Legacy of Hunters Ridge

by Sarah Barrie

  Another muffled noise from the black hole inside sent her stumbling backwards. The sound of heavy, deliberate footsteps reaching the top of the stairs petrified her beyond reason.

  She was trapped.

  The backs of her legs touched the bed and the strength in them dissolved. She fought the dizziness, the darkness, dragged in air. Sliding down to the floor, she hugged her knees to her chest. A tight little ball. With nowhere to go, she quietly folded herself under the bed.

  She focused on the gap at the corner of the bed’s skirt, pressing her hand to her mouth in a desperate attempt to keep quiet, to control the shaking.

  ‘You around, Ally?’

  Rob! Thank God! Desperate relief had her pent-up breath whooshing out. She took another breath to call out, held it a fraction of a second. That was long enough to know.

  The breathing she could hear wasn’t hers.

  ‘Hi.’

  A thick, callused hand on her mouth muted the scream before it had the chance to leave her throat. Because she couldn’t move, she rolled her eyes back in her head as far as she could.

  David.

  No.

  Billy.

  Her breaths grew short and difficult as shock overwhelmed her. Adrenaline surged. She kicked and struggled in the tight space, only increasing the grin on his face. She managed a few muted noises and saw him shake his head, eyes wide.

  ‘Shh, Daddy’s home.’

  If she could just make enough noise, Rob would come in, find her. If she could just –

  Daddy? Mavis’s babble sped through Ally’s head like code through a computer. And somehow, through the fog of panic, it made sense.

  It’s not Billy’s fault, his father is the devil.

  It’s not Billy’s fault.

  His father is the devil.

  Ben pulled over behind a parked police car and climbed out with Cam and Lee. Mia’s car was in a ditch by the roadside.

  ‘This is different,’ Lee noted. ‘The cars are usually on the road.’

  ‘Perhaps she ran off the road. There’s no real damage to the car. She could have wandered off to find assistance.’ Ben dropped down beside the car, as careful as he could not to disturb anything, and looked it over. ‘No sign of any struggle, her bag’s still on the seat.’

  ‘Just like the others,’ Cam said, grim-faced.

  ‘Fuck. Just fuck!’ Ben sent a rock crashing into the bush.

  ‘There are boot marks here,’ a hesitant constable commented. ‘In front of where we parked our car. Heavy ones, like someone’s pushed the car down there.’

  ‘Tape it off, call forensics back.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  Ben stormed up the verge and slammed into the car. ‘We’re not going to find her here, let’s move.’

  Cam climbed in, started the car, spared Ben a glance. ‘This is not your fault.’

  ‘Tell that to Ally.’

  ‘Mate –’

  ‘My case, Cam. I thought – fuck.’

  ‘Thought?’ Lee prompted.

  He stared out the window. ‘I thought if I could solve this – get this bastard Billy – it would make up for some of the shit I put Ally through. How can anything make up for losing a sister?’

  ‘We haven’t lost her yet. He kept Bella for weeks. There’s still a chance,’ Cam said, just as desperate to make himself believe it as he was Ben.

  ‘He’s right, Ben,’ Lee added. ‘You need to keep your head cool, keep it on the case. We’re going to help, but you’re the most gifted detective I’ve ever known and that’s the truth. You need to keep thinking.’

  ‘We need to let Rob know. Where is he?’

  ‘Don’t know. Cam?’

  ‘Haven’t seen him, I assume he’s out on another call somewhere.’

  All three men were lost in their thoughts as Cam drove back to town.

  A beeping distracted them, and eventually annoyed Lee enough for him to snap, ‘Don’t you have a car charger?’

  ‘It’s not mine, thought it was you.’

  ‘Not mine.’

  ‘Or mine,’ Ben added.

  Cam pulled over. ‘It must be Ally’s. She said she couldn’t find it, must have left it somewhere.’

  The men climbed out of their seats, shuffled everything around. ‘I think it’s down between the centre console and the passenger seat.’ Ben slid his seat forwards and Lee got a finger on the phone, flicking it out.

  ‘Check it,’ Ben immediately ordered.

  ‘Yeah, yeah, I’m on it. It’s – yes – got a message, but it’s from last night.’ He pressed for voicemail, got another low-battery beep but it connected, so he put it on speaker.

