by Anni Taylor
“You’re all right, Isla,” came a woman’s voice that I didn’t recognise. “You’re in the hospital.”
I snapped my eyes open. A young woman with deep olive skin and a black braid gave me a reassuring smile.
“I’m in hospital?” I rasped.
“Yes, in Greenmire. A doctor will be here soon to check on you again.”
“What happened to me? Am I hurt? I remember my leg—”
She pulled back the sheet on my lower body and let me see the bandages that wrapped my leg from lower calf to ankle. “You sustained a cut to your leg that needed twelve stitches and you also have some bruising. Nothing major, fortunately. You were given anaesthesia and a sedative. You’ve been asleep for two hours.”
“There was a man in the car with me. His name is—”
“Hamish Keenan. He’s got a head injury and a few cuts, but he’ll be okay. He’s in another room. You can see each other later on, but for now you both need to rest. Maybe they’ll be able to arrange for you both to share a room.”
“No, I don’t know him.”
She shot me an odd look. “Okay, no problem.”
“I mean, I don’t know him well enough to share a room. We went looking for his niece—a young teenager. Have you heard if she’s been found?”
“I’m afraid I don’t know anything about that. Just have a little rest, all right? If you need us, don’t hesitate to press the big red button, okay then?” She turned her head as a woman walked in through the door. “Well, looks like you have a visitor. The doctor will be in to see you soon, too.”
Greer bustled in carrying a basket of fruit, a small collection of mints, and a large bag, her eyes round. “Oh, you poor thing. I can’t believe this has happened. What a time you’ve had since you’ve been here!” Placing the fruit and mints on the small table beside me, she sat herself down. “How awful you were in an accident. How’s your poor leg?”
“To be honest I’m happy it was just my leg. Hamish got pretty scary in the car.”
“Oh dear. That’s not good. I heard that you two went looking for Stella. He does have a bit of a temper, from what I’ve seen. You should report him if he was driving dangerously.”
“He wasn’t driving dangerously, exactly. He was just angry about something his sister said. Thumping the steering wheel. Then we hit a patch of ice. I think I’d rather just let it go. That family has enough problems at the moment. Have they found her—Stella?”
“No, she’s not been found. I hope they get to her quickly. That poor girl seems very troubled. The police are out looking for her now.” Her brow wrinkled deeply. “What was said between Hamish and Kelly that made him so mad?”
“She said he’d dated a girl who was just fifteen.”
“Oh, I remember that debacle. Kelly should let it go. She and Hamish have been feuding since they were kids.”
“Did you grow up in Greenmire, Greer?”
“Until I was about seventeen. But then my family moved to Inverness. To be honest I love the city. I find small towns too quiet, too sort of eerie.”
“You’d like Sydney.”
“I’m sure I would. I’ll have to come and visit, and you can show me around.”
“That would be fun. There’s so much to do there—I don’t appreciate it as much as I should.” I stifled a yawn, stretching. The anaesthetic had made me sleepy.
“Oh, you look like you just need to curl up and have a nap,” Greer told me. “I’m told you might be allowed out in a little while. I’ll go grab a coffee, but I’ll be sticking around to see what the doctor’s verdict is. If you can go, I’ll be taking you back to the cottage.” She put the bag that she’d been holding onto the bed. “Apparently, the paramedics cut your jeans off when they had to assess where the bleeding was coming from. So, I went and grabbed some of your clothes from the cottage. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Oh gosh, thank you. I was wondering where my clothes were.”
She gave my arm a squeeze and then left.
I drifted back into sleep.
It was an hour later that a doctor gently shook me awake and told me that my leg was fine, and I could leave. I had to keep the leg dry for at least two days and I couldn’t do any kind of exercise that might cause the cut to reopen. The stitches would need to come out in a week or so.
After he left, I dressed in the clothing that Greer had brought for me. She’d picked out a tracksuit. I was grateful she’d chosen something loose and stretchy.
