The Border Part Two (4 page)

“Looking at her?”

“C-C-Caitlin,” he stammered, as if the effort of saying that name had required an inordinate amount of effort. “I knew I couldn’t fight him off, I was just a lanky streak back then, and I didn’t know where to look while he was doing it to me, so I looked at
her
. She was up above me, in the tree. She was already dead. I just kept looking at her while he was putting the knife in me over and over. I wanted her to be okay.”

“I know you did.”

“She was dripping blood,” he added. “She was… I knew… I could tell she was gone. I tried to reach out to her, but the man was too heavy.”

“He was holding you down?”

“He had her heart in his hand.”

“While he was attacking you?”

He nodded.

“So…” She paused. “This might be important, Joe. Did he keep her heart in his hand the whole time he was on top of you, or did he put it down somewhere?”

“He held onto it.”

“Are you sure?”

“I saw it.”

She made a quick note. “And then what happened?”

“Then he stopped. He leaned closer, real close, and looked into my eyes. I guess he thought I was dead, or as close as made no difference, and then he got off. I remember wondering why…” He paused. “I remember wondering why he was so delicate with her and arranged her all nice, and why he was so rough with me and just left me on the ground like that. The next thing I remember is being in the hospital, with everyone running around and all those voices shouting.”

“But the face of the man who attacked you -”

“I didn’t see it,” he continued. “He had something over it, like a piece of cloth or a sack, something like that. There were holes for the eyes, but I didn’t see anything in there. It’s like they weren’t there at all.” Suddenly, he started unbuttoning the front of his overalls. “I’ll show you what he did to me.”

“It’s okay,” she replied. “I remember. I came to the hospital, remember?”

“Look,” he continued, pulling the fabric aside to reveal his scarred belly. “That’s what he left!”

“I know,” she told him. “I saw you nine years ago when you still very sick, when they didn’t know whether or not you’d -” She caught herself just in time. “I know what this monster did to you, and that’s why I’m going to make sure we catch him so that -”

“You can’t catch him,” he replied.

“I promise you, we can.”

“Then why haven’t you?” He turned for a moment, as if he was hearing a voice nearby, before glancing back at her. “When I think about him,” he continued, “and I think about you, I can’t see you putting handcuffs on him and taking him to jail. It’s just not going to happen.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because it’s ridiculous,” he added. “Someone like you, getting hold of someone like him… It’s like someone from one world trying to catch someone from another. It’s silly. I mean, can
you
imagine it happening?”

“Yes, Joe. I can.”

“It ain’t gonna.”

She paused, before closing her notepad and slipping it into her pocket. “If you think of anything else, Joe, you must come and speak to me. Even if it seems like something small, like something completely insignificant, it might help us. Do you promise you’ll do that?”

“C-Caitlin shouldn’t have died.”

“I know that.”

“I should have saved her.”

“You can’t blame yourself.”

“That’s what I was trying to do while he was stabbing me,” he continued. “I was reaching out and trying to transfer my life energy into her, so that she’d survive, even if it meant I had to die. Is that stupid? I don’t believe in all that crap, but at that moment, I was trying to help her any way I could. I just…” He paused again, as a tear ran down his cheek. “If I hadn’t asked her out there that night, she’d still be around today. I could still talk to her and everything.”

“I’m sure you did everything that was in your power,” she replied. “You need to just focus on how things are at the moment, on the things you
can
control. You’re rebuilding your life, and that’s great.”

“He’ll kill again.”

She paused. “What makes you say that?”

“I’ve seen him, remember? He was amazing. Powerful, strong… I could just tell. Someone like him, as long as he’s alive, he’ll always kill again.” He paused, staring at her with dark, unblinking eyes. “Maybe he
should
kill again, if it’s what he does best.”

“I’m not sure that’s true, Joe -”

“You didn’t see him,” he replied, interrupting her as a faint smile crossed his lips. “It was horrible, and it hurt, but seeing him in action… It was like seeing a creature do the one thing it was put on this earth to do. He’s magnificent.”

***

“What are you thinking about?”

