The House Party

by Mary Grand

  Beth told the children she was going out, told Adam to push the bolt across the front door and said she would ring the doorbell when she returned. He looked at her as if she was slightly mad but couldn’t be bothered to argue.

  Beth locked the back door with the extra Chubb locks. She left the key in the lock, then left by the front door, calling Adam so she knew he had bolted the door after her. She got into her car and drove.

  The rain was quite gentle; the windscreen wipers on the slowest pitch were not as alarming as when they were going full pelt. Few people were out, apart from the occasional dog walker.

  Beth finally pulled into the caravan site and drove up to Alex’s caravan. There were no lights on and no sign of Elsa’s car. Had Elsa panicked and gone somewhere else? Beth left her headlights on, took out her phone and started to text Elsa.

  It wasn’t until she looked up from her phone that she saw an alien-like figure dressed all in white walking towards her. She stared, but then remembered the forensic team at the end of Kathleen’s garden. Her heart raced. What were the police doing here?

  The figure approached her car but didn’t come to her door. Instead she watched as they walked to the passenger door. A growing sense of alarm told her something was very wrong but before she had time to act, the person opened it and climbed into the car. Beth sat paralysed, and then she saw the glint of a knife in the gloved hand. Her heart beat so hard her head felt like it would burst.

  ‘Sorry about the outfit; you’ll understand why soon,’ William said, holding the knife closer to her.

  Beth pushed herself back, could feel the door handle jam into her back. How could she have been so stupid? Why hadn’t it even crossed her mind that William could easily send a text from Elsa’s phone. Despite all she knew now about William she’d let her guard down, walked blindly into a trap. Now she had a terrible feeling she would pay for that mistake with her life.

  Beth slid one hand behind her back, located the door handle and tried to push it down.

  ‘Leave it,’ he barked. ‘Don’t think of getting out. We are going for a ride.’ Beth quickly clasped both her hands in front of her.

  Rain was now pouring down the windscreen. She could make out lights in a caravan further away. It had to be safer here than on some dark country road. Somehow, she needed to keep him talking, someone might see them, ask if they needed help.

  ‘There is no point in killing me. If I’ve worked it out, other people will soon,’ she stammered.

  He grinned. ‘I don’t think so. I’ve been watching you, thinking you’re so clever, but you’re not.’

  ‘Do you have Kathleen’s phone?’

  He laughed, cold, cruel. ‘Of course not. I threw that into the sea the day I got it. Keeping it would have been ridiculous, but I had to take it. I couldn’t be sure what was on there, who Kathleen’s last call was to.’

  ‘It was to me,’ said Beth. ‘She told me at the house party on the Sunday evening, she was going to fight the person threatening her, but you know that, and that is why you felt you needed to kill her. You think you have been so clever, don’t you?’

  She felt the knife press into her side. ‘Everything was very carefully planned, no mistakes, nothing to connect her death to me.’

  ‘I wonder if there was anything in the Hendersons’ car, I mean no one has been in it since you drove it to Kathleen’s, have they?’

  He glared at her. ‘No one will think of looking at that car.’

  ‘I did, though. I was trying to figure out how you got to Kathleen’s and then I saw the Hendersons’ car. But how did you get to it, I wondered. Then I remembered that lane, the old chapel. Of course, you could have parked the car there the night before. I am guessing the next day, you arrived at work about half six, went to your surgery and put up that Do Not Disturb sign. Then you climbed out of the window and drove over to Kathleen’s. No one would recognise the car, even if they saw it. You parked, walked along the cliff path and went into her garden. I assume it was then you let the hens out?’

  He sat back, scowled at her. ‘Bloody hens, I hate them. It’s mainly why I wore one of these suits. I arrived, took down a panel, hid by the hen coop. It was all very simple. Once Kathleen was down there, I let the hens out, tried to make them run towards the gap in the fence. Damn things though, not easy to manage and always did make me sneeze. My eyes were still streaming that evening from them. Most of the hens refused to go the way I wanted, but then one scruffy one made its way through and, as I planned, Kathleen chased it. She was within a whisper of the cliff edge. One light push and she was gone. I saw the phone and headphones, picked them up. I checked the cliff path: no one about, so I ran back to the car, removed the suit, bagged it up and drove back.’

