Howard Trenton was unable to contain himself. He needed to tell someone about how he was feeling.
"I've met a girl, Miss Williams… the most wonderful girl." Howard informed Kate. He blushed again. Kate smiled.
"That's wonderful news, Howard, absolutely wonderful. May I ask…"
"Who she is?" Interrupted Howard. "Yes, of course. Her name is Mary. Mary Broderick. She's in her early twenties. Mary is actually the sister of my cousin's wife, Kay, so we're sort of related, except not blood-related, which makes it okay, I think." Howard advised Kate.
"Yes," chuckled Kate, "I think that's okay." She went on. "So, how did you meet this girl, Howard?" Kate was interested to know.
"Oh, she's actually staying at our house for a while, until she can find a new flat to rent. Things didn't work out at the last place that she was living at." Advised Howard. "I'm sort of secretly hoping that she ends up living with myself, Lucas, and Kay, on a permanent basis. It's great having her around the home." Kate closed a folder containing paperwork, and sat back a little in her chair. Howard must be smitten, she thought, he's never usually this happy.
Kate probed a little more into Howard's new relationship with the girl called Mary.
"So, are you two like… officially an item?" Kate asked. The smile that Howard had been wearing since he'd entered the classroom faltered just a little.
"Erm… well, not yet. I haven't asked her out on an actual date, if that's what you mean. But we're getting closer and closer… we had a really nice chat last night, about all sorts of stuff really… she understands me, Kate, she really understands me… and this morning, Mary caught the bus with me into Elman, which was fantastic. I know that it probably sounds a bit daft, but I felt really proud, sat there with Mary next to me. She's beautiful, Kate, really beautiful… not in the conventional sense, but in a way that means something to me… beauty on a personal level, if you understand what I'm saying." Said Howard. Kate nodded.
"I know exactly what you're saying, Howard." She assured him.
"I thought that you would, Miss Williams. I think that's why you and I have always gotten on so well… you understand me… and I like to think that I understand you, too. We're on the same wavelength, Miss Williams.” Said Howard. Kate reached out and touched Howard's hand. Instantly, he felt an almost electrical charge run through his entire body, which, despite being intense, was also strangely pleasurable.
"Yes, Howard. We are on the same wavelength, aren't we?" Kate Williams replied, before taking her hand from off Howard’s.
Howard shuffled awkwardly in his chair a little.
"So… it's been a while since I last saw you, and I've been meaning to ask… how did your reunion go with that guy you knew from the college that you used to attend?" He asked.
"Oh, you mean Jake? It went well, Howard, really well. It was good to catch up with him after all of these years." Smiled Kate, telling a lie. Yeah, it was really great, spending the whole night trying to fend off a human octopus who'd doubled in girth since I last clapped eyes on him...
"Will you be meeting up with him again?" Asked Howard, half-dreading the answer. Kate laughed nervously.
"No, Howard. It was just a one-off thing. I won't be seeing Jake again." She advised. Howard felt relief wash over him.
"Aw, that's a shame, Miss Williams… the last time we spoke, you seemed really keen on meeting up with him again." Said Howard. Kate straightened up in her chair.
"It's not that big a deal, Howard. Sometimes things in the past should… well, stay in the past." Replied Kate, with a sour edge to her voice. Howard thought about this for a few moments.
"It's not always that easy though, Miss Williams. Not when something that happened in the past continues to define and shape your present." He said.
"What do you mean, Howard?" Asked Kate, with curiosity.
"Oh, nothing. Just me being over-profound again… you know what I can be like at times, Miss." Answered Howard Trenton, standing up from the chair. "I'd better be off… lecture starts in five minutes. Advanced trigonometry. Yuk.” He added. "I'll see you soon. Take care, Miss Williams."
“Yes, you too, Howard." Replied the careers advisor, before Howard scuttled out of the classroom. Kate Williams stared after him for a few moments, feeling a pang of jealousy deep inside. Then she continued with her paperwork.
That evening, Howard travelled back from Elman to Coldsleet on the bus, alighting at the terminus. He was looking forward to getting home, and seeing Mary again. It was a cold night, not to mention very blustery, and Howard dug his hands deep into his coat pockets, shielding them against both the low temperature and the wind. As Howard Trenton walked along the main road that led from the bus stop, he looked to his right, towards the seafront; the ocean wasn't visible at all, as it was too dark, but he could hear the waves as they lapped in against the narrow, pebbled beach. For just a second, Howard entertained the notion of going for a quick walk along the seafront; it was something that he often did, and at all times of the day and night, too.
