The Forgotten Cottage (14 page)

Joss was at a loss for words. His head was a throbbing mess and his heart felt as if someone had reached into his chest and ripped it in two. He shook his head. ‘Someone should go and get the constable.’

Dr Johnson was whispering into Seth’s ear and he nodded then turned and ran towards the village. The doctor helped Joss over to the low wall which bordered the front of the farmhouse.

‘Let me take a look at your head. Seth has gone to get some help and then we will go back and see what young Betsy has to say for herself. I’m very sorry about this, Joss. I cannot for the life of me imagine how you are feeling but we will go and see her as soon as we have a group big enough to deal with her.’

Joss didn’t quite understand what the doctor meant but he knew, whatever it was, it was not good for Betsy. His eyes filled with tears at the thought of his boys, lying there without him, and he wondered why she had not killed him as well because she might as well have. He had no reason to live now; his life had ended along with his boys’.

***

Betsy wiped the sweat from her eyes. She was exhausted but she thought the hole looked big enough to put Joss and both boys inside. She had no idea what she was going to do once they were buried. She would have to move; there was no doubt about it. She wiped her dirty hands down the front of her dress and decided she was going to get changed. She ran into the house and up to the room where she slept. The only thing she could find was a long white nightdress from her drawers. Once she’d pulled the sticky clothes from her body and pulled it over her head, she felt better. She might even take to her bed and pretend to be as ill as her mother had been and she could say she did not know where Joss and his children had gone.

She walked into the boys’ room, expecting to see Joss dead with his boys, and felt her heart begin to beat wildly. He wasn’t there. She ran to look in the corner behind the bed in case he had crawled towards it but it was an empty space. She felt sick. Where was he? He hadn’t passed her so he must be in the house somewhere. She ran to the window and heard dogs barking out on the lane that led to the cottage, followed by the loud voices of a group of men, and she felt sick. They were coming for her, they knew. Joss must have gone for help.

She left the room, running down the stairs and out of the back door, taking the same path that Joss had taken less than an hour ago. No time to put her shoes on but not caring, she ran through the orchard, clambered over the dry stone wall and slipped over into the woods, landing heavily on one side. The sound of the barking dogs was much nearer than she’d thought and she had to pull herself up and start running for the trees to give herself some cover from them. The shouts of the men carried through the trees and the panic she felt almost made her want to throw herself onto the ground and wait for them to catch her but her mind wouldn’t let her. She carried on running. The dogs were snarling and barking and she decided to run towards the stream to get rid of her scent. Her feet were cut and bleeding and she had an awful stitch in her side, which she had clamped her hand over to try and ease. She ran towards the stream, not seeing the rock sticking out of the ground, and she hit it with her bare foot, losing her balance. The pain made her black out as she fell down the bank towards the stream and landed in a heap at the bottom.

Chapter Eleven

Jake parked the police car outside the entrance to the Accident and Emergency Department and walked through the empty waiting room, along the corridor towards the wards and the Intensive Care Unit. As he walked through the double doors he looked towards the bed that Annie had been lying in yesterday and his heart skipped a beat to see it was empty. His face drained of colour and the nurse rushed over to him.

‘She’s fine. I’m pleased to say we moved her up to a private room on Ward Five an hour ago. She’s been awake on and off throughout the night and able to hold a conversation.’

Jake felt his shoulders relax. ‘Oh, thank God for that. Thank you; I’ll nip up there to go and see her.’

He left with a grin on his face and walked down to the lifts He couldn’t remember which floor Ward Five was on and he was too lazy to walk up the stairs. He got in the lift and blushed when an old woman got in next to him, asking him which floor he wanted.

The next stop was his and she chuckled to herself. ‘You’re as lazy as I am, young man.’ With that, she shuffled out of the lift and in the opposite direction to where he was going.

The duty nurse looked up from the desk and pointed down the corridor. ‘If you’re looking for Annie Graham, she’s in cubicle three.’

He walked towards the wooden door, excited to see his friend. It had only been four days since he’d spoken to her and it felt like a month. He knocked on the door and opened it. She was lying in the bed, her eyes closed. He walked in and bent down to kiss her on the cheek.

