AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘And now you’ve saved ours,’ says Ruth, getting tearful in her turn. Silhouetted against the arc lights, she can see figures approaching the entrance to the shaft.
‘Cathbad will be OK, won’t he?’ she says.
But Lucy has stood up to greet a new arrival.
‘OK,’ says Tanya to the group at large. ‘I’m in charge now.’
Thirteen years ago, Ruth found a fifteen-year-old girl imprisoned in an old air-raid bunker. She had held the girl in her arms and whispered platitudes remembered from her own mother. Tomorrow’s another day. All’s well that ends well. It’s darkest before dawn. They had been chased by a madman, but they had escaped. Nelson and Cathbad crossed the marshes at night to rescue them but, in the end, they had rescued themselves. They had rescued each other. The girl, who had been abducted ten years earlier, was reunited with her parents. Her name was Lucy Downey.
At first, Ruth tried to keep in touch with Lucy and her parents. But they moved from Norfolk and Ruth thought this meant that they wanted a fresh start. Ruth was a reminder of the worst time in their lives. So, she stopped sending letters. But she never stopped loving Lucy.
Now Ruth sits on the grass with Lucy on one side of her and Kate on the other. Tanya squats in front of them asking questions and Ruth has real trouble answering succinctly, like the professional woman she is, and not babbling about Hobbits and goddesses and being Born to Run. A stretcher has been lowered into the mine for Cathbad and Tanya says Ruth and Kate have to go to hospital too, ‘just to get you checked over.’
‘I’m OK,’ Ruth begins before realising that her whole body feels like one big bruise. She supposes that she should check that nothing is broken. In any case, no one is arguing with Tanya.
‘Have you told Judy?’ she asks. ‘About Cathbad?’ When Ruth checked her phone, she had one per cent of battery left. After a few seconds’ thought she messaged Zoe. Then the screen went blank.
‘I rang Judy,’ says Tanya, standing up and wiping chalk off her jeans. ‘She’s meeting us at the hospital. DC Vanstone will drive you.’
It’s a few seconds before Ruth realises that she means Lucy.
It was past midnight when Nelson got the call, but he was still in the garden. Bruno was sitting loyally at his side, ears on alert to the night-time sounds, foxes and owls and the intermittent yelp of a neighbour’s car alarm.
‘Boss?’ When he heard Tanya’s voice, Nelson was on alert too. He could almost imagine that he had German shepherd ears, as sharp as mountain peaks.
‘We’ve found Cathbad.’
‘Thank God. Where was he?’
‘Grime’s Graves. Down one of the mine shafts. Ruth and Kate were with him.’
‘Ruth and Katie?’ Nelson was already in the hallway, gathering up his car keys. Bruno watched despondently. He knew this trip wasn’t going to involve him.
‘It’s a long story. Apparently, Leo Ballard trapped them there.’
‘Ballard.’ Nelson heard himself growling the word. Bruno whined softly. ‘Arrest him.’
‘Bradley and a couple of uniforms have gone round to his house. They’re bringing him in.’
‘Good. I’m on my way.’ Nelson pressed the buzzer to open the garage door.
‘Meet us at the hospital. The Queen Elizabeth.’
Tanya should have called him earlier, thinks Nelson, as he speeds through the dark streets. But he understands that events must have moved quickly. The important thing is that Cathbad has been found and that Ruth and Katie are safe. Tanya said that Cathbad was unconscious. ‘We won’t know more until the doctors see him.’ ‘And Ruth and Katie?’ ‘Fine. Very chipper considering the circumstances.’ Chipper. It’s an odd word. Very Tanya somehow.
The hospital is blazing with light, like a spaceship that has landed by a Norfolk roundabout. Nelson parks on the yellow lines and runs into the building. The first person he sees is Lucy Vanstone. She is standing as if she is on parade duty, hands behind her back.
Nelson screeches to a halt beside her. ‘Where’s Ruth?’
‘The doctor is checking her and Kate now. But they seem fine,’ says Lucy, perhaps noticing the wild look in Nelson’s eye. ‘They were amazingly brave. It was quite an ordeal.’
‘What happened? How long were they trapped down there?’
‘I’ll tell you all about it,’ says Lucy. ‘Do you want a coffee? I think it will be a while before they’re discharged.’
Judy just misses Lucy and Nelson. She runs through A and E, swerving to avoid the beds that line the corridors. It’s like a war zone, she thinks, and this is just a normal Monday night. At the door of the triage zone, she runs into a doctor she knows. ‘Harpreet! Have you seen Cathbad? He’s just been brought in.’
Harpreet shakes her head. She looks tired, a small but doughty figure in her scrubs. There’s blood on them, Judy notes.
