Chapter 16
THE GRAVEDIGGER
The heavy curtain of unconsciousness starts to pull back over his eyelids.
When he wakes, the night has turned into a pale summer morning and he blinks against the sun. Once his eyes adjust, he pushes against the moist grass at his side, sits up and sees a herd of cattle in the distance. Then he remembers.
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Where is she?
He gets to his feet, a sharp pain tearing across his skull. Reaching to the back of his head, he feels his sore flesh and touches dried blood. At least the blood isn’t flowing anymore.
The events of the last few hours come back to him. The chase, the fall. He thought that he’d killed her for the second time. There’s no sign of her but there are traces of what happened here.
There’s nothing else for it. With the sun coming up, he has to fill in the grave he dug and get away from here.
He brushes the dirt from his jeans and staggers back up the hill.
The shovel is where he left it and he starts moving the earth as fast as he can, filling in the empty void which was supposed to entomb her forever.
Then he pulls clumps of grass and loose heather over the large rectangle, trying to disguise it as best he can.
Satisfied it looks natural enough, he hurries back to his car and throws the shovel in the boot.
Soon he’s back in the driver’s seat, and his heart racing, he starts the car.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Maybe she hasn’t gone far. Weakened by the head injury, she might be close and incapacitated. Maybe he can find her on the road. But deep down he senses that he has blown his chance to do this quietly. It’s messy now. She knows he’s coming after her.
But maybe he still has time, because he knows she won’t go to the police and she won’t go to the hospital. There are reasons why she can’t explain what has happened to her. She is not innocent in all of this.
He still has some power.
There’s still a way forward.
He accelerates as he changes gear, enjoying the force of the car pushing him forward.
He likes to be in control.
And by regaining control he intends to achieve his objective.
“You may have won this battle,” he says to himself, “but my darling stepmother, you’d better believe I’m going to win the war.”