The Secrets of the Shadows (The Annie Graham series - Book 2) (27 page)

He nodded and marvelled at how light fingered she was and so gentle. It was all over too fast and as she began to brush the hairs off he couldn’t resist. ‘I know this is a bit cheeky but I was wondering if you fancied a drink when you finish work. It’s my day off and I’m fed up of spending it on my own.’

Sophie blushed and let out a small laugh, ‘I’m not sure, I mean I want to but I’m supposed to be working late tonight. It’s my turn to clean the salon so I won’t be finished until seven’

‘Seven is great by me, do you want me to pick you up or I could meet you at The Railway.’

‘If you don’t mind I’ll meet you there, thank you.’

Sean offered her his hand, ‘I’m Sean; you don’t remember me out of my uniform do you?’

She shook her head.

‘I’m the police officer who came a few weeks ago when someone tried to break in.’

He saw her visibly relax, all the stress of accepting a date with a total stranger had been taken off her shoulders. Everyone knows the police are the good guys.

‘I thought you looked familiar but I couldn’t place you. If it starts to rain will you pick me up from here? Now it’s my turn to be cheeky but I’d hate my hair to get wet.’ She winked at him and they both laughed, he pulled out his wallet and she pushed him away. ‘On the house, that was the quickest haircut and to be honest the best chat up I’ve ever had. I’ll see you at seven.’

Sean said goodbye and walked out of the door and across the road towards his truck, the excitement building inside his chest. He wanted to shout at the top of his voice how bloody wonderful he was but he didn’t. He got into his car and drove straight home, he needed to decide where this sleeping angel was going to be laid to rest. He was thinking about taking her to Father John’s doorstep, how fitting that the priest was back at the church where it all began and how kind of the local press to tell him. It had been a long time since he’d paid a visit to his mother and Sophie’s grave, as he drove home he decided that this was exactly what he was going to do and he liked it, he liked it a lot. He had taken a few risks today but it was all going to be worth it, he wanted to see the priest’s face when they were reunited and he had decided that as long as the priest suffered then he would be done with all this, his mission would be finished.

***

Annie stood up and stretched. ‘I need you to show me where every window and door are, we need to make this place as safe as we can until they capture him. They are on the verge of narrowing it down but we can’t take any chances. Once Sean realises they are onto him he may just come looking for you and I promise I won’t let him hurt you. Then I want you to start at the beginning and tell me exactly what happened in 1984.’

John led her around the house from room to room where they secured the windows and locked all the doors. In the lounge were two huge patio doors and Annie knew they were the weak point. If Sean did come here it would be through them that he would try to gain access. She double-checked they were locked and then began dragging the heavy chesterfield sofa over to put in front of them, as well as anything else she could find. By the time they had finished they were both sweating and breathing hard. ‘If he does come in this way at least it makes it awkward and we should hear him.’ She turned and checked the internal door to the room to see if it had a lock but it didn’t; only the bedrooms did. When they went back into the hall Annie dragged a chair over from the small writing desk in the corner and propped it underneath the handle. She had no idea how big or strong Sean was, if it was the Sean she sometimes worked with then yes he was tall and fit. He wasn’t married but she had no idea if he was in a relationship or not, she’d always got on with him and would find it hard to believe if it did turn out to be him; what a mess this whole thing was. One thing she did believe though was the man was on a mission and he would do anything to finish what he’d started. She didn’t say any of this to John, he was distressed enough. They finished checking every room, except the one his sister was asleep in.

‘I don’t want to disturb her, would you go in and check that her window is shut?’

Annie nodded; she opened the door slowly so it didn’t squeak then tiptoed across the wooden floorboards to the open window to close it. The woman on the bed let out a small murmur but didn’t open her eyes. Annie left as quietly as she’d entered and shut the door behind her.

‘My friend Jake who is also a policeman is on his way from Barrow so everything will be just fine.’

John nodded and began to walking towards the stairs. Annie felt a cold hand touch her arm and she turned to see Sophie standing behind her. The little girl lifted her finger to her lips and this time Annie understood, the girl walked into the bathroom and she followed her in.

