by Jack Jordan
She waited for a reply. Nothing came.
She turned the key in the lock, took a deep breath and opened the door.
‘Don’t say a word,’ a woman’s voice said, and something hard pressed against Naomi’s head. ‘Or I’ll smash your fucking brains in.’
TWENTY-FIVE
Naomi quivered against the cricket bat pressed against her temple. The cold night air drifted in through the open door.
‘Who are you?’
‘You know who I am. Come with me.’
‘Not until you tell me who you are.’
‘You could say I’m your dose of karma.’
Josie was the only person she had wronged. Dane must have told her. He had said he would leave Josie for her; perhaps he thought that if he went through with it, Naomi would have him back. She gnawed at the inside of her lip.
‘This has nothing to do with me, Josie. You need to speak to Dane.’
‘This has everything to do with you. Are you going to come quietly, or do I have to drag you?’
Naomi considered screaming for help and wondered how long it would take for the bat to rise and crack down on the top of her head. Josie was reckless, that much was clear. She had made her way to Naomi’s house armed with a cricket bat. Whatever she planned to do, it was obvious she didn’t care about the consequences. Her reason for being there mattered more.
‘Well?’
She could slam the door shut, scream until her neighbours peeked from behind the curtains. Josie placed her foot on the step to block the door, as though Naomi had thought aloud.
The path was cold beneath her bare feet. The door clicked shut behind her.
Josie ushered her forward with the end of the bat. Naomi felt the air before her, stepped forward hesitantly, and kicked the iron gate with a misguided step. The gate screeched open and banged against the brick wall.
Please, George, look out of the window.
‘Turn right and keep walking until I tell you to stop,’ Josie said.
Naomi stepped out onto the path and turned right. The bottoms of her feet were already numb against the wet path, and her right foot throbbed from the impact with the gate.
The street was quiet. Curtains would be drawn. Doors would be locked. No one would see her pass before their windows, lit only by the street lights that buzzed above their heads, led by a deranged woman wielding a cricket bat.
‘I don’t want Dane. I’ve been telling him that for two years.’
‘Then why are you sleeping with him?’
‘I’m not.’
She had never felt so lost before, walking without Max or her cane. Her knowledge of the town wouldn’t come; the fear was like fog trapped inside her skull. She held her hands out to feel her way forwards. A snail shell crunched beneath her foot.
‘He came home smelling of you.’
‘How do you know it was me?’
The bat pressed harder into the middle of her spine.
‘Turn right.’
The cold air slipped through her hands. Stones dug into the soles of her feet. If she wanted to survive, she had to give Josie what she wanted. There was no way she could run without knowing what lay in front of her. She was totally at the woman’s mercy.
‘It happened once,’ she said, and stepped away from the kerb as she veered to the left. The bat dug between two vertebrae. ‘I told him it was a mistake.’
‘You’re a liar. You want him to keep coming back.’
‘I don’t, Josie. I’ve told him a thousand times.’
‘Well, that isn’t working. It’s time we tried something new. Turn left.’
Where are you taking me, Josie? What are you going to do?
Mud squelched between her toes. Grass tickled the sides of her feet. The wind rushed at her from the west. They were walking across an open field. No street lights. No witnesses. Just darkness. The chime of the town’s clock tower stalked the wind.
All this was a scare tactic. No one would resort to such violence. But Naomi didn’t know Josie at all. She had no idea what she was capable of.
Her hands fumbled against a wooden gate, soft from the rain and coated in algae.
The woods.
Suddenly she could smell the tree sap on the breeze, the musk of rotting bark.
‘Why have you brought me here?’
‘I don’t want anyone bothering us.’ Josie jabbed the bat into Naomi’s spine and thrust her into the gate.
Pain shot up her arms and she bit her lip: she refused to let Josie hear her scream. The wind whistled between the trees. She stumbled on with her arms outstretched, her hands dusted with algae.
‘How far?’
‘As far as I tell you.’
