Megan remained sitting on the floor by the girls. She wouldn’t leave them until she was forced to.
Soon, almost everyone at the farm would be dead. Herself too. There was a chance Tate’s plan would work. And the girls would forever be blamed for the murders.
Her mind spun in tight circles of panic.
She thought about her family and all the people she loved. Her parents. Her sister and her newborn baby.
And Jacob. This morning, she’d fallen in love with him. No, this morning was just the first time she'd been sure of it.
She hoped he knew.
40
Bronwen
40 minutes earlier
Bronwen smoothed down her hair and stared at herself in the mirror. There was no time for this. No time for last minute throwing up in the bathroom. No time to doubt herself. Megan was at the farm, and that was bad news. She splashed her face with water for a second time, shoved a stick of chewing gum in her mouth and left. On her way back to her office, Joe caught up with her, his jaw set tightly.
“The super doesn’t know?”
He shook his head.
“We’re going anyway,” Bronwen said.
Joe lifted his eyebrows. “Oh, I know.”
As they headed out of the station, Bronwen tried to ignore the heavy feeling in her stomach. She’d urged Megan to get away from the farm, but she’d also recognised a steely determination in the psychologist’s voice and was worried about the consequences of that. Now that Bronwen understood exactly how dangerous Tate was, Megan’s presence could spook him into doing something hasty.
How many deaths had Tate been responsible for? There were the bodies in the freezer room—people who figured out too much about him, unlucky souls who got in the way—but what about out in the world? If Tate sold his memory drug to the rich and powerful, what did that drug allow all these people to get away with?
There was no food in the car today, and neither were in the mood for their usual banter. Joe was as solemn as she felt as they drove out of the carpark.
Eventually, she broke the silence. “There weren’t any weapons on the farm. We know that from the search.”
Joe shook his head. “I don’t think we can trust that search, Bron. He’s a rich guy; he can afford to have a hiding place for his toys.”
“We had the blueprints—”
“Doesn’t matter. He hid those girls, and we searched every inch of that place. That means he could have anything hidden. We get there, check things out, and get Megan away from danger. I don’t know if we can arrest the bastard for something, but I sure as well want to.”
Bronwen nodded along.
“But,” Joe continued. “If there’s a sniff of trouble we call in backup.”
“Agreed.”
Joe shook his head. “We couldn’t have waited to get approval from higher up, Bron.”
“I know,” she replied. “Megan.”
“And the girls,” Joe said. “We owe it to them too.”
Bronwen tilted her chin down and pressed the accelerator. What they were doing was reckless, but it was the right thing to do. She thought about Hayley and Gemma in the hospital, traumatised, confused, and so young. Little did she know then that they’d most probably been drugged and manipulated by Tate Llewellyn. She’d always known this case was a complete and utter mindfuck, but it’d taken her to a place she hadn’t expected. It’d led to her own violation. And now they’d uncovered a rich and powerful psychopath.
She gripped the steering wheel and ignored the squirming sensation in her stomach.
41
Hayley
Ten minutes earlier
“Eoin, keep a close eye on Ms Arlotti. Won’t be long now. Everything will be sorted and we can all move on from this.”
We can all move on from this.
A soft but cold hand stroked her hair a couple of times then stopped. She gently opened her eyes and looked straight at Gemma who was also awake. Hayley watched Gemma’s eyebrows lift in question. She knew it meant: now?
Hayley responded by mouthing: no.
They needed to wait, but her heart was thumping hard and she was sure that anyone in the room with them could hear her heart.
Hayley wasn’t unconscious or dying. She was ready, and so was Gemma. But they had to find the right moment to strike.
Tate thought he could sweep everything under the rug like it was nothing but dust. The murder of innocent people. Sweep sweep. The rape of young women. Sweep sweep. Memories altered. Sweep sweep.
But she remembered now, she remembered it all, and she wasn’t going to allow herself to forget.
