Carruthers' Demise, Chapters fourteen and fifteen (standard:drama, 3412 words) [8/24] show all parts
Author: Brian Cross	Added: Sep 24 2011	Views/Reads: 6433/1619	Part vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Carruthers' novelist wife has gone missing in the New Forest. It is beginning to look like there's another man involved, but Carruthers has difficulty accepting this as fact. Continuation of my drama

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

screwed his eyes, ‘What did you see?' 

‘Well now, that would be tellin'. Foulkes sneered, exposed his yellow
teeth. I reckon, to bring you running back to these parts I guess it 
means a lot – how much is it worth?' 

‘You despicable low-life...' 

‘Steady on fella...' Foulkes lowered the shotgun, prodded it into
Carruthers' midriff, curtailing any advance he made. ‘Best advice is, 
let's keep it nice and friendly like – from where I'm standing you 
ain't exactly on the right track to find out what I saw. Now you and 
your wife are monied people; I noticed that right away. I figure a 
miserly sum wouldn't set you back one iota.' 

Carruthers sighed, moved the barrel away from his stomach. He had no
fear that Foulkes would use the gun, his anger might have blinded him 
in that respect, but if he wanted information he was going to have to 
play ball with the vagrant. 

‘And what do you term a miserly sum?' 

‘Well now,' Foulkes' wild eyes stopped roaming, locked onto Carruthers
as he scrubbed his chin with a scraggly right hand. ‘Like I say, I 
figure you want to know bad.  Call it two hundred and I'll tell yer 
what I saw.' 

‘That's ludicrous,' Carruthers hissed. ‘I don't carry that kind of money
in my back pocket.' 

‘Well I sure as hell don't take credit cards.' 

Carruthers checked his watch, a jerky movement; his adrenalin was
pumping in torrents. ‘I need the village cash point,' he said bitterly. 
‘I can be back by seven-thirty. Where will I find you?' 

‘Now yer talkin'' Foulkes sneered. Carruthers could smell the sweat and
grime oozing from the man, it made him feel ill. ‘Where I'm standing 
now; ain't plannin' on going far – not with two hundred quid coming in 
my direction.' 

Carruthers was exasperated, felt like smacking Foulkes but retained his
composure. 

‘How did you manage to find us, and why?' 

‘How? Easy – though it was by chance. I know this Forest like the back
of me hand – that picnic area ain't so far from ‘ere as you might 
think. Me and me mates were just headin' for a little free food, plenty 
to be found in that area – so we cut across country and what do I see? 
You and yer wife tying yer bikes up.' 

Foulkes lowered the shotgun, placing both hands over the barrel. ‘And
why? Because yer wife struck me as a snotty bitch – that's why I gave 
yer the wrong directions, sent yer on that long, winding road – and 
then when I saw her I couldn't resist a bit of fun...' 

‘You disgust me.' 

‘Yer wasting time fella – two hundred quid and I'll tell yer exactly
what I saw...' Foulkes scowled, ‘the sooner you get yer money, the 
sooner yer get to know what happened.' 

Carruthers swallowed his indignation, walked briskly back along the
narrow track and then onto the parking area where he'd left Casey. 

He was greeted by the sight of her empty car and for ten long minutes,
becoming increasingly more tense and livid, Carruthers developed a 
sense of déjà-vu. He yelled repeatedly for her, his voice swallowed up 
in the Forest vastness. 

‘Not again.' He sat on her car bonnet, hand clutching his forehead,
trying to think straight but losing the struggle, when her hand clamped 
on his shoulder making him jump to high heaven. 

‘Marty, are you all right?' 

‘No, I'm bloody well not.' Carruthers let out a heavy sigh. ‘I asked you
to wait here, where have you been?' 

Casey shrugged. ‘I took a walk around the big oak – look I didn't know
how long you'd be and it was time better spent than staring at it 
through a car window.' 

‘Didn't you hear me shout?' 

Casey shook her head. ‘No, I'd have come right back if I had.' 

