Decision Time
Nick woke up after finally falling asleep, with the feeling that something was bothering him, then in a flash he remembered. They were all going to meet in the evening to discuss whether to progress what they had been talking about for the last few weeks. How could he have forgotten, he questioned. The points of their previous meeting were occupying his mind fully.
The fact that Nick was bothered had even been noticed by one or two of his closer colleagues at work, and he had even been asked if anything was wrong. He had answered that it was no more than usual, but had let them persuade him to go down to the pub where they had their usual moans about life, the universe and everything. This had helped, but it was the antics of his old adversaries at work that had set him thinking, yet again, about what they were doing. ckecked up to here 29.12.00
In fact he had been well and truly dropped in it by Jackie, the bosses odious number two. It was a familiar story, She had accused him of not completing some work required by the boss, but she neatly avoided telling him that she had never told him about it in the first place. Nick could not remember this, although he was sure that when she mentioned it, he could not remember what she was talking about. As usual she was covering her own back. The boss had, as usual, sided with her and had threatened him with a formal reprimand if he did not come up with the work for Jackie. He had done it, but only after working until midnight two days in a row. Jackie meanwhile had been swanning about the office pleased as punch to have got Nick into trouble and telling everybody how for once she was in the right, and how Nick should have more respect for her. This had made Nick fume and had helped him make his mind up about progressing the groups plans. Nothing would please him more, he thought, than destroying all the petty minded bitches and bastards which seemed to dominate his life. He decided there and then that change was necessary and if a few people like Jacky got caught in the crossfire, he certainly would not shed a tear.
Despite his new sense of resolve, it was with some trepidation that Nick approached the steps to Rachel’s house that evening. It was a three story town house not far from Hammersmith Bridge, situated in a quiet cul-de-sac. He climbed the steps and rang the bell.
While waiting for someone to answer the door he heard raised voices. One was Rachel but he did not recognise. It sounded as if they were arguing. The next second the door flew open and a man in a dark suit charged out, nearly pushing Nick down the steps. The man mumbled an apology, left the garden and disappeared down the street. He next heard the sound of tyres being screeched on tarmac as, the man or so Nick presumed, took off at high speed, in what sounded like a high powered car.
“That was my dear husband”, Rachel’s voice announced from behind him. He turned and saw Rachel standing silhouetted in the doorway, a large dog was at her heel, wagging its tail furiously. “Welcome to my happy home”, half-smiled Rachel. The tone in her voice left Nick in no doubt that things were anything but happy.
“What was all that about?”, asked Nick, stroking the head of the huge canine.
“Oh, nothing more than usual. He’s sodding off on another business trip and as usual he has no idea when he’s getting back”, replied Rachel, her voice tinged with anger.
“He’s always bloody well doing this. I would swear that he is having an affair”, she continued.
“I take it you’re not sure?”, enquired Nick, wondering whether she might think he was prying.
“No, I don’t know for sure. He’s too bloody careful for that. But one of these fine days I’ll find out, then I’ll be down to the lawyers quicker than you can say ‘end of marriage’”, continued Rachel. The anger had now turned to bitterness, Nick noted.
He was prevented from enquiring into Rachel’s marital problems any further by the appearance of Steve.
“Top of the evening to you both”, Steve announced cheerfully. Then he caught Rachel’s expression.
“Er, everything OK, you look as though you’re going to hit someone”, he continued, looking concerned.
“No, just the usual”, said Rachel.
“Ah, the old husband is up to his usual tricks is he?”, Steve asked.
“Yes. Anyway, I’m not discussing our marital problems on the doorstep, you’d better both come in”, Rachel said her tone gradually returning to normal.
They followed her and the dog in and she led them to a sitting room.
“Sit yourselves down and keep Rufus company for a moment while I go and put the kettle on. What would you like, coffee, tea, hemlock?”, asked Rachel as she turned towards the door.
“Coffee, please, white no sugar”, said Nick.
“Same for me, but black, and you can hold the hemlock”, added Steve.
Nick and Steve exchanged glances.
“She’ll be OK in a moment. She’s just trying to get her head round Jason’s antics”, said Steve.
“I met Jason a few moments ago ,” said Nick.
“Really, you’ve had that privilege?”, said Steve, sounding almost impressed.
“Well, what I mean by ‘met’ is that he nearly mowed me down as he left the house. ”, replied Nick.
“Oh. That sounds like him. He never changes. I ‘met’ him in the same way, I seem to remember. Don’t think we’ve ever exchanged more than a couple of words and those were only ‘excuse me’ and ‘sorry’”, said Steve.
