Something was not right, but he couldn’t think what. He thought he knew his father, but it felt recently as though he didn’t know him at all. All these years and the only time he had seen him lose his temper was several weeks ago when his dad had come to his aid when he was getting a good hiding from three family members of someone he had just put into prison. In fact on that occasion he remembered having to drag his dad away before he did one of the guys some really serious injury such was the viciousness of his onslaught.
This recent incident had brought all that flashing back and was unsettling him again. He clutched the steering wheel tighter willing his Audi faster up the hill. Upon cresting the brow of Blue Bank he eased off the accelerator and began cruising along the moorland road that passed through ‘Heartbeat’ country. Thirty yards in front it looked from the movement of nodding heads as though his parents were chatting happily. He wondered if his mum, like Beth, had sensed something was not quite right.
Because his concentration had been elsewhere he never saw the silver BMW until it shot past, so close that it rocked his car, almost catching the wing mirror.
For a split-second he lost control of the car, veering towards the grass verge, which he quickly corrected by braking sharply and swinging back into a straight line.
“The bloody idiot!” Hunter shouted, halting his tirade, remembering that Jonathan and Daniel, his two young sons, were in the back.
It appeared to him that the recklessly speeding BMW was on a collision course with the rear of his father’s car. He dropped into third gear and put down his foot, squeezing the accelerator further, trying to make ground so that he could take note of the car’s registration number.
Hunter watched the BMW swing onto the opposite carriageway and pull alongside his father and mother’s car. At first he thought the car was going to overtake but then the BMW snaked smashing its front end against the side of his parent’s car.
Their brake lights flashed on and Hunter could see blue smoke burning from beneath the wheels as the tyres protested on the wet glistening road. Chippings flew up from the surface as their car lurched sideways and began to bounce crab-like. It hit the damp moorland grasses at the road edge, throwing up huge tufts and began sliding out of control. Their car bucked into a ditch, bounced back out, and flipped over into an uncontrollable spin, roof and chassis rebounding into the moorland heather, only finally coming to a halt when it thumped into a peat bog.
Hunter stamped the brake pedal and the Audi slewed sideways onto the grassed verge.
He flung open his door ready for the sprint towards his parent’s crashed car. It felt as if everything had gone into slow motion.
He was conscious of Beth fishing around in her handbag trying to find her mobile, whilst on the back seat he caught a quick glimpse of the boys, straining against their seat belts, both pale-faced and displaying looks of horror. Switching his gaze he saw fifty yards ahead the BMW’s brake-lights flash on and it skewed to a halt.
He stopped mid-pace as the driver’s door flew open.
Hunter heaved a sigh of relief. He had initially thought this was going to be a hit-and-run; that this had been a deliberate act. Now that the car had stopped he guessed it was just bad driving and the driver was coming to help.
That was until he recognised the man who emerged. It was the bald headed man he had seen earlier back in Staithes arguing with his father.
The man took a long hard stare at Hunter, and with outstretched hand he reached across the roof of the car and pointed towards his parents upturned car. He fashioned two fingers together and cocked his thumb into a makeshift pistol, and jolting his hand he mimicked a firing action. He never took his eyes off Hunter, fixing him with a malicious grin before mouthing the words ‘POW!’
Then the bald headed man was leaping back into the car, and it squealed away throwing up a film of spray in its wake.
Hunter managed to clock the car’s registration before it disappeared over the brow.
Snatching his thoughts back into focus he shouted to Beth to dial 999 and then he kicking his heels sprinted across the front of his Audi and bounded across the moorland heather to his parents crashed vehicle, a plume of steam now masking its predicament.
* * * * *
Barnwelclass="underline"
‘I just know this is going to be cold’ Katie Williamson said to herself as she stepped ungainly into the murky waters of Barnwell lake, disturbing the stillness of its surface with her finned feet as she sought out the security of the shale bottom; and she knew that once she became fully submerged it would be even colder. From a previous dive here she knew that in a few minutes the pain inside her head was going to be as intense and sharp as if she had eaten chilled ice cream.
“I’ll be only a couple of feet behind you — remember the signals?” her dive instructor and buddy Craig Palmer said.
Katie watched her dive-buddies eyes roaming around her body, though she knew he wasn’t eyeing her up — he was double-checking that all her diving equipment was in place.
Katie formed an ‘O’ shape with her thumb and forefinger. She could feel the resistance in the neoprene gloves as she forced them together.
“Good. And if you need to come up quickly?”
She stuck a thumb in the air and jabbed it skywards several times.
“Okay, final checks. This is your last dive and then we can sign your logbook up for your first qualification. Looking forward to it?”
“In these freezing waters, you’re joking”
She watched a smile crease her instructor’s face.
“You are such a wimp. Twenty minutes and the ordeal will all be over and this time next year you’ll be able to take a novice out yourself. Now check your air pressure and that your hoses are not tangled.”
Katie slotted the mouthpiece of her breathing regulator into her mouth, adjusting it slightly so that it fitted snugly between her teeth and lips. She purged the demand valve and a blast of concentrated air shot into her mouth, plumping out her cheeks. She swallowed, tasting the freshness and purity of the compressed air and formed another ‘O’ with her fingers.
“Okay, mask on and let’s make our way to the centre of the lake.”
Katie lifted her bright pink facemask over her eyes, waited a couple of seconds to ensure that it wasn’t going to fog over and began to walk penguin-fashion over the loose stones and moss, edging slowly into the waters.
As she reached chest height she felt her stab jacket taking over her buoyancy, keeping her afloat and enabling her to flip her finned feet and push towards the middle of the lake. She could hear Craig splashing closely behind. After five minutes swimming Katie felt a tap on her shoulder.
“Okay this is it. Let the air out of your jacket and let’s drop to the bottom. We’re going to swing left and circle the lake, okay?”
She reached above the water and formed another ’O’ with her gloved hand and then began slowly releasing the air out of her life jacket, feeling herself sink below the surface, aided by additional lead weights fastened around her waist. From her last dive she knew that it wouldn’t be long before she hit bottom; the depth was only five metres.
Katie felt the slippery fronds of the reeds brush against her as she evened herself out and began sweeping through the gloomy depths, trying to acclimatise herself to her surroundings, pushing her hands forward to feel because it was so hard to see. Kicking hard she began her turn heading left. Her breathing was steadying and she was surprised that the water wasn’t as cold as she had expected.