Spiritwalker (30 page)

“Jane Turner. She's my sister. This is her husband Ian Turner.” Eva said. She was beginning to wonder if the woman taken from the vehicle was indeed her sister.

“I'm afraid there must be some mistake. It’s a Mrs Jane Kingston that I have down here. Her husband is with her now. Dr. Polter answered

“He's not married to her.” Anna blurted. Her blood froze in her veins. She understood immediately what was happening.

“He's not her husband. I am.” Ian shouted suddenly grasping the significance of Anna's statement. And registering the name.

“Where is she? He kidnapped her, she's been missing for weeks now. Where is she...Please, before he hurts her?”

“I don't understand. Are you certain it’s the same woman?” the doctor asked. Morley interrupted her and showed her his warrant card.

“I'm DI Morley I'm a British police officer. I can verify everything. Please take us to her before it’s too late.

Dr Polter studied them all for a brief moment, then realising the deep anxiety they all had, sprang into action. She ran down the corridor and into the lift. On the second floor she burst through double glass doors and swiped her card. The door opened and she pushed in through the second door on the right. “Thank god” she breathed softly. The woman in the bed was alive and still hooked up to the respirator. “Is this your sister?” She asked Eva, who had burst into the room behind her.

“Eva stopped and stared then nodded dumbly. The woman in the bed was barely recognisable as her sister. “That's Jane.” She whispered and she rushed to the bed and crouched beside the thin battered creature lying there with tubes sticking out everywhere. Ian was right beside her his arm around her shoulder. The mixture of relief and elation that had overcome him as soon as he saw her was now replaced with tremendous feelings of anger. Anger that anyone could have hurt and mistreated her so much that she landed in a hospital bed. He wanted to kill Kingston, to put him in a hospital bed.

“I'm afraid she's only allowed one visitor.” Dr Polter said suddenly realising that the room was full of people.

“Please can we just stay for a few moments?” Eva begged grasping her sister's bruised hand.

“Come on, we can wait outside.” Morley said shepherding Anna out in front of him.

Dr. Polter relented and allowed Eva and Ian to stay with Jane. She followed Morley outside and closed the door quietly behind her. “What's going on, I’ll have to inform the French police.” She demanded looking from Morley to Anna.

“It’s a long story but yes you must ring the police. The man that claimed to be her husband is wanted in the UK for murder, kidnapping and child abduction. He mustn't be allowed to get away.”

Dr Polter didn’t hesitate for a moment she went to the nurse’s station and issued orders in French to the nurse on duty. She picked up the phone and began talking excitedly into it.

Dr. Polter returned. “The police have been informed. You should all stay to explain it to them. You can wait in here”. She showed them into a small waiting room. “I've informed hospital security and they are going to search the hospital in case Mr Kingston is still here.”

“I doubt it.” Morley said. “He’s probably long gone by now.

Chapter thirty nine

He was indeed long gone. He had seen them enter the hospital and knew that he should make his getaway before he was seen. When Jane had hit him with the pan she had knocked him out cold. With the effects of the wine and the sleeping tablets combined, he had been out for almost three hours. The tablets themselves hadn't had too much of an effect on him, he was long since immune to their effects. He had been a chronic insomniac for years and after a while even the strongest sleeping tablets lost their potency. The blow to his head had done a lot more damage. His head was throbbing violently, he felt like he had done a few rounds with Mike Tyson. He pulled himself up onto a chair and sat like that for a while waiting for the dizziness to pass. He then staggered to the first aid kit hanging on the wall and opening it emptied the contents on the floor. Finding a packet of Nurofen he swallowed four and washed them down with a glass of wine, it was the closest liquid to hand and his mouth was so dry any drink was welcome. Within twenty minutes he was beginning to feel much better. His headache had subsided to a faint throb. He was seething with anger, he had been so sure that Jane had finally come to her senses and he had allowed his guard to drop. He felt such a fool and this feeling made him madder than ever. He knew it was time to leave, she had probably gone to the police by now and they would be along soon looking for him. He rushed upstairs and hastily threw a few things into his small holdall. He retrieved his wallet, and his passport. He didn't bother to pack any clothes, he intended to travel light he intended to buy anything else he needed as he went. He looked at his watch, it had been hours since Jane had betrayed him and left him lying in the kitchen floor. He wondered why the police hadn't been yet. Maybe they didn't believe her, he thought savagely. He saw headlights approaching up the lane and he quickly switched off the bedroom light and grabbed his holdall. He hurried down the stairs and out the back door. He crouched out of sight behind the garage and waited. He had been expecting the police but instead it was Monsieur Coutoux in his battered little car. He watched as the old man knocked on the front door. He was frantically calling Mr Kingston’s name and the knocking turned to pounding. He decided to leave his hiding place, curiosity had gotten the better of him. He crept back in the back door and raced through to the front door. Pretending to look alarmed, he opened the door and Monsieur Coutoux began babbling excitedly in French.

