by Mark Tufo
‘So is what happened this morning somehow my fault too? Is it my fault I lost my temper when I saw another man trying to fuck my wife outside my bedroom window? Jeez, what a terrible overreaction on my part. What do you think I should I have done, Chelle? Fetched you a bloody condom? Cleared out of the bedroom so you two could have had the bed?’
‘I can’t explain this morning. I just...’ she started to say before losing her nerve. Deep breath. Can’t avoid this. Have to do it. ‘I think you’re the cause of all our problems. I want you to go. I want you to leave us alone.’
He threw himself at her and she cowered, braced for the familiar rush of pain. But he stopped, fist just inches from her face, and grinned as she shrank away from him. ‘You’ve got this all mixed up in that empty little head of yours,’ he said. ‘You see, love, I’m the one who keeps this fucked-up family together. I don’t know why I bother sometimes.’
‘Then why don’t you just stop? Leave us alone... Don’t you get it? There’s nothing wrong with us. There’s nothing wrong with Thussock or any of the people here... it’s all you. You’re the one who’s different. You’re the one who’s got it wrong, the one who doesn’t fit in. You should just pack your stuff and—’ The phone started to ring, interrupting her. She heard Tammy sprint to the living room to answer it. Michelle tried to follow but Scott blocked her way.
‘You’re unbelievable, you know that?’ he said. ‘You’re deluded.’
‘I think I might have been, but I’m starting to see things more clearly now.’
Tammy was in the doorway. ‘It’s Jackie. She’s asking to talk to you, Mum. Says it’s urgent.’
‘Be a good girl and tell the nice lady that your mother’s busy,’ Scott said. ‘Actually, tell her your mother’s busy and ask her to stop sticking her fucking nose in other people’s business.’
‘Leave Jackie alone,’ Michelle said. ‘She’s a good friend.’
‘I know. I met her.’
‘You didn’t say.’
‘No, and you didn’t tell me she was round here when I was locked up, either. Have a little party, did you? Drinks with friends while I was away?’
‘That’s not fair, Scott,’ Michelle protested, pushing past him to get to the phone. ‘None of this is Jackie’s fault. She came around to support me. She’s just—’
‘—she’s just another frigging hillbilly local who can’t keep her nose out of other people’s business.’
Michelle ignored him and snatched up the phone, but the line was dead. She checked and double-checked it, then turned back to face him again. ‘What have you done to the phone?’
‘What are you talking about now? How could I have done anything to the phone?’
‘It’s disconnected.’
‘It has to be you,’ Tammy said. ‘You pulled the cable out because you don’t like Mum having friends.’
‘Jesus, love, you’re getting as bad as your mother. You’re all paranoid.’
‘I’m not paranoid, and I’m not your love,’ she spat.
Scott grabbed the phone from Michelle and held it to his ear. Nothing. He tried making a call – still nothing. The screen lit up but there was no noise, not even a dialling tone. ‘I give up,’ he said. ‘Is there nothing in this house you lot can’t fuck up?’
‘Come on, Tam,’ Michelle said and dragged Tammy upstairs.
‘Something I said?’ Scott shouted after them. ‘Where you going now?’
‘To check on Phoebe and George.’
‘But I thought you wanted to talk...’
They went into Phoebe’s room and found her sitting on her bed, knees drawn up to her chest, George playing by her feet. Her face was drawn; eyes red, cheeks streaked with tears. She didn’t even look up. Michelle crouched down and put a hand on her arm but Phoebe pulled away. ‘Come on, Pheeb, please... don’t do this.’
‘Don’t do what?’ Phoebe said, her voice so quiet the words were hard to make out. ‘I haven’t done anything. It was you, remember? You and my dad. I saw you.’
‘Look, if I could do something to put this right, I would. I swear, I don’t know what happened or why... I think we’re all under a lot of stress right now with the house move and new jobs and new schools and—’
‘I’ve tried though, Mum. I haven’t done anything wrong. When you lot were all bitching and fighting, I was just getting on with it, trying to make the most of it. None of this is my fault.’
