The Girls in the Woods (18 page)

‘I lost it and hit him, I was so angry. I came home to find him straddling Annie, who was lying at the foot of the stairs. I don’t know if she’s fallen down them and banged her head or whether he’s done it. What the fuck was he thinking?’

Will turned to face Stu and shouted.

‘What the fuck were you thinking?’

He couldn’t say any more because he was scared to speak the words out loud, but if the idiot had hurt their baby or badly injured Annie then he wouldn’t be responsible for what would happen to him. They heard the sound of sirens in the distance; Annie blinked and opened her eyes.

‘Don’t move sweetheart, the ambulance will be here soon.’

She clasped his arm. ‘The baby.’

‘Don’t you worry – the baby will be just fine, and so will you. Just let them take you to get checked out and don’t argue. Stu, on the other hand, is not fine because I’m going to fucking kill him.’

His voice got much louder when he mentioned Stu’s name. Cathy, who was standing at the gate waving the ambulance down the narrow lane, stared across at Kav who shrugged his shoulders. They watched as the paramedics loaded Annie into the back of the ambulance and Will jumped in with them. Kav went to shut the doors.

‘You take care of Annie, I’ll take care of Stu. We’ll take him to Windermere. Can’t have him booked into custody at Barrow. Someone from Kendal can come through to deal with him once he’s sobered up. Do you know what you want him charged with?’

‘To be honest, I don’t know what’s happened, Kav. Apart from seeing him sitting on top of Annie I have no idea.’

‘Right, well as much as I’d like to arrest him for being a prick it won’t wear with the custody sergeant. Assault for now, then we’ll work on the fine print once we know.’

Will looked across at Stu, who was snivelling and crying to himself. This would be the end of his career if they pressed charges. He wasn’t himself but it was no excuse for whatever he’d been about to do to Annie. Kav slammed the door shut and the paramedic began to drive away. As they reached the top of the lane Will took his phone out and rang Kav.

‘Just take him somewhere for now to sleep it off and tell him not to move an inch until I’ve spoken to Annie and seen what she wants to do.’

‘Your choice, my friend, but he’s not coming to my house in that state – and Cathy is shaking her head with extreme vigour. Where do you suggest?’

‘Take him back to Debs. Tell her the least she can do is keep an eye on him until tomorrow. This mess is partly her fault so she owes it to him this one last time.’

‘Roger that.’

Will ended the call and looked at his wife who, despite having a golden suntan, was paler than he’d seen her look in a long time. He closed his eyes and prayed that she would be okay and the baby would be fine. They had to be, because they were his whole world. The ride to the hospital wasn’t a pleasant one, the roads narrow and twisty, and by the time they arrived Will felt even sicker than before. This time it was a different hospital, but the same all over again – some idiot had hurt Annie. When would their lives be free from all the hassle? Annie would laugh and tell him probably never.

He went to the reception desk and booked her in once more. He didn’t want to have to do this again, except for when she went into labour – then he would make an exception. His phone began to vibrate in his pocket and he didn’t have to look to know that it would be Jake having a panic attack and wanting to know where they were and should he come. He sent him a text message telling him: no, it was fine, he would call him if he needed him. Before he got the chance to go and sit on one of the hard plastic blue chairs, a nurse came out looking for him. He followed her in, his heart beating so fast he could hardly breathe. The nurse pointed to the curtain which was drawn and Will pulled it to one side and felt a whole lot better to see Annie awake and holding a cardboard sick bowl.

‘Sorry.’

‘What are you sorry for? You’ve done nothing wrong.’

‘I let him in. I knew he was drunk – he smelt like the slop bucket from the Black Dog. Urgh, just thinking about him makes me want to throw up.’

Will couldn’t help but smile.

‘I need to know what happened, even though I don’t really want to think about it.’

‘He started to talk really rude. He was feeling sorry for himself but then he got offensive and obnoxious. He has a huge problem with you. I had no idea he really was so jealous of you.’

‘What do you mean, really rude? I always sort of knew he was a bit envious; he seems to have got worse the last twelve months, though. Always getting sly digs in when he could, but I never really took them to heart. What exactly did he say?’

