‘Don’t kill him now, stupid!’ Darcy cries. ‘We have to do this properly. Like I planned. Or we’ll get caught.’
My heart is in my throat. Surely he won’t kill Jared, not after everything he just said to his sister. Jared glances across at me, eyes wide, and I try to convey love and forgiveness in my gaze. Callum moves behind Jared, crouches down and slices through the zip ties around his wrists, placing the penknife in Jared’s hand and coming around, back towards his sister.
Darcy now realises what Callum’s just done. ‘No-o-o!’ She launches herself at her brother, kicking him and clawing at his face. He grabs her in a bear hug, trying to restrain her. But she’s mad as hell, swearing and lashing out at him with everything she’s got.
Jared has managed to slice through the ties on his ankles, and he’s pulled the scarf down, off his mouth and around his neck. Now, he’s up off the chair and turning his attention to me, cutting through my wrist ties and sawing at the gag, working it free. I’m shaking with relief but I can’t take my eyes off Darcy and her brother.
Her thumbs are pressed down into Callum’s eye sockets. He’s howling in pain and frustration, pulling at her arms, trying to shake her off. Callum is big. He’s strong. But Darcy is fuelled by bitterness and rage. Her strength is in her fury. Callum wrenches one of her hands off his face, blood dripping from his eyes. But she gets it free again, makes a fist and punches him in the throat. He wheezes and coughs. Darcy blindly reaches behind. Her hand snakes across the table top, feeling around for the knife which lies just within her grasp. I can’t let her get to it, but Jared hasn’t cut through my ankle ties yet.
‘Jared!’ I croak. ‘The knife! Get the knife!’
He turns to see Darcy groping on the table for it while trying to fend off her brother who now has her by the throat.
‘Go!’ I urge.
Jared leaves me with one leg still bound to the chair. But he’s too late. Darcy’s fingers close around the knife handle. She brings it around and plunges it deep into Callum’s chest. Her brother stops howling and releases his hands from around his sister’s neck. He drops to his knees and stares in disbelief at Darcy who wears a look of exhausted triumph.
With the knife still protruding from his chest, Callum falls forward, crashing to the ground with a sickening thud, rivulets of blood streaming and pooling across the white marble floor. Silence falls upon the room for a brief moment. And then a wail starts up from within Darcy’s chest.
‘Now look what you made me do!’ she screams. ‘Cal!’ she yells. ‘You stupid idiot! You’ve ruined everything!’ She kicks his lifeless body and crouches down to try to get to the knife out from beneath his hulking body. But before she can get to it, Jared drags her away, standing between her and Callum’s body. He holds the penknife out in front of him as Darcy whips around to face him.
‘You haven’t got the balls to do anything with that,’ she says.
‘Stay where you are,’ Jared says. With his free hand, he reaches into his jacket pocket and takes out his phone, tossing it over to me. ‘Lou, call the police.’
Somehow, I catch the phone without dropping it.
‘I’m not going to prison for this,’ Darcy says, still eyeing the penknife. ‘When the police arrive I’ll tell them you killed my brother. I’ll tell them—’
‘It’s over, Darcy,’ I say, shaking my head. ‘After everything you told me tonight, you’ve got no lies big enough to cover what you’ve done.’
She stares from Jared’s knife to the phone in my hand. I can see her weighing up her options.
I punch in the numbers 999, but nothing happens. ‘I can’t get a signal!’ I cry.
Jared turns toward me and in that split second as he looks away from Darcy, she shoulder charges past him, knocking him sideways and sprints up the stairs.
‘Go after her!’ I yell. ‘She can’t get away!’
Jared nods, uses the penknife to slice through the last zip tie on my ankle, and gives chase, taking the cellar steps three at a time.
I lurch out of the chair, ignoring the bolts of pain shooting through my cramped limbs, and follow him out of the basement. I need to get a signal and call the police. I shouldn’t have sent Jared after her. He can’t confront Darcy alone. If she can kill someone as strong as her brother, she’ll have no difficulty hurting my husband.
Once I reach the top of the cellar steps, the bars appear on Jared’s phone screen. Signal! I press999again as I hobble out of the utility room and into the kitchen. The bifold doors are open, the freezing night air creeping into the Lane’s mansion. But no amount of fresh air will ever cleanse the stench of horror from this house.
‘Hello, emergency services, which service do you require? Fire, police, or ambulance.’
‘Police,’ I say. ‘And ambulance. Please hurry.’
‘Connecting you now.’
I make out the shape of my husband. He’s running towards the open gate at the bottom of Darcy’s garden, exterior lights illuminating his dark-suited shape. There’s no sign of Darcy. She must already be on the beach, trying to make her escape.
‘Hello, where are you calling from?’It’s the operator.
‘Sandbanks,’ I gasp as I jog across the decking. ‘Please come quickly.’ I give them my name and Darcy’s address. Now, I’m running across the icy grass again. At least this time I’m giving chase rather than the other way around.
‘Please,pleaseget here as soon as you can.’ I reach the open gate and limp through it onto the beach, glancing wildly from left to right, trying to see if I can spot them.