‘I never said it was.’
‘You and my dad, trying to shag each other out in public...’
‘Don’t use that word, Phoebe.’
‘What do you want me to say instead then? Cuddling? Raping? It was disgusting...’
‘I only went out there to try and talk to him. I didn’t mean for the rest of it to happen, I swear. I just—’
She stopped talking abruptly when she heard a noise downstairs. Someone was at the front door. Was it Jeremy? Tammy had the same thought and she moved fast, desperate to get there before Scott did. The door flew open before she was halfway downstairs, kicked in from outside. Hazmat wearing soldiers flooded into the house. Michelle yanked Tammy back as Scott ran at the nearest of them. They overpowered him easily, catching his arms and dragging him into the kitchen, kicking and yelling. They looked terrifying in their camouflaged all-in-one suits, their faces obscured by breathing apparatus, eyes hidden behind reflective visors.
George clung to Michelle’s leg. She scooped him up into her arms and ran back to Phoebe’s room, pushing Tammy ahead of her. Once inside, she turned to shut the door, only to find it wedged open by a light brown boot. The soldier forced the door open again, sending Michelle, George and the girls running to the furthest corner of the room. He had a rifle, but left it slung over his shoulder. His gloved hands were raised. ‘Come downstairs please, ladies,’ he said, his deep voice distorted by his breathing gear. ‘Everything’s going to be all right.’
Michelle thought she detected a faint Midlands accent and that familiarity, bizarrely, made her feel marginally safer. There were three more soldiers on the landing, and even more behind them. The first man led them back down to the kitchen in silence as others explored the rest of the house.
‘Anyone else here?’
‘No, just the five of us,’ Michelle said. She felt herself relax, or was it just that she was finally giving up and shutting down? Was she relieved because there were people here now who could keep Scott under control, or was it more than that? Somehow, in the utter chaos of this day so far, the house being invaded by a horde of faceless, protective-suit wearing soldiers made things feel a little more certain. She began to think it might not just be this household which was screwed-up beyond repair. Maybe the rest of Thussock was the same too?
When Phoebe looked into the face of the next soldier, all she saw was herself reflected back. It wasn’t until the soldier spoke that Phoebe realised it was a she. ‘Go into the kitchen with your mum and dad, love. And don’t worry, everything’s gonna be okay.’
Phoebe glanced out through the kicked-in front door. The yard was full of military machinery. There was some kind of truck blocking in the Zafira, and a jeep on the road with a soldier manning the kind of massive machine gun she’d only ever seen in films before. There was another vehicle too. It looked like her old school minibus, all done up in army colours.
The entire family was rounded up in the kitchen. They stood next to each other in front of the huge hole Scott had knocked in the wall, feet crunching in the brick dust and plaster, the closest they’d been to each other all morning. There were soldiers standing either side of Scott, ready to restrain him if he kicked off again. ‘What the hell’s this about?’ he demanded, spitting the words angrily at the intruders.
‘Don’t be alarmed.’
‘Don’t be alarmed? Fuck’s sake, you break into my house carrying guns and wearing fucking facemasks and suits, and you tell me not to be alarmed?’
‘Please...’ Michelle said, clinging onto George with one hand a
nd trying to hold onto Phoebe with the other. ‘What’s happening...?’
‘If you’d like to come with us,’ another soldier said, standing to one side, opening a clear passage through the ranks. Jesus, Michelle thought, how many of them are here?
‘I’m not going anywhere until you fuckers tell me what’s going on,’ Scott said, standing his ground. His resistance didn’t last long. With a nod from the commanding officer, two soldiers hauled him outside. He protested at first, struggling to get free, but there was no point.
