The Border Part Seven (2 page)

“I have all your husband’s details,” he continued. “Just slide the money to me under the table, and we have a deal.”

Fumbling through her bag, she pulled out the envelope of money and paused for a moment, before holding it under the table and pushing it toward him. After a few seconds, she felt him slide the envelope from her hand.

“Do you promise you’re not a cop?” she whispered, on the verge of tears.

He nodded. “Do
you
promise
you’re
not a cop?”

She nodded.

“We’re both in the same situation,” he replied, looking down at the envelope and briefly opening it to see that there was cash inside. “So you have my -”

Suddenly a police siren rang out in the distance. Shocked, they both turned, only to see a patrol car speed past the diner. After a moment, their faces drained now of all color, they turned back to face one another.

“So you have my number,” Luke continued, clearly a little shaken as he checked his watch. “It’s 9:15am. If, in twenty-four hours from now, I have received no message from you, I will go ahead. At that point, I will strike fast.”

She nodded.

“And don’t be afraid,” he added, getting to his feet. “You mentioned in your email that you have a daughter. You seem like a nice woman and I’m sure you’ve raised the girl well. If your husband is such a fiend that he has pushed you to this point, then the fault is his, not yours. Get him out of the way and start a new life.”

“He…” She paused. “Yeah, he…”

“There is no more to discuss,” Luke replied, taking a step back, “and you know how to contact me if you want to cancel our arrangement. I hope you don’t, though. I hope the twenty-four hour cooling-off period merely lets you realize how normal all of this is. And it
is
, you know. Welcome to the real world, Mrs. Hague. This is how people fix the problems in their lives.”

Nodding, she watched as he turned and made his way to the door. Once he was out in the parking lot, she realized she’d begun to hold her breath, and she tried to stay calm as she exhaled. Looking out the window, she watched as Luke disappeared from view, and then she looked at her watch. Twenty-four hours… Suddenly that didn’t seem like a very long time at all, and she told herself she still had time to change her mind. Then again, the thought of Bob being gone from her life was liberating. Even if she eventually canceled the deal with Luke, she figured that she’d enjoy spending a whole day filled with the feeling of imminent freedom. And if ultimately that moment of freedom didn’t transpire, the anticipation would be like a Christmas gift to herself.

Feeling her phone vibrate, she pulled it from her pocket and saw that Alex Gordon was calling.

I
I

“Bowley police are expected in the next twenty-four hours to arrest the prime suspect in the murders of Mel Armitage and Hayley Maitland. The suspect is a local man, known to police, and his arrest is expected to lead to progress in a number of other unsolved cases, including the death several years ago of Caitlin Somers.”

Leaning back on the porch, with the newspaper in his hands, Ben couldn’t help but smile as he continued to read out loud.

“Sources close to the investigation say that the suspect has been under investigation for some time, but that this is the first time it has been possible to make a move. Police are bound to face questions about why this individual was able to remain free for so long, and why earlier concerns were not acted upon.”

He chucked to himself.

“Oh Jack,” he continued, lowering the paper for a moment. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to go to press with accusations like this? Everyone knows that Joe Baldwin killed those two girls.” He smiled. “You’ve just made yourself look like a class-A fool.”

Hearing the porch door starting to creak open, he turned just in time to see his father stepping out of the house in a dressing gown.

“Hey,” Ben said after a moment, “did I wake you with my raucous laughter?”

“It’s barely nine in the morning,” Harry replied, clearly unhappy to receive a visit so early. “What the hell are you doing sitting on my goddamn porch at such an ungodly hour, talking to yourself and laughing like a lunatic?”

“I wasn’t talking to myself,” Ben muttered, getting to his feet and thrusting the paper into his father’s hands before slipping past and entering the house, “I was reading out loud. There’s a difference.” He stopped and sniffed the air. “This place smells foul, old man. You do realize, don’t you, that everyone knows about your prodigious internet use? The proof is practically encrusted everywhere.”

“I don’t want you here,” Harry replied. “Get out!”

“Haven’t you seen this morning’s front page?” Ben asked, turning to him with a smile. “Jack has run with a very interesting story that seems to indicate the police are going to arrest someone. The only problem is, shortly
after
he went to print, the truth became apparent. I assume you heard that Joe Baldwin was picked up last night?”

“I heard something about it.”

