A Time To Pay

by David Woods

  First of all they found themselves on ice and snow. They climbed up to a viewing point, the dazzling snow made them quickly get out their sunglasses, and the sun penetrated their clothing so they took off their jackets. The view was stunning, with the Eiger glacier stretching out for twenty seven kilometres before them. The hotel had provided a packed lunch which they ate sitting on rocks, whilst large blackbirds with yellow beaks begged for food. Anna said. “They are known as alpine choughs, and follow mountaineers to very high altitudes.

  The two hours sightseeing rushed by and they caught the train just before it pulled out, arriving back at Grindelwald about four, when they spent an hour walking around the village. They returned to the hotel tired and happy.

  Brian ran a bath and watched Anna undress. When she was naked he looked at her and found the scratches were beginning to fade and the swelling disappearing, so he kissed her all over, delighted when her response indicated he had made her sexy. They both experienced an overwhelming urge to make love, and she needed to know that Brian still wanted her body after she had been violated and humiliated. She flung her arms around him in a passionate embrace, and he wanted to possess her completely and protect her. Mutual desire predominated and they shook with emotion, falling over on to the bed. Their love making became all consuming, both wanting to give the other intense pleasure and satisfaction. They explored each other’s bodies with their hands and mouths until they could wait no longer. Their orgasms were explosive and very satisfying, removing the dark clouds of fear and anger from her mind. They felt totally satisfied and relaxed, laying close together in companionable silence each with their own loving thoughts for one another.

  Brian broke the silence. “How are you feeling now my love?”

  “Fantastic. You are a terrific lover, and I feel wonderful.”

  “That’s good. I needed you so badly. It was great.”

  That night’s sleep was the first without a nightmare, and they awoke the next morning full of enthusiasm for another day’s activity. The remaining ten days were spent on chairlifts, cable cars, funiculars and lake steamers. They walked miles along mountain footpaths, through lovely pine forests and returned every night tired, but feeling much fitter. Towards the end of the holiday Anna lost all traces of her injuries, the scratches had faded and she slept peacefully every night, but their lovemaking had changed with Anna wanting Brian to be very gentle. He was pleased to have helped her recover from her ordeal, whilst at the same time satisfying her needs and his own. It was like a second honeymoon, only better.

  The holiday was over in a flash and they eventually left Interlaken, taking with them wonderful memories of one of the most beautiful countries in the world, agreeing to return soon.

  Gifts to take home were purchased at Bern on the way back. They left the car just outside town so they could walk to the bear enclosure, before crossing the bridge to the shops. The bears were very entertaining. One of them rolling on his back and clapping his paws until someone threw him an apple. They discovered the shops were all undercover, and shopping was a pure delight. They spent all morning in the federal capital, enjoying the sights and shops and lunching in a café in the market square by the beautiful old clock tower. As they sat outside surrounded by people laughing and having a good time, a funny sort of game was being played in the centre of the square which they watched for a while. The time then arrived to gather their considerable amount of shopping bags and make their way back to the car.

  After leaving Switzerland they stayed the night in Strasbourg. Anna had not mentioned her ordeal since her last nightmare five nights ago and she is looking her old self, thought Brian, as he drove along the road to Saarbrucken. In fact she is more beautiful than ever.

  When they were nearly home darker thoughts crossed their minds. “What are we going to do about Venk?” Anna suddenly said. “He could strike again at any time.”

  “Yes I know he could. But it’s going to be a hell of a job to find him.”

  “What can you do if you manage to find him?”

  Brian hesitated. “I know what he deserves for what he did to you.”

  “It is no good killing him, and ending up in prison yourself.”

  “I’ll have to try and think of a way to immobilize him. That is, of course, if I ever catch up with the bastard.

  “Yes, but in the meantime we will have to be very careful.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  After leaving the old derelict cottage Venk, his mind in turmoil, returned to his flat in Antwerp. He was very pleased to have carried out part of his revenge plan, but upset he had not been able to kill them both. The day’s activities had drained his energy that meant he needed to rest, and he climbed wearily up the stairs to his flat and collapsed on to the bed. Four hours later he awoke, his head aching and his throat dry. After sitting on the edge of the bed for a few moments he decided to make himself a cup of coffee, sipping it slowly whilst sitting on a stool in the kitchen.

  His thoughts soon returned to the previous day; the naked girl tied up with red scratch marks all over her body and with swellings where he had prodded her. It all made him feel good and warm inside. His greatest satisfaction was seeing ‘that animal man’ absolutely distraught at seeing his precious girl’s humiliation, tears in his eyes and the stunned look of disbelief as he stood waiting to be shot. The vision lifted a great weight from his mind, and he was able to think rationally again about the situation. If he had killed the couple there would be a murder hunt with Van Hagen and de Vere probably naming him. This thought convinced him he had done the right thing and there was no need to harm the couple any further, unless of course they continued to haunt him and cause him to lose sleep. Only time would tell so he made up his mind to only think of their humiliation, rather than previous events. After a while he returned to bed, slept soundly and awoke early, keen to go to work.

