Page 111 of M for Murder

When he didn’t get up again, she realised that there was only one thing to do. Lawrie would have to become the next victim.

Looking down at Rebecca Angell, Kylan wondered what she should do with her body. She was the wrong letter to be part of the alphabet. What was she supposed to do now? Take her body and dump it somewhere? Leave it in the house? As she turned the various possibilities over in her mind, Kylan heard the sound of a car engine. Her whole body still trembling, and her heart caught in her throat, she crossed the room to the window and pulled back the curtain.

In the light of the street lamp, she saw two police squad cars. Men – she could make out five of them, four in uniform, one in plain clothes – were heading down the driveway.

They knew. Lawrie or Rebecca must have tipped them off.

Wrenching the knife out of Rebecca’s shoulder, she gripped the handle tightly in her shaking hand, stumbled across the two bodies and out of the room. What was she going to do? How could she complete the alphabet? If they caught her and put her in jail or hospital, did they really think that Rodney wouldn’t be able to get her?

The doorbell chimed, and she stepped back against the wall, her mind racing, as she searched for an answer. She couldn’t think straight. Everything was a blur. They were coming to get her. They would find Lawrie and they would find Rebecca, and they would know. There was nowhere for her to escape to.

The bell chimed again, the vibrations shuddering through her.

Kylan looked at the knife in her hand, still wet and shiny with Rebecca’s blood, and in that instant, it came to her. There was a way of escape. One thing left that she could do. Hearing the sound of a gunshot hitting the lock on the front door, she raised the knife high in the air and poised the blade, ready to end her nightmare.

Aware of the floorboards vibrating beneath her, Rebecca forced her eyes open and tried to look up.

She immediately wished she hadn’t. The pain in her shoulder was excruciating and the black dots crowding her vision were making her feel violently sick.

For a second she wondered where she was. She wondered why she was on the floor and what had happened. Then hearing a loud chime, and feeling the floorboards vibrate again, it all suddenly all came back to her.

Kylan.

Kylan had killed Lawrie. Kylan had killed Emma and Scott and…

Oh God! Kylan tried to kill me!

Hearing a noise coming from outside the bedroom, Rebecca struggled to get up. Her left arm had gone completely numb, and she held on to the bed for support as she tried to pull herself to her feet. She felt dizzy and disorientated; glancing down at the floor she saw a large crimson puddle from where her shoulder had been bleeding.

Shit! I’m fucking dying.

She wondered where Kylan was. Had she gone downstairs? Or even left the house?

God! What if she comes back?

Knowing that she had to get help, Rebecca stumbled towards the door, clutching her shoulder with her right hand as she tried to stem the flow of the blood.

A loud shot rang through the air. A gun shot.

She jumped, gripping her shoulder a little too tightly, and yelping loudly in pain. Who had fired? Kylan? Did she have a gun?

Is she planning to make sure I’m dead?

There was a crash. Like the sound of someone breaking the door, and then she heard voices. First one she didn’t recognise.

‘Shit! What’s she doing!’

Then one she did. ‘Kylan. Put the knife down.’

Hickok!

Rebecca stumbled through the door just in time to see Kylan standing at the top of the stairs, the bloody knife in her hand, poised in the air, ready to stab herself in the chest.

Oh my God!

‘No!’

Forgetting all thoughts of her own safety, Rebecca gritted her teeth against the pain and using all of her remaining strength hurled herself forward. She hit Kylan side on, knocking the knife from her grip. The two of them fell to the floor: Kylan, kicking and screaming, trying to reach for the knife; Rebecca desperately clinging on to her, all the time trying to hold on to her own consciousness.