by Jacky Gray
Rory didn’t stop long the next day; Lynette had beaten the weekend traffic and picked her up early. Mandy returned from school saying she’d done well on her physics paper and asked Archer to go into town on Saturday. ‘I’ll buy you a coffee to celebrate.’
‘What would be the point? You could make me a coffee here and it wouldn’t cost you anything.’
‘Because it’s a treat. You sit in a café where people serve you cakes and you chat and watch the world go by.’
‘I still don’t get it, but if it’s a treat then yes, we should go because you deserve a treat after all that hard work.’
Although it was much as she had described, Archer could not for the life of him understand why it was a treat. Sitting on a hard chair at a stained table in an overcrowded room with people pushing past every few minutes was not his idea of fun. It was raining outside, the windows were steamed up so you could not see out and the noise level meant it was difficult to talk. The coffee was lukewarm and foamy and the cake looked like it had been left out since the previous day. It tasted as though it was full of E numbers.
Mandy, however, seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the experience. Looking round, he could see a number of couples holding hands and leaning almost close enough to kiss. But the vast majority of people were women, in twos or threes, with stacks of shopping bags or with a number of children in tow. Cafés were obviously a “girl” thing.
Rory did not come round for the next couple of weeks and things at Penny’s settled into a routine. Archer continued to spend much of his time with Mandy; it became a mutual support exercise as she applied brain power to her studies and started listening in lessons. Even Kellie joined in, she would be taking her SATs tests in May in English, maths and science. She was not as bright as Mandy, but she listened while they were talking about the science and joined in with some of the maths.
He was pleasantly surprised when Peter rang up one evening, suggesting they could meet up on Saturday. ‘They’ve been doing a series of Bond doubles, so you get two movies for the price of one.’
‘Bond doubles?’
‘I forgot you’ve been living in the dark ages. James Bond. Double-oh-seven? He’s an action hero. Just say “yes, Pete I’d love to come”.’
‘Yes, Pete I’d love to come.’
‘I’ll meet you by the bus station at nine thirty then.’
So began Archer’s education in Saturday morning adventure films. To begin with, he was embarrassed by the naked girls in the title sequence and the bedroom scenes. He was sceptical of some of the daring feats and he really couldn’t get his head round some of the plotting devices. In the interval between Diamonds are Forever and Live and Let Die, he questioned Peter as they stood in the queue to get ice cream. ‘So this villain Blofeld did not really die at the beginning in the hot mud, but it was someone pretending to be him.’
‘Yeah they altered the faces of some of his henchmen using plastic surgery to make them look like him. It was real science fiction stuff when they made the film in the seventies, but it’s quite common now.’
‘People wanting to look like other people?’
‘Or, just wanting to look prettier. They have their nose made smaller or their boobs made bigger.’
‘But they wouldn’t actually do this surgery, it was just the same actor playing all the parts.’
‘Yeah. It’s pretty good the way they film it so you can have the same actor twice in the same scene.’
‘But there were many actors pretending to be different characters, or getting mistaken for other characters. It’s almost like Shakespeare.’
‘I’ll take your word for that mate. Come on, we need to get back in for the next one.’
Archer thought this story concerning the same character, but it was played by a completely different actor. Just when he thought he’d understood it, the rules changed again. He wanted to ask Peter to explain, but there was a woman in front of them with two young lads. She turned and glared when he asked a question during the first film, so he dare not ask again. It spoilt his concentration, he could not help but compare this man’s portrayal of the role to the previous actor who had been much more credible as a tough man of action.
The drama did not hold his attention so well, he had little understanding of the ideas of drug-running and Voodoo, which were so fundamental to the plot. He found the idea of using crocodiles, snakes and sharks to kill people upsetting and had to stop himself from laughing out loud at the end when the villain blew up like a balloon and exploded.
As the credits played, there was a reprise of the song that opened the movie, it started slow and melodic, but got very noisy. Everyone was leaving, but Peter sat in his seat nodding his head vigorously in time to the music and playing his pretend drums and what he called an air guitar.
‘I love this. Guns N’ Roses did a cover of it, but I think the original’s brilliant.’
‘A good name for a rock band.’ Archer knew Peter’s taste in music.
‘Yeah. Will you come again next week?’
‘Sure, it was good.’
As he walked home, Archer’s thoughts turned to the actors who played characters on the screen and how skilfully they had portrayed someone who was totally evil. The actors themselves were probably just like the men you would meet in the street, but they were extremely convincing as ruthless, cold-blooded killers. It wasn’t just men. Two of the henchmen in the first movie were played by tall, athletic women who fought like warriors. The thing that stayed in his mind was the way several of the characters had disguised themselves as someone they were not in order to manipulate other people into doing what they wanted them to do.
25 Live and Let Die
The next Saturday saw two more movies with the same actor. Archer warmed to the way he didn’t take himself seriously. There was always a twinkle in his eye as he delivered the corniest of lines, usually to scantily-clad women. On the following week, Peter was ready to leave when the first credit rolled after the second movie.
‘Don’t suppose you wanna get a burger or something, I’m starving.’
