Nicola Barker - Darkmans

‘How about you?’ Kane suddenly butted in.

‘Pardon?’

‘How about your problems?’

‘ My problems?’ Beede was thrown off-kilter. ‘What problems?’

‘Well you’re £38,000 in debt, for starters.’

Beede didn’t flinch. ‘And?’

‘And you’re in love with his wife.’

‘Rubbish! ’ Beede hissed, his cheeks reddening. ‘Dory is my friend . Elen is my friend. I’m just helping them through a rough patch…’

‘Purely in the spirit of altruism , of course,’ Kane grinned.

‘I should’ve known I could depend on you,’ Beede sneered, ‘to put some kind of vulgar slant on it.’

Kane said nothing. He just continued to smile.

‘This strikes me as a rather good example,’ Beede continued, obviously riled, ‘of the pot calling the kettle black.’

Kane’s grin grew still wider.

‘What you seem incapable of realising,’ Beede snapped (finally losing his cool), ‘is that you’re meddling in things here which are none of your damn business …’

‘But they are my business,’ Kane interrupted.

‘How?’

‘They became my business when you stole drugs from me — to give to her , presumably…Or did you steal them for him? I don’t know. I don’t really even care. What I do care about is the fact that you let Kelly take the rap for it. That was shabby. If you’d wanted drugs you should’ve just asked. I would’ve handed them over, quite happily.’

‘Well here’s a turn-up,’ Beede snorted, ‘me receiving a lecture from you on moral probity.’

‘Amazing, isn’t it?’ Kane smiled (refusing to let his father wind him up). ‘And while you’re in the mood to exchange idle aphorisms…’

Beede stared at his son, unblinking.

‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions.’

‘Oh really?’ Beede smirked. ‘And you’d know all about that, I suppose?’ Kane nodded, with feeling. ‘Absolutely.’

Beede rolled his eyes. ‘Well I’ll take that under advisement, if you don’t mind.’

‘Dory may be your friend,’ Kane persisted (determined to get his point across), ‘but he’s still a bona-fide fruitcake. And while it’s perfectly understandable that you should want to help him — to protect him, to shield him from the harsh realities of everyday life — there comes a point beyond which that kind of interference — that help — is actually counter-productive; you only end up making matters worse…’

‘No,’ Beede refused to yield, ‘you don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘Don’t I?’ Kane stared at his father, thoughtfully. ‘Why? Because I lack the relevant experience , perhaps? Because you never really cared for me in that way?’

Beede looked confused.

‘Okay,’ Kane stubbed out his cigarette. ‘What if I told you that it wasn’t just an accident that the scaffolding collapsed?’

Beede was silent.

‘What if I told you that Dory was perching on the roof and that he pushed it down?’

‘I’d say you’d taken leave of your senses,’ Beede declared.

‘I sat here and I watched him, Beede.’

‘Well I spoke to Kelly,’ Beede maintained, ‘and she said Harvey was all alone…’

‘Dory was on the roof. He pushed the scaffolding down.’

‘And you saw that? You actually saw him do that?’

‘Yes.’ Kane nodded, then he paused. ‘Or as good as…I mean I turned away for a split second when the scooter pulled on to the road. Kelly was making such a racket …’

Beede gave a derisory snort.

‘He’d planned it all out in advance,’ Kane back-pedalled, furiously. ‘It was obvious . Just look where he parked his car , for Christsakes…’ Kane turned and pointed.

Beede turned himself to inspect the Rover.

‘That doesn’t prove a thing. The scaffolding was always unstable…’

‘I sat and I watched him, Beede,’ Kane refused to be gainsaid, ‘I was right here . I watched him parking his car, I watched him climb out of his car and remove some kind of heavy wrench — or spanner — from inside the boot, I watched him stare over at the house for a while and then stroll over to the scaffolding and begin hammering away at it…’

‘He was tightening it up,’ Beede shrugged. ‘He was shoring it up.’

‘Yeah. That’s exactly what I thought to begin with. But the more he bashed away at it, the more unstable the whole structure grew, to the extent that he was actually forced to grab on to the roof at one point to save himself from falling…’

Beede stared down at Kane, scowling. He said nothing.

‘He kept inspecting his watch, as if he was waiting for someone.’

‘He was waiting for me. I was late…’

‘Then perhaps he was intending to kill you ,’ Kane volunteered (although not entirely seriously).

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Beede exclaimed (visibly spooked by this idea).

‘And here’s another thing,’ Kane continued, emboldened by his father’s fearful look, ‘there was a history of bad blood between them…’

‘Between whom?’

‘Between him and Harvey Broad.’

‘Well what does that prove?’ Beede scoffed. ‘Everybody hates Harvey Broad. He’s an incorrigible crook…’

‘No. This was serious. This was personal . This was the continuation of an argument that’d started some twenty-odd years ago when they were both working together on the Channel Tunnel. It seems that Dory was actually there — in person — when those tiles were stolen. He was working as a guard. In fact they both were — him and Harvey. I heard them arguing about it…’ he paused, thoughtfully. ‘Although maybe you already knew that…’

‘Which tiles?’

Beede seemed bewildered.

‘ Which tiles?!’ Kane taunted. ‘Oh come on ! The tiles. The antique tiles. The tiles you got so steamed-up about. The tiles from the old mill.’

Beede stared at him, blankly. ‘You remember that?’

‘Remember?! ’ Kane cackled, indignantly. ‘You seriously think I wouldn’t remember ? The fucking tiles ? The antique, fucking tiles ?! Of course I remember!’

Beede looked stunned. ‘But you were so young…’

‘How could I possibly forget?’ Kane demanded. ‘How could I forget what it did to you? How it totally messed you up? How you let it eat away at you. How you let it…’ he struggled, momentarily, to find the right word, ‘how you allowed it to…to…’ he clenched his hands into fists, ‘to completely eviscerate you?’

‘No.’ Beede shook his head. ‘That’s not true…’

‘Yes it is !’

Kane suddenly realised that he was shaking, that his eyes were full of tears.

‘How could I not remember?’ he yelled, furious at himself.

‘ How?! When it changed everything? When it ruined everything ?’

Silence

‘I didn’t realise…’ Beede finally murmured, shocked.

‘No…’ Kane shook his head. ‘Me neither.’

‘Well I’m sorry,’ Beede said, ‘I’m very sorry.’

His father suddenly looked haggard— old , Kane thought. But instead of feeling sorry for him, instead of wanting to reach out to him, to help him, Kane felt a strange, warm sensation in his stomach, a kind of glow , a deep feeling of contentment, as if seeing his father so horribly diminished was — in some sick, subterranean way — profoundly empowering to him.