White Phantom:Chapter Twenty Nine

Chapter Twenty Nine

Beth was making soup in the kitchen when Jenifer walked in. They rarely went to Beth’s house at all now and spent all their time at Swarthdale Hall. Beth still hated being there but necessity had made her make the best of a bad situation. Mostly she still slept in the chair at the side of Colin’s bed, but she had moved some personal things into the small spare bedroom and would be sleeping in there now that Colin didn’t need a twenty four hour bedside vigil.

Jennifer threw her duffel bag onto the stainless steel centre isle and commented that the soup smelled good. Beth told her that it was for Colin and that she’d made a curry for them that just needed heating. She stirred the soup methodically, while Jennifer, attuned to her apprehension, looked at her shrewdly.

‘What’s up,’ she asked.

It was now or never and Beth was at a loss as to how to begin.

‘I saw Maggie today,’ she said cautiously.
‘Oh yes,’ answered Jennifer her voice hard with the mention of Maggie’s name. ‘Did she come to you, or did you go to her?’

Beth was quick to defend herself. ‘She came to me, of course.’

‘I hope you got rid of her and didn’t let her in.’

‘It wasn’t that easy.’

Oh my God, you are so bloody dim-witted, can’t you do anything right? What was it, coffee three dozen cancer-sticks and bosom to bosom sympathy?’

‘Something like that.’

‘Well the police aren’t here, so she obviously didn’t drag much out of you.’

‘It wasn’t me doing the talking. She had quite a lot to say, actually. She’s been away.’

‘Good, pity she didn’t stay away.’

‘She’s been visiting an old lady in Coventry.’ Beth watched Jennifer closely for a reaction. Jennifer either saw her past as no threat to her immediate future at all, or didn’t know where Nanny Nettles had been retired to.

‘So?’

‘She went to visit your old nanny.’

Jennifer was completely motionless as she took over thirty seconds to process this information and mentally debate the ramifications. Her facial expression didn’t alter, she looked cast in stone, the only visible symptom of distress was the pulse in her neck that moved in time with her accelerated heartbeat. When she replied, she was in complete control.

‘Ugh gross. Who’d want to go and see that old waxwork? I suppose Maggie came back full of gory details about how I did that to her. The old bat’s senile. Why do you think Marc had her put away? She’s nuts. Doesn’t know what she’s talking about.’ She narrowed her eyes shrewdly, ‘And what’s more there is not a policeman in the land who would listen to her. ‘I did it,’ she admitted, hanging her head and putting on a puppy dog expression, ‘but it was proven at the time that it was a terrible, terrible, horrible, awful accident that has haunted me since I was a child. Is it any wonder that I’m a little bit odd, after having to live with the guilt of what I accidentally did to that poor old lady?’

Maggie had seen her acting skills many times before and didn’t react to her outburst. ‘Actually, she told Maggie a lot more than that. She told me her version of what happened to your sister and your parents. Miss Netley says that you murdered all three of them in cold blood.

‘Hearsay, and vile deluded accusation from a bitter old lady, M’laird. I put it to the prosecution to provide hard proof of their accusations, or stand down.’

Beth tightened her hold on the wooden spoon after having stirred the soup to death and beyond and still stirred it. She told Jennifer as word perfect as she could remember, minus the insults towards Jennifer, what Maggie had told her and waited quietly for Jennifer’s response.

‘I’ve got enough on you to take you down ten times over and, unless you’re wired and you’re recording this, which let’s face it, you wouldn’t have the forethought to arrange, anything that’s said in this room is only words.’ She grinned and behind her eyes Beth saw the glint of evil. ‘Do you want me to tell you all about it? Not my Dear old Nanny’s diluted version, but the real deal, straight from the loco horse’s mouth?'

‘Will it be the truth?’

‘And nothing but, M’laird,’ said Jennifer. Beth rolled her eyes but was poised to hear what she had to say and was prepared to weed through the words for remnants of what actually happened.

‘Really, I suppose you could say I just got a taste for killing people,’ Jennifer began. Once started the words came fast, each one turning Beth’s stomach more than the last. She was horrified but glued to what the girl was saying. ‘Melissa was my first. And I liked it. God I hated her. She was always so perfect, so sweet, so pretty. Pushing her into that brazier and watching her burn was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. I wasn’t even out of primary school and I’d committed murder in front of sixty people, and I got away with it. About a year after that, things got really quiet and boring. Our gardener had an asthma attack. I stood in front of him and, one squirt at a time, I emptied his inhaler before wiping my fingerprints off the canister, I was nine, but I loved Agatha Christie, she taught me a lot. When he was really bad and slumped over a rhododendron bush, I put the canister in his hand and watched him die. So simple, quite boring really, but it was fun watching him choke.’

