A BRAVE WOMAN

A Chapter by Georgina V Solly

The last chapter of the book.

Chapter 11

A BRAVE WOMAN

That same day, an accident happened in the place where all the accidents happened, in spite of the warning sign having been replaced. There were no survivors, and all had arrived dead at Copse Hospital. Briony wondered where it would all lead to.

Grandfather had given Nora a sleeping tablet, he obviously had a plan with Nora in mind.

Alden said he was off to see Antoinette about Quinn. Briony went with him to the ski resort to look around the shops, in spite of the pouring rain. Alden and Briony left the café that was opposite Copse Hospital separately, he went to wait outside the boutique. When Antoinette left the shop, Alden shouted out to her, saying he’d take her home. Antoinette lived two streets away from the shop. She asked him what he was doing up there, and his reply was, “You’ve got something I’d like for myself.”

“That sounds good. I hoped you’d come back.”

“Why’s that?” asked Alden.

“There are very few men of a decent age and good-looking too, in this place. A girl can get bored.”

Antoinette showed him that they had arrived at her place. She opened the door onto a small and cosy flat. Alden had decided what tactic he would use on the over made-up lady. He took her in his arms and kissed her passionately, at the same time slipping one of Grandfather’s pills into her mouth, thinking that he was doing it in the name of a good cause.

“Would you like something to eat?”

“Later,” Alden said.

Antoinette’s eyes had an unnatural shine to them, and her pupils were changing constantly from side to side and round and round, as she sat on her bed undressing. “Where’s your friend?” she enquired.

“That’s nothing to do with you,” he replied.

“Better she stays at home knitting.”

“Is she in danger?” he asked.

“Yes, and so are you if Quinn comes here. He doesn’t like nosey-parkers,” she explained.

“Are you afraid Quinn might kill you too?”

“Why should he kill me? I’ve been faithful to him - not like Sandra. She had no idea who she was married to. Quinn is a very jealous man.”

“Tell me everything.”

“Sandra and Nora had the boutique. Quinn was satisfied with Nora as the shop assistant and friend to Sandra. They worked well, and Quinn continued with his research.”

“What research?” asked Alden.

“How to avoid rejection in transplants. Sandra had met a man who preferred her to his work. They became lovers and saw each other frequently.”

“Just a minute! You say you haven’t been unfaithful to Quinn, even though you were willing to sleep with me. Who was Sandra’s lover?”

Antoinette burst out laughing, “Sleeping with someone doesn’t mean infidelity, it’s only a physical act. Quinn’s never told me the name of Sandra’s secret lover. Sandra sent Nora to town to get her out of the way, before telling Quinn she wanted to have a talk with him. On her way to see Quinn, Sandra was killed in a car accident.”

“Were there any witnesses?” Alden wanted to know.

“I don’t think so.”

“Why did you come here and when?” Alden asked.

“Quinn rang me and told me I could have the shop. We’re old friends.”

“Where do the clothes come from?” he asked.

Antoinette stood up, “Time to open the shop. Quinn killed Sandra. I’m sure of that. He couldn’t bear being made a fool of in front of everybody.”

Before leaving, he got Antoinette out of the trance.

Briony knew what she had to do, as her future, and that of her sons, rested on her solving the enigma of Copse Hospital - without anyone else’s interference. She had paid Alden a lot of attention, but after all Jasper was her husband. However disastrous he had been, there was no room for another person. She, and she alone, had the right to clarify the death of her sons’ father. Then afterwards she would be able to remake her life - without living in darkness.

Briony went to Copse Hospital. A new receptionist was in Nora’s place behind the desk. Quinn sneaked up behind her and asked her, “What are you doing here again in the bad weather?”

“As soon as I’ve solved certain things, I’m going home to be with my children and try to re-make my life. The weather here isn’t important, and anyway I don’t like this place.”

Quinn invited her to his office, where he offered her tea or coffee, but she said she only wanted to know why Jasper had to die. Quinn said she was like Jasper, in that he had gone to the hospital wanting to know why Zoë had died, and so he had to die too.

Briony thought of all those who had died that she had known: Zoë, Jasper, Donald, Hermione, Star - all dead. That gave her the courage to continue. “I know something of your carryings-on here, and the strange relationship you had with Landers and Star, and the motives you had for killing Star.”

Quinn seemed not to have heard her and his mind was far away from his office. Then he asked, “Have you ever cheated on your husband with another man?”

“Never.”

“I think you’re far too serious to complicate your life in frivolous things. My wife Sandra, cheated on me for a long time. She thought I knew nothing about her love affairs. She was wrong. A woman with a lover, all of a sudden has friends who ring her up. I employed two detectives to watch Sandra and Nora. If Nora were her accomplice it would have been easy to give Nora the sack and the matter would be over and done with. Nora had no mysteries in her life, so I left her alone. What got me the most, was that my wife could go out with a man who was the owner of a garage and a workshop, while I was earning a lot of money and becoming famous.”

“How could you have made a lot of money?”

