Chapter Forty-Five
Kim was going into shock – her legs trembled and spots danced at the corners of her eyes.
‘I can’t stand,’ she whispered.
‘Then walk,’ said Wendy. She forced Kim into the hallway and towards the left, up to the toilet door.
‘Pick up the loo key there. Don’t try anything.
’ Kim bent, shaking, for a moment releasing the pressure of the scissors on her neck.
Then she felt the point of metal in her side as she moved lower to pick up the key.
Kim squealed as the blade pierced the skin between her ribs.
From inside the loo, Edward said: ‘Kim! Kim darling! Are you okay?’
She did not have the courage to answer. Wendy pulled at the door to check it was locked. ‘Sit on the bottom stair,’ she told Kim. ‘Don’t move from there, not even for a second.’
‘You wouldn’t kill me,’ said Kim, hoping Stevie was listening but wondering if the total silence upstairs meant she had fled the house to get help. Did she have her phone? Would she be heard if she made a call?
‘All I wanted was for Edward to clear my name after that botched business in the forest. And he did. You’re standing in the way of me and a lot of money, sweetheart, and that’s not a safe place to be.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Kim. ‘Was the motorbike crash your doing?’
‘Nope. That was all Lev, a bloody freak accident that’s nearly scuppered us. No reason for that to happen whatsoever.’
‘Was he a terrorist?’
‘The opposite! A quiet chap. You might almost say a peacefulist.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Kim.
‘Can Edward hear me in there?’ asked Wendy, a little more loudly than Kim was speaking. ‘No. Okay. Well. We had a great scheme, and it nearly went wrong, and tonight we’ll get it back on track.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’re going to die. You and that disc-jockey idiot who’s locked himself in the loo. But wait a while. All will become clear. Do you need another tea towel?’
Kim was pressing a handkerchief to her neck to mop the blood. She should stem the flow by pushing harder. ‘No.’
‘You mean, “No thank you, Wendy.” Where have your manners gone?’
‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Sure.’
‘Do you have anything to do with the people trying to buy the Thirdfield Terrace flat?’
Wendy looked genuinely confused.
‘No.’
‘I don’t think I believe you.’
‘We’ve always rented because of Jonathan’s job.’ It was strange, hearing her refer to her husband as if the marriage was normal and his death had been a natural end.
‘Why did you kill him?’
‘I didn’t! I was in a cinema, watching Marvel, hadn’t you heard?’
‘Why did Dr Hearst kill his friend?’
‘I’ll give you two words to help you work it out. Ready?’
‘Yes.’
‘Assisted—’
There was a single loud bang on the front door. Kim suddenly worried that Stevie might have actually fallen asleep, might now be woken by the noise and come down without thinking. Please Stevie, don’t answer that knock, she willed.
Wendy said, ‘Ah, I only gave you the one word. It’ll have to do. Our visitors are here. Don’t move or it will not go well for you.’
Kim knew this was her only chance. As Wendy opened the front door, she lunged up the stairs.
But she missed her footing immediately and heard an exhaled gasp from Wendy and a rush behind her.
She was dragged back down the stairs by someone with impossible strength, her head bumping the threadbare carpet on the way down.
In the hallway, Kim lay face down, not wanting to rise and see who had come through the front door. It must be the Hearsts …
She felt Wendy sit on her back.
‘Bitch,’ said Wendy Wrigley. ‘You’re lucky I’m not taking these scissors to your skinny butt. I will in a second.’
Edward shouted, ‘Kim?’
‘Don’t do that,’ said a man’s voice. ‘No marks.’
‘Hmpf,’ said Wendy. ‘Fine.’
Kim shuddered with sobs, tears streaming down her cheeks. Without any chink of doubt, she was going to die.
‘Look at the computer,’ Wendy instructed the new arrival.
Kim heard steps on the carpet – more than one person now – and then, from the lounge, where the computer was, loud cursing. ‘How the fuck did he get these?’
‘It’s that policeman. It must be,’ a second voice said.
‘This is on you,’ voice one said.
‘I don’t see why.’
‘Because you took the crossbow away!’
‘I’ve told you why a thousand times.’
‘Roll her over.’
They took Kim’s body, stiff with panic, and turned her over.
The toilet door opened inwards, and was quite heavy, which would make breaking it down nigh on impossible.
Edward had heard the sound of others arriving in the house – and at least one man’s voice – but it was impossible to make out details of the exchanges through the thick wood he pressed his ear to.
After the horrible scream and then a sound on the stairs which could have been Kim escaping, falling or being dragged, it was too quiet to hear more.
The keyhole was too near the door jamb to allow him space to press his good ear against that.
He tried an eye against the keyhole, saw nothing but blurred shapes.
Worried about Stevie’s phone again: Don’t ring.
They would know she was in the house if it did.
He began to despair. No sound was bad news, he was sure of that.
Was the new arrival the other Hearst twin?
He put the lid down on the toilet seat and sat there, willing himself to concentrate.
The loo window was tiny, and jammed shut.
Still, he could hear the sea on the other side of the door.
Wendy seeing the police photo of the undrilled tree trunk had been a disaster of the first order.
But until he had seen it himself, he had not understood how completely the doctor’s widow had suckered him.
And for what? She needed to clear her name, but what was the connection to the Toppings crash?
How the hell could she be involved in that?
At the loo door, he heard a voice.
‘Temmis, I’m going to unlock the door and open it slowly.’
‘Who is this?’ he asked.
‘Charlie Hearst.’
As the door inched open, Kim came into view. She was in the armchair at the other end of the hallway, gagged, eyes bulging. Beside her was Hubert Hearst, recognizable from his shock of white hair. He was holding a syringe.
‘Kim?’ asked Edward.
A movement to his left, his brain sparked and he was unconscious.