She placed her right hand under his chin and turned on her back. Her legs worked like a steamer beneath the water. Her only source of energy to get them both to safety.
The top of her head banged against the side wall of the canal.
She manoeuvred their position so they were moving alongside the wall. She dragged Dougie with her right hand and guided with her left.
She knew these locks had ladders, but God only knew where they were.
A couple more strokes and her hand hit a metal stanchion. Finally. She grabbed on but before she could pull Dougie in, she felt something against her cheek. Too slowly, she realised it was leather and then she felt the full force of the heel stamp down on her head. The pain blurred her vision for a split second before she realised what it meant. Shit, Alex was above her. She was climbing the ladder out.
Kim could not allow the woman to get away.
‘Dougie, paddle,’ she screamed, momentarily letting him go.
She twisted her body and reached upwards. Her left hand clamped around a stockinged ankle trying to make its escape.
Kim closed her fingers around it and yanked it down.
She heard Alex gasp and although she hadn’t dislodged her from the ladder completely, she was down a few rungs.
The metal edge of the ladder pressed against Kim’s cheek.
She reached out for Dougie and, managing to capture his hood, held onto the stanchion and pulled him towards her. Every muscle in her body burned.
‘Climb the ladder once I’m gone but don’t get out, understand?’
She felt him nod against her arm.
Once she was sure he was holding onto the metal, she forced herself onto the ladder. As her body rose above the surface, gallons of water drained from her clothes, almost drawing her back into the lock.
She held on tight to the railings and forced one foot to rise in front of the other. Hers was the only movement on the ladder. Shit, Alex was already out. The climb seemed to go on forever, her muscles screamed louder with every rung.
As she neared the top the torch offered some illumination but there was still no sign of Alex.
She pulled herself free of the ladder. Her legs were weakened and the water in her clothes added the weight of a person on her back.
She stumbled forward but righted herself. Now she could see that Alex was only ten, fifteen feet in front.
Kim willed her legs to move quicker. She flew over the gravel path, gaining every second.
She gave one last kick and lurched forward, slamming Alex right into the ground.
SEVENTY
Kim realised she had miscalculated when her arms encircled the fabric of Alex’s sodden trousers instead of her waist. But she had hold of something and she was not letting go.
Alex gasped and fell forward. Kim hung on tightly, gathering Alex’s limbs to her body tightly like a hard-won rugby ball.
Alex was now writhing on the ground, trying to pull herself forward and out of Kim’s grasp.
Kim felt the fabric of the trousers slipping through her arms as the stockinged feet pounded her chest. Kim was grateful the shoes had been lost.
Grabbing hold of Alex’s left ankle, Kim twisted it sharply to the right.
Alex shrieked out in pain but continued moving forward. It was useless, Kim needed something else.
‘Alex … I … have the answer … that you want.’ Kim forced the words out on the short, sharp breaths she had available.
Alex stopped fighting for a second. And that was all it took.
Kim turned Alex onto her back and scrabbled up her body. She locked her knees against Alex’s ribs.
They were on the edge of a pool of light cast by the street lamp on the bridge.
Kim could feel the movement of Alex’s chest as her lungs expanded, fighting to fill them with air. Her proximity to this woman left a worse taste in her mouth than the water.
‘Get … the hell … off me,’ Alex raged.
Kim shook her head. ‘Not a chance … you damn psycho.’
Kim ached to punch and kick the life out of this woman beneath her, but first they needed to talk.
Kim felt as though they had been staring at each other across the dance floor for weeks. She wiped a strand of wet hair from her eye.
‘I have the answer you want.’
‘What are you … talking about?’
Kim smiled. ‘I left Jessica’s house two hours ago.’
‘So?’
Kim laughed. ‘Is that it?’
‘You’ve lost me.’
‘You manipulated Ruth into murdering Allan Harris. You were behind the actions of Barry Grant. Jessica Ross came to you for help, but she was far more disturbed than the authorities knew. You know what she’s done but you couldn’t give a shit. It’s about how she felt afterwards. Isn’t it?’
Kim felt Alex stiffen beneath her.
‘Were you as disappointed in Ruth as you were in Shane?’
‘I haven’t seen Ruth since …’
‘You didn’t need to. Bryant and I told you what you needed to know. You never asked to see Ruth again.’
Alex said nothing.
‘Jessica; your latest guinea pig. The woman who left your office this morning and went home to suffocate her child.’
‘Oh my God, she …’
‘Cut the bullshit, Alex. You wanted me in this game and here I am, so don’t insult me. There’s nothing I can do about it and that is exactly what you wanted.’
Kim felt the body relax beneath her.
‘If you say so.’
‘Do you want to find out what happened?’
Alex remained still. Kim could tell that she desperately wanted to know. The woman was soaked to the skin, lying on her back on a canal towpath and she was offering no resistance. Oh, she really wanted to know.
‘Ask me the question and I’ll tell you.’
Kim could see the tension in her jaw.
‘Come on, Alex. Ask the question.’
‘How does Jessica feel?’ she asked, softly.
‘Point proven. Don’t you even want to know if the baby is dead or alive? I’ll answer that, even though you don’t give a shit. Jamie is alive, Alex. But you only want to know how Jessica feels.’
Alex’s stare burned into her.
‘Well, let me tell you. She feels as guilty as hell.’
Alex bucked against her but Kim was ready. She bore every ounce of her weight down onto Alex’s stomach and lay down low, as though riding her bike, altering her own centre of gravity. As the flailing arms attempted to hit her face, she grabbed them and held them tight.
‘All your life, you’ve lived with no conscience … no accountability. You know that a sociopath can never develop a conscience and you wanted to turn that around. You wanted the power to take conscience away. All this to try and turn a vulnerable person into a dangerous sociopath, get them to carry out despicable acts without guilt.’
Alex’s mouth had formed into a hateful line. All attempts at rebuttal were gone.
Kim continued. ‘You knew you could manipulate your test subjects into doing what you wanted, but you wanted them to do it without guilt. You were arrogant enough to think you could control human nature.’
‘Good luck in court. You have no …’
Mid-sentence, Alex bucked her body upwards and dislodged Kim’s right knee.
Kim tried to push her back down but she was wriggling every limb she had. Kim reached for Alex’s right hand but Alex had got to hers first.
Seizing her bandaged palm, Alex dug her fingers in, hard. The stars in Kim’s eyes were immediate as the pain shot as far as her head.
She tried to break her hand free, but Alex squeezed it again.
Kim felt the sickness rise up in her stomach.
Alex squeezed again and Kim fell sideways in agony.
In one swift movement, Alex was astride her and the position of power had been reversed.
‘Right, Kimmy, now it’s time to talk about you.’