by Jessie Keane
Lily heard Oli start down the stairs.
‘She up there?’ Jase was saying, and she heard his tread, heavier, bulkier, he was going up the stairs. Shit, Oli was up there, the cash, oh Christ in heaven, Oli was pregnant and he could hurt her, throw her down the stairs, make her lose the child, anything. He could hurt both her girls, and she couldn’t let that happen, she just couldn’t.
She stepped out around the door.
Saz spied her instantly. But Jase and Oli couldn’t see her, they were on the stairs. Lily looked straight at Saz. Honey, be quiet. Say nothing, Lily’s eyes said urgently to her daughter.
‘You can’t come in here just like this. How the fuck did you get in here?’ Oli was screaming at Jase as he thundered up the stairs towards her.
Got to do something quick, thought Lily. She crept out into the hall, Saz watching her dazedly, and eased open the cupboard under the stairs. Tools in there. A hammer. She snatched it out of the box.
‘You bastard, what are you doing?’ Oli was shouting.
Lily’s eyes fell on the fusebox. She flipped up the cover and looked at the pop-out fuses there. Showers. Ring circuit. Water heaters. Cookers. Lights. She pulled out the fuse.
Suddenly, The Fort was plunged into darkness.
63
‘Hey!’ Jase yelled.
He’d seen her at the edge of his vision as he climbed up the stairs, seen her moving quickly across the hall in that split-second before the lights went out. And now he was on the staircase and Oli was up ahead, at the top of the stairs. He couldn’t see fuck-all, he was blind. But he knew she was up ahead and once he had hold of Oli, the King bitch was going to have to toe the line, he knew that much for sure. He started edging up, thinking there were maybe eight or nine steps to go before he reached Oli and grabbed her.
‘Oli?’ he said, tightening his grip on the cash.
Just speak, you silly cow, because the minute you open your yap, I’ll know exactly where you are.
He could feel sweat breaking out all over his body. His chest was a tight, painful knot. He wished he could see. Wished she’d speak. But she was silent.
‘Oli?’ he said again, more urgently.
And then he felt the impact, something thumping him hard in the chest. No, she wouldn’t, she…he teetered wildly, trying to keep his balance, his mind’s eye supplying him with a dizzying picture of the drop behind him. If he fell, he could break his damned neck.
‘Jesus!’ he roared, furious, because yes, it was Oli. She’d pushed him and he was…oh shit, he was pitching backwards, losing it, hands splaying out, the cosh going flying from his fingers. He felt a stunning pain as his head struck a stair, then his shoulder; his arm was wrenched, his leg…fuck it, fuck, fuck, this was not how it should be going, this was not meant to happen.
Pain exploded in his body and erupted in his head, and he fell, he plummeted, backwards into the darkness.
‘God, do you think he’s dead?’ Oli asked in a trembling voice. ‘I pushed him; I shouldn’t have done that. Oh no, oh Christ, do you think I killed him?’
When Lily had heard Jase going arse over tit down the stairs, she had thought he had merely lost his balance. But Oli had pushed him.
Good going, girl, she thought.
She’d popped the fuse back in. Blinked a bit as the lights flared back on, illuminating the hall to a dazzling degree. She saw that Saz was on her feet, swaying like a drunk, blood dripping steadily from her cut cheek. Jase was on his back at the bottom of the stairs, and Oli was standing three-quarters of the way down them, watching him as if he was going to leap up like a jack-in-the-box, grinning like a maniac and yelling Surprise! before killing them all.
Lily, still clutching the hammer, went over to where Jase lay. His neck wasn’t at an awkward angle; she didn’t think he’d broken it, which was a pity. His chest was rising and falling, Oli hadn’t killed him, also a pity. The cosh was feet away, but she didn’t want him coming round and grabbing that again, so she kicked it across the hall, well out of his reach. Then she went back to the cupboard under the stairs, speaking quickly over her shoulder.
‘Oli, take your sister upstairs,’ she said.
She was peering in the box. No rope, no string. Fuse wire. That would do. She grabbed it and was turning when suddenly Oli said: ‘Uncle Freddy…?’
