The Forgotten Cottage (22 page)

‘Your house? I hate to disappoint you, but it was your house a long time ago. It isn’t any more and it’s time that you left it and moved into the light. Why are you still here and what are you doing trying to scare everyone who goes inside?’

‘Let me tell you, there is no light for me. They would not have me in the light; that is not the place for women who like to kill for pleasure. Are you worried about your man? Do you know where they have taken him?’

Annie shook her head.

‘No, I thought not.’

‘Please, if you know where he is, tell me.’

‘Why should I tell you anything? I quite like your man, though; he reminds me of my Joss, although I haven’t seen him for a very long time.’

From somewhere came the sound of knocking on the door. Annie turned to see where the door was and the woman disappeared. Annie felt as if she were falling through the blackness towards the knocking and landed onto the soft mattress that she’d first lain down on. The knocking on the bedroom door got louder and she heard Lily calling her name. She had to close her eyes; the room was so light compared to the one she’d just been in.

‘Come in.’

Lily ushered the doctor in, who smiled at her. ‘Officer Graham, I’m glad to see you. I heard about your accident and I’ve been worried. It’s nice to see you all in one piece.’

Annie smiled back. ‘It’s nice to see you, Phil. It makes a change to be needing your assistance instead of meeting over some poor unfortunate dead body.’

‘It does indeed; funny how we’re always on shift when the good people of Windermere decide to die. Joking aside, how are you? Lily has told me everything and how you discharged yourself from the hospital.’

Lily grimaced and mouthed ‘sorry’ to Annie then turned to leave the room, closing the door behind her.

‘I have to say I’ve been better. I’m worried sick about Will and I’m tired and my head and chest are hurting but I’m alive so I shouldn’t be complaining.’

He walked over towards her. ‘Yes, amazingly, you are alive but if you don’t start looking after yourself a lot better I have no idea how long for.’ He arched his eyes at her and pulled a chair from the corner of the room towards her, and then he sat down.

‘I want to check your blood pressure, your head and some other bits and pieces; is that okay?’

Annie nodded, knowing fine well it had to be okay because she didn’t want to collapse before they’d found Will. She answered all of the doctor’s questions, nodding and holding out her arm for him to wrap the bright blue cuff around. Twenty minutes later, after she had answered his questions and followed his fingers with her eyes, he declared her alive but told her to take it easy. No work for a while and plenty of rest, she had agreed with him. She wouldn’t be going to work until they had found Will and when they did she didn’t know if she wanted to go back then. She was fed up with all the drama and needed a break; she stood up to see him out.

‘Don’t worry, I’ll see myself out; you seriously need some sleep. You should really still be in the hospital. Look after yourself, Annie, because you only get one shot at this whole life thing and if you don’t take care of you, who will?’

He closed the door behind him. Annie picked up the phone from the bedside table and rang Jake.

‘Hey, tell me something good. Have you found Will? Am I hallucinating this whole shitty mess?’

‘Ah, I wish that you were… Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but no, we’ve only just got back to the station. There was an accident on the A590. The good news is Kav is on a mission and the way he’s going, fingers crossed, Will be home by teatime. He’s been on the phone to the Serious Crime squad up at headquarters and two of them are on their way down as we speak to come and see Tom and Lily. Apparently they are shit-hot.’

‘Really, that’s great. Please tell Kav thanks. I don’t know what to do with myself, Jake. I feel like a spare part and I want to be involved. I hate it, not being able to help.’

‘I know you do, flower, but trust me, there’s nothing you can do. If we find anything, you know I’ll be in touch. What did the men in black say?’

‘Not a lot; I wish you were still here.’

‘Do you want me to come back? Because I will. I would give anything to be in that house. It’s amazing; they must be minted and I mean seriously minted.’

Annie chuckled. ‘Yes, I suppose they are; I’ve never really thought about it since I got over my initial shock, but I told you, didn’t I, that I met them through work and didn’t even know they were related to Will.’

