The Flood

by Rachel Bennett

  The moment she was past him, Daniela turned and ran.

  She sprinted out through the car park, past Henry’s car, across the road and into the trees on the far side. Once she was in the safety of the woods, she glanced back but Henry was already lost to view.

  She didn’t slow down. The easiest route home was along the road, but it was longer, almost two miles. Daniela could shave a half-mile off the distance by cutting through the trees. Plus, there was less chance of Henry following her. The idea of running down the roads with the constant fear of his car appearing behind her—

  Daniela plunged through the trees. She folded the knife and shoved it back into her pocket as she ran. Her feet knew every inch of these woods. They carried her over fallen trunks and around deadwood tangles. But she couldn’t stop looking backwards. Even though she knew Henry wasn’t following her; even though she was certain—

  Her boot slipped in a patch of mud. She went over on her ankle and fell, sprawling on the hard ground. She tried to regain her feet but pain sang in her ankle. Something had snapped as she’d fallen, she was sure of it.

  Tears sprang to her eyes, fuelled by frustration and anger and the sick residue of the fear she’d felt at the riverbank. She smashed her fist into the ground. She hated Henry for scaring her like that. Hated herself for being scared.

  Why had she let him take her phone? She’d had the knife right there in her hand. She could’ve demanded the phone back. Or stopped him getting close to her. Why hadn’t she done something?

  She ground her teeth together to stifle her screams.

  18

  February 2017

  Daniela lay flat against the muddy bank, still the wrong way up, feeling the cold press of earth against her shoulders. Rain splattered her face. She reached out on either side, searching for anything that might help. Her fingertips found the plastic covering of the package. Daniela silently cursed. She was going to be caught by the police, yards from a crime scene, with a big lump of incriminating evidence. It wasn’t the most stupid situation she’d ever got into, but it was close.

  Feeling blindly around, her other hand found a knot of tree roots protruding from the bank. Beneath was a small hollow, hardly bigger than her palm.

  The footsteps came closer. The person was casting back and forth like they were searching for the source of the noise they’d heard.

  Daniela grabbed the package and shoved it into the hollow beneath the roots. It didn’t fit. She wiggled the parcel, ramming it into the space with as much strength as she could muster. Every movement brought a fresh twinge from her trapped ankle. With one final effort, she wedged the package. She couldn’t be sure it was hidden from above. There was no time to check.

  The unseen person kicked through a pile of sodden leaves near the hollow where Daniela lay trapped. Daniela rolled onto her shoulder, gritting her teeth, and pushed up onto her elbow. It gave her a tiny amount of room to move her foot. She turned her ankle and the sucking grip of the boot relaxed a fractional amount. She twisted and pulled. Her foot came loose from the boot. Daniela tumbled onto her back at the bottom of the depression, gasping.

  She managed to sit up just as the person appeared at the lip of the hollow. Daniela held up a hand to shield her face from the rain that blinded her.

  ‘Daniela?’ a voice asked.

  Relief washed away the shock and adrenaline. She almost laughed, despite everything. It wasn’t Stephanie. ‘Yes,’ Daniela admitted. ‘Hi.’

  ‘What the hell are you doing?’ Leo McKearney asked.

  Daniela looked down at herself. She was soaked through, splattered with mud, with only one boot. She didn’t dare risk a glance at the package she’d shoved beneath the roots. But she could see it in her peripheral vision, a smear of blue plastic, shockingly out of place among the mud and dead leaves.

  ‘I fell,’ Daniela said sheepishly. ‘My boot got stuck.’

  Leo glanced down and located the boot wedged like a trophy in the looped root halfway up the bank. ‘That was careless,’ he said. ‘What on earth are you doing out here? Aren’t you freezing?’

  Daniela attempted a smile. ‘A little,’ she admitted. ‘And I’ve bust my ankle. It’d be really helpful if someone came by to help me, and that person was by chance a doctor.’

  Leo huffed in annoyance. ‘Well, that’s what you get for running around the woods in the middle of a flood. The falling bit, I mean, not the lucky find.’ He picked his way down into the hollow. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘I’m peachy. The ground broke my fall.’

