One Day in May - Catherine Alliott [135]
Everything stopped. The shots, the flurry of dropping birds, the dull thudding, the beaters tapping tree trunks and thrashing through the undergrowth towards us. Hal and I swung round. Beside us, Mr Harrison was already running towards his next peg, towards his neighbour, Luca, who I could see was on the ground. He was on his back, covered in blood. Blood was pouring from his face, his neck, red and fresh, and he was lying motionless. Daisy stood over him, hands over her face, screaming. She screamed one, long, continuous shriek after another, a girl’s scream, different in tone and pitch to the one we’d just heard, but equally terrifying. Between them, the shotgun lay on the ground, still smoking.
26
I leaped to my feet and raced after Hal. Ahead of us, Angus Harrison was already falling to his knees beside Luca.
‘Is he dead? Is he dead?’ Daisy was backing away now, her face contorted with horror. Luca’s arms were flung out crucifix-style, his legs splayed. Angus’s head was sideways on Luca’s chest, listening for a heartbeat.
‘No,’ he said finally. ‘He’s not dead. Someone call an ambulance – quick!’
I whipped out my phone and punched out numbers with trembling fingers. Hal, on his knees now at Luca’s head, had a handkerchief balled to stanch the flow of blood. A red stain instantly spread though the white cloth like blotting paper. The rest of the shooting party were running through the valley from all directions, converging on us now.
‘What happened?’ Hugh barked, flinging down his gun, white-faced, as I waited for an operator to answer.
‘It exploded!’ Daisy wailed, shaking her hands in the air as if they were wet. ‘The gun just exploded in his face!’
‘Ambulance,’ I breathed as a calm, female voice asked which service I required.
‘Both barrels have blown,’ said Hal, glancing at the gun, which was twisted and peeled back like a banana skin, a horrific sight.
‘There’s been an accident,’ I managed into my mobile, as more people clustered, gaped in horror, then backed away, hands to mouths. As I was asked for further details I tried to keep my voice steady. ‘A shooting accident. We’re on the Saxby Abbey estate, Little Crandon.’
‘Oh my God!’ Laura was on the scene now, falling breathless to her knees beside her stepson. I saw Maggie gasp; back away, like others who’d clustered, but hung back: looking, but not looking. One, a doctor he said quietly, authoritatively, elbowed his way through, an elderly man with snowy hair and a paunch, like a monk. He crouched down, issuing instructions, whipping his necktie off and using it to help Hal.
Laura was beside me now, seizing my arm, shaking it. ‘Have you got an ambulance?
‘No, the village is Little Crandon,’ I said, trying not to panic, shutting my eyes and holding my hand up to her, trying to concentrate, ‘but we’re on the Abbey estate, out in the countryside. I don’t know where exactly, and I don’t see how you can—’
‘Here.’ Hugh took the phone from me. I listened as he explained precisely how the ambulance could get to us, down a lane, then a track. ‘But it won’t get any further down the valley – hurry.’ He handed me back the phone. ‘We’ll have to get him to the top of the hill.’
‘Can we move him?’
We turned to the doctor.
‘We’ll have to,’ he replied, looking up at us soberly. ‘He’s losing too much blood to wait for paramedics to stretcher him out. Get a four-by-four down here – now.’
Someone fled away for an off-road vehicle. We were in a deep valley with steep sides, like a cutting; a beautiful sun-dappled valley, miles from the road.
Daisy was sobbing now, in her mother’s arms, as Seffy and Biba arrived breathless, their young faces pale and horrified. Biba screamed, clutching her mouth, her eyes huge with horror. As I moved quickly to comfort her, I saw Seffy hold Cassie, who turned her face away; buried it in his neck.
‘Come on, come away.’ Someone, a familiar voice, had the sense to urge them – Dad, of course. ‘Nothing we can do here.’
He was assisted by Maggie who, catching my eye, eloquently let me know she’d usher them off too,