Avril was roused by the sound of rustling in the corridor outside her bedroom door. Opening her eyes, she glanced at the clock. It was only just past two, and The Diamond didn’t close until three, so what on earth was Leonard doing home already? And why was he at her door? He surely didn’t think that she was going to welcome him into her bed? Oh, no, no, no! It hadn’t even been a month yet. He had far more grovelling to do before she forgave him his latest indiscretion.
Sitting up when the door handle turned, she was about to call out to him to bloody well forget it when she heard a voice that she recognised all too well.
‘It’s locked. She’s gotta be in there.’
She inhaled sharply. No, it couldn’t be. They were dead.
Getting out of bed, she tiptoed to the balcony door.
The wind was high tonight, and a forceful gust tore the door from her hand when she eased it open. Licking at the curtains, it knocked a jar of cream over on the dressing table, sending it rolling noisily into her perfumes and deodorants.
‘Kick it in!’ the voice in the corridor hissed.
Bursting in seconds later, Tony saw the hastily vacated bed and the open door and turned back to the stairs. ‘She’s climbed out. You go look if you can see her, I’ll go after her.’
Walking quickly to the balcony, Eddie stepped out and peered over the rail into the dark gardens below.
Holding her breath, petrified that he would hear her, Avril crept out of her walk-in closet with the heavy steel poker held firmly between her hands. Raising it above her head, she came up behind Eddie and slammed it down as hard as she could on the back of his neck.
Letting out a tiny gasp of fear when his knees buckled, Avril hit him again and again on the top of his head, not even aware of the sounds of splintering bone and squelching tissue, just conscious that she needed to make sure he was properly unconscious so that he couldn’t retaliate.
‘You seen her?’ Tony’s voice hissed up a moment later. ‘Ed?’
Ducking so that she was almost sitting on Eddie’s battered head now, Avril squinted out through the ornate balcony rails. She couldn’t see Tony, but she could hear him mooching about in the pitch-dark gardens below. The security lights should have come on by now, but they had obviously disabled them along with the alarms.
Letting out another tiny gasp when Eddie made a sighing sound, she reached down to steady herself, and almost fell over when her hand landed on the gun he was still holding.
Bringing her hands up to her mouth in shock, Avril recoiled when she felt and tasted the blood on her lips.
‘Yo!’ Tony hissed. ‘What you doing up there, man? I can’t see her. I’m coming in.’
Heart hammering in her chest, Avril wrenched the gun out of Eddie’s hand and stumbled back into the bedroom. Running back to the closet, she crouched on the floor inside the slightly open door so that she could see Tony when he came in. She felt sick, and every nerve in her body seemed to be sparking, every muscle taut with terror.
Running into the doorway a minute later, Tony made his way to the balcony door in search of Eddie. Pointing the gun at his back through the crack, trying desperately to still her wildly shaking hands, Avril closed her eyes and squeezed the trigger.
There was a slight popping sound, followed by a grunt and the sound of something falling heavily to the floor.
Hardly breathing now, Avril opened her eyes and looked out.
Tony was lying in a heap a few feet away. Standing up, Avril ventured out warily. Screaming when he moved, she shot him again, not even sure if anything had happened because she couldn’t hear anything at all this time – she just saw the flash of light that illuminated Tony’s darker than dark eyes.
Turning, she ran for her life.
About the author
Mandasue Heller was born in Cheshire and moved to Manchester in 1982. There, she has found the inspiration for her novels: she spent ten years living in the infamous Hulme Crescents and has sung in cabaret and rock groups, seventies soul cover bands and blues jam bands. She still lives in Manchester with her musician partner, three children and a tarty squirrel-tailed cat.
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