Джеймс Паттерсон - Revenge

A damp stillness seemed to settle in the room. Susie knew that they’d arrived at the part of the story where Emma dies, and she wasn’t sure she was ready. Just as she’d never wanted to watch the film, she didn’t want to hear it from her killer’s lips.

“But you didn’t kill her,” she said weakly, “she killed herself.”

Karen nodded sagely, as though expecting credit for her wisdom. “I gave her a choice. I laid it out for her. I introduced myself, I told her who I was and what she’d done to me. I told her that if she’d just come along with me that day and we’d have got our money, she would have been returned safely and then maybe none of this would ever have happened. Her whole life might have taken a different course.

“I told her that she was going to die because some bodyguard told her to bite me and then broke my arm. That this was the reason she had to die; that honor had to be satisfied. I told her that my need to satisfy that honor was as real to me as the need for heroin was to her. A good comparison, don’t you think?

“And then I told her that she had a choice: either she come with me, and I would take her somewhere, to one of my dad’s lock-ups, and I’d let the lads have their fun with her before I’d kill her. Or she could take her own life, there and then, on camera.”

Susie swallowed. All she could find to say was “It wasn’t much of a choice.”

“I wanted to do it myself,” said Karen. Her voice was bright, but her eyes were dead. “I really wanted to do it myself. I would have had fun in the lock-up. But it was better the way it happened. It put me in the clear. Plus I got to put it all online.

“I told her that I’d be uploading the footage, you know. I told her that her death would stand as a warning to others. Like, look what happens when pretty little rich girls mess with drugs. I told her that she might even prevent another girl from getting into the same predicament. And if she did that, then wasn’t that a good thing?”

“You bitch,” said Susie. The words escaped her like air from a balloon.

Karen nodded, smiling. “Yeah, I was very convincing. And she was so zonked out that she bought into it, without really thinking what it might do to Mommy and Daddy. Or maybe . . . maybe she did actually stop to consider the effect it would have on you. What about that? What if she thought that with her death she could land one final blow to her mommy and daddy? Or what if she thought that with her death she could make you proud ? Christ, that’s an even more twisted thought, isn’t it?

“I could have done it another way that might have been more satisfying in the moment, pulling the trigger, slipping the blade in. But I liked this way too. It had the feel of a plan, and if it came out who she was, and anyone put me together with her, then there was no way Dmitry could turn round and accuse me of being behind her death. It was all up there on the screen.

“It would have worked like a dream but for the fact that men will always behave like men, and your husband had to have his tantrum.” She lapsed into silence, seeming to think.

Susie prompted her: “So that’s what happened? She did it herself?”

Karen nodded. “She used the gun I gave her. Dad would make sure there were people who could say she bought the gun herself.

“And then, when the deed was done and all the girls had stopped screaming and Jason had stopped puking, I got Jason to ring Sergei, who came down, and that was it. Think I told Jason not to breathe a word to anyone that I’d even been there, and good old Jason, he didn’t. He didn’t ask any questions. Just did as he was asked: rang Sergei, calmed the girls down. I rewarded him for his help by slitting his throat.”

“You can add that to your tally,” said Susie through clenched teeth.

“Oh, Mrs. Drake,” said Karen, cocking her head. “It makes you angry to hear about this, doesn’t it? How angry does it make you?”

And suddenly it struck Susie. She realized Karen had been clever, but not nearly so clever as she thought. She had overplayed her hand. The gun had been left there to tempt Susie. That’s exactly what Karen wanted. Under the gaze of the CCTV camera, she wanted Susie to make a move.

Susie had been sitting forward in the deck chair, perhaps unconsciously readying herself to leap for the gun. She saw now that Karen was adapting her own body language to seem as relaxed and as casual as possible, practically inviting Susie to make her move.

She would have a knife hidden in those sleeves. Maybe the gun wasn’t even loaded.

“And what about me?” said Susie. Very deliberately, she sat back in the deck chair, almost reclining, noticing a vexed look pass across Karen’s face. They had both known that Susie was about to go for the gun. They both knew that Susie had changed her mind.

“What about you?” said Karen, her mouth set, knowing how close she’d come to executing her plan.

“Well, I was in the car, too,” said Susie. “Don’t you look at me and wish me dead?”

“You didn’t bite me,” said Karen unconvincingly.

“I don’t believe you,” said Susie. “I think that if you had your way you’d kill me just as you killed Emma, and maybe”—her eyes went to the gun so that Karen could see—“just as cleverly.”

Karen was practically snarling.

“And of course, your husband . . . Dmitry, is it?” continued Susie. “He’ll want to go through with the ransom demand and deliver me safely back in return for the money. Depriving you of the opportunity for further retribution.”

And now Susie knew that she had to be careful not to antagonize the other woman too much. There was every possibility that Karen might simply lose her temper and attack. Be careful now. Tread carefully . “Perhaps you’ve made a mistake,” she said softly, trying to be assertive but not overtly threatening. Thinking, If I can just play this right . . .  “Because now I know, don’t I? I mean, you’ve told me everything. And I in turn could tell Dmitry, perhaps? Or one of my guards.”

Breathing heavily, nostrils flared, Karen said, “They’d never believe you.”

“Oh really? Wouldn’t they? Maybe not straightaway, but I’d be sowing the seeds of doubt, wouldn’t I? They might be wondering what was said back there in the car. Why things didn’t go according to plan at the spa. Maybe I’ll tell them that things went south because I recognized you. And why I recognized you.”

“You say a word and I’ll slit your fucking throat.”

Susie smiled. “But you can’t do that, remember? You can’t give yourself away.” She raised her chin, indicating the CCTV camera that watched over them, and for a moment or so the two women simply stared at one another. God knows what Karen was thinking, but she’d played her hand and now her cards lay on the table.

As for Susie? Well, she was hardly in a position of strength. But maybe, just maybe . . .

“I’ve got a proposal for you,” she said.

Karen looked at her carefully. “Go on.”

“I won’t say anything—”

“Like I say, you better fucking not.”

“I won’t say anything if you let me go,” Susie finished.

“I let you go and I’m dead.”

“Oh come on, you’re clever. You can do this. You can work something out.” She paused. “Look, just think about it. Decide what do you want to do. I won’t say anything just yet.”

Karen looked at her, breathing hard. “You think you’ve got the upper hand here, do you?” she said at last.

“Karen, you and I are about as different as two people could be. I’m talking to the woman who killed my daughter. Believe me when I say that I have nothing but hatred and contempt for you. I’d rather make a pact with the Devil himself than with you.