From the bestselling author of The Ghost House

Sophie was afraid of the man in the shadows. He terrified her. But he would always disappear when someone else came. One day in June 1984, she didn’t escape.

He took her.

When a young woman is found draped over a gravestone in a chilling murder, police officer Annie Graham experiences a familiar sense of dread. The terror isn’t over - a new killer is out there, and her senses tell her there is something eerily different about this case.

When she spots the little girl standing outside her window, she knows that the past is about to catch up with all of them. But can she help right the wrongs of thirty years ago, and uncover the chilling secrets lurking in the shadows…?

Also available by Helen Phifer

The Ghost House

The Secrets of the Shadows

Helen Phifer

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2014

Copyright © Helen Phifer 2014

Helen Phifer asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

E-book Edition © June 2014 ISBN: 9781472091000

Version date: 2018-06-27

HELEN PHIFER

lives in a small town called Barrow-in-Furness with her husband and five children and has done since she was born. It gets some bad press but really is a lovely place to live. Surrounded by coastline and not far from the Lake District where she likes to spend at least one of her days off from work. She has always loved writing and reading and loves reading books which make the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Unable to find enough scary stories to read she decided to write her own.

You can contact follow Helen on her blog at http://helenphiferblog.wordpress.com, her website at www.helenphifer.co.uk and on Twitter, @helenphifer1.

For Mum & Dad, thank you for everything

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Book List

Title Page

Copyright

Author Bio

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Endpages

About the Publisher

Prologue

June 30th 1984

Six year old Sean Black didn’t like this house, it smelled funny and all the furniture was dark and old. He didn’t like the man who walked around wearing the long, black dress either. He knew that he was a priest because his mum had told him that he was, she also told him that they had to live in the presbytery next to the church but he didn’t know exactly what that meant. They had their own house two doors down from this one, it was much smaller with three bedrooms and a tiny garden but it was big enough to play in with his A-Team action figures. He wanted to go and dig out B A Baracus from underneath the rose bush in the front garden where he had buried him last week, before he got eaten by worms or went mouldy. His mum wouldn’t let him, he had asked her this morning when he had finished his bowl of Snap Crackle and Pop. She had gone mad with him when he said he wanted to go and get his toys and would she take him, so there wasn’t much choice. He was going to come up with a plan of his own – ust like Hannibal always did – and go on a rescue mission. He would wait until his mum had a bath. She always spent hours in there and wouldn’t notice that he had sneaked out of the door. He just hoped that the priest wasn’t an enemy working for the other side and wouldn’t drop him in it. His mum had been acting strange all week now and yesterday she wouldn’t let him go to his sister Sophie’s funeral. Instead she made him stay here, in this big smelly house with the woman the priest called his ‘housekeeper’. he liked her because she baked nice cakes and would let him eat as many as he wanted when his mum wasn’t looking.

Sean went upstairs to the room which had become his until he could go back to his own, with the Masters of the Universe and A-Team posters. The room had a big wooden cross on the wall and the only thing to read was a thick, black book which had ‘Bible’ written in gold on the front. Sean had looked inside and then closed it again; the writing was so small it would take him forever to try and read it. He slumped onto the bed, it was boring here. At least when Sophie was alive he’d had her to play with, well until she got poorly he did. It started a couple of weeks ago but a few days ago she got really poorly, saying words that he had never heard of and that were nothing like the French words they sometimes learnt in school. He didn’t understand what was going on but he knew it was something bad. Sophie had been screaming the day she died, really screaming, as if the priest and their mum were hurting her. It was so loud that he had crept from this bedroom to see if he could help her but her bedroom door was locked. He had looked through the keyhole to see his sister on her bed with the man in the dress standing over her with a book like the one next to his bed. He was throwing water onto Sophie. Sean had watched as the priest had bent down and placed a wooden cross onto her forehead. He stared in horror as the cross burnt into her skin; the sizzling sound made him feel sick and he pushed himself away from the door. He thought he was going to puke all over the polished wooden floor.

Telling himself to be brave he went back to look through the keyhole again to see Sophie thrashing around. She looked angry and hurt, then her eyes rolled to the back of her head until he could only see the whites of them. It was then that she began to choke. The priest was trying to lift her head and his mum was watching. Sean didn’t understand why she didn’t rush to help Sophie. He watched as his sister’s face turned blue and just like that the noise stopped. It was over and Sophie was dead. The scream which came from his mum was far worse than seeing Sophie lying perfectly still, frozen in time. Sean scrambled to his feet and ran towards his room. Clutching a plastic toy to his chest he fell to the floor and crawled under the bed where he curled up in a ball and cried himself to sleep. He stayed there, hidden from sight, until the priest came looking for him hours later. Father John had tried to talk him out but Sean didn’t want to leave his hiding place. The priest reached under to pull him out and Sean sank his teeth into his hand. There was a loud shout and a few bad words but then the priest had laid flat on the floor so he could see Sean’s face. ‘Come on son, you can’t stay there all day. Let’s go and get you something to eat.’

Sean shook his head, curling himself up even tighter. ‘I want to see my mum, where is she?’

‘She’s fast asleep at the moment; the doctor has been to visit Sophie and your mum. He had to give her some medicine.’

‘What about Sophie, did he give her some medicine?’

‘No, there is no medicine that will make your sister better I’m very sorry to say.’

‘I want to go and see Sophie then?’

‘Are you sure? Sophie’s soul has left this earth and gone to a much better place. All that’s left is her body.’

Sean nodded; he needed to see if Sophie’s face was still blue and if she had the mark of the cross burnt into her forehead. He crawled out and stood up. Father John reached out and took hold of his hand; as brave as Sean felt he still grasped it and held tight. They walked to Sophie’s room and Father John pulled a key from his pocket. Unlocking it he turned to Sean, ‘You’re sure?’

Sean nodded and stepped forward, pushing the door open as he did so. His legs were shaking and he knew he had to be brave now, just like B A, so he held his head up and stepped into the room, which was much colder than the rest of the house. He walked across to the bed; Sophie looked as if she was asleep. Her long, platinum blonde hair was spread out on her pillow. Her blue eyes were closed and her face was a funny white colour but it definitely wasn’t blue. Her forehead didn’t have a big mark on it and she looked like one of the dolls she played with all the time. Her lips were still pink and in her hand she had a cross and a bible. Sean pulled his spare Hannibal action figure from his trouser pocket and reached out to tuck it behind her fingers. He touched them and snatched his hand back – they were so cold. Reaching out he tried again and this time he managed to tuck it behind her hands, shuddering as he did so. Then he ran away from Sophie, the priest and the end of his childhood to the empty room, where he scrambled back under the bed.

***

Sean wandered along the dark passage until he reached the bathroom then pressed his ear against the door. He could hear his mum splashing in the water. Good, she would be in there for ages, she had the same long, blonde hair as Sophie and it took her forever to wash it. He crept along to the huge, oak staircase with the world’s smallest carpet and ran down. So light on his feet the treads didn’t creak once, he looked around the hallway – there was no sign of the housekeeper or the priest. He strode across to the front door as if he was allowed to be going outside and turned the handle. The door opened and he screwed up his eyes against the harsh sunlight. He grinned. Playing outside was his favourite, he hated being cooped up inside – especially in this house. Sean wanted to go home more than anything; he looked across the huge lawn over to the church. The door was shut, so if the priest was in there he wouldn’t notice Sean sneaking out. The street was empty; he stepped out of the doorway and ran down the steps and across the lawn to the low wall which surrounded the front garden. He was on a mission now, it was important. He had to save B A’s life, the A-Team couldn’t survive with just the three of them, it had to be all four. He stopped outside his house and reached out to touch the gate; the metal was cold even though it was bathed in sunlight. He opened the gate, took three steps forward and then fell to his knees in front of the rose bush, where he began to dig in the soil with his fingers. Soon he felt the hard plastic of the figure he’d buried last week and smiled – he’d done it and saved the day. He stood up and went back out of the gate, closing it behind him. A shadow passed over the upstairs window, catching his eye. Lifting his head he put his small hand to his forehead to shield his eyes from the burning sun, then looked up and squealed to see Sophie standing at the window staring down at him. He frantically waved his hand and grinned at her but before she could wave back a darker, much taller figure stepped behind her and pulled her away from the window.

Sean ran back to tell his mum that Sophie was in their house, he’d seen her and they could go home now. He ran into the presbytery and up the stairs to the bathroom where he hammered on the door. ‘Mum, Mum. You don’t have to be sad now, Sophie’s okay. I saw her looking out of your bedroom window. We can go home now.’

There was no sound of splashing water like there had been earlier, there was no sound apart from the steady drip of a tap which hadn’t been turned off. Sean took hold of the door knob, twisting it until it turned and the door opened wide. That was when all the normal thoughts that a six year old boy should be thinking left him. He walked closer to the bath which contained his mother’s lifeless body in a pool of bright red water. His stomach clenched and the voice in his head told him to run but he carried on until he was close enough to reach out and touch her. Pushing her shoulder, her head lolled to the side and her glassy, open, dead eyes stared through him. Sean looked down into the bath and saw her arms and it was then that he opened his mouth and began to scream.

Chapter 1

Annie Graham downed the tequila then shuddered. She hated the stuff it but you got you drunk fast. Jake – fellow police officer and best friend – whose house they were in, laughed at the grimace on her face. ‘You are such a girl, you know that don’t you?’

She squeezed her eyes shut. ‘Yes I’m a total girl and I’m not ashamed of it either, this stuff is bloody awful. I don’t understand how you could even begin to actually enjoy it.’

Jake spluttered, managing to spit his tequila all over the black marble of the breakfast bar. ‘Because I quite like the taste now I’ve got used to it and it does the job in half the time of six cans of lager. One more and then we’ll be brave enough to go ghost hunting.’

Annie giggled. ‘I’ve had enough of that to last me a lifetime thank you. After discovering I could see ghosts in a haunted house and being stalked by a serial killer six months ago I’m quite happy not to go ghost hunting. I can’t believe you want to drag me to a cemetery when we’re drunk. You’ll be screaming at every shadow you see and then what actually happens if we do see something?’

‘You’re a wimp. I’m not going to be the one screaming and anyway don’t you want to see if you can still see dead people or if it was all just a figment of your twisted imagination?’ He managed to dodge the piece of chewed up lime that she threw at his head. ‘Sorry.’

Annie began to laugh so hard that she slid off the stool. ‘I’m drunk and I don’t think going to the cemetery in this state is going to be too productive. What if someone reports us and we end up getting arrested, there have been loads of metal thefts up there this month. Can you imagine the gossip that would spread around the station if we got caught in there?’ Tears were rolling down her cheeks, smudging her mascara and leaving black trails.

Jake bent down; putting both of his hands under her armpits he dragged her up from the floor. ‘Nah bollocks, we’ll just tell them the truth. That we were ghost hunting.’

‘Your call, but if you insist – who am I to argue?’

He shrugged his huge shoulders and took hold of her hand. ‘What the hell, come on if we get caught we’ll say we were looking for vampires. I want to go now before I chicken out, I’ve always wanted to do this but never had anyone drunk or stupid enough to go with.’