She opened her eyes and grinned. ‘I thought you were Will.’

‘Cheers, is that all the greeting I get? I mean, don’t hide your disappointment on my behalf, will you.’

‘You know what I mean. What time is it?’

He looked at his watch. ‘Eleven-thirty, almost time for lunch. I’m starving. What are you having? Do you fancy sharing it with me?’

‘You can have it; I’m not hungry for a dried up tuna sandwich and some melted, tasteless vanilla ice cream. I’m so glad I’m awake; you would not believe the dreams I’ve been having whilst I was out of it. I dreamt I poisoned loads of people with arsenic and then I was chased through the woods by a group of men, all chanting about me being a witch.’

‘I can sort of see why they would be calling you a witch, though; did you have a broomstick?’

She threw a grape at him, which he dodged like a true professional.

‘Have you seen Will, though? Seriously, he hasn’t been yet and he promised me he’d come first thing and rescue me.’

‘I haven’t. I’ve been working, unlike some of us. You never cease to amaze me, what lengths you go to get out of an honest day’s work.’

He winked at her, and then pulled his phone out of his pocket to see if he had any missed calls from Will. It wasn’t like him to not turn up to see Annie when he’d said he would. The screen was blank. He dialled Will’s number but it went straight to voicemail so then he typed Will’s collar number into his airwave handset to ring him on that and it said ‘party not available’.

‘Have you checked your phone?’

‘I don’t know where it is. I should imagine it’s probably in the car that I managed to write off. With being in a coma, I haven’t really needed it for a couple of days.’

Jake wanted Kav to ask him if there were any jobs ongoing that Will might be tied up with. ‘No, my friend, as far as I’m aware, CID are having an even slacker day than we are. Why do you ask?’

‘Annie wondered where he is; he promised to help her escape from the hospital but he hasn’t turned up yet.’

‘Jake, have you got your earpiece in?’

‘Yes, boss.’

‘Has it occurred to you he might be in bed catching up on some sleep? He won’t have slept much since Annie was brought in. Plus he might be leaving her as long as possible until she’s seen the doctor. We all know how stubborn our friend can be.’

‘Ah, yes. I didn’t think of that. Good point.’

He finished the conversation then sat on the chair nearest to the bed.

‘I think he’s still in bed; he’s probably knackered after keeping an eye on you for almost twenty-four hours a day since you got brought in. I’ll give him a knock on my way from here and see how he is. So then, have they said when you can come home to wreak some more havoc and stress everyone out?’

‘Piss off.’

He started to laugh. ‘Oh, how I’ve missed thee, Annie Graham. I can’t tell you how boring my life has been. Do you know that Annie Ashworth doesn’t quite have the same ring to it? In fact, it makes you sound like some charwoman from the nineteen-fifties. Have you thought about keeping your own name when you marry Prince Charming?’

The door opened before Annie could reply and in walked the doctor.

‘I’ll leave you to it and go and check on Will. I’ll come back up to see you after.’

He winked at her and she shook her head but grinned at the same time.

Jake drove straight to Will’s house. He got out and ran up the three steps to his front door and pressed his finger on the bell several times. He waited for a minute then peered through the living room window. There was no one in there. He lifted the flap of the letterbox to see if he could see any sign of life and shouted, ‘Will!’ Concerned now that his friend wasn’t answering, he hammered on the door with his huge fist.

The next door neighbour, who was an older woman, opened her door and looked Jake up and down.

‘Do you think that maybe he’s not in?’

Jake bit his tongue. ‘Maybe he isn’t, but I need to know where he is. Have you seen him today?’

‘No.’

‘Well, can you remember when was the last time you saw him?’

‘I think it was yesterday morning; he didn’t come home until one a.m. and then he left just after eight yesterday. How’s Annie?’

‘She’s okay, much better. Are you sure you never saw him come home last night?’

‘I can’t miss hearing his engine whenever he pulls up and my dog always starts barking every time Will opens his front door, and the dog barked yesterday morning when he went out but not since. I’m positive.’

