Buried Slaughter (13 page)

She wasn’t shallow. Honest.

“Too late. Chance gone begging.”

Hannah noticed that the vibration of her phone had stopped.

“So what’s the plan now then? Kip here for a few days? I’m sure Rocky wouldn’t mind the company.”

Hannah sighed. “I suppose I’ll give him ‘til the morning. He’s a dick at times, but a night on his own should be enough to make him see the error of his…‌”

Before she could finish, Hannah was interrupted by the sound of Marie’s landline.

“Cheeky bastard,” Marie said, marching towards the phone. She had her large hands curled into fists and her nostrils were twitching. The blonde tips in her short hair made her look like some kind of furious dragon.

“Leave it,” Hannah said. Rocky turned around and looked at her in confusion, growling at the landline phone as it rang and rang and rang.

Marie frowned and placed her hands on her hips. “You for real? My house, my rules, surely?”

“Just, please,” Hannah said. Her tone was a little more harsh than she’d intended. “Just let it go. Like I say, I’ll speak to him in the morning. Anyway, shouldn’t you be taking him for a walk or something?”

Right on cue with the word “walk”, Rocky turned to his owner and started yelping at her, mounting her leg.

“Alright, alright,” Marie said, reaching down and scooping Rocky up underneath her chunky arm. “Look what you’ve gone and done. Dropped me right in it. Suppose I should take him though. What time is it?”

Hannah looked at her watch. A gold-rimmed watch that Brian had bought her for her birthday last year. A twinge of guilt flickered inside her. She felt dirty for looking at a gesture of goodwill, like she was no longer entitled to even interact with anything Brian-related while he was in this forced exile. “It’s just gone…‌oh. Eleven. Look, are you sure you’re alright, actually? It’s getting late.”

Marie shrugged and struggled to attach a lead to Rocky’s collar; he wouldn’t stop fidgeting. “What’s gotta be done has gotta be done. I’ll just take him around the outskirts of the field. Nobody ever comes round here anyway that isn’t, well, a sheep. Besides, if anybody tries anything on me, I’ll make fucking sure it’s them reaching for their rape alarm, that’s for sure.” She winked at Hannah with a cheeky half-smile on her face as she rose back up and walked towards the back door with Rocky. “Come on, you. Not that you need telling twice. You alright keeping yourself company?”

Hannah brushed her fingers through her hair and nodded, eyes closed partly. “I’m fine. Just stay safe.”

Hannah’s phone started rattling on the kitchen worktop again. Marie looked at it, then peered at Hannah. “As long as you’re true to your word and don’t answer that, okay? Show some balls.”

As much as Hannah wanted to go over and pick up that vibrating phone, her sister was right. Brian had been a prick with her. Forcing him into a solitary exile was the only way he ever saw any kind of sense. It’d only happened a handful of times since they’d been together, but it always worked. A reset button on their relationship, almost, no matter how shitty it made her feel.

Marie grabbed the door handle and opened it, Rocky pulling himself forward, yanking at the lead as the cold air worked its way through the kitchen and tickled Hannah’s bare toes.

“Inabit, sis,” Marie said.

“Stay safe,” Hannah replied.

The door slammed shut. The cold air that had crept in receded.

And once again, the landline started to ring.

Almost instinctively, Hannah lifted herself from the sofa. But then she remembered her sister’s words. “Grow some balls.” Although it wasn’t the most elegant piece of advice, she had a point. She needed to be tough. She couldn’t cave, no matter how desperately her boyfriend needed her.

And if it got
that
bad, then he could always just come over here. As bad as his ex-wife had hinted at in their conversation, anyway. But he seemed past all that. It wouldn’t come to that.

She hoped.

She lay back on the sofa as the landline rang a final few times then cut away to silence. Thank God her sister had disabled voicemail. Hearing his apologetic voice might just have tipped her over the edge.

As she closed her eyes and the warmth of the fire started to engulf her again, she heard a sudden tapping on the window. She jolted upright and her eyes opened wide.

Marie made a claw-like gesture with her hand as she stood at the window, visibly growling as she stared through into her lounge.

Hannah raised a middle finger as she sighed a breath of relief, and Marie shook her head, laughing as she disappeared into the darkness of the tree-lined street. It looked spooky as hell out there. Her sister always had been the one blessed with the daredevil genes. One day, it’d catch up with her no doubt. But until it did, Marie seemed pretty set in her ways.

