Cruel Summer (20 page)

There was something familiar about the way she moved, the way she stood. An overwhelming wave of déjà vu hit Ryan as he stared at her across the water. ‘No way!’

Katie gasped. ‘Is that . . .’

Forgetting that he was supposed to be hiding, Ryan leaned as far as he could over the edge of the boat, his eyes straining. It wasn’t possible.

A sliver of ghostly moonlight hit the contours of the woman’s face and Ryan almost tumbled overboard.

It was Janey.

SCENE 23 – RYAN

I
t
was
Janey: the hair, the body, the stance. The way she stood, resting on her hip so that it jutted to the left, as if the world were
wasting her time. Ryan’s brain malfunctioned. One part of him was thrilled to see his old friend – he wanted to wave and call her name – but another part knew he must be seeing a
ghost, something impossible, something
dead
.

He reviewed the possibilities . . .

The figure stared out to sea but, if she did see the boat, her eyes didn’t linger on it. Her hand fell to her side and, resigned, she moved up the other side of the house, heading back
towards the front entrance. A moment later, Janey melted back into the shadows and Ryan allowed himself to breathe again.

‘That’s impossible.’ Ben’s lips were the same ghastly white as his face.

Greg ran forwards, tripping over his own feet in his rush to reach the driver’s seat. ‘Katie, go!’

‘What? Where?’

‘Go! Drive! Sail! We need to catch her. We don’t know how long she’s been there. She might have seen us.’ Beads of sweat shone on Greg’s forehead.

Katie’s jaw dropped. ‘Greg, that was Janey. Janey’s alive!’

‘It can’t have been.’

‘It was!’ Alisha cried. ‘You saw her. It looked
exactly
like her.’

‘But . . . but . . . she’s dead,’ Ben murmured, staring at the villa, unblinking.

Greg screwed his eyes shut. ‘I don’t bloody care whether it’s Janey or not. We just need to get back to the villa NOW!’

Katie twisted the key in the ignition and they were off.

‘Oh, my God!’ Ryan exclaimed suddenly. A magnificent epiphany had just come to him and something about it felt
right
. ‘What if
she
did it?’

No one had to ask what action he was referring to.

‘You think Janey killed Roxanne?’ Alisha asked.

‘Well, why not? Janey is meant to be dead, but for some reason she’s creeping around outside the villa. What if she was creeping around outside the villa last night, too?’

‘But why?’ Katie said, sounding exasperated. Her hair hung in damp ropes around her face, the sea mist clinging to it. ‘Why would she?’

‘Because we left her.’ It all made sense to Ryan now. ‘What if she never fell? Or what if she fell but didn’t die? We all abandoned her at the prom and this is her
revenge . . . Or something.’ Ryan tailed off. It sounded a little far-fetched now that he came to say it aloud.

Ben actually laughed. ‘OK, you’ve finally lost the plot. That was
not
Janey.’

‘It was,’ Alisha put in.

Greg clenched his fists. ‘Who cares?’ he barked. ‘Whoever it was might have just seen us throw a dead body into the sea. We have got to stop her before she calls the cops.
Katie, speed this thing up.’

Ryan thought it best not to ask
how
Greg intended to stop her from calling the cops.

Katie was no expert and the boat very nearly ploughed all the way through the jetty. If there weren’t dead girls
everywhere
tonight, it might have been quite
funny, mused Ryan as they clung to the rails for dear life.

As soon as they were close enough, Greg jumped off the vessel and sprinted towards the villa with Alisha and Erin close behind, leaving Ryan and Katie to deal with the boat.

Ben was dumbstruck – staring out at the sea, but not seeing it. He was doing a chillingly realistic impression of a zombie right now.

‘Ben? Benj, are you OK?’ Ryan asked.

‘I’ll be fine,’ he said but, privately, Ryan thought he was in a whole different postcode from ‘fine’.

Katie killed the engine, left her seat and held out a hand for Ben. If she couldn’t get through to him, no one could. ‘Come on,’ she said, her voice as soft as cotton wool. He
took her hand but said nothing. ‘Let’s not . . . let’s not assume anything, OK? Just because Janey’s back doesn’t mean she . . .’

‘We don’t know what she wants,’ Ryan added, ‘so let’s go find out. It’s
Janey
! She’s
back
.’

