Serial – final part: The Primrose Path by Paula Williams

Kate thought she was going to the rescue – only to nd a deadly trap awaiting her…

The story so far... After her son Lucas runs away, reporter Kate is relieved to find him safe and well. She finally gets to the bottom of his recent behaviour, as Lucas reveals that he believes his magic stone caused his bullying father Oliver’s death. Kate reassures him that he was not responsible. With one problem solved, Kate then receives a phone call from

Serena, the widow of murdered Iain Clarkson. She is in trouble, begging for help and in fear for her life. Kate is convinced that Nikki, Iain’s pregnant mistress, must have got to Serena, and now it’s a race against time to save her before she meets a similarly tragic fate.

The story continuesÉ

Nikki?’ I stood, rooted to the spot while my brain played catch -up. ‘But I thought…’

Before I could finish, the hut was plunged into total darkness as the door slammed shut, blocking out the only source of light. I reached for my phone, only to find that, in all the chaos of the morning,

I’d forgotten to charge it.

It was completely dead. No phone, no torch. No way of getting help.

I felt my way to the door and pushed against it, but it wouldn’t budge. I forced myself to remain calm, tried not think about being trapped in the dark with a murderer. After all, I told myself, if I couldn’t see her, then she couldn’t see me. Precious little consolation. But even that didn’t last.

A light clicked on, and a small camping lantern lit up Nikki’s pale face and wild eyes.

‘Don’t bother trying to open the door,’ she said. ‘It’s bolted from the outside.’ ‘But who…?’

‘She did. Serena.’

‘Serena? You’re saying she locked me in here deliberately? With you? But she phoned me…’ ‘No. I phoned you.’

‘You?’ It was true the voice had been very muffled. ‘But it was Serena’s name on the screen. She said you’d killed Iain and that she was next.’

‘No, that was me. I was using her phone. I hid it under the blanket here when she wasn’t looking. She thought she’d left it in the house and went back to get it. That’s when I called you.’

I shook my head. I had Nikki pegged as the murderer; was she now telling me she was, in fact, the victim?

‘You’re saying Serena brought you here? Why?’

‘She wants my baby.’ Nikki’s voice trembled as she placed her hand on her still-flat stomach. ‘She wants to take me back to the commune in Wales where she grew up. Said no-one would find us and we could bring up the baby together.’

I thought back to the first time Serena and I had seen Nikki and how Serena’s attitude changed when Nikki told her she was pregnant. I’d seen it at the time as an example of her compassion. But if Nikki was telling the truth, then it was something a lot more sinister.

‘And is that what you want?’ I asked Nikki.

‘Of course not.’

Her voice shook. ‘I want to go home. But I’ve been feeling so unwell. She said that was quite normal in early pregnancy, and kept giving me this horribletasting herbal tea to make me feel better. Only now I think there must have been some sort of drug in there, because I keep blacking out.’

‘But how did you end up in here? Have you been here long?’

Nikki bit her lip. ‘I – I don’t think so. We were about to have breakfast this morning when her phone rang. She didn’t answer, but muttered something like, “That wretched woman”.’

‘That could have been me. I called several times.’

‘She went upstairs and came back with this.’ She put her hand in her pocket and took out a small, silver locket. ‘She said it was Iain’s mother’s, and that Iain had wanted me to have it. She’d found it in what she called “Iain’s hideaway”.

‘There was also a letter addressed to me, which she’d left there, along with other personal stuff belonging to Iain. She said she’d take me there as soon as I’d drunk my tea.’ ‘Which she’d drugged?’

She sighed. ‘I was so stupid, but I trusted her. She was so kind to me at first. And after that awful night in the bus station, I jumped at her offer to let me stay. It wasn’t until we got here that I began to realise something was wrong. I felt really weird. I tried to ask her where Iain’s letter was, but the words wouldn’t come out.’ ‘There was no letter?’

Nikki eyes glistened with tears. ‘She’d made it up just to get me here. As for the locket, it was, she said, a bit of tat she’d picked up in a charity shop. You do realise she’s completely mad, don’t you?’

I was beginning to. I shuddered and tried the door again.

‘It’s no good,’ Nikki said. ‘It won’t budge. Believe me, I’ve tried. And there’s no point shouting either. No-one will hear.’ Her voice began to rise. ‘Do you think she’s going to kill us? Like my poor Iain?’

‘Of course not,’ I said, hoping I sounded more confident than I felt. ‘Where’s her phone now?’

