Captured (18 page)

“What the hell was that all about?” Grace asked. She was sitting in the back of an ambulance while an emergency worker tended to her hand.

Neil shrugged, leaning against the door. “A lot of history between those two, I can only guess.”

“Now we’ll never know,” Kirsty was sitting on a little fold-out chair the ambulance worker had provided, swigging from a bottle of whisky Paul had procured from a little store around the corner.

“Shouldn’t you wait until they’ve examined you?”  Neil asked, pointing at the bottle.

“Probably. But I needed something. I know I need a shower. But I want to hear everything you know. First Simon and now Daniel? What on earth happened? Only Grant was half normal and he’s...” she trailed off.

Mike had joined them. “We’re free to leave for the time being, the police have agreed to come to the apartment and interview you guys there,” he looked at Kirsty. “We’ll go back there when you’ve been given the all clear.”

Two days later, Neil collected Grace and Kirsty from the hospital and brought them to the apartment. As they walked inside, Kirsty put her hand on Neil’s arm. “Out with it.”

He didn’t say anything.

“She needs to know, Neil,” Grace said, walking behind them. Her arm was in a cast; her swollen hand a mound of bandages.

“Okay,” he agreed, closing the door, and starting at the beginning.

Kirsty was silent at first, her expression changing from time to time. She gasped when Neil repeated the story that Simon had told him, before frowning. “So it was Daniel? Why didn’t Simon say something?”

Grace reached over and held her hand. “We might never know.”

“I’ve got someone digging into the case files. It’s as close as you’re going to get, but maybe there’ll be some truth in them,” Neil said, before continuing.

“What did Daniel have on him?” Kirsty interrupted again.

“He wouldn’t tell me.”

She sighed and sat back against the couch, and listened silently until he mentioned the body in the fridge. She inhaled sharply.

“Simon said it wasn’t him. But now that I’ve had a chance to look at some of your pictures...”

Grace launched herself out of the armchair and over to Kirsty who collapsed into her arms.

“I don’t understand.
Why
did he come after us in the first place?”

The police officer from the tourist police who had accompanied the other officers to the hospital had been kind, and had offered some answers: the apartment had been rigged with gelignite. Two male bodies had been found inside, burnt beyond recognition. One of them had appeared to be the source of the explosion, which they knew.

What he hadn’t been able to provide, and what Kirsty most wanted to know, was Daniel’s motive. She and Grace had discussed it for hours in the hospital, but had gone around in circles.

“So we just go back to life as normal?” she asked.

Grace shrugged and looked at Neil.

Neil’s phone rang; he stood up and went to one of the bedrooms to answer it.

“I can’t believe Grant is gone,” Kirsty’s face fell, and she began to sob.

“I don’t know what to say.”

“There’s nothing you can say. I’m glad we’re safe, but it feels so surreal...” she trailed off, glancing out the window, before turning away quickly. “Everything about this city reminds me of Daniel.” She lay down and leaned her head on the arm rest.

Grace stroked her hair as she lay there, and stood up once she had fallen asleep. Padding to one of the bedrooms, she tapped at the door softly. She could hear Neil’s voice from inside. He opened the door. She walked over and sat on the bed. Pressing the end call button, he came and sat down beside her.

“That was Mike. The police still have some questions.”

“Great.”

His pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry Grace,” he said finally. He reached down tentatively and gripped her hand. “I was too simplistic about things.”

She leaned her head on his shoulder and reached over with her right hand to squeeze his arm. “You were right, I was working too much.”

He bent his head and smelled her hair. “I was so worried when I didn’t hear back from you. I don’t know what I’d have done if I’d got here too late...”

She kissed his shoulder, shushing him. “It’s not your fault.”

“Have you finished packing?” Grace stood at the door to Kirsty’s room.

Kirsty got out of bed and came to the door. “I never unpacked to start with.”

“You should hear this.”

Kirsty followed her to the living room, where Neil sat. “What’s happened?”

Neil hesitated. “Look, you probably want to read it yourself,” he said, passing her the laptop. “It was in all of the major newspapers in the UK this morning. It seems Daniel had instructed his lawyer to contact the newspapers in the event of his death.”

They all watched her closely as she read. Finally, she leaned forward and clumsily placed the laptop on the table before slumping back into her chair, eyes closed.

“I’m sorry Kirsty, but you were going to see it at some stage,” Grace consoled.

“Simon killed his ex-girlfriend while Daniel recorded the whole thing,” Kirsty stammered. “That was his hold over Simon? They’re
both
insane?” She looked from Grace to Neil and back several times. Neither spoke.

The silence was broken by Neil’s ringtone.

“What is it?” Grace whispered when he’d hung up.

Neil exhaled sharply. “Mike just heard from the police. We’re free to leave the country.”

“Let’s get the hell out of here then,” Kirsty sighed, standing up. “I can’t tell you how much I’m looking forward to a boring, predictable life.”