Fern’s heart sank when she returned from the bank on Tuesday morning to find Noah Keen parked on her driveway.
Her case was packed, her handbag contained enough cash to see her through to the end of January, and she had a new mobile phone ready to go. She had messaged Meg that morning and updated her on her plan to leave town for a while. Now all that was left to do was load her car and leave. But she couldn’t do that while Olivia’s boyfriend was sniffing around.
For a moment she was tempted to drive past her house, give it half an hour and hope he had moved on, but he was leaning against the bonnet, arms crossed as he waited for her, and she was fairly certain he had already seen her.
As he had rudely taken over her drive with his Audi and she didn’t want to block him in (God forbid she give him any reason to stay longer than necessary), she left her car parked on the street, clicking her key to lock it as she marched purposefully towards him, chin raised and heels clipping against the pavement.
‘Is there a reason why you’re blocking my driveway?’ She scowled at him, annoyed when the insolent smirk on his face widened. He really was far too attractive for his own good. Wisps of tawny brown hair poked out from under the woolly charcoal hat he wore; the olive-green scarf wrapped around his neck highlighted the colour of his eyes; even his smirk gave him appealing dimples. And that annoyed her also.
If circumstances were different and he wasn’t harassing her, she would have liked the opportunity to get to know him better.
Instead he was proving to be an obstacle in her mission to get away.
‘If you had bothered to answer my calls and messages, I wouldn’t be here.’
‘I didn’t answer as I have nothing to say to you, so run along. I have things to do.’
When she strode past him to the front door, key ready in her hand, he stood up from the bonnet and followed. ‘That’s where you’re wrong. You and I have a lot to talk about.’
Fern unlocked the door, stepping into the house and wheeling on him. ‘No, you’re wrong. So just piss off, will you?’
‘Or what? You’ll call the police?’
Her heart thumped uncomfortably. He knew that wasn’t an option for her. Instead she attempted to slam the door in his face, irritation and fear flitting through her when he wedged his boot in the doorway and pushed his way into the hall. ‘Get out of my house! I will make that call.’
Unperturbed, he shut the door behind him, following Fern into the kitchen as she made a show of pulling her phone from her bag, intending to call his bluff.
Leaning back against the counter he studied her calmly. ‘We both know you’re not going to call them.’
‘Don’t test me.’
‘Okay, go ahead. Make the call.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s no odds to me. I’m not going anywhere.’ To make his point, he unzipped his jacket, loosened his scarf, and pulled the beany hat off his head, running his fingers through his dishevelled hair, before staring at her pointedly.
Fern swore under her breath, furious with him for catching her out. He was right. They both knew she wasn’t going to call the police. She slipped the phone back in her bag, which she put down on the counter, not daring to look at the edge of her suitcase poking out from under the breakfast bar. ‘So come on, then. What the fuck is it you want from me?’
He stared at her for a moment, the smirk turning to a look of contempt. ‘The truth,’ he told her, his tone dangerously soft.
‘The truth about what?’
Because he was unnerving her a little, she busied her hands, reaching into the cupboard for a bottle of vodka. Her go-to in any stressful situation.
Noah watched her set it on the counter, one eyebrow raised. ‘Bit early for a drink, isn’t it?’
She threw him a scowl, though his comment reminded her that she had a long drive ahead. She couldn’t afford to get stopped for drink-driving. Leaving the bottle where it was, she moved to the breakfast bar and leant against it, trying to discreetly move her suitcase further out of sight with her knee.
‘What do you want?’ she repeated. Of course she knew what he wanted. She wasn’t stupid. He had said ‘the truth’ and she knew exactly what truth he wanted. She didn’t plan on giving it to him though.
‘What really happened the night of Olivia’s accident, Fern? What did you do to Margaret Grimes?’
‘We’ve already had this conversation and I told you.’
‘We did, but now I want you to tell me the truth. Janice is in the hospital; Howard, Gary, Rachel and Kelly are dead. That leaves you and it leaves Olivia. It’s time to confess what really happened.’
‘I said I already told you.’
‘Yes, but you’re lying. I want the truth.’
‘I’m not lying!’
‘You’re testing my patience, Fern.’
‘Do you think I give a shit?’
‘You should. You really should.’
