The Devil Came to Abbeville

by Marian Phair

  “No, no police, no ambulance.” Albert mumbled. He felt gentle hands lifting him up. He tried to see who had come to his aid, but one eye was completely closed, and the vision in the other was blurred. He could just make out the forms of two men, one each side of him, carrying him carefully over the rough concrete, and into the takeaway, before he passed out.

  As the door closed behind his rescurers, Roland and Pete York turned into the alleyway, a quick look around told them Albert was not hiding there, and they moved off into the night to continue their search.

  CHAPTER 21

  Evelyn Bradley finally plucked up the courage to put her plan into action.

  She decided to tell her lover, Roger Green, the news of her pregnancy first, before facing her husband Lucas. With trembling fingers she dialled his number, praying silently that he would be the one to pick up the telephone and not his wife. If Claire answered, she decided she would hang up without speaking, so that Claire would assume it was a wrong number.

  After three rings she heard the receiver being picked up and Roger’s voice.

  “Hello.”

  “Hello, Roger, it’s me, Evelyn. We need to meet, it‘s important.” Startled, Roger glanced quickly over his shoulder. Through the half-open door he could see his wife where she sat in her wheelchair watching television. Lowering his voice to just above a whisper, he spoke into the receiver, and Evelyn heard the anger in his voice hissing at her over the line.

  “How many times have I told you never to ring me at home, what can be so urgent that it couldn’t wait until after the weekend.”

  “I can’t tell you over the phone, but it is a matter of urgency and we need to talk.”

  “Well I can’t get away before ten o’clock tonight, I have to wait for Claire’s medication to kick in and she’s gone to sleep before I can leave. We’ll have to meet somewhere close by. Be at the church at ten o’clock and wait just inside the gate. I can’t spare more than half an hour so you’d better be on time.” Before Evelyn could reply he hung up.

  Roger returned to his chair in the front room and picked up the paper he had been reading. Claire looked at him as he sat down, and noticed the pensive look on his face.

  “Who was that on the phone?” she asked. Flicking open his paper and holding it up in front of his face, Roger tried to act nonchalant, yet inside, he was seething.

  “Wrong number,” he mumbled.

  “You were a long time hanging up for a wrong number. What took you so long?”

  “What the hell is this, a Spanish Inquisition? I told you, it was a wrong number!”

  he snapped at her. Claire turned her attention back to her T.V. programme.

  “Humph! Sorry I asked,” she said, snapping back. The rest of the afternoon was spent in relative silence, speaking only when it was absolutely necessary.

  Evelyn was hurt and angered by Roger’s brusque manner towards her as she hung up the phone. After all, they had been lovers for over a year and were only waiting for Claire’s demise before they could be together. To fill in the hours, she went through the house cleaning and polishing, and then prepared a lamb cassarole for supper.

  As the day wore on she felt tired from her labours, and in need of a rest. Kicking off her shoes she curled up on the settee, and within minutes, was fast asleep.

  Lucas knew immediately, from the order of the house, that something was amiss.

  Over the past few weeks, Evelyn hadn’t bothered with the household chores.

  She would only take out the vaccum cleaner when the carpets really needed cleaning. Taking up her feather duster, she would flick haphazardly at the dust covering the once highly polished surfaces of the coffee table and side cabinets. Not bothering to move things out of the way, she cleaned around them. Her clothes were usually slung over a chair, or hanging off the end of her bed, where they would remain until she decided to gather them up and put them in the wash. Now going from room to room, Lucas could see just how busy she had been. No wonder she was sleeping when he came home, she must have been cleaning all day to have the place so neat and tidy.

  To top it all, Evelyn had made him his favourite lamb casserole for supper, something she hadn’t done in an age. Sly old fox that he was, Lucas knew how to handle this new turn around.

  “What bought this on, Evie?” he asked, using her pet name. He watched her closely as he spoke between mouthfuls of casserole. “You’ve got the place shining like a new pin, it looks great.”

