Deception (29 page)

Steven was beginning to have thoughts of the Mary Celeste when he heard a vehicle approaching. The high revving, low gear sound suggested that it was a four-wheel drive truck and so it proved to be when he saw Gus Watson swing into the yard. He drew to a halt beside Steven.

Steven said, ‘I was beginning to think that Scottie had beamed you up. He looked down at the open toolbox and the scatter of tools around the front of the digger.

I got called away,’ said Gus. ‘Bloody baler we hired out to Cauldstane packed in and old Macpherson was spitting blood this morning. I had to fit a new elastic band tae the pile of shit.’

‘
Like that is it?’ said Steven.

‘
It’s no’ a mechanic they need round here,’ said Gus. ‘It’s a team frae Blue Peter. Maybe they could make spares out of Squeezy bottles!’ Was it me you were looking for?’

Steven said that it wasn’t but that he couldn’t find anyone about the place. ‘I was actually looking for James Binnie. I see his car’s there.’

‘
It wasn’t when I left,’ said Gus. ‘But there must be someone about.’ Have you tried the door?’

Steven assured him that he had and that he’d looked everywhere that was open. ‘I didn’t think anyone would be in any of the locked sheds and the big barn’s locked too.’

‘
No,’ agreed Gus, now looking as puzzled as Steven. ‘Mind you . . . ‘

‘
What?’

‘
If the vet’s here, he must have come to see Khan. Did you try looking in Khan’s shed?’

‘
Which one’s that?’

Gus led the way and Steven followed. The dog’s shed was at the far end of a row of small outbuildings. Gus banged on the door and shouted, ‘Anyone in there?’ There was no response. ‘How about you, Khan? Are you in there, you daft bugger?’

Gus looked puzzled at the silence. He said, ‘That’s no’ like Khan. He usually goes mental when you do that.’

Gingerly, Gus turned the handle and inched the door open slowly. It jammed almost immediately on a small flat stone and Gus paused to kick it away before continuing with pained slowness. ‘I don’t trust the bugger an inch,’ he said. He put his face to the crack to peer inside but a low growl made him close the door again quickly. It was more of a reflex action than anything else.’

‘
Maybe we should just leave him be,’ said Steven but then he saw that Gus had gone as white as a sheet. ‘What is it?’ he asked. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘
There’s someone lying there. I saw his legs.’

‘
Oh my God,’ murmured Steven. ‘We need something to fend the dog off. You must have spades or pitchforks round here somewhere.’

Gus went off to look and returned, still looking very pale, with a garden spade and a rusty fork. Steven took the fork and asked, ‘Where’s the light switch?’

‘
Just inside the door on the right,’ Gus replied.

This time Steven eased the door open slowly, just far enough to reach his hand inside to feel up and down the wall until he found the switch. It was already down. He tried clicking it both ways but the shed stayed in darkness.

How many bulbs in there?’ Steven asked.

‘
Two.’

‘
It’s unlikely they both went at the same time. Where’s the fuse board?’

‘
Along here. Gus led the way to the third shed along the row and pulled open a stiff cupboard door to reveal a fuse board panel. ‘Here we are,’ he said. ‘The fuse has come loose.’ He pointed to a fuse holder sitting at an odd angle in a row of five. ‘This whole place is falling apart,’ he complained. He pushed the holder back into its socket and said, ‘Should be okay now.’

The two men returned to Khan’s shed and Steven tried the switch again. The lights clicked on and Khan gave a low growl but it was a subdued sound and came from somewhere at the back of the shed. The dog made no move to come towards them. Steven could now see what that Gus had caught a glimpse of. Only the shoes and legs up to mid calf were visible from where he stood but he knew immediately that they belonged to James Binnie. He recognised the brogues.

‘
We’ll have to try to get him out,’ he said softly to Gus.

Gus nodded and gripped his fork, holding it in two hands at the ready. ‘Ready when you are,’ he said but his voice was a nervous croak.

