THIRTY-ONE #2
‘Oh, sweetheart. I know. But please, Noah, just come with me.’ I don’t know if he sensed the urgency in my voice, but he didn’t argue anymore. He pulled on the jumper, and then the socks I’d found for him. I took his hand and led him out of the room.
All the time I was checking for any sound that might belong to Henderson.
‘I don’t want to go,’ said Noah, when we reached the top of the stairs.
‘I know,’ I said. ‘But I promise you, your dad wouldn’t want me to leave you here on your own. I’ll look after you but it’s not safe to stay on your own.’
‘What about Grainger?’
I swallowed. Now was not the time to cry. ‘Grainger’s not here anymore.’ I blinked hard to stop the tears from falling. ‘Come on.’
We reached the bottom of the stairs. God, I wished Oliver would come back.
I remembered my phone. ‘Wait here.’ I went through to the kitchen. My bag was on the bar stool where I’d left it, but no sign of my phone. ‘Shit.’ My keys were there, at least that was something.
‘Alex?’
I spun around at Noah’s voice in the doorway. I instantly thought of Grainger and that Noah would be able to see him. I hurried over to the little boy, hoping I was blocking his view enough. ‘Let’s go,’ I said, trying to sound calm but failing.
A few seconds later we were out of the gatehouse and hurrying across the track and heading for my lodge. I fumbled with the keys, and it took two attempts to unlock the door. Once we were inside, I slid the bolts across.
‘Right, we just have to wait for your dad now,’ I said, flicking the main light on and guiding Noah into the room.
It was then I stopped in my tracks, letting out a cry of alarm. There in the hallway was a silhouetted figure. A man. I knew before he even switched on the hall light that it was Henderson.
I yanked Noah by the hand and raced back towards the door, cursing myself for sliding the bolts in place. But before I could do anything, a hand slammed down on the doorframe. I froze on the spot. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t think.
‘Alex, what are you doing?’ His voice was quiet and controlled. He spoke to me as if I were a child who had done something silly.
I heard Noah give a small sob and it jolted me into action. I spun around, my back pressed to the door. ‘Leave me alone!’
‘Don’t be scared.’
‘I’m not.’ I absolutely was. I went to sidestep around him, but he just moved in front of me. ‘Move out of my way.’ I tried to make my voice sound big and confident. I went to push past him, but he didn’t budge.
‘Alex,’ he said. ‘Stop all this. There’s a good girl.’
He put his head closer to mine.
I could feel his breath on my face. I turned my head away from him.
Memories of before rushed back at me. My throat tightened, restricting my airway.
Breathe. I had to breathe. In. Count to four.
Hold count to four. Out count to four. I felt the small fingers of Noah, slip into my hand, and grip tightly.
I closed mine around his, hoping to reassure him to some degree.
Henderson touched my forehead, and I flinched, trying to get him away from me. He pushed a strand of my hair from my face.
‘Don’t be scared, Alex. It’s all right. I’m not going to hurt you.’
His hand trailed down my face.
A whimper escaped my throat, and I hated myself for it. Tears filled my eyes. I swallowed hard, trying to clear the lump in my throat. Trying to breathe. Trying to stay calm. Trying to clear my head.
Think. I had to think.
I opened my eyes and looked at him. He was looking curiously at me, as if he didn’t really understand what he was seeing. Didn’t understand my distress.
I had to think fast. How I was going to get us out of here? ‘Please, can we sit down?’ I said.
‘Of course. We can talk then.’ He stepped back, letting go of my hand and herded us across the room to the sitting area.
I took the chair beside the fireplace, drawing Noah next to me, never letting go of his little hand.
I glanced to the window looking out for any sign of someone coming.
A torch beam, a shadow crossing the window. Anything.
Henderson closed the curtains on the windows and switched off the main light. The room fell into darkness momentarily, until he clicked on his small pocket torch. He sat down in the chair opposite me. ‘How’s your arm?’
‘It’s okay.’ It was aching like hell, but I wasn’t about to show any kind of weakness to Henderson.