They looked each other in the eye and nodded. Jake helped her into her coat and wrapped her scarf around her neck. His fingers brushed her thick, black curls, which had grown back and now covered the scar that had once been on show. She looked so much happier and healthier now she didn’t have Mike in her life. He bent down and planted a big, wet kiss on her forehead and held her close. Annie wrapped her arms around him and whispered. ‘Don’t you go getting all soft on me Jake, I’m okay now and I’ve never been happier. Everything that happened six months ago is done, life is getting better.’

Jake squeezed his friend even tighter. ‘I’m not; I just hate what happened to you.’ They pulled apart; Jake took hold of her hand and dragged her to the front door. ‘Come on, there’s no time like the present and besides your dream man Will might turn up soon and you know what a spoilsport he is. He’d never let you loose in a cemetery with your track record.’

They left the house holding hands and began the short walk to the cemetery gates.

‘How are we going to get in if they’re locked?’ Annie asked.

‘Sometimes you amaze me, you can climb walls can’t you? I’ll give you a bunk up if you can’t get those short legs up high enough.’

She slapped his hand in a half-hearted gesture; Jake squeezed her’s back, a silent apology. Annie couldn’t walk straight; her legs were wobbling as they approached the tall, black, cast iron gates which loomed in the distance. Behind them was a blanket of pitch black which made her heart beat faster.

***

Will shivered. He hated cemeteries when the sun was shining and he could see everything around him, but to be here in the dark with no moonlight gave him the creeps. It didn’t help that he was sitting in a car with Twit and Twat, the two specials who were very nice blokes but far too keen to get a piece of the action. They couldn’t sit still and were talking utter crap. Every time a shout came over the radio the one sitting next to him would sit up, his body taut and his fists clenched, raring to get going. Will smiled to himself, at least he was getting a bit of fun out of it by torturing the pair of them; they needed to learn that police work wasn’t all rescuing damsels in distress and blue light jobs. As bored as he was he really hoped that nothing would happen tonight with these two in tow because it was all bound to go tits up in a big way. Two of his best detectives Stu and Laura were hiding behind some mausoleum near to the Crematorium. He would rather have been with one of those two but after the head injury and broken knee cap he got whilst trying to save Annie six months ago and the fact that it was freezing he’d decided to pull rank for once and sit in the car.

He switched off from the two chattering voices and began to think about Annie. He was parked not too far away from her husband Mike’s grave. He looked out of the side window and squinted; he could just make out the hilly mound of soil. Will would have loved to have given him what he deserved, but the town’s first serial killer had beaten him to it. He had to admit that Annie was by far the best thing that had happened to him and he loved her more than he’d loved anyone, but he was still afraid of committing and, to be honest, she was still a mess. He hated the nightmares she had almost every night. She would brush them off as if nothing was wrong but he had seen her pale face and eyes wide in horror as she crept out of the bed and into the bathroom. The first time he’d heard her stifling her sobs it had broken his heart and he had lain there dithering about whether to go and comfort her or give her some space. He opted to stay where he was, feeling useless. When she had finally come back to bed he’d turned and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight and stroking her hair until her breathing slowed and she fell back asleep. Tonight he’d left her at Jake and Alex’s house; if his grave robbers didn’t turn up he might go round for a coffee and see what they were up to.

***

Jake threaded his arm through Annie’s and the pair of them weaved along the tree-lined road towards the cemetery. The blackness behind the gates looked ominous; she didn’t want to do this. Why did she let Jake talk her into these things? She hadn’t been here since Mike’s funeral.

‘We can’t get in, it’s all locked up.’

Jake looked at her in disbelief, ‘Are you serious? You’re a copper, you should know how to scale a fence.’

‘Of course I know how to scale a fence, just not when I’m drunk. I don’t want to land head first in someone’s grave. I have a bit more respect than you do.’

‘Wimp. Come on, I’ll give you a bunk up.’

Annie ignored his offer of help and wobbled on ahead of him, scaling the gates before Jake could offer her his hand. She jumped off the other side and slipped. Jake bent over laughing.

‘Come on then big man, let’s see if you can do any better.’

Jake took a run for the gate. For his size he was surprisingly nimble and he managed to climb over it and land on his feet next to her. Annie tutted and began to walk away in the opposite direction to Mike’s grave and Jake followed. She let out a loud scream at a statue in the distance and he started to laugh again. Her elbow landed sharply in his side and he stopped. She decided to walk up towards the old chapel, which was now boarded up and fenced off. Annie had been drawn towards it last year when she had come looking for Alice’s grave – she had seen Alice’s ghost in that area of the cemetery so it was the logical place to go. Jake, who had finally stopped laughing, whispered in her ear, ‘Come on, you’re right this is stupid, let’s go and order a Chinese.’

Stubborn as ever she carried on walking. ‘Now who’s the wimp? You were the one who wanted to come here in the first place, I’m not leaving until we see a ghost; I’ll prove to you I’m not full of crap.’

‘I never said you were, but it is kind of hard to believe.’

Annie shook her head, it felt muzzy – too much Tequila. She would pay for it in the morning but maybe tonight when she finally made it to bed she wouldn’t have any of those terrible nightmares about a secret room in a cellar with dead bodies inside.

***

Stu and Laura huddled together to try to keep warm. They couldn’t really see the chapel from their position but this was the only place where they could keep out of sight yet still be near enough to get there in a hurry. Will’s voice echoed through their earpieces. ‘Two people just climbed over the gate and are heading your way up towards the chapel. It looks like a man and a woman but hard to tell from here.’ Stu crept to the side of the wall; straining his eyes he could make out a tall man and a much shorter woman who were stumbling hand in hand. Laura popped her head around to take a look and rolled her eyes at Stu. ‘I can’t see those two getting up to anything other than a quickie, that’s if he can get it up. Those two are hammered and I’m freezing in a bloody cemetery of all places. How do we get roped into these crappy jobs? Join CID, become a detective, solve serious crime. Yes right, what a load of rubbish.’

They watched as the dark figures finally reached the chapel and then the taller one bent down to give the shorter one a bunk up the fence. Will’s voice echoed in their ears. ‘Go, go, go.’

Jake’s hand pushed Annie and she grabbed hold of the top of the fence just as two figures came hurtling up the path, followed by a car with headlights on full beam, blinding them. Jake landed on the ground with a loud thud as someone rugby tackled him. He landed on his back with some bloke on top of him. Annie, blinded by the light, began to shout, lost her grip on the fence and then slipped to the ground. She landed next to Jake and whispered, ‘We are so fucked.’

The car stopped in front of them and a familiar figure climbed out shouting, ‘Police, don’t move.’ Laura slapped a pair of handcuffs on Annie whilst Stu cuffed Jake. Annie took one look at Jake’s shocked expression and began laughing; Will stepped closer to take a look, pushing Twit and Twat out of the way, who were standing with batons and CS gas drawn, ready for battle. ‘Jesus.’

Jake grinned at him, ‘Alright Will, fancy meeting you here.’

‘Would you like to tell me exactly what you two are doing in here at this time of night?’

Annie was speechless; her laughter getting more hysterical by the second. Composing herself as best as she could she screeched. ‘Sorry officers, whatever it was it was me.’

Will clenched his fists in anger. Annie hiccupped so loud it echoed around the graves. ‘Sorry Will. Jake and I decided to do a spot of ghost hunting.’

Will’s voice shook as he barked at Stu and Laura to uncuff them. His cheeks were flushed red and he leant down to grab Annie’s arm. ‘Jesus Christ, I can’t leave you two alone for five minutes, you are a bloody liability.’

Jake had sobered up remarkably well compared to Annie, who was trying to stifle her laughter and not doing it very well. Jake looked at Will. ‘Sorry, it’s my fault. I begged her to come with me.’

Will shook his head and grabbed Annie’s arm much more roughly than he’d intended, instantly regretting it as her face became a mask of fear. She pulled away from his grip. ‘I can manage on my own.’ Annie sobered instantly; she knew that Will would never mean to harm her, not like Mike used to, but still her feelings were hurt.

‘Sorry to interrupt your little party Sir.’ She spat the words out. ‘Come on Jake, let’s go back to your house and finish that tequila. Oh and Will, don’t bother coming round after you finish whatever it is you’re doing in here. I’ll be far too busy holding a séance.’ She stormed off, making Jake jog to catch up to her. Neither of them spoke until they reached the gates where they looked at each other and started laughing once more. The wind carried the sound up to the chapel where Will was standing shaking his head and trying to figure out what had just happened.

Stu and Laura waited for Will to tell them what to do. ‘Right, since those two have almost certainly messed up any chance of catching our grave robbers tonight, I think we should leave. I can’t see anyone coming in here now after all that racket.’

The two specials looked relieved to be able to escape the boredom; they wanted to be out where the action was, although judging by what jobs had been passed over the radio in the last hour – a group of kids throwing stones at a taxi and a pensioner who had fallen out of bed – they wouldn’t get much excitement working ‘response’ either. Will was just glad to get rid of them; he’d had enough for tonight. He waited for them to get in the car and then muttered, ‘Come on, first round’s on me. If I get drunk I may just find all of this slightly amusing.’

Stu smirked. ‘It was kind of funny Will. What are the odds on those two deciding to give Most Haunted a run for their money while we were on observations in here?’

Laura laughed, she agreed with Stu. They got into the car and Will drove down to the gates where Jake was trying to give Annie a bunk up. Jake turned and saluted them. Will passed the keys to the gate to Stu. ‘Open the gates and let the stupid buggers out and don’t say a word. I’m really not in the mood.’

Stu got out and opened the gates. Will watched as Jake and Annie giggled at something Stu had said to them. It would be all around the station tomorrow but it wouldn’t be his fault; they only had themselves to blame. He waited for Annie to turn and look at him so he could smile but she didn’t, instead she clutched hold of Jake and stumbled off in the direction of his house.

Laura had been watching Will; she had seen the look in his eyes when Annie had marched off. He wouldn’t admit it but he was upset. Laura had never met a woman with so much baggage and even more bad luck. Fingers crossed Stu would be his normal wimpy self and leave them after half a pint of lager to get home to his wife. For all his bravado he was nothing more than a henpecked husband, it would be nice to be alone with Will in the pub. She’d had a thing for him for the past twelve months yet he’d not once looked at her in anything other than a professional capacity. She grinned to herself at the thought of what she could do for him if she was given the chance. Stu looked at her and whispered, ‘Never in a thousand years, he’s in love.’

Laura shook her head, ‘Twenty quid says I at least get a kiss off him.’

Stu growled, ‘For twenty quid I’d want a blow job, not a kiss. Tenner and you’re on.’ Laura smiled sweetly and nodded in agreement.

June 25th 1984

Sophie and Sean were playing Hide and Seek upstairs. Sean wasn’t very good at it because he was too small to climb up into any of the cupboards, which meant that Sophie always found him. She had laughed at him last time she found him behind their mum’s bedroom door, hiding underneath her long, fluffy dressing gown. This was his favourite hiding place and he felt safe there because it smelled of coconut shampoo and his mum’s perfume. He buried his head into the soft robe to stifle a giggle when he heard Sophie shouting, ‘Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum I smell the blood of an English man.’

