Black Rabbit Summer (39 page)

‘No.’

It’s pointless arguing with yourself.

‘I’m not
arguing
, I’m just saying –

He’s coming.

‘What?’

Listen…

I could hear it now, the sound of Pauly coming up the bank – struggling through the undergrowth, slipping and stumbling, cursing under his breath.

‘Do you think this is going to work?’ I whispered to Raymond.

He didn’t answer me.

‘Raymond?’ I said.

But I knew he’d already gone. And now the door to the den was opening and Pauly was stepping in… and just for a moment he
was
Raymond – the shocked face, the mixed-up eyes, the sudden look of fear and confusion.

‘Hello, Pauly,’ I said.

‘Pete?’ he muttered, quickly scanning the den. ‘Where’s Eric?’

‘Eric’s not here.’

He stared at me then, beginning to realize that he might have been tricked, and as his eyes narrowed slowly in anger, his resemblance to Raymond just floated away into nothing. ‘What’s going on?’ he said. ‘I got a text –’

‘I sent it.’

‘What?’

I took Eric’s phone from my pocket and held it up for him to see. ‘I sent you the text.’

He stared at the phone, blinking slowly. ‘Where did you get –?’

‘Sit down, Pauly,’ I said.

‘Where’s Eric?’

‘Sit down.’

Pauly shook his head and started edging back through the door. ‘No, no way. I’m going to get Wes –’

‘I know what happened to Stella.’

Pauly froze. ‘What?’

‘Eric told me all about it.’

‘No… no, he wouldn’t do that.’

‘How else would I know?’

‘No,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘You’re lying. You don’t know anything –’

‘I know about the car,’ I told him. ‘I know you drove down to the river and dumped Stella’s body. I know you smeared blood on Tom Noyce’s caravan. I know about Eric and Wes.’ I looked at him. ‘Do you want me to go on?’

He didn’t say anything, he just stood there, staring hopelessly at me, and just for a moment all I could do was stare back at him. I’d taken a huge risk, pretending to know about the car and the river and everything, and if I’d got any of it wrong… well, that would have been the end of it. But it was obvious from Pauly’s reaction that I hadn’t got it wrong, and that was a big relief. Which made me feel pretty good… for about a millionth of a second. And then suddenly the reality hit me, and I realized that I wasn’t just guessing any more, I was finally facing the truth. And it was sickening. Pauly Gilpin, the boy standing in front of
me now, the boy I’d known for years and years… Pauly had been there. When Stella had died… Pauly had
been
there.

‘Sit down,’ I told him.

He looked at me. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘I just want to talk to you, that’s all.’

‘Have you told anyone?’

‘Sit
down
, for Christ’s sake.’

He didn’t seem too steady as he stepped away from the door and lowered himself to the ground in the middle of the den, and as he sat there – cross-legged, swaying slightly, his eyes staring blankly at me – I realized that he wasn’t just shocked and confused, he was drugged to the eyeballs too. His face was pale, his skin was tense, his hands were shaking. He was drenched in sweat and his eyes were black and hollow. He looked as if he hadn’t slept for a week.

‘Are you all right?’ I asked him. ‘You don’t look so good.’

‘What do you care?’

‘How long have you been taking it?’

‘What?’

‘Juice, TCI… the stuff you put in the tequila.’

‘You know about that?’

I nodded.

He grinned. ‘What d’you think? D’you like it? I got some more if –’

‘Why did you do it?’

‘Do what?’

‘Spike the tequila. I mean, why didn’t you just
ask
us if we wanted to try TCI?’

Pauly laughed. ‘You’re all too chicken to try stuff like that. You’re all too fucking
clean.
’ He grinned again. ‘And, anyway, my way was more fun.’

‘Fun?’

‘Yeah… fun.’ He stared at me. ‘You know what that is?’

‘Are you having fun now?’ I asked him.

He shrugged and looked away.

I said, ‘You know the police are looking for you, don’t you?’

‘So?’

‘You can’t hide for ever.’

He looked at me, smiling strangely. ‘You reckon?’

‘They’re going to find you –’

‘They don’t know anything. They can’t
prove
anything…’

I didn’t say anything, I just sat there watching him as he tried to maintain his Paulyness – Pauly the tough guy, Pauly the joker, Pauly the kid without a care in the world. But he couldn’t do it any more. His face was twitching, his lips were trembling, his eyes were out of control – he was falling apart.

