by Linda Coles
Tin Men
Linda Coles
Blue Banana
All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 Blue Banana
Chapter One
One year earlier
He ate his cereal, his two young boys in their high chairs by his side at the table. Part of him wished he’d had them earlier in life, perhaps when he’d been in his late twenties or early thirties like his friends had. The noisy part of the young boys’ lives would then have been at a time when he’d been able to cope better, was less distracted with work. And other issues. But right now, he was conscious of how draining their exuberance could be, particularly when his head was someplace else. He craved peace. And escapism.
He watched Jo, all the time chattering to the youngsters, encouraging them both to eat up and become strong boys as she fed them simultaneously. Through the window of the spacious kitchen, the morning sun streamed in and he noticed the miniscule particles of dust floating lazily in the air around her and the boys’ heads, the light catching his wife’s highlights and the ever-present twinkle of her eyes.
He’d struck lucky when he’d met Jo. After being married for nearly ten years, they’d decided it was time to start the family they’d both been putting off. Mainly because of work. As a lawyer, Stuart had had no choice but to put the hours in. It came with the territory, and since Jo had worked at the same firm as a legal secretary, they’d more or less made it their way of life together. Each understood the demands of the other’s role, and that made their relationship work despite the gruelling workload they each undertook. And that understanding carried itself to their home life too. With Jo about to resume her position after an extended maternity leave, Stuart would find himself in front of the cooker of an evening just as much as Jo would.
The thought depressed him a little. He was getting too old for the constant demands on his time and had enjoyed the little extra solitude he’d stolen here and there while she’d been off. But Jo wasn’t one to sit at home all day with nothing to occupy her acute legal mind. Endless coffee mornings and lunches with the girls were as far away from her ideal as a wet weekend in Bognor Regis.
Stuart often wished it were otherwise. It would take the pressure off.
He was aware she had spoken and he hadn’t answered.
“Sorry, did you say something?”
Her smile was always a bright one; rarely was Jo ever cross or grumpy. “I said you look miles away, and you obviously were. Anyplace nice?”
Soon he would be. So soon.
“Oh, idle thoughts. Nothing to write home about,” he said casually, though the comment had pricked at him. Anxious to change the topic, he enquired about her day ahead. “What time are you all leaving? Need a lift to the station?”
“All organised, thanks. Train leaves at eight forty-five, so you’ll be long gone.” She smiled across at him and it nearly broke his heart. The irony of what she’d said hit him full in the chest and he struggled not to gasp out loud. When he was confident he could speak without his voice wobbling, he said, “Well, enjoy your day out. Bring me a stick of rock back.”
“Do people still buy rock at the seaside, do you think?”
“I doubt it. I’ll Google it,” he said.
She wiped the two youngsters’ hands with a cloth as she spoke, adding, “Let me know what you find out.” She then removed each child from its high chair and allowed them to wobble off on socked feet as she followed close behind. She glanced up at the replica old station clock on the wall and turned to her husband.
“You’d better get a move on, dreamboat. Have you seen the time?”
Time doesn’t matter today. There’s plenty where I’m going.
“I have an errand out of the office,” he said. “A bit more time spare this morning.” It wasn’t exactly a lie but it felt like one.
It was like watching his life roll out in front of him, like a play being performed and he wasn’t in it. He played along anyway and silently placed his bowl and spoon in the dishwasher along with the other breakfast crockery. He added powder to the dispenser and pressed start, and the machine hummed into action. The digital counter on the front told him it would take sixty minutes. He watched it for a while.
Fifty-nine.
Would it be finished in time, he idly wondered? So he could put the contents away beforehand?
“Right. Okay. I’ll finish getting me and the team ready, then we’ll be off,” she said chirpily. He could only smile in return. He sat back down at the table and picked the morning newspaper up, though he wasn’t really reading it; he was distracted. It was more to pass the time, pretend everything was normal.
About as far from normal as it could be.
Upstairs, little giggling sounds were barely audible as the three of them dressed and teeth were cleaned, a day bag packed with the necessary equipment two little boys would need for their outing at Grandma’s. When the small gang were finally ready, Stuart helped them outside to Jo’s car and loaded everyone safely inside. The boys blew bubbles as Stuart bent to kiss them both on their tiny flushed cheeks, hiding his emotions at the pain that was about to fall down on them. He looked across at Jo, already strapped in and ready to rumble.
Damn, she was a lovely-looking woman.
“Have the best time. Stay safe.”
It didn’t feel enough. What would be enough?
“We will,” she chirped back, and flashed him a dazzling smile.
The words caught in his throat as he added, “I love you all,” and coughed lightly to cover over the unsteadiness.
“Love you too!” she said and waved brightly as she reversed out on to the road. Stuart waited for her to pull away, his hand raised ready to wave them off.
Forever.
The car disappeared around the corner, leaving Stuart alone on the front step. Satisfied they had gone, he sauntered back inside. The house was silent. It was deathly quiet inside his head. He noted the dishwasher still had fifteen minutes to go.
I can’t wait.
