Kath was nearly ready for action. She just needed to prime her sister, Hayley, teach her the words, and just hope Hayley didn’t make an absolute mess of it. Tomorrow, she told herself. Tomorrow.
Chi sensed that Kath was working up to her climax. Tomorrow would be the day. She was serving lunches in Rosemary’s, thinking possibly it would be her last day as well. Tomorrow Zac would be rescued and they could be out of here. Jubilee had promised. ‘As soon as he is safe and free, then we can head to London, board the plane and carry on with our original plan.’
There had been no shifting her but Jubilee was not one to break a promise.
4 p.m.
During the break between lunch and dinner, Chi thought it might be a good idea to check on Zac and reassure Jubilee that all would be well. By tomorrow they could be hitting the road. Reassuring Jubilee that all was well with her patient would help their escape to go smoothly. But as soon as she entered the room, the stink hit her. She almost needed to cover her mouth and nose. Stale urine and something else. She frowned, trying to identify it. It wasn’t shit. Zac had hardly eaten anything since they’d abducted him. It was something else.
She was no nurse but something had changed in the old man. He was sleeping but flushed. ‘Fifi,’ she said, ‘we’re going to have to wash him.’
‘Augh!’ She expected nothing else from the girl. ‘I can’t do it,’ she said, her face still expressing nothing but disgust. ‘I’ll be sick.’
Chi looked at her. Useless, she thought, before opening the door and shouting down to Debs. ‘Bring a bowl of hot water and some soap.’
Needless to say, Debs was doing nothing without an argument. ‘What for?’
‘We’re going to have to wash him. And open the window. It stinks in here. And I think he has an infection.’
‘Oh, Gawd.’
But two minutes later Debs was on her way up and Chi could hear the water sloshing around in a plastic bowl.
Chi was worried now. If the old man died they would be up for an accessory to murder – manslaughter?
She wished Jubilee was here and then she could ask for her advice. But Jubilee was working what she hoped would be her last shift.
Debs stood in the doorway. ‘What a stink.’
‘We need clean sheets,’ Chi said, ‘and some antibiotics. Otherwise he could die.’
Fifi held out a red and black capsule. ‘He can have a couple of mine.’
‘Thanks.’ Chi bent over the old man. ‘Zac,’ she said, ‘swallow these. You’re a bit ill at the moment. These will make you better.’ She put them in his mouth and held a glass of water to his lips. Initially he gagged, but then he swallowed. ‘Thank you,’ he said, and Chi hoped with all her heart that he could be returned to Ryland’s and live out the rest of his days in peace. But first she knew Kath had a plan for him.
She felt Debs start. As she placed the bowl of water and a towel on the floor, her eyes met Chi’s. ‘Die?’
‘Well, you must have realized that might happen,’ Chi hissed. ‘He’s old and we haven’t exactly looked after him. All we’ve done is feed him sleeping pills. Now come on, help me clean him up.’
And with some satisfaction she read the fright in Debs’s eyes. ‘What we going to do?’
Downstairs, Kath was frowning. She had a logistics problem. How was she going to get him there? What about a wheelbarrow? Trouble was, if they met anyone, that would arouse suspicion. Wheeling an old man along in a bloody wheelbarrow over narrow muddy paths. That was when it hit her. Perhaps this was going to be harder than she’d thought.
Upstairs, Chi had stripped Zac, who was mumbling incoherently. She and Debs washed him before turning him over and Chi saw what was causing the smell. On his bottom was a large, raw area from which seeped pus.
‘What’s that? What’s happened?’
She took out her mobile phone, took a photograph and sent it to Jubilee. Her phone rang immediately. ‘It’s a pressure sore. He needs to lie on his side. Turn him every hour or so. And he’ll need some antibiotics.’
‘I’ve given him some of Fifi’s. Can you get us some more?’
But instead of responding, Jubilee clucked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. ‘When are you going to get him back to Ryland’s?’
‘I don’t know. Soon.’
Chi heard Kath stomping up the stairs. She felt cold. There was something very hard about those steps. Kath was practically stamping. Did she mean to kill Piercy? The baby too? Being involved in the death of a policewoman meant the force would come after them with all the manpower and might at their disposal. And two officers? She’d heard the news that Korpanski had been involved in a hit-and-run. And don’t tell me they won’t connect that to Kath, she thought. Kath was making no real attempt to cover her tracks. And that wasn’t all. The full force of the law would be as nothing compared to Piercy’s husband’s vengeance if they harmed his baby. His revenge would be terrible.
What had Kath unleashed?
And then Chi thought about her own future. Lately she had seen Kath looking at her and realized she was next in the firing line. Kath no longer trusted her. And then she was standing in the doorway. For a moment she watched, not reacting to the smell or the scene but looking at her, perhaps reading her mind, while Chi held her gaze. Kath jabbed her with an index finger. ‘I’m going to need help to get him there,’ she said. ‘You’ll help me, Chi, won’t you?’
Chi knew there was only one answer to this. She nodded.
Kath peered down at the bed. ‘It’s going to be hard, though.’
‘I know that.’
Kath turned around and stumped downstairs again. Chi studied the man in the bed. She might not have a medical degree, but it didn’t take one to know that Kath needed to move things fast. The old man wasn’t looking too well. He was sleepy most of the time. He wasn’t eating and he was beginning to look a nasty yellow colour. Even Fifi had stopped fiddling with her infected nose and was beginning to make comments about abduction, death, stuff like that, words that Chi didn’t even know were in her vocabulary. If Kath didn’t sort it soon, the old geezer would snuff it.
She gave him a sip of water which he took greedily.
They tidied him up and went downstairs.
Kath met her at the bottom. ‘You can keep any money you get for that thing,’ she said. ‘I don’t care about that. You can fuck off to Jamaica if you like with your new friend before the heat comes on.’
Chi narrowed her eyes. Kath was not known for her generosity. She was up to something.
‘I just want you to help me get him to Lud’s Church.’
Chi was still suspicious. ‘And then what?’
‘Never you mind.’ Kath grinned, her jagged tooth on full display. When Kath tried to look innocent, Chi had realized, that was when you really needed to watch out.
Kath was still sounding conciliatory. ‘You can leave all the details to me. I’ve got what I want. I have my goat. And now we have to tie him to a tree and wait for the tiger.’
It was that tiny word, ‘we’, that told Chi what she needed to know. Kath was intending to land her right in it.