Chapter 44
Avril reached the hallway before anyone even realized what was happening, turning left towards the front door, almost skidding over on the wood floor.
I watched her go, heard the door open, Watson still going crazy in the kitchen, fireworks popping in the distance.
On the floor, Charles had a firm hold of the gun now but was still on his knees, panting with exertion.
I wasn’t sure if he’d even seen Avril go.
I crossed to the front window and watched Avril, lit up by the security lights, grab her bike, mount it and vanish into the darkness.
‘What the hell’s going on?’ Charles was on his feet now. ‘The girl. Where is she?’
‘She’s gone.’
He moved to follow her, but I grabbed hold of his shoulder, pulling him back. He spun around and poked me in the gut with the end of the rifle.
‘Stay back,’ he ordered me, and I had no choice but to do as he said.
‘It’s over, Charles,’ I said. ‘Face it. You’re not getting out of this one.’
I was certain these would be my last words, and his finger pressed against the trigger. At least, I had time to think, Avril got away. I hoped she would go straight to the police.
I waited to die as Holly cried out, ‘Dad, no!’
‘It’s hopeless, Holly,’ he said. ‘He knows everything.’
He aimed the gun at my chest.
This was it. The moment when Holly had her final choice between me and her dad.
They were blood, in a family whose motto was ‘family is everything’.
He had supported her, bailed her out, rescued her from trouble.
She had only known me for nine months. She had doubted me today, I knew that.
She also knew that I could hurt the Grants badly.
I had the knowledge now to destroy Gravitas, to make her shares worthless, to burn down their legacy.
And she had known for a long time that Charles had cheated on Elizabeth while she lay dying, had got a girl who was barely above the age of consent pregnant and forced his son to take responsibility.
She had known all that for years and done nothing about it.
She knew how important her family’s reputation was. She had shown loyalty to her dad.
So I was convinced she was going to take his side now.
Until she didn’t. While Miranda stood there, staring, Holly shoulder-barged her father, sending him stumbling towards the sofa and Zack’s body. As he attempted to regain his balance she got hold of the rifle, and this time she managed to pull it from his grasp.
‘Give it to me,’ he ordered. ‘I need to go after the girl.’
‘No. Let her go,’ she said.
‘Are you crazy? I need to catch her before she goes to the police.’
‘She won’t. She’ll be terrified and confused. She just killed someone, remember.’
This was my opportunity, while they were distracted.
I didn’t hesitate. I ran – out of the living room, into the hallway and straight through the open front door.
Behind me, I could hear the dog barking and then, as I sprinted across the gravel, footsteps.
It was Charles. He was unarmed, but he was coming after me.
I patted my pockets as I pounded across the drive.
I still had the key to the Jeep, which was parked down the hill.
Just a short distance. I ran faster than I ever had before, down the drive and on to the main road.
I heard Charles yell out, ‘Fuck!’ and the crunch of gravel.
What was he doing? I guessed he was having to go back in to get Zack’s car keys.
Taking them from his corpse. Part of me admired that he never gave up. He was like the fucking Terminator.
I, on the other hand, was exhausted. It had been the longest day of my life, the most draining.
But fear of death is the most powerful source of energy in the world.
I tapped into it and accelerated, running down the hill, the moon clear and bright above me.
The fireworks had stopped and Watson had ceased barking, too.
There it was: the Jeep, parked at an angle on the side of the road. I pressed my key as I went, the car beeping to life. I checked over my shoulder and heard the growl of an engine. Charles was coming. Was he on his own, or were Miranda and Holly with him? Had he managed to get the gun back?
I threw myself behind the wheel, started the car and set off at full speed in the direction Avril had gone.
One benefit of being chased by Zack: it had given me confidence in my own driving abilities on these roads.
I put my foot down, going as fast as I dared with the roads still wet, and with no street lights here.
But Charles must have felt confident, too.
Halfway down the hill, I saw the headlights of the Land Rover in my rear-view mirror. He was coming.
Where was Avril heading? I passed the visitors’ centre and I saw Susan’s car parked outside it.
There was no sign of Avril’s bike, though.
Would she have gone home? Surely she would know it wasn’t safe there.
Then it struck me. Of course, there was one place where she would feel safe.
One person she would want to see. The pub, and Brenda.
I was almost at the pub now. It was almost one and the lights were off, the festivities over.
I remembered Holly telling me that the firework display was happening at the village hall, and everyone would have gone there.
And then, as I rounded the final bend that led down to the bay, my headlights caught the rear reflector on Avril’s bike, flashing red.
I watched as she pulled to a halt outside the pub, dropped her bike to the floor and ran to the front door, hammering on it with her fists.
It took me another thirty seconds to reach her and stop the car, jumping out a few feet away from her. She was still banging on the door and yelling, ‘Gran! Help me! Help!’
I looked behind me and saw that Charles had caught up. He screeched to a halt and got out of his car. To my relief, I saw that he wasn’t armed. I looked past him. Holly and Miranda would be stranded at the house without a car.
Avril looked back over her shoulder but kept pounding on the door. ‘Gran! It’s me. Please.’
Charles walked slowly towards us. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘I just want to talk. To sort all of this out. I want to—’
Before he could complete the sentence, the pub door opened.
Brenda stood there, and Avril bundled past her, vanishing into the pub. Behind her, I heard Avril say, ‘They killed Mum. They want to kill me.’
Brenda stepped back inside and slammed the door.
Charles strode over, ignoring me, and banged on the door. ‘Let me in. I just want to talk.’
I didn’t know what to do. Maybe I should get back into the Jeep, drive the short distance back to the visitors’ centre and PC Williams. That seemed like a good option.
But then Charles went back to the Land Rover, reached in and took out his rifle. He aimed it at the pub door and shouted, ‘If you don’t let me in I’m going to shoot the lock out.’
There was no response. I guessed Brenda and Avril would be cowering inside, not that it was easy to picture Brenda cowering. Surely she would be on the phone to the police. Susan would be here in minutes.
Charles kept yelling. He had lost it. His face was almost purple and sweat flew off him, his eyes bulging. He suddenly remembered I was there. He swung the rifle towards me, and fired.
The bullet flew past me, striking the brick facade of the pub.
I guessed anyone in the village would think it was another firework going off.
But I didn’t hang around to speculate about that or anything else.
I ran into the little alley between the pub and the house next door, convinced Charles would pursue me.
But he didn’t. He went back to banging on the door and shouting for Brenda to let him in.
Still fearful that Charles was going to come looking for me, I headed for the back door of the pub.
It was locked, but there were bricks on the ground nearby.
I grabbed one, waited till Charles started yelling again, then used it to break a pane of glass in the back door, reaching through to unlock it.
I let myself in, finding myself in a hallway at the back of the pub. I could still hear Charles shouting and swearing and threatening to blast the windows in. I expected Brenda to yell back, but she was quiet.
I headed past the kitchen, thinking I would reach the bar at any moment. But as I passed another door I heard a bang – not from the front of the pub, but beneath my feet. I paused. This appeared to be the door to the cellar. The bang came again. Brenda and Avril must be hiding down there.
I tried the door and it opened.
I ran down the stairs, surprised to find the room in darkness. I groped around me and found a light switch on the cold stone wall, flicking it on.
I blinked several times, convinced I must be hallucinating.
There was a woman tied to a chair in the corner with a gag in her mouth, eyes screwed shut against the sudden brightness.
‘Jasmine?’ I said.