Heathen/Nemesis

Eighty-Five

‘It has to be the place in Conduit Street.’

Donna prodded the sheet of paper with the locations on, her eyes moving swiftly back and forth over the names:

RATHFARNHAM, DUBLIN.

BRASENOSE COLLEGE, OXFORD.

REGENCY PLACE, EDINBURGH.

CONDUIT STREET, LONDON.

The meeting places of The Sons of Midnight.

‘How can you be sure?’ Julie asked. ‘What about Oxford?’

‘London would have been easier for them to reach after leaving Essex but,’ she exhaled deeply, ‘I can’t be sure. All we can do is check it out. If they’re not there, we’ll keep looking.’

Julie regarded her impassively across the table. The tension between the two women was almost palpable.

‘Didn’t Chris ever mention them to you?’ Donna asked, not looking at Julie. ‘Did he ever talk about his work to you?’

‘No. He wouldn’t discuss something with me that he refused to discuss with you, would he?’

‘I don’t know. I thought I knew him up until the last few weeks. Now I’m not sure of anything he would or wouldn’t do.’ She looked at Julie irritably. ‘I thought I knew you too, Julie. Looks like I was wrong about both of you.’

‘Why do you want me around, Donna?’ Julie demanded. ‘You can’t stand me near you any more because of what happened. It would be best for both of us if I left.’

‘I told you why. You owe me your help, because of what happened between you and Chris.’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘Don’t think I enjoy looking at you and imagining what you and he used to get up to, but I’m damned if I’m going to let you walk away from what you did. You’d like that, wouldn’t you? To think it was over and you’d escaped the consequences.’

‘I’m not proud of what I did, Donna. If you think I am then you’re even more fucked up than I imagined.’ She spat out the words angrily.

Donna allowed her fingers to touch the butt of the .357 that lay on the table but she kept her gaze fixed on Julie.

‘Why don’t you use the bloody gun on me,’ Julie said challengingly. ‘That’d solve your problems, wouldn’t it?’

‘Don’t think I haven’t thought about it,’ Donna told her. ‘Don’t think I haven’t imagined how much I’d enjoy killing you.’

‘I can understand that. Revenge seems to be the most important thing in your life now, Donna,’ said Julie sardonically.

‘Perhaps it’s because there’s nothing else in my life any more,’ Donna told her. ‘Chris is gone, even my memories of him might as well be gone. You destroyed them, Julie. When I think of him I think of him with you. I think of his deceit. Your deceit. I shared him for ten months with you.’

‘I saw him once a week, if that,’ Julie said. ‘In all that time, if you add up the hours I spent with him it’s probably no more than two weeks.’

‘And that’s supposed to make it more acceptable, is it?’

‘Look, Donna, I thought you wanted to destroy this group of men. I thought you wanted revenge on them. That’s your mission now, isn’t it?’ She made no attempt to hide the sarcasm in her voice. ‘Then concentrate on that.’

‘And forget everything else?’ She smiled thinly.

They sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity.

‘So what do we do?’ Julie asked finally.

‘We find them. All of them.’

‘And then?’

Donna looked down at the .357.

‘Kill them.’

‘I think the police might have something to say about that,’ Julie observed.

‘To hell with the police,’ Donna snapped.

‘Wasn’t there something in Chris’s notes about destroying the book?’ Julie asked.

‘“Destroy the book and you destroy them”,’ Donna muttered, as if she’d learned the words by heart. ‘And you think they’re going to let us walk in and do that without a fight?’

The two women regarded each other across the table. Julie’s eyes roved over her sister’s outfit. The two shoulder-holsters she wore looked strangely incongruous.

Beneath one arm she carried the Beretta. As Julie watched, she slid the .357 into the other holster.

‘Mrs Rambo,’ Julie said almost scornfully. ‘Do you have any idea how ridiculous you look?’

Donna eyed her malevolently.

‘People are going to die, Julie,’ she said quietly. ‘Maybe you and me, too.’ There was angry resignation in her voice. ‘But who cares?’

She got to her feet, glancing at her watch.

It was 7.46 p.m.