  Leo climbed down beside her. The concern in his eyes surprised Daniela. ‘No,’ Leo said, ‘I mean, are you okay? What’re you doing out here?’

  Daniela avoided his gaze. ‘I was … I don’t know. What’re you doing here?’

  ‘I came to make sure the house was locked up,’ Leo said. ‘Stephanie’s a good person, but this has hit her hard. I don’t know if she remembered to lock the doors when we left.’

  ‘That’s … thoughtful.’

  Leo looked surprised. ‘What else am I supposed to do? I owe it to … to Auryn.’ His eyes were wet. He blinked the tears away. ‘Anyway. You’ve hurt your ankle?’

  ‘Yeah.’ Daniela attempted to flex her leg, and was surprised to find it didn’t hurt as much as expected. It was the same ankle she’d twisted while running from Henry McKearney, all those years ago. It had been weak ever since. ‘It felt like I’d broken it. Probably not more than a bruise, right? That’d make me look even sillier.’

  She sat up. She was anxious that Leo would turn around. The blue package, clearly visible below the roots, was right behind him.

  ‘Well, I can take a look anyway,’ Leo said.

  ‘Can we get out of the mud first?’ Daniela asked. ‘It’s not super-comfy down here.’ Before Leo could stop her, Daniela got up, balancing on her good foot, and hobbled towards the far side of the hollow. Away from the package.

  Leo followed. ‘Seriously, Daniela, what were you doing out here?’ he asked in his soft voice.

  ‘Seriously? I don’t have a good answer.’ Daniela forced a laugh. ‘I’m supposed to be staying at the Crossed Swords. But I just … I don’t know. I wanted some fresh air. I only went out for a cigarette. Then I thought I’d walk around a bit. Clear my head.’

  ‘In the rain? With the whole town flooded?’

  ‘I didn’t mean to walk far. But I kinda found my way here. Like my feet knew where they were going better than I did.’

  It sounded lame. But Leo nodded like he understood. ‘This must be hard for you,’ he said.

  Daniela could only shrug. Anything she said would sound false. And she was uncomfortable with Leo’s concern. She remembered the shock in his eyes when he’d seen Daniela at the old house that morning; the way he’d asked Stephanie: ‘Why is she here?’

  Daniela understood hostility. She was used to it. But this gentle sympathy confused her.

  ‘Come on,’ Leo said, all business now. ‘Let’s get out of the mud. I think we could use a warm drink, don’t you?’

  ‘Sure.’ Daniela forced the smile again. She looked up at the bank leading from the hollow. ‘I think I can climb this side,’ she said. ‘It’s not so bad. Can you give me a hand if I slip?’

  Leo followed her. Daniela started climbing, as fast as she dared, using the protruding roots as handholds. She could just about put weight on her injured ankle. Mud squished unpleasantly beneath her sock.

  She looked back and realised Leo had turned away. ‘Hey!’ she said, twisting around.

  Her heart froze. Leo was crossing the hollow away from her. His feet walked perilously close to the concealed package.

  Leo stopped right next to it. Before Daniela could open her mouth, Leo reached up and pulled the trapped boot loose from where it was stuck.

  ‘Here we go.’ He presented it to Daniela with a flourish. ‘You’ll probably need this, hmm?’

  19

  They walked together away from the hollow, Daniela limpi
ng. Her ankle pained her more than she liked, but she didn’t want to ask Leo for help.

  Leo paused to look down at the old house. ‘It’s so horrible to see the place like that, isn’t it?’ he said, quietly. ‘It looks so … abandoned.’

  ‘Why d’you think Auryn let it get into such a state?’ Daniela asked. It occurred to her that Leo might have some clues as to what’d happened to Auryn.

  But Leo just shook his head and turned away. He set off down towards the flooded road. After a moment, Daniela followed.

  ‘You know that hot drink you offered a minute ago?’ Daniela asked.

  Leo half-laughed. ‘Sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it? It’s the only way to deal with a day like today.’

  Daniela had asked because she wanted a chance to talk to Leo, preferably somewhere that wasn’t public. She could’ve suggested they both go back to the Crossed Swords, but she didn’t particularly want to run into Stephanie again, not just yet. Daniela was still mad at her for turning over her room.

