Life After Death - A Post-Reichenbach Trilogy

Part Three - Unfinished Business

Chapter Eight

Molly pushed William in his buggy, round the crescent where they lived, to the gateway of their building. As she turned onto the front path, she saw a woman standing by the outer door to the building, holding a mobile phone to her ear. She looked to be around the mid to late fifties in age, well groomed, dressed in stylish but conservative clothing and court shoes. She had with her a large, expensive-looking suitcase on wheels.

As Molly approached, the woman turned toward her, a flustered air about her.

'Hello,' Molly said, with a kindly smile, 'Are you OK? Can I help you?'

'Oh, my dear,' the woman replied, in a lilting Dublin accent, smiling a worried smile. 'I'm here to visit my niece, Marina Marshall. She lives in the top flat. I don't know if you know her?'

Molly gave a little shrug.

'I sort of know of her,' she replied. 'We've met occasionally but I can't say we really know one another. You know how it is in a big city. You never really get to know your neighbours, do you?'

Molly realised she was babbling and shut up.

'Ah, well, you see' the lady went on, 'I texted her from the station to let her know I was nearly here but she hasn't replied and now she's not answering her door.'

She looked perturbed.

'It's a wee bit chilly out here on the step. I don't suppose you could let me in to wait in the hall, could you?' she asked, apologetically.

Molly looked at the pleading expression on the lady's face and was moved by her plight.

'Of course!,' she said, with a smile, 'In fact, why don't you come and wait in my flat. We can have a cup of tea!'

'Oh, no, dear, I couldn't possibly impose on you so much. I'll be fine in the hall,' the lady replied.

'It's no trouble, really,' Molly insisted, as she put in the key code and pushed open the door. 'Anyway, there isn't even a chair in the hall. I can hardly leave you standing there, can I? Who knows how long your niece might be.'

'Well, that's most kind of you,' the lady replied, smiling with gratitude.

Molly led the way into the hall way and told the lady to leave her case inside the front door, as she unlocked the internal door to her flat, inviting her in. 'Your case will be safe there, I assure you,' she said.

Once inside the flat, Molly lifted William out of the buggy, removed his outer clothing and let him run into the sitting room, to switch on his favourite TV programme. She stowed the buggy in the cupboard, took the lady's coat and hung it, with hers and William's, on the coat pegs in the hall way.

'Please come in,' she said, inviting the woman to enter the sitting room ahead of her. 'I'll just put the kettle on. You have a seat.'

As Molly walked through the sitting room to the kitchen at the back of the flat, the lady followed her.

'This is a lovely flat you have here, my dear,' she commented, appreciatively.

'Oh, please call me Molly,' Molly insisted, as she began preparing the tea.

'Then you must call me Bernadette,' her guest smiled. 'And what a sweet little boy, you have, too. So quiet and well-behaved.'

'Oh, don't you be fooled,' Molly joked, 'He has his lively moments, believe me!'

'Ah, well, that's little boys for you.'

There was a wistful tone to Bernadette's voice that made Molly look at her, with sympathy. The woman went on,

'I had a wee boy, a lovely wee boy…' her voice trailed off, and Molly felt a lot of pain and sorrow in the silence that followed. 'Still,' the lady said, seeming to metaphorically shake herself, 'It doesn't do to dwell on the past, now does it? Oh, thank you, dear!' she smiled and accepted the mug of hot tea that Molly passed to her, across the kitchen table.

Molly turned to root around in the fridge for the makings of hers and William's supper, as the lady said,

'Oh, I left my hand bag in your parlour, dear. I wonder if Marina has answered my call?'

She put down her cup and walked back into the sitting room, picked up her hand bag from the arm chair and took out a chunky device that looked a little like a mobile phone but was too thick and blocky in shape. She pressed a button on the front of the device and a green LED came on. She pushed the object down the side of the seat cushion on the arm chair, then, putting her hand back into the hand bag, she took out a compact semi-automatic pistol. Turning around, Bernadette walked back into the kitchen, carrying the pistol casually at her side. She stopped at the kitchen table, picked up her mug of tea in her free hand and took a sip.