‘I won’t be a minute, just need the toilet.’ Annie’s heart was racing and the room was so cold that the mirror had fogged up.

‘Sean is going to kill again, he already has a victim and the shadow man is coming here. He wants you Annie, he said he will take Sean’s soul as soon as he’s killed Father John but he also wants your soul because he said you were very special. John tried his best to help me but he wasn’t strong enough to win. You need to tell him that he has to fight the shadow man and banish him for good this time because he is getting stronger and won’t stop. You must tell John if he can put an end to it I will be able to go into the light and be with my mum, it’s been so long since I saw her and I’m tired of being in the dark.’

‘How can he stop him Sophie, what does he need to do?’

‘John will know, he’s always known. He was just too afraid to do it but he must this time or you’ll both die and be stuck in the shadows forever.’

Sophie handed her the broken toy figure which Annie had put in her kitchen drawer. ‘Sean used to love the A-Team; he gave me this the day I died. Give it back to him and tell him that I want him to stop all of this.’ A faint smell of rotten cabbage entered the room and Sophie’s face turned into a mask of horror, ‘He’s near, I have to go. Tell John that I said thank you but this time he must fight his very best if he’s to save us all.’

Annie watched as Sophie’s image faded before her, one minute she had been talking to the ghost of a dead girl and the next she was shivering in a room which had turned into a walk-in freezer. Annie felt a heavy ball of dread lodge in the base of her throat, she didn’t want to die, the shadow man could get fucked. But she also didn’t know how to stop him. Her face as white as Sophie’s she ran down the stairs to the kitchen to find John.

He looked at her face and shook his head. ‘No, please I don’t want to know. This has got to stop.’

Annie sat down on the chair opposite him. ‘Sophie died while you were trying to help her didn’t she?’

He nodded his head in slow motion.

‘She told me to tell you thank you, but that he’s back and you have to banish him for good this time because he’s on his way here and he wants me. He’s keeping Sophie prisoner. Please John tell me you know what she is talking about because I’m just about keeping it together, I have no idea how to fight a shadow man that wants my soul. Sophie told me that you know how but that you’ve always been afraid to do it.’

John buried his head in his hands and sobbed, not for himself but for Beth and Sophie and little Sean who had blamed him all these years with so much hatred that it had turned him into a cold-hearted killer. He cried for his nephew and the two women who had been killed, all because his own faith hadn’t been as strong as it should have been in 1984. He had lost the only woman he had ever fallen in love with because of his relationship with God. Annie leant over and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. She let him cry until the tears dried up and there was no more left inside him, then she handed him a tissue and waited for him to blow his nose.

‘Right I want you to start at the beginning and then I want to know what we can do about this shadow man. I’ll help you fight him because as far as I’m concerned no more people are dying because of him, especially not me.’

Chapter 32

Will and Grace sat at his kitchen table, heads bent over the sheets of A4 paper he had printed out, with a bright yellow highlighter each. He had narrowed it down to three men who were all, as far as he was concerned, excellent police officers. There was Sean Black who was the obvious choice because of his first name, Smithy aka Steve Smith but he wasn’t a big man and Will doubted he would have size 12 feet, he had also been in the job as long if not longer than Will and he definitely wasn’t the brightest man in the station. There was also Joe Parker who was tall and could well have the right size feet. Joe was the one with the least number of years service and the one they knew very little about. They both agreed that it was between Sean Black and Joe Parker as they were on the same shift, Smithy’s shifts crossed over. Will’s gut instinct told him it was Sean Black but he didn’t want to make assumptions and screw it up. Joe and Sean were on their days off which gave him a little time. He rang Annie again, ‘Can you ask Father John to describe what Sean looked like, ask if him there was any distinguishing features – scars, moles, birth marks, maybe 666 behind his ear. We’ve managed to narrow it down to Sean Black and Joe Parker.’