“I carried out transplants for those who were willing to pay what I asked. The price of a kidney is nothing because everyone has one they can sell in hard times. I was willing to come to an agreement with Sandra, if she would give up the romance, and just be my wife - nothing else. One day she told me she wanted a divorce, and I said if she didn’t want to be my wife, then she wouldn’t be the wife of another. She called me some disgusting names. Then she said she wasn’t interested in my money or my career, and that the other man was much better in bed.”

At that moment, Quinn’s face was completely mad, and Briony looked around for a weapon with which to defend herself.

“I killed her with my bare hands, the same hands I tried to better the lives of many people with. Then I used her organs for those waiting for a donor.”

Star and Landers had set up the accident for him. Zoë’s accident had been rigged up by Landers, she had still been alive when her kidneys were removed, and she died in the operating theatre and then her remains were cremated.

Briony accused him of using healthy people’s organs to be transplanted, and take the money from the patients and put it into his pocket. Antoinette was employed to get rid of the clothes.

Jasper had been strangled by Star, who had picked him up in the maroon coloured car outside the hospital. Jasper was dangerous because he was trying to find Zoë.

Briony kept an eye on Quinn as he wandered around his office. She had tears in her eyes thinking of all the deaths - above all Jasper looking for Zoë.

Quinn closed in on her menacingly, and Briony grabbed a chair and hit him over the head with it, ran out of the office, and rushed into the lift. Quinn rang downstairs for some men to grab her when she got out of the lift. Antoinette happened to be at the lift door when it stopped and Briony stepped out. The two men were waiting for her with hypodermics in their hands. Antoinette stepped forward on hearing Quinn’s voice as he came down the stairs, and one of the men, acting automatically, plunged the hypodermic into Antoinette, and she fell to the floor.

While all the screaming and shouting was going on, Briony slipped out of the hospital.

Alden and Briony were in his car with a desperate Quinn chasing them. Briony told Alden what she had discovered, and Alden told her about his encounter with Antoinette. Quinn continued his chase along the soaking wet road. They were on the main road to Magician’s Leap and Quinn got closer from time to time, but Alden proved to be the better driver.

Grandfather watched the two cars on his screen, and hoped Alden would follow his instructions to the letter.

Quinn had gone completely mad and instead of staying with Antoinette, had set off in pursuit of Alden and Briony. It was the first time in years he was going to be beaten and he wasn’t going to allow it. He’d always been a winner - losing wasn’t in his psychology. However, it looked as if he was going to lose everything. He dreaded to imagine what was happening at the hospital. Landers would pack up and clear off to another place, and Antoinette would do the same. First of all he wanted to punish Alden and Briony for having ruined his flourishing business. He pressed hard down on the accelerator.

“Now!” said Grandfather, as he pressed on a button on the top of his desk.

Quinn was unprepared for what happened. His car slid form one side of the road to the other. He was desperate - the steering wheel was useless. He tried to open the car door. He was trapped like a mouse in a mousetrap. The car had somehow stopped on a net. A crane controlled by Grandfather, lifted it above the ground and it was suspended above the asphalt, swaying gently.

Grandfather called Alden on his mobile, and told him to ring the police, the television, and the press, and tell them about the capture of a mad doctor.

“Now we can go on holiday,” Grandfather announced. “Life’s like that. The police will have a lot to do here, and it’s better not to be around when they arrive.”

So, Nora drives the car with Auntie Mati and Grandfather to the airport.

The weather had become colder and the streets were icy, making them dangerous for pedestrians. Briony was well wrapped up, walking to the office, it was useless taking the car. She preferred to walk and be in the air however contaminated it was, she had to prepare herself for what lay ahead.

The scandals related to transplants and the sales of kidneys, were no longer news.

Landers was arrested and accused of being Quinn’s accomplice. He was not allowed to practise medicine any more. Quinn was locked up in a psychiatric centre, where he received the appropriate treatment.

Rivermount and Copse Hospital soon passed into history.

Briony returned to her job, and her work companions were a bit distant to her at first, and then tried to get information from her. But Briony didn’t swallow the bait. In a short time, her monotonous and colourless life had gone back to what it had been before her first unexpected journey. She wondered if the bad weather was due to Grandfather or to nature. She never spoke to her sons about the strange things that had happened. When she had first arrived home she looked out for the man with the scarred face - but she never saw him ever again.

Briony’s doorbell rang. It was Alden.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Would you like a new job?”

“What would the job entail?”

“You would be the assistant to the assistant of the director.”

“Let me guess! The boss is your grandfather. What does the company make?”

“Toys and children’s games. Well, what do you say about the job? We would see more of each other, and I wouldn’t make your work too hard.”

Briony was thinking quietly. Of course she would accept the offer, but she didn’t want Alden to think that she was a walk-over.

“Close your eyes.” Alden placed a parcel in her hands.

Briony opened it and saw it was a talking bear. “How pretty!” she exclaimed.

“It’s our latest model, and it’s to try to convince you that your new job is much nicer than your old one.”

THE END