The Snow Killer (5 page)

“We need to leave, Di. We’re going to miss the train.” He picked up the overnight bag and opened the front door, tapping his foot on the carpet.

“Hang on, I can’t find my phone.”

“Why do you need your phone? Who’s going to call you?”
Don’t piss her off just because you don’t like being late.

“Well, I don’t know – the solicitors’?”
Well, that would be a miracle.

“Come on, my soon-to-be-wife. We’re going to be late.” Danny smiled at his new bride-to-be and thought about the life they were preparing to venture into.

“It’s the life of a runaway.”

“Shut up.”

Diane poked her head around the kitchen door, “Did you say something, babe?”

“Err.”
Fuck.
“No.”

“Idiot, you’re supposed to talk to me in your head. Not out loud. You’re not very good at this psychopath business are you?”

You aren’t real. Pump. Pump. Pump.

“Of course I am, Danny –boy. I’m you. The better, smarter version of you”

Then why am I not you?

“Because, my physical twin, I am not a murderer. You, on the other hand, are.”

“OK, I found it.” She looked him in the eyes, “Danny, what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

He swallowed hard, “No. No ghosts. I just really don’t like being late.”

“HELP ME. Help me, please”
Danny whipped round to find the voice.

“Did you say something?”

“No… Danny maybe we should do this another time-“

“I’m fine. Let’s go.” He walked out the door.

“She knows.”

“He’s lying.”

…

“Please take that off.” Danny grabbed Diane’s left hand and touched the shining silver ring on her hand.

“But, Daniel-“

“I don’t want you to lose it. It’s important to me.”
Don’t be so blunt with her. She doesn’t know.

“Why? I thought it was just a ring? Not that I care, I think it’s beautiful. Jerry’s ring was horrible. He was too busy flirting with the cashier to notice what he was buying. Honestly, a blue stone in a wedding ring-“

“It was my mother’s.”
Look at her, fool.

“What?”
Fuck
.
He cares.

“The ring. It was my mother’s ring.”

“Oh, Daniel...” Diane kissed his hand, “I’m sorry, I didn’t know.” She took off the ring and handed it to him.
I love that ring… I love him, too. Don’t I?

“I know.” “
See, you can’t get angry with her for not knowing because you knew she didn’t know. Idiot…”

…

“Oh, isn’t it pretty, Daniel?” Diane grabbed his arm as they walked around the house. “Can’t you just see us living here for the rest of our lives?”

“It’s a farm…” he raised an eyebrow and gazed around the echoing farmhouse.

“It’s comes with all the furnishings, sir.” The estate agent chipped in.

“Yes. I could run the business side, and you could tend to the land.”

“You want me to be a farmer?”

“It’s just so different to our usual lives, and you said yourself that you hate working in an office.”

“So, you want me to be a farmer because I didn’t like being cooped up in an office?”

“If you don’t like it say so.” She let go of him and wandered over to a large bay window, and brushed the dirt from the sill.
Rush. Rush. Rush.

“That’s a trick question, Danny-boy.”

“No, it’s great.” Think positive thoughts. “Lots of fresh air, away from the cities. It will be… fine.”

“Farmer Dan. That’s what they’ll call you. All your friends will have farmer accents and talk about pig-breeding. You’ll fit right in Danny-boy. You are a pig. They could cut open your head and see what makes you tick. A social experiment: the mind of a murderer. They could film it and put in online. Everyone would come to the house of Farmer Dan: the killer. ”

Shut up. I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine.

“You’re not fine with this, are you?” She started to cry. “You don’t want to live with me do you? You don’t want to marry me?”

“Oh, sweetie. Of course I do, I gave you my mother’s ring for Christ’s sake.  I just don’t think my father-“

“Fuck your father! That’s useless- I mean, he’s just so overbearing and…”

“You don’t like my Dad?”

“He’s too… familiar to me. “

Fuck. He reminds her of Jerry…
Danny turned to the real estate agent, who had been pretending to read a blank form on her clipboard.  “How much is it to rent per month? “

She stood straight and adjusted her glasses, “Mr. Fores. This is not a rental property, it’s to buy only. Mrs. Fores, we did speak about this on the phone…”

“Yes, yes, it’s fine. Lydia. We’ll take it.” Danny took Diane by the hand, grinning.

