Page 16 of She Saw What He Did

Jared hesitates.

‘We have to risk it. Come on,’ he says finally, dragging me along.

I hobble behind Jared to the next boat. Pain shoots through my ankle and I cry out. I lean on the boat to pull myself up and then I see him. The man is rushing down the hill and is heading towards us.

‘He’s coming,’ I yell.

‘Hurry,’ Jared shouts, tugging at my sleeve.

I no longer feel the pain in my ankle. Survival is the only thing that matters. Jared pulls me roughly into the boat and hugs me. I can feel his heart racing. It matches mine. He searches for the key, but it isn’t in the ignition or on the chain.

‘Come on,’ I scream. ‘Hurry, Jared.’

He looks into my wild eyes and then beyond me to the beach. After one last look around the boat he pulls me off it and I fall onto the jetty sobbing.

‘Abby, move,’ he shouts.

I hear a crack and I know the man is shooting at us.

‘The boat,’ I sob. ‘What about the boat?’

‘We have to run,’ Jared shouts, trying to pull me up.

Helplessness overwhelms me. I pull myself up and then we run laboriously through the sand. I’m grateful for all the running Jared and I have done in the past. We start the arduous climb uphill again and Jared throws pebbles and small rocks down the incline.

‘Throw anything you can,’ he says, kicking at the dirt.

The sound of the man’s panting doesn’t seem so close. We hear him curse as the pebbles shower down on him.

‘We need to get to that lighthouse,’ says Jared.

He points to the white domed structure to the right of us. It seems miles away.

‘We can do it,’ he says. ‘But he won’t. He’s too unfit. There may be phone signal there Abby.’

I take a deep breath and continue limping up the hill. Then I realise. The thought sends waves of panic over me.

‘Your rucksack,’ I say.

‘It’s on the boat,’ he says softly.

Despair washes over me. The food and Jared’s insulin are in the rucksack.

Chapter Twelve

Abby

‘Not much further,’ Jared says, but his words are slurred. It’s a hard climb to the lighthouse and he’s slowing down. I try to remember if I had thrown some chocolate into my backpack; probably not. I’d stopped doing that a few years ago when I realised how much Jared carried around with him. Everything we needed had been in his rucksack.

‘I might have something in here,’ I say, rummaging through the bag.

‘It’s okay,’ he says calmly. ‘Let’s just keep going.’

‘You need to eat something Jared,’ I say, struggling to keep the panic out of my voice.

‘As soon as we get off this island, I’ll eat something,’ he says, turning to give me a smile.

My searching produces no results. The backpack is full of camera equipment, tissues and my purse. I won’t let myself think of what will happen if we don’t get some food into Jared. He only had a light breakfast and he’s using up all his energy. I push all negative thoughts from my mind. We’ll reach the lighthouse and there will be phone signal. We’ll call the police and they will be here in no time. Everything is going to be okay. We’ll be home with Sam before we know it.

---