Lonely House

by Collins, James

‘Please tell,’ Pam says.

  ‘We came here to help him sort out his outhouse, tidy up his leaves. That’s all. He got a phone call, and then he rang for a taxi. He got angry about losing his phone and then he went out. He said he would be back and we was to stay until he did. And he said to let nobody come in. Couple of hours later you turn up and we’re still waiting for him.’

  Pam smiles and shakes her head.

  ‘Not true, is it?’ she says.

  The two of them are standing very close together now but Drover turns away from her and looks at Pete.

  ‘Pete,’ he says. ‘You know that bag we put in the kitchen cupboard?’

  Pete nods.

  ‘Go get it mate, we’re going to be leaving.’

  ‘Leaving… Liam?’ Pete is well pleased that he remembered to use that name.

  ‘Leaving?’ Pam repeats. ‘But what about your time sheets?’ She is grinning like she knows something.

  ‘We’ll get them next time,’ Drover says. ‘Pete?’

  Pete doesn’t know what’s going on but he does as he is told. He scurries past Pam, scared that she might grab him or lash out, and he escapes into the hall. He runs to the kitchen, gets the bag from the cupboard and heads back to the front room closing the stair cupboard door as he passes.

  Back in the room, a bit out of breath but excited to see what’s going to happen, he sees Drover has now picked up the bag that Myles was holding.

  ‘Might as well have this one for our trouble, too,’ Drover is saying.

  ‘Just burglars, are you?’ Pam says.

  ‘Oh, no, lady, this is payment.’

  ‘For what? Sweeping up some leaves?’

  ‘For covering tracks,’ he says.

  ‘Pam.’ Myles moans in his chair, but again, only Pete notices. He is looking very pale now. ‘I don’t feel well.’

  ‘Too much drink,’ Pete says.

  ‘Covering what tracks?’ Pam probes further.

  Drover acknowledges that Pete has the bag. ‘Well done, mate,’ he says. ‘We’ll be off now.’

  ‘Are we really going?’ Pete asks. He so wants to say ‘Drover’, but he knows he has to keep that name quiet. He knows he has to do as he is told, let Drover lead and they will be out of here with that money and that food they took. Having met this family now he is not worried about taking their food. He doesn’t like any of them. Apart from Lily. She is nice and it would be good to meet her again sometime. His wandering thoughts are interrupted by Pam.

  ‘Covering what tracks?’ she asks again.

  ‘Yours,’ Drover says.

  ‘Meaning?’

  ‘Oh, for the love of… Look, lady,’ Drover is smiling now. ‘I just heard you talking, you and your excuse of a husband there. I knows what you’re planning, what you came here for. It’s not my tracks I’m covering up.’

  Pete is thrilled. For the first time tonight the woman looks lost for words. She has gone as white as her husband and now looks really worried.

  ‘What exactly did you hear?’ she says, and reaches out to hold Myles’ chair for support.

  ‘You’ve got a knife, in your bag over there, yeah?’

  ‘Self-defence.’

  ‘Yeah, right. But it’s not any knife. It’s like you said in the dining room, it’s the knife. You’ve got a plan of your own, I heard you. I wonder if Lily knows. Or is that why you sent her upstairs?’

  Lily sits upright. ‘This is great. Go on, Liam, what do you think their plan is?’

  Pam is shaking her head. Pete thinks that Drover has something on them now. He knows something that she doesn’t want her daughter to know. Lily was right, this is exciting.

  ‘This is what’s going to happen’ Drover says. ‘Me and my main man here, we’re going to take this little bit of cash and we’re going to disappear into the night. We’re going a long way from here and you’ll not be seeing us again. Should I hear that anyone is looking for us then all I need to do is tell them what I now know about you.’

  ‘For God’s sake, boy, do you think you can blackmail me?’

  ‘Blackmail you about what?’ Lily asks, still smiling.

  That smile says that she knows something too, Pete thinks. He wonders if he is the only one in the room that doesn’t know Pam’s secret.

