The Mercer's House (Northern Gothic Book 1) (26 page)

Zanna nodded, white-faced. She could feel Will’s hostile glare on her and couldn’t bear to look at him.

‘Helen’s dead,’ Corbin burst out. ‘They’re both dead. I took them away and buried them so you would never find out. There—now you know what I’ve had to live with all these years.’

Alexander went quite still at his words, then put his hands over his eyes. After a moment he sat down in the armchair, his face suddenly drawn and tired.

‘Dead?’ he said. ‘All this time?’

‘Yes,’ said Corbin. He was looking fearfully at Alexander, watching to see his reaction. But there was no outburst of emotion from his brother.

‘Then they didn’t go away at all,’ he said. ‘How stupid of me. Of course I should have known it. Nobody can simply disappear like that, without a trace. My poor darlings. Please tell me you didn’t kill them, Corbin,’ he said. His tone was quite matter-of-fact.

‘No, no,’ said Corbin. ‘I swear to you I didn’t. You must believe me. I only meant to help. She killed him. Perhaps it was an accident—I don’t know. And then she took her own life. She loved you so very much, Alexander, and she didn’t want to put you through the pain of it all, so I—I did what she wanted, and hid them so nobody would know.’

Alexander rubbed his face as he digested the information.

‘But we searched for them,’ he said at last. ‘The private detectives, you remember? What did you tell them?’

‘There were no private detectives,’ said Corbin. ‘I spoke to them, got a couple of letters from them to show you, then told them not to go ahead with the search. I knew there was no point, you see. I knew they were dead, because I found them. It’s all in the diary. Go and have a look at it if you don’t believe me. It’s in the bottom of my wardrobe, under a pile of old clothes. At the time I thought it was the right thing to do. It was such a shock, you see. I must have been in a daze when I did it—a little crazy, even. For weeks after you came back I was distraught, and terrified you’d find out what I’d done, but I couldn’t tell you, as that would have defeated the whole object, so I hid my grief and pretended to be as surprised as anyone that she’d gone away. And I insisted on dealing with the private detective firm myself, too, because I knew if we really employed someone there was a good chance they’d discover the truth, and I wanted to avoid that at all costs.’

‘Oh, Corbin, what were you thinking?’ said Alexander.

‘I wasn’t thinking properly at all,’ said Corbin. ‘It wasn’t until a long time afterwards that I realized what a stupid mistake I’d made. I shouldn’t have done what she asked. I should have called the police straightaway, but by the time I’d started seeing things clearly it was too late to tell anybody. I was certain the police wouldn’t believe me when I said why I’d done it—and perhaps even you would have doubted me, Alexander. I’d have been arrested for murder, and things would never have been the same again.’

There was another pause.

‘Where are they?’ said Alexander.

‘Kielder Forest,’ said Corbin. ‘You know where. The place we used to go to in the old days. It’s a peaceful spot, and I thought they’d like it.’

‘Ah,’ said Alexander. ‘We can’t leave them there, Corbin. We’ll have to bring them back.’

But for his hollow expression, he might have been talking about a set of picnic plates they’d left behind on a day out.

‘Yes,’ said Corbin. ‘I know that. We can’t keep it hidden any more. I’ll tell everything to the police tomorrow. You’ll help me, won’t you? You won’t let them take me away.’

‘Nobody will take you away,’ said Alexander. ‘We’ll talk to the police together. But we have to find them and give them a decent burial.’

‘Yes, I see that now,’ said Corbin. ‘It was wrong of me to do what I did, I know. But I promise you I meant well. You do believe me, don’t you, Alexander? I did what I thought was best. I never meant all this to happen.’

‘Of course I believe you,’ said Alexander. His manner was calm and reassuring, and at that moment it was easy to see why of the two, he was the one who was accustomed to take charge. There was a pause, then he took his twin brother’s hand. Corbin wouldn’t look at him, but Zanna saw that both of them were now weeping quietly.

Will turned to Zanna again and she quailed under his glare.

