It was enough to shake her from her terror and now she looked through the windscreen to see the huge Scania bearing down on her. The driver was waving madly for her to get out of his way.
She pushed her foot down on the accelerator and the Mini shot forward, swerving violently, missing the nearest huge wheel by inches. Kelly yelped as the car hit the kerb with a bone jarring bump before skidding across the pavement and coming to rest against the hedge of the garden opposite.
A car behind her also came to a grinding halt and the lorry pulled up a few yards further on, the driver leaping from the cab.
Kelly shook herself and twisted in her seat. The back seat was empty. There was no sign of Blake.
She felt sick, the realization of what had just happened slowly dawning on her. She heard footsteps approaching the car then her door was wrenched open.
The lorry driver stood there, his face flushed. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked, anxiously. She nodded.
‘What the hell were you doing? You pulled straight in front of me. I could have killed you.’
Kelly closed her eyes tightly for a moment. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered.
The driver of the other car had arrived by now and he reached in to undo Kelly’s seatbelt. The two men helped her from the car, standing beside her as she sucked in deep lungfuls of air.
‘I’ll phone for an ambulance,’ said the truck driver. ‘No.’ Kelly caught his arm. ‘I’ll be OK. I wasn’t hurt.’ ‘You look pretty shaken up,’ he told her.
‘Please. No ambulance.’
She wasn’t sure what had disturbed her the most. Nearly being hit by the lorry or the sight of Blake’s leering face. ‘I’m fine, really,’ she assured them both. Other vehicles slowed down as they drove by, glancing at the roadside tableau.
Kelly eventually clambered back into the Mini and strapped herself in. The two men watched as she guided her car off the pavement back on to the road.
‘Thanks for your help,’ she said and drove off, leaving the two men shaking their heads as she disappeared into traffic.
After another mile or so and Kelly came to a second phone box. Glancing somewhat nervously into her rear-view mirror she signalled then pulled in, clambering out of the car and reaching the box moments before two young girls, who began muttering to each other and pacing up and down outside.
Kelly fumbled for some change and dialled the number of Joubert’s hotel. She tapped agitatedly on one glass panel of the phone box as she waited to be connected. Finally she heard the Frenchman’s voice.
Scarcely had he identified himself than she began babbling her story to him.
About Blake. About Vernon’s death. The murders committed by Toni Landers and the others. Blake’s TV appearance.
The power of the Shadow.
The Frenchman listened in stunned silence, only his low breathing signalling his presence on the other end of the line.
The rapid pips sounded and she pushed in another coin.
‘Kelly, you must get away from there,’ Joubert said, finally.
‘I can’t leave now,’ she told him.
‘For God’s sake, he could kill you too.’
“He must be stopped.’
‘But Kelly …’
She hung up, paused a moment then walked back to her car. As she opened her hand she glanced at the bunch of keys resting on her palm.
One of them unlocked the front door of Blake’s house.
The thought hit her like a thunderbolt. She scrambled behind the steering wheel and started the engine.
It was 5.56 p.m.
She had time but it was running out fast.
PART THREE
‘We’ll know for the first time, If we’re evil or divine …’
— Ronnie James Dio
‘The evil that men do lives after them …’
— Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene II
At 6.35 David Blake walked from his house, climbed into the waiting XJS and started the engine. Despite the relative warmth of the evening, the sky was a patchwork of mottled grey and blue. Away to the north clouds were gathering in unyielding dark formations and Blake wondered how long it would be before the impending storm arrived. As if to reinforce his supicions, a distant rumble of thunder rolled across the sky.
He guided the Jag out into the street and swung it right.
He didn’t see Kelly.
She had been standing about twenty yards further down the street for almost an hour, watching and waiting, the key to Blake’s front door clutched in her hand.
Now she watched as the XJS pulled away, disappearing around the corner.
As if fearing that he might return, she paused for another five minutes then began walking briskly towards the house, not hesitating as she made her way up the path, attempting to hide the anxiousness in her stride. She reached the front door and pushed in the key.
‘He’s just gone out.’
She gasped aloud as she heard the voice, turning to discover its source.
Kelly saw the middle-aged man who lived next door to Blake. He was struggling to hold his Alsatian under control, the large dog pulling on its leash as if threatening to tug the man off his feet. He stood there, watching as Kelly turned the key in the lock.
‘! don’t know where he’s gone,’ the man persisted.
She smiled as politely as she could manage.
‘It’s all right, I’ll wait,’ she told him and stepped inside.
Through the bevelled glass of the front door, Kelly could see the distorted image of the man next door. He appeared
to be standing staring at the house but, after a moment or two, he moved on.
She sighed and moved quickly across the hall to the staircase, scuttling up the steps towards Blake’s bedroom.
She paused outside the door, aware of a slight chill in the air but she ignored it and walked in. The silence swallowed her up and she was aware only of the sound of her own heart beating.
Kelly moved around the bed to the cabinet, her eyes fixed on the ornate gold key in the lock of the bottom drawer. She dropped to her knees and turned it.
It was almost seven o’clock by the time she left the house. As she clambered into the Mini she guessed that the drive across London would take her forty-five minutes if she was lucky. She prayed that the traffic wouldn’t be too heavy. Her heart was still thumping hard against her ribs and she took a tissue from her handbag to wipe the moisture from the palms of her hands.
As she dropped the bag on to the passenger seat she noticed how heavy it was.
The .357 Magnum nestled safely inside.
Blake turned up the volume on the casette and drummed on the steering wheel as he waited for the lights to turn green. Traffic in the centre of London was beginning to clog the roads but the writer seemed unperturbed by the temporary hold-up. The show he was due to appear on was going out live but he looked at his watch and realized he’d make it in time. He smiled as he saw the traffic lights change colour.
Another fifteen minutes and he would be at the studio.
Another ominous rumble of thunder shook the heavens. The storm was getting closer.
Kelly looked first as the dashboard clock and then at her own watch. She drove as fast as she was able in the streams of traffic, slowing down slightly when she saw a police car cruise past in the lane next to her. Almost without thinking, she reached over and secured the clasp on her handbag, ensuring that the revolver didn’t fall out. Kelly could feel the perspiration on her back and forehead, clinging to her like
dew to the grass.
She guessed that Blake must have reached his destination by now.
Another glance at her watch and she estimated it would be over ten minutes before she caught up with him.
The first spots of rain began to spatter her windscreen.