Stitched

by Taylor, Peter

  ‘So what are you doing here?’

  ‘I still have my key. I came back for some things. I intended to leave Alex a note apologizing for my panicky exit.’ She paused, asked him casually, ‘Are you here for any particular reason, Eddie?’

  He sighed. ‘Alex’s been in deep trouble and gone away for a while. I’ve been watching the house for him. He rings me here every other day.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘In fact he’ll be calling any minute.’

  The way he said it, she knew those last words were a hint that he wanted to be alone to take the call. But she had other ideas. Taking a handkerchief from her pocket, she dabbed at her eyes.

  ‘You OK?’ he asked gruffly.

  She put the handkerchief away and leaned on the arm of the sofa as though she needed support.

  ‘Do you think I could talk to him?’

  Eddie looked doubtful. ‘I don’t think it would do either of you any good, to be frank. He’s got a lot on his mind.’

  She lowered her head. ‘Please allow me to. I have a conscience, you see, and if I could just apologize to Alex for my behaviour, for letting him down, I would feel better. One word and then I’ll go and leave you to your own business, I promise.’

  She watched him trying to decide. In a curious way she admired his loyalty to his friend, his desire to protect him. Loyalty was one thing she understood. Fraternal loyalty was, after all, the reason she was here.

  After a moment he looked straight at her, his eyes penetrating hers. ‘You’ll make it quick?’

  Smiling inwardly, she nodded. ‘Just an apology. It would mean so much.’

  ‘Very well. But then you really will have to leave. We have some private matters to discuss.’

  ‘Thank you, Eddie,’ she said and slid on to the sofa.

  The next few minutes seemed to drag. She hated small talk, sensed he did too. Silences stretched to embarrassment but she managed to say enough between them to keep it bearable, to stop him thinking too much, because she was afraid he might have second thoughts about letting her talk to Macdonald. Then the phone rang and Eddie picked it up. As he’d expected, it was Alex on the other end.

  After preliminary greetings, Eddie said, ‘This will be a surprise to you but I have Gloria with me. I found her in the house. She wants a quick word.’

  She took that as her cue. Rising from the sofa, she stood next to Eddie. He stood up, handed the phone to her and said, ‘He’s surprised but agreeable.’

  She sat down with the phone in the chair Eddie had vacated. He ambled over to the sofa.

  She used her free hand to pull the gun from her pocket and pointed it at Eddie. His body jerked backwards as though hit by an electric shock. His eyes widened in amazement.

  ‘What are you playing at?’ he snapped.

  He made to get out of the chair but froze halfway when he saw her tilt the weapon towards him and the grim way she was looking at him. Obviously she wasn’t joking.

  She waved the gun in his direction like a wand. A smile touched her lips but it didn’t reach her eyes and there was real malice behind it, the smile of the assassin. Eddie realized it and sank back into the chair, nonplussed by the change in her.

  ‘I’m not playing, Eddie! Listen and learn!’

  She put the phone to her mouth and ear. She kept the gun pointing at Eddie when she spoke into the mouthpiece.

  ‘It’s time for reckoning, Alex. I’ve got my gun trained on your pal here. It’ll be no trouble to kill him just like I did Hussein. You’ll hear that on the news pretty soon, by the way, just in case you doubt my capabilities. And just so you know, my name is Bella not Gloria. You were living with Charles Bridge’s sister. How does that grab you?’

  From his chair, Eddie glared at her as the full extent of her machinations dawned on him. She, meanwhile, just listened to Alex’s stuttering reply with a satisfied smile.

  After a moment, she spoke again. ‘That’s right, Eddie’s going to die. But you can save him. Meet me on the top of Danby Beacon sunrise tomorrow and he walks away free.’

  With that, she put the phone down. She studied Eddie for his reaction. He was saying nothing but she could feel his hostility even across the room.

  ‘It’s going to be a long night and I can’t trust you, Eddie. Going to have to lock you in the cellar and tie you up while I sleep.’

  ‘He’s no fool. He won’t come,’ Eddie told her, finding his voice.

  ‘Oh, he’ll come,’ she replied. ‘I know him well enough to know that. He won’t let his old friend die and he’ll believe he can get you away and still save himself.’

