The Border Part Two (3 page)

“What’s that?” she asked with a frown.

“What do you think it is?” he replied, glancing around to make sure no-one was watching. “It’s what you wanted. Now take it!”

“Where’s the box?”

“There isn’t a box.”

“I want to read the leaflet.”

“There’s no leaflet.”

“What about side-effects?”

“Nausea,” he replied, “um, vomiting, headaches, the usual stuff. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“They just gave it to you loose?”

“Yes, they just gave it to me loose.” Leaning further into the car, he forced the tablet into her hand. “Just take it. Not that you need it, but after all the trouble I went to, you might as well have it.”

“I told you to get three.”

“There’s a limit of one per customer.”

“Seriously?” She looked at the tablet for a moment. “What does the C mean?”

“It doesn’t mean anything,” he hissed.

“Does it mean Candy?”

“What?”

“Did you get one with my initial on it, on purpose?”

He stared at her, barely able to believe what he was hearing. “Yes,” he said finally. “Yes I did.”

“Huh. That’s sweet, I guess.” She stared at the pill for a moment. “You know, I’ve taken the morning-after pill before, and it didn’t look like this.”

“Must be a different brand,” he muttered, trying not to lose his patience.

“Huh.” She paused. “Okay, but I need water.”

“Don’t you have some?”

She shook her head.

“Can’t you just swallow it?”

“I
need
water,” she said again. “What’s
wrong
with you?”

“Fine,” he replied, turning and hurrying back across the parking lot, heading for the convenience store. “Jesus Christ this is completely unnecessary,” he muttered, “all I need is -”

“Bob?”

Spinning around, he saw a man wandering over with a broad grin, but it took a moment before he realized where they’d met before.

“Ben?” he stammered.

“Surprise,” Ben replied, reaching out and shaking his hand. “Long time, no see. I almost didn’t recognize you there, buddy, in that suit and tie. When did you get so goddamn corporate?”

“Corporate?” Looking down, Bob realized that the last time he’d seen Ben had probably been back in his days of working at the record store. “Well, someone has to pay the bills.”

“My sister keeping the household budget high, is she?”

“Uh, yeah,” he replied, as he desperately tried to think of an excuse to get out of the conversation, while trying to still act natural. “I, um, I heard you were coming back to town. Beth mentioned it. Christmas, huh? What’s wrong, did you get a little sentimental while you were out on the road?”

“Among other things,” Ben told him, before squinting as he looked over at the car. “Who’ve you got with you?”

“No-one.”

“Isn’t that your car?”

“No.”

“I thought I saw you -”

“I was just giving her something,” Bob replied. “That’s all.”

“A friend, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“She looks kinda young. Early twenties?”

“We work together,” Bob stammered. “We, uh, yeah… So that’s that. I’m just giving her a lift home.”

“So it
is
your car?”

“Yes. Yes it is. I was just…” He paused as he tried to come up with an excuse.

“I thought I saw you coming out of the pharmacy,” Ben continued. “I was taking a morning coffee and just chewin’ over the state of the world in my head, and then I happened to look out the window and there you were, coming outta the pharmacy opposite and… Well, it looked like you skipped around the corner for a minute and started going through a box of pills or something. I thought to myself, well, you’ll laugh, but honest to God, my first thought was to worry that maybe old Bob had gotten himself a pill habit.” He smiled.

“No,” Bob replied, shaking his head.

“No?”

“No. You must have been mistaken. I didn’t do anything like that.”

“You didn’t?”

“I didn’t.”

“Huh.” Ben paused, staring at him for a moment before reaching out and patting him on the shoulder. “Well, I guess I must have been wrong, huh?” He stared toward the car for a few seconds, squinting in an effort to get a better view of the girl in the passenger seat. “Is she single?”

“Who?”

“The hot young lady in your vehicle, Bob. If she is, I’d sure like an introduction.”

“I think she’s married.”

“She is?”

“Or she has a boyfriend.”

“Huh.”

“She might even be a lesbian.”

“She might?” Ben frowned. “Well, that sure covers all the -”

“I should get going,” Bob added, taking a step back. “I need to, I really need to… I need to get going.”

“Well,” Ben replied with a smile, “I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other over the next few days. Now I’m in town for a while, I’ll be plugging myself into the family again, all that shit. Plus, with Christmas just around the corner… Speaking of which, I haven’t seen my sister in a long time, do you have any idea what I could get her as a gift? On a limited budget, naturally.”

