She swung the rifle towards Zack.
Pulled the trigger.
Part Three
38
Zack didn’t die.
The bullet struck his shoulder, sending him spinning and crashing to the ground. Miranda cried out and immediately got out of the car, dashing around it to check on her husband, who lay on his back, clutching the point where he’d been shot, blood seeping through his fingers and splashing on to the snow.
Avril took a couple of steps back, the butt of the rifle against her shoulder. She kept it trained on Zack.
‘The next bullet kills him,’ she said. ‘I want him to confess. To say the words before I finish him.’
Crouching beside Zack, Miranda pointed at me. ‘But it was him. He killed Morag.’
‘No. I know it wasn’t Patrick.’
‘How?’
‘Because Patrick is so obviously not a killer. He’s not one of you. You haven’t had time to fuck him up yet. To make him toxic.’
She nodded towards Zack, who was groaning with pain.
‘But mostly I know it because she was terrified ofhim. Said we couldn’t cross him. That he was dangerous.’ Avril was almost panting now. ‘She said if he got the chance, if he thought he could get away with it, he would kill her.’
Holly got out of the car, too, her hands in the air. Avril ignored her.
‘But why?’ Miranda asked. ‘Why would he want to kill Morag?’
‘You know the answer to that,’ I said. ‘Because she saw Samir.’
Avril was quiet for a moment, the rifle aimed at Zack’s chest, her own chest rising and falling. ‘Actually, you’re wrong.’
‘But—’
‘Shedidn’t see them. I did. At the manor house. I was there last January when Zack brought the boy there.’
So it had been Zack who’d come here with Samir. Lying on his back, Zack shook his head, still trying to deny it.
‘I fucking saw you. I go there sometimes when I need to get away, to think. I saw you through the window. With Samir. When I told Mum what I’d seen, after he was found dead, she said we needed to keep quiet. That if we told anyone, he would stop paying us.’
I had been right.
‘Don’t do this,’ I said, keeping my voice as steady as I could. ‘Your mum wouldn’t want you to go to prison, Avril. I know you’ve had the worst day imaginable. You lost both your parents.’
‘You think I care about Lewis?’ She spat his name. ‘He did nothing for me. He didn’t give a shit about me.’
‘But there are people here who did care about him. And who care about Jasmine, too. She’s still missing. I think Zack must know where she is.’
‘I don’t,’ he said, the first time he’d spoken since he’d been shot.
‘Why don’t we get him inside?’ I said. ‘We don’t want him to bleed to death out here…’
‘Maybe I do!’
‘Avril, if we get him inside we can stem the bleeding andyou can get him to talk. Tell us why he brought Samir to Applecross and why he killed your mum. If he knows where Jasmine is, he can tell us that, too.’
