She looked up at the sun and decided there was just enough daylight left.
*
An icy southerly whipped around Nel’s face as she looked towards the horizon, trying to work out where the ocean ended and the sky began.Both were an ominous grey.When she’d first paddled out, the horizon had been a crisp line, but now the ocean was seething with white caps.It would be five minutes before the rain reached her.If that.
She started paddling in, cursing herself for not going in sooner.In her mind, her dad’s voice warned her about the fickleness of the ocean.Don’t push your luck, Nellie.She turns on you quick.
Her arms felt like lead, but she didn’t stop until she reached the rock ledge.Breathless, she scrambled onto the rocks as a long low rumble rolled across the water.
She hurried across the rocks as the first fat rain drops hit her face, falling slow and sparse at first then gathering pace, drenching the ground beneath her feet as the angry wind threatened to wrench the board from under her arm.She tightened her grip.
When she reached the shelter of the trees, she stopped to watch, mesmerised as the howling gale whipped up a fury of swirling grey and white, and sheets of rain became one with the sea.A flash of lightning illuminated the ocean, and Nel realised it was almost dark.She turned back to the path where rivers ran down the cliff face, keeping her eyes down, watching where her feet landed on the rocky ground.She stopped at the top to catch her breath, then followed the path across the grassy area in front of the lighthouse.
When she reached the fork in the path though, she took the one leading down to the lookout instead of going to her car.It wouldn’t be safe to drive until the rain eased anyway.She stood at the wooden railing and watched the storm front roll across Deception Bay.Clouds jostled and swirled as rain hammered down, plastering her hair to her face.She imagined fishermen in tiny boats somewhere out there being thrown around like corks.
Was someone shouting?She strained to hear, but the wind was a deafening roar in her ears.Had she imagined it?She leaned over the railing, looking to the rocky outcrop below, scanning the rocks and the water, but no one was there.
Then she heard it again, coming from behind her.She spun around.
It was Ryan.Rain dripped from the peak of his cap as he stood on the steps, clothes sodden, eyes hard.
‘Where is she?’he barked.
‘Who?’she mouthed, feigning ignorance, heart racing.
‘Sophie!’
Nel shook her head, turned up her palms.
‘You come back into town, after all this time …’ He took a step towards her, his jaw pulsing with his rising fury.‘And now the cops are at my place and my wife has gone!’
Frozen by fear and the bitter wind, Nel’s thoughts raced.He was blocking her way out.The only other path was the rocky one leading around the cliff face to the cave, but it was a dead end.It was barely more than a rock ledge anyway.A death wish in weather like this.
Suddenly, he sprung forward and grabbed her.Nel’s surfboard clattered to the ground as he twisted her around, trapping her in front of him, an arm against her throat.He pulled her hair with the other, wrenching her neck back.It felt like a well-honed move.Had he held Sophie like this?Nel lifted her face to the sky to ease the pain on her scalp, gasping for air.
‘Where is she?’Ryan hissed in her ear.
Her heart pounded.No one knew she was here.She should have told someone where she was going.She struggled to free herself but his grip was too strong.Running wasn’t an option.She would have to fight.
‘Is this what you did to Maddie?When you killed her?’Her voice was shaky, thin.‘I know she told you about the baby.You wanted to make it go away, so you killed her.’
‘You don’t know a goddam thing,’ he said, his breath hot on her ear.
‘I know you hurt your wife.’
‘I told you to stay out of my fucking business.’
He thrust her forward, holding her over the cliff’s edge.‘I warned you but you didn’t listen.’
The rail dug into Nel’s rib cage as she looked down at the rocks below, picturing her body smashing against them.She closed her eyes and prayed to Maddie.
Help me, Maddie.Help me.Please help me.
She gasped.What was that?It sounded like someone calling her name, but she could barely hear over the howling wind, the driving rain.She was imagining it.Desperate, wishful thinking.
But there it was again, louder this time.
‘Auntie Nel?Auntie Nel!’