‘Sure, I don’t have to go straight back.’
A little while later, they were sitting at a café table at the top of the small shopping mall, looking out over the rest of the town having their weekly retail therapy session. Peter was so hungry he finished his burger almost before they were seated. ‘Come on then, tell me all about your new place. What’s it like?’
Archer had just taken a huge bite of his burger and he pointed to his full mouth and chewed fast until it was gone. ‘Sorry about that, I can’t talk with my mouth full. It’s horrible.’
‘Really? Are they dead strict and nasty to you?’
‘No, I’m talking about this food. How can you eat it? It just tastes of cardboard and E numbers.’ He tried a chip.
‘Waste not want not.’ Peter picked up the batch, opening it to take out the slice of gherkin, then ramming half of it into his mouth at once.
‘Steady on mate. Has Julie stopped feeding you?’
Peter pointed at his mouth.
‘Now you can’t talk. It’s not too bad. Penny and Todd are stricter than your mum and dad, but she’s an amazing cook. Not that Julie’s bad, but Penny bakes fresh cakes and pies and her muffins are a work of art.’
Peter gulped down the last of his mouthful. ‘Sounds good. What about the other kids? I bet you haven’t got anyone strapping you to trees and threatening to shoot arrows at you.’
‘Funny you should say that…’ Archer took another chip then slid the box over, they were equally inedible.
‘No, really? Do you want us to sort them out?’
‘Nah, I was only joking. There’s only one other lad Tom. Just thirteen but he’s pretty cool.’
‘Is that it? Just the two of you?’
‘No. Rory comes once a week, Mandy and Kellie…’
‘I thought you said there was only one boy.’
‘Rory’s short for Aurora. She’s onl
y eleven, but she’s pretty smart. Taught me how to do algebra.’
‘So that’s it. You’re stuck with a bunch of little kids. That must be tame after us lot.’
‘It certainly isn’t tame. Kellie’s fourteen and Mandy’s sixteen and they both know how to cause trouble.’
‘Are they fit?’
‘I don’t know, I’ve never seen them run or do anything sporting. I suppose they must be reasonably fit, neither of them is carrying any extra weight.’
‘I mean as in hot. Pretty face, good body, nicely presented.’
‘I don’t know. When I first got there, they both wore far too much make-up. Kellie is a goth, all pale face and head-to-toe black, but you would think she’s cute. Mandy is … was a punk. Lots of tight leather and tattoos and a bright pink Mohican.’
‘Sounds like a girl Jack was hanging out with. I haven’t seen her lately though.’
‘Really. When was the last time he saw her?’
Peter shrugged, looking down at the ground. ‘Dunno.’
‘Think Peter, this could be important. If it is the same girl … could you ask him for me?’
‘I dunno. I don’t see much of him these days.’
Archer narrowed his eyes, sensing there was more to come and watched Peter playing with the last few chips.
‘I wish you’d come back, you made such a difference to everyone.’ He scrunched the box up and put it in the brown bag. ‘I was starting to like the atmosphere in the house, but now it’s back to normal and people are just fighting and bitching at each other all the time.’
‘You mean Jack and Kyle?’
‘Yes, but it’s not just them. Dad always seems to be having a go at Mum for something and she’s not letting him get away with it anymore.’
‘What do you mean?’ Archer cleared the rest of rubbish.
‘She stands up to him when he treats her like a slave and tells him to get his own beer if she’s busy.’
‘That’s a good thing isn’t it?’
‘I guess so. We’re all supposed to give a hand with the clearing up after meals, but Dad walks away and the others copy him. So mostly it’s just me and her. Now you pointed it out, I don’t think it’s fair she should do it all, but I don’t think it’s fair the others get away with it either.’
‘There’s a standard answer for that where I come from. “Life’s not fair.” Someone usually answers, “And then you die.” I’m sure she appreciates that you’re doing your bit to help.’
‘Yeah. She says sometimes it’s only me that’s keeping her sane, making her life worth living.’
‘Oh dear, that doesn’t sound good.’
‘I know. She’s gone all tree-hugger like Aunty Dawn, saying we’ve got to recycle all the bottles and paper. She goes mad if we throw away a carrier bag.’
‘Don’t hate me, but that could be my fault. I was telling her what it was like where I lived and how much energy it takes to make paper and glass. We re-use everything.’
‘I’ve been reading some scary stories about what the world will be like only fifty years from now. That’s like when my kids would be grownup.’
‘Always assuming some girl will marry you.’
‘Cheeky buggar. The internet says it’ll be dire if we don’t do something to reduce our waste and stop wrecking the ozone layer.’
‘We need to stop wasting the earth’s resources. But I can’t see it happening anytime soon. No-one wants to give up central heating, their car or individually wrapped chocolate bars.’
‘You really think it needs to go that far?’
‘That’s not nearly far enough. Anyway, this punk girl Jack knows. Is he going out with her?’
‘I don’t know. We had a big bust up a few weeks ago and I haven’t seen much of him since.’
‘What happened?’
‘It’s quite a long story. You haven’t got to get back anytime soon have you?’
