‘Dicky?’ Melissa cried. ‘What are you doing?’
He pushed Cindy to one side and took hold of one of his wife’s ankles. Working together, and with neither of them bothered about Melissa’s discomfort, Cindy and Richard dragged her up to the top of the staircase and then lifted her to a standing position.
She whimpered a little as one shattered ankle was forced to take her weight. She started to fall towards the steps and Richard instinctively reached out a hand to catch her. His fingers clutched tight around her forearm.
Melissa looked at him and smiled.
‘You saved me,’ she beamed. ‘Thank you, Dicky.’
Cindy slapped his hand away and pushed Melissa backwards.
She tumbled away from him, shrieking loudly until she struck the marble with the solid sound of a hammer hitting brick. Richard winced from the noise, although he refused to look away. He watched Melissa’s body tumble to the bottom of the staircase where it landed in a broken state of tangled limbs all splayed at impossible angles.
‘Dicky!’ Melissa called. ‘That really fucking hurt.’
‘For fuck’s sake,’ Cindy sighed. She sounded exasperated. ‘How many times do we have to throw this bitch down the stairs before it kills her?’
‘I don’t know,’ Richard said, marching down the stairs. ‘Let’s find out, shall we?’ He grabbed Melissa’s ankles and again went through the process of dragging her up the stairs. One of the ankles he held felt different. He wasn’t sure why at first. It wasn’t until his fingers explored the skin and he squeezed a little too hard that he realised he was holding badly broken bone. Melissa remained too drunk to properly understand or decipher her pain.
‘Are you taking me to bed, Dicky?’
He ignored her. It was a considerable effort getting her to the top of the stairs and he was grateful when Cindy joined him and took an ankle and helped him haul her to the top. Melissa made a handful of inarticulate mumbles but it seemed the last of her outbursts had now been made. When they let her fall down the stairs for a final time she made no exclamation. They both made their way unhurriedly down the stairs to examine her fallen body and neither of them was able to find a pulse.
‘She’s dead,’ Richard declared.
‘About fucking time,’ Cindy grunted.
He shook his head. Even though this was the result he had wanted, he could now see that the real work was about to begin. ‘I need to call Roger Black.’
48
Black was at the house within twenty minutes. His huge black and silver Jaguar roared up the driveway and parked outside the doorway. Richard explained that he thought Melissa had lost her footing at the top of the stairs. Black looked upset when he saw Melissa’s mangled body but he maintained his composure. He bundled Cindy into a car and had her driven home. He promised that her car would be returned to her house by the following morning.
Then he made calls to his solicitors and the police.
There were two representatives from the Raven and Skull legal department in attendance by the time the first of the officers arrived on the scene. They extended their sympathies to the bereaved and told the police that the woman’s death had been a tragic accident. Richard explained that he thought Melissa must have lost her footing at the top of the stairs.
The police looked sufficiently intimated to believe the statement without question. It took two hours before the coroner’s office had removed Melissa’s body and finished taking their photographs. The attendant police officers confirmed they saw nothing to suggest the death was anything other than a tragic accident. By three in the morning Richard was left alone in the house with Roger Black.
Richard allowed the man to walk him into the kitchen where Black poured them each a stiff shot of bourbon from the bottle Melissa had hidden in the fridge.
‘My favourite niece is dead,’ Black murmured. He sat down at the same breakfast bar where, four hours earlier, Cindy and Melissa had been sitting and chatting and drinking. ‘How did it happen?’ Black asked.
Richard had an unnerving premonition that Black already knew. He bit back the idea of giggling madly and shook his head. ‘She must have lost her footing at the top of the stairs.’ It felt as though he had been saying the words repeatedly throughout the evening. ‘She must have–’
Black punched him across the jaw. The blow was hard enough to knock Richard off his feet. He fell to the unforgiving hardness of the kitchen’s tiled floor, immediately scrabbling to sit upright and assume the appropriate facade of outrage and indignation.
‘What the fu–?’
‘I don’t trust you, Dicky,’ Black growled.
Richard fell silent.
‘I don’t trust you and I’m going to be looking into your history and your habits.’
Richard’s bowels turned to water. The pain in his jaw was suddenly forgotten. He glared sourly up at Black, unnerved by the idea of having Roger Black looking into his history and his habits.
‘My niece was besotted with you,’ Black declared. ‘But I always thought you were a slimy piece of shit that was likely to fuck anything with a pulse and an accessible orifice. Some days I’d look at you and wonder if you were even that picky.’
‘I don’t think–’ Richard began.
‘Keep your mouth shut.’ Black silenced him with a pointed finger. ‘Keep your mouth shut and hear me out.’
Grudgingly, Richard fell silent.
‘I’ll be interviewing my staff at Raven and Skull over the next week,’ Black explained. ‘I’ll be asking everyone if they have any gossip that they’d like to share about you. At first I’ll be asking if they know anything about you and Cindy.’
It took an effort of willpower but Richard didn’t let his gaze falter. He refused to allow his cheeks to colour with an involuntary blush.
