Frozen Grave

Chapter 57

Harding pulled up outside the house and, before she had a chance to get out of the car, a woman appeared at the driver’s window. Harding wound it down.

‘Megan Penarth?’

‘That’s right. You must be Jo Harding?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you have a good journey?’

‘Not bad – it’s blowing a gale down here, isn’t it?’

‘Yes. It’s due to be bad tonight but it’ll be still by the morning. Would you mind pulling in around the back of the house? There’s plenty of parking there.’

‘Of course not.’ Harding drove round the side to the back of the house and parked up next to two other cars. Then she walked back round to the front of the house. She had a present for Megan, two bottles of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

‘I took the liberty.’ She handed them to Megan. ‘It seems rude to come empty-handed when you’re being so generous as to host this.’

‘How kind. Thank you.’

Harding stepped inside and saw two other women sitting at the kitchen table. She saw Megan set the wine next to two other gift-wrapped bottles and she smiled.

‘Great minds, hey?’

Megan chuckled. ‘Yes, as awkward as this is, meeting JJ’s other women, you have to find it slightly funny that we must have a lot in common that we don’t even realize.

‘Okay – we’re all here now. This is Jo Harding. Jo – here we have Emily there at the end of the table and Paula nearest.’

Harding smiled. ‘Hello.’

‘I have been waiting to announce another guest until you got here, Jo. We also have JJ coming.’

Emily looked down at her mug of tea. Paula looked up, panic-stricken. Jo Harding laughed.

‘I’d better go,’ said Paula, standing up. ‘We can’t all be here when he comes.’

‘Yes, we can. This is the perfect solution to it all, Paula,’ said Emily. ‘Megan told me he was coming and I almost didn’t come but then I thought – all together. A showdown.’

‘Does he know we’re here?’

‘No.’ Megan smiled. ‘Do you really think he’d come if he knew?’

Paula sat back down. She chewed her lip nervously. ‘I need a drink,’ she said.

‘Red or white?’ Megan asked.

‘Both.’

Megan opened a bottle of wine whilst Harding made herself comfortable. Megan put the open bottle on the table together with glasses for people to help themselves.

There was the sound of a message coming through to someone’s phone. It was Megan’s; she picked it up and read it. She looked up at the group.

‘He’ll be here in one hour. He’s just stopped for fuel.’

‘Oh, God…’ Paula poured out wine and took a large swig.

Emily poured out the rest of the wine into glasses and handed one to Harding. ‘We need to use this time to decide things.’ Emily took out the agreement from her bag.

‘I’ve made a copy for each of us. Please read it and see what you agree with and what you don’t. This is just a general agreement between us. I know it looks like it puts me in charge but it’s just a template for the real thing.’

They read it through. Harding was a little uneasy at signing anything, but she knew it would mean she’d fulfilled her brief all the way. She had to infiltrate the group of women and that was exactly what was happening.

‘Will he run when he sees that we are all here?’ Harding asked when Megan drew near.

‘I don’t think so. He always parks here at the front. He’ll see my car and that’s all. Once he’s inside, I’m going to lock the door.’

‘I’m really frightened.’ Paula shivered.

‘Don’t be,’ Megan said as she went over and put her arm around her. ‘We are going to come out of this a stronger group of people and we’re going to make sure we all get what we want.’

‘Which is what?’ asked Harding. ‘I mean, I see that those of us who have invested money in the Spanish Hacienda company want to have some kind of input, some managerial control, considering their money has been used, but what else do the rest of us want from Ellerman?’

‘Personally speaking…’ said Megan, ‘I want to hit him where it hurts – his pocket and his ego. I want him to look me in the eyes and admit he’s a twat. Say that he’s a pathetic loser who doesn’t deserve anything good in life.’

‘You want him to change?’ asked Harding. ‘You want to know him after tonight? Are you still hoping for a future with him?’

‘Personally? No, I don’t ever want to see him again after tonight.’

‘But we’re signing this to have control over the company. We will have to see him,’ said Paula as she read the agreement.

‘You will have to deal with the company, not him.’

‘He must never be allowed to forget what he’s done,’ said Emily.

‘I hope his wife leaves him,’ said Paula.

‘So do I,’ said Megan. ‘I hope she takes every last penny from him and he’s forced to live in a bedsit somewhere.’

Ellerman saw the lights of the village appear in the pitch-black as he approached. As he parked up in front of Megan’s house he saw the glow of candlelight coming from within. He knew the wood burner would be going, the Aga would be throwing out heat. There was no need to feel cut off. He parked up behind Megan’s estate car and his car door nearly blew off its hinges as he opened it. He sheltered as he lifted the boot and took out his bag. He picked up the bottle of vintage wine that he’d been given by a client a few years ago. He’d forgotten about it until he was sorting through the papers in his office.

He knocked at the door and waited, being buffeted by the gales.

‘Hello, gorgeous. Romantic… candlelight, just for us.’

‘Yes, perfect, isn’t it?’

