Page 125 of The Girl in the Woods

He didn’t seem to hear her. ‘That’s all it was meant to be, a frightener. But she’d seen me. So what the fuck was I supposed to do? She’d arrived before I’d had time to put the balaclava on. It was her fault. We could have avoided all of this if she hadn’t come early.’

He clenched and unclenched his hands several times. Adrenalin was rushing through his body. He looked around anxiously, remembering the blood gushing from her smashed skull. Even with the wetness of her blood running into her eyes, she’d still pleaded with him.

‘Oh Jesus,’ he’d moaned. ‘Jesus, why did she have to run? The laughter from the fair seemed all wrong. She’d fallen, and it wasn’t even my fault, and they were laughing, having fun. I’d laughed like that once before she came into my life. I got scared. What if she confided in someone? Or got brave and went to the police? I couldn’t let her do that. Everything we had, as a family, would be gone in a flash.’

‘So you murdered her?’

‘No,’ he denied hotly. ‘She was dying. It was her own fault. I put her out of her misery,’ he said, his voice bland. ‘She would have died anyway. I had one of those cards ready for when they found her slapped about. They’d blame it on The Vigilante.’

‘Then, you wiped Sajid’s phone and put it back on the ground. What did you do with Laine’s phone?’

‘I threw it into the lake on my way back through the meadow.’

Ana took a deep breath. ‘What were her last words?’ she asked through the blurriness of her tears.

‘Sajid,’ he said, without emotion.

Rage that had slowly been consuming Ana now burst into flames, and she flew at him, the Stanley knife shaking with her anger. Ray desperately tried to free himself, but it was useless. Neither of them heard the creak of the cabin door. Ana’s mind was focused on one thing. She wasn’t thinking of the consequences, or maybe at that moment, she didn’t care.

‘Stop,’ said a voice from behind her.

Ana turned to see Sandy Grace pointing a shotgun at her.

Jonny checked his phone. His messages hadn’t even reached Ana’s mobile. He tried to ring her again but got her voicemail like before. It was getting late. Surely, she would have turned her phone on by now.

Something wasn’t right. He could sense it. This wasn’t like Ana. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully and then phoned the station.

‘DC Wilkins.’

‘Oh, hi, it’s Jonny Manners.’

He heard Matt sigh. ‘She’s not here,’ he said.

‘Do you know where she is exactly? Only I can’t get hold of her.’

‘I can’t divulge that information to a member of the public, I’m afraid.’

Jonny felt sure that if Matt stood before him, he’d punch him in the face.

‘As far as I know, she’s finished for the day,’ said Matt.

Jonny cracked his knuckles. ‘Thanks.’

He hung up, stared at the unread messages, and then tried her phone again, only to get her voicemail. He hesitated and finally tapped into Google Maps. That showed him where Ana was and had been for the past two and a half hours. Perhaps she was okay and just had no signal. If she really wasn’t interested, the last thing he wanted to do was hassle her.

He ran his hands through his hair and finally stood up. No, something wasn’t right. He just sensed it. He grabbed his keys and phone and made for the front door.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN

Jonny tried Ana’s mobile but again got her voicemail. He decided to go with Google Maps, which showed she was somewhere near the playing fields.

He turned the car and headed for the playing field car park. He immediately saw Ana’s car. A red Land Rover that he vaguely recognised sat beside it. Where had he seen it before? He was sure it was recently. He looked around for Ana and called her name several times but got no response. The only other place she could be was the woods.

He opened the boot and took out his car jack, feeling stupid as he did so. What the hell he thought he was going to do with that, he couldn’t imagine. His scalp crawled as if with lice. What the hell was Ana doing in the woods on her own?

It then occurred to him that she may not be alone. What if he was interrupting something? He shook his head, dismissing the idea. Ana wasn’t a quick shag in the woods type. He knew that.

He rechecked his phone and saw he had no signal. His heart was doubling in speed now. He had no idea what lay ahead of him. As he drew nearer to the red mark on his map, he spotted a dilapidated building. As he got closer, he heard voices. One was Ana’s, and the other he recognised as Ray Grace’s. That’s where he’d seen the Land Rover before, on Grace’s front drive the night of the barbecue.

---