S Bolton - Blood Harvest

‘What happened yesterday?’ asked Alice.

Evi could feel Harry’s eyes on her. ‘Gillian is seriously infatuated with Harry,’ she said. ‘And yesterday-’

‘She saw me kissing Evi,’ interrupted Harry.

Alice looked at her husband, then back at Evi. ‘But what’s that got to do with-’ she began.

‘Harry and I don’t have children,’ said Evi, forcing herself to look Alice in the eye. ‘But Gillian knows we’re fond of yours. I’m really sorry, but I think taking Joe is about punishing us.’

‘She and I had words earlier today,’ said Harry. ‘I really wasn’t in the mood to be patient, I’m afraid. She didn’t take it well. Oh shit.’ He dropped his head into his hands.

‘If Dr Oliver is right, Gillian took Joe from somewhere miles away from here so that we wouldn’t connect it with what happened to the girls,’ said Rushton. ‘Joe knows Gillian. If she’d told him she’d been sent by his mother, there’s a good chance he’d believe her.’ He looked at his watch again. ‘Where is Jove?’ he muttered. At that moment, his mobile phone rang. He excused himself and left the room.

Silence fell in the kitchen as everyone strained to catch any part of Rushton’s conversation. They didn’t have long to wait. After less than three minutes, they could hear his footsteps coming back along the hall. The door opened. His sallow skin seemed to have grown paler.

‘Not the best news,’ he said, without entering the room. ‘Jove and his lads found what they thought was a crime scene in Gillian’s flat. Blood everywhere. Turns out she made an attempt on her own life this evening.’

Evi half stood up and didn’t have the strength to make it further. She sank back down again. At her side, Harry had gone very still.

Rushton shook his head, as though trying to wake himself up. ‘Her mother found her and called an ambulance,’ he said. ‘She’s in Burnley General now. Slashed both wrists. In a bad way, by all accounts.’

Evi’s hand was covering her mouth. ‘Oh my God,’ she whispered.

‘Is she going to live?’ said Alice. ‘If she dies…’

‘Take it easy,’ said Rushton. ‘I’m going over now. They haven’t been able to talk to her yet, but I’ll see what pressure I can bring to bear on the doctor in charge. And Jove hasn’t been idle. He’s talking to her mother about any connections she and Gillian have in Blackburn – old friends, relatives, places they used to live.’

‘I need to come with you,’ said Evi, forcing herself to her feet.

‘Evi, I don’t-’ Harry began.

‘I’m her doctor.’

‘No disrespect, Dr Oliver, but I doubt you’re top of the list of people she wants to see right now,’ said Rushton, zipping up his coat. ‘If we think a bit of persuasion is needed, we might call upon the vicar. Excuse me now, folks.’

Rushton was leaving. He was wrong, Gillian was her responsibility, she had to go to the hospital. Evi stood up and set off across the kitchen as the front door slammed behind him. She’d made it halfway along the hallway before Harry caught her.

‘You’re not going anywhere,’ he said.

She shrugged his hand off her arm. ‘This is all my fault,’ she said in a low voice, not wanting to wake the children, not wanting Alice and Gareth to hear how seriously she’d messed up. ‘I’m responsible for her welfare and I betrayed her.’

‘You did nothing of the kind.’ Harry, it seemed, wasn’t capable of speaking quietly. ‘Since we met, you’ve gone out of your way to do the right thing. I’m the one who wouldn’t leave you alone, and if anyone’s to blame it’s me. I’m going to the hospital.’

‘Neither of you are going anywhere.’ As Harry turned from her, Evi could see Gareth in the kitchen doorway. ‘And I’ve heard quite enough self-indulgent crap for one night,’ he continued. ‘Now get back in here, both of you, and help us work out where she put Joe.’

Tom stood in the dark living room, listening to the sounds in the hallway, hoping that someone would open the door and see him and Ebba but not quite able to bring himself to call out. Then the front door slammed shut. He could hear Harry and Evi arguing in the hall and then his dad saying something. Then the adults all went back into the kitchen.

‘I have to get my dad,’ Tom said.

The girl’s whole body trembled. She shook her head and looked at the door, then back at him, then at the window. She took a step towards it.

‘He won’t hurt you,’ said Tom, although the truth was he couldn’t say for certain what his dad would do to someone who’d hurt Joe. She took another step towards the window. She was going, they’d never catch her, an entire team of police officers had been searching the town all day and they hadn’t found her. She’d go and his last chance to find Joe would disappear.

Was it seeing her terror that was lessening his? Because although this was one of the strangest experiences of his life – and he’d had a few lately – Tom was discovering that he wasn’t quite as scared as he’d thought he would be. Pretty scared, admittedly, just not… Joe had never been scared of Ebba.

‘Wait,’ Tom heard himself say. ‘I won’t tell him.’ What was he talking about? That had been the plan, hadn’t it? Hold on to her and call for his dad.

But Millie hadn’t been scared either. When Millie had seen Joe’s drawing of Ebba, her little face had lit up, as if she was looking at the picture of an old friend.

‘Tommy come,’ said Ebba, holding out her hand. She was moving towards the window, in a second she would be gone.

He nodded his head. Was he insane? ‘OK,’ he said.

Alice, Evi and Harry were back at the kitchen table. Only Gareth remained standing. He looked at Evi. ‘What’s your take on where she’d put him?’ he said.

Evi shook her head. ‘Forensics really isn’t my thing,’ she said. ‘I’ve never done any criminal work.’

‘No, but you seem to know Gillian better than anyone else. Would she keep him here or somewhere else?’

Evi gave herself a moment to think. ‘We shouldn’t rule this town out,’ she said at last. ‘This is where she feels at home. If she’s planning to take him to the church when all the fuss has died down, she’ll want to keep him somewhere she can get to him easily. If she wants to keep him alive, she’ll have to feed him. And she knows this moor better than anyone. I can’t tell you how many times she’s boasted to me about it. “I know all the best hiding places,” she says.’

‘That’s what I think,’ said Gareth. ‘She’s been here all day. I’ve seen her loads of times. And she doesn’t have a car. She can’t nip in and out of town quickly.’

‘What if she won’t tell them where he is?’ said Alice. ‘If she refuses, we might never find him. If he’s outdoors, he won’t last much longer in this weather. We have to get the police back here. We have to keep looking.’

‘But the whole moor has been crawling with dogs,’ said Harry. ‘They used thermal-imaging equipment. He can’t be on the moor.’

‘The moor is where Gillian feels at home,’ said Evi. ‘It’s the natural place she’d think of hiding him.’

‘If he is still here,’ said Harry, ‘he’s somewhere the dogs and the heat-seekers couldn’t find him.’

Silence.

‘What do you mean?’ said Alice, after a few seconds.

‘Somewhere out of range,’ said Harry. ‘Of the dogs and the equipment.’

‘Water?’ said Gareth. ‘Tonsworth reservoir, that’s less than three miles away. There are buildings near it, where they keep the pumping equipment.’

‘We searched that,’ said Harry. ‘United Utilities opened it up for us. The dogs went in.’

‘Somewhere in the air?’ suggested Evi. ‘I don’t know – in a tree, a tree-house. The dogs wouldn’t find him.’