Knife Edge (10 page)

She turned to him and lifted her little chin defiantly.

‘OK,’ she smiled. ‘What’s the game?’

Naysmith suppressed a shudder of excitement and turned to look out at the shoppers browsing among the tabletop market vendors outside.

‘Choose someone,’ he said softly. ‘Anyone you want …’

He swallowed again, willing his muscles to relax.

‘… then let’s see what you can tell me about them just from looking.’

A smile spread across Kim’s face.

‘Right,’ she said, leaning across the table and sticking her tongue out at him. ‘You’re on.’

She turned to peer out of the window.

Naysmith leaned back, watching her concentrate. She was going to do it. She didn’t understand it yet, but she was going to become a part of what he did. He felt a shiver of warmth course up through his body. It was so audacious, exceeding his wildest expectations – there was truly nothing that he couldn’t do.

‘How about her?’ Kim was staring outside thoughtfully. ‘The woman over there by the cheese table?’

Naysmith allowed himself a little shiver of delight. Previously, he’d always allowed Fate to choose for him. Now, he leaned forward to see who Kim was looking at.

‘Her?’ he asked.

An overweight woman in her forties, maybe five foot six, with a jolly-looking face and shoulder-length wavy hair dyed black. A deep lilac jacket was draped about her plump body, which tapered down through tight black leggings to a pair of tiny feet, giving the impression that she might topple over at any moment. Her round face creased into a broad grin as she chatted with the market trader, revealing a puffy, double chin.

He smiled as Kim nodded.

‘All right,’ he said slowly. ‘So, what can you tell me about her?’

‘Well,’ Kim thought for a moment. ‘She’s about forty-five or so, larger figure … looks as though she uses a tanning salon.’

‘Very good,’ Naysmith mused, noting the tanned complexion. ‘Is she married or single?’

Kim scrunched up her face a little as she peered outside.

‘It’s difficult to see,’ she frowned. ‘I think there’s a ring on her finger though.’

It was smaller than her other jewellery, probably a wedding ring, but impossible to be sure from this distance.

‘OK.’ He gazed out through the glass. ‘Is she well off or is money tight for her?’

Kim pondered the question for a moment.

‘Well, her handbag looks expensive. And her shoes. Yes, I think she has money.’

‘And yet that shopping bag doesn’t look new at all.’

He indicated the woman’s large canvas bag, a faded logo with the word
Chocolate
printed below it.

‘Maybe …’ Kim hesitated, then shrugged. ‘Maybe it’s not her bag. I don’t know.’

Naysmith inclined his head towards her in acknowledgement.

‘All right,’ he mused. ‘What would you say she does for a living?’

Kim sat back and folded her arms.

‘Honestly, I haven’t got a clue.’ She looked at him cheekily. ‘Shall I run outside and ask her?’

‘No!’
That would ruin everything!
Kim looked at him curiously, but he controlled his voice and continued in a more relaxed tone. ‘Just look at her and see if anything stands out.’

Kim stared for a moment then shrugged.

‘I don’t know … she’s wearing a chunky necklace, big earrings. A jeweller perhaps?’

Naysmith smiled and sipped his coffee.

‘Look at her hand.’

Kim leaned closer to the glass, craning to get a better view.

‘What about it?’

Naysmith put his cup down on the table.

‘See that blue sticking plaster on her finger?’ he asked. ‘That’s one of those health and safety ones you need to use if you work with food.’

Kim peered out and smiled.

‘Actually, she does kind of look as though she works with food.’ She giggled naughtily, then put her hand over her mouth. ‘Oh my, that was such a bitchy thing to say. You bring out the worst in me sometimes.’

Naysmith smiled at her.

‘I’d certainly like to think so,’ he murmured.

They studied the woman as she paid for her cheese and dropped her purchase into the canvas shopping bag. Naysmith frowned. Something about the way she did it, such a familiar motion … the bag must be hers after all. He studied the logo, trying to make out what was written around it – something
Arcade
– but the woman was turning away now. He took one last look at her, taking in each detail and fixing her appearance in his mind.