  Venk’s employer, who accepted his apology for being absent the previous day, was pleased he had recovered and watched him working away at a door. That man should be doing a job that uses his brain rather than his muscles, he thought. He needs to engage his mind in a positive way instead of churning over past mistakes. He had seen it before with ex prisoners who made themselves ill thinking too much but none as bad as this man, whom he thought would be back inside within six months unless something was done. He rang the prison service that was sympathetic and agreed to visit Venk. A welfare worker arrived the next day, and spent an hour chatting with him in one of the offices. She agreed to try to find a more mentally demanding job for him but warned it would not be easy. He really thought this could be the answer to his dilemma, and agreed to seek another position himself.

  The next day he was given a particularly boring job and began to think about his two ex associates with their successful business while he rotted in jail. They double-crossed him working with the enemy, when they could have visited and offered him a job when he was released. Then he thought of them risking their lives to protect the couple. These thoughts rolled over and over in his mind as he stripped off wallpaper. He stared at his sore hands, thinking about those two men in their clean offices wearing nice clothes and being waited on by girls with cups of coffee, after which they would drive home in smart new cars. To think they started with money he had made for them! They should be grateful to him. He made himself very angry and depressed, his stomach was in a twist and his pulse raced as the visions of revenge overcame him. His thoughts suddenly returned to reality, realising he was doing himself harm. His other colleagues came into the room to get ready to go home, but none of them spoke as they knew there was no point in trying to start a conversation. He drove home and cursed himself for being so stupid. Why do I do it? He thought. It only makes me ill and will not alter anything. As Friday night had come and the weekend was in front of him, he was determined to try and do something constructive. That night he slept badly with the usual visions returning to haunt him
.

  The next morning, having risen early, he went shopping to re-stock his food cupboard, and even bought a couple of new shirts on the way back. He stopped at a bookshop, buying two interesting looking paperbacks. After putting the food away and cleaning the flat, he sat down to eat some bread rolls for lunch whilst glancing at one of the books. The first chapter was boring and he had trouble concentrating on the text, his mind drifting in the usual direction. The words seemed to get muddled up and he went back a sentence to start again, which was the start of the familiar battle with his mind, lasting all weekend no matter what he did.

  Sunday morning he walked through the park to a restaurant for lunch, after which he sat watching the people go by, but even some of the activity going on around him became a blur and his mind drifted again. He began to read, and although the book became more interesting, after about twenty minutes he gave up and started to walk home, watching the other people as they passed by. He wondered if any of them suffered the way he did. The only person he had known intimately was Sylvia, his ex wife. She did not suffer at all he thought, except when I gave her a beating that she deserved for being so cruel to me. He wondered where she was living, whether she had re-married and had children. She does not deserve to be happy after walking out on me, he thought.

  He arrived at work on Monday looking pale and drawn and his eyes bloodshot after a bad night. He felt weak and edgy but remained determined to concentrate on his work or think about his book, and anything else that kept his mind from wandering. He had a filthy job all day, cleaning out an old kitchen ready for re-decoration. He got more and more dirty and angry about doing such a humiliating filthy job. His hands, face and clothing were black with grease he had cleaned out from behind an old cooker, making his trousers stick to his knees that ached from kneeling on hard boards. They only good thing was that the discomfort took his mind off other matters. It was nearly time to wash and go home and as he cleared the last of the rubbish from a corner of the kitchen, his hand came upon a wet furry thing that he threw into his bucket. It was a dead rat with maggots crawling all over it and one or two were soon transferred to his hand. This filled him with disgust and he started to scream and curse, his stomach heaving at the smell of the dead rodent and he was nearly sick. He scrambled out into the fresh air and threw the bucket and contents into a bin. The other men working on the house heard cursing and swearing coming from the kitchen and watched as the bucket was hurled, crashing into the steel bin. They stood well back as Venk went berserk, tearing off his overalls, still cursing loudly and screaming at the top of his voice. He threw his overalls into the bin before storming off. He rushed into his boss’s office, five minutes later walking out clutching an envelope, never to return. His employer felt sorry for him and paid his wages until the end of the week plus one week’s holiday money.

  His employer’s gesture eased Venk’s temper a little as he drove home, but he still shook with rage and felt sick. His appetite had completely disappeared and he was unable to eat or drink for the remainder of the day. Even a hot bath did not restore his health or temper. He lay on his bed curled up in a ball, the most comfortable position to be in when his stomach was in such a bad way. After a while he slept and drifted into a terrible nightmare where he pictured himself cleaning out a filthy place with maggots crawling about on top, and suddenly Van Hagen and de Vere appeared. They tried to push him in and he tried to fight them off, getting weaker and weaker, until he saw himself falling headlong in with them laughing as he became submerged in a foul smelling pit. He awoke screaming and sweating all over, his pulse racing, his stomach felt as if it was clamped in a vice and his hands ached from gripping the blanket.