Steven pushed the door open a little further and took a tentative step inside. He held the fork in front of him, ready to bring it into play as a barrier between him and the dog should it choose to make a rush at him. Khan was lying at the other end of the shed, watching him, his muzzle covered in blood.

‘
We can’t risk him getting out,’ whispered Steven. ‘We’ll have to close the door behind us.’

Gus made a grunting sound, which Steven construed as reluctant agreement. ‘After three. One . . . two . . . three!’

Steven stepped inside smartly and helped pull Gus in behind him. He pushed the door to. Neither man took his eyes off Khan for a second. Holding the fork and spade at the ready they sidled cautiously across to where Binnie was lying half-hidden between two old tea chests being stored there. Gus stood guard while Steven knelt down and found Binnie’s wrist. He was lying face down with his left arm trapped beneath him but his right was free. Steven felt for a pulse but didn’t find one. It was no surprise. Binnie’s clothes were soaked with blood. His injuries had to be horrific.

What did come as a surprise was the fact that Binnie was not the only body lying there. When Steven looked into the gap between the chests he saw to his horror that Thomas Rafferty was lying there too. He was lying curled up, like a foetus, as if he’d been hiding behind Binnie when death had come to call. Half his face was missing and his left arm had been all but torn off. The sight made Steven gasp in horror. This made Gus break eye contact with the dog and look down into the gap. ‘Jesus fucking . . .’ The oath did not get any further. Gus dropped his spade and vomited on the floor. Khan let out a low growl and went for him.

For such a large dog, Khan crossed the floor like lightning, teeth bared and malice shining in his eyes He leapt into the air and hit Gus full in the chest, bowling him over like a skittle. Gus fell to the ground crying out in fear as the animal sought out his throat as he did his best to fend him off. For a moment they reached impasse as Gus managed to straighten his arms and lock his hands on Khan’s throat but the dog quickly broke his grip by ducking his head underneath Gus’s arm to come up and sink his teeth deeply into Gus’s shoulder, tearing a lump of flesh from it.

Steven felt nauseous at the sound and then the sight of blood and tissue hanging from the corner of Khan’s mouth but he knew he had to do something before the dog made his next lunge at Gus who was now paralysed with fear and shock and in no position to defend himself. He rammed the prongs of the fork he was holding into the dog’s rear end and it yelped in pain and turned his attention on him instead. It kept a persistent low growl in his throat as it started to stalk him across the floor as he edged backwards to draw Khan away from Gus. The malevolence it exuded was almost tangible.

Steven was playing a psychological game with the animal. Its muscular definition was so good that he could actually see at an early stage when it was preparing to spring at him. Every time it tensed its muscles he poked at it with the fork, interrupting it at the crucial moment and making it start all over.

Gus groaned and Steven asked, ‘Gus! Can you hear me?’ He didn’t take his eyes off Khan for a moment.

‘
Jesus,’ croaked Gus.

‘
Can you move?’

‘
Christ . . . it hurts.’

‘
Listen! You’ve got to get out of here. Do you understand?’

‘
My arm . . . Jesus my arm . . .’

‘
Never mind your arm; get out of here! Crawl damn it!’

Khan snarled and made to lunge at Steven. The prongs of the fork repelled him but the sound of the animal served to concentrate Gus’s attention and he started pulling himself across the floor, his progress fuelled by fear. ‘Keep that bastard away from me!’ he stammered.

‘
I’m doing my best,’ muttered Steven, his eyes fixed on the slavering, jaws in front of him, a piece of Gus’s skin still hanging from its bloody incisors. He heard the door open behind him and a wedge of daylight entered. Khan’s attention moved to the gap and Steven moved quickly to stop the animal running past him. The door closed again and Steven started to edge backwards towards it. Gus was out, now it was his turn.

He knew that the one thing he mustn’t do now was fall over backwards so he was careful to check the ground behind him by feeling with his foot before committing himself to each step. The plan was to keep Khan at bay with threatening jabs of the fork until he reached the door then he would try a double lunge at the dog to force it backwards. If this was successful he would slip out of the door and slam it shut before Khan could reach him. Steven felt his heel make contact with the door. ‘Gus!’ he called out.