Turning, Alex saw his wife Ruth standing in the doorway.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” she continued, stepping closer, “but you’re not the kind of guy who usually stands at a window, looking out at the rain and the world, contemplating things. You’re a doer, not a brooder, so when I see you like this, I can’t help wondering what’s going on.” She paused. “Missing the cigarettes?”

He shook his head.

“Not tempted to go back to them?”

“Course not,” he replied, turning back to the window. “I’m just looking out at the town and wondering where it all went wrong.”

“Wrong?” Making her way over to join him, she looked out at the town square. “Doesn’t look like much is wrong, not to me.”

“That’s the problem,” he replied. “I’ve spent my whole life trying to keep Bowley and its people safe, and I always thought I was doing a pretty good job. No-one complained, that’s for sure, and life just seemed to keep on going without too many problems. Now I’m starting to wonder if the bad things were just better at hiding than I realized. Like maybe there’s things going on here that I don’t know anything about.”

“I very much doubt that,” she told him.

“There’s obviously something,” he continued. “There’s some…
force
that killed Caitlin Somers nine years ago, and then laid dormant until it killed Mel Armitage the other night. And for those nine years, I thought the place was safe again, I thought the evil had moved on, but it was here all along and I just couldn’t see it. It was hiding or waiting or… laughing at me. Feeling smarter than me.”

“Look out there,” she replied, putting her arms around him from behind. “This town is so peaceful and beautiful. Do you honestly believe that there could be much of anything bubbling away under the surface?”

“If you’d asked me yesterday,” he muttered, “I’d have said no. But now? Now I’m starting to think I might have been the biggest fool around. I think there might be something here, Ruth. Something that just got real good at keeping out of view. And the worst thing is, even now I know it’s there, I still can’t see it.”

***

Lowering herself slowly into the bath, Katie winced as soon as she felt water against her torn and scratched skin. Every nerve in her body seemed to be screaming out to her, telling her to stop, but she kept going, forcing herself down until she was sitting on the submerged mat, with water up to her shoulders.

Finally, unable to hold back any longer, she let out a faint gasp.

After a few minutes, she lifted her left arm and looked at the cut that ran from her elbow to her armpit. The skin on either side of the cut itself was red and sore, but the wound was already healing over. She lowered her arm again, trying to ignore the stinging sensation as she felt hot water against her injuries. Although she wanted to close her eyes, she didn’t dare. She knew she’d see Mr. Crutchlow’s grinning face again, the same face that had seared itself into her mind during her second night at The Border.

A moment later, she heard her phone start ringing. She’d left it on the closed toilet lid, and when she leaned over and took a look she saw to her horror that it was Simon, the man from the office, who was trying to get in touch. She waited, daring herself to answer, and finally the ringing stopped.

Silence.

And then she flinched slightly as it started again.

“Go away,” she whispered. “Please…”

Reaching out with a wet, dripping hand, she picked up the phone and looked at the screen. She knew she
should
answer, that she’d promised to always be available for The Border whenever they needed her, but at the same time she’d been hoping for a night to herself. Finally, she felt a hint of relief as the phone once again stopped ringing.

If it rings again
, she told herself,
I’ll answer. Three times would mean he’s really desperate and
-

Suddenly the phone began to ring again in her hand, and she realized it wasn’t going to stop. After taking a moment to regather her composure, she tapped the screen and held it to the side of her face.

“Yes?” she said cautiously.

All she heard was a burst of static, with a human voice lost in the noise. She held the phone away from her face until it stopped.

“Hello?” she continued. “Look, I can’t make out a word you’re saying. It’s… It’s just like the intercom, it’s all garbled.”

She waited, and then the static came back. There was definitely someone speaking on the other end, but the distortion was so great that it was almost like a kind of primordial, digital howl.

“I can’t hear you,” she said firmly. “Simon, I know it’s you, but -”

The howl returned, a little louder than before, as if he was trying harder to be heard.

“Do you want me to work tonight?” she asked. “Is that it?”

Again, the only answer was a static howl.

“Could you maybe text me instead? I really don’t know what you’re saying.”

Another howl.

“Okay, fine,” she continued, “I’ll be there. I can’t make out a word of this, but I’ll show up for work tonight, at the same time as before. Is that okay?”

