The Hollows(44)

I looked around. Wyatt, the homeless guy I’d seen the first time I came here, wasn’t in his spot beneath the statue. In fact, there was absolutely no one in sight. Unsure what to do next, I headed down the street to the minimart and, happy to find a living person behind the counter, bought a bottle of water, a notepad and a pen. I tore a sheet of paper out of the pad and wrote a note for Nikki, asking her to come and see me. Then I went back to the bookstore and put it through the letterbox.

‘They not open?’ said a voice behind me.

I turned. It was the guy who had taught us archery. The young Walter White, with his bald head and goatee. What was his name?

‘Hey,’ he said. ‘It’s Robin Hood. How’s Katniss?’

I laughed. It appeared he couldn’t remember our real names either, but his had come back to me. Carl. ‘Frankie? She’s okay.’

He peered past me at the door. ‘She was meant to open two hours ago.’ He tutted. ‘I was supposed to pick up a book. Oh, Nikki, you’re going to go broke if you don’t manage to get yourself out of bed in the morning.’

‘You know her?’

He grinned. ‘Hey, have you seen the size of this town? We all know each other.’

He was a local. Maybe he could help me.

I told him what had happened last night: just the part about Frankie losing her phone in the woods. I didn’t want to get into the whole story.

‘She says it was in a clearing quite close to town. She could hear wind chimes nearby.’

He stroked his chin. ‘I think I might know where you mean. I’m heading back to the resort. I can help you look if you like.’

‘That would be great.’

We walked down the street together, back towards the woods.

‘So you know Nikki, huh?’ he said as we stepped into the trees.

‘Yeah. Well, I’ve been to her store. And she found Frankie in the woods last night. That’s why I was going to see her this morning.’

‘Ah, I see.’ He appeared to be smirking.

‘What is it?’

‘Nikki’s cute. A total mess, but very easy on the eye.’

I didn’t like his tone. ‘What do you mean by that?’

I must have sounded aggressive because he said, ‘Hey, I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, if you’re, like, in love with her or something.’

‘I’m not in love with her!’

‘I mean, I wouldn’t blame you. Like I said, she’s hot, and a lot of guys are into screwed-up women.’

‘I’m not—’

He laughed. ‘I’m messing with you, man. To be honest with you, I don’t know her that well. But she was always one of the smartest kids at school. Why she didn’t get out of Penance the minute she had the chance, I’ll never know. She never even went to college. A waste, if you ask me.’

‘You didn’t get out either,’ I pointed out.

‘True. Not many of us do. But I like it here.’ He stopped and looked around him. ‘I mean, look at it. I bet I could travel the whole world and not find anywhere as beautiful.’

We had so far been following the path back towards the resort. Now we turned on to a new path, where the trees were thicker and the ground beneath our feet was less well trodden. I could hear wind chimes.

‘So what do you do back in England?’ Carl asked.

‘I’m a music journalist.’

‘That’s cool. A lot better than being a true-crime journalist, anyway.’ He shook his head, the disdain evident.

‘You’re not a fan?’

He grunted. ‘Dark tourists, is that what you call them? Fucking ghouls, that’s what I call them. It’s good for business, though, I guess. Hollow Falls would be half empty if it wasn’t for them.’ He laughed. ‘Hollow Falls. I don’t even know why they called it that. There aren’t any goddamn waterfalls for miles. Guess it sounded good to the marketing people, huh?’

The wind chimes were louder now and, all of a sudden, we were in a clearing.

‘This could be it,’ he said. ‘The place where your daughter dropped her phone.’

I looked around. If he was right, this was the place where Frankie had seen the masked figures.

‘What was she doing out here anyway?’ he asked.

‘She got lost.’

‘Is that right?’

I could tell what he was thinking. A teenage girl, in the woods at night. She must have been up to no good. A boy, cigarettes, drugs.

We searched the clearing, walking in straight lines, scanning the ground. I was grateful to Carl for helping, though he didn’t seem to be looking particularly hard.

‘You got insurance?’ he asked. ‘Because I really don’t think we’re gonna find it.’

He was right.

‘Where are those wind chimes coming from?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘It’s weird, isn’t it? I think they must be tied to a tree but I have no idea who put them there.’

I sighed. Then I had an idea. I wasn’t going to actively work on my article over the coming days, but I was here with Carl, a local.

‘You know how I said I’m a music journalist? I’m actually planning a change of direction. I’m writing a piece about Hollow Falls and what happened here.’