Fern didn’t like his tone. For a moment it crossed her mind that he actually knew what had happened that night in the woods. That he just wanted her to say the words. ‘What the hell is that supposed to mean?’
Those green eyes studied her intently and she couldn’t help squirming a little. Saying nothing, he slowly, deliberately walked towards her, pressed his palms on the counter and leant forward until his gaze was level with hers. ‘How about I call the police? Tell them you’re planning on disappearing.’
‘What?’ Her voice came out high-pitched and more shocked than she had intended. ‘What do you mean?’
‘You know exactly what I mean.’ He nodded down to where her case was hidden under the breakfast bar. ‘Your stuff is packed. You’ve cleared your bank account.’
‘How do you know about that?’
‘I followed you.’
‘You did what?’ Anger bit through the panic. ‘You had no fucking right to follow me anywhere! Does Olivia know what you’ve been doing? I know her. She would never agree to that.’
‘I’m doing it for Olivia,’ Noah told her coldly. ‘I wonder what she would think if she knew you were skipping town. I wonder what the police would think.’
‘They never said I had to stay.’
‘Trust me, they are not going to be happy if you leave.’ He pulled his phone out of his jacket pocket, tapped at the screen, and fear coiled in Fern’s belly.
‘What are you doing? You can’t call them.’
‘Tell me the truth then.’
‘I told you–’
‘No more bullshit, Fern. I can make this call and have them here before you’ve even left the city.’
He had neatly backed her into a corner and she realised she had nowhere left to go. ‘If I tell you, you have to promise to let me leave. You can’t tell the police.’
Noah seemed to consider that. Nodded. ‘Okay, but no more games, no more messing around. What really happened?’
Fern drew a breath, resigned. She had planned on taking this secret to the grave. ‘You have to understand, it was an accident.’
She waited for Noah to say something, but he was silent as he stepped back, resumed his position leaning against the counter, eyes still on her, watching, she suspected, for any sign of a lie.
‘And Livvy, if she hadn’t betrayed our friendship, if she hadn’t treated me like a piece of dirt, then I would have left Margaret alone. She’s as much to blame.’
A flicker of annoyance creased his brow at that, but still he remained quiet, waiting for her to continue.
‘They had found this house, Livvy and Margaret. Well, Howard found it first. He told me how he and Gary had been exploring it and when they came out they ran into Livvy and Margaret. We got talking and thought it would be funny to scare Margaret. There was a storage room on the farm and it was full of loads of props. Masks, cloaks, fake weapons. We just needed a way to lure her out to the cottage.’
Fern tapped her fingers nervously against the counter, wishing she had poured the vodka, the memory clear of that final night, how Rachel had fooled Olivia and Margaret into thinking she had fallen out with Fern. How a group of them had gone out to the cottage late that afternoon and hidden costumes, matches and a couple of paraffin lamps, how they had plotted how best to scare Margaret and make her pay, how funny the whole situation would be.
Rachel had talked Olivia and Margaret into going out to the cottage during the final night disco and Fern had snuck out ahead of them with Howard, Gary, Janice and Kelly.
‘Are you sure they’re going to come?’
Janice was whining yet again, her words slightly muffled behind the clown mask she wore. Although she was supposed to appear scary, and probably would do to Margaret who wouldn’t realise it was Janice behind the mask, she actually looked rather comical. The whining was getting irritating though and Fern rolled her eyes, almost wishing she hadn’t brought her.
They had only been in the cottage fifteen minutes and so far Janice had been worried someone might find them trespassing. She had needed the loo, had been too scared to go outside and pee, had been tired, had aching legs, oh, and she had been too cold.
Fern had cursed Olivia again for her betrayal. Janice hadn’t exactly been her first choice for best friend.
Howard and Kelly were fooling around upstairs, giggling and sharing jokes as they tried to spook each other, and Fern yelled up to them to shut up.
From his position in the corner by the window, Gary called through. ‘I just saw a light. I think they are coming.’
Fern hissed again for silence, excitement building and overtaking her annoyance with Janice. If they managed to pull this off, it would be epic.
After a couple of minutes of silence, she heard footsteps and excited chatter. That was definitely Margaret’s voice she could hear and yes, that was Rachel and Olivia too.
Across the room, Janice sniffed and shuffled her feet.
