Page 61 of The Cut
Ben headed down the winding lane past the Red Lion and over the small humpback bridge on to Barton Road, which wrapped around what was left of Mallet Hill. He pulled off the road on to Mill View and took the unmarked track towards the car park. Instinctively, he turned off his headlights. Doggers Dive was empty except for one other car, parked in the corner. Ben pulled up by the grass verge and turned off the engine. In the twilight, he sat staring at the mill tower. The sun was setting behind it and the long shadow reached out over the water, creeping closer to him, taunting him.
A tap on the glass of his window startled him.
‘Can you step out of the car, sir?’ Ben’s stomach lurched.
‘Oh right …’ He wasn’t here for that. He had just needed some quiet.
‘Car trouble? Or are you walking the dog?’ The implication that he was soliciting was buried in the sarcasm.
Ben recognised PC Davis’s voice. ‘Chris … It’s me.’
‘Aye aye … back to your old tricks, Casanova?’ Chris stepped back as the door opened.233
‘Far too old for all that.’ Ben got out and closed the door. ‘Actually, I’m looking for my two … Sounds odd, but Lily wasn’t at football tonight and Nate isn’t answering his phone.’
Chris had been an unlikely late bloomer, turning his life around. Military fit and sharp as a razor blade.
‘Well, you’re not going to find them here, are you?’ Chris coughed uncomfortably.
‘Thought they might be playing at the weir … like we used to.’ Ben glanced back to the mill and lowered his head with a sigh. He was about to get back into his car when Chris stopped him.
‘You heard Patel confessed to everything? Only reason he’s allowed out. We’re bracing ourselves; the whole village is.’
Ben fixed his eyes on his old friend but didn’t speak.
‘We got him in the end though … served his full sentence.’ Chris lowered his voice. ‘You’re welcome …’
Ben furrowed his brow. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Don’t tell me you’re suffering from dementia as well?’ Chris folded his arms. ‘Could have been you.’
A crackle of nerve endings rippled over Ben’s scalp. ‘Could have been any of us …’
Davis pursed his lips and glanced over the water to the tower.
Ben didn’t blink.
‘Oh, cheer up, Knot … It’s all over now. Patel’s served his time.’ Chris turned off the torch and wandered back to his car. ‘He was stalking her, grooming her … we all knew it, smelt it a mile away.’ Chris reached the car and opened the door.
Ben stopped him. ‘I saw you talking to Karine Mickelsen in the Red Lion.’
Davis paused. ‘I talk to a lot of people in my line of work … kind of my job.’
‘What did she want?’234
‘Same thing that all of them have wanted over the years: gory details. They’re all just rubbernecking ambulance chasers who get a thrill from raking up the past.’ Chris climbed into the driver’s seat and put the key into the ignition. ‘Seemed to know her stuff though. Oh, don’t look so shocked.’ He tapped a finger to his nose. ‘I didn’t give her anything that hasn’t already been said.’ He turned the ignition and the blue lights spun against the trees.
‘Unless she flashes the cash again … very tempting.’ Davis winked then put the car in reverse and pulled away up the lane.
Ben stood in the muddy car park of Doggers Dive. Trees creaking and whispering as they bent in the wind.
He’d been lying to himself, and he’d been listening to the lie to the point that it had become his whole foundation. He needed to take a bold new step, to utter the words out loud. He couldn’t hold on to it any longer, he had to tell someone, but it was what he feared most.
The rider in black straddling the motorbike, deep in the woods, watched as the police car left, and the camera focused in on Ben. He was sitting in the driver’s seat, facing the water with his head in his hands. The shot moved in tighter, so close she could see his chest heaving.
It was happening. Fear was leaking out of him, like blood from a wound, unravelling and completely out of his control.
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