A my kept trying to squeeze the trigger, but her hand was shaking too much to complete the action. Dee could see how unhinged she was, so she tried to play for time until the Golem arrived. Kept talking. ‘What exactly did you think you were going to achieve?’ she said. ‘With all this.’
‘You know what I was going to achieve,’ said Amy. ‘Get what was mine. What’s owed to me. It’s what I deserve.’
‘So why haven’t you tried to do it before? Why now?’
She lowered the gun slightly, concentrating on her words, focusing her anger. ‘I did try. A few times. But it costs money, doesn’t it? And when you’re a non-person, when you don’t exist, you don’t have any, do you? Not that you would know.’
Dee said nothing. Her previous life flashed through her mind. She ignored it.
‘Who would believe a madwoman? No one. That’s who.’
‘But a madwoman with a convicted murderer – that’d work … ’ Dee almost smiled at her own words, knowing they would just enrage Amy further.
‘Shut up! Shut up! You know that’s not true … And we could have proved it. Graham and me. That was the plan. That’s why he fell out with Michael. Over me. Graham hated what Michael had done to me. Hated it. Oh, he was all for it at first. He was with us. One of us. He helped put the blame on Stuart, get him sent down for the killings. But he hated what Michael had done to me. And then when you came along … ’
‘He left.’
Amy smiled. ‘Yes. He hated you as much as he hated Michael. And when Michael wouldn’t give him or me any money, we came up with the plan.’
‘This plan.’
‘Yes. Graham had kept a copy of the will, after all these years. The one my father made just before he died. The one that included Stuart. All we had to do was wait until Stuart was released, have him declared sane, show that he didn’t do the killings and him and me could be cut in. Michael wouldn’t let that happen, of course. Came after us.’
‘And did a pretty good job.’
Amy didn’t reply with words. She just growled.
‘It was foolproof. Get that psychologist back, the one who said the right things about him at the time. Because she’s made quite a name for herself. She’s high profile now.’ Amy sighed. ‘Foolproof. That’s what Graham said.’ Her eyes became wet.
‘How wrong he was.’ Dee could sense Amy weakening. When the Golem appeared, that would be the end of it. Then she could join Michael and say hello to a new life. But she couldn’t resist one last gloat. ‘You failed,’ she said. ‘Failed.’
‘Shut up! Shut up!’
‘Failed.’
Amy brought the gun up once more, levelled it. Dee stopped talking, thought she had actually gone too far this time. But then she felt rather than saw movement at her side. A shadow flowed, became corporeal. The Golem appeared.
Dee smiled. Her confidence returned. ‘As I said. You failed.’
Amy stared at the two of them.
And laughed.