‘No, it’s not the reason. I... ‘
He stopped short of what she wanted to hear. She was too far in to let go and wanted a definitive answer while he was sober. She knew how she felt about Kyle, but she wanted to know how he felt toward her. Moving in together for companionship and sex was one thing, but to Nancy, she had worked out that for her to make a life changing career move it had to be for more than just time running out for the both of them.
‘Go on. What is the reason then?’ She was sure she had him nibbling like one of his fishes. Now she wanted him to take the bait to be certain she had him well and truly snagged.
‘Because, you know.’
Kyle pushed with his hands on the sofa cushions, stood in front of her and placed his arms around his waist. A churlish expression spread across his face, as if she had caught him in a prank and she was asking him to confess.
‘What do I know?’
Nancy couldn’t help but giggle at seeing him squirm. She playfully pushed him back onto the sofa, landing on top of him and they smothered each other with a lingering kiss. They broke apart. Kyle had a serious expression and gazed into her eyes.
‘I’ll tell you tonight, promise. Now doesn’t seem right.’
‘Tonight? I’m intrigued.’ She decided to give him some slack, knowing it was just as difficult for her to come out with how she felt. Nancy climbed off him. ‘Okay, tonight it is. That gives you all afternoon to think about it.’
‘It’s not that. I just need you to trust me. Now are we going for that walk?’
‘Sure. Headache’s gone and I’ve packed sandwiches.’
Kyle playfully rapped her on the butt.
‘What are you waiting for, let’s go.’
Nancy changed to her hiking boots, packed the sandwiches and placed a water bottle in her backpack. Kyle was already on the veranda when she locked the door.
‘Which way?’ Kyle asked.
Nancy pointed to a pine-covered mountain beyond the creek below. Kyle gulped.
‘What, all the way to the top?’
‘See that bare cliff face? If we head for the cliff, there’s a mountain spring forming a waterfall and a small lagoon. We can skinny dip in the lagoon if we’re alone. The views are fantastic. Besides, once we cross the creek below, it’s dense woodland and we can have shade from the sun.’
Nancy linked his arm and the set off down the track toward the creek.
***
The day had been exhilarating for Nancy. She felt closer to Kyle than anyone else she had ever met. Looking back at Kyle as they neared the cabin, she was not sure if he felt half as exhilarated, more she thought; the correct description in his case was exhausted. Kyle laboured up the hillside using a fallen tree branch as a crutch. Nancy reached the veranda, and with arms akimbo, she called out.
‘Come on, slow poke.’
He finally made it to the veranda, dropped his backpack and collapsed his behind onto the rocking chair.
‘Damn, if I’m not ready for a shower and sleep.’
‘Not on your life, Sunshine. You’ve got something to tell me, right?’
‘Don’t worry. A promise is a promise. But I really do need a few hours of sleep first and my legs need to recover, they keep cramping.’
‘Okay, it’ll be dark soon. You take a shower first and climb into bed. I’ll wake you in a few hours.’
He looked like a mess as she unlocked the door and Kyle hobbled into the cabin. In the kitchen, Nancy made a coffee, returned to the living room and read a magazine. The time was approaching eight-fifteen; some twenty minutes after Kyle had retired. There was no sound coming from the bedroom as she crept though the open door and tiptoed to the side of the bed. Kyle was asleep on the top of the covers and wearing his boxers. She had an overwhelming urge to climb on the bed beside him, but the odour of her day’s toil, brought her to her senses.
Taking the lingerie Kyle had bought her, a towel from the bedside drawer and her dressing gown, she walked quietly out of the room to the bedroom next door for a shower. The big hurdle was over with in Nancy’s mind. Now, she thought, she just needed them both to cross the finishing line, for her to know she was making the right decision. Nancy did a twirl facing the mirror in the lingerie Kyle had bought her. Taking her perfume from her purse, she dabbed it behind each ear, and for the final touches, she applied her lipstick. She now thought she had done everything in her power to overcome his shyness at telling her how he felt, and the rest was down to the will of God and a little scene setting.