“No, bugger to that. Not tonight.” He said to himself. Howard just wanted to get home. He pulled some earphones from out of his coat pocket and put them in his ears. Howard reached inside his pocket and turned his mp3 player on, drowning out the nearby sound of the sea.
Howard continued to walk up the main road before turning left, where he crossed the old railway line, that hadn't been used in years. After this, he continued heading forward, passing a small row of shops before coming to another main road; this was Coldsleet's high street. There were a few people hanging about, here and there, but otherwise, it was practically dead. Howard crossed over the road, then followed a side-street that began to climb up a hill. The side-street was dotted with houses. After a minutes walk, Howard came to an alleyway that would lead onto the road where he lived with Lucas, Kay, and now Mary too. Knowing that home was close by, Howard picked up his pace as he walked into the alleyway, completely unaware that he was being followed.
Howard was half through the alleyway when he suddenly sensed a presence right behind him. Before he even had the chance to turn around, Howard felt a powerful fist hammer into the side of his head. He keeled sidewards, ending up against a concrete wall that ran along the length of the alleyway. A tall figure, largely hidden by the dark, reached out, yanking the earphones from Howard's ears. After this, the attacker's hand plunged into Howard's jacket pocket, greedily pulling out his mp3 player. The attacker pushed Howard hard against the concrete wall.
"Have you got anything else? Any money?" Asked the assailant. Howard could just about make out the mugger's face in the dark; it belonged to a young man, probably in his mid-twenties, with sharp, prominent features. It wasn't anyone that Howard recognised from around the town of Coldsleet.
"No." Replied Howard, his voice quivering a little. “That's all that I've got on me.” He said, referring to the mp3 player.
"Well, not any more it isn't… are you sure that you haven't got some money on you?" The mugger repeated, and at this point, he produced a knife from the pocket of his jeans, and held it close to Howard's throat.
"I'm sure." Answered Howard. The attacker stared at him for a while, grunted, and then let go of Howard, before running off down the alleyway, towards the direction of Coldsleet's high street. Howard pushed himself away from the concrete wall, and rubbed at his cheek, where he'd been punched. A warm, familiar feeling flushed through him. Rage. Then Howard grinned to himself. "I'll give you a little bit of a head-start.” Howard said, staring in the direction where the mugger had just fled. Howard sniffed at the night air, taking in the scent of the attacker, which lingered all around him, before slowly retreading his steps, back down the alleyway…
Howard's mystery mugger was actually a young career-criminal from the nearby town of Ruthskin, called Lee Carpenter. Lee's general, golden rule, was to never commit crimes in his home town at all; rather, he would drive out, to the neighbouring communities, and carry out his nasty little thef
ts, burglaries, and street robberies in those places instead. So far, he hadn't been caught. Or, rather, he hadn't been caught for the current spate of crimes that he'd been committing since arriving in Ruthskin just under a year ago. Sooner or later, Lee knew that he'd fall onto the radar of the local police, and when he did, they'd be taking a great deal of interest in the previous, well-documented criminal activity that he'd been involved in, in other locations outside of the north-west. Capture was inevitable, but it wasn't going to stop Lee Carpenter from either carrying out his crimes, or enjoying the proceeds from them; it was a way of life for the young man, plus it helped fund his various addictions. Lee Carpenter himself doubted that he'd ever be able to change his habits. In fact, he didn’t particularly want to.
After Lee had attacked Howard Trenton in the alleyway, and stolen the youth's music player, Lee fled from the scene of the crime, heading back towards a small car-park, close to Coldsleet seafront, where he'd left the vehicle that he had travelled down to the town in. It only took Lee around five minutes to arrive at his destination. He got into the car, and switched on the inside light, just above the driver's seat. Lee pulled out the mp3 player that he'd stolen from the young man in the alleyway. He examined it carefully. Hmm, it's a good make, says on the back here that there's one hundred and twenty gigs of storage … I reckon that Rob will probably give me about thirty, forty quid for this, Lee thought to himself. He turned the mp3 player on. Touchscreen too… shit taste in music though… who the fuck is 'Godjite Puls'?
