by E. Earle
My head was swimming. Then things started to slot together. The black car. A woman asking Old Marley questions in his museum. Olivia’s car matched the description…
I gasped. “You left him to die there!” I breathed. “After he was attacked- you came in looking in his museum- asked him- and you left him there!”
She threw back her head and laughed. “Yeah right,” she said mockingly, delicately covering her mouth. “As if I would go into that rat den. My aunt likes to do the questioning.” Her eyes glittered. “Was he in much pain?”
My body started to boil, my hands clenching in small fists as my knees shook to get myself up.
“No matter,” she sighed, picked up one of the wind up lamps. “So Brynn knows where the necklace is?” She smiled. “I think I’ll enjoy doing this interrogation.”
Her last words gave me enough strength to push myself to my feet and leap at her. I managed to get a punch into her stomach and wind her, catching her off guard. She fell, hunched over as I made a dive for the exit, staggering as I did so.
I heard her furious screams behind me, but my feet hobbled on, the wind from the outside world whipping my hair back, my hands scraping on rocks as I sought to keep my balance.
A figure barred off my exit ahead, their hands on their hips as they stepped forward.
“I thought I told you to bind her hands?” a velvety voice said.
I blinked blearily as the person stepped forward and gasped. “Gabriella?”
The art critic smiled at me. “Yes darling.” She swung for me, and I was down again.
When I next woke, my hands were bound and I was in total darkness. Shivering, I shifted my body into a sitting position and groaned at the pain in my head. My body was shivering uncontrollably as the ocean rolled and crashed outside.
Sickness coiled in my gut and I just managed to turn as I threw up. Sobbing, I straightened back up and thought of Brynn.
Oh God…
I had to get to him! My feet were bound also, cutting off the blood supply to my feet. A strange sense of calm came over me as I twisted my hands. They were tied in rope, which was preferable to zip strips. I must have sat there for a good hour, shifting my hands up and down to make room.
Gabriella, the art critic had been at the gallery! I put her face against Olivia’s and grimaced. I should have seen the resemblance sooner.
Gabrielle was Olivia’s aunt- Old Marley’s wife’s sister.
I shook the epiphany from my head thought of warm places as my numb fingers worked their way through the rope. I thought of Australia, the hot sand, the condensation that worked up on pints of cider from the heat, and the scent of sun lotion, willing the heat to transfer into my body.
Finger by finger, I managed to crunch my hand out of the now wet and freezing rope and then the other hand. Crying in disbelief, I clutched them under my armpits to try and bring them back to life. Shuddering at the direction of the exit, my useless hands pawed at the ropes around my ankles.
I kicked off my shoes and managed to wrestle my feet out after twenty minutes of screaming and sobbing. Scrambling over to my trainers, I pulled them back on with shaking hands and crawled over to the mound of sheets on hands and feet.
Pulling myself up very slowly, I wrapped a sheet around myself and started to limp over back to the exit.
Anger was the thing that pushed my feet onwards. I was pretty sure that I had a concussion, but there was no time to worry about that. I had to help Brynn. These women were mad, and when they found that he didn’t have a clue what they were talking about, I was pretty sure they would probably treat him worse than me.
Marley had spoken about ‘plunder’ before, the day he was attacked by his brother’s men.
“That’s hidden and they can bulldoze the place down and they won’t find a coin.”
I smiled as his voice echoed in my head. Whatever he had hidden- his wife’s daughter and aunt wanted it.
“Well they’re not getting what they want,” I mumbled through frozen lips. I gasped as the wind froze my eardrums and I finally peered at the outside world.
Tears fell from my face, the only thing that heated my skin as I breathed in my surroundings. I thanked whatever higher power was out there for the clear sky allowing the moon to illuminate Pirates Peak ahead, its five points glimmering like a salute as I trudged through the sand.
