The Triumph of Katie Byrne

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.’

Chapter Five

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 hand. She was nervous, agitated inside. All of a sudden, a surge of apprehension flooded her and she felt slightly sick. She was certain something had gone wrong after she had left, and she prayed that Carly and Denise were all right, that they were safe.

Niall gripped her hand firmly as they made their way to the front of the building, where his pickup was parked, and went into the wood opposite. It was not large, but it was densely packed with trees, and very dark. The path through the trees was cut so narrowly it was necessary to walk single file; Niall insisted Katie went ahead of him so that his eyes were on her at all times. He wasn’t prepared to take any chances.

Once they were moving along the path at a steady pace, Katie called out, ‘Carly! Denise? It’s me, Katie! Are you in here?’

Niall pitched his voice even louder. ‘Denise? Carly? Where are you?’

There was no response.

The two of them kept to the path, waving their flashlights from side to side, peering about in the dim light. Suddenly, Katie stopped and held up her hand. She said quietly, over her shoulder, ‘Did you hear that, Niall?’

‘What?’

‘A rustling sound just ahead of us.’

‘No, I didn’t. It was probably an animal. A deer.’

Katie’s breath caught in her throat, and she held herself absolutely still as she remembered the dark flash caught on the periphery of her vision earlier that day. Near the rhododendron bushes on the hillside when she was going home. I shouldn’t have left them alone in the barn, I should have made them leave with me. But they often stay late, that’s nothing new. As long as they were at the barn they had each other for company, instead of being at home alone.

Had there been someone lurking near the rhododendron bushes? She swallowed hard. Her mouth went dry and she wondered if the intruder had been there on the hill this afternoon. If that was so, she had passed very close to him. Or them. She shivered.

‘I can hear something now,’ Niall muttered, leaning closer, putting his hand on her shoulder.

To Katie, the disturbance, whatever it was, seemed much louder, clearer, and it sounded as though somebody was plunging through the undergrowth, charging forward, and in the process rustling leaves and breaking branches. If it was an animal it was a large one.

‘Who’s there?’ Niall shouted.

‘Carly, Denise, it’s me! And Niall,’ Katie yelled through hands cupped around her mouth.

No one responded but the noise instantly stopped.

There were no sounds at all, only silence.

The two of them did not move for a moment or two. They stood waiting, listening, straining their ears. Nothing moved, not a leaf stirred. The wood was wrapped in total stillness.

Katie took a deep breath – and a step forward.

Niall followed her, even more disturbed. But not wishing to alarm Katie further, he murmured reassuringly, ‘It was a deer, honey. Or a stag. Yes, a stag, that’s more like it, and that’s all it was, Katie. An animal.’ Though he spoke confidently, he wasn’t sure he believed his own words.

Katie certainly didn’t; she had other ideas altogether. Taking several more deep breaths, steadying herself, she stepped out purposefully.

Katie saw Carly first. She was waving her flashlight from side to side when the cold, white beam of light fell across Carly’s body. Her friend was in a small clearing to one side of the path, near a clump of bushes. She was stretched out on her back and lay very still.

‘It’s Carly,’ Katie called and ran forward, driven by anxiety, shining the light on her friend’s face. Instantly she recoiled in horror. Carly’s face was covered in so much blood her features were barely visible.

Katie screamed, called Niall’s name, and remained rooted to the spot, unable to move.

When Niall reached her she grabbed hold of him and shouted in a very loud, unnatural voice, ‘Carly’s covered in blood. Oh, God! Oh, God! She can’t be dead! Can she? Who’s done this terrible thing to her?’ Katie leaned against her brother and the uncontrollable shaking began. She could barely stand up, thought her legs would buckle, and she pushed her face against his shoulder, wanting to block out Carly’s bloody face.

Niall levelled his own flashlight on Carly, and he instantly looked away, as sickened and horrified as Katie.

After a moment, he said quietly, ‘I want to look at Carly more closely. Can you stand on your own, Katie? Let me take you over there, you can rest against the tree. Okay?’