He could hear her footsteps as she ran along the landing, the creak of the bathroom door as she looked inside and the bang as she slammed it shut again and ran to the next bedroom. He was too young to understand that she was making a fuss so as not to make him feel bad about being too little to find a good hiding place – she was kind like that. She could be horrible to him, especially if he had taken one of her Sindy dolls for his A-Team men to rescue but most of the time she was nice. He heard her footsteps as she ran closer to his hiding place. He was staring down at his feet, so he didn’t see the dark shadow that walked past the door but he shivered and felt his teeth begin to chatter. It was so cold; he hugged the robe tighter to him to keep warm. He sniffed and then gagged, there was an awful smell in the room – a bit like when his mum made veg for dinner and they didn’t eat it all because it was horrible. She would forget and leave the pan on the cooker for days. He wondered if his mum was cooking veg for tea and he pulled a face. He didn’t like any of it except for the green peas and he only liked them because they made good ammunition for the A-Team to flick at the bad guys. The light left the room and Sean felt the hairs on the back of his neck begin to prickle. It was sunny outside so he didn’t understand why the room had gone so dark. He wanted to peek out from his hiding place but his Hannibal voice was telling him ‘No’. He had to stay hidden then he would be safe. Sophie had stopped running about and he heard her make a funny, high-pitched noise. It wasn’t very loud at first but then she let out a really loud screech which made him jump with fright. There was a loud thud which was followed by more screaming. Sean was scared but he had to go and see what was wrong with his sister so he ignored Hannibal and ran from the room onto the landing where Sophie was curled into a ball screaming. He didn’t know what to do but then his mum came running up the stairs and bent down to see what was wrong with her. He had never seen anyone with a face as white as Sophie’s and he was afraid for her.

‘What’s wrong Sophie, tell me what happened?’

Sophie stared at their mum and shook her head. ‘There was a man, he was all black and he smelled really bad.’ She let out a sob and began crying.

‘What man, where did he go? Did he hurt you?’

Sean began to feel scared; he had smelled that bad smell but hadn’t seen any man. He turned his head to look around and make sure that the man wasn’t behind them. Sophie nodded her head and Sean watched his mum’s face turn the same colour as Sophie’s. ‘He pushed me over and told me to get out.’

Sean felt his knees begin to shake, he was so scared and he needed to pee really badly.

‘Sophie where did he go, is he still in here?’

His mum pulled Sophie up from the floor and then she grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed both of them behind her. She picked up a vase of flowers off the small table, discarding the flowers and dropping them to the floor.

‘Sophie I need you to tell me where he is, which room did he go in?’

‘I don’t know Mummy, I think he’s gone. He walked into the wall.’

She lifted a shaking finger and pointed at the wall opposite them and whispered, ‘He went through there but I think he will be coming back, he doesn’t like me.’

Sean watched his mum put the vase back on the table and then she turned to face both of them. ‘Sophie if you are telling me lies you will be in trouble young lady. No-one can walk through walls. Now do you want to tell me what really happened or are you going to continue telling fibs?’

Sean wanted to tell her that there was a man who had smelled bad but he didn’t want to make his mum even angrier so he kept quiet and didn’t look at Sophie. He felt sorry for her and she would be angry with him if he knew and didn’t speak up. But then his mum picked up the vase again and walked into each bedroom to look under the beds and in the wardrobes. Sophie and Sean followed her. She even checked the cupboard in the bathroom where the hot water tank was but the only things in there were piles of towels. The only place his mum didn’t check was the attic but since there was no ladder he reasoned that the man couldn’t be hiding up there, not unless he had super powers and could fly like Superman. He felt Sophie’s hot breath as she let out a sigh of relief, she was standing so close to him clutching his arm he couldn’t move it. Their mum turned to them both, ‘Now I don’t know what game you were playing or why you are telling lies Sophie but you mustn’t do that ever again. You nearly gave me a heart attack; I thought someone had attacked you.’

Sophie bent her head as big teardrops fell from her eyes onto the floor. Sean reached out his hand and curled his chubby fingers around Sophie’s cold, much more slender ones then squeezed hard – he believed her. Their mum went downstairs and they followed her, neither of them wanting to be upstairs without her in case the bad-smelling man came back through the wall.

Chapter 2

He perched on the arm of the sofa, admiring his handiwork. The woman lay there and didn’t move once, which was exactly how he liked it. He didn’t want to fight with her and he was glad there was no blood, he didn’t like it – no that wasn’t a strong enough word, he hated blood. The smell of it made his stomach churn and his knees go weak. A couple of times he had passed out because of it and he was getting better but he avoided it at all costs. When he had first put the plastic bag over her head she had tried to claw her way out of it but he had tie-wrapped it and the plastic was too thick and her nails too short to make a difference. Satisfied that she was dead he walked towards her, pulling the Stanley knife from his back pocket. He slid the button up so the blade was pointing out and slowly sliced the plastic in half, making sure the blade didn’t touch her skin and spoil everything. He didn’t have time to pass out or feel faint. He sliced through the thick, plastic tie and the bag loosened, pulling it away from her face and her soft, pink lips. He stroked her long, blonde hair. He tucked back the fringe which had come loose when she had been struggling and stared. She looked as if she was asleep – a sleeping angel. He had expected to feel deep regret at what he had done but he didn’t, what he felt was satisfied. For the first time in his life he felt as if some basic, primal need had been filled and he felt intoxicated from a feeling of well being which his normally troubled mind rarely felt. It was still early yet, he would have a couple of hours with his perfect angel before taking her to her final resting place. He hoped the priest would be the one to find her and not a little old lady, but it didn’t really matter who found her because people would soon come running to see what the fuss was about and the news would soon spread about his gift to God’s messenger.

He sat in the armchair and closed his eyes, memories from a long time ago filling his mind. His mother was to blame for everything that had gone wrong in his life. He wished that she was here to understand how messed up she had made him but she wasn’t. He was on his own, always had been and always would be. He must have dozed off because when he opened his eyes he didn’t know where he was and his tongue was stuck to the roof of his mouth. Blinking a few times he looked over to see if the woman had come back to life and walked out. She was still there and very dead. He stretched out his hand letting his fingers brush her cheek, it was much cooler. Her lips had a blue tinge to them now; they didn’t look as kissable as they had done earlier. Standing, he picked up his iPhone and took a few pictures of her, sending them to the wireless printer he had in his small office upstairs. Best not to get these pictures printed out at the shop in town, they would raise some eyebrows!

He went upstairs and unlocked the door to the office, which was actually his spare bedroom. All the walls were painted white and on one wall were four large cork notice boards. Three of them were blank. He picked the two photos up off the printer and pinned them to the board he’d named Operation Gabriel. On this board were pictures of his victim’s house, views of the street from both ends. There was a small map of the surrounding area and her house was marked with a big red cross. Post it notes were pinned to it as well with her name and phone number. There was a picture of the coffee shop she used two or three times a week to get her skinny latte with a dusting of chocolate sprinkles on top. Once she’d bought a slice of lemon cake, but even this had been to go. He’d never seen her sit down and relax, take five minutes. He’d stand in the queue behind her and twice when she’d turned he’d grinned at her. Flustered she’d smiled then turned back to face the barista and wouldn’t look around again. She had no family or friends that visited her and she never went with anyone to get her coffee. He’d been watching her for four weeks now and the only visitor she had was the electricity man to read the meter. It looked as if Tracy Hale was as lonely as he was, he had no idea who would be the one to report her missing. It was quite sad really. He stepped back to admire his work; Op Gabriel was almost over. He just needed to secure her in the church grounds without getting caught and then it would be time to start the next operation. He enjoyed the information gathering part of it almost as much as the killing and he wondered if he wasn’t wasting his talents in his current job.

He went back downstairs to watch out of his living room window, pulling the curtain to one side to see if anyone was around. The small cul-de-sac was quiet; he had a small black book with a record of all his neighbours’ comings and goings. He knew that Bob at number eight went to the pub every Thursday, Friday and Saturday leaving the house at seven and not coming back until midnight at the earliest. Mrs Wallace from number twelve never went out of the house after five pm, the latest he had ever seen her come home had been ten to five one night when a taxi pulled up outside her house and she had scurried inside, shutting and bolting her door. She would then go into each room and close the curtains. She never had any visitors and she never opened the door – ever. The problem was number fifteen; he didn’t know what the young couple who lived there were called but they came in at all hours and were very unpredictable. They both worked shifts at McDonald’s, he knew this because of the distinctive olive green polo shirts and khaki trousers the staff at the drive-through wore. When they weren’t working they were out drinking and sometimes brought friends back to play extremely loud music and party. He was glad that he lived a short distance away from them otherwise he might have gone in there and smashed their music system or whatever it was they used to play the damn music on. However it was a pretty safe bet that they didn’t come home between the hours of eight and nine pm. They were the only ones left in the street; the other houses had been bought by the council and boarded up. There had been talk about regeneration and knocking the houses down to build an urban park but that was over two years ago now. The council had run out of money and now the last few residents were making the best of what they had until a better opportunity came along.

He looked at his watch; it was almost eight – time to put his plan into action. His truck was on the small drive directly in front of the house, he had made a point of taking things on and off the back of the truck to avoid arousing suspicion when he actually had more than some planks of wood or bits of old furniture. He slipped on his thick, black leather gloves and opened his front door. It was a dry night which was all part of the planning; he wouldn’t be able to do this in the rain. He unlatched the tailgate of the truck and let it drop down. He moved some of the old bits of wood around and took the folded up plastic sheeting he had in the cab into the house. He began to wrap the plastic around his sleeping angel, tucking it around her and rolling her from side to side to make sure she was completely covered, then he took the roll of duct tape he had left on the table and began to secure the plastic, being careful not to use too much – he didn’t want to make it harder than it was already going to be when he got her to the church. He bent down to pick her up, it was quite a struggle and much harder than he’d imagined. The plastic sheeting made it difficult to grip and even though she was a tiny little thing she was a dead weight – he smiled to himself at the pun. With everything he had, he threw her over his shoulder and made his move. He walked out of the house and placed her in the back of his truck. He didn’t look around to see if anyone was watching because he never did, he relied on his senses to alert him. Slamming the tailgate shut he went back inside his house and shut his front door. Give the neighbours time to come over and investigate if they thought he had put anything untoward on the back of the truck. He left the hall light on and the front door unlocked. He was breathing heavily from the exertion but he was buzzing with excitement. He went into the darkened living room to sit down and wait in the chair, giving the police a chance to arrive in case anyone had called them. He couldn’t go around suffocating girls in public places; it had to be done in private. He couldn’t abide mess and it would have been too risky killing her at her house so it had to be here.

Ten minutes passed with no police cars flying into the street with blue lights and sirens wailing. Perfect, he just hoped he could manage to get her out of the truck at the church without anyone noticing. He had been a busy boy this last month because he had a red book with every activity and service that was held in the church. Thursday nights were quiet, no tap-dancing teenagers in the church hall or flower-arranging pensioners in the church. Thursday was an unpopular night in St Mary’s Church social calendar, which suited his needs just fine. He left the driveway and drove the short distance to the church. Recently he had done a few odd jobs in the area so his truck was a regular sight parked near to the church. If he said so himself he was a very organised person.

