Chapter 55 Rosie – Day 11
Long grass painfully whips Rosie’s legs as she sprints away from the lake house, clueless as to where she’s going. Sharp, brittle rocks slice the soles of her bare feet. Her lungs are on fire. Every muscle protests at this sudden burst of energy.
She’s taken a wrong turn somewhere. She finds herself deep in the woods. A bird calls from high in the dense trees. She tries to listen out for footsteps over the roar of blood in her ears. She’s sweating so much she might pass out.
How long has she been running? A minute? Five? She dropped her phone so has no idea what time it is. She knows she can’t stop.
Eventually, she sees signs of life. A streetlamp, a paved road. She is certain she can hear the hum of an engine. A blur of headlights blind her. She must have made it to the main road. Where the hell is the house? She’s completely lost her bearings.
‘Stop. Please!’ she yells.
The blue estate car slows down. For once, she’s not concerned for her own personal safety. All she can concentrate on is getting to the police station and telling them what’s happened.
‘Wait. I know you,’ she gasps.
It’s the same taxi driver who picked her and Theo up from the airport.
‘Stai attento! Be careful. You told me that. Remember?’ she wheezes, glancing back the way she came.
The terrified driver says something in Italian.
She catches sight of her reflection in the rearview mirror.
Her hair is wild, her eyes blazing. Black tears of mascara drip down her flushed cheeks.
He won’t remember her as the woman he dropped off at Villa Speranza eleven days ago.
She looks like a completely different person. She is a completely different person.
Her heart hammers in her chest. She needs him to help her. She presses her hands together in prayer.
‘Please, help me. I mean, grazie. I need to go to the police.’
‘Polizia?’ His wide eyes move across her, landing at her bare, bloodied feet, now caked in mud and dirt. He swears loudly in Italian.
‘Yes. Sí! Polizia!’
He nods for her to get in.
Relief washes over her as she drops into the back seat. He taps at the map app on his phone and crunches the gear stick and accelerates. She takes one look back at the forbidding forest as he drives away. Only then does she allow herself to breathe.