Monday 21 May 2012

Predisposed To Murder - Chapter Fourteen

CHAPTER FOURTEEN



“You stupid girl…! What are you trying to do, poison me? You know I take sugar in my tea.”
“Sorry,” muttered Pip Sparrow as she handed the older woman a sugar bowl and abruptly left the table.
“I know you’re fond of the girl, Nina dear, but I really can’t think why. Frankly, she gives me the creeps.” Pip heard Nina’s mother say as she closed the door. She disliked Pat Fox with an intensity that sometimes frightened her. The woman had only been staying a few days and there was already an appalling atmosphere. Nina had managed to take some time off from shooting April Showers so she, Pip, was stuck with the pair of them since school was closed for half term. Nor was it a coincidence, she was certain, that her father had suddenly announced on the very first evening of Pat’s stay that he had important business in Prague and would be leaving first thing in the morning.
Having tried calling several friends and getting no response, Pip decided to visit Sammy. She had become fond of Nina’s cat and, besides, she might even catch Ray or his friend Max Cutler. But what was she thinking? She wasn’t bothered about seeing Ray, she only longed, passionately, for just a glimpse of Max. They had only met once, in passing, when she had accompanied Nina to the flat some weeks earlier. She had been so struck by his good looks, charm, and easy manner she had even dreamed about him on several occasions. This alarmed her. She had never dreamed about a boy in her life before. Even Zack Danvers, the school captain who was invariably the favourite topic of gossip and chat among all the girls, had never dared trespass into her dreams.
Neither Zack nor Max could hold a candle to her father, of course, but that was only to be expected. Her father was perfect and featured in her dreams all the time.
Only once since the fire had she dreamed about her mother or brother and that had been a nightmare. She had awoken, screaming, in her father’s bed. In spite of cuddling up to him, his soothing voice washing over her like a friendly shower, the horror had taken a long time to drain away and let her sleep. Even now, the memory of that horror - she could recall nothing of the nightmare itself - made her want to run and hide. Only, there was no hiding place. It was a sobering thought, and not one upon which she had any inclination to dwell.
It didn’t take long, on a double-decker bus, to reach the flat in Brixton. She knew where Nina kept the front door key so obtaining a copy had posed no problem. Should Nina ever discover she’d visited the flat alone, she would simply say she’d come on impulse to see Sammy and found a window open. Nina would not believe her of course but would almost certainly let the matter drop rather than risk her father finding out that she had no more intention of having the cat put down than selling the flat. A sly smile crossed the girl’s face. She’d have told her father so herself had it not been to her own advantage to keep quiet. Besides, it had to be useful to have a hold of sorts over someone…didn’t it?
Sammy, accustomed to the girl’s visits, neither mewed nor came to investigate but merely opened one eye, saw who it was, chose to ignore her completely and continued snoozing on the kitchen windowsill. Forgetting the old cat was her excuse for being here, Pip raided the fridge for a carton of cranberry juice and a tub of chocolate ice cream. She was tucking in when she noticed the mobile phone on the table and recognized it instantly. It belonged to Nina, who was always misplacing it and had been complaining about not being able to find it for days. Pip picked it up and idly keyed in to see who Nina had been calling recently when sounds above made her start. She could hear people moving about; people, not just one person. Her heart leapt. That meant Ray was at home, possibly Max too since they were mates. Hastily draining her glass and finishing off the last scoop of ice cream, she made her way to the communal hall and upstairs. She heard raised voices, both male. Then everything went very quiet.
For a while she sat on the top stair considering a variety of excuses for knocking on the door. Having finally settled on one she got up and knocked. No one replied but, to her surprise, the door swung slightly ajar. Knowing how security conscious Ray was about Nina’s flat, it seemed odd, to say the least, that he could be so careless about his own.
Intrigued, but only slightly concerned, Pip entered.
The first thing that entered Pip’s head was that Nina’s flat was by far the nicer of the two regarding décor and furnishings. But this one had a sense and smell of masculinity that she found to her liking. She thought she heard noises and tiptoed close to a door on her right. It did not occur to her to call out or, if it did, she dismissed the idea out of hand.  The sure knowledge that she had no right to be there gave her a delicious thrill. Adrenalin coursed her veins and stroked her skin with a sensuality she was loath to surrender.
This door, too, was ajar. Pip peeped inside. Her eyes widened and the adrenalin pumped even faster as, a little frightened but fascinated nonetheless, she observed the sexual antics of two men on the bed. The man on his back, she recognized at once as Ray Bannister. Of the other, his body lifted at an angle, she only had a rear view but commonsense told her it had to be Max Cutler.
She hadn’t realized either man was gay. Nor had she quite grasped that two men could enjoy sex together. Until now, gay sex had meant nothing more or less than juicy playground gossip about a teacher at the school and whether his partner was male or female since no one seemed to know for sure. Whether or not there was any truth in it, the rumour continued to spread and had recently homes in on another male teacher. But this…this was no idle gossip or rumour; this was the real thing.
So, Ray and Max are lovers. Who’d have guessed? Putting aside her own feelings for Max Cutler, Pip continued to watch as the two men huffed and puffed and grunted their way to a climax like two pigs rutting. The image amused her, and she would carry it in her head for years.
Both men cried out almost simultaneously. Cutler collapsed in a heap on his back beside his lover. Both men were sweating profusely. The same male odour of which Pip had caught but a whiff earlier now swamped her nostrils, filled her mouth, made her pulse race. Fairly intoxicated with it, she felt light headed and stumbled slightly against the door, causing it to creak. The sound, barely audible, rampaged through her head like stampede of frightened animals.
“What was that? I thought I heard something…” Cutler sat up and listened, suspicion and alarm written all over the handsome face.
Pip retreated as fast as tiptoeing would allow.
“Why do you always have to spoil things?” Ray Bannister muttered crossly, “Do you have to be so on edge all the time. Anyone would think we were doing something wrong. Are you ashamed of me or what?”
“Don’t start, Ray, I’m not in the mood.”
“But you are, aren’t you, ashamed of us I mean?”
“Of course not...” But even to Pip, the words range hollow.
“So why can’t we tell people about us instead of sneaking around like a couple of crooks in the night?”
“It’s the middle of the afternoon,” Max pointed out.
“You know damn well what I mean so don’t get clever, it doesn’t suit you.”
“No?” Max laughed.
“No,” said Bannister earnestly, “you’re better than that. Why can’t you take life seriously sometimes, me too while you’re about it?”
“I do take you seriously, of course I do, or I wouldn’t be here now would I?” Cutler leaned across and kissed the other man on the mouth but wriggled free when Ray flung his arms around his neck and responded fiercely. “Now who’s spoiling things?” he remarked dryly, leapt out of bed and proceeded, hastily, to get dressed.
Pip wondered what she should do next.  It would be better for everyone, she knew perfectly well, if she were to dismiss what she had seen from her mind, never refer to it again and return immediately to the flat below. She even got as far as the landing and was in the act of closing the door behind her… but couldn’t quite bring herself to shut it.
How could she turn her back on such a cool situation? Hadn’t she seen two men having sex? Wasn’t she now a party to their secret? Didn’t she have a responsibility to…what?  It made no sense to simply walk away and pretend the incident had never happened. This was life in the raw. She hadn’t felt so exhilarated since…the fire.
Briefly, her excitement ebbed. It was as if she had been bathing in brilliant sunshine and a passing cloud had cruelly obliterated her. “Not me, silly, the sun,” she told the shiny door handle before turning it again and re-entering the flat. This time she was about to call out, “Ray?”  But before she could so much as open her mouth, the noise of a toilet being flushed in the bathroom brought with it a mad rush of second thoughts.
She panicked and hid behind a sofa.
Max Cutler emerged from the bathroom just as Ray came out of the bedroom. Both entered the living room without saying a word. Ray flung himself into an armchair while Max sprawled across the sofa. Pip could hear his heavy breathing. It excited her to imagine his hairy chest heaving under a shirt that he might or might not be wearing, she couldn’t see. On balance, it suited her to imagine him naked, just as she had seen him minutes earlier. He had draped one arm across the back of the sofa and she could smell his sweat, almost taste it on her tongue.
At fourteen, Pip often fantasized about sex with a man. But the shadowy figure in her imagination had always closely resembled her father. Now, she considered the prospect of Max Cutler dominating her, riding her just as he had Ray Bannister. Suddenly, she hated Ray. She had never liked him much when they were next-door neighbours but the lively Bannister family were marginally more interesting than the dull Pikes who lived on the other side. She had never been able to see, for the life of her, why her brother Johnny chose Billy Pike for his best friend; the two boys were as different as chalk and cheese.
“Fancy a sandwich?” Ray asked, if only to break the uncomfortable silence. It was always the same after they made love. Max would fret and sulk and it would be left to him to pick up the pieces.
“Not particularly,” Max declared airily, “but if you’re making some, a ham doorstep will do me fine.”
“It shouldn’t be like this Max,” Ray protested.
