by Sherri Bryan
“You’re not supposed to be here. The kitchens are out of bounds to guests.”
The woman laughed. “Yes, and we’re far enough away from guests that no one will hear us.” She waved Olivia’s phone in the air. “I’ve switched this off, by the way, so we won’t be disturbed.” She smiled. “You don’t remember me, do you? No, I didn’t think you would; you weren’t at the tasting session for long enough.”
Olivia gave her a nod of recognition. “Ah, that’s right—you were one of Roman’s students. I knew I recognised you. Right, well, if you give me my phone back, we can sort something out. What do you want?” She snapped her fingers. “Aah, I remember Ava Whittington telling me that one of the students on the course was a fan—that must have been you. Do you want an autograph?”
The woman threw back her head and laughed. “An autograph? Oh, that’s funny!” She stopped laughing as abruptly as she’d started. “No, I don’t want a bloody autograph. And pretending to be a fan was no fun, I can assure you.”
Olivia gave the woman her most threatening glare. “Look, I don’t know who you are, or what you want, but all I have to do is call security on that phone on the wall, and they’ll come up here and drag you off in handcuffs.”
“Well, let me tell you who I am. My name’s Izzy. Izzy Davenport.” She raised her hand and brandished a knife. “Oh, don’t worry,” she said, with a smile. “I won’t use it unless I have to.”
Olivia made a dash for the wall phone, but before she could dial security, Izzy had taken a lemon from a box on the counter and thrown it in a perfect overarm arc. It flew across the room, landing exactly where she was aiming for. Knocking the receiver from Olivia’s hand, it crashed to the floor and smashed into pieces.
“What do you want?” Olivia said, backing away, her voice shaking and her hand going instinctively to the yellow bruise on her forehead.
“Still hurts, does it?” said Izzy. “Good, I’m glad. Of course, if I’d been on target, I wouldn’t be standing here now. And nor would you, although your absence would have been more permanent, if you know what I mean.”
“That was you?” Olivia gave Izzy a look of fury.
“Guilty as charged,” said Izzy, smugly. “I’m not our cricket team’s star bowler for nothing, you know. My aim is impeccable… when the target stays still, that is. I was furious when you turned and the rock hit you on the forehead. I couldn’t even hang around for another try because I had to make myself scarce in case the police started looking for who’d thrown it.”
She took a step towards Olivia, her eyes filled with hate.
“When I read that interview my uncle gave to the newspaper, it broke my heart. All it did was reinforce how much I despise you, and I knew then that I couldn’t stop until you were dead—however long it took.
“The only reason I was in the park that day was because I was already in St. Eves. When Mum told me that she and Uncle Gordon were coming to stay here, I knew then that I was going to drive back to finish the job. I had no idea when, or how, I was going to do it, I just knew I had to be here.
“Mum told me that some reporter had been in touch to arrange an interview, and was hoping you’d take part. She said Uncle Gordon wasn’t keen about you being involved but she pushed him until he changed his mind.
“On the afternoon they arrived, she called me from the ladies’ room to let me know they were going off to do the interview at the place you’d suggested meeting at in the park. She was so excited, she was keeping me up to date with everything, but she had no idea I was in St. Eves, too. It was short notice but once I knew where you’d be meeting, I knew exactly how I was going to kill you. All I had to do was hope I’d find a spot that would be close enough to hit you, but overgrown enough to hide me.”
“You’re Gordon’s niece?”
Izzy nodded. “And his part-time carer. Mum and I shared the load for years but when I got married, I moved further away which made it difficult for me to look after him every day, so we arranged another two carers to help out, and I used to do whatever shifts I could. Since I got divorced, though, I’ve been spending more time at Mum’s, so I look after Uncle Gordon when I’m there.” A glimmer of sadness flashed in her eyes. “I still live in the house I bought with my husband, but since he left, it’s good to get away from it sometimes. It’s too empty without him.”
“That must have been difficult?” said Olivia, trying to keep the panic from her voice.
