The Secret Wound

by Deirdre Quiery

  “Get help,” he screamed.

  Barry shouted, “What’s the number for the emergency services?”

  As Barry dialled 112, Gurtha lowered the rope over the cliff edge. His body trembled with vertigo and nausea.

  “Cornelia, put the noose around your wrist.”

  Cornelia reached a hand towards the rope, “I can’t.”

  “Of course you can.” Gurtha swung the rope closer.

  Angelina sobbed, “I can’t hold on much longer. The tree is …”

  Angelina looked at the strawberry bush which was inching out from the cliff face, it roots increasingly visible as the soil holding it in place tumbled on top of them.

  Cornelia screamed, “You have to hold on … Angelina … You have to … Angelina tell them … I did it … I murdered Amelia, Henry and Nuala … Ask them to forgive me.”

  Cornelia watched the strawberry tree shifting away from the cliff face. She had to act fast or both she and Angelina would die. Gurtha could not hold them both on this rope. Pebbles from the cliff face showered around them. If she held on any longer, Angelina would die. Cornelia grasped the rope with her left hand, placed the noose around Angelina’s wrist and shouted to Gurtha, “Pull!”

  As Gurtha tightened the rope, Cornelia let go of Angelina’s wrist and plummeted below.

  Stephanie screamed as the roots of the strawberry bush finally came away and the bush rolled down the cliff face after Cornelia, like tumbleweed.

  Angelina swung on the end of the rope. Gurtha, Todd and Barry pulled on the rope, winching Angelina slowly to the surface.

  Once at the top, Angelina lay stretched out on the path, gasping.

  She sobbed, “What about Cornelia?”

  “She’s fallen. Gurtha has gone down on the rope to see if there is anything he can do.”

  Angelina wept deeply.

  “But she let go to save me. She could have saved herself.”

  Angelina held her hands over her face as Barry sat beside her. Cornelia, falling towards the sea below, triggering the memory of her father falling alone and helpless to his death in the Atlantic Ocean.

  ♥

  Gurtha abseiled down the cliff face, passing the strawberry bush which had fallen onto a ledge – his breathing shallow and fast. He swung out three times, looking below, his body shaking as he saw waves crash against a small fern-covered outcrop. There was no sign of Cornelia.

  DAY 31

  TUESDAY 10TH SEPTEMBER 2013

  “A THOUSAND HALF-LOVES MUST BE FORSAKEN TO TAKE ONE WHOLE HEART HOME.”

  J RUMI

  ANDY FINN arrived in a taxi at La Torretta at four in the afternoon. Gurtha had phoned him late Monday evening and explained what had happened. After that he had a two hour debrief with Officer Ramon Gonzalez in the Soller police station. In the early hours of the morning he talked with Laura who allowed him to ramble, telling and retelling what had happened over the last week.

  He felt numb and confused. At a deep level he didn’t want to believe that Cornelia had murdered Nuala. It would mean that he never knew who she was. Before letting go of Angelina’s wrist, why had she confessed to Angelina and not to him. Why, if she held such anger against Angelia did she give up her life to save her? None of it made any sense.

  Search parties worked through the night, without success looking for her body. Police Officer Ramon Gonzalez said that it was unlikely she had fallen into the sea as there were quite a few outcrops which could have possibly broken her fall. If she had fallen all the way to bottom of the cliff, her body should be visible and retrievable. The search was continuing by sea, air and land.

  Andy shook Gurtha’s hand warmly.

  “I’m so sorry. This must be another tremendous shock for you.”

  Andy looked as Gurtha had imagined. He was a tall, well built man, with dark black straight hair falling over his eyes. Muscular, with a face wearing the lines of character. He had a steady penetrating stare. Today he wore jeans and a white shirt with dark trainers.

  Gurtha blinked several times and was afraid that he might burst into tears. He bit the inside of his cheek.

  “Thank you for coming. Let me get you a coffee.”