‘If that source of enquiry proves fruitless,’ Black went on, ‘I’ll ask for all the dirt I can get on you in general.’
Richard’s heart was beating with frantic haste. He wouldn’t let himself think about the potential of being found out. He didn’t want Black to be able to see any tell-tale details in his expression. He tried to keep his breathing measured and sedate.
‘If you’re thinking of covering your tracks,’ Black snapped. ‘I’ll warn you now, there will be twenty-four-hour surveillance on you until I’ve finished my investigation.’
Richard said nothing. He pulled himself slowly from the floor, warily studying Black in case the man decided to hit him again. Considering Black’s formidable bulk, and his obvious skill at hitting people, Richard knew he had no way of defending himself against any attack. But he maintained the pretence of being watchful for fear that anything else would further excite the man’s anger. Satisfied that Black wasn’t going to punch him again, Richard stepped towards the fridge.
‘Where are you going?’ Black demanded.
‘I’m going to get myself a drink,’ Richard told him. ‘Forgive me if I don’t offer you a top up but I’m no longer feeling particularly hospitable.’
He poured a large scotch.
Away from the threatening glare of Black he tried to remember if anyone in the office might possibly know about his relationship with Cindy. Everyone knew that they carpooled, but that wasn’t the same as everyone knowing that they were in a relationship. Occasionally they would have lunch with others from the office, Tony and Becky or Geoff and Nicola. But they always made their friendship appear formal and platonic.
They rarely did anything sexual in the office, he reminded himself.
The only time they had done–
The thought left him cold.
The memory came to him in a flash that turned his stomach.
He had visited Cindy in her office at the CNS department. It had been around eleven in the morning. She had made him hard by whispering that she was wearing stockings but no panties.
He had asked if he could see.
When she’d said no, the tone of her voice suggesting he could argue some more
and she might relent, Richard had pressed her into a corner with commanding kisses on her lips. She had placed her fingers around the concealed flesh of his arousal. He had slipped a hand on her stocking clad thigh and moved his fingers up beyond the hem of her skirt. He had just been touching the moist lips of her sex when someone burst into her office.
They had broken apart immediately. Cindy had brushed down her skirt and Richard pulled the hem of his jacket over the thrust of his arousal.
He was convinced that the woman had seen nothing. But there was always the danger she might say something to Black if she was questioned.
Her face was easy to remember. She wasn’t someone he knew particularly well in the office but she was something of a regular feature in the smoking shelters. He thought she was one of those that usually ended up doing the overtime hours. She was dark haired and busty and a little on the overweight side. He struggled to remember a name and then smiled when it came to him. Cindy had called the woman Chloe.
‘Richard,’ Black snapped his fingers in front of Richard’s face.
Richard flinched, fearing he was about to be punched again.
‘I’m sorry I punched you,’ Black told him. ‘And I’m sorry for threatening you. I’m upset and I spoke without thinking.’
Richard said nothing. He couldn’t work out if Black was genuinely apologising or trying to give Richard a sense of false security. Whatever Black’s motive for apologising, Richard knew he needed to be cautious.
‘Sure,’ Richard grunted.
Black considered him for an unnerving moment. ‘I can see this has upset you,’ he said eventually. ‘Do you need a counsellor or a therapist or something?’
‘I need something,’ Richard said, quietly. He sipped at his drink and swallowed as much scotch as he dared to take.
Black nodded. ‘I’ll leave you to your grief.’ He gave the final word a strange emphasis. ‘There’s no need to come back into the office until you’ve got things in order.’
When he said the words, Richard knew that Black would be investigating the possibility of Richard having a motive to see Melissa dead.
49
Richard knew he was being watched from the moment he woke up on the Saturday morning. He wasn’t sure how he knew; he had seen nothing out of the ordinary and heard nothing that would suggest surveillance. But he felt confident that Roger Black had acted on his threat of the previous night and put him under constant watch.
‘You’re being paranoid,’ he told himself.
But he knew his paranoia was likely grounded in reality. He had seen enough curious incidents at Raven and Skull to believe that nothing was outside the boundaries of possibility for Roger Black. He had never decided whether the senior management team at Raven and Skull were magical entities or possessed of alien technologies beyond his understanding. In fairness, he supposed the distinction was small and immaterial. If they were choosing to watch him it didn’t matter whether they were using wireless web cams or crystal balls. They were still watching his every action and there would be repercussions if they found him wanting in any capacity.
There were a string of text messages from Cindy.
He didn’t bother replying to any of them. Instead he began to delete the messages. He needed to act as though he and Cindy were merely work colleagues. He couldn’t give Roger Black any evidence to confirm that there was more between them and he didn’t want Black gaining access to his phone and reading any incriminating text messages.
After writing down Cindy’s mobile number he began to get dressed in trainers, joggers and a sweatshirt. It was early in the day and he found his wallet, checked it for notes, and then put his mobile into his pocket.
Black was waiting outside the door for him.
Richard almost shrieked with surprise.
‘Good morning, Richard,’ Black said. ‘Are you feeling rested?’
It took Richard a few moments to regain his composure.
‘I was just going out for a run,’ he said.