Tripping over a rock, I fell and finding no way to get up, started to crawl on hands and feet. I could hear the waves getting closer and closer to me, as I made my seemingly endless trudge along the ground, desperate to see some end to the cliff face that loomed over me.
The cove I had been held in had furniture inside. That meant it belonged to someone, which meant there must be a road or houses of some sort nearby.
The waves were around my knees by the time I found an end to the beach. Grabbing onto some railings, I pulled myself up and started to walk up an incline of some sort, the ground now solid under my feet. It was difficult to see in the poor light.
The hedgerows ahead hissed and yowled as the freezing weather tore through them. I heaved in breath into my lungs as I walked towards them, tempted to fall into their leafy embrace- anything to get warm.
I realised then that the sheet I had used to wrap around myself had gone and my head thumped in disappointment.
The yowling continued, louder this time, more frantic, more searching as I fell to my knees, sinking into the hedgerows. I was so, so tired.
I decided to wait- I didn’t know for what, but I knew I had to wait.
Was I on a road? Or was it a pathway? Clouds came in and hid the moon, suffocating the sky from its glow.
My wait was soon rewarded. A single bright orange light was moving steadily and at speed down the road of where I was sitting. My eyelids flickered at it, my hand refusing to simply rise to stop it to help me.
Was it a light from a motorcycle? A bike?
The light hurt my eyes, forcing me to blink, the world spinning at this extra stretch of effort. It was coming straight for me. My body refused to move, self-preservation gone and be damned.
The light hit me right in the chest, the force knocking me back and dazing me for a second.
“Human!” a shrill voice came. “I found you! I have finally found you!”
The light wasn’t a light.
It was Ben.
Sickeningly, I found I wasn’t far from Craggy’s at all. Ben urged me with his nips, scratches, and meows of encouragement. My body was filled with momentary warmth as his body rubbed against my leg, forcing each step out of me.
“Just a bit further, Ellie,” he said. “Nearly there!”
I burst through the door and collapsed in front of Jessica and Jack as soon as the heat hit my skin.
They stared at me; their mouths wide open in shock as they dived over to me.
“Ellena!” Jessica exclaimed, Jack swearing behind her. “What on earth’s happened?!”
“Brynn,” I gasped, holding onto her, her body heat almost scorching my hands. “Where is he?”
She shook her head, confusion on her face. “What’s happened to you, Ellie?”
“Olivia and her aunt,” I said my tongue fat in my useless mouth. “They want Old Marley’s treasure… They’re going after…”
I didn’t even manage to say Brynn’s name before I passed out again. I woke minutes later on the communal sofa, blankets after blankets swamping me down.
Jack was on the phone to an ambulance, and I managed to snatch it from him as he was taking my pulse.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing?” I snapped, before quickly apologising to the woman on the phone and hanging up. “We need to get Brynn!”
Jack stared at me astounded. “Look at you!” he said frantically. “You need a hospital!”
“I need Brynn- where is he?!”
“He went for a lunch interview with an art critic,” Jessica said, coming to my side. “He should be back by now…”
Ben stare
d at me knowingly as the horror poured over my insides. “Oh God,” I moaned. “Ok, I need some painkillers and a change of clothes.” I winced as I sat up, my body aching to high heaven. Jessica had wiped away most of the blood from my face, my lip throbbing from the amount of wet wipes she had used. I decided that most of my injuries were superficial- they had to be. There was no point in wasting time feeling sorry for myself or going to the hospital- I had to get Brynn!
“Did he say where he was going?” I asked.
Jessica and Jack looked at each other hopelessly and then shook their heads. “He went out a couple of hours ago,” Jack shrugged. “He got a call, and that’s all I know.”
“We told him we’d call him when you got back,” Jessica added.
I leapt up and went to the bar. My phone was plugged underneath to the charger and I wrenched it out. A couple of missed calls were from Brynn, but that had been hours and hours ago, when I had gone “surfing”. He was probably checking that I hadn’t gone insane.