  They sat in the gazebo, listening as the train clicked its way towards Palma in the distance. There wasn’t a breeze. The crickets were singing loudly. The town of Soller glittered in the valley below. With everything that had happened, it appeared both idyllic and horrific.

  “Mr Maloney, first of all you mustn’t blame yourself for what has happened. You have acted responsibly under extreme conditions. What I would like to do is to summarise the situation to confirm my understanding and then I will share with you what we have discovered from the additional data gathering and re-examination of existing evidence. Is that OK? Do you feel able to talk at this time? I know you must have had little sleep last night.”

  Gurtha whispered, “Yes. I am OK to talk.”

  Andy opened his notebook.

  “Yesterday while walking along a cliff edge path, Angelina slipped and fell. Angelina has confirmed that this was an accident and that she wasn’t pushed off the path by Cornelia, although both Angelina and Cornelia were out of sight of the remainder of the group when the accident took place.”

  Gurtha nodded, “That’s correct.”

  “In the rescue attempt you lowered a rope towards Cornelia. It appeared that the bush which was holding them both was dislodging from the cliff face. As Cornelia caught the rope she confessed to Angelina that she had murdered not only Nuala but Henry. She then managed to fasten the rope around Angelina’s wrist and let go of her grip on Angelina. Angelina believes that Cornelia sacrificed her life to save her.”

  “That’s correct.”

  “Cornelia’s body has not yet been recovered and a search is still underway.”

  “That’s correct.”

  “What other information do you feel we need to know, which you haven’t previously shared?”

  Gurtha nodded his head.

  “Angelina said that Cornelia also claimed to have murdered her sister, Amelia. That was always thought to have been a childhood accident. Yesterday she placed the plait of her sister Amelia’s hair in her rucksack. I don’t suppose there is any way we will be able to confirm if it is true that she killed Amelia”

  Andy took notes.

  “It’s unlikely. However, she was at a young impressionable age. It is not impossible that Amelia died accidentally and Cornelia thought that she was responsible. If she did not receive the appropriate counselling – this could have impacted on her later adult psychological needs. If she believed that she was a murderer, she could have turned herself into one.”

  Gurtha sighed.

  “That’s hard to process. What did your further investigations reveal? Although it hardly matters now that she is dead.”

  Andy turned back a few pages.

  “We did find black hairs at the top of the stairs which may have been Cornelia’s but we haven’t been able to do a DNA match. I was hoping that would be possible after interviewing Cornelia. We decided to investigate Henry’s medical records. It is true that he died from heart failure. It was considered at the time that there were no suspicious circumstances. However, an independent review of his records concluded that his warfarin count was higher than normal for the dosage he had been prescribed. Again – inconclusive evidence. I thought an interview with Cornelia may have shed light upon the facts. What else do you need from me?”

  Gurtha shook his head, “Nothing, thank you.”

  “Mr Maloney I would like to talk with each member of the excursion yesterday to see if they have any additional information to share. I will stay a couple of days to collaborate with the Police and to see if Cornelia’s body is recovered. Would you be able to provide me with the contact details of your friends?”

  “Of course. Angelina is in hospital for observation. She should be getting out tomorrow. If you like, I can arrange for them all to visit you in the Gallery tomorrow.�
�

  “That would be excellent as I would like to see the Gallery and also Cornelia’s house.”

  DAY 32

  WEDNESDAY 11TH SEPTEMBER 2013

  LAURA RANG early on Wednesday morning. After checking how Gurtha was, she shared some news, “Gurtha, I don’t want to worry you when you have so much on your plate at the moment, but I need to tell you about a little incident with Paddy.”

  Gurtha sat down on the sofa.

  “What Laura? Surely things can’t get any worse?”

  Laura took a deep breath, “It’s nothing critical at the moment but Maggie thought that you should know. Paddy slipped in the shower. The Care Worker was with him but maybe he took a little dizzy turn and she couldn’t hold him. He hit his head against the shower wall and was concussed for a few minutes. A Doctor was called and said that he was fine. They sent him to the Royal Hospital for a few routine checks and everything has come back clear.”