“Like what?”
“Like you regret what we just did, like you’re ashamed of me.”
“Of course I’m not ashamed of you. Why do you keep saying that? How many times do I have to tell you I…”
“Love me?”
“I suppose…”
“Go on then, say it. Tell me you love me.”
“I shouldn’t have to say it,” retorted Max angrily, “You know damn well how I feel about you.”
“That’s just it, I don’t.”
“For crying out loud, Ray, we’ve just had fantastic sex. What more proof do you need that I have feelings for you?”
“I want us to go public.”
“Oh, change the record, Ray. You know I can’t do that.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Okay, won’t. You know I’m attracted to women. I’ve never made any secret of it. You also know I’m going places. I’ve never made any secret of that either. I know how to give a woman a good time. In return, she can damn well give yours truly due consideration too. Isn’t that fair?  Take Nina, she can pull strings. More importantly, she knows guys who can pull even better strings. She gets her kicks and I get an opportunity to go somewhere, be somebody.”
“So why not just sleep with the guys yourself and be done with it?” hissed Ray scathingly.
“Because, my dear Raymond, you’re the only man for me. I don’t want another man in my life. Women…well, women don’t really count, they’re just a means to an end. But you…you’re special.”
“Does that mean you love me?”
“It means I could murder a ham sandwich.” Max roared with laughter.
Behind the sofa, Pip could feel his whole body shaking. She wanted to laugh too and thrust a fist in her mouth. It wouldn’t do to be caught now. She heard the sound of a door slamming. Given its direction, she could only assume Ray had gone into the kitchen. Max stayed put and, after a short while, began to snore.
It seemed ages before Ray returned. “Wake up, sleepyhead. I’ve made us two ham doorsteps each and a pot of tea.”
“Did you say tea? Who wants bloody tea?” Max took his time replying and yawned after practically each syllable. “I need something stronger than tea and I know just the thing…”
“No Max, you promised. Look, have a doorstep instead…”
“Stuff your f***ing doorsteps and stuff you, you f***ing nerd.”
“You don’t mean that?”
“I just said it, didn’t I?”
“You certainly know how to make a guy feel wanted.”
“Right now, all I want is some coke and if you’ve got any sense you’ll join me.”
“No Max, please. That stuff is dangerous.”
“So is crossing the road.” Max clambered to his feet, “Now, I need the bathroom.”
“You don’t care about anything or anyone, do you, just yourself?”
“Give me strength! Don’t be such a drama queen. Talking of which, you can put that knife down too. You’re not in the kitchen now so you can drop the Delia Smith act.”
“You don’t love me at all, do you? Everything’s just a game to you.”
“Stop fussing and get out of my way. What the…? You’ve nicked my arm, damn you. Come on, Ray, give me the knife before you do some real damage.”
“We’re living in the twenty-first century Max. No one cares who’s sleeping with whom any more. If we tell people, you’ll see I’m right.”
“How many more times do I have to tell you?” Max yelled, “I don’t want people knowing. For a start it’s none of their damn business.”
“And it might get back to mummy…” Ray shouted back and even Pip, who couldn’t see a thing, could tell he was close to tears. “We can’t have that, can we?” he sobbed after a pregnant pause, “Mummy wouldn’t like it would she? Mummy would cut off your allowance. That’s who you’re afraid of, not ‘people’ just mummy. Call yourself a man? You’re pathetic, Max, pathetic!”
“If she didn’t cut off my allowance, she’d cut off my balls for sure,” Max tried to make light of the situation but his voice was strained and sounded curiously guttural to Pip’s keen ear.
“Balls, what balls? You haven’t got any. You’re just a fucking mummy’s boy!” Ray scoffed.
A long pause followed during which the silence became unbearable for Pip and she almost showed herself in an attempt to shatter its suffocating tension. Suddenly, it was as if it had been slashed into pieces by the knife in Ray Bannister’s hand. She listened to the two men fighting for several minutes. It was almost as exhilarating as watching them in bed together. Then one of them gave a long, heartfelt cry before rushing from the room. She heard the flat door slam, heavy footsteps thundering down the stairs, the front door crashing shut then, and only then, someone groaning as if in pain.
The groaning continued.
Curiosity finally getting the better of her nerves, Pip risked peering over the sofa. Ray Bannister was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, eyes closed, a knife stuck in his belly. “Ray?”  She broke cover and rushed to kneel beside the prostrate form that slowly forced open both eyes before attempting to speak.
“Help me,” he whispered, and then closed his eyes again as blood started to trickle from his nose. .