“Anyway, enough of the marital shenanigans, how’s old Rufus here?”, Steve continued, abruptly changing the subject to the large and friendly dog that was standing next to him making odd yowling noises, of the kind which dogs make when they want attention.
He crouched down and ruffled the dogs coat.
“Well, how has your week been Nick”, Steve asked, still fussing over the dog.
“In a word, ‘shit’”, replied Nick, settling himself into a large arm chair and then extracting a doggy toy from beneath him.
“Normal then. Nothing changes”, sympathised Steve, “My weeks been OK for a change. Everyone is into holiday mode, which means that the office is quiet and I can relax.”
“Nice for some”, grunted Nick.
The door bell rang and Rufus pricked up his ears and looked in the direction of the hall.
“That must be John”, said Nick, “Do you want me to get it”, he shouted in the direction of what he thought was the kitchen.
“Yes, if you could”, replied the disembodied voice of Rachel.
Nick left the room followed by the dog, which had torn itself away from Steve.
It wasn’t Jon, it was a large and serious looking policeman.
“Good evening, what can we do for you?”, asked Nick, idly considering the possibility that their revolutionary intentions had already found their way to big brother.
“Is this Mrs. Rachel Shaw’s house?”, replied the policeman, ignoring Nick’s question.
“Yes it is. Shall I get her?”, said Nick.
“If you could sir”, replied the policeman, his tone as business like as his manner.
Before Nick could get her, Rachel appeared from the kitchen, carrying a tray laden with coffee and biscuits.
“Are you Mrs. Rachel Shaw, Madam?”, asked the policeman stepping into the hallway.
“Yes, I am. Is there a problem officer”, enquired Rachel apprehensively. She had obviously detected the seriousness in the policeman’s tone.
“I’m afraid I have some bad news for you, madam. I think you might need to sit down”, said the policeman. “It’s about your husband”.
“Eh, yes follow me”, said Rachel looking worried.
They went into the sitting room, where Steve was sitting glancing through a magazine.
“Shall we go, officer”, said Nick, speaking for Steve and himself.
“Are you friends of the Shaw’s?”, enquired the policeman.
“Of Mrs Shaw, yes”, replied Steve.
“Well, I think it would be better if you stayed. Is that OK with you Mrs Shaw?”, said the officer, looking towards Rachel.
“Er. Yes. Fine.”, replied Rachel, who had now turned pale.
“Well, there has been an accident, a bad accident. We’re trying to get Mr Shaw out of his car”, said the officer.
“Oh no, what happened?”, asked Rachel her composure faltering noticeably
“Sit down, Rachel”, said Nick, placing a hand on her shoulder, “and let the officer explain”.
Rachel put the tray, which she was still carrying, onto the coffee table and sat down on the sofa. Nick sat next to her.
The policeman also sat down and began to explain. “As far as we can tell, your husband tried to go through a red light. He was hit by a large lorry.”
“Oh, no! Is he OK?”, asked Rachel, knowing already that he wasn’t.
“He’s in a bad way Mrs Shaw, we’re not sure if he will make it to hospital”, added the policeman.
“How far away did the accident happen”, asked Steve.
Before the officer could reply, the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get that”, said Nick, “we were expecting someone”.
Nick went out of the room.
He opened the door to John.“There’s been one hell of an accident down the road, that’s why I’m a bit late. Looks as though a bloke tried to run the lights and was hit by a truck, the car’s unrecognisable.”, said John.
“Yes, we know. You better come in”, said Nick.
“Rachel?”, asked Jon reading the expression on Nick’s face and suddenly looking very concerned.
“No, fortunately not. Her husband”, replied Nick, turning back towards the sitting room.
Jon and Nick entered the room to find Rachel sitting with her head in her hands, sobbing.
Jon went over to her, sat down and put his arm around her.
“It’s just come through on the officer’s radio.”, said Steve quietly, “He died in the ambulance on the way to hospital.”
The policeman asked if they knew of any of Rachel’s husbands relatives who could come and identify the body. Nick replied that he did not. Then the policeman asked him to follow him into the hall. Once they we in the hall the policeman, started talking.
“I didn’t want to say anything in front of Mrs Shaw, sir, but there was another person in the car with Mr Shaw, a woman, that’s why I didn’t ask her to identify the body personally”, he said in a lowered voice.
“She was all dressed up,” he continued.