“Anything should be fine,” Bob replied.

“Anything?”

“She’s pretty easy to please. Just get her anything.”

“Huh. Well, okay, you’re obviously still quite the ladies’ man, Bob. I’ll see you around. Nice catching up, buddy.” He glanced toward the car one more time, as if he was on the verge of asking another question, before smiling and wandering back toward the cafe.

As soon as Ben was back inside, Bob hurried into the store and bought a bottle of water, before making his way back to the car. He looked around several times, starting to feel increasingly worried that he’d be spotted again, until he got to the car just as Candy was climbing out, her patience having evidently run out.

“Get back in there!” he hissed. “We need to -”

“This is paracetamol,” she said firmly, holding the tablet up.

He froze. “What?”

“I looked it up on my phone. It’s paracetamol with codeine. The C stands for codeine, not Candy!”

“I…” He paused. “Well, obviously… I’m going to have to…”

“I thought we were just having a bit of fun,” she continued. “I thought we were just enjoying ourselves. But now? Now apparently you’re trying to trick me into getting pregnant. Nice, Bob. Real nice. I thought you respected me!”

“I -”

“I need to think about this,” she said, setting the tablet on roof of the car. “I’m not sure we can keep doing what we’re doing, Bob, if you’re going to try tricking me.”

“I wasn’t trying to trick you,” he replied. “I swear -”

“I want to go on a break.”

“Excuse me?”

“I want to not screw you for a while,” she added, taking a step back. “I need to think long and hard about whether this is what I really want, and I think
you
need to think long and hard about how you treat women, and about what you’re after in life. ‘Cause -” She paused, with tears in her eyes. “If you want to keep me in your life, Bob, there are more honest ways that tricking me into carrying your love-child.”

“Candy -”

“I’ll call,” she told him, before turning and walking away.

“Candy!” he hissed, keeping his voice low. “Candy, I can explain!” He watched as she reached the street and continued on her way. “Candy!”

Sighing, he realized she wasn’t coming back. Taking the tablet from the roof of the car, he examined it for a moment before putting it in his mouth and washing it down with a swig of water from the bottle he’d just bought. After checking one more time that no-one was watching, he climbed back into the car and started the engine, although at the last moment he saw that Ben was staring at him from inside the cafe.

They exchanged a brief smile and wave, and then Bob got going as fast as was humanly possible.

IV

“Just like that?” Beth asked.

“Just like that,” Jack replied, leaning back in his chair. “Blam, there he was, right in front of me in the goddamn Monument. Can you believe it? I thought I was hallucinating for a moment!”

“Well how did he seem? Did he look well?”

“He looked fine. The same as before, just a little older, obviously. Some gray in his hair, believe it or not.”

“With that same smile?”

“That exact same smile. Like he knows something no-one else knows.”

Sighing, she looked down at the floor for a moment, before turning to him again.

“And he said he’s been in town for a few days just… hanging around?” She paused. “Why didn’t he come and say hello?”

“He said he wanted a few days without all the family stuff going on. Good old Ben, you can always trust him to be weird.” He paused, staring at the window for a moment before turning back to his sister. “He hasn’t changed.”

“No?”

“Not one bit. Same old Ben.” He paused again, clearly about to say something that made him feel uncomfortable. “You know what this means, right?”

She sighed. “What does it mean?”

“Think about it for a moment.”

“What?” From her tone of voice, it was clear that she already knew. “Jack -”

“He was here,” he continued. “Ben was in town on the night when Mel Armitage was murdered. That is now, it turns out, a goddamn fact.”

“So?”

“So…”

“No,” she replied, “I’m not letting you get away with insinuations. If you want to suggest something about Ben, then say the words.”

“I don’t need to. You’re thinking the exact same thing.”

“He’s our brother!”

“I know that, Sis.”

“And he didn’t kill anyone!” she said firmly. “I know he can be a little weird, even a little spooky sometimes, but that doesn’t mean he’s capable of murder!”

“I’m just pointing out patterns -”

“Patterns that aren’t there!”

“The dates fit,” he replied. “Ben’s barely been in town over the past two decades, but every single time he
has
been, people have died, including this week! Four sets of murders, four coincidences.” He paused. “Or not coincidences, as it might be.”

“Uh,
yeah
,” she told him. “It’s either that, or…” She paused. “I’m not prepared to think something like that about my own brother. You’re just…”

“I’m what? A bad person for entertaining the possibility?”

