Heathen/Nemesis

Ninety-Three

Julie wanted to scream but the sight of her sister with the pistol jammed in her mouth seemed to freeze her vocal cords.

Instead she made a frantic grab for the Beretta as Donna fired.

The hammer slammed down on an empty chamber.

The metallic click reverberated inside the car as Julie tore the pistol from her grip and stood panting beside her.

Donna merely looked at the younger woman, then leaned across and pulled the passenger door shut.

Julie looked down helplessly at the gun she now held in her hand.

‘Donna, I ...’

The sentence trailed off, lost in the sound of the Fiesta’s engine as Donna started it up.

She guided the car away from the kerb, away from Julie. As she pulled away she glanced one final time in the rear-view mirror.

Julie was standing on the street corner, the empty gun clutched in her hand.

Donna drove on.

The journey became a blur of passing traffic and dark roads.

She didn’t look at the clock when she left London; she had no idea how long it would take her to reach the cottage. Donna merely drove, her mind spinning. Two or three times she had to brake sharply to avoid hitting vehicles in front of her. She considered stopping at a service station for a coffee, but then decided against it. If she stopped she’d never start again. It was as if she was being forced on by instinct alone. All she felt was a crushing weariness, a similar feeling to the one she’d felt in the days after her husband’s death. A feeling that she had become an empty shell, sucked dry of feeling, unable to think straight.

She stopped for petrol, standing on a deserted forecourt, the cold wind whistling around her. She shivered but the chill she felt came from within.

She had achieved her goal. Parsons and Dashwood were dead. Farrell was dead.

Why then did she not feel a sense of triumph?

Perhaps because she felt that she too should be dead.

All she felt was a growing feeling of desolation. Death and loss had become engrained in her life.

She had no one now.

She thought how easy it would have been to drive the car into a tree. She gripped the wheel more tightly and drove through the night.