EPISODE THIRTY-SIX
As they were leaving the house,
Mary stopped and glanced back at the cabinet in the hallway.
It was in one of the drawers that Dave kept
the key to the third bedroom, and this time he was forgetting to take it with
him. So, as soon as she, Simon and
Thomas returned from Cromer in a fortnight’s time, she intended to find out
what the comedian was hiding in that room.
‘Come
on, Mum; it’s a long way,’ urged Thomas from the doorway, which caused Dave to
look round. And, as if he could read
Mary’s mind, he clicked his fingers as if he had forgotten something.
‘Whoops!’
he exclaimed. ‘Nearly forgot.’
He
walked back down the hall, retrieved the key from the cabinet, and stuck it in
his pocket. He smiled nonchalantly at
Mary as they left the house.
They
drove in silence, until they were the other side of Southborough. Then Mary
found she couldn’t contain her curiosity any longer.
‘That
key you took from the hall cabinet: is that the key to bedroom number three?’
There
was a slight pause before Dave answered:
‘Yes. Why?’
‘I
just wondered. So why do you always take
it with you when you go away?’
‘In
case the house is burgled. I don’t want
to make it easier for them. My stage
props and costumes are irreplaceable.’
She
knew he was lying. But why?
And what was in that room?
*
After work,
Savita took Nicky with her to TN4, a pub that
used to be known by the more traditional name of The George. Nicky wasn’t sure
what she was expecting in Savita’s boyfriend, but he turned out to be thin and
intense looking, dressed in black, and sporting much silver jewellery.
The impression he gave was of a mid-thirties
man trying to hang on to his youth, dressed slightly Gothic, but somehow not
quite succeeding. It was probably the
lack of any piercings or tattoos that showed his lack of commitment to the
image he was trying to create.
After
she had been introduced to Damian, Nicky could see him giving Savita sidelong,
questioning glances, probably wondering why his girlfriend had brought along a work
colleague. Sensing Damian’s disquiet,
Savita got straight to the point.
‘Nicky’s
having terrible trouble with the boss at work.’
‘Fat pig!’ he exclaimed.
Savita
giggled and said, ‘Yeah, or words to the effect.’
‘So
what’s he done to you?’ Damian asked Nicky.
‘During
the Christmas party, he really came on strong.
Started groping me and saying corny things like: “You and I could make
beautiful music together”.’
Damian
made a throwing-up gesture with his finger in his mouth.
Savita
said, ‘Then Nicky laughed at him and turned him down.
Since then he’s been unbearable.
Hasn’t he, Nicky?’
‘It
got even worse after our Managing Director saw me in the precinct, handing out
Animal Rights leaflets. He told Malcolm
about it, and since then he’s made my life unbearable.’
Damian
frowned intensely. ‘So why d’you stick
with the job? Why not get something
else?’
Nicky
shrugged. ‘I don’t know.
I suppose...because I don’t want to end up
commuting to London every day.
There aren’t many large insurance companies
in Tunbridge Wells.’
As
if to prompt her boyfriend into revealing his intentions to get back at
Malcolm, Savita said, ‘Nicky hates Malcolm so much she’d like to see him dead.’
Nicky
nodded gravely. ‘Right now wouldn’t be
soon enough.’
‘Why don’t you tell her, Damian?
I know she won’t tell anyone.’
After
a long silence, Damian coughed lightly before he spoke.
‘I’m going to hide out in someone’s garden
along the main road between Bexhill and Battle
– that’s the road the hunt will have to set out along - then let Malcolm have
it with a paintball. That should bring him down to earth with a crash.’
‘Paintball?’
Nicky said, frowning, wondering what he was talking about.
Savita
explained. ‘Damian goes paintballing regularly. You know, it’s like war games,
where one team stalk another, armed with paintball guns.
Well, Damian’s going to get one of the
paintball guns and some ammunition, and shoot the back of Malcolm’s horse.’
‘I’m
going to have to get the equipment off the internet,’ said Damian.
‘Because when you go paintballing, everything
is checked. In the wrong hands, those
guns could be lethal weapons. Fire one
at someone’s face who’s not wearing a mask and...’
He
left the unfinished sentence hanging dramatically in the air.
‘But
Malcolm won’t be wearing a mask,’ said Nicky, starting to worry about this
plan, and worry about what she was getting into.
‘That’s
why I’m aiming for the horse’s rump.’
‘Oh,
but that’s cruel,’ Nicky protested.
‘I’ve got nothing against the poor horse.’
Damian
shrugged. ‘Neither have I. But don’t
worry. Horses are strong creatures.
A little bruising won’t hurt it.’
‘No,
you can’t do this. Because if you do, Malcolm will think it’s anti-hunt
saboteurs. He won’t have a clue that
it’s anything to do with his behaviour in the office.
It’ll be a waste of time.’
‘But,
Nicky,’ began Savita, ‘when we were at work, you said you’d love to see Malcolm
knocked off his horse. What’s made you
change your mind? Is it because you feel
sorry for the horse?’
‘Partly.
But it’s just occurred to me that unless he
knows it’s us taking revenge for how he behaves in the office, he’ll just carry
on in the same way.’
‘But
whatever we do to Malcolm, we can’t let him know it was us two.’
Nicky
nodded fervently. ‘Yes we can.
We need to find a way of getting back at him
so that he knows it was us, but can’t prove it.’
‘She’s
right,’ Damian said to Savita. ‘What’s
the point of revenge if he thinks it’s something to do with anti-hunt
protesters? That’ll only make him more
set in his attitudes.’
A
sulky expression clouded Savita’s face.
‘But what about our plan?’
‘It
was your plan, babe,’ said Damian. ‘And
I told you the equipment would be costly.
And if I get caught, I could be looking at a prison sentence.
Nicky’s right. Let’s put out heads together
and see what else we can come up with.’
IN EPISODE THIRTY-SEVEN
Chloe falls out with her brother,
and Nigel and Jackie return to a life of chaos.