She wrapped her arms around him and he clung to her as she picked him up. ‘AreyouOK? Oh my sweet boy.’
‘I saw him, in my dreams,’ he sobbed, as his mother cradled him. ‘His face was like this …’ He pressed his palm to his cheek and dragged the skin down. ‘But he had two faces. He looked like Daddy too. They’re in B-Blackhall Manor,’ he sobbed. ‘He wants to fin-finish the game.’ He was talking about the injuries Lewis suffered when he ran into a burning building without a thought for himself. Part of him died that day. He’d returned a different man.
‘Oh my darling,’ she soothed, bringing him to her own bed. ‘It was just a nightmare. You can sleep with me tonight.’ But her mind was racing. What if this wasn’t a bad dream? What if Lewis really had returned? His room was on the ground floor. He was allowed to leave when he wanted. Nobody was keeping him there. She had lied to Sarah about his illness because she was trying to buy herself some time. Her husband had appeared vacant to the outside world – but he was physically capable of moving about on his own. Staff told her to be patient, that he would speak to her in time. What if it was all a game?
The description Elliott gave was clear. He had barely recognised his father because of the scarring on his face. The knot of worry that had plagued Maggie recently twisted in her gut. Was Lewis the Midnight Man? It wouldn’t be the first time they had played that game. She thought about the hell of his PTSD and the decline of his mental health. His erratic paranoia and obsessions as he spiralled into depression and substance abuse. She’d been too embarrassed to tell people that her heroic husband had fallen apart – but what did that say about her?
After soothing Elliott back to sleep, Maggie picked up her home phone. It was gone midnight, but Sarah would forgive a late-night call. The phone rang off the hook. Her nerves on edge, Maggie tried her mobile number again. No response. The memory of Elliott’s words chilled her bones. ‘Sarah’s in trouble, Mummy. She’s with the Midnight Man.’She drove her hands through her hair. This was crazy talk. Would the police listen to her? But her son had described a living person, made of flesh and bone. She picked up her phone. Sarah was in trouble. She had to make the call.
55
‘I got you.’ Richie’s voice broke through the confusion as Sarah blinked at the flash of his iPhone light.
‘Richie? What’s going on?’ she said, on a shaky breath.
‘You’re OK. It’s all going to be OK.’ Richie extended his arm. The strong grip of his hand was the lifeline Sarah needed as Richie helped her to her feet. The acrid stink of discharged gunpowder fouled the air. She didn’t want to let Richie go.
‘You’re bleeding.’ Dazed, she peered in the flickering light at the blood running in rivulets down his arm. A moan rose from the corner of the room. Her legs felt too weak to support her as she turned towards the noise. Lewis was on his back, eyes half-closed, a set of cuffs on his wrists.
‘It’s just a graze,’ Richie looked stunned as he followed her gaze. ‘I managed to wrestle the gun off him but the bullet skimmed my arm.’ In the dim light Lewis seemed uninjured but concussed.
‘Thank God you’re OK.’ Sarah’s eyes danced around the room. ‘The moths.’ But they were gone. She blinked, coming back to the room, the living, the here and now. ‘Elliott! Where’s Elliott?’ Plucking a candle from the window she headed to Robin’s old room. This time there was no hesitancy in opening the door. Shadows danced beneath the light of her flame, but there was nobody there. Nothing but a mouse scurrying into a crack in the wall. She checked each room in turn. ‘He was bluffing … please let him have been bluffing.’ She exhaled a sob-choked breath. ‘Elliott’s not here.’ Her words echoed in the dim landing as she returned to her parents’ old room. Perhaps Lewis hadn’t been able to go through with hurting his own son. He had been a devoted father, from what Maggie had said. She should have known such bonds were not so easily broken. Shaking his head, Richie took in the scene. ‘Our local hero,’ he said, his gaze falling on Lewis. ‘I can’t believe it’s him.’
‘He had help,’ Sarah replied, her heartbeat returning to a normal rhythm. ‘He roped Christian in too.’ She thought about Maggie’s visits. She must have broken the news of Sarah’s return to Slayton with David over a year ago. Of her new job, her colleagues, and even the investigation. Everything Sarah had told her must have filtered down. Then using Christian’s keys, he’d gained access to her home. No wonder he knew so much about her life.
Richie updated control with his call sign on his police airwaves radio. Blood dripped from his arm onto the wooden floor. ‘I’m going code three two with Lewis Carter for the attempted murder of Detective Constable Sarah Noble. Can you get an ambulance over here, the suspect appears concussed.’ The rifle had been disarmed and placed next to the door. Sarah’s attention was drawn to the vibration of her own phone and she bent gingerly to pick it up from the floor. It must have picked up some signal. It was Maggie. She’d sent a text, after several missed calls.
Everything OK? Elliott had a bad dream and said you were in trouble. He’s fine, back in bed. Text me when you get this x
Relief flooded over her. Elliott was OK. ‘Jahmelia?’ she said, turning to Richie.
‘We got an anonymous tip-off. She’s been found in the boot of Christian’s car. Still alive, but critical.’
‘That’s a relief.’ Sarah turned to Lewis. ‘Is he going to be OK?’
‘I took his legs out from under him with my baton,’ Richie said. ‘That’s when the gun went off. He hit his head against the floor when he fell.’
Still dazed, she helped drag Lewis into a sitting position against the wall. A low groan escaped his lips. He was going to be OK. ‘Jeez, what is this thing?’ Richie shuddered at the sight of the insects crawling in Lewis’s cloak. Sarah smiled. Bugs had been the least of her worries. Blank and bleary-eyed, Lewis’s eyes fluttered open. He stared past them in silence as Richie relayed the police caution. The darkness that seemed to invade him had retreated into the shadows, dormant for now.
‘Put some pressure against that wound,’ Sarah said, pressing a tissue to Richie’s arm. ‘How did you know I was here?’
Richie guided her towards the window, his voice low. ‘Yvonne made me stay behind to man the phones while everyone went to the quarry. Your friend Maggie rang the office. She didn’t make a lot of sense at first, but I gathered that she was worried about you. She told me where you lived so I drove by and saw your car was gone. I knew where you had to be … I came straight here.’ He cast an eye over Lewis. ‘I saw the candles in the window. He was taking aim when I got here.’
‘I’m glad you did,’ Sarah said, explaining the events which had led up to that point. Richie had saved her life. She stared out the window, waiting for the welcome sight of blue lights. Deep down she already knew that the fourteen-year-old girl trapped in the wardrobe for all these years had finally been freed.
‘I’m going to clear my father’s name.’
‘You are?’
Sarah nodded. Only now, through the eyes of an adult, was she able to see what really happened that night.
56
Monday, 11th December 2019
Sarah stared at the man before her as he struggled to take his last breaths. It was hardly surprising that nobody was by his hospital bed. All his life, this man had placed money before family, worshipped advancement over relationships. There was nothing wrong with having ambition, but when you became a shark you ate your friends. That’s how it had been with her uncle, John. He was part of a boys’ club which covered up his mistakes, portraying him as a generous businessman, someone to be admired. But nobody close to him was fooled. His wife had divorced him years ago and moved halfway across the world. They never had children because he had no room in his life for them. It was probably best.
Sarah had assumed it was grief that had made him this way. His brother was dead. So was his nephew, his sister-in-law and his parents. But now the test results were back. The blood found on the silencer recovered in Blackhall Manor was her father’s. A partial fingerprint was also found. It matched the man before her. Sarah’s family had died at his hands.
