The Valley 40

When she failed to accomplish anything that way - her brother showed little concern about her flailing fist - Tara groped around blindly with her free hand for something she could use as a weapon. She was desperate, certain that Kerwin was going to get the phone from her at any moment, and her hand closed around the first object it touched, her sister’s radio alarm clock. Tara swung the clock with all her might, smashing it into the side of her brother’s head. Kerwin uttered a short, sharp cry that was caused by surprise as much as by pain. He let go of the hand in which Tara had Lynne’s phone so he could try and relieve her of the object she had hit him with. Tara tried to hit her brother with the alarm clock for a second time, and when she failed she dropped it so she could reach for her brother’s face. She had never been in a fight before, certainly not one where her life was in danger, but some instinct told her that her best chance of getting away involved going for the eyes. At the same time she bucked, heaved, twisted and writhed as she tried everything she could think of to get out from under her brother; she didn’t think much of her chances for he had her well and truly pinned, so it came as a complete surprise when he suddenly fell away, leaving her free. Her body reacted to the situation before her brain could fully comprehend that the weight pinned her down was gone. She rolled off the bed, going in the opposite direction to that in which Kerwin had fallen, and darted for the doorway the moment she was on her feet. She made it out of the bedroom before she heard her brother give chase, and that gave her enough of a lead to make it downstairs and to the front door ahead of him. She was moving with such haste that she hit herself with the door when she yanked it open; it bounced shut off her foot and she had to open it a second time to escape the house. Kerwin leapt the last half dozen or so steps, one hand outstretched towards his sister. His fingers closed on empty air, however, as he missed Tara by the thinnest of margins. By the time he recovered, she was across the yard and at the gateway. He set off after her but stopped almost immediately, even if he had been closer, he doubted he would have been able to catch his sister, at least not on foot - she was much faster than him. Instead of continuing the pursuit as a footrace, which he was bound to lose, he altered direction and hurried over to his Land Rover. It started the moment he turned the key in the ignition - given how temperamental it was usually, he took that as a sign that he was meant to catch Tara and keep her from telling anyone about the things he had done. Shifting into gear, he raced out of the yard and down the road after his sister. Tara couldn’t help looking back over her shoulder when she heard the Land Rover start up, in doing so she lost sight of where her feet were going and stumbled. She hit the ground heavily, bashing her knees on a stone and scraping the skin from her palms, leaving them raw and bloody; she was too stunned to cry out, in pain or otherwise, she simply pushed herself to her feet and continued, albeit with a limp. Her pace was much slower than before, and she was afraid her brother was going to catch her, which was almost certain since he was in a Land Rover and she was on foot, but there was nothing she could do except keep going and hope for a miracle. She had gone just a couple of slow and painful steps following her fall when she saw something that gave her hope. A distance away down the road but getting closer, were two people, a man and a woman. ‘HELP!’ she screamed, ‘PLEASE HELP!’ Jack was almost home, having abandoned his usual five - kilometre run after less than 2.5 kilometre of jogging because of the pain from both his ankle and his back when he heard the cry. He halted abruptly, which prompted a fresh spasm, and looked around for the source of the noise. Almost immediately he saw the girl running toward him, he also saw the Land Rover speeding towards her. He started up the road at the same walking pace he had used to get home, but quickly sped up when he saw that the Land Rover showed every sign of running down the young girl, whom he suspected was Tara Wright. The pain that had cut short his morning run magnified the moment he accelerated, reaching a crescendo as he hit sprinting speed, but he ignored it as best he could. Somehow, and he had no idea how, Jack managed to reach Tara before the Land Rover did. Grabbing the teen, he threw her over the wall and into the field on the other side; he threw himself over right after, landing heavily before rolling to place his body protectively over Tara’s. He barely had time to do that before the Land Rover struck the wall almost exactly where he and Tara had gone over it. A section of the wall was knocked down by the impact and Jack felt several pieces debris hit him, mostly in the back, adding to the injuries and the pain he was already suffering from. Jack continued to protect Tara with his body until he heard the Land Rover drive away. He pulled himself off her then and slowly and painfully got to his feet so he could look around. The Land Rover was heading down the road towards the village; he took that to mean they were safe for the time being so he reached down to help Tara to her feet. ‘Are you alright?’ he asked, and immediately felt like an idiot for doing so - she had just been picked up and thrown into a field to keep being run down by her own brother, at least that was who he guessed had been behind the wheel, he very much doubted that she was alright. Tara didn’t answer the question because she couldn’t. Now that she was back on her feet, and no longer running for her life she was overcome by shock, she began trembling uncontrollably and couldn’t stop. Even when Jack wrapped her in his arms for a moment she continued to tremble; she trembled so violently that her teeth chattered in her mouth. Jack knew enough about shock to realise that he was unlikely to be able to help the teen while they remained in the field. ‘Come on, let’s get you out of here. My friend, Sophie, will make you a nice cup of tea while I take care of that knee,’ he said with a glance down at the bloody mess he hoped had not been caused when he threw her over the wall, and you tell me what’s going on.’ Tara allowed herself to be led through the Corn towards the gate. It would have been easier if they had climbed over the wall and made their way along at the side of the road, she baulked at doing so, however, when Jack suggested it, it was just as well for they had not gone for when the Land Rover headed back up the road. A fresh tremor went through her, this time caused by fear rather than shock, as Kerwin fixed her with a look that could only be described as one of hatred on his way past. ‘I think he killed them,’ Tara said, her eyes staying with her brother’s Land Rover as he headed towards the farm. ‘Killed who?’ Jack asked as he guided the teen through the Corn. He suspected he knew the answer but wanted to be sure. Tara’s eyes snapped back to what was ahead of her once the Land Rover was gone. ‘Lynne and Lily and … and…’ She couldn’t bring herself to finish what she was saying. It was a minute or so before she said anything else, by which time they were almost at the gate. ‘HE said he attacked them, and Amy.’ It wasn’t what her brother had actually said, but her mind made the leap based on what he had said. Jack didn’t say as much he was pleased to hear that someone else was now in the frame for the murders he had been accused of. Once DI Lemark heard what Tara had to say, his name would be cleared; he just wished his exoneration wasn’t going to come at the expense of Tara’s family. In danger of losing her father because of his attempt at vigilante justice, it didn’t seem fair that it should turn out that her brother was the killer who had brought such heartache to the village. ‘Are you alright?’ Sophie asked once Jack reached her with the teen he had saved. She had stopped by the rear of the Mercedes so she could watch, with what could only be described as shock and horror, what happened up the road. She couldn’t believe what she had seen, it didn’t seem possible that she had seen, it didn’t seem possible that she had witnessed what she thought she had. ‘I’m fine,’ Jack said, though his back felt anything but. ‘And I’m sure Tara will be fine once she’s had a cup of tea. Tara, this is my friend, Sophie, Sophie, this is Tara Wright, she lives at the farm up the road.’ The introduction made, Jack guided Tara up the path and into his house. Sophie’s hand on his arm made him stop and say to Tara. ‘The Kitchen’s at the end of the passage, why don’t you go on through, Sophie and I will be with you in a moment.’ ‘What’s going on?’ Sophie asked quietly once the young teen had reached the kitchen, she looked briefly over her shoulder, through the glass panel near the top of the front door. ‘Did that guy really just try and kill her, because that’s how it looked.’ Jack nodded, ‘Yeah, I think he did, Hardly a surprise, she said he’s the one who killed the girls I’ve been accused of murdering.’ ‘Really, Jesus! Did you see who it was? Did you recognise him?’ ‘Oh yes, I recognised him. I thought I did on the way up the road, and I got a good look at him when he headed back up the road; it’s her brother, Kerwin.’ Jack knew he shouldn’t be surprised by who the murderer was, not after his time as a detective, but it actually made him feel a little good that he was not yet inured to the evils of the world. ‘Come on. We’d better get along to the kitchen before Tara wonders what’s happened to us.’ While Sophie put the kettle on so she could make them all teas. Jack dug out his first aid kit to take care of Tara’s knee and her hands. As he did that he questioned her about what had happened that morning. Melissa was as surprised to see DI Lemark pull up next to Doring Draad’s police station as he was to see her approaching from across the road. She stopped at the steps and waited for her superior, who was moving like an arthritic old man. ‘I didn’t expect to see you here today, sir,’ she said when Lemark finally reached her. ‘Not after being stabbed last night.’ ‘I could say the same of you, constable,’ Lemark said as he made his slow way up the steps. “You might not have been stabbed, Thank God, but you did suffer quite badly at the hands of that maniac.’ He reached for the door with s stifled groan, annoyed to discover that the painkillers the hospital had given him were wearing off. ‘Are you sure you should be here, Sir?’ Melissa asked, alarmed by how white Lemark had gone.