Louise marched up the path to the almost derelict house. Holly grabbed her arm and pulled her back, behind an overgrown bush.
“What are you doing?” Holly demanded.
“Knocking on the door,” Louise said as if it were absolutely obvious.
“Great plan, Louise, really. We’ll just knock and let them know that we’re here and that we know they’re here, giving away our only advantage.”
Louise folded her arms. “Fine. What do you suggest we do?”
Holly looked around the dark and overgrown garden. “We need to get closer to the house and try to see inside without letting them know that we are here.”
“Fine, fine.” Louise shooed her away.
Holly looked around the bush and couldn’t see anyone, so she crept towards the house, keeping to the shadows cast over the garden by the trees and bushes. She stared at the dark windows, wondering if anyone was there and able to see her.
Thank goodness Jazz knows where we are, she thought.
They reached the house, and Holly peered through the window. Everything was dark. She looked at Louise and shook her head before indicating that they should move around to the back of the house.
They hugged the wall of the house and continued around the corner. There they could see a flickering light spilling out into the back garden. Holly immediately recognised it as the light of a television. Her heart rate spiked at the knowledge that someone was probably in the house. She crept a little faster around the corner and peeked in through another window.
She saw a television and an old sofa facing it; Phoebe was draped across it with her mobile phone in her hand.
Holly ducked down. “She’s in there,” she whispered.
Louise gestured for her to move so she look through the window herself. She slowly stood up and took in the view. She tutted and then crouched down again.
“She’s playing Candy Crush. She’s obsessed.” Louise shook her head.
“What do we do?” Holly asked.
“Break in,” Louise said; she tilted her head towards the door. “Come on. No time to lose.”
Before Holly had the chance to argue, Louise was off and creeping towards the door. She tried the handle and then grinned as the door opened a crack. Holly hurried to catch up.
By the time she arrived at the door, Louise was already through it. Holly wanted to call out to her and tell her to slow down and come up with a plan rather than forging ahead, but Louise was determined and moved like lightning. Holly knew she had to remain silent in order to keep their element of surprise.
She followed Louise through the door and found herself in a kitchen. It was run-down, like the rest of the property, but still usable. Holly noticed a coffee mug on the countertop and saw that it looked recently used.
She turned to indicate the mug to Louise, but Louise was already marching into the sitting room. Holly watched in shock and pleasant surprise as Louise grabbed hold of Phoebe, tossed her phone onto the sofa, and then forced the woman into a headlock.
“What the hell are you doing?” Phoebe demanded, clutching at Louise’s arm which was tight around her neck. “Let go!”
“The more you struggle, the tighter I hold on.” Louise looked up at Holly. “Self-defence is essential in this city. Don’t just stand there; check the other rooms.”
Holly quickly looked around the house, which didn’t take long—there was only one bedroom and all the other rooms were empty. When she got back to the sitting room, Louise still had Phoebe in a tight grip.
“Where’s Victoria?” Louise demanded.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Phoebe said, though it was obviously a lie.
Holly was incensed. She crouched down to meet her eye to eye.
“Where is she?” Holly demanded, venom dripping from her voice. She didn’t know what she would do next. She felt like she was capable of things she’d never thought possible. Phoebe obviously knew something, and Holly would happily claw the truth from her.
“Where?” Holly repeated.
“I’m here.”
Holly jumped and spun around.
Victoria stood in the doorway. Her usually perfect hair was slightly askew and there was a thin cut on her forehead, but otherwise she looked fine. Holly rushed to her and gathered her into a hug.
“I thought I’d lost you,” she whispered. “I’ve been so scared.”
Victoria patted her back gently. “I’m fine. But we have to call the police.”
“That might not be such a good idea,” Holly said.
“It’s okay. I know about the offshore account and I have all the evidence I need to prove my innocence, but we need to call the police now,” Victoria explained, her voice even and calm.
Holly had missed that voice so much. She’d missed her partner, her other half, the person who could be strong when she couldn’t.
“I’m on it, Victoria,” Louise said, her phone in one hand, her free arm still holding Phoebe in a death grip.
Holly looked at Victoria again, taking in the cut and frowning.
