‘And when they got you?’
‘As I remember,’ he began to count off on his fingers, ‘Two broken ribs, concussion, a cracked cheek bone and eye socket, and a kickin’ to my kidneys that had me pissing blood for the best part of a month.’
‘Is that all?’
‘There’d have been more, but about an hour into the party the desk sergeant got a call from Blaine saying it had all been a dreadful mistake, so they hosed me down, said sorry and drove me home.’ Finn flicked his cigarette butt into the stream where it sank with a quiet hiss. ‘So as you so beautifully put it, I use the chemical method these days.’
‘Do you mind me asking what?’
Finn grinned. ‘I’m surprised you can’t guess,’ he challenged.
‘Do you want me to guess?’
He chewed at his lip for a moment. ‘Ah, why not.’
‘Right then. You’ve already said you were a smackhead, but I can’t imagine for a moment that Blaine would tolerate that. From the state of your eyes that night in the chamber of horrors I’d say there was some transference onto some heavy-duty tranquilliser and you’re not comatose all the time, which suggests something conveniently short-term.’
Finn gave me a respectful nod. ‘So, your guess, Ms Bresson?’
‘Temazepam.’
He threw back his head and laughed. ‘Fuckin’ hell, you’re good, woman.’
I smiled. ‘I know.’
‘You seem pretty clued-up – ‘transference’ and all that lingo.’
‘My mother’s bedside drawer used to look like a pharmacist’s warehouse. Everything from lithium to beta blockers, either taken in one handful or spat across the room as the work of the devil, depending on which day of the week it was. Temazepam was one of her particular favourites. Nasty stuff – even the withdrawal can kill you.’
‘You’re tellin’ me. It was just meant to take the edge off my smack-rattle, at first.’ Finn picked away at a fragment of peeling leather on his reins. ‘But take enough of the fuckers and nothing else seems to matter, y’know? Problem is, before you know it you can’t stop even if you want to. Mind you, Blaine’s happy enough ‘cos it keeps me docile. It’s also a little easier to get hold of legally than heroin in darkest Northumbria.’
‘Ah. I was wondering about that.’
‘Lady Albermarle’s tame doctor,’ Finn explained as we left the stream and took up the tree-lined track that would lead us back to the stables. ‘Ingrid Parnell. She faced being struck off for fiddling prescriptions a couple of years ago. Blaine pulled one of her strings to keep it out of the courts, so now she owns her soul.’ He thumbed the crook of his arm. ‘And the stupid cow takes blood samples like a fucking butcher.’
Finn
It felt odd, divulging this miniscule corner of the unsaid to the woman I had just so nearly killed.
Odd, not bad. But dangerous.
The adage that knowledge was power was never truer than with Blaine Albermarle. Every aspect of a person’s life had a fixed value, became a thing to be traded and used at her whim. Experience had taught me that you kept such details close, yet in a fortnight Lilith had figured out more about me than anyone had ever cared to know, and I could only hope that she would hold it gently.
The sudden roar of a car engine at full throttle made us both start. I looked over my shoulder and swung my leg back over the saddle, gathering my reins as I did so.
‘The fuckin’ idiot – Lilith, rein Ruby in and sit -’ I began, just as a red convertible screamed past us at what must have been at least seventy and Ruby simultaneously reared and leapt sideways into the hedge.
Lilith went tumbling backwards and landed flat on her back in a patch of nettles and scrubby brambles. She rolled into a protective ball and all I could do was shut my eyes as Ruby’s flashing hooves missed her unprotected skull by inches. As the horse’s front feet touched the ground I managed to lean out and grab her reins before she disappeared over the horizon or trampled her rider to death.
With hindsight, I would have been better off grabbing Lilith.
As I tethered the horses to a low branch the car came to a halt about a hundred yards down the lane.
‘Wanker!’ Lilith screamed and leapt to her feet with a fist-sized lump of dried mud in her hand. The car began to reverse towards us and she launched her missile with impressive accuracy. Earth and grit exploded across the paintwork and left a visible dent in the bumper.