Devils way, p.3
Devil's Way, page 3
‘No. Do you think Leo is going to get Gary’s nose?’
Tristan laughed.
‘There’s a good chance he will.’
Sarah pulled a face.
‘I love everything about Gary, apart from that.’
‘What about your nose?’ asked Tristan.
‘Mine’s fine, but you’ve got a lovely Roman nose. I’m hoping the genes from our side of the family will win through.’
Tristan looked at Leo with his cute little button nose, fast asleep on his shoulder.
‘I think it’s a lottery, but he’ll be a looker, either way.’ Sarah nodded and smiled. Tristan gently handed Leo back to her. ‘Now, if this interview is over, I need to sleep. I’ve been awake for almost two days.’
‘Just don’t worry about Kate. She’s in good hands in the hospital,’ said Sarah. Tristan nodded.
‘Thank you.’
‘And Tris?’
‘Yes?’
‘Can you make sure you put the toilet seat down? It drives me crazy when you leave it up.’
Tristan gave a salute and went upstairs. Just as he sank down on the bed, he heard Leo start to scream again, but exhaustion pulled him into a deep, dreamless sleep.
4
Kate woke, confused and coughing in the dim light. She couldn’t catch her breath. She hacked and retched and then managed to gulp in some air. She sat back, panting, her eyes and nose streaming, and reached for a tissue. She tried to breathe evenly. When she closed her eyes, she could feel herself turning over and over as she spun through the water, catching glimpses of the rocks at the bottom of the sea. She opened her eyes. The screen beside her bed glowed with different coloured lines, showing her vital signs. Kate concentrated on it until they stopped spiking so rapidly. She cleared her throat and had to spit into a tissue.
‘You all right, love?’ asked a voice in the darkness. Kate turned and could make out the shape of the older lady hunched down under the covers. Her small head seemed to float above the blankets.
‘Yes.’
‘You don’t sound okay.’
‘I’m sorry if I woke you up.’
‘You didn’t wake me up, love. I can’t sleep. What are you in for?’
Kate gripped the sides of the bed, still feeling the rocking motion of the sea.
‘I…’ It felt difficult to admit what had happened. ‘I almost drowned, which is embarrassing.’
‘Why?’
‘I swim every day.’
‘Were you in a swimming pool?’
‘No. The sea. I swim in the sea every day.’
The old lady shifted under the covers and cursed.
‘You’ll be okay, though. I heard the doctor.’
Kate could hear a tinge of bitterness in her voice. She was about to ask her neighbour what she was in for, but the older lady changed the subject.
‘You see that light out there?’ The large glass window looked out onto the corridor and the nurses’ station opposite. On top of the high counter was a lamp in a green shade. ‘It keeps me awake. I’ve asked the nurse to move it, but she won’t. She’s a right bitch.’ Kate’s heart sank when she heard the woman talking like this, and she wished the curtain was drawn between them. The older lady didn’t wait for her to answer. ‘Always pulls when she’s changing my dressing. She’s got a whiff of the sadist in her, but it’s subtle, very subtle.’
Her voice was gravelly, and Kate was glad she couldn’t see her face. She sank back in the bed and squinted at the walls. There was no clock, and Kate didn’t know where her phone or watch was.
‘Do you know what time it is?’
‘Just before two.’
‘Only?’ said Kate. She was now wide awake. The thought of the hours left until the sun came up filled her with dread.
‘I can never sleep.’
‘How long have you been here?’ asked Kate.
‘This time? Two weeks. I’ve got ulcers on my legs, and the infection gave me blood poisoning.’
‘Sorry to hear that.’
‘I’m Jean, by the way.’
‘I’m Kate. Hi.’
Kate heard a rustle and then cursing, and Jean rang the bell by her bed. A moment later, a nurse, who looked only in her twenties, came to the door.
‘Everything all right, Jean?’ she asked crisply.
‘Please. Can you move that light off the desk?’ asked Jean.
The nurse sighed and checked the watch pinned to her lapel.
