Page 57 of Into the Rain

“I promise, I’ll come and see you and Mum as soon as I can. Give me a couple of weeks,” she’d pleaded. But in her heart, she knew things couldn’t continue the way they were.

Her father had kissed her gently on the forehead, and said, “Always know that I love you.” Then he left. Which broke Lacey’s heart, because it was the first time he’d said those words aloud. Her father was truly caught between a rock and a hard place. He loved all his children very much, and currently, the best way he knew how to show that was to continue bringing in the money so they could live a financially stable life. And by keeping Elora happy, he kept them all happy. But the alternative—if he stood up to Elora, and perhaps even divorced her—would amount to launching World War III, and would perhaps tear the fabric of the family apart forever.

Matt had phoned the night she’d been admitted to hospital and said he was catching the first flight to Devonport, but she’d talked him out of it, saying she was all right and their parents were flying in. Suggesting that perhaps they all get together as a family soon instead. She was dying to see Matt and even Sammy, but there were things that needed to be said between them all that shouldn’t be swept under the carpet any longer. Matt promised to come home when she was well enough to travel. And he also promised to help her find another Dotti when she was ready for that as well.

Sammy also talked to Lacey over the phone, using Barry’s phone to chat once her parents had arrived, and for once, sounded conciliatory and even worried about her older sister. Elora had already told Lacey that Sammy had stayed at home to look after Raymond the poodle, to which Lacey merely rolled her eyes when her mother wasn’t looking. Sammy never coped well with stressful situations…or hospitals.

Now, Lacey stared out to sea; the water was gray and turbulent this afternoon, a fresh breeze whipping up the whitecaps, and snarling her hair into tangles. It was too rough to skip stones anyway.

Her mind turned, as always, to Nico. In those first few hours in the aftermath of her brush with death, Nico hadn’t left her side. It’d seemed to take forever for the rescue team to reach them. Lacey had remained huddled into Nico’s arms the whole time, shivering from cold and shock, even Nico’s strong embrace and his leather jacket wasn’t enough to keep her warm. Nico had kept talking to her, stroking her hair, telling her everything would be okay. And she’d believed him. But it was still hard to reconcile that if she’d been a split second later in jumping out of the van, she’d most likely be part of that metal pancake that’d once been Dotti. Much like Floyd, whose body they had recovered the next day from the mangled wreck.

While she’d been wrapped in Nico’s arms, she found a sudden urge to talk. To purge herself of those awful minutes as the van rolled closer to the edge. Talking also helped to keep the pain at bay, and so, through chattering teeth, she began her tale.

“When Gabriel drove up the road to the lookout, I had no idea where we were. But he’d already hinted at his plan to drive off a cliff and make it look like an accident. So I was really scared,” she started hesitantly, talking through chattering teeth.

“That bastard,” Nico had muttered.

“He had me tied up inside the van. But I knew there were sharp knives in one of the kitchen drawers. All I had to do was get to one.” Lacey shivered harder as she remembered Gabe pulling to a stop in the clearing. From her position lying on the floor, all she could see was the sky above, which was turning gray as it got closer to sunset. “He turned off the engine and got out of the van. He went and stood near the edge. I don’t know what he was doing. Maybe he was checking out the best spot to run the van over it. You know, looking for maximum height, maximum effect,” she said sarcastically. “Maybe he was screwing up his courage to do the deed. Or just looking at the pretty sunset. I don’t know. But in that time, I managed to wriggle up onto the couch, open the drawer with my teeth, and grab one of the knives in my mouth.” Lacey had felt a little like a dog retrieving a stick. But this was no ordinary stick. This tiny paring knife was about to save her life.

“Just as I grabbed the knife, I saw Gabe through the front windscreen standing at the edge. He turned back toward the van, and I dropped the knife on the floor, and then flopped back on top of it. I went to work on the rope he’d tied around my wrists, not knowing how much time I had. A few minutes later, the driver’s door opened and Gabe piled that young man Floyd into the seat. I wasn’t sure what was going on, so I called out to Floyd, but he never answered. I think he might’ve been drugged, he was sort of lolling all over the place. Then Gabe went around and jumped into the passenger seat, and said, ‘Let’s do this thing.’ I’d just started to cut my ankles free when Dotti began to move. He must’ve been steering her from the passenger seat.” She stopped speaking, letting the memories wash over her.

