Cross

by Ken Bruen

  I was tempted to deny it. No good ever came of these inquiries. I didn't hide my annoyance.

  'Yeah?'

  He was big – over six foot – in his early sixties, with a weather-beaten face, a bald head and nervous eyes. Wearing a very fine suit and solid heavy-duty shoes, he said, 'I'm sorry to disturb you, but I've been looking for you for quite a few days.' A slight testiness in his tone, as if he had better things to do than search for me.

  I touched the pint. It felt good, if a little soured by the interruption.

  'So you've found me. What's your problem?'

  I didn't make any attempt to disguise my irritation.

  He put his hand out. 'I'm Edward O'Brien.'

  I ignored his hand, asked, 'And that's supposed to mean something? Tell you, pal, it don't mean shit to me.'

  He gave an almost knowing smile. 'They told me you'd a sharp tongue but a good heart.'

  Before I could respond to this piece of nonsense, he said, 'I need your help.'

  More to get rid of him than out of interest, I asked, 'For what?'

  'To find my dog.'

  I nearly laughed. Here I was, fixing to find who crucified a man, and this lunatic lost his dog?

  'You're fucking kidding, someone put you up to this, it's like some kind of lame joke.'

  He was shocked. His face registering hurt, he said, 'I love that little guy.'

  I shook my head, waved him away.

  He didn't go, continued, 'I'm a professor at the university and I represent the residents of Newcastle. Are you at all au fait with the area?'

  Au fait!

  And being a professor, like that was going to cut some ice with me. The last professor I encountered had been a murdering bastard. I near shouted, 'Yo, Prof, I'm from Galway, I know where the bloody place is.'

  He ploughed on.

  'Five homes have had their dogs stolen. We heard you were good at finding things, and we'll pay you.'

  When I didn't leap at the opportunity, he added, 'And pay well.'

  The temptation to go Doggone was ferocious.

  I said, 'Leave it with me, I'll see what I can do.'

  He straightened up. 'Thank you so much. It means an awful lot to us.'

  He was on his way when I said, 'They were wrong, what they told you about me.'

  His face brightened. 'That you had a sharp tongue?'

  'No, that I had a good heart.'

  5

  Cross-eyed.

  Back in my apartment, I was preparing for my siesta. I had my own version of this deal: try to get some food down, half a painkiller/ tranquillizer and sayonara suckers. Pulled on a long T-shirt with the logo THE JAMES DEANS, brushed my teeth and had a brief look at Sky News. Maybe the world had improved.

  It hadn't.

  The Republican Convention was taking place in New York. Christopher Hitchens had written that it was going to be a tight race and I believed him. Chechen rebels had seized a school and were threatening to kill three hundred kids if their fighters weren't released. One of the little girls was dragged to safety and, I swear, she was the spit of Serena May. Part of the whole mountain of guilt, remorse, was that every little girl reminded me of her. How could they not?

  I switched off fast, swallowed the medication and waited for it to meld into the blood, muttering, 'God, I know you've fucked me good and probably for all time, but hey, cut me a bit of slack – no dreams of the child, or you know what? I'll drink again.'

  Yeah, threatening God, real smart idea, like He gave a toss in the first place. But what the hell.

  I added as a rider, 'Didn't I help a priest, doesn't that count?'

  Probably not.

  A knock on the door.

  'Fuck.'

  Could I risk ignoring it? Sleep was already creeping along my nerves. More knocking and I sighed, opened it.

  Ridge.

  She was in uniform, looking serious, intimidating.

  I said, 'I paid my television licence, officer.'

  She was not amused, but then, she rarely was. Our relationship was usually combative, aggressive, and however much we tried, we never could get free of each other. Before Cody had been shot, we'd reached a sort of warmth. She was in a relationship and it appeared we might establish some sort of friendship.