  “I just thought it was about time I got stuck in and give the place a good clean. It needed it.” She kept her attention on the plate of food in front of her, knowing if she looked him in the eye she would be lost. Lucas had always been able tell by her expression when she wasn’t being honest with him. She toyed with her meat, pushing it to the side of her plate with her fork. Just looking at it made her feel nauseous. Damn Lucas, damn Roger, damn all men, she thought. Men always get away with everything so easily, it was always the women who had to pick up the pieces, and struggle through the mire.

  The fact that Evelyn was only picking at the food on her plate hadn’t escaped Lucas’s notice. Something was bothering her and he was determinded to find out what. He knew if I asked her outright she would deny the fact. So he tried a different approach.

  “I think I’ll give the pub a miss tonight. Harry told me they’re showing a repeat of

  ‘The Last Samuri’ starring Tom Cruise. I missed it when it first came out. Harry reckons it’s worth staying in for.” He watched her carefully from under his lashes, and was shocked to see the effect his words had on her. Evelyn’s face had gone deathly pale, and the hand holding the fork started to tremble. What was it that had scared her half-to death? She was hiding something, and she was afraid of him, he could sense it in every fibre of his being. Her fear, was tangible.

  Evelyn spoke, her voice barely a whisper, “I think you should go to the pub. You know Harry will miss your company. Who will take your place in the dart’s team tonight if you don’t go?”

  Lucas knew then that his wife wanted him out of the way. What he couldn’t figure out, was why!

  “You could always rent the film out anyway, or buy it on DVD. Then you could watch it whenever you want,” she told him.

  Evelyn glanced up at the clock on the mantleshelf, it was already eight fifteen.

  It would take Lucas at least half an hour to shower and shave, and she would have to wait at least another fifteen minutes after he left to make sure the coast was clear. What if she couldn’t persuade him to go, after all, he had a stubborn streak in him and she knew that if Lucas didn’t want to do something, no power on earth would make him. Panic was starting to set in. She just had to get things straight with Roger first, and she wanted him by her side when she told Lucas she was leaving him, and why.

  “Yeah, I suppose I could do that. You’re right about Harry, he‘d be lost without me to watch over him. Ok, you‘ve convinced me. I’ll go to the pub.” Lucas pushed his plate to one side, and got up from the table.

  Evelyn, rose, and started clearing away the dishes and did the washing up whilst Lucas was getting ready. When he came downstairs, she was sitting on the settee, leafing through a magazine, while she waited for him to leave. Finally, he was gone and she breathed a sigh of relief. She put on her jacket and sat anxiously watching the minutes tick by on the clock, until she felt it safe to leave.

  Lucas waited over twenty minutes, lurking in the deep shadows of an entry just a few yards away. His eyes fixed on the front of his house. He watched as the front door opened and his wife’s head peered around the doorframe. She looked up and down the deserted street before stepping out and locking the door. He continued to watch as she hurried off into the night to keep her rendezvous with Roger.

  Keeping a discreet distance, and staying in the shadows, Lucas followed his wife.

  He had suspected for sometime now that she was being unfaithful. Was he about to have his fears confirmed? Only time would tell. Without a ba
ckward glance, Evelyn reached the church, and hurried up the path and through the gate.

  To avoid being seen, Lucas climbed over the wrought iron fence, and stooping low, he moved forward using the gravestones as cover. He crept up to where Evelyn was anxiously pacing up and down. On hearing footsteps on the gravel pathway heading towards him, he swiftly ducked down low behind a large headstone. In the pale moonlight, he could see that it was adorned with a beautiful stone angel, whose hands were clasped together in prayer. Lucas looked at the lovely carved face with its downcast stone eyes, and swore he saw a teardrop fall. ‘Was it a sign from heaven?’

  he thought. The figure of a man approached the spot where he knelt hidden, and Evelyn hastened to meet him. Lucas had no difficulty hearing their conversation, as they stood just feet away from his hiding place, but he couldn’t see the face of the man his wife had come to meet, because the man had his back to him.

