اولین قاتل

Chapter 5 The First Murder

When he woke up Bruno felt better. His mind was clear, he felt happy and he was hungry. After a good dinner he read the notes about Miriam. What did she look like? She had red hair, was a little fat, and she was pregnant.

‘The dirty little . . .’ Bruno thought. He hated her. Guy would be happy without an animal like that in his life. Everything was so good. ‘I have a friend, and my life has a real purpose,’ Bruno thought. ‘I’d do anything for Guy.’

When the train arrived at Metcalf station Bruno looked for Miriam’s address in the telephone book. Miriam’s family name was Joyce and she lived with her parents. There were seven people called Joyce in the book, one was a Mrs M.Joyce. Perhaps that was Miriam’s mother, and she was called Miriam, too?

Bruno took a taxi to the address, 1253 Magnolia Street, and arrived at nine o’clock. It looked poor and ugly, the kind of place where Miriam would live. Bruno waited by a tree near the house.

After a long time two men and a woman came out. The woman had red hair and a square, big body. One of the men had red hair, too. Her brother? They got in a car and drove away.

Bruno ran fast for a taxi. He never ran and it made him ill.

He found a taxi and got in. ‘Go! Go!’ he shouted at the driver. He could see the car in front of them. ‘Right! Turn right now!’

‘Where are you going?’ the driver asked. ‘Perhaps I know the place.’

‘Shut your mouth and drive!’ Bruno screamed.

The driver was annoyed and shook his head, but he followed the car. Eventually the car stopped in front of a big sign with lights.

It said, LAKE METCALF’S LAND OF ENTERTAINMENT . There were music and lights and people laughing — an amusement park. Bruno smiled; this was perfect.

He followed the woman and her friends through the park. Was she really Miriam? She was quite fat, and her hair was red. Bruno noticed that she wore red socks with red shoes. Ugly! But this woman wasn’t pregnant.

Then one of the men said, ‘Miriam, do you want some ice-cream?’

‘Oooh,yes,’ she said.

It was her.

‘You’ve got ten minutes to live and you’re pushing ice-cream into your mouth,’ Bruno thought. ‘ P I G ! ‘

Miriam and her friends ran off laughing. They went on lots of different rides, they went round and round, and up and down.

Miriam held her brother’s hand, and then the other man’s hand.

She kissed him. Bruno hated her soft, fat face, and her stupid laugh.

And what was she kissing these men for?

They all took a boat to an island in the middle of the Lake Metcalf, and Bruno followed in another boat. The island was dark and quiet, there were a lot of trees. People came here to kiss and make love. Why were the three of them here?

‘Let’s sit down,’ one of the men said. ‘I’ll look for a place down here.’ The other man went with him.

It was dark and Bruno saw Miriam’s shadow alone against the water. Bruno moved quietly, and he was there next to her.

‘Hello,’ he whispered, ‘Isn’t your name Miriam?’

She turned. ‘Yeah. Who’re - ? ‘

His hands closed round Miriam’s throat and he pressed tighter and tighter. She couldn’t scream. Bruno pushed her backwards and she fell over his leg to the ground. He pressed his hands into her throat more and more. Her skin was very hot. Her head turned from side to side, her lips opened and her teeth came forward.

‘Ssssssss,’ she said. ‘Ssssss.’ Her throat was very fat. Bruno pressed her into the earth. She was very hot. It was like killing a hot little rat. He took his hands from her throat. Suddenly Miriam coughed, and Bruno jumped on her again and pressed and pressed her throat. He wanted her to die!

Miriam was silent and Bruno took his hands away. He ran down to his boat and went back over the water to the park.

‘Help! Help!’ Bruno heard the men shouting. ‘My God, she’s dead. Help!’

Bruno walked slowly out of the park. He needed a drink and went into a place that looked like a bar.

‘Whisky,’ he said.

‘We don’t sell drink here, son,’ the man said.

‘But I need a drink!’ Bruno shouted.

‘I don’t have any whisky,’ the man said. ‘Coffee?’

Bruno left and ran to the station. He suddenly knew what he really wanted: a woman. He wanted a woman. He was very excited.

He asked a taxi-driver where to go. The man wrote an address on one of his cards. Bruno ran off and the taxi-driver watched him until he turned a corner.