‘Okay,’ Katie answered through her sobbing.

Niall had to move his sister almost bodily, but once he had her leaning against a tree he hurried across the clearing to Carly. The stench of blood assailed him, and he averted his face, gulped air, and somehow managed to hold onto his composure. At last he bent over her, and realized that the blood was coming from her head, oozing out from her hairline, running down over her forehead and cheeks. It suddenly occurred to him there was very little damage, if any, to her face. She had obviously been hit on the head a number of times. Her eyes were closed, but now he noticed a faint pulse in her neck, and she was breathing, if only shallowly. She was alive, he was almost positive of that. Niall fumbled for her wrist. A faint pulse confirmed that she wasn’t dead.

Straightening, Niall stepped back onto the path. Looking across at Katie, who was still clinging to the tree, he said, ‘Carly’s alive. I’m going to see if Denise is anywhere nearby.’

‘Thank God.’ Katie began to sob again, but this time it was with relief.

Within the space of several seconds Niall found Denise. She was about fifty feet away, and she too lay on her back on a patch of dry grass, off to one side of the path.

‘Denise,’ he murmured, kneeling down next to her, shining his flashlight on her face. He drew back at once, and his throat constricted, tears leaping into his eyes. A trembling took hold of him, and he knew even without taking her pulse that she was no longer alive. Those soft velvet brown eyes which he knew so well were wide and staring, and empty of life. Death was on her.

An involuntary sob bubbled in his throat, and he stood up swiftly, filled with sudden overwhelming grief. The tears ran down his cheeks unchecked and he wiped them away roughly with the back of his hand. When he looked at Denise again he saw for the first time that her skirt was pulled up to her waist and her tights were ripped. Niall snapped his eyes shut and pressed his hand to his mouth, filled with fury. Denise had been raped. Bastard. Son of a bitch, he muttered under his breath and he began to sob. Who had done this vile, unspeakable thing to her? Who had raped and killed her? Lovely, innocent Denise. Only seventeen. A whole life to live snuffed out. Just like that. Bastard.

Niall wanted to pull her skirt down, cover her with his jacket, give her a little respect and dignity in death. But he knew better than to do that. Trying to take control of his swimming senses, Niall walked back down the path on trembling legs, wondering how to break the news to Katie.

Quietly, holding his emotions in check, Niall said, ‘Denise…she’s gone, Katie, she’s been…killed.’ His face was contorted by pain and a terrible anger filled his voice.

A wracking sob broke free from Katie and she clutched at him. ‘No, Niall! No! It can’t be. Oh God, no.’

He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

After a moment, Katie whispered, ‘I want to see her.’

‘No, you don’t.’

‘I do. I must.’ She broke free of his embrace and ran down the path, the spot of light from the flashlight bobbing around in the dark as she ran. She did not stop until she reached Denise’s body. Her eyes widened, clouded with grief. She gazed down at her friend, and then she turned away, bending double, wrapping her arms around herself, consumed by a searing pain. Tears coursed down her cheeks and she cried out, ‘Not Denise, oh God, not Denise! It’s not fair! It’s just not fair.’

Chapter Six

Katie screeched to a standstill, pulled on the brake and jumped out of the pickup truck. Sprinting to the pay phone in the rest area, she grabbed the receiver off the hook and dialled 911.

Immediately, the emergency operator came onto the line and Katie asked for the ambulance service. Before she could even blink she was talking to the Litchfield County Dispatcher for Fire and Ambulance in the Litchfield area.

‘I need an ambulance! My friend’s injured! It’s a matter of life and death!’ Katie exclaimed, her voice echoing with urgency and anxiety. ‘She’s been beaten over the head. She’s bleeding. But she’s still alive. Just. Please send an ambulance. As quickly as possible.’

‘Where are you calling from?’

‘I’m at a pay phone on Route 7. Up above Malvern, between New Milford and South Kent,’ she swiftly answered, and then gave her the exact details of where she was.

