by Mia James
‘How?’
‘I took her to the witches.’
‘Witches?’
‘Don’t sound so surprised, you saw them in the woods. They took her in. They have spells, herbal ways to suppress the vampire urge. She’s been a witch ever since. I helped her set up her bookshop, I’ve tried to look after her. But I’ve stayed away from her – I can’t stand the shame of seeing my own victim. But after you went to see her, Jessica came to me. She wanted to tell me what she had seen in your eyes.’
‘What?’
‘Love, April.’
April felt butterflies in her stomach, but she was still angry.
‘Well it’s a fine way to repay me, by kissing your ex.’
‘She’s not my ex, April. We were never lovers. She’s a reminder of what I am and what I did. I am fond of her, she’s a better person than I am, and that’s all. That’s what I was saying to her when you saw her. I was asking for her forgiveness, something I haven’t been able to do for a hundred years.’
‘So why the kiss?’
‘I told her we were together. It was a kiss goodbye.’
April didn’t know what to think. Should she believe him? He’d told her so many lies before – if he could lie about not killing someone, he could lie about anything.
‘You told me you hadn’t killed anyone.’
‘I know.’
‘So why should I believe this new story?’
He took her by the shoulders.
‘Because it’s true. Because I never want to be with anyone but you, because if I can’t have you then I may as well go to prison. But we could run away together! Let’s forget all about this and just go somewhere we can be alone.’
‘Gabriel, I … I want to believe you,’ said April. ‘But I can’t just—’
‘You can,’ he said urgently. ‘Because I am telling you the complete truth right now. I love you, I want to be with you – there’s no one else. There never was, there never will be.’
Suddenly there was a hard banging on the door.
‘Gabriel! Gabriel Swift! Come out, we know you’re there!’
Immediately, Gabriel reached out and grabbed April, holding her around the neck from behind.
‘What are you doing?’ she gasped.
‘I’m getting you off the hook,’ said Gabriel, dragging her to the window, making sure the police outside could see him holding her.
‘Back off or the girl gets it!’ he shouted, before ducking back into the church. As soon as they were out of sight, April pulled away from him and kicked him in the shin.
‘What the hell was all that, Gabriel?’ she hissed.
‘I want them to think you’re a hostage,’ said Gabriel, rubbing his leg. ‘Otherwise they might think you’re willingly involved. Plus …’ He took her hand and ran towards the back of the church. ‘… it will give us a bit of time to find a way out.’
‘There’s no way out,’ said a voice. The vicar stepped forward across the altar. ‘So you might as well let her go.’
Gabriel pushed April behind him. ‘Get out of my way, old man.’
‘Don’t threaten me in the Lord’s house!’ shouted the vicar. ‘Come to me, April. You’ll be safe here.’
‘No, please,’ said April, ‘I want to go with him,’ suddenly knowing it was true. Gabriel looked at her and they exchanged a smile.
‘My child, you don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t know who he is – what he has done.’
‘I do, Reverend. I really do,’ said April.
‘Please Reverend,’ said Gabriel, ‘can’t you help us?’
The vicar looked back and forth between them, seeming to struggle with it, then he nodded.
‘Maybe I can, but April will have to stay here.’
‘But—’
‘No arguments, April. The police have blocked the road at the front, there’s no chance you’ll both get out.’
He looked at Gabriel and pointed to an arched wooden door to the left of the altar.
‘If you go through there and up the stairs, you will come out on the roof. Cross to the end nearest the cemetery, and a fire escape will take you down. There’s no other way to the back of the church, so unless they’ve surrounded the whole cemetery you should find a way out.’
‘Why are you helping me?’
‘For the girl and her father. Not for you.’
Gabriel opened the door and, with a last look at April, ran up the spiral stairs.
‘Gabriel!’
