Secret Sister

Chapter 1

THE GRAVEDIGGER

Digging her grave is the hardest thing he’s ever done.

Not because he cares about the dying woman on the dirty grass behind him, but because it fucking hurts.

Even with gloves, his flesh burns from the rough wood of the shovel handle, and his back, shoulders and arms ache from the effort of heaving soil.

And the soil… it’s everywhere: on his jeans, his boots, his skin, mingled with his sweat, in his eyes, his hair, his mouth.

The moonlight moves like a wraith across the moor grass, picking out patches of mauve-coloured heather.

He has turned off the powerful torch in case a driver on one of the distant roads sees it.

Even though he has carried his victim far away from any footpaths, he still worries that her body will be found quickly by a dog walker after the sun rises.

He digs deeper. This will not be a shallow grave. She cannot be found any time soon.

Owls screech in the distance. He ignores their cries, just as he has ignored the rustling of foxes and grouse through the undergrowth.

Perhaps the odd grass snake too. He has not seen cattle or sheep up here but if there are some, they may wander over to investigate the noise.

He doesn’t want that. He doesn’t want cows signalling to their farmer that there’s something strange in their pasture.

He pauses and wipes the sweat from his forehead. How much longer is this going to take? The dying woman, the person he despises most in this world, has been quiet for a while. Ever since he administered the overdose that should have killed her by now. He turns around to check.

The moonlight is weak, so he bends down and collects the heavy torch. The power switch gives a satisfying clunk as the light illuminates the area where he dumped her on the ground.

The yellow beam strikes the moor grass gently stirring in the night breeze.

It shows two squinting eyes and the furry body of a young fox sniffing around a pile of vomit on the ground.

The gravedigger rushes forward, his stomach turning as he sees the partially dissolved pills that he force-fed his victim before he threw her into the boot of his car.

But the discovery of the vomit isn’t what makes his blood run cold.

The illuminated ground reveals that the woman he thought would be dead by now, is no longer there at all.