Nothing but Meat: A dark, heart-stopping British crime thriller (26 page)

35

The rubber tip of her walking stick
pressed into the silky cover of damp brown leaves that covered the ground as
she slowly and carefully made her way along the gravel path. Simone sucked the
cold winter air deeply into her lungs and enjoyed the cooling sensation she
felt in her chest. She stood as upright as her body would allow but was still
mindful of her footing on the uneven ground.

When her wounds had
healed sufficiently she had begun the slow and painful process of building her
strength and the countless hours spent in physiotherapy after leaving the
hospital had finally paid off. She had eventually progressed from wheelchair to
walking stick as her strength returned. Using it made her feel like an old lady
but that was something she was going to have to get used to because she was
stuck with it for the rest of her life. Her body had become a hideous tapestry
of scar tissue and missing digits, her insides were wrecked but she was alive
and that feeling of cold, damp air in her lungs reminded her that being alive
was all that mattered.

When he told her he
wanted to meet at St Mary’s church she had to ask where it was as it meant
nothing to her. It turned out he meant the church in the village where they
used to live when they were kids. Even then it seemed like a strange place to
want to meet but then Martin was a strange man. Always had been. She could
admit that now.

He was already there,
sitting on the bench opposite the church, wrapped in a thick coat. He heard her
clumsy approach and turned to watch as she hobbled towards him.

She held her head upright
and tried to walk with as much dignity as she could manage but it was hard
work, she had become quite adept at using the walking stick but she still
struggled to walk for any length of time and was visibly out of breath when she
sat down next to him.

‘You look well,’ he said.

‘I’m in one piece.’

‘Only just.’

‘Why did you want to meet
here?’

‘It seemed appropriate,’
he replied as if that were answer enough.

She sighed, her patience
wearing thin. ‘There’s no need to be cryptic Martin.’

He drew a breath and
began the mind games. ‘Are you worried he doesn’t love you,’ he said; ‘that
he’ll leave again?’

She was silent.

He continued. ‘Are you
worried that the scars will put him off? What if he wants kids? I shouldn’t
think there’s much chance of that happening now that you’ve lost most of your
innards.’

He knew how to hurt her
with words as well as fists and within a matter of seconds and with perfect
precision he had managed to vocalise most of the anxieties that had piled up
and begun to creep through her system after the attack. His words stabbed at
her like Victor James’ knife but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction
of hurting her anymore.

‘Is that why you wanted
to see me; so you could hurt me again, for old time’s sake? If that’s the case
then I’m going to leave Martin.’

‘I have more to say and
you will want to hear it.’

‘Well spit it out then.’

‘This is where I told Smokey
to leave town. He was sitting where you are now. It was nineteen-ninety; the
year before Laura disappeared, it’s such a long time ago now. Do you ever think
about her?’

‘Yes.’

‘Me too.’

‘What do you mean you
told him to leave town?’ she said.

‘He still hasn’t told
you. What an obedient little doggy he is.’ Martin reached into his coat and
pulled out a Dictaphone. ‘I’m sure Smokey will fill you in on details of our
evening together but until then this is one of the highlights.’ He held the
machine between then and pressed play. ‘Remember that barn he burnt down?
Listen.’

West’s voice -
So what
if I’ve got the same lighter as the one found at the crime scene? It doesn’t
mean anything. It definitely doesn’t mean I did it.

-But you did do it didn’t you?
said Martin.

Silence. Nothing but tape hiss.

-Didn’t you?
Martin repeated louder this
time and no sooner had Simone realised Martin was trying to force Nathan into
making a confession it happened, one word floated from the tinny speaker in
Martin’s hand and it was enough to condemn the man she loved.

-Yes,
said West.

-Exactly. And if you were innocent and it went to court and
your lighter-

Martin stopped the
recording and slid the Dictaphone back into his pocket.

‘I have all I need,’ said
Simone quoting from memory. ‘The note in the box of bacon that came to the
station -’

He cut her off. ‘Smokey
bacon,’ he said with a childlike glint in his eye, as if he was the cleverest
person in the world.

‘The empty cassette case
with
Damning Evidence
printed on the
spine, and the note that said-’

‘
I have all I need. Pig.
’

‘That was you?’

‘You better get used to
the idea that your boyfriend’s career is over and he’ll probably go down for it
too. How the mighty fall. From hero to zero just like that.’ He snapped his fingers.

‘Please don’t.’

‘He thinks he can swan
back into town, get the bad guy, save the day and get the girl too. He thinks
he can have it all. But he can’t.’

Simone was quiet for a
time. ‘We would have split up eventually,’ she said. ‘It was only a matter of
time; you repeatedly beat the shit out of me Martin. You kept me with you
through fear and you know it.’

‘Blah blah blah.’

‘Stop being a wanker for
five minutes and listen. You need to look in the mirror and think about what
you did to me. How could you not have realised that I fell out of love with you
more and more with every punch you landed. Neither one of us was happy because
our relationship was vile and toxic.’

‘You could have left me
for anyone but you had to leave me for him didn’t you? I knew it would happen
as soon as I found out he was back. It eats me up inside just thinking about
it.’

‘Don’t let it. Move on
with your life, you’ll meet someone else. Just treat her right.’

‘Don’t get smug.’

‘I’m not being smug. I
nearly died Martin and there’s no bigger wake-up call than that. There wasn’t a
tunnel of light and my life didn’t flash before my eyes. I was bleeding to
death and it was slow and painful and frightening; more frightening than you
could ever imagine. Our marriage was already in tatters and I was going to
leave you anyway. Nearly dying just reinforced the idea that we only get one
life and it shouldn’t be spent in misery.

‘One day you’ll look back
on our marriage and you’ll admit I was right.’ She stood up and balanced
herself on her walking stick and as she did, she had a sudden, split second
vision of Martin kicking it away from her but he just looked at her with tears
in his eyes. ‘So do what you want with that tape Martin,’ she said. ‘What will
be will be.’ She began to leave.

‘Wait,’ he said. She
turned to him. ‘I still love you.’

‘You don’t, you just
can’t imagine not being with me.’

He sighed and his
shoulders slumped. He spoke without looking at her, ‘I’m sorry for how things
turned out between us
and I'm sorry for not coming to the
hospital straight away. It's just that I knew Smokey would be there.’

‘You weren’t missed.’

‘Don’t say that.’

‘Why not?’

He looked her up and
down as she stooped over him. ‘Are you going back to work?’

‘They’ve offered me a
desk job but I might just pack it in, this is a new chapter in my life and I’ve
always wanted the opportunity to study photography, so if anything good can
come of this,’ she motioned to the scars on her forehead and to the walking
stick, ‘then the chance to do something I’ve always wanted to do could be it.’

‘That nut job really
did a number on you didn’t he?’

‘The scars will fade in time, but I’ll never walk properly
again. This is as good as it’s going to get from now on.’

‘Well, for what it’s worth,’ he said with no trace of his
usual sarcasm or malice, ‘I hope you can dance at your wedding.’

‘That maybe the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.’

‘I guess that says it all
doesn’t it?’ he said with a croak in his voice. He flicked the cassette out of
the Dictaphone and handed it to her. ‘Don’t hate me Simone.’

‘Take care of yourself
Martin,’ she said and left him alone on the bench without looking back.

Thank you for reading Nothing but
Meat

Feel free to contact me at:

[email protected]

All comments and abuse welcome.

Until next time…

Adrian Kendrew

August 2014