He sounded nervous, a total contrast to the composed and witty man who enjoyed bantering with his customers.
‘Sure,’ I said, surprised. I glanced at Lizzy and received a shrug in return. As affable as he was, Jeff Arnold had never shown any interest in socializing with me outside of his pharmacy. ‘What’s on your mind?’
A short pause. ‘Better if I keep that for when I see you.’
That piqued my interest. ‘Okay. What time?’
‘Around seven?’
‘Yeah, that’s fine. See you then.’
I ended the call and looked at Lizzy. ‘I wonder what that’s about?’
She shrugged again. ‘He sounded pretty flustered.’
‘Yeah.’
‘Guess we’ll find out later.’
At 7.05 p.m., Jeff arrived in his silver Volvo. We stood on the porch and watched him climb out of his car; a slim smartly dressed gray haired man in his mid-fifties with watery blue eyes and a thin nose. He looked pale and worried.
We shook hands and I introduced him to Lizzy, then said, ‘You look like you need a drink.’
He nodded. ‘I do. Got any scotch?’
‘Yup.’
We walked into the living room where I poured him a triple. Jeff took the glass gratefully and downed half of it. I cocked an eyebrow at Lizzy and then sat down beside her.
‘You know what Beau Harkinen’s been saying, right?’ Jeff said.
We nodded.
‘He came to the pharmacy about a week, week and a half ago, then again this morning.’ Jeff smiled, a weak cousin of the usual Jeff Arnold beam that made him so popular in Harkinen. ‘At his age he’s one of our best customers. Anyway, we had virtually the same conversation on both occasions: that he had seen Elizabeth Dashwood alive and well and that she was living here.’ He looked at Lizzy. ‘That you are in fact her.’ Jeff shook his head. ‘Beau said that he’d seen her three months after Gary died, up in the forest near Sage Mountain. Then he said he saw her again in Redwood Hill Cemetery last week.’
I turned my head and looked at Lizzy again. She’d gone pale. Sage Mountain was where she had camped and five days ago we had visited the cemetery to lay flowers on her mother’s and sister’s graves, ducking in just before it closed when we thought no one else would be around. I put my hand on hers and she linked our fingers together, then squeezed tightly.
Oh God, I thought. Beau had told me the truth. Why the hell can’t he leave us alone, leave Lizzy alone?
‘He’s quite mad, you know,’ I said.
‘Sometimes I wonder. He’s not someone I’d want to piss off, even though he’s eighty-four. Never did like the guy.’
‘Why not?’ Lizzy said.
‘There’s a bad vibe about him. And there’s something else too. When I was a kid, I used to mow his lawns. This’d be before his wife left him.’
‘He was married?’
‘Yeah, to Bonnie Redman. Her two nephews still live in town. She and Beau were married twenty years, then she just upped and left. Didn’t say a word to anybody. Just went. Can’t say I blame her, poor woman.’
‘Why do you say that?’
‘Folks said he beat her. Never saw it myself, but I heard ‘em going at it: her throwing stuff at him, Beau yelling, calling her a stupid bitch, stuff like that. I guess she just had enough. Anyway, one Saturday back in ’74 I went over to his house and saw that Beau had finally caught this mole that was playing havoc with his front lawn. He’d caught it a few hours earlier and put it in a small rusty cage and left it out on the lawn, sitting in the sun. “Here, Jeff,” he said, smiling at me. “Look what I caught.” I didn’t like that smile. I thought that Hitler had probably smiled like that when he had been cooking up something particularly nasty. I peeked into the cage and there was the cutest looking little guy I ever saw sniffing the air, probably wondering who the other human was. I asked Beau if I could keep him, but he said, “Oh no, fella, I got plans for him. Watch.” Then he pulled it out of the cage by its back legs, put one hand on its back to keep it still, then picked up a hammer that was lying in the grass nearby.’ Jeff paused. Tears were forming in his eyes and he wiped them away with a finger. ‘Then ... Then he raised that hammer above his head and brought it down on that little guy’s skull.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
‘Blood spurted onto his hands and face. My face. The mole squealed, squirmed. Screeched. Beau hadn’t hit it hard enough and the poor little bastard was still alive. I sometimes wonder if that’s what he meant to do, to make it suffer. He raised the hammer a second time and brought it down again and again and again. I tried to stop him. When he raised the hammer a third time I tried to grab it but he took his hand off the mole for a split second, not long enough for it to move more than an inch, and pushed me away. I fell on my ass but immediately got up and lunged for him just as that hammer came down. He pushed me away again and pounded that poor critter’s head into a pulp. And all the time he was doing it he was smiling. A big, wide, evil smile.’
