Authors: Helen Phifer
She looked at the next link below that and saw that a month earlier a sixteen-year-old boy had been out on the lake with his friends. He’d had a bet with them that he could swim to the shore from the boat and had jumped in, to the accompaniment of their delighted whoops and cheers. He’d been swimming just fine until he almost reached the shore near Beckett House, where it was believed he’d got caught in the current and been taken under. His body was never recovered from the water. Annie felt a cold chill descend down her spine.
She sent the two articles to the printer and began searching some more. There was a gap of twenty years before she found another, this time in 1974. A woman had been out sailing. She was going to meet her friends who lived on the opposite side, but she never made it. Her empty boat was found bobbing along near Beckett House.
Annie kept on scrolling through. Almost every twenty years there were missing persons reports, but no one had ever thought to put them all together. She doubted if anyone apart from Martha Beckett even took any notice of them. The journalists who wrote them were all different. If it only happened roughly every twenty years there wasn’t much chance of the same journalist still working on the small local paper. They would have moved on.
The same could be said for the police force. The gaps were too huge for anyone to remember. Not only had there been two deaths already this year in the lake, but also both of those bodies had been recovered. People died every year. It was one of the biggest lakes in England and was used by a lot of inexperienced sailors. The water was freezing cold even on a hot summer’s day.
She carried on reading article after article until she found one about an incident dating back to 1 September 1929. Two workmen who had been building the house had stayed behind to sort out a problem in the cellar with a blocked drain and had never been seen again. Annie shivered. Whatever it was that lived in the tunnels beneath Beckett House liked to eat humans, and once it was full it would sleep or hibernate until it was ready to start all over again, which just happened to be every twenty years or so.
Poor Martha Beckett. What would she do when the time came to sell the house? She couldn’t very well tell the estate agent to advertise that the house came with its very own, human-flesh-eating monster, but as long as you don’t go down into the cellar you’ll be just fine. And what about all these missing people? Some of them had gone missing from boats on the lake. Whatever it was knew enough not to take people who were in a group. It must wait until it saw the perfect kill out there all alone and then go for it. That was how it had stayed hidden all this time. She shuddered at the thought of being dragged down into the sewers and eaten. If she had a choice she’d rather face Henry Smith than some scary man-monster that liked to chew on human flesh. She sighed. Could her life get any worse?
The journey home from Bowness was uneventful. There were no strange cars following them. Annie watched the whole time in the passenger mirror, not trusting herself enough to relax. In a way she wanted to see him again. She hadn’t forgotten what he looked like, but he had faded a little in her mind, even though he looked like a complete monster. Jake didn’t drive straight to his house. Instead he took the long way around, going through a maze of streets until he was happy enough they had no one behind them. He parked Annie’s car further away, in the next street to his, and they got out, looking all around them before they began to walk back to Jake’s street.
When they were sure no one was behind them they went inside to hear Alice crying and Alex singing a nursery rhyme to her. Jake held his arms out for the gorgeous bundle of baby who was dressed from head to toe in pale pink. Instantly she stopped crying and lifted a tiny finger to touch his cheek. Annie didn’t think she’d ever seen anything so sweet in her whole life. Jake began to talk to Alice and she responded by blurting back at him. Alex looked at Annie and mimed wiping his brow. ‘Thank God the big man’s home to take over. She’s been hard work all day. She’s either cutting her back teeth or she knows something is wrong.’ He passed Jake the bottle of milk and Jake began to feed his daughter, who was now almost asleep.
‘I never thought I’d see the day. He actually looks kind of cute holding a baby.’
‘No, me neither, but I’m glad he does because imagine how awful it would be if his big, ugly face scared her.’
Jake stuck a finger up at them both and they giggled. Jake turned to leave the kitchen, leaving the pair of them alone.
‘How are you doing, Annie?’
‘Okay, thanks. I just wish he’d make his move and get this over with. I can’t stand this feeling that I’m dangling over the edge of a cliff.’
Alex began to take trays of food out of the oven, then stirred the pans, which were simmering on the stove.
‘I bet you do; I think we all do. I’ve been so worried about you both all day. In fact, I bet that’s why Alice has been so unsettled. They say babies can pick up on their parents’ anxieties.’