It’d started when Eoin had wrapped his fingers around Gemma’s neck. Watching that act of violence had awoken something in her, beginning with a deep pain in her abdomen, and the churning of her stomach. When Eoin had finally let Gemma go, Hayley had looked at him and remembered something. She remembered him on a bed in a different room with an altered version of Eoin sprawled out on the covers, naked from the waist down, with tears falling down his face.
She glanced at Eoin now. The three of them had a plan.
Since the accident with the tanker, her damaged memory had come and gone in fleeting glimpses. However, despite her confusion, throughout all of it the one constant had been how nothing bad had ever happened to her on the farm. Then why was this terrible memory of Eoin from the farm? And then there were more memories. A bed. Why was she thinking of this bed? For some reason, she knew this bed was in the mansion, in Tate’s private residence…
There was no reason for Hayley to ever be in Tate’s private quarters, and she certainly couldn’t recall a day she had ever been in any of the bedrooms. She sometimes drank tea with Tate in the meditation room where he held a few meetings with staff or meditated with a chosen few of the backpackers. She’d helped out in the lab from time to time and visited the orchid greenhouse. Why was the bed familiar to her?
Aside from the memory, there was the feeling that this familiar bed gave her when she thought about it. Churning, sickening distress. She wanted to scream.
What had surprised Hayley was that now that this memory had resurfaced, her body and her mind had decided to enter into survival mode. She sharpened for the first time since she could remember, and she’d made herself think: what had really happened this summer at the farm?
“Eoin, you have to do something.” It was Megan’s voice, whispering. “He’s going to kill us all.” There were shuffled footsteps and the sound of more breakages. “Act now while he’s distracted. Do it now, and you’ll be able to save us. Now, while he’s destroying the evidence.”
Hayley imagined another voice in her head.
Get on your knees.
But she didn’t. She got to her feet instead and whirled around to press a hand over Megan’s mouth.
Megan’s eyes stared up at her, bulging from their sockets. She trembled beneath Hayley’s hand.
Hayley put a finger to her lips and quietly whispered: shhhh. She nodded to Eoin then reached down and tapped Gemma on the shoulder. Megan was right. This was the best opportunity they’d get while Tate was distracted with the evidence, and they didn’t have long. Gemma rose quietly. They were ready.
Now that Megan understood, Hayley removed her hand and patted the woman on the shoulder. Perhaps she could help them if they needed help, but this was hers and Gemma’s and Eoin’s responsibility to finish. They’d bought into this lie, and they’d lived it, and for that she felt like an accomplice to every crime Tate had committed. She had to make sure he wouldn’t hurt anyone ever again.
Hayley watched the open door that led deeper into Tate’s bunker. That must be the supply room where Gemma found the USB sticks with Ellie on them. Poor Ellie. Her stomach flipped with sadness and fear. She glanced at Eoin and nodded, communicating for him to go first. Now that she remembered what had happened to Eoin she understood where his anger came from, not that she condoned it. He was an uneasy ally and someone she didn’t compl
etely trust, but he was also a lot taller and stronger than Hayley and Gemma. They needed him to take Tate by surprise.
Eoin had only pretended to give them Tate’s drug. Instead, they’d made a plan to fight back. But they hadn’t had much time to work out how they were going to achieve it, and they still needed to get the code for the door and somehow get out of the bunker.
Eoin took a step forward, moving slowly and quietly towards the open door. There was a light on inside the room, showing Tate’s shadow as he moved around. There was a whirring and crunching noise as he fed computer equipment into a trash compactor. Hayley moved her head so that she could see further into the room. There were piles of empty vials, their contents emptied into a tiny sink in the corner. Tate had his back to the open doorway, his guard down, so completely trusting of Eoin, who had never betrayed him. But that was Tate’s problem, he was a narcissist, and he thought that he was always one step ahead.
Not this time.
Eoin wrapped his arms around Tate’s torso, dragging him back into the main area of the bunker.
