Rottenhouse (38 page)

‘
Nobody.’ and then she
headed off down the corridor and Simon felt both a twang of
sympathy and a white hot rage at this young woman. And then her
smell disappeared and his senses were filled with the real smell of
this place and it didn’t smell good and reminded him of the sex
room he had been in up at the Rotten House.

He wished he had kept hold of the
gun.

2

Her feet splashed in the puddles and
bits of paint that had flaked off the walls stuck to her bare skin
as she went down the corridor and when she reached the open door
she turned and faced Simon and though she shuddered she stood still
waiting for Simon like she had been ordered to do.

Hesitantly he walked toward the door
and kept his eyes on the naked girl. He knew her, he was sure of
it, but that was a minor issue right now. His heart was racing fast
and he could hear each pump clearly in his ears. When he reached
the open door the girl took a step back and gestured with a little
nod to her left for him to enter.

The light in the room was harsh but not
too bad. He could see everything clearly. Too clearly it seemed;
colours jumped out at him, a bug on the wall had a leg missing and
the table in the far corner had a book under one leg to keep it
stable and stop the medicine jars and sharp tools from falling off.
All this he saw but was forgotten as the real horror of the room
was in its centre, tied to an old hospital gurney, and what was
restrained there had eyes that were begging him for mercy but Simon
didn’t know why.

‘
Ah, good to see you,
Simon. Glad you made it.’ The Chairman said, and the man himself
stepped from the shadows to Simon’s side. He wore a fading black
shirt with matching jeans. Around his waist was a rather ornate
rope belt held in place by a fearsome looking buckle.

‘
Where’s Lucy?’ Simon
asked Chairman but kept his eyes firmly on the man he knew that was
restrained on the gurney.

Before he answered Chairman loosened
the top button on his shirt and ran his hand through his greying
hair. ‘She’s here and will be along shortly. We have other business
to attend to first.’

‘
What are you going to
do with Lewis?’

Chairman chuckled and placed a hand on
Simon’s shoulder which sent shivers racing across his body. ‘I aint
gonna do anything, Simon. You are. But not yet. Like I said, we
have some other business to attend to first. Always work before
pleasure and your work is nearly done.

‘
Take a seat, son.’
Chairman pointed to an old wooden chair next to the table with the
wonky leg but Simon refused the offer with a shake of his head and
said in a voice that trembled. ‘I prefer to stand.’

‘
Okay then, that’s
your choice.’

Chairman walked over to the gurney and
lent against it so that Simon could no longer see Lewis lying
there. He could still hear him though, and he moaned like the girl
in the Rotten House had moaned and on both occasions Simon had been
glad that they had had rags stuffed in their mouths because he
didn’t want to hear what they were moaning about.

‘
First, Simon, I must
thank you for what yadid at the O’Hagan’s place.’

‘
You know about
that?’

‘
Of
course.’

‘
Then why are you
thankful? I killed 6 of your people and burned their farm to the
ground. Pigs too.’

Chairman smiled, ‘What’s done is done,
Simon. No one can change the past no matter how much we want too.
You know the stories, Simon, what they got up too. At some point or
other it were bound to happen, it just so happened to be you that
were the one to do it. Heard you chopped off old Lud’s head?’

Simon nodded but didn’t answer and the
room was quiet if only for a second or two. He pictured the body of
the old man; slumped to one side, blood pouring from the grotesque
neck wound he had caused. From memory he looked as if he were
reaching over for something, perhaps scrabbling for his head that
had rolled away and plopped down into the rushing cold water
below.

‘
Hmm, guess he didn’t
see that coming.’ Chairman said then continued. ‘Anyway, secondly
and more importantly, is that Barbara is okay. Safe and well. No
marks, bumps or bruises.’ He then added whilst winking,
‘Untouched.’ Which made Simon feel sick. Behind Chairman, Lewis
moaned low and whimpered like a baby.

‘
So what is it you
want with her?’ Simon asked.

‘
It’s not
her
we want.’

