Darkside

‘Why? Do you think I am?’ Obviously the answer must be ‘yes’ or Lucy wouldn’t have asked the question, but Jonas was always interested in hearing what she had to say.

‘A little.’ She shrugged. ‘I can understand how you must feel you’re somehow responsible … that you failed Margaret and Yvonne in some way … even though I don’t see how. But all I saw at the pub was worried people turning to you for information.’

Jonas was silent so he didn’t have to disagree with her. He didn’t want to voice dissent that might turn into an argument that might lead back to the question of children. He had no stomach for it. He just hoped her contention wasn’t going to turn into a suggestion that he stay at home, because his mind was made up.

Instead Lucy said, ‘But I know it’s not about them as much as it is about the way you feel about it, Jonas, and I agree that that’s what’s important. If going out at night makes you feel better, then you should do that.’

He didn’t deserve her. He never had and he never would.

He got up and took their best knife from the block in the kitchen.

‘Promise me you’ll keep this with you all the time when I’m not here.’

She laughed. ‘Jonas!’

‘I’m serious, Lu. I have to do this, but I hate leaving you here alone—’

‘Mrs Paddon’s a foot away through the wall.’

‘I know. And I don’t want you to be nervous. But please. For my sake, so I’m not nervous.’

He held it out to her, grip-first, and after another moment’s hesitation she took it.

‘Promise me,’ he said.

Lucy drew a Zorro-esque Z in the air and faked a Spanish accent. ‘You have my word, amigo! Any mad dog will feel the edge of my blade on his balls.’

‘Promise me,’ he said seriously.

‘I promise,’ she said, and didn’t smile this time because she wanted him to know she did take him seriously, even if she felt it was an overreaction.

Then he kissed her and left to spend the night with the village.

After he went, Lucy smiled at the knife, then took it through to the lounge with her.

She put Scream into the DVD player, cursing her own unsteady hands that dropped the disc twice before she managed to load it correctly; sometimes the sheer force of will it took not to be feeble was beyond her.

Ten minutes into the movie, she started to feel uneasy.

She heard a sound at the window.

She knotted her fingers into the tassels of the cushion.

She made sure the knife was close at hand.

She told herself not to be stupid.

Twenty minutes in, she realized she was missing Desperate Housewives.

Lucy hadn’t watched it for a while but thought it would be nice to catch up, so she switched off the horror and lost herself instead in a place where bad things were made laughable by sunshine and great shoes.

* * *

It was only when he started to walk up one side of Barnstaple Road a little after 9pm that Jonas realized how lost he had been.

The fact that it was dark made no difference; he was back on the beat, back where he should be, and – more importantly – back where people expected him to be. The street was pretty empty but for a few late-night dog-walkers. He said hello to Rob Ticker and his spaniel, Jerry, and John Took – the Master of the Blacklands – thanked him for the dead pony and told him there were saboteurs in the area. They’d laid a false trail for the Tiverton hounds, which had ended up in a Tesco car park. Typical hunter, thought Jonas even as he made the right noises – two women murdered and John Took was worried about missing a fox. He asked Took whether he’d heard about Yvonne Marsh and Took said, ‘Bloody awful. But that’s care in the bloody community for you’ – to which there was no answer except to tell Took he’d do his best to be at the next meet just in case of trouble.

Then he stopped to chat to Linda Cobb with Dixie.

‘I still have your umbrella,’ he told Linda.

‘Drop it in when you’re passing,’ she said.

Jonas said he’d be back on the doorstep tomorrow and would drop it by then.

‘And you’re doing this too?’ she said, waving her arm at the street.

Jonas agreed that he was, and the look she gave him made everything worthwhile – even having to leave Lucy alone. With any luck the news would be all round Shipcott tomorrow that he was making night patrols. If a killer was out there, maybe it would make him think twice.

For the same reason he dropped into the Red Lion and was greeted so warmly that yesterday’s impressions did seem to be no more than paranoia. He felt foolish. Everyone in the bar now seemed to know that he had jumped into the freezing stream and tried to revive Yvonne Marsh, and clamoured to buy him a drink. When he told them he was on duty and explained about the night patrols, the atmosphere grew even warmer.

‘Good thinking, Jonas,’ said Mr Jacoby to general agreement, and Graham Nash brought over a coffee on the house.