“Err, will we? Did you win the lottery overnight and not tell me?”

“Danny, listen… my job, in the city. I haven’t exactly been entirely honest about what I do.”

“You’re a lawyer, aren’t you?”
“Yes, clever move dating the lawyer. The one woman that could actually figure out what you’ve done. She’s already suspicious.”

“Yes, I’m a lawyer, but I’m also sort of, the boss. I am the senior partner. It’s worth about £1.2 billion.”

“Fuck.”
I know absolutely nothing about her.

“Oh my god. She really is a cougar. A really rich one at that.”

Shut up. She isn’t a cougar, she isn’t even old. It’s only ten or so years…

“And what if she dies of old age, you’re going to be stuck on a farm you can’t afford. Or worse, what if she finds out what you did?”

What we did.

“I didn’t kill those girls. You did.”

I only killed one person!

“Are you sure?”

“Danny? Are you OK?”
I’ve upset him. I should have told him from the start, he thinks I don’t trust him.

He turned again to address the estate agent. “We’ll take it. When will we be able to move in?” “
You know nothing about her, you’ve rushed things. You barely know her, Danny-boy. It’s not even been a year. Farmer Dan and the lawyer wife: the couple who gave it all up to run away from murder. A murder she doesn’t know about. A murder that was her fault.”

Shut up!

“The thirtieth of this month, Mr. Fores, which makes that… Friday.”

Five days to run away, that’s long enough, isn’t it?

“You could have forever and it still wouldn’t be long enough. You can’t run from this Danny-boy. It will never leave you.”

Pump. Pump. Pump.

Danny looked around at his empty apartment: everything had either been sold or thrown ready for the move, and Diane had been sneaking her things out of her and Jerry’s house all week.

“The easy part is done. We’ve moved everything up there, paid for everything, employed new farm-hands. Now all I have to do is tell Jerry.”

“I still don’t like the fact that you’re actually going to tell him. Just leave him.”

“Danny, sweetheart, “she touched his face,” I can’t marry you until I divorce him, now, can I?”

Danny shook his head.
“She would be happier with him. At least she would have a chance of surviving with him; you’d probably lose it and kill her.”

“Exactly, and my lawyer has everything arranged. Once I’ve left, he can rant and rave at the divorce papers all he likes, but when he’s sitting in a room with me and my colleagues, he has to be on his best behaviour, or I file a harassment charge.”

“Why don’t you just divorce him on the grounds of assaults? He hits you all the-“

“Don’t talk like that. Today is a happy day: it’s the first day of the rest of our lives.”

“Or the last? What if he comes after you? You’re so weak. You couldn’t hurt him, you can only hit girls. Weak boy. Weakling Farmer Dan. Pathetic.” Pump. Pump. Pump.

“I want to come with you, you know - to see him and explain, man-to-man.”
“Man-to-man? You’re not a man, you are a coward. You can’t even tell her the truth.”

“That’s not a good idea, I’ve seen a lot of these divorce procedure fuck up because the lovers got involved – it just makes everything more complicated than needs be. This is already going to be hard for me. Don’t make it any harder.” She ruffled his hair.

Do I look like a dog, you bitch?

“I need to talk to him. I’m stealing his wife!” Diane stood back from him.
Pump. Pump. Pump.

“Don’t you dare shout at me, you don’t have the goddamn right to be angry at me. I’m ending my marriage for you-“

“I’m rescuing you from a guy that hits you. What kind of marriage is that?”
“That’s it, rescue the girl. Make it all better. Protect the woman you love from a vicious, dangerous man, and draw her into the arms to a violent sociopath. You need her, he doesn’t.”

I need her.

“The only one I’ve ever had. Now, stop it! He is my husband, and I will deal with him my way.”

“Not if I deal with
him
first.” Danny stormed out the room.

“Where the fuck are you going?” She tried to follow him, but he slammed the door in her face.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Please don’t do anything stupid, Danny, please.” Diane slammed her hand against the closed door, and sunk to the floor, in tears.

…

Danny banged on Diane’s front door, and listened for a response.
Pump. Pump. Pump.
A tall, auburn-haired man answered the door in a dressing gown.

“Look, mate, if you’re a salesman, you can fuck off now, alright?” he tried to shut the door in Danny’s face.