“Get him down on the ground,” Gemma instructed. “Tie him up in my corner. The ropes are still there.”
Tate tried to fight against Eoin, but Hayley and Gemma rushed forward to clamp his arms and legs. It was strange, seeing him panicking and flailing, like a child having a tantrum. It took away some of the glamour and stripped him back to the entitled piece of shit that he was.
“Stop!” he shouted desperately.
His body thudded against the ground as Eoin threw him down. Even Megan hurried over to help them tie him up.
“Sophie!” he screamed.
Gemma slapped him around the face as Eoin tied the ropes. “Sophie isn’t here.”
“Eoin, untie the ropes.” Tate, red in the face, stared down at his bound feet. “Hayley. My sweet orchid.”
Gemma slapped him again, and Tate’s face fell to the left. “Aren’t I your orchid too?” Her eyes flashed with anger.
“Of course you are, Gemma. You’re my favourite, and you always have been.”
As Gemma leaned away from him, Tate began to laugh, and Hayley knew that he was just playing with her like he always was.
Tate’s eyes found Hayley’s, and he smiled sweetly. “I’m not sure why you’re doing this.”
Hayley picked at a piece of dry skin on her lip. “You gave me to Rodney.”
It hurt to say the words out loud. Pieces of Hayley seemed to break away as she realised that throughout all of her life people had been using her. First it started with her parents, who weren’t terrible people but had forced her into a life she hadn’t wanted. They’d never given her the actual life she’d wanted: warmth and love. No, her schoolwork was always too important. Then it was her boyfriend who’d tried to use her when they’d run out of money. Instead of finding work or going home to face the consequences, he expected Hayley to abandon her principles for him. She’d almost done it for him. She’d considered going through that humiliation rather than lose him.
And then Tate, the worst of all, the most disgusting person she’d ever met, except for Rodney White. He’d used her and broken her. All of these pieces were falling away because of him. Hayley felt hot, angry tears in her eyes. This hurt. Remembering all of this hurt because she’d thought what she had with Tate was real, and only now was she realising just how stupid she’d been.
Now, as she looked at this man, this crumpled human being, she realised that it was all an illusion he’d orchestrated. He’d charmed her, and then he’d drugged her and kept her drugged to keep her submissive. He’d taken her memories away, given her body to another man, traumatised her and killed her friends.
There was no air in the bunker, only the stale scent of body odour. She raised her head and sucked in a long, slow breath, slowly relaxing the muscles of her body.
“Hayley,” Tate said, desperately.
“Hayley?” Gemma’s voice was questioning. “What do we do now?”
Hayley paused for a moment, contemplating Gemma’s question, and then she said, “Where are his drugs?”
42
Gemma
Instantly, she understood what Hayley was planning.
Tate had destroyed all the vials of drugs in the supply room. But there was still the box of vials that he’d given to Eoin. He’d had that little metal box of drugs ever since she’d known him. It was the thing he’d wielded power over them with.
Now, they would use it to wield power over him.
She ran out to the table where the metal box sat. There were usually nine vials in the box. And nine syringes. Two used vials and syringes lay next to the box—the two lots of lethal poison that Eoin had pretended to use on Hayley and herself. Eoin had tipped the poison down the sink.
There were seven more vials in the box. One more lethal dose, three of the relaxant drug, three of the memory drug.
She carried the box back to the supply room.
Eoin and Hayley had Tate securely tied to the chair now.
Tate’s gaze flicked over the box in Gemma’s hands. “You might as well destroy them too.” A nervous tone underlined his words.
“Why, Tate?” Gemma asked. “Scared we might use them on you?”
The vein above his left eye pulsed, and he didn’t answer.
Hayley took out a vial from the box. She hid the vial in her fist. “I wonder which one I have? I guess you’ll soon find out.”
“What do you want?” said Tate hissed from between his teeth.
“The code for the exit door,” Hayley told him.
