In Denial (51 page)

Adam decided to leave Gabrielle’s ruined clothes where they were; they would have fitted Leila as easily as hers fitted Gabrielle. The labels might generate a bit of confusion but only for a while. What the police found might be construed as a bizarre sex game which had gone very wrong? Adam didn’t really mind what conclusions the police drew as long as it allowed him to get Gabrielle away from Hong Kong. He doubted whether the police would connect the murders in Repulse Bay to the scene in front of him.

He went over to Gabrielle and knelt down.

He took her hands in his. She did not resist.

‘
You’re in shock but we can’t waste any more time. We must get away from here. Do you understand?’ He waited but there was no response. ‘Nod if you understand.’ Gabrielle’s eyes closed but there was a slight nod of her head. ‘Good. We haven’t time to collect any of your clothes or any of your other belongings.’

Adam could have kicked himself.

Before leaving the Elliotts’ flat he should have checked to see if there was anything of Gabrielle’s and taken it with him. It’s very easy to be wise in retrospect but it was too late now.

At some stage she would have to know about the Elliotts but he had to get the timing right. ‘We’ll go to my hotel, throw a few things into a case and then go to the airport. We must look as though we’re tourists returning home after a short stay.’ He saw the glazed look in Gabrielle’s eyes and decided he was wasting his time. ‘Come on,’ he said, helping her out of the chair.

Adam didn’t bother to look at his brother again but he did stop momentarily to look at Leila.

‘
I’m so sorry,’ he told her again, bowing his head, ‘but thank you.’

*  *  *

Eight hours later Adam and Gabrielle were thirty-eight thousand feet above the South China Sea aboard a scheduled British Airways flight bound for Heathrow. They had managed to book their seats, check in their single case and pass through passport control without incident. It was easier to leave a country than to get into it.

Gabrielle remained silent throughout, dutifully standing at Adam’s side as he did what was necessary. She also allowed him to take her hand as they walked across concourses and up and down escalators. He had held her hand for two reasons: primarily because he was as worried about her as he was about their circumstances but also because he wanted them to look like a couple. If they’d been trying to enter Hong Kong rather than leaving it, he was sure they’d have attracted more attention. He had talked to her but received nothing more than a look, a faint nod or shake of her head in reply. He didn’t know whether he should try to get her to talk about her ordeal, and maybe in so doing find out a few other pieces to the puzzle that had overwhelmed him since he’d arrived in Hong Kong.

He decided, though, that silence other than the odd word of encouragement was the best course to follow for the time-being.

But Adam was wrong to assume everything had gone smoothly.

It had not.

The all-seeing under-manager who had been on duty when Adam first booked in to the Peninsula was on duty again when he returned with Gabrielle to retrieve his passport, return ticket and suitcase.

Although the under-manager did not serve Adam on this occasion, he remembered seeing Adam and the stunningly attractive Chinese girl coming and going within the hotel on any number of occasions, but especially during the typhoon. Seeing an equally attractive blonde European woman with Mr Harrison rather than the Chinese woman he’d seen him with the previous day brought a frown to the under-manager’s brow. The frown deepened when he looked more closely and thought it rather strange that the European woman was wearing, he believed, exactly the same clothes her Chinese counterpart had worn the day before.

Most peculiar
, he thought.

He also thought the woman was acting quite strangely, almost as though she was in a trance, drugged maybe. He logged the observations away and turned to see to a customer although he was still able to watch the attractive blonde walk across the foyer towards the lifts.

Adam was aware of the risk in returning to the hotel but had little choice. Even if he knew they’d been seen by that particular under-manager he would not have been overly worried; they were now well away from Hong Kong and heading for the security of the United Kingdom.

Some weeks later when questioned by the police, the under-manager would remember every detail of what he had seen that evening and, as with so many witnesses, he would even remember things he had not seen.

*  *  *

Gabrielle was sitting in the window seat, her head slightly tilted as she gazed out into the clear blue sky. Her constantly moving hands were in her lap, the fingers intertwined, her agitation obvious. She was reliving the horror of what had happened to her. She had counselled a rape victim in her parish, but at the time had felt inadequate because of her relative lack of sexual experience, her imagination stopping short of what it was like to be violated in such a way. But now she didn’t have to use her imagination. It had happened to her. It had happened to her because she’d been stupid: she had assumed too much and allowed her own self-confidence to be her worst enemy. She could see his face, inches from hers as he raped her.

She relived the pain.

She heard her screams.

She saw his smile, his even white teeth, the look of power in his eyes. She could feel him inside her; she could feel the bones in her hands, still tied behind her back, almost breaking as his full body weight fell on top of her when he had finished.

She remembered the relief she felt when he did finish.

She had not struggled because there was nothing she could do about it. Her whole body had been violated and she still wished she could die.

Gabrielle shuddered and the tears came back to her eyes; they ran down her cheeks as the horror of what she’d experienced whirled around in her mind. Over and over and over again.

She felt Adam’s hand cover hers. She tried to pull her hand away but he held on. She could not look at him. She didn’t want to look at anybody ever again.

She still wanted to die.

‘
I can’t provide you with any explanations,’ she heard Adam say quietly. ‘I don’t know the answers to any of my own questions let alone yours. But you’re safe now,’ he continued, ‘I can only guess what you’ve been through and how you must feel, but you’re safe now.’

Gabrielle felt his hand squeeze hers.

He couldn’t even guess how she felt.

No man could.

