CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

Thursday December 22nd

It should have been a day of joy and anticipation for the people of Kirkby Abbey.

Only three nights until the big day arrived. The decorations were up all over the village and a white Christmas was guaranteed.

But, of course, only the very young children were looking forward to it because they had no understanding of what was going on. Everyone else was living in fear, and the last thing they were bothered about was celebrating the birth of Christ.

James was not a religious man, but for the first time in years he had prayed during the night to a God he didn’t believe in. That was how desperate he was to bring an end to the nightmare. If he couldn’t do it himself then maybe he could count on some divine intervention.

He woke early to the news that the storm paralysing the north of England was being classified as one of the worst in years. Red warnings were in place across the region and in Cumbria another eight inches of snow had fallen overnight.

TV news footage showed council workers desperately trying to clear blocked roads with ploughs and blowers, and people digging their homes out from beneath giant snow drifts that, in some cases, reached as high as the roofs.

A brutal wind was still blowing through the streets of Kirkby Abbey when James was ready to step outside just before seven. The snow wasn’t so heavy now, but there was plenty more of it to come, as evidenced by the thick, dark clouds that filled the sky.

Annie had stayed in bed and before he left the house, James took her up a cup of tea.

‘Be careful,’ she told him. ‘And please don’t take any risks.’

He wrapped himself in his coat and scarf and put on a woollen hat and a face muffler. In the hall mirror he saw he looked like an Arctic explorer.

The short walk to the village hall was hard going and the cold air chilled his lungs. But he got there in one piece and found that DC Abbott had arrived before him.

‘I woke up at five and couldn’t get back to sleep so I thought I might as well come in,’ she said.

The officers who had been on duty through the night were told to go to their digs and get some rest.

James was told that no incidents had been recorded overnight and that the villagers seemed to have heeded the advice not to venture out. Of course, they couldn’t be sure that there wasn’t a body lying in the snow waiting to be discovered.

Before holding a briefing, James got an update from Kendal. He spoke to DS Stevens as DCI Tanner wasn’t in yet.

‘There’s still no chance of getting reinforcements to you,’ Stevens said. ‘We’re being stretched to breaking point as it is. On top of all that, we’re also getting call outs every few minutes from people involved in accidents. And at the last count five villages had been cut off, in addition to Kirkby Abbey.’