Jake nodded. He felt uneasy. There was nowhere for Will to go. He walked around to try the wooden gate that led to the back garden but it was locked. So he dragged the wheelie bin close to it and jumped on it to climb over. Jumping down on the other side, he peered through all the windows but there was no sign of life. There were two patio doors and he tried them both but they were locked up tight. He looked at the wooden shed down the bottom of the garden and felt his stomach lurch. Surely not. Will had no reason to do anything stupid, but Jake couldn’t get the image of the man he’d found not that long ago, hanging in his garden shed after an argument with his wife, out of his mind. He ran down to the shed, which was locked, and looked through the grimy window. All he could see was a lawnmower and a tool bench. Phew, no dead Will. He felt his heart begin to slow down and pulled out his phone. This time he dialled Alex’s number; he picked up straight away.

‘I need you to do me a massive favour, please. Can you get the spare key for Will’s house from the cabinet and bring it to me? I can’t get hold of Will and I’m at his house now. It doesn’t look as if he’s here and his car isn’t but I just need to check.’

‘I’ll be there in five minutes. Have you tried phoning his dad or Lily?’

Jake felt his cheeks begin to burn; he was such an idiot—why had he not thought of that? Will had probably gone to see his dad and tell him Annie was okay. Panic over but there was still a smidgen of uneasiness that made him want to check the house anyway. Will’s car was nowhere to be seen so it was highly likely that he was at home. He walked back to the wooden gate, this time unlocking it and letting himself out, and waited on the front wall until Alex’s car turned into the street.

Alex got out and passed him the key. ‘Did you phone Lily?’

‘No, I don’t have their number. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t passed out in the house somewhere before I worried them.’

He turned and walked to the front door, inserting the key into the lock, praying he wasn’t going to find Will’s body somewhere. Alex followed him in.

Jake shouted, ‘Will, are you home?’

He was met with dead silence; he looked at Alex, who shrugged. They checked the kitchen, living room and lounge. Then Jake took the stairs two at a time. He checked the bedrooms and bathroom but they were empty. The bed didn’t look slept in and the sink and shower were dry.

He turned to Alex. ‘He must be at his dad’s—where else can he be?’

Jake went downstairs to the small table in the hall, where he rooted through the drawers to find an address book. He had no idea what the telephone number was for Will’s dad. He found a small black leather book and began flicking through the pages until he found it.
Dad
was written in small black print; Jake pressed the numbers on his keypad and waited for it to connect. After a couple of rings it was answered by Lily.

‘Sorry to bother you; it’s Annie’s friend, Jake.’

‘Oh, my God, please tell me she’s okay. Is everything okay?’

‘Yes, Annie’s fine—she woke up last night and they’ve moved her out of Intensive Care this morning. Didn’t Will tell you? Is he there—I really need to speak to him.’

There was a slight pause.

‘Will isn’t here. I haven’t seen him since I left the hospital yesterday morning. Have you been to his house? He looked exhausted yesterday. He might have slept in.’

‘I’m here now and he’s not. It’s okay; he must have been called into work. I’ll check there and get back to you. Did he phone you last night?’

‘He sent a text to say Annie had woken up and he was tired and going home to bed. Tell him to give me a ring as soon as you find him, please.’

Jake hung up and looked at Alex. ‘Where is he? He wouldn’t have just taken off; something’s not right. We need to go back to the hospital and double check we haven’t just missed him.’

Alex nodded. ‘Should I wait here in case he turns up?’

‘If you don’t mind. If he’s not at the hospital I’ll let you know and you can lock up and come meet me there.’

Jake kissed Alex’s cheek then left to go and get back into the police car. He phoned Kav; relaying everything to him, he ended by telling him he was worried. Kav agreed and told him he’d meet him at the hospital in five minutes.

***

Amelia and Luke managed to manhandle Will out of the back of the car. Luke, who had been hiding on the floor in the back, had helped to gag and tie him up, throwing him on the back seat with a blanket over him. Then Luke had driven back to their cottage, with Amelia keeping a watchful eye on the roads for any police cars. The roads had been deserted and they had made it back in record time. There had been a couple of moans from the back seat but Amelia had leant over and cracked him on the side of the head with her fist and he’d quietened down again.