The DI Tremayne Thriller Box Set by Phillip Strang

Author:Phillip Strang [Strang, Phillip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-22T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 24

Rachel sat in the back room of the old farmhouse. It was cold, and she was shivering. Her hands were tied together in front of her and secured to a wooden beam by a length of rope. She knew she could not escape. She also knew that she should be frightened, yet she remained remarkably calm. Rachel assumed it was delayed shock, or maybe it was her training in hostile situations, the dealing with grief, part of her work at Salisbury Hospital.

She had met the man once before when she was a lot younger. It had been at the wedding of her Uncle Dean. She vaguely remembered that he had not spoken much. The woman with him she knew well. Barbara Winters had given her some food and drink. ‘Sorry about this, Rachel,’ she had said.

Rachel could tell that she was not sorry for her, only for herself. Rachel knew some of the stories about what had happened to her uncle, yet had not been able to accept it fully. Although now, in that farmhouse, the two people, the brother and the sister, had a look about them that concerned her. The situation seemed unreal, the sort of thing that happened in the movies, not in real life. She had stopped her car when she had seen Barbara waving from the side of the road. At the time Barbara had been apologetic about what her brother had done to Dean. A trusting soul, Rachel had got out of her car, walked around and on to the pavement by Barbara’s car. Unbeknown to her, Archie had been hiding in it. He had appeared behind Rachel, thrust a hessian sack over her head and tossed her into the back of the car, securing her hands with a cable tie.

Once inside, as the vehicle hurtled down the road, almost turning over at one stage, Barbara had spoken to her. ‘Sorry for my brother. We’re desperate, and you are our only hope.’

At the time, the woman had been conciliatory, but Rachel saw afterwards that the brother and sister vacillated between caring and malevolent. They had hit her once, would again if she tried to reason with them.

Rachel could tell that the relationship between the couple was unnatural, almost as if they were husband and wife. Archie, the elder of the siblings, caring for his sister’s well-being, promising her that things would be better, they could go overseas, start their lives anew, just the two of them.

‘Once your mother pays we will let you go,’ Barbara said.

Archie Garrett busied himself in another room, Rachel could hear him. Whenever he approached her, she was careful about what she said. The man was unstable, spouting about the Lord’s work, and what the two million pounds would do for them.

During her time at Salisbury Hospital Rachel had experienced her fair share of frightening people, but the two who held her captive took the biscuit.

She knew she was in serious trouble. A police car had moved fast down the road not more than a hundred yards away, its siren sounding.

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