Dee stepped backwards, tried to stay out of the woman’s reach. ‘Don’t.’ Her voice was small, trembling.
Amy stopped moving. Put her head on one side, like a dog listening. The torch lit up her eyes. It wasn’t pleasant. ‘Why not? Afraid it’ll rub off on you? Afraid if I touch you, you’ll end up like me?’
‘I … ’ Backing away. ‘I … ’
‘I just want to touch you. Where’s the harm in that? Feel what I used to feel like … ’
Amy advanced once more. This time Dee stayed where she was. It was better, her mind quickly and reluctantly rationalised, to let a madwoman with a gun touch you rather than shoot you. The Golem must be around somewhere, she thought, but even he wouldn’t be quick enough to stop a bullet from close range.
Amy moved in close to her. Her breath smelled like the rotting house around them. She reached out a hand, stroked Dee’s cheek. Her fingers were rough, callused. Like being touched by tree bark. Dee tried not to move.
‘It’s … it’s like looking in a mirror, one that takes you back in time … ’ Her voice was low, calm. Almost a whisper. ‘How much?’
‘How much did it cost? To make … whoever you were … look like me?’
‘I … I don’t know. Lots.’
‘Lots.’ Amy nodded as if she had given the correct answer. ‘Lots.’
‘He … he said he wanted me to, to look more beautiful. Said I would, I could, if I would let him do it.’
‘And you did.’ Still stroking her cheek. Eyes travelling all over her features, appraising her. Her expression changeable; sometimes like she was looking at old love letters, sometimes like a farmer at a livestock market. ‘You did … ’
Encouraged by Amy’s tone, Dee continued to talk. ‘I didn’t mind,’ she said. ‘What he wanted to do. It hurt, but … ’
‘Yes.’ Still stroking. Still the same quiet voice. ‘My operations hurt too.’
‘More beautiful. That’s what he said. And that’s what I am. Beautiful.’ Dee looked at Amy. Found strength in her words. Her position. Because she was the winner. She was young, beautiful. And she had Michael. This mad old woman had nothing. She smiled. ‘He recognised something in me. We connected. Like no one I’ve ever met before. We’re soulmates.’
Amy drew back, her hand falling to her side. She stared Dee in the eye. ‘Pathetic. Soulmates. You know nothing.’
‘I know everything.’
‘You know nothing.’ Her voice rising, starting to shake once more. ‘About him. About me. Nothing.’ She stood where she was, still staring at Dee. ‘Soulmates. That’s what we were. He wanted me. And I wanted him. We had each other. All that we needed. We were our world.’ Her face twisted. ‘And then the boy arrived … ’
‘I know all this,’ said Dee. ‘He’s told me. How the two of you hated Stuart. How your father wanted to make him part of the family, marry his mother. How he wrote a new will with him in it, threatened to write you out if you complained.’
‘He told you all this, did he?’
‘He did. How he faked the shotgun attack, made it look like Stuart had done it. And he told me how sad he was about what happened to you.’
‘You were doing so well up until the last part. The last part’s a lie.’
‘He said he went all over Europe, taking you to specialists to fix you up.’
Amy was beginning to shake with anger. ‘That was what he told you, was it? Even he couldn’t bear to be seen as a bastard. Even he … ’
‘What d’you mean?’
‘You think it was an accident? What happened to me? Do you? He shot me … ’
‘He said he had to make it look real.’
‘Bullshit. I looked in his eyes and I saw it. It just … went wrong, that’s all.’ She shook her head. Eyes fluttering, miles away. ‘Do you know … do you know what it feels like to watch the man you love … the absolute, total love of your life, the only person you’re ever going to feel like that about, pick up a gun, point it at you and … ’ Amy stared at Dee with renewed hatred. ‘He’s gone, you know.’
‘What d’you mean?’
‘Left you. Dumped you.’
‘No, no, he hasn’t … ’
‘Yes he has.’ The words spat out. ‘I know what he’s like. He wouldn’t have sent you here if he hadn’t left you. He’s gone off without you.’
‘He wouldn’t do that … ’
Amy laughed. It sounded like something was being dislodged inside her. ‘Yeah … that’s what I said. He wouldn’t do anything to me. Wouldn’t hurt me … But he did, didn’t he? Tried to kill me. Thought it would be easier to find a new one, make her the way he wanted, rather than make me well again … ’
She swung the gun on Dee. Started squeezing the trigger.
Dee looked round, desperately trying to signal to the Golem.
But he was nowhere to be found.