‘It’s too late for that,’ Sam said. ‘We’re going to the police, right now. That’s why Ellie’s here, she’s taking Libby to tell them everything you’ve done to her.’
Jack reached out to the girl. ‘Libby, honey, don’t do that. Don’t lie to them.’
Sam pushed Jack in the chest and he rocked back on his heels. ‘Fuck off.’
Jack still had his eyes on his daughter, crouched in the corner.
‘If you tell them those lies, I’ll have to tell them about your brother trying to kill me,’ Jack said. ‘It’ll all come out.’
‘Shut up,’ Libby said, shaking.
‘He’ll probably go to prison,’ Jack said. ‘Is that what you want?’
‘That’s enough,’ Ellie said.
Sam looked at his sister. ‘Don’t listen to him, Lib. He’s just trying to save his own skin.’
‘I’m not, honey, honestly,’ Jack said. ‘Come home and we can put all this behind us.’
He inched closer to Libby. Sam pushed at him but Jack didn’t budge. Ellie stepped closer, took hold of Jack’s arm but he didn’t respond, didn’t even seem to notice.
‘Your brother won’t survive in prison,’ Jack said.
‘Shut the fuck up,’ Sam said.
‘He’s already tried to kill himself all those times,’ Jack said. ‘He won’t get the right treatment in prison, the right medication. He’ll either kill himself or someone else will do it.’
Libby’s face was scrunched up, tears on her cheeks.
‘I don’t believe you,’ she said. ‘I don’t believe you.’
‘You heard her,’ Ellie said. ‘Leave. Now.’
Jack turned. He looked for all the world as if he was sorry, a lost little boy looking for his parents.
‘I can’t leave without Libby,’ he said.
‘You’ll have to,’ Sam said, his hand still on Jack’s chest.
Jack reached past Sam and grabbed Libby’s wrist. She tried to wriggle free but he held on easily. Sam pushed at his arm as Ellie had her hands on his shoulders trying to pull him away.
‘Get your hands off me,’ Libby shouted, the sound echoing round the cabin.
‘Come on.’ Jack yanked at her arm and Libby was lifted off her backside, sliding on to the floor then staggering to her feet. Ellie thought she saw something glint on the bench behind her. Libby was feeling at her back, fingers grasping air then scrabbling across the top of the bench.
Jack gave her wrist a heave and Libby lurched forward. Sam pushed Jack who stumbled but then righted himself, Ellie still tugging at his back, trying to pull him away. Libby took a step back, picked up the scissors she’d been searching for on the bench, and gripped them tight in her fist. She lifted them above her shoulder and plunged them down into Jack’s stomach just below his ribcage.
‘No,’ Ellie shouted, reaching for the scissors.
‘Get off,’ Libby screamed, pulling the scissors out then thrusting them back in again. She repeated the movement, in and out, in and out. Ellie grabbed for the scissors and felt a slice of pain up the palm of her hand. Jack fell backwards making Ellie lose her balance. She pushed a hand out to catch herself from falling. Jack went forward again, but he fell right into Libby’s fist gripping the scissors.
‘Keep your hands to yourself,’ Libby said, pushing the scissors into Jack’s stomach one more time.
Sam hauled her back. ‘No, Lib.’
The scissors clattered to the floor. Jack roared and threw Ellie off his back, launching himself at Libby. His hands went round her throat and he squeezed, Libby’s neck straining as she tried to take in air. Sam pushed at his dad’s face and neck, trying to prise him off, then shoved at his arms, but he couldn’t release Jack’s grip. He reached to the floor and picked up the scissors then plunged them into the flesh of Jack’s neck just above his collarbone. Jack staggered backwards, grasping at the handle of the scissors, blood spraying between his fingers. He couldn’t get a purchase on them, kept fumbling at it, his throat gurgling, eyes wild, snot dripping from his nose. He stumbled to the doorway of the cabin, his palms slapping on the banisters, then began hauling himself up the stairs, moaning and grunting.
Ellie looked around. Libby and Sam were on the bench, wide eyed. She darted forward, grabbed a cable from the equipment box then lunged at Jack halfway up the stairs, wrapping the cord around his neck, criss-crossing it over and heaving herself backwards, pushing against the wall with her feet until Jack’s grip on the banister came loose and he fell on top of her. The boat rocked with the force of their landing, Jack’s hands reaching behind his head, scratching at Ellie’s face as she pulled the cable tighter. She held on as his breath shortened, his legs thrashing at the bottom of the stairs, trying to get purchase on anything. He pushed himself into Ellie, sending them both shunting along the floor until Ellie’s head bumped the leg of the table, but she held on, struggling for breath under his weight. Jack’s hands reached for the cord around his neck, pushing his fingers against it, trying to pull it away from the skin, blood pulsing out the wounds in his stomach and neck. But he couldn’t get any relief. Ellie pulled tight, the muscles in her arms burning, her neck taut, every sinew stretched as far as it would go, every ounce of strength in her body used.
Jack stopped struggling and slumped, his head falling back and smacking Ellie in the mouth. She moved her head sideways, spitting his hair from her teeth, gasping, her chest struggling to rise and fall under his weight. She kept tight hold of the ends of the cord, waiting, listening, expecting something, but nothing happened.
She let go of the cable. Heaved air into her lungs. Shoved at Jack’s body, rolled it to the side and began shuffling out from underneath, sliding away from him.
She was covered in blood. She panted, gulping in air, her legs shaking, her body trembling from shock and adrenalin. She looked at the bench. Sam had his arms round Libby, her face buried in his chest. She was sobbing, hands pressed into her lap. Sam was staring at Jack. He turned to Ellie with a look.
Ellie held her hands out in front of her and stared at them. The skin was raw and moist where she’d gripped the cable. Jack’s blood was smeared in the creases and folds of her skin. One palm was sliced by the scissors.
She crawled on her hands and knees over to Jack’s body. Blood was oozing from his collarbone, pooling under his back, his clothes wet from the wounds to his stomach and chest.
Ellie put two fingers to his neck, felt for a pulse. Then she took his wrist, did the same. Waited, trying to regulate her own heart rate. Finally she knelt by his face and put a hand over his mouth and nose, feeling for breath.
She slumped down on her haunches and looked at Sam. Shook her head.
Libby lifted her face out of her brother’s chest and saw Ellie. Ellie looked at the scissors sticking out of Jack’s neck, the cord still digging into the skin around his throat. She put one hand against his shoulder and pulled the scissors out, dropping them on the floor. Blood came bubbling out the wound and down his back. Then Ellie lifted the back of Jack’s head and unwrapped the cable. It was only with the cable in her hand that she realised what it was. The kill cord, for cutting the power to the engine if you fell overboard, so you didn’t get chopped up by the propellers.
Libby was crying, shaking, trying to squirm into Sam’s body. Sam had a glassy look on his face, staring at his dad’s corpse in the middle of the cabin.
‘What do we do now?’ he said.
Ellie wiped her hands on the thighs of her jeans, felt the pain on her palms as she did so. She looked round the cabin, shook her head then pulled her phone out.
32
They waited on deck. It was risky out here, the kids could get recognised, but none of them could stay another moment below with Jack. Libby had been freaking out, hysterical, Sam just staring, so Ellie had shoved caps on their heads and pushed them upstairs and out the cabin. Now the pair of them were hunched in the stern, Ellie pacing up and down the starboard side, pretending to check the rigging, trying to stop her hands shaking as she looked out for him.