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It was dark when Evelyn finally arrived at the meeting spot. The clouds obscured any light from the moon, and the complete blackness was the kind only possible in the country. Despite that, she hadn’t switched on the torch fixed to the front of her bicycle, approaching as quietly as possible. Her run-in with Anthony had shaken her, and she didn’t feel comfortable at all. Perhaps because of that encounter, all her instincts were screaming and a knot of dread had taken up residence deep in her belly. Something was wrong, but she had no idea what. Until she met with this Molly, she wouldn’t know what had brought Anthony out to Dorchester.
Why had he tried to get her into his car? The thought popped into her head, repeating itself as it had since she left the old shack. Had they changed the meeting place and he was supposed to deliver her somewhere else? Or was his appearance something much more sinister?
She shook her head with a frown, making her way through the darkness. She had to put it out of her mind for now. She had much more important things to worry about. Coasting to a stop on the deserted road, she listened intently to the silence. While she may be experiencing grave misgivings, she was here now, and there really was no turning back. She’d committed to a course of action, and she must see it through, regardless of the impulse to turn around and run. The weight of her pistol was comforting in her coat pocket, and Evelyn was suddenly very glad she’d brought it along.
An owl hooted in the distance, breaking the absolute silence, while a breeze rustled against the hedgerow. A shiver went through her as Evelyn shot a look behind her, bracing one foot on the pavement. Nothing but darkness yawned behind her, and she turned to face forward again. Remaining on her bicycle, she strained to see in the darkness. Then, after a moment, she got off and began walking it forward. Inky blackness prevented her from seeing much more than a few feet in front of her, and she was just deciding whether to turn on the torch after all or not when she saw it.
Apprehension slid through her as she made out the shape of a car pulled to the side of the road, just below the hill that led to a spinney at the top. It was a few feet in front of her and, as she stared at it, the headlights suddenly came on, blinding her.
Evelyn lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the sudden brightness, her heart leaping into her throat. Peering around her hand, she watched a shadow emerge from the driver’s door.
“Hello?” she called in her faintly accented tone. “Are the lights really necessary?”
“I thought they would make it easier to see,” a woman replied. “Miss Müller?”
“Yes.” Evelyn frowned and moved out of the direct glare of the headlights. “And you?”
“My name is Molly.”
The woman followed her until they were standing out of the beams of light and next to the car. Evelyn lowered her hand, examining the other woman. She was slightly taller than herself, with dark hair pulled back and secured behind her head. The filtered light cast her features in shadow, but Evelyn had the impression of high cheekbones and full cheeks.
“You are late,” Molly said.
“I was delayed on the road. A motor car almost ran me over.”
“How alarming for you! I trust you’re not hurt?”
“No.” Evelyn saw the woman studying her in the darkness and was grateful for the shadows that she knew obscured her face as much as they concealed Molly’s. “I was instructed that I was to receive a package from you,” she said briskly. “Do you have it?”
“Not much of one for conversation, are you?”
“I don’t see any benefit to wasting time.”
Something like a twisted smile crossed the other woman’s face.
“How right you are.” She withdrew something from her pocket and Evelyn’s breath caught in her throat as light slanted across a black pistol. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Evelyn stared at the gun, her mouth going dry as her heart pounded a rapid tattoo in her chest.
“What is the meaning of this?” she demanded, allowing her accent to thicken. “Why do you point a gun at me?”
“Because, Miss Müller, I know that you are not who you claim to be,” Molly told her calmly. “You are not in contact with anyone on the Channel Islands, or in Berlin.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Evelyn said, buying time while her mind spun. How had they found out? Tony couldn’t possibly have alerted them already. Could he?
“Yes you do, and it begs the question who, then, are you?”
“I am Sylvia Müller, Sir Blackney’s personal secretary.”
“Yes, so we’re reliably informed.” Molly frowned. “That part appears to be true, but the rest?” She shrugged. “Lies. The people in Berlin have never heard of you, and neither have the agents on Guernsey. I don’t know who you really are, or who you work for, but it really doesn’t matter. The game you’re playing ends now.”
