She shook her head, revolted by his cunning. Then, with a shocking jolt of realisation, she remembered that Frank’s five-year-old daughter, Isabel, was staying with him. Dale would have no choice but to kill her as well and from what she knew of him now she knew he wouldn’t baulk at it.

He had to be stopped. She had to stall him.

‘Why would I kill Frank?’ she said hoarsely. ‘It doesn’t make sense.’

‘No, it makes perfect sense,’ said Dale, his blue eyes staring maliciously into hers. ‘You’ve been mentally unstable recently. What with this obsession with your sister. Frank told you to desist in your investigation of this Mister Snigiss. You went round Frank’s house to argue with him about it. The argument got out of hand and you lost your temper and shot him. And then you went on the run. I will, of course, provide ample supporting testimony for all of this. Meanwhile, the Molloys will have killed you and disposed of your body. Fed it to the pigs or whatever it is they do with people they don’t like. But to everyone else it’ll look like you’ve fled abroad… because I’ll have planted plenty of rumours to that effect. They’ll be looking for you for years. But of course they’ll never find you…’

He chuckled to himself, tickled by the cleverness of his own plan.

He sighed. ‘Au revoir, Bailey Morgan.’ He frowned. ‘Oh, wait a minute. That means “see you again”. I think the correct word is “adieu”. That means “goodbye forever”.’

And with that he turned on his tan loafers and exited the room, the door swinging shut behind him.

‘Bastard,’ muttered Bailey. ‘This isn’t over till it’s over.’

69

Bailey listened to his footsteps fade away down the corridor, heard another door open and close, and then all was silent save the sound of her own ragged breathing in her ears.

She reflected on her situation. It had gone from really bad to even worse. If her own death wasn’t enough, Frank’s life and that of his daughter now hung in the balance. And she was the only person who could do anything about it. But she was stuck in this room tied to this blasted chair and these cable ties just weren’t going to give way any time soon.

She tugged one more time at her bonds, but it was no good. They held her fast. The sharp edges of the plastic bit into her flesh, but that pain was nothing compared to what she knew would be facing her in the very near future.

Despair gripped her. If she didn’t manage to make it out of here, then Frank and Isabel would die. And even if she did get out of here, there was no guarantee she’d be able to get help in time to prevent something happening to them, for Dale was no doubt heading over to them right now. Her situation seemed beyond all hope.

She gritted her teeth. She would not allow herself to give up. Not yet. All the while she was alive, there still existed a glimmer of hope, however small.