A good liar, p.31
A Good Liar, page 31
Declan Gallagher’s overriding need as he raced towards the theatre had been to make sure Karin was safe, but as he drew closer, the true scale of the horror had dawned on him. He wanted to make sure everyone was safe and he couldn’t ignore the little boy’s pleas. Hilary Clarke was a legend and if she was trapped, he wouldn’t abandon her.
As he reached the top of the stairs and entered the circle, he had his first glimpse of the dense cloud of smoke above his head. It flared briefly and his heart filled with dread. It seemed like only seconds ago that he had been lying in bed imagining a future for him and Claudia. He had wanted her to realise he wasn’t afraid of commitment and responsibility. What would she think of him now? What did he think of himself?
Choking on the acrid air, Declan circled the site of the collapse. Despite the gloom, he could see where the front of the circle had been partly destroyed. He clambered over debris to get nearer the edge. He needed to look over onto the stalls even though he was terrified of what he might see.
Finding a section to the right of the collapse that looked relatively secure, he gripped the brass handrail and leant forward. Where once there had been neat rows of red velvet seats, there was devastation and chaos. Worst of all, there were people still down there.
‘Karin!’ he screamed. ‘Karin, are you there?’
He saw movement almost directly below him. It was a woman, but she hadn’t looked up. Whoever she was, she wasn’t Karin and didn’t appear to need help, so Declan turned his attention back to the circle. Luck must have been on his side because as he moved away, a large piece of masonry fell from the ceiling and glanced off the balcony roughly where he had been standing. He was about to look back down into the stalls, but something caught his eye, and he was spared the sight of Lena Kowalski’s body. She had died instantaneously. Across the rows of the circle, on the outer edge of the collapse site, he spotted an arm protruding from the rubble.
Hilary Clarke’s slight figure was hidden beneath a mound of debris with only one shoulder and arm protruding. Her white hair was covered in the same thick layer of dust that covered her face. Her eyes flickered open when Declan took her hand.
‘Hilary? I’m going to get you out.’
She smiled. ‘I suspect it’s too late, but not to worry. I don’t feel any pain – and I can’t tell you how many years it’s been since I could say that.’
Declan fought the urge to ignore Hilary and start digging her out, but she was so calm. He couldn’t do anything to save her. She knew it and so did he. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘Don’t be sorry, be better.’
‘I am trying,’ he said, before searching for something to say that might prove as much. ‘I found out recently I’m going to be a dad again.’
‘Then you have something to live for.’
Declan gripped her hand tighter still. ‘Tell me what I can do to help?’
‘Stay with me. I don’t want to be alone.’
‘I’m not going anywhere,’ he promised, just as a hand clamped on his shoulder. He turned with a jolt. ‘Christ, Claudia! You shouldn’t be here!’
‘Neither should you.’
Claudia was out of breath again after climbing the stairs, and her lungs were desperate for clean air. Her coat collar was pulled across her mouth, and wasn’t much of a face mask, but at least it hid her scowl. Surely Declan could see that the dance teacher was beyond help.
‘I have to stay,’ Declan said, drawing his gaze back to the dying woman. ‘This is Hilary. Hilary, this is the mother of my child.’
Claudia’s jaw clenched. Declan really didn’t care who he told. He had become a liability.
‘Did my students make it out?’ Hilary asked.
‘They’re safe,’ Claudia said, before demanding Declan’s attention again. ‘Shouldn’t you be looking for Karin?’
‘I’m sure she’ll be heading out the front with all the others. She has to be,’ he said. ‘This is where I’m needed. Christ, where’s the emergency services?’
‘They’ll need time to make everything safe.’
Declan was shaking his head. ‘It’ll be too late.’
He had kept his voice low, but Hilary had heard him. ‘There really is nothing to be done for me,’ she said, her voice drifting. ‘It was quite some show, don’t you think?’
