AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I’ll kill him. I’ll fucking kill him.’ But even as I screamed it, my resolve weakened as I heaved over Alec’s shoulder, the past few minutes hitting me like a train wreck.
With tears and snot colliding on my face, mingling with the blood from hitting myself with the gun, Alec left the mansion with me slung over his shoulder, my sister watching quietly from the top of the stairs.
‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered to her.
FORTY
ALEC
Esther was catatonic, moving along with me but like an empty husk, devoid of any emotion. It had all gone wrong. I’d got Esther out, but she’d seen her father shot, and it was my fault. I slid my hand into my pocket, searching for the comforting warmth of my knife before remembering I’d last seen it embedded in Harold.
Esther sat on my sofa, staring blankly out of the window, her face still red and tear-stained. It wasn’t how things were supposed to be, and I had no idea how to fix it. I couldn’t have her father un-shot.
Ellis stood in the kitchen, furiously typing at his laptop. He was setting up hidden accounts so we’d have access to my money and arranging flights under our new not-so-legal names. We just waited on Wee Dave to come over to strong arm him, or beg him, into doing a rush job on some new identification for us to travel. I could only hope Maeve wouldn’t let on to Harold or her brothers that we might have used him.
A knock sounded at the door, and when I pulled it open, Dave’s face fell.
‘No, absolutely fuckin’ not,’ he said, backing away.
I grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and pulled him inside, pushing him toward the kitchen. He took one look at Esther and rounded on me.
‘What have you done to that, lassie?’
‘I took her out of the situation she was stuck in, and now we need your help to get away.’
‘Why would I help you? You left me tied to a chair with a bloody fucking finger. Cost me a fuckton of money too.’
‘You can have my house. It’s two-thirds paid off, and my pal Ellis there can have it put into your name within minutes.’
Dave looked around before his eyes settled on Esther. ‘What will happen to her if you don’t get away?’
‘She tried to shoot Harold Thompson, so nothing good.’ It was an understatement. When Harold regrouped with his men, he’d go all out for revenge. He detested being stood up to. I could only hope the fallout from shooting Malcolm would buy us some time.
‘You need two sets of documents in what, a couple of hours? Not sure the house is worth enough to do it that fast,’ Dave said.
‘What if I add the house next door?’ Gladys’s voice came from the entryway, where she’d opened the door and was dragging a large suitcase through my hallway. ‘But it’ll take a third set of documents.’
I smiled at her; her face lighting up as she saw Wee Dave and Ellis, but her brow crinkled when she took in the sight of Esther. I’d cleaned myself up and done the best I could with her, but there was still blood under her nails, and a gash over her eye, and she’d refused to get out of the bloodstained dress.
‘The same as this, but fully paid off?’ Dave said.
‘Gladys, you can’t give up your house for us. You can’t leave everything behind.’
‘I can. And I am. I told you I will not sit here and rot while you all go off on an adventure without me. I’m coming.’
My heart swelled as she fixed me with a determined grin. Families come in lots of different forms, and maybe mine would include the sweet old lady next door after all. ‘Well, alright. Who am I to tell you no?’
‘Somewhere warm though, remember lad, for the arthritis.’
Dave held out his hand, and I shook it. ‘Ellis, get his details and put the two houses in his name. Make it ironclad so it’s good to go as soon as he’s back with the IDs.’
‘I’ll be back in a few hours. I have a few almost complete ones ready to go at any one time for the people who really need them. Get me the names you want and a picture of each of you against a blank wall. I already have Esther’s.’ We both looked over to where Gladys was sitting next to her, opening a tin of biscuits and encouraging a sugary yellow square into her hand.
‘You’re going to have to get her looking more alive if you are getting on a plane with her. There’s no way they aren’t going to be suspicious if she looks like that.’
‘You worry about your job. I’ll worry about mine.’
Gladys pottered in the kitchen making endless cups of tea as I carried Esther upstairs, stripping off her clothes and sitting her in the bathtub as I used the shower attachment to wash her down. At first, she didn’t react, didn’t look at me even, until I gently lathered up shampoo into her hair. The tears fell as my fingers grazed her scalp, soon turning into great, wrenching sobs. I climbed in without undressing and gathered her up against me, letting her cry, letting her dip into the storm of emotions she’d battened down inside.
