A little later, Tina helped Rachael to clear the table and do the dishes. As they were putting away the last of the mugs, there were footsteps and voices and people in the dining area.
Rachael looked over. ‘It’s Jason and Neah,’ she said. ‘Come on, let’s go and say hello.’
Tina let Rachael lead the way to where a small group had gathered. A tall, dark man saw them coming and took a step forward to meet them. ‘Hello, Rachael,’ he said as the girl gazed at him in adoration. ‘And you must be Tina,’ he said, looking over Rachael’s shoulder to where she stood. ‘I’m Jason Christopher. I’m delighted to meet you. I’ve been looking forward to this very much.’
‘Me, too,’ said Tina as Jason first shook her hand, then kissed her lightly on each cheek.
A slim young woman in jeans and a red jumper stepped forward as Jason moved away from Tina. ‘Hi, Tina,’ she said. ‘I’m Neah. I’m very pleased to see you.’
Tina stared, taking in the blonde hair and blue eyes, the familiar features. She struggled to speak, then finally she managed just one word.
‘Annie!’
***
‘He’s not at the flat, sir, but I saw one of the other young people. He reckons Jason’s up at Otterburn. We’re on our way there now.’ Ruth listened, then said, ‘yes, sir,’ and ended the call.
‘What did he say?’ asked Rob.
‘He said to bring the slippery little fucker back down to HQ as soon as we could and to take no shit.’
‘Sounds fair.’
‘Tina was released yesterday. I’m hoping I get the chance to have a word with her while we’re there.’
‘You’re sure that’s the place?’
‘Positive. Too much of a coincidence otherwise.’
‘Well then, we’ll make sure we do. She shouldn’t be mixed up with this lot, they’re dangerous.’
‘They’re bloody nutters. Put your foot down, Rob. I’ve got a bad feeling about this, let’s get there as fast as we can.’
***
‘I don’t understand,’ said Tina. ‘Why didn’t you get in touch? Why didn’t you go to the police?’
‘It’s you who doesn’t understand, Tina. Not yet, anyway.’ Neah took her hands. ‘I want to tell you all about it, but not being able to get out of the car that night was the best thing that could ever have happened to me. John brought me here and Matthew looked after me. They showed me the truth, helped me to find God’s path.’
‘No! What about Mum and Dad? What about what they went through? And me, Annie, what about me?’
‘Not “Annie”,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘I’m “Neah”. I’m a new person. I was reborn in God’s love. “Annie” has been dead for a long time now.’
‘No,’ said Tina, tears pricking her eyes. ‘You’re Annie, my little sister Annie, and I want you to come and see Mum. She’ll be so pleased—’
‘The church is my family now.’
‘You girls need some privacy to talk things through,’ said Matthew, putting an arm around each girl’s shoulders. ‘Come on, come through to the lounge. We’ll leave you alone to talk, at least for a little while.’
He led them back through the kitchen and across the hall, into a large room at the front of the house. At the coffee table, Rachael was busy trimming and arranging flowers from the garden in a vase. At Matthew’s word, she stood to leave, gathering up the worst of the debris and taking it with her.
‘You have to understand, Tina, I’m not Annie. Annie is long gone, a sad little girl who had a lucky escape and became Neah. I’m Neah. Penny and Derek are nothing to do with my life.’
‘Dad’s dead,’ Tina told her. ‘He died of a broken heart. He never stopped missing you.’
‘I’ve seen the grave,’ Neah said. ‘It’s a lovely tribute to Derek and to Annie.’
‘You’re Annie!’
‘This is going to take a bit of getting used to for you.’ Neah was infuriatingly calm. Tina walked over to the window, stared out at the front lawn, not really taking anything in, her thoughts in turmoil. Neah walked up behind her. ‘I’m so glad you’ve chosen to join us here.’ Tina saw a car heading up the drive and stared at that; she couldn’t bear to look at her sister. All the years she had missed her, had been riddled with guilt and punished by her mother, for all those years Annie had been fine. At any point she could have got in touch. She could have saved Tina from misery and imprisonment. It seemed to Tina that Annie had been abducted but she had been the one to pay the price.