  I'd saved her from a very vicious stalker and I knew how much she appreciated it, but she reacted with hostility to being indebted, and, God knows, no one understood this better than me. You help me out, I feel like I owe you, and till the sheet is clean I'm uneasy, jumpy, and what I know best is antagonism. The terrible truth, and we both knew it, was we needed to be linked, were linked, and somewhere in all that mess we were both scared we'd lose each other.

  Is this fucked up? Sure. Or maybe it's just pure Irish.

  I often thought, if only she weren't gay, would there be something?

  If I wasn't an alcoholic. If… if… if.

  Back through the years, we'd helped each other more than anyone else. Then we'd reach a plateau of near intimacy and one or both of us would scuttle for cover. Wouldn't it break your heart. It certainly broke mine, and as for Ridge, a smashed heart was written on her face if you could get past the front.

  But the shooting had changed everything. My bitterness was not going to bring back the vague thread of closeness we'd been near.

  She accused, 'You're only getting up?'

  Her face was devoid of make-up and she looked strained.

  'Actually, I was going to bed.'

  She made a show of checking her watch. 'It's one thirty in the afternoon.'

  I was tempted to slam the door in her face, shout, Aw, fuck off, but went with 'You came round to tell me the time? I have a watch.'

  She brushed past me and marched into the sitting room.

  I closed the door, said, 'It's not going to endear me to the neighbours, having Guards at the door.'

  She looked round, not seeing anything to improve her mood, so I asked, 'You want something? A beer, a large whiskey?'

  Needling her.

  She said, 'I'd have thought jokes about alcoholism were hardly appropriate.'

  We stood, hostility swirling round us till I asked, 'What, you came round, figured you'd just bust my balls? Things a bit slow on the traffic front?'

  The wind seemed to go out of her. She slumped in a chair, asked, 'You know how hard it is, being a Guard?'

  I wanted to shout, Hello, I used to be one, but said nothing.

  She continued, 'And being a woman – a gay woman – they love that. You just know you're not on any promotion list. Last year they issued us with skirts to soften our image, like a thug is going to appreciate the difference, drop his knife and say, "Sorry, didn't realize you were wearing a skirt." None of the other women wear them. I have my baton, a utility belt that takes the handcuffs, has a pouch for the radio, a face shield for mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and latex gloves for health and safety, especially when you have to search a body.'

  She gave a small shudder as she said this, then added, 'They allow make-up, did you know that? As long as it's not red lipstick or blatant. Our hair has to be a certain length. There's a bitch, my sergeant, she measures my hair, so I started to wear a ponytail and she said it had to go under my cap.'

  It was like she'd never really allowed herself to examine the details of her job and I wondered where this was going. She wasn't finished.

  'We're supposed to take turns in the patrol car and that's always in pairs. On the beat, you're often on your own. You know how many times I've got to ride in the car?'

  I had to say something so tried, 'Not often, I'd guess.'

  'Never. Is that fair? But what am I saying? Fair isn't the deal. I get stuck in the station a lot. I hate that, it's like being in an office, people looking for driving licences, passports or reporting thefts. It's so boring. Then they bring in a drunk, a lot of drunks…'

  She eyed me. I was obviously in that category.

  I was tempted to mock, Ah, poor little Ridge, they wo
n't let you ride in the big car.

  But I held back and she went on, 'The thing is, I love being a Guard, but if I don't get promoted soon, I'll have to consider resigning.'

  Her face as she said this was a tragedy in miniature. Sleep was trying to claim me and I wanted her to fuck off, so I said, 'Do whatever you have to do to get the promotion.'

  She looked right at me and I realized we'd come to the whole point of the visit.

  She said, 'I'm very worried about a health problem and I don't know who to tell.'

  Sometimes simplicity is the only route, so I said, 'Tell me.'

  She took a deep breath.

  'I found a lump on my breast. It might be just tissue, but -'

  I didn't hesitate.

  'You have to get it checked.'

  She was lost for a moment, imagining, who knows, what horrible implications.