But she did want to turn to him and bury her face against his shoulder. She wanted to … but he wouldn’t want her now. He had seen her and he had seen what had happened to her. He was being kind to her because he felt responsible for her, but once they were back in England he wouldn’t want to know. Nobody would want to know. The man who did this to her was dead. There would be nothing anybody could do. Nobody could give her back what Patrick Yong had taken away.

‘
Close your eyes and try to get some sleep,’ Adam told her. ‘There’s a long way to go and the talking can be done later.’

She tried to close her eyes.

But each time she did, the images came at her from every corner of her mind. She wanted to scream but all she could do was sink deeper and deeper into the abyss that was engulfing her.

It was well over an hour before Adam spoke again.

Sleep had been impossible.

He had watched the cabin crew doing their jobs. He had looked at the other passengers near him: some were reading, some were watching an in-flight movie, others were trying to sleep and one or two were succeeding. There were not many spare seats so he guessed there were three hundred passengers on the aircraft and if questioned none would have a story that came anywhere near his or Gabrielle’s. Nobody would believe them. He saw the Elliotts lying in pools of blood, the gashes across their throats; he saw Lucinda and the children. He saw Leila falling, he heard the crack of the pistol and felt his brother go limp beneath him; he saw Gabrielle lying on the carpet, her body shaking uncontrollably with the shock of what Patrick had done to her. Four people dead, one raped - why? Why did they need to die? Why did his brother need to torture and rape Gabrielle? It can’t have been because he had simply wanted revenge.

When Adam had gone to Loch Lomond to escape the horror brought about by the loss of his family, when he had been persuaded to have a future - no matter how short - and when he'd decided to go to Hong Kong, he'd had no idea these perfectly feasible actions would bring so much misery to so many people.

Gabrielle stirred next to him.

She had been making little whimpering noises, and at one stage Adam thought she was going to scream but he stroked her hair and it seemed to calm her a little. One of the cabin crew started to take a particular interest in them and each time she patrolled the aisle she looked at Adam and then at Gabrielle, her face showing her genuine concern. Adam had accepted the drinks and a light meal but Gabrielle did not have anything, not even a sip of water. She hadn’t drunk or eaten anything since Adam found her in the warehouse.

Why had she been in Hong Kong?

As he held her hand, trying to find answers, his thoughts went once again to Loch Lomond. He’d been grateful at the time for the reprieve from a watery death, but on reflection, if Doris McIlvoy and Gabrielle Brooks had not played the good Samaritans, none of this would have happened. The Elliotts would still be alive, as would Patrick and Leila. If he’d been left alone he would not have known of Gabrielle’s existence and she would only have found out about him when it was too late. But she had been full of confidence, vitality and the need to stop him, a complete stranger, from doing what she was sure he was intent on doing. She had succeeded. And then they had parted as friends. He had thought about her, of course he had. She had talked him out of taking his own life, added to which, he admitted, there was the physical attraction. But as far as Adam was concerned when he had driven away from Luss he had also driven out of Gabrielle Brook’s life.

So why had she followed him all the way to Hong Kong?

She would have the answer to that question when she was ready. He was surprised when she didn’t want to get out of Leila’s clothes as soon as possible after leaving the warehouse, but although he offered at the airport to buy her whatever she needed, she did no more than shake her head slightly, her eyes telling him he was wasting his time.

‘
Sir?’

Adam opened his eyes and looked at the source of the voice. The concerned stewardess was there again and this time she was leaning over the unoccupied aisle seat next to Adam and looking more closely at Gabrielle. ‘Sir?’ she asked again, ’is the lady with you feeling unwell?’

Adam did his best to smile. ‘No, no, she’s just very tired.’

‘
I’m afraid she’s disturbing the passengers behind you.’

‘
How? She’s simply trying to get some sleep.’

The stewardess’s voice dropped a little. ‘It’s the noises she’s making ... the people behind you think there may be something wrong.’

‘
No, there’s nothing wrong. She always makes those noises when she’s asleep.’

‘
I see, sir,’ the stewardess said, not very convincingly. She was probably slightly younger than Gabrielle. Her blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail and she wore very little make-up. Her light-blue eyes made her look distinctly Scandinavian.

‘
I’m … I’m sorry,’ Gabrielle suddenly said, her voice hoarse, her head resting against Adam’s shoulder. ‘I ... I must have been having a bad dream.’

The stewardess smiled. ‘I understand, madam. Would you like a drink?’

‘
Yes, yes, I would. Could I have a glass of orange, please?’

‘
Of course.’ The stewardess looked at Adam, narrowing her eyes before moving further down the aisle.

Gabrielle looked at Adam, her face almost expressionless. ‘I need the toilet,’ she told him, her eyes filling with tears.

‘
I’ll call for someone to go with you.’

‘
I ... I can manage.’

Adam was more worried about what she would do when she got to the toilet. He was determined not to leave her on her own. ‘You’re very weak and you haven’t eaten anything for hours, please -’

‘
No, Adam.’ She took a deep breath before standing up. ‘I can manage.’

He moved into the aisle. ‘All right, but if …’ His voice trailed away as she walked unsteadily towards the back of the aircraft. He wished he’d been able to upgrade their tickets, but at that late hour they had to take the seats they were offered.

The stewardess arrived back seconds later with Gabrielle’s drink. ‘Oh, where is she?’

‘
She’s gone to the toilet. Please, would you be so kind as to go and see that she’s all right?’

‘
Of course I will.’