Chapter 13
THIRTEEN
Danielle’s Labrador was the best sniffer dog in the world as far as she was concerned.
Ruby could find her tennis ball no matter how far into the woods and brambles you threw it.
She could throw it into a wild patch of thick nettles and willowy grass taller than the dog and she’d still come out with it clamped in her jaw, tail wagging wildly.
She had gone running off the path a few minutes ago and hadn’t returned, which was unlike her unless she’d found a stream or some water to go have a quick paddle in.
Danielle was on a long, rambling walk to get some head space from her busy life.
She pulled her earbuds out. Where was she?
‘Ruby, come here girl.’
Usually, she would hear her thundering through the long grass like a giant, ambling along to get back to her. Ruby’s bark echoed through the trees, and she sighed. ‘Ruby, come on.’
The dog barked again, more frantic this time, and she realised that she might be caught up or stuck somewhere. ‘Bloody hell, Ruby.’ She scanned the area, but there was no path here that led to where Ruby’s barks were coming from.
Danielle had been walking here with her parents since she was old enough to take her first steps, and she had picked a route that wasn’t well used by anyone who wasn’t familiar with Grizedale Forest. She was going to have to make her way through the brambles and nettles, sting herself to death to reach Ruby, and if that dog had managed to free herself before she got there, she’d scream.
Pulling her leggings down further, she tucked them into her socks to try and protect her ankles as much as she could.
Then she picked up a stick that was long enough to hold back the worst of the brambles so she could get to Ruby.
Beating her way through she had to go around some shrubs that were as tall as she was.
When she reached the other side she stopped dead in her tracks.
There was a pink Fiat 500 parked behind them. How the hell did this get here?
She looked around to see if there was a track it had driven down, then she realised that there was a narrow access road it must have taken. How long had it been here? It didn’t look as if it was old and a rust bucket, but it was hard to tell as it was parked deeply in amongst the trees and vines.
Ruby was waiting a little away from the car, pacing back and forth. She wouldn’t come no matter how many times Danielle called. The dog let out a high-pitched bark and ran forward and then back towards her, and Danielle shook her head and followed.
They trekked a fair distance along a lightly marked trail, until they emerged at a small clearing.
Ruby was standing outside of a tent, and she let out another high-pitched bark.
Danielle was not sure what she was supposed to do, so she took out her phone and snapped some photos.
As she walked nearer to it, she called out, ‘Hello, is anyone in the tent?’
Ruby was sitting in front of it, whining now, and Danielle felt the tiny hairs on the back of her neck prickle against her skin as a feeling of unease crept over her.
‘Ruby.’ She hissed the dog’s name, and it looked at her then straight back at the tent.
With shaking hands, she pressed record on her iPhone to cover herself, because she didn’t know if she should be going into someone’s tent, yet it looked as if it had been abandoned.
There were no signs of life. Ruby was sitting on a faded pink yoga mat that was covered in dark splotches, and it had grass and weeds growing over it, and there was a large gold bowl spotted with similar dark brown splotches.
Danielle was a sister on a busy ward in the hospital and she knew dried blood when she saw it, and the panic inside of her chest was making it hard to suck air in.
Ruby barked once at her, the sound echoing through the trees, and she shook her head.
Not moving any further, she dialled 999, relieved she had just enough signal to get through to the police and tell them where she was and that she’d meet them at the car park, which was over a mile away, because they would never find this place without her help.
She grabbed hold of Ruby’s collar, clipping the lead to it, and dragged her away.
The blood inside of her head was pounding so hard she thought it might explode; she was panicking now.
What if she was being dramatic and it had just been left there?
But there was something very wrong with this little campsite.
Ruby had confirmed that there was something or somebody inside of the tent by her reluctance to move.
She dragged the dog as far away as she could then tied her lead around a tree because she wouldn’t follow her like she usually did.
‘Stay there, Ruby. I’ll be back soon.’ Then she took off jogging back down the path to get to the car park and meet the police. They could check out the car and tent. This wasn’t for her to do. There was no way on this earth she was unzipping that tent.