grateful if you’d post a short review on Amazon. Your support really does make a difference.

  Mailing list: You can join my emailing list here : Anna-marieMorgan.com

  Facebook page: AnnamarieMorganAuthor

  You might also like to read the other books in the series:

  Book 1: Death Master:

  After months of mental and physical therapy, Yvonne Giles, an Oxford DI, is back at work and that's just how she likes it. So when she's asked to hunt the serial killer responsible for taking apart young women, the DI jumps at the chance but hides the fact she is suffering debilitating flashbacks. She is told to work with Tasha Phillips, an in-her-face, criminal psychologist. The DI is not enamoured with the idea. Tasha has a lot to prove. Yvonne has a lot to get over. A tentative link with a 20 year-old cold case brings them closer to the truth but events then take a horrifyingly personal turn.

  Book 2: You Will Die

  After apprehending an Oxford Serial Killer, and almost losing her life in the process, DI Yvonne Giles has left England for a quieter life in rural Wales.Her peace is shattered when she is asked to hunt a priest-killing psychopath, who taunts the police with messages inscribed on the corpses.Yvonne requests the help of Dr. Tasha Phillips, a psychologist and friend, to aid in the hunt. But the killer is one step ahead and the ultimatum, he sets them, could leave everyone devastated.

  Book 3: Total Wipeout

  A whole family is wiped out with a shotgun. At first glance, it's an open-and-shut case. The dad did it, then killed himself. The deaths follow at least two similar family wipeouts – attributed to the financial crash.

  So why doesn't that sit right with Detective Inspector Yvonne Giles? And why has a rape occurred in the area, in the weeks preceding each family's demise? Her seniors do not believe there are questions to answer. DI Giles must therefore risk everything, in a high-stakes investigation ofa mysterious masonic ring and players in high finance.

  Can she find the answers, before the next innocent family is wiped out?

  Book 4: Deep Cut

  In a tiny hamlet in North Wales, a female recruit is murdered whilst on Christmas home leave. Detective Inspector Yvonne Giles is asked to cut short her own leave, to investigate. Why was the young soldier killed? And is her death related to several alleged suicides at her army base? DI Giles this it is, and that someone powerful has a dark secret they will do anything to hide.

  Book 5: The Pusher

  Young men are turning up dead on the banks of the River Severn. Some of them have been missing for days or even weeks. The only thing the police can be sure of, is that the men have drowned. Rumours abound that a mythical serial killer has turned his attention from the Manchester canal to the waterways of Mid-Wales. And now one of CID's own is missing. A brand new recruit with everything to live for. DI Giles must find him before it's too late.

  Book 6: Gone

  Children are going missing. They are not heard from again until sinister requests for cryptocurrency go viral. The public must pay or the children die. For lead detective Yvonne Giles, the case is complicated enough. And then the unthinkable happens...

  Book 7: Bone Dancer

  A serial killer is murdering women, threading their bones back together, and leaving them for police to find. Detective Inspector Yvonne Giles must find him before more innocent victims die. Problem is, the killer wants her and will do anything he can to get her. Unaware that she, herself, is is a target, DI Giles risks everything to catch him.

  Book 8: Blood Lost

  A young man comes home to find his whole family missing. Half-eaten breakfasts and blood spatter on the lounge wall are the only clues to what happened...

  Also by Anna-marie Morgan

  Book 1 - Death Master

  Book 2 - You Will Die

  Book 3 - Total Wipeout

  Book 4 - Deep Cut

  Book 5 - The Pusher

  Book 6 - Gone

  Book 7 - Bone Dancer

  Book 8 - Blood Lost

  Book 9 - Angel of Death