by Giles Milton
Tammy reappeared with her hair still wet. Jack glanced at her. She looked a million dollars.
‘Jeez,’ she said, surveying the mess. ‘Five minutes to destroy a kitchen. It’s like a bomb went off. But I guess it stopped world war three.’
Fran and Elsie ate straightaway, finishing off two helpings. Then Tammy told them to get into pyjamas.
‘You’d better thank Jack,’ she said as she led them off to bed.
*
‘Well that was a triumph,’ said Tammy when she came back down. ‘And now it’s our turn. Can we have it with the left-over sauce?’
‘Perfect.’
She set the table while the sauce was heating up. Jack meanwhile got the spätzle from the oven.
‘Here goes,’ he said, tasting a forkful.
‘Jack, you’re a genius! These are great. What’re they called again?’
‘Spätzle. German. You normally eat them with venison or stew or something like that. In Germany, that is.’
‘You’ve had them in Germany?’
‘Yes. In Munich. There’s this fabulous restaurant.’
He couldn’t stop looking at her. Her eyes were catching the light and her hair was still slightly wet. She’d put on dangly silver earrings.
‘We should go.’
‘Go where?’
‘To Munich. Fly to Germany. Go and have spätzle. And venison. In winter, that’s when it’s best. There’s snow. I’ll take you. And the kids. On me, of course. We could all go.’
There was a pause. Tammy put down her fork and looked at him hard.
‘What’s wrong?’ he said.
‘I’m confused, Jack. Real confused. I mean maybe it’s because I’m stressed and tired and drained. But –’ she sighed - ‘I don’t quite know how to put this -’
‘What?’
‘It’s as if – look, maybe you don’t even like me and I’ve got it all upside down in my head and I’m about to make a prize fool of myself. But I can’t help feeling that you do like being here and you like me but something’s not quite right.’
She sat forwards in her chair.
‘Can I ask you something?’
‘Sure.’
‘Who’s Karin? I mean, who – is – she? You keep mentioning her, she seems to be with us every second of the day, but you refuse to talk about her.’
There was a long silence.
‘Yes,’ he said at last. ‘You’re right to be confused.’
He got up from his chair and sat down next to hers. But before he had the chance to say anything more she interrupted him.
‘I wouldn’t mind, Jack, I wouldn’t mind about anything. But there’s Fran and Elsie. You’ve seen them with you. They just adore you. They want to adopt you. And I don’t even know where you stand. And -
There was another long pause.
‘Okay,’ he said, taking a deep breath. ‘It’s like this -
‘It was after Alice died. It was bad. I fell apart. And that’s when I started to drink. Heavily. Out of control. For two years, Tammy, I did very little else than drink myself into oblivion. Morning. Lunch. Evening. Evenings were the worst. That’s when it really hurts.’
He paused for a moment.
‘And then?’
‘And then I met Karin.’
‘Then I was right. Women are great mind-readers, you know.’
‘She was German. And she was in London, working on a documentary. She’s a TV journalist. A presenter, in fact. And she came to the rescue. Became my guardian angel. She pulled me from the chaos, stopped me drinking. She taught me that you can put things behind you. What’s the point in living if you spend your life in complete bloody misery?
‘She was beautiful. I mean she is beautiful. Ten years younger than me but a hundred years wiser. And things happened fast. She was going back to Germany but I persuaded her not to. She meant the world to me, Tammy.’
‘And – ’
‘And then, just a couple of weeks ago, I’m at home on my own. I’d come back early from a trip and there’s a ring on the bell. I answer and there’s this guy standing there, a stranger, and he looks surprised when it’s me opening the door. He’s expecting Karin, see. Anyway, it transpired she’d had a fling while I’d been away. She’d slept with him. And I felt like I’d been shot in the head. So I told her to leave.’
‘And she left?’
‘Yes. Went straight back to Germany. I was mad at her, crazy, and she didn’t have anywhere else to go. And you know what, the weirdest thing of all? It happened less than two weeks ago. Less than two weeks!'
‘You’re still mad at her?’
‘Yes. I’m still mad at her.’
