Riddle of the
Stones?
Chapter 1
The fine November rain
permeated into every dirty crack of every dirty
building.
It dripped and ran down the
shinning slate roofs into the gutters and ran down the drain pipes inside and
out, finding every split, crack and bad joint. It trickled down the walls and at
last found the pavement far below. Here it formed large puddles before spilling
into the gutters and rushing down the drains.
The puddles reflected the poor
street lights faint glow from a steely surface distorted by the fine yet
constant rain driven by a chilling early winter
breeze.
The metal railings along the
edge of the park added their reflections to be bent and twisted in their turn
like an animated Dali painting. From across the park came the roar of the rush
hour traffic, its volume modulated by the wind and waving bare branches. This
urban noise contrasted with natures aquatic noises in the isolated street
brooding in the dim light beside the park.
To these noises were now added
the unmistakable sound of a young female’s step entering the street from the
North end. The steady clip clop of the steel tipped heels belied the quickening
of the young woman's pulse as she turned from the main street into this dark
cu-DE-sac. Who knew what hidden dangers the shadows hid on a night like this,
what or who lurked behind the plane trees overhanging the park railings or
roamed the soggy green acres of the park itself. Even the houses seemed to lean
forward towards the pavement, their dimly lit curtained windows like alien eyes following her progress
down the street.
Kate new that whatever dangers
either real or imagined lurked about her she would soon be back in the two room
flat that she had left that morning, another twenty yards would bring her to the door of
no.27.
Yes here was the dim patch of
light cast by the street light at the bottom of the steps . She felt for the
cold roughness of the masonry handrail with her left hand, counted the six steps
up to the front door. Within seconds the door responded to the combined efforts
of key and foot and she stood dripping in the large bare hallway. Empty that is
but for one old bike leaning against the wall below the letter box pigeon
holes.
Habit took Kate’s eyes to the
top left hand which unlike the previous weeks tonight was not empty but
contained a large official envelope and a smaller green one with the address
written in small neat black letters. Kate dismissed the official correspondence
with a casual glance, the other however was a different matter and demanded
attention in greater comfort than that offered by the dingy
hall.
She climbed the stairs
carefully avoiding putting too much reliance on the swaying balustrade. The
stairs seemed to be getting longer and steeper as the weeks passed and Kate was
beginning to regret the loss of condition that was the result of lunch time
drinking. Still these boozy interludes did go someway to compensate for the
tedium of her current government project and the many lonely evenings that she
had spent since moving to the capital.
As she stood fumbling for her
flat key and recovering her breath outside of her flat front door she was
conscious of the rain lashing at the landing window opposite and was grateful to
be home at last.
Home consisted of an
unfurnished two room flat, a bedroom and a kitchen/dinner, the bathroom and
toilet were shared by the two other flats on this floor . As the door swung open
the light from the single bare light bulb fell on the kitchen sink revealing
last nights washing up. Still Kate thought at least she had remembered the
washing up liquid tonight, progress was measured in such trifles these days.
Closing the door heavily behind her and snapping on the light Kate quickly
crossed the room and drew the curtains across the window above the sink. The
room revealed itself in stark contrast to the scenes of a few moments
previously. It was full of colour and although the furnishing was sparse they
had obviously been chosen with care and attention to
detail.
With a sigh Kate sat down on
the large comfortable chair near the gas fire and placed both letters on the
small coffee table.
Switching the gas fire on full
she learnt back in the chair and let the radiated warmth seep into her chilled
limbs. It wasn't a case of not being interested in the contents of the green
envelope but as case of wanting to savour the feeling of expectancy of opening
and learning its contents for as long as possible. Kate picked up the envelope
weighed it in the palm of her hand, turned it over and read again the neat
handwritten address slightly smudged by drops of rain. The postmark of
"Must see you
urgently, contact me as soon as possible -
Robert"
There followed a telephone
number and an address in
Disappointed Kate lay the note
on the coffee table and in quiet frustration screwed up the envelope and threw
it accurately into the waste paper basket on the opposite side of the room.
