Jail Bird

Oli got Saz into the master suite. Saz lay back on the big bed, groaning. Oli hurried into the en suite and came back with a towel.

‘Here,’ she said, and pressed it gently to Saz’s face. Then she turned and looked at the open door and wondered what the hell to do. She couldn’t call the police. It was part of the King creed: you never called the police. An ambulance then, for Saz? But something was kicking off downstairs, something serious; call an ambulance and before very long the police would be here too.

But who to call? She needed help. Lily needed help. She thought of Nick O’Rourke, but she didn’t have his number. Then she thought of Uncle Si. If anyone could control Freddy, it was Uncle Si. But then…she really wasn’t too certain about Uncle Si, either. She could remember all too clearly that day when her mother had been in the pool, and Si had been there, ostensibly helping her out, but she didn’t think he had been doing that at all; she was pretty sure he was just trying to keep Mum in there until…until she died.

But she had to do something. And Uncle Si could control Freddy. No one else could.

She picked up her mobile with shaking hands and phoned Uncle Si’s number. Aunt Maeve answered.

‘Aunt Maeve? It’s Oli. Can you get Uncle Si to come over to the house please? Right now? Uncle Freddy’s here…’ Uncle Si could be here in moments; he only lived up the road. She would let him in, and he would make everything all right…wouldn’t he? ‘Can you tell him to hurry? Please…?’ Oli’s voice cracked, dried up, her mouth was like dust, she couldn’t get another word out, she was panicking too much.

‘Oli? Calm down,’ said Maeve. ‘What’s going on? Is your mother there?’

‘Yeah. She’s here. Uncle Freddy’s after her. I can’t…please, just please will you get Uncle Si here, Aunt Maeve? Please make him come.’

65

‘He hit Saz,’ said Lily. ‘Can you imagine that?’

This was beyond surreal. Lily was standing here in her hallway, talking to Freddy King as if he was normal. Mostly because she wished he was behaving normally. Fat chance of that. Her voice was high with anxiety. High with fear. Because there was one thing everyone knew about Freddy King, and that was that he was a psycho; he wasn’t normal at all.

‘Really?’

Freddy was staring at her like a cat gloating over the cream. He couldn’t believe his luck; he had her cornered at last. She knew that he’d wanted this for a long, long time, and somehow Saz had let Jase in, and that had provided Freddy with an entry too. Now she was toast. She was finished. He stood there, staring at her, smiling, Jase’s cosh held casually in one hand. He slapped it lightly into his palm, looking at her, grinning.

Here it comes for you, bitch.

Then Jase groaned.

Lily’s eyes skittered away from Freddy and fell on Jase.

Yeah, come on, Jase. Come on you meat-headed, thick-skulled pile of shit, wake up! thought Lily urgently. Wake up and give this lunatic something different to think about.

Freddy dropped his gaze, looking down at Jase.

Jase groaned again, his face creasing. He lifted one arm, turned over onto his side.

‘They must have been arguing over something,’ said Lily hurriedly. What to do, what to do…? Keep him talking for now. Keep him busy. Keep him focused on Jase, not me.

‘Yeah?’ said Freddy without interest.

‘He was going to surprise Oli or some silly thing.’

‘Oh. Yeah?’ Where had she put the hammer? It was over there, on the floor by the cupboard.

Shit, he’s going to kill me.

‘Only they argued,’ Lily rattled on. ‘I heard them arguing out here, I came out to see what was going on, and he hit her with the cosh, can you believe that?’

‘No. That’s unbelievable,’ agreed Freddy.

Jase’s legs were making weak movements now. He was within an inch of full consciousness, and then Lily was going to have two of them to worry about instead of one. My God, what was she going to do?

‘Big bastard like this hitting a young girl?’ Freddy was pursing his lips, shaking his head. ‘We can’t have that, now can we?’

He was putting the cosh down on the floor.

I’m too far away to reach it, thought Lily. And anyway, trying to reach it would be a fool’s errand. Try to reach it and she would put herself within striking distance of Freddy, and that would probably be the last thing she ever did. She should have taken hold of the damned thing herself, not just kicked it out of Jase’s way.

‘We certainly can’t have that,’ Freddy was saying almost to himself. He knelt down beside Jase and tapped his cheek lightly. ‘Hey boy. You there?’

Only a groan from Jase. Then his eyes flickered open and he saw Freddy looming over him.

Lily saw Jase try to grin. It was a faltering effort, and soon vanished.

‘I’m…putting i’right for you, Fred…’ he murmured. ‘I’m putting it right.’

‘Yeah,’ said Freddy, smiling softly down at Jase, his expression as tender as a fond father with a baby. ‘Sure you are.’

All at once the smile was gone. Freddy put his arm around Jase’s neck. Lily heard a half-strangled gasp escape Jase and she recoiled in horror, thinking, Oh my God, oh shit, oh no, and then Freddy had his other hand on Jase’s skull.

Freddy’s face went brick-red with effort as he applied pressure. A noise that was halfway between a scream and a gurgle went up from Jase then. His arms thrashed. There was a loud, sickening crack, and suddenly Jase was limp and still. Freddy released him, and he slumped back onto the hard floor like a rag doll.

‘Tosser,’ said Freddy contemptuously, and stood up, grabbing the cosh. He looked down at Jase’s dead body and suddenly gave it a vicious kick. The body twitched like a marionette. ‘Fucking tosser,’ he growled.

Lily’s bowels felt as if they were about to let go. He’d killed Jase, killed him in cold blood. Thank God the girls hadn’t been down here to see that. And now…oh shit, now his head was rising, and his eyes were on her again. He was starting to move.

Lily moved too, quickly, throwing herself so that she went skidding across the marble tiles, hitting the cupboard by the stairs, aiming for the hammer. She missed it. Freddy pistoned into the back of her and she felt herself go down like a sack of shit, Freddy scrabbling about on top of her – Jesus, the weight of him! – and her head hit the tiles, she saw flashing lights, her head spun, but the cupboard door was half open and oh, if she could only reach inside, just an inch, two inches, she’d be there.

Freddy was trying to get a swing at her with the cosh. She squirmed, aimed a knee at his balls but missed. Someone was gasping and yelling, and only distantly did she realize that it was her.

Maybe the girls would come, grab the hammer – shit, where was the hammer? – and do for him before he managed to whack her with the cosh.

She could hear Oli shouting something, saying, Please please come, but no one was coming. As usual she was on her fucking own here, and Freddy had her, he had her, there was no hope.

Then her scrabbling fingers touched the hammer.

Oh thank you, God!

She grabbed it, aimed it straight at Freddy’s bulk, hit him as hard as she could.