The Border: The Complete Series

by Cross, Amy

  Before he could finish, he pulled on the fireplace again, this time ripping it away from the wall. Stepping aside, he watched as it crashed down and broke into several large chunks as soon as it hit the ground, filling the room with a cloud of dust that he immediately tried in vain to wave away.

  “Ben!” Jane shouted, turning and covering her face with her elbow for a moment.

  “I know, I know,” he said wearily, “it's vandalism, but hey... I've got my reasons.”

  “Why did you want to come out here?” she asked.

  “You'd rather we were seen talking in the middle of town?” Waving away some more of the dust in the air, he clambered over the broken fireplace and reached into the gap in the wall, straining as he fumbled for something in the darkness. “Don't you think that might set tongues wagging? Don't you think word might get back to Jack, and then there'd be an awkward conversation at the dinner table later? He'd oh-so-casually mention that you were seen with me, and you'd oh-so-casually say it was a coincidence, and he'd oh-so-casually keep nagging for more details, and eventually there'd be a fight. All things considered, I thought you'd appreciate a little discretion.”

  “But why here specifically?”

  “The Packer farm?” He smiled. “Well, that's a very interesting question. What do you know about this place, Jane?”

  “It's been abandoned for as long as I can remember. Every so often there's talk of knocking it down, but nothing ever seems to get done.”

  “Uh-huh. And?”

  “And that's about it. Sorry, local history has never really been my thing.”

  “Well there's your first mistake. Local history, especially in a place like Bowley, is vitally important if you want to understand how everything intersects. I bet you're one of those people who religiously watch the national news every night, but turn the TV over when the local report starts.”

  “Ben,” she asked with a sigh, “what are you looking for?”

  He paused, before getting to his feet and stepping back from the wrecked fireplace. “Something that isn't here, apparently.”

  “But what -”

  “Do you remember,” he continued, interrupting her, “that time when old Crutchlow had got me hauling cases of booze in the Border? I'm talking a long time ago now, one of the many nights when I was just being his general dogsbody, picking up cash for a few little jobs here and there. He told me to keep the hell away from the main part of the place, but I got little glimpses, I caught snatches of things through half-open doors. What can I say in my defense? I'm a naturally inquisitive guy.” He stared at her for a moment. “I figured out pretty quickly what was going on there, I'd have had to have been an idiot not to. It wasn't even a massive shock, I guess I was already attuned to the idea that there were secrets in the world and things that other people did that I didn't. The only shock was when I saw you. I already knew you were dating my brother and I'd got you pegged as a prissy, prim little thing, and yet there you were, naked and squirming all over some old fart's lap. I don't remember who he was now but -”

  “I remember that night,” she said firmly, with a shiver. “You don't need to remind me.”

  “Do you think you'll ever forget?”

  She paused, before shaking her head.

  “Do you want to?”

  “I've learned to live with it.”

  “But why protect the place?” he asked.

  She sighed.

  “You're a cop, for God's sake. Why let the Border keep going? You could raid it any time you like.”

  “Nothing illegal goes on there.”

  “Doesn't it?”

  “No, I -”

  “What about the deeper levels?”

  She paused again. “I don't know what you're talking about.”

  “Yes you do. Don't be a liar, Jane. I don't like liars. Or hypocrites. And don't act like some naive idiot, because it really doesn't suit you.” Leaning down, he started picking through the pieces of the broken fireplace, as if he was expecting to find something significant. “You're one of the smartest people I've ever met,” he added after a moment.

  “I've never seen or heard anything that makes me think...” She sighed. “As far as I'm aware, the lower levels of the Border are just as legal as the upper layers. I have no justifiable grounds for interfering.”

  “But you don't know for sure?”

  She shook her head.

  “How far down did you get in your career there?” Leaving the broken fireplace alone, he made his way past her, heading to the window and looking out at the overgrown garden.

  “A few levels.”

  “Ouch.”

  “I don't want to talk about it,” she continued, staring down at the broken fireplace. “I don't need to talk about it. If you're worried about the Border being linked to these latest deaths, there's no need. I've already checked and I'm confident that any connections are just a coincidence. Mel Armitage had absolutely nothing to do with the place, I don't think she even knew it existed, and Hayley Maitland...” She paused, clearly a little uncomfortable now. “Well, she'd been working at the Border for some time, but I still don't see that there's a link. I know what you think about the place, but -”

  “Oh, no you don't,” he replied with a grin, turning to her. “You don't know what I think about that place at all. You don't know the depths of my disgust at its continued survival.”

  “There's nothing illegal -”

  “It's wrong!” he shouted, momentarily losing his temper before taking a deep breath and forcing the smile back to his lips. “It's disgusting. It's morally foul and it shouldn't be there!”

  “Plenty of things are wrong,” she replied, heading over to the stairway and looking up toward the landing, keen not to look into Ben's eyes and see his anger. “That doesn't mean we can go shutting them down.”