“You’re amazing,” Nico had said then, staring at her with a newfound respect. “I mean, I always knew you were amazing, but that takes a certain kind of courage. A certain kind of determination to live. Not to just lie there and accept your fate.”

“Hmm.” Lacey wasn’t so sure. The instinct to survive was a strong motivator, for anyone. “I was thinking a lot about Cindi,” she admitted. “I wondered what it was like to die. And how that poor little girl had felt as her short life ebbed away. This might sound a bit crazy, but I suddenly saw Cindi in my mind. Whole and alive and laughing. Wearing a cute rainbow-colored shirt and a pink tutu, while she twirled around in circles. She was happy. Wherever she is now, she’s finally happy.” Lacey paused and gulped down a sob. “Seeing her like that gave me the strength I needed to keep cutting. To not give up.”

“You’re not crazy,” he’d whispered into her face. “She helped you do what you needed to do.”

“Maybe,” Lacey conceded. She wasn’t one for believing in spirits or ghosts or what have you. But Cindi had been very clear in her mind. “Anyway. The hardest part was getting the door to slide open,” she continued. “By the time I reached the door handle, Gabriel was stepping out of the passenger seat. I knew I only had a second or so to get out before the van went over the edge. But the handle stuck. The door wouldn’t open, and I screamed and screamed.”

“I heard you,” Nico said. “That’s when I lost all hope. I knew you were in the van, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.” There was utter anguish in his voice, and she understood how hard it must’ve been to watch Dotti head towards the cliff and feel powerless to stop her. His grip on her shoulders tightened. “I was so scared I was going to lose you.”

Nico had left his motorcycle headlight on to give some light to the encroaching darkness. His face was cast in stark shadows as she lifted her head to stare into his eyes. She could see the naked truth written in his indigo eyes. That a part of him would’ve been destroyed by her death. She held him a little tighter.

“Everything seemed to happen in slow motion after that,” Lacey continued. “The door jerked opened in my hand, and then the treetops came into view. I knew if I didn’t jump, I’d surely die when Dotti hit the bottom, so I just hoped the branches would break my fall enough that I lived to tell the tale.” Lacey could still remember the sensation of flying through the air like a bird for one short second before the branches ripped her skin to shreds as she plummeted between the foliage. “I thought the leaves would be softer than they were,” she admitted.

“Well, they did catch you. And I still can’t believe you survived that fall,” Nico said into her hair.

She had been pretty lucky. It’d been the only option. But really… The whole idea was immensely far-fetched now she thought about it. Falling out of the sky. She pondered her survival for a few seconds. “Judo is all about learning to fall. In the beginning, that’s the main thing they teach you. How to fall and not get hurt. Learning the throws comes last. Maybe that helped me. I don't know.” She’d shrugged then, causing a stab of pain to shoot through her injured arm, and she clenched her teeth and leaned into Nico’s solid, reassuring body.

When it became clear she’d finally run out of words, Nico had begun talking to fill the dark silence. He told her about his own mad dash up the mountain road, hoping against hope to find her. How Tyrell and Sally-Ann had found Dotti using web cams and CCTV cameras.

“I knew you’d come,” she’d told him. Her faith in him may have wavered, but she knew he’d figure it out in the end.

And while Nico hadn’t arrived in time to save her from going over the edge, he’d been the main voice in her head spurring her on. Telling her she didn’t need a man to save her. She was strong enough to save herself. And if he hadn’t figured out where she was going, and been there to help her out of the tree afterward, and called in the rescue team, she may still be stuck up there. In some ways, she owed him her life. In other ways, she was a little proud that she’d been able to save herself.

