The Last Weekend Read online

  ‘Good. Thank you,’ said BlackWidow. ‘Let’s do that now and that gets it done. The rest of you, can you organise lunch? We’ll eat when we get back.’

  BlackWidow, Indigo and Mayfly headed out of the dining room, across the hall and up the staircase. Indigo was in no hurry to get there. He didn’t suppose things would look any less creepy now than they had before. He hesitated when they got to the door, then felt Mayfly slip her hand into his. She gave it a reassuring squeeze, managed a smile for him when he looked at her, then took her hand away again before BlackWidow saw.

  ‘Okay, then,’ said BlackWidow. ‘We go in together. Indigo, you check the window. Mayfly, you check that the heating is off. I’ll quickly scout around to see if there’s anything else to see. Ready?’

  ‘As we’ll ever be,’ said Indigo.

  BlackWidow opened the door. Indigo’s natural instinct was to keep Mayfly out of the room, to spare her the sight of what lay within, but there was nothing he could do. Mayfly gasped when she saw Scaredycat laid out in her long white gown, clutching her bunch of white lilies. ‘My God, that’s freaky!’

  ‘You got that right, honey,’ said BlackWidow, taking it all in. ‘Come on in, we’ve got jobs to do. Focus on the task in hand, try not to look at that poor child on the bed.’

  Indigo checked that the bedroom window was closed and locked. Meanwhile, Mayfly turned the valve on the radiator, shutting off the heating. BlackWidow went through the drawers and cupboards, then through Scaredycat’s coat pockets and personal possessions. ‘Nothing,’ she told them. ‘Nothing out of the ordinary, no clues as to what went on here.’ She took a long look at the figure on the bed. ‘Whoever he was, he seems to have cared about her. Look at the trouble he took. You can bet your life that he provided that dress poor little Scaredycat is dressed in, and the flowers, too.’

  ‘So, is he someone Scaredy knew, do you think?’

  ‘That, I don’t know, but I’m guessing he somehow felt that he knew her.’

  ***

  Back downstairs, people were making a half-hearted attempt to pull together a meal that no one wanted to eat. BlackWidow figured most of it would end up in the bin, but she didn’t care – she wanted them kept busy, with a sense of purpose and the semblance of a normal routine. Not that anything about the situation they were in was either normal or routine.

  ‘Did you find anything?’ asked DeadManWalking.

  ‘Nothing,’ said Indigo.

  ‘What was her name?’ asked JunkieScum. She was met with blank looks. ‘She wasn’t really called Scaredycat, guys. Who was she? How old was she? Who’s going to miss her? What was her name, for Christ’s sake!’ JunkieScum hiccupped a sob then covered her face with her hands.

  BlackWidow put her arm around the younger woman. ‘Right now, honey, we don’t know. But we’ll find out, and we’ll remember her and we’ll honour her. Okay?’

  JunkieScum nodded. She took a deep breath and steadied herself. ‘Okay,’ she said, and BlackWidow held her while she cried softly, as much for her own sake and the situation she found herself in as for the death of a fragile young woman who had called herself Scaredycat, hid in her hair and the voluminous clothes she chose to wear, and sought death in the company of strangers.

  Lunch was a dispiriting affair. The food had been haphazardly assembled and the people it had been prepared for had little appetite. They ate in the dining room, all seated around the oblong table. Once they had finished and cleared up, at BlackWidow’s insistence they took pots of tea and coffee through to the front sitting room, where they could be more comfortable.

  They flicked lamps on; for all it was still mid-afternoon, it was gloomy; outside, the wind whistled through the trees, the sky was overcast and rain drizzled almost constantly.

  ‘Okay,’ said BlackWidow, when they were settled. ‘Any suggestions from anyone as to what we do now?’

  Monkeyboy rummaged in a cupboard. ‘Trivial Pursuit, anyone?’ Blank faces looked back at him. ‘It’ll help to take our minds off things and pass the time,’ he said. ‘Monday feels like a long way away.’

  ‘Is there anything else in there?’ asked Technogeek. ‘I could go a game of Monopoly, if it’s an option.’

  ‘Sure, there’s all sorts. I found it earlier when we were checking the place out.’ Monkeyboy dug about and pulled out a battered red and white box with ‘Monopoly’ in big letters on the lid.

  ‘Anybody?’ asked Technogeek, taking it from him. ‘We could organise a tournament.’

