When She Was Bad(75)

Almost immediately the others arrived, summoned by Ewan’s earlier shouts.

‘Well done,’ Amira said, slapping Ewan on the shoulder. ‘Let’s get going. There’s a bottle of fizz somewhere with our names on it. Where’s Rachel?’

Rachel. Something inside Sarah contracted suddenly at the name. And now the fine hairs at the back of her neck were pricking, remembering her boss’s face as she said that thing. Stupid bitch.

‘I don’t know where she is. I was—’

The scream cut Sarah off mid-sentence. Chloe.

‘Oh my God! Quick! Help!’

She was standing at the top of the steep bank looking down at something in the stream below.

Sarah felt a knot of dread forming in the pit of her stomach.

By now the others had joined Chloe.

‘Is she breathing?’ asked Charlie.

Sarah made her way slowly towards the cluster of figures in nylon jackets and hoods until she could see what they were looking at.

Rachel lay at the foot of the bank, her legs and feet submerged in the water, her head buttressed up against a protruding rock. Sarah clapped a hand to her mouth as she noticed the blood trickling from somewhere in Rachel’s hairline.

‘There’s definitely a pulse, thank God,’ Ewan called up. He’d been first to scramble down the bank and was now on his knees in the water, leaning over Rachel’s motionless body.

As Ewan gently shook her arm, Rachel began to moan softly. If it wasn’t for the blood, Sarah would have sworn she was acting the part of someone injured, so perfect was her dramatic timing.

By this time Amira and Charlie were also down on the bank, crouching next to Rachel.

Amira held her boss’s hand in hers. ‘Are you OK, Rachel? Can you hear me?’

Nothing. Just that soft, ominous moaning.

Ewan looked up so he was staring right at Sarah. ‘What the fuck happened to her?’

Now everyone was looking at her, and Sarah felt herself flushing inside her too-hot coat.

‘I don’t know. I was kind of passed out over there.’

Ewan’s heavy dark brows knitted together. ‘You didn’t look very passed out to me when I got here.’

‘She’s coming round!’ shouted Amira, bending her head towards Rachel.

Rachel slowly sat up, blinking in the dull grey light. She put her hand to her head, looking shocked when her fingers came back covered in blood.

‘What happened?’ she asked. ‘Where are we?’

Between Ewan and Amira, they set about getting Rachel back up the bank, with Charlie hovering ineffectually around them giving instructions. ‘Left foot higher, Ewan. Watch that loose stone, Amira!’

Finally they were at the top, leading Rachel towards the tree trunk where she sank down until she was sitting, then slumped forwards. Her face, always pale, was alabaster white against her dark hair. She opened her mouth as if she was about to speak, then exhaled heavily. Some few seconds later, she tried again.

‘Someone pushed me,’ she said at last.

Chloe let out an audible gasp and Sarah felt herself growing cold.

‘What do you mean?’ Ewan demanded. ‘Who pushed you?’

‘I don’t know,’ snapped Rachel, sounding more like her usual self. ‘I was right here, talking to Sarah, and then I walked over to the stream and was looking down, and all of a sudden someone shoved me from behind.’

And now everyone was turning to look at Sarah.

‘I . . . I don’t know what happened,’ she stammered. ‘I passed out for a bit.’

Rachel fixed her with the shards of her eyes.

‘Passed out? I don’t think so. We were talking.’

And now Sarah remembered something.

‘Yes. We were talking. You called me a bitch.’

‘What?’ You had to give Rachel her due, she looked genuinely surprised. ‘I didn’t call you a bitch. I said I was going to look in the ditch.’

A wave of heat swept through Sarah and she fumbled to unzip the down jacket as if it was on fire.

‘That’s not true. You said . . .’ But now doubt was creeping in. ‘Well, whatever you said, I was sitting here on this trunk, feeling sick and faint and you walked away and the next thing I knew, Ewan was here.’

‘No. You were standing up and wide awake when I arrived.’

She couldn’t believe how confrontational Ewan was being.

‘You woke me up!’ She knew she was sounding defensive. ‘When you shouted! I came to, and stood up – and Rachel was gone. I didn’t see anyone else here. Are you sure you couldn’t have slipped?’

She’d turned to face Rachel, but couldn’t bring herself to look her straight in the eye, focusing instead on a point just underneath where the dim light was picking out leftover glints from last night’s make-up.