  Of course, Steph was justified, she thought sourly. But what annoyed her more: the fact that Stephanie had suspected her of stealing the money, or the fact that she’d been right to do so?

  ‘Are you still living at home?’ Daniela asked Leo.

  ‘Not quite. Mum always said I could move back with her after university if I wanted, to save money, but—’ Leo laughed ‘—I’d only just escaped. It’d feel like such a backwards step to live at home again. Then one of the new-build cottages here in Stonecrop came up for rent. I thought, why not? It lets me be close to Mum without us tripping over each other, and I can commute to Hackett easily enough. Plus, it’ll give me a chance to save up the deposit for my own place someday. Perhaps.’

  ‘Why didn’t you stay in Newcastle after university?’

  ‘Well. I’ve got a good start to my career here. I was never cut out to be a doctor in a busy city hospital.’ If there was any residual bitterness, Leo hid it well. ‘Dewar’s is quite frantic enough for me, thank you.’

  They stepped down into the water and waded around the perimeter of the old house to the road. Daniela tried not to look up at Auryn’s bedroom window.

  ‘Where’re the new houses?’ Daniela asked. She hadn’t seen any new buildings in the village.

  ‘Over that way. Where the ruined mill used to be. They knocked it down three years ago and redeveloped the whole site. Four new houses. There was a bit of fuss with planning permission and all, but they don’t look so bad. The trees camouflage them.’

  Daniela wasn’t listening. Her brain had seized. The ruined mill. Kirk Cottage.

  How could Leo stand to live there? Even if the area had been redeveloped, he must think about the old mill every time he opened his front door. Just the thought of that place made Daniela’s stomach knot.

  Leo noticed she’d slowed as they ascended the road away from the old house. ‘Are you sure you’re all right?’ he asked.

  ‘It’s okay. I’m fine.’

  ‘Here, let me help.’

  Before Daniela could stop him, Leo hooked an arm under her shoulders. He was six inches taller than Daniela. She was at once aware of the warmth of his body and the smell of his aftershave. She was equally aware of how she herself smelled in her day-old clothes.

  ‘Thanks,’ Daniela mumbled.

  They walked in silence down the other side of the rise and back into the flooded road. The pressure of the floodwater compressed her welly around her bruised ankle. Daniela moved slowly, favouring her right leg, even though she was anxious to get somewhere warm and safe so she could talk to Leo.

  ‘We’re not getting far at this pace,’ Daniela said. ‘Sorry.’

  ‘I’ve parked my car down the road,’ Leo said. ‘It’s a bit hairy driving around in six inches of water but it’s still possible. We’ll go back to mine and get warm.’

  Daniela stalled at the connotations of back to mine. She nodded. ‘Sure. Sounds like a plan.’

  The silence stretched as they walked. Even if she’d wanted to talk, Daniela couldn’t; her teeth were chattering. Leo didn’t seem to mind the silence. Either that or he wasn’t sure what to say.

  Daniela was aware of Leo’s body, his proximity. He was tucked in close, his arm looped around Daniela’s back. A stray memory crossed Daniela’s mind, of the last time she’d seen Leo before today, and that hurried, stolen kiss. She closed her eyes to banish the memory. For years it’d burned like a brand in her mind. She didn’t want to think of it now.

  Leo had left the Land Rover blocking the narrow lane where the water got deeper.

  ‘I’ve already got stuck once today,’ Leo said. ‘Didn’t feel like calling out Tilly and her tractor again. I figured it didn’t matter if I blocked the road at this time of day.’

  The vehicle wasn’t locked. He opened the passenger side door and reached into the back seat, unfolding a blanket. He spread it out across the passenger seat so Daniela wouldn’t get mud on the upholstery.

  ‘It’s the dog’s blanket,’ he explained. ‘Sorry about the smell.’ He picked up a green gym bag from the passenger footwell and threw it onto the back seat.

  Daniela slid into the car and pulled the door closed. The rain drummed quiet fingertips on the roof. She huddled down in the front seat, feeling damp and uncomfortable.