‘My God, you’re a monster.’

‘It takes one to know one, xoxo’

‘Xoxo? What the fucking hell are you talking about?’

‘Never mind, do you want to know the highlights of my murder back catalogue, or not? Because the next one was a stroke of genius.’

‘Your parents?’

‘Oh, yes, they were next, weren’t they? I forgot about them. But that was really boring. I never even got to see it happen. I was just pissed off with them, so it wasn’t really murder, not a proper one. After Melissa, the one after my folks was my favourite. I like killing children best.’ Beth put her hands to her face in horror and Jennifer laughed, delighted by her reaction. ‘I was walking through the park one day. It was busy, big crowd again, you see a theme emerging? I killed this ugly little kid right in front of its mother. Not that she noticed. She was too busy sitting on the bench to the side and gossiping with her mate. The kid, he was about three, was just there looking gormless. It had a big head, nearly no hair and it was dribbling down its disgusting, dirty bib that had been left on. It offended me, so I stuffed its gob full of sand and walked away. There were a couple of other kids in the sandpit, my little accomplices, they just sat there staring and didn’t say a word. The boy died right there with his mother not thirty yards away. I was a bit further on out of the way by this point. I heard him making these snuffling noises and flinging his arms around a bit before he fell over. The mother and her crony never looked up once. Eventually one of the other little brats must have figured that this wasn’t good and started screaming and they ran over, some other people came too, including me, Phantom to the rescue. And that was a huge risk with the other kids in the sandpit knowing that I’d done it. I saw one of them staring right at me with these freaking big eyes. She tugged on her mum’s hoodie and pointed at me, but her mother ignored her. Man that was a buzz. It was too late, of course, the kid was already dead.’

‘Shut up,’ Beth’s voice couldn’t hold her words steady and she half croaked half screamed this at Jennifer. ‘Shut up, I don’t want to hear any more.’

‘Oh don’t stop me, there’s more. Funny thing about that kid was, once the brat was dead, the mother suddenly decided that she loved him.’

‘How many people have you killed?’

‘Well after that there was the incident with the nanny, that didn’t exactly go to plan and I had to stop for a bit. I didn’t kill anybody else for another six years. Let’s just say I found a new game that kept me occupied for awhile. I do like killing people though, you’ve been lucky, Beth, it’s a good job I like you.’

‘I’ve got to go to the police. You’ve got to be stopped and what happens to me doesn’t matter.’

‘So brave. So self sacrificing. So full of shit. You know why I didn’t kill you? In fact, do you know why I took to you? Why I chose you to be my only friend? It’s because you know what it’s like. You’re just the same as me.’

‘I’m nothing like you.’

‘You recon? Have you searched your conscience lately? How many times have you thought about killing me?’

‘Hundreds. But I’d never…’

‘How many times have you actually considered the possibility of having to kill Colin to save your own skin?’

Beth blushed and bit her lip without saying anything.

‘I’ve watched you change. That day when you hit Colin, you felt it too, just the same as me, go on deny it. Tell me you didn’t feel the thrill and get one hell of a buzz out of it.’

Beth hung her head in shame, it was true. ‘I’m nothing like you,’ she muttered.

‘You’re everything like me. When it comes to it, you would kill rather than suffer. Colin will be easier than Marc, you’ll see.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous. After everything we’ve gone through to save his life, we aren’t going to kill him. It’s absurd. You’re just trying to frighten me. Stop talking shit.’

‘And the alternative is?’

‘I don’t know, we’ll think of something.’

‘Well you’d better get a move on, sister, because he’s getting better all the time. In fact, I’d say there’s not a lot wrong with him now, if his cock’s anything to go by. Did he tell you we had a bit of fun today?’

‘He told me you molested him, and told me to keep you out of his way.’

‘Well the fucking lying bastard. I admit he complained a bit at first. Told me to get off and stuff like that, but after a couple of seconds he rose to the occasion. I jacked him off and he liked it plenty.’

‘Oh, stop lying. He told me exactly what happened.’

‘He’s the liar. Let’s go up and ask him, shall we?’ Jennifer was shouting now, furious at not being believed. ‘In fact, I’ll get the baby wipe from the bin that I used to clean his spunk off my hand. Will that be proof enough for you? You can have it DNA tested, if you like. ’ She was gesticulating like an angry child and was red in the face. ‘God I hate being called a liar when I’m telling the truth.’

Beth had a feeling that it was true. She felt sorry for Colin. He must be embarrassed that his body had betrayed him. But then, she reasoned, it was Colin and maybe he’d enjoyed it, too. Beth felt a flash of jealousy and realised that, as accused, she was fast becoming just as fucked up as Jennifer.