She fanned out her fingers, desperate to feel something other than the thin night air. It felt like she was falling, waiting to hit the ground.
‘I never understood what Dane saw in you.’
Naomi stumbled on a rock and Josie snatched at her T-shirt and yanked her upright. She could feel hot blood pooling around the nail on her big toe.
‘I think it’s because you need him. Men like to be needed. Well, I need him too. Hurry up!’
Josie jabbed the bat into Naomi’s right shoulder blade. Pain reverberated down her arm and sparked in her fingertips. This time she did scream, but Josie didn’t tell her to stop: they were deep enough in the woods that she didn’t have to worry about being heard.
No one will hear me scream.
‘Dane and I were married for fifteen years, Josie. It takes longer than two years to forget something like that. We’ve spent most of our adult lives together.’
‘Well now you’re on your own. Dane’s not here to protect you tonight, is he?’
Naomi kept walking, listening to the sounds of the woods. Nocturnal animals scuffled under shrubs on the woodland floor, and twigs snapped beneath her feet. The tops of the trees thrashed together with the force of the wind. However loudly she screamed, she would never be heard.
‘I was dragged into the police station today because of you. Do you want me to lose my job as well as my boyfriend? Can’t you let me have one thing?’
‘I didn’t say anything about you. I don’t know what you’re talking about!’
‘You’re so full of shit.’
Josie shoved her hard. Naomi toppled to her knees, and stones bit through the bandages on her hands.
‘Tonight is a warning. If you don’t stay away from Dane, I’ll kill you next time.’ She stamped on Naomi’s left hand. Naomi’s scream echoed between the trees and sent birds flocking from the treetops. The sole of Josie’s shoe squeaked as it worked her fingers into the ground. Tears streamed from her eyes as she felt the bones bend and twist.
When Josie stepped back, Naomi snatched her hand away and cradled it to her chest. Her fingers thrummed with her pulse.
‘Remember this pain,’ Josie said. ‘And remind yourself how much worse it will be if you see Dane again.’
Cold tears dripped from Naomi’s jaw. She shivered and rocked against the wind.
‘You know, I almost felt sorry for you when I saw you up close for the first time, standing there in the doorway. I could’ve waved my hand in front of your face and you wouldn’t have had a clue.’
‘What … what are you going to do?’ Naomi asked.
‘I’m going to leave you here.’
‘You can’t! I’ll never get home!’
Josie scoffed. ‘That’s sort of the point.’
‘Josie, please.’ Naomi reached up and felt the hem of her coat. She tugged and pleaded. She couldn’t ignore the fact that her fate rested in Josie’s hands.
‘Don’t touch me!’ Josie shoved her to the ground.
‘Please don’t leave me here. Please!’
‘You’re pathetic,’ Josie spat. She leaned down and gripped Naomi’s jaw. ‘Stay well away from Dane, or I swear I’ll make sure you—’
Josie was yanked upwards with a rush of air, and hot liquid sprayed down on Naomi’s
face and hair, as though the sky was raining blood. She heard Josie fall to the ground and thrash wildly on the woodland floor, blood gargling in her throat.
Naomi staggered to her feet and stumbled, blinking away the blood as it snaked down her face. She had no idea where she was going or what might lie ahead. She lurched to the left until the bark of a tree snagged beneath her fingernails. If she wanted to survive, she had to hide. She weaved between the trees, stumbling from trunk to trunk, biting down on her bottom lip to suppress a sob. The uneven ground was smothered in layers of rotting leaves and fallen twigs that snapped underfoot. She had to fight the instinct to freeze with fear. Each step took courage. She swung her arms out in front of her, flinching when her hands scraped against bark.
Once she was deep enough in the woods, she hid behind a tree trunk and clasped her hands over her nose and mouth, listening to the wind drift between the trees, and the wild thump of her own heart.
A twig cracked. Dead leaves moved on the woodland floor with approaching footsteps. Someone else was out there, breathing the same air, feeling the same chill. The footsteps whispered around the right of the tree and stopped so close that she could feel the heat from the stranger’s body.
