Page 12 of Six for Gold (The Magpie Rhyme #6)

R omeo had been chained up in the outhouse for a total of four days when Chad stepped inside and threw him a key.

He caught it in his left hand.

Their eyes met, but neither of them said anything.

For four days, Romeo had been kept like an animal, relieving himself in a bucket, and having his meals pushed to him across the floor.

For four days Chad endured Romeo’s glares, and snappy comments while resolutely sleeping each night on the hard floor.

The anger always faded after Chad fell asleep.

Seeing him vulnerable did funny things to Romeo’s heart, filling it with painful longing and sadness.

And then out of nowhere, Romeo had the key in his palm.

The standoff went on for a few minutes, then Chad retreated.

Romeo listened for the scratch of a key, and the clunk of a lock, but there was only Chad’s fading footsteps.

Chad had let him go.

He turned the key over in his hand, wondering whether Chad was playing a cruel prank on him before deciding it was worth a try.

Romeo tugged at his collar, sliding it around his neck until he found the padlock. It took a few tries one handed to push the key inside, but he managed it, gasping when the lock popped open, and the heavy chain fell from around his neck.

It was dark when he stepped outside.

The lights from the house glowed like a beacon encouraging him home.

It wasn’t a home without Chad though.

And the Chad inside wasn’t his.

The front door was unlocked.

Chad waited in the doorway to the kitchen, tugging his lip.

“Why?” Romeo asked.

“You could do with a shower.”

Although true—Romeo could feel the grime on himself, the grease in his hair, and the body odor that had bled through his clothes to surround him—it wasn’t enough of a reason for Romeo.

He glared until Chad lowered his gaze.

“Now we’ve established you’re not going to kill me—”

“I never said that.”

“Yet.” Chad raised an eyebrow. “Kill me yet . I didn’t think chaining you up like an animal was necessary.”

“I could take you right now,” Romeo took a menacing step forward. “Tie you up, throw you in the back of the car and carry out my—”

“Why would you bother?” Chad lifted his chin. “I’m not your Chad, am I?”

Romeo didn’t answer.

“There’s a clean towel in the bathroom for you, and I...”

“What?”

“Ran you a bath.”

Romeo frowned. “Ran me a—”

“You can’t get in the shower with your hand like that. The taps are stiff, so I...”

“Ran me a bath.” Romeo finished.

“Yes.”

They stared awkwardly at each other.

“In that case, I’d better not let the water get cold.”

Chad relaxed.

Romeo slipped his trainers off, then went upstairs. He walked through their bedroom into the en-suite and closed the door. He rested his head against it and just breathed for a few moments.

His hair was matted with mud, and a deep purple bruise wrapped around his throat from where he’d rushed at Chad. The bump from the rock shone at his temple, and his stylish stubble had turned into a tatty beard.

He undressed, leaving his clothes a heap on the floor, then stepped into the bath.

It didn’t take long for the water to turn grimy.

His right arm dangled free of the tub, while he used his left hand to scrub himself clean.

When he finished, he pulled out the plug and stepped into the bedroom.

Chad was below him, banging pans in the kitchen.

Romeo tugged on a loose pair of joggers, and some socks. He sat on the bed, their bed , and thought about staying up there, barricading himself in the room so he wouldn’t have to deal with the other Chad.

He lay down, and before he knew it, his eyes were sliding shut.

****

“O h...” Chad gaped in the doorway.

Romeo blinked blearily, sitting up. He eyed the pillow he’d soaked with his hair. “What do you want?”

“I urm. I was checking you were...” Chad shook his head. His gaze lingered on Romeo’s exposed chest. “I wanted to know if you were hungry. I’ve made some pasta.”

“You’ve made pasta?”

“Well, no, I tipped some from a packet into a bowl of boiling water, and then added a tomato and mascarpone sauce once it was done.”

Romeo’s stomach rumbled. “Did you remember to salt the water?”

Chad blinked. “Urm. Yes. I did add salt despite not knowing why...”

Romeo nodded, getting to his feet.

He waited until Chad had bolted from the doorway before tugging on a t-shirt, then following.

The first thing Romeo noticed when he stepped into the kitchen, were the packets on the side. He strode over, snatching up the medication. “What are these?”

“Painkillers,” Chad answered. He touched his head. “Despite what you think, I wasn’t faking it in the field.”

Romeo set the packets back on the side except for the one he recognized.

Temazepam.

The insomnia medication.

Chad watched him but didn’t comment.

“It’s nothing special,” Chad said, gesturing to the plate on the table.

Romeo put down the packet.

“Why is there only one plate?”

“I ate mine while you were upstairs,” Chad scratched the back of his head. “I thought it would be weird if we sat at the table together.”

“Weird in what way?”

Chad glanced at him. “I thought you’d spend the whole time glaring at me.”

Romeo cracked his jaw. Chad had thought right.

“Anyway,” Chad said, trying to squeeze by. Romeo turned his body, never letting Chad out of his sights as went to the door.

“I’ll be in the living room.”

He left.

Romeo closed his eyes.

He snapped them open again.

The meal was bland, missing seasoning, and parmesan, but the pasta was cooked through, and it satisfied Romeo’s rumbling stomach. Chad didn’t return to the kitchen.