He retrieved the old sports bag from its hiding place in the under-stairs cupboard and pulled out two pieces of card. Each was about the size of a novel, and he re-read the words printed on them, though he knew every single one.
He’d written them.
With sticky tape, he attached one first to the back door and then one to the front, message side visible to anyone who called. He was only expecting one visitor, but as a lawyer, he’d always planned for the unknown, other eventualities. This couldn’t go wrong; it was too important. When he was satisfied all was in order, he took the old sports bag and its remaining contents upstairs to their bedroom and carried out the rest of his plan.
By the time Jo’s train pulled away from the station, Stuart’s life had already left his body.
Chapter Two
Once a spook, always a spook. Even though she’d been retired, if that was the right word, for more than five years, the threads of a previous life as a government agent still dangled and teased in her veins. At the ripe old age of 41, she was hardly the normal retirement age—but then you’d never describe Chrissy as normal. Ever. And she definitely hadn’t retired in the conventional bored-out-of-her-brains manner that so many folks hurtled towards when the big R wor
d loomed in the distance. No, not Chrissy. She hadn’t time to retire. Not yet. And certainly not today.
A horn beeped outside—her Uber, ready to pick her up. She was more than capable of driving herself to her sister’s place, of course, but Adam would be meeting her there later and they could ride back in his car together. She grabbed her bag and keys and pulled the front door of the brick house closed behind her. Cornflowers were showing off their blue heads in the garden bed adjacent to the garage on her left. The loose shingle of the drive crunched noisily as she stepped carefully so as not to scuff her patent boots before she climbed into the back seat of the car. Since the driver already knew where they were headed, he simply greeted her and offered her a mint.
“No, thanks,” she said politely, her tone sending the message she wasn’t up for conversation. He really didn’t need to work at it. Should she tell him he’d get a better tip if he kept himself to himself, kept quiet? It seemed a bit harsh, really, to say such a thing, so she kept the thought to herself. For the duration of the journey from Englefield Green to her sister’s place, which was all of ten miles away, she gazed out of her side window up at the summer sky.
It was Wednesday July 11th, 2018, and Chrissy Livingstone was on her way to discuss their father’s funeral arrangements over tiny sandwiches and afternoon gin.
Deep in thought and enjoying the feel of the warm sunshine on her neck, where her jacket collar was opened casually, she startled when the phone in her bag vibrated and rang loudly with an incoming text. The loud bike horn indicated it was Adam; the tone suited him, and instinctively she smiled at his presence in her bag on her lap. The message was simple, as they always were.
‘Be nice to Julie. I’ll see you later.’
He ended it with an emoji with a halo on top of its head—Good girl. She felt like patting the top of her own head for good measure, like a parent might pat their ‘good girl.’
But Julie riled her up terribly, particularly when the gin was flowing, although Chrissy always did her best to let it wash over her. Why she did so, she had no idea, since Julie had the perfect suburban life on the surface, though that was maybe the problem. With 2.2 beautiful children, a purebred moggie, and a nice though dull husband, Julie wanted for nothing. Although maybe something a bit less dull in the husband department. To Chrissy, a woman who’d worked hard all her life and held down a career while raising her own family with Adam, it seemed her sister whined about and focused on the trivial things in life way too much. The best place for a facial, the newest eatery, the this, the that and not much of the other. Julie, for her part, thought that Chrissy needed to get out more, make more of herself, get her hair coiffed regularly, but those things didn’t interest her. A social butterfly she didn’t need to be; she was fine as she was. If only Julie knew the half of what she did. Had done.
The thought amused her again as the car pulled up to the front gate and Chrissy pressed the buzzer to notify her sister she had arrived. Knowing full well a camera was focusing on her right then and there, she smiled, Garfield-like, into the lens and heard the familiar click of the lock. The gates opened at a snail’s pace. Pulling her head back in through the open side window, she caught the eye of the driver, who’d seen her grin through the rear-view mirror.
“I know. I do it because it bugs her. Too straight-laced, that sister of mine. She needs to let her hair down sometimes.”
He nodded his approval. She smiled in return.
Grinning like Garfield was hardly letting her hair down, but it amused Chrissy anyway.
A moment later, Julie could be seen gracing the open front door, looking like she’d stepped straight out of Hello! Magazine’s celebrity pages. Clad head to foot in a cream linen trouser suit, she looked stunningly beautiful, though Chrissy thought her head of stiff blonde waves were in desperate need of liberating. One day she’d tempt her sister to let them hang loose. Or perhaps Chrissy could push her hands inside the lacquered fortress and force them loose herself, though she doubted they’d gain entry through the half pint of hair spray.
If two sisters could be polar opposites, the two women at the front entrance were a prime example of chalk and cheese, yin or yang, and if you didn’t know their origin, you’d have said they couldn’t possibly be related. Indeed, Chrissy had wondered if she herself had been adopted early on, or swapped at birth even, but blood tests when she’d needed surgery a while back had confirmed she was indeed the product of a diverse-looking family. She was her parents’ offspring through and through. And so was the woman in cream.
