The Border: The Complete Series (31 page)

Today

Standing naked in the bathroom, bathed in the harsh light from the shaving mirror, Joe looked at his reflection and slowly ran his hands down across his chest and belly, feeling the rippled scars. He knew them intimately, of course, but there was something strangely comforting about examining them again, like looking at a map of a land one already knew well. Finally he closed his eyes, heightening the sense of touch.

After a moment, he was able to convince himself that it was
her
hands caressing his abdomen.

“Do you know what they remind me of?” Caitlin's voice whispered, so close that he could feel her breath on his ear.

“What?”

“The scars on a frozen lake,” she continued, as her icy fingertips touched his belly button and then ran across one of the thicker threads of skin, which cut across his pelvis. “The scars in frozen water. The ones that go away when the water flows again, and come back when it freezes.”

He allowed himself a faint smile.

“You're frozen at the moment, Joe,” she added. “The scars will be part of you for as long as you're scared to flow again. You froze on that night nine years ago, but nothing can stay frozen forever. One day...” She pressed a little harder against his skin. “One day, you'll have to start melting, and then finally the scars will fall away. Until then, they'll be a part of you, but that's not so bad, not when they're so beautiful.” She ran a single fingertip past his belly and up toward his chest, trailing a line of cold water. “I think you're going to melt soon, Joe. I really do.”

He opened his eyes.

Staring into the mirror, he saw that it wasn't Caitlin standing behind him, but the stag-headed man, staring at him from behind his mask. Looking down, Joe saw the creature's cloth-covered hands dragging scratchy lines across his scars.

***

“What the hell's going on here?” Beth asked, hurrying into the reception area of the police station just as Alex and Ben emerged from one of the other rooms. “Ben, are you okay?”

“I'm good,” he replied wearily, holding his hands up in mock-surrender. He seemed tired more than anything, and not angry as his sister had expected. “Gotta watch what I do and say, though. Any sudden movements and Officer Gordon here might pop a slug or two in the back of my head. He's constantly vigilant and constantly watching for signs of criminal activity.”

“Did you
arrest
my brother last night?” Beth continued, turning to Alex.

“Nobody was arrested,” Alex replied firmly, having clearly anticipated the question. “Your brother merely agreed to come down here and answer a few questions.”

“Technically, I was being arrested at the start,” Ben pointed out, “but then old Alex here told me he'd just treat it as a questioning for now. Gotta think he broke some rules there, but whatever, I suppose I should be grateful.”

“I could have arrested you for resisting arrest,” Alex told him.

“Do you want to think about the circular logic in that one?” Ben replied with a grin.

“And then you kept him in overnight?” Beth asked, staring in disbelief at Alex. “On what grounds?”

“We
talked
until about a half hour ago,” Alex continued. “We could've been done a lot quicker, but your brother's the kinda guy who never uses one word when he can think of ten to take its place. He led us down some blind alleys along the way.”

“In my defense,” Ben said with a smile, “I've always been naturally verbose.”

“So he's free to go?” Beth asked, still staring at Alex with an expression of anger.

“Absolutely.”

“For now,” Ben added. “I think my ass is on a string and I could get yanked back at any moment.”

“I might need to talk to you again,” Alex continued, turning to him, “so don't go leaving town without letting me know, okay? I know you like to treat everything as if it's a joke, but this is a serious matter and it'd do you some good to grow up.”

“It's Christmas in a few days,” Ben reminded him. “Where else would I go, but the warm, loving bosom of my family home?” He smiled. “It was nice talking to you, Mr. Gordon. I hope I was super helpful with all your questions. You sure had a lot, it was hard to keep up sometimes, especially since you were so mean with the coffee. Pro tip, if you want someone to follow your somewhat circuitous trains of thought, you might like to help them stay awake.”

“It's 8am,” Alex replied, checking his watch. “I don't know about you, but I have to freshen up a little. Like I told you, Ben, this was just a routine chat about a few things. Nothing to get worried about, at least not for now.”

“But I should stay in town. Gotcha.”

As Alex headed back to his office, Ben turned and smiled at Beth before making his way to the door, slinging his coat onto his shoulder as he did so.

“What the hell happened?” she asked, hurrying after him. “I got a message from Jack this morning saying you'd been taken in by Alex. I came down to check on you as soon as I'd finished dropping Lucy off at school, but I just assumed there'd been some kind of mix-up, I never thought you'd
actually
been arrested.”

“I wasn't arrested, remember. It was questioning.”

Grabbing his arm, she pulled him back and forced him to stop and turn to her. “Why did Alex Gordon suddenly decide he needed to question you about the murders?”

“Ask Jack.”

“What's Jack got to do with it?”

“He didn't tell you? He was with me when Alex picked me. In fact, he'd been chatting to Alex a little while earlier.
In fact
...” He paused. “In fact, he'd put the whole idea into Alex's head in the first place.”

“Jack wouldn't do that.”

“Jack would absolutely do that and you know it.”

“No, he...” Pausing, she realized he was right. “But why? Why would Jack...” Her voice trailed off.

“Because he truly believes, deep down, that I'm a serial killer with multiple victims under my belt stretching back more than a decade,” Ben replied, with the smile having left his face. “He's not joking when he makes those snide little comments, he really, honestly thinks it's true. Him and Dad, they're the same. They've got me pegged as some kind of monster.” He waited for a reply. “But you don't think that, do you?”

“No,” she replied, clearly exasperated, “of course I don't, not for one second. Ben, I'm so sorry, I don't know what Jack was thinking...”