It’s dark. He might not see me in the dark.
He was listening for her. If she was caught now, it was all over. Her pulse pounded in her ears.
The footsteps moved on, deeper into the woods, stopping and starting, the unknown person listening for the slightest sound. She couldn’t hold her breath any longer; veins were snaking up her neck and swelling at her temples.
She exhaled loudly, heaved in fresh air, and clamped her hand over her lips again with a loud slap.
Silence. Deafening, torturous silence. Naomi pressed her back into the tree until her pulse vibrated against the bark. Tears snaked from her eyes and ran down the seal of her hand.
The bushes began to rustle again. He was coming back.
Sobbing, she pushed away from the tree and stumbled forward. Branches clawed at her clothes and skin. She was too slow. She tried to pick up speed and walked into a large fallen branch. She scurried beneath it and scratched her face on something sharp. Her hands thrashed wildly through the air, scraping against bark until her nails cracked and bled. She lurched onto the path again and forced herself to run, to ignore the terror of not knowing what lay ahead. Stones dug into the soles of her feet with every misguided step as she anticipated a hard knock from a tree trunk or the quick snatch of the killer’s hand in her hair. She stumbled over something solid and fell to the ground. Dirt coated her teeth and framed her nostrils.
A hand snatched at her ankle. Blood was still gargling in Josie’s throat as she tried to speak.
‘I’m sorry,’ Naomi whispered, and yanked her leg free from Josie’s grasp. She scrambled to her feet and turned blindly from the path until she was back between the trees again. She hoped she was walking deeper into the woods, but for all she knew, she could be stumbling around in circles.
She staggered along blindly, with leaves bundling around her feet and branches snagging her clothes, until she slammed into a tree and landed on the ground in a cloud of dry mud. One foot was dangling over some sort of drop. She examined the dip in the earth with her hands, moving downwards with the ditch until she slipped onto dry and rotting leaves. She pulled her knees up to her chest and lay still.
It was only then that the pain crept in, pulsing at the bottoms of her feet and in her mutilated fingers. Her skin itched with Josie’s blood. She clenched her eyes shut and listened to the night.
Something small crept amongst the leaves beside her feet. The ditch smelt of animal excrement.
She lay in the dark with her hands over her mouth to disguise her laborious breaths, shivering so hard that the leaves rustled around her. Sweat dripped down from her forehead and into her eyes. She couldn’t be found now – she was too exhausted to run again. A single tear ran down her cheek and tapped onto the leafy bed.
And then she heard him, no more than ten feet away from her.
It had to be the man who had dragged her hands across Amber’s body, the man who had hurt Max. He was breathing heavily into the night, standing motionless as though he was trying to spot her silhouette in the dark.
She tried to remember what clothes she had put on that morning, and feared she was wearing colours that clashed against the palette of the wilderness.
The man sighed heavily. Shoes scuffed against mud and leaves until at last the wood quietened and the cold night fell around her like a blanket.
Naomi stayed in the ditch until the birds began to sing with the dawn.
TWENTY-SIX
Marcus woke abruptly to the sound of his phone vibrating on the bedside table. He’d been dreaming of Naomi.
Stop. You have to stop.
He opened his eyes. Natalie lay beside him, looking at him as if she knew exactly what had been playing on his mind as he slept. Was it cheating when it was just a dream? When you knew deep down that it would never happen? His cheeks burned at the thought of her knowing his thoughts, his desires. But that was the thing with Natalie: she never let him have anything all to himself; she had to have a piece of it.
‘What day is it?’ he asked gruffly.
‘Saturday. We’re meant to be spending the day together.’
He sighed and picked up the phone.
‘Hello?’ he said, cleared his throat.
‘It’s me,’ Lisa said, wide awake. ‘I’m with your girlfriend.’
‘What?’ He looked at Natalie to check if she’d heard.
‘Naomi Hannah was found in the woods this morning.’ Lisa waited a beat. ‘Alive.’
