When Charly woke up the next time, she felt feverish and seriously ill. Then she remembered… Alice had forced her to drink a glass of liquid. She must have put something in it that had caused these symptoms. Hadn’t she felt as miserable the other night? When Alice had been with her before, Charly had asked her if she had staged all the events in the house, as if she needed the last bit of information to confirm that she wasn’t going crazy. Alice had told her that no matter how many security locks she put on, she would still have been able to get into the house thanks to her special tools. Yes, she had spat, it was Alice herself who locked Jody in the basement and opened the windows and doors in the house. Likewise, they had never agreed that Alice would keep Jody overnight. Alice had deliberately misled her by manipulating the photos and using a baby monitor to stage the ghostly giggles and other noises. She also pretended to be a journalist and “interviewed” Amanda Bishop with the intent to steal the earring. Finally, Alice had even been admitted that the main part of her charade had only worked because, as a nurse, she had access to certain drugs that affected the nervous system and psyche and had mixed them in with Charly’s coffee grounds.
Hence the daily dizziness, Charly realized, and the nightmares. Alice had made sure she reacted to everything hysterically, becoming paranoid. Just like Imogen before her. Charly’s eyes brimmed with tears. Would she have been able to avert all this if she had remembered everything earlier and had been willing to confess everything to Megan’s family? She had to face the fact that she would probably never get an answer to that question. The thought of Jody made her heart clutch. Charly wanted to gasp for air until the gag painfully reminded her that impossible. In panic, she registered how her nose continued to swell up from crying, her lungs beginning to burn.
Breathe!
She had to get her panic under control and stop crying so that her mucous membranes would not close up even more and cut off the last remaining millimeters to transport oxygen.
With a flash, Charly remembered the conversation with Sally. Despite her bad physical and psychological condition, she had told the woman a credible story in which her mother was seriously ill and therefore she could not return to England yet, and that she had asked Alice to pick up Jody. Sally had hesitated at first, giving her hope that at least the little girl would come out of this story unscathed, then she gave in. Charly suspected it was the pending family vacation that had made Sally make this decision. All Alice had to do was wait for the afternoon to pick up Jody and leave the country with her immediately afterwards.
The sound of running footsteps tore her from her thoughts and reminded her of what was next on Alice’s murderous plan. She had rubbed it in her face in an ice-cold voice, scaring the hell out of Charly.
The key turned in the lock. Then Charly felt a hellish pain in her head and eyes. The flashlight. Seconds later, she felt a sting in her throat. Then a pulling, which became more and more violent.
“I injected you with a sedative. We don’t want you to scream when we go outside. Besides, it’s easier to die when you’re not in you’re right mind—at least I suppose so.” Alice pulled Charly’s arm up, pushed her firmly in the back. “Be careful, one foot after the other, and no nonsense please, otherwise I’ll think of another way to get rid of you.”
Charly dragged herself forward with difficulty. Her legs felt like pudding, her heartbeat was slower and slower, and her eyes kept drooping, which didn’t bother her since she was no longer able to perceive anything around her, anyway. When she collapsed on the first landing, Alice yanked her up by her hair, kicking her in the back.
“Let’s go! We must be done before it gets light and people start coming outside.” She pushed them on until they were standing in the hallway. At last Charly could see something again, lit by the beams of moonlight shining in through the kitchen window, bathing the hallway in a diffuse light that matched the whole scene in a cruel way.
“Huuhhh,” Alice said behind her when Charly hesitated. “Are you afraid of the dark or something?”
Charly would have loved to scream in Alice’s face that she was only afraid of her madness, but her mouth was still gagged, denying her even this last joy. As Alice passed her and opened the front door, Charly enjoyed the cool breeze on her swollen face, greedily sucking the fresh air through her nose and into her lungs for the very last time. Alice had backed up the rental car almost to the front door and now only needed to press the lock on the key and open the trunk. “Get in.” She shoved Charly forward.
Charly became dizzy, which must have been due to the drugs Alice had injected into her. She moaned and fell headfirst into the dark interior of the trunk, curled up like an embryo. Then she felt another prick in her neck.
“That’s the last of it now, my dear. I wish you a good night.” Alice tenderly stroked a strand of hair from her face, which frightened Charly even more than her previous rudeness. She recoiled, whimpering against the gag.
Alice bent down to her. “It must be a beautiful death to just fall asleep and never wake up again. Neither Adam nor my sister took it so well, so you can thank me a little.” She giggled. “I only feel sorry for those poor devils who will one day have the dubious pleasure of breaking open the trunk to find your decomposed body. Fortunately, we both don’t have to witness this… although you do. Kind of.” Another maniacal giggle, then Alice slammed the trunk shut. Seconds later the car shook, and the engine started. Charly still managed to recall the face of her mother, her father, and silently asked her parents for forgiveness for not having been around much lately. Then Alice’s special cocktail unfolded its full effect and dragged her into nothingness.
