Girl, Missing (21 page)

Frank was climbing up, out of the saloon door.

No sign of Sonia. Then I heard her out on deck. ‘Give
me her cell,' she shouted. ‘We gotta leave it here. Don't want anyone tracing it.'

‘I haven't got it,' Frank grunted.

Sonia swore at him. ‘You were supposed to take it off her soon as she came on board.'

The boat bucked violently. I slipped to the ground, putting my hand out to save myself. The floor felt damp.
Oh God
. Water was seeping in, up through the floorboards.

‘Lauren.' Madison was trying to haul me back onto my feet.

As I stood up, Frank reappeared on the steps.

‘Where is it?' he yelled. ‘Your cellphone?'

‘I don't know.' It took all my concentration not to look back at the bedroom we'd just left. ‘I dropped it on the marina, getting onto the boat. It fell in the water.'

Frank strode over. He shoved his hands in my pockets, then patted roughly down my arms and legs. He did the same to Madison. ‘It's not on them,' he yelled up to Sonia.

The boat was moving less violently now. I looked down. Water was swirling at my feet. The toes of my boots were already stained dark brown.

‘Leave it,' Sonia snapped. ‘Let's go.'

Frank walked back to the steps that led up to the saloon door. Madison huddled closer to me.

‘You can't leave us in here,' I shouted.

Frank said nothing as he climbed up on deck. The door shut, plunging the saloon into a shadowy gloom.

I could hear them outside, dragging something heavy across the deck. The water was up to the ankles of my boots now. I pulled Madison after me, wading towards the steps.

Something landed with a dull thud against the saloon door.

They've wedged something against the door. They want us to drown in here. They want it to look like an accident
.

Panic rose in my throat. I hurled myself up the steps. The door wouldn't budge.

‘Help,' I shrieked. ‘Let us out.'

I hammered against the wood.

It was hopeless.

I looked back down at Madison. She was reaching up to one of the saloon windows, pulling back the curtain.

Through the tiny window I could see the boat was dangerously low in the water – close to an expanse of flat rock. A black and yellow pole topped with two black cones stood on the middle of the rock. In the far distance I could just make out a stretch of sandy beach.

‘What's happening?' Madison's small, scared voice stabbed at me like a knife.

‘It's going to be OK,' I said. ‘They've just run us aground on some rocks.'

The boat's going to sink. We're going to drown
.

Heart pounding, I looked round the saloon. There were plenty of windows, but they were all too small for us to climb through.

The boat gave a sickening lurch backwards. I gripped the grab-rail by the steps to stop myself falling off.

Madison slid into the water.

‘Madi?' I yelled.

She stood up, dripping wet, her face crumpled with fear and misery.

I reached out my hand. ‘Come on, Madi,' I urged. ‘Maybe if we both push we can shift whatever's blocking the door.'

The floor of the saloon was slanting towards the stern now. Madison waded towards me. The boat rolled back again, sinking even further into the water.

How long did we have before we sunk completely?

38

The rock

I pushed again at the saloon door. It was totally jammed.

Madison was at the bottom of the steps, looking up at me. Her teeth were chattering. ‘Daddy's g-gonna be m-mad about the boat,' she said. ‘Lauren, my h-head really h-hurts.'

‘I know, babe.' I thumped against the wood. ‘Help,' I yelled, knowing it was hopeless. ‘Help.'

I stopped. No response. Only the splash of the waves, the creak of the boat and my own, urgent breathing.

I thumped again.

Please. Please
.

And then I heard it – an answering thump from outside of the saloon door. ‘Lauren?'

My heart leaped. I hammered on the wood. ‘Jam? Is that you? Jam?'

‘Listen,' he yelled. ‘They've wedged this boat hook between the door and the step here. I'm gonna pull it out.'

The scraping sound of metal against wood filtered through the door. I looked down at Madi. ‘It's OK,' I said,
tears of relief filling my eyes. ‘Jam's here. He's going to get us out.'

I turned back to the door and pressed my palm against the wood. ‘You came back.'

‘Course I did,' Jam panted. ‘I've been hiding down the back of the boat since Evanport.'

