Lipstick and Lies (63 page)

‘He’s told yo
u all this has he?’ I mumbled.

‘Jamie doesn’t need to Cass.
His face is an open book.
I’ve seen the way he looks at me.
With so much longing,’ her voice so
ftened, ‘and regret.’

‘So why doesn’t he leave me?’

‘Because he’s an honourable man Cass.
Too
honourable.
So I’m taking charge of the situation.
I’m going to
bump you off
and give the grieving widower – grieving out of guilt you understand, not because he actually misses you – a shoulder to cry on.
And once he’s in my arm
s, he’ll never want to leave.’

‘Right,’ I nodded.
‘But I still don’t understand why you have to
bump
Stevie
off
too Selina.’

‘
God
you really are thick Cass,’ Selina tutted theatrically.
‘Stevie is the father of your twins
,
yes?’

‘It’s his name on the
ir
birth certificates,’ I confirmed.
W
her
e was this conversation going?

‘And if Stevie is dead – and you’re dead too don’t forget – then legally
, who is your twins’ next of kin
?’ Selina pr
ompted.

I didn’t have any other living relatives.
My blood ran cold.
‘Jamie,’ I whispered.

‘Correct!’ Selina crowed.
‘So I’ll have not just you
r husband, but your kids too!’

I lunged for her.
‘
OVER MY DEAD BODY
!’ I screamed.
The too tight seatbelt held me back but my right arm managed to grab a chunk of her hair.
I pulled hard, almost
yanking her head off her neck.

The knife appeared from nowhere.
I
nstantly
I
recoiled, tucking myself into the curves of the passenger door as much as was physically possib
le.

‘Yes Cass
,’ Selina hissed.
‘O
ver your dead body
.
And if you try that again, I will hurt you.
Not enough to kill you – yet
.
B
ut enough to make it look like an injury sustained in the crash.
Do you understand?’

I nodded mutely.
Every fibre of my being was screaming silently for a way out of this situation.
Seeing Selina holding the knife was like a small window of opportunity.
If I could get hold of that knife, maybe I c
ould hack through my seatbelt?

‘So,’ I exhaled shakily, ‘you seem to assume that even if you walk off into the sunset with my husband, my children will scamper after you.
That won’t happen.’

‘Yes it will,’ Selina said dismissively.
‘Your children absolutely adore me.
And little Eddie will grow up probably thinking I’m his real Mummy.
And of course I’ll be having one or two little ones of my own,’ Selina smiled indulgently.
‘And Jamie will be so happy.
He’ll look at me and think to himself, “Selina!
Why was I so blind to t
he woman who was there all along
?
She’s so right for me – the
perfect business colleague, the perfect mother for my children, the perfect wife!”
And I will live happily ever after Cass, with my husband and children in beautiful Lilac Lodge.
Forever and ever.
Amen to all that.’

The hand that was holding the knife came down hard on the steering wheel a
s
Selina
once again
beeped
the Mini in front of us.
The driver
was
still
obstinately refusing to
move over
.

‘You’re never going to get away with this,’ I quavered, mindful of the knife. It was about the size of something I’d peel the vegetables with.
Nonetheless
,
I was acutely aware of the damage it could do.
‘The police are on to you.
They know that you kidnapped Stevie.’

‘Oh the police,’ Selina scoffed.
‘I’ve already spoken with them.
And most apologetic they were too.
But they said they had to check out every lead, no matter how ridiculous.
They explained two women
gave the tip off
that I’d abducted Mr Stephen Cherry.
You don’t have to be Einstein to work out which two women gave that little gem of information to the police.
The same two women who happened to snoop around my apartment block and tell
a resident they were from the c
ouncil.
Thank heavens for neighbours like Gerald.
Retired and with nothing better to do than sit on every committee and avail himself to the local council – a man who likes to make other people’s business his own.
And then he managed to secure the registration number of your silly blonde friend – the one with a bust size bigger than her IQ.’

‘I don’t
know what you’re talking about.
’ I stared resolutely out the windscreen.
The Mini was
finally
alive to the fact that Selina was almost touching its bumper
.
It
edged into the middle lane.
The Mazda leapt forward.

‘I used to be a policewoman Cass.
I have contacts.
It took only a second to check out that registration number and find a picture of the owner.
And Jamie, innocent lamb, unwittingly confirmed that Morag Harding was your mate.
That she used to be your boss when you worked at Hempel Braithwaite.
And coincidentally went on to marry Matt Harding
,
who I met when I dated Jamie.
Small world
,
eh?’

‘Leave Morag out of it.
She’s nothing to do with this.’
I refrained from telling Selina that Morag wasn’t so silly to have photographed bottles of GHB in Selina’s apartment
,
and
had
filmed Selina removing the same from Stevie
’s house.

