Bia's War (25 page)

Chapter Twelve

“We were all standing there in
silence after Dennison had told us what William had done in the
shell crater.” Nana Lymer began, when Victoria was settled
comfortably in her chair. “I don’t think any of us actually
believed it at first, but William wasn’t a good liar and when he
denied it, his words didn’t ring true for any of us so we had to
accept it. But I still didn’t understand why Simon had to die. His
death wasn’t going to bring Albert back for the pig butcher. He was
only a child. He should have had a long, healthy and happy life in
front of him; he shouldn’t have died at his age, murdered in cold
blood.”

“So, I asked again the only
question to which I wanted the answer.”

“‘Why did you kill my son? He
hadn’t done anything to you. If you wanted a life in exchange for
the life you had lost, why didn’t you just kill William? I don’t
think any of us would blame you for wanting William dead, but why
my baby?’”

“My voice was rising as I spoke
and I knew I was losing control, something I had to fight against
because I needed my wits about me to finish off the pig butcher.
But Dennison decided to answer me, so it gave me time to force my
emotions under control again.”

“The pig butcher glared at me as
though I had interrupted him. His hand tightened round the end of
the cord which encircled William’s neck and I thought he was going
to strangle him rather than answer me, but he did decide to speak
again.”

“‘ I had been looking for your
husband since Davy had informed me how my boy died, then I saw him
coming out of the Red Lion, with his son in tow. It was a disgrace
that he could flaunt his son in front of me when he had taken away
my only child, so I decided to entice him down here to the
warehouses, away from any witnesses, and show your husband just
what it is like to lose your son. I told him that I had just come
back from my warehouse and I had seen someone trying to break into
yours, so I was looking for some help to catch the burglar. He fell
for it, even though he must have known that Davy would have told me
the truth about how Albert died, he still was stupid enough to come
with me to an out-of-the-way place like this. Or perhaps he thought
he was going to be a hero again and catch the burglar himself.
Whatever his reasons, he came with me like an excited child going
on a summer trip with his friends. Your little boy didn’t want to
come with us. He kept on crying for his mummy, but your devoted
husband didn’t seem to care. He was so intent on catching burglars
to prove to you what a clever, brave man that he was, he didn’t
take any notice of his child crying.’”

“The pig butcher paused for
breath again and to gather his thoughts, to tell us what happened
next. I couldn’t believe that William could ignore Simon when he
was upset, instead of doing his best to comfort him, but before I
could tax him with it the pig butcher spoke again.”

“‘I wanted to show your husband
what it is like to lose a child, but even before I had touched him,
I was beginning to think that Drinkwater wouldn’t react as other
men would do. I did it quick, so the little lad didn’t suffer,
because my lad didn’t suffer in that crater. He was dead the minute
the bullet went into his back and your boy was dead just as
quickly. I broke his little neck for him, so that he wouldn’t
suffer any pain. But your beloved husband didn’t suffer any pain,
either. It didn’t touch him that his son was dead. I could see in
his face that he was grateful I had chosen to kill the child and
not him. He thought I had used up all my anger and that he would be
safe and that was the extent of the pain he was feeling. I couldn’t
believe that a man could watch his child die and still be trying to
work out a means of escape for himself.’”

“We all stared at William as
though he was the devil incarnate, but William was again staring at
the floor. I couldn’t believe that the man I had lived with for so
long, who was the father of my child, could put his own safety
above that of his son. I was so angry with William, so enraged and
so furious that all I wanted to do was to hurt him as much as I
could. The thought of the knife in my cold store surfaced in my
mind again and I was just about to throw all caution to the winds
and run to fetch it when Dennison spoke again.”

“‘When I realised how deep his
selfishness ran, I realised that killing your boy wasn’t the
punishment that that bastard deserves. His punishment can only be
his own death and I’m going to deal out that punishment now.’”

