Chapter 79 Fate
The Thames is a beautiful river. I know it’s full of sewage effluent and probably a few dead bodies, but the surface is glittering with reflections from the city’s lights and looks like it’s plated in gold.
The last time I was here, I was about to murder the man beside me.
Now, he is about to murder me. How quickly things change.
I have no fear of what might happen to me.
But then I imagine Nathan hugging Georgie’s legs, and Nelly stabbing her with a knitting needle, and I feel something deep within.
It’s like someone drumming urgently on a closed door.
I feel sad about Stephen momentarily. No matter what, I feel sure that Stephen would never try to kill his wife.
I look across the road beyond Hollis, desperate to spot a CCTV camera, but I chose this location so carefully.
I see someone on the pavement opposite. They’re only partly visible as they’re hidden in the shadows.
A witness, standing and watching. They’ve got their phone out, too, recording the scene. It might just buy me time.
‘Hollis,’ I say, seriously now. ‘There’s someone filming you, and if you let me go, and I hit that freezing water, then you’re going to prison, not me. You’ll lose everything you worked for. And you don’t deserve that.’
Hollis looks at me, suspiciously, then glances quickly over his shoulder. We both stare out across the road and see the figure take a step towards us, a phone held up in front of them.
‘How long have they been there?’ he says.
‘Since you attacked me,’ I say, and quickly raise my hand and shout, ‘Help! Help!’
‘Say another word and I’ll drop you,’ he says.
In response to my call, the figure runs into the road and tries to cross. As they’re lit up by headlights, I see they’re dressed all in black, a hoodie hiding their features. My only chance is to delay.
‘Call the police,’ I say. ‘Let me confess to them. Let the police do your work for you. I’ll lose everything. I’ll be imprisoned, shamed and humiliated, just as you want.’
Hollis turns again to see the black-clad figure now running towards us.
‘Shit,’ he says, and jams the gum hard into my gut. ‘You’re going to do exactly what I say.’
The figure tries to dash across the lanes of traffic as cars screech and slam on the brakes.
‘Stop!’ shouts the figure in the road. As soon as I hear the voice, I know who it is. I grab onto a railing with one hand while Hollis is preoccupied and hold as firmly as I can.
As Flame sprints directly towards us, Hollis looks up at me. ‘Just tell them it was a misunderstanding and I’ll let you live.’
I sway back and forth, his fist and my one arm holding me in place. I feel as if I could tumble into the dark river any moment.
‘Help! Cait!’ I shout.
Cait leaps onto the pavement and darts towards me, but at the last moment she sees the gun Hollis is pointing in my direction, veers suddenly to the left, grabs Hollis’s wheelchair and pushes him with all her might towards the river.
He says something inaudible and hurtles past me.
The side of the wheelchair clatters into my legs and I start to fall.
Cait follows quickly, grabs at me, manages to catch my dress and hauls me back.
We turn together and see Hollis’s wheels hit the first few steps with a loud clang. The chair flies into the air, along with my bag, flips completely, hits another step, and lands with a splash. Almost at once, the water closes over him.
I glance at Cait, then at the water, where Hollis and his chair have been replaced by a ripple of concentric circles, and my billionaire husband’s last breath is a series of small bubbles reaching the surface of the water.
‘You OK?’ says Cait.
‘Another dead body, another ruined dress,’ I say, looking at the torn red silk. ‘But otherwise fine, thank you.’
‘He was going to kill you,’ she says.
‘He’s deranged,’ I say, then realize that there’s something urgent that I have to do. Something that my whole future depends upon.
‘Cait, you’ve done so much, but could you do one more little thing for me?’
‘Shouldn’t we try to rescue him?’ she says, as two cars stop and their drivers approach us, asking us what happened.
‘No, leave it to these people. You need to go.’
‘Where? To hide, you mean?’
‘No. You need to go straight to Hollis’s flat, find his will and destroy it.’
‘Why?’ she asks.
‘If you want a new house, Cait, just do as I say. I’ll tell you everything as soon as this is over.’
It’s only when Cait’s gone, the passers-by have hauled Hollis from the water (my Prada handbag having caught on the last step, preventing him sinking further), the police have arrived, and I’m in an ambulance that the enormity of the situation hits me.
I suddenly feel physically sick, as I realize I’ve lost two husbands and a handbag in the space of a single day.