‘There.’ She pointed to the wreckage of the phone I’d kicked when I came in. ‘When she couldn’t find it, she assumed she’d left it at the house and went back for it. Unfortunately, she hadn’t got very far when it rang, and she heard me talking to you. She rushed back, snatched it away and stamped on it. Said I’d been really stupid.’

‘I’m sorry.’ I felt bad that I’d inadvertently made things worse for Nikki.

‘Then she said how Iain used to call her stupid. “But I’ve just got away with murder,” she said. “Stupid people don’t do that, do they?’’’

‘She admitted killing him? Was it because she’d found out about you and him?’

‘As for the locket, it was a bit of tat she’d picked up in a charity shop’

‘Oh, no. She didn’t know about us until the day I turned up. But I’m not a marriage wrecker,’ she said fiercely. ‘He told me his wife had left him and gone back to her commune, which was why he couldn’t find her to ask for a divorce. I’d never have gone round to her house like I did if I’d known they were still together!

‘I really, really loved him, you know. He made me feel I could do anything, be anything. And he had such plans for the future. Our future. Winning the election was just the start. And now…’

Her voice trailed away and she shook her head. My heart went out to her. OK, so I hadn’t liked Iain, but it was obvious she’d really loved him.

‘Did Serena say why she’d killed him?’ I asked gently.

‘It was because of something Iain said to you.’

‘Me? But I only met him once.’ ‘Serena overheard him telling you he was going to turn her garden into a cycle business when his plans for the cycle path went through. Not only trashing her precious garden, but her hens as well.’

‘You don’t kill someone over a few hens.’

‘But they’re not hens to her. She calls them her babies, you know. It would be sad, if it wasn’t so awful. And if she hadn’t…’ Her eyes swam with tears. ‘She said that a few days earlier Iain came back from one of his regular trips to “check out the vagrant” as he put it, highly delighted. The tramp wasn’t there –’

‘He’s not a tramp,’ I cut in. ‘Sorry. The man wasn’t there, so Iain checked the place out. He found this stick, which he recognised as belonging to Colonel Langton, and took it as proof that the man had been stealing.’

‘And Serena used the stick to kill him?’

Nikki nodded. ‘On the morning of the election, she went down to the village hall really early. She smashed a window, then phoned Iain to say there’d been a break-in and would he come quickly, as she thought the intruders were still on the premises. Then she waited for him behind the door that led into the main hall, where she’d scattered some papers so that they’d be the first thing he’d see when he came in. When he bent down to pick them up, she hit him as hard as she could with the stick. Seven times.’

‘Seven?’

‘One for each of her six hens and one for her.’ Her voice broke. ‘Oh, my poor Iain.

And my poor baby, growing up without a father. It’s too horrible to bear.’

I put my arm around Nikki, and she started shaking uncontrollably. ‘Hush now. Getting yourself upset isn’t going to help your baby, is it? You’ve been very brave up till now. Just hold it together for a little longer.’

‘You’re right, of course.’

She straightened up. ‘Anyway, the next part of her plan was to implicate Colonel Langton. Because, she said, he’d been so horrible to Iain. As if she actually cared about that! I told you she was quite mad, didn’t I?’

‘You did indeed.’

‘She phoned the Colonel, using Iain’s phone and a disguised voice. She told him the same story, that there’d been a break-in and the burglars were still there. And this is the bit where, according to her, she’d been very clever.

‘She didn’t phone until a quarter to eight, knowing it would take him five minutes to get to the hall and discover Iain’s body. And, with a bit of luck, the Presiding Officer would arrive within minutes to set up for the election – and that’s exactly what happened. The Presiding Officer arrived in time to see the Colonel standing over the body, stick in hand. Just like Serena had planned it. She said –’

She broke off at the sound of footsteps outside. Serena was back.

‘I suppose you two have had a cosy little chat,’ she called through the door. ‘Much good it’ll do either of you. You should’ve agreed to come to Wales with me while you had the chance, Nikki. We could have had a good life together,

‘My poor baby, growing up without

a father. It’s too horrible to bear’

you, me and the baby.

I was only going to keep you in this hut while I got everything ready for us to leave, but then you had to bring Kate here, didn’t you? So, you see, this is actually all your fault. Because now I can’t let either of you go, can I? You do see that, don’t you?’

‘OK, Serena,’ I said, as forcefully as I could. ‘This has gone on long enough. Let us out, please.’