“I can’t tell you that. I’m sorry.” He shook his head.
Hayley opened up her hand and showed him the vial resting on the palm of her hand. “It’s blue.”
Tate fixed his gaze away from the needle, saying nothing, but his eyes clouded.
Desperation hammered inside Gemma’s chest. Everyone in the hall had minutes left to live—and none of them knew it yet.
Taking the vial from Hayley, she stepped to the bench. She drew liquid into the syringe and then brought the needle up against Tate’s eye. “You know what this will do. Give us the code. Now.”
He flinched. “I did my best for you. I gave you a home. I fed you. Made you feel wanted. Gemma… Hayley… it wasn’t meant to go like this. You don’t understand. My research is important. And you—you were a part of it. You were special—”
Fear and cold rage twisted through Gemma’s body. “Don’t.”
“You used us.” Hayley’s bottom lip quivered. “Every step of the way. Every—”
Megan grasped Gemma and Hayley’s shoulders, her voice urgent. “He’s stalling. He’s trying to draw you in. He knows Sophie and that man will be back here soon.”
Breathing hard, Gemma nodded.
“Where’s his phone?” Megan dropped her hands from the girls’ shoulders. “We need to call the police.”
Eoin pointed to a mangled object on the floor. “It got busted when we tackled him.”
“Doesn’t he have a laptop or something?” Megan cried.
Hayley shook her head. “He already destroyed it.”
Megan gasped in desperation.
They needed to get out and get to the hall. Now.
The sound of a loud smack reverberated through the room as Eoin hit Tate in the jaw. “I’ll kill you, I swear. Tear you limb from limb, you evil bastard. For Clay and Ellie.”
Tate took the punch without protest, his eyes growing absent.
An image tore up Gemma’s mind. Tate had once told her how millions of tiny seeds burst from each orchid pod and tumble away in the wind. That was how it was right now. A short, frenzied burst of time, of seconds. And then it would all be over.
“He should die the same way he made the others die. A slow, painful death.” Gemma barely recognised the brittle voice as her own. She needed Tate to believe that she was about to inject him.
A sheen of sweat on Tate’s forehead and temples caught the overhead light. “Untie me. Then
I’ll unlock the exit. You can go save your friends.”
“What are you trying to pull on us now, Chemist?” said Eoin.
“I’m just trying to make the best of things,” Tate answered. “You can do what you want, and I’ll be leaving. Directly.”
Eoin exhaled an incredulous breath. “No honour among crims, right? You’re happy for Fred and Sophie to take the blame, while you vanish from the face of the earth.”
“Don’t trust him,” Megan warned in alarm. “This might be a trick.”
Tate ignored her. “Picture this. Within the past several minutes, Sophie and Freddy would have sourced the chemicals from the supply shed. They might already have it at the hall by now. Lunch is being ladled out. A group of hungry, tired workers is waiting for the last meal they’ll ever have.”
Gemma exchanged glances with Hayley and Eoin. A silent communication bounced between the three of them. Tate’s loyal to no one. He’ll try to protect himself.
“We’ll untie you, Chemist,” said Eoin. “We’ll go with you to the door and leave at the same time. If you try anything, I’ll make you sorry.”
Hayley nodded. “Do it.”
“I need my briefcase,” Tate said. “It has my passport and wallet. And I need the contents of that medical kit and syringe destroyed. You will understand that I can’t leave them behind.”
Casting a wary look at Tate, Gemma emptied the box and syringe into the compactor. The glass made a grinding noise as it was crushed. Water gurgled as it was all carried away into the pipes below.
“Okay. Done,” Gemma breathed.
Eoin unknotted the ties from Tate’s body and let them fall away. “Watch yourself, Chemist.”
They walked with him to the exit, two behind and two in front.
Gemma held her breath as Tate tapped in the number for the keypad.
The slab of marble lifted, light washing in.
Poison Orchids: A darkly compelling psychological thriller Page 32