Her reverie was broken by Jason Christopher barging into the room. ‘We have visitors, ladies. I don’t know whether you want to stay in here or take the opportunity to move to a different part of the house, but I would recommend that you stay out of sight. Do not get involved in this.’
Tina looked out of the window and saw that the car she had spotted coming up the drive was now parked in front of the house, and Ruth Crinson and Rob Winter were getting out of it.
‘It’s Ruth,’ she exclaimed. She turned to Jason. ‘I’m not hiding from Ruth. I want to see her. I want to tell her about Annie and I’m going back with her as well. I’m not staying here with you … with you
freaks
any longer.’ She turned to Neah. ‘And as for you, you’re a stupid, selfish cow. I honestly don’t care if I never see you again.’ She turned her back on her sister and moved towards the door. Neah darted over to the coffee table and grabbed the pruning scissors that Rachael had left there.
‘Oh, no you don’t,’ she said to Tina, positioning herself in front of the door.
‘Neah, be calm,’ said Jason. ‘Think about what you’re doing.’
‘She’ll ruin everything. Everything we’ve worked for, Jason, everything we’ve done.’
‘Trust in the Lord, He won’t desert us. Remember, He has a plan for each of us, even those who don’t yet know it.’
The two girls faced each other, Jason standing off to one side. Tina took a step forward, aiming to get through the doorway. Neah lunged at her with the scissors, determined to stop her, and as Tina dodged out of the way, Jason stepped in to intervene. He gasped and fell to his knees clutching his stomach. Eyes wide with shock, he toppled over sideways then rolled onto his back, legs still bent at the knees.
Shocked, Tina knelt at his side, then looked up at Neah in disbelief. ‘You’ve stabbed him,’ she said. ‘Oh God, Annie … I think you’ve killed him.’
Neah was frozen, her face a mask of horror partially hidden behind her hands. When Jason’s head rolled to one side and his hands fell away from his midriff, showing the scissors embedded deep in his flesh, she screamed. Next thing Tina knew, Ruth and Rob were in the room, drawn by the scream, staring in disbelief at the scene before them.
‘It’s Annie,’ sobbed Tina, still kneeling on the floor next to Jason Christopher’s body, her hands now covered in his blood. ‘Ruth … it’s Annie.’
***
Ruth and Rob worked quickly to establish some order. Rob gathered the occupants of the house together in the kitchen, some seated around the refectory table, others huddled nearby. The mood was subdued and some of the women were in tears. They had yet to be told that Jason was dead, but they knew he had been stabbed by Neah. Ruth, Tina and Neah were in one of the rooms that led off the hallway. Neah was in shock and Tina was trying to comfort her.
Within the hour, the house was full of police officers and Ruth delegated the job of looking after the girls, then sent a couple of uniformed officers to free Rob from supervising the people in the kitchen.
‘We need to search this place from top to bottom to see if there’s anyone else here,’ Ruth told him when he joined her in the hallway. ‘Uniform are going through the gardens and the outhouses, we’ll do the house.’
For all it was a big house, the search didn’t take long. All the rooms were empty. Ruth was just leaving Tina’s room, having recognised the bunny toy on the bed, when Rob came looking for her.
‘Anything?’ she asked.
‘Nothing so far. There’s a locked door on this floor, though. I’m going to get Matthew to open it for us.’ Ruth nodded and waited for him to return with Matthew and the keys. She heard them before she saw them. Matthew was loudly insisting there was nothing behind the door that was any business of the police, and Rob was telling him he could either unlock it or stand and watch while a couple of big lads in uniform kicked it down. By the time they reached Ruth, Matthew was red in the face, his usual placid demeanour very much absent.
‘You cannot do this,’ he raged.
‘Yes, sir,’ said Ruth, ‘we can. I have a warrant that allows us to search the premises, with or without your permission.’ She strode along behind Rob, heading for the locked door at the end of the corridor, and Matthew trailed in their wake. ‘Now, sir, will you unlock that door for us?’