'You do make a smashing cup of tea, Miss Hooper,' she said.

Molly began to respond to the compliment and then registered the use of her formal name. She froze with alarm and then turned to look at the woman - who stood in her kitchen, pointing a gun at her chest.

'You know, Miss Hooper, you really should not be so trusting,' said Bernadette, smiling no longer.

Molly was struck dumb with shock and a rising feeling of dread.

'Now, we don't want to frighten the wee man, do we?' said the woman. 'So, you go and get together a few bits and bobs for an over-night stay and you and I are going to take little William for a ride in my van. And don't even think of trying to ring your smart boyfriend or his even smarter brother, as the phones will not be working. Oh, and don't bother looking at the surveillance cameras, either. They are also indisposed. I'll just sit with the wee boy whilst you get your things together.' Bernadette waggled the gun to direct Molly towards the corridor to the bedrooms. 'Don't take too long, my dear. We don't have all day.'

Molly walked swiftly to William's bedroom. Her thoughts and her heart were racing. She began shoving things into a sports bag, on automatic pilot, selecting items she would normally take on an over-night visit – underwear, socks, PJ's, a change of clothes and the like. She picked up William's bedtime toy, the little black and white Snoopy dog that Mycroft had bought for him when he was a new-born. He would not be able to sleep without it.

She went into the bathroom and collected his toiletries, pushing them into the side pocket of the bag. There was something about this woman who had invaded hers and William's life so abruptly, something strangely familiar, though Molly was certain she had never met the woman before.

Then she saw the magnetic alphabet letters that William loved to play with them in the bath, stuck to the side of the metal tub. Risking everything on her intuition, Molly reached down and quickly rearranged the letters into a short phrase, brushing the spare letters into the bottom of the tub, then rushed out of the room and shut the door.

Bernadette, if that really was her name, was sitting in the arm chair, smiling benignly in William's direction. The gun was still in her hand, lying by her side, not visible, but Molly knew it was there. The woman looked up and said,

'Are we ready to go, then? Lovely! Come along, William, we are going on a little adventure!'

William looked at the woman and frowned, then looked at his mother. She was smiling but he thought she did not look happy. And why were they going out when they had only just come home? William didn't like sudden changes of routine, they unsettled him. He liked to know what was coming next. But his mummy was saying Turn off the TV, and something told him that he should do what she said, straight away.

Molly dressed her son in his outdoor clothes and began to put on her own coat but suddenly looked at the other woman, who was putting on her coat, too.

'What about food? We haven't had supper,' she said.

'Don't you worry, dear, I've thought of everything,' the lady said, in a sinister parody of concern and reassurance. She indicated that Molly should lead the way out of the flat, but she took hold of William's hand, keeping him with her. As they left through the front door, they passed right by the woman's suitcase, but she didn't give it a second glance. It had served its purpose.

Down the path, they walked in single file, Molly in front. At the gateway, the woman indicated to go left and Molly saw a blue Ford Transit van parked at the curb, two houses down. The woman took out a remote key and unlocked all the doors. She told Molly to open the passenger side door and fasten William into the middle seat, between the driver and the passenger.

'There's no child seat,' Molly said, in dismay. The woman gave her a patronising look which suggested that the lack of a child car seat might be the least of William's troubles in the next few hours or days, so Molly fastened him in, using the lap strap. Then she was instructed to get in herself, so she did and the woman said,

'Hold out your hands, Miss Hooper.'

Molly held her hands out towards Bernadette, who slipped a cable tie around each of her wrists and looped one through the other, securing the wrists together.

'Just in case you take it upon yourself to make a run for it,' the woman explained.

She slammed the passenger door closed and hurried around the front of the vehicle, climbing into the driver's seat. She dropped the gun into the door pocket, started the engine and drove away, with not a soul around to witness the double abduction of Molly and William from one of the best guarded homes in London. It had been all too easy.

ooOoo