“You’re letting Dad influence the way you see Ben.”

“I’m letting
the facts
influence how I see Ben,” he continued. “Come on, you’ve got to admit he was always weird, right from the beginning. Do you remember that time he went off to play alone, and Mum made us go and find him? And we traipsed through the forest for hours until we saw him all by himself, in a clearing -”

“With sticks tied to his head,” she added, picking up the story, “pretending to be a deer.”

“A stag,” he said, correcting her. “He was making stag noises and digging his foot into the ground, like he was getting ready to charge at someone. He was rutting.”

“There are worse things to catch your brother doing when he thinks he’s alone,” she pointed out.

“It was weird, Sis,” he continued. “It was really fucking weird, and it was just one of many,
many
times that Ben has shown himself to be… not on the same wavelength as everyone else. To put it politely.”

“He got so mad when he heard us laughing,” she reminded him, with a faint smile. “Do you remember how he stormed off, with those twigs still stuck to his head, and some of them started falling off? He looked ridiculous!” She paused. “He was so serious when he was a kid. Mum actually thought he was maybe, like, autistic or something for a while. It was only later that he started, I don’t know… laughing at everything. Like he never took anything seriously anymore. Do you remember when he went missing for a day?”

“He was just trying to scare everything,” Jack replied.

“That was when he stopped being so serious,” she continued. “After he came back, he just seemed to find everything so goddamn funny.”

“I just hated the fact he always lied,” Jack muttered. “I remember challenging him on it once, when he was here last time, and he said he enjoyed it. Can you even understand how his mind works? He straight-up admitted that he enjoys lying, like it’s a hobby!”

“He’s an odd one, alright,” she replied, before pausing for a moment. “But that’s the extent of it. Please, Jack, stop thinking the worst about Ben. He’s still our brother, and I promise you, he’d never do anything truly bad. He’s just a bit weird, that’s all.”

“I just don’t get why he had to come back,” Jack said, turning and looking out the window. For a moment, he watched as people chatted in the town square. “Bowley’s usually a nice, peaceful, safe town. Except when Ben’s around. Coincidence or not, bad things happen when he shows up. I just can’t shake the feeling that if he’d stayed away, Mel Armitage would still be alive.”

“Maybe,” she replied, picking up the copy of the newspaper from his desk, “but then you wouldn’t have scored the highest-selling edition in the
Herald
‘s entire history. So, you know, there’s that.”

***

“Joe? Hey, Joe, you in here?”

Stepping through to one of the garage’s back rooms, Bryan glanced around for a moment, looking for some sign of life. Grinders and drills could be heard nearby, along with revving engines, but the area out back was mostly quiet.

“Joe? Seriously, man, are you here?”

He waited.

Nothing.

“Great,” he muttered, turning to head back through. “Just when -”

He stopped suddenly as he realized he could hear another sound nearby. Taking a step back into the room, he peered past one of the benches and finally spotted a figure on the ground, sitting with its back to the wall and gently sobbing.

“Joe?”

No reply.

“Hey, Joe,” Bryan continued, making his way over, “what’s going on, dude? There’s someone here to see you, she’s in the front office. I told her I’d come and get you, but…”

As Joe continued to cry, Bryan reached down and picked up the copy of the local paper that was on the floor nearby. Taking a look at the headline, he realized it was about the murder of Mel Armitage. He’d read it already, of course. Everyone in Bowley had read that day’s edition, and it had been the sole topic of conversation in the garage all morning.

“I think I get it,” he said after a moment, setting the paper on the counter. “Brought it all back, did it? Got you thinking about -”

He paused, figuring that he probably shouldn’t say Caitlin’s name. Joe was always a little unpredictable; not dangerous, not really, but definitely someone who could react badly to certain things.

“You remember what I said when I took you on here, yeah?” he continued, sitting next to him. “Any time you need to take time off, for any reason, it’s fine. I don’t want you pushing yourself too hard, you’re a good mechanic but only when you’ve got your head together. I should’ve realized this might happen, especially on the anniversary, and especially when…” Reaching over, he put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and quickly realized that Joe’s whole body was trembling. “Why don’t you get home for the rest of the day? Take the week off, come back in on Monday.”

He waited, but Joe was still sobbing and seemed too upset to reply.

“The only thing is,” Bryan continued, “I think you might have to talk to this woman first. She’s a cop.”

***

“Hey, Joe,” Jane said, getting to her feet as soon as she saw him in the doorway. “How are you doing?”