‘What did Eric tell you?’ he said suddenly, staring wide-eyed at me. ‘Did he say it was me? Is that what he said?’ He shook his head. ‘It wasn’t
just
me… did he say it was me?’

‘Why don’t you just tell me what happened?’ I said quietly, trying to calm him down.

‘Are you going to tell?
Are
you?’ He was jabbering now. ‘What did Eric say? Has he told the police –?’

‘Listen,’ I said. ‘All I want to do is find out if Raymond had anything to do with it. I’m not trying to grass you up or anything. I just want to know about Raymond.’

Pauly frowned. ‘What’s Raymond got to do with it?’

‘That’s what I’m trying to find out.’

‘Did Eric say Raymond was there?’

‘No, but I don’t think Eric was telling the truth about everything.’ I looked at Pauly. ‘I think he’s trying to blame it all on you.’

‘No,’ Pauly said desperately, shaking his head again. ‘It wasn’t
just
me… it was Eric and Wes. I mean, it was
their
thing. Not mine. It was them and Stella. I didn’t even know what they were doing.’ He looked pleadingly at me. ‘It was an accident anyway… it wasn’t my fault. If Stella hadn’t… if she hadn’t…’

He was crying now.

‘Pauly?’ I said quietly.

He sniffed hard and looked at me. ‘It was
her
fault… all of it. It was Stella who started everything.’

‘What do you mean? How did she start everything?’

He wiped his nose with the back of his hand and looked at me with a snot-covered grin. ‘You really want to know the truth?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Everything?’

‘Yeah.’

‘You promise not to tell anyone?’

‘I promise.’

‘Cross your heart?’

I crossed my heart. ‘Hope to die.’

Pauly stared at me for a moment, his sunken eyes moist with tears, then he wiped his nose again, looked down at the ground, and started talking.

Saturday night. It’s late, around midnight, but the fairground is still busy. The walkways are crowded, the lights are flashing, the lunatic music is still blaring out. Two boys are sitting on a wooden bench set back in a little gap between a burger kiosk and a row of litter-filled oil drums. While one of them just sits there looking lost and confused, the other one gets up from the bench and starts hurrying across the fairground walkway, his spaced-out eyes searching frantically for two other boys. Where are they? Where did they go? What are they doing together?

Pauly
has
to know.

He
needs
to know.

Why?

Because Wes Campbell shouldn’t be with Eric, that’s why. Wes Campbell should be with Pauly. Wes and Eric don’t
belong
together. It’s just not right. It’s wrong. It’s unfair.

Pauly doesn’t know why he feels like this, and he doesn’t want to know either. All he knows is that he has to do something about it.

So he pushes his way through the crowds, and he marches into the square of shadowed ground by the Portaloos, and then he pauses for a moment, looking around. He sees the fairground lorries and the chugging generators, he sees the thick black cables
snaking across the littered ground, he sees the hard and empty hooded faces slouching around in the darkness… but he doesn’t see Eric or Wes. He starts walking again, heading towards the park railings and the dimly lit street beyond. Pauly knows there’s a gate there, a gate that leads out to the street. And his pace quickens. He’s running now – round the back of a high-sided lorry, down to the railings, through the gate, into the street… and he pauses again, looking left, looking right, up the road, down the road, across the road… and then he sees them. They’re on the other side of the road, away to his right, about twenty metres away. They’re getting into a car. A Ford Focus. The doors are open, the interior light glowing faintly. Pauly can see Wes Campbell getting into the driver’s seat. He can see Eric standing by the open passenger door. And at the back of the car, leaning casually against the open door and saying something to Eric, he can see Stella Ross.

She’s smiling, laughing, ruffling Eric’s hair.

Eric shrugs her hand away.

She laughs again.

Pauly stares at her for a moment, thinking of all the secret times he’s stared at her on the Internet… then he blanks those images out of his head and starts running again.

‘Hey, Eric!’ he shouts. ‘Eric! It’s me…’

The three figures at the car all turn and look at him. They see him running towards them, crossing the road, yelling and waving – ‘Hold on, Eric… wait a minute, wait for me!’

Wes Campbell says, ‘Shit… what’s that little fucker doing here? Quick, get in the car.’

Eric and Stella start clambering into the car, slamming the doors shut, yelling at Wes to get going, but Pauly’s almost there now, and Wes has just realized what that means.

‘Come
on
, Wes!’ urges Eric. ‘Start the car!’