Annie lay her head back and closed her eyes. She had that sharp pain in the side of her head again. It was so intense it made her eyes screw up, even though they were shut.

‘What’s wrong?’

She shook her head.

‘I don’t know… my head, it really hurts.’

‘Did he hit you?’

‘No, he grabbed my ankle as I was running upstairs to lock myself in the bathroom and ring you. He tugged me too hard and I lost my footing. I bounced all the way down the stairs on my backside so that should be hurting, not my head. I didn’t even bang my head.’

Will placed his hand on her stomach, spreading his fingers as wide as he could over the bump.

‘Did he hurt the baby?’

‘No, he didn’t, he sat on my legs not my...’

She squeezed her eyes shut again as another wave of pain blasted through her head. This time it was accompanied by the image of the girl she’d seen in her house. It was only a fleeting glance but the girl was standing in front of her with blood dripping down the side of her head. That image was replaced with one of the woods where a man was digging a grave. Then it all went blank and she knew there was some connection between the pain in her head and how the girl died, but she needed to make sure it wasn’t because she was going mad or hallucinating. If the doctor said everything was okay then she would tell Will what was going on; it might even help him identify the girl whose body had been discovered.

Will pressed the orange bell for the nurse, who appeared within seconds.

‘Something’s wrong. She keeps getting pain in her head.’

The nurse felt her pulse.

‘The consultant is on his way. You’re lucky – he was just going home before you arrived. He’s going to scan the baby and then he’ll take a look at your head. He won’t be long. Have you any pain in your stomach?’

Annie shook her head.

‘Good. I’ll go and get everything ready.’

She watched the nurse disappear behind the faded orange curtain and turned to Will.

‘Where is he?’

‘Kav’s taken him to Debs for the night until we decide what to do about him.’

‘Oh my God, what a day it’s been. Has Tilly turned up?’

Will didn’t want to upset her any more than she already was, but she wasn’t stupid and would soon find out.

‘No, she hasn’t. I spoke to Smithy who went to take the missing person’s details. I’m sorry, Annie, but she’s almost eighteen. I know you’re worried about her but she’ll turn up. What would you be like if you had to live with Lisa?’

‘I know she’s a nightmare but it’s not like Tilly not to even tell Ben. They’re really close.’

The consultant walked in and introduced himself. He was followed by the nurse with a portable scanning machine.

‘Now let me check on that baby of yours, just to be on the safe side. Have you had any pain in your stomach?’

‘Just the one. It was like cramp but it hasn’t happened since.’

‘How long ago was this?’

‘Just after I’d fallen down the stairs on my bottom, but that’s okay – there’s plenty of padding on that.’

The consultant laughed; squirting a large dollop of the cold gel onto her stomach, he began to move the Doppler around until he had a clear picture of the baby. They could see it moving around and its tiny heart was beating away. Will squeezed her fingers. No matter how many times he saw it, he couldn’t believe that the small black and white shape which resembled an alien more than a human was their baby. After a couple of minutes the consultant passed Annie a handful of green paper towels.

‘Perfect – your baby doesn’t seem any worse for its tumble. However, it would be really great for the both of you if you could refrain from such strenuous activity. Now, the nurse said your head is hurting – did you bang that on your way down?’

‘No, not this time, but I’ve had a few accidents in the last couple of years which have resulted in quite serious head injuries.’

‘Now why doesn’t that surprise me?’

Annie smiled at him as she felt her cheeks begin to burn.

‘To be fair neither of them were my fault. My ex husband hit me over the back of the head with an empty champagne bottle which knocked me out and left me needing thirty staples across the back of my head. Then last year my car went off the road and crashed into an oak tree. I was in a coma for a couple of days.’

‘Really, is that it? Blimey, your poor head, it must be made of tough stuff. Did you black out earlier?’

Will answered.

‘Yes she did, for fifteen minutes. She regained consciousness just before the ambulance arrived.’

‘Yet you didn’t bang your head, is that right?’

He began shining his torch into the back of her eyes and holding his finger in front of her eye, moving it from side to side.

