Page 112 of The Girl in the Woods

Sajid and his friends stood some way back from Jim’s garage and waited. Each glanced at the other to gauge what the other was thinking. Sajid shuffled his feet and Khalid cracked his knuckles. Dilip said, ‘Well?’

Sajid hesitated. What if they were tooled up? The agreement had been that no one would be, but could he trust Needles?

‘Okay, let’s go,’ he said finally.

The others followed, and Sajid knocked on the garage door three times as Needles’ text had instructed. The door swung up.

‘We’re taking your word that you haven’t come tooled up,’ Needles said.

Sajid stared at the small scar that wrinkled Needles’ arm in almost the same place as his own.

‘We don’t break our word,’ said Khalid.

‘Nor us,’ responded Needles.

They stepped into the garage, which smelt stale and unused. A few old forks and spades were hanging on hooks, their rustiness showing their lack of use. The air was cool and slightly damp and the smell of petrol still lurked in the air from where the bike had been smashed. Fluorescent lights buzzed quietly overhead, casting a stark white glow over everything. A ladder was clamped to the wall, but Sajid could tell nothing in that garage had been used in years.

The two gangs stared suspiciously at each other.

‘A beer?’ said Needles, trying to break the ice.

Sajid nodded, and Needles handed round cans of London Pride. After they’d cracked open the cans and taken a few gulps, Sajid sensed everyone relax.

‘We’re all here for the same reason,’ said Needles. ‘To find that fucking vigilante that killed Laine. The police are getting sodding nowhere.’

‘Where do we start?’ asked Digger.

The million dollar question, thought Sajid. Where do we start? There wasn’t a single clue to lead them to The Vigilante. There had been no other attacks since Laine. The more they discussed it, the more depressed Needles became. It seemed an impossible task.

‘The machete,’ blurted Sajid. ‘The clothes, the rucksack. What if they were recently bought.’

Needles scoffed. ‘Probably bought online.’

Sajid shook his head. ‘But what if they weren’t?’

‘I think he’s got a point,’ said Digger. ‘After all, what else have we got? It’s a start.’

Needles didn’t have any other ideas, so he agreed. Laying out a large piece of paper on the floor, Needles outlined a plan. 1) Make a note of everyone locally who carried a rucksack. 2) Check local garages for machetes and similar clothes to what The Vigilante wore. 3) Make a list of potential suspects. 4) See if they could find shops that sold similar clothing.

Sajid didn’t want to ask Needles what they would do if they found The Vigilante. He thought they should go to the police, but somehow, he doubted that was Needles’ plan; and Sajid knew that’s when the trouble would start.

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

Tom was getting frustrated. There had been nothing at all that would lead them to The Vigilante and now the chief had called a meeting.

‘I’m under real pressure here. Have we got nothing at all?’ he asked the team.

‘We’re presuming he’s local,’ said Matt. ‘Perhaps we should be looking further afield.’

‘Where exactly?’ asked Tom, and Beth recognised the irritation in his voice. They were feeling the pressure, especially after what had happened with Luke. The villagers had lost faith in the officers of Stonesend and Beth couldn’t blame them. It was worse for Tom. It seemed to them that trouble had been running amok in their village since he returned.

Laine’s parents were talking to the newspapers, expressing their disappointment at the police’s lack of progress, and Chief Lewis was constantly on their backs. The vigilante had been on the run for too long in everyone’s opinion. He needed to be caught.

‘The news of a bent copper has not helped,’ he growled at Beth and Tom. ‘How the hell did that happen? It took a constable to figure it out, Jesus! What the hell were the rest of you doing?’

Beth had lowered her head, knowing she’d been so focused on Ben and his baby and Tom returning to the division that she’d overlooked things that had been clearly under her nose.

‘I don’t think the person who killed Laine was The Vigilante,’ said Ana.

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