‘Stay bloody still,’ Fern whispered, her tone harsh. ‘If you mess this up, I will never speak to you again.’
‘Sorry.’
There was no more sniffing or shuffling, but Fern could still hear Janice breathing.
She bit down on her irritation.
The voices grew louder and there were crunching footsteps over stones and glass. She took a step forward, peering through the doorway, and saw a shape clambering through the window. Realising it was Margaret she quickly stepped back again, seeing a torch flashing in her direction. Olivia was behind her and she was the one who immediately spotted the faint glow from the paraffin lamp.
And then it happened quickly. Margaret was stepping forward into the room where Fern and Janice were hiding and Gary had hold of Olivia, who let out a scream before falling silent.
As Margaret glanced back in panic, Fern and Janice ambushed her, Kelly and Gary stepping forward to join them, Rachel close behind, having put her own mask on.
For a moment Fern had wondered why Gary was there. His job had been to incapacitate Olivia and hold her back while they tormented Margaret. Why wasn’t he with Livvy? What had happened to her?
But then they had Margaret surrounded and she was turning in circles, wide-eyed, her face pale, and Fern was feeding on her fear, forgetting all about Olivia. Margaret didn’t scream, seeming more stunned than anything, at least until the hood went over her head, and then her cries were muffled and panicked as between them they managed to bundle her up the stairs to where Howard and Kelly were waiting.
As they tried to restrain her she fought like a wild thing, breaking free and charging blindly around the room, the hood still on her head, tugging in panic as she tried to find the drawstring to free herself.
The accident happened so fast. One moment they were trying to grab Margaret, the next the second paraffin lamp was on the floor, flames igniting the wooden boards.
‘Fuck! We need to get out.’
That was from Howard who was already hurtling down the stairs with no consideration for the others.
Fern glanced at the rapidly spreading fire, heart in mouth, as she quickly followed.
It wasn’t until they were outside and the cottage was ablaze that she realised Margaret and Olivia were both unaccounted for.
It would have been foolish to go back inside. They had probably both already succumbed to the flames.
The implications of that were clear in her mind.
‘We have to go. We have to get out of here.’
‘What?’ Kelly had ripped off her mask, looked horrified. ‘They’re still inside.’
‘What are we supposed to do? The place is on fire. They’re dead!’ That was from Howard, who was trying hard to sound authoritative, but his shaky voice betrayed him.
‘What happened to Olivia?’ Fern turned on Gary, pointing a finger at his chest. ‘You were supposed to stay with her. Make sure she didn’t intervene.’
‘I shoved her against the wall. I think she hit her head.’
‘You what?’
‘I don’t like this.’ Rachel was crying now, setting Janice off too, who until now had been silent. ‘We have to get them out.’
‘Are you thick? It’s too late!’
Fern glanced at Howard. He was right. There was nothing they could do for Margaret or Olivia. It had been an accident, a terrible accident. The police might not see it that way, though. ‘We need to go. We need to get out of here fast.’
‘What?’ That was Kelly and Rachel in unison now. They sounded appalled. ‘We need to get help!’ Kelly added.
‘They wouldn’t get here in time. There’s nothing we can do and if we stay we will be in so much trouble. Seriously, we need to go.’
Howard and Gary didn’t need any encouragement, already heading back down the woodland path, Janice hot on their heels, fearing she might be left behind.
Kelly and Rachel were still looking at Fern, seeming uncertain. ‘So you’re just going to leave them to burn?’ Rachel accused.
‘They’re already dead!’ Guilt and fear were fuelling Fern’s anger now. ‘You want to save them? Be my guest.’ She took a step back, shook her head, before turning and racing after the others.
‘You left them there to die.’
Fern wasn’t sure what was worse, Noah’s disgusted tone or the way he was looking at her like she was something he had just scraped off his shoe.
She had never told anyone what had happened that night, shared the secret only with those who had been there, and they had vowed to never tell a soul.
They had managed to sneak back into the farmhouse without being seen, had kept a low profile as the place became bedlam as word of the fire spread. The fire brigade tackled the blaze for most of the night and the police were there speaking with the owners.
Rachel was the only one who had stayed behind, trying vainly to get back in the cottage to help Olivia and Margaret, and she had been found wandering disorientated in the woods, covered in soot and suffering the effects of smoke inhalation, in shock from what had happened.
