Trust Me Read online

  TRUST ME

  Zosia Wand

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  About this Book

  About the Author

  Table of Contents

  www.headofzeus.com

  About Trust Me

  Lizzie is twenty-seven, and she has a great relationship with her seventeen-year-old stepson, Sam, even though they could pass for brother and sister.

  When Sam becomes sullen and withdrawn, Lizzie starts to suspect that something sinister is going on at school. She thinks an older woman is grooming him, trying to turn him against his family. But nobody believes her – and then suspicion falls on Lizzie herself...

  Trust Me is an absorbing, suspenseful and thought-provoking thriller that asks if you can ever really trust anybody... including yourself.

  Contents

  Welcome Page

  About Trust Me

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgements

  About Zosia Wand

  An Invitation from the Publisher

  Copyright

  With love to Simon, for making it possible, and Jemima and Nadia for making it matter.

  This book is dedicated to the community of Ulverston, my home.

  1

  Sam sees it first. I’m oblivious to what’s about to happen, resting against the wooden lip of the hull with my head tilted up as the sun licks my face. Coniston Water. The English Lake District. A glorious spring day, sharp as a shard of glass. We’re gliding up the lake, the boat following a comfortable melody, and I’m finally beginning to relax.

  I’m a city girl; sailing is an alien activity. In my former life, people who sailed inhabited a different world. I glimpsed them in foreign, sun-kissed marinas as they descended from dazzling white yachts in their deck shoes, designer jeans turned up at the ankle and pastel-coloured jumpers draped across their shoulders. I was the one walking past in search of a cheap hostel, interrail card in my pocket, back sweaty from the rucksack dragging on my shoulders. When the boys first mentioned sailing I’d foolishly imagined gin and tonics in iced glasses and careless laughter over meals in restaurants too exclusive to display their prices, but this is Coniston in March, not La Rochelle in August.

  I knew it would be different, just not quite this different. This boat isn’t a yacht. Apparently it’s an Enterprise, thirteen feet long, though it feels much smaller with the three of us on board. It doesn’t gleam white; it’s wooden with worn varnish and bits that need replacing and the sails are the colour of dried blood, but it is pretty in its own Swallows and Amazons way. Sam is winding a piece of rope into neat coils, the tendons in his forearms shifting beneath his flesh as he works. He’s not been still since we pulled up in the car park with the boat on the trailer behind us. The two of them jumped out and set to in a rhythm of activity I’ve never witnessed before. Jonty, solid, established and weathered by the world, Sam, his younger, slender echo, unhitching and lifting, pulling and manoeuvring to the pebbled shore, then clipping and unclipping, more lifting and pushing into the water, shoving and wading and climbing and beckoning and reaching and stretching, and me, hovering behind with the chill damp rising up my calves, waiting to be told what to do. Sam holding out his hand, helping me in. The unsteadiness of the boat beneath me. Allowing myself to be told. Sit there. Hold this. Mind your head. Do what I say and everything will be fine.

  Sam has been sailing since he could walk, more or less, like Jonty before him, though he rarely goes out these days. The two of them have a language they share; words, and commands which mean nothing to me but result in flurries of activity. Ready about! Bearing away! Lee ho! (Lee ho? Seriously?) Sheets to the wind, I guess, and tacking and gybing and something close hauled. These snaps and barks leave me jumpy and impotent while Sam flits from here to there, knotting and unknotting, looping and threading and shifting his weight from one side to the other. I’m completely at his mercy, but he’s patient, smiling, kind. Jonty is steering from the back of the boat, his eyes flicking up to check the sails, which flap and thump above us like the wings of an angry bird. Sam works quickly, methodically, concentrating, eyes squinting, forehead lined. He’s competent. Masculine and adult. No longer a boy. I like watching him. The graceful sweep of his limbs, these strong, confident movements. Jonty lets him take the helm and he rests his hand on what I now know is the tiller, which somehow steers us. His faded blue T-shirt is billowing below his buoyancy aid, offering glimpses of a taut stomach above the waistband of the shorts I teased him about this morning. Feeling the cling of damp denim against my flesh, I can see the sense now.