  ‘Hi, guys,’ Mia’s voice said. ‘I’m about ten minutes out of town. I know I’m late – just don’t go to sleep and lock up on me okay? I – oh, shit, looks like I’m being pulled over. What’s a cop doing on this road at this time of night? I don’t think I was speeding. I’ll see you soon.’ The message cut off.

  ‘Time?’ Ben demanded.

  ‘Eleven last night.’

  ‘Ten minutes out of town … She was pulled over where we found her car. She never got any further. What cop would be on the road out here at that time of night?’

  As Cam fought to push back his panic, the anger leached in, took over. ‘I don’t believe it.’

  ‘Let’s not jump to conclusions.’ Lee was shaking his head. ‘If they’re both missing, they could both be in trouble.’

  ‘Then where’s his car?’ Ben kicked viciously at the roadside gravel, swore. ‘All our investigations lead to a perp who knows the area and has some way of getting women out of their cars on lonely stretches of road during the night. If you were a young woman alone on an isolated road in the middle of the night, who are you most likely to pull over for, to willingly get into a car with?’

  ‘A cop.’ Cam’s eyes closed. ‘It’s not Billy, it’s Rob. It’s fucking Rob!’

  ‘No evidence of a second vehicle,’ Ben said. ‘No evidence of a struggle. His car could have left all kinds of traces – traces everyone would assume were left when he investigated the abandoned cars. And he wasn’t available the night Ally was attacked, was the last to see Gus alive – the forum pretty much shut down the day he found out I was on it.’

  Ben stared out over the bushland as though wondering where to start. ‘Where the fuck is he? Get everyone on the phone, we need to put out an immediate alert and find him before he has a chance to hurt Mia.’

  Mavis’s words echoed in Ally’s head. It wasn’t Billy’s fault. She forced herself not to struggle, took some long, steadying breaths, searched Billy’s eyes. They were glittering with fun. Ben’s initial profile hadn’t been wrong – it had been spot on. This was a game to Billy. If Rob – it was almost impossible to believe, but if Rob was the dangerous one, Billy might not hurt her.

  As she thought it, Billy giggled and removed his hand from her face with another, ‘Shh.’

  But even if Rob was the devil, that didn’t mean Billy wasn’t dangerous. Billy’s got the devil in him … Ally tried to control her shaking, tried to think.

  Adrenaline, just adrenaline. Keep breathing.

  ‘You hiding from me, Ally?’ Rob’s voice jerked her gaze back to the doorway. Footsteps sounded clearly up the hall. One, two, three … methodical, purposeful.

  ‘Uh oh.’ Billy’s giggle sent fresh chills skidding through her system.

  Be quiet, please be quiet.

  ‘You onto me, Ally? You told anyone? This whole thing’s just one fuck-up after another. You’re gonna burn, Ally.’

  Burn? She bit down hard on her fist, concentrated on controlling her breathing.

  ‘Just like you should have the first time. I already killed you once, was very, very pissed off when I found out it was my son’s whore I burned. Set them up so nice in the bunk bed. Started a ripper of a fire.’

  Rob had killed David and Ellie, Rob had laughed and whistled and burned her horses to death. She’d been nice to this man,
trusted him. It made her sick.

  ‘I guess I’ve got Billy to thank for killing the snake I put in your bed. Then I nearly had you in my car, before your stupid sister showed up. You dodged a couple of bullets. And I didn’t have time to finish you off when I got you in the bathroom.’ He laughed. ‘You don’t die easy, I’ll give you that. But you’ll die this time.’

  Two black boots stopped in the doorway. She saw trousered legs, the bottom half of a kerosene container. The fear ripped through her again, so sharply there was no longer room for anything else.

  ‘Let’s get this over and done with, shall we?’

  She heard him unscrew the lid, smelled the kerosene as he splashed it around. He approached the bed, his boot stopping millimetres from her face as he drenched the covers. Then he knelt, and a hand gathered the bed’s skirt.

  His phone buzzed. ‘Shit, what now?’ He got to his feet.

  She couldn’t move. There was nowhere to go. Before she could even think of any way to escape, a hand shot under the bed, grasped her hair, then reefed her out. She screamed. The pain was fireworks exploding in her head, stars flooding her vision.

  Billy was laughing and clapping in delight. ‘Found us!’

