Blood Brothers (16 page)

In the bathroom, Alice let the tears flow. She thought of the painful and degrading way he had taken her just now; while with Joe, their lovemaking had been fulfilling and magical. He was incredibly caring, and while she was in his arms, she never wanted it to end.

The tears coursed down her face. I don’t know who Frank is anymore, she thought. I don’t think I love him. Maybe I never did. She was certain of one thing; she never wanted him to touch her again.

Suddenly there was a loud pop, and she knew he had opened the champagne. ‘As if he needs any more alcohol,’ she whispered worriedly. But, as she was already beginning to learn; right or wrong, Frank Arnold took whatever he wanted, whatever the consequences.

Turning on the tap, she cupped her hands and splashed her face with water. She then ran the water into the sink and taking flannel and soap, she bathed herself from head to toe; feverishly rubbing at her skin until it was sore and bruised. Even then, she still felt used and dirty.

For different reasons, Frank was also going over the experience of the past half-hour; not because he believed he’d been thoughtless and aggressive with Alice, but because he felt uneasy about the truth of it. ‘Alice!’ Taking another long swig
from the bottle, he called again, this time more vehemently, ‘ALICE WHERE ARE YOU? GET IN HERE!’

When he got no answer, he grew angry and impatient, ‘Alice!’ He scrambled out of bed in such a rush that he got caught up in the eiderdown. ‘Bloody thing. Damn and bugger it!’

Snatching up the eiderdown that his mother had painstakingly sewn together, he tore it to pieces, square by square, until it lay at his feet in a tangled mess.

He now turned his attention to the bed sheet, and the persistent nagging thoughts in his fevered mind continued to grow.

He noticed how the corners of the sheet were tucked neatly underneath the mattress, but what really intrigued him was how spotlessly clean and white the sheet was, with only a crease here and there to show where Alice had lain.

Something struck him as odd, and yet it wasn’t altogether clear in his mind. Maybe it was because she had been too quiet and forgiving, he thought, while he had perhaps been a little over-excited and rough. Maybe he should have been more careful; especially with her being a virgin.

He continued to stare at the bed. Something was not right, he thought. Something curious, and the more he thought about it, the more he was convinced.

It wasn’t long before curiosity became suspicion.

When a moment later he burst into the bathroom it was to find Alice frantically covering herself with the robe.

‘Frank!’ Startled, she asked, ‘Can you give me another minute. I need to clean my teeth.’ It was the first excuse that came to mind.

‘Oh, I see…clean your teeth is it?’ Muggy-headed from the effects of too much booze, he remained by the door, his eyes raking her body; almost as though he was raping her all over again.

Nervously Alice asked again, ‘Please, Frank…I’ll only be
a minute, then I’ll be back to you…’ Again the guilt. Always the guilt; and now the anger, ‘…if that’s what you want?’

Still, he made no move towards her. Instead, he asked in the quietest voice, ‘What I
want
…is the truth.’

Alice was shaken. ‘What do you mean? What truth?’

Hard-faced, he asked point blank, ‘Have you been with another man, before me?’

Momentarily stunned into silence, Alice was slow to reply. ‘I…what do you mean, Frank?’ She gave a nervous little laugh, ‘That’s a strange thing to ask…especially on our wedding night.’

If Frank was uncertain before, her nervous response only heightened his suspicion. ‘Don’t treat me like some bloody fool!’ he snapped. ‘I asked a question, and I want an answer. Oh, and it had better be the truth, or so help me, if I find out you’re lying to me…’

In an instant, he had her by the shoulders, his face leanng into hers. ‘D’you think I’ve never broken a virgin before? Well I have! More times than I care to remember. So I know how it is. D’you hear me, bitch…I know how it is with you women!’

Forcing her head up so he could look square into her eyes, he smiled, a quietly invasive smile that unnerved her, even more than his ranting. ‘So! Was there a man before me? Don’t you lie to me, Alice, because I’ll know!’

Alice was in no doubt. He suspected! Somehow, he suspected, and now he meant to get at the truth. ‘I’ve no idea what you mean, Frank,’ she brazened in a small voice. ‘What am I supposed to tell you?’

‘Who was it?’

She tried to brave it out. ‘There was no one, Frank…just you.’

For a moment the air was thick, and when he spoke again, there was real menace in his voice.
‘I’ll ask you again…I wasn’t the first, was I?’