April ran after him. At the top of the stairs, he turned and she ran into his arms, feeling his strong body next to hers, squeezing him for all she was worth. Suddenly, definitely, April knew that she believed him. She couldn’t say for certain why, but if her time in Highgate had taught her anything, it was that nothing was ever completely clear-cut: some things had to be taken on faith.
‘You be safe, you hear?’ she said.
‘Don’t worry about me,’ he said, smiling down at her. ‘I’ll be okay.’
‘But what about me?’
He grinned.
‘You’ll be fine too. I’ll be in touch, don’t worry. In the meantime, do what you can to find the Regent. That’s our best – our only – hope.’
‘I will! I will!’
He opened the door and a sudden wind blew his hair back. It was fully dark now and April could see the dull moonlight reflecting off the slates.
He bent and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. ‘I’ll be back, my love.’
Then he ran across the roof. Suddenly there was a huge roar of wind and a beam of light swept across it, after him. April looked upwards just in time to see the helicopter swing around, narrowly missing the church spire.
‘Leave him alone!’ she screamed at them, her voice lost in the roar of the engines.
‘Come back inside,’ yelled the vicar, putting his arm around her shoulders. ‘We have to go and open the front door. Don’t worry, he’s got a good head start.’
‘But what’s going to happen to him? He didn’t kill Marcus. He told me and I believe him.’
‘Leave it to the police, April. You can’t help Gabriel now.’
As they walked down the stairs and through the church, they could hear pounding on the door and shouts from outside.
‘Come on, we must hurry,’ said the vicar.
But just as they crossed the Coleridge plaque in the centre of the aisle, April stopped and looked at him. ‘Did you know about this?’
‘About what, April?’
‘About Gabriel and the others. About what they are?’
‘What they are?’ he repeated.
‘Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about.’ She pointed down at the plaque. ‘That.’
There was a muffled bang from outside.
‘April, the police!’ said the vicar, trying to get past her, but April stood in his way.
‘Please, Reverend Gordon, this is important.’
The vicar looked at her, then back at the door.
‘I’ve lived next to the cemetery for twelve years, April. I’d have to be blind to have missed it. Now we really need to—’
‘Did you talk to my dad about it?’
There was a loud thud against the church doors.
‘April, this is not the time …’
‘Answer my question!’
‘He asked me about what was happening in the village, yes.’
‘So he knew!’ she said dejectedly. ‘He brought us here, knowing Highgate was bristling with the undead. He put us all in danger.’
‘April, it’s not—’
The doors burst open and officers in dark uniforms ran in.
‘Down on the floor!’ shouted a man in a black cap. April realised with horror that he was pointing a rifle at her. ‘Get your hands where I can see them.’
The vicar took April’s arm and pulled her to the side where they sat down in a pew, their arms raised.
‘Gabriel Swift!’ shouted another officer. �
�Where is he?’
‘He went through that door at the back,’ replied the vicar and the men rushed past.
‘Are you all right?’ barked another policeman in black boots and what looked like body armour. ‘Has he hurt you?’
April and the vicar both shook their heads and the man gestured that they could put their hands down. He led them out towards the main entrance, the doors now splintered, one hanging on its hinges. Why so much fuss for poor Gabriel? thought April, but then she supposed they didn’t know him as the beautiful boy with the dark eyes who brought her flowers in the rain. To the police, he was an escaped felon, a vicious murderer who took hostages, a desperate criminal who was capable of anything. April slipped her hand inside her pocket and crossed her fingers. Please get away, Gabe, she thought, please don’t let them catch you.
April and the vicar walked out together, into the glare of car headlights pointing at the church. April hoped to see the familiar face of DI Reece, but instead she was confronted by a short man in his fifties with grey hair. He was, inevitably, standing next to Dr Tame.
‘Sorry about the door, Reverend,’ said the first man. ‘I’m DCI Johnston and this is Dr Tame. You’ll be April Dunne, I take it.’
‘She is indeed,’ said Tame before she could speak.
