They All Fall Down

by Cat Hogan

  She could see he was beginning to get impatient at the lull in conversation, and she needed to get him back on track.

  She brought the stew over to the table and served it into three bowls. She passed one to Danny and one to Scott.

  ‘Scott, would you like a glass of wine with dinner? I think I have some here.’

  ‘Certainly, yes.’

  She got up and, trying to seem as relaxed as possible, fetched the wine and two glasses. She wasn’t convinced he was falling for her act, but sensed he thought he had the situation under control – he had suggested dinner after all. She was formulating a plan and prayed it would work.

  ‘If I had known you were coming, Scott, I would have made something a bit more suitable than peasant stew.’ She poured the wine into a glass and put it down in front of him.

  ‘Jen, dear, it’s nice to have supper with the peasants now and then.’

  He raised his glass but it hadn’t reached his mouth when she hit him full force in the face with the wine bottle.

  ‘Run, Danny! Out the back!’

  Scott was stunned, and the leverage of her swing drove him off the chair. He hit the ground with a thud, and she burst into a run out the patio door, after her boy.

  Danny had stopped running and was looking around for her.

  ‘Run, Danny!’

  She grabbed him by the arm, and ran full tilt through the orchard and in the direction of the beach. She didn’t look behind her, she knew Scott was catching up. She was sprinting across stones in bare feet. They were on the beach, the wind throwing so much spray up from the ocean it felt like it was raining.

  If they could just make it to Sal’s parents’ place they would be OK.

  Danny was screaming, ‘Faster, Mam! He’s going to catch up!’

  She felt the rock connect with her back and she toppled forward, landing on Danny. He was on top of them before she could get back on her feet. He had her by the hair, and her son was clinging to her. He punched her in the face, but not hard enough to knock her out. She saw stars as he grabbed Danny by the scruff of the neck. She was now on the ground, he didn’t even need to restrain her. He had her boy – she was going nowhere.

  ‘Quite the little fucking actress there, aren’t you? Good try, honey, but now you are well and truly fucked. You had some hope of someone calling to the house, but no one will be down here in the dark in the middle of a storm.’

  It was at that point she noticed the hunting knife in his hand.

  Chapter 33

  Andy sprinted up the pier, trying Jen’s number over and over. No answer. He tried Sal’s phone and it was turned off. He felt the wave of panic rise again. He was going to call the Guards, but didn’t know what to say. He might just find her and Danny on the couch, her not answering his calls on purpose.

  He tried to attack her, and I didn’t believe her. He killed my wife. Rapist-slash-murderer repeated over and over in his head. He was about to sprint down onto the beach and take the shortcut across the headland when he heard the van alongside him. He didn’t need to turn around – he knew it was Brian, the Harbour Master out on his evening checks. Everyone knew him – he was a lifelong mate of Andy’s.

  ‘You’re in a fierce hurry, lad – do you need a lift?’ the familiar voice said.

  ‘Quick, man, I need to get home. Jen and Danny are in danger!’

  He didn’t need to ask twice. The little white van took off at a speed of knots, and in the short few minutes it took to get there, Andy had given him the short pitch of the story. His shotgun was at home, Brian said. Andy was relieved by this fact. Brian and shotguns? Scary thought.

  Jen’s car was in the drive. No sign of anyone else. The lights were on, and all was quiet. Andy tried to slow his breathing and looked at Brian apologetically.

  ‘No harm done,’ Brian said. ‘Better to be safe. I’ll come in anyway – you have me worried now.’

  Andy turned the key in the front door and there was no sign of life. Not a sound.

  ‘Jen? Danny? You here, guys?’

  Brian went upstairs. ‘Hello? Anyone here?’ He went into Andy’s room. ‘Andy, come quick!’

  Andy got to the top of the stairs in three strides. His bedroom door was open and the place had been messed up. There was a smashed picture of him on his wedding day in the middle of the bed. Drawers were pulled out and some upended.

  He reached up and ran his hand along the top shelf, searching for the hunting knife he had hidden at the back, away from Danny. It was gone.

  Chapter 34

  He was holding the knife against Danny’s cheek.

  ‘If you keep whining, you little brat,’ he said, ‘I’m going to gut you like a fucking fish!’

  Danny stopped squirming. He continued to cry, but made no sound.

  ‘Please, just let him go,’ begged Jen. ‘This is between you and me. Let my boy go.’

  She was hoarse with fear, and this excited him.

  Jen’s eye had begun to swell shut, but she didn’t break eye contact with him. Time had slowed down, and she could see the first drops of Danny’s blood roll down the length of the hunting knife pressed to his face.

  Her heart broke as she watched a damp patch spread down his jeans and over his feet.

  ‘This is your mother’s fault, you know, Danny. If she had just stayed out of it, everything would have been fine. But, oh no, the fucking whore had to spoil everything.’

  Jen was close to hysteria. ‘Please let him go! I’m begging you!’

  ‘If you keep whimpering, Jen, I’ll gut your little angel here. Or maybe I’ll gut you first and make him watch.’

  He laughed at his joke. The knife didn’t move.

  She needed to do something – no one knew they were down here and no one would come. It was them against him. She was Danny’s only chance.

  The wind had picked up again, and the sound of the waves crashing on the shore was deafening.

  ‘All your safety plans never got you anywhere,’ he said. ‘You should have stayed away from me, Jen, but you couldn’t help it, could you?’

  ‘Please, let him go,’ she pleaded. ‘I’ll do whatever you want. I’ll give you whatever you want.’

  ‘Don’t try and tell me what to do!’ he roared. The wind whipped the words from his mouth and flung them across at her. He was growing more agitated every time she spoke.

  In the dunes right behind Scott, she caught sight of something but tried not to react.

  ‘Danny, listen to me. I love you. It’s going to be OK.’ She had stopped crying.

  ‘That’s it, Jen, good girl. Say your goodbyes. I’ll give you that much,’ he said, as the smile left his face.

  ‘Do you remember our game, Danny? Apart from me and your daddy, who loves you best in the whole wide world?’

  She looked at him intently, willing him to give her the right answer. He looked in her eyes, and she saw a glimmer of hope in his.

  ‘Butch!’ he screamed, at the top of his little lungs.

  The dog sprang from the dunes and went for Scott, sinking his teeth into his forearm.

  The shock of the surprise attack was enough to make him loosen his grip around the boy’s neck, as he tried to defend himself.

  ‘Run, Danny!’ she screamed as she wrapped her hand around a rock. Something primitive had taken the place of fear, and the adrenalin in her veins made her react at lightning speed.

  Danny ran back in the direction of the house. He was gone.

  She lunged at Scott, and smashed the rock into his face full force. She felt bone shatter under the weight of it, as his blood splattered over her arms and face.

  ‘I’ll kill you, you rotten bastard!’ she shouted in his face as they fell to the ground wrapped in each other’s arms. She glimpsed Butch beside them, knife in his belly, his eyes unseeing.

  The blow to Scott’s face had stunned him but it had not knocked him out. She clawed at his eyes and tried to swing the rock at his head.

  He was on top of her, his
blood dripping on her, and he was laughing.

  ‘That’s more like it, you little bitch. Now we can have some real fun. You like it rough, don’t you?’

  The punch to her face made her eyes swim, and deadened her senses. She was dazed. He stood up, grabbed her arm in a mighty grip and started to drag her over the stones. They were merciless, ripping at her skin and clothes. She felt her arm separate from her shoulder joint, and the pain made her vomit.

  The waves shocked her back to reality, burned at her torn flesh, and the cold stabbed her all over. She couldn’t catch her breath. She could hear him speaking but couldn’t make out what he was saying. The waves pounded and pounded. They were relentless. She couldn’t move, he was all over her. Was he laughing?

  Danny was the only thing she was thinking about. He would be safe now: the game was the drill if someone ever tried to harm them. He knew what to do, and she was glad. The nausea and gagging was beginning to subside, but the burning in her lungs was immense. She couldn’t feel her body any more, only the darkness that was enveloping her. She tried to focus on the lighthouse. As the light swept over the water towards her, she blacked out.

  Danny ran back to the house as fast as his legs could carry him. He knew what he had to do, his mam had told him enough times. He had to ring the Guards and tell them the man was trying to harm his mammy, and then he would run down the lane to Sal’s daddy. He tried to call Butch but the wind kept getting stuck in his mouth, and he couldn’t really shout his name louder than the howling gusts.

  The kitchen light was on. Now he felt scared that Scott was behind him. He ran into the house and slammed the back door and locked it.

  ‘Jen, is that you?’ Andy’s boots made a real racket as he ran down the stairs.

  Danny was bent over his mam’s handbag and was rooting around.

  ‘Danny, son, where’s your mam? Are you OK?’

  It was though he couldn’t hear him. A second set of boots were on the stairs now, coming down.

  ‘Danny. Talk to me, bud, what’s going on?’

  The touch of his hand on the boy’s little shoulder made him jump. He looked at Andy, with blood on his face, and started to scream.

  ‘Jesus Christ, Danny, where is your mother?’

  ‘She’s on the beach with him! He’s trying to kill her, and me, like he killed Sharon!’

  ‘Jesus! Danny stay here with Brian. Brian, ring the fucking Guards now. It’s Scott.’

  Andy saw the broken glass and half-eaten casserole as he ran through the kitchen and out the back door, pausing only for a second to run into the shed and grab the first thing to his hand. An axe – that would do. Not again – Scott wasn’t going to take away the person he loved again.

  He was on the beach within a minute. It was dark now. He thought he could hear Scott’s voice, just audible over the thunder of the waves. He quietly made his way over that direction, and as his eyes adjusted to the waning light, he could see them. They were in the water. He was standing over her, and she was trying to get up while the waves crashed over her. She was alive, that was enough for him.

  Scott saw him approach. He looked surprised.

  ‘Scott, what are you doing?’

  ‘What does it look like I’m doing, Andy? I’m cleaning up the mess.’ His voice was high-pitched and manic. ‘You arriving wasn’t part of the plan.’

  Jen was alive, but she wasn’t moving away from him.

  Scott put his foot on top of her head, and pushed her face into the water. ‘I would put down that axe if I were you, Andy. I have your back, I told you. She needs to get out of the way. ’

  ‘OK, OK.’ He threw the axe up the beach, and put his hands out, palms up.

  Scott took his foot away and she surfaced, gasping for air.

  ‘It was all going fine until she came along, Andy. She got her claws into you, her and her fucking rug rat, and everything changed. They are all the same, her, Sharon, my whore of a mother.’

  ‘Scott, we can work this out – just let me take her out of the water.’

  ‘Why are you defending her for fuck sake? She’s ruining everything. Interfering. I couldn’t protect him from Livia, but I made up for it with you. Sharon was bad, Andy, she would have ruined everything for you. She had to go. I made her go up on the cliff that night – after you two had quarrelled in the bathroom. She accused me of being a drug pusher and a bad influence on you. She had to go. I followed her out after she had a go at me, and I made her go up there. When we were far enough up, I pushed her. Her body wasn’t supposed to wash up so quickly. I should have gone higher up the cliffs and made sure she went into deeper water.’

  He was ranting. Screaming at the wind.

  Jen was trying to drag herself away from him but the waves kept pulling her back.

  Andy kept his eyes trained on Scott. ‘Scott, you need help, man. It’s done now. Let it go.’ He was trying to keep his rage in check. He finally knew his wife hadn’t taken her own life. His best friend had.

