The Black Sheep

  I stare at him, appalled by his self-interest.

  ‘You don’t need to worry about the watch, Dex has it,’ Lucy explains. ‘I took it off him earlier when he was distracted, so I could show Francesca. But Dex took it back before he left. There’s no way he’ll want anyone else to know about it. I imagine he’s destroyed it already.’

  ‘What about the film?’ Perry asks, his face screwed up with anxiety. ‘I really need that film.’

  My scorn for him deepens. He has just heard, like I have, a litany of blackmail and betrayal and murder committed by his niece and facilitated by his own cowardice. And all he cares about is covering his own back.

  ‘You can take the film so long as you promise to destroy it too,’ Lucy says. ‘I don’t want Daddy to see how Mummy really died.’

  ‘I can promise you that is the last thing I want either,’ Perry says, grim-faced.

  ‘So where is it?’

  Lucy bows her head. ‘It’s in my bedroom.’ She sighs. ‘Until yesterday I stored all three bits of evidence against Dex – the film, the watch and the papers with the names – in separate places. For security. I told Dex I’d left instructions with people to release them if anything happened to me. Of course I hadn’t, but Dex believed it. He still thinks that the film is safe somewhere and will come out if he kills me. Like I said, he’s an idiot. Gorgeous, I guess, but still an idiot.’

  Unbelievable.

  It’s like Lucy is a different person. I shiver. I can’t think about what my sister has done any longer. ‘I’m going to get Ruby and Harry,’ I say.

  ‘No,’ Lucy says.

  ‘It’s over,’ I tell her. ‘We know the truth now. It’s over.’

  Lucy draws Dex’s gun from her pocket. I stare in disbelief. Fear creeps through me. I’m afraid to my bones.

  Afraid of a person I never dreamed would hurt me.

  ‘I’m getting the film for you,’ she says to Uncle Perry. ‘Whatever you do, don’t let Francesca make a phone call.’ She hands him the gun and scurries away, flying down the stairs to the first floor.

  Perry looks as shocked as I am, but he holds the gun firmly. He’s still blocking the doorway to the office and the only phone on this floor.

  ‘I’m going to let Ruby and Harry out,’ I say, turning towards the attic door.

  ‘No,’ Perry says. But he doesn’t stop me as I go up the steps. ‘I didn’t know about . . . what Lucy’s done,’ he babbles after me. ‘Whatever happens next, Francesca, it can’t come out that I covered up your mother’s true cause of death. It just can’t. I’d go to jail.’

  ‘Right.’ All these people dead and he’s still only thinking about himself. What a mean-minded, selfish coward. I don’t believe he will shoot me. The thought gives me courage. I hurry up to the attic door and lift my hand to draw back the bolts.

  ‘No!’ Perry shouts.

  I spin around, suddenly terrified that he’s about to pull the trigger after all. But he’s not looking at me. He’s staring down the stairs. I follow his gaze. A line of flames flickers across the bottom step. I freeze as my brain catches up with my eyes.

  Lucy has set the stairs on fire.

  As the realisation hits me, a high-pitched smoke alarm screams. I turn to the attic door, fumbling with the top bolt. On the other side I hear Harry calling Ruby’s name, telling her to stand back.

  ‘Oh, dear Lord, she’s trying to kill us,’ Perry gasps. There’s a thud as he drops the gun. I don’t turn around. All my focus is on the door. I wrench back the top bolt and crouch down to deal with the one at the bottom. My hand slides off the metal, I can’t get a grip. The smoke alarm screeches. My heart races. I force the bolt back at last and fling open the door.

  Harry is right there, a candlestick in his raised arm. He sees me and drops the weapon, a look of relief on his face. I peer into the gloom. Where is Ruby?

  And she’s running towards me, hurling herself into my arms. I cling to her, clutching her tight. Lucy was once this little, this innocent. I give myself a second to hold her, then put her down. ‘Come on.’ I reach for her hand and she slips it into mine.

  ‘What kept you?’ Harry’s tone is carefully light but his face is wreathed with worry. ‘I heard some of your conversation but—’

  ‘Lucy.’ My voice cracks. ‘It was Lucy, the whole thing . . . Come on, we need to hurry.’

  There’s no sign of Perry on the landing though the gun is still on the floor. Hope flickers inside me. With a bit of luck we should be able to get past the small fire on the stairs and get out of the house.