  “Do you think I should fly back?”

  Laura hesitated.

  “It’s up to you – but you still have Police Inspector Andy Finn with you and Cornelia’s body hasn’t been found. I think that we can take the word of the Doctor that he is fine and that you should stay until this dreadful business is sorted out.”

  ♥

  It was three days since the cliff walk and Cornelia’s body had still not been recovered.

  DAY 33

  THURSDAY 12TH SEPTEMBER 2013

  “I KNOW YOU ARE TIRED BUT COME, THIS IS THE WAY.”

  J RUMI

  CORNELIA USED a stone to scratch a tally mark on the wall.

  It was the fourth day since the cliff walk. She looked around the cave. High above her was a long chard of light sporadically covered with ferns. That was the window to the crevasse into which she had fallen. The memory of the drop was vague. She had no idea of how long the fall had been. She remembered hearing Stephanie scream. She kept her eyes closed. There was a swishing sound as she fell first through thick ferns and then a lighter layer.

  She hit a soft, watery muddy floor. She opened her eyes. Everything was in darkness. She wasn’t sure if she had blinded herself. Maybe she had hit her head heavily against a rock. She lay in the shallow water, afraid to move. She must have broken something. If she had broken something it was certain to hurt.

  She wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she heard a helicopter fly overhead and decided to risk moving. She moved her legs first. There was no pain. Then her arms. They pulsated with a dull ache but she could move them. She rolled onto her side and struggled to her knees. Now that her eyes had become accustomed to the dark, she could see that she had fallen into a shallow fresh water lake. The water was an iridescent emerald colour, as if lit up inside by the fading sunlight held in the clouds.

  The blades of the helicopter circled again noisily overhead. At one point she saw the helicopter’s tail hover above the crevasse. She tried to cry for help but the words only came out as a whisper. She tried again, her body shuddering with the effort to scream, but again she could only make it whisper, ‘Help’. She wondered if it was fear that kept her voice inside. The same fear that she had faced in nightmares.

  She fell back into the water and gently sobbed. No-one would find her if she couldn’t let them know that she was here.

  She scrambled onto a small dry shelf of rock.

  Each day she drank the fresh water from the lake. She watched the lake change colour from emerald green to obsidian black by nightfall. Sometimes the light from one star would shoot through the crevasse into the water below. She would crawl to the water’s edge to touch the water and make it ripple.

  That night, as she touched the star in her own private lake, the sea, land and sky rescue effort was called off.

  DAY 34

  FRIDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER 2013

  CORNELIA SCRATCHED the fifth day on the wall and dangled her legs over the dry ledge which had become her bed. There had been no sounds from a helicopter for many hours. The cave no longer seemed threatening. It was a safe womb. She had reconciled herself to the fact that she would not be found and thought that she would enjoy whatever time she had left in this black and emerald watery womb. After all, when she let go of Angelina’s wrist – she had thought that it would bring immediate and sudden death. She had been prepared for that. Now that she had a few more days, why not be thankful for them?

  She remembered back to the rainbow-sky-sea merging experience outside Ramon Llull’s cave. The intensity of the experience had faded but she felt penetrated by the knowledge she had experienced then. That she was loved. She had never been judged. She had judged herself. Instead, she found herself merged within the rainbow sitting on the ‘mercy’ seat – not the judgment seat.

  The fear from the first four days of cave living had dissolved. It may come back, but for now it had gone. She found herself singing when the first light of dawn fell on the emerald water below. Her voice was strong. If anyone came by now, she would be heard. She would sing her way loudly and passionately to freedom.

  DAY 35

  SATURDAY 14TH SEPTEMBER 2013

  “THERE IS A VOICE THAT DOESN’T USE WORDS. LISTEN.”

  J RUMI

  CORNELIA WAKENED early with the birds. She splashed her face in the emerald pool and then waved at the sunlight dropping through the crevasse.

  Some time later, she wasn’t sure when, she heard voices outside. She listened carefully. There were definitely male voices. There were sounds of ropes unfurling. They were abseiling down the cliff.

