Death in July (19 page)

'We were sent over to France in June 1944. We were only kids, really...we didn't have any idea what to expect. The fighting was hard...really hard. Day in, day out, for weeks on end. Some of the things we saw were horrific.'

Joe stopped to wipe the solitary tear off his cheek. His eyes looked haunted.

'Then, on the fourteenth of July, we were taken off the front for a few days and sent behind lines for some respite. They sent us to a village in France, a quiet place used as a holding place for German prisoners. That night, six of us sat around drinking. Me, Billy, George, Geoffrey, and two other chaps we got to know, Henry and William. We tried to relax, to forget about the last few weeks, but our nerves were frayed after everything we had been through. We were still on edge, keeping our weapons close at hand. The prisoners were housed in a large hut just yards from us. They weren't tied up as they were surrounded by British soldiers. Late in the night, one of the prisoners came out of the hut...'

Sam listened intently. He could feel his own nerves stretching with each word.

'This prisoner, he appeared suddenly out of the dark, trying to speak in English. I think he was asking for cigarettes. We all jumped at his voice and went for our guns. It was purely instinct. A shot rang out and the man fell to the ground. He didn't move...'

Sam watched Joe swallow hard.

'I can still remember the scene. It was so quiet. No-one said a word. We couldn't believe what had just happened. It had been an accident...a stupid, tragic accident. We all looked at each other. Every one of us had our guns out. We didn't know what to do. The man was obviously dead...the bullet had struck him right between the eyes. Some of the Germans came out of the hut to see what had happened. We ushered them back inside, told them the man was trying to escape. I could see in their eyes they didn't believe us.'

Joe stopped to take some deep breaths. His grandson passed him a glass of water. Joe Sr sipped gratefully before continuing.

'The officers hushed it up, told us it was just one of those things. We were ordered never to speak of it to anyone. We carried on with our war, somehow all returning home unscathed. Only none of us could forget what happened to that man. We couldn't bear being in each other's company. It was too much of a reminder. It hit some of us harder than others...'

Sam listened in disbelief. A tragedy for all concerned. A burden of weight for those directly involved.

'The person who fired the gun?'

Joe shook his head weakly, leaning forward.

'That doesn't matter,' he insisted. 'It could have been any one of us.'

'So, who was affected?'

Joe's voice dropped to a whisper. As though the following words were going to be an act of betrayal.

'Geoffrey took it hardest. He had just been promoted to Lance Corporal and felt responsible for us all. He blamed himself for what happened. It changed him more than anyone...turned him from an easy-going bloke into a man angry at life.'

Sam thought about Benjamin and Arnold. How different their relationship with their father could have been.

'Geoffrey felt so guilty he found out the address for the dead man's widow and wrote to her offering an explanation. He told her what happened. How there were six of us sat around...her husband appearing out the dark...one of us firing a gun in nervous tension...how we were all so sorry...'

A letter? Sam could see how a yearning for revenge might have started. However, it didn't explain why Karl Schenker was marking the anniversary of that tragic incident by murdering one of those involved every year.

'Geoffrey wasn't the only one who found it difficult to keep it to himself,' said Joe Sr. 'I told someone myself...'

'Erica Wright?'

Joe nodded slowly.

'Yeah, we were going steady before the war. We picked up where we left off when I got back. Then, when I found out she was emigrating, I told her about the shooting. She wasn't going to be around anymore, so I felt I could tell her everything. It was a release for me.'

'You kept in touch after she moved away, didn't you?' asked Sam. 'It was you who told her about Geoffrey's suicide.'

Joe nodded again. Then he beckoned Sam nearer to his bed. Joe Jr raised his eyebrows at Sam and allowed him by to his grandfather's side. The older man took Sam's arm.

'Sam, you told Joe that Erica died while she was over here. How did she pass away?'

Sam thought of the way she had died in that hotel room. The look of horror on her face when her friend found her. The heart attack brought on by sheer terror. Scared to death by the man hunting Joe now.

'She passed away peacefully in her sleep, Joe. She didn't suffer...'

