Wrong Time, Wrong Place (3 page)

Then, without warning, she ran for the front
door, unlocking it in one swift movement and dashing out into the night.

Instinctively, Ash chased after her, not thinking about the dangers that might lurk outside. The girl was quick, but so was Ash. She also had the advantage of wearing shoes on the gravel. She thrust out a hand and grabbed the girl by the hood of Tracy’s top. ‘Come on, it’s all right,’ she said, pulling the girl into a tight bearhug, trying desperately to make herself understood. ‘No one’s going to hurt you.’

She heard Nick coming up behind her. ‘Ash, get back inside. Now.’

‘I’m coming. I’m coming.’

Ash loosened her grip on the girl, which turned out to be a mistake. The girl immediately wriggled away from her, shoved Ash backwards and set off again at a run.

Ash went to follow but Nick grabbed her by the arm for the second time that night. ‘Let her go,’ he snapped.

Ash watched as the girl reached the end of the driveway, her battered feet crunching on the gravel, before being swallowed up by the woods. A part of Ash – the brave part – wanted to run after her and drag her back to where she’d be safe and warm. Another part kept her rooted to the spot. Jesus, the poor
thing had to be terrified of something.

‘We can’t just leave her,’ she told her husband. Even so, she didn’t resist as Nick led her back inside.

Tara tore through the trees, telling herself that she wouldn’t stop until she reached a town. She had no idea how far away one could be, or indeed where she even was. She assumed she must still be in England, but it was an England that was totally strange to her, a hilly wilderness where danger lurked at every turn. She’d thought the hikers would help her, and it had seemed like they were going to. The pretty dark-haired woman had been kind to her, but one of the other men had shouted and screamed. When she saw the slashed tyres on the car, she knew that her captor had somehow followed her to their house.

That was when she’d made the decision to run, not wanting to involve these people in what had happened to her. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t their problem. So now, once again, Tara was on her own.

A three-quarter moon shone down, bathing the forest in eerie light. She didn’t want light. She wanted darkness. Darkness would hide her. She looked round as she ran. The forest seemed
empty, so she started to slow as the trees and bushes grew thicker, feeling the first sense of relief.

She glanced over her shoulder, saw no one following her, and turned back.

And ran straight into the knife.

Tara gasped as the blade was buried up to the hilt in her stomach, slicing through her flesh like it was slicing through a ripe orange. All her strength seemed to disappear in an instant.

Her attacker loomed up in front of her, an unmoving wall of black. She gazed into his cold, dark eyes as he withdrew the blade and drove it upwards into her heart, his gloved hand gripping her throat and holding her in place while she died.

4

FOR A GOOD
minute, none of them spoke. Nick had locked the door and had the key in his hand. In the background, the TV was still blaring out some reality show rubbish, with lots of shouting and laughter.

Finally, Tracy broke the silence. ‘Look, I didn’t mean for her to go like that. But you know … I don’t know what to do about this. I’m not used to this kind of drama.’

‘None of us are, Tracy,’ said Nick. ‘I’m just a bloody lawyer, like Guy. The point is, we’ve got to deal with it.’

‘For all we know she could have been the one who slashed the tyres,’ said Guy.

‘Don’t be bloody daft,’ snapped Ash, who was rapidly losing patience. ‘Why on earth would she do that?’

‘I don’t know. But then I don’t know why any of this is bloody happening.’

Which, thought Ash, was a fair point. What had started out as a relaxing, if potentially dull,
weekend trip had turned into a nightmare. Just like that.

Ash had been mugged once, a couple of years ago. Coming home to their flat late at night, she’d got out of the taxi and was walking towards the front door when a man had appeared from behind the gate post and punched her full in the face. There’d been no pain. Just total and utter shock. She’d stumbled backwards, putting a hand to her bleeding nose, and the man had simply pulled her handbag from her shoulder and run off up the street.

The whole thing had lasted a matter of seconds, but Ash would never forget that feeling of shock as the urban violence she’d read so much about, but had never actually seen, finally came crashing into her cosy world. She had that shocked, partly dazed feeling now. She felt she could understand a bit better Guy and Tracy’s own reaction to the events that were happening around them.

‘Maybe now she’s gone, whoever slashed the tyres will leave us alone,’ sighed Tracy, and any understanding Ash had felt for her disappeared.

