Gallows View (21 page)

“We need time to get away,” he said to Trevor. “We’ve got to make sure she keeps quiet for long enough. Bring me that candlestick over there.”

Trevor looked and saw an old brass candlestick with a heavy base. The woman whimpered behind her gag and struggled to free herself.

“No,” he said.

“Come on,” Mick urged him. “We’ve got to. We can’t risk getting caught now.”

Slowly, Trevor walked over to the mantelpiece, picked up the candlestick, felt its weight, then dropped it on the floor. “No,” he said again. “You’d probably kill her. You don’t know how little strength it takes.”

“So what,” Mick argued, stretching out his hand scornfully. “Give us it here.”

“I’ve got a better idea,” Trevor said.

“What?”

Trevor looked at the woman sprawled awkwardly on the sofa. She was about thirty-eight, forty maybe, but very well preserved. Her hair was blonde, but the dark roots showed, and perhaps she was wearing just a little too much mascara. But apart from that, she looked very tasty indeed to Trevor. Her breasts jutted behind the polo-necked sweater and her skirt had already slipped up high enough to show a spread of thigh. He got an eerie feeling that his moment had come at last.

“You must be mad,” Mick gasped, realizing what Trevor meant. “We can’t hang around here.”

“Why not? We know she lives alone. She’s here. So who else is going to come?”

Mick thought for a moment, licking his lips. “All right, then,” he agreed, and began to move forward.

Trevor stood in front of him and nudged him gently out of the way. “Me first.”

There was something determined in his tone, so Mick just shrugged and moved back. Trevor manoeuvred the woman awkwardly onto the floor. She didn’t struggle, but she seemed to have
gone limp and heavy. He pulled the sweater up around her breasts but couldn’t get it off while here hands were tied. There were some scissors by the stack of magazines on the coffee table, so he picked them up and carefully cut the material. Underneath, her bra was pink, and the hard nipples poked at its cups. Trevor grabbed the elastic in the middle and tried to tear it off, but it proved stronger than it looked. Again, he used the scissors. The whole thing was beginning to seem a lot harder than he’d imagined.

“For fuck’s sake, hurry up,” Mick urged him. “Get on with it!”

Trevor squeezed the woman’s breasts. They were soft and slack and he didn’t like the feel of them. Slowly, he cut off the rest of her clothes. Again, she didn’t struggle; she just lay there like a sack of potatoes.

Finally, he pushed her legs apart, unbuckled his belt and unzipped his trousers. It was his first time, but it felt right; he knew what to do.

He tried to avoid looking her in the face. Because of the scarf between her teeth she seemed to be grinning maliciously, and when he caught her eyes he thought he saw mockery in them, not just fear. He’d soon teach her. When he started, he thought he heard her grunt with pain behind her gag as she whipped her head from side to side, and he could see her eyes were blurred with tears now.

The pressure was strong in Trevor and he could manage no more than three or four rough thrusts before it was all over. Exhausted even by such a meagre effort, he got to his knees and pulled up his pants. The woman just lay there. She wasn’t crying now; her eyes were far away and the taut scarf still made her appear to grin.

“Your turn,” he said, turning to Mick.

“Not on your bleeding Nelly! If you think I’m taking your sloppy seconds, you’ve got another bloody think coming, mate. Let’s piss off out of here.”

Before they left, Mick gave the woman a hard kick to the side of her head and told her there’d be more of that if she didn’t keep her mouth shut. Trevor noticed a thin trickle of blood shining in her hair before he turned and followed Mick out through the kitchen.

After a dull, elementary talk by Fred Barton on the properties of the medium telephoto lens, the Tuesday evening Camera Club was devoted to mutual criticism of work produced at the session two weeks earlier when a nude model had been the subject. As expected, some ribald remarks came from less mature male amateurs, but on the whole the brief, informal session was productive.

Sandra looked over Norman’s work and had to admit, if only to herself, that she liked it. It was far more experimental than anyone else’s, she imagined, and she felt some sympathy because she, too, liked to take risks, though she rarely went as far as Norman. He had used a fast film and blown up the prints to give them a very coarse grain; consequently, the photographs did not look like shots of a naked woman; they looked more like moonscapes.