Izzy gave her a look that dripped with scorn. “Difficult? You don’t know the meaning of the word, you privileged cow. I was only nine when Uncle Gordon had his accident. He was in such a mess, and his bitch of a wife left him while she was still young enough to build another life and have some fun. So mum and me looked after him. I hardly remember him being well. And when I was old enough to be out with friends, or boys, I was helping Mum look after Uncle Gordon; helping him get around and helping him learn to walk again after the countless operations he had.
“What kind of life do you think I had, Olivia? Because of you? And Mum’s been through hell, too. Well done, you scored a hat trick.” Izzy clapped her hands, a sarcastic expression on her face. “That’s three lives you’ve ruined, because you’re responsible for the breakdown of three marriages; my Uncle Gordon’s, my mum and dad’s, and mine. The strain of trying to have a normal relationship with all this hanging over our heads was too much. It put our partners under too much stress.”
“No, you don’t understand,” said Olivia, not taking her eyes off the blade. “Your Uncle Gordon said he’d forgiven me.”
Izzy started to giggle, then gave a great guffaw of a laugh until the tears were running down her cheeks. “Oh, Olivia, that’s priceless. My sides ache. Poor, stupid Olivia. He may have forgiven you, but did you really think Mum and I had, too?”
“What are you talking about?” said Olivia.
Izzy stared at her. “We’d dreamed for so long about making you and Roman pay for what you did, but Mum would never have done anything about it—it was only ever dreams for her. Not me, though. I couldn’t believe my luck when I heard Roman was opening a school in your hometown, and how much easier that was going to make it for me to kill two birds with one stone.” Her blue eyes flashed and her breath came quickly as she twirled the knife in her hand.
“As soon as Roman announced he was going to open a culinary school, I got my name on the waiting list. I wanted to be sure I was one of the first because I had to see him; I had to be with him in the same room for my plan to work.”
Olivia paled and slumped against the wall. “You killed Roman?” She tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry. “And your mum’s involved, too?”
Izzy shook her head. “No, she has no idea what I did. I knew if I’d told her what I was planning, she’d try to talk me out of it. And my uncle doesn’t know anything about it either. He wouldn’t understand my particular brand of justice. He doesn’t even know I booked up for the course, and nor does Mum. My work takes me away often enough for them not to have wondered where I was. They know nothing about what I’ve done, nor what I’m about to do.”
“But how? How did you kill him?”
Izzy chuckled. “Well, how I killed him was the easy part. I got the poison from someone I met through work. He’s a herbalist who makes up special blends of tea for all kinds of ailments. Last year, there was a story in the news about a man who died after eating food which had been laced with Aconite. I’d never heard of it before but we got talking about it and he told me that, in the wrong hands, it can be highly toxic.
“Although Mum and I had been talking about getting our revenge on you and Roman for years, it wasn’t until then that I realised it might actually be possible. Until then, it had just been wishful thinking. I persuaded the guy to make me a bottle of pure Aconite tincture. It took a lot of persuasion and a lot of money, but it was worth every penny.
“I booked a place on the earliest course I could. When I read the itineraries and saw that Roman would be at
tending the tasting sessions for the first few lessons, I knew that would be the ideal opportunity to get rid of him, once and for all.
I already knew from the course itinerary what we’d be making, so I took the raisins I’d injected with Aconite with me, and put them into one of the loaves I baked. Then I made sure that was the one I gave Gavin and Larissa for Roman to eat at the tasting session.”
“But I could have eaten some of that if I’d stayed,” said Olivia.
Izzy sneered. “Yeah, once I found out you’d been invited, that was kind of the idea, but you ruined that, so I had to have a rethink. If you’d hung around and eaten some of the bread, my work would have been done and I’d never have come back to St. Eves again. Mind you, it wasn’t all bad. Being around for Roman’s last breath was worth it. After that, all I had to do was figure out what to do about you.
“Did you kill Roman because of what he did to your uncle?” said Olivia. “Because he took his job?”