‘Yes, you did, and he never told anyone either. You’re both a pair of dark horses. I’ll ring you as soon as we know something. Bye.’

‘Bye.’

She put the phone down and threw herself back onto the bed. This time she didn’t close her eyes, too afraid of the woman from her dreams. What did she want with her? She’d already almost killed her once; it had been the vision of her in the road which had made her swerve and lose control of her car. Annie didn’t want to admit to herself that she found the dead woman mildly disturbing; hell, that wasn’t the right word. What she found her was terrifying but she couldn’t admit that out loud; she didn’t want her to know. As if she had the time to be haunted by a scary woman from a few hundred years ago when Will had been kidnapped. She tried to remember if there was a time when her life had been simple but couldn’t, unless she counted being the chubby kid in junior school with the frizzy black curly hair, and that had been a nightmare because of one boy who’d made her life a misery until one day she’d really had enough and punched him so hard in the face he’d got a black eye. Her life was turning into a living nightmare and she was fed up with it all.

Chapter Seventeen

Henry opened his eyes and for a moment had no idea where he was, then he heard a seagull’s loud cry and remembered. Although his room at the secure hospital was much bigger than the bedroom he was in now he was happy enough to be lying in a cramped single bed with the sound of the waves crashing against the shore to lull him to sleep. There had been no coverage in the local paper the last two nights except for a small side column about his escape. The police obviously didn’t think he was stupid enough to return back home; instead they would be thinking he was heading for somewhere he could remain anonymous, maybe London or Birmingham, one of the big cities. They probably didn’t want to panic the locals either, but he knew the police here would be on high alert and he would be on the top of their wanted list. They would all be on the lookout for him so it was highly unlikely he’d be leaving this caravan for a few weeks yet to venture anywhere. Never underestimate your opponent, and both Annie Graham and Will Ashworth had been truly worthy opponents.

He took out the cheap pay-as-you-go phone that Megan had given to him yesterday and typed in 101. A voice on the other end informed him he was being transferred to Cumbria Police. His palms began to sweat and his pulse started to race. Finally, a voice on the other end asked if they could help.

‘Yes, I think so. I need to speak to PC Annie Graham; could you tell me when she’s next on duty?’

There was a slight pause as the call handler began typing on the other end. ‘I’m sorry, according to the duties she’s not in work for the moment; she’s off on the sick. Would you like to speak to another member of the community team?’

‘No, it’s okay, thank you. It’s something that only she can deal with.’

Henry ended the call and grinned to himself, hoping that whatever was wrong with her wasn’t serious. He could hear Megan moving around in the kitchen and smiled; she was sweet and a very good cook. She had promised to look after him and she was doing exactly that. The smell of frying bacon hit his nostrils and his stomach rumbled. He’d had no appetite in the hospital but here everything tasted so good.

He got out of the bed and caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. He had lost weight but he had no muscles and looked like your average middle-aged man. His scalp and face were a mess but Megan had brought some special oil with her that was supposed to help heal scars and she tenderly rubbed it into them, never flinching, at least three times a day. Henry had never been vain but it did upset him to see one side of his face so puckered up. Megan had informed him that it made him look like a hardened criminal and he’d laughed at her. He certainly didn’t look like a male model. He pulled a T-shirt on and a pair of jogging pants. They were extremely comfy. That was another thing to thank her for, his introduction to modern day sports clothing.

Opening his bedroom door, he stood and watched her moving around. She was very graceful. She was only wearing a strappy vest top and the shortest of shorts and he admired the view very much from behind.

She turned around and squealed. ‘Jesus, Henry, you gave me a fright.’

‘Sorry, Megan, I didn’t mean to.’

‘I’ll forgive you this time.’

Then she turned around, picked up the frying pan and began arranging the bacon onto the slices of freshly sliced buttered bread. She handed him a plate and a mug of coffee.

‘So what do you want to do today? Should we go for a little drive around, or a walk so you can get some fresh air?’

He pointed to his mouth as he chewed and she smiled.

‘Sorry.’