‘Jesus, don’t you have any feelings for that poor girl?’

Nick put up a hand. ‘Ash, leave it.’

‘How can I? That girl was probably raped and
now she’s alone in the woods, and these two seem happy about it.’

‘No one’s happy about it,’ shouted Guy. ‘But what do you want us to do? The phones are dead. The car’s buggered. And the girl has just run off, and in Tracy’s clothes too.’

Ash sighed, knowing this argument was getting them nowhere. ‘It would just be nice to hear some compassion, that’s all.’

‘All right guys, enough,’ said Nick firmly, fixing them each in turn with his lawyer’s gaze. ‘Here’s the plan of action. We make sure the place is secure, and then wait here the night. That means locking all the windows and doors so there’s no way we get any uninvited guests. Then as soon as it’s light, we walk down to the main road, or somewhere we can get reception, and call for help. We’ll also report what happened to the girl. It’ll probably mean the end of the trip, but I think we’re all happy to accept that.’

Everyone nodded.

‘We’ve got food, we’ve got booze, so let’s just sit tight.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ said Guy, beginning to calm down. ‘I need a leak. While I’m up there, I’ll lock the windows.’

‘Thanks, Guy,’ said Nick, patting his friend’s
shoulder as he walked by. Guy avoided looking at him. It was clear to Ash that what friendship there was between them had just taken a very big hit, and at least part of that was her fault. She smiled at her husband to show she supported what he’d done. He gave her a nod in return before turning away, saying, ‘I’ll check the back door’s locked.’

Tracy sat down heavily on the sofa. ‘Jesus, what a day.’

‘Tell me about it,’ said Ash. She still couldn’t get the poor little blonde girl out of her mind. She was so young and so vulnerable. But Nick’s words made sense. Right now there was nothing else they could do to help her.

Ash went over to the front window and pulled back the curtain to check that the window was locked. As she did so she was unable to resist looking out into the night. The Land Rover sat sadly in the driveway, and once again Ash wondered who’d tampered with it, and why they’d gone to so much trouble to find the girl.

Something moved at the edge of the treeline. It looked like a person. Ash squinted, pushing her face against the glass, but the figure was gone.

‘Is everything all right out there?’ asked Tracy uncertainly.

Ash replaced the curtain, trying to decide whether or not to tell Tracy what she’d just seen. Or thought she’d seen anyway. She decided not to. Tracy had had enough scares for one day, and there was no point setting her off again. ‘It’s fine. Dark, that’s all.’

‘I’m glad we’re in here.’

‘So am I,’ said Ash, but her heart was beating faster, and she could feel the slow, cold fingers of fear beginning to creep up her spine. If someone was out there watching them, what were they planning on doing?

Tracy stood up. ‘I need a glass of wine. Do you want one?’

Ash was checking the lock on the other window. She saw nothing else outside, and walked back over. ‘Sounds good to me,’ she said as casually as possible.

‘Listen, I’m sorry, Ash. This whole thing’s been a bit of a shock, that’s all.’

Ash smiled, appreciating the other woman’s efforts to make up. ‘Yeah, I know. I’m sorry too.’

Tracy gave a small nod and disappeared into the kitchen, returning a minute later with two big glasses of white wine, followed by Nick, who was holding a bottle of Becks. ‘It’s all locked up at the back,’ he said, looking more relaxed. ‘We should be safe and sound now.’

‘Thank God for that,’ said Tracy, clicking glasses with Ash and taking a huge gulp of her wine.

Nick put an arm round Ash’s waist, pulling her close. ‘You’re OK, aren’t you, babe?’

She smiled. ‘Course I am. I’m tougher than you think.’

‘You’re tougher than all of us.’ He kissed her forehead, and in that moment she realised how much she loved him. Nine years together, and he was still the centre of her universe. That was some achievement.

‘What’s Guy doing?’ said Tracy, her glass already less than half full. She went over to the bottom of the stairs and looked up. ‘Guy, what the hell are you doing up there?’ she bellowed.

There was no answer.

‘Guy?’ she called again, louder this time. ‘What are you doing?’

But again her words were met only with silence.

5

SUDDENLY THE ROOM
felt small, the air heavy.

