Susan, or Sue as she was more commonly known to friends and acquaintances, opened the front door a short time later, followed by the high security gate, which creaked alarmingly as it swung on its steel hinges. Sue was gently cradling a sleeping infant in her arms as she led Beth into the comparative warmth of the primrose-yellow painted hallway. Sue looked Beth up and down after closing the door, wide-eyed, lingering, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. ‘What the hell happened to you? You look like a drowned rat.’
Beth held her hands out wide, fingers spread, palms faced forwards. But she didn’t say anything in response. The picture told its own story. What was the point of words?
Sue’s expression darkened as she spoke in a whisper. ‘Is it done?’
Beth slumped to the floor, sitting on the first step of the stairs, suddenly exhausted, pushing her wet fringe away from her eyes, which were slowly filling with tears. ‘Yeah, exactly as planned. I’ve been worrying about today for such a long time. I can’t believe it’s finally over.’
‘Then, why the tears? Get your head up. You’ve done well. You’ve accomplished great things. Harper’s dead. It’s time to celebrate.’
Beth stalled, wiping her face before speaking. Her eyes were heavy and unfocused as she stared at the floor at her feet. ‘I know what you’re saying. It’s over. It went well. But it wasn’t nearly as easy as I’d imagined it, not even close.’
‘Oh, come on, Beth, don’t go soft on me. Have you forgotten what we talked about before you left the house? You’re a tiger. The bastard heard you roar. He had it coming. You sank in your claws.’
Beth raised her eyes for a beat before refocusing on the carpet. For a moment, the entire floor flashed red in her imagination. There was blood everywhere, getting deeper, threatening to drown her where she sat, crying. She forced the image from her mind. ‘That’s easy enough for you to say when you weren’t there. He was human, whatever he’d done. Flesh and blood like you and me.’
Sue sighed loudly with exaggeration. ‘Human? Give me a frigging break. The man was an animal. No, no, he was worse than an animal. He sexually assaulted a little girl. A child of four! And he got away with it too, until today. Don’t ever compare that scum to us.’
Beth felt her left eye twitch as her anxiety soared to a new and savage high. ‘I was crapping myself, sitting there in the car with the engine running. It felt as if my heart was going to burst. He stopped running and looked back at me, caught in the headlights. As if he knew what would happen next. As if he knew that I was there to kill him. He looked so ordinary, so unthreatening, vulnerable even. Not the monster I’d created in my head. I very nearly didn’t do it at all.’
Sue responded immediately, rushing her words, rocking the baby to and fro as he adjusted his position, snorting quietly in his sleep. ‘But the bastard is definitely dead, yes? Please tell me you didn’t back out. You actually did it, yes?’
Beth nodded once, then again, her head moving in jerks as she pictured the scene, events playing behind her eyes like the frames of a film, unwelcome, invasive, one after another. Beth recalled the dull thud as her car slammed into her target’s body; the shattered windscreen, the pitch-black blood spilt on the road, staining the wet tarmac as it mingled with the melting sleet. And she heard the sickening crack of his skull as her rear wheel crushed his head, dragging his battered body several yards along the country road before she’d brought the hatchback to a sudden juddering halt.
Beth winced as she spoke, the recent memories all too real. ‘Yes, Sue, I’ve told you. I killed him. I didn’t back out. I said I’d do it, and I did. The man’s dead and he’s not coming back.’
Sue swayed to the right and left, quietly humming a tune made famous by a recent TV advertising campaign, comforting her child as he woke for a second or two, before quickly returning to sleep.
‘What about the car?’
Beth nodded again. ‘The petrol worked a treat. The car burst into flames and exploded. I got out of there pretty quickly after that. I don’t think there’s going to be any evidence to find.’
Sue smiled, her face relaxing, her expression softening. ‘That’s good, you did well. And hopefully, anyone who heard the explosion thought it came from that military testing place near Pendine. It’s only across the water, a few miles at most.’
‘I was thinking the same thing.’
‘Have you reported it missing?’
‘What?’
‘Concentrate, for fuck’s sake, concentrate. The car, the frigging car! Have you rung the police?’
Beth pulled her head back, her eyes narrowing as she spoke. ‘Look at the state of me.’ She paused, lips pressed together, pointing to herself with a single digit. ‘How would I explain this lot? Think about it. What the hell would I say?’
A look of recognition dawned on Sue’s heavily made-up face. ‘Fair point, enough said. We need a change of plan. You can’t report the car stolen until you know it’s gone, right? When you ring, you say you’ve just found out. But let’s not leave it for too long. There’s far too much at stake.’
Beth opened her mouth as if to speak, but she swallowed her words, silenced in an instant as a recently arrived ginger-haired resident in her late teens began descending the staircase, a jar of cheap instant coffee clutched tightly in one hand and a cracked red pottery mug in the other. She was holding each item as if they were the greatest treasures in the world. As if she feared someone may snatch them from her at any moment. Both Beth and Sue noticed that the girl’s face was swollen as she negotiated the staircase, her many bruises changing to black and blue. Beth rose to her feet, forcing a thin smile in friendly acknowledgement as she allowed the girl to pass by.
Beth began climbing the stairs. ‘I need to get out of these wet clothes. I can’t stop shivering.’
The two friends entered the spacious communal first-floor bathroom in total silence. Neither said another word until they were both safely inside the white-tiled room with the door securely locked. Sue sat on the edge of the bath, one shapely leg crossed over the other, her sleeping infant rested over a shoulder, breathing through his nose, quietly snuffling.
‘It may be an idea to leave reporting the car stolen until morning. It’s just a thought. You could say that we spent the evening together watching telly in my room, and then we went to bed at whatever time we agree. You then went outside in the morning to head to work at the café, like you always do, and that’s it, the car was gone. You searched the street, thinking you may have forgotten where it was parked, but it was nowhere to be found. Some bastard had taken it. Just stick to the basics. Don’t make the story any more complicated than it needs to be. I’ll give you an alibi if I’m ever asked. You know that. We’re in this together.’
Beth shook her head as she began stripping off her wet clothing, throwing each sodden item to the floor one at a time. ‘But what if the police turn up before I ring them? The car went up like a frigging bomb. Any number of people must have heard it however remote the area. They’re not all going to put it down to the military testing. The police may have found the car by now. And if they have, there’s every chance they’ll confirm it belongs to me. It’s all on record. It’s just a call away. It’s only a matter of time before they’re knocking on the door.’