Then Lily knew their troubles had only just begun.
64
Lily whirled around. Freddy was walking across the hall to where Jason lay. He’d picked up the cosh. He flicked a look at Saz, at Oli. Then he focused his attention on Lily, and grinned.
Lily felt all her bones turn to water. Freddy’s eyes said it all. His intentions were very clear. But she still thought of the girls, her girls; she had to keep them safe, but how was she supposed to do that? She looked over at Saz, who was now near where Jase lay, just a step or two away from the stairs.
‘Oli!’ said Lily sharply, because Oli was staring at Freddy as if hypnotized. Oli’s head flicked round and she looked at her mother. ‘Take your sister up to the master suite. Right now. Go on.’
‘No.’ Oli was looking at Freddy, seeing that all his attention was focused on Lily.
‘Yes. Go on, Oli. Move it,’ said Lily.
And finally Oli moved. Saz staggered toward her and Oli put a supporting arm around her shoulders. Together, they started up the stairs. Lily watched them go. There was a lock on the master suite. It wouldn’t stop Freddy, but it would certainly slow him down if he went after them.
And he has to do that, doesn’t he?
Because he was going to kill her, and he couldn’t leave witnesses. Even if they didn’t see him do the deed, they’d know he was here and that Jase couldn’t have done it because Jase was out of commission. They’d know.
What the hell am I going to do? wondered Lily wildly.
She was still holding the hammer.
She wasn’t a killer, and Freddy was built like a brick shit – house. Even if she could get past his guard – and that was a laughable idea – would she truly be able to beat his thick skull in with the hammer? Would she be able to find that strength in herself? She didn’t know. To protect the girls, maybe. But as she watched Freddy leaning over the fallen Jase, as she saw the girls reach the landing at the top of the stairs, all she could think was, I am in terrible trouble here.
Oli got Saz into the master suite. Saz lay back on the big bed, groaning. Oli hurried into the en suite and came back with a towel.
‘Here,’ she said, and pressed it gently to Saz’s face. Then she turned and looked at the open door and wondered what the hell to do. She couldn’t call the police. It was part of the King creed: you never called the police. An ambulance then, for Saz? But something was kicking off downstairs, something serious; call an ambulance and before very long the police would be here too.
But who to call? She needed help. Lily needed help. She thought of Nick O’Rourke, but she didn’t have his number. Then she thought of Uncle Si. If anyone could control Freddy, it was Uncle Si. But then…she really wasn’t too certain about Uncle Si, either. She could remember all too clearly that day when her mother had been in the pool, and Si had been there, ostensibly helping her out, but she didn’t think he had been doing that at all; she was pretty sure he was just trying to keep Mum in there until…until she died.
But she had to do something. And Uncle Si could control Freddy. No one else could.
She picked up her mobile with shaking hands and phoned Uncle Si’s number. Aunt Maeve answered.
‘Aunt Maeve? It’s Oli. Can you get Uncle Si to come over to the house please? Right now? Uncle Freddy’s here…’ Uncle Si could be here in moments; he only lived up the road. She would let him in, and he would make everything all right…wouldn’t he? ‘Can you tell him to hurry? Please…?’ Oli’s voice cracked, dried up, her mouth was like dust, she couldn’t get another word out, she was panicking too much.
‘Oli? Calm down,’ said Maeve. ‘What’s going on? Is your mother
there?’
‘Yeah. She’s here. Uncle Freddy’s after her. I can’t…please, just please will you get Uncle Si here, Aunt Maeve? Please make him come.’
65
‘He hit Saz,’ said Lily. ‘Can you imagine that?’
This was beyond surreal. Lily was standing here in her hallway, talking to Freddy King as if he was normal. Mostly because she wished he was behaving normally. Fat chance of that. Her voice was high with anxiety. High with fear. Because there was one thing everyone knew about Freddy King, and that was that he was a psycho; he wasn’t normal at all.
‘Really?’
