‘Got it,’ I said as the knot finally came loose. I unfastened it, and she gasped with relief as she pulled her arms free.
She rubbed her shoulders. ‘It hurts.’
As she stood, she wobbled, and I rushed around the chair to catch her as she almost fell. ‘You need to take it easy.’
‘I’m okay. I just want to get out of here.’
I took a deep breath. ‘This is what we’re going to do. My car is parked out the front. We’re going to leave the pub by the back entrance, go to my car and drive to the visitors’ centre. That’s where the police are based. Together, we’re going to tell them everything we know.’
‘What about Holly?’ she asked.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Aren’t you worried about getting her into trouble? From what you’ve just told me, it sounds like she’s implicated in this whole thing. Like, didn’t she keep Charles’s secret all these years?’
‘She didn’t know he killed Jimmy. And Avril will testify, too. She knows Zack killed her mum and Samir. That Charles is a murderer.’
‘Are you sure? She’s a Grant, too. What if he promises her riches? People will do a lot for money, Patrick.’
‘They’ll do even more for love.’
The look she gave me was one of pity. ‘You’re sweet. You’re also very naive. People like that– all of them, including Lewis– care about protecting their wealth and power more than anything else in the world.’
She seemed stronger now. Less likely to collapse.
‘So what are you saying?’ I asked. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘I’m saying I want you to be sure about what you’re about to do. If we go to the police, it’s going to be me and you against them. They’ll be able to afford the best lawyers. They’ll be willing to play dirty. And we can’t rely on Brenda to testify for us either because, one, she’s a murderer, and two, she’s a crazy-ass bitch.’
‘What about Miranda?’
‘She’s a Grant, Patrick. When it comes down to it, she’ll take Charles’s side. Holly will, too.’
‘She won’t. She stopped him from shooting me.’
‘We’ll see. Maybe she didn’t want to see you dead, but if it’s you going to jail or the total destruction of Gravitas and her family’s legacy… I know which one I’d choose. Sorry, Patrick, but they’re going to pin everything on you. And, I gotta say, leaving that cop for dead on the side of the road isn’t going to play well to a jury. The police must hate you.’
I must have made a distressed noise because Jasmine said, ‘You really are sweet. You think that the truth will trump everything, don’t you? I wish I could be as optimistic as you.’
‘So what exactly are you saying?’
I had been down here about fifteen minutes. I had no idea what was going on upstairs. Why was it so quiet?
No sooner had I wondered this than I heard a shout, muffled from above. It was Brenda, shouting, ‘Get back!’
I heard Charles boom, ‘Let me talk to the girl.’
Brenda replied by screaming, ‘Get away from her!’
Jasmine looked up, then back at me. ‘What am I saying? I’m saying there’s another way.’
‘What other way?’
She smiled. She seemed so different to the sunny, friendly person I’d met when she first came here.
‘Come with me,’ she said. ‘And you’ll find out.’
46
