Dalziel 10 UnderWorld

by Reginald Hill

  He'd rounded this trouble-free day off by getting home early, drinking a cup of cocoa with his mother and laughing with her at some early pictures in the family album.

  Tuesday morning he'd tinkered with his bike which was running a bit rough, then, leaving it half stripped down, he'd strolled to work, vaguely surprised at how little of the usual pre-shift tension racked his nerves.

  But half way through the shift trouble found him out again. It wasn't surprising. A man can duck and weave through his free time, but work makes him a still target.

  At first the trouble seemed merely operational.

  They were advancing one of the gates or tunnels leading up to the coal-face. The roof here was notoriously weak and when they blasted the rip, instead of the looked-for twelve or fifteen feet, nearly thirty feet came down, leaving a great hole far beyond the reach of the metal support arches.

  Colin Farr and Neil Wardle peered cautiously up.

  'It's a bastard,' said Wardle.

  'Aye,' said Farr.

  They knew that someone was going to have to clamber up there among those pendulous boulders and jags of rock to construct a protective lattice of wooden beams above the advancing rings. Up there a ripper was alone, trying to support with his mind God knows how many tons of exposed ground, listening to its cracks and groans, feeling trickles of earth and spatters of stone, ready to leap desperately aside when a louder crack or some sixth sense warned him that a huge boulder was coming down to bounce like a rubber ball around the gate. It was a job no one could do and not be afraid.

  Colin Farr felt the fear like everyone else. But fear of late had become a sort of barrier through which he could pass to a state in which no threat, not even of death, could touch him.

  'I'll go,' he said. 'But tell 'em to switch that chain off.'

  A little later the conveyor carrying the hewn coal along the face whined to a halt. It was a wise precaution. Being dislodged by, or jumping down to avoid, a falling boulder was dangerous enough without having the moving chain waiting to mangle you below.

  Carefully Farr climbed up on to the ring and began his work. He'd only been at it a few minutes when there was an interruption.

  'What the hell's going on here? Why's that bloody chain stopped?' demanded an angry voice.

  It was Gavin Mycroft.

  'Colin's up there, timbering the hole,' said Wardle as the deputy arrived.

  'I don't give a toss what he's doing. We can't have the job held up like this. Get that fucking chain moving right away!'

  'Now, hold on,' said Wardle reasonably. 'You can't expect a man to . . .'

  'I expect men to do what they're paid to do,' interrupted Mycroft. 'Every minute that lock's on is costing money. Aye, and it's costing all you lads money too, you know that.'

  He raised his voice so all could hear. It was a telling argument for some. Bonus payments depended on the amount of coal moved per shift and as long as the chain stood still, there was a decreasing chance of reaching bonus levels.

  'I thought you were supposed to be looking after safety,' said Wardle.

  'What if I am? There's nowt unsafe about having the chain moving, is there? Not unless you're saying that the only safe pit's a pit where there's fuck-all happening!'

  'There's a lot of truth in that,' retorted Wardle.

  Colin Farr swung lightly down from the ring and said, 'I'll tell you what, Gav. If it's so fucking safe up there with the chain on, you get up and do it.'

  The two men faced each other, each face brushed into visibility by the light of the other's lamp, Farr's dark with a patina of dust through which his eyes gleamed huge as a starving child's in their pale hollows, while Mycroft's much cleaner features worked in an uncontrollable fury whose roots went deep beyond the present situation.

  'I gave an order,' said Mycroft. 'Get that lock off. Now!'

  Neither man moved till the conveyor clattered back to life. Mycroft turned, eager to get away before anything could be said to spoil his triumph, but Farr's voice came after him.

  'Hey, Gav,' he said gently. ‘I’m not going back up there with the chain on.'

  If Mycroft had kept on walking he might have got away with not much lost. At worst it would have given the men time to sort something out among themselves. But the deputy had paused at the sound of the voice and now there was no way for him to start walking again. Slowly he turned.

  'You're not?' he said. 'Right, then, Farr, if you can't do your work, you'd better fuck off out of the pit, then.'

  Now there was no noise except for the moving chain.

  Tommy Dickinson looked angrily at Wardle, who shook his head and sighed. They could do without this.