  ‘Stop your wriggling, bitch.’ Rob smashed her face into the wall.

  ‘Bad Daddy!’

  Billy? Her vision blurred, Ally watched in slow motion as Billy stepped forward.

  ‘Ally’s my friend.’

  ‘Now what have I told you about doing what you’re told, boy? Sit on the bed.’

  As Billy did as he was ordered, Rob crouched in front of Ally. Satisfied she wasn’t going anywhere, he smiled. ‘You ready?’

  ‘How could you do this?’ she managed, feeling the blood from her nose trickling over her mouth. It tasted metallic, sickening her already churning stomach.

  ‘Several ways of doing it. Just none of them worked. Glad you were smart enough to work out about Billy though, because now I can kill you without trying too hard to hide it, and everyone will think he did it. See, I came out here, found the place burning. Too late to save the sisters, such a shame, but I shot Billy, I got the crazy murdering son of a bitch. Town hero has a good ring to it, doesn’t it?’

  ‘You’d kill Billy? You’d kill your son?’

  ‘Yeah, watch.’ He raised his gun, pulled the trigger. She saw Billy fall off the bed. His stunned face was the only detail she could process.

  ‘Billy? Billy?’ She tried to crawl towards him. ‘Oof.’ The air left her lungs as Rob’s boot crashed into her ribs. She curled up, rolled onto her back as she cradled herself, eyes screwed up against the splintering pain.

  ‘Keep still.’

  ‘You killed Billy. You killed David.’

  ‘Killed lots of people. My brother, my sister, a decent amount of worthless whores. As for Billy and David, they’re damn aberrations, the pair of them. Over thirty years of grief for one quick fuck.’

  ‘She was your sister,’ she croaked.

  ‘One woman’s as worthless as the next. But Mavis was useful, if you know what I mean. Daddy liked her well enough, so why not?’

  ‘Oh God. You make me sick.’

  ‘I’m going to make you toast. I need this land, Ally, it’s as simple as that.’

  ‘But you won’t get it, the church will.’

  ‘No one touching the place for decades is good enough.’

  ‘It’s just a piece of land!’ she pleaded.

  ‘It’s not a piece of land, it’s an insurance policy.’

  ‘Against what? People already know what you’ve been doing here.’

  ‘People don’t know the half of it, but best you don’t die with that being the last thought in your mind.’ He stood up, looked around. ‘Window’s boarded up nice and tight, that’ll come in handy. Shame for both sisters to burn, I could’ve used the pretty one.’

  Had something happened to Mia? Did he have Mia? She couldn’t concentrate.

  He must have heard something she didn’t, because he swore and said, ‘Oh, now what? For fuck’s sake!’ And stomped into the next room. ‘Ebony Blakely. Right, I have to be off.’

  ‘Don’t hurt her. Please.’

  He returned. ‘Hurt her? Hell, Ally, I’m going down there to console her.’ He struck the match and dropped it on the bed. Flames exploded into life. He took a step towards the door, then on second thought turned back around, reefed her up by her already burning scalp and shoved his mouth on hers.

  She twisted violently, her side screaming where he’d kicked her.

  ‘Goodbye, Ally.’ He dropped her like a piece of rubbish.

  She collapsed as he stepped out and closed the door. She heard a crash.

  She lay in a crumpled mess while the suffocating blanket of heat that was fire and smoke held her transfixed. The fear in her chest was like a clawing predator. She felt it come over her, the cold flush that worked its way over her like a wave. As her heart began to race, the tightness in her chest, the pain, was overwhelming. She was helpless against the ferocity of the attack, couldn’t stop it.

  If I black out, I’m dead. Breathe in, breathe out, relax.

  She saw Billy dragging himself along the floor. He was heading for the wardrobe. The narrow brick steps.

  Breathe. Just breathe. Head for the wardrobe.

  The smoke thickened. The walls imploded. She was holding a padlock. The shrill beeping of a fire alarm pierced her ears, almost brought her back. The screams of the horses pulled her down and took her under.

  CHAPTER

  28

  ‘How are we going to tell Ally about Mia?’ Lee asked.

  Cam shook his head. ‘I have no idea. The only way I can, I suppose: straight out. I want to call in at her place first, though. She has her medication there. She hasn’t been using the sedatives but I want to have them on standby.’