Pip remembered Nina’s mobile phone nestling in her pocket and took it out and started to key 999 with a shaking hand. .Suddenly, she stopped and stared at the phone as if seeing it for the first time.
“Help me, please…” Ray Bannister moaned softly. Pip watched him for several minutes. He neither spoke again nor opened his eyes while continuing to bleed profusely.
The glimmer of an appalling idea brushed Pip’s subconscious, shot forward, skimmed her conscious mind a while and came to rest, a tiny ball of thought in a large, dark, otherwise empty pocket.
She went to the landline phone and called Nina’s work number. A woman answered then put her on hold. It seemed ages before she heard Nina’s voice.
“Pip…?  This had better be good. You know how I hate being called at the studio.”
“I’m at your old flat. I know I shouldn’t, sorry. But never mind that now. I think Sammy’s sick. He’s not moving.  Maybe he’s dead, I don’t know. Can you come right away? Good. How long will it take you…?” She replaced the receiver and its click sounded unnaturally loud. Next, she called her father on Nina’s mobile, careful to hold the phone away from her mouth. “Yes, it’s me, Nina. I’m at my old flat. Can you meet me here as soon as you can?  Something’s happened. I need you to come right away. No, it can’t wait. Yes, it is important, very important, a matter of life and death. Good. How long will it take you…?”
It was as she thought. It would take Nina a good half an hour to arrive and her father at least forty-five minutes. She returned to Ray, knelt beside him, grasped the handle of the carving knife with both hands…and pulled.
If Ray Bannister’s screams sounded deafening to his own ears, all Pip heard was a horrible gurgling sound. His eyes flew open and he recognized the figure leaning over him. “Pip…? Help me, Pip,” he pleaded. Then he saw the knife in her hand, now poised in mid-air, now plunging towards him. “No-oooooooooo!” He screamed each time the blade descended, driven remorselessly into his body only to be pulled out again. In unspeakable agony, he counted three such thrusts before finally closing his eyes and surrendering to the sheer bliss of painlessness.
Pip wiped the handle of the knife clean with a handkerchief, rose unsteadily to her feet and calmly took stock. The blood on her clothes didn’t matter, she decided. There was so much blood that it was only to be expected. But the sticky red stuff on her hands and arms made her feel sick so she helped herself to a glass of vodka from the drinks cabinet. It tasted foul. She pulled a face and spluttered. Even so, the liquid heat did the trick. She soon felt much better. Making her way only a little unsteadily into the kitchen, she went to the sink and washed her hands, and then kept the tap running while letting cold water run over her bare, blood stained  arms. Finally, she returned to the same sofa she had been crouched behind less than ten minutes earlier and sat down. She called her father again twice on Nina’s phone. Calling Nina on the land line was somewhat distasteful since she had to step over the body. “Needs must as the devil drives”, she reminded herself.
“I’m sorry,” a brisk, efficient voice informed her, “Miss Fox has been called away. Can I take a message?” Pip replaced the receiver.
She called the police minutes before she judged Nina would arrive. She would tell them how she had been in the kitchen when she heard Nina and Ray arguing. By the time she had run into the living room Nina was kneeling over him, the carving knife in her hand. Who would disbelieve her? Not her father, certainly. And he would be here soon. He’d see to it that she was all right. Didn’t he always? Besides, it was high time things were as they should be and she had him all to herself again.
The doorbell rang. It was not until she was opening the door that it crossed her mind how unusual it was for Nina to forget her key.
“Pip, what on earth has happened? You’re covered in blood…” Without waiting for an answer, Nathan Sparrow pushed past her and ran into the living room. “Oh, my God…!” He checked for a pulse and found none. Then he saw the knife lying on the floor beside the dead man and, without thinking, picked it up. Pip stood beside him, whimpering. Then they heard a car draw up outside the house. Pip, confused and frightened now, began to cry. It dawned on her only vaguely that she had forgotten to shut the communal front door.
“What’s been going on here then?” asked the young policeman who stood in the doorway.
“Has anyone called for an ambulance?” his female colleague wanted to know.
Pip broke free from father’s protective hands gripping both shoulders, ran into the kitchen and was violently sick.
The body on the floor moved slightly and Ray Bannister’s bloodied mouth uttered a gurgling sound. Nathan Sparrow leaned closer and put an ear to the dying man’s lips.  Barely sixty seconds later he stood up and confronted the police officers grim faced and shaking. His tone, though, remained steady. “I didn’t mean to kill him. But I suppose you’ll have to arrest me…” It was not a question.

To be continued on Friday