Free Enter the Dead: A Supernatural Thriller by Mark White Page A

into his face, but with Sam he knew
there was nothing to worry about. Sam didn’t have a violent bone in his body.
    Sarah eventually broke
the silence. She looked up at Sam, running the back of her hand across her eyes
and brushing the matted hair away from her forehead. ‘Can we go somewhere and
talk about this? Somewhere private.’
    ‘Good idea,’ Tom said,
looking around to ensure nobody he knew was watching him, more concerned for
his reputation than for the welfare of his lover and her husband.
    ‘Not you,’ Sarah
hissed, rounding on Tom like a wounded animal. ‘You can go to hell. None of
this would have happened if it hadn’t been for you.’
    ‘It takes two to tango,
sweetheart. I didn’t hear you complaining thirty minutes ago.’
    ‘You basta-’
    ‘Tom,’ Sam said, somehow
managing to remain calm. ‘Please, do as she says and leave, will you? I need to
talk to Sarah. Alone.’
    ‘Fine.’ He turned to
walk away. ‘I’m sorry about all this,’ he said, surprised at how uncomfortable
it felt to be apologising, and noting how long it had been since he’d last done
so. ‘I never wanted any of this.’ He looked at Sarah for a reaction but none
was forthcoming. He knew he wouldn’t be seeing her again. He smiled and sighed.
It was a shame really. If nothing else, he would certainly miss the sex.
    Plenty more fish in the
sea, old boy. Get your tackle out and see what bites!
    Sam waited until Tom
had gone before saying anything. He knew he had the upper hand - knew that for
once he was in charge – but he had no interest in twisting the knife. He only
wanted to understand.
    ‘Let’s talk in the
park,’ he said. Sarah nodded, and together they walked the short distance to
Regent’s Park and found a free bench. To look at, nobody would have thought
that there was anything unusual going on between them; they seemed like an
everyday married couple out for a lunchtime stroll in the park before returning
to their respective offices.
    ‘If I’d known we would
be coming to a park I would have brought some bread for the pigeons,’ he said,
smiling at a nearby boy who was throwing food to the birds with his
grandparents. ‘Remember when Max was little? He used to love feeding the birds.’
    ‘Sam-’
    ‘Please…me first, okay?
You owe me that much.’
    ‘Okay.’
    ‘You know, before I met
you I used to go out with a girl from Birmingham. Sophie Hanlon was her name.
Did I ever mention her to you?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘She was nice. Very
pretty. Friends joked that she was way out of my league, and they were right.
She used to get attention wherever we went: bars, the cinema; even the Baptist church
that she’d sometimes drag me to on Sunday morning. Men didn’t seem to care that
there was another man holding her hand…didn’t make the blindest bit of
difference that she had a boyfriend with her. She laughed it off, of course; said
that she was used to it and that I had nothing to worry about. It was me she wanted, not them. And you know what? I didn’t believe her. I didn’t, couldn’t accept that someone as pretty as her would want to be with me. Low self-esteem,
lack of confidence: call it what you will; what it boiled down to was the fact
that I kept telling myself I didn’t deserve her. As far as I was concerned, she
was too good for someone like me. Pathetic, don’t you think?’
    ‘What happened? Did she
cheat on you?’
    ‘I don’t know. I didn’t
stick around long enough to find out.’
    ‘You broke it off with
her?’
    ‘Yep.’
    ‘But she didn’t do
anything wrong.’
    ‘That’s because I never
gave her the chance. I made up my mind, that even though I thought the world of
her, I would rather break it off than risk being hurt. What a pessimist, eh?’
    ‘Did you keep in
touch?’
    ‘No. She was furious, not
to mention devastated. I couldn’t believe how devastated she was. Told me that
she loved me and everything. Anyway, after a while she didn’t want anything
more to