He never forgot a face.

Kim was looking at him when he turned back to the table.

‘Well?’ she asked.

‘Well what?’

‘I did what you wanted,’ she shrugged. ‘Aren’t you going to play the game?’

Naysmith picked up his coffee and drained it. Placing the empty cup down carefully between them, he reached across and took her small hands in his.

‘Don’t worry,’ he promised her, ‘I’ll play.’

They parked at the end of Station Road – that was the name on the sign – next to a small grey utility building. Kim glanced across at Rob as he switched off the ignition and sat for a moment, staring out through the windscreen, his face blank.

He’d been strangely quiet on the way over from Bristol. In fact, now that she thought of it, he’d been somewhat preoccupied all afternoon.

When he’d suggested going somewhere for a walk, she’d shrugged and agreed. A bit of quiet time together after the bustle of the shops might be nice, and afterwards they could maybe go to dinner somewhere.

As they’d pulled out of the car park, she’d taken a couple of minutes to study her reflection in the sun-visor mirror, fix her make-up – she wanted to make sure she looked good for him, especially if they were going to have a romantic stroll somewhere on the way home. But he hadn’t driven back towards Salisbury. As she folded the visor up out of the way, she saw they were on an unfamiliar road.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked as she put her handbag down into the footwell.

‘Wait and see,’ he’d smiled, and she didn’t feel she could ask again.

They passed under the Clifton suspension bridge and followed the river along the base of the gorge. Soon, the city was behind them, the high walls of the valley had fallen away and they were driving through a bleak industrial landscape.

She stole quick sidelong glances at him as he drove. Where was he taking her? Crumbling old factories and flimsy new warehouses slid by. In the distance, several huge wind turbines turned slowly, and evil-looking chimneys breathed white smoke into the sky. Mesh fences crowned with barbed wire hemmed them in on either side of the road. Not the sort of place for a romantic walk. And yet, as she looked at his profile, caught the slight spark in his expression, it was clear he knew exactly where he was going …

And now they were here.

Rob tore his gaze away from the windscreen and reached down to remove the keys from the ignition.

‘Come on,’ he smiled.

She watched him get out, then sighed, gathered up her bag and opened her door. They were at the end of a quiet, residential street, where it angled left to run along a line of small houses. There was a modern brick-built apartment block to the right, but in front of them a tall embankment cut a long, straight line across the end of the street, blocking the view. A tarmac slope led to the top, where there seemed to be a line of stainless-steel railings.

Rob was already moving towards it, walking ahead of her.

‘Up here.’ For a moment, she thought he was beckoning to her, holding out his hand, but then she felt foolish as she heard the car doors remote-locking behind her. ‘Come on.’

Kim followed him as he went before her, striding briskly up the slope and turning to wait for her at the top. She walked up the tarmac, her own pace slowing as she climbed, and the hidden landscape ahead of her slid into view – her eyes drawn first to the Second Severn Crossing away on the right, then to the vast expanse of the estuary itself.

‘Oh! Wow …’

‘I know.’ Rob smiled at her. He turned and walked over to the steel railing that ran along the length of the sea wall. Kim came over to stand beside him, gazing out at the view.

Seeing it all, so suddenly, filled her with awe. The vast sky, with towering outcrops of pale-edged cloud. Fiery cracks, where the sun cast a curtain of bright warm shafts down to heat the water into burning gold.

‘This way.’

She felt very small as she followed him along the top of the sea wall, looking out through the metal railings at the beach below them. Clumps of reeds stood here and there, like dark green islands emerging from the smooth silver mud. There were no ripples on the distant water, just a void of pale grey, broken here and there by smears of dark ground. The bursts of sunlight came and went as they walked, now touching the water, now the beach, even lighting part of the bridge for a moment into pale grey and green.

A single bird wheeled around, flapping as it climbed above them, then banking to soar out over the water. Far to the west, in the haze where the coastline reached out towards its furthest point, the three great wind turbines turned slowly, silently, their long blades reaching taller than the horizon. There was a stillness now, as though the wind were gathering itself, drawing breath before sweeping down along the shoreline.