“There was silence after
Dennison’s last remark, a silence which seemed to hang in the air
around us and stopped anyone moving. Sam, Peter and I just stood
and stared at William, Dennison was staring at the wall, as though
he could see a picture of his son hanging there and William, well
William was squirming on the floor, as much as he could when his
one arm was tied to the arm of the prone chair. In the silence, we
all noticed another sound, like thunder in the distance on a heavy
summer day. It seemed very strange to me that after the gales and
the snow and the cold, we should now be treated to another aspect
of nature’s fury. I wondered if I could use the noise of the
thunder, when it got closer, to mask any sound I might make when I
attempted to retrieve the knife from the cold store. I packed the
thought away into a corner of my mind and concentrated again on
what the pig butcher had told us about his son’s death.”

“I could understand his anger
that his boy had been used as a human shield to save the life of
just one person, a person whose moral conduct was questionable, to
say the least. I could also understand that he was incensed that
this usage had been taken rather than given willingly as a
sacrifice for the good of the greatest number. I could even
understand that he wanted revenge on the person who had brought
about the death of his son, but I couldn’t understand why he had
chosen to kill my baby as a means to punishing William. That he had
now decided that the only way he could get revenge would be to kill
the man who had killed his son, I heartily concurred with. I had no
desire to save the life of my husband when he had happily watched
my son die, expecting that this would save his own miserable skin.
The fact that he cared more about himself than he did about his own
son put him beyond any redemption. I wouldn’t lift a finger to save
his miserable life.”

“All these thoughts travelled
through my mind in less time than it takes to sneeze. What I needed
to concentrate on was to get Sammy and Peter out of the warehouse
and away from the pig butcher. There was no way I was going to
allow either of them to pay for William’s egotistical and selfish
acts. What finally happened to me was of no consequence because the
worst had, for me, already happened. Once I had realised that Simon
was dead, I had no reason to survive, but I still had to fight for
Sam and Peter. I needed to get them both out of the warehouse away
from Dennison, so that they were safe. Then the pig butcher could
murder William, I could kill Dennison and then lie down and die
next to my son. It was crystal clear to me, so I was puzzled and
concerned when Sammy spoke and I realised that he was trying to
distract Dennison to give us time to save William.”

“‘Is it true, William?’ Sam
asked. ‘Did you save your own miserable skin by forcing Dennison’s
lad to take the bullet meant for you?’”

“William raised his head from
the floor and the look he gave Sam had so much hatred in it I was
shocked to the core. I had known from the day William came back
from the Front that he disliked Sam, but I had never realised how
deep the loathing that he had for Sam was. I knew that it was based
on jealousy, because Sam and I got on extremely well and William
didn’t like that, but the depth of his revulsion for Sam astonished
me.”

“‘I suppose you would have flung
yourself in front of everyone in that shell crater and saved all
their lives by losing yours.’ William almost spat at him. ‘You, Mr
Perfect Father, Mr Perfect Worker, Mr Perfect at everything, you
would have died a hero and everybody would have loved you for ever
for it. Well, I’m no hero and I’m not going to die to save anyone
else’s life.’”

“Sam’s face was full of disgust
at William’s words. I think he thought more of the pig butcher at
that moment than he did of William because the pig butcher had put
at least one person before himself, whereas William was totally
self-absorbed. It was obvious to me that Sammy was having a great
deal of trouble trying to justify to himself why he should attempt
to save William from Dennison. I really believe that if Peter and I
hadn’t existed, Sam would have walked away and let Dennison do
whatever he wanted to do to William, with his blessing.
Unfortunately, Sam thought that he had to try and save William for
my sake and I needed to quickly disabuse him of this notion, before
he got himself killed for the sake of that miserable excuse for a
man who was squirming on the floor, still trying to wriggle his way
out of the situation. Raising my voice so that I could be heard
over the deep rumble of the thunder which seemed to be coming
nearer to us, I spoke quickly to stop Sam taking any risks and
trying to kill the pig butcher.”

“‘Go to Hell, William, where you
belong.’ I snarled. ‘If you could stand and watch my baby die and
still only think of yourself, then you don’t deserve to live. I
wash my hands of you. I only want to look after Simon now; I don’t
care what happens to you. If you don’t mind, Mr Dennison, I’m going
to get a blanket to wrap round my little boy before he gets cold,
lying on the floor like that.’”