  ‘Someone could have seen you driving back into the lane by the surgery, there would have been more people about by then.’

  He smirked. ‘I’d thought of that. I’d worn that coat hanging up in my surgery. As a precaution, when I got back, I didn’t park in the lane. I left the car in a side street, just up the road, walked back… I didn’t meet anyone but had plans if I did… I’d thought of everything.’

  ‘So, you climbed back in through the window, disposed of the suit in medical waste, and were there to see your first patient. You even took the further precaution of having the grass cut in the lane, just to cover your tracks, as they say.’

  William sneered, ‘You think you are so clever, don’t you? Well, you walked straight into this tonight, not so smart, are you?’ The windows had steamed up now. He wiped his and looked out. ‘We need to get out of here.’

  Beth went to grab the door handle, but the knife was there at her throat.

  ‘No way.’ he said. ‘Start the engine. I want you to turn the car round and turn left.’

  Beth did as she was told. It felt like he was putting her through some horrific driving test. All the time he held the knife to the side of her throat, but it hardly touched the skin. ‘Right, pull in off the road, down here, good, no need to hide it away.’ He grinned. ‘Now, get out.’

  ‘What do you want?’

  ‘I want you to shut up and do what you are told.’ Beth saw in William’s eyes the same fire she’d seen that day in the surgery. He had a torch and, keeping the knife close but not touching her, he directed Beth across the field and along the cliff path; the wind buffeting her face.

  Beth could hear the sea below: stronger waves this evening; no moon lighting the surface. The path became increasingly narrow. Beth was shaking. She saw stones crumble beneath her feet, could hear them falling helplessly down the cliff side.

  ‘I think this will do,’ said William

  They were outside the white fence at the end of Patrick and Kathleen’s garden.

  ‘Why have you brought me here?’ she shouted, making her voice heard over the wind.

  ‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? It’s your turn. Don’t worry. I’ll explain it all to Sami and your children. Everyone knows how obsessed you’ve been with Kathleen’s death. I’ll tell them about when I prescribed antidepressants, the day after you came to see me after the funeral. Yes, it’s in your notes now, how worried I was about you. How was I to know you never took the pills? I’ve prepared the way for a woman who just couldn’t cope any more and took her own life in the same spot her close friend had died.’

  Beth listened with horror, he’d planned this, he could get away with it.

  ‘You don’t need to kill me, you said I’ve no proof.’ Her voice was high, frantic. ‘Please—’

  At that moment it seemed the wind held its breath and the waves below became a distant murmur. It seemed to calm William.

  He spoke again but his voice was steady, quieter. ‘Of course I have to kill you. You’re just like Kathleen, you won’t let it lie, will you. If she’d been sensible, I’d never have killed her, you know.’

  ‘No, I realised that was never part of the plan,’ she said.

  ‘You’d figured that out?’

 
‘Yes, I finally realised that, all this time, there was only one person you wanted to kill and that was your wife.’

  William almost gave her a look of approval. ‘That’s exactly it. I’m glad you see I’m not some crazy person who likes going around killing people. I’m a doctor. I heal. I make people better. You did well to work that out eventually.’

  ‘The problem was, I thought Kathleen’s death was somehow tied up with her affair, with her pregnancy, but it wasn’t, was it? I think Kathleen was threatened and killed because of something she saw.’

  ‘And that was?’ William held the knife at his side now, his head was tilted, ready to listen, as if they were carrying on some normal conversation in her living room.

  ‘Imogen’s apparent accident on the skiing holiday. Kathleen saw you push Imogen, didn’t she, although, of course, at first she didn’t really believe it. Then, as she saw the way you were medicating Imogen, again she was confused, didn’t take in the implications of it all. Why should she? She trusted you.’

  William sighed. ‘Kathleen was an irritation, like some fly you hear buzzing around your room—’

  ‘Or a grubby grey pebble on a beach?’