I picked up my phone to call Greer. The battery was dead. Was she still here at the hospital?
Slipping my shoes on, I stepped across to the doorway and peered out. I assumed Greer would be at the café.
I walked along the corridor, following directory signs.
Too late, I recognised the ward. This was the ward that Trent was in. His room was the very next one.
I felt my palms grow sweaty.
What would I say if I saw him?
Confront him? Ask him what the hell he put me through?
Part of me wanted to barge in there and confront him. I wanted him to fill in some of the blank spots from those months of my life. But he wasn’t going to admit to hurting me, right? Of course he wouldn’t.
Anger twisted inside me.
Holding my breath, I strode forward and turned into the room.
It was empty.
The bed made and the floor smelling strongly of antiseptic.
He was gone.
I whirled around, feeling stupid. He was probably already a long way away from here. Aubrey had told me he was banned from their house, so he wouldn’t be going back there. I guessed I wouldn’t ever have that confrontation with him. I had to let it go.
Letting myself breathe, I continued down the corridor.
Walking to the end, I spotted two women just around the corner.
Kelly and Greer.
Kelly was bending to fetch a bottle of water from a vending machine, her dark hair cascading down. Greer—a sleek blonde in a business suit—stood beside her.
I was about to approach when I noticed the two of them had begun arguing.
Greer seemed upset, using the same tone of voice that she had the times that I’d heard her talking on the phone.
“You don’t understand,” Greer was saying. “How can I make you understand?”
“I’m not a child,” Kelly replied angrily. “Don’t you dare treat me like one.”
I ducked back. I guessed that Kelly was here to see Hamish. But what was she arguing about with Greer? Could it be about Hamish and his erratic driving?
Finding my way back to my room, I perched on the side of the bed and decided to wait for Greer to come to me. I unwrapped a mint and ate it.
Unbidden, Stella’s face flashed in my mind.
I know where she is.
28
ISLA
I didn’t wait, racing back to the hospital corridor where Greer and Kelly were still standing, locked in a dispute.
Greer eyed me in alarm. “Isla, what—?”
“It’s Stella. We need to go.”
“You heard from her?” Greer exchanged confused, worried glances with Kelly.
“No, but I think I know where she is. If my hunch is right.”
Kelly plucked out her phone from her pocket. “Tell me where. I’m calling the police and then we’ll head there in Greer’s car.”
By the time we reached the car, rain had broken free from the dark clouds. All traces of snow were swiftly vanishing from the landscape. We made it just in time to avoid getting soaked.
I sat in the front seat of the car—Kelly in the back. My mind kept flashing back to the sight of the SUV coming straight towards me when I was on the road with Hamish.
Drawing deep breaths, I attempted to steady myself.
“Are you okay, Isla?” Greer’s voice was taut with concern.
“I’m fine. I’ll be fine.” I crisscrossed my arms across my chest, rubbing my shoulders, even though the tempera
ture inside the car was warm—far too warm. “The police are definitely on their way?”
“They’re meeting us there,” Kelly told me. “God, I hope she’s—”
“Stella’ll be all right,” Greer broke in. “She will. She has to be.”
As we neared Braithnoch, I caught sight of red and blue lights flashing on the mounds of snow on the roadside. The police had just pulled up. A female officer jumped out as Greer parked her car, introducing herself as Officer Tash Bradley.
Greer held up her hand to me as I stepped from the car. “Stay here. You’re in no state to go stomping through the wood.”
I shook my head. “I want to. The playhouse isn’t far in.”
Picking up a stout stick to ensure I didn’t fall, I followed the police woman, Greer and Kelly. My leg was sore but not broken. Walking on it wasn’t going to hurt it any worse.
Night was swiftly coming in.
The rain was light, but there was no shelter from it—it came directly through the bare branches. I was relieved when the drizzle stopped a minute later—I wasn’t meant to get my stitches wet. But either way, my stitches could be fixed. Stella might not be able to be fixed, if she was in the playhouse doing what I suspected she was doing.
