The blood from where he must have hit the rocks is being washed away by the rain.
Kent is wedged into a gap in the rocks. His neck must have snapped because he’s facing the wrong way, and one leg is sticking up at an impossible angle.
There’s no doubt that he’s dead.
‘We need to get an emergency helicopter here!’ James shouts, his narrow eyes dark with panic.
‘He’s dead,’ Rex says, lowering the binoculars.
‘I’m climbing down,’ James insists.
‘It’s too dangerous,’ DJ calls behind them.
‘Shit,’ James whimpers, and sinks to the ground close to the cliff-edge.
Lawrence arrives at last, out of breath. His glasses are wet and he must have caught himself on something, because his thigh is bleeding through the fabric of his trousers. His thick grey beard is full of pine needles and twigs.
‘What’s going on?’ he pants, wiping the water from his eyes.
‘Kent fell in the ravine,’ James replies.
‘Is it serious?’
‘He’s dead,’ DJ says.
‘We don’t know that,’ James exclaims angrily.
‘There’s no way he could have survived the fall,’ DJ tells Lawrence, pointing towards the drop.
‘He’s dead,’ Rex confirms.
‘Shut up!’ James screams hysterically.
‘Listen to me,’ DJ says, raising his voice. ‘Let’s go back to the hotel and call the police.’
Lawrence moves away, shaking his head, and sits down on a rock with his rifle on his lap, staring into space. James is standing completely still, his lips white with rage and shock.
‘I knew it,’ he says quietly to himself.
‘There’s nothing we can do for him now,’ DJ says. ‘We need a phone …’
Rex goes over and squats down in front of his son, and eventually catches his eye.
‘We’re going back to the hotel,’ he says softly.
‘Yes, please,’ Sammy replies.
DJ tries to reason with the other two men, but they won’t listen to him.
‘I know it feels awful leaving him down there,’ he says. ‘But we need to get the police out here as soon as possible.’
Rex helps Sammy to his feet. DJ indicates a direction away from the cliff-edge and they start walking.
‘Come on,’ DJ calls. ‘We don’t want any more accidents.’
The other two men look at him, then slowly start to move. The group walks along the side of the mountain, heading gradually into the valley towards the hotel.
‘This is fucking sick,’ James says.
The rain is still falling hard, and their clothes hang heavy on their bodies.
‘Can’t we just go home?’ Sammy says.
‘I’m so sorry you got dragged into this,’ Rex says, then turns towards the others.
He looks at the three men through the rain. Puddles are forming in every depression and hollow, and the ground looks like it’s bubbling. The rocks have acquired a ghostly halo from the rain bouncing off them.
‘Take care not to slip,’ he reminds Sammy.
‘I saw him fall,’ his son whispers. ‘I was heading towards them from the side … it was before the rain. It all happened so fucking fast … I don’t get it …’
‘We shouldn’t have come on the hunt,’ Rex says, anxiety and regret gathering in his throat. ‘I always think I have to do all these things, but I’m not a hunter, and I could have said that from the beginning.’
‘You’re too kind to do that,’ Sammy says tiredly.
‘We could have waited back at the hotel instead,’ Rex goes on, holding a branch out of the way. ‘Got the food ready, sat and talked, like you wanted.’
‘Mum told me I wasn’t planned. The opposite, really …’
‘Listen,’ Rex says. ‘I was incredibly immature when she and I met. I’d never even thought about having children. It felt like I’d only just started living.’
‘Did you want Mum to have an abortion?’ his son asks.
‘Sammy, everything changed the moment I saw you, when it really sank in that I had a son.’
‘Mum’s always tried to tell me that you care about me, but it’s been hard to find any evidence.’
‘I always said I’d be there for you when it really mattered, but I haven’t been,’ Rex says, swallowing hard. ‘I haven’t been there for you.’
He trails off when he feels his voice starting to crack. He tries to catch his breath and calm down.
‘I want your mum to take that job in Freetown, and I want you to move in with me, properly … the way it should be,’ he eventually says.
‘I can manage on my own,’ Sammy retorts.
Rex stops and tries to make eye contact with his son.
‘Sammy,’ he says. ‘You know I really like having you live with me, right? You must have noticed, some of the best moments of my life have been when we’ve been cooking together, playing the guitar …’
‘Dad, you don’t have to,’ Sammy says.
‘But I love you,’ Rex goes on in a thick voice. ‘You’re my son. I’m so proud of you, and you’re the only thing that really matters to me at all.’
103
The whole valley has vanished in the downpour; it’s as if the church and old railway barracks never existed, just a grey world with no real depth.
Rex and Sammy’s clothes are soaked through and they’re freezing cold when they finally see the outline of the hotel through the driving rain.
DJ, James and Lawrence passed them a while ago, at the gates to the enclosure. The three men hurried ahead and disappeared along the waterlogged track.
When they were halfway back Sammy put his foot down wrong. Now his ankle has started to swell, and he’s limping with his arm around Rex’s shoulders.
‘Dad, wait,’ Sammy says, stopping at the bottom of the steps to the deck.
‘Is it hurting?’
‘It’s not that. I just want to say something before we go in. I said I saw Kent fall, but it … it actually looked more like he jumped.’
‘It could have looked that way,’ Rex says.
‘And there’s something else … he only flashed before me for a moment before he was gone … but I had time to notice his red scarf trailing behind him.’
‘But …’
‘He wasn’t wearing a scarf, was he? It was blood.’
They walk up the steps in silence, then go into the large lobby while they try to figure out how Kent could have been bleeding before he fell.
Maybe he walked up to the cliff-edge and shot himself, Rex thinks.
There are wet footprints on the stone floor of the lobby. Rifles and other equipment are piled on the low coffee table in front of the fireplace.
DJ is standing in the foyer searching the cushions of the sofas and armchairs.
‘Did you call the police?’ Rex asks.
DJ shoots him a dark look.
‘The phones are gone,’ he says.
‘No, we left them at the reception desk,’ Rex says.
‘Then they must have somehow slipped off,’ DJ says, walking behind the desk.
‘Is anyone else here other than us?’ Sammy asks.
Rex shakes his head, shivers and looks over at the windows. The rain is still coursing down the glass.
‘What are we going to do?’ Sammy asks.
‘We need to get you into some dry clothes,’ Rex says.
‘That’ll solve everything,’ Sammy says, walking off towards his room.
‘They’re not here,’ DJ mutters, searching among the papers.
‘Isn’t there a landline?’ Rex asks.
‘No … and the computers need a password,’ he says in a hollow voice.
‘I’ve got an iPad,’ Rex remembers. ‘Do you think there’s Wi-Fi here?’
‘Try it,’ DJ says as he searches behind the desk.
‘Bloody hell,’ Rex sighs, watching Sammy walk off.
DJ stops and looks at him.
‘Is it Sammy?’
‘I’m trying, I … I’ve got so many emotions right now, but of course I understand that he can’t just absorb the fact that I want to be a father to him after all these years …’
Rex stops then walks off, unbuttoning his soaking wet jacket as he heads towards his own suite.
When he opens the door it sounds like someone’s taken a deep breath.
The wind outside might have caused a difference in air pressure, he reasons as he pulls his boots off in the dark hallway.
He walks out into the main room, and has just pulled his jacket off when he realises that someone is standing in the corner behind the lamp.
The yellow lampshade is hiding his face, but he can see light glinting off the blade of a hunting knife.