‘What’s your name?’ the female dispatcher asked.

‘Katie Byrne. From Malvern.’

The dispatcher asked a few more questions, which Katie answered as precisely as she could, and then, voice trembling, she told the dispatcher, ‘My other friend, Denise…well, she’s dead.’ Her sentence finished in sobs.

‘Hang in there, Katie,’ the dispatcher said in a kindly tone. ‘And hold on. I’m putting you through to the state police. Give them all the details, tell them everything you know. The ambulance is being dispatched now.’

Katie stood clutching the phone, and a minute later a man’s voice announced, ‘State Police Dispatcher, Troop L, Litchfield. Tell me exactly what happened, Katie.’

‘One of my friends has been badly injured. The other one is…dead,’ she responded quietly, trying to be as calm and concise as possible. ‘My brother and I found them a while ago. About fifteen minutes ago. But we don’t know what happened. Or how it happened. We need an ambulance for Carly.’

‘It’s already on its way. Give me your exact location, Katie.’

Katie did so, shivering in the cold wind, thinking that she was living a nightmare. She couldn’t believe she was on this phone talking to the Connecticut State Police about Carly and Denise. Only a few hours ago, at four o’clock, the three of them had been laughing together in the barn, and planning their future in New York.

The state police dispatcher said, ‘Please wait there, Katie. Stay where you are. Don’t leave. Responding state troopers will arrive as soon as they can. There are several patrolling in the area. It won’t be long before one of them gets to you.’

‘I’ll wait on the highway. At the entrance to the road leading down to the barn,’ Katie told him, and replaced the receiver. She leaned forward, rested her forehead against the phone, and closed her eyes for a moment, willing herself to be strong. And willing Carly to live. Please God, don’t let her die, she whispered silently. Let her live. Fight, Carly, fight.

Still shivering and turning up the collar of her jacket, she ran over to the truck and climbed in. Instantly, she jumped out and raced back to the pay phone, remembering that Niall had told her to call their mother.

Dropping the quarter in, she dialled her home. ‘It’s me, Mom,’ Katie said when Maureen answered.

‘Where are you both?’ Maureen asked, sounding put out, even cross. ‘Your father’ll be home any minute now, and I’ll be wanting to serve supper. Finian’s starving.’

‘Mom, something’s happened,’ Katie began, and her voice faltered. She was unable to go on.

‘What is it, Katie? What’s wrong?’ Maureen demanded, at once alerted to a serious problem, since Katie wasn’t one to exaggerate.

‘It’s something…terrible, Momma. Carly’s been badly injured, and Denise…’ Katie stopped. She swallowed hard, but her voice choked up as she whispered, ‘Mom, Denise is dead. Somebody raped her, and they killed her…and he really hurt Carly. It was after I left the barn this afternoon.’

‘Oh my God! Oh my God! No, Katie! Those poor girls. Oh Lord, where are you? Are you all right? Where’s Niall? Let me speak to him!’ Maureen cried, her voice rising shrilly, sudden panic and shock now getting the better of her.

‘He’s not here, Mom. He stayed with Carly in the wood. That’s where it happened…the attacks on…the girls.’ Katie put a hand over her mouth to stifle her sobs, but she didn’t succeed very well.

‘Listen to me, Katie,’ Maureen whispered, but it was a harsh whisper. ‘Get Niall on the phone.’

‘I can’t, Mom! He’s looking after Carly. He stayed with her just in case the attacker came back. He sent me to the pay phone on the highway to call for an ambulance. They put me through to the police and now they’re all coming, bringing help.’

‘Katie, Katie, listen to me. I want you to come home. And immediately. I don’t want you there. Maybe it’s not safe. We don’t know who did this…the person could still be around, couldn’t he? Maybe even looking for you. It was always the three of you, everyone knows that. And perhaps he does. Come home at once. Your father will be here in a moment or so, and he’ll drive down and pick Niall up. Go and get into the pickup, and get yourself home at once. Do you hear me, Katie Byrne?’