When Charly regained consciousness, she did not know where she was or what was going on around her. She glanced around but could not recognize anything. Then first the panic came back and took her breath, followed by the pain, taking away her ability to think. At first she only felt numbness in her limbs from the restraints, then nothing at all, probably because of whatever Alice had injected her with. Now her entire body felt like a single open wound. Her lungs were burning like fire, her head, stomach, and back were in such a searing pain that she nearly went insane. Everything came back to her in a rush. Alice had pumped her full of narcotics and God knows what else and had parked her in a public parking lot somewhere in the middle of London. Nobody would even think of regarding her “prison” as suspicious, so if she was unlucky, she would slowly but surely suffocate or—worse—die of thirst, while Alice was already on her way abroad with Jody.
Alice had told her that she would first go to France and get false papers for Jody and herself, which she could then use to escape further away. All in all not a bad plan, Charly had to admit. Alice had really thought of everything. Sally would have handed the girl over to her without any problems, so Alice had probably already left England behind.
Quite contrary to herself, who had fallen into the trap of this madwoman because of her good faith.
Inside the trunk of the car it was now hot as an oven, which would accelerate dehydration of her body. Charly’s sweat ran down her body in torrents and to her horror she realized she had wet herself. How long had she been lying in here? And why was she still alive at all? Alice had calculated that the medication was enough to kill an elephant. Charly groaned. So she was not even granted a merciful death. Her body stiffened and bitter bile shot from her stomach through her throat to her mouth. She sent a quick prayer to heaven, then she gagged. Under no circumstances would she allow her body to fight against all the drugs in her bloodstream and suffocate her with her own vomit. She had read somewhere that this way of dying was the most terrible of all, because it was horrible to suffer in pain until you died.
Charly moaned in pain and disgust as the bitter liquid flowed back down her esophagus and into her stomach. Then she closed her eyes, hoping for quick relief.
Epilogue
Five days later…
“Miss Beck? Can you hear me?”
The voice sounded friendly and pushed itself into her consciousness.
Charly coughed, but could not open her eyes.
Her head roared, chased by severe pain surging through her body with the slightest movement of her eyeballs, making her groan.
“Where am I?”
“You were very lucky,” the friendly voice said gently. “Only a little later and you would not be alive today.”
A cool hand stroked her forehead.
Alice!
Was she here? She began to tremble, trying to sit up until two hands gently pushed her back onto the bed. “You must lie still, Miss Beck. Please, calm down.”
Charly heard a quiet clattering like before in the basement when Alice stuck a syringe in her throat.
“Is she here?” Using the last of her strength, Charly reared up. “Alice, the woman who did this to me, is she—”
“Don’t be afraid,” a male voice said, which sounded familiar to her.
Jake!
Charly started to cry. “You found me and you.” Her voice failed and she tipped over into unconsciousness.
Another two days later…
“Will you tell me what’s going on? Where’s Jody?”
Jake’s face darkened. He stepped backwards until his back was against the wall next to the door. “I’ll tell you about that later. First, I need to know exactly what happened. Did Alice lock you in the trunk?”
“Yes. Did you catch her? And what are you hiding from me?”
Jake hesitated, then said, “Alice had an accident—with Jody in the car. That was a week ago. She was also here in the hospital but was released a few days ago.”
Charly’s mouth fell open. “You just let her go?”
Jake came over to her bed and placed his hand on her arm to comfort her. “She is in custody until you are able to testify. Which, frankly, should be soon so we don’t have trouble from her lawyer.”
Charly sat up. “Can I have something to drink?” She accepted the cup that Jake handed her and took a sip. “Everything I told you in our last conversation is true. Except for her motive. Alice wasn’t after Adam and Imogen’s money, but her child. She wanted Jody.”
Charly told Jake everything she knew about Alice, leaving out not one little thing. Not even that she had suspected and deceived him, putting herself in danger. When she finished, her head began to hurt.
“Alice knocked me down and drugged me. Then she kicked me repeatedly and pumped more drugs into me. She wanted me to die from an overdose or from the lack of oxygen in the trunk. Her plan was to get away before they found my body.”
Jake’s expression was grim. “You had the right hunch from the beginning that Adam and Imogen were murdered, and that the same person also killed Linda Shaw.” He clenched his hands in fists. “This is all my fault. Because I didn’t listen to Imogen or you, and I thought you were both crazy. Because of me, this madwoman almost had your death on her conscience along with the others.” He sat down next to her on the bed and took her hand. “If Alice hadn’t gotten into an accident…” He looked away. “It must’ve happened right after she picked Jody up from Sally’s. She was going way too fast, probably just wanted to get away. We received a report of a serious accident involving a small child. When I heard Alice’s name as the driver, I figured it must have been Jody. I became suspicious because after what you tried to tell me before, you would never have let Jody go voluntarily. I called you more than twenty times, then I went to the house and then to the hospital. When I asked Alice about you, she looked at me funny and said you were in Berlin. When I asked why Jody wasn’t with you, she just smiled strangely. That’s when I realized that something was completely wrong. She knew the game was over, she could forget whatever her plan was, yet she would have let you die in that trunk with complete peace of mind.” He shook his head. “When I realized I wasn’t going to get anything out of her, I mobilized every officer I could get my hands on and had them search the area around the cliffs. Meanwhile, I located your family in Germany and spoke to your ex, but nobody knew where you were. Alice had caused the accident with her own car, and eventually I realized your rental car was nowhere to be found. I racked my brains and thought about it until I remembered the City Car sticker stuck on the back window of the car. I called their main office and badgered them until they agreed to locate the car without any court orders.”
