Girl, Missing (20 page)

We were right at the back of the boat now. The man kicked open the door to the bigger of the two rooms.

He shoved me. I stumbled forward. Looked up.

There, slumped on the bed, her mouth covered with masking tape, was Madison.

Beside her sat Sonia Holtwood.

35

Links to a crime

Sonia's lips twisted into a cold, sneering smile. She had changed her appearance again – huge red curls tumbled heavily around her face, which somehow looked longer and thinner than before. ‘Hi, Lauren,' she said.

I glanced over at Madison. She was struggling to sit up, but Sonia Holtwood kept pushing her back down onto the bed.

I felt a fury building inside me that completely drowned out my fear. I tried to go to Madi, but the man gripping my arm twisted it up my back again. I flicked my foot up behind me and jabbed the spiky heel of my boot between his legs.

‘AAAGH,' he roared. He loosened his grip on my arm just enough for me to pull free. I raced over to Madison and yanked her to her feet. Then I turned, poised on the balls of my feet, looking for a way out of the room.

It was at this point that I realised just how hopeless the situation was. We were in the main bedroom, in the very deepest part of the boat. It was only a few metres square,
with just enough room for a double bed, a closet and a washbasin. A tiny porthole high up in the wall, to the left of the bed, looked out over open water. Above the bed was a hatch, padlocked from the outside. The only other way out of the room was the door – which the man was standing in front of. He was bent over, clearly in agony from the stab of my high-heel.

The pulse of satisfaction I felt vanished as he straightened up, a look of total fury on his face. He walked towards me, his fist raised.

I pushed Madison behind me as he swung his arm back.

I flinched, closing my eyes, waiting for the blow.

It didn't come.

I looked up. Sonia Holtwood was standing in front of me, her hands on her hips.

‘I told you, Frank – we have to make it look like an accident. No rope marks. No bruises.'

The boat creaked and rolled. Frank's nostrils flared. Then he dropped his arm. ‘Fine.' He scowled. ‘I'm going to start the engine.'

He strode out of the room. I could feel Madison's hand creeping into mine. I squeezed it, never taking my eyes off Sonia Holtwood.

She shook her head at me. ‘Sit,' she said.

‘What are you going to do with us?' I pulled Madison
down next to me on the far side of the bed and tugged the masking tape gently away from her mouth.

‘Well,' Sonia said lightly. ‘It's a question of priorities. As in, my priority of not being sent to jail.'

Madison huddled up close to me. As her body pressed against my side, I felt my phone through my jeans pocket. I looked up at Sonia. ‘What do you mean?'

‘I can't be sent to jail if I can't be identified,' she went on, ‘and there are only two people who can actually identify me.'

‘Me and Jam?' I shifted slightly, so that Madison was completely blocking Sonia's view of my pants leg. I reached my fingers into my jeans and felt for the slim edge of the mobile.

Outside, I could hear Frank's footsteps and the sound of rope slapping against the deck.

‘Yes,' Sonia said. ‘You and that boy. You see, they're after me for kidnapping you – twice – but nothing links me to the first abduction except the second, and nothing links me to the second except you two.'

I gripped the mobile and began easing it gently out of my pocket.

‘My texts didn't seem to bother you,' Sonia went on. ‘So I figured the next step was a little witness intimidation.'

My heart thudded. So the BITCH texts had been from Sonia, not Shelby, after all.

The phone was nearly out of my jeans now. I just had to keep her talking so she didn't notice it.

‘How did you know my cellphone number?'

Sonia grinned. ‘When you trade in identities, hacking into phone company records is a piece of pie.'

The mobile slipped in my sweating fingers.

‘Identities?'

Sonia nodded. ‘I make new lives for people. For myself, too. I can be anyone. No one can track me down.'

‘What about Taylor Tarsen?' I gripped the phone more tightly. ‘And all the paperwork on Sonia Holtwood?'

‘Taylor's got nothing on me,' Sonia sneered. ‘We've talked, done business – sure. But he only met me once, eleven years ago. Since then I've had a nose job and changed everything about the way I look. I doubt if he could pick me out of a line up. And I haven't used the “Sonia Holtwood” identity for years. Like I say, only two people can connect me to the whole thing.'