‘Yes, Mom, I do. But I can’t. I’d like to, but I have to stay here. The barn can’t be seen from the road, you know that, and so I have to wait for the ambulance and the police. I’ll come home once Carly is in the ambulance and going to the hospital.’

‘Please come home,’ Maureen begged.

‘I’m okay, Mom. Honest. I’ll be home soon,’ she promised and hung up.

Katie drove down the hill, parked in front of the barn and hurried towards the wood, clutching her flashlight. She walked a few feet down the narrow path and took a deep breath. ‘Niall! Niall! I’m back!’ she shouted at the top of her lungs, pitching her voice as far as she could, as she had trained herself to do for the stage.

In the distance, faintly, she heard his response. ‘Okay, Katie. It’s okay, I hear you.’

Swinging around, she returned to the truck and once again drove up the hill to wait for the ambulance and the police. Her head had begun to pound, and she felt sick again, as though she were going to throw up. She took a number of deep breaths, as she so often did when she stood in the wings, willing her stage fright to go away. This nauseous feeling wasn’t caused by stage fright, though, but by genuine fear. What if the killer was looking for her, as her mother had suggested he could be?

She sat waiting on the highway, but she didn’t have long to wait. Within the space of five minutes she heard a siren, and a moment later a state trooper’s car came into view. It raced along the highway at breakneck speed.

Since the state trooper was coming up Route 7, from the direction of Gaylordsville, he had to park on the opposite side of the road; he got out and hurried over to the pickup truck.

Katie rolled down her window and peered out at him, her face strained, her eyes bleak with pain.

‘Are you Katie Byrne?’ he asked.

‘Yes, I am. Is the ambulance coming?’

‘It should be here real fast. I was in the immediate vicinity, and answered the radio call at once. Where’s the crime scene located exactly?’

‘I’ll show you.’ Katie opened the door, jumped down and led the trooper across the short stretch of barren land. Pointing down the hill, she said, ‘It’s in the wood immediately opposite that old barn down there. My brother Niall’s waiting in the wood. He thought he’d better stay with Carly, to protect her. Just in case the attacker was still around here –’ Katie stopped. Her voice was wobbling and tears had welled in her eyes.

‘Take it easy, Katie,’ the trooper said.

Gulping, she nodded, and endeavoured to get control of herself. ‘Shall I wait for the ambulance while you go down the hill? To show them the way?’

‘You won’t have to do that. It’s about to arrive,’ the state trooper answered, cocking his head at the sound of screaming sirens. The highway was filled with whirling red lights as the ambulance shot along the road, coming to a halt behind the state trooper’s car.

Katie made for Niall’s truck and got inside. She was chilled to the bone and unexpectedly exhausted. She watched as the trooper sprinted over to the ambulance and spoke to the driver, pointed down the hill and then went and got into his own car. The ambulance began to move.

Katie followed the ambulance.

The state trooper was immediately behind her in his police car, his red light turned on, his siren shrilling loud and clear.

After pointing the way through the wood, Katie stood to one side and watched as the medics raced down the narrow path, carrying a stretcher.

Within minutes they were returning with Carly, and she was still alive. It’s a miracle, Katie thought. She had been teetering on the edge of despair, certain her friend could not last. But Carly had hung in there. She made it. Oh God, thank you, thank you.

The medics were huddled around Carly, checking her vital signs before putting her in the ambulance.

Katie clung to Niall; the two of them were standing together near the barn, just a few feet away from Carly. How pale she was, Katie thought. White as bleached bone, and so still. Still as death. But the medics had given the thumbs up sign a moment ago, and one of them had said, ‘She’s breathing.’

‘She is going to live, isn’t she?’ Katie asked the medic who had just helped to lift the stretcher into the ambulance.

He glanced over his shoulder at Katie and nodded. ‘I think so. I hope so.’