“You can do that?” Charly asked.
“Actually, it’s a gray area. The car rental companies are not allowed to do it, but they still install GPS trackers in most of their vehicles to have a head start in case of theft. It was a stroke of luck that you actually got such a vehicle and Alice didn’t know that.
“The attending doctor said that if we had found you just a few minutes later, you would have died. Your body was completely dehydrated, you had a broken rib that had pierced your right lung, stomach bleeding, and enormous symptoms of poisoning. In addition, one of your kidneys was about to give up the ghost.”
Charly gulped. “Jody? What about her?”
Jake flinched. “She suffered a basilar skull fracture because Alice—that idiot—let her ride in the passenger seat instead of the child seat. She slipped out of her seatbelt and slammed her head through the windshield onto the road.”
The blood drained from Charly’s face. Horrified, she grabbed her chest, gasping for air. “Is she…?” She held back a sob.
“No!” Jake said quickly. “The doctors have put her in an artificial coma, they want to wait until the worst is over. This morning I spoke with her attending physician and learned that they intend to wake her the day after tomorrow. Things are looking up, but it will be a long time before she is completely healthy again.”
Charly reached for Jake’s hand and squeezed it. “Do you think none of this would have happened if Imogen and I had told you right away what happened to Megan? Maybe then everything would have been different and Alice would have had nothing on Imogen if she hadn’t been able to lead her astray.” She lowered her eyes. “Somehow, I feel that all of this is punishment for what we did to your sister.”
“Imogen and you were only seven years old at the time,” Jake said compassionately. “You were afraid, not aware of your actions and the consequences. You must forgive yourself, then you can answer your question by yourself. As for Alice… she would have found another way to reach her goal after Adam’s death, even if Imogen and you hadn’t had to struggle with your own feelings of guilt.” He stood up, wiped a tear from Charly’s cheek. “You get some rest now, see that you get fit quickly. You’re gonna need all your strength for Jody when all this is over.”
December 2015
“Aunt Charly, may I help you?”
Beaming, Jody looked at her with big eyes.
“How could your aunt deny you even the smallest wish?” Charly’s mother handed the girl a chocolate cookie. “If you are bored with decorating trees, you are welcome to help me in the kitchen.”
Charly watched as her mother mischievously winked at Jody and grinned. At the sight of her living room, completely devastated by toys lying around, a warm feeling spread inside her. She realized that it had been the right decision to rent the house in Newhaven for the time being and to invest the money she had inherited from Imogen in a cottage on the outskirts of London. What Jody needed most now was some distance from her old life. From all the losses, from the constant change of her caregivers, from the accident that almost cost her still much too young life. London seemed to be the right place for Charly, at least for the moment. The new neighborhood was relatively quiet for a big city, and the short distance to the coast offered Jody and her the opportunity to visit Adam’s and Imogen’s graves at any time, or to spend a day by the sea. As for her own past, she had now done what she should have done long ago. She smiled at the thought of Andreas and his sheepish reaction when she had told him that she was not coming back, but that he would have to expect another visit from the police soon if he di
d not leave her alone once and for all.
She had also spoken with her parents and had been relieved when her father announced he had also been thinking about returning to England for some time and that this plan was now within reach since he had a granddaughter in addition to his beloved daughter.
Last but not least, there was Jake …
Charly smiled and glanced at her watch. He had promised to come over on Christmas Eve with his son Jonas. He wanted to give Jody and her his presents and enjoy dinner with them. Of course, she had also bought something for him and his son, hoping she had made the right choice.
What connected Jake and her today was a close friendship, thanks to which she found the strength to process what she experienced every day anew.
Jake helped her believe that she could manage to like herself again someday.
She cried at the thought that the very man whose family had been broken by Imogen’s and her cowardice offered her his friendship so unconditionally.
How could she ever suspect him of wanting to do her any harm, let alone kill her? He, who even refused to kill insects for his son’s sake, even though his job sometimes required him to be tough.
Charly looked at Jody, who seemed to be considering whether to help her or to go to the kitchen and eat cookies. Jake was not the only one who had been changed by the influence of a child. Charly could no longer imagine her life without the little girl. And still she cursed Alice most for almost killing Jody. She hoped the madwoman would rot in her cell forever! The trial wasn’t over yet, the final verdict hadn’t been announced, but Jake was optimistic that Alice would get life and never set foot on the ground again.
When the doorbell rang and announced the expected visit, Charly wiped tears from her face.
It was her first Christmas with Jody and her parents. They would celebrate together like a real family, just having a good time. Hopefully, many more such good days would follow…
I Will Break You (Best International Thrillers) Page 17