Matthew was shaking with anger, but he unhooked the keys from his belt and, sorting through them, fitted one into the lock and turned it. ‘There is nothing for you through that door,’ he said. Ruth ignored him, took the keys from his hand and walked through the door, followed by Rob Winter.
The door led into a hallway with half a dozen doors leading off it. Ruth tried the first and it opened, showing an empty room with a bed, dresser, wardrobe, desk and chair. Leaving the door open, she moved along and tried the next. It too was unlocked and when opened, showed a room very like the previous one. The next door was locked and Ruth turned to Matthew, who glowered from the doorway.
‘Which key?’ she asked, rattling the bunch in his direction.
‘Find out for yourself,’ he answered.
‘That’s not a very Christian attitude,’ Rob said and Matthew turned his back on them. Ruth started going through the keys on the bunch and quickly had the door unlocked. She pushed it open and saw a girl clutching a Bible lying on the bed, staring at the door.
‘Hello,’ said Ruth. ‘Who are you?’
‘I’m Martha,’ the girl replied. ‘But I used to be Amy.’
‘Christ almighty,’ Ruth muttered. She looked at Rob. ‘Go downstairs and get some officers up here, pronto.’ She turned back to Amy. ‘Just stay there a minute for me, pet, will you?’ The girl nodded and Ruth walked back to Matthew. ‘You’re going to prison for a very long time. You know that, don’t you?’
‘I do God’s work,’ Matthew told her, holding her gaze.
Ruth turned him round and handcuffed him, then went back to see to Amy. She stayed with her until Rob Winter and four uniformed officers arrived, then turned care of the girl over to one of them, eager to see what was behind the last three doors.
The first two she tried were unlocked and the rooms beyond them empty. The last one was locked. Ruth found the right key and turned it in the lock. As she pushed the door open, a barrage of abuse came from the occupant of the room and Ruth started to laugh.
‘Karen,’ she said as she walked into the room and embraced her friend. ‘It’s good to see you again.’
***
After all the activity of the day, it was a relief when the house was empty of officers and occupants.
Computers and papers had been seized and, with the exceptions of Karen, Amy and Tina, all of the occupants had been arrested. They’d be questioned and the whole sorry mess sorted out, but right now it wasn’t clear who was who and Ruth was taking no chances.
Karen and Amy had been taken to hospital to be checked over. Karen had protested that it was unnecessary, but Ruth had insisted. ‘I’ll be there soon to pick you up and take you home,’ she’d said in an attempt to mollify her.
‘You’d bloody better be,’ Karen had grumbled. ‘And I want pizza and wine tonight. You’re buying.’
Ruth, Rob and Tina were the last to leave. Outside, vehicles were making their way down the drive. Tina saw Neah – Annie – in the back of the last car to go, wide-eyed with shock, staring back at her. Tina waved, then went over to Ruth and Rob’s car, put her suitcase in the boot and climbed in with them for the long drive home.
Annie would need her help and Tina intended to do everything she could to make things right between them.
###
Thank you for reading.
Also by Julie Morrigan:
Gone Bad: Tales About Bad People Doing Bad Things
This short story collection features a rare cast of characters: flawed, foul-mouthed, misguided and downtrodden, all of whom might be said to have, in one way or another, ‘gone bad’. This is strong stuff, no holds barred and no punches pulled. You wouldn’t want to be sharing the last bus home with these people!
Gone Bad has the distinctive flavour of north east England and gathers together 18 titles, mixing ‘flash fiction’ pieces with longer reads. Within the pages you can meet a murderous little boy, a psychotic Scouse backing singer, and a wannabe crime fiction writer with a penchant for hands-on research. Add to that a dishonest lottery winner, predatory girlfriend, long-suffering private detective and would-be rapist and you’re starting to get the lie of the land.
Gone Bad is this prize-winning UK writer’s first collection of short stories
Praise for Gone Bad: