Lonely House

by Collins, James

  ‘I thought he was. He must have been. I mean his chest was open and there was blood.’

  Pam walks across the room and stands over Pete. ‘You’d just shot him when we turned up, hadn’t you? No time to hide the body properly. You knew we’d seen you at the window. You put him behind this sofa, that’s why it’s too close to the wall.’ She kicks the small table out of the way and sees blood stains on the carpet. ‘And then you put him under the stairs when I went outside.’

  Pete is cowering away from her, sitting as far back in the sofa as he can.

  ‘So, where is he now?’ Drover asks, and in turning the questions towards her he starts to feel more confident. He’s over his shock, he needs to focus now and figure out where they all stand. ‘Eh? Lady? Where did you move him to?’

  ‘Me? Don’t be ridiculous.’ She turns on Drover again.

  ‘You came here to kill him. That was your plan.’

  ‘You don’t need to know about that.’

  ‘You want his money don’t you?’

  ‘You know nothing, Irish.’

  ‘Oh, God,’ Myles groans and heaves himself out of the chair.

  Pam and Drover stop glaring at each other and look towards Myles.

  ‘Myles?’

  Pam tries to grab him but misses as Myles stumbles to one side. He lurches towards Drover who stands up to get out of his way. Myles clasps a hand over his stomach and starts to heave.

  He grabs the ice bucket from the table of drinks and retches into it. Drover looks away, the sight of vomit making him instantly feel sick.

  ‘You pathetic drunk.’ Pam shouts at him, but Myles backs away from the table and turns around to face her. ‘Myles!’ Pam jumps back as he staggers towards her, his hand now over his mouth, his eyes wide with confusion.

  Blood is starting to ooze through his fingers. He staggers, reaches for the door and pulls it open.

  ‘Myles, no!’ Pam screams, but he has gone.

  Drover can hear him running up the stairs with uneven steps. He crashes into something up there, a door is slammed shut and there is the sound of a man retching somewhere overhead.

  Pam closes the door quickly.

  ‘Shall I go and help him?’ Pete asks, and starts to stand up.

  ‘That’s nice of you,’ Lily says. She is strangely calm now and shifts herself a little closer to Pete. ‘Should we go and help Dad together?’

  ‘You stay where you are,’ Pam orders. ‘He’s been drinking all day. All week! Let him suffer. You, Liam, or whatever your name is. Where’s this gun now?’

  ‘In the car boot. But what I want to know from you…’

  ‘Sit over there, away from the window.’ She interrupts him, points to the sofa against the back wall, far from the window. Pam takes out her mobile phone.

  ‘What are you doing?’ Drover asks, but he does as he is told and sits next to Pete who is talking to Lily.

  ‘No, I don’t have a dad of my own,’ Pete is saying, and Drover knows this is one of his favourite subjects. But he also knows it is one he needs to listen to very carefully. He doesn’t want Pete giving too much information about their lives. He wants to get away from this madhouse with some of that cash and put this whole thing behind him. He has to plan it, but he knows that’s not going to be easy, not now there’s an injured man somewhere around; a man that can go to the police and tell them everything. Drover has a very nasty feeling in the pit of his stomach that he has got a job to finish. William can’t be allowed to live. He wishes he could ring up the Buckland family, get two of their finest thugs over here right now and put an end to all of this. But he knows that’s just dreaming. He hasn’t got that kind of clout. Mind you, with this amount of cash in the house, anything is possible.

  ‘My dad died in an accident as well,’ Pete is saying. ‘Like your granddad did this afternoon, but my dad was a couple of years ago now. Bad things accidents.’

  ‘What happened?’ Lily asks, and shifts even closer. She is now touching Pete.

  Drover knows he has to get the two of them away from this mess somehow, but before he can do that he needs to know Pam’s plan. They came here to kill the old man. He heard them say so. Why?

  Pam is tapping angrily at her mobile.

  ‘It was in a bank,’ Pete is saying.

  There’s got to be some way Drover can do a deal with them. They wanted the old man dead, to get the cash, there’s no doubt about that. Drover saved them the trouble, so surely he can get some of that cash as a reward, and they all agree to stay silent. Who is she phoning?

