Beside the Brook (21 page)

“I’m in the car so yeah, I guess I will be. Is everything okay?”

Kirsten sighed and without pressing the button she whispered, “No.” Everything was upside down and pear shaped, but she would try to put things right somehow. She pressed the button so Jamie could hear her once more. “Jamie, can you promise me you’ll just keep listening?”

“Kirsten, I don’t understand.”

“You will. Just promise me you’ll keep listening.”

“Okay.” He sounded very unsure of himself, or what she was asking of him.

“Great.” She clicked the radio off, grabbed her jacket from her bedroom and ran back downstairs. As she crossed the lawn she could hear the steady strum of the motor boat at the jetty.

Tyler untied the ropes as she ran down the wharf, her footfalls echoing like thunder in a barrel over the old boards. She climbed breathlessly onto the boat and sat at the back. For now she was happy to just sit and wait until the time was right. Tyler maneuvered the vessel carefully out into the bay before easing it into full throttle. A great white wake rose up behind them and Kirsten watched with delight. She loved the feel of the

sea spray on her face and the wind in her hair. Luckily her firmly set pony tail kept her own hair from whipping into her face.

When they reached the salmon farm Kirsten moved over to Tyler as he steered the boat slowly in beside the nets.

“Can you hold her steady for a minute?” Tyler smiled down at her.

“Of course.” Kirsten grabbed the wheel from Tyler. Her heart raced as he climbed onto the front of the boat and lifted the thick ropes from the deck. His back was turned. This was her one chance to let Jamie in on the conversation. She pulled the coloured elastic band from her hair. Her deep red hair fell around her shoulders as she changed the channel on the CB radio, checked it matched the one in Tyler’s office then wound her hair tie around the handset to force the talk button down. She placed the handset back in its original position and waited for Tyler to return. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves. How could she look at Tyler and pretend she didn’t know everything? Would he see it in her eyes?

“Right, we’re secure.” Tyler jumped back into the cabin.

“Can we talk first, Tyler? Before you run off and do whatever it is you need to do.”

“I thought the idea was talk
and
work. Isn’t that why you came along?”

“Yes, but I need your full attention Tyler. I need to know you’re telling me the truth.”

“When have I ever lied to you Kirsty?” Tyler asked with sincerity.

“You haven’t always told me everything, let’s put it that way. You’ve told me what you wanted me to hear. This time I want the whole story.”

“Well, I’m not sure what you’re referring to.” Tyler looked grim, as though she had asked for his life, not his words.

“Come on, Tyler. This
game
you’re playing is really growing old. Why did you tell Jamie about what happened with Greg? What sick purpose could it have served, other than to hurt everyone involved?”

Tyler laughed, taking pleasure in the results he got. “Come on. You saw how Jamie reacted. Where is he now Kirst? I think I proved my point.”

“And what point was that?”

“When the going gets tough, he can’t handle it. He’s the first to back off. He’s not good enough for you Kirsty.”

“Not good enough? Like he wasn’t good enough for Leigh? Like he wasn’t good enough for your sister?” Kirsten took a step toward him.

“Don’t even get me started on that. It has nothing to do with you.” Tyler raised his voice to match her own angry timbre.

“You’ve made it everything to do with me, Tyler. You drew me in from the very moment I arrived here, and now it has everything to do with me. You think sticking me in Brook’s dress isn’t sick enough? I know you want to drive Jamie away. Was it so wrong that he loved your sister?”

“Yes it was,” Tyler thundered. His eyes clouded over with the thought of his dead sister. “She was so wrong for him. She needed someone who understood her.”

“Like you did?” Kirsten questioned, dropping her tone.

“I loved her more than he ever could have.”

“She was your sister Tyler. Your
sister
!” Kirsten hissed.

“It didn’t matter. I was the only one who really understood what she had been through.”

“That doesn’t mean you had a right to rule her. To do things to her that brothers and sisters shouldn’t do.”

Tyler’s eyes clouded with rage and he grabbed Kirsten by her upper arms, his fingers digging into her soft flesh.

“I should ask you what lies Jamie has been filling your head with.”

