Gone (36 page)

Chapter 89

17 December 2010

Lucas wiped the sweat from his face with cold hands. He’d dug maybe a foot. If that. Who’d have thought digging a grave would be so fucking hard. He stepped back and wondered if he should just leave her there. The police would be onto him by now. It was unlikely she’d be left to rot as long as Jenny anyway.

He turned to Emma and watched as she tried to tear the twine off her wrists and ankles, tried to pull them apart. He wiped his face again. It was pitch black now; he could barely see past the tree she was sitting against. His arms were aching and he’d pulled a muscle in his back. This wasn’t how he’d imagined it would go down.

As he threw the spade onto the ground he thought about everything she had done to him. How she’d rejected him. How she’d murdered his baby. How she’d gone running to that prick Ben for help. How they’d set him up.

He looked over at Emma, still struggling, still crying under her gag. She thought she was better than him but she wasn’t. She was as guilty as he was. Worse, even. She’d picked at that girl’s bones like carrion.

Lucas stood over her, looking down. Emma stopped moving. He crouched down in front of her. He wanted to pull the gag from her mouth but he was afraid she’d scream, afraid someone would hear and come running. But he needed answers.

‘Did you think you’d get away with it, Em?’ he said. ‘Did you really think I wouldn’t work it out? Wouldn’t find you?’

Emma whimpered and he pulled the gag away.

‘You always thought you were better than me. Better than everyone. But you’re just as bad. A liar, a killer.’

‘I didn’t kill her,’ she said, her voice shaking.

Lucas punched her in the stomach. She cried out and keeled over and Lucas grabbed her by the throat. ‘Don’t you fucking lie to me.’ Spit came out as he screamed in her face. He let go of her and sat back, wiping his mouth. ‘And then you have the fucking gall to set me up.’ He pulled her upright again.

‘How did you know what’d happened with us? Why her?’ he asked, and she just looked at him like she didn’t know what he was talking about. ‘I know you set me up. You put your ID on her body. You wanted them to think I’d killed you. Didn’t you?’

‘I just wanted to get away,’ Emma said.

‘But how did you know about me and her? How did you know to do it to her?’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. I swear,’ Emma said through her sobs. ‘We found her. Ben was trying to help her. We went looking for her and we found her in the flat.’

‘So you and the bent lad helped her by killing her? Finishing her off? Finishing what I started?’

‘No. It wasn’t like that. We found her like that. She was already dead.’ Emma looked confused before the realisation hit her. ‘It was you. You killed her. You killed Jenny.’

Lucas sat back, his hands on his head. After all this time, he was starting to understand. He looked at Emma, squinting to see her face in the gloom. And it was a picture. They both knew. After all this time they were finally on the same page. Lucas started to laugh.

Chapter 90

8 July 1999

Emma jumped up from the bench as Ben came out of the clinic. She’d rather have spent the day in there instead of loitering outside, but Ben couldn’t watch her 24/7 and after she’d sat in the waiting room for a couple of hours, Ben’s colleagues started getting uppity. So much for helping those in need.

After walking around for hours the night before, she’d finally gone to Ben’s and told him about Lucas. She knew she couldn’t go home. Not after Lucas had threatened her dad, too. She couldn’t bear knowing she would be responsible for her dad getting hurt. Ben had tried to get her to go to the police but it was pointless. They never did anything. A slap on the wrists and he was free to do whatever he wanted. If that man hadn’t come out of the bookies when he did, Lucas would’ve done something there and then. She’d seen him angry before; that was pretty much all he ever was these days. But it had been different the other day. She’d seen something new in his eyes and she was sure that he wouldn’t stop coming after her. She wasn’t sure Ben would be able to protect her from Lucas if he found her, but at least she wouldn’t be alone.

Ben nodded at her and glanced over his shoulder as his boss locked up the clinic. Emma walked across to him. His boss was trying to pretend she wasn’t watching them but was failing miserably. Emma turned her back to the other woman. ‘Can we go now?’

‘See you tomorrow, Ben,’ his boss said as she passed them.

‘Bye, Jessie,’ Ben replied and waited until she was out of earshot. ‘There’s something I need to do first. Maybe you should go home.’

‘No,’ Emma told him. ‘I can’t.’

Ben looked away from her and she wondered if she should just leave him alone. He’d already done so much for her. Lucas had hurt Ben once, she couldn’t bear for it to happen again. But she was scared. She didn’t know how she’d cope by herself. And how could she be sure Lucas wouldn’t find her eventually?

‘I need to go and find someone,’ Ben said. ‘A girl who’s been coming here. I’m worried about her.’

‘I’ll come with you.’

Ben sighed. He looked like he didn’t have the energy to argue. Or maybe he knew he wouldn’t win. Emma felt strange being the one in control.

‘I don’t even know where she is,’ he admitted. ‘Someone mentioned seeing her over at Lime Court. You don’t know her, do you? Jenny Taylor?’

Emma stuck close to Ben as he asked around. She’d recognised a few faces. Lucas’s customers. She wished she hadn’t come. Someone might see her, tell him she was there. No one was talking to Ben anyway. It was a waste of time. And she really didn’t want to see Jenny.

‘Up there?’ Ben said, distracting Emma from her thoughts. She watched as a young kid walked away, stuffing a tenner into his pocket. ‘Come on,’ Ben said and she followed him up the concrete steps, wishing she had somewhere else to go.

Ben knocked on the door and it creaked open. Emma felt a fly buzz past her face and caught a whiff of something foul. Worse than the rest of the estate. She saw someone watching from the flat next door.