  “Do you really think,” he continued, “that just because there's no specific law against the kind of stuff that goes on there, that it should be allowed to continue? Have you forgotten the times I used to find you crouched down in one of the Border's private rooms, sobbing your eyes out because one of the customers and been a little too forceful and stuck a finger somewhere he shouldn't?” He waited for a reply. “Do you remember that old man who -”

  “Enough,” she said firmly, turning to him.

  “What about the -”

  “Enough!” she shouted. “Just... Enough, Ben, okay?”

  “You got out,” he continued after a moment. “Good for you. You met a dashing, handsome guy named Jack Freeman and you got the fairytale ending. The family, the children, the house, the nice respectable job. Most people don't get that, but you did, and you deserved it.”

  “You got out too. You left town.”

  “And I still couldn't get the stink of that place off my skin. Hell, I was only on the edge of it all and I still feel dirty, it's still the first goddamn thing I think about every time I wake up in the morning and every time I get drunk at night. I can't imagine what it must be like for someone like you who was in the middle of it all. Dancing, rubbing, teasing, laughing, and that's just on the first level. Don't bother lying to me, Jane. Don't try claiming that you didn't go a lot further with some of the customers down on the other levels.”

  “What happened down on the -”

  “Stays there, I know.” He paused. “Whatever helps you sleep at night.”

  “Are you going to tell Jack?”

  He shook his head.

  “Thank you.”

  “Every time I come back to town,” he continued, making his way back over to the broken fireplace for a moment and looking down at the rubble, “I think maybe it won't get to me. Hell, sometimes I'm even deluded enough to think that the Border might finally have been shut down, but no, every time it's the same. And every time, people die. Doesn't that seem like quite a coincidence to you? Death seems to notice when I come to town.”

  Feeling her phone vibrate in her pocket, Jane slipped it out and looked at the
screen.

  “I have to get back,” she said with a sigh, turning to him. “Alex is wondering where I am.”

  “Are you going to tell him the truth?”

  “As if.”

  They stood in silence, waiting until the phone stopped ringing.

  “Do you really not think that the Border is somehow linked to all of this?” he asked finally. “Are you really sure?”

  “I'm sure,” she replied, turning to head back to the door. “The killer isn't someone from the Border. It can't be, I'd -”

  Before she could finish, Ben grabbed her from behind, wrapping an arm around her neck and then slamming her hard into the broken old kitchen cabinets. Without giving her a chance to get her breath back, he swung her around and pushed her face down onto the dusty counter, then he pulled her back and pressed the blade of a knife against her neck.

  “Okay, then,” he sneered, his lips just millimeters from her right ear, “then who do you think the killer is?”

  IV

  “So I ask myself, what makes us who we are?” the priest asked, as the mourners stood around Hayley's open grave. “What part of a life is set in stone from the moment of birth, and what part is shaped by our experiences and our environment? Where are the lines drawn?”

  Staring at the coffin, Katie felt as if her eyes were so dry, they might shrivel up entirely. She'd been so focused on not crying, on not letting anyone see her pain, that she felt as if all the moisture was gone from her face. All she could do was stare at the coffin and think about Hayley's body inside, and about the damage that had been done to the girl's body. In truth, she wanted to leave the funeral, but again she was worried about what people might say, so finally she just lowered her head and waited as the priest's meaningless words continued to tumble from his fetid mouth.

  A few minutes later, once the coffin had been lowered into the grave, the mourners began to disperse. She waited, not wanting to be the first to leave, before turning and heading toward the cemetery's rear entrance, which she figured wouldn't be as crowded. As she got closer, however, she saw that there was another figure up ahead, some guy who'd apparently come to the same conclusion, and after a moment she realized that she recognized him, even from behind.

  “Hey!” she hissed, hurrying to catch up. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Turning to her with a cigarette in his mouth, Simon didn't seem particularly surprised to see her.

  “I didn't...” She paused, before checking over her shoulder to make sure that all the other mourners had gone in the other direction. Finally, she turned back to him. “I just didn't think I'd see you here.”

  “I got sentimental last night while I was in bed,” he replied, taking the cigarette from his mouth and flicking some ash toward a nearby grave.

  She frowned. “What?”

  “Never mind. You're right, I shouldn't have come.”

  “I didn't say that.”

  “Why did you come?” he asked.

  “I...” She paused, keenly aware that she didn't really have an answer. “I just felt like I should.”

  “Like some great force was drawing you here?”

  “No.” She paused again. “Well, yeah. Maybe.”

  “The lure of the universe,” he continued.

  “The what?”

  “Never mind. This is why I usually avoid emotional occasions. I get inspired to try saying meaningful things, and then all this garbage just comes from my mouth.” He dropped the cigarette and crushed it with his heel, before turning to walk away. “You're on shift tonight, aren't you? Seeya in the office.”

  “Wait!” she called after him. “Do you want to go and get a coffee or something?”

  He stopped again, before turning to her with a puzzled expression.

  ***

  “So they'll bring it over?”

  She nodded. “This is a diner.”

