by Agatha Frost
“Let’s get to the road,” Dot urged Rafa softly as she helped him up out of the shallow smoke. “We’ve had quite enough near-death experiences in this clearing, thank you very much.”
21
Julia
The old car trundled up the hill, every bump and pothole shuddering through a frame that had long since lost its suspension. The dim headlights still reflected off of Castro’s unmarked police car. If they had any idea who was following them, they were too rushed to stop and insist they go back. Julia imagined her phone vibrating all over the bedside table at the hotel the second Barker spotted them.
Through the rear-view mirror, she watched as Minnie was tossed from side to side in the backseat. Just as Julia was about to tell her great-aunt to put her seatbelt on, she remembered there hadn’t been any when Lisa picked them up from the airport. Somehow, Minnie didn’t spill a drop from the bottle of sangria clutched in her fist.
“You have to wiggle the gearstick, Jessie!” she cried, using the headrest to pull herself forward. “To the left. Go on, ram it!”
“I’m trying,” Jessie grumbled through gritted teeth, attempting to shift the car down a gear as the road steepened. “The stupid thing won’t budge! I can see why they don’t make cars like this anymore.”
Minnie reached forward and hauled the gearstick to the left and down into the second gear. The car bolted forward before Jessie eased off the acceleration. A pothole sent Minnie bouncing right back into her seat.
“Why did she have to come?” Jessie whispered to Julia as they used the rear-view mirror to watch her chug sangria.
“She insisted.”
“Haven’t you had enough?” Jessie called into the backseat. “You’re gonna throw up.”
“It’s to settle my nerves, sweet child.” She rubbed the spillage from her chin, but it left a faint stain. “I still can’t believe it! My dear neighbour, Rodger, The Buyer? Under my nose this whole time! Lies upon lies once again. I stupidly thought Rodger might be the one to replace my dear departed Bill, but he was playing me like a fiddle!”
Minnie paused to glug more sangria. Julia bit her tongue, wanting to point out that Minnie had freely admitted that at least two of her marriages were shams to further her career.
“And my poor Lisa,” she continued, wiping her lips with the sleeve of her leopard-print silk dressing gown. “She never trusted him! Never liked him. I could tell. I thought she was jealous that I had someone else in my life, but as usual, my daughter was right. Despite her rotten mother, she was always a bright one. None of this would have happened if I’d listened to her.”
“How could you not tell he was dodgy?” Jessie asked, speeding up when Castro’s car vanished around a bend in the mountain road. “He was giving off major weirdo vibes.”
“Maybe I’m not as tuned-in as I thought.”
“Or maybe you’re always drunk,” Jessie said, this time under her breath just loudly enough for Julia to catch it.
“He always seemed so charming.” Minnie hugged the sangria bottle and sank into the corner. “So kind and generous. Always listened. I thought he cared about me.”
“He manipulated you,” Julia said, locking eyes with her great-aunt through the mirror. “I wouldn’t be surprised if he tailored that personality especially for you.”
“Well, it worked!” she cried. “I fell for it hook, line, and sinker! Silly old Minnie. I should have let the party end a long time ago.”
Julia leaned forward and looked up the mountain. Smoke billowed from the trees in the distance, and dancing flames bathed a small section of forest in an amber glow.
“Why do I have a horrible feeling that’s where we’re heading?” Julia said, sitting back in her seat. “Please be okay, Gran. Please be—”
“And Hillard!” Minnie exclaimed out of nowhere, sitting bolt upright before rolling into the opposite corner. “The inspector! Cut from the same cloth! Just as charming . . . and he was in on it too? All this time? And Rodger, his stepfather? No wonder he was in no rush to find dear Dorothy and Percival! Rodger’s little lapdog. I bet he was in on the cover-up of my daughter’s attempted murder, too. Oh, poor Arlo. We didn’t stand a chance.”
Minnie paused, tipping yet more sangria into her waiting mouth. Julia had to wonder when the bottle would finally be empty. In the silence, distant sirens caught Julia’s attention.
“Do you hear that?” Jessie asked. “I think they’re coming from the opposite direction.”