“And here’s the best part,” Ben continued, snatching the paper back and taking a moment to find the relevant paragraph. “Listen to this. The suspect is known to be a highly disturbed individual with a history of violence and questionable behavior. I mean, Dad, can you believe that?” He paused, as the smile faded from his eyes. “My own brother, hanging me out to dry like I’m some kind of common psychopath. He really, truly believes that I’m a monster, doesn’t he? Then again…” He turned to Harry. “He had some help believing that, didn’t he?”

“I want you to leave.”

“So you can get back to your computer?”

“I was asleep.”

“Are you coming to Beth’s tomorrow? It’ll be good to get the whole family together in one room, won’t it? You, Mom, me, Jack and Jane, Beth and that idiot husband of hers, the kids…”

“I hope you have fun,” Harry snapped. “I won’t be there.”

“Not even for Beth’s sake?”

“You can all have a very nice Christmas without me,” Harry replied, shuffling past him and then stopping to block his way further into the house. “I’m too old to deal with your rubbish, Ben, and I’m too tired to play games. The last thing I want on Christmas Day is to have to referee yet another fight between you and your brother.”

“But I probably won’t even be there,” Ben pointed out, holding up the newspaper. “I’ll probably be neatly out of the way by then, rotting in a jail cell. Hey, do you think I have time to dye my hair blonde again before the cops show up? It’d seem somehow appropriate, wouldn’t it?”

“Get out of my house.”

“It was my home once.”

“It was the family home,” Harry sneered, “but it’s mine now. My house, my rules, and there’s nobody who can come in without my permission.”

“Sure,” Ben replied, “but…” He paused, before suddenly pushing past Harry and making his way along the corridor. “While I’m here,” he said with a smile, fully aware that the old man couldn’t catch him in time, “I might as well give you your Christmas gift early.” Pushing open the door to the spare room, he headed over to the computer desk. “You can thank me later,” he added, grabbing the computer tower and pulling it free, before dropping it to the floor. “Thank me when you realize that this is a good deed.”

“Stop!” Harry shouted.

“Too late.”

Kicking the side of the computer, Ben quickly managed to dislodge the plastic casing. Before Harry could even reach him, he’d uncovered the motherboard, which he smashed out of place with the heel of his boot, sending several pieces of plastic and metal flying across the floor.

“Stop!” Harry spluttered, getting down onto his knees and pulling the remains of the device away from his son.

“Whoops,” Ben said firmly, “looks like you’re going to have to use your imagination on Christmas Day. Or, you know, you could tear yourself away from those dodgy websites for long enough to actually come to Beth’s house and spend some time with your family.” He stepped over the pieces of broken computer and headed to the door. “You’re welcome, by the way. Hopefully one day you’ll realize that I just did you a massive goddamn favor.”

“You were always a piece of garbage,” his father sneered as he tried to gather up the broken pieces from the computer’s casing. “Nothing’s changed, has it?”

“I thought I was a troubled individual who resisted his family’s attempts to help?” Ben replied, glancing back at him. “That’s the quote Jack ran in this morning’s paper, anyway. He attributed it to my shocked and horrified father, although obviously he didn’t include your name. Even Jack isn’t so dumb that he’d jump the gun quite so much. I mean, hell, I could maybe even claim damages if he turns out to be wrong.”

“Oh, for God’s sake…”

“You don’t think I have a case? Everyone knows he’s writing about me.”

“Get out of here.”

“Or do you just think he’s right?” He waited for an answer. “At first I assumed he’d asked you for your thoughts so he could include them in his story, but then I realized he didn’t even need to do that. You and he are so completely on the same wavelength, he knew what you’d say.”

“This is vandalism,” Harry replied, “and home invasion. You’re lucky I don’t call the police on you!”

“Why don’t you? You’ve done it before.”

Muttering a few expletives under his breath, Harry continued to clear up his broken computer. “You owe me a new computer,” he said finally. “These things cost money!”

“Say,” Ben continued, “Dad, do you happen to remember a man named Garland Packer?”

Harry turned to him.

“Yeah,” Ben added, “clearly the name rings a bell. We’ve talked about him before, but not much. The crazy thing is, you and Jack always spent so much time thinking that I’m some kind of monster, you never noticed the real monster here in Bowley.”

“Garland Packer was a good man.”

Ben smiled.

“He was a pillar of the community!” Harry continued. “He did more for this town than anyone else!”

“Well, that’s certainly true. One might even say that old Garland defined Bowley.”

“I want you out of my house!”

“I murdered Garland Packer,” Ben added.

Harry opened his mouth to reply, before pausing.

