Revenge (David Shelley #1) - James Patterson Page 0,60

you do, you need to do without them lot knowing. Is there any way I can help you? Do you need a couple of men?”

“It’s all right, thanks, Dad. I’ve got men here that are loyal to me.”

“Oh yeah?” he said, suddenly suspicious. “Not up to anything, are you, Kaz? I mean, anything else?”

She’d avoided answering that question, asking after his health instead. He had a new girlfriend, a woman called Sheridan who Karen had only met once and loathed on sight, so she asked him about her, and forced him to say that nobody could ever replace her mother, God rest her soul, and they’d finished the call.

Then, ten minutes later, he’d rung back. “You want them all to suffer, though, don’t you?” he said. “The whole of them Drakes.”

“I don’t care, Dad. I just want to watch her die.”

“But wouldn’t it be good, princess?”

“I don’t see how, without the Chechens getting suspicious.”

He chuckled. “Well, sweetheart, there are ways and there are ways . . .”

CHAPTER 49

SUSIE FELT STRANGE, surreal, as though her mind and spirit had lifted outside of her body and she was looking down on events with an almost dispassionate air, as though what was being discussed was nothing to do with her. How else was it possible to process the fact that this woman was sitting there calmly, smiling almost sweetly, presentable and reasonable, talking about the time she made plans to kill Emma?

On the table lay the gun. Watching over them was the CCTV camera. Susie had dredged up those lessons Shelley had given her. Safety catch. Cocking the weapon. Don’t snatch the shot.

At school she had been a gymnast and a good sprinter. She knew she was fast—or used to be, at least—and maybe she could be fast again, now, when it counted. Could she make it to the gun before Karen? Would she be able to use the gun if she got there? How long would it be before more men came rushing to the bitch’s aid?

“You’re telling me,” she heard herself say—again, there was that detached part of her that registered the disbelief in her own voice—“you’re telling me how you killed my daughter?”

“From one mother to another,” said Karen. She pronounced “mother” like “muvva.” From one muvva to anuvva. “I think it’s only right that you know the truth. I know I’d want to if I were in your shoes. I’d want to know everything.

“It’s out of respect that I’m telling you this, Susie. Because we’re women, aren’t we? We know that we’re stronger than the other lot. We suffer.” She patted her stomach. “We know suffering that they’ll never know, and we know that we can take it, because we’re tough, ain’t we? That’s why you’re not sitting there shitting yourself, blubbing like a baby. That’s what your husband would be doing in your position, ain’t it? How did he react when darling daughter died?”

Darling daughter. Susie felt her hatred increase by a couple of notches.

“I bet he started ranting and raving, didn’t he? The checkbook came out. Because they’re all like that, aren’t they? Worst combination is a bloke and a bit of money—it turns them into big babies. Is that how your hubby was, Susie? Did he throw a tantrum while you watched calmly on? Now I bet that’s right, ain’t it? I bet he did. Come on, answer me.”

Susie found herself nodding despite herself. Why not? It was true. Guy had not been there for her; he had nurtured his hatred instead. The way she felt now. Was that what it was like inside Guy’s head all the time?

“You see? And is it him who has been taken? Is it him sitting in some grotty cell in a garage with only Dirty Dancing on DVD to watch? No, of course it ain’t. It’s you who has to carry the can. You who has to suffer. Always you, Susie.”

“And Emma,” Susie heard herself say.

“Oh yes, and Emma,” said Karen. “You see? I knew you were strong enough to carry on.”

It was as if the whole world was in this cell. As though the planet had shrunk to consist of just Susie and Karen, facing each other across a grubby room, with a glass of water, a sandwich, and a gun on the table between them.

“Then carry on,” said Susie.

Karen nodded, satisfied her little speech had done the trick. When she looked away, Susie found her eyes going to the gun once more. She had attended a course once, the sort