(2011) The Gift of Death (43 page)

He moved down the side of the house and came to a standstill by the enormous jacaranda tree, which hid him from sight. Slowly, quietly, he took out his gun and, through the branches, established a line of fire. He trained his gun first on Susan Gable and then on Ryan Gleason. He knew that he had to be prepared. Anything could happen.

He watched as Susan waved one of her guns and forced Gleason to kneel before her. She said something to him, something he couldn’t quite catch, then Gleason slowly stumbled to his feet. He reached out a hand, stretching it towards Susan, almost in a spirit reconciliation.

‘
If you try anything I’ll kill you, you know that, don’t you?’ she said.

He nodded, smiled. Then she passed him one of her guns.

71

‘
Susan, what are you doing?’ said Kate. She tried to make her voice as calm as possible, but she could hear the terror in her throat.

‘
Shut the fuck up!’ said Susan.

‘
You do know what he’s capable of, don’t you? You know after he kills me he will kill you just like he killed Sara-Jane.’

‘
I don’t care anymore,’ she said. ‘I’m so tired. I don’t want to go on anymore.’

Kate watched as Susan handed him the gun. Immediately he had it in hands his whole demeanour changed. His seemed invested with a new energy. He turned towards her and smiled.

‘
This feels good,’ he said, looking at her. ‘It wouldn’t have been my tool of choice, but I suppose it will have to do.’

‘
Susan – listen to me. You don’t want this to happen, I know you don’t. I know how you must feel about losing Sara-Jane. But
he’s
the one to blame, not me. I didn’t kill her. You know that –‘

‘
I think the lady’s heard enough now,’ said Gleason, stepping towards her.

‘
How would you feel if he went on to kill more children, more babies like –‘

‘
I said enough,’ he said

‘
He’s a monster, Susan.’

His eyes burnt with hatred.

‘
Just like his father before him.’ She knew what to say to make him angry. If she could just tempt him a little closer towards her. ‘A pervert who couldn’t keep his hands off his own sister.’

‘
Shut up –‘

He moved close so she could smell his fetid breath. He brought the gun up towards her face. She closed her eyes, felt its cold metal on her cheek.

‘
I should have killed you when I had the chance,’ he said. ‘I came so close to it. That morning when you were here. I saw you go into the water, get the girl out. I was watching you from down there.’ He pointed towards the end of the beach. She remembered the man dressed in black. ‘I could have done it. But there were other people I had to see to first.’

She swallowed the wave of fear that surged up inside her.

‘
Each of those fuckers who took my dad away. They had to be punished.’

He removed the gun from her face. She opened her eyes to see him move it down her body. She felt him push it into her throat, her breast, before it came to rest on the curve of her abdomen. He ran it over her, teasing her, caressing her with its threat.

‘
Please – don’t - ’ she said. ‘I’ll do anything, but please don’t harm my - ’

‘
Not so brave now, are we?’

‘
I need to ask you something, before you - ’

‘
What?’

‘
How did you know that - that I was pregnant?’

‘
I didn’t.’

‘
What?’

‘
I knew you wanted to - what with all those visits to that swanky clinic. And I got hold of the doctor’s laptop. Got a friend to hack into it for me. It didn’t tell me much that I didn’t know. So I guess I struck lucky. Not like you.’

Kate looked over towards Susan, who was standing there with a gun trained on Gleason. She pleaded with her eyes to do something, but her gaze was unresponsive, blank.

‘
Susan – please,’ she managed to say. ‘I’m begging you.’

‘
I lost a child, now it’s your turn,’ she said. Then she pointed her weapon at Gleason. ‘Do it. Do it now.’

She heard Gleason release the safety catch on the gun. It had to be now.

She tightened her grip on the round of cheese wire and whipped it out of her pocket. Although the pain seared through her body she stretched the wire out and wrapped it around Gleason’s throat. He automatically looked up towards her as he felt something tighten around his neck. She pulled the wire back towards her, feeling it dig into his flesh. It cut deeply and quickly into the skin, forming a sinister red necklace around his throat. She pressed harder, deeper, but, in that same instant, he pushed away from her, choking. She tried to maintain her grip, but he was too strong. He fell down into the sand, sounding like he was swallowing his own blood.

She looked down at her hands, dripping with blood. Some of it, she realised, was her own, where she had cut into her skin. She wiped them on her jeans, but as she looked up she saw Susan begin to turn her gun on her.

‘
You don’t want to do this,’ said Kate. ‘You’re still in shock - ’

Susan raised her gun. Kate watched as her finger settled on the trigger. She began to press down, enjoying the sensation, but then hesitated as if she were frozen in time. It felt as though she was on the point of waking up from some awful nightmare. She looked around her, somehow surprised by her surroundings.

‘
What the -?’ she said to herself. This wasn’t right. She didn’t want to do this.

But then, just as she started to release the pressure on the trigger, the sound of gunshot pierced the air. A spurt of blood arched from Susan’s head. She dropped to the floor, her body twitching and shaking, a pool of blood darkening the sand.

