Hangman's Got the Blues by John Featherstone

Author:John Featherstone
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-907652-95-0
Publisher: Grosvenor House Publishing
Published: 2011-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

After he vandalised the telephone box, ripped down the sign telling him to dial carefully and wrenched the receiver out, Heslin headed to the park, praying to whoever for a way out of this mess.

His head spinning, he wound up on the swing he’d spent hours on as a child, staring at the deserted roundabout and empty slide with that sun on the back of his sweaty neck.

Somewhere in the distance, a church bell tolled ten o’clock and he put his head in his hands, promising himself that in one hour he’d be in a pub drinking himself to death.

Eventually, he became aware of voices nearby and a child laughing. He turned to see a couple and a little girl coming over to the roundabout. He recognised them too and his heart sank.

Fiona Wilks and Albert Pearce. God, he hadn’t seen them in years. In fact the last time he had seen her, was naked and even that didn’t make him smile. He wondered if she was still frigid until she drank. He wondered too why she’d settled for Albert Pearce. She hated him at school. If the kid grew up looking like daddy, she was screwed. Ugly bastard. Albert, you… Stop it, Luke, he thought, it isn’t their fault you…

“Luke Heslin, what on earth?”

He waved as Fiona walked towards him, smiling with her yellow halter-neck dress and curly blonde hair. “Luke Heslin in a suit. Aren’t we a big shot?”

Albert was pushing the kid on the roundabout, staring over at them. Heslin thought about punching him for old times’ sake and to make himself feel better. Bloody Hell, where were those Nazis when he needed to let off steam?

“You look like you slept in it.”

“I did,” he said, staring up at her in her NHS frames. “How’s it going, Fiona?”

She sat on the swing beside his. “It’s going very well, thank you. I’m a receptionist at Addie’s Dentist. Not bad money, renting a nice house, been seeing Albert for a few years, got a lovely nine year-old, that’s her there, and it’s all going very well,” she said without pausing. It all sounded so rehearsed and unconvincing, she might as well have stuck honest on the end. She hadn’t changed at all – still never asked about you.

“That’s great. Addie’s Dentist,” he muttered.

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing Fiona, I was just saying…”

“Just cos I’m not on the bleeding telly, alright? Just cos I’m not this big star? So what if I am only a receptionist, at least I’ve got a job. Loads haven’t. Albert’s a driver for Cartledge’s, good money and you don’t…”

“Fiona, in the nicest possible way, shut up. I was just saying the name of your employer, alright? Jesus, bloody northerners are so sensitive these days. We used to be tough not… shirty.”

“You were being…”

“I wasn’t being anything. Now shut up and give me a Fiona Wilks smile.”

Career or not, he still had it. She grinned broadly and it took him right back.

“It’s nice to see you again, Luke,” she said.

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