Tracy’s face fell. ‘He’s not the sort to play practical jokes,’ she said fearfully. ‘Is he, Nick?’

Nick shook his head, joining her at the bottom of the staircase. ‘Guy, it’s Nick. If you’re up there, come down right now please.’ His voice was loud and confident, but Ash had been with him long enough to detect a faint hint of nerves in it.

Silence.

‘I’m scared,’ said Tracy. ‘I think something might have happened to him.’

Ash was scared too. Really scared. This whole thing felt unreal, like stepping into a nightmare. Except it wasn’t a nightmare. It was actually happening, right now. She turned to Nick. ‘I thought I saw someone outside. A few minutes ago.’

‘Why didn’t you say?’

‘I thought it might be my imagination.’

Tracy called up to her husband again, her voice sounding a bit hysterical for the first time.
‘What are we going to do?’ she asked the other two.

‘Stay here,’ said Nick, striding past them into the kitchen. He came back out a few moments later holding two large kitchen knives. He handed one to Ash. ‘We’re going to go up.’

Ash stared at the weapon in her hand. The thought of stabbing someone made her feel sick. ‘Are you sure we should be doing this?’

‘Yes,’ he said firmly. ‘We don’t know who we’re dealing with here, so we’ve got to cover every angle. I’ll go up first. Ash, you follow behind me. Trace, I haven’t got a weapon you can use, so you stay here.’

Tracy shook her head. ‘No way. He’s my husband. I’m coming up too.’

‘Well, stay behind me. Both of you.’

Ash and Tracy exchanged looks as they started up the stairs behind Nick. Tracy looked just how Ash felt – terrified.

The upstairs landing was long and narrow with a door at either end, and two more doors running along the middle. All of them were closed. The main light was on but nothing moved.

The silence was immense. Ash could hear her husband’s steady breathing.

‘Guy,’ he said, ‘if this is a joke, I promise you,
without a word of a lie, I will never, repeat never, speak to you again.’ He waited, hoping that his friend would jump out of his hiding place and provide them with the only explanation that could make sense.

But he didn’t. Nothing happened.

Nick lifted the knife and, as Ash and Tracy crowded on to the landing behind him, he slowly nudged open one of the doors. It was the bathroom. He switched on the light, but stayed outside. It was empty, and far too small for anyone to hide in. There wasn’t even a shower curtain.

Nick breathed an audible sigh of relief, and Ash noticed that the knife was shaking in his hand. She also noticed that she was gripping her own weapon so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

Moving along the landing, Nick nudged open the next door, which Ash knew was the spare bedroom. Again staying outside, he switched on the light.

‘He’s probably in our bedroom,’ said Tracy as they looked inside the empty room, with its untouched bed. ‘Maybe he’s just gone to sleep.’

‘Maybe,’ said Nick.

‘Maybe we’re just being stupid,’ continued Tracy with a laugh so false it hurt to hear it. Her
voice was cracking. ‘We’re going to giggle about this in the morning.’

‘What’s that on the bed covers?’ Ash pointed to a couple of spots of red on the far side of the bed that stood out on the white duvet cover.

A faint gurgling sound came from somewhere in the room, out of sight. Almost a choke but not quite. A human sound.

No one moved. No one said a word. Because they all knew that it came from Guy.

The knife flew out from behind the door, like a snake striking, attached to a gloved hand. It buried itself in Nick’s gut.

Tracy screamed. Ash simply watched, caught in slow motion as her husband made a sound like a hiccup, his eyes widening.

The knife was suddenly withdrawn and a figure in black filled up the doorway. He drove the blade into Nick a second time, then shoved him backwards, like he was some kind of annoying shop dummy, sending him crashing over the banister and down the wooden steps.

For a long, terrible second Ash was frozen to the spot, just like she had been during the mugging. The shocking nature of what was happening was too much to take in. Her husband, the man she’d spent almost a third of her life with, her soulmate, her whole life for
God’s sake, had just been murdered in front of her. He was gone. Just like that.

And she was next.

The killer was big and powerful-looking, with a black hood covering his features. And he was fast. Very fast. He swung round to face her, ready to deal her a blow with the bloodied knife.

It was at this point that Ash finally realised she had to move fast. In one movement she turned and ran, but careered straight into Tracy, who hadn’t yet got out of the way, and who was still screaming.