Swiping the tears from her face, she shakes her head. ‘I don’t know what I know. What I think I know might be nothing. I can’t talk right now.’
She turns and hurries away.
‘You can’t say that and walk away from me,’ I shout after her.
‘And I can’t talk right now. Come and find me tomorrow.’ She’s clenching her jaw and fists. I don’t know whether it’s because of me or something else. I suppose me nearly running her over might not have helped.
I chase after her and grab her shoulder. ‘Stop.’
I realise there’s no one around. It’s just her and me in a dark alley, in the now pouring rain. There’s a solid strength about her and that scares me. I’m also weak from being cold and damp, the shakes that have plagued me since I came out of the sea are still there. A streak of lightning reaches across the sky, allowing me to see more of her features. Her stare is stark and the crinkles around the edge of her eyes are deep.
‘You have to tell me what you know. I can’t wait until tomorrow. This is my little sister we’re talking about.’
She takes a step towards me. ‘It’s all about you, isn’t it? You’re just like the rest of them. No one cares about what will happen to me. You, you, you.’ She jabs the air with her index finger. ‘Just leave me alone.’ She turns and walks away.
‘No,’ I yell as I catch up with her again. I go to grab her arm but she spins around and grips my wrist so hard I can feel her nails digging into my skin. There is a sadness etched into her face. With trembling hands, she loosens her grip and sighs. For all I know, she could have been trying to kill me at the cave earlier. She could be the one watching me and sending those messages, and here I am on a dark rainy night, at her mercy. But it was my dad, it had to be. No, however much I try to picture him in that cave, I can’t picture him hitting me over the head and leaving me to die. Maybe he is following me, but he wouldn’t kill me, would he? Damn, my thoughts run rife. I don’t know what to think any more. ‘Were you at Polperro earlier today?’
Her brow furrows. ‘No.’ She pauses. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have grabbed your wrist like that.’ Shaking her head, she stops dead.
‘That’s okay. Please tell me what you know. I’ve spent years not knowing the details of Jess’s accident. You don’t know how it feels to be left in the dark for so long.’
Thunder clashes and she flinches. ‘I know exactly how it feels to be lied to, deceived and treated like an idiot.’
A tooting horn makes me gasp. ‘Damn!’
‘I think your car’s blocking the road.’ She hurries away, seizing her opportunity to escape my questions.
‘Wait.’
‘Tomorrow.’ With that final word, she’s gone.
I dart back to the car and see three cars lined up. I’m parked badly, blocking the whole road. I hold up a hand and shout my apologies. The shaking heads and angry groans tell me that I need to move out of the way, so I pull over on the kerb.
Two cars pass and my father pulls up behind me and gets out of his old red car.
‘Katie, I need to explain.’ He’s at the window again. If I don’t face him now, he’ll follow me back to the cottage and I don’t want to take whatever argument we’re about to have back for the girls to see.
I get out of the car. ‘What? Actually, tell me why you’ve been following me?’
‘I got here today and when I saw your car parked up opposite the cottage, I knew you’d come back. When I came around the back and heard you, I bottled it. I’m so sorry, Kate.’
‘So you followed me to Polperro?’
He shook his head. ‘Not quite.’
‘But you knew I was there?’ He’s starting to creep me out. ‘How did you even know I was here right now?’
He pulled his phone from his pocket. ‘I was worried about you so I put a tracker on your phone when you came to see me. That’s how I knew where you were staying and that’s how I knew you went to Polperro. I couldn’t lose you too, Katie. Not after losing Jessica. I have been a terrible father but I beg of you, please give me a chance to do the right thing.’
I pace up and down, pressing buttons on my phone but I can’t see the tracker.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘What did you think you’d achieve? Did you think I’d say it was okay and we could all play happy families and continue with the holiday?’
He shook his head. ‘No, I wanted to be here, to help you.’
‘Well, that backfired.’
