‘Wandering in the woods?’ I repeated.
I had only recently got back from the neighbouring cabin, where I’d waited with David, Tamara and Vivian – who had proven herself to be both sympathetic and efficient – until an ambulance trundled through the resort and took Donna’s body away. That, along with the beta blockers mystery, had been so distracting that I hadn’t started worrying about Frankie again until I got back to the cabin.
Now, Frankie extricated herself and hurried inside. I followed, while Nikki hovered in the doorway. She was dressed all in black, dark hair falling into her eyes, and I couldn’t help but notice again how attractive she was. Perhaps not classically beautiful, but she had that look. A woman from an indie band. My type.
Still, Nikki wasn’t my focus right now. Frankie was. I had so many questions and was about to start firing them at her when I noticed she was shivering. I found her a blanket, wrapping it around her and settling her on the couch.
‘What happened?’ I asked.
She didn’t reply. She seemed like she was in shock.
I turned my head towards Nikki, who had drifted into the room, closing the door behind her. In her black clothes and with her pale face, she looked like a vampire who had invited herself in. ‘Where was she?’ I asked.
‘In the woods, close to town.’
I wondered what Nikki had been doing in the woods, and she must have anticipated the question because she said, ‘I was looking for Cujo. He got out of the store and ran off towards the trees. He’s not supposed to go out but those woods are like a buffet for cats.’ She sighed. ‘I’m sure he’ll come home.’
‘Was Ryan with Frankie?’ I asked. ‘A boy, about her age?’
‘No. She was on her own.’
I turned back to my daughter. ‘Frankie, where’s Ryan? Why wasn’t he with you?’
She looked up and the blankness of her stare scared me.
‘They weren’t human,’ she said in a whisper, half talking to herself.
I sat beside her on the couch. ‘Frankie, what are you talking about?’
She gave me that blank look again. Nikki was watching us intently.
‘I want to go home,’ Frankie said. ‘I don’t want to be here any more. Daddy, please.’ She hadn’t called me Daddy since she was six. ‘I really want to go home.’
She started to cry.
‘What happened, Frankie?’ I thought about the face I’d seen outside the window.
‘I can’t . . . Please, Dad. I just want to go to bed.’
‘Of course, in a minute. But you have to tell me – where’s Ryan?’ A dark thought entered my head. ‘Did he do something to you?’
‘No! Of course not.’
‘Then where is he?’
‘I don’t know.’
I waited.
The next part came out in a rush. ‘We got separated. I tried to find my way home through the woods but it got dark and my phone was dying and oh God I’ve lost my phone and then I was in the clearing and I was sure the man was coming to get me to take me to his secret cabin and then I saw them the creatures they weren’t human and I want to go to bed I want to go to bed.’
She stood up, the blanket still wrapped around her, and left the room. She closed her bedroom door behind her.
I sat there, stunned for a few moments.
‘Wait there,’ I said to Nikki. ‘Please.’ I didn’t want her to leave. Not yet.
I went outside and hurried across to the Butlers’ cabin. Knocked on the front door.
Connie answered almost immediately.
‘Has Ryan come home?’ I asked before she had a chance to speak.
‘Um, yeah?’
‘Can I talk to him?’
She looked me up and down. ‘He’s taking a shower. Is everything okay?’
‘Did Ryan say anything to you when he got back?’
‘Just something about feeling scuzzy.’ She came out on to the deck and pulled the door to behind her. Her eyes darted towards the cabin where Donna had died. ‘What’s going on, Tom? What’s happened now?’
‘I need to talk to Ryan. Frankie just got back and she’s in a terrible state. She got lost in the woods. I want to know where the hell Ryan was.’
David appeared. ‘What’s the problem?’
Connie told him.
‘Let me speak to your son,’ I said.
David looked drunk. His eyes were bloodshot and he was swaying. I guessed he’d felt the need to blot out what he’d seen in cabin fifteen. ‘Wait here,’ he said.