  ‘I can certainly do that,’ Drover says. ‘And I reckon you know it. But this money ain’t so much for us keeping quiet about you, it’s payment for doing you a favour.’

  ‘Cut the bloody riddles, Irish,’ Pam says. She sounds angry again now. Her nervousness has left her.

  ‘Let’s just say we saved you the trouble.’

  In the shocked silence that follows, Pete can see that she has just realised something.

  ‘You saved me the trouble?’ She stands with her mouth open.

  ‘By accident,’ Drover says. ‘We were starving, we broke in to find food.’

  ‘If we’d known the door was unlocked we wouldn’t have broken the window. Sorry,’ Pete says quickly. He is pleased that Drover said the truth at last.

  ‘But then the old man found us and attacked me. I had to fight back.’

  ‘Oh, my God,’ she says and her hand goes to her mouth. ‘What did you do?’

  ‘Fought back,’ Drover says. ‘He backed away, we both knew I wasn’t going to do it, of course. I mean, what is he? Mafia or something? Who lives out here like this with millions stashed around the place? Who’s confident enough to leave doors unlocked? Who does business with the Bucklands? Biggest crooks that side of the forest. I mean, he knew we’d taken a bit of cash and something to eat, but he wasn’t going to tell anyone, was he? He didn’t want the police sniffing around here. Which is pretty funny considering who you are.’

  ‘What have you done?’ Pam asks nervously. Her voice rises in pitch and tells Pete that her recently found confidence has run away again. She is scared.

  ‘It was my fault,’ he chips in, thinking he might calm her down. ‘I knocked into him. He didn’t mean to shoot him.’

  ‘You shot him?’ Lily leaps up. ‘You shot grandpa?’

  Myles just groans and puts his hand over his face. Pam takes a step back and starts shaking her head.

  ‘It was a gun from the camp,’ Drover is saying. ‘When we left, my mates there gave it me so I could shoot rabbits, give us something to eat. It was still loaded. But I wasn’t going to shoot him. He knew that. It was a face off. But I tripped and it went off.’

  ‘No, I tried to stop you.’

  ‘Whatever, Pete.’

  ‘Where?’ Pam asks, swallowing hard.

  ‘Here, by the door.’ Drover points.

  ‘No, where did you shoot him. Not in the chest, tell me you didn’t shoot him in the chest.’

  ‘Why, how were you going to kill him?’ Drover says, and Pete realises the family’s secret.

  ‘No way!’ he says, turning to Myles. ‘You were going to…?’

  ‘Where?’ Pam screams it, and takes a step towards Drover.

  ‘Right here, lady,’ he shouts back and slaps his hand over his heart.

  Pam staggers back from him and reaches out for Myles’ chair. She misses and trips over his stretched out feet. She stumbles back and against a sideboard, her hand over her mouth. Pete sees her looking at Myles but he is leaning back in his chair, his eyes closed. He’s swallowing hard and his face is wet.

  ‘Where is he?’ Pam says, and now her voice is quiet, timid almost.

  ‘Out there,’ Drover says. ‘I’ll show you, and then we’re going.’

  ‘Where is he?’ She screams it and runs to the door.

  Throwing it wide open, she is out in the hall in a flash and Pete follows Drover as he follows her. She’s standing by the front door, her back to it, breathing
hard and deep. Panic is written over her face.

  ‘Where?’ she demands again.

  Drover walks down the hall by the stairs and puts his hand on the cupboard door. He bangs it twice.

  ‘Open it,’ she says. ‘Show me.’

  ‘We have our deal, though, lady, yeah?’

  ‘Show me!’

  Drover opens the cupboard door and looks inside.

  ‘Oh shit.’

  Sixteen

  THE FIRST THING DROVER is aware of is Pam’s voice.

  ‘Get in the sitting room. Everyone. Now.’

  He is looking at the floor of the cupboard under the stairs. He can smell cleaning products. He looks up and sees car keys hanging. In his confusion he wonders why they were important. He can see the coats that have been hung up, and he can see the pile of shoes and boots. He can see the underside of the stairs heading up and he can see right along and under them heading down. There’s nowhere to hide in here. It’s all exactly as it was when he put the body in there not half an hour earlier.