‘I’ll join you,’ Black said, easily.
‘I might run fast,’ Richard told him.
‘I’ll try to keep up.’
‘I wanted to be alone,’ Richard tried.
‘You’ll be alone with me.’
Aside from telling the man that he wasn’t wanted, Richard knew that he had no other option than to allow him to jog at his side. It wasn’t an ideal arrangement, but Richard could see he had no real alternative. Even if he told Black that he didn’t want to be accompanied, the man would still join him on the run.
They set off through the morning.
Black was an unsettling presence by Richard’s side. He ran with the relentless deliberation of a charging bull. His pace was unwavering and his response to the exertion of the run seemed untroubled, as though he regularly exercised in this fashion. Richard had never thought of Black as the sort of man who was likely to exercise but he maintained a steady pace without any suggestion of protest or complaint.
Ignoring him, Richard tried to think of how best to execute his plan now that he was being personally monitored. Chloe was the only person who knew about his relationship with Cindy. If he could find a way to silence Chloe, to stop her from telling anyone what she had seen, then Black would be unable to prove that Richard had a motive for wanting to see Melissa dead.
Admittedly, it was Saturday, and Richard had no idea how he would be able to get hold of Chloe over the weekend. He couldn’t organise a trip to the office with Black by his side. Even if he were able to manage such a thing, Black would be suspicious if he saw Richard trying to gain access to the personnel files.
Not caring where he was going, Richard carried on running.
Black stayed by his side.
Richard remembered that Chloe often hung around with Nicola. She and Nicola were part of the overtime crowd. From what Nicola had said, on those lunchtime dates he and Cindy had shared with her and Geoff, they also spent time together outside the office. Nicola had mentioned a restaurant. It was a restaurant owned by her boyfriend. She seemed to think it made her important that she was the girlfriend of a restaurateur.
The name House of Usher came into his mind and he allowed himself a smile.
‘Is something making you happy, Richard?’ asked Black.
Richard shook his head. ‘It will be a long time before I’m happy again,’ he managed the words between breaths. The laboured sound of each syllable made his voice crack, as though he was on the brink of breaking with emotion. ‘I’m thinking I should go out for a meal this evening,’ he added, eventually. ‘Would you care to accompany me, Mr Black?’
50
Halfway through the meal Richard stood up.
‘Where are you going?’
Richard stopped short of groaning but he couldn’t disguise the flash of impatience that glinted in his eyes. After Black had accompanied him on his morning run, the man had continued to loiter outside the doors of Richard’s home. From the bedroom where he sat brooding, wondering how to progress now that Melissa was out of the way, he could see Black’s shiny Jaguar idling beyond the gates of the driveway.
Later that morning Black had followed Richard to the local undertaker where Richard went through the awkward motions of organising arrangements for Melissa’s burial. All the time Richard had been conscious of Black waiting alone in his car outside the undertaker’s premises. Each time he glanced at the world outside the undertaker’s office, he had found Black’s beetling gaze settling on his own.
Black’s car had then followed Richard on the return journey giving him no opportunity to surreptitiously stop at a call box or find some other way of discreetly contacting Cindy to let her know that he was still thinking of her.
Black had made his presence known throughout the day with various telephone calls and unexpected experiences and a thousand and one other subtle gestures of determined harassment. Now that they were sharing a meal in The House of Usher, Richard was no longer disguising the fact that h
e was bored with the man’s presence.
‘I need to use the facilities,’ Richard told Black. His voice was stiff and stripped of all pleasantries. He didn’t care if any of the other diners heard him. ‘Do you need to follow me in there as well?’
Black studied him solemnly. ‘Hurry back.’
Richard turned and followed the sign for the toilets. The route took him past an indoor fountain that poured a constant bubbling torrent of water over a shoal of tangerine goldfish. Richard took his work mobile from his pocket and slipped it into the water. It sank slowly to the bottom. As soon as he turned the first corner towards the toilets, putting himself out of Black’s sight, he ducked through a door marked PRIVATE: STAFF ONLY.
The doorway led to the kitchens. He was able to squeeze past a handful of chefs who were ignoring him as they hurried to complete orders for the busy restaurant. The room was rich with heated fragrances and the sharp calls and cries of chefs bantering with each other. Walking swiftly, confident he knew where he was going and what he would find, Richard headed towards a door at the back of the kitchens labelled MANAGER.
He entered without knocking.
The room was a haze of sweet marijuana smoke.
The couple that had been kissing broke apart as though they hadn’t been doing anything. Richard figured it was the same pretending-to-be-innocent disengagement that he and Cindy had attempted when Chloe burst in on them at the Raven and Skull offices. He hoped to God that he and Cindy had managed to break apart without looking so obviously guilty. Somehow, he thought, that was unlikely. Richard recognised Geoff and saw, to his relief, that Geoff had been embracing a near-naked Nicola.
Richard almost swooned. This was what he’d been hoping for.
Nicola pulled a flimsy shirt over her bared breasts and tried not to look too uncomfortable with her near-nudity.
‘Ric?’ Geoff didn’t bother hiding his surprise. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
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