The Removal Man Read online

  The door rattled and Rose leapt back a pace. ‘Noah?’ The handle was being tried but she’d told him she’d left the back door open if he needed to get in to use the toilet. That gave him the option to come back inside to sleep too.

  Rose bent down and swiftly slid the lamp on the floor away from the window, so it no longer illuminated the glass. But she couldn’t make out any shapes in the blackness beyond the double glazing.

  ‘Noah.’ She didn’t like the uncertainty in her voice.

  A board creaked under her weight as she readjusted her footing. A strong driving gust of wind opened up a circle in the vertical droplets on the window. How long had it been raining? She couldn’t allow Noah to stay out there in that leaky tent.

  A hand appeared at the handle and it rattled again.

  Rose stayed where she was, her body rigid.

  It was a small hand, the fist under the outside handle as the frame shook. Noah’s face appeared as he tried to shove it open.

  Rose exhaled, went to the door and lifted up the catch. It slid unsteadily open on the runner and her son squeezed through the gap as soon as it was wide enough. His hair was flattened by the rain.

  ‘I’ve been banging for ages.’

  That was one of his exaggerations, but Rose felt an immediate pang of guilt at having fallen asleep and not letting him in straightaway. ‘Why didn’t you use the back door?’ She felt his soaked hair and then the shoulders of the navy dressing gown he had on over his pyjamas and jumper.

  ‘I tried to. I couldn’t get in.’ He looked down at his soaked red slippers.

  Rose took her blanket from her bed and wrapped it around him. ‘Are you sure?’

  Noah nodded emphatically from the end of the blanket tunnel. ‘The handle turned but the door wouldn’t open. Honest to God.’

  ‘Don’t say that.’ She rubbed his hair vigorously and then lowered the blanket to his shoulders. ‘Let’s take a look.’

  Rose led him down the passage of boxes to the kitchen doorway. Noah had said they were like trenches in pictures he’d seen of the First World War and now she couldn’t shake the image.

  She turned on the light and entered the kitchen where her collection of potted succulents was lined up on the draining board, ready for relocation. She stopped in her tracks a foot away from the back door.

  Noah shuffled in behind her. ‘I don’t know why it wouldn’t open.’

  But Rose immediately did. The bolt was over at the top. Had she done that without thinking? She was tired and she’d had another glass of wine. Only three glasses. Big glasses though. She’d put the rest of it in the cupboard because she’d wanted to keep a watchful eye on Noah. Had she locked up on autopilot? She had no recollection of it.

  ‘You locked it.’ Noah walked past her and pointed upwards.

  Rose reacted as if she hadn’t already noticed. ‘That’s… I don’t remember that.’

  Noah regarded her with deep mystification.

  There was no mitigating this. ‘I’m sorry… I must have done it without thinking.’

  ‘Did you have more of that drink?’ Noah looked about the kitchen as if he’d see evidence of it.

  As he often did, Noah had become a mini-Lucas.

  ‘No. You saw how much I had.’ Except the one she’d had after settling him in the tent. Here she was, again justifying herself to her nine-year-old son. But she couldn’t remember bolting the door and now she felt terrible that she’d shut him out there. What if he hadn’t been able to wake her?

  Noah shivered and wrapped the blanket tighter around himself.

  She went to him and kneeled. ‘I am sorry.’ But she suspected he might be milking the performance. He knew full well what treats ‘sorry’ from his mother often meant. ‘Why did you come in? Did you need to pee?’

  Noah shook his head. ‘No. I think someone’s out there.’

  Chapter Four

  Rose tried not to allow the tiny spike of alarm she felt register on her face and resisted the temptation to immediately turn back in the direction of the lounge. She’d left the double-glazed door open.

  ‘Why would you think that?’

  ‘I heard them,’ he stated simply.

  It had happened before. The last time Noah and Lucas had camped on the lawn, an animal had been circling the tent because they’d been cooking food on a mini barbecue, but Noah couldn’t be placated. They’d come in before midnight and her son hadn’t wanted to repeat the experience until Lucas had taken him on a kayaking trip to Hampton Lake that summer.

