Page 112 of M for Murder

She heard footsteps on the stairs, growing louder and louder as she slipped closer to oblivion. Blurred voices spoke words and sentences she couldn’t understand, and then she felt the pull of arms around her waist, easing her off the struggling Kylan. She heard a voice.

‘Rebecca? Rebecca? Come on, Rebecca, talk to me.’

Her lids were heavy and as she struggled to lift them a million black dots clouded her vision. She blinked hard, trying to focus, fighting the burning pain in her shoulder that was threatening to engulf her.

Joel Hickok was looking down at her. His face looked strained, and his dark eyes full of concern.

‘Come on, Angell. Hold on just a little longer. You’re gonna be fine. There’s an ambulance on its way.’ His tone was warm and soothing as he talked to her, and Rebecca managed a smile, wondering if he realised that he’d let his guard slip. As a second, much stronger wave of pain surged through her, trying to pull her down, she made a mental note that she would have to tease him about it later. Right now, all she wanted to do was sleep. She started to let her eyes drop shut.

Hickok slapped her face gently. ‘Come on, Rebecca. Stay awake. Stay with me.’

Easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one feeling so damn tired. She wouldn’t go to sleep, but she had to close her eyes. Just for a short while. Giving up the battle, Rebecca allowed her lids to drop shut. She let the wave wash over her, pulling her under, deeper and deeper, until finally she felt herself disengage from her body and she found herself in a warm and pleasant place where she was finally free of the pain.

EPILOGUE

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON. SATURDAY 10TH MAY 1997

R ebecca spent the best part of two days slipping from consciousness to oblivion and back again. During that time, she had several visitors. Some she could remember; others who came while she was asleep left flowers and cards in their wake. Martin and Sarah Angell had flown to Seattle as soon as they heard the news and were taking it in turns to keep a vigil by their youngest daughter’s bedside.

Unable to escape from her hospital bed, Rebecca had no choice but to lie there and listen to her mother as she lectured, scolded and blamed her for a situation that had been beyond her control and, as the periods of consciousness grew longer, she began to wish she could return to the dream world from which she had just escaped.

By Saturday afternoon she was getting restless with being confined to her bed and longed to return home. Her doctor, a friendly woman, who didn’t look much younger than her mother, promised she could be discharged on Monday and as far as Rebecca was concerned it wouldn’t be a moment too soon.

She tried time and time again to persuade her mother to return to Swallow Falls, assuring her that she was now fine. Sarah Angell hadn’t relented, though, insisting she stay with her daughter until she returned to Juniper.

One person Rebecca had expected to see more of was Joel Hickok. He had been to see her once, together with Max Sutton, and they had given her an update on everything that had happened.

Kylan Parker had broken down and confessed to the murders the moment she had been arrested. The final threads of her sanity had pretty much snapped with the murder of her husband and it was highly unlikely that she would ever stand trial. She was currently under heavy sedation in a psychiatric hospital in Oregon following two suicide attempts, while the doctors decided the best possible course of treatment for her condition.

Despite everything that had happened, both to her and the victims, Rebecca felt sorry for Kylan. Nothing could condone what she had done, of course, and because of her actions seven families were now mourning the loss of loved ones. Ultimately, though, the fault lay with Rodney Boone. If he had never attacked Kylan, then the aftershocks of his crimes would not have reverberated through her actions years later.

By an almost sick twist of fate, one of Lawrence Parker’s colleagues had come forward following his murder, shedding light on the books Hickok had found in his study. It turned out that the two men had been in the process of writing their own investigative book on serial killers, little knowing that Parker was actually living with one.

Vic Boaz had also received a rude awakening when he’d learned the identity of his blood relatives. His parents had never told him that he was adopted and to find out that he shared genes with the infamous Rodney Boone had apparently, according to Sutton, knocked the stuffing out of him.

Suffering from a severe identity crisis, he had taken vacation time and gone down to Florida to talk things through with his adoptive parents.

One person who did get what was coming to him was Rodney Boone himself. It was satisfying to know that the murderer had been confined to a wheelchair, but not as satisfying as knowing that he had finally been caught and would be standing trial on eight counts of murder.

His younger brother Clifford had also been arrested and it looked likely that he too would be spending time behind bars for aiding and abetting.

All’s well that ends well, Rebecca guessed. Though she wished there could have been a happier outcome for Kylan.

And what about you Rebecca? How are things going to end for you?

The murder investigation over, it was unlikely that Special Agent Joel Hickok would be staying in Juniper. Although she didn’t want to admit it, Rebecca didn’t really want him to go. They were both stubborn and had too much pride, but it was foolish to keep on pretending that there was no spark between them.

With that thought on her mind, Rebecca was surprised, and secretly pleased, to see him enter the room, half hidden behind a vase of tall lilies. She looked at him, eyebrows raised, as he placed them down on the table beside her bed.

‘Hey, nice flowers. I’m touched.’

He gave a teasing grin. ‘Well, don’t get too flattered. They’re from the guys down at the precinct, not me.’

‘Then I’m touched that the guys down at the precinct thought of me.’

She watched him glance warily around the room. ‘Where’s your mother gone?’ he asked in a low voice.

‘My mother?’ Rebecca asked, surprised. ‘She went down to the cafeteria. Why?’