“Yeah, you do,” he continued, heading to the wall and leaning back as he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. His fingers were trembling slightly as he lit up and took a drag. “He's had his finger on the trigger for years,” he continued. “I should've known he'd pull it one day. I guess that's what I get for winding him up. I probably should accept some of the blame myself.”

“I am so, so sorry,” she replied, stepping over to him. “He didn't talk to me about it, he didn't give me any indication that he was going to do something like this.” She paused, before putting her arms around him and giving him a hug.

“It's okay.”

“So at least you set Alex straight, right? You showed him that you didn't kill Mel Armitage or Hayley Maitland?”

“And how would I show him that?” Ben asked, taking another deep, calming drag on the cigarette as his sister stepped back from the hug.

“By telling him where you were when they were murdered.”

He paused. “It's complicated.”

“Complicated? It's not complicated, Ben, it's how you prove you couldn't have killed them.”

“Alex doesn't know exactly when they were killed,” he continued. “There's, like, a window of several hours for each of them. It's kind of hard to be helpful and prove where you were for several hours at a time, even if you felt that way inclined. Which I can't say I do.”

“You can't...” She paused, before sighing. “You did answer his questions properly, didn't you? Please, Ben, tell me you didn't spend the whole night being sarcastic and elusive?”

He shrugged.

“You didn't,” she continued, “you can't have done. You're not that goddamn stupid.”

“Can't fight who I am.”

“He's a cop!” she hissed. “I get it, you like acting that way with Jack, you like winding him up, but you can't do the same thing when the police haul you in for questioning. That's the time to be straightforward and honest, it's the time to get real!”

He smiled. “Get real. Yeah, I should do that some time.”

“You're not helping yourself, Ben. It's one thing for Jack to think you did something, Jack's just one man, but if Alex thinks the same thing, you could be in serious trouble!” She sighed. “Come on, let's get you home. You must be exhausted.”

“Nah, I'm gonna stick around here for a little while.”

“Ben -”

“Go on, you get on with whatever you've got to do today. I appreciate you rushing down, truly I do, but there's something I need to deal with and it's kinda urgent, so I'm gonna trundle around for a bit before I come home.”

She stared at him, clearly at a loss for words.

“You're making this harder for yourself,” she told him finally, taking a step back. “Whatever you're trying to prove, it's not worth it. You're as guilty as Jack when it comes to letting this garbage keep on ruining your life. You have the power to drop it and let it fade away.”

“I know,” he muttered, taking another drag on his cigarette as he watched Beth heading back to her car. Once she was gone, he slid down until he was crouching with his back against the wall, and he continued to enjoy the cigarette. He watched as the town square began to wake up, as storefronts opened and people emerged to run their daily errands. There was something strangely peaceful and calming about the sight, and he couldn't help feeling a little envious of all those men, women and children who went about their lives with no idea of the darkness that existed just beneath the surface. Then again, he had a sneaking suspicion that most of them
did
know, even if they didn't want to admit as much. Reaching down, he tapped twice on the ground with his knuckles.

Finally, he saw a familiar car pull up nearby, and a moment later he smiled as he saw Jane arriving for work. As soon as they made eye contact, she stopped with a worried look in her eyes.

“Hey, sister-in-law,” he said, hauling himself to his feet, “I think we need to have a chat.”

“Ben -”

“About the Border,” he said firmly, interrupting her as he took another drag on his cigarette. “We need to talk about the Border.
Now
.”

***

“So basically the police have got nothing,” Daniel muttered, as he finished reading Jack's latest editorial for the following day's paper. “Apart from two dead bodies, I mean. It's kinda sad when the media's better at solving crimes than the cops.”

“It's not sad,” Jack replied, leaning back in his chair, “it's completely natural, especially in the modern age. We're more motivated than they are.”

Daniel turned to him with a frown.

“The police are just trying to keep the town safe,” Jack continued, “whereas guys like you and me, we're catering to the public's need for information. We're keener so we work harder, our readership expects regular updates.” Glancing at his laptop, he brought up an old window. “Website hits are twenty times what they'd usually be around now. We could make as much online ad revenue in a month as we usually make in a year, and that's money that'll go right back into the newspaper to help it survive.”

“So you're just chasing clicks?”

“I'm doing my job,” Jack said firmly. “I'm getting to the truth, which is what a journalist should always be doing. I can't help it if I'm good at that.”

“Either that or the cops around here are dumbasses,” Daniel pointed out, before pausing. “Sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I know Jane's not a dumbass.”

“She's doing her best,” Jack replied, “but my money's always on a journalist to get to the bottom of things before a cop.”

“And you really think the identity of the killer is gonna be revealed in the next couple of days?” Daniel asked. “I mean, at the end of this editorial you make some pretty bold claims, it's almost like you're promising some big revelation in one of our upcoming issues.”

Jack nodded. “I'm certain of it.”

“So who is it? Do you know?”

“I...” He paused. “I have a very strong suspicion. Not really a suspicion, actually, more like... knowledge that still requires a little more proof.”

“From looking at your wife's phone and emails, stuff like that?”

“No, and -” He glanced at the door. “Keep your voice down, okay? Stuff like that isn't for general consumption. It's technically illegal.”

“Sure, boss, but...” Looking down at the copy again for a moment, Daniel finally sighed. “Well, at least you can relax about your brother now.”

Jack frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I know you kinda suspected maybe he was the killer, but obviously you don't anymore.”

“Why don't I?”

“Because you seem so relaxed,” Daniel continued. “I mean, if you think you know who the killer is, obviously you don't think it's Ben, or you wouldn't be acting so...” He tried to think of the right word. “I don't know, victorious. You're obviously very relieved.”