  ‘Son of a bitch!’ Ben exclaimed.

  ‘Not helping.’

  ‘Ally’s place!’ Ben pointed, already on the phone.

  Cam saw the smoke, slammed the accelerator to the floor. As he flew into the drive, the first thing he saw was the upstairs of Ally’s house completely ablaze. The second was Rob standing by his distraught sister.

  The fear was like nothing he’d ever experienced. Rob had Ebony. But where was Ally?

  Ben was out of the car before it had properly stopped. He drew his gun and pointed it at Rob.

  ‘Get your hands off her!’

  ‘What are you doing?’ Rob demanded. ‘I couldn’t save Ally and Mia, but I got Billy.’

  ‘Get away from her, Rob. Just walk away.’

  Confusion crossed Ebony’s face but she began to move cautiously away.

  ‘Like that is it?’ Rob reefed Ebony back, placing a blade to her throat.

  ‘Cam, he said we’re too late!’ Ebony yelled.

  ‘No.’ Cam’s gaze swept the house. ‘No.’

  ‘Cam, go,’ Ben said. ‘We’ve got this, go.’

  ‘Look after my sister.’ He was already running.

  Downstairs was filling with smoke but the flames were still confined to the second level. The noise from the alarms was deafening.

  ‘Ally!’

  He took off his shirt, soaked it in the kitchen sink then put it over his head as he climbed the stairs four at a time. The smoke was thick in the hallway, but greedy fingers of flame illuminated his path as they ate at the walls and danced along the roof. Ash swirled, burning his bare shoulders.

  The cabinet was on its side in front of the spare room door. Ignoring the burn, he shoved it away and kicked open the door. It exploded in sparks of flame and smoke poured out.

  ‘Ally!’

  The fire was so intense he could barely hear his own shouts. He fell to his knees and, blinded, felt his way across the floor. When a hand landed on a leg he wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or terrified. There was no movement. Desperately he dragged himself up, lifted her, and carefully began reversing out of the room. He hit the wall once, branding himself,
before finding the opening. He reached the stairs, got to the bottom as the bannister lit up. His first lungful of fresh air made him choke and drop to his knees. He got back up, got clear, saw Lee and Ben still in a standoff with Rob.

  Setting Ally on the ground, he groped for any sign of life. ‘Ally, wake up. Ally, please wake up.’ She was black with smoke and it smudged where he stroked her face. ‘Ally …’

  She convulsed, coughed, and he was finally able to breathe. Her eyes fluttered open. Disoriented, she slowly sat up.

  ‘What happened?’ she croaked. ‘I – the fire!’

  ‘You’re safe. I need you to stay here.’

  Ally closed her eyes and willed the world to stop spinning. She rolled onto her hands and knees. She felt violently ill, and the retching mercilessly stole the small amount of strength she had left. Her lungs hurt, everything hurt. She dropped onto her back, turned her head.

  Cam was approaching Ben. Ben had a gun. Lee was circling Rob. Rob held a long, thick-bladed hunting knife to Ebony’s throat. The image was horrific, but another very real fear battered against the walls of her dazed consciousness. What else was wrong? What was missing?

  Mia.

  Rob had said they’d both burn.

  Where’s Mia?

  She tried to think, to concentrate. Billy had been under the bed, Rob on the stairs. There’d been noises from the wardrobe. The panel in the wall removed. Muffled moans. What if they’d been coming from Mia?

  A window exploded, and the roar of the fire intensified. The panic threatened to seize her again. Images of her sister floated through her mind. Mia waiting at the hospital, hunting for houses, fighting with Ben, cheering her up … Every time Ally had needed her, Mia had been there. She’d never once let her down.

  Ally had to do something. She tried calling out to Cam but her voice was almost non-existent. And Ebony’s life was in danger too.

  As the house crackled and roared, the physical pain, the fear, gripped her. She fought it. This couldn’t happen to her again. It wasn’t fair – this thing had taken enough. Rob had taken enough.

  She got to her feet, swayed, stared at that enemy. As she stared, the pain, the fear, receded. She willed it away to a place where it wouldn’t take her under, wouldn’t interfere with what she had to do. A strange calm overtook her. She swayed again, steadied, and walked to the front steps. Resolute, she took another deep breath and stepped into the blaze.