  He blinked. ‘Exactly. Everything else was going to plan. Imogen hurt her back, I had to keep her on the pills, of course, when we came back, get her hooked. Everything was going so well, apart, of course, from Kathleen.’

  Beth nodded. ‘I got confused. Kathleen had been telling people she was concerned about an accident. I assumed it was something to do with Amy, Alex’s wife.’

  William gave a cold grin. ‘Poor Alex. You just soaked up all those hints about him messing about with Amy’s medication. You were so gullible.’

  ‘But I got there in the end. It was a shame Kathleen hadn’t fully realised what you were like before she told you about the pregnancy. She never suspected how cruel you were and how you would use it against her. But you must have known how tempting it would be for her to talk to Patrick and then you’d have had no hold over her.’

  ‘Yes, I needed insurance. Stealing the earrings was a stroke of genius. Kathleen’s face when she found them! You know, she was in such a state she couldn’t even be sure she hadn’t done it. She was pathetic and so easy to manipulate. Shame and guilt: they’re brilliant weapons of war. I stole a few pills from the pharmacy as well. I needed, you see, to have as few people as possible on her side. I didn’t want to kill her, it’s so risky. But then she lost the baby. It changed her. It made her stronger, more determined somehow, and I realised people might believe her. She left me no choice.’

  Beth felt anger raising up, smothering her fear. ‘You destroyed my friend; you made her last days on earth hell. Don’t you tell me you are a good doctor who heals when you can do that to a person and plan to kill your own wife.’

  His face darkened. His eyes lit up with a cruel glint. ‘I’m not going to kill Imogen. She is going to do that herself. She got herself hooked, and it was so easy. I kept replacing her low dose pills with something much stronger. It’s only a matter of time until she kills herself. I’ve planned it, you see. She needed to have a minor overdose, get the idea of her being an addict. It’s difficult being a doctor. People will look at me. I must be very clever about this. But I think I’m doing it very well. I was rushed into the last one. I didn’t expect her to survive that, I have to admit but, well, there’s always next time.’

  ‘You know it’s not true about her making choices. You understand addiction. She trusted you, and you abused that. You’re making her ill. You’re killing her, slowly, painfully, destroying her piece by piece, because you are a vain, greedy man.’

  ‘Shut it,’ he screamed, his eyes burned bright, and he pushed the knife into her neck. She was pinned against the fence. ‘You are a stupid interfering bitch, you deserve to die.’ His voice had changed. The smooth, public school intonation replaced by a hard-East End voice. He stopped, aware the mask had slipped.

  ‘Yes, that’s your real voice isn’t it… the real you. You are a fake, William; your whole life is a lie.’

  ‘I am a doctor, a real doctor and a very good one. I was the brightest, most able pupil at school, no one else came close to me. And then I got to medical school.’

  ‘What happened?’

  He waved the knife around madly. ‘All those rich morons, thick as shit most of them and still they looked down on me. God, I hate them all. Like my ex’s family. More rich bastards. She complained to daddy about me, he got the lawyers onto me, I had to give her every penny I’d earned. I wish I’d killed her, she deserved it.’ He stopped, held the knife close to her face.

  Beth could hear the waves crushing the stones below. She was so close to death she could feel its touch on her face, hear it breathe. Her whole body shook. She grabbed the fence, frightened she would slip at any moment. Her mind flashed to Sami, Layla, Adam. She wanted to live for them, to see them again, but she was running out of time.

  ‘Before I die, tell me. Do you really know my secret?’

  He pressed his lips together, and Beth knew. ‘You were bluffing. I wondered why you never gave me any clues.’

  ‘It worked. Got you scared.’ He pushed the knife gently into her cheek. ‘Tell me, then. What is this big secret?’

  ‘No. You don’t deserve to know. The truth is wasted on you. If you kill me, you will always know that I knew all your secrets, but you never knew mine.’

  Beth could feel the force of the wind gathering again. Her footing was becoming unsteady.