  ‘Fran!’ The urgency in Harry’s voice spins me round.

  My jaw drops. Because the line of flames on the bottom step is now hidden by wreaths of thick grey smoke that pour up the stairs towards us. Ruby coughs.

  We are trapped up here.

  ‘Mummy?’ Ruby’s wavering voice rises in fear, barely audible above the alarm.

  ‘It’s going to be all right,’ I reassure her. But in reality I don’t see how it can possibly be all right. There’s no way Harry and Ruby would be able to climb out onto the roof like I did and, anyway, we wouldn’t necessarily be safe from the fire out there. No. Our only way out is down the stairs and it’s completely blocked.

  ‘Okay.’ Harry clutches his forehead. ‘Where’s the nearest phone?’

  Of course. I turn and dart into the office. I snatch up the landline on the desk. No dialling tone. I press the ‘9’ button. Again. Nothing. Smoke swirls around my feet. The alarm screeches.

  Ruby and Harry stand on either side of me as I try the phone a third time.

  ‘There’s no dial tone,’ I shriek. ‘Why doesn’t it work?’

  ‘That was me,’ Harry groans, clapping his hand over his forehead. ‘I tried to call the police when we were coming through the hall, remember? But Lucy was talking on the line so I put the receiver on the table instead of the base.’

  ‘Oh my God.’ We look at each other. The landing outside the office is already swirling with trails of smoke. We surely only have minutes before we suffocate in the fumes. ‘What are we going to do?’ I ask.

  Harry storms over to the window, still open from where I crawled in earlier. He peers out, then slumps as he sees what I already know is there – a sheer drop down to the pavement below.

  ‘Help!’ he yells out of the window.

  ‘Help!’ I hurry over and join him. ‘Help! Fire!’

  A couple passing on the street below stop and look up at us.

  ‘Fire!’ I yell again.

  ‘Call the fire brigade!’ Harry shouts.

  ‘We’re trapped,’ I yell.

  The couple both nod. The woman takes out a phone. Harry pulls his head back inside. More smoke snakes into the room as the alarm stops. Ruby clings to my waist, trembling. I pull her over to the window.

  ‘Mummy, what’s going to happen?’

  ‘We’re going to be fine,’ I insist. ‘Those people will call for the fire service and they will get us out.’

  I meet Harry’s gaze. Even if the fire brigade gets here within the next few minutes, we could still suffocate from the toxic fumes now trailing across the office. Especially Ruby. She’s only nine. Her lungs are smaller. She’s already coughing. I draw her closer to me.

  Harry nods, understanding. ‘What about the other rooms on this floor?’ he asks. ‘Could we get out through those?’

  I shake my head. ‘No, it’s all sheer drops, except . . . wait!’ I suck in my breath, heart pounding with sudden hope. ‘The bathroom opposite! There’s a balcony on the floor below directly underneath.’

  Harry is already tearing out of the door. Gripping Ruby’s hand, I follow him across the landing. The smoke is unbelievably thick out here. How on earth has the fire spread so fast? Ruby’s coughs sound like they’ll tear her lungs in two. My own throat is sandpaper-sore even though I’m trying to keep my breaths shallow. We race into the bathroom. I slam the door shut on the smoke while Harry wrestles with the window.

  ?
??It’s locked.’ He turns, eyes wild. ‘Where’s the key?’

  ‘No idea.’ I gasp, an idea jumping into my head. ‘What about the gun? The glass is reinforced, but we could shoot the window lock.’

  Clenching his jaw, Harry rushes outside to the landing. Ruby is bent double, still coughing. ‘My head hurts,’ she whimpers. ‘It’s burning in my chest.’

  Panic rises inside me. After everything that’s happened tonight I won’t . . . I can’t lose Ruby just as I’ve got her back.

  ‘Come here.’ I grab the hand towel from the rail, run some water over it and tie it around Ruby’s face. ‘Breathe in as little as possible, okay?’

  She nods as Harry races back in, shutting the door behind him again. He motions Ruby and I away from the window, then takes aim at the window lock. I cover Ruby’s ears as he pulls the trigger.

  But I can barely hear the empty click of the gun.

  ‘What the . . .?’ Harry examines the weapon, then turns to me in terror and frustration. ‘It’s not real. It’s a replica.’

  Shit. Shit. Shit.

  What on earth are we going to do now? Harry and I stare at each other. Smoke wisps around us, acrid and grey.

