Chapter 53
FIFTY-THREE
Morgan tried to stay calm as she knocked on Joyce Black’s door for the third time in twenty-four hours.
There was a huge difference this time. Her hands were shaking with adrenaline at the thought that they were so close, that she had been so close to the missing women and hadn’t even suspected Joyce had anything to do with what happened.
That hurt Morgan a lot and she wondered how much Joyce knew. She hoped she was wrong about Grant.
Cain hovered behind her. She’d told him to let her do the speaking, but now she wondered what she was going to say.
Her mouth had gone so dry her tongue felt as if it had tripled in size.
Finally, she heard footsteps and the door opened.
Joyce was dressed in jogging pants and a hoodie today, both with the Stranger Things logo on.
‘Hi, Morgan, what a surprise.’
‘Hi, Joyce, can we come in?’
Joyce looked from her to Cain and nodded. ‘Of course, I was just about to make some coffee.’ She opened the door wide and ushered them inside.
Morgan hovered in the hallway, wondering where Gerald was and where the girls were.
‘Go down to the kitchen, I’ll be along in a minute. Left my glasses upstairs and can’t see a thing without them.’
Morgan smiled at her and went into the kitchen that was warm and smelled of bacon sandwiches. There were two mugs on the table, and she pointed to Cain and silently mouthed, he’s here.
He nodded, took out his phone and sent a quick message then shoved his phone back into his pocket.
They could hear Joyce moving around upstairs, and Morgan looked around the kitchen.
There was a magnetic knife rack above the cooker with enough knives to stop an army, and she didn’t know if she felt comforted by them and the fact that there were weapons to hand or worried that they could also be used against her and Cain.
Joyce walked back in with a shotgun in her hands and aimed it straight at Cain’s chest.
‘I wish that it hadn’t come to this, Morgan, I really do. Why are you here this time? You’ve already searched my house and didn’t find anything. Get your hands up, the both of you.’
Cain glanced at Morgan as if to say what the fuck, and Morgan felt a crippling pain so bad in her chest that she had dragged him into this. They raised their hands in the air.
‘I don’t understand what’s going on, Joyce,’ Morgan asked her, keeping her voice as calm as she could.
‘Yes, you do. You came here looking for Gerald. Who told you about him?’
‘Nobody, I checked the electoral register, and he’s still registered as living here.’
Joyce let out a sigh. ‘Well then, that just shows you can be the cleverest kid in the class and still as stupid as shit.’
‘Where is he, Joyce, and where are the girls?’
‘He isn’t here; he had to go on a little trip.’
‘Where are Scarlett and Janey, their families are missing them so much. You can make this better, Joyce, you don’t need that gun.’
Joyce glanced towards the rug on the floor then looked up, and Morgan realised that there might be a trap door that led down into a cellar under it. Joyce had been sitting on top of it the whole time.
‘I do and I can’t, they’re probably dead by now. You’re too late, but at least you can live with yourself because you tried, I’ll give you that.’
Cain was nearest to Joyce, and Morgan knew that if she could distract her well enough, he might be able to knock the gun out of her hands. She was tall, and strong for an older woman, but he had the advantage.
‘You can’t let your whole life be ruined because of something your grandson did, Joyce, now is the time to put things right. Put the gun down, show me where Janey and Scarlett are, please.’
Joyce’s shoulders slumped, and she lowered the gun slightly. She pointed to the rug. ‘Down there. I didn’t know, I swear I didn’t, at least not until after you left and I figured it out, but he’s family and I couldn’t say anything. You protect your family at all costs.’
Morgan dived towards the rug, and dragging it away, she saw a door cut into the floorboards with a small hole just big enough to get two fingers in to lift it up. She did and was hit by a blast of cold, damp, fusty air.
When she shone her torch into the hole, Cain nodded and she began to climb down into the blackness. Cain stayed watching Joyce, who still hadn’t put the gun down.
Morgan reached the bottom and called out, ‘Scarlett, Janey it’s the police.’
‘Help, we’re down here,’ a voice called back to her, and she felt her heart skip a beat.
She began to jog towards them. The tunnel was narrow and going uphill, but she didn’t pause, she kept going until her light picked out the terrified, dirt-streaked face of Janey Moore, who screeched in terror when she saw Morgan.
