Car headlights bathed the basement in an eerie glow, the throb of the engine invading the oppressive silence.
‘Oh God, what’s he doing?’ Ella whispered. Her face was ghostlike, shadows heavy around her eyes as she peered up at the window. ‘Why isn’t he getting out of the car?’
‘I’ve no idea.’ I sensed a tremble in my voice, and took a deep breath. ‘Mind reading isn’t one of my many talents.’ I sounded blasé, but my heart thudded, and my stomach twisted into a painful knot. ‘Sorry, I’m acting like a dick.’
She grabbed my painful arm, and I winced. ‘Do you think he’s waiting for someone?’
Well I do now. ‘Please, Ella, this is bad enough.’ I pulled my arm free and stood up.
‘But think about all the killers in history who’ve worked in pairs, Colleen.’
‘I’d rather not,’ I said. ‘Anyway, Jake is more than capable of doing this alone.’ I tried to hold back tears. ‘He isn’t a team player,’ I continued. ‘He has no friends. Even his father doesn’t like him that much, despite Jake moving here from America to be with him.’
‘But …’
‘One person wanting us dead is enough, surely.’
‘Sorry,’ she said, dragging a hand over her face. She hadn’t taken her eyes away from the window, and I could see the fear in them.
The rumble of the engine seemed to go on for ages. We waited, my neck aching from staring up at the window.
‘Jake!’ I cried, finally, though I knew he’d never hear.
‘What the hell is he doing out there?’ Ella scrambled to her feet. ‘This is torture.’
‘He’s playing with us,’ I said as the engine cut out, and the basement plunged into darkness. The hairs on my arms rose, and my heart picked up speed. There was no doubting I was scared. ‘He wants to make me suffer for leaving him, for not being his perfect woman, for sleeping with Gabriel—’
‘Gabriel?’
‘The bloke in the photo.’ The thought of Jake outside that guesthouse window taking photos made me sick to my stomach – and worse, I couldn’t even recall that night. Why the hell hadn’t he stormed into the room and confronted Gabriel? Dragged me home to Waterford?
My body tingled with fear as I tried to pick out the sound of Jake getting out of his car. But the quiet was total, apart from the intermittent hoot of an owl.
‘What if we die, and Maisie never finds out what happened to me?’ Ella’s voice was a whimper, and I knew the thought must have occurred to her many times over the last few hours.
As I picked up on her sniffs and gulps, I fumbled in the darkness for her hand and entwined my fingers with hers. It was as though we were forming a barrier against Jake, and for a moment, I wondered if we could face anything together. But deep down I knew there was no barrier strong enough to protect us. He had control – as always.
I wanted to tell Ella we weren’t going to die, that the Gardaí were on their way. But I didn’t believe it, and it seemed futile to give her hope. A waste of the little energy I had left. The grim reaper is on his way, brandishing his scythe, would have been more appropriate, but I didn’t say that either.
The car door slammed. ‘He’s coming,’ I said, my voice a croaky whisper. This is my comeuppance. It should have been me that day, not my little sister. I deserve to die. Despite almost wanting to close my eyes and accept my fate, I knew Ella – the sister I never knew I had, but now wanted more than anything – deserved to live.
‘Help me up,’ I said, releasing her hand. The torchlight was enough to guide me onto the boxes once more.
‘What?’
‘I have to talk to him.’ I grabbed her arm and eased myself up, crying out as I jarred my arm, the pain bringing fresh tears to my eyes.
‘Careful,’ Ella said.
‘I need to try to make him see he has to let you go.’
‘He has to let you go too.’
‘No, no, it doesn’t matter about me,’ I said, reaching the window. Peering through it, I could just make out his legs in the darkness, and my mind drifted for a moment to the man who had picked me up off the streets of Dublin; the man who’d got me off drugs and drink. The man I’d loved and thought loved me. If only he hadn’t wanted to control me.
I fumbled with the window and managed to push it open. ‘Jake,’ I called. ‘Jake, please. Ella doesn’t need to die.’
Everything plunged into darkness. He’d extinguished the torch and was on his feet, his heavy footfalls getting closer to the window. I dropped down off the boxes in fear as he kicked the window hard.
‘Oh God,’ I cried, expecting glass to shatter everywhere. Ella pulled me to her and hugged me close. ‘Oh, Ella,’ I said, tears rolling down my face. ‘Ella, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.’
‘My darling sister,’ she sobbed into my hair, ‘this is not your fault.’ But I knew it was. Just as it had been my fault that Bryony lost her life.
We lowered onto the floor, wrapped in each other’s arms, our faces buried into each other, curling like hedgehogs against danger.
What Jake had planned for us, I didn’t know. That it ended in our deaths, I was certain. I could almost feel my life force draining away already, as though he’d sucked it from me. But then, the spark had gone out a long time ago – many years before Jake came into my world.
Some time later – although how much time had gone by, I wasn’t sure – I heard the creak of a car boot opening, and the yellow light of his torch cast a beam across the basement once more.
