Текст книги "Bolt-hole"

Автор книги: A. J. Oates

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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

By the evening of the sixth full day of incarceration I’m desperate to leave the bolt-hole, to experience natural light and feel the warmth of the sun.  I feel like a novice swimmer with my head underwater, holding my breath, frantic to reach the surface and to fill my lungs with oxygen.  I promise myself that tomorrow, with my drinking water supply almost exhausted, I’ll permit myself out of necessity the luxury of a venture to the outside.  But even with this goal my spirits barely lift, and for the first time since the inception of my plan I begin to cry as the worthlessness of my life suddenly overwhelms me.  Almost immediately, I’m angry at myself for being so pathetic and letting down Helen and the boys.  Aggressively wiping away the tears and attempting to re-establish focus, I reach back into the rucksack and pull out a transparent A4-size zip-lock plastic bag containing an airline ticket and two passports.  I open the first of the passports and flick to the last page.  There’s a photograph of myself, probably taken a good five years ago. “Dr Julian Scott” is the name underneath, though I’m not sure who that person is anymore.  The second passport falls open with the airline ticket inside: “British Airways … Manchester to Rio de Janeiro … 13th April … Mr James Bosworth.”  I study the second passport photo; taken just a few weeks ago, the picture is unmistakably of me, but the name and the other details are obviously not mine.

Chapter 11

On the seventh morning of my incarceration in the Kinder Scout bolt-hole I break cover for the first time.  Despite the draw of the outside and the hours I’ve longed for it, leaving my underground retreat fills me with anxiety, obsessively conscious as I am that I’m risking recognition and potential capture.  Like an agoraphobic attempting self-reassurance, I rationalise that at 6:00 a.m. the chances of discovery are slim: it’s far too early for even the keenest of hikers, and surely by now the police have given up on any search of the area.

With a small rucksack on my back I slowly remove the rocks that block the entrance of the bolt-hole.  I stop every few seconds to listen to the sounds of the outside world, half expecting to hear the drone of a helicopter or the barking of police dogs; but all is quiet bar the rustle of the gentle breeze through the heather.  Removing the last few rocks, I hold my breath as I peer out into the gloom of the early morning, with the sun barely above the horizon and cloud swirling all around.  After a few minutes of waiting, and confident that I’m alone, on my hands and knees I negotiate the narrow entrance.  Reaching the outside, I cautiously stand and survey the Kinder Scout plateau, which is bathed in thick fog.  With no sign of any ramblers or the police, I make my way the hundred metres or so to the rocky outcrop at the edge of the plateau and then turn to face in the direction of Ashop Moor.  Visibility is limited to barely ten metres as the dense cloud swirls in vortices, and although it isn’t raining, in the dampness of the air my jacket is covered in tiny droplets of water.

I sit on a large boulder taking slow deep breaths of crisp morning air.  Almost perceptively, with each breath I take, my anxiety gradually dissipates.  After all the pain and turmoil of the previous months I begin to feel at ease and can almost forget that just a few days earlier I took a man’s life.  I feel confident that with the solitude of the bolt-hole and the beauty of Kinder Scout I’ll have the time and the space to take stock of my life and plan for a time when I can finally stop running.

As I enjoy the simple pleasures of fresh air and sunlight, almost symbolically, as if reflecting the change in my spirits, a tiny chink in the cloud appears in front of me and then gradually enlarges.  I feel a sense of exhilaration as the fabulous view of the beauty of Ashop Moor opens up as the cloud cover burns away.

With the early morning sun warming my stiff and aching body after a week of immobility and confinement, the prospect of returning to the darkness of the bolt-hole is far from appealing.  But I know self-discipline is key, and with the time approaching 8:00 a.m. I daren’t risk recognition by any of the ramblers who’ll no doubt be appearing before long.  I remove the empty bottles of drinking water from my bag and refill them in one of the numerous underground streams that break through the surface of the peat ground.  I brush my teeth in the freezing water, my mouth almost numb with cold by the time I’ve finished.  I empty the two bottles of stagnant, stinking urine that I’ve accumulated over the previous week, and rinse them in the stream, ready for use again.  Then, using my trowel, I quickly dig a small latrine in a bare patch of earth, no more than twenty centimetres deep, and take care of business before dumping my waste bags from the camping meals, refilling the hole with soil, and dragging a small flat rock on top to hide my digging.  Finally, with the essentials taken care of, I head back to the bolt-hole and negotiate my way back inside before repositioning the stones behind me to secure the entrance.