When she opened her mouth to speak, he spread his hand across her face. ‘No more lies! I want the truth…NOW!’

Alice dropped her gaze to the floor, her heart beating wildly. ‘Don’t do this, Frank,’ she asked. ‘
Please…don’t do this
…’ Clutching her robe, she wrapped it tighter about her. ‘I’m getting cold, Frank. Let me get dressed, and then maybe we can talk about this.’

Smiling, he shook his head. ‘Talk your way out of it, you mean?’

‘No, Frank! You’ve got it all wrong.’ His suspicions were uncannily true, but how could she admit that she’d slept with his brother? That it was Joe who had taken her virginity?

And even more damning was the fact that she had willingly gone to him that night; even though she knew the truth would bring trouble and heartache in its wake.

‘Listen to me, Frank. There is no one else!’ Again, the lies, and the shame. Never before had she lied in such a way, but at that moment, faced with Frank’s dark mood, she could see no other choice. ‘There is only you, Frank.’

‘Liar!’ Snatching her by the scruff of her hair, he shook her like a rag doll. ‘You’ve had someone else, I know it. I can smell him!’ His face crumpled with hatred. ‘Was it good with him, eh? Was it better with him than with me?’

‘Get off me, Frank!’ Desperate to escape his grip, Alice suddenly realised that until now, she had never seen Frank drunk. Now though, with the stench of booze still on him, and his loud, aggressive manner, she wondered if it was the drink at the root of his suspicions.

After all, he had always been possessive of her, and besides, how would he know he was not the first man she had slept with. Since that night with Joe, she had been so careful.

Intermittently swigging from the bottle, he continued to rant, ‘You led me to believe that you were saving yourself for me! When all the time, some bastard was taking what was mine!’

Continuing to shake her, he cruelly mimicked her voice, ‘I’m saving myself until we’re married, Frank.’

Raising his fist he punched her hard across the face, yanking her upright when she slumped against him. ‘You thought I wouldn’t find out, didn’t you, eh? Well, you should have known that Frank Arnold has been about a bit, and he’s not one to be taken in. Oh, but you…You took Frank Arnold for a fool, when nobody else ever could!’

He laughed, a deep-down laugh that sent a shiver through her. ‘Think o’ that, eh? You! Just a slip of a thing…you actually managed to get one over on me! So! Thanks to you, I would be a laughing stock if this ever got out!’

He began shaking her. ‘No man or woman has ever been able to make a fool outta me…until now! Oh, and there was me, idiot that I am…thinking you were something special. Thinking you were different from all the others.’

Increasingly agitated, he threw her aside. ‘Bitch!’ He began pacing the floor. ‘What in God’s name did I ever see in you? I could have wed any number of women, worthless tarts who had nothing but the shirts on their back; they’d spread their-selves across the back seat of my car and we’d have a bit of fun. They lived in places you wouldn’t house a dog. But I’ll tell you this for nothing! They weren’t cheats and they weren’t liars. What you see is what you get with them.’

He ranted in a low trembling voice, as though talking to himself. ‘Blind! That’s what I am…blind and stupid! To think I could have chosen any one of them, but no, I chose you…the shrinking violet. The pure one…or so I thought!’

He took a long, hate-filled look at her. ‘Looking so innocent and all the time, you were rotten to the core. I’ve always managed to steer clear o’ your sort. The trouble is, you had a family with money. In my book, that makes a real difference.’

Screaming, he pointed a finger at her. ‘
You!
You took me for a damned fool! And even now when I’ve all but caught
you bang to rights, you won’t admit it…why won’t you admit it, eh? Afraid I might cut him up a bit, well you’d be right about that, because if I ever get my hands on him, he won’t
walk
away, that’s for sure! They’ll have to carry him away!’

Alice tried another tack. ‘Listen to me, Frank! I married you, not him…
you
! We’re man and wife. I belong to you now. Isn’t that enough?’

‘Ah! So now you admit it! You
did
have another man when I wasn’t looking. Tell me…was it before, or after me? Did you and this bastard have it away while you were promised to me?’

Seizing her by the neck, he pulled her violently towards him, his voice a mere whisper, ‘Were you saying yes to him at the same time you were saying no to me?’

‘It wasn’t like that!’ Admitting defeat she looked him square in the face. ‘All right! I did wrong, I admit it. But it will never happen again, you have my word!’

