Ellie looked from her mother to her sister. ‘What’s going on?’
‘This mother of ours is not the tender, caring soul you think,’ said Abby.
‘Stop that right now, Abigail,’ said Susanna, walking towards them, the tray still in her hands.
‘You were ill because shemadeyou ill,’ said Abby.
‘You are a wicked, wicked girl. How dare you spout such lies.’
‘She poisoned you. For years.’
A loud crash splintered the air; glass shattered and water spilled across the darkening flagstones. Stunned, Ellie looked down. The lizard darted off into the dry undergrowth. Ellie kept her eyes on the space where it had been, trying to understand what she’d just heard, but her mind was spinning with thoughts of alarm and disbelief. She raised her head.
‘Mum?’ she said in a small voice, a child seeking reassurance.
‘Your sister is lying,’ said Susanna. She reached out a distant hand but Ellie felt herself pull back.
‘I saw her,’ said Abby.
Ellie’s eyes bulged in horror.
‘When I was nine.’
Susanna scoffed. ‘This is utter rubbish. Do you want to know the real truth?’ she said to Ellie, stepping her way through the broken glass towards her. Ellie saw her mother’s foot catch on a shard, saw her wince, blood seeping onto the stones, but Susanna hardly seemed to notice, she just kept coming at her.
‘Don’t come near me.’
Susanna smiled. ‘Don’t be silly.’
‘I said don’t come near me.’
‘You need to listen to me.’
Susanna was still approaching, making bloody footprints on the ground, her arms outstretched. The heat was searing Ellie’s head and it was all too much, too hot, too bright, and as her mother went to touch her, Ellie pushed her back and Susanna stumbled; her foot already in pain and her step unsteady, she lost her balance, and with a small cry she fell and her head hit the terrace with a loudcrack.
THIRTEEN
Abby stared at her mother lying on the ground, unable to fully take in what had just happened.
Beside her, Ellie was dumbstruck. Shock contorted her face, her hands over her eyes, fingers splayed.
Abby moved over to where Susanna lay on the terrace. She bent down.
‘Mum?’
There was no answer. Her mother was so still. Hands trembling, Abby went to pick up Susanna’s limp wrist. She placed her fingers tentatively on the space under her mother’s thumb. She frowned, not immediately finding what she was searching for.Her hands just wouldn’t stop shaking.Then a trickle of blood began to form under her mother’s head. Slowly, slowly it spread, creeping, edging its way along the paving. Abby’s eyes widened in horror. The pressure she had on her mother’s wrist instantly weakened and her hand fell from her grasp as the realization kicked in.
She couldn’t find a pulse. Susanna was dead.
Slowly, Abby stood up, her shivering hands hanging by her side. She turned to Ellie who was now crouched into a ball, sitting back on her haunches, muttering to herself. Abby could make out, ‘Oh God, oh God, oh God.’ Ellie looked up at her, a terrified question in her eyes, and Abby gave an imperceptible shake of the head. Her sister froze and then seemed to visibly crumple. She looked so small to Abby, so vulnerable, so utterly paralysed with fear. Just like she had as a child. A memory roared into her head. Ellie coming into her bedroom, frail and wan from throwing up, and asking if Abby would play dollies with her.
Abby suddenly felt an overwhelming surge of panic. She grabbed Ellie’s hand, even as her sister barely seemed to register it, and pulled her into the house. She sat her on the sofa with barked instructions not to move, unsure if Ellie was hearing her. Then Abby raced upstairs and, pulling a holdall from her wardrobe, she started stuffing it with clothes. She was about to turn away when she saw the safe. She punched in the code and the door swung open. Her passport lay on one side and she grabbed it. At the back of the safe was Matteo’s gun. Abby froze. Her panic was overriding everything other than a primal knowledge that she had to be prepared for any eventuality. Her hand reflexively closed over the weapon and she threw it in the bag.
Then she went into Ellie’s room and searched urgently for her suitcase. Finding it under the bed, she pulled it out and opening the wardrobe and the drawers, she filled it with some essentials, then carried both bags down the stairs, the suitcase banging against the banisters. She took them out the front and chucked them into the boot of her car. She went back inside and grabbed Ellie’s hand again.
‘Come with me,’ she said, and Ellie followed her to the front of the villa and allowed herself to be put in the car. Abby buckled both of them in, then started the engine and drove away.
FOURTEEN
