“What the hell is happening?” Nigella whispered.
I shook my head. The dust and fragments of paper from the obliterated kitchen were slowly falling around us like a particularly warped Christmas snowfall in June.
“Yes, why don’t you tell us everything, Katrina?” I yelled to her. I heard her footsteps on the concrete outside and the sound of the door opening.
“It’s quite simple, you see, my son’s death. We were told it was an accidental overdose. We hadn’t been close when he died. My husband hated that he was gay. The boy he raised as his own had, in his eyes, rejected him.” Her voice was thick with emotion. “Rabbie took it hard. He changed his name back to his father’s when he joined the army.
“I was devastated when he died. But I barely had time to grieve; my husband was dying. Long, slow, painful death. Messy and undignified way to go. I had my mind so full of caring for him, that it was only when he died I was able to fully process Rabbie’s loss. Fully process how bizarre it had all been.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. Everyone looked at me like I was mad. The more she talked, the more time for the police to come. Verity dug her nails into my hand; she was shaking with fear.
“Well, that my boy would die like that. His friend Jeremy told me at his funeral that it seemed odd. I just assumed it was guilt, I knew Jeremy took as many drugs as Rabbie did. Gave them to him. He killed my boy as much as anyone. But he was right. So, I put pressure on my husband’s friends. Andrew was very senior in the army. He knew people. They’d had dinner at our house. When I asked questions, they felt obliged to find answers for me.”
She paused. The only sound were ragged breaths. “That’s how I found out about a man called Simon Anson,” she said.
Nigella gasped. “What did you do?” she whispered to the others.
“Katrina, if you want me, I’ll come, but let everyone else go,” came Simon’s voice.
She laughed again. “Why would I do that? Don’t try and play your MI6 games with me. I came here to do what Ioriginally intended to. To kill the person that you love the most.”
Simon was in MI6? Well, of course, he fucking was. That actually made complete sense.
“You already killed Riz!” Sonia screamed at her.
Katrina continued laughing. “Oh, I know. But Simon hated Riz deep down. They barely tolerated one another. Riz told me, he was so heartbroken, well, he pretended to be, I’m not sure if he was capable of real emotions unless it was about his career. He was always like that.”
“So, who does Simon love?” Nigella asked.
“Oh, you know, Gella, it was you who told me. That they were sleeping together.”
“Guy?” I asked loudly.
“What?” Sonia yelled. “Them two are doing it?”
Nigella looked shocked. “Really?”
“What? No. You idiots,” Katrina yelled. “Arden. Him and Simon.”
There was a pause. “You and Simon slept together?” Ollie yelled at me. I cringed and wanted to sink into the ground.
“When the hell was this? You told me there was nothing between you,” Ollie continued.
“Yeah, when have you two been shagging?” Guy asked. “When I asked you out again?”
“You asked Arden out again?” Simon yelled.
The gun went off, and a huge chunk of Nigella’s kitchen ceiling collapsed onto the ground, with dust and plaster everywhere. There was another chorus of screams – I think most of them were mine. “This isn’tHollyoaks!” Katrina yelled. “Can you all shut up?”
“Christ almighty,” she continued. “As I was saying. I found out about Simon Anson. I already knew he was responsible from Jeremy. The man my son had been dating, who’d killed him, and my plan was already inmotion. But I needed more. And then with some digging, I was able to find the real story.”
“How?” Verity breathed.
I closed my eyes and squeezed them tight. “Tarquin.”
She laughed again. “Yes, he was incredibly happy to have a visitor in prison. I promised to help get him a better lawyer, and he spilt every secret on Guy Frobisher he had. Told me the full story. Names, dates, he was only too glad to help. And when I asked how I could really, really hurt Simon Anson, his face lit up.”
Tarquin. Ruining my life from a ten-by-ten-foot cell.