Castro sped up so Jessie followed, closing the gap between them to less than a car’s distance. Through the rear-view of the car ahead, Julia saw the moment Barker’s eyes popped open in recognition. He ripped himself around in his seat and squinted past his headrest, both eyebrows angled upwards as he shouted something she was grateful she didn’t have to hear.
“I think he might be angry,” Jessie said, leaning on the horn. “Yeah, yeah! We can’t hear you, mate. Too late to turn back now!”
“He’s only thinking of the baby,” Julia said, her hands guiltily going to the bump.
“And I’m not?” Jessie shot her a sideways glance. “Like I’m going to let anything happen to you two. You’re not even getting out of this car. You can stay here and look after Amy Winehouse back there.”
A helicopter appeared over the tip of the mountain, training its spotlight on the forest below. A second appeared, and they flew down to the fire, lighting up the trees like a stadium concert. In the white light, the smoke was even thicker.
Jessie sighed as the road curved up in the direction of the fire. “Well, that’s definitely where we’re heading.”
The dense trees closed around the road, blocking off the views from both sides. As the trees whizzed by, Julia caught sight of Inspector Hillard’s car for the first time. Castro sped up and Jessie tailed him, jamming the gearstick back into third as the road levelled out.
Julia ducked to take in the helicopters hovering above them like spaceships. The light of one whooshed past, blinding her. Jessie swerved, sending Minnie tumbling all over again.
“Flipping heck!” Jessie cried. “Are they trying to beam us up? A little warning next . . .”
Jessie’s voice trailed away, all the muscles in her face tightening as she slammed her foot down on the break. They skidded to a halt behind Castro’s car, which was also screeching to an abrupt stop. The seatbelt caught Julia, but Minnie tumbled forward, hitting her head on the gearstick. They rocked to sudden stillness, flopping back in their chairs.
“I’m fine!” Minnie cried out, one hand on her head, the other still clutching the sangria.
Julia brushed her hair from her face and squinted ahead. She wished she hadn’t been putting off that trip to the opticians for so many years. The blurry lines of the fire were a little further up on the right, through the trees. All the cars had stopped, with Castro’s having skidded into the opposite lane. Inspector Hillard’s car, at the front, was the only one pointing straight ahead, and its headlights illuminated a figure standing like a statue in the middle of the road. Blood dripped from the statue’s nose and all down the front of his beige linen suit.
“That’s Rodger!” Minnie cried.
Castro and Barker jumped out of their car, both holding up their hands in gestures that begged Julia and Jessie to stay where they were. Castro pulled a pair of handcuffs from his belt and set off up the road, but Inspector Hillard had different ideas. The back wheels of his car spun. Dirt kicked backwards at Castro and Barker, obscuring Julia’s view of them.
But as the rest of the scene unfolded, she had a ringside seat. Inspector Hillard raced at Rodger. Julia expected the man to run, but he simply stood, wide-eyed as the proverbial deer, as the headlights got closer. The car struck him, and he rolled up the bonnet and over the roof as Hillard continued his mad push forward. Rodger landed on the ground, rolling until he settled flat on his back.
Hillard slammed on his brakes and performed one of the quickest three-point turns Julia had ever witnessed. O
nce again, his headlights illuminated Rodger. Somehow, the man wasn’t dead. He was trying and failing to prop himself up with his elbows. Inspector Hillard revved his engine, but Castro sprinted up to the inspector’s car and dragged him out before he could finish what he’d started.
Julia and Jessie jumped out of the car as Barker hurried to Rodger’s side. He forced the man back down to the ground and clutched his hands together in front of him. Blue lights flashed at the top of the road, the sirens growing deafeningly close. Two fire engines came into view, large and red and almost identical to the ones Julia was used to seeing back at home. Instead of stopping behind Inspector Hillard’s abandoned car, they turned into the trees.
Julia hadn’t noticed the little slip road until the lights of the fire engines lit it up. They drove deeper into the forest, until their lights were indistinguishable from the glow of the fire. She could make out the blurry outlines of two buildings. One of them was ferociously ablaze.
