Epitaph Read Free Page B

five.
    Five people had rung him. Paul wasn’t sure if he wanted to speak to any of them, whoever they were. Nevertheless,he moved towards the machine and rested an index finger gently on the PLAY button.
    ‘You have five messages,’ the electronic voice confirmed.
    When Paul heard whom the first one was from he jabbed the STOP button.
    He couldn’t listen to it. Not now.

5
     
    Laura Hacket heard her own footsteps echoing in the underpass as she walked. Light, unhurried steps.
    She was moving towards the upward ramp when she heard heavier footsteps behind her.
    Laura thought about turning to look and see who the footsteps belonged to. She knew lots of people on the estate, especially those who lived near her. There was the old lady who lived across the street with her daughter. Laura spoke to both of them on a regular basis. The old lady had something wrong with her left foot and walked with a stick. She was a big woman so Laura discounted the possibility that it was her purely and simply because her footsteps would have made more noise, and it wasn’t the daughter because she always wore high heels and Laura told herself she would have heard them clicking. She always knew when the daughter was leaving or arriving home because she heard that familiar click, click, click on the pavement.
    She wondered if it might be one of her neighbours. On one side there was a family of four complete with their large dog,Bruno. A mum, a dad and two teenage boys. Laura didn’t speak to the boys much but she sometimes heard their voices when they were playing on their PlayStation. Sometimes she heard shouting coming from their kitchen, too, when she was in her back garden. She didn’t like the shouting.
    On the other side there was another family. They reminded Laura of overstuffed cushions. Each one of them was a little on the overweight side. There was the mother with her short black hair, the son with his bright blond hair and his grandmother who had vivid red hair. Laura had never seen the man of the house and sometimes she felt sorry for the boy because he obviously had no dad. No one to play with him in the garden. No one to kick a football about with him. Not that he played much; he was too big for that. All three of them sometimes ambled out into their back garden to cut their grass, trim their hedges and do some weeding but that was about as active as they got. When they emerged, their dog came with them. A little terrier that ran around a lot and barked at the birds that landed on the lawn.
    Laura had asked her dad if they, too, could have a dog. She felt left out, what with Bruno on one side and the terrier on the other but her dad had said no. He’d said that it wasn’t fair because they were all out of the house all day. He’d said that Laura would have to make do with her hamster until they moved to a bigger house. Then perhaps – and that was the word he always emphasised –
perhaps
they could get a dog.
    So, Laura walked on, convinced now that the footsteps in the underpass behind her didn’t belong to any of the people she’d thought of.
    She stopped for a moment to fasten her shoe.
    The footsteps stopped, too.
    Laura straightened up and continued walking, a little more slowly this time.
    Behind her, the footsteps she could hear also moved more slowly.
    There were about ten yards left before Laura reached the end of the underpass and, for reasons she couldn’t explain, she suddenly felt as if she wanted to be out of this subterranean walkway. It was dank and musty down there and she didn’t like it any more. Perhaps if the footsteps hadn’t been behind her she wouldn’t have cared so much but she felt the need to hurry towards the light that signalled the end of the underpass.
    She began to increase the pace of her steps.
    The footsteps behind her also speeded up.

6
     
    ‘Hello, Paul, it’s Mum.’
    Paul listened to the first faltering words then stabbed the STOP button and cut off the voice in