FOUR
Tammy knew there was trouble brewing the moment she set eyes on Katya. The woman was smiling down at them beatifically, but there was no warmth or welcome in her eyes; only anger and suspicion.
“What happened?” she said, straining for lightness.
“It’s over,” Todd told her, coming up the stairs, his hand extended towards her in a placatory manner. No doubt he also read the signs in the woman’s eyes, and didn’t trust what he saw there.
“Come on,” he said, laying his palm against her waist in a subtle attempt to change her direction.
“No,” she said, gently pressing past him so as to go down the stairs. “I want to see.”
“There’s nothing to see,” Jerry said.
She didn’t bother to sweeten her expression for Brahms. He was her servant; nothing more nor less. “What do you mean: there’s nothing to see?’
“It’s all gone,” he said, his tone tinged with melancholy, as though he were gently breaking the news of a death to her.
“It can’t be gone,” Katya snapped, pushing on past Jerry and Tammy and heading down the stairs. “The Hunt goes on forever. How could Goga ever catch the Devil’s child?” She turned at the bottom of the stairs, her voice strident. “How could any man ever catch the Devil’s child?”
“It wasn’t a man,” Tammy piped up. “It was me.”
Katya’s face was a picture of disbelief. Obviously if the idea of a man bringing the Hunt to an end wasn’t farcical enough, the notion that a woman-especially one she held in such plain contempt-had done so, was beyond the bounds of reason.
“That’s not possible,” she said, departing from the bottom of the stairs and heading along the passageway.
She was out of Tammy’s view now; but everyone could hear Katya’s bare feet on the floor, and the doorhandle being turned —
“No!”
The word was almost a shriek.
Jerry caught hold of Tammy’s elbow. “I think you should get out of here — ”
“No! No! No!”
” — that room was the reason she stayed young.”
Now it made sense, Tammy thought.
That was why Jerry had sounded as though he were announcing a death: it was Katya’s demise he was announcing. Denied her chamber of eternal youth, what would happen to her? If this was a movie, she’d probably come hobbling back along the passageway with the toll of years already overtaking her, her body cracking and bending, her beauty withering away.
But this wasn’t a movie. The woman who strode back into view at the bottom of the stairs showed no sign of weakening or withering: at least not yet.
“That bitch!” she yelled, pointing at Tammy. “I want her killed. Todd? You hear me? I want her dead!”
Tammy looked up the stairs to where Todd was standing. It was impossible to read the expression on his face.
Meanwhile Katya ranted on. “She’s spoiled everything! Everything!”
“It had to end eventually,” Todd said.
As Todd spoke Tammy felt the pressure of Jerry’s hand on her arm, subtly encouraging her to head on up the stairs while there was still time to do so. She didn’t wait for a second prompt. She began to ascend, keeping her eyes fixed on Todd’s face. What was he thinking?
Look at me, she willed him. It’s me, it’s your Tammy. Look at me.
He didn’t, which was a bad sign. It would be easier to obey Katya if he didn’t think of Tammy as a real human being; didn’t look into her eyes; didn’t see her fear.
“Don’t let her go!” Katya said.
She was coming up the stairs now, taking them slowly, her pace casual. Todd just stood there, and for once Tammy was glad of his passivity. She slipped by him without being apprehended, and headed on to the top of the stairs. “Todd!”
The cry was from Jerry, not from Katya. Tammy looked back. For some reason, Todd had caught hold of him, and was preventing him from following Tammy.
From the expression on his face, it was clear Jerry knew he was in trouble. He struggled to pull himself away from Todd, but he was much the weaker man.