The Tied Man

‘Perfectly.’

‘Henry, call Mr O’Halloran, would you?  Get him to drive his Land Rover to the jetty, and bring the spare launch over.  I think Lilith’s Jaguar should stay in the garage for this little trip.’  Blaine knelt at my side, carefully avoiding the widening pool of blood.  ‘This – ’ she placed a perfect finger on my lips, ‘– stays shut, Finn.  I will get to hear everything, and if you so much as think my name between now and ten o’clock tonight, there’ll be two girls in Dublin who’ll think that their God has truly deserted them.’ 

She straightened up and turned to Lilith.  ‘I’m trusting you to manage things; all those years of coping with family crises have probably made this seem like an absolute breeze, but I can’t emphasise how important discretion will be.’

‘I understand.’

‘I’ll let you get on with your mission of mercy then, seeing as I have quite a list of tasks of my own, thanks to Mr Garvey and his delightful bride-to-be.’  Which was Blaine’s way of saying that dear old Roycie could kiss goodbye to his beloved career.

I should have been worried.  Should have feared for the safety of my sisters; for Henry’s barely-there mother; even for my own continued existence.  But all I could think was that I was about to travel beyond the prison walls of Albermarle, and it was all thanks to the woman I’d so recently hated with every last inch of my being.

*****

When Henry returned with clean clothes and a map, and to announce that Coyle was on his way, Lilith gave him a list of orders that she counted off on her fingers as she spoke.  He looked scared rigid – right now, Lilith terrified him about as much as Blaine did – but the little nod he gave her suggested that the message got through.

‘Am I really going to die?’ I asked, more out of curiosity than anything.

‘What?’ Lilith frowned.  It didn’t seem like too much of a complicated question to me.

‘What you said. To Blaine.  About me dying.’

‘No.’

‘You sounded pretty convincing.’

‘That was the idea.’

‘Oh.  Right.’

Lilith picked up a pair of my old jeans that Henry had cut off at the knee.  ‘This is going to hurt like buggery.  No pun intended.  You want to bite on something while we try to make you decent for the journey?’

Lilith

Coyle reversed a decrepit green Land Rover down to the jetty in a cloud of smoke and flying pebbles.  I could smell the burning engine oil, and I wondered what our chances were of actually getting off the estate, never mind making it to Castlerigg Hospital.

‘Might not be as glamorous as your motor, but I’d be grateful if you didn’t let that shit-stabbin’ piece of filth bleed to death over the seats.’ Coyle stepped out of the car.  ‘Now, are you sure this isn’t a bit too big for you to manage?’

‘Go and fuck yourself,’ I spat.

‘Nah, thanks.’ Coyle shook his head. ‘Think I’ll wait ‘til you do that for me.’  He began to drag Finn from the launch into the front passenger seat, and feigned dropping him just as he reached the door.  Finn gave a pitiful cry and Coyle laughed.  ‘Oops.  Now look what you’ve made me do.’

‘Do that again, and I’ll have you castrated.’

Coyle’s smile disappeared.  ‘Don’t be pushing it now, you stuck-up little bitch.  I reckon you’ve just used up every favour for this life and the next, getting our resident fuck-toy here off the island.  You’re getting very close to having a wee chat with me about your disobedience, and then your fancy accent and your pile of drawings won’t count for shit.’

I climbed into the driver’s seat and had to pull it as far forward as it would go before the tips of my toes touched the pedals.  I kicked a pile of faded, dog-eared porn magazines clear of the clutch before I tentatively revved the engine, and the whole car shook and rattled like an ancient tractor.

Coyle stuck his head through the open window.  ‘Curfew – ten o’clock, whether the faggot’s dead or alive.  If you’re a minute late, every last sanction on his list comes into play, and if there’s any time left I get to play with dear old Henry for a few hours.’

Chapter Eighteen

Finn

Lilith handled Coyle’s knackered old Land Rover like she’d been driving it all her life, and for the first few minutes of the journey it seemed that we would be at the hospital in no time at all. Then we joined the nearest thing to a main road for miles, and got stuck behind a caravan.