‘I think we’d better admit you and see what’s going on – although there’s nothing I can do tonight. But I can tell you the neurologist, who I work closely with, is on in the morning and she’s excellent. She’ll be able to tell you what’s happening without a shadow of a doubt.’

‘How do you know? They might not be able to?’

‘Oh, I can vouch for her. She’s my wife and she is very persistent.’

He winked at Annie and she smiled.

‘Do I really have to stay here? I’d rather go home.’

‘Well, I can’t stop you from leaving, but then you’ll just get an outpatient’s appointment, which might take weeks. If you stay here and have bed and breakfast, then I’ll tell my wife all about you when I go home – so she’ll come see you first thing in the morning. How does that sound?’

It was Will who spoke.

‘She’s staying. Thank you, we really appreciate it.’

‘No problem, it’s the least I can do for our law enforcement officers.’

Annie shut her eyes. She was quite capable of speaking for herself, but Will was right. She should just stop here; at least that way she’d get seen quicker. If there was a problem with her brain she’d rather know about it now and get it sorted out. The consultant left them alone. He nodded at Will on his way out.

Will didn’t care if she was angry with him; she wasn’t going anywhere until they knew she didn’t have any life-threatening injuries or diseases.

‘Pass me your phone, please?’

‘Why?’

‘I need to speak to Ben and see if she’s come home. Will, I’m worried. What if something bad has happened to her?’

‘Come on, Annie, you know that apart from the disasters which happen to us it’s pretty safe to live around here.’

‘Do you really think so?’ Annie pictured Henry Smith, the man who had stalked her then tried to kill her in the cellar of the abandoned mansion in the woods near to Ben’s farmhouse, and again after his escape from the secure mental hospital. In her honest opinion she didn’t think that living in South Cumbria had been particularly safe up to now; she just hoped she hadn’t attracted some other psychopath who had decided to kidnap Tilly just to get to her. What if Henry had more than one helper and they were carrying out his final wishes. She wouldn’t put it past him to have had a backup plan should the worst happen to him. In fact, it would make perfect sense. She was about to tell Will this when Ben answered the phone.

‘No, she’s not home. Lisa is in a state. I’m going to drive up to Bowness and see if I can spot her.’

Annie didn’t tell him it was a waste of his time and effort; that he would be better off at home waiting for her. She knew that she would be doing exactly the same thing.

‘Okay, look, I’ve had a bit of an accident. Nothing serious but I’m in the hospital and they want me to stay overnight, otherwise I’d come with you. I’ll be out in the morning so I’ll ring you and hopefully she’ll be home by then and oblivious to the fuss she’s caused.’

‘Oh, Annie, please tell me you’re both fine. I can’t believe it. What happened?’

‘Nothing – a stupid misunderstanding – and I fell down some stairs. Look, the only thing that hurts is my pride. Don’t worry about me, Ben. Please be careful and ring me as soon as she turns up.’

‘Will do, and Annie, just for once, do what the doctors tell you.’

He hung up and she felt terrible for him; he didn’t need to be worrying about her as well as his daughter.

Will’s phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He took it out to see who it was.

‘You should go; there’s nothing you can do here. I’m fine, and I know you have a lot on at the moment.’

‘Are you sure? You have no idea how much I hate walking away from you whenever you’re in hospital.’

She nodded, her eyes threatening to fill with tears. She wanted to walk out with him, but she needed to rule out what was happening with her head. Tomorrow, if Tilly hadn’t turned up, she could go home with a clean bill of health and begin to try and figure out what was happening. Will bent down and kissed her lips; she inhaled – he smelt so damn good. She kissed him back then pushed him away.

‘Go, work some of your magic and make everything right.’

Will didn’t smile this time. She could almost see the weight of the case and worry about Tilly pressing down on his shoulders. Not to mention wondering what to do about Stu. She felt terrible.

‘I truly wish I could, Annie, but sometimes even I just can’t fix everything.’

He turned away from her and walked towards the exit; she had to blink back the tears that filled her eyes. Why was her life so bloody complicated? It never used to be like this. A nurse and a porter appeared at her bedside.

‘Right, you’re off up to the ward – even got your own little side room so at least you can have a sleep. That will be nice, won’t it?’