‘Just give me the highlights.’
‘You know we were supposed to be being really good at school in case Barston sent the social workers poking around at Mum and Dad’s?’
‘Did anything happen about that?’
‘All in good time.’ Peter grinned; he liked a tease. ‘They were good as gold at the start, especially Jack, he was getting lots of blue slips. I got some and a couple of praise postcards sent home.’
‘Sounds promising.’
‘Dad gave us all some money to celebrate in town so we went to see the first Bond double. Jack snuck in without paying.’ Peter rolled his eyes. ‘And Kyle only paid for the first one. They didn’t like Dr No, said it was too old fashioned, so they went to the mall instead of staying for the next one.’ He took a sip of his coke. ‘They met Brett and I assumed they were just mooching round the shops. Jack mentioned a girl with a pink Mohican. I don’t know what they were doing, but the next week I went on my own.’
‘You should have called me back then.’
‘I wish I had. When I got home, Jack asked to see my ticket. I showed him and he said “Thanks mate” and walked off with it. I asked him to give it back ’cos I’m making a scrap book of the Bond stuff. What?’
Archer lowered his eyebrows. ‘Nothing. Just that I would never have seen you as the creative type.’
‘Yeah well I love graphics and my teacher said I should have a portfolio if that’s what I want to do.’
‘Good advice.’ Archer was struck by how much Peter had changed and grown since he last saw him. ‘What happened about the ticket?’
‘Jack said he needed it, but he’d give it back eventually.’
Archer looked at his ticket. ‘Why would he only want it for a while? Doesn’t make sense.’
‘That’s what I thought. Anyway he seemed all twitchy and Kyle said something like “what about me?” Jack told him to shut up and listen. Then he asked me about the films, who was in them and what happened. I told them the outlines, but he was asking lots of questions and I didn’t know the answers. He got annoyed and asked if I actually watched the film. It seemed important that he knew all the details so I suggested he looked it up on the internet.’
‘Weird. Why didn’t he just watch them if he wanted to know what they were about?’
‘He didn’t.’
‘But you just said …’
‘I know. Then he asked me where I was sitting in the theatre and how many other people were in there.’
‘How would he expect you to know that? You would have been watching the film not counting how many people were sitting in there with you.’
‘That’s what I said. He said he didn’t mean exactly, just was it full or empty.’
‘Why would he want to know that? And what’s that got to do with the film?’
‘Then he asked me what time it started and finished and how long the interval was and I finally started putting two and two together. Look at your ticket again.’
Archer looked at the ticket closely, then turned it over and looked at the other side. There was just an advert for the website so he turned it back and it finally clicked. ‘Of course. So what did you do?’
‘What could I do? I let him have the ticket and said nothing, but I kept my ear to the ground just in case.’
‘In case of what?’
‘In case I might end up in big trouble.’
26 We are Detective
Archer was in familiar territory. Much of his recent life was a series of dilemmas, all of which had two equally tough alternatives both with horrendous consequences. Except in this case there was a third alternative. A trilemma? This had the least honour, but could be safest in the long run.
The hardest one, which would cause the most personal pain, would be to confront the individuals involved. He discussed with Peter what the crime might be, but they hadn’t come up with anything concrete. The lack of solid evidence meant that any confrontation would be fraught with problems. It would be too easy for the perpetrators to wriggle out of it or they might react violently, because violence
was definitely one of their preferred modes of operation. There was the tiniest possibility that they were completely innocent, but given the nature of the characters involved, that was unlikely.
It was this faint chance that stopped Archer from choosing the second alternative, to hand the problem over to an adult, someone in authority who could deal with it properly. This option had less immediate personal risk, and the advantage that trained professionals would be able to get to the truth quickly and impersonally.
So in the short term, he took the third option which was to say absolutely nothing to anyone, but to watch out for the slightest clue. This meant he had to act as though he was ignorant of what had gone on and was still totally taken in by the performances of the major players. The warrior training helped; his ability to assume the cold face was useful. But it wasn’t enough to suppress his natural revulsion to the evil that lurked just below the surface. He had to continue to behave as though he was infatuated with the reformed Mandy. Which meant he had to ignore Rory as much as possible or act as though she was an annoying little brat.
When he met Peter on Saturday, he was no further on in solving the mystery as they tried a different café.
‘Apart from the fact that she’s wearing more new clothes, I don’t have much of a clue.’
‘Well I have. You know we worked out Jack needed the ticket for some kind of alibi?’
‘So he could pretend he was watching Bond movies all afternoon.’ Archer was enjoying the home-made Cornish pasty Peter had recommended; it was much more like real food.
‘When did Mandy change her appearance?’
Archer told him the date and Peter worked out the number of weeks since then. ‘Yep. That fits exactly. That’s the week Jack asked for the ticket. Has she suddenly got any other new gear?’
‘I already told you about the new clothes.’
Peter was about to explain, then caught Archer’s grin. ‘I mean a Game Boy or new videos like Indiana Jones.’
‘Yeah, she said her Discman was broken and now she’s using it again. And I saw her with a stack of new CDs.’
