The Borrowed Kitchen

by Gilmour, SJB

  ‘Wait, when was that?’

  Mitch shrugged. ‘June First, Two Thousand and Seven.’

  Sally grabbed the iPod from the cradle and the music died. She flicked through the calendar to the date.

  ‘Mitch,’ she said slowly, her eyes wide, ‘that was a Friday. Monroe’s is kosher. They’re closed Friday night to Saturday night. Remember? When we went there? It was after we’d found out the hard way they weren’t open? We tried the first time but they were shut so we ended up getting fish and chips.’

  Kelly hadn’t been able to follow the whole conversation, but she knew about Monroe’s opening hours.

  ‘Yeah, they’re weird. Always shut when people want to go out.’

  Mitch went pale and put his coffee down. ‘I’m calling the cops.’ He swore under his breath. ‘This thing never ends.’ He walked out, leaving the girls to finish their breakfasts.

  Ten minutes later, he walked in as Sally was unloading the dishwasher. His face was serious.

  Sally turned to him. Oh, don’t tell me I had a killer in my house…

  ‘Why? Is Coates the guy? Are we still targets?’

  ‘They don’t know. They can’t reach him or his alibi.’ He shook his head angrily. ‘What pisses me off, is these—’ He was about to swear, but Kelly’s anxious eyes caught him short. ‘—freaking keystone cops actually had him last night. Pulled him over up the road for driving pissed. He spent the night in lockup. They let him out an hour ago. Hewitt said he’d come by later.’

  “Later” wasn’t very far away. James Hewitt and Nayani arrived in their Landcruiser about thirty minutes after Mitch hung up the phone. Nayani was all smiles as usual, while James wore his customary stone-faced expression.

  ‘We’ve located Coates. One our guys is watching him now,’ James reported, gratefully accepting a cup of coffee from Sally. Once more, our little general had her sweet, sunny smile fixed on her face. A lot of it was genuine too. Among all the thoughts flowing through her mind was the strong, warm current of babies.

  ‘So what are you doing here then? Aren’t we safe?’ Mitch seemed puzzled. They know something more, the bastards.

  ‘It’s the alibi. We haven’t been able to get hold of her.’

  ‘Who is she?’ Sally asked.

  ‘Leila MacArthur.’

  Sally breathed a sigh of relief then gave James a look one might give toddler who just fell over.

  ‘Oh, she was here last night. Nice lady. Helped out a heap. She’s probably still in bed.’

  Mitch smiled, also relieved. ‘Now never mind about her. She’ll wake up soon enough. What about Kelly? Can we get Social Services on board?’

  James nodded, though he was still stone-faced. Asleep, my ass. The woman’s a bloody dynamo. She doesn’t sleep. Mad as a cut snake.

  ‘Yeah, we should do. You ring them on Monday. Here, I’ll send you the details for her case-worker.’ He tapped at the screen of his phone a few times then Mitch’s phone flashed that it had received a message.

  James and Nayani left not long afterwards, leaving Mitch and Sally to enjoy the rest of their Sunday, and me to brood in my larder. I couldn’t believe it. Of all the women he could have chosen, my brother Neill had been dating Leila MacArthur. Ick.

  After lunch, Kelly came down from the spare room she’d begun turning into her own.

  ‘Mind if I go and get some stuff?’

  Mitch’s reaction was immediate. ‘I’ll go with you. We’ll take the Hilux. Might as well do a proper load, yeah?’

  Sally and I watched them go from my window. Keep her safe, my darling, she thought. Keep both yourselves safe.

  Neither of us heard how she got in. Must have been the back door, I guess but it didn’t matter. What did matter was when Sally turned around to see Leila in the hall, holding a point two-two rifle at her hip and aiming it straight at her.

  ‘I don’t care who figured it out,’ Leila said in a calm, almost conversational tone. ‘But I’m going to end this mess. I’m going to keep you company here until your pretty-boy husband and the retard come back, then you’re all going to have a little argument. This,’ she hefted the rifle, ‘is going to be the last thing you’ll ever eat, miss Suzie home-maker.’

  Sally froze. Shit! Shit, shit, shit!

  Leila grinned. ‘That’s right. Uh, oh… The old murder-suicide big finale! Cops might be looking for me at the moment, but nothing they’ve got will stick.’

  Sally glanced at her phone on my bench-top. Leila followed her eyes with a fierce grin.

  ‘Don’t be stupid. Come out around here and sit down on the chair.’ Still in the hall, she reached into her back pocket and pulled out a bunch of plastic zip-ties. She made a long under-arm toss and landed them on the counter. ‘Go on. Sit down. Nice and slow. Then ankles to the chair.’

  Sally nodded and obeyed, slowly. Gotta be slow. The longer I take, the more chance I’ve got.

  ‘Now do your left wrist with your right. Don’t give me any of that “Oh I can’t, it’s too hard, shit.” You’re a fucking gymnast or cheerleader or something. You can probably eat Chinese with your toes.’

  Aaargh! I had to do something… What? Leila was still in the hall. I couldn’t reach her and I dared not wait until she came in. If I could jiggle the window, I could damn-well work Sally’s phone. It was harder than even doing the window. The screen on the phone needed its button to be slid across the screen just operate it. That alone nearly drained all my strength. Still, I managed it and hit the speed-dial button for Mitch’s phone.

  Sally heard his voice coming from her phone. How the hell did that happen? Fuckit. Can’t worry about it now.

  ‘You don’t really think you’re going to get away with this, do you?’ Fuck that sounds lame.

  Leila chuckled and came into me finally. I didn’t have the strength left to reach her mind. Using the phone had all but exhausted me. All I could do was watch.

  ‘Don’t give me that shit, and shut up. Right hand now.’

  Sally placed her hand behind her and against the chair back.

  ‘Good.’ Leila transferred the rifle to her left hand and came up behind Sally, resting the mouth of the barrel at the base of her neck. ‘Now this is gonna be tricky. If you take a swing at me, I’m gonna shoot your fucking head off, so stay fucking still.’

  As horrified as I was, I couldn’t help but wonder why this church-going woman was suddenly swearing like a sailor. I tried again to reach into her mind. It was hard at first,. The images and emotions were hazy and colourless. I kept trying.

  Leila zip-tied Sally’s right wrist beside her left to the rail on the back of the bar stool.

  ‘There,’ she said, stepping back. ‘Now we wait.’ She looked around me. ‘Got any biscuits in here? C’mon, little Suzie home-maker. You’ve always got something sweet for guests.’

  ‘Fuck you!’ Sally spat. ‘Get out my my fucking house you psycho bitch!’

  Leila grinned. ‘Psycho bitch, eh? Let’s just ask ourselves who the psycho is, shall we? Here’s me, pushed to my fucking limits because dumb bitches and interfering nut-cases took my man away, and then there’s you. Living here in a house full of death and blood. Who’s crazy?’

  So she was one of the groupies! Yes! And just like that, I was in. Oh dear Lord, her mind was even more deranged than Marcy’s. I saw it all in an instant. She’d been just outside the circle of his little group. She’d worshipped him, but she’d not been deemed worthy enough to receive his special attention, and it had burned her up. Her love for him, and constant hurt and pain at his aloof distance — he’d denied her so expertly. Never enough to drive her away, but certainly enough to keep her interested and still besotted with him.

  Curse the man to the darkest pit in Hell! Did his depravity know no bounds?

  I saw how she’d taken up with my brother as just one part of her plan. She knew he’d be an ideal suspect. She knew he was hopeless with dates. She knew all she had to do was pay the bill at the restaurant and repeatedly remi
nd him of the wrong date.

  I saw how, just as James had guessed, she’d stood at the top of the stairs and struck my Ashleigh on the side of the head with the step.

  It was as if some inner well had burst. In my rage, I felt energy the likes of which I’d not felt the entire time I’d been dead. Leila’s thoughts and emotions were now crystal clear to me. I could manoeuvre them at will. More than that, I had complete contact with all her senses — far more than I’d had with Marcy.

  I could keep her focused on Sally. I could keep her from hearing anything from the phone or even outside. I could keep her image of what was outside the window just like it was at that moment: empty.

  She was determined not to talk to Sally too much. No way was she going to sit there and monologue. I had other ideas about that. The current of desire to preach to Sally about her grand plan was well buried, but I brought it to the fore with ease.

  Leila found a biscuit and sat up on my bench-top, cradling the rifle in her lap.

  ‘Ah, what the hell,’ she mused out loud, just as I was urging her to do. ‘What’s a great story if nobody gets to hear it?’

  That’s it, bitch. Keep talking! Sally thought to herself. Oh Mitch, hurry up!

  ‘You murdered Mr Owen.’

  Leila nodded. ‘Yep. Sconned the true-believing fool right on the noggin. Knocked him clear down the stairs. Then I just chucked that big old bit of wood down with the rest of the shit-heap at the bottom.’ She sighed. ‘That would have been the end of it, but Marcy had to get involved. She knew, see. She knew that Trish had broken off with Brian. She knew that Brian would pounce on Eugenie in a heartbeat, so she stepped in and killed Genie.’

  ‘You knew about Marcy? Why didn’t you say anything?’

  Leila looked surprised. Why would I?’ She hopped off my bench-top and began pacing about my floor, waving the rifle. ‘She’d come in handy later, I just knew it. She wasn’t going to talk. Besides, she thought Brian killed Ashleigh, the stupid cow.’

  Sally didn’t understand. Tears were welling in her eyes no matter how hard she tried to blink the back. I had to withdraw from Leila for a moment to touch Sally’s mind and bring up her flow of confidence and steel. Moments later, with Sally stiffening her spine again, I was back in Leila’s brain.

  ‘I still don’t understand it! Why’d you come after me now? Why us?’

  Leila laughed. ‘Oh, don’t be so obtuse, blondie. You can look the part, but I know you’re about as dumb an Oxford don. Why do you think? The Forbes girl. That little nuffie saw Brian that night. If she saw him, she saw me. It’s only a matter of time.’ She frowned. ‘Good thing I learned from that little mistake.’ She brightened, her eyes crazed. ‘First rule of stalking! Never let them see your car.’ She nodded her head towards the laundry. ‘That’s why I parked all the way down there near your creek. True, I had to walk up that fucking hill, but I still did it without any of you pricks seeing me.’

  She laughed then and shook her head in mock remorse.

  ‘Fucking Marcy Greenwood. Couldn’t organise a root in a brothel. Parks and drives all over the place, no idea about how to keep a low profile. Goes about posting her little fucking love-letters. By hand! Can you believe that dumb bitch?’

  I didn’t see that coming. I didn’t bother being gentle. I hurled her thoughts and memories about in a jumbling mad scramble to find what she was talking about. Yes. She’d been there. Following Brian. Just as she’d followed him for years. She knew about everything he’d been up to.

  I heard the muffled conversations and voices from Sally’s phone.

  Mitch was hissing at Kelly. ‘Tell ‘em I’m recording this too! Tell ‘em to hurry!’

  Kelly’s voice was further away. ‘Yes! She’s at the Taylor house! How the fuck should I know what kind of gun she’s got? She said she’s gonna blow Sally’s head off! I heard her!’

  There was a pause as whoever they were talking to on Kelly’s phone, the police, I guessed, gave them more instructions.

  ‘They want us to stay here!’ Kelly wailed. Her voice was desperate. I heard anguish and tears in that voice and I knew her heart must have felt as if it was about to burst.

  I had to keep this mad woman talking. Time! I needed more time. I clutched at her admission of following Brian. I dashed into Sally’s mind.

  Kelly didn’t see her! I shrieked in Sally’s consciousness. The girl only saw Brian!

  Sally shook her head. ‘You’re wrong! Kelly can’t remember seeing you! She can only just remember seeing Brian because he nearly ran her over! Please, she’s just a kid. She’s just a simple, lovely kid!’

  I swapped back into Leila. She didn’t believe a word Sally had just said.

  ‘Oh, don’t give me that bullshit, blondie. What do you think I am, a tard like she is?’ She shook her head and tapped her temple with one finger. ‘No, I’m fucking smarter than that.’ Her eyes flattened. ‘Right, that’s enough conversation for now. Just sit there and shut up.

  Minutes dragged by so agonisingly slowly. I had to keep Leila as unfocused as I could. I swirled about in her mind, throwing up thoughts and images at random until I found the ones about her spare room. It was devoted to Brian. The paper clippings, the photographs. The discarded white collar he thought he’d lost. Everything she could find that related to him. Old school photographs and even an athletic medal he’d won in primary school. There was even a collection of snapshots of his group of fawning whores. They were all plastered and arranged around a huge dressing mirror in that room she never let anyone see.

  I heard the distant wail of sirens coming from down the road. Oh, those fools! Didn’t they have the sense to come quietly at least? I filled Leila’s ears with silence. She might not hear the sirens, but the problem was, she wouldn’t hear Sally either.

  I rushed to Sally’s consciousness. Just shake your head at her. Don’t say anything. She’ll start talking again.

  ‘So you see,’ Leila began again in her conversational tone, ‘I have to kill her. Guess that means killing you too.’ She gave a melodramatic sigh. ‘Oh well, I guess I get a couple of freebies. Lucky me.’ She turned to Sally and bored into her eyes. ‘And this afternoon, I’ll be by Brian’s side in the hospital and then he’ll know everything that’s happened.’

  Her eyes glowed wickedly and she looked up at my ceiling.

  ‘Oh, won’t that be fun? He won’t have a choice! He’ll be mine, little miss Suzie. He’ll be all mine. What a role-reversal that’ll be! I’ll be boss of him and he’ll have to do my bidding for a change. He’ll be the one craving for any scrap of attention I deign to give him!’

  She glared at Sally, and her expression turned to shock. I didn’t understand why at first, then I saw it. Her hair was flickering. Red and blue light was shining off it.

  ‘You fucking bitch!’ Leila screamed. She raised the rifle and aimed at Sally. ‘How’d you tell them? How?’ Her mad eyes flashed this way and that. I’d made the mistake of letting her see the light in Sally’s hair, but I wasn’t going to let her see the phone. All she saw was the bench-top.

  Sally started, terrified. Don’t look at the phone. Don’t look at the phone!

  Leila clawed at her face with one hand and looked around desperately.

  ‘Where’s the phone?’ she all but screamed. ‘It was right there! What did you do with it?’

  ‘Wha… What phone?’ She’s fucking nuts! It’s right fucking there! Can’t she see it?

  Outside, James and Nayani had leapt from their car. James was standing behind his door, holding his police-issue nine millimetre pistol in both hands. He was pale and in a near panic. Nayani was the complete opposite. She was calm and deliberate. She reached into the back of the car and withdrew a rifle. Then, as calmly as she’d been when she made chai for Sally, she rested the rifle on the car door and took aim at Leila through the window.

  ‘Tell me!’ Leila screamed, levelling the rifle at Sally’s head, her right pointer finger curled onto the trigger.

&
nbsp; There was a brief flash of shattered glass fragments spraying into me and Leila’s right hand exploded in a splash of blood and gore.

  Sally screamed. Leila also screamed and dropped the gun and staggered back, waving her destroyed hand up in front of her face. The front door blew in and two cops I didn’t recognise stormed into me. They fell on the crazed Leila and hurled her to my tiles.

  Another huge cop raced in and picked Sally up, chair and all and carried her out the front and down the driveway until she was safely behind James’ police Landcruiser.

  Two minutes later, Mitch and Kelly joined her. I had no idea what was being said out there, but I didn’t care. It was over.

  Epilogue