I can hear a soft smile in her voice. ‘I thought I might see you here.’
I stand and walk to my office window. ‘I’m still working.’
‘Scarlett, you can’t possibly be concentrating with everything that’s going on. Come home. It’s late. Gregory tells me his housemaid has made salmon en croute. That’ll be nice, won’t it?’
‘You’re not going to lure me back with salmon en croute.’
‘Well, what if I made you some pancakes?’
‘Sandy, you’ve just been to the police station and questioned. You must be exhausted. Let Jackson look after you. Go put your feet up.’
‘It’d be a lot easier to relax if I knew you were okay, sweets.’ I can hear her moving, then her voice drops to awhisper. ‘I’m worried about you. Gregory said you two had words.’
I sigh. ‘Sandy…’
‘I’m here, sweets.’
I pause, debating whether to share the truth. ‘I don’t want to go home.’ A lump forms in my throat and I swallow hard to prevent it from rupturing.
‘Oh, Scarlett, I know you love Gregory, it’s written all over that pretty little face every time I see you but if you need some space, if you want to get away, you can stay with me. Or if you don’t want to stay at Lara’s house, I can stay at home with you… at our old home.’
‘I’m fine. I’m being silly. I’m going to go and finish my work. I’m glad you’re okay. I really am sorry, Sandy.’
‘Now you listen to me, missy: you’renotto blame for all this. You’ve gotten yourself mixed up in something… someone—’ She stops herself before she says what I know she’s thinking. I know because everyone will be thinking it. Amanda has said as much. And however idiotic it might seem, I can’t stand people thinking badly of Gregory.
‘He’s a good man, Sandy. This isn’t his fault.’
‘I wasn’t going to say?—’
‘Yes, you were, or at least you were thinking it. I get it, I do. But there was nothing we could do. Maybe he made a mistake taking over that company and maybe I made an even bigger mistake helping him.’ I offload with an odd sense of relief, finally articulating what’s been eating me up. ‘If I’d walked away, he might’ve never gone through with it. But I understand why he needed to. That deal was his vengeance, Sandy, and I… I… with Dad, when he… I can understand how desperately he needed to take revenge.’ I’m close, too close, to telling her everything. This is Sandy, Sandy who’d stand by me no matter what, probably the only person in the world who would. ‘Sandy… I know because that night, I wanted revenge too. I hate Kevin Pearson for everything he did to Gregory and Lara and for what he did to Dad. Gregory isn’t to blame for all this.’
‘Neither of you are to blame for that man trying to kill you all, Scarlett.’ Her words are louder, almost shouting, cutting me off.
‘Sandy—’
‘Enough! Young lady, what if he hadn’t been shot? What then? Geoffrey was already hurt. That man would’ve killed him and I’m sure he would’ve killed you too. So stop! Just stop it!’
‘Sandy, it wasn’t Gregory, it was?—’
‘Stop it now! I won’t listen.’
My eyes are on fire, my hand clamping my open mouth shut. The line is silent but for Sandy’s breathing and I realise mine has stopped but my heart is thudding in my chest. My lungs fill on a gasp. ‘You already know Gregory didn’t take that shot. You know.’
‘I have to go, Scarlett.’ The call beeps to an end.
I don’t go back to the Shard. I sit in my desk chair as I’ve done all day and lean back, my head turned to one side, staring at the orange lights flicking on and off in the high-rise buildings nearby. Sandy knows our dirty little secret. She knows and now she has to lie too.
Jackson kicks open the door and a gun fires. He falls to the floor,blood immediately pooling around his leg. A scream lingers in the back of my throat but fails to make it to my mouth. Frantic and with shaking fingers,I attempt to tie a tourniquet around his punctured thigh.
Gregory and Pearson crash out of the bathroom,bashing againstthe walls,growling,snarling. They’re trying to kill each other. They fall into the gym room and I’m staring helplessly when they burst back through the door,eyes wild,raging,as they thrash around the floor. Pearson pulls a chain tight around Gregory’s neck,causing the skin beneath it to flame red. He’s struggling to breathe. The chain is killing him and all I can do is watch in horror.
Jackson shouts,screams at me to retrieve the gun he dropped to the floor. I can hear him but my limbs refuse to move. He tells me the safety is off,to use two hands and only fire if I have a clear shot. I pick up the gun but Gregory’s broken free and Pearson’s body lies lifeless on the floor. Gregory slumps back against the wall to catch his breath, then forces himself up to make sure Jackson’s okay.
Pearson moves in the background. I’m sure of it. My feet carry me towards him. Then his arm is raised,the gun aimed directly at Gregory.
I pull the trigger,the bullet bursting through Pearson’s skull almost instantaneously with the bang of the gun and the reverberations through my arms.
I’m sitting on the sofa,staring into darkness.The distinct smell of lilies invades my nose. There’re voices behind me,numerous male voices,mumblings at first but the sound sharpens.
