Unveiling Lies (Eastcove Lies Book 2) Read online

  ‘That was all a lie. You know full well Gerard had the ring taken to a safe. That’s why you killed him.’ Suzy twisted under Stephen’s hand, acutely aware of the knife blade close to her face.

  Stephen, realising there was no need to lie, nodded. ‘And his security chap Peterson.’

  ‘And Nathaniel.’

  Stephen grinned darkly. ‘Oh no, that one was just for pleasure.’

  ‘And my father, Richard, he helped you kill them?’

  ‘No! He was too weak. He was my driver and clean-up man.’

  ‘Until you stabbed him.’

  ‘He had to die. I warned him.’ Stephen yanked on Suzy’s hair, bringing tears to her eyes. ‘He was getting nowhere with you and didn’t find the Vydrina Diamond. I want that ring, Suzanna. Gerard must have told you where the safe is. Tell me now!’ he hissed menacingly. ‘Before I tear out your eyes. Tell a lie, lose an eye. Tell two lies, lose two eyes. What will it be, darling Suzanna?’

  ‘Neither, I’ll be keeping both thank you very much.’

  Suzy brought a fist up, punching Stephen hard in the groin. His hand snapped open and she pushed away from him, scrambling to her feet.

  As quick as lightning Stephen’s hand bit into Suzy’s hair once again and she twisted painfully, hair tearing, until she faced him. Defiantly she raised her chin. ‘Go on then, kill me. I’ll scream bloody murder and you’ll be arrested…there are police officers out the front!’

  Stephen’s lips screwed into a prune of white, his bared teeth just visible between them. ‘Tell me where the diamond is.’

  ‘Go to hell!’ Suzy, hair entwined with the fingers of Stephen’s left hand, pushed her head upwards, forcing his arm to jar before swiftly scratching at his face and sinking her thumb into the tenderness of his right eye, pushing and pushing until the action made her feel sick.

  Stephen howled in pain, once again releasing his hold on Suzy’s hair. Gaining the advantage, Suzy sped away and raced towards the garden gate.

  ‘Help!’ she hollered. ‘He’s here - whoomph!’ She crashed headfirst into Julian who had materialised in the back garden.

  ‘Steady now.’ Julian grasped Suzy by her arms. ‘You’re alright. Mr Prendergast,’ he raised his voice. ‘Give it up, come with us.’

  The officers from inside of Suzy’s house catapulted into the darkness to join them.

  ‘Fat lot of good you were!’ Suzy shouted at them. ‘What were you doing, drinking my tea?’

  One officer shook her head. ‘We were escorting your parents to the ambulance at the front.’

  Stephen, a knife in one hand, glared at Suzy with his one good eye. ‘You little slut! You really are a deceptive whore just like your mother!’

  Suzy, crazed with information overload and wrought with tension, screamed, ‘I bet you killed her, you sick bastard!’

  Stephen laughed gleefully. ‘You’ll never know!’

  With officers advancing towards him Stephen waved the knife at them before drawing it quickly under his jaw. Blood seeped from the wound, gradually increasing until his chest was covered in red and he dropped to the ground.

  Suzy’s knees buckled.

  Julian gently eased her into a sitting position. ‘He’s just doing it for effect. If he’d really hurt himself he’d be passed out by now.’ He strode to the side of the house and made a beckoning gesture. ‘The paramedics can see to him, they’re still outside.’

  ‘My parents?’ Not my real parents, Suzy could not help thinking.

  Julian sighed. ‘Your father’s gone, I’m sorry. Your mother’s being treated for shock. Would you like to be checked over?’

  Suzy rose to her feet, not bothering to explain to Julian that they weren’t her biological parents. ‘No,’ she replied, surprising herself. ‘I don’t.’

  ‘I’ll have to go along with Mr Prendergast in the ambulance,’ Julian told her. ‘You’ll have to stay with a neighbour for a while. Is there someone you can stay with tonight or shall I phone the hotel on the cliff top?’

  Suzy shook her head. ‘I’m fine honestly. I can cope.’

  ‘You’re stronger than you look.’ Julian smiled before following the paramedics.

  Left alone, Suzy tipped her head back, staring up at the dark sky. ‘Yes, I think I am actually.’

  * * *

  ‘Well?’ Sevastian asked his companion once he’d returned to the car.

