‘Good. My hands are only tied at the wrist, so I can still use my fingers. Let’s try it then, shall we?’
Shuffling on her bottom, Kayla turned around and she heard Nell do the same. She stretched out her fingers as far as possible, and shortly afterwards she could feel Nell’s hair.
‘Great, Nell. I can almost reach. I’ve got the top of your head. Can you come a little bit closer, sweetie?’
Nell scooted round some more, and Kayla’s fingers finally encountered the gag and the knot that tied it. It took her a few minutes to undo it, as it had been tied quite hard. She murmured encouragement to Nell all the while to stop her from panicking.
‘It’s getting looser now, I can feel it. Almost there. Almost … Yes!’ At last the knot slipped open and she pulled the gag off. She turned her head to see Nell taking deep breaths, before bursting into tears again. ‘Shhhh, it’s okay now,’ she soothed. ‘You’re all right. Just take a few more deep breaths, that’s it.’
‘Oh Kayla, I c-couldn’t breathe,’ Nell hiccoughed, leaning her head against Kayla’s shoulder. ‘I was sleeping and when I woke up that thing was tied on me.’
‘That sounds horrid, but it’s gone now and if we can keep quiet, hopefully no one will come back and put it on again. Lucky I woke up, isn’t it?’
‘Yes. I-I thought you were d-dead, but Uncle Alex promised Mummy wouldn’t hit you again.’
‘Uncle Alex? Is he here too?’ Nell nodded. ‘I see.’
Kayla mulled this over for a moment. She wondered if Wes knew his brother was involved in something illegal, but she didn’t think so, although he might have had his suspicions judging by the hostility she’d sensed between the brothers.
She turned back to Nell. ‘You know, my head is very hard. A little knock on the back isn’t going to kill me.’ Even if it felt like it at the moment, Kayla added silently to herself. ‘I tell you what, if we sit with our backs to each other we should be able to undo the ropes at our wrists too. What do you think? Do you want to have first go?’
‘Oh, yes. Let’s try.’
Ten minutes later they were both free and Kayla hugged Nell for a while until the child had stopped crying. Then she set her down next to her.
‘Listen to me. We have to be clever now, Nell. We don’t want anyone to know that we’re free, so if you hear someone coming you have to put your hands behind your back again. Then wind the rope around your wrists and pretend it’s still tied. Do you see what I mean?’
‘Yes, I can do that. I’m good at pretending.’ Nell’s eyes were huge in her little face, and Kayla’s heart went out to her. Oh God, she prayed, please don’t let anything happen to her. She’s so small, please protect her. If only she knew what their captors meant to do with them. Surely Caroline wouldn’t harm her own daughter though? It was only Kayla who was in real danger.
‘Okay. I’m going to tie the gag around your neck so it looks like you managed to spit it out, then maybe they won’t get suspicious.’
Not long afterwards someone came down the steps and switched on an overhead light. Kayla and Nell blinked and huddled together, their hands behind their backs.
‘So you’re awake finally. Well, thank God for that at least.’ It was Alex, wearing an almost identical scowl to that of his big brother. ‘I thought for a while the stupid woman had killed you.’
‘Not yet, although she was probably hoping she had.’ Kayla glared at him defiantly. ‘But you almost killed your niece here. Honestly, gagging a child is a dangerous thing to do. She nearly choked to death, you know.’
‘Gagging? I didn’t gag her.’
‘Well someone did. I managed to get it off her just in time. See, there it is.’ Kayla nodded at the bright pink scarf around Nell’s neck.
Alex clenched his fists and looked, if possible, even more furious. ‘I swear to God, I’m going to wring her neck. Of all the idiotic, hare-brained …’ Words failed him.
Nell began to cry again. ‘No, Uncle Alex. P-please don’t kill Kayla. I-I love her.’
‘What? Oh no, princess, I’m not going to hurt Kayla. I was talking about someone else and it was just a figure of speech. I promise.’
The boat shuddered as if it was coming to a halt, and soon after it bumped into something. Kayla held her breath, wondering whether they had arrived at their destination, but Alex sat down on his haunches in front of his niece and said, ‘Are you all right there for a little while longer? You have to stay down here while I finish some business and then I promise I’ll take you back home.’