Simon noticed the empty gurney in the
corner of the room. How he hadn’t seen it when he walked here he
didn’t know. Though it could have something to do with the man
restrained in the other gurney.

‘
I guess that only
leaves me then.’

Chairman nodded.

Simon said, ‘What do you want me for?’
and his eyes looked over to the filthy gurney in the corner and
Chairman’s eyes followed his and Chairman chuckled to himself,
another joke Simon wasn’t a part of, and then his eyes were back on
Simons.

‘
Oh, nothing like that
my dear boy.’

‘
Then what
for?’

‘
You’ll see soon
enough.’ And Chairman fiddled with the rope tied around his
trousers.

Simon tried to swallow and found it
hard. ‘You’re not from around here, are you?’

Chairman pushed out his bottom lip and
flared his nostrils. ‘What makes you say that?’

‘
Well first off you
don’t talk like them. You have no accent and you pronounce most of
the words correctly and haven’t bastardized them so much that most
of the time I haven’t a sodding clue what anyone else is talking
about. And you don’t
look
like them.’

‘
Look like them?’
Chairman repeated.

‘
Come on. You must
have noticed it. It’s not exactly a Paris catwalk up there. More
like the arse end of Crufts.’

Chairman shook his
head and looked confused. He reached over, to a small table that
was by Lewis’ restrained feet, took the pint glass from it and
drank deep. When he had finished it, he offered some to Simon and
his eyes were wide as if to say
it’s okay,
just water
.

Licking his lips, for he was parched,
Simon took the glass and drained what was left and handed the glass
back. Both men let out gassy belches though Simons had a little
chunkiness to it that wasn’t pleasant, and the hot sour taste
stayed with him longer than he would have liked.

Lewis struggled a little and Chairman
placed a hand on his bare, dirty foot and the restrained body
flinched and then fell silent.

Chairman looked at his watch. ‘Time
flies,’ and with a grin and then looked past Simon, to the girl
that Simon knew but didn’t know, who was still stood in the doorway
behind them and said, ‘Billie? Would you fetch Lucy and Bob
please?’

3

Simon flicked his head back. The girl
had turned away but Simon was quick enough to see that she was the
same girl that had been in his dreams, in his nightmares. It only
took Chairman to say the name for it to finally click in Simons
head. And then it all came flooding down on top of him. She had
pale skin but it hadn’t always been pale. There were cuts on her
back and down the backs of her legs. Deep cuts that had been
stapled together, not stitched, so at first you couldn’t really see
them. She had been bled like a stuck pig, probably in the garage by
the man that was restrained on the gurney right now. And then Simon
remembered the needle marks on her arms, the ones he thought made
her look like a junky but weren’t from a heroine needle, they were
from an intravenous needle; one that was needed to put back the
blood that they had taken from her.

‘
You fucking animals.’
Simon hissed, and he clenched his hands to fists and turned to face
Chairman whose face was a sea of calm.

‘
Perhaps, but evil is
a tenacious and persistent stain that transcends death. Am I
to be blamed for what I have become?’

‘
She’s just a
girl.’

‘
Like the girl you
killed today.’

‘
Fuck youyou cunt. I
put her out of her misery. But you lot act as if you are judge,
jury and executioner all rolled up into one. Why, just why do you
do it?’

4

‘
Because we can,
Simon. Because we want what’s best for our town and we do all that
we can to make sure it stays safe. Since the day I was welcomed
into this village I have strived to that end. There has been
trouble, nonces, killers, and pig fuckers, but they don’t last
long. We weed emout, like black fly on a cabbage leaf. Since you’ve
been here you have seen that. It might not have been to your liking
but nonetheless you can see
why
we do it and once you have the why then the
reasoning becomes self-evident.

‘
Take the girl there;
she came here with another girl, all tits and arse hanging out.
They camped by the river, just by the lumberjacks place and were
here for a few weeks, Billie there even found work in the garage on
the edge of town. They held hands around village and cuddled whilst
eating ice creams under the shade of the blessed willow trees. We
knew what they were up to at night laying naked together under
their woollen blankets and it aint right so we crept up on them one
night, and though we didn’t catch them, we knew what they were up
too and so made sure they couldn’t do it again.’