‘But you miss her?’
Silence.
‘How much were you away?’
‘A lot.’
‘And you’ve never got up to anything while you’re away?’
‘Well -’
‘You know what, I think you’re nuts. You’re off travelling most of the time. Karin’s on her own. She makes one mistake – a mistake that she almost certainly regrets. And then back comes Jack Raven, having got up to god knows what while he’s been away on his own, and he throws a fit and kicks out the woman of his dreams.’
She paused for a moment.
‘That’s madness. She saved you from yourself, dragged you back to the real world. And what d’you do? You kick her out.’
Jack looked at her. She was glaring at him.
‘But – ’
‘One mistake. And that’s enough to kick someone out, in the logic of Jack Raven. What the hell were you thinking of?’
She sighed heavily.
‘Look, since it’s an evening of confessions, I’ll come clean with you. I like you, Jack. I like you very much. In fact I haven’t liked anyone quite so much for years. I’ve loved having you here, even though the circumstances are not exactly the best. Getting to know someone while there’s a serial killer on your doorstep is not exactly great for romance. But I’ve loved watching you with the kids. You’re a great guy. And intelligent too. There’s not so many of those in Hanford, I can tell you. In fact you’re a rare breed. But all along, I’ve had this suspicion that you were looking at the woman behind me.
‘Lucky, lucky Karin. And although I’ll probably regret what I’m about to say forever, I’ll at least say it from my heart. Get her back in your life, before you miss the chance.’
She kicked at the floor and sighed.
‘Sometimes I feel like putting my whole life in the trash,’ she said. ‘That way you can start afresh.’
There was a long pause before Jack finally spoke.
‘Tammy,’ he said. ‘I appreciate what you said. I really do. And I hate myself sometimes. Look, I’ll tell you the truth right now, so you know it. You’re amazing. You’re fantastic. You’re gorgeous. Look at you, you’re completely bloody gorgeous. Christ, I love being here with you, despite the circumstances. Your kids are great. You’re the best mother. But you’re right, of course, you’re totally bloody right. I see Karin wherever I look. I miss her. And that’s the problem.’
*
It was late by the time they’d finished talking. Tammy stifled a yawn and looked at her watch.
‘Past midnight,’ she said. ‘And it’s been an evening I don’t think I’ll forget in a while. High emotional drama. Christ, talk about roller coaster. And now the nightly terror is about to begin. This is called living on the edge. It’ll kill me. D’you mind if I disappear? I’m dead beat.’
Jack nodded. ‘I’m going to do the same soon.’
He took her hand in his for a moment. ‘Listen, Tammy, I want to apologize. And thank you, as well. I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know.’
When she’d gone upstairs he walked slowly over to the window. The garden outside was bathed in yellow glow from the patio lamps. The storm that threatened earlier had failed to materialize. The dampness in the garden came from the humidity.
There were only two boxes that
he hadn’t yet looked through. Although it was late he didn’t feel tired. He decided to go through the last of the papers before heading off to bed.
The contents of the first were the most recent. Architectural drawings of the remodeled ZAKRON building. He pushed them back into the file and pulled the second box towards him. He was hoping there’d be more about the military base during the war but was quickly disappointed. It was filled with correspondence from the three scientists working alongside Tammy’s grandfather.
He idly looked through the papers, only half concentrating on their contents. There was a letter from Tammy’s grandfather to Gerald Harley, one of the scientists, proposing the acquisition of land for the ZAKRON building. The next was from Walter Boyce, another member of the team. And there was a card from Ralph Proctor and his wife, Beverley, inviting all of them –Walter and Virginia, Gerald Harley, Ronald C. Fox and Hannah – to a celebratory dinner. And it was as Jack read through the invitation that his brain suddenly flashed onto red alert.
‘Shit.’
He looked again, flicking back through the letters.
‘Holy shit.’
And then again.
‘Holy shit. Holy shit.’
He stood bolt upright, headed for the stairs.
‘Tammy,’ he called.’
*
Tammy was half asleep when Jack burst into her room. He pushed the door open with his foot, switched on the light. She woke in an instant and sat upright in panic.
