‘Where are Scarlett and Janey, their families are missing them so much. You can make this better, Joyce, you don’t need that gun.’
Joyce glanced towards the rug on the floor then looked up, and Morgan realised that there might be a trap door that led down into a cellar under it. Joyce had been sitting on top of it the whole time.
‘I do and I can’t, they’re probably dead by now. You’re too late, but at least you can live with yourself because you tried, I’ll give you that.’
Cain was nearest to Joyce, and Morgan knew that if she could distract her well enough, he might be able to knock the gun out of her hands. She was tall, and strong for an older woman, but he had the advantage.
‘You can’t let your whole life be ruined because of something your grandson did, Joyce, now is the time to put things right. Put the gun down, show me where Janey and Scarlett are, please.’
Joyce’s shoulders slumped, and she lowered the gun slightly. She pointed to the rug. ‘Down there. I didn’t know, I swear I didn’t, at least not until after you left and I figured it out, but he’s family and I couldn’t say anything. You protect your family at all costs.’
Morgan dived towards the rug, and dragging it away, she saw a door cut into the floorboards with a small hole just big enough to get two fingers in to lift it up. She did and was hit by a blast of cold, damp, fusty air.
When she shone her torch into the hole, Cain nodded and she began to climb down into the blackness. Cain stayed watching Joyce, who still hadn’t put the gun down.
Morgan reached the bottom and called out, ‘Scarlett, Janey it’s the police.’
‘Help, we’re down here,’ a voice called back to her, and she felt her heart skip a beat.
She began to jog towards them. The tunnel was narrow and going uphill, but she didn’t pause, she kept going until her light picked out the terrified, dirt-streaked face of Janey Moore, who screeched in terror when she saw Morgan.
‘It’s okay, I’m a detective. You’re okay now, you’re safe, we’re going to get you home.’
Janey nodded. ‘Scarlett’s hurt.’
‘Where is she?’
‘Behind me.’
Janey turned around, but there was nobody there. ‘Scarlett,’ she screamed in panic. ‘She was there, where is she?’
Morgan reached out and gently patted her arm. ‘It’s okay, you go the way I just came. You’re almost at the end, I’ll go find her. My colleague, Cain, is waiting for you okay? Don’t be scared, we want to help.’
She squeezed herself as close to the wall as possible to let Janey get past her, then she began running up the narrow tunnel.
A loud bang echoed throughout the tunnel as the shotgun went off, and she felt her knees go weak. ‘Cain,’ Morgan screamed his name. She took out her phone. It had no signal. She stopped dead in her tracks; did she find Scarlett or go to Cain? Taking her radio out, the little flashing light that told her she had a signal was red, green for go – red for nobody is coming to help you. Her knees were wobbling so much she didn’t think she could hold herself up. What if Joyce had shot Cain? She didn’t think she’d be able to go on, if he’d been taken from her.
A high-pitched scream pierced the air and she ran towards it, praying that Cain was okay, that he’d wrestled the gun from Joyce and it hadn’t shot anyone except the floor or ceiling. The tunnel widened into a room with two cages in it. She shone the torch around and saw Amos on the floor, clutching his stomach. He was bleeding out, his eyelids flickering. His leg was on thefloor. She was shocked to see him lying there, was he Gerald Grant? Then she saw the girl in the corner, not moving, her eyes wild as they frantically moved from side to side. She realised that there was a hand cupped over her mouth. Scarlett’s clothes were covered in blood and her skin was pale, clammy.
Morgan lifted the torch higher and gasped.
‘Ernie.’
He shrugged. ‘This is a bit of a mess, is it not?’
‘Let her go, she’s hurt.’
‘I didn’t hurt her, that I can promise you. She did that to herself.’
‘Amos?’
‘Nothing to do with me either. I got here after the event, which has turned out to be more carnage than I would have done. You’re quite a vicious little thing, aren’t you?’ He shook Scarlett a little, and she groaned.
Morgan’s heart broke even more as she barely whispered, ‘Ettie?’
‘She is also fine; I haven’t seen her since I left her this morning to run around with you.’
Morgan wasn’t sure if he was lying or not, but she prayed that he wasn’t.