  This is Sam’s environment: the lake, the mountains, the wind. He could be one of those beautiful young men from that other world, gliding into a continental marina, ready to disembark for an evening of cocktails with a pretty girl.

  It was Sam who suggested we take the boat out today, swallowing the last of his tea and taking the stairs two at a time to gather the kit. I grabbed the coolbag and threw in anything that might lend itself to a picnic, because I knew once we got to the lake we’d be here until sundown. Days like this can be rare. We might be lucky and have weeks of sun right through spring and summer, but that’s the thing about Cumbria, you can never predict the weather. If the sun is out and it’s at all possible, everyone drops what they’re doing and heads for the lake. The weather forces even the most reticent to be spontaneous because it rains a lot in the Lake District. I knew that before I moved here and I wasn’t looking forward to it, but what I didn’t know is what happens when the clouds part and the sun breaks through. It’s like someone has picked up a paintbrush and splattered the world with colour. Indigo lake reflecting the sky, mountains of lavender and mauve, grey blue slate. Today the first early buds are appearing on fragile branches; in a matter of weeks there will be green on green added to this palette, khaki through to lime, the purple hum of bluebells between. Our slice of paradise.

  Sam’s body stiffens. He straightens up. I follow his gaze to look up the length of the lake. Ahead of us the sky looks darker. There’s a menacing grey cast across everything.

  Jonty laughs. ‘We’ll be fine!’ But he’s on his feet, taking the tiller from Sam, preparing for something.

  The shining mirror of the lake has shattered, offering a broken reflection of the sky. The surface of the water is changing in texture, becoming rougher, matt. I shiver, suddenly chilled. ‘What’s happening?’

  Sam is focused on Jonty. ‘We should reef, Dad. That wind from the valley is strong.’

  Jonty laughs. He’s in his element, the wind on his face, his body alert, reading the lake, but Sam is nervous.

  ‘We should reef the sails while we’re still calm.’

  ‘We’ll be fine.’

  I can hear the familiar edge to his voice and ask, ‘What’s reefing?’ to distract them from one another.

  Sam explains. ‘We reduce the sail. It gives a smaller surface area and makes it easier to cope with the wind.’

  ‘Reefing’s for wimps!’ Jonty fixes his eyes ahead. ‘Let’s show you some proper sailing!’

  My gut clenches. I want to say something, but I’m in a foreign place, without the experience or the words.

  Sam gives me a reassuring nod, but he looks worried. ‘Just do what I say.’

  I take comfort from the fact that there are other boats braving the wind, and half a dozen windsurfers riding the gusts like giant butterflies flexing their wings, but as we get closer I notice the boats ahead of us are leaning over, their masts conspicuously tilting away from the wind. They seem to be lowering their sails. I look back at Sam.

  ‘It’s all right. He knows the lake. If it gets too much we’ll turn around.’ But I can hear the anxiety in his voice. He guides me down to the front end. ‘We need to distribute our weight evenly across the boat.’

  Stumbling, I fall against him as we pitch to and fro. He lowers me on to the bench along one side and sits opposite. Goosebumps pepper my arms, my hands are trembling. As the boat shifts this way and that, Sam leans back and then forward, following the rhythm, using his body to steady us.

  ‘What’s happening?’ I’m trying to understand. To prepare.

  ‘The air flow is more turbulent up this end of the lake. It’s disturbed by the landscape as it rolls over Torver Common – the contours of the ground, buildings, trees.’ Water sprays over the side of the boat as we pitch alarmingly to one side. Cold seeps through the seat of my jeans. Sam leans back to compensate and has to shout over the rush of the wind. ‘The further up the lake i
t goes, the more agitated it gets.’

  ‘Should I rock backwards and forwards like you?’