  ‘Could it have been one of our foxes?’ Rose was a city girl and still hadn’t got used to the unnerving, childlike braying the creatures made at night.

  ‘No,’ he replied after brief consideration.

  ‘What did you hear?’

  ‘Noises, like someone was pulling something.’

  ‘Pulling something?’

  ‘Dragging something heavy along. Every time I shone my torch out of the tent, there was nobody there.’

  ‘There you go then.’ But Rose didn’t believe her own assurance. ‘Maybe it was from the other side of the wall. Something in the forest.’

  ‘No. It sounded much closer than that.’

  Rose shivered inwardly. ‘Things sound stranger at night. When you can’t see anything.’

  Noah didn’t look convinced.

  She lowered the towel from his head and brushed his wet hair from his eyebrows. ‘Would you feel better if we took a good look outside?’

  He hated her playing with his hair now, but he didn’t pull away. He was clearly spooked.

  He nodded.

  It was the last thing she wanted to do. ‘OK. Let me just get some slippers—’

  A sliding sound from the lounge.

  They both tensed and Rose turned back in the direction of the noise.

  Nothing more. Just the light patter of rain on the skylight.

  Rose stood straight, her attention directed down the trench of boxes beyond the doorway.

  ‘What was that?’ Noah asked without opening his mouth. Rose kept her gaze on the dingy lounge. The cold of the floor tiles travelled up through her bare feet to her shoulders.

  ‘Ssshhh, listen,’ she whispered.

  Noah whispered as well. ‘What can you hear?’

  ‘Wait.’ You’re scaring each other now, she told herself. She didn’t blink, just kept her eyes locked ahead.

  Noah’s hand grabbed the back of her nightshirt.

  Rose reached behind her, put a comforting hand on his arm. She felt her shirt go tight across her as he tightened his grip.

  ‘Stay here,’ he begged.

  She could hear the terror in his voice. Rose eyed the paring knife on the little chopping board. The knife block had been packed away. How terrified would Noah be if she picked that up? She hoped she was overreacting – it was just Noah’s story about there being someone outside that was unsettling her.

  But Rose briefly cast her mind back to the attempted break-in they’d had in 2019 and how she’d told Lucas he was overreacting when he’d gone downstairs to investigate a noise. He said he saw someone looking in through the hallway window, but they’d run off before he’d got the front door open. She’d been unsettled for months after.

  Another low hiss from the lounge.

  Rose tried to swallow quietly but couldn’t conceal the sound from Noah. She wanted to shout a warning but knew that would alarm her son even more. If anyone came running at them, she could shut the kitchen door.

  There was no lock on it. They could easily force their way through. There was no phone in here. And hers was on the floor of the room where the noise was coming from. She had no choice. Rose leaned forward and picked up the paring knife.

  Chapter Five

  ‘Close the door,’ Noah said, vocalising her thoughts.

  But Rose remained frozen, staring unblinkingly at the area beyond the walls of boxes. An icy draught tightened the goosebumps on the backs of her arms. The wind was blowing into the ho
use through the open double-glazed door.

  They both waited. Rose counted the minutes in her head. Three passed without another sound from the lounge.

  ‘I really need to pee now,’ Noah hissed.

  So did Rose. She clasped the little knife to her chest and counted another minute. Did that really mean there was nobody there or were they just standing motionless, waiting for her to make a move?

  ‘I have to go.’ He tugged at her nightshirt.

  She held up a hand without turning. Rose realised the rain had stopped. The house was silent now except for the almost indiscernible tick of the heating.

  A sharp gust of wind and suddenly the main light came on in the lounge.

  Rose reversed three paces, her hand grabbing the door handle in readiness to slam it.

  But it was halfway closed when she froze.

  ‘Shut it!’ Noah yelled.

  Rose shook her head. ‘It’s OK.’

  ‘Quickly!’

