Page 147 of Dying Truth

Bryant ended the call to the fire service. ‘I’ll call down to the school and—’

‘No,’ Dawson said, forcefully. ‘The last thing we need is more people stampeding up the stairs, and we sure don’t need an audience.’

Bryant nodded his understanding and began to look around for something to help.

Without moving her feet Stacey shone the torch at each wall in turn. Two arches were cut into each side of the building allowing in the night-time breeze. Her torch found initials that had been scratched into some of the stones, but it found nothing that would be long enough to reach him. But even if there was they couldn’t risk him trying to move off that beam.

‘The rope,’ Dawson said, suddenly. ‘Geoffrey, if I can swing it towards you, do you think you can catch it?’

‘I’ll t-try,’ Geoffrey whispered.

Dawson uncoiled the thick rope, pulled it back towards him and then pushed it forward. The momentum of the rope swing didn’t reach the centre of the space and missed by a good two feet. Dawson grabbed the rope and tried again. Despite him putting all his strength behind it he was throwing something too light to gain motion. It was still a couple of feet shy before drifting back towards him.

‘Shit,’ Dawson said.

Stacey saw the fear growing in the kid’s eyes.

‘It’s okay, Geoffrey,’ Dawson reassured.

He glanced their way before he spoke. ‘I’ve got another idea. I’ll walk it over to you.’

‘Kev, no,’ Stacey cried.

‘Dawson, don’t be stupid,’ Bryant said.

He raised a hand to quiet them.

‘If I go slowly, walking the rope, I’ll be able to feel the boards beneath me. If anything cracks, I’ll jump back.’

‘Kev, no,’ Stacey protested again. He was going to purposely add weight to the fractured part of the floor. He had no way of knowing what beams had been weakened or how much weight they could take.

He met her gaze.

‘I’ve gotta try it, Stace,’ he said.

She shook her head even though she knew the kid was stressing the beam every second he stood there. It could snap at any second.

‘Don’t be a damn fool,’ Bryant said.

‘If you’ve got any other ideas, I’ll give ’em a try,’ Dawson said, removing his jacket and then his shoes.

Bryant said nothing but shook his head.

Dawson took a breath and grabbed the rope. He took a tentative step forward.

Nothing.

He took another.

Nothing.

A third and Stacey realised she was holding her breath.

He took a fourth step like someone heading towards the hole in the middle of the ice.

He took another.

A creak.