Ben nodded and helped Katie off the boat. From the jetty, Ryan could see that Greg, Erin and Alisha had almost reached the villa. He hurriedly tied up the boat.

‘Let’s go,’ he said and, together, the three of them raced down the jetty, the boards groaning under their weight. They reached the stone path, flip-flops clacking over the
paving slabs. There was a patch of skin where the rubber strap chafed Ryan’s still-wet toe, but he couldn’t worry about the sting now.

Greg was already charging around the perimeter of the house by the time they reached the bottom terrace. Ryan pounded up the stairs to the top terrace and opened the patio doors, noting that
they weren’t locked. That meant Janey could be inside – how very ‘horror film’. Once in, Ryan switched on the outside lights. The lamps on the terraces and around the pool
came alive.

His shoulders tensed as he peered outside, his mind half-expecting to see a vengeful dead girl, but Janey, if that’s who it had been, was nowhere in sight.

‘Janey!’ Alisha yelled from the right-hand path at the side of the house. ‘Janey, where are you? It’s us.’ Ryan left the kitchen and followed the sound of
Alisha’s voice.

Katie joined him while Ben went the other way in search of Greg.

‘Did you see her? Was she here?’ Ryan asked as he and Katie caught up with Alisha.

Alisha turned to them. ‘No, nothing.’ The three of them ran onto the front drive where the cars were parked. The end of the drive opened out onto the long coast road, but even that
was deserted. Night bugs sang and whistled in the palms and bushes, but the front of the villa was as quiet as the back. On land, there was stillness, not even a hint of a breeze.

‘Where did she go? She was here like five minutes ago. She can’t have vanished.’ Katie kicked at the gravel on the drive.

Ryan paused to let his frenetic heart rate slow. Janey Bradshaw. His world shifted to accommodate the possibility that she was alive. If she was, then the last twelve months were completely
rewritten. It changed
everything
.

It seemed insane to think Janey had waited this long, waited until they were all together again, before revealing herself. But of course, in a way, it all made perfect sense. Revenge is a very
powerful thing. It can change people. Ryan quite liked this interesting new twist. He certainly hadn’t seen it coming and, if he was honest, if one of them had to be a psycho killer then
better Janey than the others. He’d already mourned her loss.

Greg and Ben appeared from the bushes at the other side of the house.

‘Anything?’ Ryan asked.

‘No,’ Ben said. ‘If she was here, she’s long gone.’

‘Or hiding.’ Alisha paced up and down the drive. ‘What if Ryan’s right? What if she’s come back for us? What if she saw and called the cops?’

‘We all need to . . .’ Ryan mimed simmering down with a graceful descent of his arms. ‘We don’t know what she did or didn’t do, what she did or didn’t see.
All we do know is that she sure as hell can’t get mobile phone reception out here.’

Greg cursed and slammed his way back into the villa through the front door. ‘This is bullshit!’ His cry shook the walls.

Ryan rolled his eyes at Alisha. Oh good, another Greg tantrum. That would help exponentially. They followed him inside. Greg smashed the bedroom doors open, turning on all the lights. He went
from room to room, kicking aside anything that blocked his path. He was in hurricane mode.

‘You don’t think she’s in here, do you?’ Alisha said.

The bedrooms empty, Greg stormed down the stairs into the lounge to greet a wide-eyed Erin, where she waited, a knitted blanket around her shoulders. ‘Baby, what’s—’

‘We’re dead!’ he barked.

Ryan helped himself to a glass of wine and poured one for Greg, too – the poor guy seemed to be spiralling out of control.

‘If Ja— whoever that was, saw us, and God knows how long she was there – then she might have seen the whole thing for all we know. The body, the boat, everything!’ he
repeated, eyes wide, nostrils flared, like a bull entering the ring.

‘We don’t know that,’ Alisha said, trying to soothe her brother’s temper.

‘If that was Janey,’ Ryan drained his glass and refilled, ‘then she’s come back from the grave, mate. I don’t think she’s calling anyone, let alone the cops,
do you? She’s waited this long for a reason.’ He offered Greg the wine, but Greg batted it away.

The veins in Greg’s temple seemed to pulse. ‘We need to find her. We need to find her NOW before she can get to anyone else.’