‘If Mrs Harding stays out of my hair, then she’ll be safe.
After all, it’s not her husband or life that I want.’

‘Do you mind telling me how Eth
an fits into your grand plan?’

‘Well unfortunately h
e’s going to be a jilted fiancé.
’
Selina shrugged.
‘These things happen.’

‘And I take it he was quite calm about you speaking with the police yesterday –
seeing how you were being asked about a
kidnap?’

‘Ethan knows nothing
of
it Cass!’ Selina hooted with laughter.
‘We’ve not been getting on too well lately.
I’ve had things on my mind – obviously – which has unsettled Ethan.
I’ve absented myself here and there at work
.
W
hen I disappeared in the evening to talk to the police
,
Ethan just thought I was having one of my blue moods.
So when I finally got back home – a little on the late side admittedly – I just did my dying swan act.
And Ethan was all over me like a rash.
Said he’d look after me.
Wouldn’t go to the ball without me.’

‘You think you
have
it all worked out Selina, but you
don
’t.’

‘Shut up Cass
.
Y
ou’re starting to bore me.’

‘Do you mi
nd me asking where Stevie is?’

‘Not at all,’ Selina said magnanimously.
‘He’s in a disused warehouse by the docks rented by my mate Charlie Phillips.
When I was in the police force
,
I rubbed shoulders with a few naughty boys on the wrong side of the law.
It’s easy to come to an arrangement with most of them.
You know, “I’ll keep my gob shut
Fred
if you pay me a few grand,” or “I’ll turn a blind eye to your little
project
Bill, but it’s subject to you doing me a favour
.
”’

‘I see,’ I nodded
.
‘
S
o you w
ere a corrupt police officer.’

Selina shrugged.
‘Call it what you will.
I prefer to call it a mutually agreeable arrangement.
Charlie is the one who supplied the GHB
to
me.
He also assisted in,’
she
smiled maliciously, ‘
persuading
Stevie to write
a
suicide note.’

‘There is no reason on this earth for Stevie
to commit suicide,’ I assured.

‘Ah, but then you don’t know about his little drug problem do you?’ Selina looked at me with wide eyes.
‘I planted a bottle of GHB in Stevie’s bathroom cabinet hoping the police would find it.
They didn’t.
What a pitiful shower they are!
However, I had to borrow it back again because I was running low
,
and Charlie is awaiting a fresh supply via his own source.
Anyway, Stevie has written all about his drug problem and that he can’t cope with it any more.
And when the deed is done, Charlie will take care of posting the suicide note to Stevie’s ex-girlfriend, Charlotte.
The note explains w
here Stevie can be found and–’

A
red Vauxhall Astravan
suddenly shot into the outside lane
,
almost clipping the wing of the Mazda.
Selina automatically hit the brakes and the pair of us lurched toward
s
the dash and then back again.
She sounded the horn long and loud
.
F
or a moment I thought she was going to lose her grip on the knife.
The
Astravan
reacted
furiously
to the angry blasts by jamming his brakes on and off
,
so that we nearly ended up impacting into
its rear bumper
.
I had a sudden flash of déjà vu.
The same thing
had happened when I’d been in the car with Morag
recently
, on our way to
Fairview
.
And it had been a
red Vauxhall Astravan
!
Oh my God.
If this was the same van, I didn’t like to think how this bit of the
journey was going to pan out.

‘What a fucking prat,’ Selina hissed.
She drew back and let rip with the horn again.
When the driver once more hit his brakes, she was prepared.
‘I can’t stand arseholes like this.
Think they own the motorway.
As if his tin pot van can keep up with
this
!’

She floored the Mazda.
The vehicle leapt forward and took the
van
on the inside.
As we
drew level
, Selina suddenly buzzed her window down.
We were travelling at over one hundred miles per hour.
Air roared in through the open window whipping Selina’s hair around her face
,
and playing havoc with our eardrums
.

‘What are you doing?’ I
screeched over the wind noise.

Selina had released her seatbelt
.
Instantly an alarm went off warning the driver to buckle up again
.
But Selina was now
leaning out of the driver’s window
.
Her
left
hand was clamped on the
steering wheel,
her right arm
stretch
ed towards the van’s passenger window
with
the
knife raised.
As soon as
the Mazda drew level,
she brought the knife down hard.
It smacked against the centre of the glass and instantly cav
ed in.
Cackling manically, she once again floored the Mazda
.
The vehicle whooshed forward.
She had both hands back on the wheel
, but
the knife
’s blade was now
sticking up vertically in the air.
The window remained down
,
and I thought my eardrums would surely burst.
And then several things happen
ed at once.