The Barbershop Seven (105 page)

And his heart beat so strongly with fear that it could have made up for hers. You don't know what you've got until you lose it, the thought started thumping into his head.

He'd walked away before, but he'd believed he could easily walk back in. But there would be no walking back into this. This would be the end for his bloody fantasy of Erin Proudfoot and happiness.

So when her eyes flickered open, his heart thumped even more, his head floated.

'How would you like me to die on you?' she said softly, lips barely moving.

'Oh, Christ, Erin, are you OK?'

The barest smile crossed her lips. The eyes slowly closed.

'Course I'm not, you stupid bastard,' she said quietly.

Socrates sat and watched from a few yards away. Began to smile. That mad, impetuous thing called love. Mind you, he said to himself, she's probably still going to peg it.

Barney watched for a few seconds. But these two were not his business. Not any more. Something else, much grander, much more ominous, awaited him. And so he walked past Socrates without a word, and then past the desperate couple on the floor, and headed out the back way on the trail of Leyman Blizzard.

––––––––

B
arney could feel The Force. It guided him through the trees as he followed the path of Leyman Blizzard. Since the old man had left the church he was yet to catch sight of him, but somehow he knew he was going in the right direction; or was being led that way.

There was a thick forest of pine behind the church, mixed in with firs and deciduous trees of various shapes. An ancient wood of the type that it was rare to encounter in these days of forestation, with identical rows of trees in regimented lines, ending in a mathematically precise border. So leaves and bare branches and the spidery touch of fir brushed against Barney's face. The rain did not fall with any force within the forest, but everything was sodden and clinging, so that it felt as if there were hands grabbing at him as he went.

He stopped every so often to try to listen for Blizzard's movements, but the noise of the forest in the rainstorm was all-consuming. Leaves in the wind, water pouring through trees, and there was little chance of him hearing anything else.

He did not fear the hand suddenly appearing from the forest; a knife in the face or the crossbow aimed at his head. For he knew there would be a confrontation. It had been fated. It was what he was being led to, and before Leyman Blizzard struck him down, as he was absolutely sure he would do, he would receive some form of absolution. For he knew truly the identity of this man who ran from him, and led him on at the same time.

After a few minutes the forest broke, as it was bound to do in this green and pleasant land, where forests no longer stretch for mile upon mile. Barney stumbled over a low wire fence, then made his way across open farmland. He was free from the trees, and the rain hammered down upon him, his feet squelching through mud. Every so often he imagined he saw the grand impression of a recent footfall in the field, but he knew he was coming the right way regardless of whether he saw trace of his prey.

He was consumed. Haunted for several weeks, forced back in from the cold, he would face this man who had plagued him. Had no thought for Proudfoot, downed at last, a year after he had saved her life. Little thought for Katie Dillinger, the woman who had galvanized him into coming on this weekend, who had aroused his desire for the first time in decades. Dead, and he would never again feel that kind of desire for anyone.

Eventually he was over another low wire fence, the farmland turned to open moorland, and he was heading uphill through marsh and peaty bog; feet sucked into the ground, occasionally stepping on rocks. And he could feel it getting nearer. The presence. Whatever it was that had lured him into this whole thing, as surely as his feet were being sucked into the ground, was not too far in front of him. It had stopped running, and now waited for him to arrive; to deliver the final damned, crushing blow.

Barney stopped and looked ahead. In the pitch black of night and rain he could see vague shapes; rocks etched against the muddier black of the sky. And as his eyes swept around the rocks, his heart gave nothing more than a small jump, he lowered his head, and tramped off once more, determined to meet his fate. For just ahead, carved into the dead of night, standing on top of a large promontory of rock, was Leyman Blizzard. Hands held aloft in silent supplication to the gods, dog collar still around his neck, black coat and black shirt matted to his skin in the rain.

Up he climbed, struggling over wet rocks and jagged overhangs. Feet into large pools of water, plunged into bog and plucked out. Hands grasping wet rocks, slipping, jarring thumbs and fingers. But despite the struggle, eventually he closed in on the inevitable.