‘You had to go and ask, didn’t you?’ he said. ‘Why couldn’t you have left well alone?’

‘I’m sorry,’ she said, and now she could feel the tears pricking at her own eyes too. ‘I didn’t mean it. I didn’t think—’

‘No, you didn’t, did you? You came here asking stupid questions, when you should have minded your own business. And now see what you’ve done. I knew this was all a big mistake.’

He was so furious with her that she didn’t think she could bear it.

‘Yes,’ she whispered. ‘I’m sorry. I’ll go. You’d better get a doctor for Corbin. He doesn’t look well.’

‘Thanks to you,’ he said rudely, and turned away from her to attend to his uncle, whose breath was starting to come with difficulty.

Zanna fled from the room and up the stairs, with nothing in her head but the idea of getting out of the house as quickly as she could. She couldn’t possibly stay here for the rest of the night and face Will’s anger, not after what she’d done. Just when everything had started to go so well she’d ruined everything, and thrown her own and the Devereuxes’ lives back into chaos, and who knew what would happen now, or what sort of trouble Corbin would be in? She ran into her room and threw the rest of her clothes on. Will came in just as she was hunting about for her jacket, and she straightened up and faced him, but he’d only come in to get his phone.

‘Are you calling a doctor?’ she said timidly.

‘What do you think?’ he said, without looking at her, and went out again.

The rejection couldn’t have been clearer if he’d said it in so many words. Zanna swallowed hard. The tears were just below the surface, threatening to come at any second, but she wouldn’t let them spill over—not until she was out of the house, anyway. She picked her bag up and went back downstairs and out through the front door. She’d go and knock Ewan and Joe up. If they didn’t answer it was only a couple of hours until they’d be getting up to make breakfast for their guests. She could find a bus shelter or something to sit in until then.

The moon was still up, but Zanna had no intention of going via the beach, even though it was nowhere near as dark as it had been on the night she’d lost her way. Instead, she set off along the road in the direction of the High Street, and as she walked she felt the tears begin to flow freely down her face, and she let out a sob.

‘Hey, Zanna,’ said a voice just then, and she jumped and gave a shriek as a figure stepped out in front of her. It was Garrett.

I
T WAS the last thing she needed at that moment.

‘Garrett,’ she said wearily. ‘Please.’

‘Please what?’ he said.

‘Please leave me alone,’ she said. She fumbled in her pocket for a tissue and blew her nose. ‘I’m having a bad night and I could really do without this.’

‘So I see,’ he said. ‘Want to talk about it?’

‘Not especially.’

She was tired and drained, and couldn’t even summon up the energy to point out the bizarreness of his behaviour in following her up to Elsbury and waiting outside all night for her.

‘Is this a good moment to say I told you so?’ he said.

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Well, let’s see. A few days ago I pointed out that you were about to get involved with a man who would treat you badly and do you no good. This evening I saw him take you back to his house, and now I see you leaving that same house at half past four in the morning in floods of tears. It doesn’t look to me like things have gone particularly well.’

‘I got caught up in a family dispute, that’s all,’ she said. It was the first thing that came into her head.

‘What, and they threw you out in the middle of the night? Kind of them. What happened? Are they all fighting over you? I’d have thought Alexander was a bit old for that sort of thing.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she said.

‘I’m not being ridiculous. It seems you can’t be trusted, so who knows what you’ve been getting up to this week?’

‘I haven’t been getting up to anything. Will asked me if I wanted to come up for the weekend, that’s all. And yes, there was an argument, so I’m going to see if I can get a room at the Coach and Horses. Satisfied now?’

‘I knew you’d learn your lesson at some point,’ he said. ‘Now you can get back to being sensible. Come on, let’s go home. There’s a train back to London at half past six.’

‘I’m not going home,’ she said. ‘Not with you, anyway. I have no idea why you followed me all the way up here, or even how you found out I was coming—’

‘I followed you to Kings Cross, silly,’ he said. ‘I was on the same train as you.’

‘That’s sick, do you know that?’

