Chapter 38
Zack didn’t die.
The bullet struck his shoulder, sending him spinning and crashing to the ground.
Miranda cried out and immediately got out of the car, dashing around it to check on her husband, who lay on his back, clutching the point where he’d been shot, blood seeping through his fingers and splashing on to the snow.
Avril took a couple of steps back, the butt of the rifle against her shoulder. She kept it trained on Zack.
‘The next bullet kills him,’ she said. ‘I want him to confess. To say the words before I finish him.’
Crouching beside Zack, Miranda pointed at me. ‘But it was him. He killed Morag.’
‘No. I know it wasn’t Patrick.’
‘How?’
‘Because Patrick is so obviously not a killer. He’s not one of you. You haven’t had time to fuck him up yet. To make him toxic.’
She nodded towards Zack, who was groaning with pain.
‘But mostly I know it because she was terrified of him. Said we couldn’t cross him. That he was dangerous.’ Avril was almost panting now. ‘She said if he got the chance, if he thought he could get away with it, he would kill her.’
Holly got out of the car, too, her hands in the air. Avril ignored her.
‘But why?’ Miranda asked. ‘Why would he want to kill Morag?’
‘You know the answer to that,’ I said. ‘Because she saw Samir.’
Avril was quiet for a moment, the rifle aimed at Zack’s chest, her own chest rising and falling. ‘Actually, you’re wrong.’
‘But—’
‘She didn’t see them. I did. At the manor house. I was there last January when Zack brought the boy there.’
So it had been Zack who’d come here with Samir. Lying on his back, Zack shook his head, still trying to deny it.
‘I fucking saw you. I go there sometimes when I need to get away, to think. I saw you through the window. With Samir. When I told Mum what I’d seen, after he was found dead, she said we needed to keep quiet. That if we told anyone, he would stop paying us.’
I had been right.
‘Don’t do this,’ I said, keeping my voice as steady as I could. ‘Your mum wouldn’t want you to go to prison, Avril. I know you’ve had the worst day imaginable. You lost both your parents.’
‘You think I care about Lewis?’ She spat his name. ‘He did nothing for me. He didn’t give a shit about me.’
‘But there are people here who did care about him. And who care about Jasmine, too. She’s still missing. I think Zack must know where she is.’
‘I don’t,’ he said, the first time he’d spoken since he’d been shot.
‘Why don’t we get him inside?’ I said. ‘We don’t want him to bleed to death out here …’
‘Maybe I do!’
‘Avril, if we get him inside we can stem the bleeding and you can get him to talk. Tell us why he brought Samir to Applecross and why he killed your mum. If he knows where Jasmine is, he can tell us that, too.’
I could see her thinking about it. Down on the ground, Zack had closed his eyes. He wasn’t the big, dangerous man any more. Still on her haunches beside him, Miranda said, ‘I think it’s a good idea. If Zack murdered Lewis, I want him punished, too.’
She was telling Avril that she wasn’t going to try anything.
‘Holly?’ I said.
She simply nodded and, trying to speak, made a croaking sound.
The issue, potentially, was Charles. He was in the house. Had he heard the shot? Was he in there now, calling the police? Whether he’d heard or not, Avril seemed to have forgotten about him. To her, a teenager, he was an old man. She probably thought he’d be in bed, if she thought about him at all.
‘Zack isn’t going to be able to give you the confession you want, or tell us anything, while he’s out here.’ I moved a little closer to her. ‘Look at him. He’s losing blood. It’s freezing. He’s going to lose consciousness soon. Let’s get him into the warm.’
‘Okay,’ she said, finally. ‘But if any of you tries anything … I’m a good shot. I aimed for his shoulder.’
Together with Miranda, I helped get Zack to his feet. He leaned against me; he was heavy and smelled of sweat. Holly walked beside us, with Avril to the rear, the gun trained on Zack’s back.
We reached the house and Holly unlocked the front door. The moment we entered, Watson ran out of the kitchen, tail wagging. Avril startled, instinctively pointing the gun at him.
Miranda stepped between Avril and the dog. ‘No. I’ll lock him in the kitchen. He won’t do anything to you.’
Avril nodded, her cheeks flushed. ‘Stay where I can see you.’
Miranda escorted Watson into the kitchen, told him to lie down, then came back out, closing the door behind her.
