David Peace - 1983

‘Don’t mind if I do,’ says Bill. He takes another Everest from the pack. He lights the cigarette. He stares at Marsh. He leans forward. He begins to dangle the cigarette over Marsh’s hand.

Marsh stares dead ahead -

Silent:

Room 4 quiet, the Basement quiet -

The Station silent, the Headrow silent.

Bill and I stand up -

I say: ‘Stand up.’

Marsh stands up.

‘Eyes front.’

Marsh stares straight ahead, eyes dead.

‘Don’t move.’

Bill and I lift the three chairs and the table to the side. I open the door. We step out into the corridor. I close the door. I look through the spy-hole at Marsh. He is stood in the centre of the room. He is staring straight ahead, not moving, eyes dead.

‘He’s a hard one,’ I say.

‘Where’s Dickie?’ Bill asks.

‘He’s here.’

‘He got it?’

I nod.

‘Best get him then, hadn’t you?’

I walk off down the corridor.

Dick Alderman is already waiting in one of the cells at the end.

‘We’re ready,’ I say.

He nods.

We walk back down the corridor, Alderman carrying it under a blanket.

Bill nods at Alderman: ‘Morning.’

‘Morning,’ he slurs back. His breath reeks of alcohol.

Bill says: ‘You up for this, Richard, are you?’

He nods.

Bill leans in closer to his mouth: ‘Bit of Dutch courage for breakfast, eh?’

Alderman tries to pull his head back.

Bill’s got him by the scruff: ‘Don’t fuck it up, Richard.’

Alderman nods. Bill pats him on his face. Alderman smiles. Bill smiles back.

I ask: ‘Everybody ready?’

They both nod. Alderman puts down the box. He leaves it in the corridor for now. Bill hands him another package wrapped in a brown towel.

I open the door. We step inside -

Room 4, always Room 4:

George Marsh, forty-three, in police issue grey shirt and trousers.

George Marsh, upright in his chair at our table.

George Marsh, builder’s foreman on the Foster’s site across the road from 13 Brunt Street, Castleford -

The 13 Brunt Street home of Jeanette Garland -

Jeanette Garland, eight, missing since Saturday 12 July 1969.

I stand by the door. Bill and Alderman bring the chairs and the table back into the centre of the room.

Bill puts a chair behind Marsh. He says: ‘Sit down.’

Marsh sits down opposite Dick Alderman.

Bill picks up the blanket from the floor. He puts it over Marsh’s shoulders.

Alderman lights a cigarette. He says: ‘Put your palms flat on the desk.’

Marsh puts his hands flat on the desk.

Bill is pacing the room behind Marsh.

Alderman puts the brown package on the table. He unwraps it. He takes out a pistol. He lays it down on the table between himself and George Marsh.

Alderman smiles at Marsh -

Marsh just stares dead ahead.

Bill stops walking about the room. He stands behind Marsh.

‘Eyes front,’ says Alderman.

Marsh keeps staring straight ahead into the silence -

The dead silence:

Room 4 dead, the Basement dead.

Alderman jumps up. Alderman pins Marsh’s wrists down.

Bill grabs the blanket. Bill twists it around Marsh’s face.

Marsh falls forward off the chair.

Alderman holds down his wrists.

Bill twists the blanket around his face.

Marsh kneels on the floor.

Alderman lets go of Marsh’s wrists.

Marsh spins round in the blanket and into the wall:

CRACK -

Through the room, through the Basement.

Bill pulls off the blanket. He picks Marsh up by his hair. He stands him up against the wall.

‘Turn around, eyes front.’

Marsh turns around.

Alderman has the pistol in his right hand.

Bill has some bullets. He is throwing them up into the air. He is catching them.

Alderman turns to the door. He asks me: ‘It’s all right to shoot him then?’

I nod: ‘Shoot him!’

Alderman holds the pistol at arm’s length in both hands. He points the pistol at Marsh’s head.

Marsh is staring straight back into Alderman’s eyes.

Alderman steps forward. The barrel touches Marsh’s forehead. Alderman pulls the trigger -

CLICK -

Nothing happens.

‘Fuck,’ says Alderman.

He turns away. He fiddles with the pistol.

Marsh is staring straight ahead.

‘I’ve fixed it,’ says Alderman. ‘It’ll be all right this time.’

He points the pistol again -

Marsh staring straight back into him.

Alderman pulls the trigger -

BANG -

Marsh falls to the floor.

I think he’s dead.

Marsh opens his eyes. He looks up from the floor. He sees the smoking gun in Alderman’s hand. He sees the shreds of black material coming out of the barrel. He sees them floating down to the floor, over him -

He sees us all laughing.

George Marsh smiles.

Bill picks him up off the floor. Bill stands him against the wall. Bill takes two steps back. Bill takes one step forward. Bill kicks him in the balls.

George Marsh falls to the floor again.

‘Stand up.’

Marsh stands up.

‘On your toes,’ says Bill.

Bill steps forward. Bill kicks him in the balls again.

He falls to the floor again.

Alderman walks over to him. Alderman kicks him in the chest. Alderman kicks him in the stomach. Alderman handcuffs his hands behind his back. Alderman pushes his face down into the floor.

‘Do you like rats, George?’

Marsh looks up at him.

‘Do you like rats?’

Marsh says nothing.

I open the door.

Bill steps out into the corridor. He comes back into the room. He has the box under the blanket. He walks over to where Marsh is lying on the floor. He puts the box down on the ground next to Marsh’s face.

Alderman pulls Marsh’s head up by his hair.

Bill rips off the blanket: ‘Three, two, one -’

The rat is fat. The rat is wet. The rat is staring through the wire of its cage at Marsh.

Bill tips up the cage. The rat slides closer to the wire and Marsh. Bill shouts: ‘Get him! Get him!’

The rat is frightened. The rat is hissing. The rat is clawing at the wire. The rat is clawing at Marsh’s face.

‘He’s starving,’ says Bill.

Alderman pushes Marsh’s face into the wire.

Bill kicks the cage. Bill tips the rat up into the wire -

It’s tail and fur against Marsh’s face.

‘Turn it round, turn it round,’ Alderman is saying.

‘Open it,’ I say.

Bill tips the cage up on its backside. The wire door is facing up. Bill opens the door.

The rat is at the bottom of the cage. The rat is looking up at the open door. Alderman brings Marsh’s face down to the open door -

Marsh, eyes wide, struggles to get loose.

The rat is growling. The rat is shitting everywhere. The rat is looking up at Marsh.

Alderman squeezes Marsh’s face down further into the open cage.

Marsh struggles. Marsh says something.

I nod.

Alderman pulls him back up by his hair: ‘What? What did you say?’

Marsh looks at him. Marsh smiles.

Alderman pushes his face back down into the cage. Alderman screams: ‘What have you done with her? What have you fucking done with her?’

Marsh says something.

I nod again.

Alderman pulls him back up: ‘What did you say?’

Marsh looks at him. Marsh says: ‘I did nothing. I know nothing. So I’ve got nothing to say.’

‘Is that right?’ says Bill and Bill reaches down into the cage. Bill picks out the rat by its tail. Bill swings it around into the wall -

SMASH!

Blood splatters across Marsh and Alderman -

‘Fucking hell,’ shouts Alderman.

Bill drops the dead rat back into the wire cage. Bill squats down level with Marsh. Bill wipes his hands on Marsh’s face, on his police issue grey shirt, and Bill says again: ‘Is that right?’