They reached the end of the railings and walked down onto the shingle and small stones above the tide’s reach.

‘You once asked me what it felt like …’

His voice startled her after the long silence, and she frowned for a second, unsure what he was referring to. And then her small steps faltered as she recalled that moment on a different beach, that single question that he’d felt able to answer. Nervously, she turned her head to look up at him, glimpsing that same fire burning behind his eyes, that same intensity as he remembered.

How it felt to kill.

He was holding her hand, and for a second she felt the urge to draw away from him, but something warned her not to. She swallowed and lowered her eyes.

‘I remember,’ she whispered.

Naysmith turned away from the bridge, looking far off to the left where the footpath led towards the edge of the village, to the rough grass slope that led down to the beach.

‘When you can see –
really see
– vast distances, it can make you feel insignificant.’

Kim glanced back to him and nodded uncertainly.

‘But imagine standing here, with all of this around you, above you …’ he gestured out at the skyline ‘… and now imagine power – limitless power – flowing through you. You’re in control, in absolute control of everything.’

He paused for a moment, then added, ‘Even life itself.’

Kim stared at him, unsettled but finding herself caught in his words. He slipped his arm around her waist, drawing her close to him.

‘We all do bad things from time to time … and under certain circumstances we’re all capable of
terrible
things.’ His strong hand gently caressed her midriff as they stared out along the thin tarmac footpath that dwindled into the grey distance. ‘But some of us are able to master the circumstances,
grasp
that power …’

At first she thought she was shaking, and tried to stop it, to calm herself. But then she realised that it wasn’t her shaking. It was him.

‘I wish I could make you understand what it’s really like – it’s so difficult to put into words …’

Kim’s heart was beating rapidly, her gaze flitting between the bleak coastal path ahead of them and the eerie light in Rob’s eyes. Her breathing quickened as she stood at his side, terrified but also strangely thrilled by this insight he had trusted her with.

And then, without a word, he bowed his head for a second before turning towards her. His hands rose to frame her face, his fingers gently pushing back her hair as he leaned in and kissed her.

Her eyes closed, and her thoughts spiralled away as she gave herself over to the moment. She wished it could last for ever, just the two of them together on the edge of oblivion, where all her fears and doubts gave way to this overwhelming feeling of closeness. Now, in this instant, until she opened her eyes or his lips left hers … he loved her, and she loved him.

When she opened her eyes, he was looking at her. The unsettling hunger was still there, but it was infused with something else now … a longing that made her feel so good. The idea of some stranger losing his life didn’t seem real any more. It was just an abstract fragment of the past, a shadow in her confused thoughts.

Leaning in against his shoulder, she sighed and stared down at the beach. Deep down, part of her yearned to be even closer to him, to know him fully. The way he’d spoken was frightening, but also oddly compelling. She bit her lip, hesitant, unsure what to say.

He touched her chin, lifting her face towards him. For a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her again, and she parted her lips a little. But he paused, eyes glittering as he studied her face, looking right down into her soul.

‘Imagine it. Imagine how it would feel to walk along this beach in the first light of dawn, rain clouds rolling in, with that sort of power flowing through you.’

Kim hesitated, her eyes flickering briefly towards the grey water. A chill ran through her as she looked at the dark shapes half submerged by the mud. She glanced back at him.

‘I’m not sure I can …’

‘Try.’ His voice was soft, but commanding, kindling her desire to submit. ‘Try for me now …’

And she did. She pushed her thoughts out along the shoreline, picturing a faceless stranger, imagining how it might feel to be so in control, not just of herself but of another; glimpsing what it would take to embrace such a terrible act and such terrible power. She felt the adrenalin tingling in her body, the fear, but also something more.

He smiled.

‘Do you understand what I’m talking about?’

Kim stood there, locked in his gaze. She swallowed slightly and nodded. Her eyes broke free of his and turned to look down at the reeds, which had begun to sway in the wind.

This was where it had happened.

It had to be. And this was his way of telling her, she felt certain of it. Suddenly she wanted to know, wanted to be sure.