Page 47

47

Marina

There was a man she’d never seen before in the garden with them. He had picked up Lucy Rose and held her around her waist, under his arm like a bundle of sticks. She wriggled to be set free.

“Put down my daughter,” Marina said.

“Sure, in a minute,” said the man. “We need to talk first.”

“You’re the person who followed me,” said Lilah.

“Good to see you again,” said the man, and smiled. He was big, broad, with a thick neck and a barrel chest. He was wearing jeans, a gray sweatshirt, and a blue baseball cap. Aside from the fact that he was holding her daughter against her will, he looked like someone’s dad. “Sorry to burst in on you like this, I know it’s rude.”

Marina didn’t take her gaze away from him and her daughter. He was blocking the gate to the front garden. “Opal,” she said. “Please get Archie and Ewan now, please.”

“Relax, ladies. Everything’s going to be fine.”

“I wanna get down!” yelled Lucy Rose, squirming and trying to hit him with her little fists.

“Calm down, Princess. I need some information first. Can we go inside the house, please?”

Marina dared to glance behind her. Opal had Archie by the hand and had snatched up Ewan, too. They were safe, for now. But Lucy Rose wasn’t.

“If we go inside, will you let my daughter go?”

“There’s nothing I’d like better.”

“I’m the one you want to talk to,” said Lilah. “I’ll go with you. Leave the others alone.”

“Sadly, I can’t do that. I need to keep my eyes on all of you. I think you’re more dangerous than you look, you know?”

Lucy Rose let out a squeal that squeezed Marina’s heart nearly in two. She could pick up this patio chair and swing for him...but she’d hurt her daughter. She could scream for help from the neighbors, or tell Opal to make a run for it with the other two children...but would he hurt Lucy Rose if they didn’t do what he said?

“Let’s go inside,” she said, shakily. “Lucy Rose, it’s going to be fine. Mommy won’t let the man hurt you.”

“That’s right,” said the man, as they all backed slowly towards the French doors to the kitchen. “I’ve got grandkids. I wouldn’t want to hurt anyone.”

“Mommy,” whimpered Archie. Ewan was crying.

Marina did not know how she was moving, because her brain had no spare capacity for walking; it was focused on her children, where they were, who had them, how frightened they must be.

“Stay with Opal,” she told Archie. “Stay right close beside her, okay? I won’t let anything bad happen.”

She wished she believed what she was saying.

In the kitchen, he closed the French doors and locked them with the key that she kept in the door.

“Smells good in here,” he said. “No ideas about grabbing knives, or running off, okay? I’m going to hold on to princess here until we have our business all sorted out.”

Marina’s gaze darted around the room. The knives were behind him in a block on the counter. Opal brought Archie and Ewan to the corner of the room, not far from the cellar door. Could they get downstairs and barricade themselves into the shelter if Marina distracted this man?

What was he armed with? She couldn’t see any weapons, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t carrying a knife or a gun.

“You killed my father, didn’t you.” It was a statement from Lilah, not a question.

“I’m looking for your boyfriend,” he said. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen Zachary in over a week. I reported him missing to the police.”

“Convenient that he ran off, when he owes me a lot of money.”

“He owes me more than money. So if you find him, tell him to get in touch.”

Somewhere, beneath all the fear, Marina heard how badass Lilah sounded and cheered her on.

“Now, I don’t like to call you a liar,” said the man, “but I have an inkling that you know exactly where he is.”

“What kind of man are you, threatening women and children?” said Lilah calmly. “You attacked my father from behind, when he was alone and unarmed. You’re a coward. Just like Zachary. You deserve each other.”

“Let’s try to keep focused on the issue at hand. The fact is, I have three grandchildren in private schools. I’m just trying to give them the best start in life, you know? So I need my money.”

“I’ll give it to you,” said Lilah. “Put down the little girl, and we’ll go to the bank together.”

“It’s Sunday.”

“I’ll write you a check.”

“A check? What is this, 1986? No, here is what you are going to do. You are going to call your boyfriend and tell him to get here with one hundred thousand pounds, in cash.”

“Or what?”

S reached into his back pocket with the hand that wasn’t holding Lucy Rose and pulled out a switchblade knife.