“I don’t play games,” Evelyn said, her voice chilling.
“Neither do we, and due to your tardiness, I’m now really very pressed for time.” Molly motioned towards the incline beside them with the gun. “As much as I would love to continue this conversation, I have another appointment that I must keep this evening. Go on with you. We’re going into the spinney up there, where we won’t be disturbed. You may leave your bicycle. You won’t be needing that.”
Evelyn hesitated for the briefest of seconds, then laid the bicycle on the ground before glancing up the incline. She could disarm the other woman easily here and now, but it would be a useless waste of energy if there were others in the trees who would shoot her before she could get the package. She would have to go up there with her, if only to ensure that she was truly alone. At least she knew that Anthony hadn’t come before her. If he had, Molly would know exactly who she was, and Evelyn had no doubt that she wouldn’t have been able to resist telling her. Molly was very pleased with herself, and gloating over the unmasking of Miss Evelyn Ainsworth? She wouldn’t have been able to resist. No, she hadn’t heard anything from Anthony yet. But if not him, then how the devil had they found out?
“It’s not my bicycle, you know,” Evelyn said, abandoning the accent. “I borrowed it from the housekeeper.”
“I’m sure someone will happen across it in the morning,” Molly said dismissively. She pulled out a torch and switched it on, illuminating the hill before them. “The bicycle is the least of your worries. Walk!”
Evelyn made a face in the shadows as she moved up the slope towards the trees, keeping a wary eye on Molly and the gun in her hand. She hadn’t answered Evelyn’s question about the package. Did she even have it with her? Or had she come empty-handed, knowing that it was a trap. Lord, she hoped not! To go through all of this only to go away empty-handed would be the worst possible failure.
“Do you actually intend to use that toy?” Evelyn asked as they neared the top of the incline.
“You’ll be the first to find out,” Molly replied with a short laugh.
“How overwhelmingly banal.” Evelyn reached the top of the incline and looked down her nose at the other woman. “And a bit dramatic, don’t you think? Have you thought this through? Have you ever actually shot anyone?”
“If I were you, I’d be more concerned with my own skin at the moment. Go into the trees.”
Evelyn shrugged and walked into the spinney, picking her way past a bramble bush.
“I’m simply trying to help you. It really doesn’t seem as if you’ve given this much thought. How are you going to dispose of me, for instance? You can’t very well just leave dead bodies lying about. It’s not done.”
Reaching a relatively clear area void of undergrowth, she cast a quick look around. The light from Molly’s torch didn’t reveal any hidden accomplices, and Evelyn’s shoulders relaxed.
“Don’t concern yourself with that. It’s all been taken care of,” Molly said, walking up behind her. “I can’t say that you will be given a proper burial, but then I don’t suppose you’ll notice.”
Evelyn waited until she was close, then swung around, going straight for the hand with the gun. The speed with which she moved took Molly by surprise, and before she could react, Evelyn’s fingers had closed around her wrist, wrenching it sideways at an impossible angle with her arm. She felt the crack as the bone snapped just as Molly let out a cry of pain, cut short abruptly when Evelyn slammed the side of her hand into her throat. Robbed of the ability to make any sound, Molly reached out frantically with her good arm, trying to grab Evelyn’s neck. Avoiding her grasping hand easily, Evelyn leveled a blow to her temple with her elbow, catching her as her eyes closed and she fell.
She eased the woman to the ground and checked for a pulse. She should be unconscious, but Evelyn had hit her a little harder than she intended. Sifu had warned her often enough that the difference between a corpse and an unconscious opponent was the force behind the blow, and it was with anxious fingers that she pressed against the side of Molly’s neck. She had no desire to stand trial for killing a woman on the road to Weymouth.