  His companion shook his head. ‘I could not approach the house. There were too many police around. I will retry tomorrow.’

  * * *

  Alyona hurried Maxim from Simon’s apartment building and across the street to the car. Pushing him aside, she leapt into the driver’s side and forced the vehicle into life before Maxim had even had a chance to buckle his seatbelt.

  The drive towards Sycamore Lodge was one Alyona could negotiate with her eyes closed. Passing the entrance to the Prendergast estate, Alyona experienced a mixed stab of emotion; guilt at lying to Stephen and anger at not finding her great-grandfather’s ring there. She drove alongside the long, old, stone wall which ran parallel with the road, denoting the edge of the estate, until she reached the turning into where Sycamore Lodge nestled within the trees.

  Sycamore Lodge, although a large property by any standards, was nothing compared to the grand house Alyona spent her days tending. A pale blue wooden door sat between the two ground floor, sashed windows, and there were a further three windows on the first floor, all of which were in darkness.

  ‘It is empty,’ Alyona observed, alighting from the car.

  Maxim joined her. ‘We may need this.’ He held up a torch.

  Alyona nodded. ‘Shall we try the back door?’

  They negotiated their way around the side of the building, Maxim shining the light at the ground to mark out the path.

  Alyona tapped his arm. ‘Fresh footprints.’

  Maxim nodded and reached for Alyona’s hand.

  ‘Why are you holding my hand?’ Alyona laughed. ‘I am not afraid of the dark!’

  ‘I know you are not but I love you and there have been lots of murders,’ Maxim replied grimly. ‘I do watch the news.’

  Alyona softened, squeezing Maxim’s fingers. ‘I love you, too.’

  ‘I know.’

  Maxim indicated for Alyona to step back as they reached the back door. Using the base of the torch he bashed a hole in the pane of glass above the door handle. Carefully, he reached in and felt around the inside of the handle and clicked the lock, opening the door into what was the kitchen.

  ‘Stay behind me,’ he advised Alyona.

  Shattered glass crackled under their feet. Maxim indicated for them to move towards the hallway. Suddenly, a scuffling noise came from down the hall. Maxim snapped the torch off and pressed a warning finger to Alyona’s lips. He held his hand out to stop her moving any further and indicated for her to wait before tiptoeing in the direction of the sound.

  Alyona, heart fluttering in her chest, crossed her fingers, hoping they had not stumbled upon the killer. She realised she was panting only when Maxim flicked the torch back on and waved at her to join him. Following him down the corridor and into a room, she looked questioningly at him until he indicated a filthy, emaciated figure huddled in the corner of the room next to a cast iron radiator.

  Alyona gasped and charged over to the woman. She gently removed the piece of rough material covering the woman’s mouth and loosened the ties from her bare ankles. The woman sobbed as Alyona released her wrists from the bond which had bound her to the radiator.

  ‘Thank you,’ she rasped through cracked lips before falling into Alyona’s arms and passing out.

  * * *

  Chapter Eight

  Suzy, finally allowed back into her house, poured a mug of strong coffee. Lacing it with brandy, she sipped while attempting to separate her thoughts. Simon was not related to Adelaida of Koravkovia—she was. Simon wasn’t from the Marov family—she was. Tatyana had been her mother, not Simon’s. The only father she had ever
known was now dead and had been an accessory to numerous murders.

  Suzy’s heart broke. Richard had only done what he had for love; he had loved her as she had him. She erupted into finger-aching, head pounding sobs, crying for the adoptive father she had lost, the mother she had never known, and the husband who would never be.

  Suzy’s neck and head ached from the strength of her grief once the tears had subsided. Scooping up the soggy mound of used tissues from the floor she plodded to the kitchen and threw them in the bin. She ran her hands under the cold tap and pressed them to her forehead, the coolness making her sigh.

  ‘Suzanna?’ An unknown voice made Suzy scream.

  Spinning round so fast she clutched the sink for support. ‘Who the hell are you?’ Her fingers flittered to the draining board, searching for anything which could serve as a weapon. ‘How did you get in here?’

  ‘The door was unlocked. I am Rodion Ioselovich.’ The tall, white haired man in the kitchen doorway held out both hands, his shoulders lifted.

  ‘You’re Russian!’ Suzy’s fingers curled around the handle of a bread knife. Why did she recognise the name Ioselovich? ‘Your name was in the papers in Yulia Marovia’s crypt, written by Tanya!’

