The crashing sounds behind her made Beverly jump. A long-forgotten switch flicked inside her mind. Her fingers sprang out uncontrollably, bending forward like a claw. She dropped the detonator on to the ground. It must have been one minute to five. The detonator tumbled and rolled on to the dancefloor, and disappeared between a tangle of feet and legs.
She threw herself into the middle of them, pushing people aside. They laughed at her as she dropped to her knees and scooped it up. There couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds left before Claudia Conway flicked her switch. Beverly ran towards the door, looking for Evie Church but finding an empty spot where she’d been.
The detonator was in her good hand as the clock struck five. She stared at her other hand, unable to get it to return to normal no matter how many buttons she pushed inside her mind.
Transfer the pain.
She placed one finger over the detonator and got ready to press. Fewer than ten seconds now.
‘Don’t do it, Beverly.’ The voice was behind her. And it was British.
She turned to face Astrid Snow. Evie stood next to her as Beverly glanced at the time. It was five o’clock and the Black Eyed Peas bounced off every wall.
The British woman was there to stop her; she knew that. Did it mean there was someone else in the boiler room stopping Conway? Was that why she hadn’t set off her explosives? Were the police down there arresting her right now?
It’s all down to me, then. But they know it’s me. I won’t get away.
She stared at Snow. ‘Don’t do what?’
Snow scanned the room, but kept her eye on the detonator. ‘I’ve just had a conversation with your mother, Beverly. She told me how good you are with computers.’
‘What?’ Beverly said.
‘You must be very good. I wouldn’t have found the Trojan you placed on Jack Kennedy’s laptop without some specialist tracking software.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
The music and the dancing continued.
I shouldn’t be having this conversation with her. I should blow the explosives now. But something has gone wrong. It was obvious when Conway didn’t detonate the C4. I don’t want to die. But I don’t want to go to jail either. What does this woman want?
‘There’s always a problem for someone placing a Trojan on a computer, though, isn’t there, Beverly? I bet you know what it is.’
The DJ put Poker Face on his digital turntable.
‘You open a backdoor connection to whoever - not me - installed the Trojan.’
Snow stood in front of Evie. ‘It was hard to do, but, with a bit of help, I made the link run both ways. I saw everything on your computer, looked through all your files, read all your messages.’ Beverly let the information sink in. ‘Found all your photos.’ She paused again. ‘Even the ones you took for trophies.’
Evie pushed her way forward. ‘What are you two talking about?’
Snow ignored her and stared straight at Beverly. ‘Is this because of the accident you had in the Church basement twenty years ago? Is that why you killed the Glick girls there, to get back at Adam?’
Evie gasped and turned to Beverly. ‘What is this?’
Snow answered. ‘Do you remember the night your brother babysat for the two of you and Beverly had an accident in the basement?’
‘It wasn’t an accident. It was his fault.’ Beverly’s voice was like steel as she walked towards them. The clock on the wall said ten past five. She knew there’d be no explosion below them now.
But I can still do it.
Evie stared at Beverly, her eyes wide, her lips trembling. ‘You did this to get back at Adam? You murdered those poor girls?’
‘I didn’t do anything. Your British friend is crazy.’
‘It was an accident, Beverly, don’t you remember? We were playing hide and seek when you fell over.’
Beverly’s fingers were still crunched over like a claw. The music had stopped and people were staring at them. The girls who’d hated her, the boys who’d laughed at her, were all there, gazing at her again. It wasn’t too late to pay them all back.
‘It wasn’t an accident. Adam should have been looking after us. That was his job.’
She raised her voice, the blood throbbing inside her veins. Had she left any fingerprints on the bags or the explosives, or the other detonator? She probably had, thinking they would have been blown to bits by now.
Prison or death. What should I choose?
Snow stepped forward. ‘I was lying about reversing the Trojan connection. There’s no proof you killed those girls. You can walk away from this a free woman. No one would know but us three.’
Evie turned to Snow, her nostrils flaring and her eyes bulging. ‘Are you mad? We have to get Adam out of custody.’
‘Adam will be fine, Evie. You said yourself his lawyer is good enough to get him off at trial.’
‘But people will still believe he’s guilty, will still call him a child murderer.’
‘I’m sure he’d take that over having his sister, and who knows how many others, blown to bits in this hall.’
The gravity of Snow’s words appeared to hit Evie for the first time, her gaze turning to Beverly and her hand.
‘I wish we’d stayed friends, Beverly.’ She held out her fingers to her. ‘There’s still time to rectify that.’
Beverly’s shoulders relaxed, her hand returning to normal. She didn’t care about Evie Church’s pitiful attempt at friendship. It was far too late for that, but she could still escape this situation. She could leave and continue somewhere else where she wouldn’t get sucked into someone else’s stupid plans. The police would trace the explosives to Conway’s garage, Beverly would deny all knowledge of it, and now she was sure she’d worn gloves when handling them. She could do it. She was smarter than all of them, even Conway.
And definitely smarter than this Astrid Snow.
Beverly slipped the detonator into her trouser pocket and moved around them as the lights came up and the reunion finished. ‘Well, it was a fun imaginary conversation we had, but I’m going home.’ There was a skip in her step and relief in her heart. She knew everything was going to be okay.
She kept on believing that right up until the moment she strode into the police standing behind Snow and Evie.