Forced to wait, Claudia edged closer to the crumbling balcony. There were a handful of people heading for a side exit, but the rest of the stalls looked to be deserted, until she saw a figure the colour of dust pulling what looked like a child’s body from the rubble. Claudia was mesmerised by the sight of what she presumed to be a corpse being handed over to someone else. If they were the child’s parents, she was confused when the mother didn’t follow the man out.
As the figure turned, she looked up, and Claudia dipped behind the shattered balcony. The theatre was full of noise, but she heard a name being carried above the useless cry of the alarm. Someone was calling for Declan and there was only one person it could be.
Remaining low, Claudia clambered back to Declan. ‘We should go.’
Declan wasn’t listening. ‘It’s OK, I’m still here,’ he said to Hilary. He had her hand clasped tightly in his, but the dance teacher’s long, white fingers had uncurled and were extended in a grim ballet pose.
‘She’s dead, Declan.’
‘I know.’
‘And so will we be if you don’t let her go,’ Claudia said impatiently. She should mention Karin, but it would be another distraction. ‘Please, you have to listen to me.’
Declan placed Hilary’s hand down gently. ‘How many other people have died tonight?’ he asked. ‘If it turns out it’s my fault, I’m not sure I could live with myself.’
‘You can go back to Ireland, start again.’
Standing up, Declan moved towards her. ‘I couldn’t go without you,’ he said, taking her hand. ‘I need you, Claude. We have to stay together.’
Claudia forgot about the fire raging above her head. The real danger lay directly in front of her and, when Declan went to lead her away, Claudia pulled her hand free and shook her head. She stepped back. No.
‘It’ll be OK,’ he promised.
‘No, it won’t!’ Claudia yelled at him. She backed away until she was dangerously close to the exposed edge of the balcony and the void beyond.
‘Jesus, watch what you’re doing!’ Declan cried out.
Claudia held his gaze as she took another step in the wrong direction.
As Declan lunged towards her, time slowed enough for Claudia to consider every possible outcome. She could simply fall back and bring this torture to an end; she could let Declan save her and commit herself to a life of purgatory; or she could step to the side.
Declan wasn’t expecting Claudia to twist her body as he made a grab to save her. He misjudged his step and lost balance. As he began to flail, Claudia reached out a hand. It was pure instinct.
37
‘You were standing with Declan. I can see you reaching for him,’ Karin said, her face twisted with anguish. ‘Why didn’t you save him?’
Recoiling in horror at Karin’s outstretched arms, Claudia stepped back. She could feel the flagstones sloping towards the water’s edge. One wrong move could be her undoing. Wasn’t it always the way?
The fire at the Empress had been one near miss after the other. If Declan’s flat hadn’t been so close; if he hadn’t been notified of the alarm; if the emergency services had arrived sooner to cordon off the theatre; or if luck hadn’t been on her side for a myriad other reasons, then Claudia’s marriage would be over by now and she would be trapped with Declan in some crappy, rented house, hidden and forgotten. It was everything she had tried to escape, as her mother had before her.
Claudia wanted to explain to Karin that she had loved Declan. He was a good man, even if he had acted on impulse occasionally without considering the consequences. It was something they had in common.
Karin’s eyes widened. ‘Did you push him?’
Claudia continued to stare at Karin’s outstretched arms as if they held the answer. She had reached for Declan as he began to fall and her fingers had snagged on his sleeve. ‘I tried to save him,’ she stammered.
‘No,’ Karin said, her confidence growing. ‘I don’t believe you.’
Claudia didn’t believe herself either. In her defence, Declan had pushed her first, if only metaphorically speaking. She had never given him the slightest indication that she would ever consider leaving Justin. If Declan had paid more attention, he wouldn’t have looked so surprised when Claudia reached out to urge him over the balcony and out of her life for good.
Karin blinked hard, determined to resurrect the memory. ‘I saw what you did,’ she said. ‘My God, you killed him!’
There was only so much Claudia could take. Karin was almost as annoying as her brother for persistence. ‘So what if I did?’ she yelled.
‘You bitch!’