Hannah’s phone started to vibrate again.

“Grow some balls,” she muttered, before closing her eyes and getting comfy on the sofa, as her sister made her way towards the field.

“How fucking far is it we’re going? I wish you’d told me you were bringing me to the frigging middle of nowhere‌—‌fuck.”

Brian ignored David as they drove down the long country lane, completely free of streetlamps and pavements. His heart was thumping faster than usual. He hoped and prayed that Hannah was okay. She should be. After all, there was no reason why she would be digging. There was no reason why she’d be out walking her sister’s stupid mutt at half midnight either.

Unless they’d gone out earlier. The killer had got them then. Kicked the dog’s teeth in. Buried them both and surrounded them with bones.

“Come on, Brian,” David said. He was still in his dressing gown and slippers as he ramped the car heater up to full blast. “Are we nearly‌—‌”

“Just up here on the right. Pull up in front.”

David slowed the car down as they approached Marie’s house. The porch light was lit, which was a good sign. He thought he could see the television through the window too. Another positive sign of life.

“Right,” David said. “Make this as quick as possible. I know I’m supposed to be a heartless bastard, but heartless bastards have wives and kids to look out for, too, so‌—‌”

Brian opened the passenger door and climbed out, half-jogging towards the front door of the semidetached cottage-style house Marie rented. “Five minutes,” he said. “That’s all it’ll take.”

He was already halfway up the driveway before David could respond. He held his breath as he approached the window. Hannah and Brian’s red Fiesta was parked up, as was Marie’s black Land Rover. He squinted through the window. The main guest chair was empty. The lights were dim. He couldn’t see the sofa from this angle. Fuck. Where were they? They must’ve been in the kitchen, or upstairs.

Or on the field. Decapitated. Bodies desecrated.

No. Snap out of it. It didn’t have to be like that.

Brian battered his hand against the glass of the window. “Hannah,” he shouted. “Marie. Hannah. It’s…‌I know this sounds crazy, but I need to know you’re okay.”

“Even I’d be running away from you if you were speaking like that to me,” David shouted, his car window wound down.

Brian bashed against the heavy wooden door and pushed the doorbell repeatedly. “I need to know you’re in there. I need to know you’re okay. Please. I‌—‌”

The weight of the door receded beneath Brian’s fist.

At the door, in her slippers and dressing gown, Hannah looked on with a wide-eyed, bewildered expression.

“Oh, Hannah,” Brian said. He threw himself at her and wrapped his arms around her. “Thank God you’re okay. I was so worried. So worried.”

Hannah’s body was limp in his arms, but he was just so relieved to hold her. Sure, she might not understand what the hell was going on yet, but she was here. She was alive. That’s the main thing. Thank fuck.

“Brian, I don’t…‌What are you…‌”

“Now you’ve had your nice little reunion and we know all’s okay, can we get the hell out of here, please? It’s fucking freezing, excuse my French.” David blew hot air into his hands as the engine of his car rumbled in the background.

Hannah looked over at David. She had a small crinkle in-between her eyebrows which she always had when she was confused. She looked like she wanted to be angry with him, but was just too bewildered to even try. “Brian, what’s going on? You shouldn’t be here. Why are you here? And why is he here?”

Brian gulped down the large frog that had built up in his throat. He held Hannah’s shoulders with his hands, which were as cold as blocks of ice. How did he even begin to explain? Fuck. He had to try, that’s for sure.

“Hannah, it’s…‌I know you’re not going to like this, but it’s to do with the Pendle Hill massacre. The Longridge Fell killings. I discovered something.”

Hannah’s face turned a shade of red. She gritted her teeth and shook her head. “You came here for this? At…‌” She glanced at her watch. The small crinkled frown returned. “At quarter to one.” Her eyes met Brian’s again. They were watering. Puzzled. “What is it, Brian?”

Brian gulped down another, much thicker frog. “It’s this place, Han.” He pointed over at the field, which was covered in darkness. “I’ve been trying to call you all night to warn you. The killings, they aren’t anything to do with the archeology groups, I don’t think. It’s the locations. And I…‌I don’t know why yet, but I think somebody is trying to lure people to these locations. Locations of‌—‌of old witches’ relics. I think they’re trying to lure people out to their deaths for one reason or another. But the fact is, I have a strong indication that these fields are the site of another future killing. I was so worried about you. I mean, I knew you wouldn’t be digging, but‌—‌”

“Wait,” Hannah said, raising her hand. “You…‌You say…‌You say that these fields are‌—‌are the site of a new killing?”