Izzy nodded. “It might seem petty to you, but if you’d seen the look on his face when he realised the job he loved had been taken by someone else, you’d understand why I couldn’t just let it be. After what you did to him, and his wife leaving, losing that job almost broke him. I don’t think you have any idea how much you and Roman hurt him.” She gave a hollow laugh. “If you did, you would never have offered him a pathetic weekend break in the hope it would make everything better.” She threw Olivia a hostile stare.
“I didn’t think it would make everything better!” snapped Olivia. “Nothing could have done that, but I hoped it was a gesture that would show him I was genuine about trying to make amends.”
Izzy took a step forward. “You know, when Uncle Gordon told me you’d visited him, and you didn’t even know that Roman had taken his job, it made me realise how little you cared about what you’d done. Any decent person would have tried to find out how he was, and what he was doing, but it really was out of sight, out of mind with you, wasn’t it?
“Did you know, he’s never held a grudge against you, not a shred of malice. Even after what you did to him, he still wanted to help you; he wanted both of you to be able to get on with your lives. But then, when he was stuck at home, with his shattered knee and his aching hip, some days barely able to put one foot in front of the other, have you any idea how difficult it must have been for him to watch you and Roman become more and more successful? He used to read every article about awards you were winning and milestones you’d achieved, but he never felt any bitterness towards you.”
Olivia nodded. “But you did?”
“Too right, I did. And, as the years passed and his life went further and further into the toilet and yours and Roman’s got more and more successful, my craving for revenge got stronger and stronger.
“Both you and Roman ruined my uncle’s life. Between you, you took away his health and the job he loved, and he still believed in forgiveness and second chances, because he’s a good man. That’s why he cared so much that you might be locked up for what you’d done.”
Izzy ran the flat of the blade against her palm. “You didn’t know, did you, that two of the permanent effects of his injuries are that he’s all but lost his senses of taste and smell? The senses that are the most important to anyone who loves food. It was gradual to start with but now he barely has either of them any more, because of the nerve damage caused by the impact of his head going through the window.”
Her hand curled into a fist. “You didn’t just ruin his career and his life, Olivia, you ruined the greatest enjoyment he had left. He can’t even enjoy food any more, because he can hardly taste a thing. He has to take six sugars in his tea and coffee before he can even begin to taste the sweetness, and he has to cover his meals in salt, because only the most highly flavoured foods are enough to kick-start his tastebuds.”
She took a few more steps, the knife glinting in the glare of the kitchen spotlights, raised as if she was ready to strike.
“You know what? I used to be like my uncle when I was young. I used to be kind and forgiving, but you’ve turned me into a vengeful, bitter, murderous woman, and you took my childhood from me. It’s been too long coming, but I hope vengeance will finally bring me some release from the anguish I feel every day of my life. Unlike my uncle, though, I don’t believe that forgiveness is the only way… revenge is. I’ve been planning this for years.”
“Please think about what you’re doing,” said Olivia. “You haven’t done anything yet, but if you carry out this plan… if you actually do whatever it is you’re thinking of doing, you’ll go to prison. Please, Izzy, you must think about that before you do something you can’t take back.”
Izzy shook her head. “I’ve done too much thinking. It’s time for action now, so you’re going to turn around and take a little walk into the freezer. Then I’m going to padlock the door and turn the temperature down to -40 degrees, but not before I’ve given you this.”
She took a bottle from her jacket. “This is the Aconite I used to kill Roman. I want you to put it in your pocket so that when your poor, frozen body is found tomorrow morning, and the police are called, they’ll think you were the murderer.” She chuckled. “I wish I could hang around until the morning shift arrives. It should be quite entertaining.”
“Wait!” said Olivia, the fear making her voice tremble. “Just tell me how you knew I was going to be here? I didn’t tell anyone, apart from Simon.”
“Actually, you did,” said Izzy. “You told Charlotte Costello.”
Olivia frowned. “How do you know that?”