Thoughts and emotions flooded through her mind as she considered those few
words. Why after all this time had Robert written, why hadn't he replied to her
many letters or responded to her pleas left on his answer-phone.
Anger was the emotion that
surfaced first but only just in front of curiosity and it was this emotion that
finally won.
Indeed it was this that made
Kate retrieve the envelope and check the date stamp. Despite Kate’s aggressive
squeeze and the rain the stamp was clearly visible. To her surprise it was ten
days old. Kate examined the gummed flap of the envelope carefully but there was
no evidence in that area. Smoothing the crumpled envelope Kate carefully slid it
and the note into the small recess of the coffee table. Although she had a lot
on her mind Kate was now feeling the effects of a long day at work with very
little to eat and was now looking forward to her evening meal. The pizza was
soon hot and a good mixed salad and a small glass of wine put the day and its
events into perspective.
The small glass led to two
larger ones and on the basis that it was a shame to cork an open bottle it was
finished and the day drew to a close.
Kate awoke the following day to
a morning which was in stark contrast to the previous day. The sun low on the
horizon streamed its rays through the bedroom window and it was this reflected
light from the bedroom mirror that stirred Kate into unwilling
consciousness. The effects of the
wine were now slowly dispersing as Kate slowly stretched and yawned out of her
dream world. She lay for several minutes gathering her thoughts and thinking of
Roberts note. What was that had made him contact her after all her abortive
efforts of the past months. Was he now coming to the conclusion that he had not
been without blame in their final confrontation. These questions would only be
answered if she had the courage to make contact with Robert and she had learnt
from bitter experience that these decisions should not be made first thing in
the morning. Her thoughts were broken by the gentle ting of the bedside phone
but instead of springing into the harsh ring of an incoming call the bell pinked
once more and stopped. Puzzled Kate lifted the handset to be greeted by the
monotonous burr of dial-tone., after listening for several seconds Kate replace
the handset dismissing the false ring as just another mystery of modern
technology.
Walking unsteadily to the
window she admired the view across the park. The branches of the plane tree
leaves waived in the gentle breeze the few remaining backlit leaves showing
their veins in stark contrast to the parchment quality of the leaves themselves.
A few ducks squabbled on the pond as an old lady threw the last pieces of an old
loaf onto the oily surface of their city home. Even on this Saturday morning the
traffic was beginning to build up, moaning and groaning at the constant delays
introduced by the flickering of the pedestrian crossing beacons and the regular
changes of the junction’s traffic lights.
Despite the bright sunshine
winter was now pressing hard and Kate pulled on her thick dressing gown to keep
out the morning bedroom chill, unlike the office the heating season at home was at least
two weeks away according to her bank account. Despite her bank manager the
weekend was celebrated by a good English breakfast followed by an extra large
glass of fresh orange, all this topped of by toast and two cups of strong
coffee.
Having satisfied the hunger
that tended to accrue over the course of the week due to self neglect Kate now
felt able to walk to the small Mini- Market to stock up for the week. The
nearest shop was two streets away and it took Kate five minutes brisk walk to
reach the shop. A further 15 minutes saw the weekly shopping done and Kate
heavily loaded headed home . The middle aged man on the corner went unnoticed as
his training had made sure he should.
Kate entered her flat feeling
refreshed and made herself a fresh cup of coffee. The radio pulsed out a modern
beat and life regained its old zip. The sun had cheered her up but as yet she
was still undecided over her decision to contact
Robert.
As she drained the remains of
the coffee she had her decision and it took only seconds to dial the number,
seconds later her efforts were rewarded with ringing tone. After three rings the
familiar tones of Roberts voice caused her heart to leap, her hopes were quickly
dashed when she realised that it was an answering machine. At the best of times
she hated speaking to any machine, worse when she was least expecting to do so
and all the more when this box of electronics formed the only link between
someone she had held so dear. Having recorded several stilted phrases and having
replaced the handset Kate felt less sure of the wisdom of her decision to ring.