‘Jean. I’ve told you before that we have to have a light on at the nurses’ station. We need to be able to see. The light has a shade; it’s the lowest wattage. Would you like me to draw your curtains?’
‘No! I can’t sleep in such a confined space. I don’t know why you can’t put blinds in those windows.’
‘We have to be able to see you, so we can take care of you,’ said the nurse. She was keeping her voice light, but Kate could tell this was a conversation she’d had before. ‘Do you need anything, Kate?’ she added, her voice softer.
‘No. Thank you.’
‘Okay. I’ll just be out here.’
The nurse left the room and went back to sit at the desk. The counter was very high, and as she worked at her computer Kate could only see the very top of her head.
‘I’m not being fussy,’ said Jean now they were alone again.
‘Of course not,’ said Kate, thinking the opposite.
‘Are you married?’
‘No.’
‘Kids?’
‘I’ve got a son, Jake. He’s in his third year at university in California.’
‘I’ve never been to America. Never been nowhere much. I went to France for a pound a few years back. You remember that deal they had in the back of the newspapers? I went to Calais. It was quite nice, apart from all the French people.’
‘Yes, Calais is quite nice.’
There was a moment of silence and Kate closed her eyes.
‘I heard the doctor say that you’re a private detective?’
Kate hesitated. She just wanted to sleep.
‘Yes. I am.’
‘I’ve never met one before. I thought private detectives were all men.’
The way Jean said the word ‘men’ indicated to Kate that her history with the opposite sex hadn’t been happy.
‘A lot of them are,’ said Kate.
‘Have you solved lots of cases?’
‘A few.’
‘Have you ever had a case where you’ve had to find someone who went missing?’
‘Yes. Most recently a young woman.’
Jean was quiet for a moment, then she asked in a small voice, ‘Did you find her?’
‘Yes.’
‘Yes?’ Jean replied, her voice hopeful. Kate sighed. ‘Oh. She was dead, wasn’t she?’
‘Yes, she was.’
‘How did you find her, and where? You can tell me.’
‘We found her skeleton, buried in a wood.’
There was another long silence and then Jean blurted out, ‘My grandson went missing. It was on a camping trip, and we had a green tent. That’s why I hate that lamp at the nurses’ station.’ Kate looked at it again. The light glowed through the green fabric shade, slightly mottled like canvas. It did look like a tent, a small one pitched on the wooden surface. ‘I only left him for a few minutes… When I came back, he was gone.’
‘When did this happen?’ asked Kate, her interest piqued.
‘Eleven years ago,’ said Jean, and the sadness in her voice broke Kate’s heart. ‘For a long time, I thought that he might be out there, somewhere, still alive, but he was only three when he went missing. How would a three-year-old survive out there all alone? And, of course, there are lots of people who will take a three-year-old child for a reason.’ Her last words hung in the darkness for a long beat.
‘What does your daughter think happened?’ asked Kate.
‘She’s dead. Killed herself, four years ago. Couldn’t cope with the loss. Blamed me. Becky… That was her name. She was Becky.’
There was a long silence, and Kate could feel herself drawn to the story.
‘The doctors can’t understand why I have these ulcers and why they’re not healing. They think it’s my immune system, but I think it’s the poison inside me coming out. Like acid, it seems to keep coming.’
Kate sat up in bed and sloughed off the covers. She slid her feet out, ignoring the dizziness, and scooted over to the edge of her bed to reach out to Jean. She found her hand and squeezed it.
‘Oh, you made me jump.’
Kate could feel a little resistance, so she let go and shifted back into bed.
‘Thanks, love,’ said Jean. Kate thought she’d gone too far with this display of affection, but Jean cleared her throat and said, ‘Can I tell you the story of what happened?’
‘If you feel up to it,’ said Kate.
‘No, but I want to tell you,’ replied Jean.
5
‘Devil’s Way is in the eastern part of the Dartmoor National Park, a few miles from the town of Bovey Tracey. It’s named after the river next to the Devil’s Tor. My daughter, Becky, and her partner, Joel, had the idea for us all to go camping.’
