Darkness Falls (50 page)

‘But you almost got yourself killed. Again!’

April laughed.

‘Well that’s exactly why we need to press on. I didn’t put myself and everyone I care about on the line for nothing. Seriously, Caro. I saw them torturing her. It was … horrible. They’re not human and we have to stop them.’

‘But when you say “stop them”, you really mean “kill them”, don’t you?’

April nodded. ‘I know. But it’s time to grow up and face up to what we’re doing here. It’s them or us. They killed my dad, they killed your friend – who else has to die before we decide enough is enough?’ April picked at the edge of her hospital dressing gown. ‘And there’s another reason we need to press on too. Ben knew I was a Fury.’

‘What? No! How?’

‘The “how” was he saw that Marcus was dying of the virus and put two and two together.’

‘So why was he all over you after that? He must have known you were a Fury when he almost kissed you.’

‘I think he was trying to recruit me,’ said April. ‘Imagine how powerful a vampire would be if he had control of a Fury. It’d be like having nuclear weapons when everyone else has spears. But that didn’t work out because Gabriel came back into the picture, so he decided getting his hands on the Dragon’s Breath would be the next best thing: it’d make him immune.’

‘But who told him about the potion?’

April pulled a face.

‘That I don’t know. It seems there’s a leak somewhere.’

Caro shivered. ‘God, we can’t trust anyone, can we? I wish I could stay here inside the hospital where it’s safe,’ she said. Police guards had been posted in the corridor, although April suspected that was less about security, more about keeping her where they could see her.

‘I’m not sure you’re safe with the police either. Isn’t the whole point that the vamps are infiltrating every level of society?’

‘Oh, thanks for making me feel better.’

‘Talking of which …’

Detective Inspector Reece peered in through the door and April waved him in.

‘Where’s Gabriel, Inspector Reece?’ she said urgently. ‘Have you seen him?’

Reece shook his head. ‘Shouldn’t you be worrying about yourself? You have just fallen off a burning building.’

‘She jumped,’ said Caro helpfully.

‘Well, Gabriel’s been taken to a secure hospital unit attached to the prison to be treated for his burns and wounds. But he didn’t look too bad, considering.’

April didn’t say it, but she was fairly sure Gabriel’s wounds would be completely healed by the morning and that he would have disappeared from the prison hospital before they had time to ask him any questions.

As if reading her thoughts, Reece’s face turned serious.

‘Now to less pleasant business. I’m afraid you’re going to have to talk to DCI Johnston. He’s on his way up.’

April’s heart sank.

‘Just stick to the story you gave me and you’ll be fine,’ said Reece. ‘That
is
what happened, right?’

April and Caro had decided on the ‘cover story’ in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. It was an edited version of events which created a reasonably plausible explanation for the strange goings on. It stretched the bounds of credibility, but then the real story was even more fantastic. They had stuck to the facts where they could, beginning with Caro’s phone call to April as she was entering Ravenwood for her bogus meeting in Mr Sheldon’s office. Suspicious and worried, Caro had called Inspector Reece, who had rushed to the school and found Miss Holden’s body. Together Reece and Caro had driven – at high speed, Caro was keen to point out, ‘sirens and everything’ – to Sheldon’s home and, even from the street, they could smell the reek of petrol. Reece broke into the house just in time to see it go up in flames and Mr Sheldon dragging April up the stairs, giving credibility to her story. The fire fighters had found three bodies in the wreckage, all of them burnt beyond recognition, so with Gabriel on oxygen in the prison hospital, April was the only witness to the rest: that Ben had confessed to Marcus Brent’s murder, Sheldon had quarrelled with him about killing Miss Holden and knocked him unconscious, then set fire to the house to destroy the evidence.

‘That’s how it happened. Apart from the bit about heroic Gabriel Swift carrying April to safety,’ said Caro. ‘April dragged
him
out.’

‘Yes, well I’m happy to bend the truth a little there,’ said Reece. ‘The Crown Prosecution Service is more likely to look kindly on him if he comes across as a hero. Benjamin’s confession and his fingerprints in Miss Holden’s blood may be enough to get Gabriel off the hook for Marcus’s murder, but he did assault a couple of constables when he escaped from custody.’

‘But he was innocent! Surely he was justified?’

Reece smiled.

‘I’m not sure the Police Federation will see it that way.’

DCI Johnston was sitting at a desk in a borrowed hospital office when April was shown in. The inspector gestured towards the chair in front of him, but didn’t look up from April’s statement. Finally, he stacked the papers neatly, took off his reading glasses and fixed April with a baleful stare.

‘It’s rubbish, isn’t it?’ he said.

April swallowed, trying to keep her expression neutral.

‘What’s rubbish, Inspector?’ she said.

‘The whole story,’ said the policeman, leaning back. ‘I don’t believe a word of it, frankly.’

‘But it all happened exactly as I said there, Inspector Johnston. How could I make something like that up?’

‘A very good question, Miss Dunne,’ said Johnston.

‘What, are you suggesting I
did
make it up?’

The detective let out a long breath.

‘Let’s ask a more fundamental question, shall we? Why you? Why are
you
always involved?

April shook her head.

‘I don’t understand.’

‘You were at the scene of a murder, you’ve been seriously attacked twice, you personally knew both Milo and Layla – who both died in mysterious circumstances – and now
someone has tried to set you on fire. Now why would all that happen to an innocent girl of seventeen?’

‘And I suppose you’re suggesting I made up those other two times I was half-killed? Times when the police were supposed to be protecting me, actually.’

‘No, April. I don’t think you made those events up. In those cases, we have witnesses, evidence, a plausible time-line. It’s just that this …’ he tapped the statement in front of him. ‘This particular story doesn’t quite add up.’