Jennifer was ready for going up and confronting Colin but Beth didn’t want him being disturbed. She was frightened that he might blab their conversation and wanted to keep Jennifer away from him until she had decided what to do. ‘Okay, I believe you,’ she said, trying to calm Jennifer who was still ranting at the injustice of Colin denying her. ‘And anyway, what did you mean when you said that you found something new to do instead of killing?’

As if a switch had been flicked, Jennifer’s mood instantly changed and she smiled slyly. Come upstairs, I want to show you something, you’ve never been in Marc’s room, have you?’

‘No, it’s kept locked.’

Jennifer laughed, ‘Oh you’ve tired then?’

Beth felt herself blushing again, ‘Once, out of curiosity. I’ve watched you going in and out and you always lock the door behind you. I wondered what you were up to locking yourself in there for hours on end. I tried the door once on the off chance that it might be open.’

‘Well, you’re about to find out, what I’ve been doing.’ They’d reached the door to Marc’s bedroom and Jennifer unlocked it with a key that she took from around her neck. She flung the door wide for Beth to enter. Being in Marc’s room made her shudder. The bedroom screamed male. It was his lair. She wondered how many women he’d entertained in the big bed. And then she wondered if things might have turned out different if she’d been a willing participant that first night. Her head turned towards a wall with no furniture against it. It was dominated by a huge mural and was a picture of Jennifer as a child. She was beautiful, absolutely stunning. It was a head and shoulders portrait, her hair was blonde then and hung in perfectly formed ringlets down to the end of the picture. Her eyes were sapphire blue and her smile was sweet, and looked so innocent.

‘Oh, Phantom, that’s lovely,’ said Beth, ‘It’s a beautiful picture of you,’

‘Not me,’ answered Jennifer, ‘its Melissa.’

‘But the likeness, I don’t understand.’

‘People said we looked alike but she was always the pretty one. She was the one that Marc liked best.’ Her voice had taken on such a tone of anger that Beth looked up sharply. You asked me what I wanted Marc’s money for. Go on step closer.’

Beth moved up to the picture. She noticed a few little pieces of coloured paper on the floor at the foot of the mural. ‘I only finished it this morning,’ said Jennifer, what do you think?’

The perception and artistry in the picture was fantastic. Jennifer had a real talent as an artist. ‘I think it’s…’ Beth stopped as she realised what she was looking at. The mosaic was made up of literally thousand of pieces of coloured paper, blues, browns, purples. The paper was half inch square pieces of five, ten, twenty and fifty pound notes. ‘My God, it’s the money. You ripped all of Marc’s money into little pieces.’ Beth took in the size of the picture, predominantly made up of fifties that took up most of the wall. ‘So much money, you were rich and you did this with it? That money could have secured us a future, false passports, maybe, I don’t know.’

‘Marc was obsessed by money,’ she said, in a calm and distracted voice. Using it to buy our freedom would have been too easy. Think how much more exciting it will be to get out of this situation by using our brains, or not, maybe, if that’s what fate decrees.’

‘You’re mad, you really are completely loopy.’

‘Not at all. I wanted to put this money to the best use. I wanted to do something with it that would really have pissed Marc off. What better way than making a picture of his little princess, a shrine to the golden one.’ The bitterness was back in her voice. She sat down and patted the side of the bed for Beth to join her. Beth looked distastefully at the quilt and then sat down. ‘You know I said that Marc had sexually abused me?’

‘Yes,’ said Beth, wondering where this new tack was leading.

‘I lied. Actually, that was one big fat lie.’

‘For God’s sake, Phantom. I held you sobbing in my arms, when you told me how awful it had been for you as a child.’

‘I know, good, aren’t I?’ Jennifer replied with a grin.

‘So he never forced himself on you night after night?’

‘Oh yes, that’s bit’s very true.’

‘I don’t understand. God Phantom, you tell me so many lies that I don’t know what to believe. ‘

‘Well shut up and listen, will you. I’m about to tell you the truth, if you want to hear it,’ she pouted.

‘I don’t have time for this. I never know what to believe with you. I’m going to get dinner ready. She turned and walked to the door.

‘I raped him.’

Beth stopped in her tracks and turned around.

‘Well kind of. I certainly seduced him, as they would say in polite circles.’ Beth wanted to walk away but she couldn’t stop listening. She had no idea what was truth and what was lies. What was true one day was the complete opposite the next. But she was compelled to listen to every disgusting sentence and couldn’t break away.