In the hospital, when I’d unwrapped one of the mints that Greer had brought me, it’d reminded me of Stella. The last day I’d seen her, she’d been eating mints, trying to cover up the odour of the cigarettes she’d smoked. I’d seen mint wrappers and cigarette butts in the playhouse. I’d also seen empty razor blade packets in there. I’d put all that together with the fact that Stella had said that Kelly’s cat scratched her, but Kelly had told me that she wasn’t allowed to have pets at her rental house.
We’d checked with Hamish to see if he’d looked in the playhouse. He hadn’t—because it’d been locked and bolted. But someone who didn’t want to be found could find a way to lock it from the inside. The playhouse was roughly made and had been repaired in patches—it would be easy to put a hand through and bolt it from the inside if you were determined. And I suspected that Stella was very, very determined.
The police officer was fast. She reached the playhouse first. I heard her call, “It’s bolted.”
Breathless, I cried out. “Just get it open.”
Greer and Kelly, already way ahead of me, relayed what I’d said to the officer.
I reached the clearing, panting.
“Stella! Are you in there, lass?” Officer Bradley rattled the locked door.
No answer came that I could hear.
“Well, this bolt is on firmly,” said the officer to Greer and Kelly, who had just run up behind her. “We have to force our way in.” The officer gave two hard kicks at the door. The old wood snapped and gave way.
The three women pulled at the splintered door together.
The door fell from its hinges.
Taking a pen light from her pocket, Officer Bradley shone it around the interior of the playhouse. “Oh, Jesus....”
In between the figures of the police officer, Greer and Kelly, I caught a view of the floor. My heart thudded upward into my throat.
Stella lay in pools of blood.
Blood thinly covered the razor blade on the floor beside her.
A bag and blanket were also splattered with spots of blood.
Kelly’s hand flew to her mouth and she cried out. “No. No, no, no….”
Crawling in, the officer picked up Stella’s wrist. “There’s a heartbeat. We have to be quick.”
Twisting her head around, the officer looked back at us. “I need two credit cards. Hurry.”
Greer was the fastest to act, tearing her wallet out and producing two cards.
The officer instructed Greer and Kelly to each hold a card against the cuts on Stella’s wrists. Using the razor blade, the officer cut strips from the blanket and wrapped them around Stella’s wrists, holding the credit cards tight against her skin.
I held my breath, silently pleading with Stella to hold on.
The three women and I exhaled in relief as the sound of an ambulance wailed in the cold air.
It seemed an age before the paramedics made their way in-Kelly showing them the route—but it was just minutes.
Precious minutes.
Greer made a few hurried calls, informing Stella’s mother and grandparents that Stella had been found.
Rory and Camille turned up just as the ambulance drove away.
Running out of the car, Camille stormed up to Kelly. “How’d you know where she’d be?”
“It wasn’t me, Cam. It was Isla,” said Kelly. “And if I were you, I’d be following that ambulance right now. Your daughter is in there and she’s in a very bad way.”
Ignoring the last thing that Kelly said, Camille turned her head to me. “How did you know?”
I cringed under her glare. “I just put a few things together.”
“What’s going wrong with this family?” Camille cried. “My brother gets into an accident and now this happens to my own daughter. She was in your care, Kelly. And look how that’s working out.”
“She wasn’t in my care at the time,” Kelly pointed out. “She was staying with Mum and Dad. But you can’t blame them either.”
Camille crossed her arms tightly. “All I know is that my child is being rushed to hospital right now. And who saved her? A complete stranger. A stranger knows more about my daughter than anyone else it seems.”
“That’s not fair,” Kelly said.
“Listen, that’s enough,” Greer told Camille. “Kelly did her best.”
“It’s all right.” Kelly turned her head to Greer. “If Camille wants to have this conversation instead of being with her daughter, so be it.” Greer sighed heavily, stepping away to stand beside me.
