Jennifer’s apparent demise did indeed untie the Gordian knot. All the things it had bound, free to move at last, slipped straight into Hell.
Let’s take Norman and Melanie for starters, then we’ll have Gerald for the main course and Ray Lardon-Bassett for dessert.
Norman and Melanie, on the night of Jennifer’s apparent demise, finally got it together. Their bodies, ignoring the protest of their minds, knew what to do: when one of you dies, the best thing is to fuck and make another one. Their lack of precautions seemed to Norman, not so much good intentions overwhelmed by desire, but simply necessary. He didn’t visualize making a child, but anything between him and Melanie – even a pill – would have ruined it for him. As for her, she couldn’t have cared either way. Melanie was firmly in the moment because, outside the moment, her sister was apparently dead.
Gerald was intending to be really dead. Cooking the girl you love does not leave a man in the frame of mind to continue, so to speak. Unlike any naturally depressive character, who probably has decided how to do it a number of times, Gerald had no previous plan to call on. What he did have was workmanship, a bent for the practical and a heart condition, previously ignored, which might finally be of use. He ripped the cord from a lamp, pared the flex back far enough to allow him to tape bare wires across his chest: the notion seemed pleasant that a bolt of electricity would pass straight through his heart. Then he kicked the switch.
As for Ray, with insurance on the restaurant long ago lapsed for non-payment, there seemed only one thing to do. Not being the suicidal type, he got religion instead – the kind that doesn’t involve God but does involve a turning round and seeing. And what he saw in his minds-eye was Jenifer. Ray knew that if he failed with her, he really would have destroyed his life. Discharging himself from the hospital, he took a taxi.
Since Jennifer was apparently dead, it was odd that she opened the front door.
Bassett Hounds
“I hope Gerald knows what he’s doing” Melanie said.
“Crazy if you ask me. Leaving aside that he might get caught, what how does he know what Ray wants done.”
“Who cares about Ray and whether he is even dead or alive”.
Melanie made some coffee and they sat down on her cream leather sofa and tried to relax. But it wasn’t possible. No sooner had she sat down than she was back on her feet. One moment she was pulling gently on the ends of her hair and the next moment pacing the room.
She tried Jen’s mobile for what must have been at least the fifth time, but it still went unanswered. It was quite possible Jennifer had gone home, but it was unusual for her not to answer any of her phones unless she was unwell.
The afternoon wore on, but the first sign of anything actually amiss didn’t arrive until 6:30 that evening. Norman had stayed all afternoon, mainly to keep Melanie company while she was so stressed, though his logical brain had said more than once “go home”. He had ignored his logical brain and remained.
As Melanie switched the tv on it was immediately apparent the report was from outside Bassett’s restaurant. Before the pictures appeared she heard a policeman answer in a clear voice “we think it’s quite possible this was started deliberately, though it’s too soon to tell if we are looking at a murder case”.
“Norman, . . . NORMAN!”. Yelled Melanie . “Come here, quick”
Norman rushed in from the kitchen, but by the time he arrived the presenter in the studio was back on air.
Melanie burst into tears. Norman Assumed a position reminiscent of the one, years earlier, that he’d adopted with Wendy the night his relationship with Jenifer ended.
“They said they didn’t know who the victim was” whispered Norman.
“It’s Jen, Gerald has killed Jen, I know it’s Jen” wailed Melanie.
Ray had seen the same news broadcast, and was fuming. He tried phoning Jen too, and he got the same lack of answer. But, unlike Melanie, Ray had not the slightest idea who it was who had died. Perhaps there was a whole family of illegal immigrants living there without his knowledge, he mused. In fact, he found the whole episode hard to understand at all. Now all he had left had gone, apart from Jennifer, and, of course, his debts. His debts were always at the back of his mind, gnawing away like some evil rat was inside his head, slowly demolishing his working brain. The fire only added to his problems.
The police visited Ray in hospital the next morning, though the nurse would only let the officers stay 10 minutes. Ray told them nothing. He had nothing to tell.
“We think it was started deliberately”, the officer went on, “ and the offender had somehow got inside. “
Ray was no help at all, though he did tell the policeman the names of his staff. They were to be the first to be interviewed.
Gerald was on the list, though as a new and temporary employee the police had him low down on their list. Gerald was at home. He was acting like he had a rat inside his brain too.
Back to top