  She got to her feet, stood on the ledge which was her bed and began to sing in her loudest voice, Leonard Cohen’s ‘Love Itself.’

  It took five minutes of singing before she saw a dark curly head of hair peer over the edge of the crevasse and a voice call down to her.

  DAY 36

  SATURDAY 15TH SEPTEMBER 2013

  BARRY INVITED Gurtha, Todd, Stephanie and Angelina to dinner in Cornelia’s house in the Port. Police Inspector Andy had returned to Belfast. Cornelia’s body had not been found. It was hard to believe that so much had happened since the Saturday before when they were at Toni’s ‘fiesta’, when Cornelia had been in such good spirits.

  They arrived around eight o’clock. At first the atmosphere was tense. Nobody knew what to say. Barry opened a bottle of white wine and served some crisps.

  “I’m sorry. I’ve ordered a seafood paella. I hadn’t the heart to make anything. I hope that will be OK for you all. I know that Cornelia would have taken better care of everyone.”

  Todd got out of the sofa and hugged Barry.

  “Don’t be silly. We’re all in a state of shock. There’s nobody fit to do anything. You’re more than kind to ask us round. There were so many things that we didn’t know. Who would have thought that Cornelia was capable of murder?”

  Barry looked at Gurtha without wanting to offend.

  “I suppose we don’t know what we’re capable of until we face certain situations. We all have different coping mechanisms and maybe sometimes we can’t cope – life gets too much for us.”

  Stephanie nodded and passed around crisps and nuts.

  “I think that’s the best way to look at it. Nobody knows what they are capable of, good or evil. Who would have thought that Cornelia would have given her life to save Angelina? You would never dream that she would have done that. It was almost like she was confessing to you, Angelina. She then accepted her fate.”

  Angelina sat at the table.

  “Yes. That was amazing, unbelievable. I sometimes think that if you have a dark side, it is always balanced by a light side – you only have to find a way to let it be expressed. What I don’t understand is why they have not been able to find her body. Did you hear anything from Police Inspector Finn or Ramon Gonzalez?”

  Gurtha shook his head.

  “They say it is inexplicable. The nearest that they have come to an explanation is that maybe she fell onto the grassy outcrop and, because of the force of the fall,
she then rolled down the slope into the sea. The waves and currents are strong in that area. Certainly no-one would survive falling into the water. During the Spanish Civil War, Ramon said that the warring factions would bring their prisoners down to the water’s edge and throw them in. Certain death. So that is the only scenario that has any credibility.”

  Angelina asked Gurtha, “How are you feeling now? I suppose you have been the most impacted by it all.”

  Gurtha sighed, “Cornelia invited me here. I thought of it as a sabbatical – something which would change my life. I had no idea what would happen. It has certainly changed my life. It’s too early to say what I think. I know what I would like – a simple life.”

  Gurtha’s mobile rang. It was Laura.

  Everyone fell silent as he listened. His face looked shocked. He licked anxiously at his lips, the way a cat does when frightened.

  “I understand Laura. Keep me informed. I’ll get the first flight back tomorrow and go straight to the Milthorne.”

  Stephanie took hold of Gurtha’s hand.

  “What’s happened?”

  “It’s Paddy. He’s deteriorated. Laura has asked me to go back. It must be serious.” He looked at his watch. “There are no flights tonight. I’ll catch the first flight to Belfast tomorrow.”

  He folded his arms on the table and sank his head onto them.

  “Give me a few minutes. I’ll be alright.”

  The doorbell rang – the seafood paella had arrived.

  DAY 37

  MONDAY 16TH SEPTEMBER 2013

  “THE QUIETER YOU BECOME, THE MORE YOU ARE ABLE TO HEAR.”

  J RUMI

  LAURA COLLECTED Gurtha at the airport. He carried two large suitcases.

  “Thank you, Laura. I could have hired a car like I always do. This is too much of an imposition.”

  Laura shook her head.