Chapter 13
Thirteen
Gina
O’Connor drove through the windy roads for what felt like forever.
They needed to hurry. Mindy was alone, in a van and freezing cold.
Every second mattered. As he turned another corner, he pressed the brakes and clutch together, propelling them both forward as he waited for a startled deer to hurry out of the road.
‘Great driving,’ Gina said, her hands shaking from the near miss.
‘That was so close.’ He went into first gear and started driving again. One more road and two minutes later, they saw a sign for the lake’s car park.
‘Here.’ She pointed for him to take a left.
He pulled up in a space at the back. The pitch-blackness felt suffocating. The few stars in the sky did little to add any light to the scene but the blue lights from PC Smith’s car that followed behind along the potholed road helped.
‘There’s no van. The car park’s empty.’ Gina scrunched her brows as she looked across the empty car park.
‘Wait.’ O’Connor pointed. ‘There’s a dust road that’s half covered by overgrown brambles and trees.
’ He started the car up again and drove down it, hopping along the uneven ground until they reached another smaller car park where the white van was parked up.
The police car followed. ‘There’s the van. ’
Gina stared at it. Carmen had threatened to kill Mindy and as the interview wrapped up, Carmen had kept crying over how much she only wanted to be close to Mindy.
By the looks of where she’d left her van, Gina was sure she’d planned for Mindy to never have been found.
She shivered as she thought of the lake.
Was that where Carmen had planned to eventually dump her body?
PC Smith ran with another PC towards them, torches in hand. ‘Ambulance was right behind us, guv,’ PC Smith said.
Gina stepped out and followed them. The chill in the air was now a full-on frost. The keys rattled in Gina’s shaking hands.
It was so cold, her fingers were numb. If Mindy had been shut in a van in this temperature for hours, she would have more than the bleeding to worry about.
She fumbled in the lock but there was no need, the doors weren’t even locked.
PC Smith flashed his torch inside the large Transit and a woman lay on a single mattress set to one side, next to the piled-up tool bags and strips of copper pipe on the other side. ‘Mindy, I’m DI Harte from Cleevesford Police. You’re going to be okay. Are you injured?’
There was no answer. The woman lay in the foetal position, her dark hair draped across her cheeks, covering her face. Gina reached for her wrist under the blanket. ‘She’s quite warm and there’s a pulse.’ She nudged the woman. ‘Mindy… Mindy… You’re safe now.’
She let out a murmur.
‘Mindy…’
The woman lifted her head and stared at them with one eye open. ‘Carmen? You came back.’
‘No, it’s not Carmen. It’s DI Harte, from Cleevesford Police.’
Mindy pulled the blanket over her head and scrunched up into a ball underneath it.
‘DI?’
‘Yes, that’s right. We’re here to help you. Are you able to stand and let me assist you out of the van?’ Gina spoke slowly. Mindy slurred like she’d been drugged and she worried that she wouldn’t be able to take in what Gina was saying.
Gina kneeled next to her, taking PC Smith’s torch while O’Connor waved to get the attention of the paramedic who’d followed them on foot through the narrow road.
The stench of vomit hit Gina’s nostrils.
Gina let out a long breath, relieved that Mindy had been located.
Whatever happened between Mindy being taken from Ferndale shops and ending up here in the back of her ex’s van, that was for Gina to find out.
Mindy would have her moment to fill them in.
She reached down and helped Mindy up to a standing position where she swayed and held on to the near side of the van.
‘We’re going to get you out of here, Mindy.
There’s an ambulance waiting.’ The paramedics were there, ready to help Mindy into the ambulance. ‘You’re safe now, Mindy?’
The woman mumbled again. ‘I will never be safe.’