‘What’s he doing?’ Ella’s voice was a broken whisper as she straightened up and moved away from me, and the gaping hole she left made me feel vulnerable once more. ‘Where’s he gone?’
A sudden noise of cans bashing together, sloshing liquid inside, carried on the still night air, made us both jump.
‘Oh God!’
‘What?’ Ella sounded terrified, as I rose and pulled her to her feet.
‘Get up,’ I ordered, as two or three cans hit the ground, and the boot slammed shut. ‘He’s going to set fire to the cottage.’
Ella was so close I could feel her hot breath on my face. ‘No, no,’ she said on a sob. ‘How do you know?’
Fear crawled over me. ‘You just need to get up to that window and out.’ I sounded stronger than I felt. ‘It’s your only chance.’ I twisted round. Ella’s face was a mask of terror. ‘You have to try, now,’ I cried, stumbling as I guided her towards the boxes. ‘Before …’ The sound of liquid splashing the walls of the farmhouse was unmistakable. Jake’s heavy footfalls as he thumped around the building were terrifying.
‘Come on!’ I shuffled the boxes closer to the wall, and Ella hauled herself onto them, crying out in pain as she bashed her ankle.
A flash of blinding light was followed by a whoosh.
‘This is useless,’ Ella cried. ‘We’ve tried reaching the window before. There’s no way out.’ She fell back to the floor, and covered her face with her hands. ‘Maisie.’ It came out as a tortured groan. ‘Oh God, Maisie.’
Outside, I thought I heard Jake laugh, but perhaps I was imagining it.
The car engine started up once more, and rumbled for a while, as though he was sitting at the wheel, admiring his handiwork – before speeding away with a screech of tyres.
‘Nooooo!’ I screamed, breaking into a sob.
The crackle of spreading fire jolted me into action, and I rose once more, as though I could still find a way out – as though I could still save Ella.
She coughed as smoke seeped in around the window frame and a faint orange light from the flickering flames distorted her anguished face. ‘We should lie on the ground,’ she said, eyes watering. ‘Carbon monoxide is lighter than oxygen. I remember that from school.’
I didn’t argue, and dropped down next to her.
We flattened onto our stomachs, heads turned to look at one another. Tears seeped into her hair and I awkwardly put my arm around her. ‘We can’t just lie here,’ I said through gritted teeth. ‘We have to do something.’
Ella succumbed to another coughing fit. ‘Shall we try the door again?’ she said, when she’d caught her breath, but I knew it was pointless.
‘Soon,’ I said.
My limbs felt heavy, and my eyes were stinging too much to keep them open. The heat was unbearable.
Smoke drifted in, thick and toxic, filling our lungs, and somewhere in the logical part of my brain, I registered it wouldn’t be long before our bodies gave up the fight.
We kept coughing – an automatic reflex.
Ella shifted and my eyes jumped open. She was wrapping one sleeve of her jacket across her mouth, indicating I do the same with the other.
‘We should wet it,’ I said, placing it across my nose and mouth, aware of a rawness in my throat. ‘I saw that once in a film.’
Her mouth lifted in a sad attempt at a smile. ‘Oh, Colleen,’ she rasped, between coughs. ‘I don’t want to die.’
The words were so heartfelt, a sob ripped through me. ‘I’m going to try the window again.’ I pushed myself onto my knees, but before I could stand, Ella’s head lifted, and her red-rimmed eyes widened.
‘A car,’ she said, her voice weak and hoarse.
I’d heard it too, approaching fast.
‘Why would he come back?’ My voice was muffled through the sleeve.
‘Maybe he’s changed his mind and he’s come to save us.’ Ella sat up, then doubled over in a choking fit, her eyes streaming. ‘Maybe that was his plan all along,’ she managed. ‘He wanted to scare us, not kill us.’
It seemed unlikely. ‘Maybe Greg called the Gardaí.’
The car pulled to a screeching stop, faint headlight beams reaching through the smoke.
‘Help!’ Ella and I cried, but our voices were so weak, and the raging crackle of flames had reached a crescendo. Whoever was out there wouldn’t hear us.
Even so, I couldn’t help yelling. ‘We’re in the basement.’ I got to my feet, but the smoke was too thick, and I dropped back down again.
‘Help!’ Ella cried again, dropping her jacket as we crawled across to the door, but her voice was weak and thin.
On our knees, we bashed on the wood, screaming, until Ella sank to the floor, eyes rolling back in her head.
‘HELP US!’ I shrieked, my sore throat protesting at the effort. Footsteps clattered down the stairs. ‘The handle will be hot,’ I shouted, hoping whoever it was had come to help.
Then I heard his voice. ‘Colleen, you are one stupid, fucking bitch.’
My blood chilled.
He was back. Jake.
I heard a key turn, and the door flew open. He stood there, shrouded in smoke, giving the illusion he was part of the fire. I couldn’t make out his face, but his ice-blue eyes seemed to pierce my skin.
‘Bastard!’ I yelled, and with a burst of adrenalin, I thrust myself at him. He fell back with a grunt of surprise and cracked his head on a step. As he lay groaning, I reached down and grabbed Ella’s hand. She was only just conscious, as limp as a ragdoll, but with a strength I didn’t know I had, I managed to drag her up the steps.