‘What’s happening?’
‘Got to get out. Now. Immediately. Throw on some clothes. He’s coming. We’re next.’
‘What? What?’
Tammy jumped out of bed, still confused. ‘What d’you mean?’
Jack took her arm and showed her the letters in his hand.
‘Look -’ He unfolded them one by one. ‘Look at the addresses. Rio Vista Drive. Douglas Street. Lovedock Way. The three scientists who worked with your grand-dad all lived in the houses where the murders have taken place.’
He stopped for a moment. ‘You do get it?’
She looked at him, awake but not yet fully functioning. Jack spelled it out bluntly.
‘Hans Dietrich thinks he’s killing the scientists. As far as he’s concerned, he’s still living in the nineteen forties. He thought he’d killed Gerald Harley when in fact it was Ashton Brookner. He thought he’d killed Walter and Virginia Boyce, when in fact it was Weldon and Rose Pereira. He thought he’d killed Ralph and Beverly Proctor, when in fact it was Ed and Hayley Mann. And now, as far as he’s concerned, there’s only your grandfather left. And he lived here.’
She stared at him. He could see her mind working it through.
‘It means that when he comes, he’ll kill whoever happens to be inside this house. You. Fran and Elsie. Me too. He’s a killing machine. He doesn’t care who we are. He just wants us dead.’
A moment’s silence. She was still half asleep.
‘Tom, Hunter –’ he said. ‘You see what they’ve done? In bringing Hans Dietrich to Hanford, they’ve inadvertently brought him to the very place he wanted to be.’
‘But Tom brought him here cos of the lab,’ said Tammy in a half-protesting sort of voice. ‘Tom brought him here cos of ZAKRON.’
‘Yes, Tom brought him to ZAKRON. But Hans Dietrich doesn’t know about ZAKRON or cryonics or anything. All he knows is that he’s somehow woken up in Hanford, which is where he wanted to be all along, and that he’s on a mission to kill the scientists. If this was still the nineteen forties, he’d be coming after your grandfather. But now it’s the present and he’s coming after you.’
He saw her nodding slowly. And then suddenly, her eyes were wide with fright.
‘Shit, shit, shit. Two secs. I’ll get dressed.’
‘And I’ll check the kids,’ he said, running up the flight of stairs to the top floor.
Tammy threw on jeans and a T-shirt then followed Jack up to the top floor. He was standing outside the children’s bedroom, looking in.
‘Thank God,’ he said. ‘They’re asleep.’
Tammy stepped into the room and double-checked they were okay. Then she turned back to Jack.
‘But where do we go? What do we do?’
‘We get out fast. Now. He could come anytime. Maybe tonight. In fact, quite possibly tonight. He hasn’t struck for two nights. We’ll go anywhere. The Comfort Inn. It doesn’t matter, just as long as it’s not here.’
‘I’ll get them dressed,’ she said.
‘No. No time. We’ll take them like that. You take Elsie. I’ll take Fran. Let’s go.’
She nodded, trying to think straight. ‘We’ll take my car,’ she said. ‘There’s more room. We can all fit in.’
Jack went over to one of the beds and scooped Fran into his arms, the blanket still half-wrapped around him. He sniffed, buried his head into his shoulders and said sleepily: ‘What’s happening?’
Tammy took Elsie, carrying her with the blanket wrapped over her shoulders. She was clutching her furry rabbit close to her cheek. She didn’t even wake up.
‘Got everything?’ said Jack in a whisper.
She nodded. ‘Let’s go.’
They made their way down from the top floor and onto the landing below. Elsie was still fast asleep in Tammy’s arms, but Fran stirred slightly and rubbed his eyes in the light.
‘You okay?’ said Jack.
They made their way down to the ground floor as fast as possible, taking care not to trip on the trailing blankets. As they reached the kitchen, Jack felt Fran waking and struggling in his arms.
‘What’s happening?’ he said. Then he slipped himself out of Jack’s embrace and jumped indignantly to the floor.
Jack turned to Tammy. ‘Get them in the car,’ he said. ‘I’ll get my stuff. And then we’ll get out of here.’
