Open!

Frantically she made her way towards it, as fast as she could.

Perspiration slicked her skin. She thought she could perhaps wriggle her wrists free of her binds if she tried but not until she was outside.

Not far now.

Her muscles trembled with effort. She moved more slowly, not covering the same distance as she had moments before.

Come on, Carly.

The twins cheering her name during sports day. The finishing ribbon in sight.

Jump.

It was so hard to breathe. She longed to tear off the tape, open her mouth wide and draw in air. Soon. Soon she would be free. At home. Snuggled on the sofa with Bruno and Leah and Marie.

Jump.

Dried grasses crunched beneath her feet as she landed. She’d made it.

She was outside, dizzy with effort. Dizzy with relief.

She heard two voices. Her muzzy head couldn’t make out what direction they were coming from.

Her head spun to the left; another building, windows smashed, spray paint colouring the brick. On its flat roof, a traffic cone. To the right; a clutch of bushes.

Which way should she go?

She needed to move.

Now.

Chapter Six

Leah

Now

‘What do you mean tell the truth?’ Shock jolts through my body. ‘You mean about me?’ I can’t believe Marie would betray me. Her eyes, the same green as mine, look at everything but me.

‘You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.’ The booming anger in Carly’s voice fills the room. ‘Telling everyone that Leah left the gate open won’t help anyone.’

‘I did leave it open, though.’ By some unspoken agreement afterwards we’d all claimed we couldn’t remember who closed the gate, that it must have blown open.

‘So? It doesn’t matter—’ Carly says.

‘But it does.’ It’s something I’ve never let go of. ‘If I hadn’t…’

‘If. If. If. We’ve all got a million ifs and not one of them makes any difference.’ Carly drops her head into her hands.

‘I didn’t mean tell the truth about the gate,’ Marie says but it doesn’t comfort me. The gate is the tip of the iceberg really in all the things I’ve done wrong. Got wrong. Under the surface lurk far darker secrets. As reluctant as I am to be on TV, it occurs to me that if we did share our side it might stop other journalists digging into the past, trying to create their own story. If anyone uncovers what I did a few years ago I could be prosecuted. Lose Archie. Panic is a heavy weight on my chest; I tap my fingers three times against my knee and try to breathe through it.

‘Leah?’ Carly slides across the sofa and drapes an arm across my shoulder. ‘You’re okay. You’re safe.’

‘I didn’t mean—’ Marie crouches before me and rests her hands on my knees.

‘What did you mean? The truth?’ I am desperate to know. If she didn’t mean me, then what?

‘We’re not doing it, Marie.’ Carly squeezes my shoulders. ‘I don’t want to and Leah… Well, just look at her,’ she says but not unkindly. Once more, I am the youngest, the one they need to protect. If only they knew what I was really capable of. Again, my breath catches in my throat. Sweat trickles off my top lip, coating my mouth with salt.