Nell nodded. ‘And Kayla too?’
Alex stood up and glanced at Kayla, indecision clearly written on his face. ‘Of course, princess,’ he finally said. ‘I’ll do what I can.’ He looked tired and weary and Kayla almost felt sorry for him. Almost, but not quite. This was partly his fault and he was obviously up to no good.
He turned to climb back up on deck and disappeared through the hatch. All was quiet, and there was no sound other than the waves swishing gently round the hull. Kayla could still feel the rocking motion, but tried to ignore it. She didn’t want to be sick on top of everything else. She wondered how far out to sea they were and whether it would be possible to swim to safety, but decided it would be too risky with Nell in tow.
She was just wondering what else she could do when suddenly a commotion broke out on deck.
They heard someone say something through a loudspeaker, then voices shouting and footsteps running in all directions. The shrill voice of a woman – Caroline? – mixed with the deeper tones of several men. What was happening? Had someone come to rescue them? A faint hope stirred inside Kayla, but then she realised whoever it was might not know they were on board. She was pretty sure they had stopped the boat for some other reason.
Kayla had just decided to make their presence known when someone came hurtling down the steps. This time it was Caroline and she rushed over and grabbed up Nell in a single fluid motion. Before Kayla had time to even blink, the woman was halfway up the steps again, carrying the struggling, screaming child. Kayla sat frozen to the spot and Caroline disappeared through the hatch.
‘Shit.’ What was the crazy woman up to now? Kayla had to find out. Her recalcitrant legs finally obeyed her and she staggered to her feet. Cautiously she climbed the steps and peered out onto the deck, where a strange scene was being played out in the floodlight from two police or coastguard boats. Kayla shielded her eyes with one hand to see better.
‘I know my ex-husband is behind this,’ shrieked Caroline, holding on to Nell with the strength born of desperation. ‘You can tell him if he doesn’t call you off, I’ll drop his precious daughter into the sea and he’ll never see her again.’
‘Caroline, for Christ’s sake, what’s got into you?’ Alex came rushing along the deck, an even deeper frown settled on his features.
‘Don’t come any closer, Alex, or I’ll kill you.’ Caroline pulled out a knife from somewhere and brandished it in front of her. Nell screamed, then went still. Kayla thought the poor child must be in a state of shock from the recent events. She felt decidedly shaky herself, so God only knew how this would affect a seven-year-old.
Alex stared at the knife in disbelief. It was long and sharp, and quite lethal. ‘Where the hell did you get that?’ He shook his head. ‘Caro, be reasonable,’ he tried, speaking in a cajoling voice. ‘Come on, darling, don’t do anything silly now. This is your daughter we’re talking about. You know you’ll regret it.’
‘The only thing I regret is not hurting Wes when I had the chance. I could have killed him in his sleep so many times, or set his precious house alight, but I didn’t. I was a fool,’ Caroline hissed. ‘Wes!’ she hollered. ‘Are you out there?’
‘Yes, Caroline, I’m here,’ came a voice from across the water, just out of range of the lights.
‘Hah! I knew it. You couldn’t resist gloating, could you? Well, this time I’ll have the final word. That damned judge can’t help you now.’ She inched towards the railing and Kayla readied herself
for a sprint across the deck. If the madwoman was going to throw her own daughter overboard, Kayla would dive in after her. She had to save Wes’s child. She just had to. Unless Wes got to her first – she was sure he’d dive in as well.
For a long while everyone just stared at each other, weighing up their options. It was a stand-off and no one could win without Nell getting hurt in the process. Kayla could see that Caroline was off her head on some substance or other. She had that wild look in her eyes that showed she was high as a kite and not in possession of her usual faculties. This made her doubly dangerous, of course, and totally unpredictable.
But she couldn’t look everywhere at once.
