As well as the front door, the watermill has a second that leads almost onto the river itself. It opens onto a wooden platform adjacent to the waterwheel. All of that was rotting twenty years ago.
Ellie disappears into the shadows, allowing me to stagger my way to the far wall. I can make out the door because of a faint rim of light around the edge. It’s held in place by a flimsy hook and I’m blinded as the white-grey of the sky pours inside. I’m squinting as I clumsily fumble my way onto the platform. The wood is soft and springy, like a trampoline. The combination of that and the dazzling light leaves me on my knees, crawling towards the waterwheel.
Decades back, we’d run along the platform and leap onto the wheel, trying to scramble up as the water drove the paddles in the opposite direction. Like trying to walk up an escalator that’s going down.
I turn in a semicircle, looking at the water for any sign of Olivia. She’s not here.
Except… there’s a dark shape next to the waterwheel… under the waterwheel. At first I think it might be a flapping piece of plastic or rubber – but then I recognise Olivia’s leather jacket. I hurl myself flat onto the edge of the platform, trying to scoop my arms around her as the torrent surges into me. Olivia is face-down, held in place by a piece of the same washing line rope with which Tyler is tied. It’s strung across two hooks embedded in the wheel. There are many other hooks and nails protruding from the sodden wood and, as I reach for Olivia, something slices into my other arm. At least I’ll have matching scars.
I unhook the rope and, for a terrifying second, Olivia drops limply under the surface of the water. The only reason she isn’t carried away is that she catches on the paddle board itself. It takes all my effort to get an arm underneath her and then yank her clear of the river. I fall backwards onto the platform with her on top of me.
She’s a mass of ruffled pink hair and sodden, torn black clothes. When I turn Olivia over, her eyes are closed, her skin waxy and grey. My only hope is that she was somehow able to breathe in the air pocket under the paddles of the wheel, rather than being dragged completely under by the river flow. I say her name but there’s no response. Her chest isn’t rising.
‘Shame…’
I glance backwards towards Ellie, who has emerged onto the platform. Tyler is at her feet, slumped and seemingly unconscious.
‘How long was she under?!’
I’m shouting but get no response. We were talking inside for a good while and I have no idea how long I was unconscious before that. I turn back to Olivia, pushing down hard in the centre of her chest, pumping five times and then pressing my ear to her lips. I’m hoping for a miracle.
‘You drowned your own daughter,’ Ellie says. ‘Then you drowned her boyfriend.’
I pump five more times on Olivia’s chest. ‘No.’
‘People will believe it.’
I risk another glance and Ellie is closer to me, knife in her hand.
Five more pumps. Olivia’s not moving.
‘I figured I could get rid of your body somewhere in the woods,’ Ellie says. ‘Let someone discover poor Liv and Tyler in the river. Let everyone make up their own minds about you. They’ll probably assume you’re on the run. Either that or killed yourself and floated downstream. Doesn’t matter which.’
Five more pumps and then I stand and spin. Ellie is a couple of steps away, the knife tight in her grip, the blade angled towards me. I ball my fists, trying not to shiver.
‘Really?’ Ellie’s laughing. ‘When have you ever been a fighter?’
And then Olivia coughs.
Chapter Fifty
It’s a beautiful sound.
I spin back to Olivia and she rolls onto her side, spitting water onto the platform. She would have swallowed so much water but must have found the air pocket. I drop to my knees, cradling her head as she groans and continues to spit up nastiness. I want to stay with her but there’s a creak from behind and I turn quickly, rising to face the advancing Ellie.
‘Stay away,’ I hiss.
I felt defeated before, perhaps deserving of whatever happened to me. But Olivia doesn’t warrant this, and neither does Tyler. Ellie’s face is twisted with wrath, the knife raised. She lunges towards me, but it’s hard to get a sound footing on the saturated wood and she slips. It’s not enough to send her tumbling but plenty to telegraph her move. I step to the side, which only makes her angrier. This time, I don’t wait for her. I hurl myself at Ellie’s midriff, throwing an arm around her in a rugby tackle. I slip but my momentum is enough to send us both flying.
Something hurts… lots of things hurt. I have scratches along both arms, the thumping at the back of my head, the old rib injury. For a moment, everything is spinning but I blink it away as we slide towards the water. Ellie is thrashing and fighting but I’m on top… or think I am. The moment I try to stabilise myself, my knee sinks into the plasticine-like mush of wood. That shifting of weight is enough for Ellie to ram an elbow into my side, which is quickly followed by a second that connects with the spot where I broke my ribs all those years ago.
I see stars for a second as everything swirls. There’s blood in my mouth, more drooling across my eyelid. When I open my eyes, Ellie is on top, knees straddled across my chest, pinning my elbows to the floor. She’s foaming at the mouth, eyes frenzied.
She raises the knife with both hands, sacrifice-style.
‘Goodbye, Rosie.’
I close my eyes, anticipating...
And then the weight lifts.
I open my eyes, feeling the sting of the light. The shadow of an angel is standing over me. Big and strong David. Always my saviour.
I blink.
It’s not David. There’s an army jacket and scruffy boots.
Jason.
He’s torn the knife from Ellie’s hand and hurls it into the river as she aims a slap towards him. He deftly steps away, somehow making it easy to balance on this sponge.
‘No,’ he says.
Ellie flings herself at him but he holds onto her wrists with poise and control.
‘This is for you! For us!’
Ellie is howling, practically spitting in her brother’s face, but he doesn’t react.
‘She was driving. She killed Wayne. It was always her. Look what she’s done to us.’
Everything is hazy, like watching through greaseproof paper. I might imagine it, but I’m sure Jason glances to me. He doesn’t speak, doesn’t do anything other than offer the briefest of glimpses, but in that moment he tells me that’s he’s always known. Ellie might have been taken in by me switching seats in the car, but never Jason. He knew I killed his brother and yet he willingly started a relationship with me anyway. I’m hardly blameless but this is why he went off the rails. I may have broken his heart – but he’d already betrayed his flesh and blood.
‘I don’t want this,’ Jason says.
Ellie flaps and tries to fight but Jason is far stronger than she is. My head flops back as pain surges through me. I wonder if Ellie has broken my ribs again, or if the blow to my head did more damage than I thought. I want to open my eyes and watch what’s happening, to see how it ends, but it hurts so much. I want to cradle Olivia, to make sure she’s safe. My last thought before everything goes black is to wonder whether this is a dream. Perhaps there is no Jason at all. No angel. Not this time. Ellie stabbed me and it’s all over.
Chapter Fifty-One
The lights are so bright that it feels like I’m burning. It’s either the fiery brimstone of hell, or the pearly gates of heaven. Except it’s neither, of course it’s not.
‘Hi…’
Dan.
His voice is soft and kindly and I feel something – him – stroking the back of my hand. For a moment, I’m twenty-one and in love – and then I sit up so quickly that my head spins.
‘Liv!’
‘She’s safe,’ Dan says.
I’m in a bed, surrounded by a blinding white.
‘You’re in hospital,’ Dan says. ‘You both are. She’s a couple of rooms down. Tyler’s here, too. Everyone’s fine.’
‘But Ellie—’
‘I know. Everyone knows. The police are looking for her.’