‘You gave me a bloody big fright.' Carruthers got up, looked into her
large brown eyes – it was so difficult with Casey to know what he was 
reading in them. 

‘Okay, look – I struck lucky and found Foulkes.' 

‘You did? Oh Marty, what did...' 

Carruthers raised a hand to silence her. ‘The downside is he won't talk
without a payout. I should have known but...' 

Casey felt inside her jacket. ‘How much, I've got some cash.' 

‘Two hundred quid,' he said, watching her head drop. 

‘I've only got about forty.' 

‘Look, it doesn't matter; I can get to a cash point and back in less
than half an hour.' He shot her a disgruntled look; ‘Although I've 
wasted ten minutes waiting for you.' 

‘How did I know, Marty?' Casey's husky voice betrayed resentment as she
opened her car door. ‘If you'd have let me come with you...' 

‘Okay, okay.' Carruthers slid in beside Casey, realised he was taking
his frustration out on her. ‘Smack my wrist?' 

‘I'll do more than that in a minute.' But Casey Jennings met his eyes
with a sympathetic smile as she drove them out of Ornamental Drive and 
onto the road back to Lyndhurst. 

*** 

Foulkes watched Carruthers troop away and spat into the undergrowth. Two
hundred perishing quid, he should have shovelled a lot more than that 
out of the lousy bugger. The twat would have paid it even though he 
wouldn't like what was going to be told. 

But in the end, the two hundred quid was easy money, and in any case
although he despised this type of guy it wasn't the bloke who'd ruffled 
his feathers. No, it was the tall, willowy blond woman he'd taken a 
dislike too the moment she opened her mouth.  He'd seen her at the 
picnic site, prancing across the field to the car. He knew the make 
alright, he'd driven a few motors in his time, not legally mind, but 
what difference did it make? He'd got a look at someone inside it; he 
hadn't been close enough to give a description but if he told the bloke 
what kind of car he saw, that would likely give the snooty bitch's game 
away in any case. 

Oh he'd been watching, you bet. At first he'd been doing it to annoy her
– to get his own back for her show of toffee-nosed arrogance. After 
she'd crossed the field though, and come out of the toilet, that's when 
he'd seen her take a different direction – make for the car – her phone 
held to her ear like she was being directed.  He'd seen the short 
conversation that followed, and how she'd been hurried into the car – 
after she'd taken a quick look around of course, obviously to check 
that the coast was clear; only it wasn't – 

A trampling in the undergrowth interrupted Foulkes' thoughts, causing
him to turn. ‘Smith,' he called. ‘Smith, is that you?' 

‘Back in a minute,' he heard Smith call from a distance. ‘Getting some
supplies.' 

But it couldn't have been Smith who'd caused the distraction. Puzzled,
Foulkes began to force back the bramble bushes on the overgrown track 
where he'd heard the rustling. He knew the forest well, he'd lived 
rough in it for long enough – but that knowledge caused an 
overconfidence for which he was about to pay the price. 

Foulkes gaped as he stared into the face of the newcomer. Seconds later
he let out a moan. 

Chapter Fifteen 

‘I wonder what this Foulkes character saw that's worth two hundred
quid.' Casey took her eyes from the road, looked squarely at 
Carruthers. ‘I wonder who he saw?' 

Carruthers threw up his hands. ‘I really have no idea.' 

‘It's just incomprehensible to think that she'd get into a car with a
complete stranger.' 

‘It obviously wasn't a total stranger,' Carruthers said irritably. ‘She
was speaking to him on her mobile phone when he picked her up.' 

Casey put her foot on the pedal all of a sudden, throwing Carruthers
back in his seat. ‘You say ‘he' Marty, but how do you know that?' 

‘Just a figure of speech,' Carruthers answered gruffly, irked by her
sudden acceleration. 

‘And in any case, that might have been a coincidence; she could have
been on the phone to anyone.' 

‘Yeah, I'll give you that; all too much of a coincidence in my book
though.' 

