Devil's Demise (20 page)

John shoved Andrew's limp body away from him, pushing down on Andrew as he pulled himself off the floor, his inner rage boiling over as this was not the way things were meant to happen. He wanted to be in complete control when he killed them both, instead he had not inflicted nearly enough pain on Andrew for interfering with his woman. Instead he'd had to kill him to save himself from a similar fate. He raised his foot above his chest and
stamped down on Andrew's lifeless body, kicking him repeatedly, no groans, no movement, nothing. He spat on Andrew's bloodied face and headed out of the door. He walked over to the open window, looking at the long grass and seeing a noticeable trail disappearing into the wood where it had been disturbed by Susan's attempt to escape. He stood there motionless, listening, waiting, before letting out a satanic wail, which roared from deep within him. This marked the beginning of the hunt. He started to run with sheer focus in that direction like a blood hound on a scent. He tucked the hunting knife into his jacket, clicked on his torch and openly smiled his maniacal smile as he set off to catch his prey. He would not let her get away that easily.

The six o’clock news came on and the family sat in their Edinburgh home, the little girl brushing her doll’s hair. She was humming a sweet tune, her affection for her dolly obvious. Her mummy leant over towards her, nuzzling her hair and asking if her dolly was okay. The headlines came on and there he was, his face filling the screen. The little girl sat bolt upright, her back rigid as she stared straight at the telly; her mum instantly asked her what was wrong. The little girl remembered what the policeman had said to her and looked at her lifeless companion, her dolly looking loyally back at her. She tried to focus on the toy, avoiding direct eye contact with her mummy, her gaze as far away from her mum’s as possible, looking round the room now. Motherly instinct made her mum pursue the matter further and ask again, and again and again, telling her daughter that there should be no secrets from any mummy. Eventually the little girl confessed that she had met the man on the telly earlier on that day and that he had said he was in the police and she was to be his little helper on a secret mission. Her mum was taken aback; by now several stories had been shown on the news and she wasn’t sure who her daughter was meaning that she had seen, but there
was an uneasiness about who it might have been.

She flipped open her laptop and looked up news. The little girl was made to watch screen after screen until she tugged her mummy’s sleeve and said “him”, pointing at John Brennan.

Her mum felt instantly sick and got up and ran towards the bathroom where she threw up, tears clearly visible in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks from thinking of what might have happened to her daughter at his hands.

“What is it mummy? Are you not well?”

“Where? When? Are you sure you saw this man? You need to tell me, you’re not in trouble, you can tell me!”

“I don’t know where. It was in the trees.”

“What trees? When was this. Where were we?”

“I’m not sure. It was earlier today, coming back from our holiday.”

“When? What time? Did he touch you?”

“No, he didn’t touch me! He just spoke to me and whispered in my ear. I can’t remember where it was. We played with sticks together and he told me I couldn’t tell anyone because it was a secret mission.”

999 was dialled immediately, her hand trembling as she did so.

“What is your emergency? What service do you require?”

“Pppp, police please.”

“Please hold when we connect you.”

“Hello, Police Scotland, how can I help?”

“I need to speak to someone about the man being hunted for murder.”

“What is the nature of your enquiry?”

“My daughter saw him today in the trees.”

“What trees? Where was this? When? What time?”

“I can’t be certain. It was my four year old daughter. She went still as a board when his face came on the telly and said she saw that man, and she said he’d told her he was a police man.”

“How can you be sure this was the man seen?”

“By the way my daughter acted was enough for me to know, and she doesn’t lie.”

“Can I take your name and address and can I ask if it would be alright to send an officer round to get a statement from you straight away.”

“Yes, I’m in right now. Come round now.”

“Okay! There will be an officer round to speak to you right away.”