Freddy was staring at her like a cat gloating over the cream. He couldn’t believe his luck; he had her cornered at last. She knew that he’d wanted this for a long, long time, and somehow Saz had let Jase in, and that had provided Freddy with an entry too. Now she was toast. She was finished. He stood there, staring at her, smiling, Jase’s cosh held casually in one hand. He slapped it lightly into his palm, looking at her, grinning.
Here it comes for you, bitch.
Then Jase groaned.
Lily’s eyes skittered away from Freddy and fell on Jase.
Yeah, come on, Jase. Come on you meat-headed, thick-skulled pile of shit, wake up! thought Lily urgently. Wake up and give this lunatic something different to think about.
Freddy dropped his gaze, looking down at Jase.
Jase groaned again, his face creasing. He lifted one arm, turned over onto his side.
‘They must have been arguing over something,’ said Lily hurriedly. What to do, what to do…? Keep him talking for now. Keep him busy. Keep him focused on Jase, not me.
‘Yeah?’ said Freddy without interest.
‘He was going to surprise Oli or some silly thing.’
‘Oh. Yeah?’ Where had she put the hammer? It was over there, on the floor by the cupboard.
Shit, he’s going to kill me.
‘Only they argued,’ Lily rattled on. ‘I heard them arguing out here, I came out to see what was going on, and he hit her with the cosh, can you believe that?’
‘No. That’s unbelievable,’ agreed Freddy.
Jase’s legs were making weak movements now. He was within an inch of full consciousness, and then Lily was going to have two of them to worry about instead of one. My God, what was she going to do?
‘Big bastard like this hitting a young girl?’ Freddy was pursing his lips, shaking his head. ‘We can’t have that, now can we?’
He was putting the cosh down on the floor.
I’m too far away to reach it, thought Lily. And anyway, trying to reach it would be a fool’s errand. Try to reach it and she would put herself within striking distance of Freddy, and that would probably be the last thing she ever did. She should have taken hold of the damned thing herself, not just kicked it out of Jase’s way.
‘We certainly can’t have that,’ Freddy was saying almost to himself. He knelt down beside Jase and tapped his cheek lightly. ‘Hey boy. You there?’
Only a groan from Jase. Then his eyes flickered open and he saw Freddy looming over him.
Lily saw Jase try to grin. It was a faltering effort, and soon vanished.
‘I’m…putting i’right for you, Fred…’ he murmured. ‘I’m putting it right.’
‘Yeah,’ said Freddy, smiling softly down at Jase, his expression as tender as a fond father with a baby. ‘Sure you are.’
All at once the smile was gone. Freddy put his arm around Jase’s neck. Lily heard a half-strangled gasp escape Jase and she recoiled in horror, thinking, Oh my God, oh shit, oh no, and then Freddy had his other hand on Jase’s skull.
Freddy’s face went brick-red with effort as he applied pressure. A noise that was halfway between a scream and a gurgle went up from Jase then. His arms thrashed. There was a loud, sickening crack, and suddenly Jase was limp and still. Freddy released him, and he slumped back onto the hard floor like a rag doll.
‘Tosser,’ said Freddy contemptuously, and stood up, grabbing the cosh. He looked down at Jase’s dead body and suddenly gave it a vicious kick. The body twitched like a marionette. ‘Fucking tosser,’ he growled.
Lily’s bowels felt as if they were about to let go. He’d killed Jase, killed him in cold blood. Thank God the girls hadn’t been down here to see that. And now…oh shit, now his head was rising, and his eyes were on her again. He was starting to move.
Lily moved too, quickly, throwing herself so that she went skidding across the marble tiles, hitting the cupboard by the stairs, aiming for the hammer. She missed it. Freddy pistoned into the back of her and she felt herself go down like a sack of shit, Freddy scrabbling about on top of her – Jesus, the weight of him! – and her head hit the tiles, she saw flashing lights, her head spun, but the cupboard door was half open and oh, if she could only reach inside, just an inch, two inches, she’d be there.
Freddy was trying to get a swing at her with the cosh. She squirmed, aimed a knee at his balls but missed. Someone was gasping and yelling, and only distantly did she realize that it was her.
