“Exactly.”
“So they check the ports and airports, and find he’s scarpered off to Cyprus?” Stephen attacks Bogdan’s bishop with a pawn. Just as Bogdan had hoped.
“And so they check and check for Johnny for a bit in Cyprus, but he’s disappeared, and they just leave to Cypriot Police in the end. No evidence that Johnny killed anyone, no drugs money in his house, so everyone just forget in the end. Just move on.”
“Took your time with Curran, though, eh?”
“Always just waiting for the best time. Just planning. I didn’t want to get caught, you know?”
“I should think that would be the last thing you’d want, yes,” says Stephen.
“Anyway, couple of months ago I installed his surveillance system, the cameras, the alarm system, all of this. And I fitted the whole thing wrong, pretty much. Nothing recording.”
“I see.”
“And I thought, so, now is the time. I can get in house, I got keys made, no one can see me.” Bogdan attacks Stephen’s pawn, opening up a front that Stephen does not want opened up.
Stephen nods. “Clever.”
“Just after I did it there’s a ring, ring, ring at the door, but I stayed pretty calm, no worry.”
Stephen nods again and moves a pawn in quiet desperation. “Good for you. What if they catch you?”
Bogdan shrugs. “I don’t know. I don’t think they will.”
“Elizabeth will work it out, old boy. If she hasn’t already.”
“I know, but I think she will understand.”
“I do too,” agrees Stephen. “But the police would be a different matter. They are less easy to charm than Elizabeth.”
Bogdan nods. “If they catch me, they catch me. But I laid a pretty good false trail, I think.”
“A false trail? And how did you do that?”
“Well, when we went to Johnny’s house on that night, one of the things we took was a camera. So I—”
Bogdan breaks off as they hear a key turn in the door. Elizabeth back late from something or other. Bogdan puts a finger to his lips, and Stephen does the same in response. She walks in.
“Hello, boys.” She kisses Bogdan on the cheek, and then holds Stephen in a tight embrace. As she does, Bogdan moves his queen and closes his trap.
“Checkmate.”
Elizabeth lets Stephen go, and he smiles at the board and at Bogdan. He reaches out and shakes his hand.
“He’s a crafty bugger, this one, Elizabeth. A grade-A crafty bugger.”
Elizabeth looks down at the board. “Well played, Bogdan.”
“Thank you,” says Bogdan, and starts to set the pieces back up again.
“Well, I have quite a story for you both,” says Elizabeth. “Can I make you a cup of tea, Bogdan?”
“Yes, please,” says Bogdan. “Milk, six sugars.”
“A coffee for me, love,” says Stephen. “If it’s not too much trouble?”
Elizabeth walks into the kitchen. She thinks about Penny, surely dead by now. That was how it ended, in an act of love. Then she thinks about John settling down to a final sleep. He had taken care of Penny, but at what cost? Is he at peace? Is he out of his misery? She thinks of Annie Madeley, and everything she has missed. Everyone has to leave the game. Once you’re in, there is no other door but the exit. She reaches for Stephen’s temazepam, then pauses and puts it back in the cupboard.