I pulled the phone fully out of my jeans just as the engine started to rumble.

There wasn't much time.

‘Well Jam's not here.' I turned the phone round in my hand and felt for the tiny raised bump that I knew marked the number five. ‘He'll still be able to identify you.'

‘We'll catch up with him easy enough,' Sonia snorted. ‘Why'd he walk off like that?'

I froze. She'd seen us earlier? And then it all fell into place. The couple I'd seen all muffled up in hats and coats earlier, on the marina. That was Sonia and the man, Frank.

‘No reason,' I said, shortly.

The boat was moving now. A steady
chug
,
chug
,
chug
.

Sonia glanced out of the porthole.

I looked down at the phone. Bloody, bloody hell. No signal. I needed to get up on deck. Now.

Madison stiffened beside me. She was staring at the phone. I nudged her, trying to will her to look away.

‘I feel sick.' I covered the phone with my hand. ‘I need air.'

Sonia turned from the porthole. She pointed to the washbasin in the far corner of the room.

‘Use that.'

Clutching the phone to my stomach I walked over to the washbasin. I bent over and peered down at the phone. Still no signal.

I made fake retching noises into the sink.

The boat was moving faster now. I could feel the bob and swell of it, making the floor under my feet sway. Panic rose in my throat. The further away from shore we got, the less chance there was of getting a signal, even on deck.

‘I still feel ill,' I said. ‘Please let me get some air.'

‘Stop whining.'

I stared at the video function on the phone. OK, so I
couldn't dial nine-one-one, but maybe I could get Sonia to say where they were taking us. Then, if I could somehow pass the phone to someone as we got off the boat …

It was a long shot, but it was all I could think of.

I bent over the sink again and switched the phone to video mode. I pressed record, then straightened up, leaving the phone on top of the plughole.

‘Where are you taking us?' I groaned, still clutching my stomach.

‘Shut up.' Sonia strode round the bed to the porthole and opened it. ‘There. Now you've got some air.'

From the rush and slap of the water outside, I could tell we were cruising fast – but in what direction?

‘My tummy hurts too,' Madison said from the bed. She curled over. ‘It really does.'

‘For Chrissakes!' Sonia opened the door and yelled down the corridor towards the saloon. ‘Hurry up Frank, these kids are driving me mad.'

I looked at Madison. It was hard to tell if she was faking. She was holding her tummy and rocking backwards and forward on the bed.

I wanted to go to her, but I didn't dare either take the phone with me, or leave it behind in the sink.

Sonia moved away from the door, back to Madison.

‘Stop it,' she yelled.

Madison curled her knees up to her stomach and wailed more loudly. She went on and on, piercing the air with her screams.

‘SHUT UP!' Sonia's face was purple with fury.

Standing with my back to the sink, I scooped the phone up in my hand and held it against my side. Whoever found it – if anyone did – would need a picture of Sonia. As she said, no one except me and Jam – and now Madi – knew what she looked like.

My heart was pumping so hard I thought I might explode. I twisted the phone round, praying that I was holding it at a good angle.

Madison was definitely crying for real now. Sonia had hauled her up and was holding her by the shoulders and shaking her violently. A stream of swearwords exploded from her mouth.

‘Stop it,' she shrieked.

Hoping I had enough footage, I slipped the phone back into the sink again and took a step towards the bed.

Madison's crying reached hysterical level. Then something seemed to snap inside Sonia. Her face hardened and set. She raised her hand.

Everything slowed down – like it was happening in slow motion.

I remember noticing Sonia was wearing thin, latex gloves. I could see the long red points of her fingernails
through the tips. She drew back her hand, then drove it forward, hard, against Madison's cheek.

Madison flew across the bed. Her head smashed against the raised edge of the bedside shelf. She flopped down, her eyes shut.

Silence.

36

Crash

For a second which lasted a lifetime, I stared at Madison's limp body. Then time speeded up again. I rushed over to the bed. I brushed the hair off her face. ‘Madi? Madi?'

Her eyelids flickered, but didn't open.

I could feel Sonia behind me, breathing heavily.

