Frozen Grave (Willis/Carter #3)(109)

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.





Chapter 58


At the hospital, Detective Constable Zoe Blackman looked at the time – it was 9 p.m. She went to the vending machine in the hallway for some chocolate.

She was halfway back along the corridor when she noticed that the louvre blinds to Toffee’s window were closed. She couldn’t see him. She dropped the chocolate and ran the last few paces. As she opened the door she saw Simon’s back to her as he leant over Toffee. He was holding something over Toffee’s face.

‘Simon?’ He didn’t look at her. He stayed leaning over Toffee. Everything about the way his shoulders were hunched and the tension in his neck told her that something was wrong.

‘Simon, step away from the bed, please.’

Zoe took a few steps to come level with him and she reached out to hold his arm. She looked at Simon’s face. He’d been crying. Toffee’s eyes were open and staring at him.

‘Sorry – I was just helping him get a drink.’

Zoe could tell they’d been talking.

‘Toffee?’ She looked at his face. He blinked.

‘Yes . . .’ His voice was croaky and it came out as a whisper.

‘Is everything all right in here? Is Simon bothering you?’

Toffee didn’t answer.

‘I only wanted to say something to him, that’s all.’ Simon took a step back from the bed.

‘What? What did you want to say to him?’