  ‘Oh, fucking marvellous!’ exploded DeadManWalking. ‘What is this, a nuthouse? There’s a lunatic on the loose and you want to play fucking board games?’

  ‘Do you have a better idea?’ asked SpeedKing. ‘Because, personally, I want to be the car.’

  ‘I’m in,’ said JacktheRiffer, ‘and since there’s no guitar, I’ll just have to be the top hat.’

  ‘Why the top hat?’ asked Technogeek.

  JacktheRiffer opened his mouth to speak.

  ‘Wait, let me guess,’ said JunkieScum. ‘Slash, right?’

  ‘Who wants a slash?’ asked Technogeek.

  JunkieScum and JacktheRiffer shared a look then burst out laughing. ‘Come on, let’s set the board up,’ he said.

  ‘Fiddling while Rome burns,’ muttered DeadManWalking.

  ‘Oh, come on, dead guy,’ said JunkieScum. ‘Play, and you can be the old boot.’

  Technogeek sorted out the Monopoly board and SpeedKing, JacktheRiffer, and JunkieScum took places at the table with him. Indigo and Mayfly dug out a Scrabble set and were joined in a game by Monkeyboy. BlackWidow and DeadManWalking sat apart from the others, drinking tea and talking quietly.

  ‘They’re all fucking mental,’ DeadManWalking muttered. ‘Playing games and carrying knives around … fucking idiots.’

  ‘They’re scared, and coping as best they can. Do you blame them for wanting a little distraction, a way to pass the time?’

  ‘No, I suppose not. But it’s like they’ve forgotten why we’re here.’

  ‘It’s all changed now, honey.’

  He shook his head. ‘Not for me.’

  ‘Tell me,’ BlackWidow said, ‘what was it that brought you here?’

  Chapter 21

  DeadManWalking sighed and rubbed his eyes. ‘Illness,’ he told BlackWidow. ‘Terminal, and one that I have no intention of seeing through to the bitter end.’

  BlackWidow nodded. ‘You don’t look so bad right now.’

  ‘Maybe not, but I’ve lost ground to it and I’m getting worse. When it takes a hold in earnest I’ll degenerate rapidly, but very likely go slowly. I don’t want to be a slobbering heap in a bed, incapable of recognising people and not knowing when I’m pissing myself or drooling down my chin.’

  ‘I appreciate that, my friend. I sure wouldn’t want that, either.’

  ‘Do you know, when my dog got cancer, I nursed him as long as I could, as long as he still seemed to be getting some enjoyment out of his life, then I took him to the vet and I stroked him and talked to him while the vet snipped away a little patch of fur on his leg and eased a needle in. Rex just slipped away, kind hands and kind words the last things he knew.

  ‘But me, I’m more special than Rex. My life is apparently worth more. So, I’m supposed to suffer right through to the very end, no indignity too great, no pain too savage, for me to bear.’

  ‘When you put it like that …’

  ‘This was my way around all that, my way to bypass all the misery. I can’t believe it’s come to this.’ DeadManWalking put his mug down and poured more tea for them both. ‘I don’t know that I would mind so much if whoever killed Reaperman and that poor girl did do me in. At least it would be an end to this sorry business.’

  ‘Don’t say that! There’s a world of a difference between doing what we had planned and being murdered like Reaperman and Scaredycat!’

  ‘How? You’re just as dead at the end of it.’

  ‘I know, but—’

  ‘Do
you know what I think the difference is? The only difference, mind you. It’s that with what we had planned, we had the illusion of control. With this other thing that appears to be going on, we don’t know who’s next, when, how, nothing. That’s it. You’ve got a bunch of people who came away on what was supposed to be their last weekend and who suddenly want to go home, safe and sound, on Monday. Ludicrous!’

  ‘No, I think you’re wrong. I think the difference is between what you did for your dog – kind hands and kind words, remember? – the difference between that and tying him up and leaving him to starve, or feeding him some slow-acting poison and watching him suffer his last.’

  ‘Still dead, though,’ grumbled DeadManWalking.

  ***

  ‘Hey, BlackWidow,’ said JunkieScum, ‘Mayfly and I are going to the bathroom. You coming?’

  BlackWidow nodded and the three women headed out together.

  ‘So, Mayfly,’ said JunkieScum when they were out of the sitting room and heading across the reception hall. ‘What’s up with you and Indigo?’

  Mayfly blushed. ‘Oh … you know.’

  ‘Yes, I believe I do.’ She grinned.

