Enter the Dead: A Supernatural Thriller (7 page)

Sam
rounded the corner of Paddington Street and headed along Baker Street with
nothing in his mind except the thought of getting his job back. He’d been
trying all morning to contact Tom and was sick of pacing around the house
wondering what the hell was going on. If Tom wasn’t prepared to speak to him
over the phone then he would have to do it in person.

He was so confused by
yesterday’s events that he didn’t know what to expect from any meeting with Tom,
but as he walked past the entrance to the Rankin Hotel, what he
didn’t
expect was to see Tom arm-in-arm with Sarah, skipping down the marble steps and
laughing together like two love-sick newlyweds, and what he
certainly
didn’t expect was to see them pausing at the bottom of the steps to embrace and
kiss each other full-tilt on the lips, while all he could do was watch from the
pavement as his world crumbled around him.

It was only when Tom
caught a glimpse of Sam from the corner of his eye while kissing Sarah that he
broke their embrace and stepped back, wiping his mouth with the back of his
hand as if he was at risk of having contracted some deadly disease. Sarah
followed the direction of Tom’s gaze until her eyes met her husband’s. Sam stared
at her with a vacant expression as her mouth sagged open and her eyes widened
in utter horror and disbelief. As if in a movie, time seemed to stand still, as
the realisation of what was happening slowly dawned on the three main
protagonists.

If ever there was a
moment when Sarah wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole, then
this was it. She felt her knees trembling and her heart pounding but was powerless
to stop them. She took a step towards Sam and held out her arms, like a zombie
staggering towards its next meal, but he instinctively recoiled, shunning her
advances.

‘Sam,’ she said, tears filling
her eyes and spilling down her cheeks. ‘Sam…wait.’

He wasn’t going
anywhere. Instead, he stood rooted to the pavement and stared at her, unable to
grasp what he was seeing. As far as he was aware, he’d never been cheated on
before. He had several friends and acquaintances to whom their wives or
partners had been unfaithful – didn’t everyone? -  and he’d witnessed the
heartbreak and abject misery that infidelity could inflict upon its victims, but
not once had he even remotely considered that Sarah would do something like
this to him. Not his Sarah. No way. Not possible.

‘Sam, listen to me,’
she pleaded, drawing close and reaching out to touch him.

‘Get away from me,’ he
said, shrugging her arm off his shoulder.

‘Please, I can explain
everything. Just listen to me.’

‘Explain what, Sarah?
That you’re in love with Tom?’

‘Love? I’m not in love
with Tom!’

‘Then it’s purely sex,
is it? No-strings fucking behind your husband’s back.’

‘No! That’s not how it
is.’

‘Of course it’s not,’
Sam said, and this time it was his turn to shed tears. ‘Why…why would you do
this to me? How could you? You’re my wife, for Christ’s sake!’

‘You need to
understand,’ she said. ‘I did this for a reason. I did it to protect you. I did
it so you could get your job back.’

‘My job? You’re having
an affair with Tom in order for me to keep my fucking job? Is that it? Is that
the best you can come up with?’

‘Sam-’

‘How long has this been
going on for, eh? A week? A month? A year?’

‘You don’t understand.
You need to listen to me.’

‘Just answer the
question, would you? How lon-’

‘Four years,’ Tom said,
walking down the steps and joining them. Compared to Sam and Sarah, he seemed
far more at ease with the situation. His face was emotionless, his body
language calm and self-assured. ‘Sarah and I have been seeing each other for
nearly four years, mate.’

Sam looked at Sarah,
his eyes pleading with her to tell him that Tom was lying. ‘Four years?’ he
said, his voice almost a whisper. ‘You’ve been seeing him for four years?’ He
felt himself beginning to tremble again, the damage to his self-confidence being
made worse by Tom’s arrogant indifference. ‘Is this true?’

‘Sam, it’s not-’

‘Is this true?’

‘Yes,’ she whispered,
dropping her chin to her chest and staring at the ground. ‘It’s true.’