Annie clenched her fists. Another bloody reason to make her feel even worse. Henry Smith had a lot to answer for.
‘I’m so sorry about this whole mess.’
Alex slammed the oven door shut. Pulling off the oven gloves he walked over to her and wrapped an arm around her. ‘None of this is your fault, Annie. Just remember that.’
She smiled at him, but inside her stomach was rolling. She wanted to see Will. No, she needed to see him now, before she walked out of here on her own and started looking for the bastard. As if he’d read her mind, not two minutes later there was a knock on the front door and she went to take a look out of the window. Will stood there, running his hands through his sandy, blond hair that needed a trim. He hadn’t had a shave for a couple of days but, damn, the stubble made him look even sexier than normal. She ran to open the door and threw herself into his arms. He pushed her inside, shut the door behind him and then held her as tightly as he could. She kissed him and didn’t want to stop. He kissed her back then pulled away, smiling. ‘Wow, did you miss me or something? It’s only been nine hours since you last saw me.’
‘Miss you? I’ve been wanting to hold you since about ten minutes after I left his morning. It’s been one long day without you.’
Will kissed her again. ‘Yes, you could say that. We need to sort something out. I can’t stand not being with you or knowing what you’re doing all day. You can throw a sickie tomorrow or you can tell them you’re working from down here. I don’t care as long as you’re with me and I can see you. I will not let that bastard drive us apart. I swear to God, Annie, I’ve had enough of his games.’
She hugged him hard and whispered, ‘Please don’t leave me on my own, Will. I’m scared.’
Will felt as though his heart had just been ripped in two. After everything they had been through in the past two years, not once had he ever heard her say she was scared. He didn’t want her to feel like this. It made him feel even more helpless to hear his tough, brave, beautiful wife admit that she was out of her depth. He held her tight. He didn’t want to let her go and she was happy enough to bury her head in his chest and stay that way until another knock on the door behind them broke the moment.
Will turned to peer through the glass and was relieved to see the hulking great figure of Kav standing next to Cathy. There was definitely something going on there, but that was good. They all needed to be paired up until they caught Smith. He didn’t want any of them putting themselves in danger. He opened the door and turned to see Annie wiping at the corner of her eye with the sleeve of her top. Another nail in his heart. She didn’t do crying in public either. For Christ’s sake, he wanted to strangle Henry Smith with his bare hands until the bastard was dead. Kav walked in and straight over to Annie, wrapping his arms around her in a bear hug, making them both smile.
Cathy rubbed her stomach. ‘I never knew what a big softie he was. Just goes to show you should never, ever judge a book by its cover. I hope tea’s almost ready. I’m starving.’ She looked across at Will. ‘Have Thelma and Louise told you their great idea yet?’
Annie pulled away from Kav to glare at her boss. ‘No, we haven’t. Will only arrived a couple of minutes before you did. I want to forget about it for at least an hour until we’ve all had something to eat – pretend we’re normal people for a while.’
‘Fine by me, doll. Just lead me to the food and I’ll say no more.’
Will looked at Annie, who rolled her eyes at Cathy. She took hold of his hand and squeezed it tight. ‘Come on, I need a drink and I should imagine you do too.’
Alex had opened a bottle of wine and had several bottles of lager on the table. He poured Annie a glass first but her stomach lurched at the sight of it. After forcing herself to pick it up, she took a sip, but gagged. Thrusting the glass into Will’s hand she turned and ran for the downstairs bathroom, where she ended up throwing up everything she’d eaten that day. Will put the glass down and went after her. He opened the door to see her kneeling down in front of the toilet, her face ashen. ‘Go away, I’ll be fine in a minute.’
Ignoring her, he walked over to her and began to rub her back. ‘No, I don’t want to go away. I’ll hold your hair up for you.’
Cathy looked at Kav. ‘Poor kid, I think it’s finally getting on top of her. It was bound to happen. You can’t go through everything she has and not get affected by it. We need to get this sorted.’
He nodded his head in agreement. Alex carried on serving up the food. His stomach was churning, but he wasn’t directly involved in any of this, so he couldn’t imagine what the others were feeling. Jake wandered in. ‘See, I have the magic touch. She’s out for the count. Where’s Annie? I thought I heard Will’s voice.’