As Lee Carpenter sat in his car, messing around with the gadget that he had just stolen, his victim, Howard Trenton, entered the small car-park. It was empty, save for his attacker's vehicle. The car-park, located very close to the seafront, was barely used, even in the summer months, let alone during the middle of winter, and on a Monday evening. However, even if the car-park had been much larger, and full of cars, Howard would still have easily found his prey; the moment that the teenager detected the mugger's scent back at the scene of the robbery, the older man was doomed. Lee Carpenter could never have known it, be he had fallen prey to one of the most dangerous humans to have ever walked the Earth.
Howard moved towards the car, slowly, mechanically. He wasn't in any rush, and was feeling calm and confident now that the initial shock from the earlier attack had worn off. Howard reached the car; the occupant was sat inside, still toying with the mp3 player, totally unaware that there was a visitor just outside of his vehicle, and an unwelcome one at that. It wasn't until the car door, despite being locked, was suddenly wrenched open, that Lee Carpenter realised that his teenage victim had somehow managed to follow him all of the way back to the car-park. Lee didn't have much chance to react, before finding himself being yanked from the driver's seat by bony, yet incredibly powerful hands. Howard pulled the mugger right out of the car in one graceful movement, then onto the freezing cold concrete floor. In an instant, the much smaller teenager was astride Lee, who tried to lash out at Howard with one of his fists. This time though, Howard Trenton wasn't in a position to be caught unaware, and easily dodged the punch that was aimed at his face. After the failed punch, Howard shifted his entire body, pinning the older man to the ground.
"Get the fuck off me." Growled Lee Carpenter, his face close to Howard’s. He tried to reach into the pocket of his jeans, in order to retrieve the knife, but they younger lad's knees had Lee's arms completely pinioned against the concrete floor. Howard smiled.
"No. I think that I'll just stay here, with you, for a while." Replied Howard. He took a quick glance around the car-park and its surrounding area. The location was bordered by a small stone wall on three sides, and fenced-off sand-dunes on the fourth. "We'll be fine. No-one's going to disturb us. Let’s have some fun.” Assured Howard Trenton, before wreaking his revenge on Lee Carpenter.
Chapter Six
Instead of spending the night back at home with his family and, in particular, Mary Broderick, Howard Trenton found himself in Lee Carpenter's car, near a small piece of woodland just on the northern outskirts of Coldsleet. Howard had parked Lee's car on a fire-ride, far away from the nearest main road, and any potential prying eyes. He had deposited the mugger's corpse in the backseat of the car. Howard went around to the back door, and dragged the larger man’s body from out of the vehicle, before hoisting him, with apparent ease, over his shoulder. Howard walked into the thickening woodland.
"Nobody comes out this way in the winter." Said Howard, chirpily. "By the time that anybody does, there won't be much left of you… probably just a few bones scattered here and there." He went on, speaking to the dead mugger. "This area is rife with wildlife… whoever you are, my friend, you'll make a fine meal for a lot of the residents of this woodland. So all's well that ends well… you will actually be giving something back to the world, instead of taking from it.” Howard smiled.
After a walk that took roughly five minutes, Howard approached a stream that he'd been looking for. The woodland was just one of many locations around Coldsleet and the surrounding areas that he knew very well; ever since he had been a child, Howard Trenton was a natural explorer, and had always felt at one with nature. When he reached the stream, Howard carefully knelt down and placed the body of Lee Carpenter, face-first, into the freezing cold water. When he had done this, he stood back up, and looked down at the corpse. The water will wash away any potentially incriminating evidence from off this guy… it's a shame that I couldn't have just taken him up to the farmhouse, but I can't risk putting everybody in the same place. I wonder who the hell he is? I've never seen him in Coldsleet before, thought Howard. Not that it matters. Whoever he was, he had it coming… you just can't go around stealing other people's property like that, it's not right." Howard reached into his coat pocket, and took out the mp3 player that he'd retrieved earlier from the mugger. If this guy had had his way, I'd have been catching the bus to college tomorrow without any music to listen to. That would be horrible… I'd have to just sit there and listen to all of the other passengers whining on about trivial crap. Nah, I couldn't have been doing with that. Still, my mysterious friend here has learned his lesson. Thieving cunt.
