“Oh yes and in case you were hoping for your landlady to come and look for you I have sent a nice little text telling her how you have just met a friend and won’t be back tonight. So you don’t need to have any concerns about them worrying. Thoughtful sort of chap aren’t I?”

She didn’t see his hand rise but as he swiped backhanded across her face the world turned red and she thought that now it was over. Yet in truth it was simply another beginning.

Chapter 23

He wasn’t beating her because he thought it would elicit information. He must know by now that it wouldn’t work. As he slapped at her face she knew he was beating her because, like George, it was his way to deal with frustration and fear.

Then the words popped out of her mouth almost before she thought them. “I buried it.” Time held for a long moment. His head tipped to one side, his hand stilled in mid-air.

“What? What did you say?”

“I buried it. Your bag, I took it and buried it. I didn’t know how to get rid of the stuff so I buried it until I had worked it out.”

He turned away from her, confusion creased his brow. “Why, would you do this? Why would you let me bring you here? What, are you stupid or what? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know.”

“You better be telling me the truth. Are you lying to me?”

She simply shook her head and casting her eyes downwards, she sighed.

“Where did you bury them?”

“Under a rock on the cliff walk.”

“Where? Which rock?”

“I… I don’t know how to describe it. It’s about half an hour in… there are some fallen rocks. It’s overlooking a bay. I picked a rock that I thought I’d remember and I dug a hole under it.”

Her mind was racing now. She tamped down the thrill of hope that flickered in her gut. She must keep calm.

“You’ll have to take me. You’d better not be lying.” He paced to the cavern entrance. It was too much to hope that he would take her onto the beach while people still played but it was early evening now. Maybe soon he would risk it. Take her while there was still light in the day. She had to bend this tiny straw of possibility her way.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to find it in the dark. I’ll show you tomorrow.”

“What? What did you say? Who the hell do you think you are to start dictating terms? You’ll show me when I say you will! You’ll show me today.”

He climbed back to sit beside her and dragged a bottle of water from his pocket. He lifted it to his lips and drank deeply. She held her breath; surely he would give her a drink. He must know how she needed one. Her desperate eyes watched as the water glugged and bubbled and his throat worked swallowing the cool liquid. Without a glance at her he finished the contents and then dropped the empty plastic bottle into the swirling depths. She felt hate then; more than she had ever felt in her life. More than for George and his brutality and more than even for this man up until now. It lit a fire deep inside that she feared would consume her and tip her over the edge into insanity. She clenched her fist and felt the pain in her fingers as she held back the fury.

Pauline was exhausted. Every bone and muscle ached with a deep throbbing relentlessness. Her eyes were sore, her throat was dry, she wasn’t able to reach her pools and her head pounded. The brute sat beside her silent and calm.

“Who are you?”

“What?”

“Your name, what’s your name?”

“What the hell has that got to do with you?”

“Nothing, sorry nothing. I just thought that… I don’t know your name.”

“You don’t need to know my name. You don’t need to know anything about me. All you need to be thinking about now is where that bloody rock is and what I might do to you if you’re lying to me. So shut up.”

She felt his tension, “Have you got any water?”

“No, No I haven’t got any bloody water, you just saw me finish the water. Now – shut up.”

How far could she safely go? She needed to needle him to the extent that he would act but not so much that he would lash out again. She couldn’t take any more pain.

“Can I sip from that little hollow? That’s what I was doing.”

“Oh bloody hell. Can’t you shut up?” He clambered to his feet. She held her breath as he scrambled to the entrance. “Please, please, please.” Silently pleading she was tight with tension.

“Right, come on. Now listen to me. I can put the gag back in or you can promise me that you won’t shout or scream. Your choice but I’ll tell you this, you try and draw attention to us and you will think that what has happened up to now has been a church picnic. I can think of ways to hurt you that you can’t even begin to imagine. Do you understand?”

She nodded.

He bent and began to untie the rope around her ankles. Every nerve was a red hot needle. There might just be one chance and if there was she must grasp it. She must risk it all now because once he found that she had lied and that there was no bag she was sure that he would not let her live.

Chapter 24

He unwound the rope from her feet and in a flood of pain her arms were pulled from behind her back.

“Christ, oh good Christ.” Blackness hovered at the edges of the world and she bit the inside of a cheek to force herself to focus and cling to consciousness.

He tied the rope again around her wrists and cut off the excess, dropping it to the bottom of the cave. His merciless fingers lifted her head. Tears filled her eyes and as she blinked them away they dribbled across his hand.

“Bloody hell. Bloody snivelling women.” He dashed the moisture on the legs of his jeans.

“Listen to me now, bitch. We are going to walk up the cliff. I’ve left the rope loose so you can balance. See how kind I can be when you co-operate? But if you make any silly moves, if you try to attract attention, if you do anything that annoys me you are going over the edge. Do you understand?”

Pauline sniffed and nodded. Holding the trailing edge he led her forward. Though she was stiff and sore the long miles of hiking had made her strong. Her muscles remembered how to flex and stretch and on quivering legs she staggered towards the fading light at the cave entrance.

He pushed before her and gesturing with a hand behind him to keep her back he moved on to climb the first of the rocks. He turned towards the beach and watched for maybe a minute, perhaps more. When he was satisfied he tugged on the rope. She followed like a tethered beast.

For the first part of the climb she concentrated on finding her footing. As her joints loosened and warmed her movements became more fluid, stronger with each step. He was two paces ahead and confident in his ability to clamber on the wet cliff. She watched, assessed, waited.

She tripped, tugged on the rope and he turned back with a snarl. “Bloody well take care bitch, you’ll have us over!”

“Sorry.” She kept her head down her gaze averted. She tripped again and came down on her knees.”

“Shit! Will you stop?” He turned and stepped back half a pace.

“I’m sorry, I’m stiff and sore. My legs won’t work properly.”

“Stop whining.” With a shake of his head and a sigh he leaned and tugged at the binds around her wrists and then he hooked a hand under her elbow and hoisted her upright. “There, now come on.”

She wobbled on the next step and fell again; this time fully across the rocks. The rope tightened and he spun round in alarm. “Bloody hell! Can’t you be careful?”

She lay full length and began to sob. He slithered towards where she was with her head on the rock and her leg between two great boulders.

“I’m trapped. I don’t think I can move. Please, help me. My leg’s stuck.”