Nancy put on her dressing gown, tied the belt and headed for the living room. The clock on the wall wasn’t moving fast enough. The notion entered her head that she should just come out with it, and say; ‘Listen, I love you, do you love me and want to spend the rest of your life with me?’ But there again, she thought, she had managed to go through life by avoiding the subject with her other partners, and her only other experience, probably imagined, was of a faint memory of her mother telling her she loved her. On second thought, she decided it had to come from him naturally and could not be contrived, or dealt with as a matter of fact, with a bible in one hand and the other saluting, while reciting: ‘I do solemnly declare that I tell the truth and nothing but the truth.’ A picture flashed through her mind of her giving him a polygraph test, which made her snicker. At the end of the day, she knew it was all down to trust and to surrender to it.
After reading a few more magazines, Nancy busied herself making nibbles to eat and opened a bottle of wine. She set out the candles, lit them and scattered the cushions from the sofa on the rug. With the time at nine-forty five, she could wait no longer. Nancy turned on the portable CD player she had brought and loaded a compilation of R&B love songs. There was no need to wake Kyle as he walked through the hall door, having put on his jeans and a T-shirt.
‘Hi, Babe. Like the music.’ He walked over, stooped and gave her a kiss on the cheek. ‘Hmm, smells good.’
He sat down beside her.
‘How do your legs feel?’
‘I’ll live, but I think I need to book a few sessions at the gym.’
‘Did you have a good sleep?’
‘Not really, I’ve been thinking about what to say.’
Thinking?
‘Listen, before I say what I want to say, I first of all need to tell you something about my past that may change your mind about this whole living together thing.’
What? Nancy sat cross-legged on the rug, the warm feeling she had turned to a cold shock. She put her fingers to her lips in alarm. This was not how it was supposed to play out.
Kyle turned his head away from her and sniffed.
‘Can you smell something?’
Nancy could not smell, or feel anything from the shock of what the revelation may be. Kyle jumped up and darted to the window. Nancy could see an unusual glow through the window.
Kyle turned to her. ‘Fire! There’s a damn wildfire outside.’
Chapter 35
Visible as a glow through the cabin window, the sparks from the wildfire danced in the sky as if they were part of a fourth of July firecracker display. Nancy jumped up off the rug, and followed Kyle to the door and out onto the veranda of the cabin. Her eyes smarted as wafts of acrid fumes engulfed her. The stench of the smoke was sickly and so dense, that she could taste the foul air. There was a semi-circle of fire on the hillside below, maybe a hundred yards away, and it was creeping toward the cabin. Nancy grabbed the collar of her dressing gown and covered her nose and mouth. Flakes of burning debris whipped up by the raging wall of flames below floated in the air, some of it still glowing. The sound of the igniting undergrowth was deafening as it cracked and roared with the flames leaping into the night sky.
‘We need to get out of here. Grab your things and get them in the car,’ Kyle said.
Nancy ran back into the cabin and threw her clothing and items into her weekend bag. Kyle did likewise and they headed out to the SUV, grabbing their backpacks on the way.
> ‘Are we going to get past the fire along the track?’ Nancy asked. ‘It’s moving fast.’
‘I don’t know, but we can’t stay here.’
They scrambled outside and threw their luggage into the SUV. Nancy jumped onto the passenger seat. Kyle tore off his T-shirt and used it to wipe the headlights. Nancy reached over and opened the driver’s door. Kyle hopped in and fired up the engine. A film of gray ash covered the windshield. Kyle gave the glass a blast of water and turned on the wipers. He made a three-point turn, and they set off down the track. Kyle tossed Nancy his cell phone.
‘Call 911.’
Nancy tried dialling, but there was no signal. With the fire lighting up the area, Nancy could see the fire line was either side of the track and coming up fast, but at least the track offered a way through and down to the safety of the creek. A sudden explosion and a cloud of sparks in front of them caused the car to hit an obstruction that fell into their path. The vehicle came to a sudden stop with a jolt. The airbags exploded. Kyle groaned. The roof above him caved in and the windshield cracked. Nancy could see blood trickle down Kyle’s forehead. She struggled to breathe from the force of her chest hitting the airbag, but overcame her sense of panic. Her outstretched arm strained to reach for her backpack on the seat behind, managing to pull it forward. She rummaged in the bag, pulled out a knife and stabbed both airbags.