Staring at her with cautious, tear-stained eyes, Joe seemed incapable of replying. He paused for a moment, seemingly poised to turn and leave, before taking a step into the room.

“This must be a difficult period for you,” she continued, smiling as she reached out to shake his hand. “It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I don’t know if you remember me from the last time we met, back when…” She paused, realizing that it might be better to focus on the present rather than stirring up any unnecessary parts of the past. “I’m so glad you finally started working. It must feel good to have something to do with your time. Having a job makes it seem like you’re a part of the community again, doesn’t it?”

“It’s alright,” Joe said quietly, barely raising his voice above a whisper.

“Bryan says you’re good with engines.”

He shrugged.

Realizing that Joe wasn’t going to shake her hand, Jane made her way to the door and pushed it shut. She felt as if she was being patronizing and condescending, as if she was talking to Joe like he was a child, but at the same time she wasn’t sure how else to get through to him.

“The thing is,” she continued, “I need to have a word with you about something very serious that happened in town recently. I know this is a bad time, and I’m sure you’ve seen the paper this morning. I guess you know what happened the other night at the Monument.”

He nodded.

“Everyone’s in shock,” she added, “but I guess it must be particularly difficult for you. After all… Well, I know what you went through last time, Joe. I think it’s really brave of you to be out in the world again, trying to make a life for yourself. You know we’re always around if you need help, though. Don’t be shy or afraid.”

“I’m not,” he mumbled. “Are you the one who -”

She waited for him to continue. “Am I the one who what?”

“The one who was at the hospital.”

“Yeah,” she said, forcing a smile. “That was a long time ago, huh?”

“You look older.”

“Well, it
has
been nine years. That was almost my first day back then.” She paused. “So can we sit down, Joe? I really need to ask you some questions. I really don’t want to disturb you, but it’s important and I don’t have all the time in the world.”

Cautiously, and with tears in his eyes, Joe pulled the chair back and sat down. He had the same scruffy, cowed demeanor of a boy who was usually well-behaved, but who’d been hauled before the headmaster for some out-of-character transgression.

“I know this is going to be really difficult,” Jane continued, as she sat opposite him, “but I have to talk to you about the night Caitlin died. I went through all the paperwork from that time, but I felt that maybe you might remember a few extra things, now that so much time has passed. Do you think you could see your way to running over a few parts of that night with me again?”

He paused. “What parts?”

“Nine years ago, you said you didn’t remember very much about the man who attacked you. His face, or his voice… I know Alex has spoken to you a few times since and you said you still didn’t remember anything useful, but I was hoping that there might be something you can tell me. The thing is, we’re starting to think that the person who killed Caitlin -”

He flinched as soon as he heard that name.

“Sorry,” she added. “The person who was responsible for what happened to her, and who attacked you… We think it might be the same person who killed Mel the other night. Obviously we’re not sure, not yet, but we have to look into every possibility, and that’s why I came here today. I wanted to see if there’s anything else you remember, anything at all. Can you maybe go over it again? If it’s not too painful, I mean.”

She waited.

“Please?” she continued. “It’d really help.”

“I didn’t see his face,” Joe replied quickly, almost defensively.

“I understand that. It was dark and -”

“I didn’t see his face.”

“No, I -”

“I didn’t. I didn’t see it.”

She opened her mouth to rephrase the question, but something about Joe’s tone seemed a little frantic now.

“I just saw…” He paused, staring down at the table as if he was reliving the moment. “You know what I saw. I’m not saying it again.”

“I know what you told us nine years ago.” She flicked through her notepad. “You said you saw a… Do you mind if
I
say it, Joe?”

No reply.

“You said you saw a man with a head like… You said he seemed to have antlers, or pieces of wood coming out of his head. Is that still correct?”

He nodded.

“Now,” she continued, “obviously that description presents a few challenges, because even though it’s very distinctive, it doesn’t -”

“It’s what I saw.”

“I believe you, but -”

“He had something over his head, like a cloth, and…” He paused again. “I saw them in the moonlight.”

“The antlers?”

“They weren’t very big. Some of them were… All of them maybe, they were broken.”

“Right.” She looked down at her notepad for a moment. “And did he -”

“Then he came at me,” he continued, flinching slightly, “and he let out this noise, like a cry. He fell on me and knocked me over, and then he was on top and that’s when I felt…” Looking down, he placed his hands on the front of his overalls, as if he was feeling his belly. “I kept looking at her while he was doing it.”