  ‘So, you and he really are …?’ BlackWidow left the question hanging in mid-air.

  ‘No. Not yet, anyway. I’ve known him a while, though,’ Mayfly said quickly. ‘I didn’t just take one look at him at Aberdeen airport then decide to cosy up or jump his bones. It’s just that we hadn’t met in person until now.’

  ‘I can see why you might have just jumped his bones, though,’ teased JunkieScum. ‘He’s a good-looking guy.’

  ‘So, it was an Internet romance,’ observed BlackWidow.

  ‘That’s right. I met him in a suicide chat room.’

  BlackWidow laughed, a deep, throaty chuckle. ‘That’s priceless, honey,’ she said. ‘And what about now? You still planning on dying together?’

  ‘I think we’ll just get through this and then see,’ said Mayfly. ‘But in truth, right at the moment, at least, I’m not as anxious to check out as I once was.’

  ***

  When the women got back to the sitting room, DeadManWalking was missing.

  ‘Just took off,’ said Indigo, when Mayfly asked where he’d gone. ‘Didn’t say anything, just strolled out on his own.’

  ‘I shouted after him and told him to wait,’ said Monkeyboy, ‘but he just waved me away.’

  ‘Dangerous behaviour,’ observed SpeedKing. ‘I certainly don’t intend to wander off on my own.’

  ‘He wants to die,’ said BlackWidow, ‘and he doesn’t mind how, just so long as he doesn’t have to do it himself.’

  ‘He may well get his wish,’ said SpeedKing. ‘I vote we give him another ten minutes and, if he doesn’t show, we go looking for him.’

  Right on cue, DeadManWalking came back into the sitting room.

  ‘Where’ve you been?’ asked BlackWidow. ‘You had people worried.’

  ‘Just went to my room for a book.’ He had a copy of Charles Bukowski’s Post Office under his arm. ‘But look what I found on the reception desk, outside.’ He showed them a pile of envelopes, each bearing a name. ‘They weren’t there before.’

  ‘What’s in them?’ asked Technogeek.

  ‘I don’t know, but there’s one for each of us.’

  ‘Dish them out, then,’ said Technogeek.

  ‘Here, I’ll help,’ said JacktheRiffer.

  Between them they handed out the envelopes to the group. JacktheRiffer was left with his own and one more. ‘It’s Scaredycat’s,’ he said, putting it down on the table next to the Monopoly board.

  ‘Where’s mine?’ said Technogeek. ‘I don’t have one.’

  ‘I just picked up what was there,’ said DeadManWalking. ‘Might be worth checking under the desk in case one slid off the top.’

  Technogeek went to the door of the room and peered out. ‘What’s in them?’ he said.

  ‘It’s the declaration,’ said JacktheRiffer, ‘and a memory stick.’

  ‘And you just found these?’ asked JunkieScum.

  ‘Yes. When I came back downstairs, I spotted them on the desk.’

  ‘Bit of a coincidence, don’t you think?’

  DeadManWalking shrugged.

  ‘We didn’t see them when we came back through.’ JunkieScum looked at BlackWidow and Mayfly for confirmation; the women shook their heads.

  ‘I wouldn’t have seen them if I hadn’t looked straight ahead when I came down the stairs.’

  ‘What did you go off on your own for, anyway? We agreed—’

  ‘You agreed.’

  ‘It was a consensus agreement.’

  ‘Oooh,’ said DeadManWalking, sarcastically. ‘That’s a big word for a drugged-out skeleton.’

  ‘I don’t do drugs any more. Why did you go off on your own?’

  ‘I thought I might meet our visitor.’

  ‘I think you might be our visitor.’

  ‘I can’t see anything either on or under the table,’ said Technogeek, as he rejoined the others.

  ‘Just remind me again, why did we all come here this weekend?’ demanded DeadManWalking in exasperation. ‘Personally, my agenda hasn’t changed.’

  ‘Why do you suppose they were left there?’ asked Monkeyboy, getting back to the point.

  ‘Because whatever we wanted doesn’t matter any more,’ said SpeedKing. ‘Someone else is calling the shots now, and he wants us to know he knows who we are.’

  JunkieScum moved closer to JacktheRiffer. He put his arm around her. ‘It’ll be okay,’ he told her. ‘We’ll all stick together. I’ll look out for you.’