The old man smiled sadly, patted Sam's arm, then let go. Suddenly, he pulled a face and put his hand to his chest. His breathing was shallow and his face devoid of all colour.

'Sam, this is really upsetting him,' said Joe Jr, looking concerned.

Sam looked closer at the older man.

'It's doing more than that,' he replied. 'I think he's having a heart attack.'

Sam and Joe Jr sat either side of the bed in silence, watching the old man barely maintain consciousness, his breathing a horrible rasping sound. An ambulance was on its way, but in the meantime, there was little they could do but wait. Outside, the downpour continued, now accompanied by a howling wind. The windows panes shook in their old, wooden frames. A tile slid off the roof and crashed into the back garden. Sam wondered if the prowler was still out there, watching, waiting. He presumed the car was still out front, its occupants unaware of events going on inside the cottage.

Suddenly, Joe Sr lurched forward and grabbed his grandson's hand.

'Grandad, relax,' said Joe Jr, trying to lie the older man back down.

Joe Sr took no notice. He was mumbling something, his words barely audible.

'Hold on,' said Sam, leaning closer. 'He's trying to tell us something.'

They listened carefully.

'Me...it was me...'

Joe Jr looked at Sam, perplexed.

'He's telling us he did it,' said Sam.

'Did what?'

'Your grandfather was the one who fired the bullet.'

Joe Sr gave the weakest of nods and rested his head back down on the pillow. He shut his eyes once more and continued his uneasy breathing. A thought came to Sam as he watched the old man struggle for life.

'That's why he tried to warn Geoffrey,' said Sam. 'Your grandfather knew he was innocent.'

Joe Jr opened his mouth. He had been struck by a realisation of his own.

'I overheard that phone conversation. That's how I found out about all this. I managed to persuade Grandad to let me move in and watch over him, but in return, I had to promise not to go to the police. He said he deserved whatever punishment was coming his way. Now I know what he meant.'

'Did he have any idea who was killing his friends?'

Joe shook his head.

'No, he didn't have a clue. He thought it was strange that so many years had passed, but he said it didn't matter. He told me it was his mistake that had ruined so many lives, and the person coming for him was just dealing out rightful justice.'

Neither man spoke for some time, each lost in their own thoughts, considering the price the man lying in front of them had paid for one genuine error. A lifetime of guilt. Even worse, the knowledge his friends had been forced to pay for his action with their lives.

An unbearable burden.

Sirens sounded in the distance. As they neared, Sam went into the rear bedroom and peered out the window. He saw a shadowy figure dart across the garden and head for the stream Sam had emerged from.

A great, hulking figure.

Karl Schenker.

He was fleeing the scene. However, Sam knew he wasn't disappearing altogether. He didn't have time to do that. There were only hours left in the day. Sam returned to the front bedroom. Joe Jr was on his feet, gazing down at his listless grandfather. He turned to Sam.

'What now?' he asked.

Sam peered out through a slight crack between the curtains. He saw Joe's Land Rover blocking the ambulance from getting any nearer the cottage. He also saw slight movement inside the car beyond the hedge. He turned back to Joe.

'Okay, this is what I want you to do...'

Sam waited in the bedroom as Joe Jr left the cottage. Still peering out between the curtains, Sam watched Joe pull the Land Rover over to allow the ambulance through. As the emergency vehicle pulled up outside the cottage, he saw Joe trot over to the hedge and get the attention of the occupants of the car. Two men got out, slamming their doors and following Joe back to the cottage.

It was time for Sam to make his move.

His took one final glance at the old man and scarpered down the stairs. Then, he nipped into the front room and waited behind the door. Seconds later, he heard the ambulance staff enter the cottage and go upstairs. Right behind them were Joe and the men from the car. With everyone upstairs and out of sight, Sam went into the hallway, picked up Joe's car keys and left through the front door. Keeping his eyes peeled for Karl Schenker, he headed for the Land Rover.

Joe had done just as Sam had asked. He had distracted the men in the car and left the keys to the Land Rover visible, thus allowing Sam unhindered exit away from the cottage. He had told Joe to tell the men somebody had been trying to break in.