“Mum!” Jessie pointed over the car into the forest. “Look!”
The lights of the helicopter swept through the forest, dancing from side to side as the aircraft danced around the edges of the fire. The light flashed past figures one way, and then seconds later, another. Julia squinted, sure the flash of white she saw belonged to a familiar blouse.
“It’s them!” Jessie cried, slapping the roof of the car. “It’s them!”
Julia’s hands clamped to her mouth.
She’d given up hope.
She hated to admit it, but she had.
And now, after everything, her gran was walking towards her through the forest, her clothes filthy and torn and her curls flattened to her head. Percy’s arm was wrapped around her shoulders, and the other was slung around the neck of a young man in a leather jacket who Julia didn’t recognise.
“Julia?” Dot cried, squinting through the forest. “Tell me this isn’t another cruel trick!”
Jessie rushed over and took over from Dot, using her strength to prop Percy up, but Julia couldn’t move. She stared at her gran and blinked through her tears, frozen to the spot.
Leaving her limping husband in good hands, Dot rushed at Julia with arm opens. Julia’s shocked stillness broke, and she wrapped her arms around her gran, clinging to her tightly and staring in open-mouthed awe at the fire in the distance as she tried to find her voice.
“I was beginning to think you’d never show up,” Dot said with a smile, wiping Julia’s tears as she leaned back from their tight embrace. “It really is you.” She turned and looked back at Percy, her smile vanishing. “I know you’ll have a lot of questions, but they have to wait. We need to get Percy to a hospital. Right now.”
Minnie stumbled out of the car, the sangria bottle still in hand. She went to sloppily hug Dot, but Dot dodged the embrace and snatched the bottle from Minnie’s grip, downing the contents in seconds. After throwing the bottle into the forest, Dot let out a small burp and yanked open the door so that Jessie and the young stranger could load Percy into the back of the car.
“I can drive!” Minnie announced raising a finger in the air. She swayed on her feet. “I know the way.”
“Fat chance.” Jessie pushed her out of the way. “In fact, looks like you’ll have to catch a different ride. No room in this one.”
Jessie jumped behind the wheel and slammed the door, and Julia did the same on the passenger side. She yanked her seatbelt across and looked into the backseat. With Percy propped up in the middle, attempting to meekly smile at her, Dot climbed in on one side, and the stranger on the other. As soon as their doors were closed, Jessie set off. To Minnie, left standing on the side of the road, Jessie offered a jaunty and unapologetic wave.
“Barker will take care of you,” Julia called through the window as they drove away.
Through the rear-view mirror, she watched Minnie shuffle towards Barker and Rodger. It shouldn’t have pleased Julia when Minnie booted Rodger between the legs as she passed him, but it did.
“Okay, but does anyone actually know the way to the hospital?” Jessie called out when they reached a turning in the road.
“Take a right,” the young man said, leaning forward. “I will lead.”
Julia looked back at the stranger and wondered where he slotted into the picture. Was this the ‘Rafa’ Rodger and Hillard had spoken of? He looked about Jessie’s age, and of all of them, he somehow seemed the most shaken up.
“Put your foot down, kiddo,” Percy said, his voice croaky and barely above a whisper. “I’d quite like to see at least one more sunrise.”
Julia reached through the gap and clutched her gran’s hands. In the split second before Dot noticed she was watching her in the rear-view mirror, Julia saw how wracked with worry her gran was. Still, she mustered a smile and a wink for Julia, and Julia believed it enough to smile back.
She had her gran back.
22
Dot
“Another win!” Dot said, slapping her cards down on the table. “You’re not such a bad poker player, after all.”
“Was I really tugging at my ear the whole time?” Percy asked as he claimed the chocolate buttons Dot had procured from the vending machine down the corridor.
“Every time.”
“I never noticed.” He began to shuffle the deck for a new game. “Still, I’m sure you’re letting me win.”
She was, but she’d never own up to it. While Percy dealt the cards for their next match, she looked through the hospital window. Seeing people going about their business on the other side with no bars or locks to stop them coming and going made her smile. The beeps and buzzes of hospitals had always unsettled her, but today they provided a much-needed sense of protection.