“Is she OK”, asked Nick.
“No, she died in the collision”, replied the officer.
“I thought it would be better not to say anything in front of Mrs Shaw, as it appears as though she had her head in his lap, if you know what I mean.”, he continued.
“I see”, said Nick, Rachel was right, he thought.
“We’ll need someone to identify Mr Shaw’s body, but it can wait until the morning. I’ll be going now, if that’s OK”, added the policeman.
“Yes, I think so”, said Nick, “We’ll take it from here, thank you, officer”.
“OK sir. I’ll let myself out. Here’s my card, I’ll ring tomorrow morning to arrange the identification.” The policeman turned and left the house. Nick went back into the sitting room, wondering how he was going to tell Rachel about the woman.
The sitting room was silent, Rachel was still sitting on the sofa next to Jon, and Steve was sitting staring into nothing. Nick decided that a direct approach would be best, he thought he knew Rachel well enough to know that she could handle it. But first, he decided, everyone could do with a cup of tea. He poured out the tea and dropped a couple of sugars into Rachel’s, as she was probably, under the circumstances, suffering from shock. He set the tea down in front of her and sat next to her on the sofa.
“Here, drink this,”he said. She took the tea and sipped it slowly. Nick waited until she put the mug down.
“Rachel”, he started, “there’s something else.”
“Er. Should we leave the room?”, asked Jon, detecting that Nick was going to add something more to the evening’s tragic events.
“No, no, stay”, said Rachel weakly.
“Well, I’m not sure how to put this”, said Nick uncertainly, as he was truly still not quite sure how he was going to put the next bit, he framed the words and continued, “but the policeman told me that there was someone else in the car with your husband.” Nick did not need to explain any further.
“That bastard.”, said Rachel, slowly and bitterly. “It was a woman, wasn’t it? He’s been cheating on me on my own front doorstep. No wonder, he was in such a bloody hurry to get out tonight,” erupted Rachel, momentarily forgetting her loss.
“Well, at least the sod is out of my bloody life now”, she continued.
The others said nothing, each of them knew that Rachel had been having problems and her fury was understandable. An uneasy silence descended upon the room.
“There’s one other thing. The police want you or someone else to identify the body. Is there anyone I can call?”, asked Nick breaking the silence.
“No, don’t worry about that, it’ll be a pleasure to make sure that the bastard is actually dead”, replied Rachel sharply.
“Now, now, calm down”, said Jon, “I think you better go to bed.”
“Yes, yes, I think I should,” said Rachel. 22.7.98
“We’ll let ourselves out and see to Rufus”, said Steve. Rachel got up and without looking at one of them or saying a word slowly left the room. They waited until they could hear her climbing the stairs.
“I suppose one of us should stay and make sure she is OK”, said Steve.
“I’ll do that”, said Nick.
“Good man”, replied Jon.
“Yes.”, agreed Steve. “I suppose there is nothing else we can do here. I think I’ll head off home.”
“Me too”, said Jon. “Goodnight Nick.”
Nick wished them both goodnight and they let themselves out.
“Rufus”, he called to the dog. The dog appeared from the sitting room and stood looking up at him, tail wagging slowly. It had obviously sensed that something was up, he thought.
“Come on old boy. You’d better come and do your business before we head for bed”.
He found a lead hanging near the door and located a bunch of keys. Nick left the house and walked down the street. He came upon the accident scene. The car was being hoisted onto the back of a truck. It was clear from the state of the wreckage that the car had been hit very, very hard. Nick thought it could have been a Porsche, but it was hard to tell as the damage had rendered it virtually unrecognisable.
‘Poor guy’, Nick thought, then reflecting on the circumstances in which he was found, decided that the ‘poor guy’ had obviously been no angel, nor for that matter particularly poor. He felt sorry for Rachel and at the same time a little relieved for her. At least now she would be able to get on with her life unhindered. And so could he, Nick thought with a half smile. It had started to rain, so Nick decided to head back to the house, Rufus having done what he had been brought out for. For a moment he forgot the way back and then he recognised the street and saw his car. He had not realised that he had been thinking so much. In fact his mind was racing. In a perverse kind of way, he was secretly happy that this Jason character was well and truly out of Rachel’s life. He was also worried, because he did not know Rachel well enough to know how she would react to the events of that evening. Would she forget what they all set out to do? He asked himself. Something told him that with Rachel the opposite would be true, but he could not be sure. Time will, as usual, tell, Nick told himself as he approached the steps to Rachel’s house.
