Looking Good Dead

the lack of it? Had she been on the edge, the way she had been for a few months after Jessica had been born, and this had pushed her over the cliff?
    All that stuff with eBay – had that been some kind of a warning, or a cry for help that he had missed?
    ‘YOU STUPID FUCKING FAILURE!’ she screeched again.
    Tom winced. Failure . Was that how she saw him? She was right. He’d failed in business; now he’d failed in the most important thing of all, protecting his family.
    He clenched his eyes shut for a few moments and prayed to the God he hadn’t spoken a word to in twenty-five years. Then he opened them again, but it made no difference; it was still totally black in here.

    His legs were cramping from being bound together. He rolled over, but only did one complete loop before the chain around his ankle snagged tight and he cried out in pain as the manacle, or clamp, or whatever it was, cut into his leg.
    Think , he said to himself. Think!
    The wall and the floor immediately around him were smooth; he needed something jagged he could rub against to saw through the cords. But there was nothing, damned, damned, damned nothing.
    ‘YOU HEAR ME, YOU STUPID FUCKING FAILURE!’
    Tears welled in his eyes. Oh, my darling Kellie, I love you so much. Don’t do this to me.
    What did the fat creep want? Who the hell was he? How did you get through to someone like that? But deep down he knew who the man was, and why they were here.
    Suddenly his fear deepened even further as his thoughts crystallized. He had dropped the kids off with Kellie’s parents some while back, during the night; her mum was feisty enough, but her bedridden father was totally helpless, poor man. Was the fat man planning to seize the kids too? What if he or his thugs came when Kellie’s mother was out?
    In desperation Tom rolled over; the chain jerked tight. He pulled, ignoring the pain. Holding his breath, he pulled again, again, again.
    But nothing gave.
    He lay still for a while. Then he had an idea.
    At that moment, some way in the distance, he saw the rectangle of light appear again: the door. Two figures came through, each with a torch. His pulse quickened; he felt a tightness in his throat. He tensed up, ready to fight, any way, any which way he could.
    One figure was walking towards Kellie, the other towards himself. Kellie was silent. The next instant the beam, like quicksilver in his eyes, dazzled him. Then it swung away and lit a paper cup of water and a bread roll lying on the floor.
    ‘Eat for you,’ said a voice in broken English, a hard voice which sounded eastern European to his untrained ear.
    ‘I need to urinate,’ Tom said.
    ‘Go on, piss in your pants like everyone else around here!’ Kellie shouted out.

    ‘You do no urinate!’ the man replied.
    ‘I have to go,’ Tom implored. ‘Please take me to the bathroom.’
    The man was tall, lean, late twenties, dressed sharply in black, stern-faced with a short modern haircut. Tom could make out his features now. But, more importantly, he could see beyond him.
    The nearest row of chemical drums.
    ‘Eat,’ the man said again, then walked away, joined by his companion. A few seconds later they had gone; the rectangle of light went out. Tom and Kellie were back in total darkness.
    ‘Darling?’ Tom said.
    Silence.
    ‘Darling, please listen to me.’
    ‘Why didn’t they bring me anything to drink?’ she said.
    ‘They brought water.’
    ‘That is not what I fucking meant.’
    How long had she been drinking? Tom wondered. How long he had not noticed?
    ‘How am I supposed to drink with my arms tied to my side? Want to tell me that, Mr Smart Husband?’
    Tom moved his head slowly towards where the water and the roll had been placed. His nose touched the side of the cup, and he cursed silently at the indignity of what he was being put through. Moving his lips gingerly over the rim, desperate not to spill any precious drop, he finally gripped the rim with his teeth, tilted the cup up, and drained it greedily.
    Then, like some kind of blind nocturnal animal, he felt with his nose until he found the roll. He had no appetite, but forced himself to take a bite. He struggled to chew and swallow. Then he took one more bite, swallowed and spat the rest out.
    ‘I think we should go home now,’ Kellie announced. ‘Do you think they’ll give us goody bags?’
    And for the first time in the last couple of days, Tom smiled.
    Maybe she was calming down. ‘I don’t think much of their