  Evelyn tried to put her arms round Roger’s waist, but he caught her hands in his, and held her away from him. Evelyn gasped. He had never treated her like this before.

  “I told you to meet me inside the gate, not half-way up the path. I thought you hadn’t turned up, and was just about to leave when I heard you pacing up and down on the gravel. Why can’t you do anything you’re told to do?” he snarled.

  “How dare you speak to me like that. I’m not a child to be berated by you. I thought it would be safer for us to speak where there was no chance of being overheard by passersby.” She knew they were off on the wrong foot already, and arguing was not going to help.

  “So, what’s so urgent that it couldn’t wait then?” he asked her. Evelyn hadn’t wanted to blurt out her news. Its just the way it came out.

  “I’m pregnant,” she told him.

  “WHAT!” He staggered back a few steps in shock.

  Talking slowly as if addressing a child, Evelyn told him again, emphasising every syllable. “I’m pregnant with your child.” In the moonlight her lovers face was ashen. “How do you know it’s mine and not Lucas’s?”

  At the mention of his name, Lucas’s eyes lit up with rage, and it took all of his self control to stay hidden, and not jump out and grab this scoundrel by the throat and choke the living daylights out of him. Then Evelyn said the words that cut through Lucas’s rage, and left him filled with sadness. It was as if someone had reached into his chest and ripped his heart out. Tears filled his eye’s and streamed down his cheeks. All the months and years of trying to drown this hurt away were wasted.

  The pain was back, worse than ever before. Evelyn had her wish at last, and in gaining it, his world fell apart.

  “Lucas is infertile, and well you know it, Roger Green. NOW, will you keep your promise to leave your wife and marry me?”

  Roger Green…the name penetrated Lucas’s numb brain. So that was the name of the man who had destroyed his world. He would never forget the name of Roger Green! Lucas was still kneeling in his hiding place long after his wife and her lover had gone. Finally, he stood, and massaged the life back into his numb legs. Then, with a heavy heart, he did what he had done every night for the past two years.

  He headed for the Dog and Gun and oblivion.

  CHAPTER 22

  Outside of Bradley’s butcher shop, an impatient meat delivery driver pounded on the door with a clenched fist. Various carcasses were visible, hanging from large metal hooks, through the opened rear door of his van. He had been banging on the door on and off for the past ten minutes, waiting for someone to come and open up in order for him to make his delivery.

  A crude cardboard sign had been placed among the trays of meat on display in the window, announcing ‘Prices Slashed,’ in red ink. I would like to ‘slash’ something he thought, as he peered though the window, trying to see if anyone was coming to answer his knocking and unlock the door He was about to give up, get into his van and drive off, when Martha Higgings and Mary Findley approached.

  Mary saw that the ‘closed’ sign was still showing on the door, and thought Lucas must have forgotten to turn it around. She was about to try the handle, when the driver came up to them.

  “No use trying the door, lady, it’s locked. I’ve been banging on it for the last ten minutes. He’ll have to take that sign down.” He pointed to the shop window.

  “He won’t have his prices slashed if I can’t get these carcasses delivered.”

  “I don’t understand it,” Martha said. “Lucas has always opened up the shop by this time; you could set your clock by him.”

  “Maybe he’s got caught up in traffic somewhere, and that’s why he’s late opening up,”

  the driver stated. “Anyway, whatever the reason, I can’t hang around here all day; I’ve other deliveries to make.”

  “He only lives five minutes from here,” Mary told him. “So that can’t be why he hasn’t opened up for business. No. Something else must be wrong.”

  “Maybe he’s ill,” Martha said, “But if he is, surely he would have asked Evelyn to open up for him, or at least put a sign on the door so folk would know to shop elsewhere.”

  “Evelyn doesn’t know the first thing about the butchery business. I guess she could weigh out a pound of sausages, and work the till, but she’s not a butcher, and couldn’t cut the joints up the way Lucas does.”