“You’re hurt. What happened?”
Victoria cupped her face and kissed her. “I love you,” she said with such feeling that Holly felt her breath catch in her chest.
“I love you, too,” she said.
“The children?” Victoria asked.
“Safe. With Gideon.”
Victoria sagged in relief. She turned her attention back to Louise. “Call for my car and ask my lawyer to meet me at the house as soon as possible. He’s about to earn his money.”
“On it,” Louise said. She started dialling another number, giving Phoebe’s neck a little squeeze when she started to fight back.
Victoria looked at Phoebe as if only just seeing her. She nodded her head and smirked. “Ah, yes, that makes sense.”
Holly looked behind Victoria to a doorway she hadn’t seen before; some steps led down to where she presumed there was a basement. Holly edged around Victoria and looked down the stairs.
“You can go down there if you like,” Victoria said. “Give him my regards.”
Holly frowned, not knowing what Victoria was talking about. She took a few tentative steps down before crouching to look into the room. There was a chair in the middle of the room; a man was tied to it with the cord of an old lamp, which hung uselessly on the floor.
She recognised him as Steven Goodfellow despite the blood streaming down his nose.
“Holly!” He looked at her pleadingly. “Holly, she’s gone crazy. She attacked me, please help!”
Holly continued down the stairs and looked at him suspiciously.
Steven tried to move and gestured to his hands with a nod of his head.
“Untie me. Please, you don’t know what she’s capable of,” he said.
“Darling?” Victoria’s voice floated down the stairs. “Please bring the laptop with you when you come back up here.”
Holly looked around the room and saw the laptop.
“I’ve been set up,” Steven said the moment her eyes zoned in on the device.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of that going around,” Holly said.
She looked at the laptop; there was a browser window with multiple tabs open. She looked through them; many were bank accounts all showing recent deposits. One tab was an email account where Steven was halfway through typing his resignation to Arrival and claiming he wanted to spend more time with his family.
She closed that email and looked at his outbox. The last message he’d sent was to an email address she didn’t recognise informing them that he had Victoria Hastings and requesting advice on how to dispose of her, hoping that they he would be able to hire someone to do the job for him.
Holly looked up at him, fury in her eyes. The monster had framed Victoria and was now requesting that someone come and murder her. On top of that he had the audacity to pretend that he was being framed.
“This doesn’t look good for you, Mr Goodfellow,” she said. She picked up the laptop and walked over to the stairs.
Steven laughed. “You’ll regret this.”
“Maybe,” Holly allowed, “but I think you’ll regret this more.”
She climbed the stairs and handed the laptop over to Victoria.
“Did you attack him?” she asked.
“I did. Thanks to you and Rambo over there,” Victoria said as she tucked the laptop under her arm.
“Why us?”
“Steven heard you walking around outside and then heard the back door open. It was all the distraction I needed. The fool hadn’t bothered to tie me up, presumably because I’m a feeble old woman. Unfortunately for him, my Jimmy Choo heel is as tough as any twenty-year-old’s.”
Holly blinked. “You hit him with your heel?”
“Of course. You don’t expect me to punch him like some thug, do you?” Victoria softly patted the laptop. “This will do nicely. I knew that pathetic excuse for a human wouldn’t think for a second that I’d be able to overpower him. He was stupid enough to leave all the evidence right here.”
“Let me go,” Phoebe shouted.
Louise held her firmly in place and looked at Victoria. “Your car is on the way.”
“Excellent. Thank you, Louise.”
Holly stared at Louise as she effortlessly held Phoebe in the headlock.
“Self-defence training,” Victoria explained. “I insisted on it for all staff members a few years ago, prior to Phoebe’s time with us. It’s essential in this city.”
“So I hear,” Holly said.
“I’ll talk,” Phoebe said. “I’ll tell you whatever you want to know.”
“I think I already know everything,” Victoria said. “Any bartering you want to do can be done via the police.”
As if on cue, blue lights illuminated the house.
“And here they are now,” Victoria said. She handed Holly back the laptop and walked over to the front door.
“Officers,” Victoria greeted as she opened the door. “I’ll make this quick as I’d really like to get home. I’ve had a very trying evening.”