  Rodion nodded. ‘Tatyana, yes, I imagine she would have left a note.’

  ‘I don’t have it!’ She brandished the bread knife in his direction. ‘Now get out!’

  ‘I am unarmed. I know you do not have it.’ Rodion looked amused. ‘If by it you are referring to the Vydrina Diamond?’

  Suzy frowned. ‘You’re not here looking for it?’

  Rodion moved slowly towards the kitchen table. ‘May I?’ He indicated a chair.

  Suzy shrugged but kept the knife pointed at him.

  ‘I know you do not have the ring because my private detective told me you left it with the jeweller.’

  ‘Who is now dead.’

  Rodion nodded. ‘Please, lower the knife I am not here to hurt you.’

  Suzy shook her head. ‘No way. Someone killed my groom on my wedding day and that someone is still on the loose.’ Her hand shook. ‘That someone could be you.’

  ‘I have never killed anyone in my life.’

  ‘Why should I trust you?’

  ‘Because—’

  A loud banging at the front door interrupted them.

  ‘You stay there.’ Suzy pointed the knife at Rodion. Cautiously she backed out of the kitchen and charged to the front door.

  Please let it be Julian, she prayed silently. She swung the door open. ‘I don’t believe this,’ she wailed. ‘Who are you?’

  Alyona pushed past her. ‘Alyona Petrova. I work for Mr Prendergast. You should recognise me.’

  ‘Stephen’s a murdering bastard!’ Suzy spat. ‘If you’re here to carry out any of his instructions, I’m not afraid to use this!’ She lifted the knife to shoulder height.

  Alyona’s eyes widened. ‘Murder?’

  Suzy nodded. ‘He’s a murderer and he killed my father.’ She still couldn’t get used to thinking of Richard as her adoptive father.

  ‘No, he did not,’ Rodion said from the kitchen doorway. ‘I am your father, Suzanna.’ He coughed. ‘Your real father.’

  The bread knife fell from Suzy’s grasp. ‘What?’ She was so surprised she almost didn’t notice another man entering her house with a bedraggled, limp person in his arms.

  All colour drained from Rodion’s face. ‘Tatyana? You’re alive!’ In a shot he gently lifted Tanya from the other man’s arms, covering her dirtied face with kisses.

  ‘Tanya?’ Suzy opened and closed her mouth. ‘But you died in an accident!’

  Tatyana’s eyes flickered open. ‘Rodion?’ Her voice was summer breeze soft. ‘Are you really here?’

  Tears rolled unashamedly down Rodion’s cheeks. ‘I am, my love and we will never be apart again.’

  Suzy, eyes agog, suddenly snapped into action. ‘Carry Tanya into the lounge and lay her on the sofa. I’ll fetch some blankets, and warm water to wash her face with.’

  By the time Suzy returned with blankets and a bowl of water, Rodion had laid Tatyana on the sofa and was knelt on the floor beside her with her thin hands enveloped within his own, healthy pair.

  Suzy gently covered Tatyana with the blankets and then placed the bowl and a flannel on the carpet beside Rodion. She stood looking down at the pair of them.

  One a stranger, the other presumed dead.

  What kind of surreal world was this? Had she stumbled through a doorway into an alternate world? It sure felt like it.

  ‘So you are my parents.’ She wasn’t asking a question, simply stating the facts of her recent discovery.

  Rodion wiped his face with a handkerchief, drying his tears. ‘We are.’

  ‘I want to know everything.’ Suzy trembled at the edge of the sofa. ‘I’ve had one hell of an evening…one hell of a month, really!’

  Tatyana weakly held out a hand. ‘Tomorrow. I want to talk too but so tired.’ Her eyes drooped closed.

  Rodion smoothed strands of Tatyana’s dark hair from her forehead. ‘Where was she? I had news that she had died in a horse-riding accident.’

  Alyona, hovering by the door with Maxim, replied, ‘We discovered her in Sycamore Lodge.’

  ‘That was my parents’ house!’ Suzy exclaimed. ‘Sorry, my adoptive parents’ house. It’s where I grew up. She can’t have been there long as they only lost it very recently.’

  Alyona shrugged. ‘I do not know for how long she was there.’

