He stopped abruptly and turned, and then he stood staring back at me in silence. ‘Laroche! Wait!’ I called. He was on the very edge of visibility and I knew, as I started towards him, that he’d only to turn and dive into the bush and I should have lost him for ever.
But instead of trying to escape, he stood quite still, waiting for me. It was only when I was a few yards from him that I saw the dull blade-gleam of the axe gripped in his hand, and I halted with my heart in my mouth, for I’d no weapon with which to defend myself.
CHAPTER TWO.
That bleak little lake with the snow falling softly — it might have been the lake where he’d tried to kill the others. My knees were trembling as I stood there, facing him; there was only a few yards between us and I thought that this was how it had been before, when he’d had the brainstorm, with him standing so still and the axe gripped in his hand, and all my body was tense, waiting for the attack.
But instead, his gaze went past me, down along the edge of the lake. ‘Where are the others?’ he asked. ‘Are they following, too?’
I shook my head, not trusting myself to speak.
His dark eyes came back to me. ‘Just you — alone?’ And when I nodded, he seemed to relax. ‘I guess you saw me leave the camp, eh?’ He swore softly to himself, using the Canuk word ‘Tabernac!’
‘I thought I’d slipped away without any of you seeing.’ And then he added, ‘Well, you’d better go back to them now.’
It was my chance to escape. I started to edge away from him, and then I stopped. ‘But I don’t know …’ The words died in my throat, for I didn’t dare admit that I was lost. Once he knew that… My body was suddenly still with fear, a fear that was greater than any fear of him.
‘Try and persuade Paule and Ray to wait there for me,’ he went on, his voice still reasonable, his gaze fixed now on the far end of the lake. ‘I’ll be about two days,’ he added.
I stared at him, puzzled by his manner. He seemed so sane. And yet… ‘Where are you going?’ I demanded.
‘That’s my business,’ he answered sharply.
And then, suddenly reckless, because anything was better than being left to die of cold and starvation: ‘You ran out on — 231 him when he was still alive, scared at what had happened. Isn’t that the truth?’
He was staring at me, his dark eyes wide in their shadowed sockets. And then suddenly his gaze shifted to the ground. ‘You’re so damned logical, aren’t you?’ It was said without any trace of hostility. And then he murmured, ‘Well, it’s true — in a way. I was scared. I was certain Baird was dead, and there seemed nothing else …’ His voice trailed away as though at some ghastly recollection. And after a moment, he lifted his head and looked straight at me again. ‘If I told you history had repeated itself there at that lake, then you’d think I’d gone mad, wouldn’t you?’
‘How do you mean?’ My throat was suddenly dry.
He stared at me a moment longer and then he shook his head. ‘No, it’s no good,’ he murmured. ‘I guess you can only see it the one way. I knew what you were thinking that first day at Seven Islands. Mon Dieu!’ His voice was no more than a whisper. ‘Why did it have to be you? Queer, isn’t it?’ he gave a little, nervous laugh. ‘If I told you…’ But he stopped there and shook his head again. ‘No, you’d twist it round in your mind. But I’ll tell you this much — that Indian was right. It’s a bad place.’
‘Then it was Lake of the Lion?’
‘Sure it was Lake of the Lion.’ He was still looking at me and his lips were drawn back from the even line of his teeth in that same wry little smile. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘The place where my grandfather killed yours.’ And he added, ‘The body’s still there. A heap of bones — that’s all that’s left of James Finlay Ferguson, and there’s a hole drilled in the skull where the bullet struck him. In the back of the skull. Pierre Laroche must have come up behind him and shot him in cold blood. The forehead’s splintered.’ His eyes stared at me unblinkingly a moment, and then: ‘It’s not a pretty thing,’ he muttered, ‘to discover that your grandfather is a murderer.’ His tone was suddenly bitter.
The fascination that old tragedy had for him, his bitterness — if I had needed to be convinced, this would have convinced me. It was the sight of my grandfather’s remains, the evidence of his own grandfather’s guilt, that had unhinged his mind. ‘And what happened — afterwards?’ I heard myself ask, and my voice shook slightly. ‘What happened then between you and Briffe?’
But he shook his head. ‘Oh, no,’ he said. ‘I’m not telling you that. Or what happened to Baird.’ He hesitated, and then he added, ‘But you can come and see it for yourself, if you want to.’
‘You mean now?’
He nodded.
‘You’re going to Lake of the Lion?’
‘But of course.’ He said it impatiently. ‘Where else did you think I was going?’
And I stared at him, the skin crawling on my scalp. It was incredible — quite horrible. He was going back to the scene of the tragedy. Why? To gloat? Or was it the murderer’s subconscious fascination for his crime? Whatever it was, I knew now he was mad and my voice trembled as I said, ‘But you’re going south.’ Fact — anything to keep him to facts.
‘South — yes.’ He nodded. ‘I have to pick up my route out.’
‘But you told us that was to the north.’
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘What does it matter what I told you?’ And then he added, ‘If you come with me, you can see for yourself what happened to Baird. Then maybe you’ll believe me.’
But I knew I could never believe anything he said, now or in the future, for his mind seemed so confused. Perhaps, to him there was no truth any more. ‘You said Baird was injured in the crash,’ I whispered. ‘You told me they were both injured in the crash.’
But he shook his head. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Nobody was injured in the crash.’ And then he suddenly smiled with that touch of boyish charm that I had found so frightening before. ‘You mustn’t think, because I told you they were injured in the crash, that it was so. I had to tell you that, because I didn’t want you to pursue your inquiries.’ It was said with such an appalling candour that I felt almost sick. And then he said. ‘Well, are you going to come on with me or are you going back to join the others?’
I hesitated — not because I’d any choice, but because I was so horrified at the thought of going on alone with him. My only hope was that Darcy and Paule, by following the Indian’s instructions, would reach Lake of the Lion before us. If I were to be the only witness to what had really happened there … ‘Are you sure you can find the lake?’ I asked.
‘Oh, yes,’ he replied. ‘In the early stages I was very careful to memorize my route and even blazed some of the trees.’
‘But if you’re prepared to let me come with you, why not the others — why didn’t you tell them you could guide us in? Damn it!’ I cried. ‘You flew in with the helicopter twice. If you’d memorized your route out, why in God’s name couldn’t you find the lake then?’
He shook his head and the smile on his lips had become oddly secretive. ‘I could have found it,’ he said. ‘But I didn’t want to. I didn’t want anybody to know.’
‘But Paule — ‘
‘Least of all Paule,’ he said harshly, the smile suddenly wiped from his face. And he added, still in the same harsh voice, ‘I guess you’d better come with me anyway. If you go back you’ll talk, and the one person who must never know what happened there is Paule.’
It surprised me that in his state of mind he should still care what Paule thought, and I took the opportunity to point out that she’d be worried about him. ‘They’ll wonder what’s happened to us,’ I said.
But he shook his head. ‘I left a note. They’ll guess you’re with me.’ And he added, ‘I hope to God she does what I asked and stays at the camp.’ He made a gesture with the axe. ‘Okay, let’s get going. You lead the way.’ And he stood back to let me pass.
I barely hesitated, for if he once knew that I was lost, then it would be so much simpler for him to abandon me here. Nevertheless, as I went past him the muscles of my shoulders contracted in anticipation of a blow, even though my intelligence told me that he was now determined to take me to Lake of the Lion and that anyway, if he intended to kill me before we got there, he would have plenty of opportunity. From now on we would live as close as it is possible for two human beings to live, for we’d no tent, nothing but our own warmth to protect us from the cold.