  ‘Look, it’s fine.’ She opened the door again so he could see.

  The paper shade lamp she’d positioned on the floor had slid into view on its side. That was the sound they’d heard. It had been blown across the room by the wind through the door and now it had gusted further, so it illuminated the corridor of boxes.

  Noah said nothing as he peered around her.

  Rose wasn’t one hundred per cent convinced either. But if he hadn’t said he’d heard noises…

  She kept the knife tight to her chest and took a step forward.

  ‘Wait a bit longer.’ Noah tugged her back.

  ‘It’s OK. I’ll be two seconds.’

  Noah tried to yank her back again.

  ‘Let go.’ Without taking her eyes off the lounge, she gently prised away his hand.

  ‘If it’s OK, why have you got a knife?’

  ‘Ssshhh.’ It was the noise she made when she didn’t have an answer. She took another pace forward. ‘Quiet.’

  ‘Why should I keep quiet if there’s nobody else here?’

  Rose swallowed drily again and padded along the lounge floor until she reached the end of the box run. She paused there, then took a slow breath in. The lamp was at her feet. There was no other sound except the bay tree leaves hissing outside.

  You’re panicking. There’s nobody else here. You’re frightening Noah. Quickly look before he has an asthma attack.

  Rose gripped the knife handle tightly and stepped into the room.

  Nobody there. Of course not.

  But she quickly flicked on the lights and double-checked every corner before turning back to Noah.

  He was halfway up the passage of boxes, frozen mid-step.

  ‘All clear,’ she said as if she’d known it all along and had just been indulging him. Rose felt a bubble of tension burst in her stomach and relief flood through her.

  But when Noah joined Rose, they both stood silently for a moment as they looked at the ajar door and the dark gap to outside.

  Chapter Six

  ‘Will you look outside too?’ Noah implored.

  Rose moved over to the window and paused with her fingers on the handle. ‘There’s nobody there, but if you really want me to…’ She wanted to close the gap and seal the door.

  Noah stared past her through the black pane.

  Rose reminded herself how unlikely it was that anyone could have climbed over the tall walls. She was creeping herself out. It was only the wind blowing over the lamp.

  ‘Just to make sure.’ He still didn’t shift his eyes from the glass.

  Rose sighed and shook her head. She really didn’t want to go out there. It was cold and dark, and she just wanted to crawl back under her blankets. This was something Lucas would have done. But now it was her job. She saw the trepidation on Noah’s face. Rose had to step up.

  ‘Just a moment…’ She pulled on her purple towelling nightrobe, pocketed the knife and slid her feet into her faux animal skin slippers.

  ‘I’ll come too.’ Noah approached the window and squinted through his reflection.

  Rose tensed and put her hand on the edge of the door.

  ‘I’ve got my penlight.’ Noah slid it out of his top pyjama pocket and offered it to her.

  She took it from him. ‘OK, this won’t take long,’ she said breezily, more to persuade herself than anything else.

  ‘I want it back.’

  She nodded absently and slid the door open further. A strong breeze blew against her, and she pulled her collar tighter around her neck before switching on the light.

  Noah joined her on the paved area in front of the window but stood behind her.

  Rose quickly darted the beam around, part of her dreading the spotlight illuminating something she didn’t want to see. It lit up the back of Noah’s orange one-man tent that was pitched under the tall bay tree and she played the yellow circle about it before skimming it along the grass and the tall walls either side of it.

  ‘See? Nothing to worry about.’ She tried not to let the relief register in her voice.

  Noah was silent but stepped around to her right.

  Rose felt braver and slowly zig-zagged the beam, starting at the far end of the lawn and working it back to where they were standing to cover every inch before them.

  The wind picked up and the bay tree hissed.

  Rose looked down at Noah and he was nodding slowly. The action speeded up as he conceded that there was nobody there.

  ‘Come on, it’s getting cold out here.’

  ‘Can you tuck me in again?’ Noah took a few paces towards the tent.

  ‘You still want to sleep down there?’ she asked incredulously.