  He shakes his head, leaning towards me, but Jonty barks, ‘Sit still! I’ll keep the boat steady.’

  ‘I’m just—’

  ‘I know how to sail a boat!’

  Sam does as he’s told, but his body is tense and I can see he’s angry. A sudden gust of wind hits us and the boat tips towards his side, the water rising behind him. He shifts instinctively, but Jonty bellows, ‘Sit still!’ and Sam stops, the boat leaning dangerously towards the water. I want to grab him before he topples back, he’s inches from the surface of the lake. He compensates by leaning forward, lending his weight to me, his upper body almost in my lap, and I’m momentarily reassured to have him so close, but then we’re smacked by another gust of wind and pushed so far down that water sluices over the side. I feel a cold flush across my feet, my ankles. Another great wash follows, a long tongue unfurling and spewing water, flooding the far corner. The lake has become an angry, living thing, an enormous gulping mouth, determined to swallow us up.

  Everything changes in that instant. The mass of murky water and debris sloshing about adds to the weight on Sam’s side. I’m now raised quite high and Sam is low, so low and getting lower and lower. The water behind him is rising and slowly, almost inevitably, as if it was always meant to happen this way, the edge of the boat dips right down and slides in. I scream. Sam slips back and is slurped up, floating in his buoyancy aid out into the great gaping mouth of the lake.

  I’m tipped forward and crack my forehead on the boom; there’s a terrible pain as I too slide in, the cold creeping up under my clothes, chilling my flesh, claiming me. The boat lurches over on to its side and the sail, like the great wing of a wounded bird, descends over Sam, landing with a rippling thud on the surface of the lake, covering him entirely. Jonty is in the water, clutching at a long tail of rope. I grab the boom and lift myself up, as high as I can and shout to Sam, but he’s trapped. I can see his outline kicking and struggling beneath the blood-coloured fabric of the sail, and then it stops abruptly.

  I scream, ‘Sam!’ Jonty drops the rope and swims, long, strong strokes slicing the water, along the length of the mast. Faster! Faster! How long will Sam be able to breathe under there? I try and push myself up higher to look, but the boom sinks beneath me, I can feel the boat behind me shifting and then I see Sam’s head pop up some distance from the sail and he waves. Relieved, I drop back down to rest my aching arms, but he shouts, ‘Lizzie! Look out!’ and I’m aware of a looming dark, the hull closing in on me, a clam shell, Sam’s voice shouting, ‘Hold on! Stay calm!’ and I trust him, though my heart is punching into my throat and the dark that’s descending, slowly, is like a dreadful omen, as the vast shell comes down over my head, blocking out the wind, the sky, the light and creating a trembling cave on the surface of the lake.

  I’m alone. Trapped in the watery quiet. Dark. Chill. Without Sam or Jonty all I can do is float in this foreign place, my heart banging against my ribs. How did this happen? Moments ago we were sunlit and laughing, surrounded by colour and beauty. I shudder. I’m struggling to breathe, no idea what might be in the water beneath me, what might happen next. I instinctively tense every muscle in my body, hardening myself against imaginary razor-sharp teeth.

  ‘Lizzie!’ It’s Jonty. He sounds miles away, as if he’s shouting to me from the shore. ‘Lizzie, are you OK?’

  ‘Yes! Yes, I’m all right. What do I do?’

  Sam’s voice. Closer. ‘Stay there! I’ll get you.’

  I feel him before I see him, a giant fish splitting the water, propelling himself under the rim of the boat, his sleek dark head rising, surfacing in front of me. He’s gasping, shaking his hair from his face, blinking, grinning. ‘You OK?’

  I’m awed by this water creature he’s become. I’ve never seen him like this before. Elemental. Heroic. The quiet settles around the two of us in our little water cave.

  He asks, ‘You’re OK to swim?’ I nod. ‘You’ll need to dive under the boat and up out the other side. I’ll follow you.’ Another nod. My words have been sucked out of me.