Kirsten winced and wriggled to get lose from his grip but he held her fast. “Not Jamie, Tyler. Brook. I found her diary. She told me everything. How you were both molested by your father, how you were so warped by what he did to you that you did the same thing to her. It’s all there, right down to the last entry.” She gasped as Tyler gripped her tight. But she was compelled to continue. She had to know the final truth about Brook’s death. “She said she was going to tell Jamie everything, and that was her last entry, Tyler. The day before she died.”

“Her diary,” Tyler exclaimed, “Where is it?” He shook her roughly. Her head snapped back and her neck jarred painfully.

“Tyler, you’re hurting me,” Kirsten yelped. Tyler’s eyes cleared for a moment and he released her. She took a step back and rubbed her arms. “It’s back at the house.”

“Who else has seen it?”

“Nobody.” She could safely say it was the truth.
Hopefully though,
she thought,
Jamie
was getting every word of our conversation.
She looked around the boat then back at Tyler. “Come on, Tyler. It’s just you and me. Time to be completely honest. Brook didn’t die while she was riding did she?”

Tyler glared at her with hatred. “What are you implying?”

Kirsten tried to keep her cool, but inside she was shaking like a leaf. “The other night you said you had been arguing. It was about Sarah wasn’t it?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Come on. Who am I going to tell? You said it yourself, Jamie has gone. It’s obvious he doesn’t care about me. This is between you and me. I just want to know the truth. You
owe
me that much. For Brook’s sake, please tell me.”

Tyler laughed snidely. “She was just like you; just like you are now. All high and mighty and taking the high ground. She wasn’t innocent, and neither are you.” He took a step toward Kirsten but she stood her ground. She didn’t want him to know that right now she was more scared of him than she had been of anything in her whole life. He wasn’t the Tyler she thought she knew anymore. He was a burning body of jealousy and hate. And if she wasn’t careful he would work out she wasn’t on his side. In fact it was possible he already had.

Tyler continued, “She wanted to leave me. After everything we’d been through she was going to go away with Jamie and leave me. She was going to take Sarah and I couldn’t have that.”

“Did you kill her, Tyler?”

“No,” Tyler snapped. He took another step toward Kirsten and this time she backed away. “I didn’t kill her. I just wanted her to listen. I just wanted to make her understand she couldn’t do this to me. She kept moving away from me; wouldn’t let me touch her. I tried to catch her but she slipped and fell down a ravine.”

“So you made up the story about her being knocked off by a branch?”

“I didn’t want Beth to know what had really happened. It would have destroyed her. There was no need for that after everything else. So I turned Brook’s horse loose instead, made it look like it had been a riding accident.”

Kirsten groaned and put her hand over her mouth. The colour had drained from her face.

“You do believe me don’t you, Kirsty?”

“Ah-huh.” Kirsten made a feeble attempt to nod her head.

“What will you do with the information I just gave you?”

Kirsten looked up at Tyler. “I told you, it’s just between us.”

“What about the diary?” He clenched his hands into fists, released them then repeated the exercise. Kirsten never let her eyes leave him.

She swallowed. “The diary is back at the house, Tyler. As soon as we get back I’ll give it to you.”

“You make it sound so easy.” He inched his way closer to Kirsten again. She didn’t want to but she moved away from him, her body willing her to do so through fear. “You weren’t going to give it to Jamie were you?”

“Well, originally I was. He was Brook’s wife, it’s rightfully his. But with him gone I guess it’s yours now.”

“Why do I get the feeling you’re just telling me what I want to hear now?” Tyler’s voice was calm; too calm.

Kirsten attempted a smile. “Tyler, I’ve never lied to you.”

“I do believe that Kirsty. But something’s not right.” He lunged at Kirsten, tried to catch her by the arm again, but she was too quick and expected it. She moved to the side, only to realise her own mistake too late. To her right was a chilly bin and she tripped over it, her shin tearing in pain as the skin slid off against the rough plastic surface. She yelped as she lost her balance; her arm caught her weight on the side of the boat and she felt a crunch of bone. A hot bolt of pain shot up into her shoulder. As her weight shifted she felt her legs go into the air. Her body rolled off the edge of the boat and into the water. Being a warm afternoon the water was a cold contrast and Kirsten gasped as the salty liquid surrounded her. The sound here was far deeper than back in their bay, the water a deep bottle green.