  “So they'll bring the coffee right to us?”

  She nodded.

  “And all we have to do is pay for it?”

  “What's wrong? You're acting like you've never been to a diner before.”

  He muttered something under his breath, while looking around at the other diners in distant booths.

  “I just can't believe she's gone,” Katie continued. “I mean, I know she and I weren't, like, super friends or anything like that, but I was getting to know her and it's like I think we were getting on pretty well. You know when you meet someone and even though you aren't friends yet, you know you will be friends if you just keep at it?” She paused. “It was like that with me and Hayley.”

  “The waitress is coming,” he said stiffly. “Do we have to talk to her or thank her?”

  Katie frowned as the waitress set two cups of coffee on the table between them.

  “You really don't get out much, do you?” she asked finally, once the waitress was gone.

  Simon shook his head, with a slight twitch on his left cheek.

  “Sorry,” she added, unable to stifle a faint laugh, “but you just seems so uncomfortable. It's like you've beamed down from some other planet and now you're trying to work out how to interact with other people.”

  He smiled. “I promise I'm not from another planet.”

  “So what's your life like?” she continued. “Just sitting at that desk all day, keeping the Border under control, and then... What do you do in your spare time?”

  “I don't really have any spare time,” he replied, lifting his coffee to his lips for a sip but then realizing it was too hot. “I work. That's what I do.”

  “Down at the Border?”

  He nodded.

  “Do you ever... I mean, do you ever go down there as a customer?”

  He allowed himself the start of a laugh. “Are you kidding?”

  “Isn't it tempting?”

  “No. No, it's not tempting.”

  “So how did you get the job, anyway?”

  “I don't want to discuss specifics,” he replied, trying once again to sip from his coffee but, again, finding that it was too hot. “What is this, like a billion degrees?”

  “How many levels down does it go?”

  At this, he froze, seemingly a little cautious.

  “There's more than three, right?” she continued. “Each one more hardcore than the last?”

  He looked around, as if to check that no-one was listening, before turning back to her and nodding.

  “Five?”

  “Katie...”

  “Six?”

  He paused. “There are the right number of levels for a club of the Border's size,” he said finally, evasively. “Any more than that, I don't think you need to know.”

  “I want to go further down.”

  “Absolutely not.”

  “Why?”

  “Because it's at my discretion and I don't think you'd be suitable for the lower levels.”

  “I need the money.”

  “I'll shoot you a raise.”

  “I can earn it,” she continued. “Look at me, I haven't fallen apart just because I've worked at the Border for a little while. Sure, I have to take long showers, and I don't exactly get off on having old men touching me like that, but I can totally deal with it.” She paused, waiting for him to accept her request. “Give me a chance.”

  “No.”

  “No as in never, or no as in not yet?”

  “I should...” He sighed. “I should never have let you work there in the first place?”

  “Why not?”

  “What's your plan, Katie? What do you need the money for?”

  “To get the hell out of Bowley.”

  “And how much do you need for that to become a reality?”

  “I don't know. A few grand.”

  Reaching into his pocket, he took out a thick wad of cash.

  “Jesus!” she hissed, her eyes widening with shock.

  “Five grand?” he asked, starting to count the money. “Ten? Any more than that, and I'll need to pop back to the office.�
��

  “You carry ten grand in cash around with you? To a funeral?”

  “For emergencies. So how much do you need. Any more than fifty and -”

  “Put it away,” she said firmly.

  “I just -”

  “People will start to notice you.”

  This seemed to get through to him, and he slipped the cash back into his pocket.

  “I'm not ready to go anyway,” she continued. “It takes time to work these things out. I don't know where I want to go yet, and I have things to deal with here, and there's a million other considerations I need to take into account.”

  “If you want to leave, you should leave,” he told her. “This town is filled with people who want to leave, but who never will. Don't become one of them.”

  She allowed herself a faint smile. “Why do you care so much? You need people for the Border, don't you?”

  “I care because...” He paused, staring at her for a moment. “I care because out of all the girls I've ever sent through those doors, down into the Border, you're the most kind, funny, interesting, intelligent, beautiful and spiritually generous human being I've ever encountered. I care because that place crushes people and because I refuse to watch it crush you, and because you're too perfect and strong in every way to be exposed to the horrors of the Border. I care because I can't stand the idea that one day you'll be gone and I'll be at that desk and I'll know that a little part of your soul was left smeared on the carpet by the door, and that now you're a harsher, sadder person with your head bowed wherever you go. I care because you belong in the sun, not down there in the artificial lights of the Border.” He paused. “I care because I've never cared about any of the girls before and this has come as something of a shock to me.”

  She opened her mouth to reply, but no words came out. All she could do was stare at him in shock.

  He lifted his coffee to his lips and this time, even though it was still too hot, he drank anyway.

  A few tables over, Beth was almost vibrating with anticipation. She kept looking at her phone, then at the door, then at the window, then at the other customers to check they weren't watching her, then at her phone again.