  ‘He’ll have the police with him,’ Eddie said.

  ‘That’s why I chose to meet on Danby Beacon. He knows I’ll be able to see everything for miles around. When he hears about Hussein he’ll know I’m quite prepared to kill you if he tries anything. I doubt he’ll risk the police especially when he’s been involved in plotting a prison escape himself.’

  Eddie shook his head. ‘How did he ever get entangled with you?’

  She laughed. ‘He was easy meat, alone and vulnerable. Not my type normally, but he served his purpose.’

  ‘You inveigled your way into his life just so you could help your brother?’

  ‘No wonder you only made sergeant in the army,’ she snapped. ‘The penny hasn’t dropped, it’s still falling.’

  She made him go through to the kitchen, then down the wooden stairs to the cellar. There was enough rope there and she made him tie himself to the banister before stepping in herself to tighten the knots and make certain he was securely tied.

  ‘Get some sleep, Sergeant,’ was her parting shot. ‘Reveille will be before sunset and we’ll have a long climb to the top of the Beacon.’

  *

  Alex sat down at the kitchen table and stared into space, his face pained. He needed to tell Liz about the phone call from Gloria but found it hard to begin, to disappoint her again just when things seemed to be looking up. She’d been the one who’d persuaded him to put his conscience aside. Every time he tried to do that the demons returned with their accusations, as though nothing could subdue them for long. Now it was Eddie’s turn to suffer because of him. Aside from that, there was the shock of finding that Gloria was Bridge’s sister. That explained so much but it was humiliating to have to tell Liz how easily he’d been duped, to the extent of allowing a female viper in to his home. What had he been thinking? Was it all down to loneliness, or was some of it weakness of character and bad judgement?

  Liz soon noticed that he was distracted. Fortunately Ann was out of the room so, raising a quizzical eyebrow, she tackled him head on.

  ‘It’s bad news, isn’t it. Come on, man. Don’t shut me out again.’

  He took a deep breath and told her it all. When he had finished he put his elbows on the table, his head in his hands, and waited for her response.

  She said nothing. He knew that, with her sanguine approach to life, she was trying to find an answer to the problem. But what room was there for optimism when there were lives at stake? His life or Eddie’s. Take your pick.

  ‘Whatever I do,’ he groaned, ‘I can’t let her kill Eddie. He’s my pal and he went the extra mile trying to help me.’

  ‘You could call the police – anonymously. Let them tackle her. You could stay out of it. Give them only the bare bones so they can rescue Eddie.’

  Alex lifted his head, looked straight at her. She couldn’t meet his gaze, dropped her eyes.

  ‘Sure I could ring the police and stay out of it. But what would that make me? He’s my – our friend and he’s taken big risks for us. I have to do my very best for him. You know that.’

  ‘Maybe she’s bluffing,’ Liz said weakly, desperation in her voice.

  ‘She’s not bluffing, woman. She’s already killed Hussein.’

  Liz blanched at that cold fact. ‘My God! What are we going to do?’

  Alex sighed. ‘I’m going to meet her on Danby Beacon. I’m sick of running away, Liz, and I wo
n’t run out on Eddie.’

  One look at his face and she realized there was no arguing with him.

  ‘I’ll come with you,’ she said, resigning herself to it.

  Touched by her loyalty, however impractical, he managed a gentle smile.

  ‘I don’t think so. One of us has to be with Ann in case—’

  ‘She succeeds in killing you. Because that’s what will happen if you go.’

  Alex took her hand. ‘It’s a possibility, I have to admit. But you know my feelings. Right now I’m going to rest in the bedroom, think this right through.’

  Liz nodded her head, said sadly, ‘How have things ever come to this?’

  ‘Because I allowed them to,’ he answered.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  The sun peeped over the horizon. Like luminous tentacles, its rays spilled over the long ribbon of dark sky, resurrecting the North Yorkshire moors in the triumph of light over darkness, giving fresh hope and impetus to all life.

