‘I’ve got work to do,’ Kailash answered. ‘Good luck with Dr Marshall.’ She planted a cold kiss on my forehead, giving me a taste of my own medicine. Kailash was a harsh disciplinarian–it was the quality she had built her fortune on. I should have known better than to break the golden rule–family, family, family. But, if this was my family, they were all telling me one thing–I shouldn’t judge Marshall too quickly. These girls weren’t stupid, they could read people, and he seemed to have their vote. I had my own little research group here. I could only assume that Marshall was about to be sued by a client for some sort of malpractice and, if he had fucked up someone’s face or whatever, they must be even richer than him, given the amount of money he’d offered me. This might be interesting after all.

Chapter Eleven

She knew that the body had been found by now and she assumed that the police were treating it as a serial case. Actually she could only ever make assumptions about what the police would do. All she knew for sure was that they were stupid. That they screwed up. That, even when they had a cast-iron case, they still got things wrong.

She needed to leave them in no doubt.

Ever since she had got here, she had known that this was where it would end. The years of waiting, of being used and being treated like a victim–it all stopped here. There were things that she couldn’t get out of her mind, images that wouldn’t go away, but these days she had other pictures to put in their place. When you knew what you were doing (as she undoubtedly did), there was a comfort to be found in killing. She felt that she had found her purpose in life–and God knows she had needed one for so very long.

There were those along the way who had helped her to get to this place, and they were often good people. They had no idea that they were assisting her to do what she needed to do, but they were part of it, nonetheless. However, there were others, of course there were others, who had been the real impetus. She thought about it for a moment. She had no way to describe what had been done to her. There were no words. There were no emotions. No one could understand. No one could empathize. But it had happened. It was done. Now, all she could do was make sure that the payment was exacted from the right place.