Ben parked the Mazda outside the crumbling low wall that ringed the old stone farmhouse. ‘You stay here,’ he told the dog. As he climbed out of the car he heard the thump-thump-thump of music in the distance, a riffy rock guitar over bass and drums. He turned to see that it was coming from the looming dark shape of a barn across the far side of the yard. Shards of light glowed out here and there from the gaps in the walls. Ben followed the sound, his footsteps crunching on the deep frost. Through the mist he could see a few cheap cars, the kinds of cars students drove, parked in the shadows. If it had been California there’d have been a couple of bad-boy Harleys, too. But this wasn’t California.
As Ben walked up to the barn he could hear that the music was being played live — so much was obvious from the fact that the musicians either weren’t very good, or were just too drunk or stoned to hit the right notes or keep a steady beat. He found the door and pushed it open. Warmth, light, noise and the smell of booze and smoke hit him as he stepped inside.
The floor of the barn was compacted earth. The walls were rusty corrugated iron sheets held together in places with baling twine. The halogen lamps that hung from wires draped over the beams were probably a massive fire risk, but not so much as the ancient-looking wood-burner that someone had dragged in and set up on bricks in a corner.
A lot of the heat inside the barn wasn’t coming from the blazing logs, but from the thirty or so bodies dancing to the music, young men and women, none of them far out of their teens. Most of them appeared pretty inebriated, almost as far gone as the musicians up on the makeshift stage that was littered with wires, bottles, and amplifiers cranked up to maximum volume. The lead guitarist was using an empty beer bottle as a glass slide to screech out some truly hideous dissonant notes over the lumbering rhythm that his mates onstage were hammering out from the bass and drums. A military firing range would have done a more harmonious job of damaging the eardrums.
Ben shook his head at the spectacle, and hoped to God he’d never managed to look this ridiculous at their age.
Few people seemed to notice his presence. Sitting in a row on a collapsed sofa to one side of the barn were a young girl who was either asleep or maybe in a coma, a spotty gingery youth on whose shoulder her head was resting, and another young guy who seemed about to throw up. Ben reckoned that the spotty gingery one was the best option to speak to. ‘I’m looking for Jude Arundel,’ he shouted over the noise, bending low to be heard.
The kid’s face was blank for a few seconds, then he motioned in the direction of a side door. ‘They’re in the house,’ he slurred. ‘Want some of this?’ he added, holding up a crumpled joint.
Ben ignored the offer. Glad to escape the noise, he left the barn and cut across towards the farmhouse. Little chimes suspended above the front door tinkled in the cold breeze. He was about to knock, then instead tried the door and found it was open.
Ben stepped inside the hallway and smelled the sickly smell of damp mixed with incense; patchouli or sandalwood. A yin-yang symbol the size of a cartwheel was painted on one wall, opposite a peeling Led Zeppelin poster. From the slightly better-tended state of the place, Ben figured that Robbie’s parents probably got around to visiting their holiday home every year or two.
From up the staircase came the sound of a toilet flushing, and moments later a spiky-haired young guy of about Jude Arundel’s age appeared. He stopped midway down the stairs, and gaped at Ben with wide eyes.
‘Who’re you?’
‘Are you Robbie?’ Ben said.
‘I’m Mark,’ the young guy said, adding, ‘I’m in the band.’
‘Where’s Jude Arundel?’
‘Who’s asking?’ Mark said, puffing out his chest.
Ben just stared at him. After a couple of seconds Mark lowered his eyes, bravado melting away quickly, and pointed towards a room down the hall from the front door. ‘In there. Playing cards with Robbie.’
The reek of booze was strong as Ben slipped into the dimly candle-lit room, apparently unnoticed by the half-dozen young guys who were sitting in varying stages of drunkenness around a worn table. At some point in its progress, the card game they were playing had mutated into a drinking competition whose purpose seemed to be a challenge to whoever could stomach the unholy mixture of Guinness, cheap red wine and vodka one of them was pouring into a grubby pint glass. The contest had already claimed its first victim, who was slumped semi-conscious across the table.
Ben instantly knew which of them was Robbie from the name emblazoned across the front of his red sweatshirt. He was maybe twenty-one, twenty-two, overweight and trying five years too early to grow a beard.
Sitting next to Robbie at the table, leaning his athletic frame back in his chair and laughing at something his friend had just said, was the young man whose picture Ben had seen at the vicarage. Jude looked just as he had in the photo, except that his unruly mop of hair was bleached blonder by the New Zealand sunshine and the wetsuit had been exchanged for a fleece jacket. Still laughing, he went to pick up the pint glass containing the lethal concoction his friend had just poured.
Ben didn’t want to have to break news like this to someone half blotto. Stepping brusquely into the candlelight, he reached out and stopped Jude’s hand before it could get to the glass.
‘Oy!’ Jude said, looking up at Ben in surprise and anger. His eyes were only a little glazed over from the drink, which made him by far the soberest person at the table. ‘Who the fuck are you?’ he demanded.
Robbie swayed up out of his seat. ‘What’re you doing in my place, man?’
‘Sit down, Robbie,’ Ben said.
Robbie sat down.
‘Jude, my name’s Ben Hope. I’ve been leaving messages for you all day. Didn’t you get them?’
‘I don’t know you. How did you find me?’ Jude blustered. Even the drunkest of his friends were beginning to take notice of what was going on.
‘Never mind how I found you. We need to talk.’ Ben glanced around at the others and shot a warning look at Robbie. ‘In private. Can we step outside?’
‘What did you say your name was?’
‘Ben.’
‘These are my friends, Ben. Whatever you’ve got to say to me, you can say it to all of us.’
‘I don’t think so,’ Ben said.
‘Really.’
‘Listen to me. I’m a friend of your family and this is much more important than you realise.’
‘Oh, I get it,’ Jude interrupted him. ‘You’ve come to take me home? Did he send you?’
Robbie let out a belch, then leered wolfishly at Jude. ‘The reverend wants his baby boy home for Christmas.’
‘Fuck you, Robbie,’ Jude said. ‘Who was too chicken to get in the water with the great whites?’ He made another grab for the drink, amid a chorus of laughter from the others at the table.
Ben stopped his hand again, a little more firmly this time. The laughter died away abruptly.
Jude flushed. ‘You do that to me once more,’ he warned Ben.
‘You can come outside with me the easy way, right now,’ Ben said softly, ‘or I can drag you out by the hair. Either way, I’m going to tell you what I came here to tell you.’
‘Go fuck yourself,’ Jude said. ‘I’m not interested. And you can tell my father to stick his Christmas tree up his…’
Before he could finish the sentence, Jude was out of his seat and travelling through the air over the top of the table. His feet barely touched the floor as Ben manhandled him through the door and out into the hallway.
‘Let go of him!’ Robbie yelled, making a feeble grab for Ben’s arm.
‘You stand down, boy,’ Ben commanded him, with the full force of a British Army major’s authority. Robbie instantly backed off, deflating like a punctured ball.
Jude put up a spirited resistance as Ben dragged him outside, struggling wildly and trying to lash out with his fists. Ben blocked three pretty good punches before he lost patience with the kid and trapped his wrist in an A
ikido lock that very quickly subdued his fighting spirit.
‘Aaagghh! That hurts! Please!’
‘Have I got your attention now?’ Ben asked, keeping the pressure on the wrist.
‘Yes!’
‘Promise to behave?’
‘Yes!’
Ben let go. Jude tore away from him, nursing his hand and about to make some furious retort when the sight of the Mazda parked across the yard stopped him dead. ‘What’re you doing with my mum’s car?’ he asked in a hollow voice.
Ben guided him towards the car. The music in the barn had stopped, and a silence thicker than the mist hung over the farm. ‘Listen, Jude. There’s something you need to know.’
Inside the car, the dog barked at the sight of Jude and started scrabbling at the window.
‘Why is Scruffy here?’ Jude said.
Ben opened the passenger door. ‘Get in.’
‘Not before you tell me what this is about.’
‘Get in the car, Jude.’
Jude looked at Ben, realisation dawning on his face that this was serious. Without another word, he climbed into the passenger seat. The dog clambered all over him and licked his face. Jude cuddled him affectionately, as if he knew something bad was coming and he had to cling to someone for support.
Ben quietly shut the passenger door, walked around to the driver’s side and got in beside Jude.
‘I came here to tell you some news,’ he said.
And told him.
Chapter Twenty-Five
As Ben talked about the crash, the colour left Jude’s face and his jaw hardened. He closed his eyes. Finally he whispered, ‘May I get out of the car, please?’
Ben nodded, waiting to see how the young guy was going to respond. He’d had to break bad news before. It was never nice, but it was always different. Sometimes the reaction was complete shock, physical illness, collapse. Other times it was denial — sometimes furious and aggressive denial. Shooting the messenger brought some kind of relief. Ben could understand that. He’d been through it himself, more than once in his life.
Jude hurled open the Mazda’s passenger door and staggered out. He paced in a circle on the frosty grass. Let out several gasping breaths, his face contorted in pain. Turning back towards the car he yelled hoarsely at Ben, ‘How the fuck do you know this? Tell me! How come you’re telling me this?’
‘Because I was there when it happened,’ Ben said quietly. ‘I’m sorry.’
Jude shook his head wildly. ‘No, no. No. It can’t fucking be.’ He ripped open the zipper of his fleece jacket pocket, took out a phone and started stabbing at it.
Ben knew what number he was calling. ‘There’s nobody at home, Jude.’ He watched as the young man stood there with the phone clamped to his ear, shoulders bent, waiting for an answer, willing with all his might for this to be just some cruel, crazy joke being played on him. After a few moments Jude gave up, then an afterthought hit him and he thumbed more buttons on his phone. His eyes brightened momentarily. ‘No, no. Wait. I’ve got messages.’
‘They’re all from me,’ Ben said.
Jude waved at him to shut up. Listening intently to each message in turn, his face grew steadily more and more pallid, as if hope was a colour that was slowly draining out of him with every passing moment.
The hand clutching the phone fell limp at his side. He leaned against the stone wall. His shoulders sagged. Then he bent over and was violently sick.
Ben got out of the car and walked over to where Jude was doubled up by the wall, gasping and gagging. Ben laid a hand on his shoulder. ‘I’m sorry.’
‘It’s not possible,’ Jude croaked through his tears. ‘I’m never going to see them again. It’s just not possible.’
‘They’re in a better place now,’ Ben said.
Jude spun around to face him, red-eyed. ‘You believe all that shit about heaven, do you?’
Ben said nothing. He didn’t know whether he believed it or not. He said no more, and let the young man be for a few minutes. Leaning against the side of the Mazda he lit a cigarette, watched the smoke whip away on the cold wind and wondered how the hell he should break the rest of the news. Telling Jude that the crash had been no accident was going to be even tougher than just telling him his parents had died.
‘I’m stranded here,’ Jude said after a while. ‘We came in Robbie’s car. He’s too pissed to drive. Will you take me back?’
‘I came to fetch you,’ Ben said. ‘Get your things.’
‘My things don’t matter,’ Jude said.
‘Yes, they do,’ Ben said. ‘Go and get them.’
‘I have to tell Robbie what’s happened.’
‘Tell him, but be quick.’
Jude slunk back to the farmhouse with his head low, wiping his eyes as he went. Ben felt guilty, as he’d known he would. He’d spend the next month questioning whether he’d broken the news in the right way. Maybe there was no right way. He smoked the rest of his cigarette as he let Scruffy run around the yard. The dog hunted about, cocking his leg over everything in sight.
A few minutes later Jude returned from the farmhouse carrying a rucksack. His eyes were redder than before. Without a word, he stuffed the rucksack in the boot and climbed into the passenger seat. Scruffy bounded in at his feet.
‘I’m ready,’ Jude whispered. ‘Let’s go.’
