Alex Barclay - Darkhouse

When the service was over, the guests moved across the street to The Railroad Bar, a tongue-in-cheek name in a town that was bypassed by the railroad in the eighteen hundreds and hadn’t recovered since.

The dance floor was small and couples pressed against each other to fit on the wooden circle. The women wore tight satin dresses edged in lace and stretched across full stomachs, their high heels tipping them to one side. The men were in narrow-legged suits or dressed-up cowboy shirts and starched denim. They drank beer, chased it with whisky and shouted at the band. Duke stood at the edge of the dance floor watching his new wife swaying her hips to the music, her head back, her eyes closed.

‘You OK?’ she said as she danced over to him, pinching his cheeks and kissing him on the lips.

‘Course I am,’ he said. ‘I guess I’m just a little sad Uncle Bill isn’t here today to see all this.’

‘I know, sweetheart. He sounds like he was the nicest man. I wish I coulda met him.’

‘I wish you coulda too,’ said Duke. ‘You know somethin’, Sammi, you are the prettiest bride in the whole world. And I promise to be faithful to you for the rest of my life. I know I’ve made some mistakes, but one thing I know, if someone means somethin’ to me as much as you do, loyalty’s what I give. I’m sure of that.’ His words were beginning to slur.

‘Don’t you get drunk on me tonight,’ she said.

‘No, ma’am,’ said Duke.

‘I want you standin’ to attention.’ She smiled and raised her eyebrows.

Duke frowned.

‘Shut up, Sammi,’ he said.

‘Not today,’ she said. ‘Don’t speak to me like that today. We had a deal.’

‘OK,’ he said. ‘Just don’t go on at me.’

‘I won’t, long as you don’t get drunk. I’ll be keepin’ an eye on you and Donnie, whenever he shows up.’

Wanda leaned against the sink, her face tilted to the light above the mirror.

‘That the kinda powder you’re into these days?’ came a voice beside her. Wanda said nothing.

‘I’m talkin’ to you!’

‘I’m not interested, Darla,’ said Wanda, putting her compact back in her bag.

‘Think you’re all respectable now in your fancy suit with your big husband?’

‘I said I’m not interested,’ said Wanda calmly.

‘You white trash whore.’

Wanda spun around and grabbed Darla by the hair, pulling her up tall. Then she leaned back and spat in her startled face, watching the saliva drip from her eyelids.

‘Don’t,’ said Wanda, pointing a finger at her. ‘This is my son’s wedding.’ She threw Darla’s head back against the door, washed her hands and left the bathroom.

‘Like you give a good goddamn,’ Darla shouted after her.

Donnie walked into the bar and raised his arms.

‘Well, look who it is!’ said Duke. ‘You missed my big moment!’ He smiled wide.

‘Congratulations,’ said Donnie, shaking Duke’s hand and patting his back. ‘Did I miss much?’

‘Where in the hell did you get to?’ hissed Duke, grabbing his elbow, leaning in close to his ear.

‘Officially? In back of a line of cars,’ said Donnie. ‘Unofficially? Had that bit of business to take care of... you know, hide and seek in the woods.’ He winked. ‘Gave an extra little whoosh with the shovel too. Oh, I remember — Tally was her name.’

Duke looked at him like he didn’t care.

Sammi came up and tapped him on the shoulder.

‘Hey, Donnie,’ she said.

‘Little Mrs Rawlins,’ he said, swinging her around. ‘Married at nineteen, pregnant at twenty?’

‘Don’t even joke about that,’ said Sammi, skipping over to her bridesmaids.

‘Bring one back for me,’ he called after her. She waved back. He went to the bar.

‘I had to choose,’ said Wanda, coming up behind Duke. ‘And it broke my heart.’

Duke turned and stared at her.

‘Choose between you and Vincent,’ she explained. ‘It was the hardest thing a mother’s ever had to do. I guess I figured you’d be all growed up and you wouldn’t need your mama no more.’

‘You’re right about that,’ said Duke. ‘But you’re wrong about one thing. You didn’t choose Vincent, Mama. All you ever chose was you.’

Donnie grabbed the bridesmaid’s waist and swung her around him as he made his way back over to Duke.

‘She wanted me,’ he said.

‘Sure,’ said Duke. ‘And thanks for lookin’ after everythin’. I shouldn’t have been mad...’

‘Hey,’ said Donnie. ‘Who’s that in the blue shirt and the cowboy hat? Ain’t that Vincent Farraday, the singer? Who’s the lady with him in the purple suit?’

‘Pretty fuckin’ Woman,’ said Duke.

‘Rumour has it that Sammi Rawlins has been having a few jobs done around the house...’

Joe let it hang there.

‘What do you mean jobs?’ said Duke.

‘Oh you know, hand jobs, blow jobs...’

‘If you’re tryin’ to tell me my wife’s a ho, I know you’re bullshittin’ me.’

‘Who said anything about ho? Your wife has been one hundred per cent faithful to one man since you’ve been in jail. It’s just a shame it wasn’t you.’

‘You’re talkin’ shit.’

‘Aw, I haven’t even come to the best part yet,’ said Joe. ‘Don’t you want to know who the guy is? Come on, I’d wanna know, if it was me. Have you seen your wife since you’ve been out?’

‘She’s at her mother’s... look why am I talkin’ to you? Why am I listenin’ to you and your bullshit?’

‘Face it, Rawlins. Your wife’s been bending over for another man while you’ve been in prison, one hand on your—

‘Are you fuckin’ deranged?’ Duke suddenly roared. ‘You think I believe a single shit-drippin’ word out of your mouth? You’re a cop! And you’re a cop who can shut the fuck up right now. One more word and I’ll kill your wife. Are you nuts?’

Joe’s heart pounded. All he had succeeded in doing was rattling this psycho off his hinges.

D.I. O’Connor stood in front of the room.

‘I’m fed up,’ he said. ‘For some reason, these dealers are a step ahead of us. We show up, they don’t. They don’t show up, we do.’ He looked around the room and saw a group of bored and tired guards.

‘Wake fucking up!’ he roared. Some of the men jumped. O’Connor shook his head.

‘Jesus Christ, lads! What are you like?’ The men shifted in their seats.

‘What happens,’ said O’Connor, ‘when your plan doesn’t work? What do people do? Owens?’

‘Uh, change the plan?’

‘Scrap the whole thing and come up with a new plan,’ came a voice from the back.

‘Or?’ said O’Connor, smiling, ‘just don’t have a plan.’ They looked at him blankly.

‘I want you all to think for a minute about surprises. In the next ten minutes I want three places in town that each team is going to go to at some stage today in the hope of catching one of these scumbags at work. No major plan here, just the name of a place and two of you in a car outside it. Butler, you’re with Twomey.’ There was a clatter of chairs on tiles as the men got up and headed outside to their cars.

As he put down the phone to Duke Rawlins, Joe heard the rumble of voices downstairs.

‘Hello? Who’s down there?’ he said, walking into the hall, leaning into the door of Shaun’s bedroom.

He could hear Shaun jogging up the steps. He opened the door a crack.

‘Me,’ said Shaun, irritated. ‘And Ali. Why?’

‘I didn’t tell you you could bring anyone home.’

‘I haven’t told her about Mom, if that’s what you mean.’

‘Send her home now.’

‘What is wrong with you?’

‘Just get her out of here,’ hissed Joe.