“No,” Debbie shook her head. “This isn’t only about money, is it. That’s a convenient excuse, but that’s not why you did all this.”
“Debbie!” whinged Karen, grabbing her friend’s arm.
“You like it!” Debbie continued. “You think you’re better than us, and you like being in control. You’ve killed and exploited innocent people. You think some women are worthless because of where they’re from. The fact your husband has fallen for one of them can’t have helped. Probably made you want to punish them more.”
Gillian flushed and made a noise through her nose as she locked eyes with Debbie. Who was Debbie to judge her? She ground her teeth and took a deep breath.
“What about Dawn?” Debbie demanded. “She didn’t deserve to die, and I know you had something to do with it.”
“Don’t you dare talk to me about Dawn!” shrieked Gillian.
She’d reached the end of her patience with Debbie’s accusations and opinions. Kevin gestured at Debbie, imploring her to calm down, but Debbie kept her eyes fixed on Gillian.
“I didn’t even know she was onto me,” muttered Gillian. “Until I heard you talking to her by the lockers on the day of the inspection. I was around the corner when she told you she was going to the police. I had no choice.”
“Who did you send to do it while you were at the Halloween Party?” asked Debbie.
“Good question. Dawn’s killer is standing in this room,” answered Gillian, as the three other women turned to Kevin in shock.
“I didn’t!” he protested, but Gillian cut across him.
“You may wish to cover your ears, Renee. Yes, Kevin went and took care of that for us. A very nice touch to make it look like suicide, I must admit.”
“I didn’t do it,” repeated Kevin. “Renee, look at me, I didn’t. I got there, and she’d already killed herself, I promise. I would never have done it! I was going to tell her to disappear, then I was going to run away myself. I tried to call you, I was going to tell you everything, to ask you to leave with me that night, but you didn’t pick up. Then I could barely get you to talk to me.”
“Enough!” Gillian insisted icily. “As I said, it’s sometimes necessary for me to do things to protect myself. And you three are a threat to me. One of you is trying to steal my husband from under my nose. One of you has figured out enough to get me sent to prison for life. And the other is a witness to it all. You’ve left me no choice.”
“Gillian, I won’t let you do this,” declared Kevin, as he stepped forward and rolled up his sleeves. “Step away from the door, all four of us are going to leave now, and you can’t stop us.”
Gillian smiled and wrinkled her nose.
“It’s a bit late to play the hero, Kevin.” She smiled as she finally removed her hands from behind her back, revealing two loaded guns.
There was a collective gasp as Gillian lifted her left hand and pointed the gun directly at Renee.
“Nobody move!” she ordered, and they all froze. “Got anything to say, Renee? No humorous observations? No quick-witted little one-liner for us?”
Renee shook her head and started crying as she folded her arms over her stomach. Debbie and Karen looked on in fear; Kevin looked on the verge of a breakdown.
“Well, it’s not like you to be lost for words,” sneered Gillian, with a shrug.
“Now, Kevin, I have a proposal for you. When I say so, I want you to come and take this other gun from me. Then, I want you to shoot Debbie and Karen dead, leave the weapon and run away.”
“No, Gill, I can’t do that!” he whimpered. “Please put the gun down; we can work this out another way.”
“Do it, Kevin, and you can leave with Renee. The two of you can vanish off into the distance, which is what you wanted, right? I’ll give you a head start and then I’ll call the police. I’ll tell them that the two of you were behind ‘Princesses’ and the murders. I’ll say that I knew nothing about it until tonight when the girls came here to confront Renee, and you killed them. I get to keep my life outside of prison. You get to keep Renee. Good deal, right? Everyone’s a winner! Well, apart from you two,” Gillian glanced menacingly at Debbie and Karen.
“Though I will have to shut ‘Princesses’ down, so I suppose you won’t have died in vain.”
Kevin looked from Gillian to Renee, then to Debbie and Karen.
“No, Kevin, no, don’t do this,” begged Debbie and Karen together.
