The Boleyn Effect (The Boorman Ending) (28 page)

'I'm pregnant!'

He stops. Frozen to the
spot. Slowly, he turns my way and I have subconsciously taken a
step back. Maybe this isn't such a good idea.

'Say that
again.'

'I'm pregnant,' I
repeat.

'Get in the car,' he
commands.

'I...'

Grabbing my arm, he forces
me into the car and climbs in himself. Screeching out of the
street, he drives a few miles until we reach a Tesco's Express and
then he halts the car.

'Stay the fuck there,' he
snaps and then disappears.

I watch his movements
inside the store and I am now scrambling around my head of how I
can get this to work to my advantage. Moments later he returns and
throws a paper bag on my lap. Dread fills my stomach as I see the
Clearblue logo through the paper. This is not what I expected to
happen. In desperate attempt to keep hold of him I've just dug
myself an even deeper hole. He starts the car and reverses
out.

'What's this?' I
ask.

'I've been lied to before.
I'm not taking any chances.'

Soon we are back and I am
dragged out of the car into the flat. Slamming the door shut, I
finally shake myself from the shock. I need to worm my way out of
this.

'Do we really need to do
this now? I think it works better in the morning anyway. Let's
sleep on it.'

Harry rips open the
package and looks at the instructions and then throws one of the
wands at me.

'Day or night it's not
going to make a difference if you're pregnant. Now go and
pee.'

'Why would I lie to you
about something like this?' I try and reason.

‘
You told me
you were on the Pill and with what I’ve just seen I’m not really
sure right now what to believe.’

My arm is forcibly grabbed
as he drags me into the bathroom and pushes me to the
toilet.

'If you are then I will
apologise and we'll work this out, but if you're not you're going
wish you were.'

'Fine, but I can't go with
you here.'

'I'm staying.'

There is no way out of
this. Even if I admitted my lie, he would still make me go through
the humiliation of peeing on the wand and watching it say not
pregnant. Maybe George is right. I am just a child. An immature
woman who thinks she's more than she is. Pulling down my pants I
prepare to urinate and reveal my lie.

CHAPTER
THIRTY SIX

The sound of my front door
closing makes us both look up at each other.

'Stay there,' he
demands.

As soon as the door closes
I look around the bathroom desperate to find a way to manipulate
the result when I hear raised voices from beyond the bathroom door.
One of them is Katherine and the other is Gaskill.

I thought he was in Greece
with George?

Shit this can't be
happening now. Putting the used wand on the toilet, I reach for the
door and a gunshot echoes through the flat. I fall back against the
window in fright. Who the fuck has just shot who? And who on earth
carries a gun?

Katherine must have got
tired of waiting for Harry and when he didn't arrive she's decided
to kill us both. I’m next. She must be really desperate to keep
him. I reach into my pocket and with relief find my phone. The one
and only time I didn't put it in my bag. Dialling 999 I wait. But
I'm also praying someone will have heard it and be calling help. A
gunshot is not the most common sound in this part of the town. Then
there's another voice that makes me gag and it causes me to shove
my phone still connected into my pocket.

'Where is she? You
promised that we'd keep her out of this,' George yells.

'How can we keep her out
of it? Who else is going to make sure we get away with the money,'
Gaskill snaps.

'I've changed my mind.
I'll take her care of her. We'll leave together.' George pleads.
'We could say it's suicide.'

'You were the one who came
to us and told us to set her up. In your own words "if I can't have
her then let's make sure no-one else does" You're pathetic boy,'
Gaskill snaps.

'Put the gun in his hands,
not hers,' George begs.

I can hear tears in his
voice, but at that moment I don't care, because it sounds like I'm
about to be set up.

'Just shut the fuck up boy
and check the bathroom. We need to finish this,' I hear Katherine
snap.

I run for the door, but
I'm not fast enough as George swings it open. He looks at me with a
ghastly pale face and I manage to look past him to see Harry's
still leg on my floor. Katherine pushes past George and drags me
out.

'What the fuck have you
done? Is he dead?' I sob.

'He will be. Are you going
to tell her or am I?' Katherine asks George.

'Tell me what?'

George leads me to a chair
where I can sit down. Looking carefully Harry's is breathing but
only just and blood is already staining my floor.

'I'm really sorry Leigh,
it wasn't supposed to end like this. He wasn't supposed to leave
just yet and when he did...well we expected you to take the money
and run.'

'But your stubbornness has
presented another opportunity,' Gaskill finishes.

'I'm not sure I
understand,' I whisper.

Katherine gets to her feet
and nudges Harry's still body with her foot. The look of hatred is
clear on her face.

'I have sat back and
watched while this bastard screwed everything he can, trapped in a
marriage with a man I could barely pretend to like. I should have
listened back then to my father. He knew better. It was his way of
punishing me if we did not renew our vows after twenty years then
not only would all the money disappear but all the businesses would
be sold off. The only fucking hope I had was that if we had
children then that money would be mine through them, but this
arse-hole couldn't even get that right.

All you had to
do was keep fucking him as a mistress until I renewed my vows and
then I'd divorce him on the grounds of adultery and I'd get
everything. But you fucking got greedy and
fell inlove.
'

I turn towards George and
fury fills me as I hurl myself at him.

'You played me arsehole.
You said it was about Anne Boleyn and your dissertation. You were
supposed to be my friend and you played me,' I scream.