Two uniformed officers stepped up to take April, but the vicar waved them away. ‘I don’t think that’s necessary, is it?’ he said with authority. Johnston nodded.
‘Let’s get you to the station where we can have a proper chat.’
‘Why?’
‘We have plenty of questions for you, April. I’m sure we’ll find something.’
Chapter Twenty-Eight
April felt a sinking sense of déjà vu as she sat in the interview room waiting for her mother to arrive. Four walls, a bare table and chairs, nothing else. It was horribly plain. Maybe that was the idea. Nothing for violent offenders to smash up, nothing for people like her to look at. People like her: suspects. If it was meant to be unsettling, it was working. April knew they thought she was involved somehow. When Gabriel had escaped, they must have started watching her, and if she’d been followed they would know she spoke to DI Reece, then met Ling and went to the church. Poor Ling, maybe they were questioning her too.
But she didn’t care. One bright shining thing pushed all the bad things into shadow: Gabriel was back in her heart. He loved her, wanted to be with her and he hadn’t cheated on her. All he’d wanted to do was protect her, look after her – he’d been prepared to go to jail for her! Sitting here in this grubby police station she should have been frightened, but she felt elated – and a little guilty, of course. She had treated Gabriel terribly, acted like a brat and had even considered going off with Benjamin. But Gabriel loved her and that was all that mattered. Yes, he was on the run and yes, she was still surrounded by people who wanted to drink her blood, but she felt better equipped to deal with it. Right now, in fact, April felt she could face anything.
‘April!’ her mother burst in, throwing her arms around her, squeezing her tight. April relaxed into the embrace, savouring it. She might be angry with her mother, but she was tremendously relieved to see her and a hug from her was such a rare occurrence that she had to make the most of it. All too soon, Silvia stepped back.
‘Have they done anything you?’ she asked. ‘What have they said?’
‘Nothing, Mum,’ said April. ‘They stuck me in here to stew, hoping the nerves would get to me or something.’ She saw her mother’s expression and shrugged. ‘Well, that’s how it works on the TV cop shows.’
‘This is real life, April. It’s serious.’
‘They haven’t charged me with anything yet. Maybe they were waiting for you to come.’
‘They haven’t charged you yet? You think they might? What could they possibly think you’ve done?’
‘I haven’t done anything!’ she said. ‘I was in the church talking to Ling, then Gabriel turned up and it turned into this massive police siege.’
‘But the police told me you’d been taken hostage.’
‘That’s rubbish. They just wanted a reason to bash down the door. Gabriel would never do anything to harm me.’
‘What makes you so sure? I know you liked this boy, but he killed Marcus Brent, April.’
‘I thought you would want to thank him for that, Mother, or have you suddenly gone all Buddhist?’
‘It’s one thing wanting to strangle that monster for what he did to my baby, it’s quite another thing to actually murder him in cold blood. He told me he’d protect you …’
‘And that’s exactly what he did!’ cried April. ‘You can’t have it both ways, Mum. Would you rather Marcus had torn my throat out?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. I’m simply saying it’s naïve to assume Gabriel is as innocent as he says.’
‘Mum, he told me he didn’t kill Marcus and I believe him, all right?’ Silvia looked at her for a long moment.
‘Okay,’ she said finally, sitting down. ‘Let’s not get too het up until we hear what they’ve got to say. Gramps’ lawyer is on the way. We don’t have to say anything until he gets here.’
‘Why not? Do you think I’m going to incriminate myself? I haven’t done anything!’
‘Of course you haven’t, darling, but we don’t want them twisting your words.’
‘Mum! I don’t have anything to hide.’
‘Are you sure? There’s nothing you haven’t told me?’
‘You’re a fine one to talk.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘It means that I’m not the one sneaking out at night, having secret meetings with old boyfriends.’
‘Don’t start on that again.’