  Leo reversed the car down the lane until he reached a place where he could turn around. Despite the size of the vehicle and the flooded ditches on either side of the road, he steered with confidence. He also whacked the heater on full blast. Daniela was extremely grateful for the hot air that whooshed from the vents.

  She kept her head down as they passed the outskirts of Stonecrop, but no other cars were on the roads. The Land Rover’s wheels left a wake in the flooded streets. Leo drove slowly, steering the big vehicle as if it were a ship moving through shallow waters. The wipers swept away stray raindrops.

  To reach the new developments, they had to drive the long way around, even though the location was quite close to Daniela’s old home. A footpath through the woods connected them, but Daniela was happy enough to take the car. She was less happy when they approached the former site of Kirk Cottage.

  Daniela sank lower in her seat as if that could protect her from memories. She dreaded seeing the place again. Redevelopment wouldn’t stop it looking and feeling the same. It was a bad idea to go there.

  But when the headlights swept over the white-fronted houses, she got a pleasant shock. The area was so different she wouldn’t have recognised it. The ruined building beside the River Bade was gone, bulldozed so cleanly it was like it’d never existed. The whole area had been raised so it overlooked the river. That must’ve been done to reduce the risk of flooding, and it appeared to have worked, because the four new houses stood clear of the water.

  Leo pulled up outside the closest house, a smallish building with a gabled roof and a trellised porch. The new houses were a bit too modern, too smart and slick for the crumbling village. She understood why some residents had objected.

  Daniela stayed low in her seat, letting warm air blow directly into her face. She felt an unease about being there but if she was going to figure out what happened to Auryn, she needed to talk to Leo.

  Leo helped her out of the car. She sheltered from the rain under the wooden porch as Leo pushed open the front door of the cottage – unlocked, Daniela noted. It would take a while for her to get used to that again. Too much time living in the city had erased her trust in strangers.

  Daniela felt the heat as soon as she stepped through the door. She’d begun to feel like she’d never be warm again.

  ‘Make yourself comfy,’ Leo said, switching on some lights. ‘I’ll get the kettle on.’

  The cottage was compact but modern, with recessed lighting and the sort of tasteful paint schemes that were found in every rental property in the country. The sitting room and dining room led off from either side of the entrance hallway. A warm bready smell drifted from the kitchen at the end of the hall. Dani
ela’s mouth watered. She hadn’t realised how hungry she was. She should’ve found a way to sneak some breakfast from the Crossed Swords.

  She went into the sitting room. A gas heater disguised as a real fire with a guard around it was set to a low heat that made yellow flames dance across imitation coals. A Yorkshire terrier had claimed the warmest spot on the rug. It pricked its ears as Daniela came in but otherwise refused to acknowledge her existence. Daniela stepped around the dog to get close to the fire, turning the heat up to its highest setting. She kicked off her boots, then, after a moment’s hesitation, peeled off her socks as well. They didn’t smell too good. She tucked the boots up next to the fireguard with her socks draped on top.

  Where am I? The house had been built on the site of Kirk Cottage. So she couldn’t be more than twenty or thirty feet away from where she would have stood last time she’d been there. Higher up, of course, since the ground had been raised. If she dug down through the soft soil of the back garden, would she find the foundation stones of the original building? Or had everything been erased, scraped away, then buried beneath rubble?

  She hoped so.

  In the kitchen, Leo filled the kettle. Daniela was torn between wanting to go talk to him and wanting to stay next to the fire. She felt uncomfortable in his house, unable to settle. She wandered the room, looking at the framed pictures on the walls, which were all of landscapes or buildings. No family photos. Daniela was grateful she wasn’t confronted by photos of Henry.

  She left the warmth of the fire and edged around the door of the hall. From there she had a partial view into the kitchen. Leo was pottering around, choosing mugs from the draining board, humming as he waited for the kettle. While his back was turned, Daniela took the opportunity to twist the latch on the front door. It quietly clicked closed.

  She waited until Leo was almost finished in the kitchen, then retreated to the fire. She sat down just as Leo appeared in the doorway with two steaming mugs of tea.

  ‘You look half-frozen,’ Leo said as he passed a mug to her. ‘Stay put. I’ll find a towel for your hair.’