Page 18 of She Saw What He Did

I’d felt inadequate. A useless wife and mother who couldn’t manage to balance both plates without one crashing around her. I look at Jared now and realise just how much I love him.

He now helps me up and I hug him close.

‘We’ll be able to phone from the watch room,’ he assures me.

I hope he’s right.

We continue climbing the steps, our heavy breathing echoing within the lighthouse. Through the small windows I can see that dark clouds are gathering. If we have to climb back down to the beach, it’s going to be difficult in the rain. It is humid now and the higher we climb the hotter it seems to get. Sweat trickles down my back. I want to pray like I did when my parents used to take me to church as a child. I knew the Lord’s Prayer off by heart then. Not any more though. There’s no point now. There’s no one to pray to. I lost that crutch a long time ago.

Chapter Thirteen

Sparrow checked his watch. There were two things he needed to do; get rid of the body and find the box, and he didn’t have much time to do either. That damn couple were a pain in his arse.

‘Fuck,’ he yelled. Where the fuck were they now, the bastards? Who the hell were these people? One thing he knew for sure, they couldn’t get off the island. That was certain. He’d just wait it out. At least he knew they had the box. He’d explain there’d been a problem. Surely between him and whoever came to collect the cargo, they could sort out this couple together. He’d do a deal. One of them could stay with the boats so the couple couldn’t escape from the island, while the other flushed them out. On his own he couldn’t risk chasing them, it would only need one of them to get away and he was done for.

He’d been half expecting someone to come. Whoever sent that guy would be wondering what had happened. What the hell could be in that box that so many people wanted it? Prickly briars stuck to his clothes. His muscles were aching with fatigue. He’d be glad when this day was over. Hopefully he’d be able to book himself a flight to South America for tomorrow, the further away from here the better. Something bit hard at his skin and he slapped at his thigh. A drink was what he needed. No doubt the lagers would be warm now.

‘To hell with this,’ he muttered, sliding on some loose rocks.

He needed to get rid of the body before anyone else arrived. He kicked some stones out of the way and slowly made his way back to the beach. Still there were no boats on the horizon, he noted with relief. The lagers sat on the sand where he’d left them. He cracked one open and drank half the warm liquid. The sugar hit from the lagers had revived his flagging energy. He grimaced at the sight of the flies buzzing around the bloodied body before slowly moving towards it. Nausea rose up in his gut as he got closer. What was left of the dead man’s face was now stained with dry blackened blood and Sparrow grimaced.

‘He deserved it,’ he consoled himself. ‘It was him or me.’

If only a cloud would cover the damn sun. It would be so much easier if the sun wasn’t beating down on him. Something in his boat caught his eye. He reached in for the rucksack. It must belong to the couple. It was a fancy make too. There were sandwiches, pasties and chocolate bars inside. He’d have those, he thought, smiling. A small case at the bottom of the bag intrigued him. He opened it gingerly and stared at it before his dulled brain twigged. So, one of them was diabetic. That would slow them down for sure. He ate the chocolate to give him energy and then focused on the body.

He’d underestimated the weight of a corpse. He knew it would be heavy, but he never imagined it would be that heavy. He had to stop several times to catch his breath. The hairs lifted on the back of his neck. He stopped and looked around. He had a weird sensation of being watched. After satisfying himself there was no one around, he struggled on. Several times he gagged and eventually he had to cover the man’s face with a rag so he could continue. Everything seemed so far away. It was like a horror movie, where the closer the hero got to the end of the corridor, the further away it seemed. It felt to Sparrow like the sea was continually moving back like some surreal dream. He had to pull the top part of the torso in first and then jump from the boat to lift in the rest of the body. It took some time but eventually the body fell ungainly into the back of the boat. Sparrow just stopped himself from falling on top of it as the boat rocked with the weight. Everything was becoming too much, and he was running out of time. It was almost three o’clock. It would take a good twenty minutes to hook the man’s boat securely to his and then he had to take them out. He’d do it. He had to. The less there was to explain the better.

He emptied a bucket of water over the jetty to wash away the blood. Then, checking with his binoculars he looked around for the couple. They were going into the lighthouse. That was them. He had no doubt about that. Damn it. Why did they have to walk so far? He tugged off his shirt and threw it into the water to rinse off the blood. Everything was going to be okay, he told himself. He could handle things. He just needed another lager.

Chapter Fourteen

Abby

From the galley I can see the man. He’s on the beach. I can’t make out what he’s doing but at least I know where he is. If we hadn’t have been in so much danger, I could have enjoyed the view. It would have been the perfect photo of an idyllic island. Except for us the island was fraught with danger. The sea is endless with not a boat in sight. Jared is wearily climbing the narrow ladder that leads to the watch tower.

‘Let’s rest first,’ I suggest. ‘We know he’s on the beach. He’s some way from us at the moment.’

We both know for certain it won’t be long before he comes after us. We’re witnesses to a murder after all.

The only sounds are sea birds squawking and the whistling of the wind as it blows around the lighthouse. A small bar of signal pops up on my phone and I almost scream ecstatically but within seconds it has gone. It’s muggy and I’m quite dizzy from climbing so high. My foot is now badly swollen. The tightness is becoming unbearable. I’ve no idea how I’ll get down. The wind blows through a small porthole window, tugging at my hair. Surely Daphne will raise the alarm when she doesn’t receive a text from me. They know how anxious I am about Sam. They will realise something is wrong when I don’t message as usual.

‘It’s not that many steps,’ says Jared, gripping the metal railing with both hands.

I have no choice but to follow him.

*

It was four o’clock and Sparrow stared at his phone. Surely they will be here soon. He frowned as he strained his eyes against the binoculars. There was nothing. Not even a dot on the landscape. His fingernails were bitten down to the skin. Where were they? It was ten minutes past four now. His insides quivered with fear. What if that dead clown had come to collect? No, he was sure not. It had been all wrong. Besides he hadn’t come with payment. No, he felt sure he hadn’t been the pick-up. Do they know he’d fucked up? He was sweating. There were no more lagers left and he’d drunk the syrup juices from the bastard’s rucksack. There was nothing left to quench his thirst. He’d wait until five. Surely they would be here for the box before then. Fuck this place for not having a phone signal. He checked the lighthouse again. He could see a figure at one of the top windows.

It occurred to him he may have got the day wrong. He dismissed the thought immediately. He’d always been on the ball when it came to delivering the cargo. He had the day and the time right. Maybe they’d been delayed. Perhaps they’d hit trouble, like him. Maybe they’d been trying to contact him. He glanced down at his shirt. It was cleaner but there were still blood stains on it. He’d best go back after dark to be on the safe side. He wouldn’t want anyone asking questions.

The sky was starting to darken with black clouds. He’d be caught in a thunderstorm next.

By six, he realised that no one was going to come and collect the package which meant only one thing. He had to get it off the couple himself.

*

Abby

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