  Except now the body has gone.

  ‘Now!’

  Someone is pulling at his arm and he yanks away from them. This isn’t possible. This can’t be right. Someone has moved William’s body.

  The pulling at his arm is more persistent and he looks around. It’s Pete tugging at him. Pam is pressing her face up against the front door, looking through the glass at the blackness outside.

  ‘Quickly,’ Pete whispers, harshly. ‘Come on, Drover.’

  Pam turns back from the door and her face is white. She is worried, Drover thinks, very nervous. Her hands are visibly shaking, all her confidence has gone. She cranes her neck to look up the stairs, moving around to see as far as she can up there without having to take a step upwards. She looks into the dining room, shuts the door and then clicks her fingers at the boys.

  ‘In here, hurry,’ she says, and goes into the sitting room.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Drover says, more to himself than to Pete.

  ‘What’s happened?’ Pete asks, looking past Drover into the cupboard. ‘What’s in there?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘Nothing, Pete. It’s gone.’

  ‘But you moved him to there.’

  ‘Exactly. Now look. No body.’

  ‘We gotta tell them, Drover. We got to tell the woman what really happened. It’s all a mess now ‘cos you started lying and covering things up. I said we should…’

  Drover grabs him by his collar and pushes him against the wall. Pete’s eyes go wide with surprise.

  ‘Don’t lay this on me,’ Drover says through gritted teeth. ‘I weren’t the one who got in the way. I didn’t interfere. If you’d not had tried to stop me the gun wouldn’t have gone off.’

  ‘If you hadn’t broken in…’ Pete starts to speak but Drover’s grip tightens.

  ‘You’d be starving, out there. You wouldn’t have lasted another night.’

  ‘Look out!’ Pete yells.

  Suddenly, something grabs Drover from behind. There’s a hand around his neck and he is yanked back, pulled off Pete. Instinctively he grabs for the hand and tries to free himself but the grip is too powerful. He feels nails scraping the flesh of his throat, burning, digging in. He feels himself pulled further away from Pete who reaches out for him, but Drover is being dragged too far away. He is being pulled back towards the bottom of the stairs. His bladder goes weak, he feels powerless to do anything as he stumbles backwards.

  He sees the terrified look on his friend’s face, the helplessness, the pleading in his eyes like Pete is begging, ‘Do something.’

  Drover roars and kicks out at the wall. Both feet land flat against it and he pushes back. He feels the thing behind him topple backwards and he grabs for the hand that’s holding him. The grip loosens as the two of them crash to the ground, Drover landing on top of the other person heavily. He hears a grunting sound, feels breath pass his face, feels himself freed and smells a strange smell. Perfume.

  He rolls off his attacker and, grabbing the bottom of the banister, pulls himself upright. He turns, ready to kick, punch, do whatever needs to be done, and sees Pam lying on the ground, groaning as she tries to get to her feet.

  His first thought is, ‘Shit, she’s strong,’ and his second is, ‘I’m in trouble now.’

  He watches, catching his breath, as Pete helps Pam to her feet.

  ‘I’m sorry lady,’ Drover says, and he is. ‘But, what the fuck were you doing?’

  Pam has been winded and it takes her a moment to get her lungs working again. While she is doing that she’s holding a finger up to Drover and shaking her head in some kind of unspoken warning. Her eyes dart around. She’s still wound right up and still looking terrified about something.

  ‘You’re okay,’ Drover says. He’s not going to give her any trouble. ‘Just don’t take me by surprise again, yeah?’

  Then he notices that she is looking upstairs again, as if she is more concerned for what might be up there than she is for what just happened. She takes Pete by the arm and shoves him towards the sitting room. He looks at Drover.

  Drover nods and Pete goes in.

  ‘You,’ Pam says through gasps for air, ‘have some explaining to do.’

  ‘You asked for it, lady. Jumping a man like that.’

  ‘Not that, you idiot. Get in there.’