Relief went through her when she felt a pulse, and Evelyn exhaled silently. Looking around, she saw the gun illuminated by the discarded torch. It had fallen harmlessly to the ground when she broke Molly’s wrist, and Evelyn reached for it now. If arrangements had been made to dispose of her body, then there must be others with her. They would be waiting nearby, and they would be expecting to hear a gunshot.
Picking up the gun, she aimed it high into the trees and squeezed the trigger. A deafening report echoed around the spinney and a there was a rush of wings and squawking as sleeping birds were startled from their slumber. Turning, Evelyn tossed the gun away and reached for the belt on Molly’s coat. She pulled it out before rolling the woman onto her stomach and tying her hands securely behind her back. Her breath was coming quickly now. She didn’t have much time. The others wouldn’t be far, and as soon as they heard the shot, they’d come to take care of the body.
Reaching to her own neck, she undid the scarf tied there and used it to gag the unconscious woman. She would be found, but Evelyn hoped to be gone by then. She didn’t want to risk Molly raising an alarm before she’d gone two steps.
Once the woman was bound and gagged, Evelyn grabbed the bag that Molly wore across her body. She picked up the torch and held it with one hand while she opened the flap. She sincerely hoped that the package was inside! She didn’t have time to search the car below. In fact, she didn’t think she really had time to search the bag, but she could hardly leave it. Not when she’d come this far.
Shining the light into the bag, Evelyn experienced a mix of relief and excitement at the sight of a brown paper-wrapped package tied securely with twine. Grabbing it, she pulled it from the bag just as the sound of underbrush crunching made its way into the spinney. They were coming!
Evelyn jumped up and turned to run towards the trees, her heart pounding once again. She wasn’t going to make it. The realization hit her just as two men burst into the spinney behind her. A gunshot rang out and Evelyn stumbled as the wood splintered on the tree beside her. Without hesitation, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her Browning, turning as she raised her arm. The forgotten torch cast enough light over the area for her to clearly see the two men running towards her. She fired. The man on the right stumbled, a stunned look on his face, and stopped. He swayed for a second, then fell backwards as blood spread across his chest.
Evelyn shifted her aim to the other one to find his weapon pointed right at her. She sucked in her breath, but before she could fire again, another shot rang out from behind her. The man fell back a pace, a bullet hole in his forehead.
Evelyn stared, stunned, as he fell to join his companion on the ground. Spinning around, she gasped to find Anthony lowering a pistol.
“Tony!”
He moved forward, his eyes on her pistol.
“I don’t suppose you’ll consider lowering that, will you?”
“That depends on what on earth you’re doing here!” Evelyn found her voice, the gun never wavering.
“Saving your life, from the looks of things,” he said dryly. “We’re on the same side, you and I, although I’m damned if I know how or why.”
A shout echoed through the trees, some distance away, and Anthony cursed under his breath.
“You must go,” he said urgently. “For God’s sake, put that gun away and listen to me! You must get away from here!”
Evelyn hesitated, then lowered her pistol, struggling to make sense of what had just happened.
“I...I don’t understand.”
“I don’t have time to explain, Evie. Those weren’t the only ones with Molly. There are four others, and by the sound of it, they’re on their way now. The shots will have alerted them that something went wrong. You can’t be caught here!”
He dug in his pocket and pulled out his keys, pressing them into her hand. His eyes met hers in the darkness and Evelyn saw only concern in his face.
“Take my car. It’s parked about a quarter mile along the road behind a hedge.”
“But...what about you?” Evelyn came out of her stupor, her fingers closing around the keys.
“I’ll take care of Molly and the others. Just go!”
Evelyn swallowed, hearing voices on the other side of the spinney. With one final look at Anthony, she turned and darted through the trees. She emerged into a field and, in the darkness, she couldn’t see what was before her. Remembering the ditch filled with water, Evelyn turned to her left and began to sprint away from the spinney, glancing up at the moonless sky. For the first time that evening, she was grateful for the clouds that immersed the countryside in almost impenetrable darkness. They would prevent anyone from seeing her running into the night, leaving the spinney, and Anthony, behind.