Claudia was ready for her, and grabbed Karin’s coat sleeve as she lunged toward her. She twisted her around so that it was the turn of Declan’s sister to teeter towards oblivion. The heels of Karin’s boots hung over the edge of the canal. All that Claudia had to do was let go.
38
Stepping over fishing rods and almost tangling herself in the lines, Leanne trudged on. Beads of sweat had turned to ice at the nape of her neck, and her leather jacket was too thin to offer much protection from the freezing temperature. If Karin had wanted to cure her hangover with a shock of cold, there was no need to stay out long. She could be home already and in no mood to answer the door if Leanne turned up.
Deciding she was ill-prepared for another stakeout, Leanne turned about-face, but she didn’t immediately head back. The angler she had passed moments earlier was giving her a hard stare. He would need to move his rods again if she retraced her steps. She turned a second time and followed the curve of the canal.
Only vaguely aware of the tunnel ahead, Leanne reconstructed the events leading up to the fire. Claudia had just found out that she was pregnant and, whatever her feelings for Declan, the baby changed everything. Having Justin’s child provided the kind of security Claudia had yearned for, and it wouldn’t have mattered who the father was. It was only Declan who knew the paternity was questionable, and how fortunate for Claudia that the fire had neutralised that risk? Or was it luck?
Leanne’s boots thudded against the dirt path as her brisk pace became a jog. It was as if her subconscious had registered the two figures inside the tunnel before her conscious mind recognised Claudia in the same gym gear she had been wearing on their last encounter. It took only a fraction of a second to realise the second figure was Karin.
‘My God, you killed him!’ she heard Karin yell.
‘So what if I did?’ Claudia shouted back, her voice rever-berating off the tunnel walls.
‘You bitch!’
Leanne broke into a sprint as she entered the tunnel. She could see the two women grappling with each other and time stood still as Karin’s back arched over the water’s edge. The canal was only one boat-width wide and if Claudia let go of her, Karin could swim easily to the other side, but that didn’t factor in the temperature of the water. Cold-water shock could be fatal, especially at this time of year.
‘You stupid bitch!’ Claudia cried. ‘Why did you have to remember?’
Leanne felt a fresh surge of adrenalin as she raced towards them. ‘Stop!’ she cried out, pushing Claudia away with one hand while making a desperate grab for Karin.
The only part of Karin that Leanne managed to grab hold of was her scarf. Karin’s arms windmilled over the water’s edge and her scarf began to unravel. Leanne yanked it hard, by which point Karin had built up enough momentum to propel herself forward. Their combined efforts meant Karin was thrust head first against the tunnel wall.
Karin’s cry was lost to the sound of a scream. Claudia had let go of Karin when Leanne ploughed into them and the shove had unbalanced her. Claudia could have fallen one of two ways, and fate decided that this was one disaster she wasn’t going to sidestep. There was a human-sized splash.
Leanne knelt down and made a grab for Claudia’s outstretched hand, but Claudia had done the one thing she shouldn’t. When she hit the cold water, she had gasped for air and, as her head submerged, she breathed in a lungful of water. Her arms flailed in panic and when she did rise briefly to the surface, she was coughing and spluttering. Her eyes were wide with fear and she was looking directly at Leanne.
Karin had risen to her feet and pressed a hand to her bloodied forehead as she watched on silently.
‘We have to do something,’ Leanne said, glancing left and right.
Beyond the tunnel there were no boats moored along the canal bank, no lifebuoys or poles to hook out Claudia, not even a fence post or broken branch that Leanne could recover in time to save her. She reached out her arm again, fingers stretching towards Claudia, who was busy swallowing more water than she was coughing up. Her movements slowed and she couldn’t keep her head above water. She seemed to know this and stopped struggling.
Leanne had trained for a situation like this and if it had been Lois slipping beneath the surface, she would have jumped in by now. It was probably for the best that she hadn’t. It gave her time to take off her boots and jacket.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I can’t watch her die.’
‘She would have let me die. I saw her push Declan off the balcony, Leanne. She killed my brother!’ Karin’s voice was loud enough to block out the sound of air bubbles breaking the surface of the water. ‘She’s . . . She’s not like us.’