She was the one weak link, the one who could expose the rest of them. But Rachel never told, despite throwing daggers at Fern when she saw her briefly before being taken away in an ambulance.
Word of Margaret and Olivia had spread by breakfast. The staff were doing their best to keep a lid on the situation as they worked closely with the police and the fire brigade, but rumours were spreading quickly. Some of the students had noticed that Margaret and Olivia were absent, while others had overheard that two bodies had been pulled from the fire and quickly put two and two together, given that both girls had been seen with Rachel Williams the previous night.
It wasn’t until later when she was home that Fern learnt Olivia had survived the fire, though she was in hospital and in a critical condition.
‘It was a prank. A stupid, childish prank,’ she spat at Noah. How dare he stand there and judge her? They had been fourteen, just kids. It could have happened to anyone.
‘Margaret Grimes died. Stop calling it a prank or using your childhood as an excuse.’
‘Well what do you want me to call it? Murder? Do you honestly think I wanted them to die? If I could go back in time, we would never have gone to that stupid cottage. It would never have happened. But it did. It was an accident and I feel bad that Margaret died, that Olivia was hurt. There, is that what you want me to say?’
‘You felt bad for Olivia?’
‘Of course I did. I’m not a monster.’
‘So bad that you made her life hell when she returned to school? After everything she had been through, after what had happened to Margaret, you still continued with your spiteful pranks.’
Fern narrowed her eyes. ‘What has she told you?’
‘I know about the video, Fern. I know what you did to her. And yes, dress it up any way you want, you are a monster.’
‘Get out of my house. We’re done here.’
‘Oh, we are definitely done here. But first I have one more question.’ Noah pushed away from the counter, took a step towards her and she straightened, jutting out her chin. She was done with his judgemental bullshit and there was no way she was going to let him intimidate her.
‘What?’
‘You know what is happening now is connected to that night. You’ve stood by and watched someone burn your friends in revenge for what happened to Margaret. Who else might know what happened that night? Who would want to punish you?’
‘I don’t know. Your girlfriend has pretty good motivation, I would say.’
‘Olivia didn’t do this.’
‘So you keep saying.’
‘Where was Malcolm Grimes when you were baiting his sister? Olivia says he used to follow them everywhere. How certain are you that he wasn’t there that night in the woods, that he didn’t see what you did to his sister?’
Honestly? Fern had toyed with the idea of it being Margaret’s creepy-arse brother, but she hadn’t given it that much thought. She had worked on the basis that one of the group had blabbed and that whoever they had told had decided to punish them. Had Margaret’s brother followed them that night? If so, why take so long to come after them?
‘It’s possible,’ she conceded. ‘But why would he wait until now?’
‘Maybe he wanted to make sure he got everything right before he took his revenge.’
Noah smiled coldly. An odd expression passed over his face and a chill passed down Fern’s spine, her spider sense tingling, warning that something wasn’t quite right. He had threatened, intimidated and tried to blackmail her, but this was the first time she had actually been scared of him.
‘How did you say you and Olivia met again?’
‘I didn’t.’
For a moment they sized each other up. Was there something familiar in that green stare?
‘I think we’re done here now. I answered your questions.’ Fern moved quickly, giving him a wide berth as she went into the hallway, keen to have him out of her house. Opening the door, she faked a smile at him as he followed, relieved when he simply scowled at her before leaving.
She closed the door after him, locked it, watching through the peephole as he climbed into his car and started the engine, not letting out a sigh of relief until he had pulled out of her driveway.
Was it possible he was behind all of this?
Even if he wasn’t, she couldn’t trust him not to call the police. She had told him what he wanted to know, but there was still too great a risk. Noah Keen was a danger to her however she looked at it. She needed to get her stuff together and leave as soon as possible. She had already picked a location, figuring she would head for Wales and the Pembrokeshire Coast.
Quickly she hauled her case out from under the breakfast bar, dragging it into the hallway, then fetched her car from off the road, moving it onto the driveway and loading the boot.
Back in the kitchen she filled a canvas shopping bag with a few non-perishable items and the bottle of vodka, then poked her head in the fridge, debating on what might survive the journey.
Hearing a noise behind her, she started to turn and caught a glimpse of a familiar figure just a second before something smacked her hard across the face and her world turned black.
