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ONCE OUT, SHE BEGAN to question her motives. What was she hoping to achieve? If Eckland had known Ella Gold, why would he lie?
She had only one more idea of what to do. Walking hurriedly back towards her mum’s house, she walked the familiar footpath, anxiously rubbing her hands together.
Before long she was by the river, entering Oxpens Meadow. The footpath was busy, with lots of people walking in the same direction as Paige.
She rounded the corner and saw the angel statue. The area was crowded with people, hugging each other and crying. The ground around the statue was covered in bunches of flowers, tealights and sympathy cards.
Paige approached the statue, gently pushing through the crowds of people. They were mostly stood in small groups and seemed to be university age – presumably Ella’s friends and classmates.
She weaved through the bundles of flowers, being careful not to tread on anything. The sympathy cards spoke of a “friendly girl” who “was loved by everyone”. The angel stood surveying the scene, and her cupped hands holding out a photo of Ella.
The photo appeared to have been taken on holiday, possibly Spain or Ibiza, somewhere warm and sunny, and Ella was dressed in shorts, a tank top and sandals. She was stood, posing charismatically in the doorway of a hotel room.
Heart jumping, Paige noticed that her and Ella shared several physical features. Judging by her height relative to the doorway, they were around the same height, they were similar builds, and Ella had the same deep chocolate hair, tied in a high ponytail as Paige’s often was.
With another jolt, Paige noticed a tattoo on Ella’s leg, a tattoo that closely resembled the ink stamp that Paige had seen on Eckland’s paper. A lioness, far more detailed than in the stamp, sat up proudly. Was it Ella’s stamp? Did she mark Eckland’s papers with an ink stamp after making notes on them?
“Did you know her?” A voice said from behind her. Paige turned around to see a woman in her early 20s.
“No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have come...” Paige said, turning around and heading back out of the crowd.
“Wait!” She heard the woman yell, but she didn’t stop to turn around. Tears beginning to fill her eyes, she strode down the footpath towards home.
As she walked, her mind was clouded with questions. Did Eckland lie? And if so, why? Who was Ella to him? What was the lioness symbol for? Had the attacker mistaken her for Ella that night?
She was overwhelmed with the thought that her attack and Ella’s death were connected. She began to wonder if it was a coincidence that they both knew Eckland, and if not, she wondered if Eckland knew her attacker.
The Ecklands had seemed so innocent to her - eccentric, certainly, but well-meaning and kind-hearted. They welcomed her into their home, made her dinner, introduced her to their son. She briefly wondered about asking Leo about Ella next time she saw him but dismissed the thought. She had already gotten him tangled up in the Rufus mess, and her suspicions about her father didn’t mean that she had any reason to be suspicious of Leo.
She pressed on, trying to push the nagging worries from her mind and focus on home. No doubt her mum would have made a delicious dinner, perhaps not as delicious as homemade paella at the Ecklands, but something comforting, familiar and satisfying. That was exactly what she needed today.
She turned down her mum’s road and pursed her lips in frustration – Rufus’ Audi was waiting outside her house and he was sat in the front seat.
He saw her approaching and jumped out. She started walking faster, heading for the front door, trying to cut in front of him at the gate, but he blocked her way, holding the front gate closed.
“Paige, please,” he said, and she could see that he hadn’t slept. His eyes were red and bloodshot, his hair was unkempt, and his clothes were wrinkled, as if he’d slept in them. She glanced back at his car and noticed a blanket and pillow on the backseat.
“Rufus, leave me ALONE,” she yelled, more forcefully than she had intended, but the combined stress of the day had left her emotionally drained.
He put his hand on her wrist in a bid to hold her there and she slapped it away, anger rising in her, “Get the fuck off of me,” she growled.
The shouting drew Tom and her mum outside. Realising what was happening, Tom marched out, pushing Rufus out of the way of the gate and back onto the pavement.
“Come on, I just want to TALK,” Rufus yelled, pushing Tom back.
“I told you last time, Paige doesn’t want to hear what you have to say, mate,” Tom was already seething, and Paige’s anxiety had overtaken her.
“I didn’t sleep with those women-” Rufus was interrupted by Tom jumping at him, pushing him over so that he had to steady himself on the garden fence. Paige was amazed at how fierce Tom was being – he was usually so level-headed. Sleep with those women? Plural? I thought he had only kissed the woman at the New Year’s Eve party, Paige thought to herself. Something about his story wasn’t adding up, and as much as she wanted to understand, she was too exhausted to listen.
“Tom, stay out of this,” Rufus said gently, pushing himself up and backing away.
“Leave,” Tom said firmly.
“Paige, I’m a terrible person, but you have to let me explain, you don’t know the full story..” Rufus was again interrupted, this time by Tom’s fist which landed with a crack against Rufus’ jaw.
“TOM!” Paige’s mum cried, running from the doorway to the gate, “What are you doing?!”
Rufus was clearly dazed, but shot straight back up, retaliating with a punch that sent Tom into the front gate. Paige’s mum cried out, catching Tom and pushing him back up, who lunged at Rufus again, pulling him against his car by his shirt.
The two men grappled with each other for a moment, Paige’s mum running into the street to try and pull Tom away. Paige felt disconnected, as if she was floating above everything, unable to help. She could hear herself shouting “STOP IT! STOP IT!” but it didn’t feel like her mouth was moving, she couldn’t control the sound.
They fell against the car hard, breaking the wingmirror. Tom threw another punch, which caught Rufus in the side of the head, stunning him for a moment. Rufus launched at him again, pushing him backwards.
Tom fell hard, one foot on the pavement and one in the road. He was thrown completely off balance and, in an instant, had hit the floor. A vile crunch could be heard as Tom’s head hit the edge of the curb.
He lay motionless, blood streaming out into the road. Paige’s mum let out a howling scream, stumbling to Tom’s side and sliding down to her knees. Paige was silent. Reality alluded her. She could see the blood, her mum crying and screaming and Rufus silently backing away and phoning an ambulance, but she couldn’t feel any of it.
She sank down beside her mum, hand over her mouth, willing herself to lose this numbness, to feel the moment, to understand what was happening. But, she couldn’t.