There was no reply.

‘
Gus, are you there?’

No reply. Steven hoped he’d made it to the house and was calling for help.

Steven steadied himself, took a deep breath and then let out a yell as he lunged at Khan, forcing him to retreat about two metres. He quickly turned and grabbed the door handle, at the same time pushing hard with his shoulder. The door jammed against the unconscious body of Gus Watson lying behind it.

Khan saw his chance and launched himself at Steven who was now half-trapped in the small space between the door jamb and Gus’s body. It was the fact that the fork was almost vertical in his hand in preparation for slipping outside that saved him from death. As Khan’s jaws opened and reached for his throat he brought the fork smartly up to impale the animal’s lower jaw on one of the outer prongs. Khan yelped and writhed as Steven struggled to keep the fork upright and keep the dog on the end of it. If he lowered the fork – and the weight of the dog was insisting that he must - Khan would be free and his own fate would be sealed.

Still holding the dog on the end of the fork, Steven staggered back from the door so that he had more room to move inside the shed. He started to swing the dog around so that centrifugal force moved the animal outwards and upwards. With the supreme effort of an Olympic athlete about to release a hammer, he accelerated the animal round in two final fast circles and then brought the fork down to the horizontal to ram it into the wall of the hut. Khan was trapped. Steven let go of the fork and picked up the shovel that Gus had dropped to begin raining down blow after rib-cracking blow at the still writhing Khan. He kept this up until all movement had ceased and the nightmare was finally over.

Steven staggered outside and fell to his knees in complete exhaustion, taking time to recover his breathing before crawling over to check on Gus who was starting to come round.

‘
What happened?’ murmured Gus.

‘
You missed an episode of
Animal Magic
,’ muttered Steven as he started to improvise a dressing for Gus’s shoulder.

‘
That bloody dog was always the hound from hell,’ said Gus. ‘But Jesus, that was something else. People kept telling Tom to waste it but he wouldn’t listen and now he’s dead, poor bugger.’

‘
It’s just a shame he had to take James Binnie with him, said Steven bitterly.

‘
Right,’ murmured Gus.

They heard a car come into the yard and Steven looked up to see Childs and Leadbetter get out and walk towards them. ‘What’s going on?’ asked Childs.

‘
Tom Rafferty and James Binnie are dead,’ said Steven. ‘Khan turned on them. Call an ambulance for Gus, will you?’

‘
Good God almighty,’ exclaimed Childs, seeing the blood on Gus’s clothes. Leadbetter called for an ambulance and the police on his mobile phone and then joined Childs in going into the shed to survey the aftermath.

Steven watched the two men as he worked on Gus’s shoulder. They seemed genuinely shocked and upset but in his own mind he was thinking about the small flat stone that the shed door had jammed on when Gus had first tried to open it. Gus had kicked it away without a second thought but Steven saw that that had not been an option for the two men inside. The stone could not have been there when they went in or they wouldn’t have got the door open, so where had it come from? Apart from that, the two men wouldn’t have gone in if the lights had not been working. This suggested that the stone had materialised and the lights had failed
after
both men had gone inside, leaving them trapped in the dark with Khan. Steven shuddered at the thought.

The police and an ambulance arrived and the process of clearing up began. The bodies of Tom Rafferty and James Binnie were loaded into the back of a small black van after cursory examination by the duty police surgeon and were taken away to the city mortuary for a more detailed post mortem. Somewhere inside the house the phone rang and Steven remembered just why he had come here in the first place. He would have to break the news to Ann Binnie that her husband was dead. He was thinking about this when Chief Inspector Brewer came up and stood beside him. ‘Are you all right?’ he asked.

Steven nodded. ‘I’m fine.’

‘
You don’t suppose it was rabies, do you? That would be all we need round here.’

‘
It wasn’t rabies,’ said Steven.