  ‘A bank?’

  ‘A robbery that went wrong they told me. He was there…’

  Whoever she is phoning she is not getting through.

  ‘Damn!’ says Pam from across the room.

  And, Drover thinks to himself, everything would have been okay except that now the body has gone, which means either he is not dead, in which case he is badly injured, or someone has moved it.

  ‘Robbers, and a gun went off and my dad got shot.’

  ‘Pete!’ Drover knocks Pete in the ribs hard. He just realised that Pete’s nervous chatter was going somewhere he didn’t want it to go. ‘Don’t bring that up now, mate. You’ll get upset. No more talk about guns, okay?’

  ‘Sorry, Drover,’ Pete says. ‘But she’s worried about her granddad.’

  Pam looks up sharply.

  ‘I know mate, but…’

  ‘What did you call him?’ Lily asks with a smile.

  ‘It’s just a nickname,’ Drover says.

  ‘To hell with it.’ Pam throws her mobile onto an armchair. ‘Useless thing.’

  ‘You can use his,’ Pete says, and points to where William’s mobile is sitting on a side table.

  Pam actually looks impressed, Drover thinks. And then he thinks, bloody Pete. He doesn’t want her phoning the police.

  ‘Just think before you do that, lady,’ Drover says. ‘Remember, we know why you came here.’

  But before Pam can reach for the phone she stops dead in her tracks and appears to be listening.

  ‘What is it?’ Drover stands up.

  He’s had enough of this messing around. Whatever has happened to the old man it doesn’t matter now. The sooner he and Pete are off into the woods with some of the cash the better. She’s worried about something but he doesn’t need to be here to find out what. It’s time to have a quiet talk with her about walking out with the notes.

  She holds her hand up and then indicates quite clearly that he should stay in his seat. She walks to the window and, very slowly, pulls the curtain back slightly at one end. She puts her eye to the glass and peers into the night. From where he is sitting Drover can’t see anything.

  Pam suddenly drops the curtain back into place and steps away from the window.

  ‘Where’s the gun?’ She asks again.

  ‘In the car boot.’

  ‘Someone’s got to go and get it,’ Pam says.

  ‘It’s locked.’

  ‘It’s our only protection.’

  Drover thinks that she said that without meaning to. It was a strange thing to say. ‘Protection against what?’ he asks.

  ‘If it worked once it might work again,’ Pam says, but she is thinking aloud. ‘Injuries keep it down for a while, but it comes back. How long?’

  ‘What are you talking about lady?’

  Pam clicks her fingers, thinking. She paces to the bookcase and looks along the shelves, tapping them. ‘No,’ she says, and taps her forehead instead. ‘It’s in here. Think, woman.’

  Drover’s eyes fall on the bottles on the table of drinks and he gets up to pour himself something, some fortification before he heads off into the night. He might even take a couple of bottles. She can go to hell if she’s goi
ng to order him around anymore.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ he says as he passes Pam.

  She’s still mumbling. ‘It’s a chance, but it’s not a good one.’

  ‘For Christ’s sake, what are we doing here?’ Drover picks up the whisky bottle and a glass. ‘You came here to kill William. Okay, we started the job, but you can finish it. It’s not our shit no more. We’re getting out of here.’

  He pours himself a drink, puts the bottle down and, from the corner of his eye, sees a movement on the sofa.

  ‘Is there ammunition?’ Pam asks, rounding on him.

  ‘Cartridges, yeah. I got a few in a bag, it’s with the gun.’

  ‘It’ll have to do. Someone has to go and get the gun.’

  ‘I’ll go,’ Drover says. He doesn’t want her getting hold of his gun. He’s taking that with him. ‘I saw car keys under the stairs.’ He puts the glass to his lips.

  He is vaguely aware of someone coming at him and he wonders how that’s possible in a small, cluttered room, but sure enough there’s a great thwack and the glass bangs against his lips. Lily stumbles into him knocking the glass to the floor and pushing him back into the tray of drinks. Bottles crash and fall.

  ‘What the hell are you doing?’ Pam roars, and grabs Lily by the hair. ‘Sit down!’