My brief taste of freedom has reawakened the senses that have lain dormant during the previous week’s confinement, and I am desperate for more.  After the brilliant sunshine and magnificent views, the dark, damp bolt-hole has an immediate deflating effect.  Despite my best efforts, my thoughts drift back to unhappy times, the weeks after the funeral when I attempted the slow process of rebuilding my shattered life.  From an early stage, I’d largely dispensed with any realistic expectation that the police would charge the person responsible.  I knew that it was futile to rely on such a conclusion to bring about any sort of personal closure; only my own actions could bring about a tolerable end to this chapter in my life.

At first my only comfort came from the long walks in the Peak District, and every day, irrespective of the weather, I drove the ten miles to the isolated moors and for a few hours walked the hills.  It seemed that only with the time and space the open countryside provided was I able to think with sufficient clarity to make the decisions that I knew, for better or worse, would define my future.

My first pivotal decision was to resign from my job at the university.  The department head, Bob Andrews, had been more than reasonable and had made it clear that I could take as much compassionate leave as I needed.  But as the days passed by I knew that I could never return.  I’d spent fifteen years in that place and it was simply time to move on.  The decision was made far easier with the news from my parents’ solicitor, acting in his capacity of executor of their will, that I was the sole beneficiary.  This came as no great surprise and I’d often joked with my parents about bumping them off for the inheritance, but I was shocked by how much they’d managed to squirrel away over the years.  With insurance policies and savings, there was close to £75,000 in cash, and the value of their modest house, my family home as a child, was almost £200,000.  I briefly considered holding onto it as an investment, but I knew it would only make it more difficult to move on with my life, and after a few days mulling it over I arranged for estate agents to come round to value the property and, in the interests of a quick sale, to accept any offer close to £190,000.

Within a few days of the For Sale sign going up I got a call from the estate agent explaining that they’d received an offer for the full asking price.  I immediately began to get cold feet, but as I returned to my parents home to sort through their belongings, a raft of old memories and emotions resurfaced and I knew I had to break some of the links with my past, however painful it might be.

I spent close to two weeks at my parents’ house, sorting their stuff, and was surprised at how much they’d accumulated in a three-bedroom house.  My mum had always been a hoarder: paintings, old school reports and photographs, anything to do with me, and more recently the boys, she couldn’t bear to part with.  I’d always thought that I’d inherited the obsessive aspect of my personality from her, and the experience only reinforced my thinking.  As I began packing it became clear that much of the stuff I would have to get rid of.  There was simply too much to fit in my house whether I wanted to keep it or not.  Despite the pangs of guilt, I found a house-clearing service on the internet and arranged for them to take the larger items of furniture.

It was during the middle of the second week of emptying the house that I had an unexpected visitor.  I was on the front drive lifting boxes of ornaments and a tea service into the boot of my car, and as I bent over there was a tap on my shoulder.  Startled, I stood and turned.  I was looking into the beaming face of a balding overweight man, bearing what I could only describe as an inane grin.  It took me a few moments before recognition dawned.  James Bosworth, or Bozzy, as he was known at school, had changed much from the spotty, lanky youth of twenty years earlier.

“Hello, Julian,” he said excitedly. “You remember me, don’t you?”  I offered my hand, which he shook enthusiastically, and for a second I thought I was in line for a hug.

“Yeah, yeah, course I remember you, Bozzy, how are you?”

“I’m great, just great, a bit balder than the last time you saw me, eh?” he responded, running his hand through his short-cropped and receding hair. “You seem to have aged pretty well though, Julian.”

I smiled, unsure what to say but keen to mirror his enthusiasm. “Yeah, you look well too, what have you been up to all these years?”

I didn’t give him chance to respond.  Bored of packing, I was ready for a break from my exertions. “Look, I was just about to put the kettle on, do you want to come in and join me?”

He looked ecstatic at my suggestion and again I thought I might be in line for a hug. “Yeah, that sounds great, though I’d prefer something a little bit stronger if you’ve got it,” he said, smiling and eyeing up the beer left over from Christmas that my dad had stacked at the back of the garage.  We headed inside, picking up a four-pack of beer on the way.

We spent the next couple of hours reminiscing about old school days and the mutual acquaintances and teachers we’d known.  The memories came flooding back and were made particularly vivid by Bosworth’s hilarious impressions.  I was grateful for a breather from the packing, as well as the guilt at getting rid of so much of my parents’ prize possessions, and it was probably the first time in a couple of months that I’d been able to laugh about anything.  The beer continued to flow, and soon I went back outside to the garage to get more supplies.  When I returned, Bosworth’s demeanour had changed. His expression was serious and, for the first time, unsmiling.