  Noah turned, frowning. ‘Like you said, there’s nothing to worry about.’

  She marvelled at his about-face. She had allayed his fears, even though she still felt on edge.

  Noah put out his hand. ‘Can I have my penlight back?’

  ‘Why don’t you sleep inside now? The weather’s better tomorrow.’

  ‘I want to sleep out here tonight,’ he wailed and bent over double like he always did when he knew she was going to refuse him.

  A day meant nothing to her, but to a nine-year-old, it was like being made to wait a week. ‘I could make some hot chocolate. And at least the wi-fi works indoors. I think you were brave to stay out here this long.’ Make it easy for him.

  Noah faltered, seemed tempted.

  ‘I’m going in.’ As she half-turned, she felt a stab of guilt. It was the easier option for her. Shouldn’t she be spending time with Noah – time Lucas would have killed for?

  ‘You go back to bed. I’m going to stick it out.’

  She grimaced. That was the sort of pathos Lucas would have employed. ‘You don’t need to “stick it out”.’ Did she really want to deprive him of this or was she still shaken by what had just happened?

  ‘I know that, but I want to,’ he decided resolutely and turned back to the tent.

  ‘Wait.’ She held in another sigh. ‘I’ll come and say good night again.’

  Noah swivelled back.

  Rose could see the obvious relief on his face. Or did he realise he was about to get her to stay?

  ‘You’re sure you’re going to be OK on your own?’ She knew how this was about to play out. Forget your comfy camp bed for tonight. She pulled the door closed and followed him down towards the tent, her beam playing over its orange triangular rear.

  As he reached it, she still felt uneasy. It was the only thing left that could still be a hiding place.

  Chapter Seven

  Your phone’s still on the floor in the lounge, Rose told herself. She turned back to the door.

  ‘I really need to pee now,’ Noah announced and strode off down the lawn.

  ‘Wait!’ Rose called after him. ‘Use the bathroom!’

  ‘No time.’ There was desperation in his voice.

  Rose followed him with the beam and then aimed it at the tent. Everything’s OK. You’re being ridiculous. Soon she could hear the
sound of trickling and her son’s relief.

  ‘Don’t look,’ he said with mortification as she briefly swung the light to him.

  ‘OK, just… hurry it up.’

  ‘I can’t hurry.’

  She shone the penlight at the tent and it fluttered in the wind. Rose trembled in the cold blast.

  ‘OK, done.’ Noah returned to her and took the light from her hand.

  ‘Wait.’ She followed him down the lawn.

  He strode to the tent and as he ducked down and entered it, the light suddenly went out and Rose was in darkness.

  ‘Noah.’ She tried to keep the alarm from her voice. She had only been about eight feet from the tent, but she suddenly felt as if she were walking off course. She put her hands out and kept going, expecting the tent to light up at any moment. She slowed when it didn’t. ‘I can’t…’ She had to be almost on top of it. She waved her hands in front of her and anticipated her fingers brushing against its wet material.

  A squeaking rustle from in front of her. Like Noah was sliding over his sleeping bag.

  ‘Put your light back on. I can’t see.’

  The tent suddenly lit up to her right. She’d wandered past it and towards the unkempt border. She circled around to the front, which was about three feet away from the base of the bay tree. The door flaps were slightly parted, and she could see the muddy black soles of Noah’s red slippers inside. It looked like he was kneeling down.

  She knelt to the low entrance. ‘I’ll come in just for a minute.’ Rose told herself everything was fine. She’d tuck him in and see how he felt. If it looked like they were both going to stay out there, she’d dash back to the house and get her phone. Lucas had slept in here with Noah before and he was nearly six foot. Rose was only five three. She stood again and looked back up the lawn towards the illuminated lounge. Even with its stacks of boxes, it looked a hundred times more inviting than the tent.

  A low murmuring from inside.

  What was that? A male voice? She grunted as she bent to her knees again and listened.

  ‘Noah?’ Parting the flaps, she slipped inside. The interior smelt mouldy.