Kay took the call, her heart pounding as she knew Taylor would have to respond to this. She missed her and had not heard from her for a couple of days, which wasn’t normal for Taylor; recently she had been calling or texting every day unless there was a reason. Kay’s stomach twisted. She knew that Taylor had a chequered past and was easily led when other women were involved and she hoped that this was not the case. She quickly relayed the information about the sighting of Brennan to Taylor, by phone, deliberately avoiding any unwanted attention from the fat lecherous prick that hovered around her like an unwanted insect. Her boss had made her make the call, just so as he could sit close to her.

Findlay slammed his hand down on the desk and shouted, “We’ll get you this time, you fucking bastard,” right behind Kay causing her to nearly jump out of her skin.

Taylor’s hair stood on end as she listened to Kay’s message. “There’s been another possible sighting of him, 100 miles north of where you are.”

There had already been numerous possible sightings and the tension rose and fell with each of them. This time though Taylor’s heart was pounding more than for any of the others. “Are there any local sets going to go off at this one?”

“I think there is one car in that area and they’ll be there as soon as they can!”

“Fucking police! That’s not going to be enough. He’s a dangerous man and armed as far as we know. What about the helicopter?”

“What about it? Nothing has been confirmed yet and there have been hundreds of sightings.”

“And what if it is him? I bet you anything Susan and Andrew are there, and what chance do they have? That prick has the upper hand in every way. Just get there as soon as you can, ‘cos if this is for real, I hope you’re not too late. They just won’t send everything on a four year old child’s story!”

Taylor turned to her driver, “Lomond, head North, and put your foot down. He’s got hours on us and we’re late to his party already!” The van lurched forward and the obvious increase in
speed made everyone bristle with tension, excitement and anticipation.

A squeal of pain pierced the air as Susan’s foot landed hard on a sharp branch. She was already bleeding profusely where another upturned branch had pushed between the first and second metatarsals on her left foot, through flesh and bone. She felt even more sick than she had before. Her stomach churned with fear and fatigue from running since she’d left the cabin, which felt like hours ago. Her heart was punching through her rib cage, pain was pulsing through her head and foot, her head was swirling and she had to fight hard not to faint. She slumped back against a tall tree, long grass surrounding her; she had deliberately not followed any paths, not that there were many here, as the remoteness of this private development claimed to be second to none, and how right they were with their advert. Susan almost laughed at the desperate situation she had put herself in. She tried to stay sharp, focusing on her life, that special gift she so desperately wanted to keep now more than ever before; she’d beaten the odds once and she was sure as damn it not going to give in without a fight this time. She looked at her foot, blood seeping out of the wound and the stick poking through. She knew walking, far less running, was not an option now unless she could pull it out, and she was well aware of the dangers of doing that; it could make things much, much worse for her.

His head twisted like that of a jackal, senses primed to hone in on the weak and vulnerable struggling to escape. The sound had come from a fair distance away but at least it gave him a direction to choose whether it was her or not, the grass no longer guiding him and without that helping hand of fate, he would have gone the wrong way. He had wondered if it would ever be possible to find her in such dense woodland with such a vast sprawling acreage, designed for the most idyllic private luxury escape money could pay for. He moved quickly in the direction of the noise, teeth clenched, boots already covered in blood as he crashed through the undergrowth. An act he hadn’t thought too much about but he didn’t care about the noise he made now; the
more frightened she was, the better it felt for him.

Susan’s face needled with a deeper sense of fear as the noise of him crashing through the trees terrified her and her head snapped round to the movement in the trees up to her left.
It’s now or never
. She gripped the small branch with two hands, closed her eyes and wrenched it right through her foot, the pain sickening her to the stomach. Her intention had been to run. Instead, nausea engulfed her and she listed uncontrollably to the side. Her eyes glazed over as the trees closed in on her like she was sinking beneath sand and her vision failed her. Her head thumped on to the ground, her muscles loose with no tension left because her faint had rendered her helpless and unconscious. The grass, ferns and nettles folded over her like a shield sent from above, her natural camouflage tucking her in tight without any effort. She had landed head first in the deepest foliage there was, hiding herself without even trying. Nettles stung her unprotected face as she lay in the grass, her breathing naturally calm as her desperate need for oxygen and fear had subsided along with her consciousness. Her breathing was soft and now almost soundless as his footsteps came thumping closer, branches cracking beneath him, his breath rasping as he had quickened his pace when he had heard her cry out in pain moments earlier. He slowed a little as he had judged that she should be near to this spot when she foolishly gave away her position. His head turned from side to side like a maniacal character from some horror film, his wicked glare and twisted face contorted with hate and revenge as he scanned the foliage around about him waiting for her to get up and run, or make a noise and give herself away, but that didn’t happen. If anyone had been looking, they would have clearly seen the rage brewing within him.