The others were ushered out. Michelle walked across their suddenly chaotic yard, looking around in disbelief. High overhead, three helicopters circled Thussock like birds of prey, and in the fields on the other side of the road she saw a long line of similarly suited figures moving across the land. They looked like they were combing it, hunting for something. It reminded her of the people they’d seen from the hills when they’d first arrived in Thussock. And every soldier she could see – every last one of them – was armed.
They were loaded into a van. She sat down with Tammy and Phoebe, George perched on her lap. Scott was a few seats ahead, still seething. He made fleeting eye contact with the others, but that was the limit of their communication.
The back of the van was more secure than she’d expected: a metal division between those in the front and their passengers behind, just a small rectangular hole cut into it at driver’s eye level. It was stiflingly hot and claustrophobic. Dogs die in hot cars, was all she kept thinking.
Scott pressed his face against the glass and watched the soldiers crawling over his property. They were everywhere now – visible in all the windows, checking the garage and outbuildings, disappearing around the side of the house and rummaging through the garden, sticking their noses into places he hadn’t even looked yet. What the hell were they after? After what he’d already seen this morning, he didn’t want to know.
The back of the van was slammed shut and they began to move. Michelle looked over at Scott, hoping for some reassurance but getting none.
Minutes later and they neared the bus shelter, travelling as part of a convoy with other vehicles. Scott was less concerned with all the military might now, more worried about how the girls would react if they saw their father’s butchered body lying on the verge. He didn’t know what to do. Did he try and distract them, or not bother and just let Tammy and Phoebe see Jeremy lying there in his blood-soaked, naked glory. He cursed himself. Should have thought about this. He was sitting on the wrong side of the van. If he’d sat where Michelle was he’d have been able to block their view. As it was, he had no chance.
Except it didn’t matter.
Jeremy’s body had gone, a grubby crimson-brown stain on the grass the only indication he’d ever been there. There were more soldiers here, a crowd of them gathered around the back of a military ambulance.
Fortunately there was enough of a distraction on the other side of the road to keep Michelle and the girls looking elsewhere. The van lurched to a halt opposite the cottage where the twins lived. More soldiers surged towards the house, a replay of the procedure they’d followed at the family’s home. When they hammered on the front door it was opened almost immediately, no need to force entry. Scott watched as the twin who answered instantly crumbled with fear. She disappeared from view momentarily, pushed back into the house, followed by ten hazmat-suited soldiers, only to reappear a short time later, hand in hand with her sister, walking together like frightened little kids. The back of the van opened and the two of them climbed inside.
The routine was repeated again a few minutes later. Scott didn’t recognise the older man and woman being bundled into the van this time, but Michelle clearly did. He acknowledged both her and the twins. ‘What’s going on Dr Kerr?’ one of the twins asked, sobbing with fear, barely able to speak.
‘I wish I could tell you, Jeannie. Anyone else have any idea?’
‘They took us from our house, same as you,’ Michelle said.
‘It’s Mrs Griffiths, isn’t it?’
‘That’s right.’
‘We met at the surgery last week.’
‘Yes. These are my daughters, Tammy and Phoebe. That’s my husband Scott in front of you.’
Scott looked over his shoulder and Dr Kerr nodded.
A couple more stops and the van had almost reached capacity. As they drove further into Thussock, the doctor tapped Scott’s arm. ‘Any ideas?’
‘Not a clue. You’re a GP, right?’
‘Your GP, I believe. Your wife came into the surgery to register the family. It’s not usually like this round here.’
‘I’ve only got your word for that.’
‘We’ve never had anything like these deaths before... all of this must be something to do with the murders.’
‘I’m not so sure they were murders,’ he said.
‘Well they’re not suicides,’ the doctor replied, ‘I can tell you that much. I saw a couple of the bodies myself.’
‘Me too. Listen, can I talk to you in confidence?’
Dr Kerr looked concerned. He patted his wife’s hand and smiled at her. ‘Give me a minute, love,’ he said and he changed seats, shuffling up next to Scott. ‘What is it?’
Scott checked Michelle and the girls were out of earshot. He leant closer to the doctor and kept his voice low. ‘We had an... incident at the house this morning.’