  She pulls savagely at her daughter and then shoves her back towards the sofa. The girl is so light that she flies through the air, turning like a ballet dancer in a music box, her hair spinning out as she goes. But she is laughing at Pam as she stumbles back onto the sofa where Pete is gawping at her.

  ‘Jesus,’ Drover mutters. He flicks spilt whisky from his hands and he brushes himself down. ‘What the fuck was that all about?’

  Lily is once again swinging her legs as if nothing just happened. She is sitting on her palms, her face alive with a naughty smile, and she rests her head on Pete’s shoulder.

  ‘What’s the matter with you?’ Pam asks, but she has her mind on other things.

  ‘Sorry, Liam,’ Lily says. ‘But it’s bad for you and you said you have not eaten properly. You will get drunk like Myles and that’s not good for you, is it, Pam?’

  Pam is fuming now. She is pacing up and down the room in front of the long window. Drover gets out of her way. He’ll leave the drink idea for the moment. This woman is clearly going off her rocker and he would like to know why. He sidles back to the sports bag and is checking that there is cash inside when Pam rounds on the three young people.

  ‘No,’ she says, as if someone just asked her a question. ‘We are not calling the police. There’s no point. I have to deal with this. I need the gun. It’s the only thing that might work.’ She looks at the clock. ‘Ah, time is irrelevant now. Now it will be angry.’ She walks up to it and studies its face as if she were expecting it to answer her in some way. Then she turns back to the room. She’s tiny and wound up and very strong, Drover thinks. And obviously mental.

  ‘We will just go,’ he says, zipping the bag. ‘We’ll just go and leave you to whatever shit you was planning in the first place.’

  ‘Go?’ Pam stares at him for a second and then laughs. ‘You want to leave, with what’s out there?’

  ‘It’s a wood, there are trees.’

  ‘It’s dark,’ she says. ‘And who knows what might be lurking in the blackest parts of the forest? Want to take your chances?’

  ‘Jesus, lady, you’re not telling me a fairy story, you know? We’ll be fine, and you’ll be fine as long as we all stay quiet. Tell you this for free, though, I’d rather be out there with things I can’t see than in here with you I can see, going nut-job on me. Sure, we’ll just be leaving now. Pete?’

  ‘Oh, no,’ Lily says, and Drover sees her release one of her own hands and grab hold of Pete’s. ‘Stay with me. We haven’t had a chance to talk enough, or get to know each other. You can tell me more about your dad.’

  ‘We’ll just leave you to it,’ Drover says. ‘Come on, Pete.’

  ‘You want to go out there? At night? Into this forest?’ Pam says, and moves closer to him. She is also smiling, like she knows something he doesn’t. It’s unnerving.

  ‘She’s right, Drover,’ Pete says.

  ‘Drover,’ Pam repeats the name. ‘So is it Liam Drover Lamb? Or Drover Liam… Or simply another well practised lie?’

  ‘It’s a nickname. She’s not right, Pete. She’s dangerous.’

  ‘No, Drover. The Missing, remember? These woods are bad.’

  ‘We’ve been living in them for a few nights already, Pete. There’s no danger.’

  ‘Things have changed,’ Pete says, and stands up.

  Drover notices Pam’s face change at that remark. Her head twitches momentarily, like a thought just struck her, and then it snaps around to look at Pete.

  He pulls himself away from Lily’s grip and walks towards the window, slowly.

  ‘Pete, come on, let’s get out of here.’

  ‘You know it, don’t you?’ Pam says and her eyes now follow Pete intently.

  ‘I felt something,’ Pete says. ‘A while ago, it was. Something didn’t feel right.’

  ‘You are meant to be here, aren’t you?’ Pam asks, and she sounds almost happy now.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Pete says as he stands looking at the closed curtains. ‘No, I don’t think we are.’

  ‘What the fuck is going on?’ Drover moves towards Pete but a wave from Pam makes him stand still.

  Pete turns back to the room.

  ‘People come into these woods,’ he says, ‘and are not seen again. The Missing, remember, Drover? Those stories I heard? Old stories. The thing that eats the bad people?’

