‘Leave it!’ shouted Nick, blocking Guy’s way. ‘It’s not her fault.’
‘It’s not our fault either,’ said Tracy. ‘I’m really sorry but I’m with Guy. She’s not our problem. She should go.’
Ash felt her anger rising. ‘You want to send a young girl out into the darkness alone, Tracy? Is that what you’re saying?’
‘We don’t know what she’s done. She might have really hurt someone, and they’re looking for revenge. Otherwise why are they so keen to stop her leaving?’
‘Bullshit. Look at her. The poor thing wouldn’t say boo to a goose.’
‘Then why’s someone trying so hard to get her?’ demanded Guy, trying to step past Nick. ‘Come on, let’s ask her. I bet she speaks English better than the rest of us.’
Nick put a hand on his friend’s chest. ‘Let’s just calm down.’
But Guy had the bit between his teeth now and he tried to shove Nick out of the way, at the same time pointing an accusing finger at the girl. ‘Come on, start bloody talking.’
Nick, though, was a lot bigger and stronger than his friend and he easily held him back. He tried again to take the heat out of the situation with more calm words.
Ash looked at the girl. ‘Don’t worry,’ she told her, giving her a reassuring smile, but it was already too late for that. The poor thing looked terrified. Like a rabbit caught in a car’s headlights.
Then, without warning, she ran for the front door, unlocking it in one swift movement and dashing out into the night.
Instinctively, Ash chased after her, not thinking about the dangers that might lurk outside. The girl was quick, but so was Ash. She also had the advantage of wearing shoes on the gravel. She thrust out a hand and grabbed the girl by the hood of Tracy’s top. ‘Come on, it’s all right,’ she said, pulling the girl into a tight bearhug, trying desperately to make herself understood. ‘No one’s going to hurt you.’
She heard Nick coming up behind her. ‘Ash, get back inside. Now.’
‘I’m coming. I’m coming.’
Ash loosened her grip on the girl, which turned out to be a mistake. The girl immediately wriggled away from her, shoved Ash backwards and set off again at a run.
Ash went to follow but Nick grabbed her by the arm for the second time that night. ‘Let her go,’ he snapped.
Ash watched as the girl reached the end of the driveway, her battered feet crunching on the gravel, before being swallowed up by the woods. A part of Ash — the brave part — wanted to run after her and drag her back to where she’d be safe and warm. Another part kept her rooted to the spot. Jesus, the poor thing had to be terrified of something.
‘We can’t just leave her,’ she told her husband. Even so, she didn’t resist as Nick led her back inside.
Tara tore through the trees, telling herself that she wouldn’t stop until she reached a town. She had no idea how far away one could be, or indeed where she even was. She assumed she must still be in England, but it was an England that was totally strange to her, a hilly wilderness where danger lurked at every turn. She’d thought the hikers would help her, and it had seemed like they were going to. The pretty dark-haired woman had been kind to her, but one of the other men had shouted and screamed. When she saw the slashed tyres on the car, she knew that her captor had somehow followed her to their house.
That was when she’d made the decision to run, not wanting to involve these people in what had happened to her. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t their problem. So now, once again, Tara was on her own.
A three-quarter moon shone down, bathing the forest in eerie light. She didn’t want light. She wanted darkness. Darkness would hide her. She looked round as she ran. The forest seemed empty, so she started to slow as the trees and bushes grew thicker, feeling the first sense of relief.
She glanced over her shoulder, saw no one following her, and turned back.
And ran straight into the knife.
Tara gasped as the blade was buried up to the hilt in her stomach, slicing through her flesh like it was slicing through a ripe orange. All her strength seemed to disappear in an instant.
Her attacker loomed up in front of her, an unmoving wall of black. She gazed into his cold, dark eyes as he withdrew the blade and drove it upwards into her heart, his gloved hand gripping her throat and holding her in place while she died.
4
For a good minute, none of them spoke. Nick had locked the door and had the key in his hand. In the background, the TV was still blaring out some reality show rubbish, with lots of shouting and laughter.
Finally, Tracy broke the silence. ‘Look, I didn’t mean for her to go like that. But you know … I don’t know what to do about this. I’m not used to this kind of drama.’
‘None of us are, Tracy,’ said Nick. ‘I’m just a bloody lawyer, like Guy. The point is, we’ve got to deal with it.’
‘For all we know she could have been the one who slashed the tyres,’ said Guy.
‘Don’t be bloody daft,’ snapped Ash, who was rapidly losing patience. ‘Why on earth would she do that?’
‘I don’t know. But then I don’t know why any of this is bloody happening.’
Which, thought Ash, was a fair point. What had started out as a relaxing, if potentially dull, weekend trip had turned into a nightmare. Just like that.
Ash had been mugged once, a couple of years ago. Coming home to their flat late at night, she’d got out of the taxi and was walking towards the front door when a man had appeared from behind the gate post and punched her full in the face. There’d been no pain. Just total and utter shock. She’d stumbled backwards, putting a hand to her bleeding nose, and the man had simply pulled her handbag from her shoulder and run off up the street.
The whole thing had lasted a matter of seconds, but Ash would never forget that feeling of shock as the urban violence she’d read so much about, but had never actually seen, finally came crashing into her cosy world. She had that shocked, partly dazed feeling now. She felt she could understand a bit better Guy and Tracy’s own reaction to the events that were happening around them.
‘Maybe now she’s gone, whoever slashed the tyres will leave us alone,’ sighed Tracy, and any understanding Ash had felt for her disappeared.
‘Jesus, don’t you have any feelings for that poor girl?’
Nick put up a hand. ‘Ash, leave it.’
‘How can I? That girl was probably raped and now she’s alone in the woods, and these two seem happy about it.’
‘No one’s happy about it,’ shouted Guy. ‘But what do you want us to do? The phones are dead. The car’s buggered. And the girl has just run off, and in Tracy’s clothes too.’
Ash sighed, knowing this argument was getting them nowhere. ‘It would just be nice to hear some compassion, that’s all.’
‘All right guys, enough,’ said Nick firmly, fixing them each in turn with his lawyer’s gaze. ‘Here’s the plan of action. We make sure the place is secure, and then wait here the night. That means locking all the windows and doors so there’s no way we get any uninvited guests. Then as soon as it’s light, we walk down to the main road, or somewhere we can get reception, and call for help. We’ll also report what happened to the girl. It’ll probably mean the end of the trip, but I think we’re all happy to accept that.’
Everyone nodded.
‘We’ve got food, we’ve got booze, so let’s just sit tight.’
‘Sounds like a plan,’ said Guy, beginning to calm down. ‘I need a leak. While I’m up there, I’ll lock the windows.’
‘Thanks, Guy,’ said Nick, patting his friend’s shoulder as he walked by. Guy avoided looking at him. It was clear to Ash that what friendship there was between them had just taken a very big hit, and at least part of that was her fault. She smiled at her husband to show she supported what he’d done. He gave her a nod in return before turning away, saying, ‘I’ll check the back door’s locked.’
Tracy sat down heavily on the sofa. ‘Jesus, what a day.’