Paul Finch - Stalkers

‘Most of the time she is. Stunning to look at when she was young. Phone never stopped ringing for her.’

‘She’s not so bad now.’

‘Bossy as hell, though. That hasn’t improved with age.’

‘That’s a big sister’s prerogative.’ Briefly, Lauren sounded wistful. ‘So … where’s Mr Dana?’

‘Gone. Long ago.’ Heck grabbed the newspaper. ‘And no one’s missed him.’

Lauren nodded. ‘I seem to remember Genene always had some useless idiot in tow.’

Heck didn’t comment, but flicked through the paper. Family matters were clearly more than just a minor problem for him.

Lauren indicated the snapshot of the elderly couple. ‘This your mum and dad?’

‘Yeah. Before you ask, both dead. Mum a few years ago, dad a few years before that.’

‘Ahhh … sorry what I said about you not having lost anyone. Stupid comment.’

‘It’s alright. Older people die, don’t they. It wasn’t them I was …’ He shrugged, waved it away. ‘Perhaps we should focus on the situation at hand?’

But before they could, Dana came in with a tray on which there was a teapot, three china cups, a small jug of milk, a bowl of sugar and a plate of biscuits. In the midst of all this chaos, it was so dignified a gesture — so like something Lauren’s mother would have done — that it nearly brought a tear to the ex-army girl’s eye. The two women sat, but Heck stood by the window, watching, his hands stuffed into his pockets.

Dana eyed him as she poured. ‘You get kicked in the pants as well?’

‘What?’

‘Why don’t you sit down and join us?’ Almost reluctantly, Heck sat on the sofa. His sister handed him a napkin. ‘You’ve got blood on your lip,’ she said.

He wiped it away. ‘Couple of teeth got knocked loose.’

‘Should get along to a dentist.’

‘I’ll be fine.’

‘Sure you will. If you don’t mind having a mouth like a chimpanzee.’

Heck glanced at Lauren. ‘What did I tell you — about how bossy she is?’

‘Like I said,’ Lauren replied tartly, ‘a big sister’s prerogative.’

This broke the ice a little. They made idle chat — about the weather, about world events. And okay, it was only small talk, but at least it was talk. Fifteen minutes later, Heck announced that he would go to the Chinese and pick up the take-away. Once he’d gone, Dana took the empties through to the kitchen-diner to wash up. Lauren went through to help her, but when she got in there was surprised to find that the kitchen table had already been laid for two, and that a candle had been lit. A bottle of wine and two glasses sat on the nearby sideboard.

‘You shouldn’t have done this,’ Lauren said, a little embarrassed.

Dana was busy with the washing up. ‘It’s no problem. I like things to be nice.’

This was evidently true. The kitchen was yet another part of the interior that belied the house’s shabby exterior. It was new and clean, designed in the cottage style, with modern low-key lighting and decor done in pastel shades.

‘This place is a credit to you,’ Lauren said.

‘There’s only me and Sarah now, so it’s not difficult.’ Dana busied around the sink in her brisk, cool way. ‘How long have you and Mark known each other?’

‘Not very long. But we’ve been through a lot already. . so it seems like a while. I don’t think it’s true to say that I know him though. I don’t feel as if I do.’

Dana half-smiled. ‘You probably never will. He’s a bit of a loner.’

‘So I’ve noticed.’

‘And he doesn’t like situations he can’t control.’

Lauren had noticed that too, and wondered if it extended to people he couldn’t control. Maybe that was the cause of the problems he had with his ‘bossy’ sister.

Dana was still talking. ‘I don’t mean that in a childish sense … I don’t mean he wants his own way all the time. But he doesn’t trust people. He reckons nobody else in the job is anywhere near as good as he is. Used to drive Gemma crazy.’

‘Gemma?’

‘One of his work colleagues. They had a thing going at one point, but it didn’t last. Afterwards, he said he’d only been in it for the sex. But Gemma was a real high flyer, and that probably put the mockers on it.’