Simon said, ‘You cut her up and bled
her dry by the looks of things. That’s not dealing with an
issue.’

‘
What you see is only
the outer shell of Rottenhouse. Both girls were put to better
uses.’

‘
Better
uses?’

‘
Well yes, Simon. The
doctor has to practice on something.’

5

Simon jumped up from the chair and
flung it against the far wall. ‘You know what, fuck this. You lot
are insane. You can gift wrap it and tie it in a bow but to me all
I see are a bunch of killers. Now I’m taking Lucy and I am getting
the fuck out of here. If you come near me, or her, I’m going to
tear your fucking head off. You got that?’

Chairman half raised his hands in the
air surrendering. ‘You aren’t going anywhere.’ And he lowered his
hands and took a step forward. Simon hadn’t anticipated this and
was unsure what to do. He took a step back but was near the back
wall and if not careful would be cornered. Back at O’Hagan’s place
it had felt easier. Simon had been full of adrenaline and it had
all been on the spur of the moment. Here there was no moment. There
was no adrenaline, and to top it off he had no axe or a gun and he
really wished he had kept that gun.

‘
Best you calm down,
Simon, before you make a mistake and I have to take matters into my
own hands.’ Chairman took another step forward and puffed out his
chest and lifted himself up as if to show his dominance much like
old man Lud had done back on the bridge before Simon hacked his
head off.

And then Lewis, perhaps seeing that
Simon needed a little help or maybe it was just that he was in pain
and was scared, moaned and whimpered and tried to break free
causing the gurney to pitch and heave and squeak across the floor.
The noise of it filled Simon’s ears and it stung. But Simon was
grateful, and as Chairman turned to see what was going on Simon
took the opportunity to lunge forward; aiming for the neck and head
with his trusty right hand.

This time though the swung right fist
of red knuckles found nothing but air as Chairman gracefully ducked
the punch, his cloak flapping about like a murder of crows. Simon
teetered on the verge of falling but rescued himself, but there
wasn’t time to unleash another flapping punch as with seemingly
very little effort Chairman grabbed Simon by the arms so that Simon
was stood there to attention, arms by his side, and heaved him up
leaving his shoes dangling a foot off the ground. Simon looked down
to Chairman and Chairman looked up to him with a deep dirty grin of
mastery upon his face and Simon tried to struggle free but his feet
dangled and the grip became tighter. It was so tight that even his
legs were unable to kick out for that was the only real opportunity
Simon saw. He cried out in pain and desperation and that cry turned
into a roar which burned his already sore throat.

‘
Let him go, please,
Mr Chairman.’ A woman’s voice. It was a voice Simon felt like he
hadn’t heard in years.

The grip loosened and Simon fell to the
floor, the tops of his arms throbbing with pain and his throat
thick with phlegm. His mind swam and his legs felt like jelly. A
familiar hand reached down and ran her fingers through his hair. In
the background there was a screeching of rubber but Simon could
only look at the floor and let the woman continue stroking his hair
as he sat there cross legged. It was for only a minute that Lucy
did this but in that minute Simon was transported back home, to
when he was young and ill with fever and to how his mother used to
run her hands through his hair with her soft white hands and it
made him feel better even though the fever remained and his legs
were stiff and crooked. Those magic hands. Healing hands.

But then Simon heard Bob and Chairman
speak and Lucy’s soft hands stopped caressing him and he was
reminded of his father and how his rough hands had many times
touched him. Forceful hands. Nasty hands. Dirty hands. Simon came
too and looked up at the woman he loved. She seemed unharmed,
clean, and Simon thought that an odd thing. Bob and Chairman
continued talking but Simon didn’t pay them any attention. He
pulled Lucy down to him and whispered into her ear, ‘Are you
alright?’