Part 2 (1/2)

Again she gave a small nod.

”Go back to your place, behave as though everything is normal. If anyone asks tell them you haven't seen him. Do you understand?”

A nod.

”What are you going to do though Samuel?”

”You don't need to know, I'll deal with it I've told you.

Now go. Later, tonight, I'll come into town. I need to get away, I'll have to go now. You can come if you want. If you don't want to you may have to answer questions, about where he is.”

He jerked a thumb back towards the ruined body lying in the spreading pool on the floor.

”Can you do it, ride it out?”

She glanced across the room, shook her head.

”Can I come with you? Will you take me?”

There was no gentleness in his face he simply nodded at her.

”I'll pick you up later, at the car park. Don't bring too much stuff and don't tell anyone, no-one, do you understand?”

Yet another silent nod was all she could manage. She still s.h.i.+vered convulsively now and again but the tears had stopped, dried by the reality of this situation and what it meant to her and to him.

”Now go, don't leave anything here and drive slowly. Go back through the woods, down beside the river, turn right at the fork and that'll see you back to the main road.

”I'll be in the car park at seven tonight. I'll wait for ten minutes. If you don't come then I'm gone.”

He leaned over towards her and gripped her tight around the top of her arms.

”I like you Sylvie, I'll take you with me if you want to come but you come on my terms, we go where I decide. Okay?”

She nodded at him and then ran to get dressed and pick up her things.

The car drew away, the headlights flicking through the trees painted a line of green light and then it was gone. Samuel went to the shed and brought back a tarpaulin and so he dragged himself through the woods, down beside the river, where he disposed of the body.

Now, after his sleep and the shower he ate some bread torn from a loaf in the cupboard and spread with jam to stave off the hunger and keep his energy levels up. There was just one small moment for something, an emotion, not regret, but an acknowledgement that things had soured again.

Once more his life was being driven by outside forces, he shook his head. That sort of thinking would get him nowhere, it was time to go. He walked around his shack, collecting the few bits he decided he couldn't do without. It wasn't much, this wasn't the first time and so in the end one bag and a box of food was all he had to load into the back of the Land Rover.

He went back inside, with a heavy crowbar he smashed at the kitchen units, they had been fairly new, he had installed them, now they needed to look older. He tore at the mattress and smashed the bath, ripping the shower head from the wall. It would have been best to burn the place but he couldn't risk attracting attention and so this would have to suffice.

He didn't bother to lock the door because he knew he would never come back. Probably someone would come along and commandeer it, as he had those few short years ago. Squatters, gypsies, whatever, it didn't matter. If it stayed empty then, in a surprisingly short time, the woods would obliterate it. The weeds and climbers would swallow it and reduce it so, in a couple of years, only a rusty old sink and the broken stove would be left.

The last thing he did was to open the trap door which had been hidden under the couch, he dragged out a nylon bag, still bulky, still heavy and he tossed it into the back of the car with the rest of the stuff.

He slammed the car door, gunned the engine and left without a backward glance.

Chapter 11.

Samuel swung the car into the car park, he didn't look for a s.p.a.ce as he didn't intend staying long. The girl wasn't there. He didn't know how that made him feel.

On the drive from the woods he had acknowledged he didn't need a tag along, it would be a huge complication. On the other hand he couldn't be sure what she would do under pressure. What had happened with Phil didn't cause him unease, the sc.u.m had been a woman beater, probably a pimp and all that went with it. He was just another low life and no loss.

Maybe at the end of his living, if he had the time to review the things he had done then this killing would be there, something else to be included in his accounting. If so it would need to take a ticket and wait in line.

The girl though, she had been badly scared. She didn't know him, didn't know anything about him, but she could know enough if anyone asked the right questions. He glanced at his watch. He would go, if she had been intending to come with him she would have been waiting. He leaned to turn the ignition key and caught a shadow moving in his peripheral vision.

She came out from between parked cars, she was wearing jeans and a thick jacket trimmed with fake fur. A pack hung on her back and she carried a hold all. It needed both hands to hold it, her arms were rigid with the strain and it pulled her body sideways, the bulk of it banging against her legs as she staggered across the wet concrete.

He didn't jump out but leaned and threw open the pa.s.senger door. She pushed the bag onto the pa.s.senger seat and he hefted it into the rear s.p.a.ce. She clambered up and shrugged off the back pack, throwing it into the foot well. One look at her swollen, reddened eyes told him all he needed to know.

He leaned forward, his hands on the top of the steering wheel his forearms resting against the struts. He didn't look at her but just spoke quietly.

”You didn't do anything wrong Sylvie, you do know that don't you? He was hurting you and I was the one who killed him. You don't have anything to feel guilty about and you don't have to leave this place, if you don't want to.

”Has anyone asked about him?”

”No, but I didn't go out, I stayed in the flat, couldn't bear to meet anyone.”

She turned now, tears were flowing across her cheeks and dripping from her chin. He felt immensely sorry for her and it took him by surprise. It had been many years since he had been visited by the gentler emotions.

”You could just stay here, sit it out. Chances are they won't suspect you had anything to do with it and anyway it could be a long time before they find his body. They don't know yet that anything happened to him. People go away all the time, someone like him, I think there'll be more relief than regret if he's gone.”

”No, no it won't work, Benny knows, he told him I'd gone with you.”

”Ah. Still though you could spin some tale, tell them you only rode with me to the bus station.

”What did you do with the car?”

”I left it on his street, where he usually parks it. Was that alright? only you never said I stuffed the key under the carpet, he does that sometimes, did, I mean.”

”It's fine, good, it'll look normal for a day or two. But you do know don't you, you don't need to leave this place? You didn't do anything wrong.”

”I want to come with you Samuel, I want to get away. I understand if you don't want to take me, but I want to come with you.”

He turned now to look at her, her eyes glistened in the dim light. She looked like a little girl.