I stopped myself from pressing dial just in the nick of time. Olivia still thought I was in the cove. If he was with them and he got a missed call from me, then it would be obvious that I had escaped.
Demanding Jack’s phone, I called Brynn to receive no one pick up. I tried again to no avail.
I growled in annoyance and then remembered.
Vincent. Vincent had introduced Gabriella to me! He must know where she was holed up.
“Worth a shot,” I breathed, remembering the card he had given me when I had first met him.
Asking Jessica to get the coat from my bedroom, she brought it down with an upset look on her face. She had no idea what was going on, and the fact Brynn wasn’t there to help control things was making everyone feel on edge.
“These are bad people,” I calmly explained as I pulled the pristine white card from the left pocket of the coat. “They want something of Old Marley’s and they reckon Brynn and I know where it is.”
Jack and Jessica looked at each other and then back to me. “Well, what does this mean?” Jessica asked as Jack put an arm around her.
I sighed, picked up Craggy’s phone and started to dial Vincent’s number. “It means Brynn’s in trouble.”
Chapter Five
I hastily scribbled the address down Vincent told me over the phone. I told him everything that had happened, about Gabriella, Olivia- everything. He seemed pretty upset about Brynn and insisted he would call the police.
“I’m going over to find him,” I told Vincent. “I need to make sure he’s ok.”
“Wait for the police, Ellena,” he said quickly, concern high in his voice. “If they’re as dangerous as you say, then you should stay away-”
“They think I’m drowning in a cove right now,” I snapped. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose with my fingers. “I’m sorry- I’ve got to go.”
I hung up before he could try and use his charm to change my mind. Clutching the address, I sat back and looked up at Jack and Jessica with their arms crossed over their chests.
“What?” I asked.
“You’re not going anywhere,” Jack said, trying to put an authority in his voice that he had heard so many times from Brynn’s- except it really didn’t suit him.
“Ellena, really,” Jessica said sitting next to me. “Let’s just have a cup of tea and wait for the police to get there.”
I shook my head. “You don’t understand-”
“Ellena!” she snapped. “Look at the state of you!”
I clenched my mouth shut. Ok, so I had caught a glimpse of myself and I did look an absolute mess. I put my hand over my eyes, knowing that these people weren’t going to allow me to go anywhere. Pulling my hand finally away, a seed of deception started to crawl through my skin. Glancing at Ben, I could see his eyes narrowed with the same thought.
He knew exactly what was going through my mind. I smiled.
“Ellena?” Jessica’s voice was full of concern- probably seeing my grin.
“I’m sorry,” I said shaking my head. “I’ve just realised how ridiculous I’m being.”
Relief flooded on both of their faces immediately. “You do?” Jack said, his arms uncrossing in surprise. “I’m mean, you do. Good.” He quickly folded his arms again, surprised that his authority was being taken seriously.
“It’ll be ok,” Jessica said giving me a quick hug.
“I know it will,” I said.
I volunteered to make the tea, saying that I needed something to occupy myself. Jack followed me into the kitchen whilst Jessica went upstairs to grab me some dry clothes. I think Jack was worried about me trying to sneak out.
“Really, Jack,” I said with a half laugh. “I know, I really do. Sometimes I think I’ve got nine lives is all.”
Jack reached for the first aid box for me as the kettle boiled and helped bandage my worse cuts. I peered into the box as Jack started a lecture about how I should be more careful in life.
I nodded as I rummaged through the box for that trusted bottle that had gotten me out of tricky situations in the past.
“You know he likes you, right?”
My hand faltered over the bottle and my eyes snapped up to his. “Huh?”
“You’re not that blind, surely?” Jack said, leaning against the counter. “I’m talking about Brynn.”
I shook my head and picked up some painkillers instead. “Don’t be silly, Jack,” I grunted, popping out three pills. “Can you get me a glass of water, please?”