Maybe the girls would come, grab the hammer – shit, where was the hammer? – and do for him before he managed to whack her with the cosh.
She could hear Oli shouting something, saying, Please please come, but no one was coming. As usual she was on her fucking own here, and Freddy had her, he had her, there was no hope.
Then her scrabbling fingers touched the hammer.
Oh thank you, God!
She grabbed it, aimed it straight at Freddy’s bulk, hit him as hard as she could.
He reeled back with a shout of pain, clutching his jaw. Maybe she’d broken it. She hoped so. Her aim hadn’t been good, she’d been half pinioned beneath him. But she had shaken him, hurt him a little, she knew she had – and now she was loose. For a moment, only. A moment when everything seemed to slow to a crawl.
She saw Freddy half stagger to his feet and come back at her. Saw her own hand hovering alongside the fusebox, and then he grabbed her again, roaring, shrieking that she was a bitch, she’d killed his brother, and by fuck now he was going to kill her, and then her quivering fingers were yanked back, away from the fusebox and she thought: No, no, this can’t be happening.
She strained away from him, and then her fingers found what they were searching for. The lights went out for a second time. Surprise made his grip on her relax. With one last desperate effort, Lily kicked free of him, and sprinted off into the darkness.
66
She knew every inch of this house. There were fifty steps on the staircase, it was five strides to the master suite upstairs, take ten steps along the hall and there was the door to the indoor swimming pool room. She was through it, slamming it closed behind her; there was no lock. She could picture Freddy still at the cupboard, scrabbling to get the fuse back in, but he’d take time because he didn’t know this house and she did. She had dreamed of this house when she’d been in prison.
In darkness she skirted the echoing blue vastness of the pool, heading for the changing cubicle at its far end. She knew she didn’t have a choice any more. It was kill or be killed: her or Freddy. And by Christ, it wasn’t going to be Freddy who came out of this, not if she had anything to do with it.
It had to be her. If Freddy got her, then he would have to get the girls too. So fuck the Firearms Act. Fuck assault with a deadly weapon. They’d have to throw the bloody key away this time, and if they did, then at least she would know that it was because she was truly guilty, not the innocent patsy she had been before. Her girls were here, and she couldn’t let anything happen to them. She would not.
She was almost outside the cubicle, breathing fast in the humid atmosphere of the pool room, when the lights went back on. She yanked open the door and stepped in, closing the door behind her. She lifted the seat and there it was, Leo’s Magnum, taped to the inside. She tore off the tape and was straightening up to check it was still properly loaded when she heard the door from the hall open and softly close.
> Shit, she thought, her heart thundering sickly in her chest. Here comes Freddy.
67
She couldn’t see him coming, but she could hear him, treading soft-footed alongside the pool. She would have to wait until he opened the door into the changing cubicle. She could hear him coming closer, closer.
Her mouth was dry but there was the sweat of sheer terror rolling down her face, making her eyes sting. Her bowels felt like mush, her heart was clattering away at a gallop.
So this is it, she thought. Shit or bust. I kill him or he kills me and the girls.
She was holding her breath.
The steps were close now, so close.
Her hands were slippery on the gun. She rubbed one damp hand down her jeans, then the other, then she tightened her double-handed grip on it and aimed at the door.
The steps stopped, right outside.
She was going to wait until he opened it and then – oh shit – she was going to blast him into the next world. Lily steeled herself, teeth gritted, concentrating everything on just holding the heavy gun steady, making the first shot count.
The handle on the door was going down.
Oh Jesus oh God in heaven help me.
She braced herself for the recoil. It would have a big kick, this gun. It was a hand-cannon. That’s what Leo had called it. A hand-cannon. And insurance. The ultimate backup plan. Now, she was going to cash in the insurance. Leo’d told her all about this gun, had told her it was so powerful that even a glancing shot could kill because it could rip a limb off.
‘And if this baby hits your mid-section your guts are going to end up in a tree in the next county,’ he had told her, and she had cringed at that.
But now she was going to have to do it. Blast Freddy fucking King to hell, where he belonged.
She was trembling, shaking, feeling that she was going to puke now.
