Missing Believed Dead (23 page)

Chapter Forty-Five

The scream echoed through the wood and Sue knew, instinctively, they were too late. Megan had plunged into the quarry. There could be no other reason for the scream.

The light from the torches held by the searchers flickered in front of her and she hurried in their direction. She wanted to run but the trees held her back. However, they didn’t seem so thick here, and all of a sudden she was in open ground, the trees behind her and soggy grass embracing her ankles.

Megan must have started to run when she reached this open ground which would be why she hadn’t seen the edge of the quarry.

The searchers had now stopped, their torches trained on something below them. Sue heard the murmur of voices as they talked together and shone their torches into the stygian depths. She thought she saw the glint of water, far below.

‘She won’t stand much chance if she’s gone into that,’ Sue heard one of the officers say.

‘Wait,’ she heard another say. ‘What’s that down there, I saw something white.’

‘Where?’

‘Over to your right, about a quarter of the way down.’

‘I see it. D’you think it could be her?’

‘Not sure, but there’s something there.’

Sue felt like grabbing one of their torches, but instead, she ordered, ‘Everyone move nearer to that area and shine all the torches in that direction so we can get a larger beam of light.’

She moved along with them, and when they were above the section of the quarry where they thought Megan might be, she leaned forward and shouted, ‘Are you down there, Megan?’

A faint cry echoed upwards. ‘She’s there,’ Sue said, ‘but we’ll never get her out of the quarry ourselves.’ Without looking up, she snapped, ‘Radio it in and get mountain rescue out here, we’ll need them. And tell them we’ll need a helicopter as well. And tell them to be damn quick, she might fall from whatever she’s perched on.’

She waited a moment until she saw one of the officers on his airwave set carrying out her instructions, then she leaned over and shouted down, ‘Hang on Megan, we’re sending for help and we’ll get you out of there as fast as we can.’

* * * *

Kate listened in silence to Jenny’s report. The two officers had been shaking the drips off their wet coats when she emerged from the living room.

‘I see,’ she said, ‘so the neighbours are in agreement DS Murphy was admitted to the house before any of the family came home. That complicates things.’ She had been sure Bill’s attacker was sitting in the living room, but if the information given was correct that seemed to rule them out. It was possible one of them could have been here, left the house and doubled back. She would have to check their alibis, but in the meantime she had insufficient evidence to hold them further.

‘Wait here until I make a couple of phone calls,’ she said, ‘then I’ll tell you what I want you to do.’

Her phone discussion with the procurator fiscal was brief. She reported the stage the investigation had reached, and what she planned to do. The PF agreed with her, and that was that. She had anticipated objections and arguments because they’d got off on the wrong foot, but they hadn’t arisen, so when she clicked the phone off it was with a sigh of relief.

Megan and the search party had never been far from her thoughts since she’d left Sue in charge at the search site. It was time to check out what was happening.

‘It’s Kate,’ she said when Sue answered the phone. ‘What’s happening at your end?’

She listened while Sue made her report, her initial feeling of elation at being told Megan had been found was quickly dampened when the child’s situation, perched on a ledge, half-way down the quarry face, was explained to her.

‘I’m coming back,’ she said. ‘I think I’ve done all I can here.’ She clicked off her phone.

She stood considering for a moment, and then turned to Jenny who had been murmuring with Alison in the hall. ‘Jenny, I’m going back to the other scene,’ she said, ‘but there’s still work to be done here. I’m going to make you liaison officer with the family for the time being. That means you provide them with support, but it’s also important you are careful how you react with them and what you say to them. We don’t want them to think we believe in their innocence, because we don’t know at this stage that they are. Be supportive but be careful how you phrase your answers to their questions. Can I trust you to do that?’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘The first thing you need to do is find somewhere they can stay the night. Check out with them if they have any friends or relatives. Failing that, get onto the Housing Department’s Homeless Section, they might be able to place them in one of their Homeless Units on a temporary basis. And make sure they know we’ll want to speak to them again tomorrow.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

Kate grabbed her coat and rushed out of the house, hoping against hope the helicopter and mountain rescue team had arrived at the quarry.

* * * *

Tears trickled down Megan’s face, mixing with the rain. She was frightened and miserable. The ledge had only broken her fall because of the bush growing out from it, and the bush was slipping under her weight. If it gave way, she wasn’t sure she would be able to stay on the ledge because there would be nothing for her hands to hang on to. She’d already explored the rock face with her fingers, but it was smooth with no cracks anywhere. All she had to grasp were the branches of the bush.

At first she hadn’t been sure what was worse, falling from the ledge or being chased by the men. But it had been a woman who shouted down to her, and she now knew the men looking for her were the police, not the nasty men she had envisaged.

The woman had said help was on its way, but the bush didn’t feel secure, and she prayed they would hurry up.

The bush moved again, and she squealed.

Chapter Forty-Six

Kate, clutching her coat, stumbled as she hurried out of the house. She thrust her free hand out in an attempt to grasp the door-frame, missed and found herself holding onto the police constable’s arm instead.

‘You all right, ma’am,’ he said.

Hiding her embarrassment behind a smile, she said, ‘Thank you, I’m fine now,’ and hurried down the path.

A vicious gust of wind caught her, blasting rain into her face, when she emerged onto the pavement, and she battled down the road to where she’d parked her car. She threw her coat onto the passenger seat, silently cursing herself for not pulling it on before she left the house. But it was too late now, and she was soaked.

She drove fast, reaching Patricia Carnegie’s property earlier than she’d anticipated because there was less traffic on the road than there had been previously, and she realized with a start, it was almost midnight. Where had the hours gone?

