‘Hmm.’ She shifted on the couch. ‘Ned came to see you that night and something happened. He told you what he was planning, or where he was going, or you did something to him.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about. He never showed up.’

‘You do. Ned would never have stood you up. All he’d wanted to do since he got back from your holiday was see you. It was all he talked about. So he showed up, all right, and something happened. I want you to tell me what it was.’ Her voice rose to a plaintive wail. ‘I’m his mum, for Christ’s sake! I deserve to know what happened to my son. He’s my only child, Alice! Have some pity, please.’

Alice stepped forward and leaned towards her, her hands buried in the deep pockets of her winter cardigan.

Have some pity? Alice had no pity.

‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘I do know what happened.’

She stared at the old woman, letting all of her true self be revealed. There was no smile on her face, no light in her eyes, nothing human about her at all.

She knew the effect her stare had on people.

Ned’s mum recoiled, her face creased in fear.

‘You’re not – you’re not Alice,’ she whispered.

‘No.’

‘Oh God,’ she said. ‘Who – what – are you?’

‘You want to know what happened to your son?’

The woman nodded, her eyes wide.

‘I smashed his head in with a hammer.’

Her hand shot out and she grabbed Ned’s mum’s neck. The woman whimpered.

‘But that’s not what I’ve got in mind for you, you old bitch.’ She clamped her hand over her mouth and nose. ‘I’ve got something much more creative in store for you.’

Ned’s mum’s hands started to flap as the oxygen ran out.

‘You should have stayed home, old woman,’ Alice said. ‘You should have stayed the fuck away from me.’

Sunday, 29 August 2021

Alice

Tom had been hard to move, but she needed him in the boat before he woke up. Breathing heavily, she studied him, his head against the gunwale, his limbs loose. Joanna – that useless, wailing little animal – was asleep, for once, upstairs.

She opened her day pack and took out the things she’d need. He’d come around any moment, if she’d got the dose right, and then she could finish this for good.

A group of ducks circled on the lake. The water was dark and deep and cold. Bad things could happen here. Secrets could be hidden.

They could remain hidden.

Alice – the original Alice – was proof of that.

His hand twitched. She watched, waiting for any more signs that he was waking up.

His hand moved again, and then his eyes flickered open. They were unfocused and glazed, but gradually he came around. He groaned, and tried to sit up, but his muscles wouldn’t cooperate.