Majorca Flats -- 317

As they drove up the street towards the main road, Jason felt an obscure feeling nag at him.

“Key,�? he said. “Just stop for a second.�?

“Why?�?

“I … have a bad feeling about that guy there on the pavement.�?

“We don't have a lot of time,�? said Keith, not slowing at all.

“Key …. It'll only take a minute. You can turn here before the end of the road. Go on, Key love, I really feel very weird about it.�?

Keith kept going.

“Keith!�?

“Oh, all rightthen!�? Ungraciously, Keith swerved over to the side of the road, narrowly missing a woman on a bike, who gave him the finger and shouted at him before wobbling off.

As he put on his indicator to turn right out into the traffic, a Kombi passed the other way, its engine straining as it accelerated down the road towards the far corner.

“I've seen that bloke before,�? remarked Eleanor. “He shouldn’t drive so fast down this street. It's not a racetrack!�?

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Episodes 1 to 260 (without pictures, 10 episodes per chapter)

Majorca Flats -- 316

Bugger!

He'd left the door to garage open. His special room was well concealed, but only if the bookcase door was closed. There was the real door into the garage, and over it second door made to look like a bookcase and shelves. It wasn't just pretend books but a real bookcase, hinged on one side and weighted so it fell back against the wall when it was closed. And he'd left it open, unlocked! How stupid! Maybe no one would come into the house but maybe they were already watching him. He had to get back.

He'd learnt how to do carpentry at the Home. Father McAlister had taught him. The Watcher was proud of his skills. He had kitted out the Kombi so he could reward some of the boys from the Home by taking them camping.

He flipped on the indicator and waited until the road was clear so he could make a u-turn. A tram trundled past, and then there was a string of cars. Come on! he thought. By all the Saints, hurry up! I must get back to close that door.

His stomach churned and he felt acid surge up his oesophagus. He would have some Rennies when he got home. After he had closed that door.

He heard God speaking, with Father McAlister's Irish lilt. “Failure,�? He said. “Failure!�?

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Majorca Flats -- 315

 “Excuse me, we need to get into the car.�?

Cody looked up at the speaker. He was a good-looking blond, with the build of a sportsman, narrow waist, broad shoulders, his eyes sky-blue. He'd spoken with an English accent. He had a kind face. Help me, Cody wanted to say. Please help me. But … he was on his own, now. No one would help him.

“No worries, mate,�? Cody said. He tried to stand up, but it was a struggle. The man reached out his hand, and helped him. His hand was big and warm and strong. It felt good to hold it, to have the connection. Once again, Cody was tempted to speak. But he resisted it. How many times could an unexpected saviour appear? Once was miraculous. Twice …. impossible.

He watched in despair as the blond bloke, another man, and an old lady got into the car and drove away.

Image from Masterfile

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Majorca Flats -- 314

The Watcher stared fixedly through the windscreen as he drove to the Home. Before, the tinny roar of the Kombi's engine had been a comfort to him. He'd felt secure in its shabby cab, the seats fixed with duct tape, the smell of decaying plastic and old carpet. He'd been doing God's work, and God looked out for him. God was pleased with his work. Often he heard God's voice in his head, clear as clear, praising him for his labours.

But since the twink had got away, all he'd heard was the whispered word 'failure'. He no longer felt safe in the Kombi. It too felt like failure. The twink had escaped. Maybe he'd even gone to the police? No, homos were to weak to fight back. And the police were on his side. But what if he had gone and blabbed? There were unChristian elements in the police who might help him. What if he'd seen the number plate of the van? Or the writing on the side? What if the police were already looking for him?

His hands were slippery on the steering-wheel, and he ground the gears.

Tonight, he promised himself, I'll find someone else. And God will take me to His bosom again. And I'll be safe.

Absorbed by his worries and his thoughts, he didn't notice the depressed figure hunched over behind the rusty Holden Commodore parked next to the kerb.