She waited, and finally she heard a brief burst of static that she figured might be him agreeing.

“I’m going to hang up now,” she added. “Oh, and you really need to get your phone fixed. It’s, like, crazy trying to work out anything you’re saying.”

Cutting the call, she set her phone back on the toilet lid before leaning back in the bath. The pain from her injuries wasn’t so bad this time, and she figured that with a few hours to go before she had to be at work again, she could probably recover enough. Turning, she lit a couple of candles and took a deep breath. The smell of lavender usually helped her to relax, so she decided to at least try closing her eyes.

As soon as she did so, she saw Crutchlow’s grinning face again.

***

With his wife’s arms still around his waist, Alex looked out the window and watched as rain continued to beat down across Bowley.

V

“Hey!” Ben said, stepping forward as soon as the door was opened, and immediately putting his arms around Beth. “Long time, Sis! How’re you doing?”

“I’m good,” she replied, struggling a little as he held her tight. “I’m almost being crushed right now, but apart from that…”

“Let me look at you,” he continued, releasing her and taking a step back. “My God, what’s your secret? You’ve hardly aged at all! In fact, you almost seem to have got younger. How do you manage to maintain such wonderful skin?”

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” she muttered, “or at least, it’ll get you a seat at the dinner table tonight. I just got back from work and Bob’s fetching Lucy from school, but it’s Shepherd’s Pie. How does that grab you?”

“Homemade or frozen from the store?”

“Frozen from the store, just the way you like it.”

“I’ve missed your microwaving.”

“You’ll be in the spare bedroom,” she told him, as she headed through to the kitchen. “We finally cleared all the clutter out, so you won’t have to pick your way past boxes of crap this time.”

“Thanks for letting me crash here at such short notice,” he replied, stopping in the doorway and watching as she started sliding frozen food out of boxes. “I know I should’ve given you more warning, but the truth is, I really wasn’t sure I was coming back until a few days ago. I was planning on another lonely Christmas all by myself, but you know how it is, sometimes life just gets up and gives you a slap, and you have to move along.”

“No,” she replied with a frown, “I
don’t
know how it is. Not like that, anyway. Where exactly have you been for the past nine years, anyway?”

“Here and there.”

“Obviously somewhere without phones or email access.”

“Sorry.”

“Jack thinks maybe you were in prison.”

“He does?” He smiled for a moment. “Let him think what he likes. It’s not true, but let him. He always thinks the worst anyway.”

“Appetizing?” she asked, holding up a frozen Shepherd’s Pie and then tapping it against the side of the microwave. “There’s salad to go with it.”

“From frozen?”

“Homemade, you’ll be shocked to learn.”

He watched for a moment as she grabbed some cups from the side. The last time he’d seen Beth, she’d been dating Bob and worrying about becoming overly domesticated, and now she was sorting out dinner for the family. He’d lied to her earlier when he said she looked younger; the truth was, he’d been shocked when he’d seen how much she’d aged in just nine years, and he couldn’t help feeling that her skin seemed a little tired.

“So has he started grumping about me yet?” he asked finally.

“What do you mean?”

“I know what Jack’s like,” he continued. “I know what he thinks of me. Not the details, maybe, but I sure know the gist of it.”

“He’s glad to have you home. Tea? Coffee?”

“Tea.” He paused. “It’s very nice of you to lie for him, Beth, but there’s really no point. When I bumped into him last night, the look on his face… You’d think he’d walked into a room and found Charles Manson waiting for him.” Another pause. “Has he mentioned it yet?”

“Ben -”

“Sure. He has.”

“Is it going to be like this all the way through Christmas?”

“I was just wondering if he’s started ramping up the speculation,” he continued. “I know what happened the other night. That barmaid, the one from the Monument, was found dead. If it helps him build a circumstantial case against me, I should admit that I’d spoken to the young lady in question not long before she came a-cropper. I’m sure that makes me at the very least a suspect. Come on, Beth, don’t lie to me. I know Jack will have already put two and two together and come up with forty.”

“He’s… mentioned it.”

“He’s done more than mention it.”