For what seemed like
minutes the three of them stood together without saying a word. Had it been any
other man’s wife, Tom would have justifiably feared for his own safety,
anticipating a fist or a boot being smashed into his face, but with Sam he knew
there was nothing to worry about. Sam didn’t have a violent bone in his body.

Sarah eventually broke
the silence. She looked up at Sam, running the back of her hand across her eyes
and brushing the matted hair away from her forehead. ‘Can we go somewhere and
talk about this? Somewhere private.’

‘Good idea,’ Tom said,
looking around to ensure nobody he knew was watching him, more concerned for
his reputation than for the welfare of his lover and her husband.

‘Not you,’ Sarah
hissed, rounding on Tom like a wounded animal. ‘You can go to hell. None of
this would have happened if it hadn’t been for you.’

‘It takes two to tango,
sweetheart. I didn’t hear you complaining thirty minutes ago.’

‘You basta-’

‘Tom,’ Sam said, somehow
managing to remain calm. ‘Please, do as she says and leave, will you? I need to
talk to Sarah. Alone.’

‘Fine.’ He turned to
walk away. ‘I’m sorry about all this,’ he said, surprised at how uncomfortable
it felt to be apologising, and noting how long it had been since he’d last done
so. ‘I never wanted any of this.’ He looked at Sarah for a reaction but none
was forthcoming. He knew he wouldn’t be seeing her again. He smiled and sighed.
It was a shame really. If nothing else, he would certainly miss the sex.

Plenty more fish in the
sea, old boy. Get your tackle out and see what bites!

Sam waited until Tom
had gone before saying anything. He knew he had the upper hand - knew that for
once he was in charge – but he had no interest in twisting the knife. He only
wanted to understand.

‘Let’s talk in the
park,’ he said. Sarah nodded, and together they walked the short distance to
Regent’s Park and found a free bench. To look at, nobody would have thought
that there was anything unusual going on between them; they seemed like an
everyday married couple out for a lunchtime stroll in the park before returning
to their respective offices.

‘If I’d known we would
be coming to a park I would have brought some bread for the pigeons,’ he said,
smiling at a nearby boy who was throwing food to the birds with his
grandparents. ‘Remember when Max was little? He used to love feeding the birds.’

‘Sam-’

‘Please…me first, okay?
You owe me that much.’

‘Okay.’

‘You know, before I met
you I used to go out with a girl from Birmingham. Sophie Hanlon was her name.
Did I ever mention her to you?’

‘No.’

‘She was nice. Very
pretty. Friends joked that she was way out of my league, and they were right.
She used to get attention wherever we went: bars, the cinema; even the Baptist church
that she’d sometimes drag me to on Sunday morning. Men didn’t seem to care that
there was another man holding her hand…didn’t make the blindest bit of
difference that she had a boyfriend with her. She laughed it off, of course; said
that she was used to it and that I had nothing to worry about. It was
me
she wanted, not them. And you know what? I didn’t believe her. I didn’t,
couldn’t
accept that someone as pretty as her would want to be with me. Low self-esteem,
lack of confidence: call it what you will; what it boiled down to was the fact
that I kept telling myself I didn’t deserve her. As far as I was concerned, she
was too good for someone like me. Pathetic, don’t you think?’

‘What happened? Did she
cheat on you?’

‘I don’t know. I didn’t
stick around long enough to find out.’

‘You broke it off with
her?’

‘Yep.’

‘But she didn’t do
anything wrong.’

‘That’s because I never
gave her the chance. I made up my mind, that even though I thought the world of
her, I would rather break it off than risk being hurt. What a pessimist, eh?’

‘Did you keep in
touch?’