He put his bottle up next to the other wine as he came in and put his bag down. ‘Ah… you had guests, I see.’

Megan closed the door behind him and locked it.

‘Not had – have.’

‘Huh?’

‘We have guests.’

Harding, Paula and Emily appeared in the archway that separated the kitchen from the sitting area and lounge.

‘Oh… I see,’ said Ellerman. ‘I get it now – what’s this, a lynch mob?’

‘More of a support group,’ said Megan.

‘I’m surprised to see you here, Jo,’ he said to Harding.

‘I couldn’t resist it.’ She smiled.

‘Well, forgive me if I don’t intend to play ball but I have better things to do with my time. Paula, I thought you and I had an understanding. Everything’s in place. You let yourself be dragged into this. It’s just mindless.’

‘You lied to us, JJ,’ Paula answered. ‘You lied about so many things. I can’t believe anything you say.’

He shook his head in disbelief. ‘Emily? You can’t be seriously expecting me to explain myself to you? Out of all the women here, I thought we knew one another. I’ve been a good friend to you – supportive – picked you up after your disastrous marriage ended. Now you turn on me?’

Emily didn’t answer.

‘You may as well sit down and have a glass of wine,’ said Megan. ‘We just want to talk. Every woman here deserves the right to speak her mind to you.’

‘Who says?’

‘We do.’

‘You’re speaking for everyone here now, are you?’

‘Yes, I believe so.’

‘What gives you the fucking right to do that?

‘Emily?’ Megan said. Ellerman was staring at her. She didn’t look at him.

‘Emily, could you show JJ the agreement, please?’ said Megan. Emily placed it on the table. Ellerman picked it up and speed-read it.

‘Huh…’ He threw it down in contempt. ‘I won’t sign this – even if I did, it would mean nothing.’

‘Not strictly true,’ said Harding. ‘We are all witnesses to it.’

‘Oh, shut the fuck up, you nasty bitch.’ He glared at her. ‘This has nothing to do with you. I don’t even know why you’re here. Pathetic – all of you. I won’t answer to a bunch of lonely, frustrated gold diggers who deserve everything they get. None of you mean anything to me. You can all go to hell.’ He went to open the door and couldn’t. ‘Open it…’ he hissed into Megan’s face. Harding stepped forward to support her and speak to Ellerman.

‘Sit down. You’re losing control. Sit down, for Christ’s sake. There is no harm in talking to us.’

‘Fuck off.’

He pushed Harding. She fell backwards and flinched as she hit the side of the kitchen table.

‘Who the fuck do you think you are? All of you?’ He turned and wrenched on the handle of the door. He caught hold of Megan by her arm. ‘Open the fucking door. Get me the key to this door or I swear someone will get hurt here.’

‘All right. Let her go,’ Harding said coldly and precisely as she walked to the shelf and got the key to the back door and gave it to him. Ellerman pushed Megan back out of the way. He put the key in the door and unlocked it before turning to them.

‘Never, I repeat, NEVER let me see your faces again. I am warning each one of you. I will come for you. You think you know me. You know nothing about me or what I’m capable of.’

He opened the door and left. Seconds later, they saw the lights of his car as he was reversing.

‘Fuck that,’ Harding said as she reached for her bag. ‘No one speaks to me like that. No one threatens me and gets away with it.’

‘Please – let him go.’ Megan was still looking dazed and frightened.

Harding didn’t wait to see who would join her as she went out of the door.

‘We can’t let her go on her own,’ said Megan. ‘We said we were all in this together. We have to make sure she’s all right. All of us.’ She opened a kitchen drawer and took out three torches. Paula and Emily looked at one another. ‘Okay…’ said Megan. ‘You two stay here. We’ll be back as soon as we can.’

She caught up with Harding at the back of the house and got into her car. Harding got to the top of the village and took a right. They saw Ellerman’s car at the side of the old granite tramline that led up to the quarry. It looked as if it had spun off the road.

The rain sprayed like gravel on their faces as they got out of the car.

‘Why isn’t he in his car?’ she said to Megan as they looked around in the dark for him.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Where does he think he’s going? Is he trying to get away from us on foot? Maybe his car has broken down?’

‘He’s going the wrong way. He’s going up onto the moor. He must think this is a lane. We have to follow him.’

Harding followed Megan as they made their way by the light of the moon. The clouds were chasing fast and the moon came in bursts of light, reflecting off the granite road.

They reached the quarry but there was no sign of Ellerman.

Megan led Harding round to the back entrance of the quarry and they started their descent inside. High above them on the opposite side of the quarry, at the cliff edge, they saw a light and they heard something fly past them in the air and hit the brush.

She turned to see Megan holding the back of her hand against her face. ‘What is it? Have you been hit?’

‘Yes.’

‘We need to get out of here,’ Harding said as she saw the wound open up on Megan’s cheek.

‘This way.’ Megan turned and they squatted low and moved under cover of the brush.