“Whatever's the matter?” Kingston asked in French. Eventually with Coutoux's broken English and Kingston's mediocre French. He began to understand what had happened. He now realised why the police hadn't been around. Jane had crashed the Land Rover and she was in a coma. He smiled to himself. Maybe everything wasn't lost after all, he thought as he thanked the Frenchman for letting him know. He begged one more favour of him. He needed transport and quickly. Coutoux promised to lend him his wife's car. Kingston gathered some clothes for Jane and with everything in his holdall, Coutoux drove him to his home and there he was handed the keys of a little Mini. Little did he know that he had only an hour’s head start. The jet carrying the four passengers from the U K were hot on his heels and they had just touched down at the little French airport. Arriving at the hospital he quickly introduced himself as the husband of the lady who had been brought in earlier that evening. No one doubted him or thought for a moment that he might be lying. He was shown up to the intensive care unit and allowed to sit by her bedside. He understood that her injuries weren't too severe but that she hadn't woken up since the accident. The doctors told him that her chances were excellent.

As he sat there looking at the frail creature in the bed, it was as though a veil was lifted from his eyes. The woman he had thought he worshiped was now just a broken, battered, middle-aged woman and he no longer felt anything for her. Except hate. He hated her for the way he imagined she had fooled him. The way she had pretended to love him. He was getting more and more consumed with hate for her and he just wanted to kill her. It would be so easy he thought, all he had to do was hold a pillow over her face and press down until she could no longer draw breath. He got up from his seat and began pacing the small room. He had finally made up his mind to do it, when a nurse walked into the room. She asked him to wait outside for a few moments. He left the room and decided to go and get a cup of coffee. His tongue and throat were dry and he badly needed a drink. His headache was coming back with a vengeance. He asked a passing nurse where he could get a coffee, she told him that there was a machine on the ground floor close to reception. He headed off down in the lift and was just finished filling his coffee when the front doors burst open and in walked Ian Turner followed by the other three. He quickly stepped out of view and watched as they waited for a doctor to arrive. He nearly got caught at that moment. He was so fixated on Anna when he saw her that he almost forgot to duck out of sight as they flew passed him rushing for the lift. He knew she was the cause of his predicament and he wanted her dead. He had never experienced a loathing so great since his father was alive. It was almost his undoing, he took control his feelings and he quickly turned his back and tried to look casual as they passed. He doubted that they had even registered his presence, so engrossed were they in reaching Jane to make sure she was alive.

He swallowed his coffee and slipped out past reception and into the car park. He got into Madame Coutoux's Mini and drove aimlessly for long time. The petrol gage on the car beeped at him, telling him to refuel. He realised that it wouldn't be long before the French police were informed of his crimes and they would come out in force looking for him. He had to change cars. He left the little mini down a side street with the keys still in the ignition. He knew it wouldn't be long before some enterprising youth found it and took it for a joy ride. Maybe even burnt it out. He went in search of a suitable replacement. He tried every vehicle he passed looking for one that was unlocked. He could have broken the window and got in that way but he didn't want anyone to become suspicious, so he waited until he found the right one. He must have tried a hundred cars at least before he found one that wasn't locked. Perfect he thought as he sat in and hot-wired it. Another trick he had picked up in his youth, when he had often gone joy riding with friends. He had thought himself invincible until he was caught one night breaking into a car. He had been hauled home by the police and his father had given him the mother of all beatings that night. He hadn't done it since. The memory of that beating was still vivid in his mind.

