Eve

by Timothy Pearsall

  *

  Hispania - AD62

  Eventually the gladiatrix had abandoned the merchants on their journey through Gaul; instead she took up with a wandering Christian preacher who led her through the forests and mountains into Spain. Along their journey they took shelter at a stud farm for dazzling white horses, the owner welcomed them, he had no love for the Romans and so he treated them generously out of spite.

  He proudly showed off his herd to the gladiatrix, her eyes resting on a particular white mare with much admiration,

  “She is very beautiful.” She remarked to the owner while she firmly patted its flanks. He nodded and smiled approvingly,

  “Perhaps you would like to ride her, yes?...” His eyes glinted mischievously, “...I should warn you, she is particular.” Without hesitation the gladiatrix launched herself on to the horse’s bare back and gripped its mane,

  “So am I!” She was instantly at one with the steed and drove her into a gallop out of the corral. The horse trader laughed and shook his head,

  “You’ll break your stupid neck!” He shouted, and then laughed again even louder as he watched her gallop up and down scattering the crowd assembled to listen the Christian holy man's preaching.

  *

  London, Walther's Houseboat – 2000

  By three O’clock Susan had become seriously distressed. Walther had been watching her as he busied himself with domestic chores around the boat, they had spoken little and the atmosphere was filled with quiet anticipation, they heard the gentle sounds of the water on the hull and the soft ticking of the clock next to the barometer.

  “Something must have happened to him.” Susan finally voiced her fear, Walther noticed her eyes sparkling wet, he wanted to offer some words of comfort but found himself merely voicing his own anxieties,

  “You do not suppose that Richard would have been so foolish to go after Eve alone?” Susan looked down at her clenched fingers before replying,

  “He was very upset, and he is impulsive. But he’s not stupid! Surely not, I don’t think he would’ve gone without us.” She shook her head, not believing her own words, clawing away a sudden rush of tears down her cheeks. Walther sat next to her and offered a tissue, he felt wretched, wishing with all his heart that he’d never let Richard and Susan become involved. After a few seconds he rose again,

  “I should, perhaps, tell you of my plan to execute Eve?” He opened a wooden box as he spoke, Susan nodded for him to go ahead. With a flourish he produced a handgun, a German Luger,

  “I will wait outside her ‘home’ until she appears, then I will shoot her like a dog in the street.” She stared him in the eyes for a moment, waiting for something else, he shrugged,

  “That’s it. A simple plan I confess, but effective I believe.” With a catch in her voice she asked,

  “That’s it? The great plan? Shoot her? Well if it’s that easy how come no one's done it before?”

  Walther was unperturbed,

  “You thought perhaps a stake through the heart? No, she is quite mortal, a single head-shot should suffice, although one in the heart also for good measure.”

  “Not even silver bullets?” Susan seemed desolate at the simplicity of it. Again they lapsed into silence until she asked in a quiet earnest way,

  “Will you come with me to look for Richard? Please? I want to check the office and then home. But I don’t want to be on my own if there’s bad news.”

  “Yes, of course I will accompany you.” They left almost immediately after Walther had restored the Luger to its box. This time they took Susan's car,

  “I'll bring you back later.” The Saturday afternoon traffic was slow and it was beginning to get dark by the time they approached the office. The drizzle had persisted all afternoon and formed puddles, the windscreen wipers grated across the screen,

  “What the hell’s that?” Susan pointed at a plume of black smoke rising above the rooftops ahead of them, they turned a corner to find the road ahead blocked by the bulk of a fire appliance, its bright lights flashing. She stopped the car and they both jumped out, somehow they both knew which building was on fire. Walther paused at the hastily erected barrier but Susan ran straight under it and kept running. As she got closer she could see Richard’s empty car parked outside the blazing office and immediately assumed he was inside, she stopped dead, transfixed. It was only when a policeman grabbed her by the arm that she found he voice,

  “My husband’s in there! Let me go dammit!” She struggled with the police officer as he dragged her back towards the barrier, Walther caught up with them halfway back, together with a paramedic from an attending ambulance they tried to calm her down, he also asked the policeman to fetch the senior fire officer.

  Susan had become quiet by the time the fire officer arrived, her head down. He spoke in the matter-of-fact way that emergency professionals adopt,

  “The blaze was well under way by the time we got here, but I did manage to get a man inside briefly...” Susan looked up quickly as the man continued, “...It looked to him as if the place was empty, I can’t guarantee it, but we’ll know more in a couple of hours.” She listened as if from a distance,

  “Thank you...” She murmured absently, “... I'm sure you're right.” Her gaze had shifted away from him as he'd spoken and remained fixed on Richard's car. The fire officer could say nothing more and left. Walther sensed that Susan was hiding something,

  “What is it? What are you thinking?” He could tell that she knew something that he didn’t. She waited until they were out of earshot before replying,

  “It’s the car, it’s Richard’s all right, but he didn’t park it there. You see, he’s got his habits like all of us. He never leaves it facing the wall like that, and especially not in Phil’s place. He always, and I do mean always, reverses into his spot.” Walther nodded in understanding,

  “So we are to assume that someone else parked his car, and most likely the same someone set fire to the office, but why?”