I turned, my hands outstretched, fingers curled over like claws, filled with a rage that came from the pit of my being.

Howling, I hurled myself at her. She caught my wrists and pushed me away, but I kept coming, screaming myself hoarse.

‘You coward. You bully. You evil, evil cow!'

Sonia was forcing me backwards. She was far stronger than me. But at that moment I was madder than a lioness.

‘She never hurt anyone. She's got nothing to do with this.'

Sonia finally pushed me away from her. I stumbled back against the closet and glared at her, panting.

Sonia adjusted her top and smoothed her hair.

‘Your sister's fine,' she said. ‘Look.'

There was a moan from the bed. Madison opened her eyes.

I rushed over to her and stroked her face. It was a ghostly grey-white. ‘Just lie still, sweetheart,' I said. ‘It's going to be all right.'

I turned to Sonia, who was watching Madison closely.

‘Fine? Like my parents are fine?' I said. ‘Going to prison for something they didn't do?'

Sonia shrugged and examined her nails under the latex gloves. ‘Not my fault. Not my problem. I barely even spoke to your parents. I can't help it if Tarsen's a liar.'

The door burst open and Frank strode in. He took one look at Madison struggling to sit up on the bed and turned on Sonia.

‘What the hell's going on?' he shouted. He glared at Sonia. ‘Did you hit the kid?'

‘It was an accident.' Sonia reddened slightly. ‘Anyway, I'm paying you to be here. I don't owe you any explanations.'

‘Jesus.' Frank rolled his eyes. ‘You practically kill me for going to knock some sense into teen princess, and you can't even control yourself around the rugrat.'

‘Don't have a cow. It'll just look like she banged her head in the crash. No one'll realise.'

‘What crash?' I said.

Frank ignored me. ‘I need you outside for this last bit,' he said to Sonia. ‘You'll have to lock them in here until we're done.'

He went out. Sonia followed without looking back.

I heard the lock click in the door. The phone. I raced over to the sink. Thank goodness Sonia and Frank had been too busy yelling at each other to spot it.

I quickly ran to the porthole which Sonia had opened. Through it I could see the deck railings and open sea. But even holding the mobile up to the opening I could get no signal. Where the hell were we?

There was a coil of rope wedged up beside the porthole. I shoved the phone behind it. It would be safer there than on me. I could pull it out later.

I ran over to Madison and hugged her. ‘You OK, babe?' I peered into her big brown eyes.

Madison gave a slight nod, then winced. ‘My head hurts.'

She looked all right, but her eyes were a little glazed and her face still deathly white. Carefully, with trembling fingers I felt for where her head had banged against the shelf. She whimpered slightly as I touched something warm and sticky. I withdrew my hand. The fingertips were stained red.

Wiping the blood quickly on my jeans I smiled at her.

‘You'll be fine,' I said.

‘Did I do good pretending?' she said.

I blinked. ‘You mean the tummy ache?'

Her mouth crinkled into a little smile.

I hugged her again. ‘Good enough to win the best actress Oscar. Youngest winner ever.'

Bump. With a sudden jerk, the boat jolted us both forward, to the end of the bed. A screeching, scraping noise erupted from the bow. In the split-second that followed I wrapped my arms more tightly around Madison.

With a crash, the boat rammed against something hard and we were both flung onto the floor.

37

Trapped

I landed on my back, Madison on top of me. For a few seconds I lay there, winded. The boat was still juddering, though the engine had died.

Madison clung to me, whimpering. ‘What is it, Lauren? What's happening?'

‘I think we crashed.' The floor under my back was cold and hard. I gently eased Madison off me and scrambled to my feet. The boat was listing jerkily from one side to the other. I spread my feet apart, trying to keep my balance.

Footsteps padded along the corridor towards us. The door clicked unlocked and swung open. Frank was there.

‘Don't want anyone to find you deliberately locked in,' he snarled. He turned and hurried back up the corridor, pulling a wetsuit jacket on over his T-shirt.

I dragged Madison after him, down the corridor to the saloon. The boat rocked and bucked. I leaned against the walls for balance, cursing my spiky boot heels.