Up a final grassy bank on hands and knees, wet and cold and frozen to the bone, Barney at last got to his feet and walked out onto the large rock at the end of which stood Leyman Blizzard. Back turned, still, and it would be nothing for Barney to approach him and push him over the edge, for there was a drop large enough to send a man to his death. And that man could have been Leyman Blizzard.

One push.

But Barney stood still, waiting for the old man to turn. At last his heart beat a little faster, at last his mouth went dry and he licked rainwater from his lips to wet his throat.

And, at last, no more than five yards away, Leyman Blizzard turned.

Their eyes engaged. Not long since they'd looked upon one another in the church; and, indeed, barely any time since they'd stood in the shop and Barney had thought he had found the last decent man in the whole of Scotland. Only the previous afternoon, and it seemed as if it had happened a long time ago.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

'The Force is strong in you, young one,' said Blizzard.

Barney squinted into the rain. 'What the fuck are you talking about?'

'Ach,' said Blizzard. 'I'm just having a bit of fun.'

Barney's mouth dropped open. He shook his head and suddenly he felt very, very sad. That could've been his mother talking. These two had obviously been very well matched.

'Fun? You just murdered three or four people. I saved yon police lassie's life last year. And for what? So you could do her in? And the woman, Katie. She was all right. She didn't have to die. Why, Leyman?'

Blizzard shrugged. The storm raged around him, his long, dark coat unbuttoned and free to be blown in the wind.

He held his hands forward in appeasement.

'Sorry about that, son. You know, I didn't want to kill her. I knew you were into her pants. That's why I took out they two bastards.'

'What?'

'Medlock and Hamilton. They were both after her. Hamilton was angling for that other bird, but I overheard him talking to himself last night. He was into yon Katie no end. So I thought if I got rid of them you'd have a clear road, you know?'

Barney looked quizzically through the storm. The wind picked up, a great gust howled past them, and momentarily he lost his footing. Did not come near the edge. Straightened up, found himself another step or two closer to Blizzard.

'You did that so I could get into her pants?'

'Aye,' said Blizzard, smiling. 'I thought you'd appreciate it.'

Barney laughed. After all, it had come to this. One final stupid conversation at a cliff edge on a dark and stormy night, before he would inevitably be pushed to his death.

'Brilliant, Leyman. Absolutely stunning. You wanted me to get into her pants, so you killed her. What were you thinking? At least now she won't be able to say no?'

Blizzard shrugged and took a step closer.

'I didn't mean to kill her, son. It all happened so fast. It was just a blur, you know. I didn't mean it.'

Barney shook his head. This was bullshit. All the terrors, all the nights waking screaming, all his trials, for this. Another ridiculous conversation, like every conversation he'd ever had or listened to in a barber's shop. A fitting end. Two guys talking pish. Every barber should have such an end. Serendipity; the word could find no better use than this.

'So which one of us did you mean to kill?' said Barney. As if he didn't know.

Blizzard raised his eyebrows, rubbed his chin. There, he thought, is a good question.

'Not sure, son' he said. 'One of the polis, I suppose. I mean, I know they're not that bad, and I didn't realise they were off the case, but I mean, polis are polis, after all. Never had any time for them.'

Barney shook his head. The time of revelation was near. It was obvious who this man was; had been obvious since he'd first seen him. And with that revelation would come the certain end. That was what had been foretold; that was the omen that had been shown to him.

His mother had been mad; his mother had lived a lie all her life; his mother had finished that life by murdering six innocent people. It made complete sense that his father should also be a mad murderer; that he should have disappeared early on in his life, and that his mother would lie about his death; and it made sense that he should return now, to presage the end, and indeed to bring about that end.

There was a symmetry there, he supposed. Your mother and father bring you into the world; it almost made sense that they should ease your way out of it. (Not that that could work with successive generations, but this was a piece of philosophy in its infancy.)

