FIFTEEN
Suzy Munro braced her back against a nearby tree as another gust of wind and rain threatened to knock her onto her backside. She watched Williams as he swung his torch left then right into the thick wood beyond, he shook his head in frustration. You couldn’t see more than a few feet into the dense foliage which was moving and swaying so much in the storm any hope of seeing anything let alone a solitary figure if one was out here was virtually nil.
“Not one of my better ideas this,” he shouted across to her and laughed at his own stupidity. He struggled over to where she was propped up against the tree. They had done a circuit of the prefab building and the boatshed and he had then suggested a look into the wood which had seemed to Suzy like a reasonable idea until they reach it. Although it wasn’t so large the visibility out here was only a few feet especially, like now when the rain was hitting you straight in the face forcing your eyes into narrow slits. She mused you could walk right passed some and not even know it.
“It was worth a try,” she said as he finally reached her.
“Yeah, suppose,” he relented.
“Pete did say he thought he saw someone earlier out here,” she said. “Although no one in their right mind would stay out in this shit all night.”
“But this guy isn’t in his right mind,” Williams said grimly.
She nodded, true enough. She glanced across to the boatshed and thought of the poor soul inside. She couldn’t get the image of those grotesque carvings on his back out of her mind. “Why do you think he carves wings onto their backs?” She asked.
“Huh?”
“The killer, why does he carve wings onto their backs after he kills them?”
“Christ only knows,” Williams said. “Let’s hope we can get the chance to ask the sick fuck when we catch him, eh?”
“Yeah.” Suzy was about to asked if they should head back when Williams spun and shone his torch over her shoulder.
“Jesus, look.”
She followed the torch light as it cut through the gloom. Deep in the woods she could just make out a flash of white as someone darted in between the trees.
“Hey!” Williams shouted and set off running. “You, stop!”
Suzy stumbled after him shining her torch just ahead of her to avoid tripping on the uneven undergrowth.