There was a pause while Annie asked. ‘John said that Sean has a scar on the left side of his cheek, he fell out of a tree onto an action figure. Of course it will have faded by now but it should still be there. I know for a fact that Joe doesn’t have a scar on his cheek, he’s the one who is so vain he spends more time grooming himself than he does doing jobs. The last briefing I went to I remember staring at him and trying to figure out why on earth he loved himself so much, I’m positive it’s not him. I can’t remember about Sean though, I’ve never paid much attention to him really.’

‘Thanks Annie, it looks as if Sean Black is our man. I’ll get someone to run some background checks on him. I don’t really know him and I haven’t got a clue where he is or what he’s up to. It goes without saying if Sean or Joe Parker turn up, hit your red emergency button and don’t let them in. I’ll ring the boss now and ask him to get the ball rolling at this end. As soon as we know what we’re doing I’ll ring you back.’

‘Good, try and make it soon because he already has his next victim lined up. I don’t think he’ll do anything while it’s daylight but once it gets dark it’s a whole different game.’

‘How do you know so much Annie?’

‘If I told you that a dead girl told me would you believe me?’

The phone went silent, finally Will found his voice. ‘Yes, I would believe you Annie and I do believe you. Please be careful.’

‘You too Will.’

He ended the call and looked at Grace, ‘I’m sure that Sean Black is our man, from what Father John has said, but until we get those background checks done we can’t be positive. According to Annie he already has another victim lined up.’

He dialled the DI ‘s number, relieved when he answered it on the second ring, then he spent the next ten minutes relaying everything to him. Will had to hold the phone away from his ear while the DI had a complete shit fit on the other end. After a minute he put the phone back. ‘So boss, how are we going to play this? We don’t have much time; he needs picking up before he kills again.’

‘I’m not disagreeing with you Will but seriously, one of us, how or even why? This is going to cause the biggest scandal since the Yorkshire bloody Ripper. Have we got enough proof to bring him in? Grace’s profile is all very well but if we bring him in and there is nothing concrete his solicitor is going to walk all over us and he will be let out again to kill, not to mention lodge a complaint for harassment. I admit a matching boot print puts him at the scene but it will get dismissed, CPS will throw it out. They will want more evidence than a boot print and a hunch and you know it as well. Unless there is any forensic evidence at his house - we need to go in and search it. Let me get hold of his personnel file and think this through for a bit, I’ll get back to you soon.’

Will put his phone down on the paper-strewn table, ‘Well that went better than I expected but not as good as I’d have liked. We really do need to find something concrete that ties him to the scene but time’s running out. It’s going to be hard to keep this quiet the more people find out about it, there’s a greater chance he’ll realise that we’re onto him. We need someone to keep tabs on him but it can’t be any of us, he’d recognise us, it needs to be someone from another area.’

‘I could do it.’

‘No way, it’s kind of you to offer but you’re not trained for any of this and you have blonde hair and would be just his type. I can’t let you put yourself in danger Grace.’

‘Yes but you could give me a radio and show me how to use it, I could park up near to his house and watch for while, you could be around the corner with back up and run around to save the day if needs be.’

As tempting as it sounded he couldn’t do it. ‘Thanks but no thanks, we’ll think of something.’

***

John finished telling Annie about the terrible year back in 1984, he didn’t leave anything out. He told her about the awful time he’d had choosing between Beth and God; it was about time he confessed to someone. ‘If I had been a real man I would have turned my back on God and taken Beth, Sophie and Sean away from here but I was too scared. I think that’s what Sophie is trying to say, that because of how I was feeling my faith wasn’t strong enough to fight the shadow man back then.’

‘What about now John, how strong is your faith now?’

‘It has never been stronger, the older I get the stronger it becomes. The thought that sooner rather than later I will meet my maker strengthens it every day.’

‘Good because what do we need? I can feel him hanging around, although I only keep getting a faint whiff of him now and again but I know he is waiting for the right moment to make his move.’

John went into the lounge and returned with an old leather bible and a crucifix. He placed them both on the table and laid some rosary beads on top of the bible and then he began to pray. When he had finished he crossed himself and then he turned and placed his hand on her head and said a different prayer, this one was to St Michael: