This is what I want, Daniela realised. Someone who cares what happens to me.
Leo made a strangled noise then shoved Daniela hard in her ribs. Daniela yelped and let go.
Leo’s face was livid. ‘Daniela, what the hell?’ he spat.
‘I love you, idiot,’ she blurted. ‘How could you never see that?’
Disgust flickered across his face. He backed away.
Daniela’s anger flared back to life. She shot out a hand and grabbed hold of his shirt. Leo struck out with both hands, trying to shove her way. Daniela never did figure out what she intended to do. Kiss Leo again, or hit him, or—
With a rush of footsteps Auryn was in the room. She must’ve heard everything. She charged at Daniela, who couldn’t raise her arms in defence quick enough. Auryn threw her hard against the wall.
Gasping, winded, Daniela pushed herself upright. Auryn stood over her, fists half-raised. The look on her bruised face was frightening.
‘Touch him again and you’re dead,’ Auryn said, her voice harsh.
Daniela moved away from the wall and Auryn retreated to keep distance between them. Her eyes flicked to Daniela’s hands.
She thinks I’ve still got the knife.
Daniela wanted to tell her not to be stupid, that she would never hurt her or Leo, that she never meant to hurt anyone. She wanted to say anything that would erase the way Auryn looked at her.
‘I’m sorry,’ Daniela tried. ‘I didn’t—’
Leo’s mouth twisted up. ‘She’s crazy,’ he told Auryn. ‘She was going to set Dad’s shop on fire. She could’ve killed us.’
The blood drained from Auryn’s face. She stared at her sister like she’d never seen her before.
‘No,’ Daniela said with a weak shake of her head. ‘No, of course, I-I wouldn’t do that. I would never—’
‘Get out,’ Auryn said, her voice low and hollow. ‘Get out before I tell him what else you’ve done.’
For a heartbeat Daniela stared at her. She opened her mouth but her voice had seized.
Leo’s eyes were wild. ‘What did she do?’ he asked Auryn. ‘What did she do?’
Daniela backed away. Maybe if she’d denied everything, or told Leo what’d really happened; if she’d pleaded with them to understand, or even just pleaded, maybe she could’ve changed her fate, but Leo’s voice was rising, and the expression on Auryn’s face was brutal and broken, and upstairs their dad’s bedroom door slammed open, and Daniela couldn’t breathe. She ran.
Outside, in the cold night air, she drew a shaky breath. She set off at a jog towards the path through the woods with her backpack bouncing on her shoulder.
She had two choices. Either turn herself in or run like hell.
Once it was set out like that, in black and white, it took her less than a second to decide.
She disappeared into the trees, following the pathways she’d trodden throughout her life. She didn’t need to see where she was going. Her feet knew the way out.
She didn’t look back at the house. If she’d known it was the last time she’d see Auryn alive, she might’ve changed her mind.
43
February 2017
‘So, can you tell me who was with you when I called?’ Daniela asked. ‘Or should I keep guessing until I hit the truth?’
‘If you want to be helpful,’ Stephanie said, ‘you could tell me where the money is.’
Daniela made an indelicate noise. ‘Why’re you stressing over that? I thought this was about Auryn.’
‘You came here because you needed money. Did you know Auryn had it before you came, or did you go to the house on the off-chance she’d have something you could steal?’
‘I didn’t know Auryn was there.’ Daniela watched the headlights sweep the flooded streets. The windscreen wipers squeaked as they valiantly fought the rain. ‘You told me the house was empty. So, was the money Auryn’s? Or yours, perhaps? Because, y’know, you seem pretty fixated on it.’
‘Where’s the money now?’
‘I hid it in the woods.’ But it’s not there now.
‘What, all of it?’
‘Yeah.’
‘How did you carry it all? Did you make more than one trip?’
Daniela studied the side of Stephanie’s face. ‘How d’you mean? I just put it under my arm. It wasn’t heavy.’
Stephanie raised her eyes and, briefly, met Daniela’s gaze in the rear-view mirror. ‘You couldn’t carry all those packages in one trip,’ she said.
Daniela frowned. ‘I only found one package. About this big.’ She demonstrated with her cuffed hands. ‘Under the floor in my old bedroom.’ Her frown deepened. ‘Was there more?’
She remembered Margaret saying, ‘Half a million.’ Were more packages hidden around the house? It’d make sense that Auryn wouldn’t hide so much money all in one place. Although it still didn’t make sense that she had it at all.
‘Was it Dad’s money?’ Daniela asked. ‘Why wasn’t it in the bank?’ Something else occurred to her. ‘Margaret said Dad was involved with Henry’s counterfeiting business. Is that where the cash came from? Please stop doing the silent thing, it’s making life very difficult.’
‘What do you want me to say?’
Daniela sat forwards. ‘Henry wanted that money back,’ she said. ‘As far as he was concerned, Dad stole it from him. He’s been trying to convince Auryn she should—’
‘Henry didn’t do this.’
‘He killed Auryn to get the money he thought he was owed. Steph, you have to—’
Stephanie banged the steering wheel with the palm of her hand. ‘Goddammit, Dani! I know you took the money. You came home because you needed cash. So, you found this convenient stash and helped yourself.’
That, essentially, was the truth. Except … ‘I didn’t kill her. Why can’t you believe me?’
Stephanie lost her temper. She stomped on the brakes and, at the same time, reached into the back seat to grab hold of Daniela, who couldn’t defend herself. ‘Two people are dead,’ Stephanie grated. ‘Stop lying to me.’
‘I’m not! I didn’t kill her. I didn’t kill Henry.’ Daniela flinched away. ‘Why would I do something so stupid? You know I’d never get away with it. I’m not smart. I can’t plan. If I make another stupid mistake, I’ll go back to prison.’ Her voice wavered. ‘Listen, I’ve got too much to lose. You don’t understand … I’ve got a kid on the way.’
Stephanie froze. Her eyes went to Daniela’s midriff.
‘Not me, idiot.’ Daniela yanked free of Stephanie’s grip. ‘My girlfriend.’
Stephanie’s gaze narrowed. ‘Your—?’
‘Yeah, see, this is why I didn’t tell you.’ Daniela squared her shoulders. ‘We’ve been together six months, me and Annetta. She was pregnant when we met. It was – it doesn’t matter. We … we’re keeping the baby. It’s going to be ours. Our son.’
Stephanie recovered from her surprise. ‘D’you want congratulations?’
‘No. I wanted money.’ Daniela looked away. ‘I didn’t tell you about Annetta because I knew you’d either dismiss it or you’d think I was playing some cheap sympathy card. I didn’t want to use her as an excuse. This is important. She’s important.’
‘It doesn’t explain why you need money so badly.’
‘Because.’ Daniela stared at her hands. ‘You don’t get how difficult it is, all right? She’s the first person I’ve been close to since I got out of prison. The first person who gets me. I couldn’t tell her what I’d done, not at first. When I did tell her …’ Daniela shook her head against the memory. ‘I promised it was all in the past. I’d never do anything like that again.’
She’d told Annetta she was going back to Stonecrop for the weekend to get the money they needed. There was no reason for them both to go. More than anything, Daniela wanted to keep Annetta safe and separate from the past. And Annetta had just smiled that understanding smile and told her to stay safe.
With a jolt, she realised she hadn’t
phoned Annetta that evening like she’d promised she would. And now it was too late.
‘I can’t lose her,’ Daniela said. ‘She’s all I’ve got.’
Stephanie gave a cynical laugh.
‘Just hear me out, okay?’ Daniela’s irritation rose. ‘We moved in together, but we’ve no hope of scraping together the deposit to buy the flat we’re in, not without help. I need the money so we can keep our house.’ She swallowed. ‘Our home. I can’t lose it all. Not now.’
‘So, get a bank loan.’
‘Gee, I hadn’t thought of trying literally everything possible to avoid coming back to this goddamn village, thank you.’ Daniela flexed her hands against the cuffs. ‘I didn’t want to have to ask you. But I need this. If we lose our home, everything starts to slide. I’m scared we’ll end up eking out an existence for the next twenty years on some sink estate. I want to give our kid a chance. I don’t want him falling into the cycle where he can never make a life for himself. I’ve seen it happen. Guys in their thirties with teenage kids who’re following so closely in their footsteps they wind up sharing the same prison cell. And those kids have toddlers of their own who’ll be in juvenile court in ten years.’
‘And now your life will fall apart because of me. That what you’re saying?’
Daniela sighed. ‘I was asking you for a chance. Our flat’s in a good part of town. Decent schools. Nice community. I’d like a proper start for my kid.’
‘You had a good start.’ Stephanie waved a hand at the outskirts of the village. ‘Money, security, a nice house. Family. Didn’t do much good, did it?’ She put the car in gear and started moving again through the flooded streets.
‘There’s no excuse for me,’ Daniela said quietly. ‘I’m a fuck-up. Always have been. Doesn’t mean I can’t change things. Even if it’s too late for me, our kid doesn’t deserve to suffer just because I’m an idiot.’
‘Your high-mindedness is kinda undermined by the fact you stole the money. Those packages contained a lot more than five thousand.’
‘Apparently so.’
‘So, what was your plan? You figured on taking it home to stash under the bed? Pay it into an account in the Cayman Islands? When the police come knocking – and they will, you know that – what’s your plan? They’ll find the money and lock you up. How does that fit with you being there for your kid?’
Daniela couldn’t answer.
They were heading east, out of town along the Hackett road. Daniela half expected Stephanie to turn off onto one of the smaller lanes, but the car kept going, ploughing through the floodwater, until Daniela accepted they couldn’t be headed anywhere but the Hackett bridge.
‘Where’re you taking me?’ she asked.
‘To the station.’
‘In Hackett? The bridge is closed. Isn’t it?’ If it wasn’t, why weren’t the police here already?
‘We’ll get across,’ Stephanie said.
At last they slowed to a halt. In the headlight glare, Daniela saw the dark shadows of trees on either side, like bars in a cage. She leaned forwards to peer through the rain-streaked windscreen.
The bridge was under water. Not just a thin skin of water, but at least two feet’s worth, surging halfway up the handrail on either side of the bridge. The river had risen steadily throughout the afternoon, turning the roadway into a wide stretch of churning mud-coloured water. If not for the sawhorses left behind by some officious workman, Daniela wouldn’t have known where the bridge started and ended.
‘What’re we doing?’ Daniela asked. ‘We can’t get across here.’
‘We’ll make it.’
Stephanie popped open the driver’s door, and Daniela caught hold of her shoulder with both hands. ‘Wait, what’re you doing? We can’t—’
Stephanie shook her off. ‘I’m moving the obstructions.’ She nodded to the sawhorses blocking the road. ‘Then we’re driving to the station in Hackett.’
‘You want us to get swept away? I know your car’s pretty heavy, but—’
‘We’ll make it. Tilly went across and back a few hours ago. It can be done.’
‘Tilly? The farmer? A tractor’s significantly different to a police car.’ With the door open, the noise of the river was so loud Daniela had to raise her voice. ‘Why would she do something so daft anyway?’
‘I asked her to. She went to fetch the coroner’s officer and bring them to the old house.’
‘She—?’
‘You think I’d leave Auryn lying on that bed until the floods cleared? They’re at the old house right now.’
Daniela reached for her again, hesitated. ‘The bridge isn’t safe, Steph. Look at it.’
Stephanie had one foot outside the car, the door held open, rain dripping on her arm, but even she seemed unsure. The water on the roadway eddied around the car wheels under the force of the river pounding past.
‘We’ll think of something else,’ Daniela said, softer. ‘You’ve caught me. I’m not going anywhere.’
Stephanie paused, then reached to open the glove compartment. She took out a bulky square object and placed it on the dashboard. There were fluorescent markings and a ton of warnings on the plastic casing. It looked a lot like a taser.
‘What the hell?’ Daniela asked aloud. ‘Where’d you get that? Are you even trained to have it?’
Stephanie didn’t answer. She was getting a second item out of the glovebox. Even before Stephanie held up the clear plastic bag, Daniela knew what it was. A metal flick-knife with an inlay on the handle in the shape of a snake.
