She’d tried to call Laura but there was no answer. The only thing Natalie could do right now was to help the family so that’s what she’d do. At least she had been with Kate’s dad all the time. She couldn’t be suspected of taking Millie. Whoever had taken that little girl had done so right under their noses.
Her phone buzzed and a message from a private number came up.
I need to speak to you now. I know who took Kate and I’m scared. They’re coming for me and I don’t have much time. Please meet me where the old phone box used to be, by Archie’s nursing home. I’ll be there at eleven. They said, if I tell anyone, Kate and Millie die. Don’t tell a soul. Mary. X
Her heart revved up and she nearly choked on the invisible mass in her throat. Who are thetheythat Mary speaks of? What trouble had they all been in over the years that had built up to this?
As she turned to go, she spotted a familiar face walking through the streets looking puzzled. The red-haired man spotted his crying little girl and ran over. Natalie watched for a few seconds as the man’s body language changed from confused to angry in all but a few seconds. He started shouting at Kate’s dad. It was time to go.
Running through the streets, she arrived back at her shop. She got straight into her car and with shaking fingers, struggled to turn the key. The car screeched as she selected a gear and drove off. Whatever she thought of Mary right now didn’t matter. If Mary, Kate and Millie were fighting for their lives, Natalie would help and not only that, she had to do everything she could, regardless of the danger it would put her in. That little girl needed her and she wasn’t going to let her down.
FIFTY-ONE
NATALIE
She skidded to a halt outside the phone box. There was no one there. The old rusty door squeaked as she opened it. Natalie peered around wondering if the noise had alerted whoever had sent that message to the fact that she’d arrived. The phone hadn’t been connected for years with most people now using mobile phones but there was evidence of kids hanging around. Cigarette ends and a couple of empty cider bottles were strewn outside and the inside had been sprayed with pink and green paint. There was a piece of paper stuck at eye level. She snatched it and read.
Follow the walking trail behind the post box until you get to the clearing. I can’t be seen with you or we all die. Hurry, we’re scared and there’s no one else I can trust. M.
Snatching the note, she left the phone box. As she stepped onto the muddy walkway that led through the dense trees, something told her to turn back. Nothing about what she was doing felt right. Why was Mary using another phone? She wondered if Kyle had taken to reading her messages since everything kicked off. If Mary knew something about Jessica and she was running scared, Natalie wouldn’t turn her back on the woman, despite their differences. She checked her phone again. Laura still hadn’t tried to call her back, which was odd, but maybe she’d failed their friendship.
Branches whipped in the gale and one slapped her across the face. A drip of rain landed on her forehead. The weather was set to be much the same as it had been, chopping and changing all week. The sooner she was back in Looe and all this was resolved, the better.
She reached the clearing, the one people occasionally parked in but this place wasn’t a tourist spot and the weather was definitely putting the dog walkers off. She leaned to the right, narrowly missing the hurtling twig that flew past her head. Wind whistled through the clearing. She caught sight of the car parked up on the muddy verge. She recognised the navy-blue Citroen but she thought that it had been sold years ago. She also wondered why on earth Mary would be driving it.
‘Hello,’ she called out. She gulped. Kate had been followed by someone driving a dark-coloured car.
After transferring her weight from foot to foot for several minutes between checking her phone, she walked over to the car and glanced in. There was nothing unusual about it. Nothing on the seats, nothing in the centre console. There was a tiny sack on the back seat, a random tin of beans and an empty bottle of water. A blister pack of tablets and two spoons lay on the floor.
‘Mary.’ She ran around, checking the ditches and behind trees but Mary was nowhere in sight. Maybe she’d come too late. She grabbed her phone. It was time to call the police. No signal. She had one back on the trail. Hurrying back the way she came, pushing through leaning branches, stepping over decaying logs, she was nearly there. Holding her phone high above her head, she could see that one bar was appearing. She’d call the police, get back in her car and let them deal with it but then a bolt of pain stunned her, sending her slipping in the mud to the ground where she bashed her nose on a log.
‘You had to keep digging, didn’t you? You killed Kate,’ a voice bellowed as it was hauntingly carried in the wind.
As she went to turn her head, another blow came down and just before the world went black, she knew that Kate and Millie were dead. The person doing this to her didn’t know the meaning of the word mercy. It was game over.
FIFTY-TWO
KATE
A car hums outside the building I’m being kept in and I can’t see. However much I try to wriggle, the drugs I’ve been given in that drink and the pain in my head both make escape impossible and he knows it. All I know is that my captor is a man – I think. The voice is warped as I take in what is being said through my covered ears. It’s like I’m living a nightmare. I kick out and my foot crunches on the wall and all I want to do is cry.
I wriggle and kick. My captor’s footsteps move away from me and it sounds like they’re searching for something. Objects clatter to the ground as they open drawers and pace around. I hear something fall close by so shuffle a little to my left until my tied up hands touch what feels like a block of cold. My sweaty hands release the corkscrew of a Swiss Army Knife. My heart pounds. I have a tool and I’m going to use it. I need to save my daughter and if I have to kill my captor I will. I’d do anything for my child.
There’s a smell, like sweat and it’s not mine. Hot breath catches my cheek. He’s there, right beside me. I feel sick but I breathe in slowly through my nose and I sit on the knife.
‘Millie is a perfect child, so perfect.’
Tears dampen my blindfold. This person has my child and I’m stuck here. I kick out and roar behind the gag. I need to get out and get to Millie, now.
The doors close. My captor is going now he’s parked the car up. I hear the lock click and I know I’m alone again. Fumbling behind my back, I manage to release the knife.
I take my chance and start to saw. Flinching, I realise I’ve caught my wrist with the blade but I carry on, trying to be more careful this time. Nothing can stop me now. I need to get out of all this, if I don’t, he will kill me and take Millie.
Jolting up, I’m startled by a bang coming from the car. I’m not alone in this hellhole of a lock-up.
Heart pounding and mouth dry; even with a tremble I carry on sawing. The rope is getting looser and bingo, it slips off my wrist to the ground. I untie my feet, remove the gag and blindfold.
Glancing around, I try to work out where the bang came from. ‘Hello.’
