Pauline Rowson - In for the Kill

I tensed. Was he goading me deliberately? No.

As I stared at him I saw how mad he was. What a lethal combination he and Miles had made. Miles eaten up with an inferiority complex and fuelled by revenge, and Gus suffused with a surfeit of unhealthy superiority. To them I had been merely an instrument to achieve what they wanted. Well fuck them! One of them was dead. Prison though would be better than death for Gus Newberry.

But I wasn’t finished yet.

‘How did you find out about the brooches?’ I asked almost casually, marvelling at my ability to disguise my real emotion. But then prison had taught me so much, and in that instance I knew with certainty I could never go back to being the Alex Albury I had once been.

‘What brooches?’ Gus said.

‘You didn’t know that each man had part of an account number engraved on the back of a brooch which gave the whereabouts of the Jewish money?’

‘No. Does Miles know?’

‘He did. He had all three brooches before he died. We had a little accident in my boat. They’re somewhere at the bottom of the Solent now.’ Or were they? Perhaps the police had discovered them on Miles’s body. Crowder hadn’t said.

Gus went on, ‘Now I can see why Miles got so fanatical about you. He killed Joe.’

‘I know and others. Did he kill Couldner?’

‘Someone had to. It was the only way to get the police to start the enquiry. I haven’t killed anyone, Alex.’

‘Only me and everything I valued,’ I said. My pulse was quickening and I was fighting to keep myself under control. There was silence for a moment. With every last fibre of my being I urged myself to remain calm.

I crossed to the patio doors. I thought of Vanessa. Gus had tricked and betrayed her as much as he had me. I knew that she would never forgive me for what I was about to do to Gus, but that couldn’t be helped. Besides I didn’t want her forgiveness now.

I turned back. ‘Why did you pay Rowde to say he would hurt my sons?’

‘After you showed up at the house I could see that Vanessa was eaten up with guilt. I couldn’t have that. It would poison our relationship. So Miles found Rowde for me. He told Rowde that you had confessed to him that you really had stolen the three million and that you knew exactly where it was. Rowde found Westnam. I told him, through Miles, where to look. I’d kept tabs on him. The one way to get to the money you had was through your family. So Rowde threatened you. Then he was paid to say he had kidnapped them. He was also to get a bonus when the three million was found which was to be shared three ways between him, Miles and me, only he didn’t know my identity. Everything was arranged through Miles. Instead I flew Vanessa and the boys here, the day after you and I returned from Guernsey. I thought you might kill Rowde for me, which would have been convenient.’

‘I might still do that,’ I said evenly.

Gus sat up surprised. ‘Why?’

‘For three million pounds. I’ll go ahead just as we planned. I’ll fly with him to Zurich on Monday. He calls Vanessa when we get there, I speak to her and then you call me to say that they’ve been released. Rowde will believe it. I’ll get the money and then I’ll kill Rowde.’

‘How?’

‘Do you really want to know?’ There was a silence. After a moment I continued. ‘Prison teaches you all sorts of tricks, including how to kill a man. I’ll do it on one condition. I get to keep the three million. I deserve some kind of compensation. I think I’ve more than earned it, don’t you?’

‘And you’ll go away and stay away.’

I nodded.

‘You won’t have any further claim on Vanessa or your sons?’

‘No. If my sons decide to come looking for me when they’re older then that’s up to them, though I doubt they’ll find me. Look, Gus, I’m tired. I’ve got nothing to keep me here. This way I can start a new life for myself, away from here and all my memories. You’ve got what you want, Vanessa and a family, and I’ve got some kind of compensation for what I’ve suffered, and a chance to start afresh without psychos like Rowde on my back.’

Gus scrutinised me for a moment thinking over my words. ‘OK, it’s a deal.’

‘Right, tell me how and where I can find the money.’ I saw him hesitate. ‘I’ve got to know, Gus, otherwise I’ll call the police and tell them everything. They’ll start an investigation…’

‘It’s in a Swiss numbered account in the Zurich International Bank. I’ll need to call them and tell them you’re coming. I’ll authorise them to hand the money over to you.’

‘I’ll be travelling on a false passport. I’ll call you and give you the details as soon as I get them from Rowde, OK?’

Gus nodded.

‘Let me have the number now, Gus.’

He hesitated, shrugged and then took a business card from his wallet and wrote twelve numbers on it. I recognised part of it (even though it was jumbled up) as Vanessa’s birth date.

‘How do I know this is the real number and not a fake?’

‘How do I know you’ll kill Rowde and stay away from Vanessa and the boys?’

I nodded. ‘OK.’

‘Are you sure you can handle Rowde?’

‘Yes.’

He glanced at his watch. ‘I’ll need to make some arrangements.’

As soon as he’d gone I stuffed a pillow in my bed and stepped onto the aft deck, closing the patio doors behind me. I had to keep alert, but I was exhausted both mentally and physically. I snatched a glance at my watch: it was almost 5.30am. The night was moonless and pitch dark.

I shivered in the wind and rain, thinking that at least the cold would prevent me from falling asleep, and I didn’t think I would have long to wait, correctly as it turned out. A noise alerted me. I crouched down out of sight. A shadowy figure was moving around inside the lounge, and then disappeared from my view. After a moment I heard it step off the houseboat and I dropped down onto the shore and ran after it along the Embankment. I reached him just as he was about to climb into a car.

‘Good try, Gus, but I’m still alive.’ He spun round. The hood slipped from his head.

‘But not for long.’

He swung the petrol can. I saw it coming and dodged out of the way. I reached out and grabbed him around the legs. He fell down thrashing about. I lifted his head and bashed it against the hard earth, then I balled my fist and smashed it into his face, once, twice.

‘And this one’s for my mother.’ I hit him again.

‘And for Ruby.’

Then four men in dark clothes appeared from nowhere. Two were pulling me off and restraining me. I tried to shake them off. It took a command from Crowder before they released me.

‘Call an ambulance,’ Crowder addressed his sergeant, ‘And get an officer to accompany Mr Newberry to St Mary’s Hospital.’

Crowder’s eyes travelled beyond me and his mobile was pressed to his ear.

I turned knowing what I would see. Flames were licking out of the houseboat.

‘Don’t worry, Alex. We got your conversation with Mr Newberry. Have you got the code to the Swiss bank account?’

I handed over the card Gus had given me. ‘It’s the correct number only Gus didn’t expect me to live long enough to collect the money.’

‘This money of your grandfather’s – any idea of the code?’

‘No.’ So the brooches hadn’t been discovered on Miles’s body.

‘Don’t you think it should go back to those who it belongs to?’

I did but finding who that was, was a whole new ballgame. ‘Maybe one day it will,’ I said, thinking of those birth dates.

‘Do you want a lift anywhere?’

‘No.’

I watched Crowder and the ambulance drive away. Vanessa was going to get a shock. I hoped the boys would be all right and weather it though.