Tammy looked at him anxiously. ‘You’re not going back inside?’ she said. ‘What if he's here already? What if he’s hiding out? What if he got in earlier, when we were looking through all the stuff?’
Jack shook his head. ‘No. He’s not here yet. We had the alarm on. We'd have heard him. I was downstairs the whole time, right till the moment I woke you.’
He gave Fran a friendly nudge towards the door that led from the kitchen to the garage. Then he turned back to Tammy. ‘Get in the car and lock the doors. I’ll be back in a sec.’
‘But Jack – ’
She pleaded with him. ‘He’s a killer, for Chrissakes. He's armed. He's got Kingston's gun, remember.’
‘Just need to get my stuff. And – ’ He glanced around the garage. A crowbar was leaning against the wall. He picked it up, gripped it tightly.
‘Get in the car and lock it,’ he said. ‘Lock it and you’ll be fine. I’ll be right back down.’
Tammy stooped inside the car as she struggled to place Elsie in the child seat. ‘Here we go honey,’ she said, stretching over to fasten the seatbelt. She tucked the blanket all around her and kissed her gently on her forehead. Then she went round to the other side and strapped Fran in as well.
‘Okay, done.’
She climbed into the driving seat and fastened her seat belt. And then she put the keys in the ignition and gave them a quarter turn. The dashboard lights flicked on and she hit the central locking control. There was a loud clunk as all four doors automatically locked. She suddenly felt safer.
‘What's going on?’ asked Fran, his head still swimming with sleep.
‘Nothing sweetie. Jack’s coming in a minute. And then we've got a short drive. That's all.’
‘But where, mom?’ said Elsie. She’d half-woken as she was being strapped into her seat. She rubbed her eyes. ‘Where we going?’
‘Just try to sleep,’ said Tammy, glancing down at her watch. Why was Jack taking so long? What was he doing?
She felt a wave of panic. What if Hans Dietrich was already inside? He’s not here yet. We had the alarm on. We'd have heard him. But what if he was? What if he was inside a cupboard right
now, watching Jack, waiting to strike?
Fran’s voice cut through her thoughts. ‘There's a man killing people,’ he said. ‘It's true, isn't it mom. I heard you talking about it. I heard you downstairs with Jack. There’s a man killing people.’
‘No honey,’ said Tammy. ‘No one’s killing anyone. Jack and I were talking about something – ’
It was as she said these words, in mid-sentence, that something caused her to glance upwards. She looked into the rear view mirror. A drop of fear chilled her spine. She looked in the mirror a second time, only more sharply. The heap of blankets in the trunk of the car had moved.
No -
She froze.
No -
There was a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach.
It can't be. Please God, no. Not this.
Instinctively she reached for the automatic unlock button, hit it hard, then turned to face the rear of the car. As she did so, a figure burst from the blankets.
She screamed, flung her arms towards Fran and Elsie. They screamed as well, struggling in their seats.
Hans Dietrich lifted his gun. Said nothing. Pointed it directly at Tammy’s head.
*
Jack made his way through to the living room, clutching the crowbar in his right hand. The house felt eerily silent. Boxes and papers were still scattered across the floor of the living room. He put down the crowbar for a second and picked up his iPad. He pushed it into his bag. Then he took his phone, which was lying on the sofa, and slipped it into his trouser pocket. He seized the crowbar once again and started making a search of the house.
He went back into the hall (nowhere to hide) then made his way through to the front room. A quick glance round. Here, too, there was nowhere to hide.
He made his way back to the hall, then went upstairs and searched the wardrobes in Tammy's room. Nothing. The cupboards in the junk room. Nothing.
He made his way to the top of the house, to the children’s room. Two beds, two chests of drawers and an entire wall of walk-in wardrobes. It was as he began searching through the clothes and toys that he suddenly had a feeling that something was seriously wrong.
*
Tammy had been staring in horror at Hans Dietrich, unable to make sense of what was happening. At first she screamed. Then she sobbed and beat at the car seat. And then her sobbing diminished to a whimper. Her arms were outstretched towards her children.