‘No. And we’re not like her,’ Leanne said with grim determination. ‘You need to phone for an ambulance. Now!’
Without waiting for an answer, Leanne took a breath and held it as she jumped into the canal, her arms spread wide to reduce how far her head dipped beneath the surface. The pain was like nothing she had ever felt before. She knew she wouldn’t have long before she succumbed to the cold, but she didn’t act immediately. She floated on her back and waited for the shock to dissipate. When she allowed herself to move, she kicked her feet, exploring the dark waters with her legs until she connected with a solid form that she couldn’t see. She took another deep breath.
Leanne plunged beneath the surface and moved her arms blindly as she searched for Claudia. Her hand glanced against what might be an arm, but there wasn’t time to find purchase. Leanne’s ability to hold her breath was dramatically reduced by the cold, and with her lungs burning, she rose briefly to the surface before trying again. At first she felt nothing. Her fingers were numb, but as her hand dredged the water one last time, she felt resistance and grabbed something that was soft and flesh-like. She kept hold as she broke the surface, gasped for air, and opened her eyes, only to discover darkness threatening to overtake her.
She wasn’t going to make it. She was going to die and, although she didn’t believe in an afterlife, she clung to the hope that Lois was waiting for her. She didn’t need to conjure a tunnel, she was in one. She could see a hand reaching out to her.
Epilogue
Leanne was at the stern with her hand resting on the tiller bar as she steered the boat out of the marina. She could hear the bleat of lambs in a nearby field, and the trees lining the canal bore succulent green buds. The waterways were full of life too and her chosen course was temporarily impeded by a convoy of rented narrowboats. The holiday-makers waved and Leanne offered them a smile that almost broke her. She was leaving Sedgefield.
Dianne had organised a small farewell party at the Raven Brook Café where Leanne had said her goodbyes to friends and colleagues. Today she was on her own and, although it was a wrench to leave so much behind, she was grateful at least that she wasn’t being parted from the Soleil Anne. She and Lois had christened their boat with an anagram of their names. Two lives entwined for ever.
What a life they had planned together in Sedgefield, and what a life they had lost. Ahead of Leanne was a whole future waiting to be rewritten and, even though it looked on the face of it as if she were running away, she was in fact moving towards something new. She hoped Lois would approve.
As the canal narrowed, Leanne had an unobstructed view running the length of the tunnel. The way was clear, but to be safe, she tooted the horn in case another boat was approaching from the other side. She hadn’t been back here since her dramatic dive into the waters, despite being offered ridiculous amounts of money to be interviewed on location. She had agreed to some press, but the most compelling account had been reported in the Courier, written by Leanne from her hospital bed. It was some story.
Hypothermia had been setting in when Karin had dragged her out of the canal. Leanne’s body had been shutting down, and the blood supply to her extremities had been diverted to vital organs. She didn’t know how they had hauled Claudia’s lifeless body out of the water, but they had done it together.
‘She’s not breathing,’ Leanne had said, her body shaking violently.
Karin pulled off her coat and offered it to Leanne. ‘An ambulance is on the way.’
‘We can’t wait. Do you know CPR?’
‘Yes, but you can’t ask me to do that,’ Karin replied. ‘Not after everything she’s done.’
‘You have to.’
Despite her protests, Karin had already positioned herself to the side of Claudia’s prone body. Whatever she might say, she was the same person who had dug Amelia out of the rubble with her bare hands. Karin wouldn’t stand by and watch Claudia die, but she might have cursed under her breath as she slipped a hand beneath Claudia’s neck to tilt her head upwards. She scraped back dark tendrils of hair from Claudia’s porcelain skin and parted her blue lips. Two rescue breaths. Fifteen compressions. Leanne counted them out until the paramedics arrived.
In Leanne’s view, it was Karin who had shown the greatest courage that day. Claudia had thought she could manipulate and destroy Declan’s sister as she had done to him. In return, Karin had saved her life. What an incredible human being.
