She never really recovered from that. Since she died, I’ve been on my own.
My mother died too, said Vanessa faintly.
But you have others don’t you?
The thought echoed with clarity in Vanessa’s mind, touching something familiar, something important that was hiding in her subconscious.
I heard you call Luke, Ronan and Alan. Who are they?
Vanessa closed her eyes in confusion. She tried hard to make sense of the mass of images that streamed through her head – Ronan laughing and throwing snowballs at her, Luke busy burying her legs in the sand on a beach. And her dad with his arms outstretched as she ran towards him.
You’re right; I do have others. I’m not alone. But what about you? Why don’t you go back to the sea?
Go back? I couldn’t do that. I’d get hurt, killed, just like my mother.
Vanessa began to eat the moss off the walls again. She was comfortable down here with Nessie.
My mother’s bones are in the cave above, under the stones that I asked you not to touch.
Vanessa was taken aback.
How on earth did you get them up there?
Lena climbed up with them. She made … a grave, she called it.
Vanessa’s mind raced. Lena. Lena … Where did she know that name from? She fingered the locket around her neck.
She had just lost her mother too, Nessie explained. That’s her mother’s picture in the locket. After she’d buried the bones for me I helped her home.
Vanessa felt her mind shutting down. It was too much to take in, bones, lockets, drownings …
You’re tired, Vanessa. You should sleep.
CHAPTER 24
In the summer of 1969, the hunt for Nessie was intense. Scientists were using a submarine called Viperfish and a small submersible called Pieces to dive down deep into the loch. They went to 820 feet which was actually deeper than the loch’s official maximum depth. At 750 feet they found strange, whirlpool currents and elsewhere the crew noticed fish and eels with ‘unusual colourings’.
The old green rowing boat was too leaky to take out on the loch, so Lee had called Frank Dobson to bring around his speedboat. Maggie’s kitchen was full of people, not loud or boisterous this time, but subdued and silent. Constable Graham Maguire from Drumnadrochit had been called and was on his way from Inverness where he had been attending a police conference. He promised he would be there within the hour.
The roar of the speedboat echoed through the kitchen door and brought them all into the garden. Three boats instead of one. The two speedboats came to a sudden halt at the mooring and behind them, at a slow and determined pace, a fishing boat with an outboard engine struggled to keep up.
‘That’s Frank’s son, Hamish, with the outboard and John Nolan, another neighbour in the other speedboat,’ Maggie explained to Alan, as they hurried down the garden to meet them.
‘They have powerful lights on board those speedboats. It’s the only way we’ll find the rowing boat at this time of night. We will find it, Alan.’ Maggie pressed her hand firmly on his forearm as she said it.
Alan was past caring about platitudes and terrified that they would find the boat but not Vanessa. He felt a rush of irritation with Maggie. None of them could know what this torture was like for him. Losing Vanessa would be unbearable. He had to find her.
CHAPTER 25
In the 1930s, there was a reward of £20,000 offered for the live capture of the Loch Ness Monster.
Vanessa climbed back up to the pile of stones that guarded the bones of Nessie’s mother. She was curious about it. Maybe she could find more clues about that girl, Lena, whoever she was.
She found the climb harder this time than before. She paused for a moment and looked down, but there was no sign of Nessie. She stared at the water, feeling its draw but also needing to reach the cave.
Once inside the cave again, she sat beside the pile of rocks where Lena had made a kind of grave for the bones. Lena – of course! That was the name of the girl she’d read about in one of those cuttings she’d found. She’d gone missing, hadn’t she?
Vanessa took a stone from the pile and waited for Nessie to talk to her, but nothing happened, so she removed a few more. She dismantled the pyramid stone by stone until she saw the first bone. It was a curved rib bone, she guessed, at least 3 feet long. She ran her fingers along the smooth edge and tried to visualise the size of Nessie’s mother. She must have been huge when she came into the loch. Nessie was clearly not yet fully grown. If she was to travel back to the sea, now was the time to do it, while she was still small enough not to get crushed by boats in the shallow parts of the canal. Yes! She had to find Nessie. She had to persuade her to try.
