Wrong Time, Wrong Place

3

‘Let’s get the poor thing some clothes, she’s freezing,’ said Ash as she unlocked the door to the lodge and stepped inside. ‘Come on, sit down.’ She led the girl over to the sofa.

The girl sat down, grabbed a cushion and hugged it. She looked terrified.

Ash gave her a reassuring smile. ‘It’s OK. You’re safe now. Do you have a name?’ she said slowly. ‘What is your name?’

The girl just shook her head and looked away.

‘She can have some of my clothes,’ said Tracy. ‘I packed a load of things.’

‘Trace, are you sure?’ whined Guy.

‘Course I am. Jesus, Guy. Look at her shivering. Have some heart.’

Tracy ran upstairs to her suitcase while Guy stared after her. Ash was pleased to see the look of shock on his face. The man could be a real idiot at times. She wondered what her husband had ever seen in him.

‘We’ve got a problem,’ said Nick from the corner of the room where he was holding the landline phone to his ear.

Ash felt her chest tighten. ‘What is it?’

‘The bloody phone’s out of order.’

‘We’ll have to drive her to the nearest hospital.’

‘Jesus,’ sighed Guy. ‘That’s all we need.’

‘Look, I don’t want to have to do it either, Guy,’ said Ash, turning on him, ‘but we haven’t got any bloody choice.’

‘What is it?’ said Tracy, coming back down the stairs with a pair of tracksuit bottoms and a garish pink hoodie. She handed them to Ash, who’d clearly been chosen as their main contact with the girl.

‘The landline isn’t working either,’ Guy told her.

‘You two don’t have to worry,’ said Nick. ‘Ash and I will take her. There’s booze in the fridge. You just stay here until we get back. We’ll try not to be too long.’

Guy nodded. He and Tracy both looked relieved, having been let off the hook.

Ash handed the girl the clothes. ‘Put these on. We’re going to take you to the doctor now.’ She spoke slowly and carefully, as if this would somehow help the girl understand her.

The girl nodded silently and put on the clothes.

‘All right, let’s go,’ said Nick, grabbing the keys to their Land Rover.

Gently, Ash lifted the girl to her feet and together they followed Nick out of the front door.

It was nearly dark and the wind was picking up, sweeping through the trees that surrounded the lodge on every side. When they’d arrived that morning in the sunshine, Ash had thought it was a perfect location, far from the city crowds. But now that this mysterious girl had arrived out of the blue, naked and bruised, it had suddenly taken on a more menacing air. Something had happened to her out in these woods, something terrible, and Ash was suddenly glad that they were leaving.

She got in the back with the girl, putting a protective arm round her shoulders, while Nick started the engine and pulled away in a crunch of gravel.

Almost immediately the car seemed uncontrollable. Nick turned the steering wheel, trying to right it, but the car seemed to have a mind of its own. It bumped up and down as if it was being shaken. Nick brought the car to a stop and pulled up the handbrake.

‘What is it?’ Ash asked him.

Nick didn’t answer. Instead he got out, took a quick look round the car, then pulled open the back door. His expression was grim. ‘Let’s get back in the house. Now.’

He grabbed Ash by the arm. In normal circumstances, she’d have yelled at him to let go of her. Ash didn’t like being manhandled by anyone. But these weren’t normal circumstances. Nick looked scared, and that scared Ash, because usually he was the calmest person she knew. It was why he was such a damn good lawyer.

‘What’s going on?’ she said, pulling the girl out with her.

‘Someone’s slashed the tyres,’ he hissed, leading the two of them back to the lodge, his fingers shaking as he unlocked the front door.

Ash risked a look over her shoulder, and immediately saw the gaping tears in each of the nearside tyres. The girl looked too, and let out a frightened, animal-like whimper.

Guy and Tracy had already sat down on the sofa with the TV on. They both jumped up like guilty teenagers caught groping each other when the others came back in.

‘Everything all right?’ asked Guy, looking past them to the girl.

‘We’ve got a situation,’ Nick told them, locking the door behind him and pulling the curtains as he explained what had happened.

‘You mean, all four of the tyres have been slashed?’ demanded Guy.

Nick nodded. ‘All four of them. So it’s deliberate.’

‘But who’d do that?’ asked Tracy, her voice rising several tones.

‘I have no idea, but whoever it is clearly has a problem with us.’

Guy looked angry and put-out, like a spoilt child. ‘Why? We haven’t done anything to them. It must be something to do with her.’ He pointed at the girl, who shrank away from his accusing stare. ‘Whoever’s after her knows she’s with us. I say we let her go. It’s her they want. We don’t even have a clue who the hell it is who’s after her. We don’t even have a clue who she is.’ He took a step towards the girl. ‘Go on,’ he shouted, ‘get the hell out of here! Now!’

‘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.