Ben bumped the Mazda back down the track to the road. Jude was silent for a long time as they drove though the darkness. The mist was settling more thickly than ever across the moors now, and visibility was down to about twenty yards. Ben focused carefully on the winding road as he drove. The heater roared on full blast, filling the car with hot stale air.
Beside him, Jude fidgeted about for a while, then felt for the seat adjustment and started reclining his backrest. ‘I need to sleep,’ he said. ‘Wake me when we get to Oxfordshire.’
‘We’re not going there,’ Ben said, and steeled himself for what was coming.
Jude sat up in his seat. ‘What are you talking about? Where are we going?’
‘I can’t take you back home, Jude.’
‘I don’t understand. You said you’d come to fetch me.’
‘That’s right. But I didn’t say where to.’
Jude’s brow furrowed. ‘Hold on a minute-’
‘Listen, I haven’t told you everything.’
‘So tell me.’
‘This isn’t easy for me either,’ Ben said.
‘What?’
Ben glanced away from the road and looked him in the eye. ‘Your parents’ death wasn’t an accident, Jude.’
‘But you just told me they died in a crash,’ Jude replied, aghast.
‘They did. But somebody else caused it. Deliberately.’
‘You’re saying they were murdered?’ Jude burst out. ‘But why?’
‘Because of your dad’s work.’
‘He was murdered because he was a vicar?’
‘No, something else he and some other people were working on. Some kind of secret project that got them into trouble with some bad people. People who obviously mean harm to your family.’
‘What secret project?’ Jude yelled. ‘What bad people? He was a vicar! This is total bullshit! What are you, some kind of fucking nutter?’
‘I wish I was,’ Ben said evenly. ‘I wish none of this were true. But whether you believe me or not, your dad would have wanted me to keep you safe. He knew he was in trouble, and he asked for my help.’
‘Why?’ Jude demanded.
‘Because helping people is what I do,’ Ben said. ‘And that’s why, until I figure out what’s happening and who these people are, we’re not going back.’
‘I have to go back! I have to see them.’
‘No, Jude.’
‘What about the funeral?’
‘I’m sorry,’ Ben said.
Jude’s eyes glistened in the darkness of the car. ‘You’re saying I can’t go to my own parents’ funeral?’
‘You can’t bring th
em back, whatever you do.’
‘Fuck you.’
‘Thanks.’
‘So where is it you think you’re taking me?’
‘To France,’ Ben said. ‘I have a place in Normandy. You’ll be safe there.’
Jude glowered at him with the deepest suspicion. After a moment of silence he muttered, ‘They never once mentioned anybody called Ben.’
‘We knew each other a long time ago, before you were born. We were all at college together.’
Jude kept glowering at him. ‘And I’m supposed to accept that, without any evidence, and let you take me off to some place in France, just like that? No way. And besides,’ he added, ‘I can’t go anywhere because I don’t have my passport with me.’
‘So you swam all the way back from New Zealand, did you?’ Ben asked him. In a softer tone he said, ‘Listen, Jude. This’ll go a lot easier if you let me help you, all right?’
‘I don’t need your help. I need to get back home. Stop the car.’
Ben said nothing. He kept on driving.
‘Didn’t you hear me?’ Jude yelled. ‘I said stop the fucking car. Now!’
When Ben still didn’t reply, Jude made a grab for the steering wheel. Ben slapped his hand away and shoved him back in his seat. The dog started barking wildly. Jude lashed out. His fist connected with Ben’s jaw.
It was a solid punch, and for a moment, Ben reeled. Jude lunged at the steering wheel again, and Ben didn’t react in time to stop him yanking the Mazda violently off course. The wheels ploughed into the slush and mud at the side of the road and lost traction. The car went into a slide that Ben only just managed to control before they went spinning off the road and smashed into a dry stone wall. The Mazda slithered to a halt in the ditch and the engine stalled.
‘Well done,’ Ben said, rubbing his jaw where Jude had punched him. ‘That was really mature.’
The Sacred Sword bh-7 Page 14