  Jonty’s voice is closer now, through the wood that separates us. ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘She’s fine.’ Sam grins at me, exposing his even teeth. ‘This is how we’ll do it. You take a deep breath, OK?’ He waits for me to nod. ‘I’ll need to weigh you down, because of your buoyancy aid. Hold your breath and I’ll push you under the lip of the boat and you’ll pop out the other side.’ Another smile, but I don’t want to go. I want to stay here in this stillness with him. He reads my mind. ‘Dad will be there.’ He swims around behind me, his voice in my ear. ‘Ready?’

  ‘Ready.’

  He pushes hard on my back and I sink a little into the water, but not low enough. He pushes harder and I reach for the edge of the boat to try and grip, push my head beneath the surface, my eyes clenched tight, but I can’t get any further down. I come up gulping for air, feeling desperate. Useless. ‘Sorry.’

  Jonty calls out. ‘What’s going on?’

  Sam grabs at the strap of his buoyancy aid, feeling for the clasp. I try and stop him. ‘Don’t take it off!’

  ‘I have to get lower into the water.’

  Jonty’s voice, anxious, shouts, ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘He’s taking off his buoyancy aid!’

  Sam insists, ‘I have to. I can’t get low enough. I’ll be all right.’

  We wait for an answer. Permission. Since we set out Jonty has been the captain. He hesitates. Eventually a reluctant ‘All right.’

  ‘No!’ I can’t let Sam do this. It isn’t safe.

  He persists, ‘I’m a strong swimmer and I’m staying close to the boat.’

  Jonty shouts, ‘Make sure you bring the buoyancy aid with you.’

  ‘OK.’ He’s already wriggling free, attaching the strap to his arm as instructed, and he positions himself behind me again. ‘Ready?’

  He climbs on to me, like a child looking for a piggyback, much heavier this time, and I sink down just low enough to wriggle under the rim and up towards the light, to Jonty, his face crumpled with worry, his eyes, those dark, dark eyes, searching, checking me over. Relief. Relief and guilt and delight, as he hugs me to him and plants his mouth on mine.

  Sam pops up a little distance from us, his buoyancy aid bobbing about in the water beside him. ‘Get that on!’ Jonty barks and Sam, rolling his eyes, does as he’s told.

  The boat is a great turtle, bouncing beside us while Jonty shouts instructions to Sam. We still have to get back to shore and my jaw is tense, my teeth clattering wildly. As I look to Sam, to see what I should do, he turns and freezes suddenly, his eyes fixed on something beyond me. I cringe in panic at whatever disaster is coming next, unable to look.

  ‘Can I help?’

  Rotating clumsily in the water, I see a woman in a slick black wetsuit on a surfboard, blonde hair pulled in a tight ponytail, perfect bone structure.

  Jonty grins. ‘Where did you come from?’

  She raises an eyebrow. ‘I was watching you from the other side of the lake.’ She’s clearly amused.

  ‘Yeah, well, these boats are a bit harder to control than that thing,’ he says, nodding at the windsurfer.

  ‘You should have reefed.’

  I look over at Sam, expecting him to be laughing, to say, ‘I told you so,’ but he’s swimming away from us, around the hull.

  Jonty ignores the comment and says, ‘We need to stay with the boat, but if you could take Lizzie into shore, that would help.’

  Me? On a surfboard?

  Jonty feels inside the interior pocket of his lifejacket and passes her the car keys. ‘We’re parked at Brown Howe.’ Much to Jonty’s amusement, she unzips the top of her wetsuit and slips the keys into her cleavage. She takes her time zipping it back up, enjoying the moment as much as Jonty. We are all mesmerised, watching her lower herself into a crouch and slide gracefully into the water.

  Holding her board steady, she tells me to drape myself over the end. I assume we’re going to paddle side by side, kicking our way across to the shore, and I grip the far edge, but she shakes her head. ‘Further over. Get your belly on to the board, so your weight is evenly distributed over each side.’