  'Look,' he said. 'Gav, let's not be hasty about this . . .'

  'What's hasty?' demanded the deputy. 'He won't work and I've told him his shift's finished. It'll all go down nice and official if that's what's bothering you, Mr Branch Secretary.'

  'Gav,' said Wardle, 'let's not risk a dispute, not over something that's half personal . . .'

  He realized it was a stupid thing to say as soon as he said it.

  'Personal? What do you mean, personal?' demanded Mycroft on a rising note.’

  'Aye, what do you mean, personal, Neil?' asked Colin Farr mildly. There's nowt personal between me and Gav, is there, Gav? He's just doing his job. So let's get it straight. You're telling me to go?'

  'Aye. Go or not, your shift's stopped as from now.'

  'In that case, Gav, pointless to stay, isn't it?'

  In his hands Colin Farr held a ringer, the long crowbar used by rippers to pluck down loose rock. Now he raised it. Mycroft took an involuntary step back. Farr laughed and let the bar fall with an echoing clang to the ground between them.

  'Remember, Gav, it were you that told me to go.'

  He still spoke gently but to Neil Wardle the fury and the threat behind the words were unmistakable.

  'Neil, what about the Union?' demanded Dickinson excitedly. 'We should all bloody go!'

  'Fuck the Union,' Farr called back over his shoulder. 'Just be nice to Gav there, and he'll give you permission to go, no bother! See you, lads.'

  Ducking low, he glided away down the gate.

  'Gav,' said Wardle, 'you must be barmy. Right, lads. Let's get some work done, shall we?'

  When Farr reached pit bottom, he saw the Cage was almost ready to ascend. There was only one man in it. He didn't realize it was Harold Satterthwaite till he entered the Cage, but it wouldn't have made any difference.

  'What's up with you?' demanded Satterthwaite as the ascent began. 'All that booze too much for you?'

  'I've been sent off the job,' said Farr.

  'Why?'

  'For not being stupid as the bugger who sent me,'

  'Who stopped your shift?'

  'Mycroft.'

  'Are you saying Gav Mycroft's stupid?'

  Farr smiled at him slyly.

  'He's down there for another two hours and I'll soon be fancy free in Burrthorpe,' he said. 'Who does that make stupid in your eyes, Mr Satterthwaite, sir?'

  'You really think you can get away with anything, don't you, Farr?' said Satterthwaite, provoked to anger. 'You think you know it all. Well, I can tell you, you know nowt!'

  'Why don't you tell me then, Mr Satterthwaite, sir?' said Farr.

  'No. I'll let you find out through experience. It'll be more fun that way.'

  They were at the bank. Satterthwaite didn't speak again but made towards the offices while Farr showered, dressed, and set off down the hill to the village.

  The day was bright and sunny and Gratterley Wood hung over the road like a golden halo but Farr was not tempted to make a diversion. Straight down the road he went with the steady pace and unrelenting expression of a man who knew exactly where he was going. Entering the village, he passed through the grid of dark terraces which held his own home, keeping to the level High Street till the road began to rise again and dirty grey stone and pock-marked damson brick gave way to pastel-colou
red walls with pebble-dash fascias beneath rib-tiled roofs, all bedecked with telephone wires and crowned with television aerials. Up the paved path through the neatly lawned front garden of one of these houses he strode, his finger outstretched to press the bell and lean on it till either the electricity failed or the wall fell in. But before he made contact, the door opened and he passed inside without a pause. Behind him the door slammed shut and a voice, equally violent, demanded, 'Col, for God's sake! What the hell are you doing here?'

  He turned and looked at her. Stella Mycroft, who had been Stella Gibson, known to him since childhood, and known to him in the biblical sense for the first time one velvet summer night in Gratterley Wood seven years ago.

  'You look as if you were expecting me,' he said.

  'What do you mean?' she said, her face tense with indignation.

  'Flinging the door open, dragging me in,' he grinned. 'Real welcoming!'

  'I didn't drag you in,' she retorted. 'I was lucky enough to spot you out of the window, I just hoped I could get you in before every nosey bugger in the street saw you. Some hope.'

  'You could have pretended you were out.'

  'You mean you wouldn't have rung the bell till it fell off the post, then kicked the door in? I know you, Colin Farr, and I saw the look on your face.'

  'Oh aye. Then you'll know what I've come for.'

  He went into the lounge. It was a bright and sunny room with lemon emulsioned walls and floral curtains to match the loose covers on the suite. An open fireplace had a fire laid in it, ready for lighting when the warmth of this autumn day gave way to the chill of night.

  'You amaze me, you know that?' she said, following him. 'They only say things like that at the pictures. This is South Yorkshire, not South bloody California!'

  He moved swiftly towards her and pulled her to him in a violent embrace that stopped her words before his mouth completed the job.

  'You're bloody crazy,' she gasped when he finally drew his lips away. She tried to pull back, but he held her to him without any effort and kissed her again, running hands up and down her body from neck to buttocks.

  With their lips parted again, her head moved this way and that as she darted glances round the room. Colin Farr smiled. She wasn't seeking an escape route. She was checking possible viewpoints.

  He released her and began to strip off his clothes.

  'What if someone comes?" she said.

  'It'll likely be me,' he replied sardonically.

  'No, you silly bugger, you know what I mean.'

  'Pull the curtains, don't answer the door.'

  'That'd be like advertising on telly round here,' she objected. But she was already beginning to unbutton her blouse.

  Naked, they stood and looked at each other.

  "Shall I light the fire?' she said slyly, it's a bit chilly like

  this.'

  'We'll not need a fire,' he said, stepping towards her.

  Their coupling was violent and swift, more like a battle than an act of love. Spent, he collapsed across her, a dead weight, his face buried in her hair.

  'You needed that,' she observed. 'You'd think you'd just got off that boat of yours.'

  'I've been saving myself up.'

  'I bet.' She pushed him off her and rose on one elbow to look down at him. 'All right, let's have it. What's going off?'

  'What do you think?'

  'I don't know. You come early off shift, straight up here, bang, you're in. What's going off?'

  He said, 'How do you know I've come early off shift?'

  'How do I know?' she echoed slowly. 'Well, I don't reckon you brought your snap tin just in case you fancied a jam buttie while you were in the stirrups! So come on, Col. What's it all about? I'm entitled to know who's being fucked here, me or Gav.'

  He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

  'You didn't use to talk like that, Stella,' he reproved.

  'Didn't I? Mebbe I've grown up since last time we talked. Can you not see the difference?'

  He let his gaze travel up and down her slim brown body, then took one of the pear-shaped breasts in his hand.

  'Mebbe an extra half-ounce there,' he said, hefting it. 'Otherwise no change.'

  'Cheeky bugger,' she said, running her hand down the line of his flank. 'You've not changed either, except you're a bit rougher than you used to be. And you're still expert at wriggling away from questions you don't want to answer. Are you here because you've rowed with Gav?'

  'Mebbe.'

  'Is that all I'm going to get?' she asked angrily. 'What do you think you're playing at, Col? That business in the Welfare the night you got jailed. Receipt for potato cakes, Jesus! And them phone calls. It is you, isn't it? I can feel you on the end of the line.'

  'Can you? I hope I feel hard.'

  She said, 'Col, what are you playing at? All right, don't tell me. Mebbe it's best I don't know. But I'll tell you something. You're out of place round here. You don't fit. Why don't you go off again?’

  'Back to sea? Every bugger wants that. I remember the fuss you made first time I went. . .'

  'I thought we had a future then, Col.'

  'I gave you a ring. And it was always good when I came back on leave.'

  'Oh aye. Made a change from poking some foreign tart up against a wall in the docks, did it? No! Listen for a change, Col. I knew it were over, long before we finished officially. You knew too, only you never could make your mind up to actually do owt, not without being pushed. I reckon your mam and dad knew too. They went right off me at the end, and I used to get on so well with them, especially your dad. Was it something you wrote to them? Did you have the nerve to tell them before you could tell me?'

  'I never said anything to them,' he protested. 'And it was you who chucked the ring back, remember?'