‘It’s okay, I’m a detective. You’re okay now, you’re safe, we’re going to get you home.’
Janey nodded. ‘Scarlett’s hurt.’
‘Where is she?’
‘Behind me.’
Janey turned around, but there was nobody there. ‘Scarlett,’ she screamed in panic. ‘She was there, where is she?’
Morgan reached out and gently patted her arm. ‘It’s okay, you go the way I just came. You’re almost at the end, I’ll go find her. My colleague, Cain, is waiting for you okay? Don’t be scared, we want to help.’
She squeezed herself as close to the wall as possible to let Janey get past her, then she began running up the narrow tunnel.
A loud bang echoed throughout the tunnel as the shotgun went off, and she felt her knees go weak.
‘Cain,’ Morgan screamed his name. She took out her phone.
It had no signal. She stopped dead in her tracks; did she find Scarlett or go to Cain?
Taking her radio out, the little flashing light that told her she had a signal was red, green for go – red for nobody is coming to help you.
Her knees were wobbling so much she didn’t think she could hold herself up.
What if Joyce had shot Cain? She didn’t think she’d be able to go on, if he’d been taken from her.
A high-pitched scream pierced the air and she ran towards it, praying that Cain was okay, that he’d wrestled the gun from Joyce and it hadn’t shot anyone except the floor or ceiling.
The tunnel widened into a room with two cages in it.
She shone the torch around and saw Amos on the floor, clutching his stomach.
He was bleeding out, his eyelids flickering.
His leg was on the floor. She was shocked to see him lying there, was he Gerald Grant?
Then she saw the girl in the corner, not moving, her eyes wild as they frantically moved from side to side.
She realised that there was a hand cupped over her mouth.
Scarlett’s clothes were covered in blood and her skin was pale, clammy.
Morgan lifted the torch higher and gasped.
‘Ernie.’
He shrugged. ‘This is a bit of a mess, is it not?’
‘Let her go, she’s hurt.’
‘I didn’t hurt her, that I can promise you. She did that to herself.’
‘Amos?’
‘Nothing to do with me either. I got here after the event, which has turned out to be more carnage than I would have done. You’re quite a vicious little thing, aren’t you?’ He shook Scarlett a little, and she groaned.
Morgan’s heart broke even more as she barely whispered, ‘Ettie?’
‘She is also fine; I haven’t seen her since I left her this morning to run around with you.’
Morgan wasn’t sure if he was lying or not, but she prayed that he wasn’t.
‘Let her go, it’s over.’
‘That is my problem. You see, I can’t just let her walk out of here, not now. I never meant to pull Joyce into this, but it happened and now we’re both involved.’
‘She’s not your gran, is she? She’s not old enough.’
‘You’re as good as your aunt told me you were. No, she’s my mother, had me at a ridiculously early age. It was a good job she lived up here with my grandparents, nobody ever knew. Families are complicated, aren’t they?’
He raised his hand, lifting a small, heavy, wooden rounders bat, and was about to swing his arm back towards the side of Scarlett’s skull, when from out of nowhere came a low growl and Shep appeared.
He ran at Ernie and sank his teeth into the back of his calf, jolting Ernie forward.
He yelled and at the same time released both Scarlett and dropped the bat.
Morgan rushed forward. Pulling the pepper spray out of her pocket, she pushed Scarlett out of the way and blasted Ernie in the eyes, nose and mouth until the entire can was emptied into his face. He fell to his knees howling. Shep let go and limped over to Amos, lying across his master’s legs.
Morgan didn’t waste a second. She kicked the bat away from Ernie and was grabbing his arms, cuffing them the best she could. He tried to push her off but failed as he was too busy trying to rub at his eyes.
‘Morgan,’ Cain’s voice echoed through the tunnel, and she felt such a wave of relief she almost sank to her knees and cried.
Scarlett was whimpering, and Morgan gently took hold of her, rocking her and patting her back. ‘It’s okay, you’re okay, sweetie.’
Cain appeared, out of breath, red-faced, took one look at the guy on the floor howling in pain and nodded in approval.
‘You had me worried there. Good job, Brookes. I have bad news though; Ben has just arrived and is about to come running in here any minute.’
‘How did he know?’
‘I texted him earlier. I had a feeling things might go a little tits up.’
‘I thought Joyce shot you. I was so scared.’
