Page 76 of A Merry Little Christmas
Thankfully, Caleb was tall enough to reach over the gate.
‘It’s just a bolt,’ he whispered, and to my relief, I heard it slide out. The gate swung open silently and we walked through, onto a paved patio area.
The rooms at the back of the bungalow were also in darkness, and we used our phone lights to guide us through the wilderness of a back garden. My eye alighted on a small shed on the other side of an overgrown rockery.
‘Do you think he could be in there?’ I whispered.
Caleb nodded and we crossed the grass together.
Earlier, the police had found the bungalow empty apart from Eileen, who’d claimed she hadn’t had any visitors all week. It made sense that Will could be hidden somewhere else close by...
The shed was locked. And when Caleb shone a light through the window, he shook his head. ‘Nothing.’
We turned to go back.
And that’s when I saw it.
Caleb let out a triumphant gasp and I knew he’d seen the same thing – a metal rectangle that looked like a small door. It was part of a concrete structure over which the rockery had been built, presumably to try and disguise the eyesore of a war-time Anderson shelter in the middle of the garden. The entrance wasn’t visible from the patio.
I grasped Caleb’s arm. There was no need for words. I knew he was thinking the same thing as I was. We had to get in there.
I trained my light on the door while Caleb approached it, puzzled at first because there was no handle to open it. It seemed to be wedged shut in the space – rusted, maybe, after all these years – but finally, he managed to push it free.
As we peered into the darkness beyond, everything was silent, and I felt my hope die.
Will wasn’t here!
Then Caleb called out softly, ‘Will? It’s Uncle Caleb. Are you there?’
At that, we heard a strangled cry. And then movement at the back of the shelter.
‘Will?’
Caleb surged forward, and I heard a dull thud as he banged his head on the concrete above the low-hung entrance. But he hardly seemed to feel it in his rush to get to his nephew.
I entered the tight space behind him, stumbling a little over the threshold. Bench seating lined both sides of the narrow space and there was Will, sitting on a chair at the far end of the metal structure. My heart lurched with horror when I saw that he was tied to the chair and gagged. He must have been petrifiedwhen we entered, thinking it might be his kidnapper coming back. No wonder he’d stayed silent.
Caleb was untying him and gently removing the scarf that had been tied around his mouth to keep him silent. Then he crouched down beside Will and gently took his face in both hands so he could see for himself that his nephew was at least physically unharmed.
‘You’re okay now, son,’ he murmured, drawing Will into the comfort of one of his big bear hugs.
Will gave a choked sob and sank into Caleb’s embrace.
They stayed like that for a long time, and as I watched – my heart bursting with relief that Will was safe – a happy tear slid down my face thinking of Penny and how overjoyed she would be when she heard we’d found him . . .
*****
A sound like a gate being pushed open brought us back to reality with a bang.
Who was that?
Had Eileen seen us and alerted her grandson? What would he do if he knew we’d managed to find Will?
Caleb was supporting Will. They were both on their feet.
‘What do we do?’ I whispered, hurrying to the back of the shelter, away from the entrance, worried that at any moment the kidnapper would burst inside.
‘Phone the police,’ said Caleb in an urgent whisper. ‘And look after Will?’
