The Hollows(87)

And Frankie replied, from behind me, ‘I’m here.’

I turned to look.

Frankie was standing in front of the cabin, a silhouette against the blaze. She had her legs apart, back straight. She held the bow that had been on the porch, where the flames hadn’t yet reached, the string pulled back with her right hand, an arrow pointed straight at Buddy.

I saw what I had to do.

I threw myself to the ground, yelling Buddy’s name as I fell. Instinctively, he followed my voice, kept the gun trained on me. Too late, he realised what was about to happen. He tried to shift his aim towards Frankie, but the revolver was too heavy and he was too slow.

Frankie let the arrow fly.

If she had missed, he would have shot her. For a long time afterwards, I replayed this scene in dreams, in nightmares where the arrow sailed over Buddy’s head. In these dreams, Buddy would grin, aim at her and squeeze the trigger. My daughter would fall, and then he would turn the gun on me.

But Frankie didn’t miss.

The arrow struck Buddy in the chest. He went down like a dropped brick. The gun fell with him. I snatched it up.

Darlene froze for a second, then ran. Before Frankie or I could take aim at her, she vanished into the trees.

I collapsed back on to the earth, all my strength gone. Before I blacked out I heard two things. The whup-whup of helicopter blades overhead, and Ryan saying of Buddy, ‘He’s dead.’





Chapter 49


Saturday


David and Connie came to see me when I was packing up the car.

‘How are the lungs?’ David asked.

‘Getting better,’ I replied. ‘The doctors said there shouldn’t be any lasting damage, but I shouldn’t try running a marathon any time soon.’

He grinned and slapped me on the back. Ever since I’d left the hospital – where they’d checked me over and kept me in overnight – and returned to Hollow Falls, the Butlers had acted like I was some kind of hero. I didn’t feel like a hero. If I hadn’t trusted Nikki, Frankie and Ryan probably wouldn’t have ended up in that basement. My daughter wouldn’t have had to kill someone. Nikki might still be alive too.

I was going to have a lot of shit to deal with over the coming months.

‘Have you seen Frankie?’ I asked, as I lifted the suitcase into the back of the rental.

‘She and Ryan are saying goodbye,’ Connie replied.

‘They’ve already arranged for Frankie to come stay with us next summer,’ David said. ‘And you’re welcome too. Any time, Tom. Our home is your home.’

‘We don’t live near any woods,’ Connie added.

I closed the boot of the car. ‘I guess you’re going to get a great podcast episode out of this.’

They both shifted uncomfortably. ‘We don’t want anyone to think we’re exploiting what happened to our son,’ said Connie.

‘But we think our listeners deserve to know the truth.’

‘The world needs to know the truth. Everett Miller was innocent. I think we owe it to him to spread the word.’

I wasn’t going to argue.

‘What about you?’ David asked. ‘You still planning on writing that article?’

‘I don’t know.’

I hadn’t decided. I was going to have to do something for money. Something to resuscitate my career. But for now, I didn’t want to think about Hollow Falls or murders or burning cabins.

‘I need a vacation,’ I said.

We all laughed.

‘Well, if you do write about this, we’d love to have you on our podcast as a guest,’ Connie said.

At that moment, Neal Fredericks came over from where he had been packing up his car, lifting a hand in greeting. When I had returned to the resort after my hospital visit, I was surprised to find he was still there. I thought he would have gone back to Portland. But he had lots of questions. For the past twenty years, he had believed Everett Miller had murdered his wife. I imagined all of this must have opened up old wounds. He’d wanted to know everything I’d found out. What Carl, Greg and Nikki had said to me and Frankie.

Now, he clapped me on the shoulder. ‘Heading home too?’

I nodded. I was cutting our trip short by a couple of days. I just wanted to get out of here. ‘Got to take Frankie back to Albany, then I’m going to hang around there for a few days.’ The police had asked me not to leave the US quite yet, in case they had any more questions.

He nodded in return. ‘I just want to thank you again. For finding out the truth.’

I was uncomfortable with all of these thanks, so I shrugged.

‘It never sat right with me,’ Neal said. ‘About Everett Miller, I mean. It always seemed too easy, you know? Too convenient.’ He turned his face towards the woods, in the direction of the clearing where Sally and Eric’s bodies had been found. ‘But I still didn’t get justice. The three of them oughta be rotting in a jail cell.’

He looked around, a curl of distaste on his lip.

‘I hate this fucking place,’ he said.

He walked back to his car, and then Frankie and Ryan appeared. They stood close together. Ryan said something in Frankie’s ear and she smiled, then caught my eye.

I was proud of her. And when I thought about going back to the UK and not seeing her for another year, I had to fight back tears.