‘Aw, you were? No, I wrestled the gun from her hands, and it went off. She’s okay though, currently cuffed to the back of a chair and cursing like a navvy.’
She smiled at him. ‘Amos doesn’t look too good. Are paramedics on the way because Scarlett is injured too, but she’s okay, aren’t you, Scarlett?’
Scarlett nodded. ‘I think so.’
‘Morgan, Cain,’ Ben’s voice echoed towards them.
Cain smiled. ‘Sorry about this.’
Ben appeared at the entrance to the room, his face ashen as he took in the carnage. ‘What on earth?’
‘Amos needs paramedics ASAP, so does Scarlett.’
She was kneeling next to Amos. She gently patted Shep’s head. ‘You are a very good boy, well done.’
Shep looked at her, and she felt her heart melt. Dogs were so amazing.
‘I don’t know how safe this tunnel is, all of us down here might be making it dangerous.’
Ben nodded. Between them, he and Cain dragged Ernie to his feet, Cain in the lead, Ben behind. They pushed him out of the room and down the tunnel.
‘Are you okay to follow them, Scarlett, do you need help?’
‘I’m scared, can I wait for you?’
‘If you think you can hang on.’
‘I feel so bad, he came in from the other side, and I thought he was the creep who had put us in here and killed my friends. I did that to him and I’m so sorry. Janey kicked his leg off too.’
Morgan squeezed Scarlett’s hands. ‘You weren’t to know, you thought he was the killer. You were protecting yourself.’
‘Is he going to be okay?’
Morgan couldn’t answer that. Amos looked as if he had lost a lot of blood and he didn’t look very well, but he was still breathing so that was good.
‘Hopefully.’
Footsteps running along the tunnel towards them made them both turn to stare and see a paramedic, with a huge green bag, followed by another.
Morgan sighed. She squeezed Amos’s hand. ‘You’re going to be okay, Amos, hang on, Shep needs you, but don’t worry about him, we’ll take care of him until you’re better.’
She gently coaxed Shep away from his owner so the paramedics could work on him. He was reluctant to leave but he knew that these two men were here to help, so he let Morgan lead him by the collar along the tunnel.
Scarlett was in front, clutching her side, and Morgan could see the blood soaking through the dirty cream sweater that was tied around her waist.
‘Keep going, Scarlett, you’re almost there.’
As light from the trap door filled the tunnel, Scarlett fell to her knees.
‘Cain, Ben,’ Morgan shouted, and they both appeared.
Cain came down into the tunnel and scooped the girl up into his arms, then over his shoulder in a clumsy fireman’s lift. He climbed the ladder to where Ben was waiting to help him up. They lay her onto the floor. She was semi-conscious but breathing.
Two more paramedics arrived and began working on her, making Morgan feel much better. She looked around to see Joyce still handcuffed to the chair. Janey Moore was glaring at the woman.
Morgan finally made eye contact with Ben, expecting him to lose his shit with her; instead he hugged her fiercely and whispered, ‘I love you.’ Then let her go, back to being the boss just as Marc and Claire arrived.
Morgan walked outside. Amber and Brett were marching Ernie down to their van. He would have to go to hospital for the pepper spray and the dog bite, but she hoped it got infected. Then it hit her, how was she going to tell Ettie? The guy who had been wining and dining her was a cold-blooded killer.
A loud caw from above the cottage made her look up, and she could swear Max was perched on the roof along with another raven, both of them watching what was happening.
‘Max,’ Morgan called out, and he took off into the air, soaring towards her. He landed on the windowsill nearest to her, and she knew it was him. ‘Who is going to tell Ettie? I wish you could speak, bird.’
He let out a loud caw and took off again, his new mate following behind, back to her aunt’s. Who knew, maybe he would be able to tell her what a creep Ernie really was and how lucky she’d been to have escaped him.
Morgan called Ettie to be sure she was okay and that Ernie hadn’t hurt her, holding her breath until she heard Ettie’s voice.
‘Oh, Ettie.’
‘Morgan, what’s going on? Where is Ernest, is he okay?’
‘He’s okay but he’s not a good man, Ettie, he’s been arrested.’
The sound of Ettie’s soft tears as she ended the call would haunt Morgan, but she knew that her aunt would be okay in time, which was more than could be said for Dawson and Lizzie.