‘Christ!’ A missile glanced across Harding’s back and another banged into the stone beside her. ‘I can see someone up there. There’s something moving. How can he see us? It’s pitch-dark.’

They kept the granite off-cuts for cover as they made their way back up round the quarry.

‘What the hell is he doing?’

‘He’s trying to kill us,’ Harding said as they emerged from the cover of the banks and the wind battered them again.

A light flickered on the other side of the quarry.

‘We’re too exposed here. We have to run,’ Megan said, turning her face from the wind so that she could talk. ‘I can’t see the light any more. We need to get back to the house and phone the police.’ They looked down the way they had come.

‘Do you have your mobile?’ asked Harding.

‘It won’t work up here.’

‘I must have left mine in my bag in my car.’

They kept close to the ground as they hurried down towards the village. Harding crouched by her car. Ellerman’s car was still there.

‘Why hasn’t he left?’ she hissed as she opened the back door. The light from inside the car flooded out. Harding reached inside and pulled her bag off the back seat. She found her phone and dialled Willis. She shouted into the phone as she crouched beside the car for cover.

‘We’re in trouble. I’m on the moor near Megan Penarth’s. Ellerman’s gone mad. He’s trying to kill us.’

‘We’re half an hour away from you,’ answered Willis.

‘Hurry.’

Willis dialled Tucker’s number.

‘We need you to get out to Megan Penarth’s. We just had a panic call from Jo Harding. Ellerman has turned up and he’s trying to kill them. Can you get a rescue helicopter up there?’

‘No way. We’ve got storms causing havoc here,’ he answered. ‘Where are you now? How far away?’

‘We have just turned off the dual carriageway towards Bovey Tracey and are heading up to the moors.’

‘You’ll never make it that way. The river has burst its banks and there’s widescale flooding and trees blown down. Turn round before you get caught in it.’

Carter swerved to avoid a tree that had fallen across the road. The sheets of rain pounded the windscreen and debris snagged on the wiper as it bounced off the bonnet. Willis looked across at Carter for an answer.

‘We don’t have any choice – we have to try,’ he called out as he slowed the car down and put it into first. The narrow lane had become a river.

‘Turn round and I’ll pick you up on the dual carriageway in a four-wheel drive,’ said Tucker.

‘How long?’

‘Half an hour.’

‘Too long.’

‘You’ll never make it, Carter, listen to me; I know those roads.’

‘Okay. Okay. We’ll wait by the turn-off.’

Willis looked across at Carter, who didn’t seem to be turning.

‘Guv?’

‘I know, Eb. I’m doing it. It’s not that easy turning in floodwater. This road has changed into a river in the last few minutes.’

‘Can we reverse?’

‘No, we’ll stall. The water will go up the exhaust. We have to go on and see if there’s somewhere safe to turn round.’

‘How can it just all happen so quickly?’

‘The ground’s saturated. We’re caught in a flash flood.’ Carter kept the car going in first gear as the floodwater rose up onto the bonnet. The car began to slide backwards.

‘Christ – we’re getting washed away.’ They slid sideways down the lane. The back of the car was pushed into the hedge. The fallen tree stopped them moving any further as the water surged up as far as Willis’s passenger window.

Carter revved the engine as he inched forward in first and then turned the wheel hard as he got past the tree trunk. Then he accelerated hard and the car sped back down the lane, carried with the fast-moving water. When they reached the pooling floodwater at the bottom they saw the lights of a four-wheel drive opposite them.

Carter wound down his window and shouted across.

‘Is it too deep, do you think?’

Tucker put his head out of the driver’s window.

‘Give it a go. If it doesn’t work you can wade through and I’ll get ready to help.’

Carter looked at the swirling water ahead and then across at Willis.

‘Open your window and get ready to jump out if you have to.’

‘Guv, there’s a steep drop my side.’

Carter leant across to have a look out of Willis’s window.

‘The trees will stop us going far. We can give it a go or get out and wade.’

‘Okay. Let’s try it, guv.’

‘Willis – remind me never to come back to the countryside.’

‘I definitely will.’

Carter kept the revs high and the car moving as he tried to find the lowest point of the flood, but the water was over the headlights. They shone in the muddy-brown river water.

‘Christ, I’m relieved to see your ugly mug.’ Carter got out of the car, onto dry land, and shook hands with Tucker. ‘I thought you were going to have to send a boat not a Land Rover.’

‘Yeah, I didn’t want to panic you but there wouldn’t have been much I could do if you went over the edge. You all right?’ Tucker asked Willis, who was quiet.

‘Just want to get going.’

‘Okay. You get in, Willis, and, Carter, if you drive back to the main road and pull in at the lay-by, we’ll collect your car as soon as we can. We’ll take the other road up to the moor and hope we can get through the other way.’

After Carter had parked up he got into the cab of the Land Rover and sat next to Willis. He looked at the dashboard.

‘Christ – this thing’s got everything.’

‘Let’s hope so,’ Tucker said as hail started pelting the windscreen. He drove down the dual carriageway and took the next turning off towards the moor.