“I read about what happened to your family, Julian.  It was a real shame.  I went to the funeral as well. I just had to pay my respects.”  With the distraction of Bosworth’s musings, oddly, the hit-and-run had not been at the fore of my thinking, but now it abruptly came back.  I couldn’t immediately think of what to say, and turned to look out of the window into the garden.  In the silence Bosworth appeared to sense my discomfort.

“I’m sorry to bring it up, Julian, it’s just … it’s just that I know how you’re feeling. You see, my mum died on the same day your family died.  I know it’s not quite the same but she was the only family I had.”

I felt the anger well up inside me – How can you compare losing an elderly relative, however close, to losing your entire family! I was about to respond in such a manner, but as I turned to face him I was shocked to see tears streaming down his face.  My anger dissipated instantly as he sobbed while trying to get his words out.

“She was the only one I had.”

Except for his intermittent sobbing, we sat in silence for the next few minutes as he struggled to compose himself.  I sipped my beer and, unsure what to say, I excused myself and headed for the upstairs toilet.  When I returned, Bosworth had seemingly recovered and the smile had returned to his face.

“I’m sorry about that, Julian, it’s just that I’d been looking after her, pretty much doing everything for her since she had a stroke almost twenty years ago.  My dad buggered off when I was a kid and it’s just been the two of us.”

I nodded and offered a sympathetic smile; although it definitely wasn’t the same, both our lives had been turned upside down in recent weeks.  I handed him another beer. “Are you still living at your mum’s old house?” I asked.  He took a large gulp, obviously no stranger to beer.

“Yeah, I was born in that house and will probably die there.  I suppose I’m a bit of a home bird.  I’ve hardly been out of Sheffield and I’ve never been abroad,” he said almost proudly, “unless you count Wales – I had an aunt that lived in Cardiff.  I do have a passport though,” he added, “but I’ve never used it in the fifteen years I’ve had it.”  He began laughing again, apparently fully recovered from his earlier breakdown.

Although we hadn’t seen each other for twenty years, the conversation flowed surprisingly freely and I suspect we both found the experience therapeutic as the next few hours sped by.  Bosworth had been a bit of an oddball at school, and we’d never been particularly close friends, but I clearly remember that we’d started taking the same A-level subjects and then, after a few months, abruptly and inexplicably, he had stopped coming to lessons.  At the time no one knew why, and numerous weird and wonderful adolescent explanations were offered for his absence: joining the army and having a sex change, to name just a couple.  But as he explained, again close to tears, the reason became apparent.

“Yeah, I had to leave school in the lower 6th after my mum got ill, and in between working part-time in a record shop I pretty much had to do everything for her.  I was pretty gutted about dropping out of school, but what could I do?”

As I listened I felt a new-found sympathy and, I suppose, a sort of respect for Bosworth.  At school he’d always been very studious, and probably as a consequence always a good source for a piss-take.  Invariably he would come top of the class in most subjects, with me usually demoted to second, to my long-standing frustration.  I suspected that if he’d had the chance to finish his A-levels, he’d have gone onto university, and from there who knows where his life would have ended up.  I doubted that he would still be working in a record shop.

I looked out of the window as the sun was beginning to set on the June evening.  After a good three hours Bosworth was still talking, barely stopping to draw breath.  I was tired, physically and mentally, and unused to any sort of prolonged company and the effort required for a conversation.  Several times I yawned loudly; a none-too-subtle hint that it was time to call it a day.  But he was oblivious to my body language, and with the time nearing 7:00 p.m. I couldn’t rely on subtlety.

“Well, I suppose I’d better get back to the packing.”

He was obviously disappointed. “Oh, that’s a shame, Ju. Haven’t we got time for another quick one?”

“I’m afraid not, I’ve got some things to sort out. We can meet up again though, if you like, have a few beers.”

Bosworth appeared reassured.  “What about tomorrow, it’s the Tuesday quiz night at the New Inn – it’ll be a right laugh.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said as I led him to the front door; and this time, catching me by surprise, the bear hug finally arrived.

“It’s been great, Julian,” he said, clinging onto me as if his life depended on it.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said, trying to break free from his clutches, and then watched as he walked down the driveway and turned to wave excitedly as he headed down the road.  Returning to the packing and sorting, I couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm for my company; I suppose it had provided a much-needed boost to my self-esteem.  To my surprise I was genuinely looking forward to the quiz at the local pub – the first time in weeks I’d experienced even a modicum of pleasure.