However the ball was now firmly back in Roberts court and she could only now
await his response.
It was now time to make the
most of the weekend and glancing at her watch she realised that she now had only
40 minutes before she was due to meet her friend Rebecca. They had arranged to
meet and spent the day in the west-end shopping before going to the pictures.
Kate realised that in some ways her years of University training had caused a
rift between some of her acquaintances and colleagues in her work at the
Ministry of Defence. Rebecca was different, she had worked hard to achieve her
limited office qualifications but she shared her hopes ambitions and fears with
Kate without any expectation of reciprocal information. In recent months it was
her alone that had kept Kate on a relatively even keel even drawing her
attention to her increase in alcohol consumption.
The days passed in the old
routine without any contact from Robert and despite Kate’s efforts there was now
not even an answering machine to break the continuous ring tone whenever she
rang the
Over the Christmas holiday
there was even a brief affair with a young foreign correspondent but his
middle-east origins had made her suspicious of his real motives, pity Kate had
always been attracted to slim dark men and this one was in a class of his own.
Winter moved slowly into spring
and still there was no contact from Robert. Kate’s latest project was an
interesting and demanding one both in time and energy. Several key people had
been moved to make way for new blood and relationships were particularly
exacting with everyone watching their back as well as being stretched by the
work itself.
With the coming of spring the
maternal urge by necessity had to be directed towards the spring cleaning and
redecoration. It was during the stripping of the wallpaper in the bedroom that
Kate found the bug, not the bed variety although in some of her previous flats
Kate and felt the results of their attentions. No, this was a small plastic
object inserted into a large crack in the skirting board. its position near the
bed caused her some concern about her relationship with the Arab
correspondent but Kate was fairly
certain that although she was
fairly uninhibited in physical terms no national secrets had been compromised then or during her other
nocturnal escapades.
Although this subject had been
covered in her training she had not taken the treat seriously in her relatively
low key position she felt immune to the dirty tricks department of some foreign
power.
Thoughtfully Kate turned the
device slowly over in her hand deliberating on the sort of person who had
planted this small device. What moral code made a fellow human being intrude
into the personal space of others, what was the driving force, what was the
price?
Still contemplating these
thoughts Kate crushed the sensitive device between her heel and the cold surface
of the tiled sixties fireplace. Two miles away a technician cursed and pulled
the earphones way too late to avoid the acoustic shock that slammed his eardrums
like his fathers hand years before.
Kate carefully swept the tiny
fragments into a plastic bag regretting her impulsive reaction that was in
direct contradiction to her departments standing instructions. She hoped to claw
back some credibility with her department’s security officer by presenting them
to her the following morning. Between now and then Kate hoped to contrive a
story that would account for the near total destruction of the "electronic
ear"
Trying to put the incident
behind was going to prove difficult and after making yet another cup of coffee
Kate slumped into the chair and clicked on the remote control of the television
in time to catch at least some of the early evening news. Perhaps her choice of
program could have been better given the burden on her mind, yet another
catalogue of world and local disasters. The final covered the New World
Travellers most recent attempt to hold a festival at a historic site in the
South West and the efforts of several Police Forces to uphold the interests of
local landowners and residents. The pictures of the travellers being carried
away in a far from gentle manner reminded Kate of the relatively gentle way that
her own days of student protest had been dealt with over a different issue.
Today the law appeared to be upheld by a disproportionate large and enthusiastic
group of young officers. Still this probably said more about the property owning
democracy and its laws than the integrity of the young men that were in the end
only doing what their training had taught powered by inexperience and
adrenaline. Kate flicked through the channels and found nothing of interest she
then threw on a coat and headed for the local Pub to drown her thoughts and
worries.
Although she had fought hard to
control her intake of alcohol it was at times like this that that the need
outgrew her self control. The pub was down a small side street in what in
earlier days would have been considered a community, now times had changed and
all the houses had been converted to flats. Kate pushed the old fashioned glass door
open, stepped inside and glanced around the bar. Although a city pub there was a
feeling of a more rural setting in the decor and at times like this it offered
Kate a safe haven in a sea of uncertainty.
