Fear
shook me. The ground seemed suddenly unsteady, a vertiginous sway in the dark.
I knew what he must be planning.
‘You thought – ’ I stabbed a finger
at him ‘ – you thought nobody would find the body for a very long time.’
He turned his head. ‘Is that what
you’re planning to tell the police? I knew you’d made up your mind that
I’d killed her.’
I knew then why he had come after
me. His face was a mask of moon-shadow, hardly definable. He could easily
commit one murder to hide another. Loathing seeped through me, sucking up fright.
‘So what do you do now, Brent? Two
dead bodies? Always better than one.’
He snickered unpleasantly. ‘You
know I actually preferred you to Mona. Always an argument. Those dark,
accusatory eyes. Oh, you were a turn-on, little Casey! Did you know? Did you
think about it?’
I felt sick. There was no point in
trying to run. That lithe, powerful body would overtake me in a few seconds. Did
he have a knife, a gun? I had to keep him talking. While he was talking, I
could think…
‘How did Mona find out, Brent? I
bet it was months before she started getting really difficult. And yesterday
morning, before she phoned me, you must have persuaded her one last time to
believe in you, to help you put something right. But it was too late. She was
unhappy, on a knife edge of rebelling. And you couldn’t let that happen. Because
now she knew too much about you.’
His eyes narrowed, watching me. I
eased back one step. Surprise would be my only advantage. And the dark woods…
‘What happened, Brent? After the
phone call? It was too late then. I was already on my way up here. I’m the real
loose thread in the plot, aren’t I?’
The moonlight faltered. Brent
Sedgeworth stood, legs apart, hands swinging loosely. Almost reflectively, he
said, ‘In a way you’re right. Pity that bloody dog broke his leg. Otherwise
none of this would have happened. We would have been up and away hours
earlier.’
I wasn’t fooled by this. I sneered,
‘And now four witnesses.’
He was momentarily confused. ‘What?’
‘Me and your friends. Max, Ron and
the girl they brought. They think you did it just as I do. We can’t all be
wrong.’
And this was the real point. The
reason he couldn’t let me live. I was a witness to that aspect of his
‘business’ as well. At the mention of Ron and Max, rage burned off him.
‘You little screw head! You think
you’ve got all the answers!’
There was a sound from the woods.
Something was creeping towards us.
In that split second, Brent took
his attention off me.
I turned and ran.
Racing a zigzag, I went into the
woods on the opposite side of the road. I ran as fast as possible, missing
trees by a hair’s breath, dodging branches, twisting, turning, sliding. I kept
the pace as far as I could, then I flung myself down under a thick spread of bush
and tried to calm my breathing. My heart was pumping like a piston high up
under my ribs. The shivery silence of the trees settled and I could hear my own
labored breathing. Leaves shifted under me, dank air pressing against my cheek.
There was a soft rustle of branches.
A cathedral quiet descended.
Then, soft as a baby’s breath, a
footfall.
Someone grabbed me by my hair.
Pain leached through my skull as if
someone had fitted me with a burning cap. I couldn’t even scream. My focus was
on trying to alleviate the agony as Brent pulled me out of my hiding place and
back to the road.
He threw me to the ground. Sobbing
with fright and pain, I tried to creep away but he lent forward and hit me
across the face. Instinctively, I kicked out at him. My foot struck him in the
stomach and he gasped. He dropped forwards, grabbed my arms, kicked my legs
apart and forced my arms flat to the ground stretched on either side of me in
the shape of a cross.
‘Getting enough yet?’ he asked.
I spat in his mocking, evil eyes.
He lifted one hand and
karate-chopped me on the side of the head. It felt as
shook me. The ground seemed suddenly unsteady, a vertiginous sway in the dark.
I knew what he must be planning.
‘You thought – ’ I stabbed a finger
at him ‘ – you thought nobody would find the body for a very long time.’
He turned his head. ‘Is that what
you’re planning to tell the police? I knew you’d made up your mind that
I’d killed her.’
I knew then why he had come after
me. His face was a mask of moon-shadow, hardly definable. He could easily
commit one murder to hide another. Loathing seeped through me, sucking up fright.
‘So what do you do now, Brent? Two
dead bodies? Always better than one.’
He snickered unpleasantly. ‘You
know I actually preferred you to Mona. Always an argument. Those dark,
accusatory eyes. Oh, you were a turn-on, little Casey! Did you know? Did you
think about it?’
I felt sick. There was no point in
trying to run. That lithe, powerful body would overtake me in a few seconds. Did
he have a knife, a gun? I had to keep him talking. While he was talking, I
could think…
‘How did Mona find out, Brent? I
bet it was months before she started getting really difficult. And yesterday
morning, before she phoned me, you must have persuaded her one last time to
believe in you, to help you put something right. But it was too late. She was
unhappy, on a knife edge of rebelling. And you couldn’t let that happen. Because
now she knew too much about you.’
His eyes narrowed, watching me. I
eased back one step. Surprise would be my only advantage. And the dark woods…
‘What happened, Brent? After the
phone call? It was too late then. I was already on my way up here. I’m the real
loose thread in the plot, aren’t I?’
The moonlight faltered. Brent
Sedgeworth stood, legs apart, hands swinging loosely. Almost reflectively, he
said, ‘In a way you’re right. Pity that bloody dog broke his leg. Otherwise
none of this would have happened. We would have been up and away hours
earlier.’
I wasn’t fooled by this. I sneered,
‘And now four witnesses.’
He was momentarily confused. ‘What?’
‘Me and your friends. Max, Ron and
the girl they brought. They think you did it just as I do. We can’t all be
wrong.’
And this was the real point. The
reason he couldn’t let me live. I was a witness to that aspect of his
‘business’ as well. At the mention of Ron and Max, rage burned off him.
‘You little screw head! You think
you’ve got all the answers!’
There was a sound from the woods.
Something was creeping towards us.
In that split second, Brent took
his attention off me.
I turned and ran.
Racing a zigzag, I went into the
woods on the opposite side of the road. I ran as fast as possible, missing
trees by a hair’s breath, dodging branches, twisting, turning, sliding. I kept
the pace as far as I could, then I flung myself down under a thick spread of bush
and tried to calm my breathing. My heart was pumping like a piston high up
under my ribs. The shivery silence of the trees settled and I could hear my own
labored breathing. Leaves shifted under me, dank air pressing against my cheek.
There was a soft rustle of branches.
A cathedral quiet descended.
Then, soft as a baby’s breath, a
footfall.
Someone grabbed me by my hair.
Pain leached through my skull as if
someone had fitted me with a burning cap. I couldn’t even scream. My focus was
on trying to alleviate the agony as Brent pulled me out of my hiding place and
back to the road.
He threw me to the ground. Sobbing
with fright and pain, I tried to creep away but he lent forward and hit me
across the face. Instinctively, I kicked out at him. My foot struck him in the
stomach and he gasped. He dropped forwards, grabbed my arms, kicked my legs
apart and forced my arms flat to the ground stretched on either side of me in
the shape of a cross.
‘Getting enough yet?’ he asked.
I spat in his mocking, evil eyes.
He lifted one hand and
karate-chopped me on the side of the head. It felt as
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