–

I met up with Bosworth a few times over the next week; twice at the pub and once when he turned up unannounced at my parents’ house.  At first I found his humorous recollections a welcome distraction, and though I didn’t see that his bereavement was comparable to mine, I felt that we’d a certain bond, albeit transient, based on our common sense of loss.  But after a week of contact I was beginning to find him increasingly demanding and needy.  I had my own struggles and emotional hurdles to deal with, and I wasn’t prepared to takes on anyone else’s.  We’d last met up a couple of nights earlier, after he’d phoned just as I was going to bed.  He sounded distraught, sobbing uncontrollably, his speech almost incomprehensible. “Julian, Julian, I’m really sorry to bother you, can you come round? … You must come.”

I was taken aback by the state he was in, and at first struggled to make sense of his request. “Bozzy, calm down, it’s late, I can’t come now, but I’ll come first thing in the morning.”

“No, Julian, you need to come now, please, you’re the only one that understands.  Look, I’ll do something stupid if you don’t come.”

Before I had chance to respond the phone went dead.  I momentarily considered my options but knew I had no choice, I had to go.  I was knackered, and with my bed welcoming me, furious.  It was emotional blackmail in no uncertain terms, but he sounded so unstable.  God only knows what he’d do if I didn’t go.

Despite the late hour it was still warm, and short sleeves were sufficient as I walked the ten minutes from my parents’ to Bosworth’s house.  I’d walked past his house numerous times but I’d never actually been inside.  I pressed the bell on the front door, but couldn’t hear it ring, and knocked impatiently on the glass panel.  Within twenty seconds Bosworth’s face appeared, distorted by the scalloped glass.  He opened the door, his eyes red but no longer crying.

“I’m so sorry, Julian, but there was no one else.”  My face must have given away my scepticism and irritation.

“No, seriously, Ju, you’re the only one.” And as if fearing I would run away, he pulled me by the wrist in through the porch.

His house was stuck in a 1970s time-warp, with distinctive brown kitchen tiling and wallpaper, but was meticulously clean and seemingly without a thing out of place.  He led me through the hallway and into a lounge with a similar thirty-year-old décor.  On the floor was an old biscuit tin, the contents of which were neatly laid out in piles on the coffee table.  One stack contained photographs, some old black and white portraits.  The next stack contained documents, including several of the distinctive pale green birth and death certificates, and on top was a UK passport, the now-obsolete dark blue variety.

“Can I get you a drink, Julian?” said Bosworth, gesturing me to sit down.

“No, no, I’m fine thanks, I can’t stay long, I need to get home.”  He looked a crushed and pathetic figure.

“I was just going through some old things, my mum’s photos and stuff, and it just got me thinking, and you know … I just don’t know how I can go on.” He took another slug of his beer.

Despite my irritation I had genuine sympathy for him. “Bozzy, you need to give the booze a rest, it’s not helping you.  If you don’t watch it it’ll become a big problem for you.”

Bosworth nodded in agreement and took another generous swig.  “I know, I know, I’m going to cut down, I promise.  I feel better already now you’re here.  I just couldn’t be alone.”

Bosworth slumped down onto the settee and rested his head back on the cushion.  I took a seat in the armchair opposite and reached forward, picking up the passport from the coffee table.  I flicked to the photograph page and immediately recognised the image of Bosworth I remembered from our school days.  It had probably been taken mid-teens, and he was wearing our old school blazer, blue with yellow trim, and matching tie.  I put the passport back and began to sift through the stack of photos.  Most were of places and people I didn’t recognise, but some were also old school photographs, with Bosworth again wearing the distinctive uniform.  One particular picture of the entire 5th year class caught my attention; back row, third from the right, probably about fifteen years old … I recognised myself, of course, but even so the fresh-faced youth seemed like a completely different person – so long ago, and so much had happened in the meantime.

Within a few minutes Bosworth’s breathing became slow and deep and he was soon asleep, anaesthetised by the alcohol.  I leaned over and removed the half-full beer can that he clutched in his hands.  He stirred momentarily, opening his eyes, and smiled at me, before his breathing pattern settled and again he was asleep.  I put the photographs and papers back in the box, and after waiting another five minutes I quietly let myself out of the back door.  As I made my way home I knew that Bosworth was becoming a liability, an emotional drain, and that if I wasn’t careful he would begin to compromise my own fragile rehabilitation.  Like dumping a girlfriend when it becomes clear that it’s not working out, I had to break the link.