Kayla saw Alex glance in the direction from which his brother’s voice had come and then further along the railing. When she followed his gaze, she noticed a shadowy figure pulling himself up onto the deck. Wes, thank goodness! Alex made a sudden move, presumably in order to divert Caroline and stop her looking towards Wes. Then he stopped, keeping a wary eye on the sharp knife in Caroline’s hand. He took another look around and must have noticed Kayla before she could duck down, but he didn’t say anything. Instead he nodded ever so slightly in Caroline’s direction and Kayla nodded back. He was going to try something and she’d be ready to help. As was Wes, who had moved to crouch behind a large pile of boxes that were stacked on deck.
‘Are you going to call them off, Wes?’ Caroline was shouting into the darkness, her voice shaking now.
There was no reply. Obviously he couldn’t answer or he’d give his position away. Kayla wondered if Caroline would suspect something, but apparently not as her next words proved.
‘Wes? Oh, I get it. You’re sulking now.’ With a hysterical laugh Caroline went closer to the railing anyway. Kayla thought for a horrible moment that Nell’s mother was going to throw her terrified child into the water no matter what happened, and she had to stifle a cry of anguish.
With perfect timing, Alex and Wes chose that moment to make their move. They rushed forward, one from either side.
‘Caro!’ they both called out. She swivelled towards Wes first and Alex took the chance to snatch his niece from Caroline’s death-grip, then jumped to the side when Caroline realised what he was doing and slashed at him with the knife. It caught him on the upper arm, but he only let out a grunt of pain and continued towards the railing, still holding Nell. With the child in his arms, he jumped into the water.
Kayla saw him surface a few yards away and, with Nell in tow, he swam into the darkness. She registered the fact that he was swimming towards the coastguard and breathed a sigh of relief. Nell would be safe.
Meanwhile, Caroline was trying to stick the knife into Wes, who unfortunately hadn’t been able to grab hold of her. The woman was screeching at the top of her voice the foulest of curses, railing against Wes in particular and fate in general. The two of them jumped around in a macabre dance, with Wes keeping just out of range as the knife, gleaming in the light, came down again and again. There seemed to be no way he could get hold of her without being hurt and Caroline was working herself into a murderous frenzy. She was like a one-woman dervish, at one with the lethal weapon in her hand. Kayla felt rage boiling up inside her against this woman who seemed about to seriously hurt the man Kayla loved. It was an anger so pure, so hot, so overwhelming, she had never experienced anything like it. There was only one way to assuage it and she acted without thought.
She surged out of the hatch and ran towards Caroline, throwing herself at the other woman from behind and hitting her with her fists. ‘Shut up! For God’s sake, shut up.’
‘Kayla, no!’ She vaguely registered Wes’s voice, but she was too furious to stop now. She forgot about the knife, forgot about the fact that Caroline was much bigger than herself, and more importantly, forgot they were on a boat. The deck rolled suddenly and the three of them lurched sideways. Kayla lost her footing and grabbed at Caroline to stop from falling, but it was too late.
They all went sprawling onto the deck and Kayla quickly rolled out of reach, looking to see if Wes was hurt. He too had moved out of the way, but in the event, it proved unnecessary. Caroline only made a strange gurgling sound and then she went limp. Her eyes stared up into the sky, but she didn’t blink. Kayla looked down and saw the red stain spreading rapidly across the shiny white deck. Caroline had fallen onto her knife.
‘Oh my God. What have I done?’ Numb with shock, Kayla sat stock still and just stared at the expression of surprise on Caroline’s face. She was incapable of moving. Once more the Gypsy’s words echoed round her brain. ‘I see water and pain, a red stain spreading over white …’ She had been right. Kayla tried to remember the rest of what the woman had said, but the effort was beyond her.
‘Kayla? Are you okay?’ Wes crawled over to put a hand on her shoulder, shaking it slightly. She managed to nod, but closed her eyes. She couldn’t bear to look at him. He must be so angry at her for not listening to him. And now she’d caused Caroline’s death …
‘Kayla, I’ve got to go and see to Nell, but I’ll be back, all right? Just stay here.’
She nodded again and then he was gone. Soon after there were voices, and hands helping her to her feet, but she was oblivious to them. Someone draped a blanket over her shoulders. And then she started to cry. Huge, hiccoughing sobs racked her body, and she couldn’t control them.