She placed the bones carefully back in their grave and piled the rocks back up. Still no communication from Nessie. How could she help her home? She sat back against the cave wall and closed her eyes to imagine it. She could draw a map. She knew the way, and she could explain it all to Nessie.
She climbed down quickly to the lower cave to look for Nessie. No sign.
Picking up a sharp piece of stone, Vanessa began to draw on the softer surface of the cave wall. She drew a route map for Nessie, a picture of the journey from Loch Ness through the canal and the series of lock-gates she’d need to negotiate to get back to the sea.
The first lock-gate is Lock Dochgarroch. There are four more at Muirtown. Then you’re at the sea-locks at Inverness. Once you’re through those, you swim under the enormous bridge, Kessock Bridge it’s called, and out to sea, the Atlantic Ocean. It’s as easy as that, Nessie, and remember, you’re still quite small, you won’t get hurt.
But Nessie didn’t answer.
Finally, Vanessa put a large arrow, pointing in the right direction. Thank God she had studied the maps of the Caledonian Canal and the lock-gates as well as she had.
If Nessie wasn’t going to talk to her, she’d better go and find her. Quickly scraping another handful of moss from the cave wall, she dived in.
She swam down and down. Nothing. Where was Nessie?
She was starting to feel cold now. She’d never felt cold before, no matter how deep she’d swum down. And it was getting darker. Was her glow starting to fade? She could barely see her own hands and arms through the murky water.
Her chest tightened and she felt herself sinking.
Look at the map, Nessie, she thought urgently as the blackness engulfed her. It’ll show you the way.
CHAPTER 26
On 15 October 2005, Robbie Girvan, owner of the Loch Ness Caravan Park at Invermoriston was out at 6pm walking his dogs on the loch shore. He saw a creature, which he described as having a 4 foot high head and neck, rise out of the water. Previously a non-believer, he said that the ‘dark green and silvery’ creature could only have been Nessie.
It took less than five minutes for the lights of the powerboat to pick out the upturned rowing boat. Alan’s heart sank. Why was it overturned? He felt as if he might get sick over the side of the boat any minute. Frank used his walkie-talkie to call in his son.
‘Hamish, we’ve found the boat. We’re about 200 metres east of Morag’s place. We’ll need all the light we can get.’
But Alan couldn’t wait. Within seconds, he had taken off his boots and coat and dived into the cold water. There was no way Vanessa could have survived long in these icy temperatures. With each strong stroke, he said her name in his head until he reached the rowing boat. It was pitch black when he went under it, and he flailed his arms about, his hands banging off the wood, in the desperate hope of finding her. When he came back up, they were all waiting in silence. He shook his head weakly and heard a cry which he guessed was either Ronan or Luke.
Frank leaned over and yanked him, dripping, onto the floor of the motorboat. Lee stumbled over to him.
‘OK, Hamish,’ Frank was shouting into the radio, ‘we’ve found the boat upturned, but no sign of Vanessa yet. Let’s start scanning the water with the lights. But let’s be organis
ed about it. You take from Morag’s in about 100 metres, I’ll take the next 100, and John will head out a bit farther. She must be somewhere close by.’
He turned to Alan, who was still crouched on the floor of the boat.
‘The police have arrived at Maggie’s and are getting another couple of boats to –’
Cutting across Frank came a loud and terrifying screech, not from a human but a bird. A large black hawk circled the boat and then swooped down aggressively. It was so close that Lee thought she felt the tip of a wing flap against the top of her head. She covered her head with her arms, shaking in disbelief. Looking up through her crossed arms, she saw him wheel in the air, turning back to make a second swoop. And at that moment, as clearly as if she was floating out of her body and looking down through the hawks’ eyes, she saw herself lying on the bank over near Bell’s Point. This had happened before; she had been a child, maybe nine or ten at the time.
‘She’s on the bank, at Bell’s Point, I know it.’
Everybody stared at Lee, unclear how to react. Had she lost it, or did she really know something? Either way, she was acting strangely. Everyone waited for Alan to say something. He looked at Lee and, seeing the terror in her face, shouted to Frank.