‘Where's Sonia and that man?'

‘All wetsuited up, swimming to shore,' Jam said, grimly. ‘There.'

I heard the boat hook thud onto the deck. The saloon door opened. I caught a quick glimpse of Jam's face, then the boat gave a dreadful creak and jerked violently backwards again.

I was thrown off the steps and plunged into the icy water. For a moment everything was total confusion. Whooshing bubbles all around me. I whirled head over heels in the water. Sinking, I opened my eyes. The ignition panel was at my feet. I clawed at the water with my hands. Harder. Harder. Then my head broke through the water. Gulping in air, I looked around. Under the water, beside me, were the dining table and benches. The cupboard doors around them were all open. The water was littered with plates and cups that had been inside.

‘Lauren.'

I looked up. Jam's head and shoulders were hanging down through the saloon door, now just a metre or so above the water.

He reached out his hand. ‘Come on.'

I looked around. ‘Madison. Where's Madison?' My voice rose in panic. I dived under the freezing water again. My clothes clung to me, making it harder to drag myself through the water.

I looked round. And then I saw her. Just a few metres away. Floating under the water, her long hair drifting out behind her.

My heart skipped about ten beats.
Madi, hold on
.

I pulled my aching arms through the water. It seemed to take for ever to reach her. Then I was there, hauling her up, up out of the water.

I was right under the open door, Madison a dead weight in my arms. Jam was leaning down towards me, his upper chest and arms completely through the opening.

‘You'll have to push her up,' he said.

I shoved her out of the icy water, feeling Jam take some of her weight in his arms.

‘Push her higher,' he gasped. ‘I can't take her weight and keep my balance.'

I summoned strength from somewhere and with a mighty heave, thrust Madison's limp and sodden body towards him. Then she was gone. I trod water, making as little movement as possible. I realised that I could no longer feel my legs.

‘Lauren. Lauren.' Jam was yelling my name.

I looked up. He wasn't far above me now. His hands were even able to reach the water. But it was too cold. What was he saying?

‘Grab my hand, Lauren. Grab my hand.'

I looked, stupidly, along my arms. My hands were drifting listlessly in the water. It was an effort to move them. Even the small movement I was making with my legs took too much effort. It would be easier just to stop. Just to let the water pull me down.

‘Lauren.' Jam's shout echoed round the watery room. ‘Take my hand. Take it. Now.'

With a huge effort I reached out and let his hand grip my wrist.

‘Now grab the door and pull yourself up,' he yelled.

I tried to make my arm lift up, but there was no strength left. The opening was only half a metre above my head, but it might as well have been half a mile.

‘I'm not leaving you,' Jam yelled. ‘D'you want me to die here? D'you want Madison to die?'

No. No. NO
.

I reached up and somehow grabbed the saloon door. I gritted my teeth and told my muscles to pull me up. Jam's hands were under my arms, pulling me too. I hooked one arm onto the outside of the door. Then the other. I could feel Jam's hands, scrabbling over my back, pulling me upward.

And then I was there, clambering out into the cockpit, then onto the saloon roof, just a metre or so above the crashing waves.

The cold air hit me like a slap, but it was better than being in the water. I knelt, hunched over my knees, shivering.

‘Get up,' Jam shouted. He was standing, barefoot, beside me, with one of Madison's arms slung round his shoulders. She hung from him, moaning lightly, all limp and floppy.

I struggled to my feet, trying to keep my balance against the rocking of the boat. It was sinking faster now. We didn't have more than a minute or so before we would be sucked completely under.

I took Madison's other arm and pulled it across my own shoulders. Jam pointed to the flat rock I'd seen out of the saloon window. ‘We have to swim to that,' he gasped.

I nodded. The rock didn't look too far away, but the water around it was choppy. And I knew how cold it would be.

Together, we plunged into the water. Instantly my legs and arms grew stiff. Lugging Madison's weight between us made it even harder to drag our way through the waves that crashed round our faces. I could feel Jam pulling ahead, his arms and legs fresher and stronger. I struggled to keep
up with him, the effort at least keeping some feeling in my limbs.

