Part 21 (2/2)

'She's a good friend.'

'She's a soft touch. I can't really imagine you two being pally.'

'You don't have to imagine it,' she snapped. 'It already happens.'

He grinned, pleased about sc.r.a.ping a nerve. And there was the malice she'd glimpsed when he'd frightened her in town: if he hated her so b.l.o.o.d.y much, why was he here anyway? Because Wigwam asked him? All he'd had to say was No.

He plucked a magnet from the door of the fridge, examined it and put it back. 'Been resting up then, have you? After your bother with the cops.'

'I don't really want to talk about it.'

'Suit yourself. What's to talk about anyway? You're scoring dope, you got caught. End of story.'

Sods' Law, this, that now she really wanted him to blend into the wallpaper, he'd discovered he'd got a tongue.

'Rufus '

'It's okay. We've all been there.'

'Look, Rufus, it's kind of you to come round. But it's really no problem. Mark'll be back soon and I don't want '

'No worries. All I'm saying is, that should have been it. You know? You've got the cops leaning in one direction, you've got your nice cosy life in the other. It doesn't take a genius to figure out when it's time to quit.'

She rubbed her temple. There was a sharp pain buried there, and if it ever got out it would make a noise like a banshee. It was about now she'd be taking a blue pill, if she was ever going to take one again. The thought came to her unbidden that a whole stretch of her life had just come to a close, and it wasn't the absence of the pill that rang down the curtain.

'So what you doing still writing letters, Sarah? Your jewboy's dead. Can you not take a hint?'

Nothing changed. The ground beneath her feet crumbled and gave, but that was all. And the only things she could think of to say were the hackneyed, the cliched, the grim: What did you say?

You can't be serious!

You don't mean you So she said nothing.

But Rufus said, 'He to protect you, was he? Big strong man like him? Case you ran into any bad guys?'

'It was you. You were late turning up that night the bomb went off.'

'Mmm hmm.'

'Only n.o.body took any notice. Because even when you're there, you're hardly there.'

He grinned and hid his face behind his hands. 'Peep-oh!'

'Who are you?'

'Call me Rufus.'

'Who are you?'

'But my real name's Axel. Hey, what do you think that fat b.a.s.t.a.r.d would make of that?' He twisted his face into a pompous mask: not at all a bad Gerard, actually. 'That's not a name. That's an abomination.' Then untwisted, and was Rufus/Axel once more. 'Course, under fresh circ.u.mstances, I'd wipe the f.u.c.king floor with him.'

'Who are you?'

'I'm your bad dream, Sarah,' he said. 'I'm the stair that creaks when there's n.o.body home. I'm the light that goes off without warning.' He produced, from behind his back, her copy of Joe's letter; the red marker pen bawling out her intentions for the world to see. 'I mean, what the f.u.c.k is this? Your friend is dead, Sarah. Not to mention well st.i.tched-up. And you've got coppers wondering when you'll start shopping for a new freelance chemist. You were supposed to give it up.'

'I did give up. I have.'

'So why the letter? Why the phone number? Why couldn't you just let it be?'

She looked behind her, at the back door. The key had gone. When she looked round, Rufus held it. He smiled, and dropped it in his cup of tea. 'Won't be needing that.'

'You killed Joe. You planted the c.o.ke.'

'And you just had to get back on the bus, didn't you? What is it with you, is it the kid? Is it still the kid? She's a little girl, Sarah. There are f.u.c.king hundreds of them.'

'Where is she?'

'That doesn't matter any more.'

'Is she alive?'

'Do I care?'

'What are you going to do?' she whispered. Her voice barely staining the quiet air.

'I'm going to kill you,' he said patiently. 'What did you think I was going to do?'

'But they'll know, Wigwam'll know, she'll tell '

'Christ. Sarah, do I care? I'd have been out of here weeks ago already, if it weren't for you. Six months I spent married to that poor cow.' He reached something down from the fridge: she couldn't see what it was. 'And just between you and me, I'd have had more fun sticking my d.i.c.k down a rabbit hole. Ill of the dead and all that, but '

'No!'

'Oh yes.'

'No. You can't have. You mustn't '

'Sarah. Listen to me. You stuck your nose in something bigger than you know. And me, well, my job's to go round cleaning up other people's mess. It's a filthy business, but guess what? I love it. I mean, I really get off on it. Which was bad news for the missus, but hey, them's the breaks. And as for you '

But he couldn't have killed Wigwam he couldn't have killed Wigwam he couldn't have killed He put his hands together, then pulled them apart. A thin cord appeared between them; he did it again. Now it was a double strand.

'As for you, I get the feeling you'd be a wet one.'

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