'You could have said no,'
Gaskill grabs me away from his son. 'But your ego got in the way.
And you boy,' he turns towards his son. 'Anne Boleyn? Really? When
are you going to learn that times are a little different
nowadays.'

'I did what you asked,' I
say to George. 'You told me that I had to get him to fall inlove
with me and I did that.'

'That's not what we
agreed,' Katherine snaps at George.

'How else was I going to
get her to do it in the first place? I needed to cover it all up
with something innocent. Make it into a game. I didn't believe
she'd do it.'

'Well clearly she did,'
Katherine sneers. 'Now all that's left for me to do is to collect
my inheritance as a widow. Now hurry up and give her the gun. We've
not got time.'

'And how are you going to
spend it while you're in prison,' I manage to say.

My whole body is shaking
and I can't help but keep looking at Harry dying on my floor.
George comes towards me and it's then I see that they are all
wearing black leather gloves and my head starts to spin. I try and
move away, but George grabs me and pushes the gun into my
hands.

Katherine laughs at my
comment and its sound sends icy chills down my spine. Sirens are
starting to echo through the air and now nerves are starting to set
in within everybody in the room. But I have to show no fear. No
matter what they do to me I mustn't let them have my
fear.

'Miss Boorman, do you
really think that I'd have not thought about that. Listen and
you'll hear your future.'

'I did tell you I can make
things happen,' Gaskill laughs.

'Oh yes while you were
trying to get me to sleep with you,' I throw back.

If I keep them talking
then I can buy myself more time. I don't want to be left alone with
Harry's body while I'm holding the gun. What card would they play?
The jealous lover? But my comment towards Gaskill seems to have
changed the dynamics as George stiffens, but its Katherine's
reaction that interests me more.

'You did what?' she
hisses.

Gaskill goes to her side
and they huddle together.

'Of course she's lying.
I'm not like him. I'd never do that to you.'

I can't believe it.
Gaskill and Katherine together. So Harry's not the only one capable
of an affair and why on earth is George happy that it's going on.
Then it sinks in. It's all about money. This whole thing is about
her money. She has promised them a cut of what she has if they help
her get her hands on her fortune. But then why would they need it?
Gaskill wants her for himself. That I get, but George?

'I can't believe you hit
on her. You've always lectured me about what a whore she is,'
George shouts going towards his father.

'How many more times do I
have to tell you she's liar,' Gaskill says.

'Why don't you tell him
about his mother? Who you screwed over,' I throw in for good
measure. 'Did you help him do it Katherine?' I ask. 'Did it bite to
know that that woman was your husband's first love?'

Katherine swipes at my
face, but George stops her, causing Gaskill to stand in. George
turns towards me, his face wet with tears.

'It's because of that
bastard there that my mother is dead,' he says.

'No it isn't...' I start
to protest.

George pushes a finger
onto my mouth to silence me. He's wrecked. Drunk and
emotional.

'He turned his back on her
when she needed him. All she wanted was for him to forgive her, but
he couldn't do it. She loved him so much, she even gave me his
name. Could you imagine me a Harry?'

His birth name was Harry.
Jesus Christ no wonder Katherine is pissed at her. Claudette must
have been a desperate woman, but she still screwed
around.

'George, she was pregnant
with another man's baby. Would you have done that for
me?'

He looks at me and then
kisses my lips with wet kisses that make me gag.

'I'd have given you
everything. But then you seem to prefer a man like that,' he sneers
nodding towards where Harry lays. ‘Just like my mother
did.’

'Whereas you seem to side
with a man who took a baby away from its mother and was the real
reason why she killed herself,' I say.

'You're wrong. She
committed suicide, because of Harry and then my father took
custody.'

I falter a little, because
I can't be sure which is the truth, but Gaskill is more
untrustworthy and if he needed Harry out of the way then what a way
to use your son to do it. I glance up at where Gaskill is staring
at me with face white with anger.

'George, you’ve got to
listen to me.’

My face rings from the
slap as I fall onto the floor. Gaskill hovers over me for just a
moment, before George launches himself at his father.

Now it's like I'm not
there as father and son wrestle. Katherine stands between them and
pushes them apart. During the scuffle, I am being ignored as I get
to my feet. I slowly move towards Harry and make sure he's still
breathing. He is. Barely, but still alive. But something like a
light bulb moment occurs as I look down at what George has given me
that's now on the floor where it was dropped.

I have never in my life
used a gun. I've never needed to but this could be about survival.
I need to just scare them enough that I can get away and get help
for Harry. The sound of sirens seems to have disappeared. They were
not for us. But surely help will be coming soon.

The door slams shut as
Gaskill storms out of my flat telling them to be in the car in
five, and to finish it, leaving Katherine and George. They both
turn my way and pale as they realise I am now aiming at them.
George steps towards me and holds out his hand to me.

'Leigh, come on hand it
over.'

'No,' I say.

I know the gun is shaking
in my grasp, but I am not letting it go.

'Look, if you're saying my
father lied then it's probably true. But you have always had my
back when it comes to him. You and I are solid. You're my best
friend and I love you. This is what we'll do I'll take care of you,
make everything better. We'll take my share of the money and run
off together. Just like the old days. We can still get married.
Have children.'

He's on his knees crying
at my feet. Begging me. Katherine is watching me carefully while
she edges towards the door. I know what she's up to. If she leaves
then both George and I will be blamed for this whole thing.
Especially since that damn contract is still on my counter.
Incriminating evidence which will bring us both down together.
Still with the gun cocked I give her a slight shake of my head and
force her to move away from the door.