Blood dripped from his mouth, phlegm stretching from his lips to the ground. His breath gurgled as he slowly pushed up onto his arms. He pushed his tongue through the gap in his teeth, where a foot had smashed them to the floor as he lay there fully conscious as his neck was throttled, his body viciously beaten. He spat on the floor, wiping his mouth, and tried to push himself up. Pain sliced through his ribs.

“Susan, Susan! I’m coming,” he whispered to himself as he staggered to his feet.

He teetered as his head was dizzy with pain. Picking up some clothes and shoes, he went through to the kitchen and collected the two biggest knives from the drawers and left the cabin. He too followed the fallen grass and tried to run in an attempt to find Susan, but his body was engulfed with pain from Brennan’s brutal assault.

The wind was slight and northerly, blowing his hair as the trees whispered above him. The grass also whispered its secrets back and forth, hiding the soft breath of its visitor, protecting Susan’s slight body as it nestled her in their care, almost instinctively hiding her from the monster that prowled carelessly within them. His feet were heavy on the ground, his senses twitching with the hunt, his ears honed in on his planned capture. He listened hard for the sounds of her footsteps moving away from him; he listened for her breathing close by, hoping the initial sounds he had heard before were that of pain and that Susan would be injured and his for the taking once again.

Head spinning, not really aware of where she was and what was happening, she raised her head from the ground slowly, unaware of the lurking presence 20 feet away, evil very close by. She could see that the back of his head began to turn in her direction almost in slow motion. Her breath stopped and she felt the warmth of liquid trickling down her legs, her involuntary motion flowing from her without control. She kept her body taut and controlled and slowly slipped back beneath the grass just as his eyes skimmed over where her head had been just a second before. The grass around her tried desperately to keep her hidden as the devil searched for his final dance, a dance he would make sure would go on and on until it was impossible for her to stay alive.

His thoughts kept him going, kept him pursuing her; she had made him weak, she had ruined his life. He could no longer live unnoticed in society and she would have to pay the ultimate
price, one that she should have paid already.

“Fucking bitch,” rasped from his mouth and Susan began to shake uncontrollably. She peeped through the grass at him, unwilling to take her eyes off him, her terror of being discovered almost making her take flight. Every instinct within her told her to run away but she remained as still as a statue.

The wind blew hauntingly loud around her and masked any slight movement she made. It rustled the trees eerily round about them. His movements were now openly angry, annoyed that this weak creature had once again evaded him. He looked straight at the place where she lay, her secret intact. Her eyes could just make out his silhouette through the long blades of grass and ferns. Terror ran deep into her veins as his stare seemed to meet hers but her nerve held as she lay there still once again. She stared straight ahead at him with glassy eyes as he started to move towards her; she wondered if he had seen her, but at the last moment he veered to the left and headed away from her, slowly but with motive, giving up on the thought she was there. He kept stopping and turning back, looking and listening as he went away, hoping his prey would give away its hiding place, if there at all.

“How long? How far to go?”

“About 20 miles, Serg. The roads here are really shit!”

“Have the other sets arrived yet?”

“Just one set has gone off so far and they’ve checked three lodges so far, with nothing of note, I hope this isn’t another falsey”

“Fucking better not be, poor Susan!”