The door opened and in walked DCI Johnston, quickly followed by DS Amy Carling, the detective who had often visited her with DI Reece. They didn’t waste much time finding that one a new partner, did they? thought April. She had never liked the plain-looking woman in the clumpy shoes, there was something of the bully about her.
‘Mrs Dunne, I presume,’ said Johnston, offering her his hand. ‘I’m the officer in charge of the case. I believe you already know DS Carling.’
‘Where’s Inspector Reece?’ asked Silvia.
‘He has moved on,’ said Carling tonelessly.
‘I am in charge of this investigation now, Mrs Dunne,’ said Johnston.
‘Well you’re going to have to wait for our lawyer before you start investigating,’ said Silvia.
‘That is of course your right, but this isn’t a formal interview, Mrs Dunne. We just want to ask April a few questions about what happened tonight.’
‘So I’m not under arrest?’
‘No, no,’ said Johnston, as if it was the last thing on his mind. ‘You are free to go at any time.’
Silvia immediately stood up. ‘You didn’t think to tell me this when I arrived?’ she snapped. ‘Come on, April, this is a disgrace.’
The inspector held up a finger. ‘You will however still need to answer a few of our questions. We can of course organise a formal interview for the morning if you’d prefer?’
Silvia narrowed her eyes.
‘So free to go in the sense of “stay where you are”?’ said Silvia, the fury in her voice obvious. ‘Is this usually the way police go about their business, Inspector? You drag me to a police station, giving me the impression I will be picking up my daughter, who has been the victim of another crime the police seem powerless to prevent. But no, it seems my daughter has been held here for hours without charge because you “have a few questions”? Is this your idea of professionalism?’
‘I assure you, Mrs Dunne, we never had any intention of …’
Silvia pulled a sour face and sat down again.
‘Spare me your assurances, Inspector,’ she said. ‘They’re clearly not worth a great deal. Let’s get this over with – assuming they are “just a few questions” and not something our lawyer will need to advise us on?’
‘Just questions,’ said Johnston.
‘Fine. But I want it made clear that my daughter has done nothing wrong and I resent the implication she is in any way mixed up in this business.’
‘Noted,’ said Johnston. ‘So perhaps you can start by telling us what happened after you left school this afternoon, April?’
Slowly April told them about walking through the park, meeting Ling and going back to the church.
‘Why the church?’ asked Johnston.
‘Why not the church?’ said Silvia, narrowing her eyes.
‘Well, it seems a strange place for a seventeen-year-old girl to go, especially a non church-goer. Why not a coffee bar or your house?’
Silvia was about to reply when April put a hand on her arm.
‘Mum, please,’ she said. ‘It’s a simple enough question. We went into the church because Ling wanted to talk about something personal, so we wanted to go somewhere quiet.’
‘Personal?’ said Johnston.
‘Personal,’ repeated April. ‘Girl’s stuff.’
‘Girl’s stuff like meeting boyfriends?’ asked Carling.
‘No!’ said April. ‘I had no idea Gabriel was going to be there. And he’s not my boyfriend.’
‘Really? We were under the impression that you and Gabriel Swift were dating.’
‘No. Well, yes we were for a while. Not dates as such, but …’
‘You were intimate?’ said Carling, an oily smile on her face.
‘No,’ said April, blushing and glancing at her mother. ‘I liked him, that’s all. But it’s all over now.’
‘Yes,’ said Johnston, looking down at his notes. ‘You quarrelled on the night of the party in Waterlow Park? What did you argue about?’
April shrugged. It must be common knowledge by now – it had been a pretty public argument.
‘He was with another girl.’
‘Oh, I bet that made you angry,’ said Carling.
‘Yes, it did. Of course it did. That’s why I left the party.’
‘Is it?’ said Carling.
‘What? Of course it was! I saw him kissing another girl.’
‘What’s all this about?’ said Silvia. ‘What are you getting at?’
‘Well, it seems rather strange,’ said Johnston.