‘Joel is Charlie’s father?’
‘Yeah. Joel comes from quite a well-to-do family. They weren’t thrilled that he got together with my Becky. And then, when she fell pregnant with Charlie, they pretty much disowned him. Money was tight. They were only young when all this happened, in their early twenties. I was only in my forties. I know. I look older than I am,’ said Jean, seeing Kate’s reaction. ‘I’m only fifty-five, but you try living the last eleven years of my life. And things weren’t straightforward before it all happened, either.’
Kate nodded, shocked to learn that Jean was only eight years older than her. She looked to be in her late sixties.
‘That’s how we ended up camping. We had no money, but we were blessed with the beautiful countryside on the moors… Joel picked the place. I thought we’d be staying at a nice campsite with communal toilets, a little shop, and other kids for Charlie to play with. I was shocked when we arrived on the open moor. No loos. The nearest pub and shop were six miles away. We pitched our tents next to Devil’s Tor. It was beautiful, and Charlie was excited. It was the first time he’d been anywhere, really.’
‘Where did they live?’ asked Kate.
‘With me, in my one-bedroom flat in Exmouth. I’d taken them in when Becky fell pregnant, and Joel’s family didn’t want anything to do with him. They were on the list for a council flat.’
‘Were you all sharing the same tent?’ asked Kate.
‘No. I put me foot down at that. Becky and Joel were in one tent, and me and Charlie had the other. The first night we slept like logs, but the next morning, I was up early with Charlie who was still excited. So excited. He wanted to paddle in the stream and go looking for frogs. He was obsessed with frogs. We let Becky and Joel sleep in. Then around eleven-thirty, I noticed that the car was gone. I called Becky, and they were miles away on the other side of Dartmoor at some music festival, and she was already drunk. They’d left Charlie and me with only a bit of bread and margarine. I couldn’t drive anywhere. She said that Joel had been offered a gig at the last minute, playing with a band and that they would be back later. When I told her we didn’t have much food left, she told me to go and pick blackberries!’
‘Blackberries aren’t ripe until July or August,’ said Kate.
‘I know. Can you believe it? Stupid girl. I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead…’ Jean was quiet for a moment and shifted uncomfortably in the bed. ‘Anyway, it didn’t matter in the end. Charlie was so excited about everything and anything, and we played and paddled. Two o’clock comes by, and then three, four, five, six! Becky and Joel finally rock up just before eight with food for a barbecue.’
Jean sighed, and there was a creak as she shifted again in her bed.
‘What happened when they got back?’ asked Kate. When the pause was long enough, she felt comfortable interjecting.
‘I was mad, but I kept my mouth shut until after we’d eaten. I pulled Becky off to the stream and was about to let her have it, but she told me Joel had earned a hundred quid playing the guitar for this band. Their guitarist had come down with something. She gave me half the money for housekeeping, and then we were okay. We came back from the stream, Joel lit a fire, and we toasted marshmallows and ate loads of chocolate. They’d bought some of my favourite drink, Babycham…’ Jean sighed. ‘I can still see that night so vividly, us all being together by the fire. Happy. You know those summer nights that seem to go on for hours after the sun sets?’
Kate nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘When the sky stays burnt orange and the sun glowing low on the horizon. It felt like it was just God and us sitting there that night. And I’m not even religious… It was the longest day of the year, the twenty-first of June. Anyway, around nine-thirty, when it was getting dark, Charlie was finally tired, and we all turned in for the night. After he was down, I went to have a cigarette. Charlie didn’t want me to go, but I was only going to be outside the tent.’ At this point, Jean’s voice faltered, and she sat up in bed.
‘Are you okay?’
‘Yeah. Just trying to get comfy. I left Charlie, and I went up onto the Devil’s Tor. It was only twenty or thirty metres away from the tent, if that. And…’
Jean put her hand to her mouth as if this part of the story made her feel sick.