  ‘Ah, this is ridiculous,’ Drover throws up his arms.

  ‘You know about that?’ Pam takes a step closer to Pete. ‘You believe this?’

  ‘I hear stories,’ Pete says. ‘I listen to people. You can tell when people are making things up and when they are telling the truth. I always tell the truth, so, I can always hear the truth.’

  ‘Oh, Pete,’ Drover scoffs. ‘You’re sounding as bad as she is now. I’m fetching my gun, we’re walking.’

  ‘What do you know about this house?’ Pam asks Pete, her voice falling quiet. She speaks gently as if she doesn’t want to scare him.

  ‘Is it him?’ he asks. ‘He is real?’

  ‘Yes,’ she says.

  ‘That’s what felt wrong,’ Pete goes on. ‘Just now. Something changed.’ He turns to Drover and his face is still, he is calm. He is not trembling, he is not worried. ‘We have to stay here, Drover,’ he says. ‘William is the one. He’s the one who can eat them, all the bad guys. He is the one what gets rid of their problems, their evidence, the people they don’t want. The gangsters bring them here, and they pay him for it. They pay him a lot. That’s why the money is here. He can’t put this kind of money in a bank. People ask questions. Bad things happen in banks.’

  ‘You’re talking stories again, Pete.’

  ‘Real stories. It’s what I heard, and it’s what happens here, aint it, missus?’

  Pam nods.

  Drover sees Lily sit back on the sofa and fold her arms. She is studying Pete intently like she’s trying to work out if he is nuts and repeating rubbish, or if he believes what he is saying, or both. Drover knows how she feels; he feels the same way. He’s lived with Pete’s stories for years but there’s something in his voice now that sounds different. It’s not like he believes this story. He always sounds like that. It’s like he understands this story; this one is different; this one is real.

  ‘Rubbish,’ he says out loud. ‘Okay, so the old guy who lived here makes some dodgy money, I got you there. But eating people to get rid of evidence? You police would be here in a shot.’

  ‘How do you think we deal
with those we don’t want?’ Pam looks Drover straight in the eye.

  ‘Oh, Jesus.’ Drover feels his heart skip a beat. ‘You… what? You feed them to a cannibal?’

  ‘It’s a lot more than that, Drover,’ Pete says. ‘It is a very old story.’

  Lily starts laughing and everyone looks at her.

  ‘It’s a load of tosh-trash-twaddle,’ she says. ‘I agree with you, Liam. My mother has gone mental. Peter, you are very good with your stories. But grandpa doesn’t eat people. He’s a lovely old man.’

  ‘With a special gift,’ Pam says. ‘It is the gift inside him that has the power.’

  Lily laughs louder.

  Drover gets up. ‘Right,’ he says determinedly. ‘That’s it. We’re walking. Well, I am. Pete, you want to stay with these folk or you coming with me?’

  ‘With you, Drover, of course,’ Pete says. ‘But in the morning.’

  ‘You can’t leave now,’ Pam says. ‘Not until you’ve finished what you started.’

  ‘Finished what?’ Pete asks.

  ‘Both of you did it, one or both of you has to see it through. Either that or succumb to it.’ Her words wash over blank faces. ‘You don’t understand, do you?’ She speaks more deliberately, almost kindly. ‘You stirred it up. It doesn’t understand accidents. It doesn’t comprehend intent. It got knocked back but it’s up again, now, and out there somewhere; in the forest, or in the house. Either way it’ll be coming back.’

  ‘What the…? No!’ Drover strides over to Pete. ‘No more of this crap. I am away, and I am taking these bags like I said. Lady, I shan’t say a word about you to anyone, you have my word there, so you can stay and do what the fuck you want. Sorry I injured your granddad, Lily, but I am sure he’ll get better.’

  Pam has started laughing.

  Drover tries to ignore her.

  ‘So, Pete, grab those two bags will you? Anyone comes looking for us, lady, and I drop your family in the shit, so don’t get any of your police colleagues to even try, okay?’

  ‘She works on the switchboard,’ Lily says, and kicks her legs faster. She’s having fun.