  They waited for a little over an hour before the all-clear, the building was empty.

  “Let me take you home.” Walther led her towards the car, opened her door sat her in and closed it for her. Then, after starting the engine, spoke a little apologetically,

  “I am sorry, but I do not know where you live. A few directions perhaps?” She could not help but release an ironic smile.

  *

  London, Hammersmith - 2000

  Of course the twins had had pets before. But this one was going to be different, it was a real living, breathing man. They were ecstatic, somehow in their warped non-sane minds they had decided it would be okay to keep Richard, not exactly as a prisoner, although they knew fully that he must never be allowed to escape. They wanted simply to ‘look after’ him, to care for him, to love him. And, they hoped, and could see no reason why not, he would also come to love them.

  With great effort they dragged his limp and delirious form onto a kitchen chair and handcuffed him to a water pipe, then with much tenderness they washed the blood from his face and hair,

  “We shall have to take his clothes off.” Said Margaret, the decisive one. Neither of them moved for a little while,

  “How?” The other eventually asked. Margaret, known as Emm to her sister, went to a drawer and withdrew a large pair of scissors, carefully she cut along the sleeves of his jacket and shirt until the cuts met in the middle, then from either side they peeled back the blood-soaked garments,

  “Look at that!..” Pip pointed to the paper-knife wound in his chest, “…He’s still bleeding.” Together they leaned forward for a closer inspection,

  “He needs stitches…” They concurred, “…I’ll fetch the sewing kit.” Emm left the room at a happy trot.

  Richard groggily came to and looked up into Pip’s round and staring eyes, she didn’t blink but suddenly blurted out,

  “You’re going to be very happy here.” Followed by a frown and a smile. Richard turned at the sound of Emm’s return, she carr
ied a large tapestry covered sewing box,

  “Here I am.” She plonked the box down and threw open the lid, inside was a jumble of sewing effects,

  “Which colour cotton shall we use?” The decision making process took several moments before they decided on blue to match Richard’s eyes. They worked carefully on him as he gradually rose to a painful fully consciousness, and were nearly finished when Eve breezed into the room, she spoke immediately,

  “What are you doing?” She asked in a level, even, tone. Richard noticed that she had put some clothes on and that she looked quite normal in jeans and sweatshirt. The twins stood up, one on either side of him,

  “We want to keep him.” They announced, almost but not quite defiantly. Eve smiled, then sighed a little theatrically,

  “But my dears you’re not very good with pets are you? Remember what happened to the last one?” The girls looked sheepish,

  “That wasn’t our fault...” They agreed, “…It didn’t love us!” It was to them a clear and reasonable excuse. Eve laughed, she realised that it might not be a bad idea to let them keep Richard for a while,

  “Very well you can keep him. But you’ll have to get him ready to travel, we’re leaving this house today. We’re going to spend some time in the country, at Sir Clive’s estate. And remember this...” She added darkly, holding their attention, “…If he escapes he will bring the police, and they will take you away. They will split you up and put you in different Asylums, do you understand?” The girls nodded gravely. They were afraid of the Asylum, they wouldn’t let him escape. Richard half heard the conversation before he again drifted back into semi-consciousness.

  *

  A Roadside Campfire, Southern England - 2000

  Tsuba carefully studied the glowing embers, his mind combing the vast expanses of the astral plane. Seeing for the thousandth time, the girl with the black hair and jade eyes.

  “She is close. I know it.” He sprinkled a few more herbs onto the flames and deeply inhaled the ensuing aromatic smoke. Her visage came and went, fleeting but vivid. And recently so near.

  “I will find you, never doubt it my beautiful soaring bird...” the smoke made his eyes water, “...and I will hold you in my arms again at last.”

  *

  Chapter 3: “Your despair is my promise...”

  London, Windsor - 2000

  Susan and Walther were startled awake by the sound of the front door bell. It was 8:30am the next morning, she had slept in the bedroom and Walther had spent the night fully dressed on the sofa. He opened the door as Susan hurriedly wrapped herself in a dressing gown.

  “Mr Bryant? Thames Valley Police...” Two plain clothes officers stood close to the door, “...may we come inside sir?” They brandished I.D. as they stepped inside without waiting for an answer. Susan, looking as if she’d been awake most of the night, joined them in the small hallway,

  “Is it about Richard? Have you found him? Is he all right?” Her voice imploring. The two officers looked at Walther, then at each other, appearing somewhat puzzled,

  “Sorry madam, you’ve lost us, has he been reported missing?” Then turned to look at Walther who then introduced himself as a ‘friend’.

