4 Bones Sleeping (Small Town Trilogy)

by Gerald Wixey

‘Nurse, nurse!’

  ‘Don’t shout.’

  ‘Now.’

  Say you won't go.

  Dancing in quicksand.

  Why don't you watch where you're wandering?

  Why don't you watch where you're stumbling?

  You're wading knee deep and going in.

  And you may never come back again.

  Gone under two times.

  Struck dumb by Celia’s voice that speaks from deep beneath the cold black water. It's twice as clear as heaven, and twice as loud as reason. It's deep and rich like silt on a riverbed.

  So comfortable... Too comfortable.

  Shut up.

  Shut the fuck up.

  Baptized by Celia’s voice.

  I'm back down. I'm in the undertow. I'm helpless and awake in the undertow. I'll die beneath your undertow. It seems there's no other way out of this undertow. Euphoria.

  Here comes the nurse. Time to cleanse and purge.

  ‘Nurse, I’ve got something in my eye – it’s hurting like fuck.’

  ‘Which eye?’

  Murder or suicide?

  Suicide or murder?

  She leant over him.

  Her mottled neck inches from his face.

  He couldn’t stop his hand.

  Push the knife against the soft flesh.

  Push and slide.

  Blood.

  Pints of blood.

  31

  Jack - 1980

  I sat in my office, tapping my teeth with a pencil. I glanced down at my watch, just before midday on a frosty Wednesday. Copy for the week finished and a long lunchtime beckoned. Stuart sat back in his chair, with his feet on the desk, hands clasped behind his head. I smiled, back to normal kept resounding inside my head.

  ‘You going for a pint?’

  Back to normal!

  I raised my eyebrows at Stuart, ‘What do you think?’

  ‘Where you going?’

  I shrugged; Stuart’s insistent questioning meant that he was angling for an invite. I sighed, ‘Wednesday, it must the King Alfred’s Head.’

  Stuart began to count his change, I sighed again. Nepotism comes at a high price.

  We lapsed into a comfortable silence.

  Carol glanced over to Stuart and then back to me. ‘I can lock up if you two want to get off.’

  The recent upheaval’s in her life hadn’t changed her sweet nature. Before I could thank her, my phone clanged into the collective consciousness of the small office. Stuart’s feet lifted clear and he swivelled his chair my way, sitting to attention at the same time. Carol’s eyebrows went up, she took all the calls, only two people had my extension and we all realised the potential significance of this call. My pulse quickened, only the second time this month it had rung and we all knew how that developed.

  A soft, even voice, instantly recognisable. Inspector Mably said, ‘I know you’ve probably wrapped up for the week, but you should know. Teddy Lewis has escaped.’

  ‘How?’ I stood and immediately had a violent dizzy spell. I rested my free hand on my desk and tried to remain standing.

  ‘Held a knife or a razor to the nurse’s throat and made the guard undo his handcuff. Ordered the guard to handcuff himself, then trussed the pair of them up.’

  As my head span, I tried to reason things through. No money, no clothes – he won’t get far. Was this statement an accurate assessment of how things would develop? Or more likely just a blind hope based on my own sense of impending terror.

  Mably’s voice came out of the speaker. ‘Jack, Jack…’

  ‘Jack – what’s up?’ Stuart insistent urgency came from the other side of the office. ‘Jack…’

  Teddy - 1980

  Christ it was cold.

  Too cold to be clambering up a building in some one horse town anyway.

  Up the fire escape until he reached the top floor. He blew hard, the full moon highlighted the steam as it rushed out from his mouth. He looked at the window. It was the one; he had no doubt about that. He pressed the uninjured side of his face against the glass and kept dragging huge amounts of icy air into his lungs. The tears felt so cold as they trickled over his broken cheekbone.

  Move!

  At least the drainpipe was cast-iron. He gave up quickly enough, men over sixty had enough trouble climbing stairs, let alone drainpipes. He clambered up onto the curved rail of the fire escape. Nearly going over at the same time.

  Not yet!

  He balanced on the top rail and looked down.

  The moonlight picked out the corniced wall that had smashed her head open.

  Not yet!

  His face hurt.

  Not as much as his heart though.

  Why did Celia get into bed with all of those men?

  Why did she get into bed with me?

  The stupid fucking… god how I miss her.

  Teddy pitched forwards, shouting as he fell.

  ‘Celia.’

  The End