The usual crowd gathered at The Mile Post later. The pub was busier than usual; rock ‘n’ roll on the jukebox and bleeping video games made conversation difficult. There was also a group of local farmers celebrating something with a great deal of laughter and the occasional song, and some of the lads from the racing stables in Middleham were out enjoying a night on the town.

“Have you seen that new Minolta?” Norman asked, getting comfortable in his chair and arranging pipe and matches neatly in front of him on the varnished table.

“That’s not a camera,” Robin said. “It’s a computer. All you have to do is programme it and it does everything for you, including focus.”

“What do you think you’re doing when you set your shutter speed
and your aperture?” Norman asked. “You’re programming your camera then, aren’t you?”

“That’s different.”

“As far as I’m concerned,” Sandra chipped in, “anything that makes the technical side easier and allows me to concentrate more on the photograph is fine by me.”

Norman smiled indulgently. “Well put, Sandra. Although I would add that the ‘technical side,’ as you term it, is an integral part of the photograph.”

“I know the selections are important,” Sandra agreed, “and I’d always want a manual override—but the easier the better as far as I’m concerned.”

“I’ve never found it particularly difficult to set the camera,” Robin said. “Or to focus. I don’t really see what all the fuss is about.”

“Typical reactionary attitude,” Norman sneered. “You can’t ignore the new technology, lad. You might as well make good use of it.”

“I’ve really nothing against it,” Robin argued quietly. “I just don’t think I need one, that’s all. No more than I need an electric toothbrush.”

“Oh, you’d be happy with a bloody pinhole camera, you would,” Norman sighed.

“My excuse is that I can’t afford one,” Sandra said.

“I don’t think any of us can,” Harriet echoed. “It’s a very expensive hobby, photography.”

“True enough,” Norman agreed. “I’d have to sell all the camera equipment I’ve already got. It might be worth it, though. I’ll look into it a bit more closely. Another round?”

When Norman came back with the drinks, the conversation had shifted subtly to the evening’s session. Sandra complimented him on his photos and he grudgingly admitted that hers, though they were in colour and had obviously been cropped, were fine compositions. He told her that she had done particularly interesting and unusual things with skin tone.

“Where are yours?” Norman asked Robin. “I don’t think any of us had a look at them.”

“They’re not back yet. I took slides and I didn’t finish the film. I only sent it off a couple of days ago.”

“Slides!” exclaimed Norman. “What an odd thing to do.”

“I used an Ektachrome 50,” Robin argued. “It’s very good for that kind of thing.”

“But all the same,” Norman repeated, “
slides
in a studio nude session? I’ll bet you never even had a film in your camera, eh, Robin? I’ll bet that’s why you’ve got nothing to show us.”

Robin ignored him and looked over to Sandra. “I talked to your husband,” he said, “but I can’t see how I was any help.”

Sandra shrugged. “You never know. He’s got to gather all the information he can. I should imagine it’s like counting the grains of sand on a beach.”

“I think I’d find that too frustrating.”

Sandra laughed. “Oh, I’m sure Alan does, too. Especially when there’s so many cases going at once and they keep him out till all hours. Still, that’s not all there is to it.”

“‘A policeman’s lot,’” quoted Norman “‘is not a happy one.’”

“I wouldn’t agree with that,” Sandra said, smiling. “Alan’s usually perfectly happy unless he’s dealing with particularly unpleasant crimes, like the killing of a defenceless old woman.”

“And a Peeping Tom,” Norman added. “Let’s not forget our Peeping Tom.”

“No, let’s not,” Sandra said. “Anyway, Robin, you might have been helpful. Alan says it’s often hard to know exactly where the solution comes from. Everything gets mixed in together.”

“When are we going to see these slides, then?” Norman asked Robin impatiently.

“They should be back soon.”

“I’ll bet you don’t even have a slide projector.”

“So what? I could always borrow one.”

“Not from me, you couldn’t. I haven’t got one either. I haven’t even been able to show anyone last year’s holiday pictures yet.”

“Surely Robin must have one if he’s been taking slides?” Harriet said.

“No, I don’t,” Robin mumbled apologetically. “I’m afraid I’ve never done transparencies before. I do have a small viewer, of course, but that’s not much use.”

“Well, I
do
have a projector and a screen,” Sandra told them. “And
if any of you want to borrow it, you’re quite welcome. Just drop around sometime. You know where I live.”