All the lights were already on, but there was no sign of Charles. He must still be in the gym. We went into the living room. Embers glowed in the fireplace – the room had not been unoccupied for long.
Miranda nodded towards the cabinet on the other side of the room. ‘The first-aid kit is in there. Are you okay for me to get it?’
‘Patrick will do it.’
I opened the cabinet and took out a green box with a white cross symbol, checking there wasn’t anything inside Miranda could use as a weapon before handing it over.
There were scissors inside, but they were tiny and blunt.
Miranda helped Zack take off his coat and pulled his sweater over his head, revealing his hairy torso – Avril looked disgusted – then used the scissors to cut off a section of bandage, which she wrapped over the bullet wound and beneath his armpit.
Now he had his shirt off, I could see it was only a flesh wound, that the bullet had grazed him, tearing off a chunk of skin without damaging any muscle or bone.
If she had done that deliberately, she was indeed a very good shot.
I was aware, though, that this meant Zack was in fact still dangerous.
After Miranda had finished bandaging Zack’s arm, she helped him put his bloodstained shirt back on. Avril gestured with the rifle and told Miranda, Holly and Zack to sit together on the largest sofa. She instructed me to take the armchair.
She pointed the gun at Zack’s heart. ‘I swear. If you move, if you do anything but talk, I will kill you. Are you going to confess to shooting my mum?’
He hesitated.
‘Do you confess?’ She yelled it, jabbing the barrel of the rifle in his direction.
‘Yes. Okay. It was me.’
Avril stared at him. Hearing this didn’t seem to bring her any relief or satisfaction.
‘I’m sorry, all right?’
I was certain she was going to shoot him. That her grief and rage would take over.
‘Don’t do it,’ I said. ‘Avril. Don’t ruin your life.’
A tear rolled down her cheek.
‘And we need him to tell us about the rest of it. We still need to find Jasmine.’
Zack shot me a look that was half angry and half grateful. Even though the wound was not deep, he still appeared to be in a lot of pain. He nodded towards the bottle of whisky that sat on the side table. ‘Can I have some of that? It would make it easier to talk.’
Avril thought about it. ‘Okay. Fine. Patrick, you do it. Don’t give him the bottle.’
I did as she asked, touching the rim of the bottle to his lips, then lifting it as he tipped his head back. He took a swallow of the liquid and coughed. I went back to the armchair.
‘What questions do you want to ask him?’ Avril said to me. ‘Do it quick. Before I change my fucking mind.’
‘I want to know about Samir. Why he brought him here. I want to know about Lewis and Jasmine.’
‘I swear I didn’t do anything to Lewis or Jasmine,’ Zack said.
‘He’s lying.’ I was surprised to hear Miranda say it. ‘I always know when he’s lying.’
‘I didn’t kill your brother.’
‘But you did something to him.’
Zack still didn’t want to admit whatever it was, even with the gun aimed at him. I guessed he was thinking about how he was going to get out of this. Was he waiting for Charles?
Trying to buy himself time, Zack said, ‘Listen. You could be rich, Avril. I can arrange it so you get shares. How does that sound? I can personally give you money. We can make sure everyone knows that Lewis was your dad, that you get his share of the company. Ten per cent. You’ll be wealthy. You’ll never have to work.’
‘Shut up. Answer Patrick’s questions. What did you do to Lewis? To Samir? And where’s Jasmine?’
She took a step towards him, the tip of the gun just a foot away from his face. His hands shook as he held them up. Oh my God. Was he going to start crying? Beside him, on either side, both Holly – who had been silent since we’d come into the house – and Miranda shrank away from the gun.
‘Let’s start with Samir,’ I said. ‘Why don’t you tell us why you were here with him?’
‘It’s complicated,’ he said.
‘Of course it is. Just tell us, or I’m pretty certain Avril is going to run out of patience.’
Zack glanced at his wife, and I saw it. Despite everything he’d already done, including his admission that he’d murdered Morag, he was ashamed. He looked like a man who had got himself into a terrible mess and hadn’t been able to find a way out of it.
‘Okay. I’ll tell you.’ He sighed. ‘I’ll tell you what happened with the boy.’ Like he couldn’t bear to say his name. ‘It wasn’t all my fault. It was Lewis. He started it.’