But now and then, he knew there were other people out in the woods at night. Sometimes there were kids playing games.
Popping the tab on another can, Jason took a swig. Yes, perhaps that was who it had been near the bridge. It was Halloween, after all. They might have had to go off and mess around on their own. But the bridge was a long way from anywhere. And it had been raining. Kids weren’t so tough these days, were they? The first drop of rain and they were back in the house with their PlayStations.
So that just left the final group. The ones who were doing things he didn’t understand, and didn’t want to. He’d glimpsed them from time to time, whole groups of them, sometimes silent, but other times talking or singing. He’d found dead animals too — animals that hadn’t been caught by a poacher or trapped by a keeper. Neither would do those things to a sheep that he’d seen, or leave such a bloodied mess. The reasons for that were beyond his imagination.
Jason heaved himself up from the armchair and stepped to the back window of his cottage. He heard his dog grumble outside in the kennel where it slept. Lights were on in most of the cottages in Bowden. Behind their curtains people were watching TV, maybe just hearing about the body found at the Corpse Bridge, wondering if anyone would come forward.
The bridge was too close to Bowden for anyone’s comfort. People would soon find themselves asking each other if the killer might be nearby. They would be afraid. They would wonder whether they and their families were safe. Jason was wondering the same thing. Because he was frightened too.
Suddenly, the lager tasted sour in his mouth. It made Jason feel sick with fear to think that someone might have been watching him from the trees near the Corpse Bridge last night, especially if it was one of those people — the ones who did evil, inexplicable things in the woods.
Well, he’d seen someone and the chances were high that they’d seen him. Jason put the lager can down and picked up the phone.
Ben Cooper was walking back through the streets of Edendale when his phone rang. A mobile number he didn’t recognise. Should he answer it? It might be a wrong number or a sales call, even at this time in the evening. He should let it go to voicemail.
But something made him answer the call instead.
‘Yes?’ he said cautiously.
‘Ben? That is you, isn’t it? You don’t answer your phone very professionally these days. You sounded very surly.’
Cooper stopped walking. He’d suddenly found that he couldn’t walk and talk at the same time.
‘Diane?’ he said.
‘Who else did you think it was?’
‘You’ve got a new phone. I didn’t recognise the number.’
‘It’s me, nevertheless. How are you doing?’
‘I’m okay. Hold on, though … what do you mean by “surly”?’
It sounded trivial, but he was so surprised that he couldn’t think what else to say. The last thing he’d anticipated was a call from Diane Fry. So he fell back on the first thing that came into his mind.
‘Rude, ill-tempered, unfriendly. You sounded as though you didn’t want to speak to anyone.’
‘Not the old Ben Cooper you know and love, then,’ he said.
But as he said it, the sharpness in his tone was obvious, even to himself. Blast her, she was right again — he was getting surly.
Fry sighed down the line. ‘Well, that’s the pleasantries over with,’ she said.
Cooper thought he detected actual disappointment in her voice. Surely she couldn’t have expected a delirious greeting, given their history?
He bit his lip. Well, not all of it had been bad. Fry had shown some loyalty over the years, even been the one who understood him and came to his aid when he needed it. But somehow she’d always managed to ruin things and sour their relationship again. He’d always assumed she wanted it that way.
‘So what are you doing at the moment?’ asked Fry.
‘Nothing much.’
‘Are you in town?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Why?’
‘I’m packing.’
‘What? Oh, yes, I heard. You’re moving, aren’t you? Leaving Edendale.’
‘Yes, I’m going to live in Nottingham. It makes sense. It’s far too much of a trek getting to St Ann’s every morning from here.’
‘I understand. So?’
‘Well…’
She hesitated. Cooper hadn’t heard her hesitate very often. She’d always seemed very confident in her views and always knew what she wanted to say.
‘Well, the new flat is part-furnished,’ she said, ‘but I’ve got a couple of pieces of my own furniture here. Only small stuff, but awkward. I can’t get them into my car. So I thought…’
‘Go on.’
‘I remembered you had that big four-wheel drive. You do still have it, don’t you?’
‘The Toyota, yes. It’s getting a bit old now. I was thinking of replacing it.’
‘But it has plenty of space in the back, if I remember.’
‘I suppose so,’ said Cooper.
‘Enough to get my bits and pieces in, I think. If I asked nicely.’
‘Nicely? Diane, are you asking me for a favour? You want me to help you move your stuff to Nottingham?’
‘Only if you’re not doing anything else.’
‘Ah.’
So that was it. She thought he could be taken advantage of because he had nothing better to do with his time any more. Or perhaps she felt sorry for him. Cooper wasn’t sure which was worse.
‘You know perfectly well I’m not likely to be doing much,’ he said. ‘I don’t have a personal life left, of course.’
Cooper knew he was sounding ill-tempered again. Rude and unfriendly, even. He felt certain now that this was actually the reason she’d called him. She’d known he had nothing better to do, that he was just as sad a case as she was herself, ever since that fire at the Light House pub had snatched his entire future away.
No doubt it wasn’t really his load capacity she wanted, but a glimpse of Ben Cooper at his lowest ebb, just as he was moving on.
He almost ended the call then and there, with his rudest comment yet hovering on his lips. But a small voice at the back of his mind made him change his intention. He wasn’t at his lowest ebb, was he? Yes, months ago he’d been in a bad way. That couldn’t be denied. But he’d submitted himself to the counselling sessions, he’d worked all his feelings through and dealt with them. He was okay now. He was fine. He could let Diane Fry see that he was back to his normal self. More than that, he could show her that he was full of energy, raring to go. And he was ready to move on too. She would see that he wasn’t going to miss her at all. His life was totally back on track.
‘All right,’ he said. ‘I’ll be there in a few minutes.’
He could hear the surprise in her voice. She’d thought he wasn’t going to agree.
‘Thanks, Ben,’ she said. ‘I appreciate it.’
And that was probably a first too. Cooper couldn’t remember hearing Fry thank him before. He might actually enjoy this task.
When he ended the call, Cooper realised he was staring into the window of a children’s bookshop in Hollowgate. He didn’t remember it being here before. The shop must have opened some time during the last few months, when he wasn’t really noticing things like this.
As he focused his gaze into the shop, Cooper found himself looking at a display of books with bright, cheerful covers — The Snappy Playset Garage, The Things I Love about Bedtime and The Things I Love about School. Next to them were My Home and My Family. Each title seemed to taunt him from behind the glass, until the accumulated effect was unbearable.