It was here the barn sat nestled against a backdrop of trees.
As the pickup truck drew closer to the barn, Niall said, ‘Denise and Carly must still be here, Katie. The lights are on.’
Katie was not surprised, and she explained, ‘They often stay here long after I’m gone. They like to rehearse, work together, and sometimes they do their homework, Niall. There’s nothing much for them at home, with everyone working.’
‘Yeah, I know.’ Niall brought the pickup truck to a stop in front of the barn, and braked.
Katie opened the door and jumped down to the ground. It was cold and she shivered, huddled into her jacket as she ran forward. When she reached the barn door she was surprised to see it stood open.
Pulling it back, she went in, smiling and exclaiming, ‘Carly! Denise! What’s going on? Why’s the door open on a cold night like this?’
No one answered. The barn was empty.
Taken aback, Katie stood for a moment frozen to the spot. Her eyes scanned the room swiftly, and straight away she noticed the disarray. Two straight-backed chairs had been turned over, lay on their sides. The shade on the old pottery lamp was lopsided, looked as if it had been hit with force, and the blue cloth on the table where they drank their Cokes had been pulled to one side, so that it hung off the edge of the table. As her eyes continued to scan the barn she saw their coats hanging on the wall pegs, and on the floor, nearby, were their school bags. And hers as well, although she didn’t remember putting it there. She was sure she had thrown it in a corner, haphazardly. All three were neatly lined up, side by side. How odd.
Sudden fear clutched at Katie.
She swung her head as Niall came inside.
‘Where’s Denise? Carly?’ he asked, and automatically took hold of her arm, immediately noticing the overturned chairs, and other signs of disruption.
Katie swung to face him. ‘I don’t know.’ She bit her lip. ‘They must be somewhere…outside…’
‘Without their coats?’ he frowned, staring hard at her.
For a moment Katie could not speak. The fear inside her seemed to intensify and her legs suddenly felt weak, as if they would give way beneath her. All of her instincts were alerted to trouble, and in a shaking voice she said slowly, ‘There’s something wrong, Niall.’
‘Yep, there is.’ Her brother took a deep breath, went on: ‘We’d better go outside and look for them. They must be around here somewhere. It’s very dark, but I’ve got a flashlight in the truck.’
‘And there’s one in the drawer of the table. I kept it for emergencies,’ she explained.
‘Then get it, Katie, and let’s go.’
It was chilly and damp outside and darker than ever. Heavy clouds obscured the opaque moon, and an ominous feeling floated in the air. It was palpable, something Katie felt she could reach out and touch.
She was taut and fearful. Her mind raced; dire thoughts rushed unchecked through her head. Nothing was normal any more, and her instincts told her something bad had happened here. Something evil. A strange sense of doom, a foreboding, persisted even though she tried to push it away.
The dampness seeped through her jacket into her bones, and she shivered as she stood waiting for her brother. Niall had gone to get the flashlight from his pickup, and she was clutching the one she had taken from the barn. Her mother had given it to her a long time ago, and Katie was glad she had thought to replace the batteries recently.
Unexpectedly, Niall’s headlights flashed on and she started in surprise. The area in front of the barn where she was standing was suddenly illuminated, and at least she could see better. Niall ran towards her, waving his flashlight, and when he was by her side he took hold of her arm protectively. In a rush of words he said, ‘Listen to me, Katie. We’re going to stick close together. Real close. I don’t want you wandering around here on your own. Okay?’
‘Yes. And anyway that’s the last thing I’d do,’ she answered, her voice low, and she edged closer to her brother. There was a hesitation on her part, then she ventured, ‘There are only two possibilities, Niall. They either left in a great hurry or they were taken.’
‘Taken,’ he repeated, and frowned, his slate-green eyes suddenly troubled. ‘Who’d take them? And where?’
‘I don’t know. But what we do know is that there was an intruder, or intruders, because things have been moved around, disrupted in there.’ She half turned, nodded her head at the barn. ‘Carly and Denise might not be here at all, you know. They could be far away by now. If they’ve been…taken. Kidnapped.’
‘Jaysus, what’re you saying, Katie?’ Niall muttered, sounding exactly like Grandfather Sean, whom he loved and emulated. ‘Why would anyone take Denise and Carly? What are you getting at?’
‘There’re a lot of weirdos around, you know that as well as I do. Crazed druggies. Sex fiends. Whackos. Serial killers.’
Niall gaped at her, obviously startled by her words; a mixture of concern and fear washed across his face. ‘Let’s not waste any more time. We’ll look at the back of the barn first.’ As he spoke he hurried her towards the stands of trees that shaded the ramshackle building on its north side.
Katie said, ‘They might have made for Ted Matthews’s house, Niall.’
‘Yeah, that’s a possibility.’
Together they walked around the back of the barn, waving their flashlights from side to side, directing the beams of light at the trees and bushes, calling, ‘Carly! Denise!’
No one answered and there was nothing untoward to be seen. No sign of trampled grass, broken twigs, smashed bushes or footprints in the earth. And certainly there was no sign of the girls.
At one moment, Niall paused, swung Katie to face him. He stared at her. ‘We both believe somebody entered the barn. Unexpectedly. Uninvited. Whoever it was either took the girls by force, or frightened them so badly they fled. Correct?’
Katie nodded. ‘And if they ran out, were really scared, they’d probably go to Ted’s farm. It’s not that close, but it is nearer than our house or their own homes.’
Niall was puzzled. ‘Why wouldn’t they run up the hill to the highway?’
‘No, no, they’d never do that,’ Katie responded quickly, shaking her head. ‘It’s tough running uphill. They probably rushed outside and just ran straight ahead, right into the wood facing the barn door. Once they were through the wood they’d be on flat ground all the way to Ted’s farm. It’s easy to run across fields quickly, they’d be there in no time.’
‘You’re right about that, so we’ll search the wood next. It could be that Denise and Carly are hiding in there, afraid to come out. If we don’t find them, we can call Ted from the pay phone on the highway.’
Katie took hold of her brother’s
