Echoes in the Woods by Georgina Scott (ebook reader web txt) 📕

Jake couldn’t understand why she was hanging around with this crowd and it baffled him a great deal. This girl was bright, full of potential and pleasant. He was confused as to where she fit in with this group, but despite how impressed he was with this girl, he was not willing to show her any mercy. Jake took out his writing pad and next to her name wrote and said out loud, “Shame.”

She lived at 22 Willow Crescent, the more upmarket side of town, her father was a professor of math. Her mother worked at the local newspaper selling advertising space. She had two elder brothers, both at university, one studying to be a solicitor and the other studying economics.

Heather would arrive home after school every day at 5 pm; she would then sit down with her parents and have dinner. After dinner, she would then go to her tree house for about half hour, then study for another half hour. Sometimes she went to No 16 where Peter Burns lived and stayed there for up to an hour, then came home.

There was lots of fun and laughter in this house. It was full of life and music, and at times, Jake found himself giggling. This girl was loved and she was wanted!

It was Friday and Jake was about to go home when he saw Natasha Cley and two other girls that he didn’t recognise, walk round the top of the road. They knocked at Heather’s door and waited. When Heather opened the door and reacted to seeing Natasha and her two friends, Jake was not ready for it and didn’t expect it.

Heather stepped out onto the drive and shut the front door. There was an exchange with words, heated words, with Natasha poking Heather in the chest continuously until Heather passed her something. Jake couldn’t quite make out what was handed over. The other two girls were goading Natasha, then she spat in Heather’s face. All Jake heard as the three girls pushed past Heather elbowing her was, “We want double next week,” then they turned and walked back the same way they came.

Now, Jake was really confused, these two girls were supposed to be friends, they hung around after school together, got into mischief together and there had been no sign that these two did not like each other. He knew this because he had been watching them for the past three weeks, so why would Natasha do this?

***

Kevin Stones was one nasty sonofabitch. He was tall, his hair was styled high and tight, just how the marines wore theirs. He was always wearing the latest designer fashions, and no one knew where he got the money from to buy this kind of designer clothing? He spent most of his time doing sports, mainly rugby and to be honest, he was really good and played for the school team. When he was not causing trouble, he drank canned lager and smoked cigarettes.

He was from a one-parent family; his father was in prison and was doing a seven-year stretch for fraud. The family lost everything. The house they were living in, belonged to his uncle on his mother’s side. If it wasn’t for his uncle they probably would have been homeless or living in some awful shelter.

His mother worked all hours on a production line, twelve-hour night shifts and any overtime that was available. Being the eldest of two, his younger sister Molly of seven years was part Down syndrome, and needed care. Whilst his mother was at work, he would always take care of Molly and made sure he was at home for 7 pm on the dot in readiness for when his mum went off to work.

Molly was the only person in the world he was nice to; he absolutely adored her and would do anything for her. If anyone made a spiteful comment or made fun of her, no matter who it was, they would feel the full force of his rage. When they first moved to 22 Westcolt Street after his father went to prison, people constantly stared and whispered. Over time, that had now subsided.

His mum went to work, and within fifteen minutes Natasha turned up at the door by herself. She stayed for about half hour then left. Around 9 pm two men, probably around the mid to late twenties, knocked at the door. They arrived holding no bags or containers, when they left within twenty minutes, they were holding a medium sized sports bag. Jake had an idea of what was in the sports bag, which urged him to want to know more about Kevin Stones and his activities.

The same two men arrived at the house once a week, same time and day every week. No one else was at the house when Kevin greeted the two men; his younger sister was always in bed. Jake scouted around the back of the house. He noticed a massive tree near the back of the house. He climbed the tree and sat there and watched. The tree gave him the perfect camouflage and cover. It wasn’t dense enough for him not to see the back of the house but it had enough coverage for him not to be seen. There was a good size shed in the back garden that sat next to a Wendy house made from wood, with a climbing frame, slide and swing. The fence surrounding the garden was only three foot in height with a gate centrally positioned. The garden was a good size and was well kept; there was no sign of dogs or any other pets.

Jake found the tree uncomfortable to begin with and kept fidgeting until he found the perfect nook and settled into it. He must have been up that tree for about an hour and a half when he noticed Kevin walking out of the back door and into the shed with these two guys. They were again about fifteen to twenty