Shape of Snakes

way to the vapors. 'How dare you think I'm so stupid as to carry a master file with me? How dare you think I'd give you an opportunity to outflank me?

'You talked about a trade,' said Drury aggressively.

'I want justice first,' I flung at him. 'Then I'll trade.'

'What sort of justice?'

'The eye-for-an-eye kind. The same kind you believe in. You pumped a Neanderthal full of lies, then told him I'd be gagged the next day. What did you think he was going to do? Send me a bunch of flowers?'

He looked edgily toward Sam. 'I don't know what you're talking about.'

'Yes, you do. You got more and more angry every time I accused you of racism. That's why you made my official caution so public ... so that even a moron like Derek Slater knew he could have a free run at the nigger-lover without any fear of my reporting it.'

'You're inventing things again, Mrs. Ranelagh. If a crime was committed you had a perfect opportunity to give us the details the next morning.'

'You mean in the middle of an official caution for wasting police time? In front of a husband and mother who didn't believe a word I said because they had more faith in a corrupt policeman than they had in me?' I flung out my arms and caught him across the chest with the backs of my hands. 'How dare you suggest I had an unhealthy fixation on you? How dare you imagine for one minute that I'd be interested in someone who thought a woman's place was under a man ... preferably bound and muzzled so that he wouldn't have to listen to her criticizing his performance.'

He retreated warily but didn't say anything. 'I had nothing but contempt for you,' I said. 'I saw you as a little man ... a pygmy in uniform ... someone who was allowed to strut his stage because his superiors were too inept to see how incompetent he was ... and the only reason I spoke to you at all was because I wanted justice for Annie. But I never thought of you as anything other than a reptile.' I looked deep into the dead black of his eyes. 'And that was my mistake, wasn't it? If I hadn't made it so obvious that the mere sight of you made my flesh crawl, you wouldn't have set Derek on me. Because it wasn't me who fancied you, you bastard, but you who fancied me.' I felt Sam move behind me.

'You're crazy,' said Drury.

'You'd better believe it,' I agreed, slithering 'round the bonnet of the car. 'I haven't been sane since Derek did your dirty work for you. He knew I'd never let him into my house, so he sent Alan in first, blubbing about how his father had been hitting his mother again. The child was twice as big as me, and I was stupid enough to put an arm 'round him while I turned to shut the door.' I gave a hollow laugh. 'He had me flat on my back before I knew what was happening, and used his weight to hold me down while his filthy great hands yanked my hair out by the roots every time I moved my head.' I halted in front of the offside headlight so that he wouldn't retreat any further. 'They couldn't mark me,' I went on, 'because you'd told Derek I'd be at the police station the next morning. And they couldn't rape me because they didn't want leave any incriminating evidence inside me.' I tapped two fingers against my mouth. 'So I got a mouthful of Derek later's urine instead.'

I caught a glimpse of Sam's strained, white face out of the corner of rny eye. 'He pissed over my mouth and nose while his son held me down'-I glanced at the harbor's edge-'and it's like drowning. You can't breathe-so you drink. And the legacy is that you wash your mouth out every hour of every day as long as you live.' I lifted my lips in a wolfish snarl. 'They swapped places while I was choking to give Alan his turn-but he was too excited and couldn't control himself...' I fell silent as Sam moved 'round behind the car.

Drury made a half-turn so he could keep an eye on Sam as well. 'No one's going to believe you,' he said, 'not if there's no record of such a crime being committed. And why focus your anger on me, anyway? Why not blame your husband for abandoning you? If he'd had any guts he'd have stood by you instead of protecting his tart.'

I had time to think that Drury was a shocking judge of charcter before-with one galvanizing charge-Sam launched at him, head down, and shunted him into the estuary after my rucksack.

*23*

Sam doubled up and backed away from the edge, roaring obscenities from an overdose of adrenaline, but I stayed to watch Drury rise. Luke had assured me that the westerly tidal stream in Weymouth harbor would carry a floating body toward the pontoons, but I had a small twinge of concern about how good a swimmer Drury was. When his face bobbed to the surface, we stared at each other for a moment before I gave him a one-fingered salute and turned away. Gotcha!

'We ought to call the police,' said Sam, taking deep breaths to calm himself while he watched the man swim to safety.

'He can do it himself if he wants to. He knows our address.' I walked back to the car. 'But he won't. He'll bury his head in the sand and hope this counts as an eye for an eye.'

'And does it?' he asked, following me.

'No chance,' I said cheerfully, opening the passenger door. 'He still has to answer for Annie, and he'll only do that when his name's plastered across every newspaper in this country with 'racist' attached to it.' I slid onto the seat. 'Come on,' I called, buckling my seat belt, 'let's shift. He'll be after your blood if I know anything about anything. Not reporting you to the police doesn't mean he won't break your jaw at the first opportunity.'

Sam scrambled in beside me and fired the engine, twisting 'round to reverse the car out on the road. 'I should have seen to him twenty years ago,' he said as he spun the wheel. 'I would have done, too, if I hadn't believed him.'

'About Annie?'

'No,' he growled, 'about you stalking him. I know it sounds absurd now but at the time it seemed to make sense. The way you went off me after Annie died ... the hours you spent at the police station ... the fact that you were prepared to talk to him and not me.' He eased the car forward and pulled out onto the road. 'I started to think he was more your type than I was.'

'That figures,' I said sarcastically, reaching across him to buckle his belt. 'I mean he had everything I wanted in a man: hair, a uniform, not to mention an enormous dick, which he kept permanently