With a final remark and jaunty wave towards the bedroom, Ross trotted lightly down the stairs and into Alice’s line of vision. She followed his head with the shotgun sight as he slipped into his coat and collected his keys and briefcase from the hall table. Her finger slowly tightened on the trigger until suddenly her inner voice started shrieking at her to stop.
You can’t do it! What about Charles? Do you want him to lose both parents in one week? What about Philippe? Do you think he’ll want you after you’ve killed a man in cold blood? Don’t be stupid! Put the gun down!
Snapping out of the daze that had gripped her since she’d been upstairs, Alice abruptly released the pressure on the trigger and let the barrels of the gun droop towards the floor as her husband stepped out through the front door.
She stood there in shocked silence for a few seconds as she listened to his car door slam, then the sound of the engine and the swish of the gravel as he accelerated away. I can’t believe what you nearly did! the voice scolded. Slowly, with badly shaking hands, she slid the safety catch back on and laid the gun across the desk as she sank into the padded swivel chair and buried her face in her hands.
You nearly did it that time! You nearly blew your whole life! Before she’d come here, before she’d seen them together like that, all she’d wanted was to divorce him and see him go bankrupt. But now that wasn’t enough. She wanted revenge. Slowly dropping her hands and opening her eyes, she looked down onto the desk, with its familiar arrangement of writing paper, envelopes and a pot of pens. Then her gaze strayed out into the hall to the stairs and her eyes narrowed as she had a new idea.
Picking the gun up, she walked out into the hall, up the stairs and straight into the master bedroom. The room was empty, but she could hear the sound of the power-shower operating in the en-suite and saw the door was slightly ajar. Pushing it fully open with the barrels of the gun, she glanced in and saw Alex standing in the cubicle with his back towards her, letting the steaming torrent of water wash over the red weals on his back and buttocks.
Revolted, she stepped over to the dressing table and sat on the stool with the gun across her knees, facing the bathroom door, waiting for him to come out. When she heard the shower stop and the cubicle door click open, she swung the gun around and rested it across her forearm so that it was pointing at the door, then double-checked the safety catch was on. A few seconds later, Alex came wondering out of the bathroom door with a small towel wrapped around his waist, rubbing his face dry with another.
‘Hello Alex,’ she said in a cool, level voice.
Because of the towel over his face he hadn’t seen her, but as soon as he heard her voice he visibly jumped and whipped the towel away from his eyes. ‘A… A… Alice,’ he stammered in shocked surprise, staggering back a step. ‘How…how?’
Alice helped him out. ‘How am I here? How did I survive? That’s easy,’ she said, her voice suddenly becoming hard, ‘when you drop me, I bounce. Didn’t you know?’ She lifted the gun to her shoulder and aimed directly at his head.
‘It wasn’t my idea, I swear it,’ he jabbered, looking at the gun, ‘you’ve got to believe me… Ross made me help him… I didn’t want anything to do with it…’ He fell to his knees and put his hands up to his face crying, ‘Don’t shoot, please don’t shoot.’
Alice let the gun drop slightly, then said disparagingly, ‘I’m not going to shoot you, you pathetic little man… provided you do exactly what I tell you.’
‘I’ll do anything, anything you want,’ he sobbed.
Laying the gun down on her knees, Alice reached into her inside pocket and pulled out the brown envelope containing the statement she and Philippe had made. ‘You see this?’ she asked, removing the document from the envelope and unfolding it. ‘This is a sworn statement I made to a lawyer in France that tells exactly how you and Ross tried to kill me.’ Alex went to move forward so she quickly dropped the statement onto the dressing table and hoisted the gun again. He sank back onto his knees.
‘Now what I want you to do,’ she said, pointing the gun directly at him, ‘is to write your version of the story down for me and sign it. After that, we’re going to call the police and have them come over.’
Realizing that he probably wasn’t in imminent danger of being shot, Alex started to become belligerent. ‘And what if I don’t want to?’ he asked. ‘What will you do about it?’
‘I’ll blow your head off,’ she said quite simply. ‘Then I’ll find Ross and do exactly the same to him. Remember, I’m officially dead. You cremated my body this afternoon. No one would ever think of blaming me.’
Alice’s cool manner and obvious determination convinced him that she meant exactly what she said. Resigned, he said, ‘All right, I’ll do it.’
‘Good,’ she said briskly. ‘Now you get dressed, then we’ll go downstairs to the study.’
Alex stood up walked to one of the chairs where his clothes were neatly folded in a pile. He was just about to reach for them when Alice said, ‘Not them. I want you put on what you were wearing for my husband.’
He looked around at her with a shocked expression. ‘You saw?’ he asked incredulously.
‘Oh yes, I saw,’ she spat, with a look of utter disgust. ‘Now do it!’
‘But why?’ he wailed.
‘Because you and Ross have humiliated me,’ she snapped. ‘Now it’s payback time. I want the nice policemen to see exactly what you’re like.’
Slowly, Alex walked across to the bed, and turning his back, dropped his towel and slipped the suspender belt up over his hips. Next, he put on stockings followed by a short silk negligee, which barely covered his backside. Turning to Alice, he asked sarcastically, ‘Happy now?’
A wave of revulsion shook her body as he faced her with his genitals dangling beneath the negligee, but she held herself in check. ‘Not quite… you’ve forgotten your wig and handcuffs.’
Resignedly, he pulled the wig on then picked the handcuffs up from the bedside table and slipped them onto his wrists.
‘That’s better,’ Alice said, ‘now we’re ready to go. You lead the way.’ She followed him out of the bedroom and along the galleried landing, holding the long gun at waist height.
He kept glancing back and had obviously seen her fingers were nowhere near the triggers, because just as they reached the top of the stairs, he stopped abruptly, swung around and grabbed the gun by the end of the barrels, yanking it out of Alice’s hands.
Alice was caught entirely by surprise and staggered forward onto her knees as the gun was wrenched from her grip. Looking up, she saw the gun sail upwards as Alex reeled back towards the head of the stairs holding the tip of the barrels at arm’s length between his manacled hands.
Then the weight of the large stock got the better of him and the wooden end of the gun came crashing down onto the landing like a cleaver, narrowly missing Alice’s head as she ducked to one side.
The next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion for Alice. The gunstock hit the floor right next to her head with a splintering crash, the firing mechanism gave a sharp click, then both cartridges discharged simultaneously with a deafening roar.
She swung her head up, away from the gun just in time to see a blinding flash of light as the full force of both barrels lifted Alex gracefully off his feet and blew him backwards over the banister.