The doctor who had been treating Percy all night passed the window, eyes trained to a clipboard. He doubled back and knocked on the door before entering.
“Mr Percy!” The young, handsome doctor clung to the bottom of the bed and smiled at them both, his Spanish accent thick and silky. “How are you feeling today?”
“Much better.” Percy ripped back the blue hospital covers to show his fresh bandage. “That lovely nurse lady came by and changed the dressing five minutes ago.”
“You will need to watch him.” The doctor winked at Dot. “He has a little crush, I think.”
“Don’t worry.” Dot reached up to fiddle with her brooch, but her fingers met nothing but fabric. “I’ve got my eyes on him. He’s not leaving my sight again.”
“I only have eyes for you, my dear.” Percy sent a loving glance her way before looking down at his bandages and rolling his leg from side to side. “You’re not going to amputate, are you, doc?”
“Not this time.” He laughed and checked the clipboard. “The antibiotics are working already on the infection. You keep this wound clean, and you will have only a big scar and a good story.”
“It adds character.” Percy tossed back the covers further. “Does this mean I can go?”
“Yes, Mr Percy.” The doctor pulled the wheelchair from the bottom of the bed and rolled it up to Percy’s bedside. “You must rest a few days more, still. Do not put on it any weight. I do not want to put more stitches in.”
“Don’t worry, doc.” Percy shuffled into the chair with Dot’s help. “I intend to remain positively horizontal for the rest of the week.”
“I am not sure I know what this means,” the doctor replied, cheeks turning pink.
“It means he won’t be getting up for anything other than trips to the loo, and I’ll be waiting on him hand and foot.” Dot kissed the top of Percy’s head. “But I’m very glad to do it.”
Like her white lie that Percy was winning every third poker game, she’d vowed never to tell him how scared she’d been to lose him. About how close to death he’d been. With injuries no more severe than a bruised shoulder and some light smoke inhalation, Dot could have left the hospital at any time. Though Julia and Barker had begged her to return to the hotel for some proper rest, Dot chose to sleep upright
in the chair by Percy’s bed.
Somehow, it wasn’t the worst sleep she’d had in the last week.
With no clean clothes to change into, Dot decided they would steal the hospital dressing gown. They wheeled to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription for the rest of Percy’s antibiotics and painkillers. Afterwards, they ventured deeper into the hospital, following the way Dot remembered from her late-night visit with Minnie.
“It’s just up here,” Dot whispered as they pushed through the doors into the much quieter intensive care unit.
“Your sense of direction never fails you.”
She guided him through the intertwining corridors. She heard the chaos even before she turned the corner. Doctors and nurses rushed in and out of Lisa’s room. Dot stopped so abruptly she almost tipped Percy out of the chair.
She had feared the worst, but thankfully that was not the scene she saw unfolding through the room’s window. Lisa was half-sat up in bed, and from the looks of her swollen eyes, she hadn’t been awake for long. Minnie was by her side, clutching her daughter’s hand and wearing an enormous smile on her face. Through the lines and changes left by decades of ageing, Dot saw a glimpse of the young Minnie still there, still a part of her sister-in-law. Despite their late-night walk through the hospital, they still didn’t really know these new versions of each other. But now, they had time ahead of them. Minnie noticed them, and after kissing Lisa on the forehead, joined them in the corridor.
“She woke up ten minutes ago,” Minnie whispered, eyes trained on her daughter through the window. “She’s still a bit confused, but she confirmed that Rodger was the one who stabbed her. The psychopath was waiting for her when she went down to start breakfast. Lord knows how long he was crouched there in the dark. It doesn’t bear thinking about.”
“Did she say how she figured it out?” Dot asked.
“Inspector Hillard gave the game away,” Minnie replied, pausing when two nurses rushed down the corridor behind them, speaking quickly in Spanish. “He left his phone on the reception desk. Lisa just happened to be there. She said she saw ‘The Buyer’ on the screen, but in Spanish. ‘El Comprador’, she said it was.”