‘Perhaps.' Casey checked her mirror, roared past a tractor. ‘I just hope
it's not somebody she's met at some function or other.' 

Carruthers glared across, shocked. ‘What do you mean by that?' 

‘Well you know how she likes to socialize – I mean, men?' Casey craned
her head. ‘Oh come on Marty, she never could resist a bit of flirting.' 


‘And that's all she does, she never takes it further.' Carruthers shook
his head furiously. ‘Casey, that's nonsense. Chelsey wouldn't just walk 
out and leave her belongings – this has got nothing to do with her so 
called flirting. I'm surprised you even considered it.' 

‘Excuse me for talking out of turn, but I really can't see any other
possibility.' 

Carruthers might have been rattled, but his memory received a jolt also.
‘Her diary's missing.' 

‘Say again?' To Carruthers' relief Casey kept her eyes on the road. 

‘I said, Chelsey's diary's missing.' 

‘Perhaps she never brought it.' 

Carruthers shook his head. ‘I checked her belongings earlier, it was
there. I'd swear to it.' 

‘Well there you go then; she's been back and removed the incriminating
evidence.' This time Casey did turn slowly towards him. ‘Another bloke 
I mean.' 

‘I know what you mean.' But suddenly Carruthers' eyes widened. ‘Adrian
searched through her things...' 

‘What for? 

‘I guess because he thought it might give us a clue. But I'd already
checked and... 

‘Why the hell should he want the diary?' 

‘I've no idea. And in any case I kept my eyes on him.' Carruthers
reflected on that – well he had, until he'd gone to the bathroom. But 
in any case, as annoying as Adrian was, what would he want with her 
diary? There had to be some other explanation as to why it was missing, 
but it only heaped further turmoil on an already besieged mind to 
contemplate that now. 

Casey spotted a cash-point on Lyndhurst High Street and pulled over for
Carruthers. ‘I only hope this works for you Marty – could be this 
guy'll take your money and feed you a load of crap...' 

Carruthers climbed out without offering a reply, he didn't like the way
Casey was vilifying his wife. It was a side of her he wasn't used to 
seeing, but he had to concede he might be fuelling Foulkes' anti-social 
habits without recompense. 

Nevertheless he had no other option. 

Carruthers collected his money from the cash-point and Casey drove them
back, showing the same careless abandon in her driving that she had 
previously, but at least she didn't force the issue on Chelsey's lack 
of virtuosity. In fact she remained silent throughout the ten-minute 
drive, her only attempt at speech coming when they reached the parking 
area. 

‘I'll wait for you here,' she said, her voice oddly flat. 

Carruthers exhaled heavily. ‘Casey I do appreciate what you're doing to
help, it's simply that I can't bring myself to see things from your 
angle.' He laid a hand on her lap. ‘Listen, I could do with some 
company,' then seeing her eyes widen, ‘no - I really could.' 

Casey bit her lip, nodded and then brightened a little. ‘Okay then,
let's go find this guy.' 

Carruthers led her through the Forest tracks; a cool wind had risen in
the short time they'd been away and he detected a subtle change in its 
direction. The fresh air seemed to remove some of his lethargy. 

They passed through the clearing where Carruthers and Chelsey had
originally found Foulkes and then carried on into the large one where 
the vagrant had indicated he'd wait. 

‘Well this is the spot.' Carruthers halted, placed hands on hips and
glanced at Chelsey, ‘But as you can see, there's nothing.' 

Casey drew in air, looked around the large oval clearing, noticing that
at its far end the trail continued. ‘Perhaps he's moved further on,' 
she said. ‘Let's go check.' 

‘Wouldn't have thought he'd do that,' Carruthers said dubiously, ‘not
when he's sitting on two hundred quids' worth of easy money.' He lofted 
his hand. ‘No sound of shotguns either, not a sound apart from the 
birds.' 

Nonetheless Carruthers followed her through to a trail every bit as
narrow as the one that had led them into the clearing, but this time 
bramble and nettle partially obstructed their path, causing them to 
edge sideways to avoid being stung. 