‘Such a shame that happened. It could have been avoided,’ he continued. ‘This could have been avoided. You just got a bit headstrong, like you did before. Thought you knew best. I didn’t want it to end like this. But you’ve left me no choice.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I need you to be sure you can trust me. That I’m here for you. That I won’t let anything happen to you. In fact, if anything was to happen, I’d save you, just like you saved me.’
‘I was just doing my job.’
‘If I saved you, then we’d be equal,’ he said as if he hadn’t heard me. ‘That way we both would owe a debt to one another.’
‘You don’t need to save me. I don’t need saving.’
Was he even listening to me? He had a strange expression on his face.
He looked at me with pity as he got to his feet and went over to the hallway.
I thought for a minute he was going to leave, but he reached down and picked up a jerry can I hadn’t noticed before.
He moved back into the room and crossed to the front door, where he unscrewed the lid and swirled the can around.
Petrol fumes filled the room.
‘Samuel,’ I said as calmly as possible. I got to my feet, slipping my arm from the sling. I wasn’t sure why, but having two hands free, albeit one in a support splint, felt marginally better. And God knows I needed every margin going, no matter how small. ‘What are you doing with that?’
‘I need to show you that you can trust me.’ He sloshed some petrol up against the front door.
‘Stop! Stop!’ I rushed over to him and grabbed his arm. ‘Stop!’ He looked at me. Again, with that strange look. ‘Don’t do that. Not yet,’ I said more calmly.
He cocked his head to one side. ‘Not yet?’
‘This is about me and you,’ I said, adopting a soothing voice. ‘About us. No one else, yes?’
He frowned. ‘It’s always been you, Alex.’
‘I know. Erm… so we don’t need him here. You know, three’s a crowd.’ I jerked my head back towards Noah. ‘We should let him go.’
‘Let him go?’ Henderson placed the petrol can on the floor. ‘Is that wise? What about his father?’
I shrugged. ‘What about him? He’s not interested in us. He’ll just be bothered about his son.’ I used my foot to slide the petrol can a little further away. ‘We should let the boy go. That will keep Oliver busy.’ I smiled at Henderson.
He looked between me and Noah several times. ‘He is a bit of an inconvenience, I must say.’
‘Exactly.’ I edged backwards away from Henderson, towards Noah. ‘Come on, Noah. Time for you to go.’ I didn’t take my eyes off Henderson, just gestured with my hand.
Noah was crying openly now. I felt his hand take mine. ‘There’s a good lad,’ I said, moving him to my side, ensuring I was between the boy and the man.
As Noah moved, there was a clatter as the petrol can was knocked over. He must have caught it with is foot. Noah immediate went to grab it. I snatched his hand away and swiftly lifted him out of the fuel which had spread across the cabin floor. I righted the can.
‘Sorry,’ said Noah, crying even more. ‘Sorry.’
‘It’s okay,’ I said. ‘Don’t cry. It’s okay.’ I guided him slowly towards the front door. ‘Samuel,’ I said, using Henderson’s first name. It felt like acid in my throat. I had never called him by his name since that night he attacked me. ‘Can you unlock the door, please?’
Henderson obliged. ‘Don’t try anything stupid,’ he said. ‘Remember, I can hunt you down in no time.’
I didn’t doubt that he could. We would never be able to outrun him, not together.
I leaned down and hugged Noah, whispering urgently in his ear.
‘You run. Run as fast as you can. Straight to the house. Lock yourself in your dad’s bathroom and don’t come out for anyone other than your dad or Uncle Dom.
Understand?’ I pulled back and looked at him. ‘Yes?’
He nodded. ‘What about you?’ My heart wanted to break. This eight-year-old boy was so like his father, worrying about everyone else.
‘I’ll be there soon.’ I kissed the top of his head and hugged him again.
‘Remember. Run. Hide. Wait for your dad.’
And then I was bundling him out of the door and into the dark winter night before Henderson changed his mind.
He hesitated at the top of the steps. ‘Go.’
And then he was running. His little figure disappeared into the blackness.
Then Henderson’s hand grabbed my arm and pulled me back into the lodge.