Sisters - Michelle Frances Page 0,56
sibling. She used to constantly ask me when your mother was coming to take you home. I had to explain that you were home, and she would go off into these awful tantrums. She’d stop breathing, turn blue. Even when she got older, she could never accept you.’
Ellie was suddenly hit with an overwhelming sense of exhaustion. She leaned against the wall, tried to breathe evenly.
‘Are you OK?’ Susanna had suddenly realized Ellie hadn’t been responding.
‘Just feeling a bit dizzy.’
‘You’re unwell?’
The beeps suddenly sounded in Ellie’s ear. She fumbled for her purse, slotted in her last coins.
‘I’ve been a bit off-colour.’
‘Oh . . .’ It was a small word, spoken with dread.
‘Mum . . .’
‘Has she given you anything?’
There it was again. The fear that blew a cold wind right through her.
‘Ellie?’ Susanna’s tone was sharp.
‘Mum, stop. Please.’
Her mother’s voice hardened. ‘Look, there’s something you need to know. She has a gun.’
Ellie stopped still. ‘A what?’
‘Go and look in her things if you don’t believe me.’
‘Sorry, did you just say she has a gun?’
‘Yes, a gun! A bloody gun!’
‘But what would she have that for?’
‘I keep telling you, Ellie, she hates you.’
‘But she has all that money. That free life.’
‘Money does not buy you happi—’
Ellie heard a click in her ear. The call had dropped out. She looked at the display on the phone – her balance had run down to zero. Ellie slowly replaced the receiver.
Her sister had a gun?
THIRTY-NINE
Ellie slowly walked back through reception, not even noticing Madame look up as she passed the desk. She climbed the stairs, her mind racing. Surely it couldn’t be true? A gun. She couldn’t conceive of such an idea. It didn’t seem real; it was a mistake, some sort of madness. She got to the second floor, to the door of their room, and opened it.
The shower was running. Ellie listened to the sound of the water. On Abby’s bed was her travel bag. Ellie hesitated a moment, then went over. Tentatively, she unzipped the bag and, with a sense of treachery, put her hands inside. She felt only the softness of clothes, nothing hard. She checked the inside pocket too but it was empty. She zipped the bag back up.
Ellie looked around. There was a chair on the other side of the room, tucked away in the corner. On it was draped Abby’s clothes, those she’d been wearing that day. And poking out from underneath a T-shirt was Abby’s battered blue leather handbag.
With a jolt, Ellie remembered how she’d lifted that same bag off the back seat of the car earlier, and how Abby had snapped at her to leave it.
It must be in the handbag.
She stepped over to Abby’s side of the room and, pushing the clothes aside, she opened it. The thick envelope of cash lay on the top. Ellie slowly lifted it and then recoiled.
Cold hard metal gleamed up at her. It had an energy, even though it was a stationary object, a brutality that made her shudder.
Ellie suddenly heard the shower turn off. Panicked, she shoved the envelope of money back on top of the gun and, fingers scrabbling, zipped up the bag, then ran over to her side of the room.
The bathroom door opened. Abby stepped out, wrapped in a towel. ‘All right?’ she said.
Ellie smiled as casually, as normally as she could. Her mouth felt strange, as if the muscles couldn’t quite form the right expression.
‘I’m going to give Jamie another call,’ said Abby, ‘then I’m going to turn the phone off. Just in case. Don’t want anyone picking up where we are.’
‘You mean the police?’
‘Yes. I don’t know how they’d track us to the retail park but I don’t want to take the risk. We can switch it back on in the morning, to check for messages.’
Ellie nodded.
‘You OK?’ asked Abby.
She smiled quickly. ‘Fine.’
Ellie watched agitatedly as Abby went over to the chair. Her sister opened her bag. Ellie stared as she saw Abby’s hands disappear into its depths to retrieve her phone. She looked at her sister’s face. She knows there’s a gun in there, thought Ellie, and she doesn’t even flinch. Abby looked up then, caught Ellie watching, and Ellie quickly turned away.
Abby made the call but, by the look on her face, Ellie knew she’d got the answerphone again. Her sister left a brief message, then put on a fresh T-shirt and climbed into bed.
‘Are you sure you’re all right?’ she said.
Ellie snapped to, realized she was rooted to the