‘Wait here,’ Ben said and stepped into the flat. Emma ignored him and followed him inside. The smell was stronger. They both covered their faces and edged further in.

‘Jenny?’ Ben said, though not quite loud enough for anyone to hear. Emma felt her stomach churn. It wasn’t just the smell. It was more than that. A feeling.

She followed Ben through the flat to a half-open door at the back. She could hear buzzing. More than just one trapped fly.

She heard the noise from Ben before she saw her. He turned, gagging, and Emma saw her too. Her blonde hair spread across the pillow like Sleeping Beauty. Only Jenny wasn’t sleeping. Her face was caved in. Flies were making themselves at home on her corpse. Ben brushed past her as he ran out. She could hear the sound of him retching.

She couldn’t move. She was mesmerised by her. By the mess of her body and the brilliant shine of her hair where the sliver of sunlight between the curtains hit it. The girl who had been so big, so angry. All she could think was, That’s what I’d look like if I were dead.

She felt Ben come up behind her. He pulled gently at her elbow. ‘We need to call the police,’ he said.

Emma didn’t move. She felt like she was seeing her future.

‘Emma?’

‘That could be me,’ she said. ‘That’s what Lucas will do to me.’

Ben stepped in front of her, blocking her view of Jenny. ‘We need to go,’ he said. ‘You shouldn’t have to see this.’

‘That could be me,’ she said again and stepped around him, looking at what was left of the girl.

‘No,’ Ben said. ‘It won’t be. We’ll call the police. We’ll tell them about Lucas. I won’t let it happen to you.’

‘No, you don’t understand,’ she said, finally looking at Ben. ‘That could be me.’

Chapter 91

17 December 2010

Lucas moved closer to Emma and put a hand on her cheek, unable to stop the grin spreading across his face. ‘The best thing you ever did for me, Em. You got rid of the body, the evidence. Any trace that I was ever there. If you’d left well alone I probably would’ve been banged up for it. But instead,’ he said with a smile, ‘here we are. Think about that before you die.’

‘You killed her,’ she said again and looked past him at the grave he’d started to dig. Her elbow cracked into his face before he had time to react. He fell backwards and she kicked out at him, pushing him further away.

Lucas struggled to stand up straight, watching as she kicked out again, the twine starting to fray. He lunged at her and her foot caught him in the jaw. ‘Fucking bitch,’ he said and grabbed her legs. She reared her head back at him, catching him on his temple, knocking him off her. Pulling her feet apart, she ripped the twine and scrambled to her feet.

Lucas grabbed for her, catching her ankle, pulling her back to the ground. She kicked out again but he got his footing and slammed into her back. She started to scream and he pushed her face into the mud. ‘Shut up,’ he said. He rolled her to the side and they both slipped into the ditch. He pushed her down and then reached up for the shovel, raising it above his head. She cowered beneath him and he climbed out of the ditch. It wasn’t deep enough but it’d do. He brought the shovel down and felt the vibration up his arm as the metal made contact with her skull.

She was still.

Lucas stood over her, his breathing out of control. He thought he could hear a noise coming from somewhere behind him. How far was he from the road?

He turned back to the grave and started shovelling the soil back in, watching her slowly disappear.

Chapter 92

8 July 1999

Emma sat on the bus, trying to hold back the tears. With one hand she held onto the bag with everything she owned in it – Jenny’s dole book, Ben’s savings, and an address in Alnwick where his mother lived. The other hand clutched at her neck where her mother’s necklace should’ve been. Ben had put her bus pass in Jenny’s pocket but he said it wasn’t enough. He’d asked for the necklace. She didn’t want to but she was giving up everything else. Giving up being Emma Thorley. She had to do it. The only way she would escape Lucas, the only way she’d live, was by pretending to be dead.

She’d convinced Ben it could work. There’d be no DNA to ID her as she didn’t have any real family. Not that that made it any less painful. She knew it would destroy her dad. She kept telling herself that it was for the best. That one day she’d find a way of telling him she was okay. But what if that day never came?

And what about Ben? She’d left him to sort things out again. Only this time he wasn’t passing on messages. He was going to break the law. He was going to bury Jenny.

Emma realised she was crying when the old lady in the seat next to her held out a tissue.

What had she done?

She got up and moved to the front of the coach, stopping beside the driver. ‘I need to get off.’

‘No unscheduled stops,’ he said without looking at her.

‘It’s an emergency,’ she said. ‘Please.’

‘Next stop is Sheffield. You need to sit down.’

Emma made her way back to her seat. She’d get off in Sheffield and come back. She needed to stop Ben. Needed to stop him from ruining his life.

She leaned against the cold window and thought about her dad. Ben had asked her over and over if she could do it. If she could walk away from her life. She’d felt so sure. But now?

She looked at her watch. It was late. She wondered where Ben was. If he’d gone back to the flat yet. If he’d started. She sobbed as she thought of him burying Jenny. How could she have agreed to let him do it alone?

Ben had promised he’d sort things out, but what if someone found the body too soon and worked out it wasn’t her? Still, she’d be long gone by then. Maybe Lucas would’ve given up.

And what was so good about being Emma Thorley anyway? She might not have her own life, but she’d be free.

Chapter 93

17 December 2010

Gardner looked across at Freeman as they drove. Local police had been helpful, and it was one of their officers that’d spotted the car, but as they approached the woods he saw they hardly had the cavalry to help with the search. He saw one parked police car at the side of the road, and an officer standing beside it looking like he was freezing. Freeman pulled in and Gardner jumped out.