Free Time to Play (North East Police) by K.A. Richardson Page B

yes?’
    Yolanda hit Elvie again, causing her lip to split and swell instantly. ‘You are dirty bitch. You will learn the hard way.’ She flung Elvie in the direction of the bed and left the room, slamming the door so hard that the whole room shook.
    Elvie tried to steady her breathing. The whole of her right hand side felt like it was on fire, and slowly she pulled herself to her feet. She lifted her dress to examine her ribs, and wasn’t surprised to see them turning a dark shade of purple already. Her breath felt shallow, and her face pulsed with her heartbeat where Yolanda had hit her.
    I need to get out of here. I cannot be here when she comes to send me back to that house.
    Elvie made her way to the window, and fiddled with the catch. She was surprised to feel it open and pushed the window upwards. It screeched loudly, paint on paint, and she paused, hoping that no-one had heard. Shoving with all her might, she pushed the window up until it locked in position – a mere couple of inches from the bottom. Definitely not enough for her to crawl through.
    Tears threatened as she looked around the room, searching for something, anything that could help her force the window open.
    But there was nothing to find in the sparse room. The beds had metal frames that required dismantling with a screwdriver. There was nothing else other than the bedside table and the lamp.
    She stared at the lamp for a moment.
    Elvie smiled as she suddenly realised something. When the bedroom door was opened by Yolanda or whoever, it wasn’t locked. They always left it ajar while they were in the room. The lamp could prove to be a useful weapon.
    She pulled the plug from the wall and placed it behind the door, so it was ready for her to pick up when she heard someone coming. She allowed herself to slip down the wall beside the door to a sitting position, ignoring the pain from her side.
    And she waited.
     
    4 th November, 1120 hours – Farne Islands, Northumberland
    Marlo made sure her tank was secure and double checked the oxygen pressure. She dipped her mask into the salty sea water, then spat in it and rubbed her fingers around before giving it another quick rinse. She didn’t know what it was about spit that stopped the mask steaming up, but it worked and that was what mattered. Popping the mask over her eyes and nose, she put the respirator into her mouth and tested it by inhaling.
    She was set.
    Sitting on the edge of the boat, she leant backwards and let her body fall into the water. Kicking her legs powerfully, she swam deeper.
    The boat had been coming out with a group of students and a small dive team, and she’d managed to hitch a ride. They were doing some kind of ecological survey, looking at the silt around the wrecks and checking it for nutrients to compare to other areas of the sea bed. Or so she’d been told anyway. The two divers were students doing their final degree year.
    Either way she was pleased to see them. It had saved hiring her own boat to take out. She’d contemplated buying her own several times, but she’d have to pay for storage, maintenance and everything else; sometimes it was just easier to hire.
    Before entering the water she’d set her underwater watch on countdown so she wouldn’t miss her ride back. It’d be a long swim if she did. Her camera was round her neck and hooked to her vest so it didn’t stray whilst she swam.
    She spent a minute taking in the surroundings. Marlo had dived there several times, but the thing she loved about the sea was that it was always changing. You could dive the same place twice in two days and something would be different. The only thing that she didn’t like was the silence. A girl could really hear her thoughts when she was submerged under tonnes of water.
    When she’d first started diving, the silence had been the thing that put her off the most. All that time lost in her own thoughts had been a bad thing when she was younger. It had let her dwell on the dark