  I pressed on. 'Ridge, promise me you'll make an appointment.'

  She re-focused.

  'OK, I will, but there is something else.'

  I waited. She asked, 'You know about the crucifixion?'

  I nodded, even though I knew precious little.

  She said, 'He was eighteen years of age, John Willis, they nailed him to the cross and mounted the thing on the hill above the city dump. We thought maybe it was a drug deal, a warning to others, or maybe even political. It isn't. He comes from a respectable family, was due to start college and has no record.'

  She waited for my input.

  I was stunned, shocked, sickened. Visions of Cody were in my head and I thought I might throw up. Took me a solid five minutes before I could gasp, 'Any leads?'

  She composed herself, curbing the excitement the case stirred in her. 'We have nothing – no leads, nothing to go on, it's dead in the water. But if a person were able to shed any light on it, it would be a career-maker.'

  It took me a moment to grasp.

  'Ah no, you want me to nose around. You're the one always telling me to get out of this whole sordid game, that it will destroy me.'

  She at least had the grace to seem ashamed, then said, 'I don't want you to do anything dangerous, but you have an uncanny knack for finding threads.'

  Before I could refuse – and refuse I intended – she took out a sheet of paper and said, 'Here's the name, he lived in Claddagh, I'll leave it here. Just think about it, OK? That's all I ask, Jack.'

  Jack.

  She never used my first name. It was a measure of her desperation.

  As she was heading for the door she said, 'You look beat, get some rest.'

  With all the sarcasm I could muster, I said, 'I'm touched by your concern. The next time I see you, I want to hear you've been for that check-up.' I tried to keep my tone light, not show how worried I was.

  She was in the hall, a ray of light catching the gold buttons on her tunic. Looking almost impressive and vulnerable, she said, 'I'm not concerned, I was just trying to be polite.'

  I shouted after her, 'Try harder.'

  I slammed the door, letting the neighbours know I was back and with ferocity. Picked up the piece of paper, read:

  John Willis

  3, Claddagh Park

  Galway

  I sat in the chair, and before I could even begin to think about it, my eyes closed and sleep grabbed me.

  Herbert Spencer wrote: 'There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance – that principle is contempt prior to investigation.'

  I, of course, have no idea what Spencer looked like, but in my addled sleep he appeared, carrying a hammer and nails and quoting the above, and then began shouting that this was not going to be solved as I was not in the right frame of mind. He looked a bit like my father and then roared, in Irish, 'Bhi curamach!'

  Be careful.

  Ridge was in the dream too, but her part is lost to me, save she was extremely unhappy. Serena May, the dead child, of course appeared, her sad eyes locked on me till I woke, whimpering, drenched in sweat.

  My apartment was dark, and I fumbled to see my watch… Jesus, seven o'clock, I'd been out for five hours. Resolved I'd cut way down on the sleepers. I made no such resolution regarding the bitterness – that was the only fuel I had.

  6

  'Sed libera nos a malo.'

  'Deliver us from evil.'

  The Lord's Prayer

  The girl remembered the green walls of the mental hospital – puke green. She'd come to in a hospital bed and panic had hit first before she'd realized she was still alive. She hadn't known if she was relieved or not.

  Then she'd seen her father, sitting on the hard chair by her bed, keeping vigil. His head had fallen forward and a slight dribble leaked from his mouth, making him look old. The crown of his head revealed a bald spot, still barely noticeable, but the loss had begun. His whole posture spoke of defeat. She'd known him through his many moods – angry, frustrated, grief stricken – but never, never had he surrendered.

  If she stirred, she knew he'd wake, and she needed some time before that happened. She lay perfectly still, her mouth dry, her body feeling weak. But something had changed. She could sense a dark energy above her, waiting to be summoned. Those days after the tragedy, when she'd been inconsolable, she'd begun to lose her mind. She kept replaying how her mother must have felt, those moments before the close. And alone – her mother would have hated that.