Marcus sat up and swung his legs off the side of the bed, rubbing his left eye with his free hand. Natalie watched him in the mirror.
‘I thought the uniforms were keeping an eye on her?’
‘When they knocked around ten p.m., there was no answer. Assumed she’d gone to sleep. They’re hardly going to kick down the door just to tuck her in.’ She sighed into the phone. ‘Naomi’s in hospital, and Josie Callaghan was found with her throat cut.’
‘Shit.’ He stood up and ran to his wardrobe, balancing the phone between his ear and shoulder as he pulled out a white shirt and black suit.
‘We’re supposed to be spending the day together!’ Natalie shouted.
‘Lovers’ quarrel?’ Lisa asked.
‘No.’
‘What do you mean, no?’ Natalie asked.
‘Not you! I’m on the phone, Natalie.’
‘Should I call Blake instead? You sound as though you have your hands full over there.’
‘No, I’m coming.’
‘You’re a real prick, Marcus,’ Natalie spat. She clambered out of bed, naked except for her knickers, and barged her shoulder into his. The bathroom door slammed behind her.
‘Meet me at Naomi’s house at ten. The scene’s not far from there. Not much I can do here at the hospital while she’s out for the count.’
Lisa hung up. Marcus looked at the bathroom door and listened to Natalie’s sobs and the clatter of toiletries falling into the sink.
Lisa was waiting for him when he pulled up outside Naomi’s house. He was ten minutes late, and she didn’t look impressed.
‘You look like shit,’ she said, glancing at him as he climbed out of the car.
So do you, he thought. Dark circles stalked Lisa’s eyes, livid against the chalky skin on her face.
‘Did you forget to brush your teeth?’ she asked.
Shit. Natalie had locked herself in the bathroom, screaming at him from the other side of the door.
Lisa turned and walked down the road.
‘What happened to Naomi?’ Marcus asked as he tried to angle his breaths down towards his chest.
Lisa pulled a pack of mints out of her jacket pocket.
‘Thanks.’
‘It’s not for your benefit,’ she replied.
He took a mint and passed the pack back
to her, their fingers grazing for a brief second, enough to make him squirm.
‘Uniforms said she was found by a dog walker, wandering around the woods covered in blood. She was disorientated; thought it was her guide dog and latched onto it, hysterical. The dog bit her.’
‘Why was she in the woods?’
‘She hasn’t spoken yet. She’s been asleep since being admitted. Once we’ve wrapped up here, I want you to go to the hospital and wait for her to wake up. I don’t want her telling her story to a nurse.’
They walked to the end of the road without a word. Marcus’s teeth ground against the mint until it became mush and slipped down his throat. He rubbed at the crust in the corners of his eyes with his fingertips.
‘When was Josie found?’
‘Just after six, by a homeless man.’
The woodland came into sight around the bend, a wall of greenery that hid what the night had left in its wake. Naomi had been in there, stumbling around in the dark as the rest of them slept. He had spent the night dreaming of her while she was stuck in a nightmare.
‘Thanks for calling me.’
‘You pick up the phone when I call. Blake doesn’t.’
Lisa led him towards the woods and through the gate, past two uniformed police officers. Crime-scene tape fluttered in the wind.
‘You don’t need to watch where you step,’ Lisa said, ducking under the tape. ‘Forensics have searched the path already.’
Marcus followed her. Other than the dead leaves crunching beneath their feet, the place was quiet, almost tranquil. That would all change when they saw the blood. Yellow markers were dotted along the path where evidence had been found: a footprint, a drop of blood, a human hair.
‘Do you think the person who killed Josie could have been the same person responsible for the disappearance of her sister?’
Lisa stopped abruptly. ‘I told you not to talk about Hayley fucking Miller, Campbell.’
‘But it’s not every day that two sisters are attacked like this.’
‘If you’re going to keep this up, you can turn around and go on home.’
Lisa headed on. He followed obediently.