The Girls Who Disappeared(83)

Olivia’s eyes narrow. ‘Your friends … Maggie … they deserve to know the truth about what really happened.’ She turns to Jay. ‘This is all your fault,’ she spits. ‘I bet it was you who helped cover it all up.’

‘Yes. And I’ve been clearing up her fucking mess ever since.’ His tanned face is contorted with fury. ‘You,’ he snarls at me. ‘If you hadn’t come here, poking around, none of this would have happened. Thanks to you I’ve had the police sniffing around, looking into my affairs. My businesses.’

‘It has nothing to do with me,’ I say, trying to remain calm. ‘It sounds like they’ve been looking into you and the drugs ring for a while.’

Anastacia shoots Jay a scathing look. ‘Like I haven’t been covering for you too. Your drug deals. Getting Wesley involved. I told you not to do that. And then there’s Ralph …’

‘Shut up. You’ve already said too much.’

‘Stop!’ Olivia stands up. ‘Stop it. This ends here. It all ends here …’ She lets out an anguished sob. ‘Please, Mum. Just tell the police what you did. It was self-defence with John-Paul. And the others …’ A tear trickles down her face. ‘Their deaths weren’t your fault.’

Anastacia rushes to Olivia and takes her hand. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘Tell them, please. For me.’

I stand up, too, and then I hear it. A laugh. Cruel and deep and guttural. It’s coming from Jay.

‘Oh, I don’t think so,’ he says to me. ‘Do you really believe I can let you leave now? You know too much.’

He slowly reaches into his pocket and that’s when I see he’s got a knife.

Olivia screams. ‘Run! Jenna, run!’

I hesitate for a split second. I don’t want to leave Olivia but I have to get out of here if I want to live. He makes a grab for me as I dart towards the door, but I’m younger and quicker and manage to duck under his arm. I run from the cabin, sensing he’s right behind me. My heart is pounding: Jay knows the forest well – he’ll find me there in minutes. Samuel’s car isn’t in the driveway, I have no choice but to run towards the Devil’s Corridor in the hope I can stop a passing car, if Jay, or his dog, don’t catch up with me first. He might be twenty-odd years older than me but he’s stronger and more powerful and clearly psychotic. If he kills me he won’t get away with it, but that’s of little comfort to me.

I run like I’ve never run before, like I did as a child. It feels as though my legs won’t be able to keep up with me. My lungs are burning with the effort. I can hear Jay behind me, the bark of a dog. He’s gaining on me. It’s raining again and the weight of the water seeping through my clothes is slowing me down. I’m nearly at the end of the dirt track. I just need to get to the main road. I make the mistake of looking back. Jay is within reach and Anastacia is running behind him, her arms windmilling in the air. Is she trying to stop him or is she urging him on? Olivia is standing at the cabin and she’s bravely grabbed the collar of the dog, thank goodness, phone pressed to her ear.

I dart across the road. I’m so blinded by fear I only notice the pick-up truck heading out of town as I sprint past it. I collapse and roll into the grass verge on the other side, shaking at the near miss but then I hear the screech of brakes and a thud. The truck has stopped and a man is getting out on the passenger side and another guy – the driver – is standing over a figure lying prostrate in the road.





51



Olivia


Dale hands mugs of tea to her and Jenna. They are sitting side by side on the sofa in Jenna’s living room and Dale takes the armchair by the patio door. Olivia feels like she’s gone into shock. She can’t stop shaking and she feels she might throw up. By the look on Jenna’s face she must be feeling the same.

Jay was taken off in an ambulance and her mother went with him, along with a police officer. Olivia and Jenna stayed behind to give their statements to the baby-faced constable DC Stirling, and now they’re in Jenna’s cabin, alone with Dale.

‘What will happen to my mum?’ she asks Dale now. Her voice sounds small even to her own ears. She laces her fingers around the mug, trying to steady her trembling hands.

‘We’ll need to interview her formally.’

‘She might deny it.’

‘If she does we’ll just have to gather all the evidence we can and hope it’s enough. But don’t think about that now. You’ve been through so much,’ he says kindly. There is sadness in his eyes too and she remembers how fond he’d once been of Tamzin.

To her horror she begins to cry and Jenna reaches over and rubs her arm.

‘I suspected they must have died …’ she sobs ‘… but to have it confirmed, it feels … well, it feels …’ Her chest is so heavy with grief she can’t breathe. ‘Do you think they would have survived the accident if it hadn’t been for John-Paul?’

‘We’ll never know,’ says Dale. ‘You were lucky to survive it, Olivia. I know it doesn’t feel that way after what you’ve lived with but …’

She remembers Katie and Tamzin weren’t wearing seatbelts. She can’t bear the thought of them in the back of that van, in pain, denied hospital treatment because of her psychopath of a father. If he hadn’t moved them they might have survived their injuries.