Page 83 of The Cut
Karine had found her way in through the window of the mill and down the ladder that led to the main hall. She had sprinted around the building towards the road and the footbridge. As she arrived, she scanned the water for signs of life and, pulling her phone from her pocket, she called for an ambulance. Then she slowly picked her way down through the slippery rocks and weeds, keeping her camera high on her shoulder out of the water, until she was knee-deep on the opposite side of the river. She squatted on the side of the bank and did what she knew best … continued filming.
Mark pressed his mouth to Ben’s, filled his lungs with air, and continued to pump on his sternum. You see, somewhere very deep inside, his fear of Ben Knot was born of a kind of obsession, a twisted love story, a battle with a bully who’d had a grip on his heart since his very first day at school. After all the abuse he suffered, Mark could easily have turned to violence himself, but when all was said and done … he was the one with the instinct to save a man’s life.
TheCutwas going to be the swansong of Max’s career. Then he would put it all behind him, all the trauma and the pain and the nightmares. He’d lock it in a box and throw away the key.
Ben was lifted from the ground on to a gurney as the two paramedics took over. Dani’s car pulled up by the bridge with Nate and Lily in the back seat, and Max watched as Ben’s two children, their faces white and tear-stained, followed their father as he was taken on the stretcher into the ambulance. The shock of what had happened would take a while to settle in. There was never going to be a happy ending.
Max collapsed back into the grass, the water buffeting his body, rocking him gently as he listened to the siren disappearing into the distance.
325
Epilogue
OCTOBER 2024
‘I am truly sorry …’ The man was standing behind him, just a few feet away. ‘… For what we did to you at school.’
Max was removing the faded plastic posy on his parents’ graves, replacing it with a small spray of wildflowers. He stood and turned.
Dave Patel’s face was thinner now, drawn cheeks and sunken eyes. His skin was sallow. He looked like a faded copy of a man. ‘I’ve seen a few of your films.’ The German shepherd snuffled through the flower beds. ‘You’ve done so well for yourself … local boy made good.’
It had turned into an Indian summer, a very late burst of warm days and cool evenings, well into the end of September. Max had stayed on in Barton Mallet for a while. He had unfinished business. He swallowed, barely able to speak.
Dave filled the awkward silence. ‘I wanted to see her grave.’ His voice was soft and light, just as he remembered. ‘To finally pay my respects.’
Max gathered himself; it was time to finally face up to his guilt, time to lay all these ghosts to rest.
‘I …’ The breath came out, but no words followed; he didn’t know how to form them. ‘I ran away. I wasn’t very well. I knew the truth. I could have testified but I wasn’t capable … mentally. They wouldn’t have believed me … It’s me that should be sorry.’
Patel just stared blankly at him, waiting.
‘I was too frightened of him. I was paralysed.’326
Patel’s head dropped and he chewed his lip. ‘What’s done is done.’
‘But your whole life was stolen from you.’ Max was struggling to contain himself.
‘No, I’m still here. It’s Annie’s life that was stolen. And I couldn’t save her …’
The German shepherd padded over, wagging its tail. ‘He likes you.’ Patel took a deep breath, gathering himself.
Max focused on Patel’s eyes. There was a glaze of something there, the institution perhaps, a kind of blurring of the world.
‘I’m glad it was you who got to tell the story.’ Dave inclined his head.
Max smiled awkwardly. ‘We couldn’t have done it without your parents’ connections.’
‘There was no other way. The case against me was watertight. Davis saw to that.’ Dave’s eyes scanned the cemetery.
‘But now the truth will be out there.’ Max wiped the soil from his hands.
‘What will you do with the finished film?’ Patel was smiling now, a light blazing in his eyes as a gust of wind blew a confetti of leaves across the gravestones.
‘Karine Mickelsen has big ideas …TheCutwill probably go to Cannes or Venice … I dunno …’ Max smiled sadly. ‘She’s spending some time with Dani, Lily and Nathan. It’s been … a bit of a shock.’ Max’s voice petered out as the scale of this whole thing finally began to hit home.
‘What will happen to Ben?’ It was extraordinary, but after all that had happened, there was a flicker of pity in Patel’s eyes.
‘The vultures are circling. I imagine the fraud case will take him down first, and after the banks and the creditors have picked at the carcass, it will be your turn.’ Max exhaled and drove his hands327deep into his pockets. ‘If you want to reopen the case, that is … you and the Maddocks?’