“Shut up!” shouted Gillian, her gun still pointing at Renee. “One more word from anyone and I will shoot her, where it’ll hurt most.” She lowered the weapon towards Renee’s stomach.
“Kevin, come and take the gun now, come on!” urged Gillian, as silence fell.
He stepped towards her, his eyes staring at the floor. He took the gun from her and shuffled back. He was shaking, mentally preparing himself to kill two women in cold blood, as Gillian had done back in August. It was about time he pulled his weight, she thought.
“Right, Kevin, come on now, you know what to do. Debbie first,” encouraged Gillian.
She couldn’t wait to watch Kevin commit the crime. She would then pull the trigger anyway and watch him suffer as his girlfriend’s life evaporated. It would serve him right for humiliating her by choosing someone like Renee.
Behind her, she heard a thumping noise on the front door. Unless she was mistaken, a boy and a girl were shouting Renee’s name.
“Ignore that, Kevin.” Gillian raised her voice again. “I’ll count you down. Three,”
Could she also hear sirens in the distance? Had someone alerted the police? Either way, the need to resolve the situation had become critical. Kevin’s hand wavered; had he heard them too?
“If you don’t do it, Kevin, I’ll kill Renee, I mean it. She is less than nothing to me,” spat Gillian. “Two.”
Kevin raised the gun and pointed it at Debbie. He gulped in air and shuddered. Debbie grabbed Karen’s arm and whispered something that sounded like, “I’m sorry.”
“One,” shouted Gillian, and she turned her head from Kevin to Debbie, to watch the impact of the bullet.
Screams pierced the night as a loud bang reverberated around every corner of The Manor.
34: The Survivors
Monday 24th December 2018, 18:40 – Debbie
Debbie had closed her eyes after Gillian said ‘two.’ Her whole body tensed, and she squeezed Karen’s hand tighter than anything she’d ever grasped before.
Thoughts raced through her mind: her and Joe on their wedding day and Marco and Abbie on their first days at school. The coming days the three of them would have together, without her. I’m sorry, I love you, she thought, over and over again. Her heart pounded against her chest, savouring its last beats.
And then it came; the sick crack and bang of the gunshot. Debbie imagined, in slow motion, the bullet moving through the air towards her. How long before it made an impact, and where?
Seconds later, her ears were ringing, her eyes were screwed shut, yet she didn’t feel any physical pain. Is this death? If it was, then why was she still standing up, and not crumpled on the floor? And if she was dying, then why were her senses heightening? Why could she feel a pair of hands, gripping her shoulders and shaking her back and forth? Why could she smell something pungent and metallic? And why, through the ringing in her ears, could she hear someone shouting her name?
She realised that she hadn’t breathed in a while. Alongside the other sensations, she felt a tightening pain around her chest. At once, she opened her eyes and inhaled as much air as she could in one gulp. All she could see was Karen standing in front of her; it was Karen’s hands on her shoulders, Karen’s voice calling her name. She looked panicked, but not hurt, and she was also still standing up. Debbie didn’t understand; they were both supposed to be dead.
“Deb, Deb, oh thank God, she’s opened her eyes,” gasped Karen with relief. “It’s OK, Deb.”
Debbie took deep breaths, still compensating for all the time she’d held
her breath. Her eyes focused and moved towards the place where Renee had stood moments ago. She wasn’t standing up anymore.
“Oh, please no,” she whispered. Her eyes moved downwards, and she hoped desperately not to see Renee, slumped or lying still. But Renee was sitting upright on the sofa, her arms wrapped around a cushion on her lap. She was taking short breaths and rocking back and forth as she stared at something behind Karen.
“What happened?” whispered Debbie to Karen. She couldn’t see past her taller friend.
“Don’t... don’t look, Deb, you don’t have to.”
But she did have to. Debbie stood on tiptoes and tilted her head over Karen’s shoulder. Kevin perched on the small chintz sofa; the same one she and Karen had sat on a few months ago. His head was in his hands, his elbows shaking in his lap. In front of him, Gillian’s body lay on the floor, motionless. Her eyes were staring blankly at the ceiling. Underneath, blood pooled and seeped into the cream carpet fibres.