His last two years had been murder, principally through the actions of his mother. A normal mother would have had him turned over to the police after the first manslaughter; and a normal mother would not have had six dead bodies in her freezer. And now, after these two hellish years, it would all be ended by his father, whom he'd thought dead, and with whom he was to be reunited on a wind and rain blown cliff top, above a desolate moor, at midnight.

'They were good people,' he said, delaying the inevitable. Funny how it was, that even though he had accepted what would be the circumstances of his own death, he still chose to put it off.

Blizzard took another step closer. 'Good schmood,' he said.

And now they were no more than a few feet apart. Barney looked into old Leyman's eyes and realised that it was like looking into a mirror. All those years he had thought his father dead. In retrospect he'd thought it odd that his mother had let neither him nor his brother attend the funeral; that there had been so little fuss and no visitors; that she had kept them away from people for so long. His father hadn't died at all; he had run off. And these last two years he had thought that if only his father had been here then none of this would've happened. How wrong! How wrong.

A lifetime of conviction, two years of belief, shattered over a day or two when reality had dawned.

Barney raised his arms to the side. He could run, but now that the end was near he felt he must accept his fate.

Where would he run to this time? He'd been running, and it wasn't for him. Neither was prison. He must accept what must come.

'There's something you want to tell me,' he said to Blizzard. Almost had to shout, as a great howl of wind pummelled them, and they both leaned into it.

Blizzard stood with rain pouring down his face, greatcoat blowing in the storm.

'What d'you mean, son?' he said.

Barney swallowed. Could feel the beginning of a tear coming to his eye. His father. About to engage that special bond which he had never truly known.

'You know what I mean,' he said. 'Dad.'

The rain cascaded off Blizzard's face, turning it into a cruel parody of the Niagara falls. Streams of black had begun to run down his forehead, from where the hair dye had finally given up the good fight. His mouth opened, his nostrils flared.

'What?' he said.

'Dad,' said Barney. 'I know it's you. I forgive you!'

Blizzard spread his arms, much in the manner that Barney was employing. 'You forgive me for what? What the fuck are you talking about, son,' he said. 'Dad? I'm no' your dad. Where'd you get that from?'

Barney swallowed again. The tears suddenly dried up. He took a step back. Self-assurance vanished into the rain. He suddenly found himself looking at an old man with no hold on him, with no part to play in his future. Except that of being his Death.

'Why are you going to kill me, then? Why did you lead me up here?' he said.

Blizzard raised an eyebrow.

'Kill you? Is that what you think of me, Barney? After you saved my shop? I'm not going to kill you, Barney, for God's sake. Why'd you think that, son? I thought it would be the polis bloke following me. Didn't realise the eejit would stay behind to look after his bird.'

'Oh,' said Barney. 'Oh.' Not good in an unexpected situation.

'Why did you think I was your father?'

Barney's brow furrowed as he attempted to think. It had all seemed so obvious a few seconds ago. The dream, the madness, the omens; they had all been coming together.

'I don't know,' was all he said. Had not stopped to think that this life of his may be incredible, but it was not supernatural.

Not yet.

'You bloody eejit,' said Blizzard, smiling. Face black with running dye, old white teeth showing, mad eyes glinting. 'What happened to your father, then?'

'He died when I was six,' said Barney, buffeted by the wind.

'Six! Who the fuck did you think I was, then?'

Barney stood looking at the old man. Wet and cold, clothes sticking to him. This felt as if he was back where it had all began. The last few days he had faced the inevitability of his death, and now that it would be denied to him, did he know what he would do with himself?

'I thought I'd come up here to die,' said Barney, ignoring the question. 'I don't think I know anything any more.'

'Die?' said Blizzard. 'That's just a load of mince, son. You've got years in front of you. Mind you, I don't think we can go back to the shop, 'cause yon polis'll know where to find us. Unless you killed the bastard before you left.'

'No!'

'Oh, ach well. You and me, son. We can move on. Start another shop some place else. Just the two of us. Blizzard and Thomson, barbery with a smile and a knife.'