Page 42 of Someone in the Water
‘Did he do something?’ I ask quietly, dropping down next to Archie.
‘I thought I knew him.’ He takes the bottle off me and pours more of the fiery liquid down his throat. ‘I mean, we’d talked about his rough childhood. He’d been in trouble with the police when he was a kid, but nothing serious. Possession. Anti-social behaviour. Stuff like that. And he’d fallen out with his family, but that’s nothing new for a gay kid coming out.’
‘We’re all running away from something, I suppose,’ I say, thinking about my dad, and wishing I’d tried harder to get to know him when I still had the chance. I reach for the bottle, then realise it’s empty. The sky is a faded shade of night now, the last of the day’s light slipping away, but Archie must notice the disappointment on my face, because he crawls towards the water and pulls another bottle out of the sand.
‘Where did that come from?’ I ask with a mix of surprise and admiration. I take the bottle and drink a few generous mouthfuls.
‘Sand keeps it cold. I was a Boy Scout once,’ Archie says with a drunken, sheepish grin.
I smile, then giggle, then my body starts bouncing with belly laughter. A moment later, Archie is laughing too, and we collapse onto the sand on our backs like little kids, our heads touching. ‘No one likes Izzy except me,’ I finally say. ‘Does that make me a bad judge of character?’
Archie tries to whistle, but it comes out like a wild wind. ‘Jeez, you are asking the wrong person.’
‘And she doesn’t like Jack,’ I continue. A tiny voice in my head tells me to shut up, but a louder one shouts that Archie should know this. ‘She overheard something about him.’
Archie sits up, twists towards me. ‘What did she hear?’
‘She wouldn’t tell me, but she thinks he’s dangerous. But I don’t know, maybe she’s lying.’ I curl my body up to sitting, register how hard the movement was. I feel dizzy again, and I wonder if I’m going to be sick.
‘I don’t think she’s lying,’ Archie says grimly.
I listen to the familiar glug-glug of him drinking from the bottle. I reach out, curl my fingers around the cool glass, and do the same. ‘Has Jack done something to you?’ I ask quietly. ‘Has he hurt you?’ Some movement out at sea catches my eye and I turn to look. It’s dark now, only a few stars peeking around clouds, so the water looks black. It’s a fishing boat probably, cruising across the water, the hum of its engine just audible above the lapping of the waves.
‘No, something worse,’ Archie murmurs.
‘What could be worse than that?’ The boat noise gets louder, and now I can see it, coming into shore, further down the beach.
‘You promise not to tell anyone? Because I told Jack I’d take his secret to the grave.’
‘Of course.’ I take another gulp.
‘Christ, I need a drink.’ Archie grabs the bottle and keeps drinking until I pull it off him.
‘Hey, easy!’
Archie looks so angry that, for a second, I think it’s him shouting. But then I realise the noise is coming from further away. The fishing boat is up on the shore now, and there’s a bunch of men walking towards it, squabbling like seagulls. One of them looks as drunk as Archie, being dragged along by his mates.
‘Jack tried to kill his family, Frankie.’
My head spins round. ‘What did you say?’
‘They were arguing, and his dad said some things, and Jack stormed out. But he went back that night, put a petrol bomb through their letterbox.’
‘Oh my God.’ In my drunken state, his revelation struggles to land. But two words pound at my temples. Bomb. Family. I don’t know what I expected – a fight maybe, a criminal record possibly – but not this. The attempted murder of the people he’s supposed to love the most.
In the distance, there’s a thud, another shouting match, followed by the noise of the boat powering off. But I don’t take my eyes off Archie.
‘He regretted it instantly, at least that’s what he told me, and woke them all up and got them out. No one was hurt, but their flat was ruined. All of their stuff gone.’
‘But that’s arson,’ I whisper. ‘Attempted murder. Why isn’t he in prison?’
‘Because his family kept quiet, and someone helped him get out of the country before the police could work it out.’ Archie’s voice breaks as tears start to roll down his face. ‘I don’t know who, but I don’t really care either. What I care about is that I’ve fallen in love with a man who tried to kill his own family.
‘And what the hell does that say about me?’
Frankie
30th July