A helicopter passed overhead as she parked the car, splashing light on the ground, illuminating the trees. She said a prayer under her breath, hoping they would reach Megan before it was too late.

‘What’s happening?’ The woman who accosted her when she got out of the car looked like a witch with her red hair whipping in the wind. ‘Nobody’s telling me anything.’

‘Everything’s going to be all right, Mrs Fraser.’ Kate tried to sound soothing, which was difficult because she was every bit as anxious as May Fraser.

‘That’s all right for you to say, but it’s not your daughter out there.’

‘We’re all as concerned as you are to ensure your daughter’s safety.’

‘I want to see her.’

‘You must have patience and let the rescuers do their job.’

‘She’s dead, isn’t she?’ May’s voice reached screaming pitch. ‘And nobody’s telling me.’

‘That’s not the case,’ Kate said, while at the same time hoping the helicopter would be able to winch Megan out of the quarry without mishap.

The helicopter was hovering now, and Kate guessed the rescue operation would have commenced. She wanted to be there to join them, but she couldn’t leave May Fraser while she was in such a distressed state.

‘What are they doing?’ May Fraser whispered.

Kate debated with herself how much she should reveal to Megan’s mother, coming to the decision the woman needed to know and she had no right to keep the information from her.

‘The helicopter is there to winch Megan up from the place she’s fallen.’ Kate didn’t want to say quarry. ‘She’s perched on a ledge that’s difficult to reach, that’s why we need the helicopter. Once they’ve got her off the ledge, they’ll take her to hospital to be checked out.’

‘She’s not dead then, but she’s maybe hurt.’

‘Maybe.’ Kate put a hand on the woman’s shoulder.

May Fraser shuddered. ‘I’ll want to go with her to the hospital, mind.’

‘I’ll make sure you’re taken there. Now, come on, let’s get you sitting in that police car again. It’s far too wet to be standing out here.’

* * * *

The light underneath the circling helicopter flashed down on them illuminating everything in its harsh beam. As it swung over the quarry, Sue saw the black water far below, rippling in the helicopter’s down-draft. The position of the child looked even more precarious than Sue had thought. The ledge was small, barely a protuberance on the quarry wall, and the only thing that seemed to be preventing Megan slipping off was a bush, growing from the side of the quarry.

‘Hang on, Megan,’ Sue shouted down. ‘We’re going to get you out of there.’

A rope ladder dangled from the circling helicopter, but the wind, which had increased to gale force over the past hour, buffeted the helicopter, and the ladder swung wildly below it.

‘They’re never going to get her out that way,’ a voice muttered behind her.

Sue shivered, because she knew they were right.

A shape appeared on the ladder, but still it swung wildly, and the helicopter was forced to circle away before the man smashed into the quarry wall. The down-draft was fiercer now it was hovering above the group of searchers, and flying low enough for the man to jump to the ground.

He strode over to the group. ‘We’re not going to be able to winch her out,’ he said, ‘the wind’s too strong.’

‘So what now?’ Sue shouted over the sound of the helicopter. ‘She’s not going to be able to hold on much longer.’

‘We’re going to have to scale down the quarry wall to get her. My mates are bringing down the equipment.’

‘Can you do that?’ The noise and the wind from the blades had increased and Sue had to shout even louder.

He looked over the edge. ‘It’s an old sandstone quarry but it shouldn’t give us any problems. We’ll need somewhere to secure a rope though to haul her out, and this ground’s soggy.’

‘The trees are back there, will your rope be able to reach them?’

‘Sure, no problems.’

By this time the helicopter was a few feet from the ground. It looked bigger now it was lower, a yellow monster with RAF Rescue written on the side. It hovered, the blades still beating furiously, gradually they reduced speed and the fierce wind they’d generated died down. Men loaded with equipment and coiled ropes jumped out.

Sue hurried back to the quarry edge and shouted down to Megan. ‘Keep hanging on, Megan. We’re sending climbers down to hoist you out, it won’t be long now.’

* * * *

The down-draft from the helicopter blades whipped round Megan, first flattening her against the quarry wall, then threatening to tear her off it. The bush swayed in the wind and she felt it slipping under her weight. She tried hard not to move in case it gave way altogether, but this was increasingly difficult under the force of the wind.

She had a horrible feeling she was never going to get out of here, and only the voice of the woman shouting down to her, gave her hope.

She’d looked down when the helicopter flew overhead, even though the wind from it almost made her lose her grasp, and she could see the ladder was never going to work. It kept hitting the quarry wall. But what was worse, it lit up what was below her. It looked black and horrible, and she was sure it was water because of the ripples on the surface where the wind from the helicopter blades hit it. She knew in her heart she wouldn’t survive if the bush gave way.

Her whole body was shivering with the cold and the wet, her hair was plastered to her head dripping huge drops of water down her neck, face and back. It was like being in a cold shower, but worse. Tears streamed down her cheeks, and she desperately wanted her mother. In her mind, she prayed to God, although she didn’t believe in him, and she promised to be good from now on. Never again would she defy her mother, nor would she think she knew better and adults were stupid.

The helicopter flew away from the top of the quarry, and the wind stopped buffeting her. She was glad of that, although she didn’t want them to go away, because that meant they weren’t trying to reach her. She looked up, but all she could see was the wall of rock rising above her and the floodlight from the helicopter flickering at the top.

A voice echoed down to her. ‘Keep hanging on, Megan. We’re sending climbers down to hoist you out, it won’t be long now.’

The bush creaked, and shifted again.

‘Hurry up,’ she whispered.