‘I thought you’d want these.’ Gilly shook a very small ring if keys.
‘The big plastic one, that’d be the car key.’ There was to many r’s in the word car, he slammed the old keys into Cameron’s hand.
‘Will you be able to drive after being frozen for so long.’ Gilly quizzed.
‘I expect it would come back to me, wait, who’s are these?’ Bishop puzzled.
‘You’re old ‘ouse and car keys, when the lawyer guy died, and Pickering kid went I got landed with them, never could find a person to buy it, that and I was told not to of course.’ The shire accent came out strong with the word course.
‘The lawyer’s dead?’ there was an odd sadness in his voice, like he'd be surprised, the lawyer he'd hired for his well-timed demise? On the other hand, as well as four fingers a thumb, the lawyer was well into his eighties when he was hired for Cameron, all the best lawyers were as old as law itself.
‘Maybe we should focus.’ Mary said to Cameron as he stared at a ring of keys, she had begun to sound a little like Bishop now.
‘Maybe we should get my car.’ There was a glint in his eye, the type toad of toad hall had when he had his coach.
‘We have no Idea where we’re going next? what is the plan?’
‘I’m fine by the way!’ Simon raised his hand.
‘Yeah, yeah, a plan, we find who out of Somnus was shooting at us.’ Cameron started.
‘It wasn’t Somnus shooting at us.’ Mary was beginning to get annoyed, Simon could tell as her voice had become shrill and short.
‘Then find Ben, get my car, find Ben, tell him to stop shooting people, I’m his father he’d have to listen.’ Cameron through his keys up and caught them.
‘We have no clue where Ben is.’
‘I think I could help. Kind of.’ Steph spoke up, all four of them looked at her, Simon craned from the bed, which clicked, setting off a chain reaction of coughing.
Once silence fell, this had taken a few minutes. Steph turned her back towards them, without a word. A few clicks of the mouse and a face filled the computer screen.
A gaunt man, pail as paper filled the centre. He would never fill the page fully as he was too much of a sliver of a man, so he only filled maybe a third of it.
‘Chris, he’s the guy running children of Bishop, if you could call it running.’ Steph moved the large lump of a screen around, so the lot could see him. There was something about him which screamed Cameron, if Cameron hadn’t eaten in months, which when he thought about it, he hadn’t.
‘I don’t see it,’ Simon said, he moved his head around, cocking it left to right.
‘Oh, I see it now, it looks like Cameron.’ as much as an Asian Elvis impersonator looked like Elvis.
‘That’s Kingston’s kid.’ Gilly said, squinting with his left eye.
‘Cameron, you didn’t, not with Tony’s wife.’
‘They were dating at the time, and no, I didn’t.’ a smug grin crawled over Cameron's face, proud he hadn’t.
‘So, let's get this right, car, Kingston’s kid, my kid, stop shooting people.’ Cameron broke it down.
‘Doesn't seem much to it.’ Mary agreed,
‘I don't think it's a great idea me going anywhere.’ Simon spoke up.
‘No, it’s probably best you stay here and rest, you'd just slow us down.’ computed Mary with little thought about Simon's feelings which were hurt a little.
‘Can you drive us to my old place?’ Cameron looked at Gilly who looked a little shocked.
‘Me? Na, not with my angina.’
‘I can take you,’ Steph spoke up looking for any excuse to become part of the team.
‘My cars around the back. And I know where Chris will be. Probably.’ Steph was never a definitive person.
Chapter 14
‘You drive like a madman.’ Mary shook like a bobble head, she moved slowly to the still land which was Cameron’s house.
If house was the right word, the place was massive. three stories, six bedrooms with just as many bathrooms, not that any of the bedrooms had been used in years, and even when Cameron was alive, in inverted commas, they got little use.
‘You’re not that bad,’ Cameron got out being quite used to reckless driving, reckless driving came with the reckless life style. Being his dealer once drove Cameron to the shop, anything in comparison was a few steps up.