“You know what he’s like,” she replied diplomatically. “He’s a journalist, so of course he’s going to look for patterns when it comes to these things.”

“So he thinks I’ve claimed another victim?”

“He didn’t say that!”

“But he’s thinking about it,” Ben continued. “There’s no need to try to protect me, Beth, I know exactly what he’s been going on about. Let me guess… He didn’t exactly jump for joy when he heard I was coming home for a visit, did he? And then when that poor woman was killed, he probably accepted, albeit reluctantly, that his favorite pet theory was dead in the water. Then he bumped into me and found out I’d been in town for a while already, and all his lights came back on!”

“Why did you do that?” she asked, turning to him. “You’ve got to admit, it comes across as being a little…”

“Sneaky?”

“Weird.”

“I just wanted to hang out for a few days without all the family crap. Besides, I need to talk to Jack about something important.”

“Like what?”

“I…” He paused. “Let me talk to him first. I’ll tell you after, but I need to tell Jack before anyone else finds out.”

“Are you in trouble?” Beth asked. “Are you -”

Hearing the front door opening, she turned and looked through to the hallway just in time to see Bob ushering Lucy inside.

“Is that my niece?” Ben asked. “The one I’ve never met?”

“Lucy!” Beth called out. “Come and meet your uncle!”

“I’m really sorry I didn’t get home before,” Ben continued. “You know I would’ve done, if I’d had time, it’s just that things got a little complicated and -”

“Hey,” Beth said as Lucy made her way through. “Sweetheart, I want you to say hello to your uncle. This is Ben, he’s my brother. You remember me talking about him, don’t you?”

“Nice to meet you, Lucy,” Ben said stepping forward and holding out his hand for her to shake. “Your mother has told me a lot about you.”

“Liar,” Beth whispered.

“Are you really Mummy’s brother?” Lucy asked with a frown. “If you are, why don’t you live nearby, like Uncle Jack?”

“Well,” he replied, crouching in front of her, “some people just like to go out and explore the world. There are a lot of places out there, places I want to see. I guess I’d just get itchy feet if I stuck around the old hometown like your mother and Jack.” He smiled. “But I promise you, from now on, whenever I go anywhere fun, I’ll always send a postcard home.”

“Do your feet really itch?”

“Sometimes,” he said with a smile. “If I’ve been walking a lot. Or,
sometimes
, if I’ve been in one place for too long, they kinda start going all funny.”

“What kind of funny?”

“The kind that makes you wanna get up and just run around like a monster!”

She laughed.

“And then,” he continued, “I kinda have to… I have to get going for a while, you know? See the world.”

“All of it?”

“As much as I can. Of course, I have to work along the way, too, and it’s not always easy to find a job, but I manage. I work in kitchens, or picking fruit, or just general dogsbody stuff.”

“Uncle Jack says those are the kind of jobs people get when they don’t do well at school,” Lucy told him.

“He does, does he?”

“And then do your feet stop itching?” she asked. “If you keep traveling around?”

“Sure.” He smiled. “Unless it’s a fungal infection, but that’s a whole ‘nother story.” Spotting movement nearby, he turned, just in time to see Bob entering the kitchen with all the enthusiasm of a man heading to the gallows. “Hey there, favorite brother-in-law. Did you manage to get your friend home this morning?”

“What friend?” Beth asked, turning to Bob.

“I bumped into Ben earlier,” he replied uneasily. “I was just giving a colleague a lift and -”

“He had this hot little thing in his car,” Ben continued, turning to Beth with a broad grin. “Low-cut top, bedroom eyes, the works. It’s a good job I know he’s such a faithful guy, ‘cause frankly, most men would’ve gone weak at the knees if they were within twenty feet of that girl. I mean, I can’t say it in front of the kid here, but the girl he had in his car was in full possession of all the attributes that usually make men start gawking.” He turned back to Bob. “What was her name again? Did you even tell me? Crap, I don’t remember.”

Lucy giggled.

“Language,” Beth hissed at Ben, before looking over at her husband again. “So you gave someone a lift back from work, did you?” she asked bitterly. “Wouldn’t happen to be that Candy girl, would it?”