Nico had insisted she come back to his place after she was discharged from hospital, and she was more than happy to oblige. He’d been caring and attentive, staying at home for the first few days to be with her. He still had the ongoing investigation to deal with, and the phone had been ringing off the hook, a fleet of officers had paraded past his front door delivering documents, asking questions, talking logistics, while Nico directed everything from his living room, refusing to leave her alone. Even after she told him to go back to work, he denied her request. But on the third day, five full days after Gabe had abducted her, Senior Constable Tyrell appeared on the front porch. He’d had a call from an officer in the Strahan office. They’d found a man hiding in an abandoned shed on the edge of town who matched Gabriel DuPont’s description. Where Gabe had been and how he’d managed to evade the island-wide search for so long was anybody’s guess. But the bastard was now in custody, and he would be charged with kidnapping, the attempted murder of Lacey, and the murder of Floyd Hamilton. Nico confirmed Lacey’s suspicion that Rania knew about Gabe’s homosexuality, telling her about the journal entries, which were backed up by the young bakers apprentices’ testimony.

Jayden had cracked easily under Sally-Ann’s interrogation, revealing he’d gone to Rania’s house to beg her not to tell anyone about what she’d seen because he knew how desperate Gabe was to keep his sexuality a secret. Rania had supposedly grudgingly agreed, but her word was clearly not enough, and it seemed Gabe hadn’t believed she’d keep quiet forever. The fight Nico had witnessed that day in the parking lot had been when Gabe had found out about Jayden visiting Rania the day afterward. He’d been livid with rage, the apprentice had reported to Sally-Ann. Jayden was distraught when he learned that Gabe had been arrested, but not surprised. Perhaps, out of everyone who knew Gabe, Jayden had been the only one who’d seen into his confused mind down to the darkness that lay just below the surface. And Nico was now working on the case to charge Gabriel with Rania’s murder.

After Tyrell’s call, Lacey was finally able to convince Nico to leave her side; he needed to be the one to bring Gabriel DuPont back to Burnie to be charged. Nico agreed and had returned much later that evening with a look of grim determination on his face. It must’ve been bittersweet for him. The doctor had been a good friend, and she knew it must still be hard to believe he was capable of murder. People never liked to suspect those closest to them had the ability to commit heinous deeds. The next day, Nico returned to work at the station full-time. But he always made sure to be home in time to cook dinner and spend time with her in the evenings. He was also there to take her to doctor’s appointments, as well as back to see Imran twice since the accident.

Margie was more than happy to pop in every day to see how Lacey was faring. And she inevitably brought something home-cooked with her, be it cookies, cake, or a casserole. So Lacey and Nico were always well-fed.

It was good to reconnect with Herb and Margie, repair the wound that’d opened when Herb had been on Nico’s suspect list. Margie at least, bore no grudge; she seemed to understand how conflicted Nico had been about the whole thing. It turned out that the older couple had decided to put their bicycles on the back of their car and drive to Queenstown to do one of the more challenging rides they’d been considering for a while on the Monday she’d been abducted. Herb had had enough of people staring at him and police questions. He needed to get away, and Lacey understood that. Herb talked about the steep hill climbs and long stretches of remote coastline, and how he’d felt some of his resentment at the situation he’d been put in drain away. Phone reception was patchy along their chosen route, and so Herb never knew Nico had been frantically trying to get in touch. They’d stayed overnight and returned home to find their little community in absolute uproar. After Lacey heard their story, she’d been tempted to gently reprimand them for not telling Nico where they were going, and how it’d caused concern for their welfare. But she decided, in the end, there would be nothing gained from her admonishment, and so merely smiled at Herb and agreed that nature was a great healer.

Margie was sometimes overcome with emotion when she thought about how her own husband had been on top of the suspect list as a possible murderer. “Never in my life would I have suspected such a thing. I’m so proud of Herb. He stuck to his principles and kept that young woman’s secret, even though his own freedom was at stake, just because she asked him to,” Margie had said one day while making a pot of tea.

Lacey silently thought that Margie’s morals were a little misplaced, but at least her allegiance to her husband remained staunch, and that was probably what mattered most.

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