“Because Roy was there, and he overheard. He called me earlier and mentioned you were going to be here, and that he was going to pay you a visit.” Izzy smiled. “Knowing you were going to be here, on your own, in the middle of the night, seemed like such a perfect opportunity for me to finish what I’d started. I couldn’t let it pass me by, so I decided to drive down again and get here first.”
“Roy?” Olivia frowned as she made her way, inch by inch, towards the fire alarm on the wall. “You mean the tall, gormless guy? What the hell’s he got to do with all this?”
Izzy smiled. “Nothing. He’s got nothing to do with it. He’s too dumb to be involved in anything like this. He doesn’t even know anything about the situation with Uncle Gordon because I never told him… sometimes, it’s nice for people not to know everything about you. Anyway, lovely guy, but he’s as thick as a brick. It’s a shame I’m going to have to kill him, too, but I can’t have him alerting anyone to the fact that you’re locked in the freezer, so I’ll have to make sure he keeps his mouth shut.” She touched the tip of the knife to the pad of her index finger and smiled. “Start walking, Olivia.”
Without any warning, the door swung open and Roy rushed in. “I’ll give you ‘thick as a brick!’” he cried, pushing Izzy off balance and sending her sprawling to the floor. Her hands flailed for the knife, but Roy was too quick for her, grabbing Olivia by the arm, and leading her out of the kitchen, and to safety.
“No! No!” Dazed from the fall, Izzy staggered to her feet and steadied herself before chasing after them. “I will kill you, Floyd-Martin! I have to!” With her teeth bared and the knife raised above her head, ready to plunge into Olivia’s back, she pushed open the kitchen door which rebounded off Nathan, Ben and Fiona who were on the other side. She struggled to push through them but they formed a solid wall between her and her target, and the knife fell from her hand.
She beat her fists against Nathan’s chest, spittle flying from her mouth onto his shirt as she cursed at Olivia over his shoulder. Realising her chase was over, she shrank back, her shoulders dropping in defeat. “Arrest me if you want,” she said, holding out her hands. “If you care more about her, and the damage she’s done to God knows how many people, than you do about me trying to get some justice for them, then arrest me.”
“Actually,” said Nathan, “we were going to anyway but, as you’re already in St. Eves, you’ve made our job much easier.”
As he read Izzy her rights, and snapped a pair of handcuffs onto her wrists, she stood like a statue, offering no resistance. “I was so close. So close, but not close enough. Just a couple more steps and she’d have been halfway to dead.”
She shot Olivia a chilling glare as she was led from the kitchen, a sudden peal of hysterical laughter piercing the quiet of the night.
____________
“We’ll need to take a statement from both of you,” said Fiona. “We’re going to have to corden off this area for a while, so can you come downstairs to the lounge bar? And the entire kitchen is going to be out of bounds until we’ve finished. We’ve already cut off access to the lift, so you’ll have to use the stairs.” She went off to make a call and they trudged through the indoor restaurant, out onto the rooftop terrace, and into the stairwell.
Olivia gave Roy an apprehensive glare. When he’d pulled her from the kitchen, Nathan, Fiona and Ben had just arrived. “I’m not here to hurt her,” Ben had said when Fiona and Nathan had grabbed an arm each. He nodded towards the kitchen. “It’s the nutcase in there you need to arrest.”
As they made their way down the stairs, Roy slowed his pace and took a step towards Olivia on the small landing between the twelfth and eleventh floors.
She had him in a headlock in a second. “What’s your game? Why did you tell Izzy I’d be here tonight? Tell me!”
“I’m struggling to breathe here,” gasped Roy. “Do you think you could let go?”
Olivia loosened her grip. “You’d better not try anything funny,” she growled. “There’ll be police swarming all over this place in a minute.”
“I won’t, I promise.”
Olivia crossed her arms and watched him like a hawk. “Well?”
Roy rubbed at the red welt on his neck. “Obviously, I wouldn’t have told her you’d be here on your own if I’d known what a fruitcake she was. I had no idea what she was planning.”