“Darling!” Julie cooed. She not only looked the part but acted it full time.
“Hey, sis,” Chrissy said as she gave her sister a bear hug. She could feel Julie’s ribs through her clothing. “You could do with a hot meal or something, put some meat on your bones. You’re feeling a bit thin.”
“And you sound like Mum,” Julie said, smiling at their regular dig at each other. Chrissy herself was on the lean side, but a sporty lean as opposed to an ‘I-don’t-eat-much’ kind of lean, celebrity lean. Julie went to the gym to walk on the treadmill and read her book at the same time, somehow managing to stay on the dry side of a sweat in an effort to burn a few extra calories. She’d rather do that than get a full healthy workout and have to re-fix her waves. Chalk and cheese, yin and yang.
“Is Mum inside?”
“She is. Hardly said a word, though. I expect talking about Dad’s funeral won’t be easy. Be gentle, eh?”
Chrissy noticed the pink rings under her sister’s eyes, though Julie had evidently tried to conceal them with foundation. So her sister did cry after all. Chrissy headed inside and on to the lounge where their mother sat alone. A glass of clear liquid had been set down in front of her; the gin had already started to flow. She bent and pecked her mother’s thin cheek then sat on the rather formal and extraordinarily uncomfortable sofa, wriggling a little to find a soft spot. Julie joined them but sat in a chair opposite. Their mother kept her head down low; she looked more frail than usual and hadn’t yet said a word.
Julie prodded a little. “Mother, would you like to start? I expect Daddy had his own wishes for his funeral.”
Sandra Baker raised her head for the first time since their arrival and spoke so low Chrissy had to ask her to repeat what she’d said.
With unexpected ferocity the older woman repeated her words, her voice a sudden angry shout in the stillness.
“I said, I really don’t care what you girls organise. Do what you wish. I’ll have no part in organising it, not after what he’s done.”
Chapter Three
“What has he done?” enquired Chrissy, dumbfounded. Whatever it was, was news to her. But then her mother had never confided in Chrissy, preferring the perfectly formed model ears of Julie. They shared the same surgeon.
Nobody spoke. She tried again. “Is either of you going to enlighten me or do I have to guess?” Chrissy’s voice rose an octave as she finished the sentence so ‘guess’ came out a tad higher than normal.
Julie voted herself in as spokesperson. “It seems Daddy had a secret or two. Mummy found a letter, from a man.”
“Dad was seeing a man?” Chrissy asked, incredulous.
“No, silly! It wasn’t that kind of letter.”
“Well, you said it was from a man, and Dad had secrets. What did you think I’d think?” Chrissy leaned forward and helped herself to a gin since everyone else had one. She took a mouthful and winced. She preferred a glass of wine. White.
“It was a threatening letter, actually. Dad owed the man some money, though I’ve no idea how much. And the man was pretty upset about it. The letter was rather nasty.”
“Oh. That’s a bit odd, isn’t it? I mean, Dad wasn’t in debt—was he, Mum?” Chrissy looked across at the woman who seemed to have gotten frailer since she’d arrived. Her head hung low again, and Chrissy noted the thin line of her mother’s hair, pink scalp showing through the white silky threads.
“Mum?”
&nb
sp; “No, Well, not that I know of.” It wasn’t much more than a whisper, and both sisters strained to hear her reply.
Chrissy turned her attention to Julie. “Then what did it say? What made it threatening?”
“It merely said his time was up to repay and if he didn’t …” She trailed off.
“Go on. What would happen?” Chrissy prodded, but Julie clearly didn’t want to have to say the words. Maybe it would be easier without their mother present. Chrissy made a sideways nodding motion with her head towards the conservatory door. Julie picked up the hint and they both stood. They doubted their mother would even notice them leaving the room for a moment; her head was still bowed to her knees.
When they were both out of earshot, Julie closed the conservatory and resumed speaking.
“Daddy apparently owed the man a considerable sum, though he doesn’t say how much exactly. Reading how it was phrased, the words he’d used, I’d say we’re talking hundreds of thousands.” Julie’s face wore a disapproving, worried look, her designer lips twisting awkwardly.
“Holy shit, Jules. Does Mum know you think it’s such a vast sum?”
“Afraid so. That’s why she’s so upset, and quiet. She’s barely said a word since I mentioned it. She’s angry at him, understandably.”
“What the hell did he owe money for? It’s not like he wasn’t well off.” Chrissy fell silent again, processing what Julie had told her a minute or two ago.
Threatening.
“Have you still got it, the letter?”
“No. Mum took it back, shredded it and threw it in the rubbish. It’s in the kitchen bin if you want it, in tiny pieces.”
“Great,” Chrissy said sarcastically. “I’d have liked to see it with my own eyes before she ripped it up.”
“Why the interest? He’s dead now, so whatever it was, he can’t pay it back anyway.” The sunshine peeked out from behind a cloud and the furniture in the conservatory gleamed a brilliant white. It was almost too dazzling, and provided a break in their conversation; both stood with their own thoughts. When the sun disappeared behind another cloud, Chrissy spoke first.