Cameron reached deep into his jean pockets, they were very deep after all. Out came a set of keys, they glinted and shone in the light. either a sign they were cared for, or and more likely they were very rarely used.
‘It’s odd they kept your estate clear of the auction houses.’ Mary commented as she washed Stephanie struggle to park her rust bucket of a car.
‘I made it very clear in my will that it was to be kept as it, as a sort of a shrine to me.’ Cameron threw the keys in Mary’s direction, she failed to catch it.
‘You know as like a museum, and if by chance my name was cleared, which it should have been, then I could come out of the woodwork move right back into my old life.’ Explained Bishop.
‘I don’t think it would have worked like that.’ The keys jangled in Mary’s hand.
‘Your name was never cleared for starters.’ Steph had finally caught up, she was only feet away now. they headed in together, as Cameron’s door creaked open.
‘So, you known Bishop long?’ Gilly asked Simon as he sat in Steph’s swivel chair.
‘That’s a bit of a tricky question, with the whole long term hibernation thing.’ Simon caught his breath for two seconds to answer the question.
‘That like cryogenics?’
‘Don’t let Mary hear you say that.’
A huge hallway as big as Stephanie’s flat met the three at the door, it was grey with dust, although bursts of red could be seen where spiders had disrupted the flakes.
‘This place looks like hell.’ Cameron commented, he looked at Steph as though she was his cleaner.
‘Don’t look at me, I only just found out about this place, Gilly had me living above the pub.’
‘What an amazing shrine to your life’s work.’ Mockery filled Mary’s voice, at least Cameron thought it had that tint.
‘Your museum is a shrine to your husband, a man who stole your work. I think I got a better deal here.’ Cameron tried to reply with the same measurement of sarcasm.
‘I have a museum?’ Mary hadn’t been filled in on this fact.
‘It’s shit, I had to go there when I was in school.’ Steph burst in, slightly to remind them she was still present.
‘Yeah, I went too, it’s full on wank.’ He ran his finger on a bar which he had installed in the huge hallway, when he thought about it, Cameron had a bar installed in almost every room in his house.
‘Right, the garage is under the stairs,’ Cam rushed over to the wooden door which matched the wood of the floors throughout the house.
‘Shouldn’t we have a wonder around, check the place out?’ asked Steph.
‘Why? There’s no point, we’re here for the car.’
‘It’s just, the done thing, when you’re on an adventure.’ Stephanie explained herself.
‘Steph, Steph, Steph.’ Cameron walked over.
‘That’s fucking stupid, we’re here for the car.’ he placed his hand on her shoulder to show he cared.
‘We’re getting the car.’ the keys hung from the door, which was where he left them. With a twist of his wrist the door slid forward and glided softly to the right.
‘You’ll be really gassed by it,’ Cameron grinned back at the group, it was so large you could see some of his fillings. Puns we’re not his strong suit.
Both the girls looked at each other, without the smallest of grins or smiles.
‘Just go in.’
The darkened square which was Cameron’s garage, flickered into life, sensors it the room must have recognised movement and turned the lights on. Not all the lights came back to life, and one of them continued to flicker. A h
uge metal blob shaped like a bar of soap and colored blood red sat in the centre of the room.
‘nineteen sixty-one, Ferrari two fifty, G T.’ Cameron had a skip in his step and a flutter in his heart. He seemed like a kid at Christmas or a kid at any holiday which had presents attached to it.
‘It’s the same one from Ferris Bueller’s day off.’ He explained. Both Mary and Steph looked utterly confused.
‘Never seen it? You I understand.’ The Rockstar pointed at Mary, he swung his hand right to where Steph stood.
‘But you, I am very disappointed in. It was an amazing movie when I was in my teens, it can’t have been forgotten.’
‘Not forgot, just old, very old.’ A glint Passed over Steph’s eyes.
‘That’s a real bastard you know? It’s a hell of a movie.’ Cameron wondered around the old auto vehicle, it was the thing people did when eyeing up cars, Cameron felt he should do the same.