For some reason, once we were in the water the flat rock looked further away. Gripping Madison's hand I pushed myself forward. One stroke at a time. One more. One more.

My arms and legs were going numb again. Water splashed in my face. My legs knocked against lethal underwater jags, like the one that had torn the hole in the hull of the
Josephine May
.

Then, just as I thought I couldn't move any further, we were there. Jam scrambled onto the rock, half-dragging, half-pushing Madison as he did so. I hauled myself after him.

Jam's face was contorted with pain. I looked down. Blood was seeping through his trousers just above the ankle, running onto his bare foot.

‘Cut myself,' he panted. ‘One of the rocks.' He limped over to a pair of trainers which were lying on their sides in the middle of the flat rock.

How had they got here?

‘They're mine.' Jam bent over and pulled a sock out of one of the trainers. He clamped the sock to his bloody leg and reached further inside.

My mouth fell open as he drew out my phone. I had forgotten all about it.

His face was blue with cold as he held it out to me. ‘I saw you hide it. I'd have got to it earlier if I wasn't scared they'd see me.'

Shivering, I looked down. There was a signal. A faint one. My hand shook as I punched nine-one-one into the handset.

Jam was still talking. ‘I wanted to call for help, but the boat was going down too fast. I threw it over here inside my trainer so it didn't get wet.'

A woman answered the call. ‘Emergency services? Which service?'

‘We're on a rock,' I stammered. ‘In the water.'

‘Where in the water? Where are you?' The operator's voice was brisk and efficient.

‘I don't know where,' I said, desperately trying to focus.

‘Somewhere called Long Mile,' Jam said. ‘I heard them say.'

I told the operator.
Long Mile
. The name sounded familiar. But I was too cold and it was too hard to make myself work out how I knew it.

‘How many of you are there?'

‘Three.'

‘Do any of you require urgent medical attention?'

Madison
.

I shoved the phone at Jam and raced over to where she lay, face down on the hard rock. I touched her cheek. It
was cold as ice. I turned her over and listened for a breath. Nothing.
No
. She couldn't be . . . I shook her hard. ‘Madison.' A chill colder than the ice water ran through my blood.

‘Madison!' I yelled. ‘Wake up!'

39

Waiting

Through the gap in the curtains I could see doctors and nurses bustling past. The Emergency Room was noisy and busy but here, sitting up on my hospital trolley, I was outside the action.

Just waiting.

Waiting for news of Madison.

Annie and Sam had arrived about an hour ago – white-faced and upset. I'd seen them briefly – told them everything that had happened. I felt so guilty about Madison that I'd almost wanted them to get mad at me. To scream that I shouldn't have taken her with me to the marina that morning. That it would be my fault if she died.

But they just stood there, looking dazed. Then one of the nurses came by and took them off to the trauma room where Madi was being worked on. I'd wanted to go too. But the nurse said I had to wait to see the doctor again.

Now MJ had turned up and was sitting beside me. I tried to focus on what she was saying.

‘Sonia Holtwood wanted to make it look like an accident
– like you and Madison had taken the boat without permission, then lost control and run it aground on the rocks.'

Please let her be all right
.

MJ leaned forward. ‘It was clever,' she said. ‘Picking Long Mile Beach. You know, where you went missing.'

I stared at her, remembering the beach I'd seen in the distance when we were on the rock. And the photos Madison had shown me. ‘Long Mile?'

MJ nodded. ‘I guess Sonia thought it would look like you were going there because you were curious about it. I've handed over your phone video. At least now we have a proper picture of her. And we know she's in the area. We're going to get her this time.'

I nodded numbly.
What does it matter? Catching Sonia Holtwood won't help Madison
.

MJ left. I sat there, staring at my hands, reliving the last couple of hours.

They had winched us off the rock by helicopter. I guess that sounds exciting. But it wasn't. Just cold and frightening.

Madison didn't wake up all the time we were on the helicopter. The paramedics put these silvery cloaks round me and Jam to warm us up, and one of them checked out the cut on Jam's leg.