Alex pointed to the bathroom. ‘She’s not feeling too well. Will’s gone to make sure she’s okay.’
Jake shook his head. ‘Bless, she’s kept it together pretty well up to now. I’d be a quivering wreck if some psycho killer wanted to murder me.’
Alex’s eyes almost popped out of his head. ‘Shh, you big idiot, she can hear you.’
Kav opened a beer and passed one to Jake. ‘So tell me something, good Jacob. Did you find out where our little friend is hiding today? Any good news that might lead us to him so we can put him out of our misery? In fact, any news at all?’
‘Not really. One caravan park was a bit difficult because I’d arrested the manager the other week, so he was being a bit unhelpful. Oh, we do have a bit of a lead. Apparently he’s stopping in a brown caravan, which is situated next to a hedge with a hole in the middle of it.’
Cathy touched Kav’s arm. ‘I wouldn’t bother asking how they came by this information. Let’s just say it was Annie’s special friends.’
Kav frowned, not having a clue what she meant, but he was happy enough to take their word for it. ‘So what next? I’ll go in first thing in the morning, if you want, in plain clothes and have a wander around. If anyone asks I’ll tell them I’m thinking of buying one. That should do.’
‘Sounds like a plan, but I’d rather you didn’t go on your own. I really think we need to be in pairs. Just in case, you know, he remembers us or something.’
‘I’ll go with him, then. I don’t mind spending the morning in my jogging pants instead of those bloody tight combat trousers that don’t give you room to breathe in. It will be nice to walk around pretending we’re a married couple – won’t it, Kav?’
Jake almost spat his lager all over but managed to swallow it and laughed. ‘Well, I never saw that one coming. Congratulations.’
Annie and Will walked back into the kitchen and she smiled at Alex. ‘Sorry about that.’
He walked over and squeezed her arm. ‘Don’t you apologise; it’s fine.’
‘Yes, and besides, it’s not as if it’s the first time. You’ve puked in our en suite before after one too many glasses of wine, so don’t worry about it. Don’t you go pretending you’re all ladylike on us. You’re amongst your friends now and we know the truth.’
Annie began to laugh, easing the tension, and the others joined in. Will kissed her cheek and they both sat down.
‘Tell them all my dirty secrets, Jake, why don’t you.’ She looked at the plates of food that Alex was handing around and her stomach groaned, but this time it was in hunger.
‘That looks delicious. Glad I’ve made room for it now.’ She winked at Alex who passed her a plate, half expecting her to dash out again, but she didn’t. She began to tuck in as if she’d not eaten all day. Will felt relieved. If she was eating that was a good sign. It would have been much worse if she’d lost her appetite.
When they’d finished and spent ten minutes talking about Alice and the weather, it was Cathy who brought them back to reality. She hadn’t wanted to, but it needed to be said. ‘So then, now we’re all stuffed after that lovely meal – thank you, Alex – I think we need to sort out exactly what we are going to do about that fucking man who is turning my hair greyer by the day. I’m sorry, but we can’t go on like this. It’s not fair on anyone, especially not Annie.’
Annie looked down at her hands. The thought of Henry made her stomach churn all over again. Will reached out and clasped her hand in his, then wrapped his other arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him.
Cathy continued, ‘Now our very own Thelma and Louise came up with the most stupid idea I’ve ever heard, but I’ve been thinking about it ever since, and I have to say they have a point. Will, you are about to throw the biggest shit fit in the history of the world and, believe me, I know how you feel. It’s how I felt when they were talking about it, but once the shock of it sinks in you will realise that it makes sense. It might be the only way we can speed things up and catch him.’
Annie squeezed Will’s hand. His heart was already racing and he didn’t want to know what Cathy was about to suggest, because deep down he knew anyway. She was going to suggest using Annie to draw him in.
Cathy looked at Will, whose normally tanned skin had turned almost as white as his wife’s. ‘This was Annie’s idea. I wouldn’t dream of even suggesting it, so before you want to rip my head off and shove it up my arse, I’d appreciate it if you could remember that.’