‘I knew it!’ Bundling her down the stairs and into the kitchen, he threw open all the drawers until he found a large pair of scissors. ‘And all this time you kept on denying it.’ He was like a madman. ‘I know what you’re up to. You want people to believe I’m losing my mind!’

‘No, Frank!’ In fear for her life, she pleaded with him, ‘I just want for us to talk it through sensibly…please Frank…think what you’re doing. It doesn’t have to be like this.’

With a twist of his arm, he had her at his feet. ‘There’s only one way to treat a trollop like you.’

When he brandished the scissors in her face, there was no doubt in Alice’s mind, that he would maim, or even kill her.

But Frank Arnold was too clever, or too cowardly to kill her now. Yes, he wanted her dead, along with the man who had taken what was his. The pair of them would answer for it. But not just yet; not until he’d had his pound of flesh.

‘So, are you ready to tell me now who was it?’

Gripping her neck in a powerful hold, he kept her head down. ‘Well?’

With the long blades of the scissors cold against her skin, Alice remained very still.

‘One more chance!’ He squeezed her neck. ‘All you have to do is tell me who he is.’

Defiant, Alice shifted her gaze away from him. ‘I can’t.’

‘What was that?’ he goaded her. ‘I didn’t quite hear what you said?’

He relaxed his grip on her neck. ‘His name? That’s all I need to hear. Nothing else. No “Sorry, Frank”, or “It was all a mistake”. I don’t need that! I just need his name.’

There followed a deathly silence. ‘Don’t test me, Alice. You haven’t known me long enough to realise what I’m capable of.’

Alice remained silent.

‘So you won’t tell, eh?’ The ensuing silence was almost deafening, before he spoke again, ‘Seems to me you need a lesson, on how to loosen your tongue.’

With an iron fist, he kept her pinned down, while with the other hand he used the scissors to slice remnants from her robe, and when there was little of it left, he began to chop wildly at her hair, all the while softly sniggering, like someone demented.

Terrified, Alice could see the long strands of hair falling to the floor. She could feel the stabs of scissor blades in her scalp and all the while her mind was filled with his laughter. All she could think was that he must finally have lost his mind.

Truly believing that when he was done chopping her hair, he would take her life, she knew now that even if she was to give Joe’s name, Frank would not let her go. He would kill her and then he’d go after Joe. And so she remained silent, save for the quiet sobs that she could no longer hold back.

Frank’s rage knew no bounds. Haphazardly hacking at her
hair, he seemed oblivious to the spurts of blood that meandered slowly down her face; and the raw patches of skin on her scalp, where only the wispy stumps of her long, thick hair remained.

Exhausted and triumphant, he stood over her. ‘Now then, bitch! Are you ready to give me the bastard’s name? Or do I have to finish you off?’

Sick with pain, Alice looked up at him, but said nothing.

For one fleeting moment, he was affected on seeing her distress, and for some strange reason he even entertained a sneaking, twisted admiration for her loyalty.

But he was too far gone to stop now. Someone had to be punished. Someone had to pay the price for making a fool out of him!

He had an idea. ‘Maybe I should leave you here nice and secure, while I visit your precious family, eh? They’ve got a nerve to think they’re a cut above me, but they’re not. How can they be, after breeding rubbish like you?’

He started talking to himself; loudly outlining his plan, as though perfecting it in his mind. ‘Somebody should rid the earth of people like that! I could do that! I could make sure they don’t wake up in the morning. I know where they live. I had a real good look round when I was there.’

Grabbing her face with both hands he made her look up at him. ‘Make no mistake! I can be in and out of that place, without anyone ever knowing I was even there.’

Deeply shocked, Alice clung to him, pleading for their lives. ‘No Frank! Think what you’re saying! You can’t do this…they’ll catch you and lock you away in a dark place. You wouldn’t like that would you, Frank? Please, Frank!’ But she could see he was past reason. Jealousy and madness had taken over.

Suddenly he flung her across the room, where she landed badly against the wall; and while she was still reeling from the impact, he rushed at her again, shaking and slapping her.
When she slithered to the floor, he dropped to his knees and took her into his embrace. ‘Aw, look at what you made me do.’ He began rocking her backwards and forwards, tenderly wiping the blood from her face. ‘Why won’t you give me his name?’ The hardness crept in. ‘Is it because you love him more than you love me, is that it, eh?’