The barman greeted her with the
words "Good God Kate, Thought you were dead. It must be at least six weeks since
you have been to see us, Welcome back" Without waiting for a response he in an
easy movement unhooked a small pewter mug and filled it with the houses best
brew. Kate gave a easy smile thanked him and without paying moved to a corner
seat. The cool pewter felt reassuring in her small hand and her fingers ran
around the familiar scrolling of the handle and the bottom of the mug. Her eyes
scanned the room noting the regulars and in an opposite corner several strangers
seated apart from the rest.
Outside of the pub, sitting in
a small family saloon a grey middle aged man clicked on the transmitter and
reported to base.
Draining the mug after several
minutes Kate returned to the bar this time with a crumpled œ10 note and an apology for
the barman. "Sorry Graige, lot on my mind, have one your-self and let me know
when my credit is out." Kate
returned to her seat and her hobby of people watching. Amazing she thought how
much information could be gained if only you had the time to sit and watch. A
young couple sitting in one corner clasped each others hands and were oblivious
to all but themselves. The middle aged woman on the barstool was trying to pick
up a fat and prosperous business man who had other things on his mind as he
glanced furtively at the young and too pretty youth further along the bar. A
world of people and places where crossed paths of happiness, hatred guilt and
envy,a mixture of desire and despair. Thoughtfully Kate pondered on her place on
this menu of human emotion.
Her thoughts were broken by a
new personality entering the "observation bowl". A man in his early thirties
scruffily dressed in torn jeans and a leather coat with the remnants of a goat
skin collar. As he crossed the bar Kate was surprised at the amount of mud
covering his trainers and jean bottoms, unusual for a city dweller she thought.
The man bought a drink ignoring Graige’s less than polite remark about DHSS
funds and sat on a table two away from Kate.
Casually Kate observed the
stranger with interest observing that although dirty there was an apparent air
of refinement that contrasted with the original image given by the man. Minutes
later Kate regretted her interest when he made a move to join her at her table.
Surprised that her sideways glances had been misinterpreted it was a relief to
realise that the approach was not sexually motivated but fear was the driving
force. As he slid into the chair opposite she noticed the tremor of the hand and
the slight backward glance over his shoulder. Her suspicions where confirmed as
their eyes met for the first time and his brown eyes showed the pure terror that
she had only seen once before. These were the eyes of a man who feared death,
she had seen this look in the eyes of a fellow scientist when a biological
experiment had go tragically wrong. Of course the case had been covered up and
the papers had observed the usual rules that covered state security. Introducing
himself simply as John his accent confirmed her suspicion that this was no out
of work traveller, this man had been trained for other things, things she didn't
want to get involved with, things that caused pain grief and mysterious death. The note slid across
the table in one easy movement as the man suddenly pushed the chair back, stood
up and exploded in a loud voice "Right you bitch I will get some other slag for
the night" he turned pushed the door open a strode out into the night. Like a
film running slow, time seemed to extend seconds into minutes. The people in the
bar stopped talking turned and summed up the situation as an unsuccessful pick
up. As the bar door slammed shut they were beginning to settle back into their
conversations. Even the sound
of the vehicle as it accelerated seemed to run slow and as the door closed
against its spring and muffled the sound of the thud, tinkling glass that
followed the sweep of headlights as it mounted the pavement outside. In seconds
Kate was through the door and outside. John lay on his back with his left leg
twisted unnaturally under him, his unseeing eyes gazing up at the pub sign as it
swung gently on its hinges. His head rested square on the pavement oozing grey
brain tissue and blood into the key hole of a nearby manhole cover. The blue
transit van accelerated hard into the distance and there were no possible
witnesses to confirm what had just happened.
Kate turned and emptied her emotions into
the gutter near by.
@ TO BE CONTINUED –
MAYBE?