  Perched on a bare rock, more concerned with death and darkness than light, and without time or inclination for aesthetic appreciation, Bella watched that inexorable dawning. Close by, Eddie sat cross-legged in the bracken, his hands tied. He was exhausted, partly from the long tramp to the top of Danby Beacon but mainly from the debilitating effect of the drug Bella had given him, before they’d set out from Hope Farm, to dull his senses and therefore make him more easily manageable. She, on the other hand, felt a keen sense of exhilaration; the drug she had taken was to keep her going, give her a high. Right now, it made her feel she could conquer the world.

  ‘No sign of police,’ she muttered, using the binoculars around her neck to scan the roads which led to Danby Beacon. ‘But there is a car parking up. Someone’s getting out.’

  She watched for some time until she was sure it was Alex Macdonald plodding up the long incline. Then she stood up and, with a satisfied smirk, held the binoculars to Eddie’s eyes so he could see for himself.

  ‘Told you he’d come,’ she exclaimed. ‘How noble the bastard is. I could almost admire him for it, if he wasn’t responsible for what happened to my poor Charles.’

  Eddie listened to more of her ranting against his friend but said nothing. He felt too tired to respond. But it made no difference to Bella because, on a high, she was speaking mainly to herself, letting off her excess of steam as she anticipated the reckoning with her brother’s nemesis in the form of the lonely figure climbing the hill.

  She perched herself back on the rock, her red hair aflame as the sun burst on to the beacon.

  ‘Not long now,’ she murmured to herself, licking her lips like an alcoholic anticipating a longed for drink. ‘Not long now, Charles, my darling.’

  Dressed in a yellow parka, Alex stood out against the green and brown of the bracken. His hands were in plain view, no weapon in sight, when he halted thirty yards from them.

  ‘Don’t stop,’ she yelled and bit down on her lip. She pointed at Eddie. ‘Your pal’s waiting for you.’

  ‘Let him go,’ Alex shouted back. ‘Then I’ll come the rest of the way.’

  Bella hesitated for a moment. Then she grabbed Eddie and hauled him to his feet.

  ‘Keep well away from him,’ she shouted into Eddie’s ear. ‘Pass within ten yards and I’ll shoot you. Believe me, I’m a good enough shot to take you both down.’

  Wearily, Eddie started down the slope, his movement slow and clumsy. When he was level with Alex, there were fifteen yards between them.

  ‘Don’t worry about this, old son,’ Alex shouted across to him. ‘None of it’s your fault. Just watch over Liz and Ann for me.’

  Eddie stood still for a moment. Like a drunk, he stared bleary-eyed at Alex, then took a step towards him. Alex held up a hand.

  ‘Keep going down that hill,’ he shouted in his best sergeant-major voice, then, in a gentler tone. ‘Believe me, I’m ready for this.’

  His command penetrated the foggy patches in his friend’s brain, which were making him sluggish. Eddie responded by looking up the hill at Bella who was watching them, her arm outstretched and her gun pointing in their direction. Then, hunching his shoulders as though all the troubles in the world were balanced there, he trudged off down the hill.

  ‘Thought he would never go,’ Bella chirped as Alex began the final part of his ascent. ‘Has he no romance in his soul? Hasn’t he heard of a lover’s tryst? Doesn’t he know we have to be alone one more time?’

  Alex halted five yards from her. He could tell she was high. ‘Didn’t know you were a drug addict,’ he stated, his voice matter-of-fact.

  ‘Only on special occasions,’ she came back at him. ‘Like funerals, for instance, though having to live with you nearly drove me to it.’

  He shook his head. ‘Have to admit you were good. Had me fooled all along. You were wasted on crime. Should have been an actress.’

  ‘You were easy meat, darling. Not my type, but what is it they say? A kiss is just a kiss. You can wipe it off afterwards, can’t you? What you can’t replace is a brother.’

  ‘Do you think I’m that same fool you and your brother took me for?’ There was a hint of menace in Alex’s voice as he stared at the gun which was trained on him.

  His body language and lack of fear threw her. She glowered at him.

  ‘Only a fool would have tried it on with my brother. Only a fool would have walked up here knowing what was waiting for him.’

  ‘Your brother? What was he? Just another criminal eating away at other people’s lives. A parasite on humanity’s backside. He deserved what he got.’