Howard walked away from the dead body of Lee Carpenter, and made his way back to the car that was parked on the fire-ride. Right, I'll take this car back into Coldsleet and leave it exactly where I found it… on the car-park by the beach. Yeah, I could take it up into the mountains, torch it, or maybe push it off the road and into one of the ravines up there, but then that'd leave me stranded… well, not stranded, but with one hell of a long walk home, and if I'm too late in getting back, then Lucas or Kay… hey, maybe even Mary… might start getting really concerned about me, and call the police. I've got no way of contacting them out here, I forgot my stupid mobile phone this morning, it's still on the bedside cabinet, thought Howard. He looked down at his watch; it was only eight thirty. He smiled. It'll only take me ten minutes to dump this car back in Coldsleet, and then another ten minutes to walk home. I'll be back before nine. There's been many a night when I've got in a lot later. With that, Howard Trenton climbed into Lee Carpenter's car, and drove it back into the town centre of Coldsleet, leaving it exactly where he had found the vehicle, on the small car-park close to the seafront.
Howard arrived, as he had anticipated, back at home for around nine in the evening. However, his walk from the car-park on the seafront, where he ditched Lee Carpenter's vehicle, through the town centre and up to the house, wasn't without incident… an incident that came in the form of Alex Crennell, who Howard intensely disliked. Some years earlier, from infant school right the way through until the start of attending the local comprehensive, Alex and Howard had been good friends, despite a slight age difference. However, at that point, as Alex became a teenager, he drifted towards a new, small circle of friends, sharing with them a common taste in alternative music, especially metal and punk, which Howard, being Howard, turned his nose completely up at. For a while, he and Alex still remained friends, though no lo
nger as close as what they once were, but then, something happened that really stirred Howard's anger and jealousy; Alex got himself a girlfriend. Worse than that, it was a girl that Howard had been admiring, from afar, for some months.
The girl's name had been Amanda Mather, and she had really caught Howard's attention one spring afternoon, whilst he was walking home from school. The weather had turned ugly, and there was a sudden downpour of rain. Amanda had been walking just behind Howard, who was getting soaked, whilst she had the luxury of an umbrella. Amanda had tapped Howard on the shoulder.
"Haven't you got a hood on that coat? It's tipping down." She had said to him.
"Not on this coat, no. I've got one with a hood, but I left it at home, coz it was such a sunny morning and I didn't think that I'd need it." Replied Howard.
"Well, you'd better get under this brolly then, or you'll get absolutely drowned." Suggested Amanda. Howard had gladly taken her up on the kind offer.
"That's nice of you. Thanks." He said, scuttling under the umbrella.
"If I were you, I wouldn't go wearing summer jackets just yet… you know what they say about not 'casting a clout until May is out'." Advised Amanda, before laughing at Howard's 'drowned rat' appearance.
Following that afternoon, Howard would, very often, find himself walking home from school with Amanda Mather. They'd talk about this and that, but their main topics of conversation were music, and what had been showing on the television the previous night or at the weekend. Amanda saw Howard as nothing more than a friend. Howard, on the other hand, had romantic inclinations towards the pretty thirteen year old, but he could never quite find the courage to tell Amanda how he was feeling. Then, suddenly, it was all too late. Howard found out, through the school gossip network, that Amanda had started dating Alex Crennell. This was confirmed by Alex himself the next day. Howard stopped speaking to his old friend very soon after that. As far as he was concerned, Alex had now completely betrayed him. Quite how Alex Crennell was expected to know of Howard's childish yearnings for the love of Amanda Mathers was anyone's guess. Not that this concerned Howard Trenton in the least; his views were very black and white on the subject, there were no grey areas in-between. Alex Crennell was a traitor, and that was that. At first, Alex felt hurt by his friend’s sudden coldness towards him. This hurt eventually turned to anger. Alex, backed-up by his little circle of friends, started to mock Howard, whenever the opportunity arose. It was all low-level bullying, there was never any violence, or threat of violence, but it was bullying nevertheless. Howard ignored the jibes as best he could, but his loathing of Alex Crennell grew stronger with each passing year.
The Black Pathway Page 7