Rachel was suddenly brought back to reality, as she was interrupted by a young lady rushing up to her. “Excuse me. Do you have the time?” she politely asked. Rachel sighed inwardly. She didn’t feel like talking, but still, a question had been asked and a reply was needed.” 10:30 “ she responded in a quiet voice, as she looked up from her watch. She still had half an hour to wait and was unable to think of any other way to pass the time other than to gaze into the distance and enjoy the sound of the sea, which lapped lazily at the side of the harbour and bask in the warmth of the sun, as it climbed higher into the sky.
In the distance she spotted the ferry approaching, and began to gather her things. The boat docked and she boarded it in anticipation to start the long awaited and well-deserved holiday. It was one o’clock in the afternoon when the boat finally landed at Nantucket Island, so Rachel concluded that once she had shown the ticket man her ticket she would go and get settled into her cottage. She spent the evening walking along the nearby beach, and she decided that she would hire a bike and do some sight seeing the next day.
Early the next morning after a peaceful sleep, Rachel left her cottage to hire a bike for the day, so she could see a bit more of the Island. The bike was well worn and somewhat rickety, but she didn't seem to notice this as she cruised down the deserted, tree lined lanes with the gentle rustle of the breeze blowing the long grass on the fields she passed. Rachel felt refreshed as the wind blew through her hair on the way to Madaket Beach, which was about 5 miles away from where she was staying. When she arrived at the gorgeous white sandy beach she couldn’t wait for the relaxing day ahead of her. She was delighted at the prospect of having the day simply unfold before her, without having to stick to her usual busy schedule. Rachel spent most of her day sunbathing and swimming in the warm ocean, and before she knew it, nine hours had passed and it was five o’clock in the afternoon and time to go back to her cottage.
When she arrived in the town at seven o’clock she returned the bike and made her way back to her cottage, Ocean View Cottage. The sky was burnt with the colours of pink and orange as the blackness of night forced the light of day below the horizon. The moon was shining through the canopy of trees and casting strange shadows on the footpath as she walked. A crisp breeze was blowing, and leaves danced across the ground. From behind her she heard the sound of crunching leaves. Then something moved in the dark shadows close by. She didn’t know what it was, if it was anything at all, but she was sure she didn't want to find out, and so quickly hastened her pace. Without warning, an arm quickly grabbed her from behind. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but it was swiftly covered with a hand. As she struggled to get free she wondered if she was going to die that night as thoughts raced through her mind as to how she was going to get out of this mess. Panic was screaming at her. Maybe she shouldn’t have come on holiday after all, or maybe she should have gone somewhere else. She kept struggling and the hope of escaping began to fade, but she had a strong will to live and certainly didn’t want this night to be her last. Finally, as her fear and anger began to build up, in a last desperate attempt she bit his hand as hard as she could and turned around to kick the masked man in the stomach. Rachel took this as her chance to run. She stole a quick glance at the man before she took off running. She had noticed that the man was about five foot ten inches tall, had a tattoo on his left upper arm that said ‘Emily’ and was circled by a heart, and that his eyes were dark and heavy. She continued to run as fast as she could in the direction of her cottage. She had never been that good at running, but had won the odd medal here and there, while she was in school. However, that had been quite a while ago and she wasn’t as fit as she was then. Still, her adrenalin had kicked in by the time she approached her cottage. She fumbled around in her bag for the keys. Her heart was pounding and she almost half expected the man to come up behind her again, but if so, she knew she most likely wouldn’t get a second chance to escape, as she felt weak with panic. She found the key and thrust it into the door. As soon as she was inside, she quickly turned to lock the door, and then quickly ran to all the other doors and windows to lock them. She went to the kitchen and sat at the table exhausted. She was shaking all over and didn’t know what to make of what she had just experienced. She wondered whether the mystery man would return, who he was, and why she was being targeted.
As she thought about the tattoo on his arm, her thoughts started to wander to the time when she was a little girl and her mother would tell her stories of when she lived on Nantucket Island. She was certain that her mother had talked about someone named Emily, but was it possible? “Could that be the same Emily?” she asked herself. Susan, Rachel’s mother, and Emily James had been best friends, until Emily died in a boating accident many years ago. Her mother had told her of that accident. How they both snuck out early one morning and took Susan’s dad’s boat and went out onto the ocean. The wind had started to pick up and the waves grew larger. They had started to head back into shore, but then it started raining heavily and they couldn’t see properly into the distance. When they were closer to the shore they hit a sharp rock, which pierced the side of the boat. It started to sink and they tried to swim to shore. Emily wasn’t as strong a swimmer as Susan and started to fall behind. Her mother Susan, hadn’t really noticed until Emily started to shout for help. Susan swam back to her as fast as she could, but she wasn’t quite fast enough as Emily’s head disappeared beneath the angry waves. Susan had franticly searched the water for her, but was unable to find her and so reluctantly swam to shore. Her mother had told her that she had grieved for months over Emily’s death, and that she felt partly responsible. She had also added that she hated having to tell Emily’s father what had happened, because when she did tell him, he looked like he could have killed someone. That was when Susan promised herself she would leave the island as soon as she was old enough, so she could escape the continual reminders of that dreadful day. Emily was the only child that Mr. James had, as Emily’s mother had died while giving birth to her. This just added to the sense of guilt she felt, every time she saw Mr. James from that day forward.