“It was in cold blood,” Ben continued. “The guilt you saw in my eyes, the pain and fear, the remorse, the doubt, and then the sense of strength… It was all real, but you and Jack were just wrong about
who
I’d killed. I smashed Garland Packer’s head in with a brick from his old fireplace. You remember how he was found at the farmhouse, don’t you? Well, that was me. I waited for the police to catch me, for them to link me to his murder with their fancy DNA tests and so on, but nothing happened. I guess they dropped the ball.”

Harry paused. “Liar,” he said finally.

“You don’t believe me?” Ben asked with a faint smile.

“Garland Packer was killed by some vagrant who passed through town one night -”

“No, Dad.”

“Alex proved it!”

“Have you ever noticed how Alex
always
blames passing vagrants? It’s his go-to excuse for everything that happens around here.”

“Alex Gordon knows what he’s talking about.”

“Alex is a moron,” Ben replied. “I killed Garland Packer because of the Border, and because of everything he stood for, and because I thought, mistakenly as it turned out, that by killing him I could make a difference and end the suffering that goes on beneath the streets of his miserable, bony little town” He paused. “I was wrong. Spectacularly, horrifically wrong. After Garland was out of the way, the Border became even bigger, even darker. Do you want to know why I stayed away from town for so long? I was scared for my life.”

“The Border?” Harry spluttered. “What the hell are you talking about? I’ve never heard of the Border, you’re talking nonsense.”

“You’ve really never heard of it? I honestly don’t know whether to believe you.”

“And you didn’t kill Garland Packer. This is just another of your games!” Getting to his feet, he set the broken pieces of his computer on the desk, his trembling hands picking through them one by one. “Maybe I can get it fixed,” he continued. “All the bits are here, they just need fixing back together. One of these metal sections must be the hard-drive, I just have to figure out which.”

Hearing a siren in the distance, Ben watched for a moment as his father tried to arrange the remains of the machine. “You know what?” he asked finally. “Screw this. Dad, go to Beth’s tomorrow, you’ll be fine because I won’t be there. I thought I could come back to Bowley for one last chance, but it’s too late for that, isn’t it? I should just get my things and leave, and let this town sink. Why should I care if the Border continues to fester? If I’m out of here, it’s really none of my business. Would you like that, Dad? Would you like me to leave and never, ever,
ever
come back?”

“I’ve wanted nothing more for the past twenty years!” Harry hissed.

“Then I guess this is goodbye.” He paused, as if the words wouldn’t come until, finally, he forced them. “Goodbye, Dad.”

Turning, he made his way along the corridor and finally he reached the porch, stepping out into the morning air. As he stopped and took a deep breath, he felt a faint shiver pass through his body as he realized that something seemed wrong, with the air around him almost humming with some hidden urgency. The decision to leave Bowley had just popped into his head while he was talking to his father, but now he felt as if it was his only option. Taking his phone from his pocket, he brought up Jack’s number and tried to call, only to get put straight through to voice-mail.

“Hey, it’s Jack. Leave a message.”

“It’s me,” Ben said firmly, “I just called to say… I just called to say goodbye. I’m leaving town and I won’t be stopping by the office to say some big, fancy farewell.”

He paused, watching as a couple of kids rode past on bikes.

“I read the paper this morning,” he continued, making his way down the steps and over to the sidewalk. “You really went to town, huh? I could tell you enjoyed writing that story, and I’m sure you’ve got the follow-up all ready to go, complete with my name. Smart move to publish it on Christmas Eve, too. That way, you’ve got three full days to let things develop before the next edition hits the stands of Bowley. Plenty of time for me to get taken in, plenty of time for the supposed truth to come out and -”

Hearing a click, he realized the call had been cut, most likely because he’d reached the maximum allowed length for a message.

“Huh,” he muttered, slipping his phone away and then starting to walk to the end of the street. He remembered playing in the area as a kid, and when he glanced at the old oak tree on the edge of Mr. Lauderson’s lawn, he could almost see himself, Beth and Jack sitting up on one of the branches where they used to enjoy playing. Those days seemed so far away now, and he knew they could never be recovered. Reaching the end of the street, he stopped for a moment and realized that something still felt very wrong. It was almost as if his chest was hollow, as if his heart was lighter than usual. As a sense of dizziness threatened to overwhelm him, he leaned against a nearby fence and tried to get his balance back. The sensation passed quickly enough, but there was still a hint of nausea in his belly.

Feeling a vibration in his pocket, he took out his phone and saw that Beth was calling.

“Hey,” he said as he answered, “what’s up?”