Epping Forest was somewhere that Franny knew well. Her father had taken her on many occasions and not just for a walk in the woods. From her earliest years he had taught her everything he knew about the business. And one of those things was where to dispose of something so that nobody would ever find it.
So, it was here in the dark of the night Franny found herself driving as near as she could to the area of the woods she needed to be in.
With the rain still falling, blanketing the trees with a ghostlike mist, Franny pulled up, switching off the engine and the lights of the car. Surrounded by nothing but blackness, she waited a moment in the unsettling silence, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness.
She sat staring ahead, her body going from hot to cold. Her shivering turning into violent spasms and sweats. Her breathing was tight. She felt like she had someone’s hands around her neck and the pulse behind her left eye throbbed as she covered her face with her hands, images of Bree and Vaughn rushing through her mind.
Overwhelmed, Franny sat motionless for a couple of minutes, hearing her own breathing as her tears ran through her fingers. But knowing she needed to get herself together, she slowly straightened up, wiped her face and took a long deep breath.
Forcing herself to get out of the car, Franny’s hand hovered over the door handle then, hesitantly, she stepped out, walking to the boot and opening it up.
Trying not to think, Franny began to hum, desperate to disconnect herself from the moment. She checked around, more for herself than out of necessity. The area she had driven to was always deserted, a place her father had at one time or another brought his own baggage to ‘dispose’ of.
She could see how much her hands were shaking as, still humming, she dragged Bree’s wrapped-up body out onto the ground with a loud thump. Next, she reached to the back of the boot, grabbing the spade that she’d picked up from the DIY shop, along with a packet of fox-deterrent powder; the last thing she needed were the animals of the forest digging up Bree.
Checking behind her once more and reassured there was no one around, Franny placed the spade and sachets of powder on top of Bree’s body and began to drag her through the trees and bushes to the small area beyond the thickets where her father had always said was a safe, hidden spot.
With her whole body sweating already, Franny nervously surveyed the space, grateful that it had rained so the earth was now soft, making it relatively easy for her to dig. With a weary sigh, she picked up the spade, but she stopped, frozen, hearing a noise … a voice. Someone was calling her name.
‘Franny. Franny.’
She whirled around, trembling, staring through the mist, which was getting ever thicker. Her heart was pounding as she stepped forward. Suddenly she stumbled, tripping over Bree’s body, falling down onto the wet ground. She let out a small scream and panicking she scrabbled, the sound of her panting filling the air, fear running through her as she used the gnarled tree next to her to pull herself up.
Her chest moved up and down in exaggerated movements as she pinned herself against the trunk, listening, watching … waiting. But the only sound she could hear was the pattering of rain against the leaves.
Jesus, she had to pull herself together. What was she thinking? She was being weak. Stupid … again. She was letting her mind play tricks on her. She of all people should know better. She knew there were always strange sounds and noises in the forest. Calls of animals and birds. An owl. A fox. A badger. It could’ve been anything making a sound. It was an easy mistake to make thinking that someone was calling her name, wasn’t it? Because after all what else could it have been?
Nervously looking around, Franny took a deep breath. She rubbed her head, massaging her temples. Christ, it felt like she was losing it; this was so unlike her and she hated the way it was making her feel. Or maybe she just needed to sleep, put her head down and get some rest – perhaps that’s all it was. After all it had been days since she’d had a proper night’s sleep. Yeah, maybe that’s all it was …
Determined to pull herself together, Franny picked up the spade and convincing herself her shaking was just from the cold and nothing else, she began to dig.
Two and a half hours later, having dug the shallow grave, which was much more difficult and took more physical effort than she had imagined, Franny rolled Bree’s body into the grave. She winced at the thud of Bree’s body hitting the bottom of the grave before shovelling earth back on top of it. Trying to push her emotions to one side, knowing this was the only way forward, Franny flattened out the ground surface, placing leaves and branches over it, then carefully undid the sachets of fox repellent and scattered the powder all over the area.
Exhausted but having finally finished, Franny picked up the spade and walked slowly through the mist-strewn forest, unable to shake the feeling that someone was watching her.