I felt sick. Even though I suspected that he was capable of violence, I hadn’t tagged Beau as someone who took pleasure in killing. Lizzy looked horrified.
‘I threw my breakfast all over him and his damn lawn,’ Jeff said, ‘and then balled my eyes out. I was making so much noise Bonnie came out of the house to see what the hell was going on. When she saw the mole on the grass surrounded by blood and gore, the mess it had made all over me and him, she went pale and put her hand over her mouth. As much to block a scream as to stop herself from throwing up I guess. As virtually everyone around here hunts – Beau included – you’d think she’d be used to seeing blood and guts, but maybe it was the way he’d killed it that upset her. Bonnie grabbed my arm and pulled me into the house and cleaned me up in the bathroom while cursing Beau under her breath. I was still crying and she held me until I stopped. Then she wiped the tears from my face, got up and stomped out. Into the kitchen, I think. Bonnie was pissed, her face flushed a deep red, and she came back with a wallet. It was Beau’s. I remember it from when he used to pay me. She emptied it; put one hundred fifty-seven dollars into my hands. One hundred fifty-seven bucks was a lot of money back in 1974. Especially when you’re thirteen. “Take this and get out of here,” she said. “Think of it as the money you should have earned the rest of the year. Don’t come back. Ever. I don’t want him flying into one of his rages and turning that hammer on you.” Well that just scared the shit out of me, even worse than seeing him smash that mole’s brains in.’
Jeff wiped a hand across his face. He suddenly looked extremely tired.
‘I did exactly as Bonnie said: I got the hell out of there. Jumped onto my bike and pedaled my ass off until I was home. Two months later, Bonnie was gone. She was a good woman. Would never hurt a fly. I’ll never forget her. I hope she finally found some happiness and a man who deserved her.
‘I never went near him again. After I graduated high school, I went to college and stayed in Indiana for fifteen years before finally returning to Harkinen and taking over the pharmacy. By then, what Beau did was an old, faded memory but I still kept out of his way. When I bought the store I hated it - still do in fact - when he came in. I don’t want that man’s business but I’m too much of a coward to tell him to take his money and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. He still scares the crap out of me, even though he’s now an old man. Funny thing is, he’s never mentioned that day at his house. Not once.
‘But the reason I called you is because, when he came in and started going on about you and Lizzy Dashwood, it unnerved me. He had the same evil look in his eye that he’d had when he bashed that mole’s brains in. I wanted to come here and warn you because I genuinely believe that he’s dangerous. I understand that he used to know Lizzy Dashwood quite well and it was pretty obvious from the way he was talking that, like many in this town, he was quite taken with her.’ Jeff looked at Lizzy. ‘If he’s gotten it into his head that you’re Lizzy Dashwood, th
en he won’t leave you alone until he gets to see you and he’ll do whatever it takes to do so. You need to watch your back and stay away from him. Having now met you, I can honestly say that the resemblance to your great-aunt is remarkable. In a way, I can understand how someone who’s that deluded would think you’re really her.’
We stared at him in silence, both of us too stunned to speak.
Jeff waited for a moment, giving us time to process what we’d heard, then said, ‘My grandparents threw her a welcome home party after she was acquitted and this had pride of place on their mantelpiece.’
He had brought a briefcase with him and now Jeff opened it and handed a small framed photograph to Lizzy. It was a little faded but otherwise in good condition. In it, Lizzy stood between a pleasant looking couple, her arms around their waists.
She looked up. Her eyes had a sheen to them that hadn’t been there before and I could tell that she was struggling to control her emotions.