  Ten minutes passed before he calmed down and returned to normality, mopping his brow with a handkerchief and cursing the two men for causing him so much misery. He got up and made coffee in an effort to calm his tormented nerves. The coffee did the trick and he slept until morning, getting up late and having a small breakfast. The feeling in his stomach had improved but he still felt generally weak as he sat down and thought about the future. The money on deposit could be invested in a better long term account, providing a monthly income. The morning and most of the afternoon passed by as he hunted for the best deals on offer. He found one institution offering an income sufficient to pay his rent and provide a small amount to live on until a job that suited him came along. All this activity made his appetite return and that evening he managed to consume a good meal, followed by a walk around the shops and then eight hours uninterrupted sleep.

  The next day, however, Venk became bored, walked around town aimlessly and looked at a group of good looking women, which made him wonder if he would ever be able to make love again. One dark haired woman about his own age noticed him staring and smiled, but he quickly looked the other way and hurried down the road. The last thing he wanted now was to get involved with a woman, who would be sure to desert him after a while. As he walked home thinking about his ex wife, he noticed a woman across the street and stopped as though rooted to the spot, certain it was Sylvia looking in a shop window. He continued to stare at her for a few more minutes and then plucked up the courage to walk over. She turned as he approached and smiled but he stopped dead and stammered. “I’m sorry, I thought you were someone else.”

  “Never mind” she said and carried on looking in the window.

  Venk walked on, sat on a bench and his mind began to wander back to the last months with Sylvia, when he only felt like hurting her and remembered the satisfaction of seeing her lying on the floor after he had hit her. It made him feel powerful and in control, and she deserved the punishment because she complained about his lack of attention to her sexual needs. She would not understand that he could not attend to her at the same time as worrying about his business. He thought about Sylvia begging him to go to the doctor with her to find out why there was no baby, he remembered her crying when he refused and then start to nag and moan about him not caring about her feelings, or her desire for children. He recalled the first time that had happened, his response being to put her over his knee and spank her until she wept and finally shut up. He enjoyed that, preferring it to sex and shortly after he refused to have sex at all, making up excuses to spank her. He sat on the bench for some time getting himself screwed up inside, blaming his ex wife for destroying him sexually and dreaming up visions of revenge again, humiliating her as he had the other woman.

  That night his nightmare returned but with a difference. Van Hagen and de Vere were fighting him, and pushing him into the foul smelling pit and this time Sylvia watched, laughing as he became weaker before falling in. He awoke screaming, shaking and sweating. After a while, he made the usual coffee and sat down to think what to do about these nightmares which cause him so much misery and ill health. His stomach was twisted up and he was sure he was losing weight due to not eating properly.

  Jan de Vere returned to work after spending the night sleeping on the settee at Brian and Anna’s house. He had to catch up with work not done the previous day, and finished only when certain all the lorries were properly serviced. He called at his girlfriend’s house on the way home not staying long, but just listened to the arrangements she had made for their wedding in six weeks time, and then went home to his mother’s house for dinner.

  The next day Jan and Ben had a discussion about Venk, but decided to wait until the weekend to try and locate him. In the meantime Ben fitted new locks to his flat and made the windows secure. Caroline helped with the work, suggesting slide bolts on the inside which were soon fitted, and they decided to be as careful as possible and not to let the baby out of sight at any time. Caroline was sure Venk would not attack the child, but was nervous all the time she was out with him, and only relaxed when she had returned to the flat and locked up.

  The two partners looked around the haulage yard and offices to see if any measures could be taken to provide extra security, but none were apparent apart from
making sure everything was locked up and the lorries kept away from the yard as much as possible. All small valuable items were taken home together with important company documents which were spilt evenly between the two men, with Caroline taking care of the sales and bought ledger details.

  The weekend came and Jan volunteered to commence the search for Venk. He started by visiting his country cottage which he found occupied by a young couple, who had bought it a few years ago from a man in prison whose name they could not remember. They wished Jan well in his search for the former owner, and offered to ring if he ever turned up to see his old abode again. Jan quickly glanced around the kitchen before leaving, noticing it was completely different with colourful decoration, plants on the window ledges and everything tidy.

  Conversely Venk had everything drab, washing up always on the table or waiting in the bowl and it always smelt damp. He left and drove into Antwerp, calling on some of his old criminal contacts but only one of them had seen Venk recently. He said he thought Venk was working for a painter and decorator, but gave no address and certainly did not say where he lived. Jan went home and made a list of painters in the Antwerp area, and then marked a map with crosses so that he could find them easily, but by this time it was late and he had promised to take his fiancée out. They had decided to measure up the windows of the flat they had chosen for curtains, as there was only a short time to the wedding and a lot of work to be done. He planned to start work decorating that weekend, but it would have to wait until Venk was located.