  The girl had hoarded a stash of her mother's sleeping pills, and on the street she scored a whole batch of other stuff. She had sat in her room, the pills in line, like tiny soldiers waiting for her orders. She liked the colours of them, lots of yellow, red and blue – blue, her mother's best loved shade. Walking point on those items of relief was the bottle of vodka. She took a deep swig, then… eeney, meeny, miney… let's have a blue, then a red… and why not two yellow, another tot of vodka. She felt the raw alcohol light up her stomach, the voice in her head asking, 'Are you going to kill yourself?'

  And the other voice, still in its infancy – the dark one – answering, 'I just want the pain to stop.'

  That all-encompassing grief had made her howl in silent anguish, her head tilted back, her mouth wide open but forming no sound, like a mute hyena. Her brother had come upon her thus and, frightened, he'd backed away, unable or unwilling to try and give her solace. The girl's voice, the voice of her childhood, attempting one last rally as she popped three red ones – such pretty colours – more alcohol, that young voice saying, 'Suicide is eternal damnation.'

  The dark tone spitting back, 'And this, this… the way I am, a quivering mess of grief and anguish… is this not pure damnation?'

  She didn't remember anything after that, only the dark voice sneering, 'We rule now.'

  Wherever she'd been, that empty place between life and death had been where the transference had begun. The darkness had grown stronger, eroding the old her. She'd let out a deep breath, as if expelling the last remnants of the girl she'd been and, she thought with utter contempt, the weakling she'd been.

  No more.

  Let the shadows rule. Bring on the spectre of retribution and ferocious revenge.

  It was then she'd noticed, out of her peripheral vision, flames beginning to build in the corner of the room, though when she looked directly there was nothing there. She'd let out a squeal of pure delight.

  The sound had woken her father. He'd sat up suddenly, alarm on his face and then relief as he realized she was back.

  If he'd only known.

  He'd taken her slight hand in his own huge fists and squeezed it, saying, 'Tell me, baby, tell me what I can do to help.'

  She'd sat up, a strength she'd never had before infusing her, and told him exactly what she wanted. With a delicious sense of power, she'd seen the horror on his face at what she proposed. The clarity of her thinking, shrouded in this new darkness, had been exhilarating.

  He'd agreed with all her plans, though she could plainly see he was repulsed at
the biblical scope of her vision. But he'd been so relieved to have her back, he'd have agreed to anything.

  After he'd left, she'd curled up in a warm posture of total renewal, smiling at how happy he'd been that she hadn't died. Her smile had grown in malevolence as she wondered how he'd feel if he knew precisely who it was that had returned. A soothing weariness began to claim her, and before sleep took her she recalled her mother's description of the Church that was such a vital part of her life.

  She'd said, 'Alannah, our Church is all we have. Our Lord Jesus Christ will not be mocked. He will smite those who damage his flock.'

  Her mother had been among the finest members of the flock and the girl muttered, almost asleep, a smell of smoke in her nostrils, 'Behold a pale rider, trailing death and vengeance in his wake.'

  The words were like black communion in her mouth.

  7

  In Ireland, among the older generation,

  it is believed that a prayer said at the foot

  of the cross is always answered.

  I had to go to the hospital the next morning for my daily check on Cody, to see that the wounds were healing and he wasn't getting bedsores. Involved a two-hour wait. The news was on. The siege at the Russian school had ended in horror, disaster. Three hundred feared dead, most of them children, scenes of them fleeing in their underwear as the terrorists fired at them. I had to move away, heard the gasps of shock from the people in the waiting room. Then a report on Iraq: since the 'peace', one thousand American soldiers had died. When the nurse called me I was relieved to get away from the television.

  The doctor, cheery, asked, 'How are you feeling?'

  Multiple-choice answers:

  Horrified

  Depressed

  Hungover

  Like a bastard.

  Said, 'Could be worse.'