  They all stood in the hallway with the front door slightly ajar, Susan reddening as she answered the officer’s questions,

  “He didn’t come home last night.” She spoke guardedly, not willing to mention anything about Eve, it was obvious to the policemen that she was hiding something. They took Walther’s name and address and asked him to show some I.D. before continuing to press for information,

  “We really came to speak to Mr Bryant about last night’s fire, the Fire Brigade have confirmed it was definitely arson. And Mr Philip Leach, do you know where he is?” Susan’s jaw tightened,

  “No, sorry.” The second policeman raised his eyebrows while the first spoke,

  “Are you telling me, Mrs Bryant, that both your husband and his business partner have gone missing, and by coincidence on the very same night that their premises happens to be burned down?” Susan didn’t reply, she could easily imagine what they were thinking. For a while none of them spoke, it was an old trick used by the police to intimidate a suspect into breaking the silence, in this instance it failed and the officers decided nothing more could be gleaned at the present,

  “We shall need a statement off Mr Bryant when he shows up, get him to call me at the station?” She led them to the door,

  “Yes. I will…” She feigned a polite smile, “…thank you.” let them out and closed it.

  The two officers sat in their car for a few minutes before driving off, not happy with the situation,

  “So what do you think’s going on then?” The one behind the wheel asked.

  “I’m not sure, but my first hunch is that the two blokes, Bryant and Leach, have got themselves mixed up in something they can’t handle and done a runner, Porn maybe, or counterfeiting.” The other nodded in approval,

  “Yes, and they could’ve burnt down their own premises in an effort to destroy the evidence.” He started the engine

  “What about those two in there?…” He nodded towards the house, “…She knows something that she doesn’t want to tell us.” They both nodded,

  “Oh well, let’s put in the report and see how it pans out.”

  Walther looked out of the front window,

  “They’re going.” He murmured.

  “Yes, and so are we, come on.” Susan was dressed, they were going to call on 22 Old Bridge Street, after stopping off at Walther’s boat to collect the gun. She bustled him out of the house without breakfast or even coffee.

  *

  Sir Clive's House in the Countryside - 2000

  Richard regained consciousness in semi-dark on the back seat of a large car, sandwiched between the twins. Franco was driving and Eve sat in the front passenger seat. The drug had worn off leaving Richard in a lot of pain, he groaned and tried to move his arms but found himself handcuffed to the twins’ wrists.

  “Look Pip, he’s awake at last!” Emm declared as she turned to face him,

  “We’re going to stay in the countryside for a while.” A hand pulled his head around to face Pip,

  “That’ll be nice won’t it?” Richard closed his eyes and groaned again,

  “Yes delightful.” He mumbled ironically. Even with his eyes closed he could still feel them staring adoringly at him, and it occurred to him that if he was ever to find a way out of his predicament it would be with the help of the twins, whether by choice or design. He realised that it might be to his advantage to play along,

  “I’ve always wanted to live in the countryside.” He opened his eyes and gave them what he hoped was a friendly smile, they beamed in return. All were quiet for a while and Richard noticed the time on the dashboard, 10:00. A road sign flashed by stating Wallingford 8 miles. Shortly afterwards they turned off the main road into a narrow lane lined by bushes and trees,

  “We must be in ‘the countryside’”. He observed to the delight of the twins.

  And sure enough, moments later, a large country house loomed up ahead, lit up by rows of decorative lamp-posts around a circular front lawn. The grand front doors opened as they approached and they were greeted by a surly-looking young man who, somewhat grudgingly, helped Franco with the bags. Eve ordered the twins away to the servants quarters with Richard in tow. They formed a short Conga-chain as they wound their way upstairs, finally climbing a very narrow staircase to the top floor. He was led into a small attic room, with bare floorboards an no other furniture than a single iron-framed bed, small table and a brown wooden wardrobe. Handcuffed by his right wrist to the bedstead they told him to lie down and wait,

  “We’ll be back soon. We promise!” Emm crossed her heart,

  “And we’ll bring you some food,” Pip added sounding very organised. They were turning to go as Richard dropped a bombshell,

  “I need to use the bathroom.” Their jaws dropped, neither of them had co
nsidered his toilet requirements, and there was the usual short silence before Emm inquired delicately,

  “For number one, or number two?”

  “Number one.” He groaned.

  They overcame the problem by providing him with a plastic bucket and some toilet tissue, he heard them giggle as they waited outside for him to finish. They took the bucket away with more giggles and a promise to return with some food, Richard called out to them as they were closing the door,

  “Could you get me some painkillers as well?”

  With the barmy girls gone the little room was suddenly very empty, he couldn’t move away from the bed so he dragged it with him to the small square window. He pushed the sash lever across and struggled to raise the window high enough to put his head out. He guessed that he was at the back of the house, although it was too dark to see clearly. Then he hauled the bed across to the wardrobe and opened the door,

  “Empty.” He noticed a scuff mark on the floorboards as if the wardrobe had recently been moved away from the wall. He thought about trying to shift it but decided to wait until later, “Those two nutters might be back at any moment.” He lay down painfully on the narrow bed, just as footsteps heralded the twins return,

  “Here we are again!” They marched in, each bearing a laden tray,

  “Sandwiches first.” Emm proclaimed,

  “Then you can have some cake.” Pip added.

  They placed one tray on the little table and the other on the floor, then they helped him to a sitting position and offered a cheese sandwich. Richard dutifully took it and remembered to smile, asking

  “Did you bring the painkillers?” They solemnly shook their heads,