Harri had assumed they were driving out to the cottage, but they passed the lane that led up to Hen Cloud and Longhaven and continued along the Buxton Road.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
Elliot gave her a grim look but didn’t reply. She knew the answer the moment he turned left onto the narrow track that led to the forest where Sabih had died. Her stomach stung with the release of nervous acid, and she realized how stupid she’d been. There was no guarantee these men weren’t working together. It was very possible Elliot had been indoctrinated as a child, so there was no telling where his true loyalties lay. Had she been lured here for revenge?
“Pull over,” she said. “I want to get out.”
Elliot ignored her. “The night your friend died, after we ran away, Ben took me somewhere. I was in a mess, and to this day I’m not sure what was real and what was nightmare. I was just a child. I’d seen a man die. My parents were dead. My whole life felt like a bad dream. He took me to despair.”
“Pull over,” Harri repeated as Elliot’s little car barreled along the bumpy track. “I said pull over.”
He looked at her in puzzlement. “What? Why? You don’t think…” He trailed off. “I would never hurt you.”
Harri wasn’t reassured. The distant look in his eyes, his tone of voice—she was reminded of Ben.
“Please,” she said. “Stop the car, Elliot. I’ll come back here properly with a team of officers.”
The track was much more overgrown than the first time she’d driven it, and thick branches whipped at the windscreen, creating an ominous, irregular beat.
“I can’t,” Elliot said. “It has to be the two of us.”
Harri saw the shimmer of tears in his eyes, which did not reassure her. He seemed in a state of distress, and she was trapped in the small car with him.
“He told me,” Elliot continued. “He told me I’d be the one who’d show you the truth. The place we went that night, after he snatched me and we ran. The place he takes me to in my dreams, he calls it the rock of despair.”
Harri looked down at the cube and thought back to the words Elliot had spoken in her office: the last beacon of hope will break the rock of despair. She’d heard them when she’d broken into Longhaven and listened to Elliot’s iPod.
“At least let me call for support,” she suggested.
“For what?” Elliot asked as they drove farther into the ancient forest. “You don’t trust me. You’re worried I’m working with him and that we’ve lured you out here for revenge? Is that it?”
His tone was uneven, and Harri was concerned about upsetting him further, so she let her silence speak for her.
“Trust me. I’ve grown up hating this man. If I was going to take revenge on you for anything, it would be for failing to find out whether he had anything to do with my parents’ deaths.”
He paused.
“But I have no desire for revenge. I just want to know the truth. It’s the only way I can lay the past to rest and move on with my life. I need to be free of this man and the nightmares he’s given me. I just have to find a way beyond what he did to me and my family.”
Elliot’s pain was evident, and Harri almost reached out to comfort him.
“You wanted to come,” he said. “I didn’t force you. You came of your own choice, but if you really want me to stop, I will.”
He looked troubled, but Harri didn’t believe he was dangerous.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked, and when she didn’t respond, he said, “I don’t think you do. I think you’re just like me. You want to know what this man has done. You want to know what he really is.”
Harri nodded. He was right. Even after all these years, she was still desperate for the truth.