‘Let you out? I’m hardly going to do that, am I? I’m getting out of this place as soon as I’ve finished loading the car up. And you two can just stay in there and rot. No-one will ever find you. I’ve just come back to fix the padlock, and then I’ll be off.’

Nikki started to cry.

I banged hard on the door with my clenched fists.

‘Serena?’ I called to her. ‘What about the baby? I thought you had plans for

Nikki and the baby?’

There was a pause. ‘I did, didn’t I? I’ve wanted a baby for years. But Iain always said it wasn’t the right time; there was always something more important. And then she turned up, carrying his baby.

‘At first, I thought I could make it work. I’d think of her as a surrogate mother, then, once she’d given birth, maybe arrange for her to have a little “accident”. It would be nothing more than she deserved for stealing another woman’s husband. But then I realised I don’t want the baby after all because, every time I saw it,

I’d think of how Iain cheated on me, cheated me out of the life I should’ve had, the family I should’ve had.’

We heard here rattle the padlock. ‘That’s it, all secure,’ she announced. ‘Right, then, I can’t stand here talking. I’ve got to go and get my babies into their special travelling cage. We’re off to start our new lives together.’

‘No! No, Serena, don’t leave us here,’ I yelled. ‘Serena, please!’

But the only sound that came back to me was her footsteps as she hurried away.

‘There must be another way out of here,’ I said to Nikki.

‘There isn’t,’ Nikki wailed. ‘I’ve looked. There are no windows, and the door doesn’t budge an inch.’

‘And yet there’s a howling draught coming from somewhere,’ I commented. ‘I remember Iain saying this place was just held together by overgrown ivy. I’m going to check the ceiling.’

I dragged the chair into the far corner where the draught was strongest, and called Nikki over to hold it steady for me.

‘With a bit of luck, there’s a broken tile I may be able to work on,’ I said.

The roof consisted of only a layer of tiles fixed to some wooden battens. I could feel the broken tile, but, no matter how hard I pushed, it wouldn’t move. The muscles in my shoulders and arms were screaming in protest and, eventually, defeated, I had no choice but to stop.

‘It’s no good,’ Nikki said in a low, hopeless voice. ‘We’re trapped, and that’s that.’

‘We could try shouting?’ I suggested.

‘I tried that earlier. Did you hear me?’

I had to admit I hadn’t. No doubt, the thick cloak of ivy plus the overgrown trees and bushes that surrounded the hut were acting like nature’s own soundproofing.

‘Perhaps if we give it one more try?’ I said, and I took a deep breath and shouted as loudly as I could.

Nikki joined in.

‘Help us! Somebody, please help us!’ But there was no answering call.

‘It’s no good,’ Nikki said,

beginning to cry. ‘We’ll never get out. We’re going to die here in this horrible place.’

I thought of Lucas and how upset he’d been by Oliver’s death. How he would he cope without me?

Suddenly, I was angry. Very, very angry.

‘Hold the chair!’

I shouted to Nikki. ‘I’m going to have another go.’

This time, I didn’t feel the screaming of my shoulder muscles or the pain of broken skin as my fists thudded into the tiles. One extra-hard thump and there was a crack. The loose tile had shifted. But there was no chink of light. Just a shower of dust and debris raining down on us.

It was the ivy holding everything together. I’d made

‘You two can just stay in there and

rot. No-one will ever find you’

a small gap between the tiles, and I was damned if I was going to be beaten by mere greenery. I forced my hand through the gap and pushed and pulled my hand through the dense growth. At last I was able to get a decent grip on the broken tile, and I heaved and tugged at it like a loose tooth.

It gave way. The next tile came away with little resistance, and soon I had a hole big enough to crawl through.

‘Steady me while I put my arms through,’ I told Nikki. ‘I reckon I should be able to haul myself up.’

Easier said than done – but, all the time, Lucas’ little face spurred me on.

You hear about sudden rushes of adrenaline that enable people to lift enormous weights, don’t you? That’s what the image of Lucas did to me.

I reached through the hole, grabbed as much ivy as I could and, praying that this time it wouldn’t come away, I heaved myself slowly, painfully up.

‘Now, Nikki,’ I called. ‘I’m nearly there. One last push.’

Soon, I was lying on top of the ivy-covered shed, with one leg still dangling through the hole in the roof. As I struggled to get my other leg through, I put my hand on something small and round.