He ignored the remark.

‘I knew you’d come here sooner or later. I knew you were lying when you said you weren’t going to chase after Will Devereux. And I saw you chuck yourself at him too, the second you saw him. What sort of behaviour is that in public? Kind of indecent, if you ask me, the way you wrapped yourself around him.’

‘Don’t be silly.’ She started walking faster, wanting to get to the Coach and Horses quickly so she could shake him off. There was safety in numbers. Ewan and Joe would look after her.

‘Are you trying to get rid of me?’ said Garrett. ‘Well, you can’t. I’ve waited too long for this.’

‘For what?’ she snapped, and stopped suddenly. ‘Look, Garrett, I really don’t want to be having this conversation right here and now, but it seems I have no choice. I don’t need you and I don’t want you. You’ve been following me around for months now until I feel suffocated. I want you to leave me alone. I tried not to hurt your feelings but you wouldn’t take the hint, so I guess I’ll have to tell you straight out: yes, I’ve just spent the night with Will and it’s absolutely none of your business. I don’t care how long you’ve waited—as far as I’m concerned you’ll have to wait forever because I am never going to say yes to you. Is that clear enough? I can say it louder if you like, but I’ll only be repeating myself. Now, please go away and leave me alone.’

He laughed, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound.

‘I’m not going away,’ he said. ‘I forgive you everything, of course, but I think we need to have a word or two about your behaviour.’

He was insufferable, and there was no use in arguing with him, so she said nothing but started walking again.

‘Hey,’ he said, and caught hold of her arm. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’

She shook him off but he took hold of her again, this time by both arms, and she remembered how he’d flung her against the wall in the flat, and froze.

‘That’s better,’ he said. ‘Don’t walk off while I’m talking to you.’

‘Garrett, please stop this,’ she said. ‘It won’t do any good. Do you really think I’m just going to come along with you and do what you say after what you’ve done to me? What are you trying to achieve, exactly?’

She tried to pull her arms away, but he held her more tightly and gave her a shake, just as he had before—but harder this time. The suddenness of it shocked her as much as it had the other day in her kitchen, only here there was no Megan to come in and save her, as the street was deserted. Fear began to wash over her. He’d already shown he was capable of violence, and it was clear his grasp on reality was becoming increasingly tenuous. What was to stop him from hurting her badly if he wanted? This wasn’t just an annoyance any more—it was something more serious. He was breathing heavily, and she saw now that his skin looked pale and clammy.

‘What’s wrong with you?’ she said.

‘There’s nothing wrong with me,’ he said. ‘It’s all in your mind. I’m the sane one around here. You’re the one who’s disturbed, remember? You sent yourself emails and text messages, and put a dead bird on your bed, just to make me think someone was trying to get at you. But don’t worry—I can sort that out. I can do the thinking for both of us. You’re not right in the head, Zanna. It’s time you admitted it and let me help you.’

While he was talking he had grasped both her wrists tightly in one hand and was stroking her cheek with the other. The gentle touch frightened Zanna more than anything else had, and the thought came into her mind for the first time that she was in very grave danger. She had to get away from him somehow, before he did something stupid. If she could reach the Coach and Horses safely she’d get Joe or Ewan to call the police. After that she’d have to see about getting a restraining order or something, since he showed no sign of ever intending to leave her alone.

At that moment, the silence in the street was broken by the sound of an engine. Zanna had the vague impression of a delivery van coming towards them, but she didn’t stop to think about it, because Garrett’s grip had slackened a little as the vehicle’s headlights fell upon them both, and she took the opportunity to drop her bag from her shoulder and make a break for it towards the van. She had some idea of appealing to the driver for help, but Garrett was too quick for her and cut her off, forcing her to dodge out of his way and change direction towards the beach. The path was steep and she half-ran, half-skidded down it, then started running. She looked behind and saw Garrett some way behind her, but he was athletic, and she was no match for him, and he caught up with her and gripped her firmly in a headlock, until she could hardly breathe. He began to drag her along the beach in short jerks.