“No.” Danny put his foot in the door. “I’m Danny – Diane’s…
“Be brave, Farmer Dan.”
… fiancé.”

“Ah, I see. So, you’re this month’s scrawny mutt. Well, listen mate – I hate to be the one to break this to you, but Di is my wife- no one else’s. OK?” Danny shoved him before he could attempt to shut the door again.

“She’s leaving you. We are moving away. This is her house, and her money you’re living off. So, I’m just here to do the hard job of breaking it to you. She wanted to talk to you herself, but from my perspective on your marriage: that wouldn’t have been a good idea, would it?”

“No, mate, but there was a flaw in your gallant plan.” Jerry looked the boy up and down.

Fuck.
“What’s that?”
Pump. Pump. Pump.

“She’s not here to protect your skinny ass.” Jerry grabbed him by the collar and pulled him inside the lobby. “You’re not the first you know? Ah, yea, there’s been loads of your kind skulking around Di for years. She’s just got one of those faces. But I’m fucking sick of it. It ends with you.” Jerry slammed Danny into the wall, and shattered a picture frame. Diane on her wedding day: a sad look in her eyes and a smile on her lips.

Danny grabbed Jerry by the throat in an attempt to fight back. “
Weakling: can’t even hit an old guy. Only picks off little girls, and you killed most of them in your dreams.” “
Yes it does, because we are leaving together.”

“She was leaving with Jamie too. He had the same idea you did, god rest his soul.” Jerry laughed in his face, alcohol on his breath and anger in his violet eyes.

She wasn’t kidding. He’s a crazy bastard, alright.

“Come on Farmer Dan, fight back: be a man!”

“How’s Janine?”
Pump. Pump. Pump.
Jerry loosened his grip on Danny.

“How the fuck do you know about her?”

“I know her. Disappeared didn’t she?  Rumor mill says you got rid of her. Did you, eh Jerry? Did she try to leave you too?”
“Lies, Danny. You know it. You know where she is.”

Diane crashed in through the front door, and witnessed her current husband and her future husband mid-fight.  “Jerry, let him go. He didn’t do anything wrong.”
Pump. Pump. Pump.

“Sure he did, he tried to steal my cheating-ass wife! Son-of-a-bitch is going to pay for that. Think I might cut his tongue out – oh, yeah – I bet he’s got a mouth on him, eh? He’d have to – can’t even hold his own in a fight.”
Pump. Pump. Pump.

“Jerry, let the kid go – now.” She pulled a knife from her pocket and strode over to the pair of them. “Let him go, or it’s me that’s doing the carving.” Diane held the five inch steel blade to Jerry’s throat and pulled him backwards. Jerry let go of him, and slowly walked backwards.
Rush. Rush. Rush.

“Di, you were never violent – don’t start now. We can settle this.”

“Danny, are you OK?” He nodded, “Good. Go and get the duffle bag from behind the sofa – the room down the hall. Then we need to leave.” She watched as he walked away, repeatedly turning back to check on her.

“Jerry, you know: I wasn’t sure who this knife was for. Was it to threaten my husband and protect my lover? Or was it to kill myself when my husband killed my lover? I wasn’t sure.”

“You wouldn’t kill yourself, Di – you love yourself too much.”

“Yes, because I had to love myself, otherwise I wouldn’t have known what love felt like. I certainly didn’t feel any warm emotions any time you needed a punching bag.” She tightened her grip on the knife.
Pump. Pump. Pump.

“Don’t hurt him. Please don’t hurt him.” Danny walked down the hall to find the living room.

“Don’t hurt him? That’s your broad in there – she should kill him if she gets the chance.”

“Why?” He caught his reflection in the window of a glass cabinet.

“Because you didn’t. At least she knows how weak you are and is still willing to love you. Do you think that girl thought you were weak, when you killed her? Is that why you did it – to feel tough?”

“I didn’t kill her! It was an accident!” He screamed at his reflection. His voice attacked the walls of No. 23.

“Di, he’s yelling at himself. You seriously want to leave me for some fucked up little kid from the sticks? Come on, how poor is he? Does he know about all the money, eh? Does he know about your dad? Strong man your dad, wasn’t he, Di, eh? I always liked the sound of him: knew how to control women. He-“

“Shut the fuck up, Jerry.” She pulled the knife towards her, the teeth biting into his neck. The blood was everywhere.