I feel sick when I hear what he’s done to Patrick Walsh.
‘And, of course, your story will wreck the reputation of your hospital,’ he continues. ‘They owned the annexe where Pretty Lanes was operating; why weren’t they running checks on them? You’ll never be able to work in that hospital again if you peddle your story. In fact, you’ll never be able to work as a doctor anywhere. No one will hire you after that. So, do you want a future as a shop girl, Eva? Or as Danny Greene’s daughter? You don’t have to like me. Whose side are you on anyway? I can’t make that decision for you.’
He cocks an ear, as if listening. ‘Oh hello, it looks like we’ve got another visitor. I bet I can guess who that is.’
A car door slams. Hurried footsteps crunch through the gravel. There’s a furious hammering on the front door. More running on gravel before a shadowy figure dashes through the open security gate and onto the lawn.
Danny bursts out laughing and rolls his eyes at me. ‘I thought so. It’s Miriam to the rescue.’
My desperate sister runs up to the table. ‘Eva! What are you doing here? We’ve got to go!’
She grabs my arm and I allow myself to be dragged out of my chair.
Danny grabs my other arm, and for a brief moment I’m tugged between the two of them.
Miriam flies at him, pushing him backwards while screeching repeatedly, ‘Get off her! Get off her!’
For a few seconds he looks stunned before his face glazes over with hate. He swings back his arm and punches Miriam hard in the face. I feel the brutal impact of that blow all over my body. When Miriam hurts, I hurt. She drops to the ground. In seconds I’m on my knees beside her. I check her pulse. She’s unconscious.
I look up. Danny is standing over the both of us, his daughters. His cocksure glow is gone. He looks frozen. He looks down at his own flesh and blood with a cold, hard glare in his big blue eyes.
He speaks in a faraway voice. ‘The last time we were in this position it was me standing over you with a crowbar.’ I tremble at what he’s admitting. ‘I did think about contracting some low life to get into Sugar’s room but, hey, I’m a retired man, I’ve got the time. There I was, standing over my own bastard daughter. Do I smash her face in? Don’t I smash her face in?’ He inhales deeply. ‘You could have chosen my side, instead you prefer to be just another dime-a-dozen Miriam.’
I’m really scared now because I see something else in Danny, something so terrible. This is a man who enjoys violence, the inflicting of it, the gruesome damage it leaves. ‘You helped get rid of the women’s bodies at Pretty Lanes,’ I blast at him. ‘It wouldn’t have been enough for you to pass the women on, you would have wanted to see your handy work to the end. And the control freak in you would have needed to make sure they were dead.’
I scramble back on my knees. ‘You were going to do that to me too, a little baby, snuff out my life.’
I don’t see it coming. One-two. Danny yanks me off my feet and covers my mouth with a hand. I try and try to fight him, legs kicking out, grunting behind my trapped lips. He lets me keep going and going until I get slower and slower. And stop.
Danny whispers in a metallic tone. ‘Miriam will be all right. But I’ve got a funny feeling she’s going to end up dead in a squat with a needle hanging out of her arm. When the police arrive to tell me, we’ll agree the only surprise is that it didn’t happen before. You on the other hand, are going for a tragic late evening swim in the River Thames. That might be harder to explain but I’m Danny Greene. I’ll think of something.’
I have my answer as my father carries me towards the deep dark water of the river.
CHAPTER 46
Gripping my hair, Danny plunges me into the icy water. My body goes into shock, my world suddenly a runny inky black. My ears and mouth fill with bubbling water. I’m thrashing, but Danny holds me down. Shadows and the lights of the house shift across my watery vision. My silent screams only suck in more fluid. My throat is raw, choking. I’m drowning.
Danny drags me up by my hair. My head breaks the surface. I sound like one of my asthma patients, wheezing, fighting for oxygen. My flailing arms slash at the water. Danny doesn’t stop pulling until we’re face to face as he crouches on the bank. His features are wiped of emotion except for those eyes. Frosty-cold blue, laced with a determination to kill.
‘You know, Eva, I thought killing someone with my hands would be a much more interesting experience than injecting women with heroin. It’s actually pretty squalid really if we’re being honest about it.’