‘It took months to get his attention. I’d been reading some pretty sexy books. I was about eleven and wanted to know what this sex stuff was all about. I tried just throwing myself at him. But he slapped me and pushed me away. I had to be more subtle, so I messed with his head. I’d leave the bathroom door open a crack when I was drying myself after a shower. I’d pretend not to notice that he was there watching me. One day I glimpsed his hand moving, I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing, but I had a good idea. Bingo, I had him. I left my bedroom door open once when I was playing with myself naked on the bed. Afterwards, I burst into his bedroom and caught him in the middle of a similar pursuit; he had his cock in his hand and was wanking it for all he was worth. I had him so confused that he didn’t know which way was up. He yelled at me to get out and threw his pillow at the door. But I knew it was only a matter of time. I haven’t got much in the chest department and I had even less then, but I’d make a point of leaning over him to reach for things, whenever I could. I’d virtually rub my chest in his face. Any chance I got to rub up against him, I took it. I drove him mad. One night, when I felt that I’d waited long enough I crawled into bed with him. He was a deep sleeper. He was lying on his back, naked, and his cock was easy to get at. He was just about to come when he woke up. He was as angry as hell and let out this noise, it was part anger, part lust. He was crazy mad. He flung me onto my back and had his hands around my neck strangling me, and then he couldn’t stop himself. He thrust his hips and plunged his cock deep inside me. He was massive, thick and long. I thought I was going to split and bleed to death, I did bleed all over his sheets.’

‘Stop,’ said Beth, ‘I don’t want to hear any more.’

‘No wait, we’re getting to the funny bit. After that night we were at it like rabbits. I could get him hard just by looking at him. I used to do it when he’d be in the kitchen having a conversation with Nanny Nettles. I’d stand behind her and give him a flash of my crotch or sometimes just look at him in a certain way, and within seconds he’d have a massive bonk on. She knew. Nanny Nettles knew exactly what was going on. She tried to keep us apart, but she had no chance, we were like two dogs on heat.’

Beth was disgusted by the depravity of what she was hearing. She told Jennifer to stop again but she was powerless to walk away. As horrible as it was, she needed to hear the entire story. Marc had abused her and mocked her over the size of her breasts, was this some sick throwback to his obsession with having sex with his eleven year old sister?

‘It wasn’t all fun and games though. He stopped when he got me pregnant. It was as though he hated me, was repulsed by me all of a sudden. I’d been lucky. I didn’t start my periods until late. I was turned fourteen, and then we got away with it for another six months. I was just turned fifteen when I found out that I was pregnant. He sorted it out for me with one of Nanny’s knitting needles.’

Beth flung her hands up, ‘Oh my God, no. That’s horrible,’ and then her face hardened and she dropped her hands. ‘No. No way, you’re making it up. That can’t be true; you’d have bled to death.’

‘It is the truth. I swear to you. Far from bleeding to death it was no big deal really. It hurt a lot but was over in one night. I bled a bit but not too much, and there was nothing there to see, just a blood clot when I went to the toilet. If you don’t believe me go and see that bitch Netley. She knew. She heard me screaming. Marc had gone out. He couldn’t cope with it. Nanny Nettles saw the bloody knitting needle by my bed and soon put it all together. She ran me a hot bath and gave me some horrible liquid stuff that she kept in her room; I don’t know what it was. She sat with me all night.

‘What a horrible story.’

‘Tell you what though; you’ve got to admire the old girl. She gave Marc what for, threatened him with the police and all sorts.’ Jenifer laughed,’ Funny thing was, she totally blamed Marc for it all. I don’t think he stopped because of what she said. He wasn’t bothered about her. He just went off me. He wouldn’t let me near him and once he physically gagged when I brushed up against him. He pinned me up against the wall and told me that if I went near him, like that, again, he’d kill me. A few months later he started seeing this other girl, so I killed her.’ Beth gasped, but Jennifer just went on talking, it was as though Beth wasn’t there. ‘I stabbed her in Marc’s bedroom. He found her. We hid the body together in the woods. See the irony, of that Beth,’ she said, as if suddenly remembering that Beth was there. When we hid Marc’s body, I’d already done the self same thing before. Funny eh?’

‘Hilarious,’ said Beth dryly, though being sarcastic was the last thing on her mind.

‘Obviously they never found the body but we moved anyway and I had to lay low after that. And then I’ve only killed one more person. Last year, actually. I went to a party and got off with this dude. He took me back to his flat for sex, which was cool but then he tried to give me drugs. Do I look that fucking stupid? I don’t do drugs. I was offended that he’d think it of me. I waited until he was high and then refilled his syringe. He was already out of it when I plunged it into his arm. Accidental overdose, they said. Unsatisfactory murder, unsatisfactory outcome. That one was a complete waste of effort. There was no excitement and it just left me hungry for more. And Beth, here we are. Can you feel it coming to a head? I can. I wonder who will live, and who will die?’

Beth had no answer. She didn’t know what to say. Jennifer’s words were swirling around and around in her head but only one sentence made sense. Yes. She could feel it coming to a head, and it terrified her. ‘Dinner in half an hour,’ she said turning and leaving the room.