Henry swallowed the mouthful of his sandwich. ‘Don’t be daft, it’s fine. You know you don’t need to be so nice to me all the time. I can take a bit of shit; God knows I put up with my mother’s griping for long enough.’

‘I wouldn’t dream of griping at you; I want you to be happy, not miserable. I don’t want you regretting escaping with me; we may not have much at the moment but we have our freedom and each other.’

Henry paused. ‘Megan, if you’re worried that I’ll kill you when you start to get on my nerves then please don’t. I need you more than you could ever know; how would I survive if you weren’t around? I’m eternally grateful to you for everything and one day I will repay your kindness.’

Henry wasn’t sure but he thought he saw her whole body relax as if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. He put his plate down and walked over to hug her, pulling her close. His fingers brushed her long fringe, tucking it behind her ear.

‘You, Megan, are the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I promise you I won’t forget that. If there ever comes a time where I think that I may be losing control you must leave, take the car and drive as far away as possible from here. Do you understand?’

‘Yes, Henry, I do.’

She squeezed him back. He wanted nothing more than to pick her up and take her into her bedroom with the queen size bed but he knew that he couldn’t. Instead, he pulled away from her and picked his sandwich up.

‘I don’t know how I would actually survive without you, but I’m sure I would manage. Can you live off seaweed?’

He turned away so she couldn’t see the erection that was poking through the front of his pants.

‘Henry, what happened to your mother?’

‘She died, Megan, she was old.’

He wasn’t sure if this was a trick question because he would have thought that Megan knew exactly what had happened to her but he decided it was best not to tell her that he’d strangled her and put her body into the chest freezer.

They both sat at the small table and finished their breakfast. Megan went to get dressed and returned five minutes later. She looked so young, her face fresh, with not a scrap of the heavy make-up she used to wear back at the hospital. In fact she looked like a completely different person, which was just as well considering they were both at the top of England’s Most Wanted list.

‘I’m just nipping to get some papers, see if there’s anything about us in them. I’m surprised there hasn’t been up until now.’

‘Ah, I know why; they don’t want the scandal of having one of the country’s most important visitors at the hospital whilst a serial killer escapes, but I can imagine that the story will have broken this morning. There is no way they can contain it much longer; if the local paper had a small byline in it then the nationals will be all over it. You will have your fifteen minutes of fame, Megan; how do you feel about that? Do you regret throwing your life away for a monster?’

She looked at him. ‘No, Henry, not for one minute. I worship the ground that you walk on and I want to be just like you.’

With that, she opened the caravan door and ran down the steps, letting it slam shut behind her. He watched her through the small window as she walked towards the clubhouse where she had left the car and then drove away without so much as a glance back.

***

Kav, who had been drumming his nails on his desk for the last thirty minutes, looked as if he was ready to commit a murder. He had sent everyone who had been hanging around the parade room trying to look busy whilst waiting for some gossip out on foot patrol, except Jake, who was sitting opposite him, picking at the skin around his thumbnail. Kav picked up the phone and rang Detective Nick Tyler, who answered on the first ring.

‘What have you got, Nick?’

‘We have an address for Amelia Watts and task force are on their way as we speak but I’m not holding my breath. I seriously don’t think she would be so stupid as to put her real address down on her employment form if she had been planning to kidnap a police officer. I’ve requested a cell site analysis on Will’s phone and that’s being looked into as we speak but even though it’s been rushed through you and me both know how long it takes and again it’s tenuous.’

‘Why?’

‘Because in all probability they would have got rid of his phone straight away; they aren’t going to leave it with him so he can phone a friend to come and help him.’

‘Bollocks. Anything else you can do? Anything we can do?’

‘I’m afraid not; we’re doing everything at this end. It’s going to be a case of waiting for her to get in touch again with details of the drop. I’ll be in touch as soon as I know anything, Kav, I promise.’

‘I know you will, son, because if you don’t I’ll come and find you and plant my size eleven boots up your arse.’

‘Now there’s an experience I’d rather not have.’

Kav put the phone down.