There were no houses which overlooked the church, just the presbytery a short distance away. He noted that the blinds were closed. The front of the church was illuminated but the rear was in darkness. He parked at the side as close to the gate as possible. There wasn’t anyone in the area but he got out and had a stroll around to make sure. Reassured, he unlatched the back of the truck and dragged her out, throwing her over one shoulder. He had to duck as he went through the gate to make sure he didn’t catch her on the low branches which hung over the entrance, not wanting to get her caught in them, dangling like a life-size puppet. His hands began to sweat inside his gloves, making it harder to grip her but a few more paces and he would be at the grave he had chosen. It was in the perfect position, it couldn’t be seen from the street because of its close proximity to the wall and it was sheltered by a huge oak tree. Panting now, he bent and tried to put her down without dropping her but she slid from his grasp and he grunted as her body hit the gravel. Pulling the knife from his pocket he sliced open the plastic. Working fast, he pulled it off and screwed it up – tossing it to one side. He undressed her, taking every item of clothing off, then he laid her on her side, taking the time to position one hand under her face, palm upwards, her other arm across her chest, so they were as close together as he could make them without fastening them together. He then set about picking up leaves, branches and twigs to cover some of her nudity, wanting her to look tasteful. Posed in death as if she was a sculpture, this had taken him a lot longer than he had anticipated but when he finally finished and stepped back to admire his work he felt like applauding. She looked truly beautiful in death; he pulled his gloves off and took his phone out of his pocket, snapping a couple of photos. He didn’t think he would see her again but he wanted to remember everything about his first angel. Dragging himself away he turned and began picking up her clothes and the plastic sheeting, they smelled of her and he would keep them hanging up in his office in the wardrobe he had bought specially. He lifted the blouse to his nose and inhaled her perfume, unsure what it was but knowing it was something expensive. He knew every time he smelled it on a woman he would be reminded of these precious memories. His heart pounding with excitement and exertion, he forced himself to walk away from her. As he reached the gate he turned to steal one last glance and blew her a kiss. Then he climbed into his truck and drove away. He was pumped full of adrenalin, nothing could destroy how he felt at that moment. Gloating but not stupid, he drove around the empty streets aimlessly for the next twenty minutes – he didn’t pass one police car, which didn’t surprise him. When he was ready he began to drive home and back to his mundane life

Chapter 3

The Black Dog was quiet. Will went to the bar and bought himself a double vodka and drank it neat. Then he ordered two pints of lager, a large glass of wine and three bags of salt and vinegar crisps. There were two men playing pool in the corner and them, that was it. At least it saved time at the bar – he wanted to get drunk and forget that tonight had ever happened. In a couple of weeks he might see the funny side of it but he doubted it, he might even throw a sickie tomorrow so he wouldn’t have to face the eight hours of piss taking. He carried the drinks over and went back for the crisps. Laura was telling Stu about some festival she was going to in a couple of weeks with a minibus full of mates. Stu asked who was headlining and Will downed his pint before they had had a chance to sip their drinks. He got up and went to the bar for another shot of double vodka and a pint. He swallowed the vodka at the bar and knew that they would be whispering about him; he never usually drank more than a couple of pints on shift nights out, preferring to stay sober and not be the cause of any gossip. He took out his phone and called Annie, even though he was mad with her he’d still rather be with her than stewing in the pub getting pissed. This was the first time they’d really fallen out and he didn’t like it. If she answered he’d get a taxi home and leave Laura and Stu to it He let her phone ring and ring until it went to voicemail. He didn’t leave a message because he wasn’t sure what to say, ‘Stop being stubborn and come home’? He tried again, still no answer, so he rang Jake who didn’t answer either. Now Will felt even more angry off than before and ordered another shot of vodka, downing it he turned and stumbled back towards the table to join the others. He caught the look which Laura gave to Stu but ignored it and began talking about any old crap that came into his head.

After twenty minutes Stu looked at his watch. ‘I really should get going, Debs will kill me if I’m really late.’

Will nodded. ‘You’re a lightweight Stu, what’s that on your forehead? Hang on it’s beak marks – henpecked is what you are.’

Laura stifled a giggle and held her empty glass towards Will. ‘Well I’m not in a rush, same again.’

Stu frowned, shaking his head at her but Will stood up to go back to the bar and she rubbed her finger and thumb together and whispered, ‘You’re going to owe me a lot more than a tenner.’

Stu shrugged. ‘I seriously doubt it, he’s going to get so tanked up you’d need a flagpole to strap to his dick.’

She let out a loud screech which made everyone including Will turn to look at them. Stu lifted his hand and walked out of the door leaving them to it.

***

Annie was sitting in Jake’s kitchen drinking the frothy cappuccino that Alex had just made. Now that she had got over the initial shock of what had happened in the cemetery it didn’t seem quite so funny. She knew she’d upset Will and embarrassed him in front of his colleagues and she felt like crap.

Alex grabbed her hand. ‘Penny for them?’

‘Why do I let Jake talk me into doing such stupid stuff? I’m such an idiot and now Will’s mad with me and going into work tomorrow is going to be an absolute nightmare.’

‘Annie, I’ve lived with Jake for the last two years and he still talks me into doing stupid stuff and I really should know better. Last month it was having our cards read by an old dear who nearly passed out when she realised we were a couple. She’d told Jake he was going to settle down in the next three years and would have lots of children.’

She grinned at him. ‘Poor woman. I know what he’s like and that’s why I should know better. I’m fed up with feeding the station gossips with my life.’

Jake walked in and patted her on the head, then he went and stood close to Alex slipping his arm around his waist. ‘Have we sobered up yet Ms Graham? That was pretty hilarious though.’

‘It was funny at the time but I’m not so sure now. I think I should go and find Will and apologise.’

‘I wouldn’t if I were you, I’d let him calm down. He was pretty mad at you. Why don’t you sleep in the spare room? Give you both a chance to breathe and then you can go and see him in the morning. He’s not at work till twelve.’

Annie thought about it. She’d have to get a taxi to Will’s house and then get one back here to come for her car tomorrow and it wasn’t payday for another week. It would be easier to stay the night and drive home first thing; she didn’t have to be in work until nine. She opened her mouth and let out a huge yawn. ‘Ooh excuse me, if you don’t mind I’ll stay here. It’s easier than messing around with taxis and stuff.’

Alex nodded then left the kitchen. Jake lowered his voice. ‘He’s gone to turn down your bed and make sure the bogeyman isn’t hiding in the wardrobe.’

Annie pushed Jake’s arm. ‘Don’t be so mean, he’s adorable and sometimes far too good for you and your sarcasm.’ She sipped the rest of her coffee and this time managed to get down from the stool in an elegant manner. ‘See I can be a lady when I try.’

Jake laughed and bent down to kiss her on the cheek. ‘Goodnight my crazy, ghost-seeing friend. Sleep tight.’

She turned to go upstairs; Alex had turned the heating on and pulled the bed covers down, placing one of Jake’s tee shirts on the bed for her. ‘Sleep tight Annie, everything will be okay. You and Will are destined to be with each other and I bet he’s tried phoning, have you checked?’

She felt in her pocket for her phone but it wasn’t there. ‘Damn, I think I might have dropped it when I fell in the cemetery.’

‘I’ll send Jake to go and look for it in the morning; I’m not as brave or foolish as you two. There is no way I would go in there at this time of night. Do you want to borrow mine to ring him?’

She shook her head, ‘No it’s late. Let him stew for a while, it may make him realise that he can’t live without me.’

Alex hugged her. ‘I’m pretty sure he can’t.’ He left and she undressed and pulled Jake’s huge tee shirt over her head then climbed into bed. Within five minutes she was fast asleep.

***

When Will couldn’t see straight he decided it was time to call it a day. He stood up and felt his legs wobble. Falling into the table he knocked the rest of Laura’s wine into her lap. She jumped up and grabbed Will’s arm. ‘Come on Will, I think it’s time to leave.’

He felt her arm slide under his and she gripped his elbow, directing him towards the door. ‘Sorry Laura, I got you all wet.’

He slurred his words and Laura giggled. ‘It’s okay I’ll dry out but I think I should make sure you get home okay.’

Will turned and aimed his lips at her cheek to plant a kiss on it but she moved fast and he felt his lips connect with hers. She kissed him hard, pulling him closer and for a second he forgot about Annie and kissed her back, then his senses returned and he pulled away from her. ‘Whoa, steady on. I’m not supposed to be doing this.’ A taxi pulled up and he stepped away from her towards it and knocked on the window. ‘Who is this taxi for?’

‘Corkill.’

Will nodded and opened the door. ‘That would be me then.’ He shook his head at Laura who was stifling a laugh and she climbed in after him. He gave his address and wound the window down, he’d had nothing to eat since dinner except for a packet of crisps, and he felt sick. Laura had snaked her arm through his again and was now leaning her head on his chest. It was wrong but he was so drunk he couldn’t think straight and was putting all his concentration into not puking all over the taxi floor.

When they got out of the taxi Will struggled to get the money from his pocket to pay the driver. It was a huge effort to keep standing upright. He felt Laura’s slender fingers slip into his side pocket and begin to root around for his money. He watched her pay the man and then she took hold of his hand and dragged him up the gravel path to his front door. She had his door key in her hand and put it in the lock, opening it she stepped inside. Will stumbled in behind her and tripped on the hall mat, trying his best to keep upright, but gravity won and he lost his balance and fell to the floor. He lay there and began to laugh. Laura tried to drag him up but he was too heavy and instead she ended up falling on top of him. She kissed him again but this time he didn’t kiss back. ‘I’m sorry Laura; I can’t do this – I love Annie.’

He watched her begin to blink back tears and he did feel bad even though he was drunk. He managed to pull himself to his knees, knocking the framed picture of himself and Annie face down onto the small table in the hall. He then wobbled his way into the living room and collapsed onto the sofa. Within sixty seconds he was snoring.

Laura wanted Will so badly that it hurt inside her chest, she couldn’t afford a taxi home and Annie must not be home or she would have come down to see what all the commotion was. She looked at Will then bent down and tugged off his shoes, then she undid his trousers, pulled them down and dropped them on the floor next to his shoes. He had a pair of tight, black boxer shorts on and for a man much older than her he looked well decent. It was warm in the house and she didn’t want to crease her best suit so she stripped down to her underwear and climbed on the sofa next to him. She hoped that when he woke up he would be like most men and not be able to resist her charms and the offer of some hot sex. Then the wine began to take effect and she found herself falling asleep.

June 26th 984

Sophie couldn’t bring herself to watch this stupid TV programme that Sean was obsessed with – as if those men could make tanks out of some metal sheets and a hairdryer. It was total rubbish but he loved it. All he ever wanted to be was B A, the one with the crazy haircut. Sophie hadn’t really spoken much since she saw the man yesterday, he had been real in one way but not in another and he smelled so bad. She didn’t know why he didn’t like her or where he had come from but she knew he would be back. He had told her to get out and she hadn’t. Where could she go, she was only nine years old? She couldn’t just leave because some horrible, stinky shadow of a man had told her to. What made everything worse was her mum thinking she had made it all up. Why had she not been able to smell him? Sophie would never lie about anything unless it was one of those white lies so she didn’t upset someone. She looked down at the picture she had been drawing to show her mum exactly what he looked like so she could be careful if she saw him too, but she couldn’t get him right. He had looked both grey and black but at the same time transparent, and she knew that if she had been brave enough to reach out her hand and touch him it would have gone straight through him. He must be a ghost and Crayola didn’t make a crayon called ‘ghost’, although she knew it would be a pretty popular one because she would bet ten black jacks she wasn’t the only child to have seen him. She shivered; she didn’t want him to come back.