  'Aye, because if I hadn't I'd likely be wearing it yet and getting nowhere!' she cried. 'For God's sake, Col, face up to it. You'd given up on me. You didn't come back to Burrthorpe because your girl was here, you came back because your dad jumped down that shaft . . .'

  He rose to his feet in one sinuous movement.

  'Jumped?' he said softly. 'Who says he jumped? Why should he jump?'

  'All right. Fell! There, you see, that's what gets you going, isn't it? That's what it's all about.'

  'You think so?' He stood astride her, looking down. 'When I came back, all right, I was all uptight about me dad and worried about me mam. You get obsessed. There's no room for owt else.'

  'And now there is?' she said sceptically.

  'I think so. I think I'll mebbe take all that advice and bugger off again soon. You're right, I don't fit round here.'

  'I'm glad to hear it.' She rolled away from his straddling legs and stood up, ignoring his proffered hand. He regarded her with a frown of concentration, like a bullfighter before a difficult bull.

  'Come with me,' he said abruptly, an order more than a request.

  'What? Are you daft? Leave Gav, you mean?'

  'Why not? You can't love him.' he said contemptuously. 'What's he got to offer you? This?'

  He looked around the bright room.

  'This?' she said angrily. 'Aye, this. And what's wrong with it, Col? I'm twenty-four and what I've got already is more than my dad's ever given my mam, and she's nigh on fifty-four. Gavin's a good man, and he'll get on. He's got a good job . . .'

  'A gaffer's job,' sneered Farr.

  'Why do you say it like it's something dirty?' she demanded. 'Mebbe I'll take that kind of crap from some silly half-pissed bugger who thinks the Union's Godalmighty, but I'll not take it from you. What's the Union ever been to you, Colin Farr, except an excuse to crack a few heads open in the Strike? What's anything to you?'

  'You are. You're everything.'

  'Listen to the way that you say that!' she exclaimed. 'Like a line in a play that you've got to say so you can see what happens next.'

  He considered this, then nodded as if in acknowledgement of its truth.

  'What does happen
next?' he inquired with polite interest. 'You and Gav live on here happy every after, is that it?'

  'Mebbe not. But it'll not be you I leave with, Col.'

  'Oh? There've been other irons in your fire, then? I've heard a few distant clangs.'

  She began to gather her clothes together.

  'Always clever with words, Col, I can recall you at school. You should've taken the chance then and gone some place where being clever with words made you more than just a big-mouth.'

  'Stella, what am I going to do?' he burst out.

  His voice was so vibrant with emotion that she almost weakened. Then behind the candid, appealing gaze she thought she saw a glint of what could as easily be amusement as despair.

  'You're going to get dressed and get out of my house,' she said composedly. 'It'll not be long till knock-off and I want you long gone when Gav gets back. Me, I'm going to have a nice hot bath. It's gone a bit chilly. Mebbe we should have lit the fire after all.'

  She went out, knowing a good exit line when she spoke one. Upstairs she began to run her bath, all the time listening. Suddenly the phone rang. She rushed into the bedroom, but as she picked up the extension she heard Farr's voice saying, 'Hello?'

  There was no reply. After a moment the connection was cut. Farr's voice said, 'You listening upstairs, Stella? Seems I'm not the only one you get funny calls from,' Then he laughed.

  She slammed the phone down. A little while later she heard the front door bang. She rushed to the window and peered from behind the curtains. He was already out of the garden and walking down the road, moving with cat- like ease and balance.

  He didn't look back.

  With a sigh that was nearly all relief she went into the bathroom and lowered herself into the warm and scented water. She felt quite drained of strength, both physically and mentally. She didn't want to think about what had just happened or what might happen next, and she readily gave in to the feeling of drowsiness that drifted over her with the tendrils of steam.

  Some time later she woke to find the steam had all condensed and the water was nearly cold. She got out of the bath and towelled herself vigorously, enjoying the rough material against her water-tender skin. She was able to think now of her encounter with Colin, reducing it with each stroke of the towel to a fragment of pure sensuality. There was no getting away from it, compared with the other men she'd known, he pushed her into an extra dimension of pleasure. But it was not a dimension that played any significant part in her blueprints of possible futures.