‘You still haven’t explained this,’ Stephanie said.
Daniela slumped against the seat. ‘I didn’t kill Auryn. Please stop thinking that.’
Holding the bag by a corner, Stephanie turned it so the knife caught the light. ‘There’s blood on it,’ she noted.
Daniela leaned closer. There were indeed a few brown flakes caught in the hinge of the blade. ‘That would be Henry’s,’ she said. ‘From seven years ago. Ever wonder why no one found the knife I used on him? The one he described in his statement? It’s because it was hidden under the floorboards of the old house.’
‘So, why’d you have it today?’
Daniela rubbed her face with shackled hands. ‘Because I’m stupid,’ she said truthfully. ‘I should’ve got rid of it while I had the chance. But—’ She groped for the correct words. ‘I always knew it was there, hidden. If it hadn’t been found by now, chances are it never would. But I knew it was there. It was a bit of my past I couldn’t delete. I wanted to get rid of it now so I could stop thinking about it. You’ve got to close one part of your life before you can start a new one.’
‘You told me you didn’t go anywhere else in the house when you found Auryn.’
‘Yeah, that was a lie. I went up to my old room.’
‘And you told me you didn’t take the money.’
‘Also, a lie. There was a package of cash stuffed under the floorboards in the bedroom. That was the only one I saw. The only one I took.’
Stephanie left it a moment before she said, ‘You also keep telling me you didn’t kill Auryn.’
Daniela stared at her in the half-light. ‘I didn’t kill her,’ she said. The words tasted sour. Daniela knew Stephanie still didn’t believe her.
Stephanie didn’t reply. She pocketed the bagged knife, then pushed open the car door and stepped out. She held on to the car roof to brace against the swirling water. Before she shut the door, she picked up the taser from the dashboard.
She won’t use it. It’s just for dramatic effect.
But Daniela wasn’t certain of that. Not nearly certain enough.
As Stephanie waded to the sawhorses, the water surged higher, up past her knees. Daniela gripped the edge of the seat. If Stephanie fell—
It’d be a good time to run.
The thought caught her by surprise – not so much the idea of running, but that it hadn’t occurred to her until that moment. Normally it was her default option. Things got
bad; she ran. But for the second time in her life she was caught with no obvious means of escape, and her flight reflex had shut down, like her brain knew she was trapped so there was no point fighting.
Daniela tried the rear doors of the car but, as expected, the security locks were in place. If she clambered into the front seat, she could get out through the driver’s door …
She glanced at the trees on either side of the flooded road. If she could get into the woods, onto drier ground away from the river; if she could outrun Stephanie …
If, if, if.
Outside, Stephanie lifted the first sawhorse and began dragging it out of the way. The rain hampered Daniela’s view, but she knew Stephanie was keeping one eye on the car. If Daniela was going to do something, it’d have to be fast. She couldn’t let Stephanie catch up to her. Stephanie and that taser.
Daniela shuddered. Concentrate on getting into the woods. She couldn’t think beyond that; couldn’t think how far she’d get on foot, along flooded roads, handcuffed, soaking wet. Her entire focus was on the next few seconds.
At the side of the road, tucked into a lay-by about fifty yards behind them, with the overgrown hedgerow shrouding its roof, was an abandoned car. It only caught Daniela’s attention because she was sure it hadn’t been there that morning.
A blue estate car.
Daniela scrambled over into the front seat and shoved open the driver’s door. ‘Steph!’ she hissed.
Stephanie spun round. The taser appeared in her hand. ‘Get back in the car!’
‘That’s Henry’s car, Steph.’ Daniela put one foot outside, into the deep water. Rain soaked her hair. ‘It was parked outside his cabin. Someone—’
‘Get in the car, Dani.’
‘Someone drove it here! Whoever killed him drove it here.’
Stephanie advanced on her and Daniela put up her hands.
‘All right, stop, wait,’ Daniela said. ‘I’m getting back in the car. Just – look, for God’s sake, that’s Henry’s car right there. I swear to you.’
Daniela pulled her foot back inside then reversed awkwardly through the gap between the seats. Stephanie waded to the car and yanked open the rear door.
The Flood Page 25