‘There, there, miss, it’s over now. Everything’s going to be all right. The little girl will be fine and you too. There now.’ The kind voice went on and on, but Kayla paid no attention. How could everything possibly be fine? After what Caroline had done, Wes would definitely never want to marry again. And Nell would hate Kayla for causing her mother’s death. Kayla might even be put on trial for manslaughter. There was no future for her here now. None at all.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
‘Father? Father, please don’t leave me yet.’
Jago cracked open first one eyelid and then the other, his vision swimming for a moment before he was able to focus on the young man sitting on a chair next to his bed. ‘Water,’ he croaked, his voice rasping. It was no wonder, he thought, since it felt as though his throat had been scored by nails, leaving it burning and sore.
‘Here, let me help you.’
Jago’s head was lifted and a cup held to his lips. He drank half the contents, the liquid blessedly cool even though it hurt to swallow. He blinked and looked at Wesley again.
‘You shouldn’t be in here. Might be catching,’ he said.
Wesley shook his head. ‘No, the physician said you brought this on yourself by going out in the boat on such a freezing night. What were you thinking? You should have left it to others. Now you have bronchitis or maybe even congestion of the lungs.’
Wesley knew what Jago and the others did, but had learned to turn a blind eye ever since Jago had pointed out how his clandestine outings helped the poorer members of the community. The boy had grown up a caring landowner, but even his best efforts weren’t always enough. The smuggling was still a necessary evil.
‘I’m not too old yet,’ Jago protested. ‘They needed me. Oversee things.’
‘You were already ill, Aunt Sophie told me.’ Wesley stood up abruptly and started pacing by the bed. ‘I thought you were dying last night.’
Jago heard the anguish in his son’s voice and it sent a warm glow through him to know the boy cared. He and Sophie had two other sons now, but this one was special, even though he’d never openly show any preference. He frowned as something niggled at the back of his mind, then it came to him and he turned startled eyes on Wesley.
‘What did you call me before?’
Wesley stopped and flung himself onto the chair again. ‘Father,’ he said, sending Jago a challenging look. ‘I called you Father.’ When Jago didn’t reply, he added defiantly, ‘Well, I’m not blind, you know. I do own a mirror.’
Jago had to smile at that, but soon grew serious again. ‘I told you your grandfather was Sir Philip Marcombe, the man who si
red me,’ he said, but Wesley glared at him.
‘I’ve seen his portrait and all the others. No one in the family has ever been this dark. Only you. I thought perhaps if you were dying, you’d admit the truth.’
Jago closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath. ‘Stop telling me I’m dying because I’m not.’ He opened his eyes and looked at Wesley. ‘And I would gladly admit the truth, so long as it stays between you and me.’
‘Why the secrecy? Are you ashamed of me? You’re a bastard yourself, why should it matter to you?’ Now that he’d been reassured Jago wasn’t in imminent danger of dying, Wesley seemed to feel free to give vent to his anger.
‘Come now, boy, haven’t I taught you to use your brain? Think about it. What would have happened if I’d told the world? You’d have lost Marcombe Hall to that toad Henry and you’d have been nothing but the son of an innkeeper.’
‘I wouldn’t have cared. I’d never have known, would I?’ Wesley was still scowling.
‘Ah, but you’re forgetting one thing. Your mother would have been branded a whore, albeit she wasn’t around to hear it. Would you have wanted that?’ Wesley looked like he was about to say something he might regret and Jago held up a hand. ‘No, she didn’t deserve it. And I’ll tell you why.’
Despite the burning in his throat he told Wesley the truth about his mother and the husband who had ill-treated her. The boy was nearly eighteen, old enough to know about the murder, even though Jago could see it shocked him. When he’d finished his tale, he lay back against the pillows and fought for breath.
‘Now do you see? I couldn’t let my brother win, even in death. If I’d acknowledged you, it would have been a victory of sorts for John.’ He put a hand on Wesley’s arm. ‘But you must never think for a moment that I’d have been ashamed to own you as my son. And if it had ever been necessary, I would have done it.’
Wesley nodded and put his own hand over Jago’s, gripping it tightly. ‘I understand, Father. Thank you for telling me.’
‘I always intended to, but I thought to wait. I see now I was wrong.’
The Secret Kiss of Darkness Page 26