How to Fall (28 page)

I made myself look sorrowful, remembering what Will had said about Freya’s demeanour and how it differed from mine. Not confrontational. Not too exaggerated. I settled on turning my head away from Coco, as if I couldn’t bear to look at her any more.

‘It was an accident,’ she said.

‘Was it?’

‘Of course.’ She gave a sob, her face working as she tried not to cry. ‘You know I never meant for you to fall.’

‘What?’ I dropped the Freya act for a second, my voice sharp. I couldn’t have stayed silent for a million pounds. ‘You were here?’

‘They weren’t expecting you to run. You were too quick. The others followed but I was faster than everyone else.’ She laughed, a brittle, horrible sound. ‘As usual. I don’t know why you’re even surprised. That’s what I’m famous for.’

‘I don’t remember,’ I whispered. ‘Why did I run?’

‘Because you were scared.’ She frowned. ‘You really don’t remember? Everyone was waiting for you.’

‘Why?’

‘To see your reaction when you found out you’d been fooled by the guy we invented.’

‘You wanted to laugh at me?’

Coco nodded miserably. ‘And you and Natasha had a fight. A proper one. She wanted to hurt you. You know what a bad temper she has.’ Her hand went to her throat. ‘She pulled your necklace off.’

My neck burned where the chain lay against it, as if it had actually happened to me. Poor Freya.

Coco continued, ‘You ran. Natasha said we weren’t to let you get away. She wanted to teach you a lesson.’ She shrugged. ‘I didn’t think about it. I just followed you. If I’d known what was going to happen I would never, ever have done it. But I thought it was going to be all right.’

‘How did I fall?’

‘It wasn’t my fault. I tried to stop you.’ I didn’t quite believe her; the self-justification struck a false note. ‘You’d run into a dead end. As soon as I realized you’d come this way I knew you were trapped, and you knew it too. You were standing on the edge of the cliff when I got here. I didn’t want to scare you, so I just said your name. You didn’t seem to hear. I tried to grab hold of you to pull you back, but I couldn’t get there in time. You went over the edge. There was nothing I could do.’

‘Did anyone see? Does anyone else know what you did?’

She shook her head. ‘I was too upset to tell anyone what happened.’

‘Poor you.’ It was a me thing to say with that sarcastic inflection, and it irritated Coco.

‘I couldn’t sleep properly for months. I’ve failed exams I should have passed and I haven’t won races that should have been easy. My training was all over
the
place – my parents thought I was on drugs. So yeah, poor me.’ Her eyes narrowed and she came forward a few paces. ‘Wait a second . . . Jess?’

‘The penny drops.’ I smiled at her, not pleasantly, and moved round to keep the bench between us. ‘I wanted to know the truth. Did you leave anything out?’

‘No.’ She sounded sulky. ‘You tricked me.’

‘You tricked Freya. And you hunted her to her death.’

‘It was an accident.’

‘If it was an accident, why didn’t you tell her mum how she died? Why didn’t you tell the police? Why did you let her friends and family think she killed herself deliberately?’

‘I was scared.’ Coco looked the opposite of scared as she sauntered around the bench, one hand trailing along the back of it.

I moved away a little. ‘Scared of what? Scared you’d get into trouble?’ I shook my head. ‘That’s pathetic. You’ve got to take responsibility for what you did.’

‘I didn’t do anything.’

‘You were an active participant in a mob. You bullied Freya, along with your evil pal. You forced her to the edge of the cliff and you helped her over the
edge
by scaring her that little bit more. She had nowhere else to go. Because of you.’

‘I knew that was what everyone would say.’ Coco had moved towards me as I stepped back, keeping the distance between us the same.

‘So that’s why you said nothing.’ I took another couple of steps away from her, feeling crowded. The surf boomed on the rocks below us, louder now than I had heard it before.

‘Did you come alone?’

I was about to say yes without thinking about it, but something stopped me. I looked at her, at the intent expression in her eyes, and I started to reassess the previous few minutes.

‘Are you here on your own?’ she asked, more insistent this time. Then she smiled. ‘You are, aren’t you? You’d want to do this by yourself. You wouldn’t want to share the glory of solving the crime of the century.’

‘That wasn’t why.’