  ‘This is just an opportunity for romance as far as you lot are concerned, isn’t it?’ exclaimed DeadManWalking, his gaze flicking from JacktheRiffer and JunkieScum to Indigo and Mayfly. ‘What will you have? A double wedding, or a quadruple funeral after the four of you die beautiful deaths together?’

  ‘Shut the fuck up!’ JunkieScum retorted angrily.

  ‘Stop it, all of you,’ said BlackWidow. ‘Focus on what matters here.’

  ‘What’s that?’ asked Technogeek.

  ‘What this signifies.’ She paced. ‘There’s somebody else in the house, that’s for sure. I would guess that person is a man.’

  ‘How’s that?’ asked Monkeyboy. ‘Bit sexist, isn’t it?’

  ‘Well, pretty much anyone could have overpowered Scaredycat, she was tiny,’ said BlackWidow. ‘But Reaperman is a different story. He was most likely in his sixties, but he was strong and fit. I doubt a woman could have got the best of him and then strung him up like that.’

  ‘Maybe there’s more than one person out there.’

  ‘Maybe there is,’ BlackWidow agreed.

  ‘Yeah, and maybe it’s him!’ JunkieScum pointed at DeadManWalking. ‘He was in Reaperman’s room, he saw the body, he could have found this lot and taken them—’

  ‘I was never in there on my own,’ said DeadManWalking. ‘There was always someone else with me. How come you’re not accusing him?’ He pointed to Indigo. ‘Or him?’ JacktheRiffer. ‘Or her?’ BlackWidow. ‘They all saw him, too.’

  ‘Because it’s you who conveniently found the envelopes, you fucking freak,’ said JunkieScum.

  ‘Enough, already!’ said BlackWidow. ‘I’m losing patience with you people. Don’t you think we’ve got enough to worry about without fighting amongst ourselves?’

  JunkieScum sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘So, what do we do now?’ she asked.

  ‘Same drill as before. We stick together. We look out for one another.’ BlackWidow nailed DeadManWalking with a look. ‘Even you. Even if it’s only to let people see you ain’t up to what you shouldn’t be. Agreed?’

  ‘Who died and left you in charge?’ asked Monkeyboy, exasperated.

  ‘Reaperman did.’ BlackWidow let that sink in a moment. ‘So, are we all agreed?’

  They looked at each other, weighing things up. ‘Agreed,’ said Monkeyboy, finally, and the others
– including DeadManWalking – echoed their acquiescence.

  ‘Okay, good. Now, what’s the time?’ asked BlackWidow.

  Indigo checked his watch. ‘It’s just coming up to four o’clock.’

  ‘It’ll be fully dark, soon. We need to get out of here, I think, but not tonight,’ said BlackWidow.

  ‘You’ll have to leave me here,’ said DeadManWalking.

  ‘Maybe.’ BlackWidow looked at him. ‘We’ll see. We need to get organised.’

  ‘Organised, how?’ said Technogeek.

  ‘There must be something somewhere that tells us where we are.’

  ‘Why? Why must there be?’ said Monkeyboy.

  ‘Because this place has power and running water. That means bills. There must be an office somewhere.’

  ‘Maybe Reaperman just took them away from here when they came in. Maybe they aren’t even sent here in the first place,’ said Monkeyboy.

  ‘Maybe so,’ said BlackWidow, ‘but it has to be worth a try.’

  ‘She’s right, guys,’ said JacktheRiffer. ‘And I, for one, would feel a whole lot happier if I just knew where the fuck I am.’

  ‘We searched the place, top to bottom, inside and out. There’s nothing,’ said Technogeek. ‘How could we have missed anything?’

  ‘I don’t know, but my guess is that we have.’

  ‘We know from the buttons in the lift that there’s an attic and a basement,’ said Monkeyboy. ‘No one has searched those.’

  ‘We didn’t see any sign of a staircase going up,’ said Indigo. ‘Maybe the only way to the attic is the lift.’

  ‘We haven’t specifically looked for a way down to the basement,’ said BlackWidow. ‘We need to check that possibility out.’

  ‘Who goes?’ asked Indigo.

  ‘We all do,’ said SpeedKing. ‘Unless there are three of you who want to miss out on this and are happy to stay together.’

  ‘Where do we start?’ asked Technogeek.

  ‘My guess would be the kitchen,’ said JacktheRiffer. ‘If there’s a back stairway it would probably go from somewhere like that, rather than a reception room or the entrance hall.’

  ‘Good enough,’ said BlackWidow. ‘Come on, y’all, let’s go check it out.’