To give them Karl Schenker's description.

To keep Sam out of it.

His presence would only complicate matters. This way, the men would help Joe, protect his grandfather while he was being taken to the ambulance, just in case Karl Schenker was waiting to pounce.

Sam started up the Land Rover and eased it away down the lane. Once again, the storm helped mask the noise he was making. He parked further along the lane, tucked away discreetly in a lay-by. All he could do now was wait. There was no guarantee the two men would abandon the cottage and provide the ambulance with an escort to the hospital.

There was every chance Karl Schenker would follow.

Ten minutes later, Sam saw the ambulance in his mirror. As it drove past, Sam expected to see a vehicle trail in its wake. Nothing appeared. The men had returned to their duties.

Sam sighed in disbelief.

Whichever secretive arm of the government was involved, Sam couldn't believe their priority was stopping Sam from revealing the truth about that tragic accident, rather than protecting a war veteran possibly at death's door. Sam set off after the ambulance, shaking his head in disgust.

He kept his distance as the emergency vehicle left the countryside and re-entered the suburbs of Newgate. Sam felt confident there would be no incident now on the way to the hospital. Schenker had missed his best chance along the dark, winding lanes back near the cottage.

Suddenly, a car shot out of a side road up ahead and slotted in behind the ambulance.

A small hatchback.

Sam cursed his rash presumption.

Instead of catching the two vehicles up, he dropped back slightly. As the hatchback sped up right behind the ambulance, Sam noticed how Schenker wasn't paying any attention to his rear-view mirror. That showed over-confidence or too much blind focus on the target. Either way, he was disregarding the vehicle behind him.

And Sam loved being dismissed.

They drove on, Sam keeping his distance, the small procession entering town, heading towards Newgate General Hospital. A set of traffic lights loomed up, the red light vivid through the gloom. The trail of vehicles slowed down. They were almost at a standstill when the lights changed.

Then the hatchback made its move.

As the lights turned green and the ambulance laboriously built up speed again, the hatchback accelerated and drew up alongside it. The road was quiet, with no traffic coming the other way. Then the small car cut back in ahead of the ambulance.

Sam was ready for it. Hanging so far back, he had been able to maintain the Land Rover's constant speed, allowing him to accelerate and speed past the ambulance within seconds. He noticed the driver glance at him without concern, unfazed he was being overtaken by another vehicle. The ambulance had no lights or sirens on due to the lack of traffic on the roads. Its driver had no idea how much danger he was in.

Suddenly, the hatchback started braking, just as Sam tucked in behind it. Schenker's plan was clearly to bring the ambulance to a halt, but he hadn't bargained for Sam's sudden appearance on his back bumper. Sam saw the alarm on his face when he realised he had the Land Rover on his tail. His look changed to despair when Sam crashed into the back of him.

Schenker tried to accelerate out of the way but Sam kept his foot down. The speed and power of the much larger Land Rover forced the hatchback up and over the kerb, off the road and onto a deserted grass area. Sam didn't let up, shoving the hatchback further along, nudging it away from the road. He stole a glance at the ambulance as it continued on its way unimpeded, its driver watching in astonishment as the two vehicles disappeared from view.

On the two cars rolled, skidding along the wet grass, Sam driving on, trying to buy the ambulance as much time as possible to get away. Then he saw Schenker, fury written all over his face, swing his steering wheel violently one way and another. Finally, his car broke free of the Land Rover, surging wildly off to the left before disappearing down a side road. Sam slowed down and turned his vehicle the other way, rejoining the main road and catching the ambulance up just as it reached the hospital's emergency department.

He jumped out of the Land Rover and reached the entrance doors just as Joe Sr was being wheeled through. His grandson, walking alongside the stretcher, saw Sam approach.

'How is he?' asked Sam.

'He doesn't seem to have worsened,' replied Joe, looking down anxiously at his grandfather. 'Did you see anybody on the way?'

Sam imagined the rage Schenker was in now. He would be on his way to the hospital, aware time was running out, determined more than ever to complete his mission.

'Oh, I saw someone.'