Page 106 of The Knitting Club at Wagtail Ridge

Matt said nothing, his eyes fixed on the track. They’d travelled less than a hundred metres when the track opened into a clearing. Sally’s car sat in the middle of it.

Matt pulled up and jumped out. ‘Vicki! Vicki!’

The only reply was the sound of the rising wind in the branches of the trees.

‘Where is she?’ Matt asked Brian as he approached.

‘There’s a small waterfall.’ Brian hesitated and looked up at the sky. ‘Have you got a torch?’

Bree also looked up. Ominous clouds were gathering overhead. It was getting dark and the rain wasn’t far away.

Matt reached into the glovebox of the car and emerged with a torch. ‘Come on. Show us the way.’

Brian started to run along a small, barely visible path. Matt and Bree followed close behind.

***

Matt became aware of the sound of running water nearby. His steps faltered and terrifying images filled his mind. Surely Sally would keep Vicki well away from the water. She couldn’t be that far removed from reality.

‘Vicki!’ Matt called, straining his ears for a response. ‘Vicki!’ Nothing but the sounds of the wind and their footsteps hurrying up the path.

He was starting to gasp for breath when, ahead of him, Brian vanished over the crest of a small rise. When Matt reached him, he was stationary, looking across the clearing at a jumble of large rocks at the foot of a raging waterfall.

Sally was sitting on one of the rocks, and beside her—

‘Vicki!’ Matt flung himself towards them.

‘Daddy!’ Vicki jumped to her feet to run to him, but Sally grabbed her arm.

‘No. Don’t go to him. That man will bring you nothing but pain, Kim, darling. Nothing but pain.’

Matt slid to a stop, shocked by the wildness he could see in Sally’s eyes and the terror on Vicki’s face.

‘Sally. Sally. It’s all right.’ Brian’s voice was calming.

‘I know. They said Kim was dead. But I knew if I came here, I’d find her. That everything would be all right.’

Fear tightened its grip on Matt’s heart. He took a step forward, but Sally jumped to her feet and backed away, dragging Vicki with her. Vicki struggled, her face was streaked with tears.

‘Granny, you’re hurting me!’

The cry cut Matt like a blade, but Sally showed no sign of having heard it.

Still backing away, she held up one hand as if to ward off danger. ‘No. Stay away from my daughter. You can’t take her away from me.’

Matt stopped moving. Just a couple of metres behind Sally, the muddy bank dropped away into a roiling pool fed by the crashing torrent of the waterfall. If Vicki got too close, or Sally … If one of them slipped …

Brian stepped forward. ‘Sally. My love. It’s all right. You have to let go of her.’

Sally’s eyes lost a little of their wildness as she looked at her husband. ‘See, Brian, Kim is here. She’s all right. We have our little girl back.’

‘I’m not Kim. I’m Vicki!’ Vicki wrenched her arm away from her grandmother and started to run. Sally made a wild grab for her but propelled by fear, the girl was too fast.

Matt stepped forward and dropped to his knees and Vicki flung herself into his arms.

He pulled her to him, holding her small body tight against him and burying his face in her hair. ‘Vicki. You’re safe. I’m here now. I’ll never let anything bad happen to you. I love you, Vicki. I love you so much, honey.’

‘I love you too, Daddy.’ Vicki’s sobs tore his heart into tiny pieces as she clung to him as if she would never let him go.

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