Marina screamed, and then quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t scar her permanently,” said the man. “But I’d rather not hurt her at all.”

“I hate you,” yelled Lucy Rose, kicking fruitlessly. “You’re a bad man!”

“I can’t call Zachary,” said Lilah, “because I don’t know where he is.”

“I hate to call a lady a liar.”

“I can get the money for you, though. I’ll give you a hundred and fifty thousand, cash. Your reward for striking down a helpless retired postman while he was playing with his model trains. I’ll meet you wherever you want, whenever you want. Just leave my friends alone.”

Marina was frozen to the spot, and Opal was shielding the other two children with her body, but Lilah was standing straight and tall and defiant. She took a step closer to S.

“I’ve got the money in my account right now. All I have to do it draw it out. Look, I’ll show you.” She reached for her fanny pack.

“Hold on a second. Slowly, now. What are you getting out of your bag?”

Lilah paused. “My phone to show you my banking app.”

“I don’t want your money. Your dad would be rolling over in his grave if you paid me. Have some respect. Why don’t you call your boyfriend?”

Marina’s entire being was focused on that knife, not three inches from her beautiful, precious child’s face. Her eyes. Her throat. He said he didn’t want to hurt her, but he was a killer, and she couldn’t believe him.

“I can’t call him!”

“I’m not going to hurt him, either, as long as he pays me.” The man rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “This is the worst part of being self-employed.”

“I told you, I don’t know where he is!”

“Do you really want to make me hurt this kid?”

“I can’t—”

“He’s dead,” said Opal. Flat, factual, in her tone that brooked no bullshit. “Zachary’s dead, and he can’t give you the money that you think he owed you. But Lilah can give it to you, like she says. Listen to reason, and put the child down.”

“Please,” said Marina. “Please let my daughter go.”

S glanced from one of them to the other, obviously trying to work out this latest turn of events. Half a smile appeared on his face.

“Ah,” he said. “I get it. That’s what you were all dropping in the river.”

“You’ve been watching us,” Opal said.

“Have you been in the treehouse?” Marina gasped. “That was you, with the Oreos?”

“I can’t get enough of those things,” said S.

“Stop it!” yelled Archie from behind Opal. “Let my sister go!”

“You’re a bad man!” yelled Lucy Rose, struggling. “You’re a bad bad bad bad bad man!”

“Princess, it’ll be all right.”

“Let her go,” pleaded Marina. “Just put her down, we’ll get you your money.”

“I can get it for you first thing tomorrow, if you leave us alone. Look, I’ll show you.”

“You’re a bad bad BAD man and I hate you!”

“Calm, now. Just calm down.”

S put his hand, the hand with the knife in it, over Lucy Rose’s mouth. The blade was so close to her eye, so close to her skin, so close to cutting and blinding her precious, precious child—

Then he screamed. He dropped the knife, which clattered on the tiles. Lucy Rose wriggled from his grip, landed on all fours on the kitchen floor, and scurried across the room to her brothers and Opal.

“She bit me!”

In a flash, Lilah reached into her bum bag, grabbed her can of pepper spray, and sprayed it full into S’s face.

He staggered backwards, roaring and clawing at his eyes. One of his hands was dripping with blood.

“Get the children out of here, Opal, now!”

“I bited the bad man!” crowed Lucy Rose, as Opal hustled them all out of the kitchen.

S collided with the kitchen island, sending a bowl of fruit crashing to the floor. He sank to his knees and wiped frantically at his face, smearing blood.

Marina dragged in a breath, the first full one since he had arrived. Her children were safe. But they had been threatened by this person, this killer, this bad man. And she was never, ever going to let it happen again.

She stepped past courageous Lilah and writhing S to the stovetop and grabbed the wooden handle of her Le Creuset cast-iron sauté pan, bubbling with chicken chasseur. Without a thought for her hands, her kitchen, her Sunday lunch, her own soul, she brought the hot, heavy pan down on the bad man’s head.

Once. Then twice. Three times.

The man collapsed. His mouth open, his eyes staring ahead at nothing. His blood pooling with wine sauce and button mushrooms.