Brian nodded fast. “Yes. Yes. I have a strong feeling. I was going to call the police but I just needed to know you were okay for myself first. But now I know, I’ll call them. We’ll call them. At least now I know you’re…‌Han? What is it?”

Hannah’s flushed cheeks had completely drained of colour. Her glazed eyes seemed to peer right through Brian and somewhere behind him. She looked completely fixated, in a state of trance.

“Hannah? Has something happened? Is it…‌It’s not summat I said, is it?”

It was at that moment that Brian realised Marie’s new dog, Rocky, hadn’t come tearing out of the hallway to greet him yet.

And for the matter, he hadn’t heard Marie either, which was strange considering how much of a loudmouth she was.

“Hannah? What is it?”

“It’s…‌It’s nearly one a.m. I…‌” She looked over her shoulder back at the lounge as if replaying the night in her head. “I fell to sleep. After Marie went out with Rocky, I fell to sleep, and…‌”

The vein on the side of Brian’s head began to pulsate. “What time did Marie go for a walk, Han?”

“Eleven. Ish. She said she wouldn’t be long. She said she‌—‌”

“And…‌and where did she go. Han?”

Hannah didn’t have to reply. She looked over at the dark void where the field was. Goose pimples spread across Brian’s skin.

“She didn’t, did she? She didn’t.”

A tear rolled down Hannah’s cheek. “She said she wouldn’t be long. She promised she wouldn’t be long.”

Brian turned around and stormed in the direction of David’s car, in the direction of the road, in the direction of the field.

“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” David shouted.

“Hannah‌—‌go inside and call the police. Tell them to send a small team for Brian McDone. Tell them it’s about the recent murders, and what I told you. David‌—‌grab that torch I saw in the back of your car and something heavy. We’re going to get a head start.”

David stopped the engine of the car and climbed out, cursing and shaking his head as the belt of his dressing gown got caught in the door. “Like fuck I am. Like‌—‌”

“Then stay here,” Brian said, glaring at David. “But for all the shit you’ve brought upon my family and me, the least you can do is come on a little walk.”

David shook his head. He smacked his hand against the car window and reached into the back for the large torch he had. “Fuck it.” He slammed the car door shut. “But this girl. It wouldn’t add up. There’s no reason why they’d kill her. Right?”

Brian stared into the darkness of the field across the road.

“He’s right, isn’t he, Bri?” Hannah called. Her voice was shaky and uncertain. She sniffed back her tears. “Marie, she…‌she probably just went for a longer walk. Right?”

Brian took in a deep breath. He wanted to believe that Marie was okay. He wanted to believe that something happening to her just wouldn’t be in line with the killer’s modus operandi.

“I think so, Han. I think she’ll be okay.”

He didn’t believe a word of it, as he stepped onto the road and across the street, illuminated by David’s torchlight.

“You get the police called. Ask for DI Marlow. He’ll understand. I…‌I think.”

He took another step across the road.

As much as he wanted Marie to be okay, he couldn’t overcome the overwhelming sense that something truly terrible had happened to her, and he was walking right towards it.

Chapter Fifteen

Brian peered into the damp grass, which was for a few feet illuminated by David’s torchlight. In all truth though, the light wasn’t too great. He held his breath as he waded through the field, mud squelching underneath his shoes. Large silhouettes of trees loomed in the distance, like evil creatures lurking over them.

What was he doing? Why the fuck was he out here?

“We should really just wait for the police,” David said. The light from the torch disappeared from up ahead as David turned to look over his shoulder. Wind whistled behind them. Small animals rustled in the hedges, out of sight.

At least he hoped they were just small animals.

“Seriously, Brian. Your girl will have the police coming over here right now. Fuck, they probably know more than we do about all this anyway.”

“I thought you sold sensationalist stories for a living? I thought you were a thick-skinned journalist?” Brian managed to keep his voice steady, but truthfully, inside, he was feeling pretty sickly as small movements caught his eye in the distance.