‘No. She was furious, not
to mention devastated. I couldn’t believe how devastated she was. Told me that
she loved me and everything. Anyway, after a while she didn’t want anything
more to do with me, and who could have blamed her? I heard later that she met
and married an old pal of mine called Guy Morgan and they settled down in
Coventry. As far as I know they’re still together. And you know what’s so
ironic about it? Guy Morgan was even uglier than me! I swear to God…you would
never have put the two of them together; it’d be like pairing Quasimodo with
Esmerelda. Unbelievable. To this day I still think about it. That’s one of the
reasons I started drinking so much. One of them.’

‘Why are you telling me
this? What’s it got to do with us?’

‘A few years after I
called time on my relationship with Sophie, you came along. I never thought it
possible that I could meet somebody as kind or as beautiful as Sophie, but boy
was I wrong when I first saw you.’

Sarah attempted to
narrow the gap between them on the bench by shuffling closer towards him, but
Sam moved too, making it clear that forgiveness was not on the cards. This
wasn’t a two-way conversation. He had a story to tell, and she needed to
listen.

‘When we started going
out, I automatically felt the same pangs of insecurity I’d felt with Sophie.
Why
would she stay with me? How long will it be before she finds someone more
handsome, more interesting?
For a while I even considered breaking it off.
Can you believe that? Most guys would give their right arm to be seen with
someone like you, but right from the start I had half an eye on the exit door.
But then something happened.’

‘What? What happened?’

‘I fell in love with you.’
Once again, his gaze went to the little boy feeding the pigeons, but this time
his vision was clouded. He pulled out a handkerchief and wiped his eyes, all
the while maintaining his focus on the boy; too hurt and embarrassed to face
his wife.

‘After what happened
with Sophie – the cowardly way I broke it off – I promised myself, that no
matter how unnatural it felt I would learn to trust other people; learn to let
them in a little. Not that I had any choice with you: by then you’d already stolen
my heart. I knew that I had to open up to you or risk losing you, so I did. And
now look at me. Talk about rough justice.’

‘Sam, I’m sorry. I’m
so, so sorry.’

‘Why?’ he said, turning
to face her. ‘Why did you do it?’

‘I don’t know. Flattery,
I suppose. I’ve always loved you, Sam, but you can’t deny we’ve been through
some pretty tough times.’

‘That’s
marriage
,’
he replied. ‘It’s not supposed to be a bed of roses all the time.’

‘I know that now. Of
course I know that.’

‘Was it the sex? Was
that it? Did he have a bigger cock than me?’

‘No! It wasn’t that. Why
do men always have to reduce everything down to penis-size? Sex had nothing to
do with it.’
Well, maybe just a little
.

‘Then what was it?’

‘I’m not sure. I think
to begin with it was flattery. You know Tom has a way with words and…well…he
started telling me things. Nice things. Things you weren’t telling me.’

‘So you fell for his
bullshit, is that it?’

‘I guess I did, yes. I
fell for his bullshit, and then I fell for him. Before I knew it I was seeing
him occasionally – not often – and it seemed to become almost normal, as if what
we were doing  really wasn’t all that bad.’

‘Normal? How can
screwing your husband’s friend behind his back be filed in the same fucking
stratosphere as
normal
?’

‘I’m just saying that’s
how it seemed at the time. Of course I felt guilty, but part of me enjoyed it
too. I never meant to hurt you. I thought you’d never find out, and somehow
that made it more acceptable. But eventually I called time on the affair, and
that’s when he fired you.’

‘He fired me because
you ended your relationship with him?’

‘It wasn’t a
relationship, but yes, I’m pretty sure he did. You know how big his ego is.’

‘What I saw back there
– at the hotel – you can’t honestly expect me to believe you. I saw you laughing
and joking together. He was kissing you, for fuck’s sake.’

‘As I said, I did it
because I thought it would get you your job back. It was only going to be the
once, I promise. One last time and then I would have nothing more to do with him
ever again. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I swear I’m telling you the truth.
I love you Sam. I love you so much. Please believe me.’

‘No you don’t,’ Sam
said, rising to his feet and straightening his jacket. ‘How could you do
something like this and in the same breath tell me that you love me?’