  ‘No, it has to be this way, Andy. She has to go as well.’

  He lunged for Jen, and Andy went for him. His full bodyweight slammed him into the water. Andy was bigger, but Scott was exceptionally strong, and high on adrenalin. He flipped him over, and got his hands around Andy’s throat.

  ‘You were my best friend. My only real friend, and you chose her over me. You did the same with Jen, and threw it all in my face again. You should have just –’

  He slumped onto Andy’s chest and a wave submerged them. Andy pushed him off and struggled to his feet as the wave receded.

  He watched as Scott was dragged out to sea. And then he was gone.

  Andy stared as another powerful wave raced in to shore. But it didn’t bring Scott with it.

  Jen dropped the rock and collapsed.

  ‘Jen? Jen?’

  There was no response.

  ‘Jen, my darling, can you hear me?’

  She was in his arms now, her face black and blue, her hair stuck to her forehead. He had held a woman like this before, his wife. It was all too much for him.

  ‘Jen, I can’t do this again. Please answer me.’ He was rocking back and forth, rubbing at her arms. ‘Jen, you’re freezing, please wake up.’

  Nothing.

  ‘Jen? Oh God, Jen! No. Please God, please God. Don’t let her be gone. I will do anything.’

  Nothing.

  He laid her down on the ground. He checked her neck for a pulse. It was there – faint, but there. She was breathing. Shallow breaths, but breathing. He could see from the shape of her shoulder that it was dislocated.

  ‘I need to get you home.’

  He picked her up and started back in the direction of their home. He held her bad arm close to her body, and she groaned when it moved.

  ‘Jen, can you hear me? I love you, Jen.’ He looked down at her, and she was trying to open her eyes. Thank you, God.

  He could hear voices in the distance, and hear sirens.

  ‘What the fuck? Jen? Is she OK?’ Sal ran across the beach with Brian.

  ‘Don’t touch her – we need to get her to the house. Where’s Danny?’

  ‘He’s fine. My parents are there,’ Sal said. ‘We rang for the Guards and an ambulance. She was in my house today. She knew this was going to happen.’

  ‘Brian, you need to check the beach,’ Andy said. ‘He was pulled out to sea. You need to get the boats out here too.’

  ‘I’m on it.’ Brian took the torch from Sal, and his phone out of his pocket. He would first call his crew and then the lifeboat. A search would be on the water within minutes.

  ‘Be careful. There’s an axe on the beach – find it and take it with you!’ Andy shouted over his shoulder.

  They got into the house and a minute later the police were banging on the front door. Another two came round the back.

  ‘The ambulance is en route – is she breathing?’

  ‘Yes, thank God,’ Andy said. ‘You need to go down the beach and find him. He went i
nto the water. The trawlers will be out there soon.’

  They were local Guards, they knew the drill. But they rang in to request the lifeboat launch anyway. Protocol. The crew would be well on their way by now.

  ‘Rescue 117 has been deployed. If he’s in the water, they’ll find him.’

  Jen was starting to come round, but was in agony.

  She was saying something but Andy couldn’t make out what it was. Scott had really given her a going over. Her bottom lip was split and swollen and her eye had ballooned.

  ‘’Any …’

  ‘What are you trying to say, love?’ Andy said. ‘Shhh, it’s OK, the ambulance is on its way. It’s OK, you’re safe.’

  ‘Danny. She’s looking for Danny.’ Sal was beside him.

  Danny was in the kitchen with the Guards and Sal’s parents. Sal called him.

  He stood at the door and Sal explained that Mam needed a little kiss, and not to be scared. Her face was really sore, but she would be all better when the doctor came. He ran straight to her.

  ‘I love you, Mammy. Your lips are purple, but I did like you asked. Our game worked. Butch is not here though. He’ll be back soon. The doctor is coming.’ He planted a big kiss on her face, and stood back. He started to cry.