‘You’re Joanne and Chris’s grandson?’ Lizzy said.
Surprised, Jeff said, ‘How on earth did you know that?’
Get out of that one, I thought and watched her with interest.
‘She talked about the party in a letter to my parents,’ Lizzy said. ‘She was extremely grateful and deeply touched by what they did and how they supported her. She said they were very good friends and she loved them very much.’
Jeff raised his eyebrows. ‘Really?’
Lizzy nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘Wow, I never knew. I mean, I knew they were good friends, but ... They would’ve been pleased to have known that.’
‘I suppose they’re dead now.’
‘My grandfather, yes. He passed away in 1985 from a heart attack. Gran though, she’s turning one hundred this August and she’s still going strong. She lives with my aunt up in Kerorso.’
Lizzy looked delighted. ‘Really? How is she?’
Jeff regarded her with bemused curiosity. ‘Oh she’s great. Still as sharp as a tack and walks into town every day.’
‘You’re kidding?! At one hundred?’
Jeff nodded. ‘Yep, the old girl’s a machine.’
Lizzy smiled broadly then went silent, a nostalgic look on her face. It was obvious that she wanted to say more but didn’t trust herself in case she revealed too much.
‘You can keep that,’ Jeff said, pointing at the photo.
‘But Joanna …’
‘It’s a copy. The original is still on Gran’s mantelpiece.’
‘It’s a lovely frame. What do I owe-?’
Jeff looked offended. ‘It’s a gift. When I heard that you were here, I thought you’d like to have a copy.’
‘That’s very kind. Thank you.’
He shrugged and smiled. ‘My pleasure.’
‘Did you ever tell anyone about Beau killing that mole?’ I said.
Jeff shook his head. ‘At the time, I was way too scared to do that. I thought he’d come after me if I did. And as I said, when I moved back from Indiana it was old news and I didn’t see the point, but I did tell my wife. I’d be grateful if you kept it to yourselves.’
‘We will.’
Jeff slapped his thighs, sighed and stood up. ‘Right, well, I’d better be going. I’m supposed to be taking the family to see a movie tonight.’
We walked him to his car and shook hands.
‘Thanks for coming over and warning us,’ I said.
‘No problem.’
‘If you’re ever passing, come down and say hi.’
He nodded. ‘I’ll do that.’
We watched him get into his Volvo and drive away and as we turned around to walk inside, I said, ‘Did they actually teach you how to shoot when you made that movie with John Wayne, or was it just Hollywood make believe?’
‘Yes, they did. The director insisted. He wanted it to look authentic.’
‘When did you last fire a gun?’
‘Umm … Some time in 1948. By then I’d sunk into a deep depression and Mum removed all firearms from the house in case I used one on myself.’
‘But not alcohol?’
‘I hid that.’
‘Ah. Well, in that case you need a refresher course.’
Lizzy raised an eyebrow and gave me a level look. She thought I was overreacting. ‘Why? Because of Beau?’
‘Yes. I’d feel safer if you had a gun.’
‘He’s an old man, Bruce. Yes, a violent, twisted old man, but at eighty-four I think the worst we can expect is more of his acidic gossip and perhaps a few more attempts to see me. It’s just harassment really. Yeah, he scares me, but I don’t think he’ll try to get inside if you’re not here and I feel safe with Mick and Keith around.’
‘Hon, Beau is remarkably strong for-’
‘Oh Bruce he’s hardly going to break down the door!’
I gave her a stern look. ‘I’m not going to argue about it. You’re having a gun. Period. I’ve got a Glock 19 in the office safe. It’s good for beginners.’
‘Bruce-’
‘Lizzy, I’d feel much happier leaving you alone if you were armed. Mick and Keith are still pups and I’ve have a bad feeling about Beau for a few days now and I can’t shift it. I didn’t want to say anything in case I alarmed you, but after what Jeff has just told us I’m not taking any chances. And what if Gary comes back? Or something worse?’
‘Firstly,’ Lizzy said in a patient voice, ‘he was dead. How can I kill something that’s already dead?’