Camille’s mouth twisted, her eyes fixed on her sister. “We wouldn’t have to have this conversation if you didn’t keep shutting me down. And we need to have it. If not for you, Stella would have come back to me.”
Kelly gasped, her face pale. “That’s not true.”
“Of course it’s true,” spat Camille. “And you ended up being her worst option. You can’t claim that she’s happy. She’s obviously been cutting herself for a while. When Greer called, she told me there were lots of razors in the playhouse. Stella never did anything like that when she lived with me.”
Kelly swallowed. “I admit I had no idea. She covered it up well. She was always wearing long sleeves.”
“Only a mother knows her daughter well enough to spot the signs that something’s really wrong. You’re so caught up in your job and your social life that you don’t have time for a young girl. This is where it ends, Kelly. Maybe what’s happened is all for the best. When she comes out of hospital, I’m bringing her home with me.”
“Whatever, Camille. If you want to stand here and argue, that’s your call. But I’m heading to the hospital.” Kelly stared back at her.
Camille’s eyes flashed with anger. “Don’t you dare go there. If you turn up at Stella’s room, I’ll have you thrown out. You’re not her parent.”
“For the love of God, Camille,” Rory pleaded, walking up to her. “Get in the car. We need to get to the hospital. What if Stella doesn’t make it?”
Camille snapped around to him, her posture stiff. But then her eyes grew large and her shoulders sagged. “She has to make it. I couldn’t bear it.”
Rory glanced at Kelly then across at Greer and me, despair stamped on his face. Taking his wife’s arm, he walked her back to the car.
Greer and I walked over to Kelly, who was staring helplessly after her sister.
“Kelly,” said Greer. “Where do you want to go? Back to Aviemore or to the hospital? I know where you’d want to go, but I also know that Camille won’t stop her nonsense. And you don’t deserve that. You’ve done an incredible job with Stella.”
Kelly shook her head, tears streaking freely down her face now. “No, I haven’t. Camille’s right. I haven’t done a good job with St
ella at all.”
“No, Kelly. You did your best.” Greer hugged her.
Kelly nestled her head into Greer’s shoulder while Greer stroked her hair.
The scene suddenly seemed almost too intimate for me to be here, watching on. Greer and Kelly had a closer relationship than I’d realised. I moved away, to give them some space.
“Can we at least stop the war between us?” Kelly said softly.
Greer stepped back, holding Kelly’s face between her hands. “There’s no war. Never was.”
“Then why?” Kelly cried. “You’ve never explained why. You just tell me we can’t be together.”
“This isn’t the time, Kelly. We—”
“I’m going crazy.” Kelly said. “Really.”
Greer stared at the wet, leaf-covered ground, her shoulders rising as she took a deep breath. “You deserve better. I haven’t known what to tell you. It’s not you—”
“Of course it’s me. There’s something wrong with me.”
“What? No,” Greer gasped, shaking her head. “That’s not it. Not for a minute. Not for a second. How could you—”
“Then what? Tell me.”
“Okay. Okay, I’ll tell you. It’s your age. It’s my age. You’re too young. I’m almost thirty-seven. And, it’s…well, you’re so good with Stella, and I’m just not ever going to be the kind of person who wants to have children. I’m just not. I love them but I don’t want the responsibility. What if you want to have a baby? I don’t want you stuck with me.”
Kelly bit her lip, crying. “Why didn’t you just tell me these things?”
“Because…I was afraid you’d just brush it all aside and tell me it was okay. And then I’d believe that it was okay. And then a year, two years, five years in the future, we’d know it was a mistake. And I didn’t want that.”
“Can we talk about it?” Kelly pleaded. “Not right now. But afterwards. After we know Stella is okay and we have time to figure things out.”
Greer nodded, tears running down her face now, too. “Yes, we’ll talk. I do love you, Kelly. Please, God, let Stella be okay. Let her get through this….”
I now understood all those tense, whispered conversations of Greer’s over the phone.