“Is that an invitation, Sandra?” Norman leered.

“Oh, shut up,” she said, and pushed him playfully away.

“Don’t you think there’s something unnatural about taking pictures of nudes at the Camera Club?” Harriet asked suddenly. “I mean, we’re all talking about it as if it’s the most normal thing in the world.”

“Why?” demanded Norman. “It’s the only chance some of us get.”

“What?” Sandra joked. “A gay, young blade like yourself, Norman. Surely they’re just flocking to your studio, dying to take their clothes off for you?”

“Less of the ‘gay,’ if you please, love. And I don’t have a studio. What about you, Robin?”

“What about me?”

“Do you agree with Harriet, that it’s unnatural to photograph nudes in a studio?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s unnatural, no. I don’t think my mother would approve, though,” he added in an attempt at humour. “I sometimes have a devil of a job keeping things to myself.”

At about ten o’clock, there was a general movement homewards, but Sandra managed to catch Harriet’s eye and signal discreetly for her to stay. After the others had gone, Harriet moved her chair closer. “Another drink?” she asked.

“Please.” Sandra said. She needed it. She also needed somebody to talk to, and the only person she could think of was Harriet. Even then, it would take another drink to make her open up.

The empty seats at the table were soon taken by a noisy but polite group of stable-lads. When she had adjusted to the new volume level, Harriet, who drove a mobile library around some of the more remote Dales villages, began to talk about work.

“Yesterday I got a puncture near the Butter Tubs Pass above Wensleydale,” she said. “A car full of tourists came speeding round the corner, and I had to pull over quick. Some of those stones by the side of the road are very sharp, I can tell you. I was stuck there for ages till a kind young vet stopped to help me. When I got to Angram, old Mrs Wytherbottom played heck about having to wait so long for
her new Agatha Christie.” She paused. “Sandra, what’s wrong? You haven’t listened to a word I’ve said.”

“What? Oh, sorry.” Sandra gulped down the last of her vodka and slimline and took the plunge. “It happened to me, Harriet,” she said quietly. “What we were talking about last week. It happened to me on Friday.”

“Good Lord.” Harriet whispered, putting her hand on Sandra’s wrist. “What . . . how?”

“Just like everyone else. I was getting ready for bed and he was watching through the bottom of the curtains.”

“Did you see him?”

“I saw him before I’d got too far, fortunately. But he was off like a shot. I didn’t get a good look at him. The thing is, Harriet, this has got to be in strict confidence. Alan didn’t report it because of the embarrassment it would cause us both. He feels bad enough about that, but if he thought anyone else knew . . .”

“I understand. Don’t worry, Sandra, I won’t tell a soul. Not even David.”

“Thank you.”

“How do you feel?”

“Now? Fine. It seems very distant already. It was a shock at first, and I certainly felt violated, but I wanted to tell you that I also felt some sort of pity for the man. It’s odd, but when I could first think about it rationally, it just seemed so childish. That’s the word that came to mind: childish. He needs help, not punishment. Maybe both, I don’t know. It depends which gets the better of me, anger or pity. Every time I think about it they seem to be fighting in me.”

“It was silly of me to say what I did last week,” Harriet apologized. “About feeling sorry for him. I’d no idea . . . I mean, I’ve still no idea what it actually feels like. But they’re closer than you think, aren’t they, anger and pity?”

“Yes. Anyway, it’s not as bad as you’d imagine,” Sandra said, smiling. “You soon get over it. I doubt that it leaves any lasting scars on anyone, unlike most sex crimes.” Even as she spoke the words, they sounded too glib to be true.

“I don’t know. Has Alan got any leads yet?”

“Not much, no. A vague description. One of our neighbours saw
a man hanging around the back alley a few days ago. He was dressed pretty much the same as the man I saw, but neither of us could give a clear description. Anyway, keep an eye on your neighbourhood, Harriet. It seems that he does a bit of research before he comes in to get his jollies.”

“Yes, I read about that in the paper. Superintendent Gristhorpe gave a press release.”

“Anyway,” Sandra said, “there’s a lot of women in Eastvale, so I would think the odds against you are pretty high.”

Harriet smiled. “But why you?”

“What do you mean?”