  Bella’s face flushed. He’d pushed all her buttons and her trigger finger started to flex.

  ‘Hold it right there!’

  The parade ground authority in his command surprised her, caused her to pause. She’d been expecting him to plead for his life, but so far there’d been no sign of weakness. Cool as you like, he was even giving her an order. It wasn’t good enough. Before she dispatched him to eternity, he needed to suffer as her brother had. She wanted the satisfaction of watching him perched on the cusp of oblivion, regretting what had brought him there. Seizing on her hesitation, he spoke up again.

  ‘You’d better make it a killing shot because there’s a police sniper on either side of your position and I’m not going to stand still.’

  Her eyes flickered both ways. There was nothing but heather and gorse. She watched Alex warily, figuring that he was bluffing, that this was a last-ditch attempt to distract her, to give him an opportunity to rush her. He had some nerve. She’d give him that.

  ‘You’re the one on drugs,’ she opined, her confidence returning.

  Alex smiled, slowly lifted his hand in the air. As though fashioned from the earth itself two figures emerged from the ground, positioned exactly as he’d indicated. They were covered head to toe in grass and bracken and their faces were blacked. Each had instantly assumed a marksman’s stance, weapons pointing at Bella. Intense concentration and their silence only added to their other-worldly, devilish aura.

  There was a mad look in Bella’s eyes. She understood now her adversary’s coolness. She hadn’t expected him to involve the police because he would be incarcerated himself for his part in her brother’s escape. Of course, she’d expected he might try something but, having taken him for a fool on previous form, nothing she wouldn’t be able to handle. Yet, what did it matter in the end? He was still exactly where she wanted him.

  ‘Big miscalculation,’ Alex said, watching her gun. ‘You see I’d rather go to prison than lose my life. Pretty obvious trade-off, really.’

  She laughed. ‘But you came, didn’t you? That’s all I needed.’

  Alex frowned. Bella had a maniacal look in her eye. This wasn’t going to end as easily as he’d hoped. Whether because of the drugs, or infatuation with her brother, she didn’t look as though she was going to be diverted from her purpose.

  ‘Put the gun down,’ he said. ‘You haven’t a chance. He isn’t worth dy
ing for.’

  Bella pursed her lips. ‘It was you who miscalculated. I’m not bothered about living or dying with my brother gone. Prison certainly has no appeal. At least I’ll have the satisfaction of taking you with me.’

  Alex saw the gun start to come up. ‘Don’t!’ he yelled his heart pounding against his chest as though it was about to burst its confines.

  ‘See you in hell!’ she screeched.

  Alex dived to one side. Two loud reports echoed in his ears. Anticipation of the bullet which would end his life as well as a myriad thoughts of Liz and Ann were compressed into the unforgiving seconds before he hit the ground.

  The bracken cushioned his fall but the jolt stunned him. Instinct made him roll on to his back, surprised that he couldn’t feel any pain. He looked up, was conscious of a shadowy figure hovering over him, blotting out the sun. As his focus grew sharper he saw its arms were spread like angel’s wings, as though they were about to gather him up and smother him in their embrace. Illuminated by the sun’s rays, the head was an incandescent, red halo. Fear clutched at him. Was he dying after all and at the mercy of a supernatural being?

  Clarity soon followed bemusement. This was no angel; it was Bella. She unbalanced and he tried to roll but she landed on top of him. Her face was next to his, wide eyes fixed on him as though she would never let him out of her sight. Intermingled blood and grey matter poured out of her head from a bullet wound. Disgusted, he pushed her dead body off and staggered to his feet.

  The police marksmen had closed in. They stood at a respectful distance while he was sick.

  ‘Will you be OK?’ one of them asked.

  Half-bending over, wiping his mouth, Alex cocked his head to look at them. ‘Thanks to you I will.’

  ‘Sorry it came to this,’ the other one said. ‘It was a close thing and she gave us no choice.’

  ‘Don’t let it bother you,’ Alex told them, straightening and brushing grey brain matter off his clothes. ‘She knew what she was doing. She wanted to die and if it hadn’t been for your expertise I’d be with her.’