Kissing The Devil by Milly Reynolds

Author:Milly Reynolds
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: british, detective, humour

Thirteen

He decided to draw a single black line under his eyes to make them stand out against the white face-paint. He was ready. He had found the perfect thing to defend himself with in the back of the pantry. A three-pronged toasting fork. He could remember sitting on his grandfather’s knee when he was young, in the days when they still had a coal fire, and watching as the bread was thrust into the midst of the orange flames. If he closed his eyes he could still smell the bread, slightly smoky and charred; he could still feel the butter running down his fingers and chin as he bit into the warm toast. There was no taste on earth like it. He admired the effect in the mirror and laughed; he was only missing a tail to be a real devil. But a tail wouldn’t really match his oyster silk panties.

He kept close to the hedges as he made his way down Long Row. Everywhere was quiet and still; the animals were quietly sitting in the fields and took no notice of him at all as he slipped by like a phantom. At Samuel Spicer’s farm, he heard a soft singing and crept closer. Peering round the barn, he saw Samuel’s timid little wife, Judy, sitting on an unturned box next to the hen house. She was singing ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’ quietly to herself. She hadn’t seen him. He liked Judy, in fact he felt sorry for her. Whenever he served her, he made it his mission to make her smile; she always seemed afraid to smile, especially if her husband was with her, shouting and blustering and being downright unpleasant. Poor Judy never seemed to be happy, he guessed that her life must be pretty miserable. Still, tonight he would give her a bit of excitement. He stepped forward and Judy’s head lifted instantly. She smiled, a bigger smile than he had ever seen before. Her eyes shone and she stood and took two steps towards him. She stopped and looked around, timid once more. The smile faded for a second and then returned, brighter than before.

“You came to me,” she whispered. “You chose me.”

He reached her in three strides and put his arms round her, and very gently, he put his lips on hers. She felt so fragile in his arms, like a tiny fluttering moth. He tasted the salt of her tears as she cried with gratitude.

“Let go of my wife!”

Samuel Spicer was bull-dozing his way across the yard, a shovel in his hand.

“I’m sorry,” Judy whispered. “Run before he catches you.”

But he didn’t feel like running. He stood in front of Judy, pushing her behind him and he watched Samuel Spicer carefully. As Spicer raised the shovel above his head with a war-like cry of victory, he lunged forward with the toasting fork. It penetrated Spicer’s chest and he forced it in as far as he could. Spicer’s arm fell and the shovel hit the ground.

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