‘Come on,’ I urged, muscles straining as I pulled her after me, through the writhing smoke, towards the front door I could see standing open in front of us.
‘Colleen!’ Jake’s shout gave way to a coughing fit.
‘Keep away from us, you sick bastard,’ I yelled, hooking Ella’s arm around my shoulder and heaving her outside, half carrying her towards a copse, away from the burning building, the air stinging my streaming eyes.
We collapsed in a heap on the grass, hidden by a bank of trees, and I watched as flames licked the roof of the house, and sparks of orange flew into the night sky. I know this place.
Ella convulsed and retched, barely conscious. I rose once more and hoisted her up with my good arm, but she was a dead weight. I couldn’t move her.
Suddenly, Jake appeared through the door of the farmhouse in the distance, his arm across his face as flames leapt up the walls around him, and the sound of timber cracking and smashing cut through the air. ‘Colleen!’ His voice was snatched away by the breeze that had sprung up, fanning the flames. ‘Colleen, where are you?’
Ella crumpled back to the ground with a cry of pain. ‘I can’t run, Colleen.’ Her voice was an anguished whisper. ‘My ankle – I think it’s broken.’
‘Colleen, you can’t hide forever!’
I tried to pull Ella to her feet before Jake could reach us but it was no use. She was drained of colour, her eyes bloodshot, her hair plastered to her head with sweat. She winced as her breath heaved noisily in and out of her lungs. ‘I won’t leave you,’ I said. ‘Put your arms round my neck. Please.’
‘I can’t, Colleen,’ she gasped. ‘Please. Just go and get help.’
My heart galloped as Jake headed off in the wrong direction, his strides long and purposeful. ‘I know you’re out there somewhere.’ His tone was unthreatening – as if he thought I might give myself up.
‘Go.’ Ella’s voice was weak and her eyes fluttered closed.
‘Ella!’ I shook her. ‘Ella, wake up!’ I started to sob. How could I leave her? This is my fault. I’d already lost one sister. I wasn’t about to lose another. I would kill Jake if I had to.
On my hands and knees, I scrabbled around for something to use as a weapon, but my hands only met wet grass.
As I cast my eyes about, I heard sirens getting closer, and shot to my feet. The Gardaí were fast approaching, and a fire engine drew up like a miracle, blue lights flashing.
Jake had stopped moving now and was a menacing black shape, silhouetted by the fire.
‘Help me!’ I cried from the trees, cupping my hands around my mouth in an attempt to direct my weakened voice. ‘Over here!’
A couple of Garda got out of a car and raced towards me through the flame-brightened darkness, while the firemen leapt from the engine and unwound their hoses.
‘My sister needs help,’ I cried, hysterically, dropping back beside Ella.
‘We’ll need an ambulance,’ said the officer, flashing a torch over to where Ella was, and began talking into the radio on her collar.
‘It was him.’ I pointed through the trees to where Jake stood motionless, my words disjointed through the sobs racking my body. ‘He locked us in the basement and set the house on fire.’
The Gardaí exchanged looks, and moved towards him. I heard their muffled conversation, but couldn’t pick up what they were saying.
‘She’s crazy,’ Jake yelled, his voice carrying towards us. ‘Always has been.’ He was twisting his head, trying to seek me out in the darkness. ‘Look into it, if you don’t believe me. She let her sister drown and did nothing to save her. She’s a drug addict. A drunk.’
Oh Jake, how could you?
‘You’ll need to come with us, sir,’ said one of the officers, loud and assertive.
‘She’s set me up.’ His protest was loud and clear. I’d never seen him this rattled. ‘You’re one crazy bitch, Colleen!’ he yelled, as the Gardaí escorted him away. ‘If I never see you again it’ll be too soon.’
Once he’d been bundled into the police car, I squatted down and stroked Ella’s hair from her face. ‘Please be OK,’ I said over and over like a mantra. Minutes later, an ambulance arrived, and a couple of paramedics rushed over.
‘Can you hear me, love?’ said one, bending to examine Ella, and when she didn’t respond, he covered her face with an oxygen mask.
‘Is she going to be all right?’ I asked, clinging to her hand as she was stretchered inside the ambulance. Her hair was tangled around her face, which was pale beneath patches of dirt, her lashes sweeping her cheeks.
‘She’ll be fine.’ The paramedic helped me up the step, so I could go with her. ‘Looks like you’ve both been in the wars,’ he added.
As the ambulance doors closed, I glanced back at the farmhouse. The flames had been extinguished, but a pall of foul-smelling smoke hung in the air. In the light from the fire engine, I could see the place was a wreck, but I knew I’d been here before.
I shivered. It wasn’t the first time I’d almost died in that farmhouse.
None of it seemed real.
As the ambulance pulled away, I turned to Ella. ‘You’re safe now,’ I whispered.
But as we sped away, me clasping Ella’s hand while the ruddy-faced paramedic kept up a stream of cheerful chatter, I didn’t feel safe at all.