Belinda Bauer - Finders Keepers

He had a sheep, but it would last no time.

After that, he didn’t know what he would do.

Jonas saw Steven wince as a sharp point of wire pricked his finger. The boy didn’t give up, though – he shook his hand, then bent to his task again, even though it was hopeless.

Jonas thought of the grim truth – that Bob Coffin was their captor and tormentor, but he was also their lifeline. If he fell down and broke his leg, they were all dead; if he had a car accident and was taken to hospital, they were all dead; if he simply lost interest or got scared, or took a long weekend by the seaside, they were all dead .

Now the huntsman was somewhere else and they were here.

Helpless as infants.

As he watched Steven, Jonas cursed himself. A strip of leather and a small padlock, and he’d simply resigned himself to his fate, along with the children he was sworn to protect. He should have remembered the gun and realized the danger they were in. He should have been planning an escape for weeks, not waited until there was a crisis like this one. He’d been afraid, and frozen by that fear, and it had stopped him thinking.

He’d better start again right now.

Jonas ran his fingers along the chain that tethered him to the fence. He examined every link minutely, tried their strength with his hands and his teeth. He picked a link in the middle of the tether, and scraped it repeatedly across the cement, making a graze in the grey of the floor, and a shiny new corner on the metal.

That might work. Although an escape plan that relied on the erosion of metal was an escape plan that should have been formulated long before they were each left with half a bucket of water and no food.

The link became shiny but it didn’t get thin. It seemed hopeless, but Jonas beat down the feeling that he was wasting his time. Right now this was the most important thing in the world. The only thing left within his control.

The thought made him strangely optimistic, and he went at the task with new vigour.

Steven said ‘Shitshitshit’ and flapped his hand again.

‘You OK?’ said Jonas.

‘Cut it,’ said Steven, holding it up to the fence for Jonas to see.

Jonas reached out and wiped away the blood with his own thumb. Immediately it squeezed out again in a pretty red sphere.

‘It’s just a flesh wound,’ said Jonas with a smile.

‘Yeah,’ said Steven. He smiled back, but it didn’t last long. ‘Jonas?’ he said tentatively, ‘do you think he’s going to come back for us?’

‘Of course,’ said Jonas. ‘He loves us, doesn’t he?’

The sun was high in the sky before Pete said, ‘I hear him!’ and he was right.

Bob Coffin came down the walkway without meat, but with purpose, carrying a coil of thin cord. He wore his mask but no gloves. He strode past them all and unlocked Charlie’s kennel, then shook an end out of the coil like a cowboy about to rope a calf. Charlie stood up and moved away, like that same calf.

Jonas knelt against the fence. ‘What are you doing?’

Coffin ignored him and lunged at Charlie, who dodged him, then burst into tears.

Bob Coffin tried again, arms outstretched, and Charlie cowered, then darted away, bawling his lungs out.

‘Hold still, bay!’

Charlie rattled the gate in blind panic and twisted out of Bob Coffin’s grip once more. ‘No meat! No meat!’

‘Stay! Or I’ll get the gloves.’

Charlie ran to Jonas at the fence, clutching at the wire. ‘I don’t want to go!’ he cried. ‘Jonas!’

The terrified boy fell to his knees as Bob Coffin tried to drag him away.

‘Leave him alone! What are you doing?’

Charlie tried to feed his hand through the fence, but Bob Coffin yanked it backwards. ‘Trying to let the little bugger go!’ he grunted.

Jonas took a second to realize what he’d said. He looked at the man’s face, distorted despite the smoothing stocking.

He couldn’t see his eyes, but it felt like the truth.

I promise .

Jonas couldn’t afford to disbelieve him.

‘Charlie! Charlie, calm down!’

Charlie cried and struggled and clung to the wire while Coffin hauled on his arms.

‘Let him go,’ Jonas told the huntsman sharply. ‘Let him go so I can talk to him.’

Coffin did. He stepped back from Charlie, leaving the boy gripping the fence, facing Jonas with his arms spread in an incomplete hug.

Jonas had to work fast. He touched Charlie’s fingers with his. ‘Charlie, listen to me. Listen to me. You’re going home.’

Charlie’s brimming eyes met his. ‘Home?’

Jonas nodded vehemently. ‘Yes, home. Today. Right now. You’re going to go home and see your dad.’

Charlie nodded, bottom lip still wobbling.

‘But you have to go with him, Charlie. Go with him and be a good boy.’

‘Don’t make a fuss,’ said Charlie.

‘That’s right. Be a good boy and don’t make a fuss.’

Charlie looked warily over his shoulder at the huntsman.

Jonas tugged his fingers to bring his attention back to him. ‘You’ll be fine, Charlie. He’s not going to hurt you. I promise.’

Charlie nodded but still looked doubtful. Coffin moved towards them, hand out. Charlie leaned away.

‘I promise , Charlie.’

Charlie knelt still, hitching with sobs, as Coffin pushed the end of the cord through the metal loop on his collar.

‘Good bay,’ said Coffin soothingly.

‘Where are you going to take him?’ Jonas asked.

‘Back,’ said Coffin.

‘To his house?’

‘I’ll leave him where he’ll be found.’

Jonas felt uneasy. ‘Somewhere safe, right?’

Coffin’s voice rose. ‘He’ll be found.’

‘Somewhere close to—’

‘I’m taking him back !’ Coffin spat angrily.

Jonas bit his lip. He had to shut up. If he didn’t, the huntsman might change his crazy mind.

Coffin helped Charlie to his feet.

Jonas rose with him, and his heart rose too. Charlie was going home. He was going to save the boy, after all. Then he was seized with sudden panic.

What about the others?

He’d told Coffin the truth – Charlie probably didn’t know where he was and so was unlikely to be able to lead the police back to the kennels. He did not have the capacity to relay any whispered instructions. Too late, Jonas realized that Charlie was the last captive he should have been working to free. Steven or Jess would have had the police up here within the hour; even little Maisie could have given them enough information to bring this nightmare to a swift close.

He was saving the boy – and leaving the other children to their fates. In a second Charlie would be gone – along with any faint chance of help. He had to send a message with him somehow. A clue. Where they were, or at least that they were still alive.

As Coffin turned to lead Charlie from the run, Jonas pushed his hand through the wire. His hand was big and the diamond pattern was small. He grimaced and twisted and shoved brutally, and watched the skin curl off in a bloody strip between his thumb and his wrist.

He cupped Charlie’s neck and held him there a moment longer at the end of his rope leash.

‘Bye, Charlie.’

‘Bye, Jonas,’ said Charlie. ‘ Dog! Spot! ’

Jonas pressed his thumb firmly on to the brass nameplate on the boy’s collar. It was all he could think of.

Charlie was led from the yard to a chorus of tearful farewells.

Jonas watched him waving until he disappeared, then gouged another strip of flesh out of his hand as he pulled it back through the wire.

‘Brilliant!’ said Steven. ‘That was fucking brilliant!’