‘Foulkes – Foulkes, where yer gone?' 

Carruthers heard the coarse shout from somewhere to his left and finding
himself in a small, earthy clearance in the trees amidst which were 
pitched a couple of grey, canvas tents, he encountered the tall, gaunt 
man he'd seen Foulkes with a short time previously. 

‘Where is he?' Carruthers demanded, his impatience growing. 

The gaunt guy afforded him an unfriendly stare. ‘If I knew that, I
wouldn't be calling him, now would I?' 

‘He said he'd be waiting...' 

‘Aye, that's right.' The vagrant wiped his nose on the sleeve of his
jacket. ‘I brought some of our haul,' he said, pointing to a cluster of 
wildfowl that Carruthers had to turn away from, ‘went back to join him 
but he weren't there.' He sniffed. ‘No telling where he gets to 
sometimes.' 

‘Are you telling me he'd go walkabout when he's onto easy money.' 

The vagrant shrugged. ‘Maybe – maybe not, but he ain't here.' 

Carruthers sighed, ploughed back along the track with Casey and Foulkes'
accomplice following in his wake. He reached the clearing to find it 
empty, turned and cursed. ‘I'm losing my cool with this. Look,' he said 
pointing a finger at the gaunt guy, ‘tell him I'm coming back at twelve 
– and he'd better be here if he wants the money.' 

‘Want me to take the money now? I reckon he'll be here...' the man said,
arms outstretched. 

‘Go to blazes.' Carruthers stormed off, Casey hurrying to his side.
‘You're not really coming back here, are you Marty? It's plain to me he 
was having you on.' 

Carruthers slapped a hand on his forehead, drew it down across his face.
‘I would have gambled he'd be here...' 

‘It really isn't worth chasing him around, Marty...apart from being a
trickster he's obviously unreliable to boot. He's probably found 
somebody else to rip off.' 

‘Perhaps.' Carruthers gazed at Casey, narrowing his eyes. 

‘What is it Marty – what's the matter?' 

He leaned towards her, parting her hair at the neck. There was a jagged
scratch, a good three to four inches long, running from jaw bone to 
neck... 

‘Where did you get that? Been in a cat-fight?' 

‘What?' Casey brushed his hand away with her forearm, run her finger
along the line of the scratch, her complexion colouring. ‘No, don't be 
silly, of course not.' She hefted her shoulders. ‘I probably caught it 
on some tree branch – oh well, no big deal, it'll heal.' 

‘Keep an eye on it, there's a trace of blood there too.' 

‘Thank you for caring.' Casey gave an uneven smile which Carruthers
returned, and then they both fell silent journeying back. 

‘What will you do now, Marty?' Casey prodded after a while. ‘There comes
a time...' 

‘I know what you're going to say, but we were down here for a week, I
may as well see it out.' 

‘I'll worry about you down here on your own, Marty,' Casey said as they
entered the hotel car park. ‘I'm going to have to be off. I need to be 
pushing on with “Stapleton's demise – I really can't wait to finish 
this one.' 

‘Oh yes – Stapleton's Demise. I'll be following your progress with
interest, once this is all over.' Carruthers reflected on that. Casey's 
dedication to her work was impressive; it really was good of her to 
travel down to him in his hour of need. It was a pity, that of late, 
Chelsey hadn't followed her example. 

Casey pulled up, placed a hand on Carruthers' shoulder. ‘Marty, I think
you should come straight back with me, leave this be and accept the 
inevitable. Chelsey's abandoned ship, left you for another – presumably 
male – get on with your life, love – show her it hasn't ruined...' 

‘How can I show her if I can't find her!' Carruthers sighed. ‘No –
thanks for your help, Casey, but I can't agree to that.' 

He walked on alone to the hotel, entered his room and flung himself on
the bed. He was beginning to doze when the phone rang. ‘This is 
reception, Mr. Carruthers – a police inspector Manners is here to see 
you.' 

Carruthers experienced an involuntary intake of breath. ‘I'll be right
down.' 


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