  ‘What were you doing there?’ Suzy asked suspiciously. ‘You obviously broke in.’

  Alyona tossed a glance at Maxim who shrugged.

  ‘What do you have to hide now?’ Maxim directed the question to Alyona.

  Alyona nodded. ‘I was looking for my great-grandfather’s family ring. It was stolen generations ago by her grandfather.’ She pointed at Tatyana’s sleeping form. ‘Igor Marov stole the ring from my great-grandfather because he knew how much it meant to my family. The ring had been passed down from each Petrov father to his son for over two hundred years. It proved the wearer to be of royal blood. I am the last in the line, my father did not have a son, so I continued the hunt for the ring.’

  Suzy remembered the story she had read on Simon’s laptop which was supposed to be about his ancestors but was really about her own. She wondered whether Adelaida had even known the ring was stolen.

  ‘Simon,’ Tatyana whispered, who had her eyes closed but had obviously been listening. ‘I gave Simon the ring my mother gave me. We thought it was not worth much.’

  Alyona bristled, thumping her chest with a clenched fist. ‘It is worth my whole heart. It is important because it represents family.’

  ‘That is important.’ Rodion looked from Suzy to Tatyana. ‘And I should have fought harder for mine.’

  Suzy nodded slowly, thinking about Alyona’s family ring. ‘Is the ring gold with an engraving?’

  Alyona’s eyes lit up. ‘You have seen it?’

  ‘Simon used to wear it all the time. Hang on.’

  Suzy charged from the room and flew up the stairs to her bedroom where she still had a few of Simon’s belongings. She rummaged in the bedside cabinet drawer, remembering how Simon had always worn the ring on his left ring finger until the lead up to their wedding when he had removed it to make space for the wedding band. Triumphantly Suzy felt it underneath a pair of his boxer shorts and shot back downstairs before pressing it into Alyona’s hands.

  ‘Whatever Igor Marov did to your great-grandfather was wrong and I am sorry it has taken so long to return the ring to your family.’ Suzy experienced a warm wave of emotion. ‘I apologise on behalf of my great-grandfather.’

  Alyona promptly burst into tears. ‘This is so much! The ring and the apology!’

  Suzy was surprised when Alyona flung herself at her, wrapping her arms around her and kissing her profusely on the cheeks.

  ‘Thank you!’ Alyona struggled to compose herself. ‘I am taking the r
ing to the Koravkovia museum where it will be displayed with other artefacts from our royal family. Maxim.’ She gestured at where he stood in the doorway. ‘Is curator of the museum. It is new, only a few years old but already they have many important items. This ring will mean the people of Koravkovia can finally see the ring which features prominently in so many paintings of the royal Petrov men. I am thankful to you, Suzanna, for being honest and returning it to me.

  ‘We will leave you now. We see you have problems of your own. There is much you have to discuss with your own family but I must give you this.’ She pressed the photo she had taken from Simon’s apartment into Suzy’s hands. ‘This shows Tatyana had great love for you.’

  Suzy drank the image in appreciatively, instantly recognising the very house she had grown up in. Tatyana, her real mother, had visited her when she was a baby. Suzy hugged the photo to her chest and showed Alyona and Maxim to the door, watching until they had driven away.

  ‘You!’ she shouted, spying a now familiar figure across the road.

  ‘Me!’ Sevastian shouted back. His long strides rapidly closed the distance between them and he swept up the path to the front door.

  Suzy, dwarfed by him, folded her arms across her chest. ‘Are you stalking me or something?’

  Sevastian grinned. ‘Rodion is my employer.’

  ‘Ah,’ Suzy replied, wondering if that revelation would be the last of the evening. ‘I suppose you’d better come inside then.’

  Sevastian clapped his large hands together. ‘Does that mean you will be nice to me?’

  Suzy laughed drily. ‘Probably not. Why break the habit?’

  Suzy had remade the bed Arabella and Richard had slept in. She had phoned the hospital and found out Arabella had left with a friend, and Suzy, not knowing who the friend may be had no way of contacting her. Rodion had taken Tatyana upstairs, determinedly refusing to let her out of his sight. Realising she had not eaten for hours Suzy returned to the kitchen to make sandwiches.

  Aware of eyes burning into her back as she took ingredients from the fridge and the breadbin, Suzy refused to turn around. Noisily, she pulled two plates from the cupboard and set them on the side.