‘It’s okay,’ said Kate.
‘No. It’s not okay. I was only gone for a few minutes, and when I came back to the tent, Becky was just coming out. She said Charlie’s sleeping bag was empty. The weather had turned quickly. There was a strange mist hanging over everything, sort of knee height and very thick. I first thought Charlie had come looking for me and got lost in that mist. We looked around the tent, then Becky and Joel’s. I went back up to the Tor and searched the base. It was like a series of stones stacked on top of each other, very smooth, there was no way that he could have climbed up. I clambered to the top, scratching my arms on the way, and when I got there, I looked out over everything to see if I could see him. Becky and Joel searched the stream. Nothing.’
Kate could hear that Jean was out of breath.
‘It’s okay.’
‘Even after all this time, I can feel it. I can smell that night. You know when you’ve got tanned skin? I can still smell that summery scent, mixed with the cold fog in the air. I can almost feel the moisture on my tongue.’
‘When did you call the police?’ asked Kate.
‘We should have done it right away, but none of us wanted to admit it was serious. A couple of police came out, and they started to search the area… Then it got light. The sun came up, and it was so hot. There were more police, and then the Dartmoor National Park got a search party together. Nothing. It was like he’d vanished into thin air.’
‘And you said this was eleven years ago?’ asked Kate.
‘Yes,’ said Jean. ‘And I haven’t had a good night’s sleep since then. Charlie would be almost fourteen now if he were alive. They think he might have fallen in the river and been washed away, but we don’t know. He just vanished. It’s what pushed Becky over the edge. The lack of answers. No closure. She eventually broke up with Joel, and got into drugs.’
There was a long silence in the dark, and then Jean said, ‘Do you think you can help me find him?’
6
Kate woke up, disorientated, after another night of strange, vivid dreams. She was drenched in sweat and felt an incredible thirst. The room was bright, and a group of young men and women filed past the window. Kate pushed back the hair stuck to her damp forehead, and it all came back to her. She was in hospital, but she couldn’t remember falling asleep.
The bed next to hers was now empty, and the bedding had been stripped off the mattress.
There was a creak and a low rumbling, and a nurse who looked familiar from the previous day came bustling into the room with a medicine trolley. She wore a red tabard over her blue uniform with DRUG ROUND IN PROGRESS, DO NOT DISTURB written in white letters.
‘Hello, Kate. How are we today?’ she asked chirpily, stopping the trolley beside the bed and unhooking Kate’s chart from where it hung on the end.
‘Where’s Jean, the lady from the next bed?’ asked Kate, hearing her voice was croaky and thick with sleep. ‘She’s not dead, is she?’
The nurse peered over and hesitated, with a rictus grin on her face.
‘I can’t talk about other patients due to data protection.’
‘If she’s dead, then there’s no more data to protect,’ said Kate. The nurse from the previous evening’s shift came to the door.
‘Dawn. Jean Julings. I’ve just had to send her records over to The Lawns. A place came available for her early this morning.’
The nurse left, and there was a rattle as Dawn put some pills in a little paper cup which she handed to Kate.
‘What are The Lawns?’ asked Kate. She remembered Jean’s story from the night before and wasn’t sure if it was a dream.
‘It’s a residential care home,’ said Dawn.
‘Do you know why they moved her?’
‘Probably because she was blocking a bed that could be used for someone sicker.’
‘What’s this?’ asked Kate, peering at the tablets nestled at the bottom of the cup. Dawn consulted the chart.
‘Levofloxacin is an antibiotic for your chest infection. You have an antihistamine for the motion sickness you’ve been experiencing, and a mild sedative to help you rest. Rest is essential, and you must drink plenty of fluids.’ Dawn took the empty plastic jug from beside the bed, went to the sink in the corner, filled it, and poured Kate a glass of water. ‘Here, drink.’
Kate took a long pull, wincing at the tepid water, which seemed to have a tinge of chlorine.
‘When can I leave?’