It was Lucas’ magic stone. That had to be a sign, didn’t it? My hand closed over it and I made the most heartfelt wish ever. I wished to see my son.

Suddenly, there was an ominous crack.

‘The roof, Kate!’ Nikki screamed. ‘It’s going to give way any moment!’

As I moved, the ivy shifted beneath me. I’d planned to make my way across the roof to the door, where the land was clear of brambles and I could hopefully jump safely down. But the fragile roof wouldn’t support my weight. I scrabbled to the edge and landed with a thud in the middle of a bramble patch.

I lay there, winded and scratched to pieces. A particularly large bramble was caught in my hair, virtually pinning me to the bush. As I reached up to disentangle myself, I looked up.

Serena was standing over me, a wicked-looking knife grasped in her hand.

‘You’re a resourceful one,

I’ll give you that, Miss Ace Reporter,’ she said. ‘Not that it’s done you any good. What a good job I came back for one last check!’

Once again, my hand closed around Lucas’ magic stone. And, once again, I wished for a miracle.

Then it happened: a miracle in the shape of a big, hairy dog called Doris.

‘Doris!’ I shouted as I heard him bark. ‘Here, boy. Here.’

Serena whirled round as the dog came crashing towards us, Tom following close behind. She dropped the knife, turned and ran, catching Tom completely unawares as she pushed past him.

‘Kate?’ Tom attempted to pull me up, but I was too deeply entangled for a quick release to be possible.

‘I’m OK. But Nikki’s still locked in the hut, and the roof’s falling in.’

As Tom used a rock to smash the rusted lock and get Nikki out of the shed, I pulled the brambles from my hair, watched carefully by Doris. Then, free at last, I wrapped my arms around the dog and sobbed into his big, hairy neck.

Two weeks later

......... .........

It was a glorious, sunny morning. Lucas and I were enjoying breakfast in the garden when Doris gave a welcoming woof.

‘Tom!’ Lucas jumped up to greet him. ‘We’re having a picnic. Do you want some?’

‘I’ll settle for a coffee,’ he grinned, as he shrugged off his heavy rucksack.

‘So, you’re really going, are you?’ I asked as I handed him his coffee.

He nodded. ‘Colonel Langton’s given me the name of a really good doctor. Thinks he can straighten my head out.’

‘I’m sure he will.’ I picked up my own mug and inhaled its fragrant steam. ‘I don’t know how to thank you, Tom. If you hadn’t turned up that day when you did…’

I stopped, looked down at Lucas, and decided against finishing the sentence with the words, ‘Serena would have killed me.’

Because I had no doubt of that. There’d been murder in her eyes as she’d stood over me, that evil-looking knife glinting in the sun.

She was caught, arrested and charged soon after running away from us. The police were already on their way to interview Tom when they got our call, and caught her as she was packing her car.

She confessed to both the murder of Iain and the false imprisonment of Nikki and me, and was going to plead guilty on all charges, which was something to be thankful for.

Nikki had gone back to her parents, who regretted their initial harsh reaction to the news of her pregnancy. She promised to keep in touch, which will be great.

Lucas is happy at school now, and busy planning the party he missed out on. He’s even invited Wayne Scott, and, although the two of them aren’t exactly the best of friends, there’s no more bullying from Wayne – and no more talk of magic spells from Lucas.

Having said that, he was thrilled to get his magic stone back and said he'd hang on to it this time. Just in case.

‘Anyway,’ I said to Tom. ‘I’m so grateful for everything – for the superb job you did on the roof and everything. Are you sure you won’t let me pay you?’

He shook his head. ‘It’s

I who should be paying you. You probably saved my life that day you found me’

He was certainly looking a lot better than when I’d first seen him, that day after the storm, when his shelter had blown away. When I’d thought he was dead.

‘I’ll miss you.’ As I spoke, a small tear escaped and trickled down my face. He reached out, and, with a featherlight touch, brushed it away.

‘Will you come back to Willowsmere?’ I asked.

His bright-blue eyes looked intently into mine. ‘Maybe. If the doctor can get my head straight, then who knows?’

Who knows, indeed? That’s for the future. For now, I’m happy, settling in to the village that will be a forever home for me and my son.

Now I avoid going along the Primrose Path when I take Doris for his daily walks. The place still makes me shudder. But, maybe, by the time spring comes around, Lucas, Doris and I will go there to look at the primroses.

THE END

There’d been murder in her eyes

as she’d stood over me