When she was finally happy her picture was good enough she took it to show her mum, who was busy talking to Father John, who was always around lately. She hovered at the kitchen door until the priest took his eyes off her mum and smiled at her.

‘Hello Sophie, what have you got there? Let me see.’

Sophie walked reluctantly towards him and handed him the piece of paper. He took it from her and smiled, ‘I didn’t know you were a budding artist.’ He looked at the picture and his face froze. Sophie knew then that the priest had seen the shadow man before.

‘Why have you drawn this, have you seen this man Sophie?’

She nodded her head but didn’t speak; she didn’t want to make her mum angry again.

‘When did you see him?’

She looked across at her mum who had turned from stirring whatever it was she was cooking on the stove to watch them. Sophie walked up to Father John and stood on her tiptoes, she whispered in his ear, ‘Yesterday, upstairs and he doesn’t like me.’ Sophie’s mum Beth looked at her daughter, whose face was pale, and then at Father John. His face was whiter than Sophie’s.

‘What’s going on, what are you talking about Sophie? What did I tell you about making things up?’

Father John stood and passed the picture to her; she took it from him and blanched. ‘Sophie that’s horrible, why would you want to draw someone who looks like that? No wonder you’re scaring yourself. What have you been watching on the television?’

Father John turned to Sophie. ‘If you see him again I want you to tell me. Was he mean to you?’

Sophie nodded.

‘He doesn’t like me either, but I can make him go away. He may just have been passing through on his way somewhere else.’

The thought of this made Sophie feel better and for the first time since yesterday she didn’t have that sick feeling in her stomach. ‘I will. Do you really think so because I don’t like him and he smells really bad!’

Father John grinned at her. ‘I’m sure he was and yes he does smell really bad, like an old dustbin.’

They both started giggling and Beth shrugged her shoulders, she had no idea what they were talking about but let them get on with it.

Father John stood up to leave. ‘I’m going now but I’ll be back later, I’ll bring some holy water and bless Sophie’s room.’

Beth nodded her head. ‘You two are crazy but if it makes you feel better then knock yourself out.’

Father John winked at Sophie. ‘He doesn’t like holy water either, it smells too clean for him so he won’t come into your room.’

Sophie watched as he put his coat on, not wanting him to go. She felt safe with him here, especially if he knew about the shadow man. Father John walked to the front door and she followed him. He paused then fished around in his pocket. He pulled out a small, bronze St Michael medal and handed it to her. ‘Wear this or keep it with you, it will help.’

Beth looked at him. ‘Come on Father John, what are you trying to do, brainwash my daughter? Sophie go and get Sean and take him up to clean his teeth, I’ll be upstairs in a minute.’

Sophie turned and ran back to the living room to drag her brother away from the television. The priest waited until she was out of earshot. ‘I don’t think you understand Beth but there is a very real threat from this shadow man as Sophie calls him. I’ve seen him myself when I was a bit older than Sophie is now and he isn’t very nice.’

‘Are you expecting me to believe that my daughter has seen a ghost? Because I don’t believe in any of that nonsense.. You’re supposed to be a man of God; next you’ll be telling me that he’ll be popping around to speak to the children as well. I don’t want to hear any more about it and please don’t encourage her. I have enough to worry about.’

‘I’m sorry, you’re right Beth but you need to know whatever or whoever this shadow man is he is real. I was terrified of him when I was a boy. It was such a shock to see that drawing.’

‘Bye, Father.’

She shut the door and John turned and walked to the gate. He turned to look up and saw Sophie at the window with her face pressed against the glass, waving at him. He waved back and said a prayer to keep her safe, no-one knew what they were dealing with except him and he had blocked it out for twenty three years.

Father John walked the short distance to his church. The house that Beth and her children were living in belonged to the church. It was used as a house for poor families or anyone in desperate need. Beth had been in a desperate situation when Father John had met her for the first time with a black eye and broken nose. He had found her huddled at the corner of the church with her two children and a suitcase. He had only just joined the parish but he couldn’t ignore them. He had led them around to the presbytery, cradling a sleeping Sean in his arms. Beth had followed with Sophie and a battered suitcase. That had been nine months ago and he had watched Beth grow in confidence and they had become good friends. In fact, truth be told, he was in crisis at the moment because he very much wanted to be more than good friends and he knew that this could never be. He knew that he should be trying to distance himself from her but he couldn’t. He found himself drawn to her, to them, more than ever. He hadn’t felt this way before and wondered if it was because he wanted to protect them, protect her. Now this – how could the shadow man be here after all these years? John needed to speak with Father Robert, who was much older and wiser than him. He twisted the black iron ring on the church door and walked inside; he needed to pray. The silence inside the church reassured him and he felt as if he had come home, that God was waiting for him and it was a good feeling. Despite the internal conflict he was suffering he knew that this was where he truly belonged and that somehow God would help him.

Chapter 4

Annie woke to the smell of frying bacon and her stomach groaned, she was starving. Throwing the duvet back she swung her legs out of the bed, sitting on the edge for a minute in case she was mega hung over. She stood up and felt fine, no pounding head or churning stomach – Annie 1, alcohol 0. She got dressed and went into the bathroom to freshen up. Her hair was much better, it was now a short, shoulder-length bob and suited her much better than the half a skinhead she had been sporting last year. Wetting her fingers she ran them through her hair and scrunched it up and then she squirted some toothpaste onto her finger and rubbed it all over her teeth. At least she wouldn’t smell and she was excited to see Will and make it up to him. Last night was the first night they had spent apart since she had moved in with him.

Going downstairs into the kitchen she was greeted by a bright and breezy Alex who was making bacon and egg butties. Jake was nowhere to be seen.

‘The big guy’s in bed, he can’t move his head and has been up all night throwing up. Tequila obviously doesn’t agree with him as much as he thinks, but you my dear look fabulous so you can gloat over him all day if you want.’

‘I’d love to but I’ll save it until he’s back at work. I’d love a quick sandwich if it’s okay and then I’m off to go and see Will. I think I have a bit of grovelling to do.’

Alex grinned, ‘Well just don’t grovel too much and remember he was at fault as well.’ He handed her a sandwich made from two thick slices of freshly baked bread. Annie took a bite and groaned, ‘Thanks Alex, you know how to look after a girl.’

He began to laugh. ‘I do indeed.’ He looked in the direction of the stairs. Annie stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. As she turned to leave he shouted her back – he had her phone in his hand.

‘Where did you find that?’

‘Under one of the bar stools, it must have fallen out of your pocket.’

She thanked him then went out the front to get in her car to go and see the man of her dreams.

Annie reached Will’s house and parked up outside; she loved where they lived, it was so pretty. She had always liked the idea of living in a country cottage with a porch covered in sweetly smelling roses and honeysuckle around the door and his house had it all. She hoped he was still in bed so she could climb in next to him and show him exactly how sorry she was. She jogged along the gravel path and pulled the key from her pocket. The door wasn’t locked which wasn’t like Will. He was the king of telling people to ‘Lock it or Lose it’, the force’s burglary motto. She opened the door and stepped inside. It reeked of stale beer, and her eyes fell on the table and the photo of them both which was face down. Her stomach began to churn, she hadn’t felt this way since she’d left Mike and she knew something was wrong. Call it a woman’s intuition or a copper’s instinct. A loud snore came from the direction of the living room and she forced herself to move towards it.

She wasn’t too sure what she had expected to see but it definitely wasn’t Will lying next to a practically naked Laura, who had her arm thrown over his chest and her legs wrapped around his. The pain which shot through Annie’s heart made her gasp out loud. Deep down her worst fear had been that it would end like this. She had managed to forget about Will’s reputation as a womaniser because he had changed since he’d fallen in love with her. Tears welled in her eyes and as much as she wanted to grab skinny, blonde Laura’s hair and drag her off the sofa and throw her naked into the front street – she couldn’t do it. Will murmured something into Laura’s ear and that was it, Annie turned to run out the house and out of Will’s life forever, but she tripped over his shoes and clattered into the wall. Will’s eyes flew open and he looked in her direction, confused. Annie stared back at him, composing herself as she turned and walked out, slamming the door shut behind her.

Will felt the warmth from the body next to him and was shocked to see Laura. ‘Fuck me Laura, what are you doing?’

He shoved her and she rolled off the sofa onto the soft rug below. He fumbled to get up, his head swimming. His stomach lurched and his mouth filled with bile. Still he ran for the front door, noticing the picture frame he’d knocked over last night and had been too drunk to bother picking up. A loud screech as Annie’s car sped off was enough to make him puke all over the hall floor. When he finished retching he threw open the door to make sure that it had been her car and that she wasn’t still sitting outside. She was long gone and he stood on his front porch mentally begging her to come back. He turned to go inside and noticed his elderly neighbour watching him. He remembered that he was almost naked. ‘Sorry Mrs Jones.’ He went back in and shut the door. Laura was standing there, with her clothes on now. ‘I should get going, can you ring me a taxi – my phone’s dead?’

He pointed at the phone next to the overturned picture. ‘Ring one yourself. What were you thinking, what was I thinking, did we?’ He couldn’t bring himself to say the words.

She shook her head, ‘I don’t know, I can’t remember.’

‘Phone your taxi then wait outside, you can shut the door behind you.’ He walked to the kitchen to get a pint of water and four paracetamol, he felt like shit. Hangovers at his age weren’t so much fun anymore and he had just royally fucked up his life. He wanted to cry but instead he took a roll of paper towels to mop up his vomit and then went upstairs to bed. He dialled Annie’s number but it went straight to voicemail. Not able to do much else he shut his eyes and fell into a deep sleep, one in which he hadn’t just broken the heart of the woman he loved and ruined his whole life.

Chapter 5

Father John had a busy day ahead of him; he had two funerals and a christening to arrange. He also had a sick parishioner to visit who needed to speak to him about something they wouldn’t discuss with anyone else. But first things first, he wandered into the kitchen in his SpongeBob pyjamas and fluffy slippers. He needed coffee. Not just a spoonful from a jar, proper coffee. He rarely spent money on himself but the one thing he had finally succumbed to was a coffee machine, one that could match the industrial size one in the local Costa without breaking a sweat. In fact Father John’s cappuccinos were the stuff made of legends; if they were to make him a saint it would be Father John – Patron Saint of Coffee Drinkers. The woman’s union would congregate around the large kitchen table once a week with a plate of homemade biscuits and twelve of his coffees, then he would bow out gracefully and leave them to it. For the first time in history there was actually a waiting list to join them and he knew it was because he was running a parish coffee shop. He ground the beans and set about making his coffee, popping two slices of wholemeal bread into the toaster. Once he’d eaten his breakfast and read the daily paper he would shower and put on his sin-busting suit as he fondly called it and get to work.