‘Kyle, are you okay.’
‘I’m fine. We’ve hit a fallen tree. Damn thing exploded.’
The flames were approaching fast. Nancy’s chest tightened at the urgency of the situation. The gears crunched as Kyle tried to locate reverse, finally the car moved backward along the track.
‘I can’t move fast enough. The fire is going to overtake us if I can’t turn us around.’ The pain he was suffering was evident as he kept grimacing. ‘You’re going to have to drive, I can hardly breathe. I think I’ve broken a rib. I can’t twist around to look where I’m going.’
They were probably twenty-five yards from the fire, when Kyle stopped. He opened the door, stumbled around to the passenger side, holding his side and Nancy clambered over the handbrake and slipped into the driver’s seat.
‘I don’t know which position is reverse gear?’
‘Put your foot on the clutch.’
Nancy stepped hard on the clutch pedal with her a bare foot and Kyle located reverse gear. With the gas pedal to the floor, her arm over the seat and looking backward, the SUV hurtled along the track. The track widened, Nancy braked hard and skidded to a halt. She looked forward, relieved to be putting distance between their vehicle and the fire.
‘Put it in forward gear for me.’
Kyle engaged a forward gear and Nancy manoeuvred the car facing uphill. The tyres started to spin, the vehicle unable gain traction. Kyle reached out and selected an off road crawl gear. The SUV started to move again, but it was painfully slow. Repeatedly, Nancy glanced in the rear-view mirror, horrified to see the firewall gaining ground, when they finally arrived at the cabin. Nancy stopped, jumped out of the vehicle, and rushed to open Kyle’s door. His head slumped forward, his arms limp at his side.
‘Dear God, no.’
Nancy felt for a pulse, relieved to find one. The cabin offered no sanctuary, with sparks already landing on the roof and the firewall creeping closer. The heat was unbearable and the fumes were hitting the back of her throat. Nancy twirled around full circle. The glow of the wild fire was all around in the night sky. With no time to waste, Nancy jumped back on the driver’s seat, and prayed the glow over the back of the cabin was on the opposite side of the lake.
Nancy had left the SUV in gear when she had stopped. She pressed the clutch pedal and turned the ignition. The dashboard instrument lights and two-gear arrangement, gave her the impression she was sitting in an airline cockpit. The vehicle moved slowly, but she dare not change gear for fear of stalling the engine. She drove, heading to the back of the cabin, ploughed through some bushes and then smashed through the picket fence.
She was startled, when the headlights caught the stag and his herd of five deer huddled together in the back yard. Nancy carried on and careened through the picket fence at the back of the yard. The drive up the hill was slow and painful, but at least it was in the right direction. At the top of the hill, she stopped, pressing down hard on the brakes, and depressing the clutch pedal. Her worst fears spread out before her. All she could see was a wall of flame.
A glance over her shoulder and she could see the cabin on fire. As she turned to look forward, the stag came up alongside, stopped and turned to look at her through the side window. They locked eyes and he shook his head, as if to say, ‘Come on we can do this.’ Nancy tipped her forehead in salute to him, and set off down the hill. She could see the firewall was fifty yards away and knew the lake was maybe thirty yards beyond the firewall. She was not sure if the gas tank would last the thirty yards if the undergrowth was aflame, especially at the speed she was doing, or that the rubber tyres wouldn’t explode with the heat, bringing them to a halt and sure death.
‘I love you, Kyle, hang in there for me.’
She stroked his knee and then tugged at his seatbelt to make sure it was secure. A glance in her rear-view mirror, and she could see the stag and his deer behind her. The stag nodded his head as if to say, ‘Get on with it.’
‘Please, God.’ She prayed.
Nancy set off down the hill. She cursed at the vehicle driving slowly, and realized they were likely to fry to death as they passed through the wall of fire.
‘What the hell.’