They seemed fine, although unless they were filled with helium Cameron would know nothing wrong, being that the car hadn’t floated away when he kicked it, he made a guess that wasn’t an issue.
‘I’d suggest checking the fuel.’ Mary pointed towards the cars dial, three dials, all pointing at zero.
‘I thought it was full.’ Cameron scratched at his head.
‘It may have been, twenty-five years ago.’ Mary dropped without a word. Feeling under the car, she looked at her hand, rubbed her middle finger and thumb together.
‘No leaks or rust.’ She reappeared as fast as she vanished.
‘Obviously, Gilly looked after her for you.’
‘Do you blame him; this car is beautiful.’ Cam hugged the boot.
There was a glugging noise beside him, as if he’d drank too much beer and started a marathon.
‘This any help?’ Steph who stepped forward with an odd momentum, hoisted a large green can onto the bonnet of the car.
‘Watch the paint work.’ The can made an odd liquid noise as she lifted it.
‘I think its petrol, it smells like a beer matt so I guessed it was.’ Explained Steph handing it off to Mary, who nearly fell to the floor being she hadn’t considered its weight.
The car was fed, it started and even moved, being it hadn’t been pushed to the extreme since Cameron’s drug dealer had taken it for a spin.
The rolling door which was at the back of Cameron’s old home, opened and spat the red car straight onto the street, Steph had taken the back seat, the speed the Ferrari moved at made her stomach turn and her face turn green. Mary seemed to enjoy the speed.
They only got lost a few times, Steph wasn’t paying attention a lot of the time, and missed the odd turn. The home of the apparent leader of the children of Bishop, was small and squat. A bungalow, the type your picturing, three steps leading up to a small hill. Sandy colored stone, a roof which slanted to one side.
‘Is he going to be in?’ Cameron asked,
‘I’ve had that issue before.’
‘I’ve text him, said I had an idea where you’re hiding out.’ Steph explained, she waved her tiny phone which was mainly just glass.
‘Oh great, he knows who I am?’
‘The girls not slow, I presume she used some level of vacuity.’ Mary corrected.
‘Yeah, I was vague.’ Steph agreed.
‘See, nothing to fear.’
All three of them straightened themselves up, as if to enter a board meeting and all three begun taking a huge breath, all in unison. All though Steph wasn’t really scared, she’d met Chris lots of times before, there was an osmosis of fear, fear for another person’s sake.
‘Maybe you go knock, Steph knock, your mate after all.’ Cameron’s elbow found its way into Stephanie’s ribs.
‘It’s your possible son.’ She returned the jab.
‘Go fuck yourself.’
‘Children.’ Mary interjected. Stepping forward she made her way up the stairs stepping up a step and clapping her heels together before continuing up to the next step.
The other two followed on, Mary knocked, it was a gentle knock. The type of nock you get when you get bad news.
There was a silence, which seemed to last one hundred seconds. Cameron knocked shortly after. This was more of the knock you get from the police, when you sons has smashed a window of the lady three doors down, the lady who calls the police for the littlest thing.
A shadow passed the small window, two clicks, a second of breath, another click and a sliding of metal on metal.
‘Can I help you?’ A small mouth on a tall man pushed its self through the small crack in the door. The three pondered, not on the question per say, He could help them, they hoped he could at least. They pondered over which part of the truth to tell, if any, Cameron thought, you’re pretending to be my son and I think that might be illegal.
‘Chris it’s me, open the door you creep.’ Steph spoke up, that also worked.
The door closed again, for the briefest moment, three more clicks and a slide of metal on metal and the door was opened.
‘Are these more COB’s’ COBs being short for children of Bishop, Chris loved using the term, Steph, for obvious reasons, hated it.
‘Yeah that’s us,’ Cameron stepped in after Steph, the two were then followed by a very quiet Mary, who wiped her feet as she entered. Chris took note of that, it was the kind of thing he kept mental note of.
A very dark and dingy living room met the four of them, Steph never remembered how dark Chris’s living room was, even more dark then her own flat. There were four windows spread out evenly around the square living area, two of which had black out blinds which only allowed light through the tiny cracks around the edge, the other two windows were covered with the same metal blinds Staph had.