‘What do you mean it “doesn’t add up”?’

‘Well, why would Benjamin kidnap you?’

‘How am I supposed to know?’ said April. ‘He put a bag over my head, he didn’t discuss why he was doing it! Maybe he was jealous of Gabriel and I – I don’t know.’

‘Okay, but why take you to Mr Sheldon’s? What was the headmaster’s involvement?’

April looked away.

‘I don’t know that either. How could I?’

April was of course aware that there was little about the previous night’s events which made sense in the cold light of day. Unless you had the key fact: that Robert Sheldon was a high-ranking vampire preparing to wage war on humankind, it did look strange. Really,
really
strange.

‘Here’s the problem, April,’ said Johnston. ‘We have Robert Sheldon, a respected academic, educated at Oxford, running a top private school, never been in trouble, never had so much as an overdue library book as far as we can tell. And then we have Benjamin Osbourne – intelligent, straight-A student from a prominent family, also with an unblemished record. Then out of the blue, Sheldon and Benjamin hook up together and decide to kill your teacher, Miss Holden.’

‘Look, I don’t know …’ began April, but Johnston held up a hand.

‘Now, that’s crazy enough, but put that to one side for the moment. Now let’s ask this: why did Mr Sheldon try and burn you and Gabriel alive? And why, in doing so, did he deliberately set fire to his
own house
?’

‘Maybe he wanted to kill us and make it look like a suicide pact.’

Johnston gave her a wintry smile.

‘Suicidal lovers don’t tie themselves to chairs, then set fire to the house.’

The policeman massaged the bridge of his nose and sighed.

‘Try not to insult my intelligence, April,’ he said. ‘Clearly you know more than you’re telling us. Maybe you’re trying to protect someone, maybe you have something of your own to hide, who knows? But we have a small problem don’t we?’

‘What’s that?’

‘People keep getting killed, don’t they, April?’

Suddenly Johnston banged his hand on the desk.

‘People
keep
dying! And I won’t have that on my patch, do you hear me?’

April just stared at him, gripping the sides of her chair.

‘I can’t help it if I keep getting caught up in these situations, Mr Johnston,’ said April. ‘Maybe I’m just unlucky.’

Johnston snorted.

‘Unlucky,’ he repeated, a twisted smile on his face. ‘What’s that Oscar Wilde quote? “To have someone try to kill you once may be considered unlucky, to have someone try to kill you three times looks like carelessness”? Perhaps it’s all just coincidence? Hmm? Well one thing’s for sure, Miss Dunne,’ he said, walking over to the door and opening it. ‘You certainly seem to have nine lives.’

He paused for a moment, his hand on the door knob.

‘Although I think you might be running out.’

‘The police tell me you’ve refused to see your mother.’

Grandpa Thomas was sitting at the side of April’s bed, his face disapproving.

‘Do you know what she did, Gramps?’ said April. ‘Do you have any idea what she’s like?’

‘April, I know you’re angry with her, but she’s different,’ replied her grandfather. ‘She might not be the best mother in
the world, she makes mistakes, yes, but she loves you the best she can.’

‘And Dad? Did she love him the best she could? Is that the get-out clause? “Sorry for sleeping with other men, I’m a bit rubbish at this. Doh! Silly me!”?’

‘Everyone makes mistakes, April. No one gets the life they want.’

‘And that’s supposed to justify what she did to Dad? I know you hated him, but he was a kind, gentle man. He was nice. He didn’t deserve her.’

Thomas shrugged.

‘Maybe, maybe not. And you’re right, I didn’t see eye to eye with your father, but I am sure of one thing: he loved her very much, and she loved him back.’

‘What about me, Gramps? What about my love? Why do I always get the feeling she’s disappointed in me?’

‘It’s not that. I think you remind her too much of your father.’

‘Isn’t that a good thing?’

‘The wound is deep, April. She blames herself for his death. Everything that happened … she just thinks things could have been different.’

‘Well, she’s right!’ said April. ‘And my wound is deep too.’

‘If you could just talk to her …’

‘No, Gramps,’ said April fiercely. ‘I can’t. I’ve heard everything she’s got to say. All the excuses, all the lies. I’m not going back there. Maybe I can go to Caro’s for a few days while I look for a flat …’

‘Nonsense!’ said Thomas. ‘You will come and live with me. Your room is there. We are family, we look after each other.’

‘I wish that were true.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You covered for her, Gramps. When she said she had come to see you the morning Dad died, you gave her an alibi.’

‘She did come to see me.’

‘But you let the police – and me – believe she was somewhere she wasn’t.’

‘I know it was wrong, but when your mother asked me to say she was with me, I supposed she had a good reason. Never for a moment did I think she had anything to do with your dad’s death. She loved that man – too much, I think.’

‘She had a funny way of showing it.’

Thomas stood up and walked over to the window, gazing out.

‘As I say, Princess, we all make mistakes. I wish I could say I was a saint, but I’d be lying.’

‘You cheated on Grandma?’

He turned to face her.

‘No, not that. But I made bad mistakes. Some may say worse things. I was never there for my kids, we fell out. I regret things in my life. You must never regret anything, April. Live for now, because you never know what’s waiting for you around the corner.’

April pulled a face.

‘You really don’t have to tell me that, Gramps.’

When April woke in the morning, Silvia was sitting by her bed. She sat up with a start, pulling the covers around her and reaching for the nurse alert button.

Silvia put her hand on April’s.

‘Darling, please. I won’t stay long.’

April sank back on her pillows and glared at her mother.

‘What are you doing here?’

Your grandfather told me you were here. I wanted to check you were all right.’