‘Your baby? Let me tell you something – she’s mine. I made her. My blood runs through her veins and keeps her little heart pumping. I gave her life and I can take it away.’ He leaned over and placed his hand on her cheek. ‘It’ll be fine, you’ll see. We’ll all be a family again in another world. Together forever.’
‘Leave her alone. She doesn’t belong here. This is between me and you.’
‘Florence is my sunshine,’ he said. ‘I hoped you both would be, but you soured that one, didn’t you? I’m a family man at heart. That’s all I wanted, a family, and that always included children. When I first saw you at the pub, clumsily trying to pot a ball, I knew you were the one. I knew then that I’d die for you, and today I’m going to prove that, despite all that you’ve put me through. We are all going together, as a family, and you’re first.’
He leaned in, grabbed her under the arms and dragged her out of the boot, dropping her onto the ground. She gasped for breath as the pain in her stomach throbbed through her entire body. The wind whipped strands of hair into her mouth. Gravel dug into her wrists and legs, but she gripped the screwdriver with all she had. She tried to pull her wrists apart, hoping to rip the tape, but it was too strong.
‘You don’t have to do this.’ She looked up at him, pleading with her eyes.
‘You don’t understand. They have come for us, and we have nowhere to go. This is the end.’
‘There’s always somewhere to go. You can put me back in the boot and we can drive far away,’ she said, crying. If it meant saving her baby, she would happily be his prisoner for life. The sweat from her brow trailed down her face. He walked away, holding his head in his hands, pacing, as he always did when he felt conflicted. She gazed around. He had parked on a small gravelled area and his car was the only one parked next to the murky pond, in the middle of nowhere. They were surrounded by trees, with what looked like acres of fields in the distance. ‘Help!’ she yelled.
He reached into the car, grabbed a rag and stuffed it into her mouth. The dry cotton material made her gag. She coughed, managing to push it slightly forward. Tears welled up once more in her eyes. He stared at her; she shook her head. She wanted to yell, ‘no, stop, please stop.’ Then he began to drag her to the lake.
Hail began to fall from the sky, bouncing off her bare legs and leaving marks where they’d so violently landed. Her legs scraped across the gravelly ground as he tugged her towards the grass.
Grasping the screwdriver, she tried to fix it into the ground, hoping that it would slow him down, but it was no use.
Finally, they reached the water’s edge and he let her body fall. She flinched as her head hit the frozen ground. ‘Don’t feel you are alone. We will be joining you soon.’ She watched as hailstones landed in his messy hair, settling on the top of his head. ‘I love you. I love you both.’ He bent over, lifted her up and began walking into the pond until the water was at his waist. She shivered uncontrollably, her teeth chattering into the rag, as the cold wetness soaked through her nightdress. Then he lowered her into the water. She shook her head and allowed her teary eyes to linger on his gaze. She wanted to beg him not to let her go, not to leave her, not to let her die, but she couldn’t. All she could do was look at him and shake her head.
‘You’re beautiful, like Ophelia herself. I’d hoped we’d go out to Stratford to watch a play one day, but not now, not ever.’ He bent to kiss her on the cheek. She felt her hair splay out, framing her face as he lowered her further into the icy arms that were hungrily awaiting her arrival.
She began jabbing at the tape once again as he let her go. She sank into the icy pond. Scum enveloped her and the trees disappeared from view and very soon the light vanished. Water soaked through the rag that was in her mouth and she gagged as the air in her lungs was replaced by water. She tried to bring her legs downwards to stand but they had stiffened with the cold. She felt the bottom of the pond with her toe. Weeds entangled around her legs, pulling her down. Her grip on the screwdriver loosened, and she finally let it go.
Fifty-Seven
Larry peered around the tree. The car had gone. He sprinted to the water’s edge, flinging his boots off as he ran, keeping his eye on the spot where the lady had been drowned. He had to get her out.
As he entered the water and it passed his waist, his breath was almost taken away. It would be a miracle if she survived not only the drowning but the icy temperature. He reached down, feeling deeper and deeper into the pond. He’d never been a brilliant swimmer, but he loved sitting by the water. It was part of the reason he loved fishing so much. But this was no time to think about his hatred of being in water. A woman’s life was at stake.
He reached down again and still he couldn’t feel a thing. He lowered his head under the water, held his breath and kept his eyes open. The brown water gave no clue as to where she was. He slipped off a rock and was plunged into darkness. He continued holding his breath until he came across what felt like the flesh of a person. He grabbed a limb and stepped back, pulling her at the same time. As his hand slipped further down the limb, he felt fingers. He linked his fingers into hers, steadied his feet and burst through the water, taking a huge breath of fresh air.
He leaned back in, grabbed the woman under her arms and lifted her head out of the water. With shaking hands, he felt for a pulse. He couldn’t feel anything, but he wasn’t sure. He needed to perform CPR. Grateful that his workplace had just sent him on a first aid course, he pinched the woman’s nose and sealed his mouth over hers, exhaling a lungful of air into her. He needed to do chest compressions. Dragging her to the water’s edge, he placed her on the grass and began to pump her chest. Nothing. He continued with what he’d been taught, over and over again, just like he’d been shown with the doll.
‘Come on!’ he shouted, wet and shivering and with only the ducks to bear witness to all that was happening.
The woman coughed and spewed out a stream of murky pond water. He rolled her into the recovery position and ran back to his fishing peg. He grabbed his phone and dialled 999 before returning to her side with his knee blanket and flask.
‘We’ll all be together soon’ – that’s what the man had said. The words ran through his head as his teeth chattered. It’s not every day a person witnesses someone trying to murder a woman. Was the killer coming back? The woman opened one eye and tried to scream.
‘It’s okay, there’s an ambulance on its way.’ He pulled the blanket over her shoulders and held a cup of hot coffee towards her. Debbie burst into tears and placed her hand on his as she lay back down. He smiled as he saw flashing lights coming down the long winding road.
Deborah continued to sob. ‘I’m Deborah, Deborah Jenkins,’ she croaked.
‘And I’m Larry,’ he replied.
‘Thank you.’ Her smile turned into a frown as she became more lucid. She reached for his chest, knocking the coffee down his front. ‘Please tell them, he’s going for my baby next. They need to stop him.’ She tried to sit up, but fell back in a heap. ‘They need to stop him,’ she whispered, as the police car crunched to a halt in the car park. Her heavy eyes finally closed.
‘Deborah!’ Larry called.
‘PC Smith.’ The man removed his coat and placed it over the woman. ‘I’ve just heard on the radio, there’s an ambulance on its way.’
‘Her name is Deborah Jenkins,’ Larry said. He watched as the policeman took the woman’s pulse before radioing for the ambulance to hurry.
Fifty-Eight
Gina watched as two officers dodged the undergrowth while trying to reach her and Wyre at the barn. She brushed away the droplets of water that had gathered on her sleeve from the hail shower. Her phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and stared at the screen. It was Hannah. ‘Why do I always get calls I need to take at the worst of times? It’s my daughter.’
‘You should talk to her,’ Wyre replied.
Gina smiled and accepted the call. ‘Hannah.’