Seeing the pills in my hands, Jack bounced into movement and turned his back to me as he went to the sink.
I moved fast, opening the bottle and poured a large amount in two mugs, leaving the third empty. Shoving the teabags in, I quickly grabbed the kettle and was pouring in the boiling water as Jack returned with a glass.
“Thanks,” I said gratefully taking it and downing the pills. I made a groan as they went down my throat and finished my drink. “They better work fast.”
Finishing off the teas with milk, I went back through the bar with Jack following me with a tin of cookies. Jessica had brought me a change of clothes; my warmest and thickest jumper and jeans with a polo neck tunic. I gratefully took it and went into the lounge to change. We had shut the pub early that afternoon to paint the room, and the smell was still strong.
“Nice colour in here, don’t you think?” I shouted back as I pulled off my wet clothes in front of the fire and dried myself with a towel.
Ben padded in and sat down by the fireplace. “You did it again, didn’t you?” he purred quietly.
Pulling on fresh underwear, I refused to even look ashamed as I met his gaze. “I don’t know what you mean,” I said, quickly hoisting up my jeans and buckling them in place.
It took fifteen minutes for the pair of them to start sweating. I put down my tea and grabbed a forth cookie as Jack held his belly in discomfort.
“Man, I think that fish I had at lunch was dodgy,” he said, putting his empty mug on the table.
Jessica looked at him in surprise. “You ok, babe?”
He shook his head and stood up. “I’ll be back in a…” But he didn’t finish his sentence. He was running out of the room and down the hallway to the communal bathroom.
I raised my eyebrows. “Gosh!” I said with a mouthful of sugary goodness. “Where did you two go to eat?”
Jessica frowned and shifted uncomfortably on the sofa. “We went into the next town and had a seafood platter to share.”
Ben jumped onto my lap and purred in satisfaction. “Jesus,” I breathed. “To share? But you feel ok, don’t you?”
She waved me away. “Oh yeah,” she said quickly. “I feel just…” But even she didn’t even get to finish her sentence. “Oh God… Ellena- stay here, I’ve got to…” She was running before I could say anything else.
“Happy?” Ben meowed, flinching when a door slammed.
I was up and grabbing my coat. “Far from it, pussycat.”
I had a pocket knife
in my boot and a torch in my coat pocket as I jumped into my Fiat Punto. Ben hopped in after me and held on as I accelerated away from Craggy’s.
“You know this is dangerous, right?” I told him as I forced my breathing to calm.
“I’m there with you every step of the way,” he said simply.
I thought of the day he turned up on my doorstep, bedraggled, filthy and starving. Letting him in had been the best thing I had ever done.
The address I had scribbled down was lying on the dash- I had driven past the location twice before. Horneston House, a few hills over from Craggy’s. I had no idea Gabriella was so close.
It was nearly midnight. Brynn had been there for hours now and hadn’t returned. Panic started to rise in my chest. Something had happened.
I pulled up to the simple stone house. There were no police cars, no nothing. Not even Brynn’s pickup truck.
“Where are the police?” I murmured as I pulled up the handbrake. No lights were on inside, but I think I could make out the shape of a car parked next to the building. Gabriella’s?
Ben meowed, peering over the steering wheel. “I can’t see anyone.”
I scowled. “We’re going to have to use your nose then,” I said opening the car door.
We padded silently towards the building and peered through the windows. No lights were on inside and the blinds had been shut down. The house was grand in its simplicity, white washed walls with modest and straightforward lines. Honest.
Ironic considering its host.
“Brynn was here,” Ben said, his nose in the air. “So was the woman you don’t like…”
Olivia.
I tried the front door and frowned when it opened. Glancing at Ben, I saw his eyes burning in the darkness. I knelt down and cradled his head in my hands.
“You’re remembering last time,” he said simply and licked my burnt palm. “I’m not going anywhere, silly human.”
I nodded and slowly stood up.