Wes shakes his head. ‘There’s no point. He’s seen us now. If we leave him behind he’s going to talk.’

‘We can’t take him
with
us.’

‘What else are we going to do?’

‘Shit,’ says Eric, glaring at Pauly as he runs up and stops at the car. ‘You stupid bastard,’ he mouths through the window at him.

‘What?’ says Pauly, grinning at Stella.

Stella looks back at him, her face screwed up in disgust. ‘What’s
that
?’ she says, as if Pauly’s some kind of walking disease.

‘It’s Pauly,’ says Eric. ‘Pauly Gilpin. He was at school with us, remember?’

Stella shakes her head, grimacing.

Pauly raps on the window. ‘Where’re you going, Wes? What’s going on?’

‘Let him in,’ sighs Wes.

‘No,’ says Stella. ‘He’ll fuck it all up.’

‘He’ll fuck it all up if we
don’t
let him in.’

‘Christ,’ snaps Stella. ‘I told you, didn’t I? No one else. I
told
you that. Why can’t you just run him over or something?’

‘Yeah, right,’ says Wes, ‘run him over.
That
won’t draw any attention to us, will it?’ He turns in his seat and looks at Stella. ‘Just open your door and let him in. The longer we stay here, the more likely it is we’ll get noticed.’

‘Why can’t he sit in the front?’

‘For Christ’s
sake
, Stella – open the fucking door!’

Stella sighs and reluctantly opens the door. As Pauly stoops into the car, she shuffles along the seat, keeping as far away from him as possible.

‘Hi,’ Pauly says to her, grinning like a star-struck kid.

She says nothing.

Eric turns to face him. ‘What are you doing, Pauly?’

‘Nothing. I was just, you know…’ He wipes sweat from his face and looks excitedly at Campbell. ‘Where’re we going, Wes? We going to a party or something?’

‘Yeah,’ mutters Wes, starting the car. ‘We’re going to a party.’

They drive away from the fairground, heading out of town for five minutes or so, and then Wes starts circling back towards St Leonard’s Road. Pauly knows they’re going in circles, and part of him wonders why. But he doesn’t really care. He’s
with
them, that’s all that matters. He’s with Eric and Wes in a car – which he’s guessing is stolen – and he’s going wherever they’re going.
And
he’s sitting right next to Stella Ross.

That’ll do for him.

He looks at her. ‘I saw you in that rap video,’ he says.

She scowls at him. ‘What?’

‘You know, the one with the black guy… what’s his name? He’s in that big white car with all those girls, and they’re all drinking champagne and stuff –’

‘Limousine,’ she says.

‘Yeah, that’s him.’

‘No,’ she sneers, ‘that’s not his
name.
It’s the car, the big white car… it’s a limousine.’

‘Right, yeah… that’s what I meant.’ He smiles at her. ‘You’re the one he picks up off the street, aren’t you? Like he’s got all these other girls in the limousine with him, and they’re all wiggling around all over the place, but then he sees you, standing on the street corner, looking really cool, and he stops the car and kicks all the rest of them out –’

‘Really?’ she says sarcastically.

‘Yeah, and then you get in the car with him –’

‘I know what
happens
, for fuck’s sake.’

‘I know… I was just saying, that’s all.’ He runs his hand through his hair. ‘You look really good in it.’

‘Yeah?’ She smiles coldly at him. ‘You liked it, did you?’

‘Yeah, it’s great.’

‘What did you like best about it? My tits, my ass, my legs? What’s your favourite bit?’

Pauly blushes. ‘I didn’t mean I like it like that.’

‘Yeah, you did. Everyone likes it like that.’ She smiles again, nodding at Eric and Wes. ‘Everyone except them, of course.’

Pauly glances at Eric and Wes, then looks back at Stella. ‘What do you mean?’

Stella laughs. ‘Can’t you guess?’

Pauly looks up and sees Wes watching him in the rear-view mirror. His eyes are angry, threatening, staring, cold… but there’s something else there too, something Pauly hasn’t seen in Wes before. Something that looks like fear.

‘Are you going to tell him?’ Stella says to Eric. ‘Or do you want me to do it?’

‘It’s nothing to do with him,’ says Eric. ‘He doesn’t have to know –’

‘Yeah, but he’s going to find out anyway, isn’t he? I mean, once we get there, once we start doing it… he’s going to start asking questions.’

‘So? We don’t have to answer them.’