The Hollow Woman

by Philip Saunders

  ‘And Emily came after you.’

  ‘Yes, she did. She begged me not to tell Grahame about her past, that if I wanted him to be happy that I would not say anything. I slapped her and told her rot in Hell. I suppose that was why Grahame wouldn’t answer my calls or messages...’

  ‘So you went to Dominic with what you knew.’ Rachel’s gloved hand went to her mouth and she shook her head. ‘Don’t bother to deny it. I spoke to Withers, the butler. He remembers you, despite you telling me you’d never been to that house, and he told me that you were there that weekend, the same weekend Grahame was murdered, and that you spoke to Dominic privately. You were the one who told him about Emily and Grahame, and their plans to go to Devon that weekend, to Huxleys. That’s how he knew where to find them.’

  ‘Oh God, help me.’

  ‘It is too late for redemption now. The damage has been done.’

  ‘Fred, I never meant it to happen this way.’

  I asked, ‘Why did you do it, Rachel? Why did you tell him?’

  She shrugged and then it all came flowing out, ‘That Saturday evening. I still had not heard anything from Grahame. I wanted to speak to him, to apologise for my outburst at the restaurant and for slapping Emily but he kept ignoring my calls and messages. He was purposely shutting me out and I-I-I just couldn’t handle it. I began to feel that anger again, that insane, vengeful anger boil up inside me, until I couldn’t contain it any longer, and I had to do something, anything. You’ve got to understand that I wasn’t in my right mind when I went to see Dominic that night. I just kept thinking to myself on the way over there, that it was the last shot I had at keeping Grahame with me. And when I got there the butler tried to turn me away but I was so determined, I refused to leave until Dominic saw me. Eventually, the bastard agreed to see me, how I wish now he hadn’t been so insistent. I remember my hands were shaking when I sat down opposite him. He was not pleased to see me. He was scowling and demanded to know why I had come there in the middle of the night. When I told him that I’d seen Emily alive his whole demeanour changed. He listened attentively to every word I said. When he asked where he could find her, I told him I didn’t know her address but I knew where she was going to be that weekend. I didn’t even hesitate, I just gave him the address for Huxleys, and he wrote it down. When I left that house, I felt a shiver run down my spine. Maybe I knew then that something bad was going to happen but you have to believe me I had no idea Dominic was going to do, going to do this…’ Rachel looked down at the grave of the man she claimed to love, so ardently and yet she had played such a pivotal role in his demise.

  ‘I don’t have to believe anything,’ I put bluntly.

  ‘I suppose I deserve that.’

  ‘You went to Dominic, knowing full well what kind of man he was, what kind of brutality he was capable of…’

  ‘NO! No, no, you’re wrong. If I had known what Dominic was going to do what he did, I never would have told him!’ Rachel protested vehemently.

  ‘What on Earth did you think he was gonna do?’

  ‘I-I-I thought, maybe, he was going to go there and frighten Emily and separate them. Then Grahame would be all mine again, like it was before she came along. When I still couldn’t get hold of him and when he didn’t return home, I knew that something awful must’ve had happened. It was just a gut feeling but I couldn’t bring myself to come here. I simply couldn’t face it. I thought the worst. My imagination was driving me crazy. I-I-I didn’t know what to do, who I could turn to, to help me. Then I remembered, you.’

  ‘You hired me because you didn’t want to be part of a police investigation, cos when they turned up Grahame’s body, they’d ask too many questions of you. This way you’re conveniently out of the picture, just the concerned friend, Dominic is the sole focus, the police don’t need to look any further. They’ve got their man.’

  She looked back down at Grahame’s grave and said quietly, ‘Think what you will of me, but I didn’t want this...’

  ‘One innocent soul is dead, another is suffering a mental breakdown and there’s a bastard on life-support, all because of your actions, Rachel. Don’t you see that? Don’t you see what you set in motion? And what for? All because of your petty jealousy.’

  There was a long pause before she spoke, very quietly, as if confessing her guilt, ‘What will happen to me now?’

  I shrugged and said, ‘I don’t know. It depends on whether Dominic wakes up, doesn’t it.’

  ‘You won’t tell anyone, wh-what I did, will you…’

  I put coldly, ‘From now on, you’ll have to live with what you’ve done.’

  She started crying and I decided to leave. I had only taken two steps away when she called me by my name, and like the fool I am, I stopped and came back at her.

  I found her smiling, a poignant smile, and she said quietly, ‘You know, it’s funny.’

  I felt physically repulsed by her apparent glibness. ‘What is?’

  ‘Somehow, it feels like it’s my funeral.’ She roughly brushed away her tears. ‘That I’ve died, not Grahame...’ The words were strangely void of emotion and her sore eyes bore into mine, as if she was searching for the reason to go on living, ‘Don’t you see, when he died, I died too…I died...’ Rachel turned away from me and looked back down at the grave.

  Without a word, I walked away from her, leaving her there, alone, and I didn’t look back.