Ryan frowned. If Greg was seriously suggesting what he
thought
he was . . . Ryan saw Katie’s mouth fall open and guessed that his friend had reached the same conclusion.

‘Oh, my God!’ Katie gasped. ‘Are you saying that we should kill her, too?’

‘What? No . . . that’s not what I . . . shut up!’ Greg snapped.

‘Greg, chill, man.’ Ben held a hand to Greg’s chest, which only seemed to anger him further.

‘Get your ______ hands off me!’ Ryan again censored for the more delicate viewer. Greg shoved Ben back, the way footballers do referees.

Katie immediately went to Ben’s defence. That was one of the things Ryan most admired about her: she had always,
always
stood up to bullies. ‘Then what did you mean, Greg?
What are you going to do if you find her?’

Greg looked confused. ‘I said shut up!’ he snarled.

‘No! You
have
to listen to me, Greg.’ Katie took hold of his shoulders. ‘I mean, is that the plan now, to go around killing everyone who might tell on us? Are we next,
Greg? We all saw. When does it stop?’

It happened so fast. Greg’s hands were suddenly clamped around Katie’s throat. Greg was so much bigger. He dwarfed Katie, making her seem frail. With all his weight, he thrust her
backwards and she hit the wall, her head making contact with the rim of the mirror.

His hands tightened around her neck. He was going to kill her.

SCENE 24 – RYAN

C
liffhanger ending, or what? Evil Greg throttles virtuous Katie. Cut to credits, with no ‘next time’ trailer to reveal poor
Katie’s fate. It was all so unexpected that Ryan failed to react for a second, then his brain finally worked out that this wasn’t all for his entertainment.

He was nearest. He leapt forwards, knocking his glass of wine to the tiles, where it shattered into vicious-looking shards. He grabbed Greg’s arm, but Greg was
strong
. It was like
his whole body was locked onto Katie. Her eyes were wide with terror, her cheeks flushed.

Ben was right behind Ryan. Although less ripped than Greg, Ben was taller. He hoisted Greg’s chin up so that, in reflex, Greg fell backwards, releasing Katie. She slid down the wall as
Alisha and Erin rushed over to her. Greg and Ben both staggered back and toppled over the coffee table.

Ben howled as he struggled to his feet again, stepping on the broken glass and slicing his heel open. It didn’t deter him for a second, though. He wriggled free and lunged at Greg,
grasping his vest and lifting him off the tiles. With more strength than Ryan would have given him credit for, Ben shook Greg as if he were a ragdoll. ‘Come on, then!’ spat Ben.
‘If you wanna fight, fight me!’

Ryan took a step back, assessing the chaos. It was carnage; there was a crimson filter over everything. ‘What are you doing? Ben, stop!’ he yelled over the din.

Ben snorted down his nostrils and shoved Greg back onto the tiles. Greg lay still, his legs hanging over the coffee table and his hands covering his face. Shame. That was pure shame and he
deserved to feel it. Ryan turned to Katie.

Erin was already checking her out. ‘Are you OK? Let me get a look at your neck.’

Katie nodded, rubbing her throat. There were handprints on her skin and tears ran down her face. She
wasn’t
OK.

Greg picked himself up out of the rubble. He and Katie looked at each other from their opposite corners. ‘Katie . . . I’m so sorry.’ His face fell. Whatever demon had possessed
him had now left his body. ‘I . . . I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry.’

‘It’s OK,’ Katie croaked.

‘It is
not
OK!’ Alisha shoved her brother in the chest and he went down again. ‘When did you start hitting girls, Greg? Erin, does he hit you?’

Erin look on in sheer disbelief. ‘No. God, no! What kind of idiot do you think I am?’

‘I’m sorry,’ Greg repeated, his flushed face a horrid clay colour. ‘I’m gonna . . .’ Greg rose to his feet and powered up the stairs, taking them two at a
time.

The lounge decompressed. Ben helped Katie up and tried to embrace her, but Ryan saw her resist.

‘I’m fine,’ she said, pulling away. ‘Please don’t make a fuss.’

‘I’m sorry, Katie, but he’s not getting away with that.’ Alisha’s eyes were wild and unblinking. She headed towards the stairs.

‘Lish! Please,’ Katie said. ‘Let him cool off. I think I’ve hit my drama limit for the day. For
any
day. Ever.’