“I was half-way across the floor
to the cold store before the pig butcher spoke.”

“‘Before he gets cold!’ he
sneered. ‘You silly bitch, he’s dead, he’s not feeling anything
now, never mind the cold! He’ll never be warm again. Ask your
husband. He heard his neck snap, didn’t you?’”

“‘He’s no husband of mine.’ I
replied, before William had a chance to answer. I needed to get the
message across to Sam, so that he didn’t attempt to save William’s
life before I could put my plan into action. And I did have a plan.
Despite everything that had happened that day, my mind was now
working as sharply as it had ever done and the plan had slipped
into it without me even trying to think about it. I was amazed that
I was capable of thinking so clearly in such a desperate situation,
but I think it was because the worst thing that could have happened
to me had already happened. Compared to losing my child, everything
else paled into insignificance and I could no longer feel any fear.
I was determined that the pig butcher was going to pay for killing
my son and that determination made me a fearless adversary.”

“I could see by his face that
Sam had understood what I was trying to tell him. He was no longer
poised as though ready to pounce on Dennison at any time and I
breathed a sigh of relief at his quick comprehension. I felt that
it was going to be possible to carry out my plan and, I must admit,
I relaxed somewhat at that thought. The relief I felt was rather
short-lived, however, because Peter chose that moment to finally
catch up with all that had happened and let out an almost
animal-like cry of pain. We all froze at the sound, at the
atavistic keening that emanated from his wide-open mouth which even
jerked William out of his self-absorption.”

“‘You’ve killed Simon!’ he
wailed. ‘You’ve killed my friend! I’m going to kill you!’”

“‘NO, Peter!’”

“It was the first time that I
had ever heard Sam raise his voice and it pulled me up short. Sam
had grabbed Peter by both arms, struggling to keep hold of him and
prevent him from launching himself at Dennison with murder in his
heart. Sam was as concerned as I was that Peter shouldn’t suffer
for what had happened that night and was struggling to keep him
away from Dennison. As I glanced around, I realised that William
and the pig butcher were both staring at Peter and Sam, so no eyes
were on me. The thunder, which had been growling in the background
since I had first noticed it, now peeled so loudly over our heads
that I thought I could almost feel the ground bucking with its
power. Even above this tremendous noise, I could still hear Peter
bellowing aloud his hatred and frustration. What I did at that
moment was going to pass unremarked by anyone else in the
warehouse.”

“I knew that I had to move
before Sammy’s strength ran out and Peter got his freedom, so I
threw myself at the cold store door and I was inside and had
grabbed a piece of sacking and my butchery knife and was back in
the main body of the warehouse before anyone knew I had gone. By
the time Peter’s screams had reduced to sobs, I was on my knees
next to Simon’s body, wrapping him up in the sacking, all the while
keeping the knife concealed in its folds, waiting for the right
moment to strike.

“‘Keep the moron under control,
or I swear I’ll do for him like I’ve done for the other one.’
Dennison hissed at Sam and my skin crawled at the wickedness of the
man who could think of Peter in those terms.”

“‘Lay off him, Dennison.’ Sammy
growled. He was obviously as disgusted as I was at the butcher’s
description of Peter, but he was also as concerned as I was about
what Peter might do. Peter was a smoking cannon, likely to go off
at any moment and I needed to get him away from the warehouse as
soon as possible.”

I finished tucking the sacking
around Simon’s little body, my heart contracting as I touched his
soft skin and brushed the cheek which would never again dimple at
me as he smiled. My courage nearly failed me then. I wanted nothing
more than to lie down next to him and never rise again, but I had
to save Peter and Sam before I could have my heart’s desire. I
risked a glance at the group of four men gathered in the warehouse,
noting that Dennison was on his feet, towering over William’s
supine body and Peter and Sam were about three feet away from the
pig butcher, both facing him. The butcher turned to me at that
point.”