He was on his second cup of coffee and halfway through reading the paper when he heard an ear-splitting scream outside. He jumped up, throwing his paper to the side, and ran to the window to see what the hell it was. He peered out and could see the bentfigure of Mrs Higgins come hurtling through the churchyard and into the front garden. For an old woman she could move fast! He rushed to the front door and opened it for the woman, who was now standing there breathing heavily and pointing towards the churchyard. She couldn’t speak, so John slipped on his boots and began jogging in the direction she was pointing. He couldn’t see anything and looked around expecting to see some young couple having sex or some drunken, homeless guy but there wasn’t anything. He looked back at her and shrugged. She lifted a shaking hand and pointed towards the wall. He turned around slowly this time, looking at the graves, and then he saw her; he had to blink to make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. She was lying on one of the much older graves and she looked as if she was asleep, only John knew she was in a much worse state than being asleep. He nodded to Mrs Higgins and made his way towards the grave, not wanting to go any further but knowing he had a duty of care towards this poor woman. He stood in front of her and crossed himself, saying a quick prayer, then he bent down and placed two fingers to her neck to check for a pulse. He knew there wouldn’t be one but he had to try. He stood up and walked back to the house to phone the police. Dear God what was the world coming to?

***

Will dragged himself out of bed and into the shower. He couldn’t spend all day wallowing in self pity and hiding away from the world, he needed to sort this mess out now. The combination of the alcohol and the thought of how much he had hurt Annie was giving him a butterflies. He was positive he hadn’t actually had sex with Laura, he had been pissed as a fart but he remembered telling her that he loved Annie so how had she ended up naked next to him? He knew from past experience that when he got that drunk he wouldn’t be able to get it up for Jennifer Aniston so there was no way he would have been able to do it with Laura. The hot water cleansed his skin but he still felt like a dirty, rotten cheat on the inside. He rubbed the lemon shower gel that Annie bought all over. He hoped to God he would be able to sort it out with her because the last six months had been the best of his life. He had even been thinking about asking her to marry him and up until he’d met her he never really believed that he’d ever feel that way about a woman – ever. His phone was ringing but it was only when he turned the shower off and began to dry himself that he heard it; his heart skipped a beat and he crossed his fingers it was her. Dashing naked through to the bedroom to reach his phone he picked it up and saw it was a blocked number and knew it was work.

‘Will speaking.’

He listened as the control room operator informed him that a body had been found in St Mary’s churchyard, it looked suspicious and would he attend. ‘Yes, I’ll be there in ten minutes.’ He ended the call, bollocks now it was going to be hours before he would get to speak to Annie. Not wanting to do it over the phone he had no choice so he dialled her number. She didn’t pick up and he hadn’t really expected her to so he left her a message. ‘Annie, it’s not what you think. I swear to God I don’t know how she ended up there. I was so drunk I wouldn’t be able to, well, you know what I mean. I love you so much, I’ve got to go, there’s a suspicious death at St Mary’s and it might be hours before I can come and see you. Please Annie, I love you with all my heart – let me explain.’

He ended the call and slumped on the bed, today was going to be a long day.

***

Annie had driven around aimlessly for a couple of hours, at one point she ended up on Walney Island and parked the car on the seafront, watching the waves crashing onto the shore with tears rolling down her cheeks. She finally decided it was time to go home and parked the car outside her semi-detached house. Her phone was vibrating on the seat next to her but there was no way she would answer it. She couldn’t bear to hear Will’s voice right now, he had hurt her so much yet she wasn’t surprised. She knew she had got too involved so soon after Mike. She looked at her house, it had been over a month since she’d been inside. The For Sale sign that was swaying in the wind would be coming down, there wasn’t another option. It looked like she would be moving back after all, she couldn’t stay with Jake, he’d smother her with love, and the last time she’d stayed at her brother’s it had caused no end of heartache for everyone. She’d run there to escape from Mike after he’d smashed her over the head with a bottle and almost killed her, which had led her to discover the haunted house in the woods, where she had also discovered her new found ability to see ghosts. Oh and she’d managed to attract the attention of a man called Henry who was a serial killer.

Her phone beeped, shaking her from the memories which were filling her mind with horror; the only good thing which had come out of it had been her falling in love with Will. He had turned into her knight in shining armour, and now this morning had put an end to all of it. Her phone beeped to tell her she had a voicemail so she opened the glove compartment and threw the phone in there, slamming it shut. She needed some time on her own, time to think, and this was as good a place as any. She got out of the car and walked up the three steps to reach her front door. Once she opened it and stood inside she waited for a couple of minutes to see what would happen. See if the memories of the beatings Mike used to give her would come flying back, but they didn’t. In fact she didn’t feel anything. She went into her living room, which had once been full of mismatched, antique painted furniture. Now it was an empty shell; everything had been packed away and stored in one of her brother’s barns at his farmhouse in Abbeywood. The only thing of any comfort was the carpet that she’d had fitted just before Mike had tried to kill her, it still smelled new. She went through into the kitchen and checked the cupboards, there were a couple of mugs, a plate and two forks and a spoon – at least she had something to eat and drink with. She filled the sink with soapy water and plonked the lot of it into the bowl to soak. She needed to go and buy some groceries. In fact she needed to buy quite a bit unless she waited until Will was at work and went back for all her stuff – she would have to because she didn’t have much spare cash. Turning to look at the kitchen door where Mike had decided to try and cave the back of her head in, she expected to feel upset, but the only thing she felt was relief that she was still alive, even if her life was one fucked up mess. She ran up the stairs to check the bedrooms and turn the heating on to air the house through, it didn’t feel much like summer today. She didn’t even look into the master bedroom, instead she went into the much smaller spare bedroom, which looked out onto the tree-lined front street. This house was by no means as pretty as Will’s but it was her house and it was time to reclaim it.

Tears filled her eyes but she blinked them back. She had wanted to spend the rest of her life with Will but she wouldn’t let him treat her like a fool. She stripped the single bed, shook all the covers and pillow cases and then put them back on. They had never been used before so there was no point washing them, she was just checking for spiders and dust. Annie turned to peer out of the window and caught a glimpse of a little girl standing on her front door step. She was wearing a long, white cotton dress and had platinum blonde hair which had been parted down the middle and braided into two plaits. She didn’t recognise the girl as one of the neighbour’s kids; the poor thing must be frozen because there was a bitter wind today. And then she noticed that the litter on the street was whipping around on the tarmac pavements in a frenzy, but the girls hair and dress weren’t moving at all. Annie looked up and down the street to see if there were other people around, the only one was the elderly man across the road and he was hanging onto his battered old trilby to stop it from blowing away. Her heart began to race and the palms of her hands were damp. The girl didn’t move, she carried on staring up at her. Annie pressed her face to the glass and opened her mouth to speak but the girl lifted a finger to her lips to shush her. Then she turned and walked down the first two steps … by the time she should have touched the third one she had disappeared. Annie ran down her stairs and opened the door; there was no sign of the girl. She stepped out of the house and down the steps to check the front street, as she trod on the bottom step something crunched underneath her shoe. She stopped and bent down, picking up a broken toy figure, it was a head and body with no legs or arms. It was a pretty creepy toy because whoever he was he looked far too old to be an action figure, his hair was grey. She looked up and down the deserted street then turned and went back inside her house. She went into the kitchen and opened one of the empty drawers, throwing the figure into it. She didn’t like it but for some reason she knew it was important to someone, maybe the girl had played with it when she had been alive. As much as she didn’t want to admit it she knew that the girl was dead, normal kids don’t disappear into thin air. If only Jake had been here, he would have had a shit fit.

***

A car horn beeped outside and Will pulled himself up from the bed. He went downstairs, picking up the overturned picture. He kissed his finger and pressed it to Annie’s lips – sorry babe. The hall still stunk of stale vomit and his stomach lurched once more, he opened the front door and inhaled the fresh air, lifting his hand to wave at the officer waiting for him in the patrol car. Slamming his door shut he went down the steps and opened the car door. ‘How’s it going Sean?’

‘Oh you know how it is Will, same shit different day and all that.’

Will nodded; he knew exactly what he meant. ‘So what’s happened?’

‘I haven’t been to the scene; I heard the shout come over the radio that an old dear had found a dead woman in the church grounds. They’ve been in a flap ever since.’

‘Christ. As if we need any more murders, I take it that it doesn’t look like natural causes?’

‘Not from what I’ve heard on the radio. They were shouting about getting a tent there from CSI to cover her up. I spoke to Smithy who’s on scene guard, he said she was totally naked.’

‘Not good Sean, not good at all.’

The church steeple loomed in the distance and Will thought he would give anything to be anywhere other than there. But he would push his problems to the back of his mind and do his best for whoever it was that needed his help, they hadn’t asked for what had happened to them – unlike him.

June 27th 1984

Father John wanted to speak to Sophie without Beth present but it was impossible, Beth knew that something was going on but she didn’t want to admit it. He’d woken in the night after a terrible dream where he was playing tug of war. He was on one side and the shadow man on the other – Sophie had been the rope. When he had opened his eyes his hair was plastered to his head with sweat. The room smelled terrible, like rotting vegetables. He’d sat up and reached out to turn on the bedside lamp, smelled then jumped out of bed and turned the main light on because the lamp cast too many shadows. It had been years since he’d encountered that particular smell and he felt unsettled; the shadow man had been here – in his room. John knew that whatever it was wouldn’t be able to touch him in a house that belonged to God but it scared him that it still believed it could go wherever it wanted. The sooner Father Robert came back from Manchester the better because at this very moment in time John felt violated in God’s house. He knelt down at the side of his bed and began to recite a prayer that he hadn’t really used since he was a child. He paused, sure that he heard a deep voice repeating each word, and every hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He whipped his head around, looking for a shadow lurking in a corner, but he was alone. He finished his prayer then stood up. ‘I’m not afraid of you anymore. I don’t know why you are here but I think that it’s time you moved on, because if you don’t I will send you back to whatever hellhole it is you have come from and you will never see the light of day again.’

With that John left the bedroom and went straight downstairs and out of the front door to check on Beth and her children. Beth’s house was in darkness which was a good sign, they must all be sleeping. Unsettled, he went back to the presbytery and took the key for the church from the large pewter dish on the sideboard in the hall. He needed to be close to God, so he made his way over to the church, which was shrouded in darkness. The spotlights which illuminated it every evening had turned off. They ran on a timer so as to save money but he wasn’t scared, this place was his life and he believed in God and the power of good. This also meant that he believed in evil as well and somehow in the hours of darkness it was far easier to believe that evil was lurking in the shadows. As he strode across the damp grass he sensed someone walking behind him but he brushed it off as his imagination. It wasn’t until he reached the small cemetery where the grass ended and the gravel began that he heard definite footsteps behind him. He didn’t turn to look but continued in the direction of the church. When he reached the huge oak door he inserted the key in the lock and opened it. His heart was hammering inside his chest but he would not show his fear because he knew that it would be a sign of his weakness. Stepping inside he felt along the wall to the left of him for the light switch. When his fingers located it and pressed it down the relief which washed over him was overwhelming as the entrance was bathed in glorious light. He stood there leaning against the closed door until his breathing slowed and was back to normal; the door felt as if it was vibrating the tiniest bit. He had never noticed that before, but then he had never had cause to come in here in the middle of the night after a bad dream and being followed by a man who wasn’t from this world. The inner sanctum of the church was still in darkness and for the first time in his life as a priest he felt scared of that darkness and what could be waiting in there – Get a grip John; you are in the Lord’s house. There is no way that God is going to let such evil enter his house; this is a place of safety and love. He marched across to the glass door and threw it open, if that repugnant smell had entered his nostrils he would have screamed but it didn’t. The church smelled like it always did, a little bit damp with the lingering aroma of candlewax and the smell of the fresh flowers that the mother’s union brought in and arranged each week. This week it was lavender, roses and lilies and they smelled fabulous. He crossed himself; Thank you God, I’m glad you kept to your side of the bargain, I need all the help I can get. I’m still a beginner at all this stuff you know. Please don’t leave me to deal with it on my own because I don’t know whether I can. He turned on the lights and the shadows were banished, John felt his nerves begin to steady and his heart start slowing to a more regular pace. He busied himself lighting candles and arranging hymn books into neat piles. When he’d done this he walked to the altar and knelt down to pray harder than he’d ever prayed in his life.