  ‘Those people outside saw us,’ I say. ‘They’ll have called the fire brigade. It’s probably on its way right now.’

  ‘How long d’you think it’ll take?’ Harry asks. He’s coughing almost as badly as Ruby now.

  ‘Maybe ten minutes?’ I say, the smoke tightening my throat. It feels hoarse to speak. The smoke alarm is still blaring.

  Harry shakes his head. He looks down at Ruby. And I know exactly what he is thinking.

  Ruby doesn’t have ten minutes. Inhaling the poisonous clouds that swirl around us will kill her long before that.

  ‘We have to go down,’ he says.

  ‘But the fire?’ I gulp.

  ‘We have to try and get past it,’ he says. ‘Maybe it hasn’t spread past the stairs yet.’ He indicates Ruby, who clings to me with one hand as she clutches the damp towel to her mouth with the other. She’s making horrible wheezing sounds, her face a terrifying shade of grey. ‘Put her on my back,’ he says. ‘And stay right behind us.’

  There’s no time to discuss it. He turns and I hoist Ruby onto his back. She starts to pull the towel away, to try and speak, but I fasten it and press her against Harry’s shoulders.

  ‘Hold on tight,’ I order. ‘Keep your eyes closed and try not to breathe.’ Ruby obediently wraps herself around Harry like a monkey.

  He hitches her up with his hands, wincing with agony at the pressure on the deep cut on his skin. ‘We can do this,’ he says.

  I nod.

  He tears out of the bathroom. I take a deep breath and follow right behind, my hand on Ruby’s back. The smoke on the landing is dense now. The stairs are barely visible. Harry feels his way towards them. I have to let go of Ruby in order to find the bannister. I lose them both on the stairs. My eyes sting as I inch my way down. A low fire flickers through the smoke. Harry’s right. It’s still passable. My chest feels tight, like I can’t breathe. I jump over the flames, the heat licks at my legs but I’m through.

  We’re on the first-floor landing. Harry is just ahead of me, Ruby on his back, her face buried in his neck. They reach the top of the flight of stairs down to the ground floor. Smoke billows all around us. I stumble, my feet catching against something solid. I look down as the dense mist parts for a second. It’s Uncle Perry, his pin-striped leg bent awkwardly underneath him. Coughing, I bend down and reach for his neck, his wrist. There’s no pulse.

  He’s gone.

  My fingers trail over his clenched fist. A small USB stick is clutched in his hand. This must be the film that shows Dex killed Mum. Numb, I take it then hurry down the stairs to the ground floor.

  Thank goodness, the air is definitely clearer here. Harry is already at the front door. Ruby has slumped sideways on his back. My stomach lurches into my mouth. Has she fainted? Is she unconscious? I pelt after them.

  And then something out of the corner of my eye catches my attention. It’s the reflection of flames in the living room mirror. Has Lucy set another fire here? I glance inside the room and what I see will stay with me to my dying day.

  My sister stands in the middle of the room, arms outstretched. Flames radiate from her chest and back and hair.

  ‘Hail Mary, full of grace. Our Lord is with thee.’

  ‘Lucy!’ I scream.

  She sees me and closes her eyes. ‘Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.’

  ‘Fran!’ Harry is on the doorstep, Ruby in his arms. ‘Come on!’

  I stare at Lucy one last time. Her whole body consumed by fire. As she crumples to the ground I turn away. I try to take a step to the doorway and the outside world and the cool, fresh, night air.

  But before I can move a huge gust of smoke envelops me. Giddy, I stumble. Sickness in my stomach. And I am falling, falling, the world dissolving around me.

  ‘Fran? Fran?’ Harry’s hoarse whisper filters through the fug in my brain. My eyes flicker open. I feel heavy, like lead. The lights are bright, outside flashes blue. A blur of uniform and grey hair moves in front of me. A light shines in my eyes. A calm voice murmurs reassurances. I’m in an ambulance. It’s not moving. Harry’s face appears above mine: covered in grime, relief in his eyes.

  ‘I thought you were . . .’ He leans closer. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘I think so.’ My voice is as hoarse as his. ‘Where’s Ruby?’

  ‘The first ambulance took her. They wouldn’t let me go with her but the paramedic was nice, she was smiling when they shut the—’

  ‘Is she all right?’ I struggle onto my elbows.