Kate dropped to the ground, looking around her. Gleason, still clutching his neck, raised himself up with a deep groan and tried to run for cover. Another shot hit the beach near his feet, sending sand up into the air. Gleason grabbed the gun and quickly took hold of Kate by the neck. A moment later, he had the gun pressed up against her head. Although she had injured him, badly, he still had enough strength to exact his revenge. Blood dripped from his throat onto her, seeping into her shirt, slowly trickling down her spine.

This was it, she thought to herself. This was how it was all going to end.

‘
Okay, whoever’s there better come out,’ Gleason shouted. ‘Otherwise I’ll shoot.’

Nothing happened.

‘
Okay. I’m gonna count to five.’

Kate felt the end of the gun dig into her neck. Gleason started to count.

‘
One. Two.’

Why was no-one stepping out to reveal themselves?

‘
Three.’

Where was Josh? Surely he must have got her message by now?

‘
Four.’

She felt powerless. She had no energy left to fight. She looked down at the body of Susan Gable. Soon she would join her in death, bleeding into the sand.

‘
Okay then,’ said Gleason. ‘Here we go. F –‘

There was the sound of a rustle of some branches. The noise seemed to be coming from the jacaranda tree by the terrace.

‘
Stop!’

It was a man’s voice. But it wasn’t Josh.

She opened her eyes. She recognised the man. He was a cop, she was sure. But she couldn’t remember his name.

‘
Drop your weapon,’ shouted Gleason.

The man hesitated.

‘
I said, drop it!’

He threw his gun towards the ground.

‘
Do you have any more weapons?’

The man shook his head.

‘
Okay, come down here. And – slowly.’

As Kate watched him walk down the steps towards the beach she was certain that, the last time she had seen him, he had been wearing his uniform. Had he been off-duty, simply driving by with his window open, when he had heard the sound of firing and had chosen to investigate? If so, he surely must have asked for some kind of back-up.

‘
Where’s your partner?’ asked Gleason.

‘
Sorry?’

‘
Your partner. Where is he?’

‘
I’m – I’m off-duty,’ said the man, slightly covering his mouth with his hand.

‘
What’s wrong with your voice?’

‘
Nothing.’

‘
What’s your name?’

‘
Urm –‘

‘
Who the fuck are you?’ he shouted, quickly lifting the gun away from Kate and pointing it at the direction of the cop.

‘
Do I know you? I know your voice. Tell me your name.’

‘
I’m no-one.’

Gleason, possessed by a sudden rage, ran towards him, almost as if he wanted to get up close so he could have a better view of his face.

‘
It was you, you fucker,’ he said. ‘I know who you are now. You’re the one who –‘

Something moved in the periphery of her vision. She turned her head towards the terrace. It was Josh.

‘
Stop!’ he shouted. He had his gun aimed directly at Gleason’s head. But he knew if only he got a little closer he would have a better chance of hitting him. He moved quickly down the steps, trying to keep his gun trained on Gleason. Kate was covered in blood. There was a dead woman on the beach.

‘
I’ve got you covered,’ said Josh. ‘Now, drop the weapon.’

Josh fired off a shot by his feet, spraying sand into the air. Gleason let the gun drop.

‘
This is just great,’ said Gleason, beginning to laugh.

‘
On your knees,’ said Josh. ‘Drop to your fuckin’ knees.’

‘
You don’t get it, do you?’ said Gleason. ‘You just don’t get it?’

‘
What you’ve got to say you can say to your lawyer,’ said Josh, moving quickly towards him and picking up his gun. He threw the gun over to Peterson.

‘
You know and I know I’m never gonna have a lawyer,’ said Gleason, pressing his hand over his throat. ‘I’m not gonna end up like my dad. Humiliated. Imprisoned. Waiting to die.’ He turned to look at Kate, his eyes full of hatred. ‘You robbed him of his freedom. How could you do that?’

‘
Because he was an evil fucker who got his kicks from murdering young women,’ said Peterson, pointing the gun at him. ‘That’s why.’

Gleason looked at Peterson.

‘
You know there’s not much difference between you and me?’ said Gleason.

‘
You’re talking bullshit,’ said Peterson.

‘
Detective Harper. Did you happen to wonder how I got these?’ he said, holding up his two bandaged fingers. ‘It was a little present from your friend here.’

‘
Stop playing games, Gleason,’ said Peterson.

Kate suddenly remembered where she had seen him before. He was the cop who had interviewed her, here at the beach house, soon after she had discovered the baby floating in the sea. The one who had been in the car with Josh when she had taken that call from Cynthia Ross.

‘
Not only that, he told me some other interesting things as well, didn’t you? Like how you killed Garrison, that wife beater, and some guy who got his kicks from obscene photos of little girls. And who was that other one? A drug dealer who - ’

‘
Shut up!’

‘
Thinks of himself as some kind of avenging angel put on earth to do God’s work or some shit like that.’

Peterson tightened his grip on the gun.

‘
Sad thing is, nobody told him God is long dead. Only gods around now are folk like my dad. Now he really had the power to -’

A moment later Peterson had his gun pressed next to Gleason’s temple.

‘
Say another word and you’re dead,’ he said.

‘
Peterson, let’s just calm down here,’ said Josh. Suddenly it all made sense. ‘Step away. I’ve got Gleason covered.’

Peterson did not move.