“He shot her,” whispered Debbie. “Kevin shot her, and he saved us?” Karen nodded.
“I saw it. I saw him do it. Gillian turned her head at the last second, away from him and towards you. So, he turned the gun on her. What do we do now? I think people are banging at the door, I thought I heard sirens, but my ears are ringing. Tell us what to do Debbie, please!”
Debbie took another deep breath and stepped sideways past Karen. She placed a hand on Renee’s shoulder and squeezed it as she walked past her. She couldn’t quite bring herself to look towards Kevin again. She stumbled into the hallway and looked towards the front door. Her ears were still ringing, but she could see two distressed faces at the window. A young girl and boy were waving at her. She heard police sirens again.
She shook her head at Ethan and Jade through the window.
“Renee?” Jade shouted through the window, as tears ran down her face.
“She’s OK. Renee is OK,” shouted Debbie. “But you can’t come in.”
She turned her back on them and willed herself to walk back towards the reading room.
“Ethan and Jade are at the door, the police are on their way,” she called from the hallway. She tried to step back into the room, but she struggled. She felt weak, as though her legs were about to give way underneath her.
“Police. K-Kevin,” stuttered Renee from the sofa. Debbie watched her put her cushion to one side and approach him. Gently, she placed her hands on his and prized them away from his face. Tears streamed from his eyes, which looked up at the ceiling; he too couldn’t bear to look down at the corpse in front of him.
“Kevin,” she repeated, “you have to tell them the truth. Tell them everything. You had no choice because she was going to kill us. Tell them she tried to force you to kill Dawn, but you were never going to go through with it. Tell them you knew nothing about this ‘Princesses’ thing.”
Kevin turned his head towards Renee, and moved his hand towards her cheek, wiping away the tears.
“Are you OK, Ren?” he asked tenderly, and she nodded in return. “I couldn’t let any harm come to you. Even if I’d done what Gill said, she would have killed you, to punish me,” he stuttered. “But we both know I need to run. I can’t defend myself from a police cell.”
“No, Kevin, no!” begged Renee. But he ignored her. He ran out of the reading room and up the stairs. Renee hauled herself up from the sofa and followed him.
Debbie looked at Karen, who stood, shaking, with her back to the corpse.
“Karen…”
“I can’t turn around,” she whimpered. “I saw it happen, but I can’t look at it. Oh God, Deb, I thought we were about to die.”
“I’m so sorry, Karen, let’s get out of this room. We can wait for the police in the hallway. Close your eyes and take my hand.”
She led Karen out of the room, as two pairs of footsteps crashed down the stairs. Kevin reached the bottom first, stuffing bundles of money into a holdall.
“I’m coming with you then,” yelled Renee, who was close behind him. “We said we were leaving together tonight, didn’t we? So, let’s do it.”
“No,” shouted Kevin, as he reached the door to the kitchen, opposite Debbie and Karen. “Being on the run from the police is different from leaving Gillian. I’m not putting you through that. I’m not putting our child through that.”
“Our daughter, Kevin, she’s a girl. I was going to tell you later. Please don’t leave us, we only just got you. Please!” she begged.
He pulled her close, his hand on the back of her head, and sighed. Debbie and Karen looked at each other, away from the intimate moment. It was surreal and felt somewhat inappropriate, given the circumstances.
“I love you, Renee,” whispered Kevin. “Look after our daughter; look after yourself. I will see you again, I promise.”
Police lights flashed through the front window. Kevin threw the holdall over his shoulder, sprinted into the kitchen, through the patio doors, and into the garden.
“Kevin!” screamed Renee, as she ran after him.
Suddenly, the front door burst open and several armed police officers rushed in. Debbie and Karen threw their arms up in the air and stood to one side, as the officers ran past them. In turn, they swept the many rooms of The Manor.