When she came up for air Kirsten was dazed and had lost her bearings. She turned in the water to see unfamiliar hills in the distance. Sheep dotted the green like tiny balls of cotton. Behind her she heard a splash as Tyler launched himself off the boat. She gasped and using her legs she propelled her body round one hundred and eighty degrees in the water. She had no idea what Tyler’s intentions were. Did he mean to silence her, just as Brook had been silenced in the end?

She tread the water with one arm, while she nestled the other against her chest in pain. She wasn’t sure but she suspected the bone there was broken. As Tyler surfaced Kirsten scanned his face for any sign of his intentions. Behind him she could see the late afternoon sun lowering itself to sleep. The sky there had turned beautiful shades of pink and yellow.
How ironic
she thought to herself.
What a fantastic sunset.

“Kirsty, are you okay?” Tyler spluttered as he shook the water from his face.

“I think my arm is broken.”

“Let me help you.” His voice was calm, soft and unfeeling. He reached out his hand but Kirsten could only stare at it. Something wasn’t right. She thought back to the night she had slipped getting out of the hot tub and how he had said the same thing. He’d sounded completely different then. This wasn’t the same Tyler.

“Tyler, please,” she pleaded with him.

“Kirst, come on. Don’t be stupid.” He was almost at her side now, but she couldn’t move from the spot. Where would she go anyway?

Tyler moved swiftly through the water and reached out to her. Before she knew what was happening he grabbed her by the arm and she screamed out in pain.

“How convenient,” Tyler snarled, his lips turned up into a triumphant smile. “You made this so easy for me, Kirsten.” Before she could do anything he pushed her under the water, his hand atop her head as he held her beneath the surface. She fought to escape his grip but her arm was a white flash of hot pain. It consumed her. She fought the panic which rose inside her, made her lungs burn for air. Finally when she realised she would drown if she didn’t do something, she forced herself into a ball, pulled her legs into her chest and rolled away from Tyler. Using all her weight she pushed her feet into Tyler’s stomach and wrenched her body from his grip. She tried to ignore the pain in her arm as she swam down into the water, as far as she could on the breath she had left. She knew she was a stronger swimmer than Tyler, even with a broken arm. If she could just get far enough away from him she would be okay. Her heart sank as she realised he could just go back to the boat, and then it would be all over. He had the perfect killing machine then; he could run straight over her then and claim it had been an accident. She needed to get away and hide before he had that opportunity. When she surfaced for air she turned to see Tyler, following her as quickly as he could. His thickset body moved through the water behind her, closing the gap between them. She continued to kick away from him, easily putting a good distance between them in several strokes. He was no match for her in the water.

“Come on, Kirsten. Where are you going to go?”

She stopped and turned. She continued to tread the water and watch him, hoping for a moment to catch her breath and collect her thoughts before he pursued her again. He regarded her with a cool brown stare.

She was just about to speak when something cold and heavy brushed her ankle, and she glanced down into the murky depths. A long dark shadow moved past her in the water. Even in the fading light she knew what it was before the fin broke the surface. She froze with fear. Even the thought of Tyler wanting to kill her was nothing compared to being in the ocean with one of the finest predators ever created.

“Jesus!” she screamed. “Tyler, there’s a shark!”

Tyler gave a low deep throaty growl. He obviously thought she was trying to call his bluff.

The water between them rippled. A shiny brown fin broke the surface, followed by a smaller dorsal. The tail flicked and the cold blooded animal disappeared beneath the surface once more. Kirsten’s heart pounded in her chest, but she tried to stay as still as possible in the water. She knew that thrashing around would only send the shark into a frenzy. Tyler on the other hand panicked. He threw himself back in the water and paddled furiously toward the boat.

“Tyler,” Kirsten yelled. “Stay still.”

“Fuck that,” Tyler responded as he continued to clamber for the boat. Her words could do no good. She saw the terror in Tyler’s eyes and knew he was beyond control. There was nothing she could do except watch and hope he would make it back to the boat before the shark picked up on his distress.