Chapter 6

Annie loved Sunday morning shifts; usually there wasn’t too much happening. Sometimes there was the odd drunken prisoner to deal with from last night’s shenanigans on Cornwallis Street, which was famed for the number of drunken brawls at the weekend. It always amused her seeing their faces as they were released from custody to do the ‘walk of shame’ home. Nine times out of ten a look of bewilderment was etched across their faces as they had no recollection of what arseholes they’d been to get locked up in the first place. Kav her Sergeant, had looked at her when she had come into the parade room at the start of her shift and nodded. Annie guessed that he knew or had heard something; he seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to her. When Mike had attacked her, Kav had been the one to find her unconscious and he had dealt with it himself after she had confided the whole sordid story to him. He had stopped it from becoming public knowledge and she was eternally grateful to him. At the briefing he had put her double crewed in the van with Jake and it was over a greasy breakfast in the hospital canteen that she had blurted to him about finding Will with Laura yesterday morning. She hadn’t meant to but Jake had asked if they wanted to come round for supper tonight and she didn’t have the energy to make up a plausible excuse, besides he would hear it soon enough so it was better he heard it from her. His face had turned redder than the sea of tinned tomatoes that were swimming around on his plate; he’d dropped his knife and fork and clenched his huge fists so hard his knuckles were white.

‘Please tell me that this is some kind of joke because I will kill him. I warned him, if he didn’t keep his dick in his pants I would rip his head off.’

‘Calm down Jake, please. It’s okay, I sort of expected it to happen, in fact I’m surprised he lasted this long given his reputation.’

‘What planet are you on? It is not bloody okay. I don’t give a flying fuck, he promised me he wouldn’t mess you around. That’s it; I’m going to kill him.’

‘No you are not, keep out of it. This is between me and Will. I’ve moved out and gone back home now anyway. He left a voicemail yesterday trying to apologise and said he had to work the murder at the church that came in so I went and packed up most of my stuff after tea. He isn’t worth you getting in trouble and losing your job over and I can’t be bothered anymore, I’ve cried it out of my system and from now on I’m staying single. No more men. now promise me you won’t do anything stupid?’

‘I can’t Annie, you can’t expect me to let him do this to you and not say anything, it’s not right. He’s my friend but you’re like my sister and I wouldn’t let anyone treat my sister like that.’

‘Thanks Jake but you don’t have a sister so how do you know? Look, I will deal with Will, just leave it.’

‘Why do you have to be such a goody two shoes? Okay, I promise to try not to do anything stupid. That’s the best I can do.’

As they were walking back to the police van, a call came in for a domestic on Marsh Street. They ran and jumped into the van and Annie held onto the side of the van door as Jake blue lighted it through to the other side of town. She loved working with him but he was a crap driver, it was like watching her life flash before her eyes whenever he drove them to an emergency call. As they turned into the street one of their regular customers was kicking his ex-girlfriend’s front door. Jake screeched the van to a halt and they both jumped out.

‘Now then Peter what have we got here? From where I’m standing it looks like you’re causing a shit load of criminal damage.’

‘Fuck off, she’s a total bitch. Won’t let me see the kids and she has another bloke in there.’

Peter turned and began kicking the door again; Jake took three steps and grabbed his arm, dragging him away from the door.

‘Peter Low I’m arresting you on suspicion of criminal damage, section 4, and for being a prick. You do not have to say anything but, it may harm your defence if you do not mention now something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand Peter?’

‘Fuck off.’

Annie turned away to hide the grin on her face and opened the van doors as Jake snapped his cuffs over Peter’s wrists.

‘Is that any way to talk in front of a lady? Get in the cage, I’m taking you to the town’s worst bed and breakfast so you can sleep off your six bottles of cider and until you understand the error of your ways.’

Peter tried to resist being put in the van and began to scuffle with Jake who was almost twice his size. Jake grabbed him and threw him in.

‘Don’t be a dick all your life; I can add police assault and resisting arrest to that nice little list of charges.’

Jake slammed the cage door shut and then the van doors. Annie started laughing, ‘Sorry.’ She walked towards the house and knocked on the door, which was opened by a woman in her early twenties and clearly pregnant, with a two year old clinging to her legs.

‘Are you okay Julie? We’ve arrested him so he’ll be in until at least tomorrow because we can’t interview him until he’s sober.’

‘Thank you, why can’t he just leave me alone? He’s a pain in the arse.’

‘Typical man if you ask me Julie. Look I’ll let you get sorted out and then I’ll come back in an hour for a statement is that okay?’

The woman nodded her head. ‘Thanks Annie, I’ll have the kettle on.’

Annie grinned at her. ‘You’re on.’ She got back inside the van; Peter was now hammering on the cage and shouting about police brutality.

Jake looked at her, ‘Is she okay? For Christ’s sake Peter pack it in or I’ll come around there and show you the meaning of police brutality.’

‘Fuck off.’

Annie smothered her laughter with her hand. Peter stopped banging and shouting, having realised that he didn’t really want to go face to face with a pissed off copper the size of Jake.

They drove to the station and parked in the rear yard, there was already a shop lifter in the traps waiting to be processed so it would be at least fifteen minutes before they could take Peter in. After five minutes an unmarked CID car drove into the yard, with Will at the steering wheel and Laura in the front passenger seat. Annie felt her heart break a little more at the sight of them together. Before she could say anything Jake was out of the van and marching towards the car. Oh shit. Jake began to shout at Will, which roused the now sleepy Peter from his drunken snooze. Annie could only watch in horror as Jake wagged his finger in Will’s face; Laura put her head down and darted across the yard and into the station. Jake shoved Will and he stumbled backwards against the bonnet of the car, he caught his balance then shoved Jake back just as hard. A loud cheer came from the cage followed by a lot of whooping. Annie jumped out of the van, running over to separate them, but before she reached them they began to grapple with each other. She could hear the drunk in the van hammering on the cage and shouting. Kav came running out of the back door. He was the same size and build as Jake if not slightly bigger and he grabbed him, pulling him away.

‘Get in the station now and calm down you bloody idiot, it’s a good job there’s nobody important on duty or you two would both be out on your arses.’

Will regained his composure and walked away, his face red and blotchy. He didn’t even look across at Annie. Kav had Jake pinned to the wall, ‘Calm down you stupid moron, do you want to lose your job? Honestly sometimes I wonder where your brain is because it’s not in your bloody head. My office now and don’t move out of there until I come and see you.’

Jake muttered, ‘Sorry boss.’ He walked across the yard and into the station. Kav turned to Annie. ‘I can hazard a guess at what this is about Annie, are you okay sorting out your prisoner? Is there anything I should know before my officers start killing each other again?’

‘I’m fine Sarge, I told Jake to keep out of it but you know what he’s like. He thinks with his fists not his head and yes I’ll sort the prisoner out.’

She walked back to the van and got inside, slamming the door. She looked in the rear-view mirror at Peter who was grinning. ‘Those two wankers better get locked up for section 4, bloody brilliant you couldn’t make it up. There’s more action here than outside the pub last night.’

‘Shut up and go back to sleep. I’ll wake you up when it’s your turn.’

She sat there with her face on fire and a pounding headache, wishing the last few days had never happened.

Chapter 7

Will threw the office door open and it slammed into the wall. Everyone looked up from their computers at him. He didn’t speak, just went and sat down at his desk and slouched behind the computer monitor so they couldn’t see his face. Laura was nowhere to be seen which suited him just fine; he didn’t care if he never set eyes on her again. Jake was well pissed off with him but he could cope with that, what he couldn’t cope with was seeing the look of betrayal on Annie’s face. He began reading his emails, anything to take his mind off the last twenty four hours. He wanted to make it up to her but he didn’t know if he could, she hadn’t returned any of his calls. He had an email from Grace Marshall who was a profiler from Manchester they had drafted in to help search for the last killer. She was telling him all about the wonders of geographical profiling and how she had just helped to solve a series of rapes in the Blackburn area because of it. She also told him she was off to Corfu for two weeks and planning on coming down to Barrow to pay him and Annie a visit.

He considered asking for her advice on the woman found in the church yesterday but she would probably cancel her holiday and he didn’t want to make her do that. They should be able to figure this one out without any outside help. He hoped to God no more turned up but if another body did appear then he wouldn’t wait around he would ask for her help. There was no way he would wait while bodies stacked up, one serial killer in this town was enough and they didn’t want another. The sound of movement made him glance up to see Stu and Laura whispering to each other. She must have sneaked back in because he hadn’t noticed her. He nodded at them; they were both holding clipboards.

‘Sarge is it okay if me and Laura revisit some of the houses near to the church? See if we can catch anyone who wasn’t in earlier.’

Will nodded once more; he couldn’t bring himself to speak. As far as he was concerned they could drive to bloody Blackpool for some candy floss and a stroll on the beach – as long as he didn’t have to look at them. He leant back, putting his feet up on the desk, then he put his hands behind his head and shut his eyes.

***

Annie finally got to book her prisoner in twenty minutes after the fiasco. He was now snoring loudly in the back of the van and she had to shake him to wake him up. He fluttered his eyelids at her, ‘What, where am I?’

‘You’re about to be booked into the cells Peter, again.’ She emphasised the again bit seeing as how she had arrested him twice this month already.

‘What for?’

‘What do you mean what for? What did you get arrested for the last two times I met you?’

‘Oh yep, I forgot about that.’

She shook her head in disgust. ‘You can’t just forget about making someone’s life a misery.’

She helped him get out of the cage and led him to the door, which clicked open. The internal door to the custody suite buzzed and they walked into the small room, where they went through the process of getting him booked in until court tomorrow. Once this was done and he was tucked up safely in his cell Annie went to find Jake. She stuck her head through the community office door; it was empty. So was the parade room. Surely Kav wasn’t still bollocking him. Not really wanting to go and face Kav but not knowing what else to do she walked into his office where he was sitting on his own reading the paper.

‘Erm Sarge where’s Jake, is everything okay?’ She could feel the cooked breakfast she’d eaten earlier rolling around in her guts.

‘He’s gone to get me a McDonalds to make up for his bad behaviour.’

She let out a sigh of relief and he pointed to the empty chair opposite his desk. ‘Take a seat and don’t look so worried, what did you think I was going to do send him to the Inspector? I have the feeling that whatever it is Jake had a pretty good reason for it but do not tell him I said that.’

‘Thanks, I suppose he did and he is very good at protecting my honour but sometimes I’d rather live without all the drama. It’s knackering.’

Kav nodded. ‘I should imagine it is. Anyway enough of that, how are you?’