At the front door, DS Harris had stopped Jade and Ethan from entering the house. Debbie’s eyes met Vincent Okafor’s, and he urgently beckoned her and Karen towards him.
“Renee. Is she alive?” he asked as they reached the front doorway, concern etched across his face.
“Yes, she’s not hurt. She ran into the garden, after Kevin. He’s leaving.”
“And where is Gillian?”
“She-she’s dead. It wasn’t me!” gasped Debbie, with her hands in the air. “She was going to kill me, but Kevin shot her. We can explain it all. She was behind everything.”
Okafor held up his hand, nodded and held his radio to his mouth.
“All armed officers to the garden. Debbie last saw Kevin Prince entering it to flee, accompanied by Renee Beck. Bring them both in. Force is not authorised until Renee is safe.”
“IC1 female corpse in the third room on the right, sir,” announced an officer, who had appeared behind Debbie and Karen.
“Officers have Renee Beck in the garden; they’re bringing her indoors now. No sign of Kevin Prince, sir.”
Okafor nodded and picked up his radio again.
“Pursue Kevin beyond the garden. There is a path out of Fair Lawns into the woods. Proportionate use of force authorised.”
Debbie shuddered as she imagined Kevin sprinting through the woods. She could hear the shouts of the armed officers and the barks of the police dogs in pursuit.
Down the hallway, two officers appeared, with Renee crying between them. They left her with Okafor at the front door, then turned back to join the rest of their team. Okafor looked at Debbie, Karen and Renee and shook his head.
“You three are lucky to be alive,” he muttered. “But I’m glad that you are. DS Harris is going to take you straight to the station. You can make phone calls, they’ll look after you, and you’ll get the support you need. But you will also give statements, and you are all going to tell the absolute truth, do you understand?”
Debbie nodded and to her left and right, Renee and Karen did the same. He turned away to greet the arriving forensic team, while DS Harris settled Jade and Ethan into one of the cars.
“Renee. I’m…I’m so sorry,” stuttered Debbie. “We should tell them to take you to the hospital to check the baby.”
“She’s fine, I’m fine,” hiccoughed Renee, one arm still around her stomach.
“It’s not your fault Debbie,” she continued after a moment of silence. “This is all on Gillian. I didn’t know what she was capable of.”
“No-one did. None of us would have come here if we knew. But you and Kevin, you were about to escape... If I hadn’t come here…”
“Gillian was in the house the whole time,” whispered Renee. “She would never
have let us leave. Even if we snuck out, she would have found us; that’s why Kevin said we’d have to go abroad. Now I understand why he couldn’t just leave. We would have been in so much danger.”
“Do you think he knew about ‘Princesses’ and killed Dawn?” asked Karen.
Debbie shrugged, and Renee shook her head.
“He couldn’t have known the whole story,” Renee replied. “But he couldn’t have known nothing at all, either. I don’t know what to think. He didn’t kill Dawn though; I can promise you that. He doesn’t have it in him to kill people.”
She hiccoughed again as Debbie and Karen exchanged a glance. After all, Kevin had just shot his wife in front of them.
“Ladies,” called DS Harris, from a car at the front of the convoy. “This way, please.”
Debbie held out her hands to Renee and Karen. They took one each and, together, they walked away from The Manor towards the flashing lights.
Excerpts: Interviews with Renee Beck, Karen Goldman, Debbie Gomez
Monday 24 December 2018 – 9 pm
Officer: Why did you go to The Manor this evening?
Renee: To tell Kevin I was pregnant. I couldn’t hide it any longer, physically it was obvious. I missed him, and I hoped that he’d finally agree to leave Gillian. And I got what I wanted; he said he’d leave her to be with me. But he was also trying to get me to leave the house, and I should have listened to him sooner, but when I finally agreed to go, Debbie and Karen arrived. I thought Gillian was away. I had no idea that she had this other life; I didn’t know about ‘Princesses’ or the murders. I would never have gone if I did. I wouldn’t have put my baby in danger like that.
Killer Princesses: Gripping and gritty, a twisty and tantalising thriller... Page 24