‘Oh, I see. Turning up with an entourage would have spoiled the effect.’ She tilted her head to one side and moved a step closer. ‘As a matter of interest, did you think I was going to be taken in by your little Freya act?’

‘You were,’ I said simply.

‘For about two seconds, and that was only because I couldn’t believe you would cut your hair just for this.’ Another step. I glanced behind me to the edge of the cliff, then back at her. She smirked. ‘I hate to break it to you, but no one believes in ghosts.’

‘So was it true, what you just said? Was it an accident?’

Coco shrugged. ‘As far as anyone can tell. But it doesn’t matter.’

‘Why not?’

‘The subject is closed. Freya died a year ago. No one cared about her any more until you came and started asking questions again. No one will care after you’re gone.’

I folded my arms, trying to look tough. ‘But I’m not leaving here for a month. And I can do a lot of talking in a month.’

‘Your plans have changed,’ Coco said sweetly. ‘You’re going a lot sooner than that.’

‘What do you mean?’ I didn’t like how calm she was. I didn’t like how close she was, either.

‘You’re the only one who knows I was there when Freya died. I told everyone else that I was too late to stop her. I said I didn’t even see her fall. I can’t change my story now.’

‘But if it was an accident—’

‘I didn’t change anything by being here,’ she said quickly. ‘She was going to jump anyway. I just gave her a helping hand.’

I was all too aware that Freya had been looking for Will’s ledge so she could escape the hunt behind her. Coco had killed her, but she didn’t realize it. And I wasn’t about to tell her that while we were alone in exactly the same spot. Not when she had a very strange look on her face, as if she had made a decision about something I wouldn’t like.

‘You’ve explained that it was an accident,’ I said. ‘I believed you – I’m sure everyone else will too. They’ll understand why you didn’t want anyone to know what really happened.’

‘You don’t understand. I can’t afford to be tainted by association with something like this. It could blow my whole future.’

‘I hardly think so.’

‘I can’t have rumours about me being involved in what happened here last year. All the work I put in – all the training – it will only be worthwhile if I get some sponsors to pay me to run. I should get some advertising deals if I make the GB team and that’s where the money is. Then, after I retire from running, I could move into commentating. And then mainstream television presenting.’ Her eyes had gone
unfocused
as she laid out her vision of the future. Now she came back to herself and glared at me. ‘But that will only happen if I look like a good girl. Getting caught up in someone else’s drama is so not in my life plan.’

‘You have to make the team in the first place. None of it will matter if you’re just not good enough.’ I was trying to distract her, looking for a weak spot. I had to get away from the edge of the cliff.

‘I’m good enough.’ Coco’s confidence was unshakeable. ‘I only have one problem.’

‘Me.’

‘You.’ She sighed. ‘I could have liked you, you know. You have more character than most of the girls around here. You don’t give up. That’s why I know you won’t agree to keep your mouth shut about Freya’s death.’

She was right – there was no point in denying it. I was trying to remember how many steps I had taken, and in what direction. I edged to my right a little and she copied me. I couldn’t help shivering.

‘What happened to Freya – you could call that an accident. If anything happens to me, no one is going to believe it was another one. They’ll investigate properly this time.’

‘Do you think so?’ She laughed. ‘You’re not in
London
now, you know. It’s in everyone’s interests to hide the bad things about Port Sentinel. Anything that affects the tourist numbers could be catastrophic for the town. I think you’ll find there are plenty of people who’d be willing to swear you were obsessed with Freya to the point where you dressed like her, behaved like her and re-enacted her suicide down to her last moment, when you got carried away. Whether you meant to fall or not, tragically, you did.’

‘That’s not going to happen.’ I stepped sideways again. I should really have paid more attention to the size of step Will had meant. He was taller than me. Did that mean I should take nine steps instead of eight? I hadn’t asked nearly enough questions, given that it might save my life. Another step. Coco matched it neatly, getting ever closer. She was still completely calm and it was this that made me most scared. She was in control, not me. She had done it before – because I didn’t believe she had tried to save Freya, judging by how she was behaving. She might not have meant for her to die, but she hadn’t minded too much that that was the outcome. She knew what she was doing. She knew how easy it was to kill. And she was the sort of person who would never give in.

‘Don’t do this,’ I said quietly.

