Michael Wood - The Murder House

He opened the front door, slammed it closed behind him and stopped still in the hallway. He could hear the sound of sex coming from Rory’s bedroom. Scott rolled his eyes. Since breaking up with his long-term girlfriend and having the freedom of his own place, Rory had been living life to the full. There was a new woman every weekend, it seemed. Although, this latest one seemed to be sticking around longer than the others.

Scott walked past Rory’s bedroom and the sound of grunting and the headboard hitting the wall grew louder, as did the woman’s groans. Scott couldn’t remember her name. He gave up learning names around the fourth one. He knew them as the blonde one, the dark one, the thin one, the one with glasses, the American one …

As Scott stripped off in the kitchen and put his running gear into the washing machine, the sounds became louder, the banging on the wall harder.

‘Jesus, Rory, for fuck’s sake, stop, you’re hurting me.’

By the time Rory came out of the bedroom, Scott was in the living room in his dressing gown, eating a bowl of cereal.

‘What’s wrong?’ Scott asked.

‘Nothing. Why?’

‘Didn’t sound like it.’

‘I think I got a bit carried away,’ he said, sheepishly.

‘Everything all right?’

The Scottish one came into the lounge, putting her earrings in. ‘I’m going now. Do me a favour, Rory, lose my number. Nice to see you again, Scott.’

Scott smiled. They both remained silent until the door slammed closed.

‘Don’t judge me,’ Rory said, taking in Scott’s hard stare.

‘I’m not judging.’

‘I was feeling a bit … I don’t know … I just wanted to let off some steam, that’s all.’

‘You should have come for a run with me and Chris.’

‘I hate running.’

‘You’re going to need to apologize to her.’

‘You heard her. She just told me to lose her number.’

‘She didn’t mean it. Apologize. Tell her you had a rough day.’

He shook his head. ‘It’s not like it was going anywhere. We were just having fun.’

‘You said the other night you really liked this one.’

Rory stood up and went to get a bottle of lager from the fridge. ‘Did it work for you?’ he asked, ignoring Scott’s comment.

‘What?’

‘Going for a run. Did it help you to get the crime scene out of your mind?’

‘Yes, it did.’

‘You’re a bad liar, Scott.’

‘I’m going to bed,’ he said, placing his half-eaten bowl of cereal on the coffee table.

‘It’s not even ten o’clock yet.’

‘I’m tired.’

Scott had a quick shower then went into his room, locking the bedroom door behind him. He picked up his phone from the bedside table and began scrolling through the photos. He smiled. There was one of Matilda and Adele crossing the finishing line of the Sheffield Half Marathon last year. They both looked like they were ready to drop dead. There was one of Chris crossing the line in the same race. Then Chris sat at the side of the road panting, sweat running down his face. Chris in the pub afterwards drinking a much-needed pint. Chris, once again in his running gear. Chris running. Chris running. Chris. Chris. Chris.

The man had been dropped off in Luton. He’d fallen asleep just after Nottingham and hadn’t woken up until Milton Keynes. Now, it was dark. He was still in Luton and he wasn’t tired. He needed to get to London. He knew that if he could get to the capital, it would be easier to get to Dover, and then through the Channel Tunnel and into France. Once he was on mainland Europe he could go anywhere. He thought briefly about his sister. Would she be sad if she never heard from him again? Probably not. He had caused her nothing but trouble their whole life. He remembered their last conversation, the argument they’d had. He called her a frigid, stuck-up bitch. She called him a loser and a waste of space. They were probably both right. Chalk and cheese, they’d never got on, even as children.

Well, he wouldn’t bother her anymore. She wouldn’t have to think about him again. Once he was in France, he knew he’d be safe. He could go anywhere from there.

He stole a biro from a petrol station, found a piece of cardboard in a bin and wrote LONDON in large capitals on it. He would have to wait until morning to be seen by drivers. He found shelter between two industrial bins and tried to get comfortable on the cold tarmac. At one o’clock he was still awake. The smell of rotting food didn’t help. He wasn’t tired. He was freezing cold and he was trying to work out where that rat had run off to as he quickly tucked his jeans into his socks.

Matilda Darke missed her silver Ford Focus. It was comfortable, familiar, and she felt safe in it. Unfortunately, it was no longer practical, and, as she turned from the smooth tarmac on Ringinglow Road down the bone-shaking track, she realized she had made the right decision in upgrading to a Range Rover. She could hardly feel the pot holes, the broken road, the jagged edges as she headed for her new home. A mile down the track, a narrow turn to the left and a sharp incline and there it was – the farmhouse she had bought because she felt sorry for it.

After former Detective Inspector Ben Hales had committed suicide in her house – the house her dead husband built – she no longer felt like it was home. That had been Ben’s plan; to ruin the last thing left in her life she truly loved. The bastard. It was in that house where she had felt a connection to her husband, as if he was still alive. He had designed the house, he had put his heart and soul into the place. Whatever room she went in she remembered James enthusing about it. Once it was built, once the decorators had left, the furniture had been moved in and it was just the two of them, alone, James had grabbed Matilda, lifted her up onto the granite worktops in the kitchen and made love to her right there. It was the best sex they had ever had. It wasn’t long before they had christened every room, including the double garage which wasn’t the most romantic place to make love in, and the toilet under the stairs was just silly and resulted in James pulling a muscle in his back. However, in the long lonely nights since James’s death, she remembered these moments of happier times and she smiled. She’d go into the downstairs toilet and she’d laugh as she remembered how James had struggled to get up off the floor and hit his head on the sink. She went out into the hallway, looked at the chair in the corner and … no, all she saw in the hallway now was Ben’s lifeless body hanging from the bannister above. The house had been ruined for her. She’d had to move.

While driving out of Sheffield she’d found a dirt track she had never seen before. Being Sheffield born and bred, Matilda thought she knew the city like the back of her hand, obviously not. Curious to where it might lead, she felt every bump in the road, and hit her head on the roof of her car twice as she plunged into cavernous pot holes. This was a bad idea. Her car wasn’t used to such roads, but something told her to continue. She almost became stuck at the sharp turn and the wheels spun on the incline, but she made it to the top eventually. She was glad she did.

A dilapidated farmhouse with four unstable chimneys, tiles missing from the roof, uncared for brick work, tired window frames with dirty panes, an overgrown garden, untended driveway and a front door that probably only required a swift kick to open. Matilda was in love. She got out of the car and walked up the driveway, her eyes fixed on the unloved house. There was a ‘for sale’ sign that had fallen down at some point, lying in the tall grass. Surely this was fate giving her a sign.

The house needed work doing to it before Matilda could even think about moving in. As her home sold quickly, she moved in with Adele while her new home, the aptly named Hope Farm, was made habitable. Fortunately, James had known many people in the building industry, and she contacted one of his trusted friends, Daniel Harbison. He’d been more than happy to help out, and when he had seen the enormity of the project, he rubbed his hands with glee. The windows were replaced, as was the roof. The chimneys were made safe, the whole house was rewired, the kitchen and bathrooms were ripped out and new, modern ones installed. Matilda and Adele spent many evenings going over colour charts and carpet samples and soon the house was ready for her to move in. There was just one room that needed finishing. On the ground floor, behind the living room, tucked away in a corner was a split-level room that led to the conservatory. This would make a perfect library, and as this was the room she would spend most of her time in, she wanted to make all the decisions herself.