She looked down at the gearshifts. Nancy worked out where the neutral position was and located it with the gearstick. She hoped for the best as the vehicle picked up speed and freewheeled down the track. She stared at the wall of fire as it grew ever closer, and her head throbbed. Sweaty palms grasped the steering wheel. She imagined the headache was from the fire sucking the oxygen around her and replacing it with deadly carbon dioxide.
As fast as she was moving, it all seemed to happen in slow motion, and she threw the wheel left and right, as if by instinct, to follow the track. It felt like she was in a zone of a different dimension and she was in full control of everything around her. Instead of the car bouncing around, it seemed to be floating. There was no sound, whereas before, she had heard the roar and the crackling of burning wildfire. She began to hallucinate. An evil face in the form of flames appeared directly in front of her in the firewall. Her mind screamed out for it to go away. The flames parted in the way she imagined the red sea looked, parting for the Israelites.
She felt no fear as she hit the firewall, but squeezed her eyes closed. She opened her eyes to the sound of rumbling and the SUV vibrating. They were through the other side of the firewall, with the lake in plain view. The feeling of being in control left her, and the SUV hurtled over the gravel beach and into the lake, the brakes having no effect. Water from the lake cascaded onto the windshield, blinding her vision as it ploughed forward. The vehicle stopped moving forward. The hood dipped and then bobbed level on the surface of the lake. She could feel the water gradually seeping into the vehicle through the twisted doorframe, covering her ankles first and then rising halfway up to her knees.
She knew she would have to act fast if they were to survive their predicament. Nancy tugged at the door handle, but the door would not open. She had not come this far to be beaten. Panic, she knew would lead to their certain deaths.
Chapter 36
The SUV floated on the lake surface. Water in the well of the car was rising rapidly and the car tilted forward with the weight of the engine. Nancy could feel her heart rate going off the scale and her entire being trembled. She reached down and unfastened her seat belt. Kyle was slumped forward with his head on the dashboard. Nancy kneeled on her seat, took hold of Kyle’s shoulders and yanked his body to have him sitting with his back to the seat. She unfastened Kyle’s seat belt. Nancy took deep breaths.
Kyle’s apparently lifeless body slumped f
orward with the tilt of the vehicle. She turned to press the power button to open the window. The car’s window jammed half-open and the lights on the dashboard extinguished as the power failed. Her heart rate responded to the deep breaths, and a sense of calm took hold of her thought process, despite the setback of the power failing. She knew they had to make an exit and with the water pressure preventing the doors from opening, there would be only one way out of the predicament.
The ice-cold water reached her waist and numbed the lower half of her torso. Nancy turned on her seat, reached out onto the back seat, and felt for Kyle’s backpack. She grabbed hold of a strap and hauled the backpack forward. Nancy rummaged inside and her fingers felt the cold steel from the barrel of his gun. She whipped around; grasping the barrel in one hand and covering her face with her other arm. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she made a wild swing at the windshield.
The surge of water gushed in through the imploded windshield and threw her backward against the seat. Her head exploded as she held her breath and her body felt weightless as the surge ceased. She opened her eyes, but could see nothing. Submerged in water her hands flailed around, she felt Kyle’s arm, and took it in a firm grip. Her bare foot felt the texture of the car seat, giving her some sense of orientation. Nancy tugged Kyle toward her, wrapped her arms around him and felt for the back of her seat with her foot. With both her feet and all the strength she could muster, she kicked against back of the seat, propelling them forward.
Nancy held onto Kyle for dear life, in the hope that he would repay the compliment and survive the ordeal. The urge to take a breath overpowered her, and her will power to hold on to life. She ceded to her fate and her mouth filled with water. Her head broke the surface and she spluttered the sharp intake of water out in a choking cough. The glow from the raging fire, gave her the position of the beach. Kyle was face down. She turned him over and with an arm under his chin; she swam for the beach. Hauling his bodyweight, she started to succumb to exhaustion, when she saw the stag a few yards from her. He was staring at her, with the water lapping his underbelly. She stopped swimming and stood up, put her arms under Kyle’s shoulders and dragged him to the shoreline.
Missing: The Body of Evidence Page 14