  ‘It’s time,’ said William. He slid the knife behind her back and used it to push her forward. Beth went to step forward but stopped, instead she stayed clinging onto the fence. She’d remembered what Roisin had shown her.

  ‘You don’t want to push me too hard or stab me,’ she said, ‘Not if you want it to look like suicide.’ Beth started to creep backwards, using her had to search for it… yes, she’d found the notch. As she pushed, the hidden gate slid open.

  She turned, ran into the garden. William paused, momentarily stunned, then quickly followed. The house was in darkness: Patrick and Conor weren’t there. Beth knew she was trapped.

  And then the spotlights came on, lighting her up as if she was on a stage.

  ‘There is no way out, is there?’ said William as he walked towards her with the knife. Beth grabbed one of the solar lights from the path and threw it at him. In shock he dropped the knife, his hand went to his head. ‘You bitch,’ he screamed.

  He’d started to run at her when a voice shouted, ‘Leave her alone.’

  Beth and William turned to see Imogen coming through the side gate. She was holding up a phone.

  William’s mouth fell open, and the menacing figure melted, leaving a foolish, stunned man behind.

  ‘What the hell—’ he stammered.

  Imogen held out the phone as she walked towards him. ‘You fool, you didn’t delete the message on Elsa’s phone… she showed it to me, couldn’t understand how it got there, but I did. I drove to the caravan, you’d gone, so I came this way, saw Beth’s car. I thought, they are having a cliff top walk, I’ll go to Patrick’s, lucky I have his key—’

  ‘There is no need to get jealous, you’re not thinking straight.’

  She laughed hard. ‘No, for the first time in a long time, I am. Everything Kathleen told me was right. You pushed me down the steps on that holiday, you gave me strong, addictive drugs, made sure I got hooked. I trusted you. I was such a fool.’ Imogen stepped forward, her voice shaking with emotion. ‘I didn’t see it properly until the last time I was in hospital, you went too far. I started keeping track of my pills, you bastard. And then earlier, I saw the way Beth looked at you—’

  Beth watched as William’s eyes flickered around, he was looking for a way out. He stepped back but in one swift movement Imogen picked up the knife that was lying on the ground, held the point to his chest. ‘I was trying to work out what Beth knew about you when I saw the message. Before I left I, looked in your safe… th
ere were packets and packets of pain killers.’ Her voice cracked. ‘How could you, William? I thought you loved me. I’d have divorced you if you hated me so much.’ She started to sob and as she broke down she dropped the knife. In a flash William picked it up, but then Beth heard sirens, cars crunching on the gravel at the front of the house. William waved the knife, looked around frantically.

  ‘I called them when I saw your car at the caravan,’ said Imogen through her sobs. ‘You always say, better safe—’

  Two policemen came into the garden, sprinted over to William who started to run towards the fence, but he was quickly wrestled to the ground and handcuffed. Beth heard the words of arrest and ran over to Imogen, who fell into her arms. ‘It’s all right, you’re safe now,’ Beth said.

  As the storm settled Imogen stepped back. ‘Why Beth, why did he need to kill me?’

  Beth spoke as gently as she could. ‘It was all for money, status.’

  ‘Money?’ Imogen shook her head. ‘But he had plenty and my parents were throwing it at us.’

  ‘Actually, he didn’t have any of his own money.’

  ‘But—’

  ‘No, he’s not the person you thought he was. It was all lies. The rich parents, the public school, Oxford.’

  ‘But… what? Isn’t he even a real doctor?’

  ‘Oh, he’s that. That is the one real thing about him. I looked on the GMC register, he trained at a London University Hospital. It was everything else that was a lie.’

  ‘How on earth did you work all this out?’

  ‘It started with the scarf, something very small and insignificant, a silly mistake on his part. To build the illusion he went to Oxford he bought a load of bits off the internet. The only problem is, he was careless. He bought a Brasenose college scarf when he was pretending that he went to Christ Church.’

  ‘But why bother when he’d actually trained at such a respectable place?’

  ‘Because it was just one part of the façade he was creating for your parents. He painted a picture of an old money family, public school, a pianist, a reader of Booker Prize novels…’