“Actually, it was,” Bob replied, starting to loosen his tie before thinking better of it and untucking his shirt instead. “I… She was tired, and I thought I’d take her to her door, that’s all. She was going to get the bus, but it didn’t show up and I was pretty much going up her road anyway.”

“I bet you were.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Hey,” Ben interjected, “I was just making a bad joke, I certainly didn’t mean to imply anything untoward. Beth, it really
was
innocent, I swear. I could tell, and anyway, Bob here’s a good guy. He’s not the kind of low-life scum you have to worry about, who’d go running around with younger ladies behind anyone’s back. He loves his family.”

“Absolutely,” Bob replied, forcing a smile. “I was just being a gentleman, that’s all.”

“Do you want to see our Christmas tree?” Lucy asked, staring up at Ben.

“Of course, sweetheart,” he replied, as the girl took his hand and led him through to the front room. “Sorry,” he added, glancing back at Beth and Bob, “looks like I’m being led away.”

“Mummy and I decorated it,” Lucy explained as they reached the tree. Reaching down, she flicked a switch and the fairy lights began to sparkle. “Do you think it’s pretty? I think it’s
really
pretty, even prettier than last year’s.”

“I think it’s absolutely beautiful,” Ben replied. “You know, it’s been a long, long time since I saw a tree like this.”

“Don’t you have a tree at your house when it’s Christmas?”

“I’m afraid not,” he told her. “Where I live, there isn’t really a lot of room for things like that. Besides, I haven’t got anyone to help me decorate it, so I’d just end up getting the whole thing wrong. I’d probably plant it upside down, something like that.”

“Mummy says I’m good at decorating trees.”

“You are.” Frowning, he stepped forward and peered up at the angel, which appeared to have been wedged on hard enough for the top of the tree to burst out through its head.

“That’s Candy,” Lucy said proudly.

“Candy, huh? And what exactly happened to Candy?”

“Mummy put her on,” Lucy explained, “and it went a bit wrong, but she said it’s funny so we should leave it.”

“She did, huh?” After staring at the angel for a moment, he turned and looked back through toward the kitchen. He could hear Beth and Bob keeping their voices down as they had a hushed, urgent-sounding conversation. “Well. It seems like your mother has some pretty strong thoughts about Candy, doesn’t it?”

***

“Are you coming or not?” Jack asked, standing on the steps and looking up at his father, who was just reaching the front door. “Dad, make your goddamn mind up -”

“I’m not coming,” Harry snapped, pulling the door open and stepping back inside. “Go to hell, the lot of you!”

“Don’t you think this’d be a good opportunity to make peace?”

“I’m not making peace with anyone,” Harry replied, pushing the door shut. “Not at my age. You can all fuck off.”

“Hey!” Hurrying up the steps, Jack held the door open at the last moment and followed his father into the hallway. “You’ve got to see him, so why not do it today, in a big group setting? Get it over with!”

“I’m not getting anything over with,” Harry muttered, as he leaned his cane against the wall. “You go. Enjoy yourself. Have fun over Christmas. I’ll be fine here, I’ve got the Christmas
Radio Times
, I’ll just hibernate until New Year.” He paused. “Unless the bastard’s staying for that too.”

“I have no idea,” Jack said with a sigh, “but seriously, you can’t ignore the whole family over Christmas just because Ben -”

“Watch me!”

Jack stood for a moment and watched as his father shuffled along the hallway, heading for the spare room where the computer was kept.

“Dad…”

“You’ll be late!”

“What should I tell everyone?”

“Tell ‘em the truth! Tell ‘em I don’t give a damn! And tell ‘em if they don’t like that fact, they can stick it where the sun doesn’t shine!” With that, he went into the spare room and slammed the door shut.

“Fine,” Jack muttered. “I’ll tell them you’re a miserable old fart who’d rather sit and watch porn all Christmas instead of spending time with his family, and who’d rather be alone instead of…” Sighing again, he realized there was no point. Instead of going and knocking on the door, he turned and made his way down the steps, heading back to his car. “It’s not like
I
want to go,” he added as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “Jesus Christ, I just want to curl into a ball and wait for Ben to leave again.”