a small door, was an overgrown rockery. He had spent the next ten minutes sweating and lifting up stones and rocks and had gasped when he saw a rusty piece of metal almost buried under one of them, the very tip sticking out. He brushed away the woodlice, dug his fingers into the moist soil and pulled out a rusted old key. He didn’t dare breathe in case it was too good to be true.
Wiping the key along his trouser leg he walked over to the door and put it into the lock, the pleasure he felt when the key turned was indescribable. He was meant to be here. There was a reason he bought that tin box: he felt connected to Edward Heaton more than he ever felt connected to anyone in his entire life.
I’m sitting on an absolute fortune, some idiot would pay thousands for this knife. But he wouldn’t part with it now for anything or any amount of money because it was a part of him and he still had so much work to do, work that he knew had never been finished over a hundred years ago. He wrapped it back up and hid the bag at the back of the wardrobe, pulling a blanket on top of it because if his mother found it she would phone the police in seconds. That he was her son wouldn’t matter; there would be no loyalty. Then he kissed the gold chain and placed it into his tin box next to the picture of Edward and put it back on the shelf. He needed to play it cool for now, wait until all the fuss had died down. He knew it would take a while because missing girls were big news in this small town.
He sat down in his armchair and looked out of the bedroom window that faced onto the busy front street. He liked to watch the people going in and out of the newsagents across the road. There would be a steady flow of traffic until about seven o’clock and then it would slow to a trickle and become peaceful. If only they all knew that he was watching them and that, should he decide to do something about it, they would well and truly know. He felt invincible.
The young lad who had taken over running the shop for his grandad came out to put today’s flyers on the billboard for the evening paper. He stared at the headline: LOCAL TEENAGE GIRL MISSING. They could search all they wanted. He doubted very much that they would find her. Even if they searched the house that small room in the cellar had been hidden since the 1900s and no one knew of its existence except him.
The light was fading rapidly, the steady drizzle after the storm making the woods treacherous, so Will decided to call it a day. If the girl was here she was deep in the trees and bushes and it was too dangerous to send people in. The Abbey was surrounded by fields that went on for a couple of miles in each direction. There had been no dog handler available because there was a big drugs job on in Workington so, in other words, it was looking pretty hopeless for today. The area had no CCTV coverage except for one small camera on the corner of the house at the bottom of the track that led to the woods. Will doubted that it even worked; they never did when you really needed them to. He was frustrated. There were dead ends everywhere. Several roads led away from this area which made it possible to reach any number of villages or towns and most of them were within walking distance. Jenna White could be anywhere. He hoped she was safe and staying somewhere of her own free will, but his gut instinct told him different and he had a feeling it would be a corpse they would find, if they were that lucky.
He had liaised with the Chief Inspector a couple of hours ago. He had been reluctant to call in air support for a missing teenager who had walked away from her home address on her own two feet: the budget cuts were playing heavily on his mind. Will couldn’t blame him and his hunch wasn’t going to be enough to convince him otherwise, at least not before the dogs had made a thorough search of the area.
He walked the perimeter of the crumbling mansion one last time; double-checking there was no way anyone could have gained entry. He found himself standing on the top step before the front door and shivered at the brass doorknocker: it was the freakiest thing he had ever seen. He still wanted to check the inside. If he didn’t it would niggle away at him until he did and at least it gave him an excuse to go back and talk to Annie.
Will wandered towards Jake. ‘That’s it for today. I’m going to see Annie, ask if she can show me around the house.’
Jake wolf whistled and winked.
Will growled, ‘Get stuffed.’
‘See you later, Detective Sergeant. Enjoy your coffee.’
Will walked away annoyed with Jake: he could be so childish at times. The rest of the search team headed on down the path that would take them back to the cars parked at the entrance of the woods. But he took the path that forked to the left and led to the farmhouse. He knew they were eager to leave the woods before it got dark, he was himself but he wanted to see Annie again. She must be brave staying up here on her own; he doubted he would be able to.
He took out his phone and tried to ring the office to see if Laura had any updates for him. He had left her manning the phones and ringing around a list of Jenna’s friends who hadn’t been in when officers had called earlier. No signal: this place was a bloody nightmare. Following the narrow path that led to the farmhouse he felt the tiny hairs on the back of his neck begin to prickle: someone was watching him. He turned and stared into the trees but couldn’t see anyone. Why did he feel so unnerved? A loud bark echoed through the trees and a big black dog came tearing towards him.
‘Tess!’ The dog stopped in her tracks, turned and raced back to Annie, who was standing by the gate.
‘Hello again, I’m sorry to bother you but I need a favour.’
‘Where’s Jake?’
‘The big guy went back to the station because he’s too scared to be up here in the dark.’
Annie laughed. ‘He’s such a wimp. What can I do to help, Will?’
Will thought that Jake probably had the right idea because he couldn’t shake the feeling he was being watched: he didn’t like it. ‘You did say you have a key for the mansion, didn’t you?’
‘I do, would you like it?’
‘It’s just, I’m thinking we need to cover all our bases. I know there is no way she could get in but I need to check all the same and besides I’ve always wanted to go inside but it’s been boarded up as long as I can remember.’
‘Of course, but I really wouldn’t suggest going in there tonight. It’s a bit of a wreck and would be dangerous in the dark. Like I said, I didn’t see anything when I was in there earlier.’
Will shivered as the temperature dropped along with the rest of the daylight. ‘No, tomorrow is fine. What time is good for you?’
‘I’m up at the crack of dawn so come as soon as you start work. You’ll need some old clothes though, not fancy suits and Italian loafers.’
Will pretended to look hurt. ‘Are you disrespecting my Tesco designer suits and Matalan shoes? What’s wrong with this look?’
Annie giggled and he liked the way it transformed the mask of worry she had been wearing since he first saw her earlier.
‘Nothing. They are very nice but you wouldn’t want to ruin them, would you?’
He shrugged and turned to leave.
‘Would you like a coffee?’
He told her he would love one and she opened the gate. Tess, who had decided that Will was OK, was running around his legs almost tripping him up. ‘Is she being friendly or purposely trying to break my neck?’
‘Both. She’s a lovable pain in the arse.’
Will
