Birthdays for the dead

Alice stood in the middle of the room, clutching that section of pipe as if she was up to bat. HEY, UGLY!

The Rat Catcher turned, eyes narrow and dark. She opened her mouth and screamed through brown teeth, spit flying in the dim light.

Kill them all!

The pipe ripped through the air, battered into the side of her head. Hair and scraps of skin flew out in a spray of blood.

Her hands went slack around my throat, then she lurched sideways a couple of steps, then crashed to the floor like a fallen tree. Twitched a few times, then lay still, stretched full length, her eyes open, blood trickling out of her nose and mouth.

Alice dropped the pipe. It rang and clanged against the concrete, echoing through the little room. Is she? I didn t mean to It I didn t have any choice

I limped across the cluttered floor to Frank McKenzie. Held out my hand. Give me the gun.

He didn t even look at me. It s not Lisa s fault. It was Andrea It was always Andrea.

Give me the gun.

He held it up and stared into the barrel. Then pressed it against his temple. Closed his eyes. Hissed a breath out between his teeth, sending a shower of spittle down the front of his bloodstained shirt. Trembling. Crying.

I reached down and took the gun out of his hand.

Chapter 49

Frank McKenzie cradled his sister s battered head in his lap, stroking her blood-soaked hair. Shh It s all OK, it ll all be OK.

I slumped back against the sink. The gun felt like an anvil in my hand, pulling my arm out of its socket.

Alice shifted from foot to foot, both arms wrapped around herself.

I m sorry, I m so sorry

The gun weighed less in my pocket, but not much. You didn t take Katie?

He shook his head. We only ever took Andrea. All the girls were Andrea. A sniff, then he wiped a hand across his eyes, leaving a smear of dark red. She left us. She ran away and left Lisa and me alone with him. I was five

Ash, I didn t mean to kill her, I just wanted her to let you go.

I know. I held my arms open and Alice shuffled forwards into them, rested her head against my shoulder and cried.

She was our big sister, she was supposed to protect us. He leaned forwards and kissed the Rat Catcher s forehead. He hit Lisa so hard She was never the same; something came loose inside her head. She just wanted someone to love her.

You killed my daughter. Her name was Rebecca. She was only twelve.

A nod. Thirteen years ago Andrea turns up in Oldcastle again. She s pregnant. She s got herself a husband and a new house in Shortstaine; only she s not Andrea McKenzie any more, she s Andrea Taylor. And Andrea Taylor s seen Father s obituary in the paper McKenzie laughed. All those years and she comes back to tell us Mother has to go in a home: we have to sell the house so she can get her share. Said the old bastard owed her for everything he did. Owed her? What about us?

Alice gave a long shuddering breath then stepped back, scrubbed a sleeve across her face. Brought her chin up. So you decided to get your own back make her suffer for abandoning you, make her life as bad as yours. You started abducting her Alice fiddled with her hair. Amber O Neil looked like her, didn t she? Enough to make it feel right: you turned her into Andrea and punished her for abandoning you. And it felt so good you went out and did it again, only Hannah Kelly didn t have Andrea s hair, so you dyed it for her. Made her fit the mould. Then you did it again, and again, turning them into Andrea so you could shave their heads and burn them and carve lines into their skin, so you could torture and mutilate and

I didn t. He kept his eyes on the floor.

I just took the photographs. Lisa did everything. She you saw what she s like: she made me.

And then you used the birthday cards to punish the parents. You made them wait and worry for a whole year what did they do wrong, why did their little girl run away and then you rubbed their noses in it: look what happened to your daughter! You turned the girls into Andrea as she was back then, when she abandoned you. Then you turned their parents into Andrea as she is now, torturing her with the birthday cards. Two for one. Practising. Building up the fantasy. Waiting until Megan was old enough to do it all for real.

I stared at him: sitting on the floor, holding onto his dead sister. Is that it, McKenzie? Is that all Rebecca was to you, a dress rehearsal?

He shook his head. It wasn t like that, it A little shrug. I don t know.

Alice turned her back on him. Henry was right: it was all about Megan Taylor. Thirteen girls killed on their thirteenth birthday. She nudged a fallen bottle of bleach with her toe.

Oh, I m not saying they would ve just given up the thrill of torturing Megan and Andrea would have worn off eventually and they d just keep on going, more girls, year after year.

I let my head thunk back against the wall. They didn t take Katie.

No.

But I saw the card: Katie tied to a chair in the Birthday Boy s room

I ground the heel of my hand into my eyes. Then where is she?