Rachel looked at her hands and noticed blood and skin under her fingernails, “probably from the struggle had with him”, she said to herself. She went to the sink to wash it off, only to stop herself in her tracks as she realized that the skin and blood could be used as evidence, and that DNA could be obtained from it. She quickly called the police and told them what had happened that evening and they soon sent over two police officers to escort her back to the station. They took the blood and skin away from underneath her fingernails and transferred it to a lab for testing. She was disappointed to find out that the results would take about two days to process. After the evidence had been taken and the questioning completed, she was again escorted by police to her cottage.
When Rachel arrived home she went straight to bed, but couldn’t get to sleep. After reliving the day’s events in her mind, fatigue soon took over and Rachel fell asleep, just to wake up again a few hours later to the sound of rustling bushes outside. At first she thought it was just the wind until the sound got louder and closer. When she looked out the window she saw the silhouette of a shorthaired man slowly walking past. Rachel, now distraught with fear, sat paralyzed where she was, clinging to her bedcovers. All Rachel could think of was how she would do anything to be back at her two bedroomed flat at the top of a large sky rise. The minutes ticked by and then eventually the hours, yet she still sat motionless in her bed until the sun began to rise. When the clock hit eight o’clock she decided she couldn’t spend all day waiting for her death, if that was what the masked man had in mind. She got out of bed, prepared some breakfast, and got dressed for the day ahead of her. She planned on finding out who her enemy was, but knew she would have to do it fast because she only had four more days on the island.
As she walked into the town a thought kept nagging at her - “Maybe Emily’s father killed my mother for revenge and now wants to kill me, as I am connected to her.” She decided she would pursue this idea first, as Mr. James would have a reason to kill her mother. When she arrived in the town she went to the nearest pay phone and called the operator to try and get the address of Emily’s father, Mr. James. After having obtained the address she got a taxi and went straight to his house. His house was small and run down, and as she approached it, she wasn’t sure whether or not she actually wanted to meet the man who could have murdered her mother and was now possibly after her. She told the taxi driver to wait for a few minutes in case she needed to make a quick exit. When she knocked on the door there was no answer, but suddenly from the corner of her eye she saw the face of a man appear in a small gap between the curtains. She turned to look his way, but he quickly pulled away. She knocked again, and still there was still no answer. After having waited a few minutes she left knowing the man probably wouldn’t have answered the door, no matter how long she stood outside it. Her last option was to call the place where Mr., James worked. She would then visit his workplace, when he was at work in the hope of being able to speak to him. The taxi drove her back to the pay phone she had used previously, to make some enquiries about where Mr. James worked. It was a small town, where everyone knew everyone else’s business, so that shouldn’t be too hard to find out. Rachel walked away from the phone box feeling pleased that her day hadn’t been wasted. She managed to find out that Mr. James worked at the ferry dock and checked people’s tickets to see if they were valid or not. She also discovered that he had been working during the time of her arrival to the Island. This part of the information had some what startled her as she remembered meeting a man, possibly Mr. James, who seemed rather nosey. He had asked her a soon as he had checked her ticket, “Are you related to Susan Baxter?”
“Yes”, Rachel had replied without thinking anything of it.
He then went on to say, “How is she?”
Rachel replied, “She died seven years ago”
“I am so sorry to hear that”, he said in response.
Now that she thought about it, he seemed quite unaffected by what she had said, and furthermore he had a silly smirk on his face when she told him of her mother’s death.
All Rachel could now think of was Mr. James. All the evidence she had obtained, which was very little, pointed to him, but she knew there was the possibility that the masked man who had grabbed her the night before, could be someone else, and that would mean she was after the completely wrong person. She knew she had to follow her gut instinct and find something to convict Mr. James, as she had an uneasy, chilling feeling about him.
The next day Rachel decided to have lunch in a little café in the centre of the town, and then go straight home, as she didn’t want to find herself getting attacked again while walking home when it was getting dark.
The next morning she wasn’t able to go out, as she had to wait for a call form the police to confirm who had attacked her. She spent the morning reading, which was one of her favourite pastimes. She also just happened to have brought one of her favourite books with her for the holiday, ‘Mansfield Park’ by Jane Austin. At eleven forty five the phone rang, and she grabbed it in anticipation. As she listened, half-excited and half-nervous, she was very pleased to find out that her attacker was indeed Mr. James. The results had also been sent of to the Murder Investigation Centre (MIC), on the mainland as Rachel had asked, if the results were positive. They too had come back positive and her mother’s murderer had finally been captured! Her hunch had been correct all along. Mr. James had been arrested early that morning and accused of murder, along with the attack he had made on her. Her mother could now finally rest in peace, and Rachel, knowing that her mother’s murderer had been caught, could now feel a sense of closure to all the unanswered questions she had previously had. She could now freely go about the island as she pleased without the fear of being stalked by a mystery man, and decided to spend her second last day there enjoying herself and celebrating her victory. Her mother was right when she had once told her to face her fears and she would overcome them.
Since most of Rachel’s previous three days had been full of activity, she decided to relax on the nearby beach for most of the day, and use the rest of her time to explore the surrounding area and town. When evening finally approached, she went home and decided to settle into the couch and watch a film in front of a cosy fire. She had a very satisfied feeling as she sipped her cup of hot chocolate, with melting marshmallows on top.
The day that she was to leave Nantucket Island finally had arrived and she was in many ways glad that her holiday had come to an end. She had had enough excitement for a while! She had had a terrible experience, but in the end she had come out triumphant, she had solved her mother’s murder and could now look to the future with a positive attitude, something she hadn’t been able to do since her mother’s death.
Rachel smiled to herself; “This had been a long time coming,” she quietly said to herself as she merged into the crowd that was boarding the ferry for home.