‘OK, get us into the bank at Bell’s Point. Lee, you go to the bow and see if you can see the spot where you think she is.’
Although he didn’t mean it, he seemed to say the word think with more emphasis that he had intended. But Lee didn’t appear to notice, she just scrambled up to the bow and then quite inexplicably shouted back to Frank.
‘The hawk; just follow the hawk in to the bank.’
Frank shook his head in disbelief, but revved the boat a little and headed towards the bank. He didn’t want to cut through the water too quickly in case they missed Vanessa or, worse, hit her in the water. He made steady progress towards the bank but it felt like a lifetime for Alan. His eyes almost hurt as he glared ahead, trying to see farther into the dark than the light allowed him.
‘Look,’ Lee screamed. ‘Look, she’s there!’
Alan scanned the bank where Lee was looking. It was still too dark to make out anything other than outline shapes.
‘See there!’ Lee pointed and shouted, almost hysterical now. As Alan peered ahead, he saw the rock-shaped mound near the water’s edge turn into the body of his daughter.
‘Hurry, Frank. She’s there. She’s there.’
As he drew closer, Alan all but knocked Lee into the water, as he pushed passed her at the bow and jumped at least 6 feet from the edge of the boat on to the bank.
CHAPTER 27
In 1975, Bob Rines, an American scientist, captured some extraordinary pictures using a motor driven camera and strobe light at a depth of about 45 feet. The best showed Nessie’s long, outstretched neck and front body complete with flippers and was published that year in the top scientific journal, Nature.
Alan held Vanessa tightly in his arms as he climbed back into the boat, crushing her to his breast bone as if he would never let her go. Luke pressed forward, but her father enveloped her protectively. She seemed OK, apart from the large bruise on her forehead, and her breathing and pulse were even. Luke stood beside him and stroked Vanessa’s hair. Where was Ronan? Alan looked round and saw that he was sitting on the floor of the boat, clutching his knees, while tears streamed unchecked down his face.
‘She’ll be fine, love, I promise,’ Alan said to him in a whisper. ‘She must have managed to swim ashore and then conked out.’
Alan looked with such intensity at his daughter’s beautiful face that he thought he might collapse any moment. He couldn’t understand it. She wasn’t wearing socks or shoes. Why was she not frozen stif? He shook the thoughts from his head. He had her in his arms, she was alive, and all he had to do was get her to a doctor.
‘Where’s the closest hospital?’ he shouted to Frank over the noise of the engine, as they started back to the cottage.
‘Inverness,’ Frank answered promptly. ‘It will take at least an hour in the car.’
‘No. Call Maggie and tell her to get Doc Morris.’ Lee’s voice was small and faint, but she said it with such certainty that Alan just nodded his agreement to Frank. She didn’t look at Alan; she seemed to be lost in her own world.
Into the silence, Lee repeated herself.
‘Tell Maggie to get Doc Morris. He’ll know.’
Alan just nodded again to Frank and then looked back down at Vanessa’s mop of dark hair. ‘I love you, my angel,’ he whispered, ‘and I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.’
The whole village seemed to be at the bottom of the garden to meet them. Alan kept his head down, not wanting to catch anybody’s eye, as he got off the boat. He just had to get Vanessa inside safely. As he walked up the garden, carrying her still in his arms, he saw the headlights of a car pulling into the driveway.
‘It’s Doc Morris,’ Maggie said as she walked beside him. ‘You take her up straight to her bed and I’ll send him to you.’
When Alan returned to the kitchen, a silence fell. Constable Maguire was still there, sitting at the table over a large mug of coffee. The boys, Lee and Maggie were sitting in various positions around the room. Maggie must have sent the rest home, thank God.
Alan chose his words carefully.
‘She’s going to be OK. She opened her eyes for a few moments, although it was a pretty glazed look and I’m not sure she recognised me. Then she faded out again. Dr Morris says she’ll come around in her own time. She’s just exhausted by the whole experience.’
Now he looked across at his two sons.