‘What kind of incident?’
‘My wife’s ex-husband turned up... he practically forced himself onto her.’
Dr Kerr was confused, his weather-beaten brow furrowed. ‘Sorry to hear it, but what’s that got to do with anything?’
‘They don’t know this yet,’ he warned, ‘so keep it to yourself, right?’ The doctor nodded, and Scott continued. ‘We had a fight and I left her ex lying in the yard while I went to sort out the wife and kids. Things were crazy, you can imagine. Little while later, one of the girls notices he’d gone...’ Scott paused, unsure. Had he really seen what he thought he’d seen earlier or just dreamt it? Was he as mad as he now sounded? ‘I went out in the car to look for him.’
‘And?’
‘And I found him behind the bus shelter. He was with another woman.’
‘Who?’
‘Don’t know. Never seen her before.’
‘What do you mean, with her?’
‘What do you think I mean? He was fucking her. The two of them, at it out there in the open without a frigging care.’
‘And did they see you?’
‘She did, but it didn’t bother her. They finished what they were doing then she got up and pissed off.’
The doctor was struggling. ‘So this friend of yours—’
‘He’s no friend of mine.’
‘—this chap then... your wife’s ex-husband... where is he now?’
Scott paused again, forced to question his own sanity once more. ‘He’s dead.’
The doctor seemed less surprised than he should have been. ‘Go on.’
‘It was frigging horrible. Made no sense. It was like the woman had mutilated him when they were... you know... The end of his dick was all mangled... blood everywhere.’
‘Is the body still there?’
Scott shook his head and gestured at the soldiers. ‘This lot took him away. Maybe that’s what this is all about. Like I said, the kids don’t know. I’ll tell them when the time’s right, but it’d be too much for them to take right now.’
Dr Kerr nodded. Scott watched him and wondered what he was thinking. He probably thinks you’re a crank. He thinks you’re as mental as you sound.
‘All these deaths...’ he said to Scott, his voice only just audible. ‘All along we were looking for someone to pin the blame on.’
‘I know. I was that someone for a while.’
‘I’d heard. But what you’ve just told me has confirmed what I’d been thinking for a while, something I couldn’t get the police to accept.’
‘And that is?’
‘That perhaps
they should have been looking for something, not someone.’
‘I don’t get you.’
‘I think we’re dealing with some kind of parasite or disease.’
‘That’s transmitted sexually?’
‘Exactly. Sergeant Ross called me out last night when they found the last body.’
‘Which body?’
‘Young girl, Heather Burns. I only saw her in the surgery last week.’
‘What happened to her?’
‘Much the same as all the others, I expect, but I don’t know for sure. Sergeant Ross called me back before I’d even left the house. He told me not to bother, told me there were already people at the scene. They’d taken the investigation off him. He was fuming.’
‘Who?’
‘The same people who’ve just rounded us up, I presume.’
‘So where was the body?’
‘She was found in the bar of the pub.’
‘Jesus. That’s where Jeremy was staying last night.’
‘Jeremy? Is that—?’
‘Michelle’s ex-husband.’
‘Then it sounds like your wife had a lucky escape this morning.’
‘This is too much. I mean, I knew this place was fucked-up, but honestly...’
The doctor remained stony-faced. ‘Doesn’t matter how it sounds, fact is, it’s happening. Trace it back... did you hear about the police officer? Mary McLeod from the café? Poor old Graham, and that Polish lady.’
‘I heard.’
‘All the time they were looking for the person or persons who was doing this, but there might never have been anyone. I know how this must sound, but I think the killer – the germ or parasite or whatever – remains invisible until it’s too late.’
Scott felt strangely reassured. As far-fetched as it was, he’d thought similar. ‘So where do you think they’re taking us?’ he asked.
‘No idea. Somewhere isolated, perhaps? I think they’ll want us out of the way until they can round it up, stop it being passed onto anyone else.’