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Majorca Flats -- 313

Cody sat on the kerb, his head in his hands. His life was over. Maybe it would have been better if he had died. He'd lost his wife and his children. Probably his job. And Luigi … Lou had been so cold! He knew that he loved Luigi as much as he loved his wife. He hadn't realised that until Luigi had left him, until Luigi had been so angry with him. When he'd seen Luigi, that first time in the bar, he'd been entranced by his beauty. Luigi had seemed like a model, an androgynous beauty which perfectly chimed with his inner desires. The first time they'd fucked, and he watched Luigi's sweat-sheened face as he himself came inside him, he'd known that this was it. That he was in love. This wasn't just a random pick-up, some trick who could be forgotten the next day. This was it. And when Luigi had left him, it had felt as if part of his heart had been torn out.

And now Philippa also hated him. And he loved her. He stared at an ant struggling with a burden twice its own size, toiling along in the gutter; at a leaf from the plane tree, about a thousand times the size of the ant. He lifted the leaf out of the way of the tiny creature.

And then he heard the unmistakable sound of a Volkswagen Kombi engine, only a little way away. He ducked down behind the parked car he was sitting next to and waited for the Kombi to pass. Maybe it was the killer, maybe not. But he didn't want to look and see. He found in himself the desire to live again. Or at least to choose his own method of dying.

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Majorca Flats -- 312

Jason closed his phone and looked at Jason and Eleanor. “Cody's disappeared. We're going to go and look for him,�? he added, looking at Keith.

“Can I help?�? asked Eleanor. Jason's first impulse was to refuse her help. But then he thought 'why not?' Eleanor was a calm, kind, unthreatening sort of person. Cody might feel safe with her. And, if it had been his gran he would have accepted her help, so why not Eleanor? And he remembered how she had found her son Bart dead, hanging in the hall, when she'd come home.

“Yes, thank you. We
need all the eyes we can find.�?

“I'll just go and spend a penny,�? said Eleanor. “All this tea! But I'll just leave a note for Lucasta in case she wakes up while we're out.�?

Keith stood up and helped her take the tea things into the kitchen.

Eleanor bustled off, her stick clicking against the wooden floor-boards.

As they were leaving, at the front door, she stopped to pat Bolt. “You have to stay behind, Bolt. We'll try and be back soon.�?

Bolt drooped in disappointment.

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Majorca Flats -- 311

Eleanor brought out a packet of shortbread biscuits from the kitchen.

Jason was on his fourth when his phone rang. He looked at the screen. “It's Lou,�? he said. “What's happening?�? he asked after he'd flipped the phone open.

“Cody's gone missing!�?

“What!�?

“Yeah. I dropped him off at his house. I dunno. I had bad feeling. The killer called me from Cody's phone ...�?

“... Jesus!�?

“So I called Colin—the policeman at Macedon police station—and told him and then I started thinking and thought what if Cody's wife throws him out and then I realised he wouldn't be able to phone me, without a phone. I mean, I know there are call boxes but not that many in this area. So I went and waiting just outside his house, I mean, not right outside but one house down where he could see the car but I waited and waited and no one came out and so I rang his house ...�?

“... you had his home number?�?

“Yeah, he gave it to me this morning. Anyway, his wife answered and said 'he doesn't live here any more' then started in on me and
asked me who I was then told me never to phone again. She was very upset.�?

“Well, that's understandable.�?

“Yeah. I know. I could kill him.�?

“Don't talk like that, Lou. It'll all work out.�?

“Anyway, I'm going to drive round the streets here and look for him. I'm worried, Jace. I'm afraid ….�?

“Where are you? Key and I are going to come and help look.�?

“You haven't met him, have you? So you don't know what he looks like.�?

“We can still look for blond guys wandering around. And you know what he's wearing, don't you? Where'll we meet you?�?

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Episodes 1 to 260 (without pictures, 10 episodes per chapter)