‘So Mark isn’t a high flyer?’

‘Never been interested in that.’ Dana shook her head at the folly of youth. ‘“It’s the front line, or nowhere”, he says. “I’m a copper, I catch criminals — and that’s it.” Not interested in politics, not interested in promotion. And certainly not interested in baggage.’

‘“Baggage”?’

Dana sighed as she arranged the dried cups on the kitchen shelves. ‘It’s a long story. Mark joined the Greater Manchester Police originally, but that didn’t work out because there were family issues … so he got a transfer to London, where he could isolate himself from everything except his job, which, I have to say, he’s done to some tune.’

Lauren was mildly amused by all this. Clearly these unsought-for revelations about Heck’s past were Dana’s sisterly way of sounding out the new girl’s interest in him. She opted to play along. ‘It clearly didn’t isolate him from Gemma.’

‘No.’ Dana shook her head again. ‘That would have been nice … but they were chalk and cheese, especially when Gemma started climbing the ladder. There was no way Mark could be loved-up with her at night, and take orders from her during the day. One or the other would have had to give.’

‘So what you’re basically telling me is that Mark’s a typical self-centred bloke?’

‘In a nutshell … yes.’

Heck was back a short time later with chicken fried rice for himself and beef in black bean sauce for Lauren. When he saw the table for two in the kitchen, he gave Dana a long, withering stare, but she responded by smiling pleasantly and absenting herself when they sat down to eat.

‘Your sister’s concerned that I’m trying to get my grubby little mitts on you,’ Lauren said, as they tucked in.

He nodded as if this was only to be expected. ‘Since Mum died, she’s got protective. Don’t be offended. She’s probably not concerned as much as hopeful.’

‘Trying to get you fixed up, is she?’

‘She knows better than to try that.’

‘I’ve had it chapter and verse about your last relationship.’

‘That proves it. She’s trying to interest you.’

‘Or put me off. Sounds like this Gemma bird was a very fine swan indeed.’

‘Well you’re no ugly duckling, you don’t need to worry.’

Lauren glanced up at him, but he was now concentrating on pouring them each a glass of wine, so she let the remark pass. Once they’d eaten, they returned to the living room and sat with Dana to watch evening television. More small talk followed; polite, almost convivial, though between Heck and his sister it was all rather stiff, if perhaps a little loaded. When a news item concerning a male skeleton found in an inner city flat in the Midlands mentioned that the occupant had been a misanthrope who had lived alone by choice, as a result of which nobody had noticed he was missing for over three years, Dana commented: ‘What a strange thing to do. Cut yourself off from all your loved ones to the point where you barely exist to them anymore.’

Heck didn’t look round, but replied: ‘Maybe he didn’t have any loved ones.’

‘Maybe he did but just didn’t realise it.’

‘I think the fact that he’d rather be a pile of bones than be part of their social network meant he realised it all too well.’

After several such brief, acidic exchanges, Lauren was thankful when the evening finally ended, and she and Heck went upstairs together, leaving Dana to lock the doors and turn out the lights. When they reached the top of the stairs, both their bedroom doors stood open, awaiting them. Lauren pondered Heck’s ‘ugly duckling’ comment. She knew he’d liked what he’d seen when she put everything on show for him in the pub, but with the high stress of the last day his priorities had no doubt changed. Though that afternoon’s fight paled compared to the shoot-outs she’d experienced in Afghanistan, you never got used to a confrontation as intense as that. Whoever those bastards in the pub had been, they’d been determined to beat the crap out of them, to hammer them into the dirty, beer-drenched floor. God knows where it could have ended. Heck was still pale, still bruised, but he’d cleaned up nicely — more nicely than she had. Of course, men could carry cuts and bruises as a mark of their masculinity. And Heck, now that she was this close to him, seemed more masculine to her than at any time so far. But if he was having similar thoughts about her, he kept them hidden.