Death when it came for Patricia Patterson was unexpected.
She thought they would come in the middle of the night and kill her in the same way they had killed the others: stunned with a taser first and then strangled from behind.
She’d never taken part in any killing, but she had seen the bodies afterwards.
It wasn’t a pretty sight.
But who would kill her now Adam was in jail?
She didn’t know.
They gave her a special meal, as they had given the others. Roast pork, apple sauce and all the trimmings. It was part of the ritual; eating the bodies of those who were about to eat you.
As with the others, hunger made sure she ate the food. They hadn’t fed her for a couple of days.
She didn’t taste the rat poison stirred into the apple sauce, but its effects began about twenty minutes after she finished the meal. Her muscles began to spasm, she had seizures, her breathing became difficult and more laboured, and eventually her heart stopped.
They came in when she was dead.
‘Poor Patricia, she was such an angry soul.’
‘It was God’s work. I will remove the hand later. We’ll get rid of the body in the usual way.’
‘I liked her.’
‘We have nearly finished our work, only a few more left to go. Adam has told me what to do.’
‘I’ll be ready.’
Then they all went about their separate jobs, ignoring the body lying cold and dead in its small cell.
Patricia Patterson would not see or hug Cherie again.