  ‘I think so.’ Harry wipes a grimy hand across his face. ‘She was conscious, alert. But she was coughing a lot. They wanted to check her over properly. I promised her I’d make sure you came straight after her.’

  I clutch his arm. ‘Did you tell them about the Rohypnol?’

  ‘Yes,’ he says, ‘and I told them and the police Dex kidnapped her and gave it to her and that he admitted to murder. They promised they’d keep Ruby safe. And the police are looking for Dex now.’

  ‘Good,’ I say. An image of us charging through the fire and smoke . . . and of Lucy, her whole upper body on fire, flashes into my head. ‘What about . . .?’ I gulp. ‘What about everything else?’

  ‘I didn’t say anything about Lucy and all the doctors who died,’ Harry says. Our eyes meet. ‘I promised I’d let you decide.’

  I nod.

  ‘They found a USB stick in your hand,’ he goes on. ‘The police took it. They were asking me about it . . .’

  ‘It shows Dex killed Mum.’ I lie back on the hard board in the ambulance, too dizzy to speak further. Outside sounds chaotic, but in here all is quiet. The grey-haired paramedic jumps in and I open my mouth to tell him to take me wherever Ruby is, but before I can speak Harry is already speaking, making the same request. The ambulance engine starts. An oxygen mask is slipped over my face and, suddenly exhausted, I close my eyes.

  It’s dark when I wake up. I’m in a strange room: cream blinds drawn down a small window, the smell of disinfectant in the air. I turn my head. Everything feels heavy and sore. My throat is tight. There’s a drip beside me, one end fastened in my arm.

  I’m in hospital.

  With a terrifying jolt I remember the fire: Lucy’s burning body, Uncle Perry on the landing. Ruby’s arms and legs wound around Harry’s back.

  Where is Ruby? Is she all right?

  I turn further. A shadowy figure sits, head bowed, in a chair by the bed.

  ‘Dad?’ The word comes out as a whisper.

  He looks up. Tears glint on his cheeks. I have never seen my father cry before.

  ‘How do you feel?’ he asks.

  ‘Okay, I think.’ My voice is hoarse. ‘Sore.’

  He n
ods. ‘The doctors have run every test. They thought they might have to intubate but . . . they say you’ve been lucky . . . you’re going to be fine.’

  ‘Ruby?’ I sit up. ‘Can I see her?’

  ‘She’s okay. She’s asleep in the paediatric ward upstairs.’

  I try to swing my legs out of the bed but they are too heavy. I grunt, frustrated.

  Dad leans forward. ‘Easy. I was just in with her, she’s going to be fine too. On a drip like you.’

  ‘I want to see her.’ I’m still struggling to raise myself.

  ‘Okay, okay. Wait there.’ With a tsk, Dad goes to the door and calls a nurse. She comes in, fusses over me for a few minutes, then promises she’ll organise a wheelchair so I can go up to see Ruby.

  The nurse bustles off. Relieved, I lie back. The exertion has left me breathless. Dad eyes me anxiously.

  ‘They want to keep you all in overnight for observation. Ayesha’s got Rufus.’ Dad’s mouth trembles. ‘But . . . but oh, my darling, Lucy and Perry . . . in the fire . . .’

  He shakes his head, a gesture of helplessness.

  ‘I know,’ I say. ‘Dad, I’m so sorry.’ A deep sob wells inside me. Although I’m relieved I don’t have to break the news to my father that his daughter and brother are gone, I can’t bear to see the agony in his eyes.

  It doesn’t feel real. I roll the words in my head: Lucy is dead, my sister, my shadow. There’s no one I’ve fought with harder or protected more fiercely. I can’t get my mind to bend around everything I found out about her tonight: what she did. Why she did it. Who she really was.

  The fact that she has gone.

  ‘Is Harry here? Is he all right?’

  ‘Yes,’ Dad says, a sharp edge to his voice. ‘Things he told us . . . they apparently back up that film you were holding.’

  I jerk upright. I’d forgotten all about the film. ‘Did you see it?’

  ‘No, but I understand from Harry it shows Dex and . . . your mother . . . how she really died.’ Dad folds his arms. ‘They’ve arrested Dex at the airport.’

  I nod. I know this should be good news. But I feel numb.

  ‘What about the house?’ I ask. It’s easier to talk about bricks and mortar.

  Dad waves his hand as if it hardly counts. Which of course it doesn’t. ‘Destroyed,’ he says dully.