  Drover walks cautiously past her and into the sitting room. At first glance you’d have thought that this was an ordinary family gathering; Myles, the family drunk, in the armchair trying to catch a sip from his swaying whisky glass; Lily the anorexic misfit on the sofa, smiling and swinging her legs like she was nine years old; Pete, some kind of long-lost cousin, politely sitting next to her, his hands clasped in front of him. There is a tray of tea things on a coffee table, the room is warmly lit and calm. But, as Drover finds his own chair to sit in and looks closer, he can see that everyone is looking drawn. Myles is swaying from too much drink. Lily is concentrating on something and trembling slightly, her grin revealing metalwork and her eyes darting around the room like she was following a fly. Pete looks to be on the verge of crying. He is holding his hands together to stop them shaking. And then Pam comes in and slams the door, and Drover has this feeling that he’s five years old and the woman he thought was his mother is about to slap him around the head again, and he knows that if she does, he will wet himself and be ashamed.

  But, Pam just stands there and he can see that she is still frightened. She wipes her hand across her mouth, pulls down her shirt to tidy it up, grabs Myles’ glass from him and swigs all the whisky before going and filling it up again.

  Everyone is waiting for her to say or do something. She is in charge now and Drover is happy to wait and see what comes next. He’s starting to calm. He knows his anger at Pete comes from his confusion; it’s nothing to do with Pete. He looks at his mate on the sofa and Pete is looking back at him from under heavy eyelids. Drover mouths the word, ‘Sorry,’ and Pete sits up straight. He smiles, briefly, and nods.

  ‘Right,’ Pam says when she has got herself a drink. ‘From the beginning, what happened here today? And I want the truth.’

  Drover, still holding Pete’s gaze, nods to his friend.

  ‘We were very hungry,’ Pete says, and looks towards Pam. ‘We had nothing to eat for three days.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘We are on the move,’ Drover cuts in. ‘We’ve been looking for work for months, going from one town to the next. We needed something to eat, that’s all. We thought the house was empty.’

  ‘We didn’t know he was at home,’ Pete says. ‘And he found us in his kitchen. It was an accident.’

  ‘I wasn’t going to shoot him.’

  ‘You had a gun?
You went looking for work with a gun?’

  ‘I borrowed it from some mates,’ Drover says.

  Pam looks directly at Pete. ‘You need to be more careful who you pick as your friends, boy.’

  ‘Me and… Liam,’ Pete says, but he hesitates over the name and Pam notices. ‘We’d been all over the county looking for work, and we came back to the traveller camp ‘cos he knows some…’

  ‘I used to know someone around there,’ Drover says, quickly. ‘Not well, I was passing through there once and… Well it don’t matter. They borrowed me a gun so I can hunt for rabbits and stuff, yeah? We was on our way to the next big place, okay? It’s a long way, and we saw this house and… Well, if I’d known the door was open I wouldn’t have broke the glass.’

  ‘Volunteers sent by Social Services?’

  ‘No,’ Drover admits.

  ‘So, all lies from the start. You at the door,’ she rounds on Pete. ‘Keeping us away while he covered his tracks. You’ve told a lot of lies today, haven’t you?’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Pete says. ‘I don’t, it’s not what… I’m sorry.’

  ‘Lying little scum, the pair of you. Thieves, liars, and now murderers too.’

  ‘I made him lie,’ Drover says. ‘Leave him alone.’

  Pam sneers at him.

  ‘And you’re here because..?’ Drover fights back.

  ‘If only you knew the half of it,’ she says.

  ‘Pam, no.’ Myles tries to lift a warning hand but it heads straight to his glass instead.

  ‘You broke in and killed an old man.’

  She’s sensationalising it like a crap newspaper, Drover thinks. Like she’s got nothing to be ashamed of.

  ‘You shot my dad.’ Myles speaks from the depths of his armchair, his words disjointed. He is leaning to one side, staring at the wall ahead, pale and swaying. He’s holding his stomach.

  ‘It were an accident,’ Drover says. ‘Pete was trying to protect the old man.’

  ‘He was dead, wasn’t he?’ Pam asks.