Deep Wate - Sarah Epstein Page 0,97

Get off her!’

My breath is hot against the dirt. I try to kick again.

‘Settle down,’ Mason says, pushing against me as he tries to get to his feet. ‘Tell me—’

Above my head is a whooshing sound followed by a hollow clang. Mason’s body slumps heavily on top of me. He’s a lead weight against my back, no longer moving.

‘What …?’ Rolling him off me, I jerk my head up to see Sabeen standing over us with the shovel in her hand.

‘Oh no,’ she says in a small voice. ‘Oh no, oh no.’

I scramble to my feet and turn to find Mason crumpled on his side, knocked out cold.

‘What did I do?’ Sabeen says. ‘I hit Mason. I hit Mason.’

‘You’re okay.’ I gingerly remove the shovel from her grip. Her hands are trembling. ‘It’s all right. He’s going to have a headache, but he’ll be okay.’

Sabeen looks as though she doesn’t believe me, and then Mason’s leg twitches. He groans.

Sabeen presses her hands to her face. ‘Oh god, he’s going to hate me.’

‘He’s coming around,’ I say.

‘Come on, then.’ Sabeen tugs at my sleeve. ‘Let’s go.’

‘I can’t leave. He hasn’t told us where Henry is.’

‘I don’t care! We’ve got to—’

‘But I care,’ I tell her.

Sabeen’s face scrunches in dismay. ‘I’m not hitting him again, Chloe. You need to let it go.’

‘Let him go, you mean.’ I shake my head. ‘Not until he gives us answers.’

‘I don’t want to stay,’ Sabeen says, on the verge of tears. She pulls out her phone and tries to dial a number. ‘No signal,’ she croaks.

Mason groans again, scratching weak fingers in the dirt. I scour our surroundings in frustration until my eyes find the tin shed, its door still hanging open.

‘You run up to the house,’ I tell her, ‘and see if you can get a better phone signal. If not, go to the road and keep heading towards town until you do.’

‘Who do I call?’

‘Sergeant Doherty. Your parents. My dad. Okay?’

Sabeen looks uncertain. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘I’ll wait here and make sure he doesn’t leave.’

‘How?’ she says, her voice cracking. ‘He’s too strong for you.’

I take her by the shoulders and turn her towards the house. ‘Let me worry about that. Please go.’

‘Come with me,’ she begs.

‘It’ll be okay,’ I assure her. ‘Just get Sergeant Doherty here as soon as you can.’

She reaches out and squeezes my hand, then takes off. As soon as there’s enough darkness between us to mask my movements, I crouch next to Mason, sliding my arms under his shoulders. I couldn’t ask Sabeen to help me with this; she’s distressed enough already.

Mason grunts as I haul his upper torso off the ground. His body has no fight in it. His head dangles loosely, rocking from side to side between his shoulders. Digging my heels into the dirt, I heave him backwards a metre at a time, my shoulders aching with the effort. By the time I reach the shed I’m drenched in sweat and wheezing.

Mason groans and mumbles something incoherent. He manages to lift his head as I’m pulling him across the dirt floor of the shed. I leave him on his back in the shadows.

‘Owww,’ he says, as I’m slamming the door closed behind me.

I shine my phone light in the darkness to locate the shovel, then wedge it against the shed door, tucking it under the doorhandle and kicking the metal scoop across the ground until it won’t budge any further. It’ll hold … for now.

On the other side of the door there’s a scrape against the dirt as Mason shifts his weight. ‘God, what did you do to me?’

I lean my hand against the cool metal. ‘Mason, I need you to be honest with me.’

‘I don’t owe you a thing, Chloe.’ Something bumps around and I hear a click. A thin strip of light appears under the door.

‘Why did you say you were home the night Henry went missing? Rina saw your car twice on Railway Parade.’

He scrapes against the ground again. ‘For god’s sake! I drove up to the graveyard, okay?’

‘Why?’

He exhales loudly. ‘Stuff went down at home.’

‘Stuff?’ I lean closer to the door. ‘What sort of stuff?’

‘I smashed the living shit out of my mother’s glass cabinet. Let’s just say she wasn’t pleased.’

So Raf was right about the missing cabinet and Ivy’s blue plates. Is that why the kitchen was so clean the following day?

‘What happened to Henry?’ I say. ‘Did you hurt him?’

‘No! I did want to tell him what I