‘Head shot, like in the movies,’ I said with a wry smile. ‘It won’t “kill” the bastard, but it will give you time to grab my axe and chop the sonofabitch into tiny pieces.’
‘Okay, but I can’t shoot Beau and neither can you. You’ll go to jail.’
‘I’m protecting my property and the woman I love. If he breaks in, I have the right to use deadly force. Period.’
‘But he’s an old man! Surely you’re overreacting?!’
‘Overreacting?!’ I pointed at her. ‘You’re the one who wanted to hide from him and now that I understand why and want to make sure you’re safe, I’m “overreacting”! You didn’t feel the unnatural sinewy strength that seemed to pulse from his arm. I did. I’m not going to let an unhinged and apparently violent man get within five hundred yards of you, regardless of his age. He’s dangerous. Especially where you’re concerned.’
‘But …’
Lizzy looked away, crossing her left arm over her chest as she massaged her forehead with her right hand. She looked annoyed but also scared. After the way she had reacted to Beau’s visits and her refusal to go into town, I didn’t understand why she was against having a gun. A few seconds went by, then Lizzy sighed and turned back to me.
‘Bruce, I’m sure I’ll be fine. As to Mick and Keith, he’s scared of them, remember?’
‘Yeah … but like I said, they’re still pups. And what if he comes back armed?’
‘Do you really think he would?’
‘Hon, he’s off his rocker. Anything’s possible.’
Eventually, Lizzy relented and that night I taught her how to strip down, clean, reassemble, function check and oil the Glock. We spent the next week working on her marksmanship and eight days after Jeff’s visit, Beau came back.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
On the night of April 14, Lizzy woke me from a deep sleep.
‘Bruce! Bruce!’
‘Nnuh?’ I turned over and squinted at her, the light from her bedside lamp hurting my eyes.
‘Beau Harkinen’s here!’
The thick, cloying vestiges of sleep fell away and I sat up with a jerk. ‘Harkinen?’
She was wide-eyed and trembling. ‘Yes.’
Then I heard him.
‘Kain!’
I groaned. ‘How long-’
‘Seconds. I heard a car pull up, wondered who it was and looked out of the landing window. I saw him climb out of his truck and start yelling your name, t
hen I ran back in here.’
I could hear him stomping down the front walk in his work boots.
‘Come on out, you fuckin’ cuntweed shitweasel!’
He sounded drunk.
‘Fuck’s sake,’ I muttered and glanced at the clock radio. Twelve minutes past midnight.
Son of a fucking bitch, I thought.
I got out of bed and went to the landing window. Mick and Keith were already there, looking down and barking. It was pitch black outside, but the motion-sensing security lights I’d fitted to the house had lit up the front yard like a football stadium. Beau was standing on the path and looking up at the house, swaying gently like a sailor in a minor swell. He spotted me and leered, jabbing a gnarled forefinger at the window.
‘Yeah you! Fuckin’ cunt!’
I’d fitted five security system control panels in our main habitation areas: the bedroom, kitchen, TV room, living room and my office. From there we could activate and deactivate it and view the cameras. I went into the bedroom, deactivated the alarm and then opened the landing window, a cold breeze flowing over my body and making me shiver.
‘Fuck off, Beau,’ I said, ‘unless you want me to set my dogs on you while we’re waiting for a deputy to turn up and arrest your scrawny ass.’
‘Ha! I dare ya! Cunt!’
‘Okay, if that’s how you want it.’
I turned and found Lizzy standing behind me holding a cordless landline phone. She looked small, defenseless and terrified, and that made me angrier. After all Lizzy had been through, we now had this crazy sonofabitch stalking her.
‘It’ll be okay,’ I said. ‘I promise. I’m going to call nine-one-one. An hour from now he’ll be cooling his heels in a jail cell.’
‘I already tried. The line’s dead.’
‘What?’
Lizzy gave me the phone and I held it against my ear. Silence. No dialing tone. I pressed the disconnect button a few times and listened again. She was right; the line was dead.
‘Shit. No point in trying our cells. No freakin’ signal.’
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