Two posters lay on either side of a large screen TV, larger than both Mary and Cameron had ever seen, even though Cameron had one of the largest TV’s you could buy in ninety-three. One poster was of some terribly cheap looking movie, a cellar door with a rotted old woman probing out of it, the main actor, who had a large chin and cuts all over his face brandished a shot gun. The other poster was a man with a skinny body and an egg-shaped head, bug eyes stared out.
‘Nice decor.’ Mary stepped around the living room, looking for somewhere to sit, clothes covered each chair.
‘Yeah sorry, I’ll em tidy.’ For a skinny man, who looked like he was made mainly of legs he moved from side to side of the room with little ease. It was if his upper body was made of concrete held together with cheap glue.
As he moved from place to place the thin layer of skin moved over what little muscle he had, it reminded Mary of the anatomy books she studied when designing the original Somnus, it was best to know the human body before putting it under the most extreme conditions.
Chris had cleared some space out on a brown couch, Mary collapsed in to it, she was the lady in this situation, and ladies went first, she expected a small plume of dust to pore from one of the sides. There wasn’t any to be seen, which was a shame, Mary had gotten used to seeing a heady amount of dust whenever she sat now.
Another chair was cleared, this one for Cameron. It was blue, blue and white, but mainly blue, on closer inspection it was blue flowers on a white backdrop. Like a china vase, but squishy.
He wondered if the other chair was originally this tone but had been used or smoked in, to the point of being tarnished.
‘I wasn’t expecting guests.’ Chris looked bashful, he rarely made eye contact and seemed to be in a constant state of rosy cheeked. To Mary that was a useless trait to have, being bashful for its own sake was only helpful when you were discouraged to be otherwise, Chris was white and a man, tall too, these were all qualities people looked for in life, he had all three and still seemed to be in his shell.
Steph wasn’t a huge supporter of him either, he had a buzz cut, never trust a man with a buzz cut unless he is wearing clothes which are green and a little black hat, for having a clean haircut, Chris always seemed to have a collection o
f dirt under his nails, which rarely were cut.
If you closely inspected his hair, you’d notice its reddish tinge, this wasn’t bad but because of the style of choice most people presumed Chris was in the closet about being fare haired, he was in the closet but not about his hair colour. Cameron didn’t like him on side, this was an easy chalk up for him, Cameron hated conspiracy nuts. Who didn’t. Those were the people who made squash using perpets.
‘I was telling you about Chris,’ Steph nodded to Cameron and Mary to agree with her, they did so a little to whole heartedly.
‘Yeah, yes we’ve heard about the Children of Bishop, so your posting in the paper.’
‘Online.’ Stephanie pushed grunts out the corner of her mouth.
‘On an online newspaper. Thing, were quite interested in your little gang.’ Continued Cameron, who had started to believe his own words never mind anybody else.
‘Well we are almost a hundred strong.’ Chris stated proudly.
‘She said fifteen.’ Cameron corrected.
‘I think he means I’ve told him all about what we plan on doing.’ Steph moved her eyebrows up and down a lot as she spoke, Mary wasn’t sure if this was new or something shed missed while they spoke, she did have a habit of disregarding facial features.
‘You plan on doing?’ Mary asked and was quickly ignored.
‘How can you be sure you’re right for our group?’ asked Chris who had put on a mask of confidence. Cameron found the best answer he could muster was to point at his face, which being he was the Bishop in Children of Bishop, he thought this was more than enough of and invite. Chris examined his face, he did look a lot like Cameron Bishop, there was some differences, this was called stress and not having his makeup done.
‘You do look similar to him.’ Chris had every mark, line and wrinkle of Cameron’s face memorised, which didn’t help when the actual face was in front of you.
‘And you?’ Chris asked Mary, who didn’t look at all like Cameron, she had strong facial features, those of the well-kept, cheekbones which looked like they’d double as can openers.
‘She’s just here for the thrill.’ Cameron shot in.
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