‘Guys, you should get some rest too. You’re wiped out. Go on, up you go.’
He hugged them both and then watched them go without a murmur of protest. Thank God they were sharing a room, he thought, Ronan would certainly need Luke tonight. Their shoulders were hunched and they looked older than their years. Not a night easily forgotten.
Alan sighed and slumped into the nearest chair.
CHAPTER 28
In 1952, Dr Richard Synge, an eminent scientist and winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1938, was staying at Fort Augustus with his parents and sisters. They witnessed a ‘dark, hump-like object in the loch’ close to the bank which was moving quickly and left a slight wake. They followed it by car for about 3 miles. After that the creature ‘became stationary and then submerged’.
The tension in the room was terrible. Despite his relief at finding Vanessa unhurt, Alan knew that there was something still amiss. He looked across at Lee, who was distracted and distant. Her hands were wrapped around a large mug but she never once raised it to her lips. He glanced across at Maggie to find that she was watching Lee also. To his surprise, she caught his eye and made an almost imperceptible shake of her head. What the hell was going on?
‘Lee, my love …’ Maggie hesitated and waited for Lee to lift her head and look at her. ‘Why don’t you get yourself upstairs too? You need a good night’s rest.’
Lee stood slowly and moved to the door. Before she went out, she turned and said to nobody in particular, ‘I have to talk to her.’
‘Not tonight, Lee. Better in the morning when she’s recovered.’
Alan looked bemused. He turned to look at Lee and then back to Maggie, trying to pick up some clue as to what was going on. They gave nothing away; Maggie’s face was closed tight, devoid of any expression and Lee’s so drained that he thought she might collapse any moment. Finally, Lee agreed to go to bed, but refused Maggie’s help getting there.
‘I’d prefer to be on my own.’
There was a long silence after she left. The strain of it was getting unbearable when Maggie spoke.
‘Coffee, Alan?’
He winced as he took a drink from the large mug. It was milky and poisonously sweet.
‘You’re soaked to the skin, Alan. There’s plenty of hot water for a bath.’
Alan sat in silence waiting for an explanation of Lee’s behaviour. He was not read
y to ask directly but not willing to ignore it either.
‘I’ll have a bath after the doctor is gone and after I’ve checked on Vanessa again.’
Another silence ensued. It was Constable Maguire who broke it this time.
‘It’s happened before,’ he said, looking directly at Alan, his forehead creased in worry.
‘What?’ Alan jerked upright in his chair as if he had been jabbed with a knife.
‘It’s happened before, but for longer,’ he repeated in a monotone. He turned to Maggie. ‘Tell him, Maggie. He needs to know.’
Alan jumped out of his seat, electrified with terror. Vanessa had been abducted by some local nut who had taken other kids before and they were only telling him now? His anger surfacing, he said grimly through gritted teeth, ‘I think one of you better tell me quickly.’
Maggie stood up and opened the drawer of the Welsh dresser. She pulled out a pile of papers and leafed through them. Finally, she went over to Alan and put a newspaper cutting in his hand. He saw that it was aged and yellowing. He read the date: 7 May 1986.
Local Girl Missing.
Lena Cook, a twelve-year-old from Fort Augustus went missing yesterday morning. She was last seen by her family outside her home near the Loch edge. As she had only recently moved to the region she was not familiar with the area and her family are concerned that she may have had an accident. Searches are continuing and police are anxious for any information at all. Please contact Constable Maguire at Drumnadrochit police station.
There was a small black-and-white photo of a girl’s face. She looked young and ill at ease.
Alan looked up, puzzled.
‘What has this to do with Vanessa?’
‘That was Lee.’
‘Lee? It says Lena Cook.’ Alan was still no clearer.
‘Lee is short for Lena. And Cook was her surname when she came from America after her parents died. McDonald was her mother’s maiden name and is mine. She must have felt a need to fit in to this small community …’ Maggie caught the fleeting look of irritation on Alan’s face and hurried on. ‘So she insisted on changing it to McDonald when she was about twelve. Not long after it happened, really.’
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