‘I have to.’ Completely matter-of-fact, no apology
about
it. And she was far too close. I was opening my mouth to try a different approach when three things happened, more or less simultaneously and without any warning.

One: a man shouted, very loudly, ‘Police! Step away from the cliff.’

Two: the beams of several powerful torches suddenly stabbed through the dark night, swinging as the people carrying them approached us at speed, effectively blinding me when they passed across my face.

Three: Coco shoved me as hard as she could.

And after that, one other thing happened.

I fell.

17

FALLING OFF THE
cliff was easy. I don’t really have to explain why landing was the difficult bit – landing in one piece and alive, specifically, which was a million-to-one shot. I was almost more shocked to find myself sprawling on the grassy ledge than I was to have fallen in the first place. For one thing, it was so quick. I had only just registered that I was falling when I collided with solid ground, with such force that it felt as if my lungs had exploded from the impact. There was no air left in my body and I struggled for an agonizing few seconds to breathe in again. It was sheer instinct that made me cling onto the grass – instinct and an absolute refusal to let Coco win. As a defining characteristic, never giving up isn’t bad, especially when it’s all that stands between you and a twenty-metre drop to some very scary rocks.

So I survived.

I still had absolutely no idea how I was going to get back to solid ground.

I kept my face pressed against the ledge, too terrified to think about trying to get my bearings, or even looking round. I had only just made it. One leg was hanging off the edge, and when I could move, I inched away from danger towards the cliff, pulling my knees up onto the ledge until all of me was on solid ground. It took all my concentration and I paid no attention to anything else that was going on around me, lost in my own struggle to stay alive. So it was a surprise when a voice spoke in my ear a couple of minutes later.

‘Well done.’

‘For what?’ I turned my head so I could see Will, who was crouching beside me, looking as relaxed as if he was in the middle of a vast field rather than high in the air on a tiny shelf above a sheer drop.

‘Getting the proof you needed. Not dying. Take your pick.’

‘I’m not sure about the second part. I’ve still got to get off this ledge.’

‘You’ll be fine.’ He leaned back and gave the thumbs-up to someone I couldn’t see on top of the cliffs.

‘How did you get here?’

‘I came with Dad. Or do you mean the ledge?’

‘I
did
mean the ledge, actually.’ My world had shrunk to a crescent of rock and earth and greenery that was, at a generous estimate, the size of a bed. A single bed at that.

‘I climbed down,’ he said. ‘We wanted to make sure you were OK. You didn’t answer us when we shouted.’

‘I didn’t hear you. I was a bit busy not dying.’

‘Don’t worry about it.’

‘Don’t worry about dying?’ I glared at him. ‘Again, still stuck on the ledge in case you’d forgotten. I think I’m entitled to be a bit anxious.’

‘I mean you shouldn’t worry about not answering us. I was glad of the excuse to come down and make sure you were all right.’ Will put his hand on my shoulder. ‘You’ll feel better if you sit up, you know.’

‘Nope. Not moving.’

‘Don’t worry. I won’t let you fall.’

‘How exactly are you going to stop me?’ I demanded.

‘By not letting you do anything risky. Come on. You can trust me.’

It was easier to do as he said than to argue with him. Very reluctantly I inched forward and turned, pressing myself against the lovely solid wall of rock that was
the
alternative to the bone-shattering drop on the other side. The view had suddenly lost its appeal for me; I vastly preferred a close-up of the cliff. As I curled up in a tiny ball at the very back of the shelf I noticed I was still pretty close to the edge. It wasn’t any wider than it had looked from the top of the cliff. How I had managed to land more or less on it was a mystery to me, but I was fairly sure I owed my guardian angel a drink.

Will sat next to me and leaned his elbows on his knees. ‘How’s that?’

‘Better,’ I admitted.

‘Told you so.’ He grinned at me with that sudden, irresistible charm. ‘As I was saying, well done. I’m impressed. You did exactly what you set out to do.’

‘Sort of. I didn’t actually set out to end up down here with you.’ But there were worse places to be. I felt my mood begin to lift, the terror fading to be replaced with an uncontrollable desire to giggle. It was shock, I told myself sternly. Hysterical laughter was not what was needed. Sober discussion about how to get off the ledge would be far more useful. ‘I didn’t actually have a plan for this situation and I have no idea what to do next.’