Three more hits. After the third strike Scott waited for the dust to settle.
‘I don’t know what your problem is,’ he said.
‘Where do you want me to start? Summer’s over, Scott. With a bloody great hole in the wall we’ll lose the heat.’
‘Not when I’ve finished.’
‘But you said it would take weeks.’
‘Let me get on with it then. I don’t know why you’re being so cranky, love. I’m doing this for us.’
‘If you were doing it for us, you wouldn’t be doing it now.’
‘It’ll be worth it.’
‘How many times have I heard that before?’
‘I mean it.’
‘You always mean it. This is the central part of the house, Scott. How am I supposed to cook meals in the middle of a building site?’
‘You’re exaggerating. It won’t be that bad.’
‘You try it then.’
He looked at her again, face more serious. ‘I’m at work all day. Cooking isn’t my job.’
She swallowed hard. ‘It isn’t my job either, but I do it because we need to eat. Same as all the cleaning I do, and the laundry and everything else.’
‘Damn right too. You’re sitting at home all day anyway,’ he said, lifting the sledgehammer to start again. ‘You’d be bored otherwise.’ Michelle bit her lip. He just looked at her, waiting for a response, but knowing he wouldn’t get one. ‘Oh well, I’ve started now. Can’t leave it like this, can I?’ He swung once more, then stopped again. She was still there. ‘Well?’
‘Why do you keep doing this to me, Scott?’
‘Keep doing what? I don’t know what you’re on about.’
‘You keep undermining me, taking away the little control I’ve still got.’
‘Now you’re just talking rubbish. You’re paranoid, love.’
‘I’m not. You put the house on the market without consulting me, made an offer on this place without me even seeing so much as a picture. You do it on purpose, don’t you?’
He turned his back on her and started hammering on the wall with more force than before.
Another hour and he was knackered. He had to stop. He stood back and admired what he’d done. He’d made good progress, managing to knock a roughly door-shaped hole through into the dining room. He’d cleared some of the rubble too, but he’d have to finish the rest after work tomorrow. If only Michelle could see things the way he did. She just didn’t share his vision, always thinking about things in boring, practical, day-to-day terms. You need to take chances from time to time, he kept telling her. She was the one who was always banging on about wanting them all to eat together in the dining room eventually. Well, now she could carry their food straight through from the kitchen.
She was back again, hovering in the doorway. ‘Looks the business, doesn’t it?’ he said, but she didn’t seem to hear him. ‘What’s up with you now?’
‘Have you seen Tammy?’
‘No, why?’
‘She’s gone.’
‘What do you mean, gone?’
‘What do you think I mean? She’s not here.’
‘Well have you tried her phone?’
‘She’s not answering.’
‘She must have said something. She’ll have told Phoebe.’
‘Phoebe’s been in with me and George for the last hour.’
‘But she must have said something?’
‘If you really want to know, last time I spoke to her she said she was sick of your bloody noise and she wanted out.’
‘When was that?’
‘Just after you started knocking hell out of the house.’
‘And you didn’t think to say anything? Bloody hell.’
Scott kicked his bucket of tools into the corner of the kitchen and grabbed his jacket.
‘Where are you going?’ Michelle asked.
‘Where do you think? I’ll go and look for her.’
‘All due respect, I think it’d be better if I—’
‘I’ll go. Keep trying her mobile. Let me know if you hear from her. Wait here in case she comes back.’
‘What else am I supposed to do?’ she said as he barged past her.
Scott ran out to the car and drove towards Thussock. It seemed the most likely place for her to have gone. The sun was out, but it wasn’t a particularly warm afternoon, so he couldn’t imagine her wanting to walk out in the open for too long. If he didn’t find her in town, he decided, he’d follow the road around the back of the house and loop around the fracking site.
The road ahead and behind was empty. He could see most of the way into town and there was no sign of any pedestrians or other traffic, let alone Tammy. Thussock was quiet at the best of times, and this afternoon it was dead. A bloody ghost town.
They’d been so busy fighting and knocking shit out of the kitchen that neither Mum or Scott had heard her tell them she was going out with Heather, Jamie and Sean. Screw ‘em, Tammy thought. If they can’t be bothered with me, I can’t be bothered with them. She thought it strange how her perspective had changed overnight. Yesterday the idea of hanging around outside the community hall hadn’t appealed in the slightest, but being here today was a blessed relief, infinitely preferable to being in that bloody house with those bloody people.
‘That your dad?’ Jamie asked, watching the Zafira disappear into town at speed.
‘Step-dad,’ Tammy corrected him quickly, staring until she was sure he was out of sight.
‘He out looking for you?’
‘Probably.’
‘Should you tell someone you’re here?’ Heather asked.
‘Can’t be bothered,’ Tammy immediately replied. ‘Might do them some good.’
‘What?’
‘Might make them sit up and listen if I’m not there.’
‘You reckon?’
‘Probably not. They’re not interested in me. It’s frigging stupid, I don’t wanna be here, and I don’t think they even want me here. Doesn’t make any sense.’
‘I can relate to that,’ Heather said.
Tammy leant against the frame of the swing without a seat, listening to the endless emptiness of Thussock. ‘So is this really all there is to do around here?’
‘Pretty much,’ Heather said, checking her phone.
‘Drink, Tam?’ Jamie asked, and he took a small bottle of vodka from his inside coat pocket. She took it from him, unscrewed the lid, and knocked back a large slug. ‘Jeez, careful.’
‘I’m used to it,’ she told him, and she was.
‘It’s not that, I just don’t want you neckin’ it all.’
Tammy took another gulp then passed the bottle back. ‘I’ve been drinking this stuff for years. Takes the edge off. My mum would go mental if she knew.’
‘Aye, aye,’ Jamie said, walking to the furthest edge of the tarmac play area. ‘Here he comes.’
Joel was speeding towards them on his bike, his thin sports jacket splayed out behind like a superhero’s cape. He skidded to a halt in front of the swings, his back wheel churning up dust.
‘Wassup with you?’ Jamie asked.
Joel struggled to breathe. ‘Another one,’ he panted.
‘Another what?’
‘Body.’
‘Grow up, Joel,’ Heather said. Joel shook his head furiously.
‘I swear, Hev, they found another body. Dead woman, this time.’
‘Where?’
‘Alderman Avenue. Right by your place. Neighbour found her this morning.’
‘Who?’ Tammy asked.
‘Angela sumthin’.’
‘No idea,’ Jamie said, but Heather knew who he was talking about.
‘She that woman with the weird name? Polish or sumthin’? The prossie?’
‘That’s her,’ Joel said.
‘So what happened?’ Jamie asked