He started the car and drove off. He knew he had enough money to last him for a while. He had taken the precaution of bringing the contents of his safe, both from London and from his home in Southend with him to France. He estimated that he had close to fifty thousand pounds in his holdall. Enough to last him for a while, at least until he figured out what to do. There was one person who kept creeping back into his thoughts, try as he might to forget her. Anna Cotter, she had to die. He hated her, he didn't know how she had discovered him but he knew it was all her doing. He would never again be at peace until he had erased her from the face of the earth. With these thoughts flooding his brain he decided to stop for the night. He pulled into a small pokey looking hotel and paid in cash for a room for the night. He slept poorly that night, thoughts of Anna hunting him turned his dreams into nightmares. Her features contorting into horrific shapes, her mouth opening to reveal large pointy teeth, ready to devour him at any moment. Worst of all though, was when she merged into a being that resembled his father. The two headed creature chased him ceaselessly in the darkness. He woke as the sun was just beginning to peep up over the horizon. He was soaked in a cold clammy sweat and he was almost screaming in terror. Slowly he regained control of himself and was disgusted that he, a grown man should be terrified by a wisp of a girl. He showered and changed. Sitting in the room silently he made plans. He knew where she lived, he had seen her address on her licence that first day she had arrived, and he knew that one way or another he was going to have to go to Ireland and finish her torture of him and his dreams for good.

Chapter forty

The first thought Jane had as she struggled to open her eyes was that he had captured her again. She groaned softly as she turned her head towards the sound of a machine beeping rhythmically. The door of the room opened slowly, softly. She cringed as she waited in fear for Kingston to appear. It wasn't him, the silhouette of a woman emerged, she was illuminated by the bright lights behind her. She looked like an angel emerging from the heavens. Jane recognised her immediately. It was her angel, her guardian angel the one who had come to comfort her a few nights ago. The door closed and the angel materialised into a woman. The woman walked towards her and smiled when she realised that Jane was awake and watching her. Jane wasn't afraid any more, she felt the heavy burden of fear lift from her shoulders and she smiled back.

“Where am I?” She asked Anna. She wouldn't have been surprised if the woman had told her that she was dead, only she didn’t feel like she was dead. She had aches all over that convinced her that she was very much alive.

“You’re safe, you’re in hospital.” Anna told her “I'm Anna. We’ve all been looking for you for a long time.” Anna whispered softly.

Jane felt her heart give a leap. They hadn’t given up on her as Kingston had told her, she almost cried she was so happy. A movement caught her eye distracting her from Anna. Something stirred in the chair beside her bed. It the semi darkness of the room her eyes focused.

“Eva?” She gasped, as she recognised the familiar shape in the chair, hardly daring to thrust her own sight. Her sister stirred again at the sound of her name. Then coming fully awake she jumped up off her chair and clumsily fell on her sister and enveloped her in a fierce embrace. They stayed like that for a few moments, neither of them saying anything. Eva reluctantly released her sister and sat back to look at her.

“We thought we'd never see you again.” She said as she brushed a lock of hair from her sister's face.

“I almost gave up myself. I thought he was going to kill me. I managed to escape.” Jane said suddenly bursting into tears. The realisation that she was no longer a prisoner over-whelming her.

“We know darling, It’s okay he's never going to hurt you again.” Eva said soothingly. “Anna found you” Jane turned to Anna and said.

“I saw you one night in my dreams. I knew you were looking for me. It gave me the strength to fight him. I thought you were an angel.”

The door opened flooding the room once more with light. Ian’s Silhouette filled the doorway.

“Ian, she's awake!” Eva cried joyfully. Ian rushed over to the bed and hugged his wife to him, kissing her face repeatedly. Jane returned his embrace fiercely. She never thought she would be so happy to see him again.