Part 12 (2/2)

s.h.i.+pcott shut down.

In the wake of two murders, the village folded in on itself with a surreal sense of disbelief.

An outsider would have noticed nothing but furtive looks; any local would have known that nothing was as it was before, and nothing was as it should be.

People went about their business. They worked, they shopped, they walked their dogs. But the s.h.i.+pcott air itself had changed and all who lived there took in toxins with every breath now. Suspicion, fear and confusion started to suffuse their beings and they looked at each other with new eyes that sought clues to the killer's ident.i.ty.

It was only 3.45pm but the light was already fading from the sky. The streetlamps flickered orange and warmed up slowly and, while death was still the subject on everyone's mind, life poured out of the school gates into the strange new world. Children who were used to walking home alone were surprised and embarra.s.sed to find that nervous mothers had come to meet them with pushchairs and dogs on leads, while the narrow road outside the school was clogged with cars ready to transport children through the normally quiet lanes to other villages, rather than risk their missing the bus or walking the last few hundred yards alone in the dark. A single murder was bad enough; a second had created a sense of beyond-coincidence which justified vehicular over-protectiveness, and Pat Jones the lollipop lady bore the brunt of the fear as she tried to cope single-handedly with the sudden traffic mayhem.

Dog-walkers stopped approaching each other so readily. Women walking alone on the moor or on the playing field were nervous of men they'd known all their lives, and those men kept their distance to avoid scaring the women. Farmers who noticed walkers on footpaths kept watching until they were out of sight, and made notes of the number plates of cars parked in lay-bys. Brusque waves took the place of face-to-face conversations, and people shouted 'h.e.l.lo' too loudly at each other across the street, so everyone could tell they were normal and friendly and not weird loners plotting murder.

The Bugle Bugle reporter came from Dulverton and attracted small knots of people nodding and looking worried on each other's doorsteps. reporter came from Dulverton and attracted small knots of people nodding and looking worried on each other's doorsteps.

The Red Lion and the Blue Dolphin chip shop saw brisk early trade, but each then closed earlier than usual for want of customers. Dedicated drinkers went home at an unaccustomed hour to discover that their children had grown up in their pub-induced absence and now insisted on watching s.e.xually charged soaps instead of Sesame Street Sesame Street.

Steven Lamb was forbidden by his mother to go to the skate ramp after dark and was secretly relieved, and Billy Beer - who had been plagued for years by a small knot of teenagers who gathered at the bus stop outside his home every night and made Bongo bark - was so unnerved by the sudden silence that he tossed and turned all night, and woke up each morning more exhausted than he had been the night before.

Jonas kissed Lucy goodnight and felt like a bigamist.

She'd said she didn't mind. No, she'd been more generous than that - she'd encouraged him to go, even though she was confused about his reasoning.

'I don't think anyone was blaming you yesterday, sweetheart.'

'I could tell,' he said.

'You don't think you're being a little paranoid?'

'Why? Do you think I am?' Obviously the answer must be 'yes' or Lucy wouldn't have asked the question, but Jonas was always interested in hearing what she had to say.

'A little.' She shrugged. 'I can understand how you must feel you're somehow responsible ... that you failed Margaret and Yvonne in some way ... even though I don't see how. But all I saw at the pub was worried people turning to you for information.'

Jonas was silent so he didn't have to disagree with her. He didn't want to voice dissent that might turn into an argument that might lead back to the question of children. He had no stomach for it. He just hoped her contention wasn't going to turn into a suggestion that he stay at home, because his mind was made up.

Instead Lucy said, 'But I know it's not about them as much as it is about the way you way you feel about it, Jonas, and I agree that that's what's important. If going out at night makes you feel better, then you should do that.' feel about it, Jonas, and I agree that that's what's important. If going out at night makes you feel better, then you should do that.'

He didn't deserve her. He never had and he never would.

He got up and took their best knife from the block in the kitchen.

'Promise me you'll keep this with you all the time when I'm not here.'

She laughed. 'Jonas!'

'I'm serious, Lu. I have to do this, but I hate leaving you here alone--'

'Mrs Paddon's a foot away through the wall.'

'I know. And I don't want you to be nervous. But please. For my my sake, so sake, so I'm I'm not nervous.' not nervous.'

He held it out to her, grip-first, and after another moment's hesitation she took it.

'Promise me,' he said.

Lucy drew a Zorro-esque Z Z in the air and faked a Spanish accent. 'You have my word, in the air and faked a Spanish accent. 'You have my word, amigo! amigo! Any mad dog will feel the edge of my blade on his b.a.l.l.s.' Any mad dog will feel the edge of my blade on his b.a.l.l.s.'

'Promise me,' he said seriously.

'I promise,' she said, and didn't smile this time because she wanted him to know she did did take him seriously, even if she felt it was an overreaction. take him seriously, even if she felt it was an overreaction.

Then he kissed her and left to spend the night with the village.

After he went, Lucy smiled at the knife, then took it through to the lounge with her.

She put Scream Scream into the DVD player, cursing her own unsteady hands that dropped the disc twice before she managed to load it correctly; sometimes the sheer force of will it took not to be feeble was beyond her. into the DVD player, cursing her own unsteady hands that dropped the disc twice before she managed to load it correctly; sometimes the sheer force of will it took not to be feeble was beyond her.

Ten minutes into the movie, she started to feel uneasy.

She heard a sound at the window.

She knotted her fingers into the ta.s.sels of the cus.h.i.+on.

She made sure the knife was close at hand.

She told herself not to be stupid.

Twenty minutes in, she realized she was missing Desperate Housewives Desperate Housewives.

Lucy hadn't watched it for a while but thought it would be nice to catch up, so she switched off the horror and lost herself instead in a place where bad things were made laughable by suns.h.i.+ne and great shoes.

It was only when he started to walk up one side of Barnstaple Road a little after 9pm that Jonas realized how lost he had been.

The fact that it was dark made no difference; he was back on the beat, back where he should be, and - more importantly - back where people expected him expected him to be. The street was pretty empty but for a few late-night dog-walkers. He said h.e.l.lo to Rob Ticker and his spaniel, Jerry, and John Took - the Master of the Blacklands - thanked him for the dead pony and told him there were saboteurs in the area. They'd laid a false trail for the Tiverton hounds, which had ended up in a Tesco car park. Typical hunter, thought Jonas even as he made the right noises - two women murdered and John Took was worried about missing a fox. He asked Took whether he'd heard about Yvonne Marsh and Took said, 'b.l.o.o.d.y awful. But that's care in the b.l.o.o.d.y community for you' - to which there was no answer except to tell Took he'd do his best to be at the next meet just in case of trouble. to be. The street was pretty empty but for a few late-night dog-walkers. He said h.e.l.lo to Rob Ticker and his spaniel, Jerry, and John Took - the Master of the Blacklands - thanked him for the dead pony and told him there were saboteurs in the area. They'd laid a false trail for the Tiverton hounds, which had ended up in a Tesco car park. Typical hunter, thought Jonas even as he made the right noises - two women murdered and John Took was worried about missing a fox. He asked Took whether he'd heard about Yvonne Marsh and Took said, 'b.l.o.o.d.y awful. But that's care in the b.l.o.o.d.y community for you' - to which there was no answer except to tell Took he'd do his best to be at the next meet just in case of trouble.

Then he stopped to chat to Linda Cobb with Dixie.

'I still have your umbrella,' he told Linda.

'Drop it in when you're pa.s.sing,' she said.

<script>