  “I’ll leave you ladies to it; I have to get on with my rounds, time and tide and all that.”

  The driver secured the rear doors, got into the cab, and with a wave of his hand he drove off.

  “Well, I’m off too, Martha. I’m having coffee with Molly Flemming. Then we’re going to check out the charity shops and have lunch together.”

  “It’s alright for some,” Martha smiled at her. “I think I’ll make a slight detour on my way home, and call and see if Lucas is alright.”

  “You’re just being nosey, Martha,” Mary smiled back.

  “I like to think of it as being a concerned neighbour,’ Martha chuckled.

  “Yes, like I said, you’re just being nosey. Well, let me know if you find out what’s wrong.”

  “Now who’s being nosey?” Martha laughed, as she walked away.

  When Martha arrived at the Bradley’s home, she was surprised to see the curtains were still closed, in both the upstairs and downstairs windows. She lifted the heavy brass knocker and rapped on the door. When no one came in answer to her knock, she went to the front window, and peering through a chink in the curtains, she could see a womans legs protruding from behind an armchair. She rapped on the window, but there was no movement inside the room. Going back to the door she pushed the flap of the letterbox up, and shouted through the opening, her voice echoing in the silence.

  “Are you okay? Evelyn. Do you need any help?”…silence!

  She knew something was wrong. Maybe Evelyn had fallen and was unable to get up, or just passed out, but where was Lucas? Unsure of what to do next Martha tried the handle. The door was locked. She hurried down the road and into the phone box. Lifting the receiver, she dialled 999.

  A woman’s voice came over the line. “Emergency, what service do you require?” For a moment or two Martha stood silent, holding the receiver to her ear, trying to decide whether to ask for an ambulance, or the police. Again the voice asked.

  “Hello, caller. What service do you require?”

  “I’m not sure, really,” Martha replied. Then she explained briefly what had happened.

  “May I have your name please?” the operator asked.

  “It’s Martha Higgins.”

  “What’s your address, Mrs Higgins?”

  “What has my address got to do with anything? A woman could be dying while I stand answering daft questions.”

  “We need this information, Mrs Higgins. What’s your address please, and your home phone number? I also need the number you’re calling from, and the location.”

  Martha realised the sooner she gave the operator the details she asked for, the sooner help would be sent. The operator told her to go back
to the address and wait there until the emergency services arrived.

  Martha stood on the pavement outside of the Bradley’s residence. She was afraid to peep through the curtains again. Within minutes, she heard the sound of sirens as the emergency crews raced through the streets. The ambulance arrived first, quickly followed by a police car, and Martha stood on the kerbside waving her arms to let them know they had reached their destination.

  A police officer listened to what Martha had to say, while they ambulance crew stood by. Another tried the door, then went and peered through the window, and saw the legs still protruding from behind the chair, just as Martha had described.

  His trained eye saw something else as well, something that Martha hadn’t noticed…blood spatter!

  Telling the ambulance crew to stand back until requested the police officer’s forced their way in.

  “POLICE!” the leading officer shouted, as he entered and led the way down the small hallway.

  “Anyone in the house?” he called out again.

  The door leading into the front room was ajar. He used his foot to push it open, but it didn’t open fully. It was blocked by the body lying behind it.

  A quick glance around the door confirmed his worst fears. Evelyn’s body lay in a pool of blood on the floor, she had been disembowelled.

  “One dead,” the officer in the doorway called back to his colleague. “Oh my good Lord, this is overkill! There’s blood on the floor, up the walls, and on the ceiling.”

  The last moments of poor, Evelyn’s life, were painted in her blood.

  “I’ll call for back-up, get the area taped off and the SOCO team out. While I do that, can you do a quick ‘reckie’ of the house? Make sure there’s no one else here, and we‘ll need to find her husband and notify him. Poor bastard.”

  Outside, a first response team officer was talking to Martha, who was trying to see what was going on, and wondering why it was taking the police so long to send in the ambulance crew. The officer took out his note pad and pen, ready to take her details.