‘I’ve been a lot worse.’ Images of her lying in casualty last year filled her mind. ‘I just wish I could lead a simple life away from all the hassle. Maybe I should take up flower arranging.’

‘I actually think that’s a good idea, how much trouble could you get in making pretty bouquets?’

She laughed, ‘Knowing me probably a lot. I think I need a change of scenery or a lottery win, either one would be nice.’

‘Then this might just interest you, there is a vacancy about to come up in Windermere which is top secret because you know how many people would like to escape and work up in the heart of the glorious English Lake District, dealing with lots of tourists and sheep.’

‘Really, do you think I would be able to apply for it?’

‘Well I can’t make any promises but if I have a quiet word with the Inspector up there and tell her you need to get out of here for the sake of your sanity but more for the sake of mine, it might just be possible. Plus she owes me for not arresting her teenage daughter a couple of weeks ago for being drunk and disorderly and trying to fight every copper outside that new nightclub where you can drink yourself into oblivion for a quid.’

‘That would be amazing, I need to put everything behind me and have a fresh start.’

‘Yes Annie, I think you do. Although I will be gutted to lose you from my team because nobody provides me with the excitement or entertainment that you do but it might mean I can hang on to what’s left of my hair. Leave it with me and if you go and really hate dealing with all those Japanese tourists who have lost their cameras then you know I’ll have you back tomorrow.’

She stood up to leave. ‘Thank you, I really appreciate it Kav.’ She walked out of the door and back to the office to wait for Jake to turn up so he could give her a lift back down to Marsh Street for that statement. It wasn’t long before Jake walked in carrying a greasy brown paper bag and slurping on a giant size drink. ‘I have no idea where you put the amount of food you eat or why you’re not fifty stone. What did Kav say to you then?’

‘Just told me I was a prick and basically I need to wind my neck in, but he also said that Will was an even bigger prick and I told him I didn’t know about that because I’d never had the pleasure. Soon stopped him in his tracks, he didn’t know where to look so he sent me out for food.’

‘Well at least you’re not in any real trouble, I appreciate you sticking up for me but like I told you before I can handle it.’

She felt her eyes fill with tears and Jake began rooting around in his bag. He pulled out a cheeseburger and held it out. Annie shook her head.

‘You know you could always try batting for the other side, you might have a bit more luck with a bird. We could go to Manchester to the Gay Pride parade as a foursome.’

He dodged the desk stapler that came flying across the room. ‘Just a thought.’

‘Hurry up, I need to get out of here and go get that statement.’

Jake shoved the last of his burger into his mouth. He was still slurping from the paper cup. ‘Do you want some? It’s chocolate milkshake, your favourite.’

‘No thank you.’

‘Suit yourself but I bet it would make you feel better.’

She walked out of the office with Jake behind her; head bent and straight down the corridor just in case anyone was looking. She couldn’t be bothered with polite conversation. There was no way she’d be coming back in here until it was finishing time.

Chapter 8

Sean parked the Ford Focus in the car park opposite the police station just in time to have front row seats for the fight which had just kicked off. In reality he should have run over to break it up but he was enjoying the show far too much. He did feel sorry for Annie; the poor woman didn’t have much luck with her men. A bit like him and his women, he chuckled to himself. He placed his bet on Jake, he definitely wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him and he got scary when he was angry. Sean had worked with him enough times to see him in action. Just as he thought about getting out of the car Kav intervened, saving him the trouble. He knew that stuck up bitch Laura was the cause of all this because he’d heard a couple of officers gossiping before briefing this morning in the parade room. Sean had never liked her, well he had until the last Christmas night out when he had bought her a couple of drinks and thought he’d been doing all right until Will had walked in. She then spent the rest of the night hovering around Will and completely blanking him. He hated women like that and an idea began to form in his head. He stayed in the car until it had all calmed down across the road, then just as he was about to get out his radio crackled to life as the control room asked him to attend a job. He started the engine and reversed out of the parking space to go all the way to the other side of town because a group of ten year olds were playing football in the street.

***

It had been four days since Kav had told Annie about Windermere and yesterday he had taken her to one side and told her the job was hers if she wanted it. The only downside was that if she did she had to start there in two days’ time, they were so understaffed. She had gone home and dithered, was she doing the right thing? Should she not let her pride get the better of her? For a couple of hours she had gone over and over it. Then she’d taken a notebook and a pen, writing down a list of reasons she should go and reasons she shouldn’t. It took her ten minutes to realise the list for the move was much more impressive than the list not to. She’d phoned Kav and told him yes, thank you.

She spent the last hour of her shift boxing up her stuff and her various pieces of uniform and Jake who had hovered around her all day helped her carry them to her car. ‘I can’t believe this is it, that I’m never going to work with you again.’

Once more she asked herself if she was doing the right thing, but all that was keeping her here was Jake. She would miss the banter in the office and Sally and Claire the PCSOs but apart from them that was it, oh and Kav, she couldn’t forget him, he’d been more like a dad to her than her boss. She wouldn’t tell him that though. She had left a huge box of cream cakes in the fridge to help ease the pain a little; she had never really understood the tradition that if it was your birthday or you were leaving that you had to buy the cakes.

‘Don’t be soft; I’ll still see you out of work. It’s not as if I’m moving to London or somewhere far away.’

Jake pouted. ‘Well I feel as if you are. I want a phone call every day and plenty of emails and if there is any eye candy up there of the male kind then that’s super important because I might have to get a transfer up there myself.’

Annie laughed, ‘I promise I will.’ She loaded the last box into the back of her now full car and slammed the door shut. ‘Anyway it’s time to book off duty now, come on let’s go to the pub for a drink.’

Jake brightened up at the thought of alcohol. ‘Excellent idea, should I see if Sally and Claire are coming?’ He went back inside and again she wondered if she was doing the right thing but then a car pulled into the yard and she caught a glimpse of Laura with her bleached blonde hair and felt the familiar pain shoot through her chest. Yes she was doing the right thing, she had spoken to Will briefly yesterday as she had been leaving the station and he had begged her to come home with him so they could speak but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to go back to his house; it was easier to blot things out this way.

‘Please Annie; we need to talk about this. One minute we were fine then within the space of twenty four hours you had moved out and I know it’s my fault entirely. But I need to explain it to you.’

‘Just give me some space, every time I see you with her it’s like a bloody great knife gets twisted in my heart. I might be soft but I’m not an idiot Will, I won’t have anyone laughing at me behind my back.’

A van pulled into the yard and she walked away before the officers got out and took an interest in their conversation. She turned to look at him. ‘I think you should know I am transferring to Windermere. Kav told me they were even more understaffed than we are and need someone pretty quick.’

She had walked away before he even had time to digest what she’d just said. She got into her car and drove it home, parking it on the drive and hoping that no-one would break into it with all her stuff inside or else she’d be in trouble. Locking it and double checking the doors she pulled out her phone and began dialling the number for a taxi just as Jake pulled up in a police van. ‘I thought that you might need a lift back to the station.’

She grinned at him and climbed in. ‘So who’s coming to the pub?’

‘Kav, me, Sally, Claire and of course you.’

‘Perfect, my favourite people.’

He drove them back to the station where he parked the van and then handed her the keys. ‘Go stick them on the whiteboard while I nip and get changed.’

She took them from him and did as she was told. A wave of sadness washed over her as she walked into the sergeant’s office for the last time. The whole station was a complete shit hole but she loved it and would miss it. Kav walked in behind her. ‘I believe the first drinks are on you. Miss Graham.’

She nodded, ‘They are, after everything you’ve done for me this last year I owe you far more than a drink.’

‘Steady on Annie, it’s only five o’clock. You’ll make me blush.’ But he winked at her and she laughed. ‘Sergeant, you know exactly what I meant.’

He pulled his jacket off the back of the chair and put it on, then opening the door for her he waved her through and whispered in her ear, ‘You’re doing the right thing Annie, trust me. Everything will work out just fine.’

They walked down the street to the Railway, which played no music but the beer was cheap and it was always busy. True to her word Annie bought the first round and they all squeezed around a corner table in the window, where they could watch the world go by and get drunk. At the table opposite them was a group of men, one of them an old friend of Mike’s who waved at Annie and shouted hello. She waved back. Mike’s so-called friends had no idea that he was a wife beating thug. Or if they did they never let on. She hadn’t liked any of them because he always went for the loud, cocky ones who would laugh and joke at everyone’s expense.

After half an hour she went to the bar for another bottle of wine. It was packed and she had to squeeze in. She felt a hand squeeze her behind and turned around about to give whoever it was a mouthful and was shocked to see Mike’s friend grinning at her.

‘Alright darling, fancy seeing you in here, you know word has it you were already sleeping with one of the coppers before Mike’s coffin hit the ground. You didn’t do much mourning for him then?’

She wanted to tell him to fuck off but was too polite. ‘No I didn’t, not after he almost killed me. His death didn’t have quite the same effect.’

She paid for the bottle of wine and turned around. There were people pushing in all over the place and he took advantage and pushed himself as close to her body as he could. She shoved him away with one hand, a bit too hard, and he stumbled back into a tall man who was behind him making him spill his pint. ‘Watch it mate.’

Annie muttered an apology and squeezed through the throng of people to get back to her friends; she put the wine on the table and turned her back to the group of men, who were laughing.

After five glasses of wine she knew that she’d had enough. Claire and Sally had left a while ago and Jake and Kav were discussing the football. She wanted to go home, put her pyjamas on and then crawl into bed; if she told them she was leaving they would make a fuss, instead she told them she was going to the Ladies. Neither of them looked up as she made her way through the crowds to the door and some fresh air. It was dark outside and slightly drizzling. She thought about phoning a taxi but she rarely used them, she would rather walk around to the bus stop outside the police station and get a bus for a quid. She didn’t notice Mike’s friend follow her outside. Putting her head down she began to walk briskly around to the back of the pub to take the shortcut across the car park, which was in a quiet back street. Most of the streetlights weren’t working and it was dark but she wasn’t bothered, there was no-one around. She had walked these streets at four in the morning on her own when she was working. The alcohol making her brain foggy she forgot that she wasn’t at work and didn’t have the benefit of CS gas or handcuffs should she need them. She crossed the road and was almost at the other side when she fell forward as someone shoved her hard from behind. Unsteady on her feet because of the wine, she fell to her knees and cried out. Before she could do anything a weight pressed on her and she felt herself being dragged across to the open rear yard of an empty shop. She opened her mouth to scream and a fist hit her in the face, missing her nose but hitting her square in the eye. Annie lost it then and began to fight with everything she had but her attacker was strong, she could smell the beer on his breath and knew it was Mike’s friend from the pub whose name she didn’t even remember. She was managing okay but as she lunged forward she tripped and fell, landing on her back. He straddled her and memories from last year filled her mind. She opened her mouth to scream but he clamped his hand over her mouth so she bit him as hard as she could. Another punch hit her on the side of the head this time and then his weight lifted off her chest and she watched in slow motion as he flew through the air like a balloon. Kav bent down and helped her up and Jake had the prick shoved against the bonnet of a car in an arm lock. The guy was struggling so Kav walked over and sucker punched him in the guts, knocking the wind out of him. The blackness was illuminated by flashing blue lights and Annie groaned as she looked across at Kav, ‘Really.’

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.