*
In the kitchen the twins had finished dressing Richard's wound and he had begun to recover from the shock of the cellar. There was a growing tension between Susan and the twins, with an inner groan he introduced them to each other,
“I'd like you to meet my wife, Susan.” The twins jumped as if they’d been bitten,
“WIFE!” The girls exclaimed, their faces horror-struck. They turned and glared at her, their faces full of venom. Then continued, voices incredulous,
“You’re-”
“Married-?!”
“To each other?!” There was a heavy silence punctured eventually by the sound of a cork being popped.
“I really need a drink…” Anjelica poured herself a full glass of cool white wine, “…Anybody care to join me?” There were no takers. The twins, in their uncanny way, looked at each other, then fixed their faces in an identical vacant expression. They took a step forward towards Susan, everyone’s guard went up, and then they curtsied,
“Very pleased to meet you.” They said. Then spun around and left the room chatting to each other,
“I never thought to ask him, did you?”
“No, of course not. It never occurred to me.”
“He might have said something though!”
“Yes I quite agree-”
“Leading us on like that-”
“Should be ashamed!”
Richard let out a sigh of relief when they had gone, Susan eyed him suspiciously, her woman’s intuition working overtime. Then they were all startled when the door flew open, Fidelma marching in with a face like thunder,
“Well this is a fine how do you do! All four of youse standing there chewing the fat while poor Mr Franco’s left lying there dead as a gutted rabbit in a pool of his own blood! For goodness sake!”
At that moment Mr Underhill appeared in the other doorway, Kelvin's corpse still over his shoulder. Fidelma fair went in to one,
“Holy mother of God! Another one!” She roared. Everyone stared as she continued her rant,
“Well at least he's no loss!…” She waved her hand dismissively at Kelvin, “…No use to man-nor-beast, that one! Not like poor Mr Franco, Such a gentleman…” She wrung her hands, “…We shall have to give him a proper decent burial…” She turned and barked at Mr Underhill, “...Outside wit you and yor filthy cargo!…” She was close to spitting, “…I don't want that foul mess in my kitchen…” She put her palms together, “…Oh sacred mother, whatever are we going to do?” She finally ran out of steam and took a swig from the wine bottle. To everyone's surprise, Anjelica stepped up to take control of the situation, with wine glass in hand,
“Mis-ter Underhill!…” She got his attention, “…Take him...” She wrinkled her nose as she pointed at Kelvin, “…Down to the Sty. The pigs can have him like the others. Then come back here with your shovel, Oh, and on the way back, look for a nice spot in the garden to bury poor Mr Franco.” She paused to finish off her glass of wine, Mr Underhill nodded gravely and left.
“And as for you lot…” She pointed towards the door, “…You had all better bugger off! We don't want the police around here any more than you do I'm guessing! So now that the Mistress is gone, and Sir Clive's, erm, no longer with us, I'm going to be in charge. After all, I'm the one who signs for all the bloody housekeeping round here.”
Upstairs, the twins bumped into Mai, she looked scared and her eyes were puffy from crying. They comforted her as best they could,
“What is it my dear?”
“Man trouble?”
“Come with us…” They each took an arm,
“…We're going to try on some dresses.
“…Black ones obviously.”
Richard and Susan, Tsuba and Walther fled outside, they were all lost for words. Tsuba was first to break the uneasy silence,
“I think our little adventure is over, for the time being.” Susan looked unhappy,
“Well, maybe as you say, for the time being. But that bitch is still on the loose!...” Susan had a plan of revenge in mind and it didn’t necessarily include Tsuba or Walther, “...Okay Richard. Let's go home” She held his arm. Everyone looked a little uncomfortable. So Tsuba sang:
“Fare thee well for I must leave thee
Do not let the parting grieve thee
And remember that the best of friends must part.” Then he bounded away at a run towards the trees.
Walther spoke next,
“Yes, I think it is time perhaps to lick our wounds…” he looked apologetic, embarrassed even, “…I should never have...” he felt a huge amount of guilt and shame for allowing Richard and Susan to become involved, “…I will take you on the boat back to London. You need to find again your lives. You know where to find me when, if, you wish to.”
They nodded, turned and watched Tsuba until he was out of sight. Richard felt a pang of loss, he had become fond of the infuriating little man, “It's not like we could have exchanged addresses...” He thought, wondering where Tsuba would be heading next, “...There's so much he didn't say, so much more between him and Eve than he didn't reveal” He turned back to face Susan and Walther. She was gently massaging his painful shoulder,
“We should head back to the boat, you can lie down for a while.” She said. Walther nodded and the three of them turned away from the house, each lost in their own thoughts about what they should do next.
“It doesn't end here, I'm pretty sure of that.”
“I never should have let them, but if I had been alone-”
“You may have escaped this time, but I am going to get you sooner or later, and I'm going to cut your fucking head off you fucking bitch.”