Romeo loaded the dishwasher, if only to avoid having to make a decision about whether to join Chad in the living room or retreat upstairs.

He cleaned the table, the surfaces, but stopped short of filling up a bucket and mopping the floor. He knew he was being ridiculous. He couldn’t avoid this Chad forever but whenever he was around him the temptation to just end the torment by strangling Chad to death almost became too much.

Chad still hadn’t reappeared or left the living room from what Romeo’s keen ears had picked up.

The TV mumbled away behind the door, but he had no idea what Chad was watching.

He flung the dishcloth in the sink, then left the kitchen.

His heart stuttered when he opened the door and saw Chad asleep on the sofa.

The longing and sadness surged so fast it robbed him of breath. If this was his Chad crashed out like that, he would’ve walked over, eased Chad’s head up, then sat down so Chad could use his thigh as a cushion. He’d stroke Chad’s hair and trace his features with his fingers while he slept.

But this wasn’t his Chad.

Romeo hesitated, rocking from his heels to his toes before giving in and allowing himself a moment. He sat down in the armchair, gaze fixed to Chad.

His eyes stung, and the why, why, why sounded in his head, but this time he didn’t say it out loud. They would find out why, eventually, then Romeo would kill him, but at least then he’d know why his love hadn’t been good enough, why Chad had tried to leave him.

Romeo stayed watching Chad until his expression twitched, and his fingers spasmed like he was starting to wake, then he left, retreating to the spare bedroom and shutting the door.

****

R omeo frowned at the metallic pinging outside the window the next morning. Rhythmic, there was a few seconds’ pause between pings and an accompanying grunt. Over and over. He pulled himself up, then got out of bed, following the clanging.

It sounded like a shovel being stuck into the ground, and he burst from the front door expecting to see Chad in the field, digging around for bodies.

Chad wasn’t in the field, but by the double doors of the outhouse. He didn’t use a shovel, but a garden fork, forcing it into the ground as far as it would go before turning it to break up the mud.

There was no concrete in front of the doors, but a section of flattened earth that led to the concrete of the driveway which in turn led to the gravel then the dirt track.

Chad stopped to wipe his brow.

Romeo didn’t need to ask what Chad was doing.

He knew.

He’d warned Chad about the tire marks, and Chad cracked and unsettled the earth so Josh wouldn’t see, he wouldn’t suspect.

Chad couldn’t do anything about the soil in the tread pattern, but he could destroy the fingerprints from the tires themselves.

Romeo leaned against the wall, content to watch Chad work, but a hard wince from Chad and a thud from him dropping the fork had him pushing off from the bricks at his back.

Chad clutched his head, face scrunched in pain, and he dropped down to one knee, swaying in a way that made Romeo’s gut clench.

Romeo couldn’t help himself.

He went to Chad, helping him back to his feet.

“It’ll pass,” Chad growled through his teeth, pressing his cheek into Romeo’s chest as Romeo held him.

He was warm, and solid, and alive .

Chad panted, his shoulders lifting each harsh breath. Romeo couldn’t see his face, but he imagined Chad’s eyes were clenched shut.

“Have you taken your painkillers this morning?”

“Yes.”

“Chad...”

“I promise.”

Those two words stung. Romeo released Chad and backed away. Chad swayed from the lack of Romeo to support him. He rolled his fingers against his temple as he squinted.

Romeo turned away. Once upon a time he would’ve batted Chad’s hand away and taken over the head massage.

“You got rid of the fingerprints.”

Chad lowered his hand, but his expression remained pinched. “Yeah. I remembered what you said.”

Romeo nodded, glancing away from Chad again. It hurt to look at him. His cracked heart stung as he retreated to the safety of his anger. He let it build again.

“I...” Chad started.

Romeo waited.

“I’m going to the bridge.”

Ice chilled Romeo to the bone. The rage inside him turned white hot.

“What?”

Chad bit his lip. “I need to go back there.”

Before Romeo could tell him no, that was absolutely not happening. Before he could drag Chad to the outhouse and chain him up so he couldn’t, Chad spoke again.

“Will you ... will you come with me?”

Romeo blinked.

Chad’s brow twitched. “ Please .”

Romeo nodded.

Chad slumped. “Thank you.”

****

C had had removed all the perishable supplies from the car, leaving enough room for Romeo to sit in the back. The sun visors were across, hiding him, but still, Chad insisted they go to the bridge at night.

They didn’t speak.

Romeo tried not to glare at the side of Chad’s face and instead looked out of the windscreen. The rain had started to come down, gently at first, but it quickly picked up pace, bouncing off the car and road ahead.

Chad had walked two miles from where he parked the car to where he jumped.

Did he debate the decision the whole time?

Or did he know exactly what he was about to do?

“It was here,” Chad said.

He pulled onto the curb, flicking his hazard lights on. He got out of the car before Romeo could stop him.

“Shit,” Romeo opened his own door, stepping out into the icy rain. He jogged to catch up with Chad against the railing, peering over the edge to the rushing water below.

Romeo stopped dead, looking at Chad.

Chad noticed. “What is it?”

“The balcony.”

“What balcony?”

“At the cottage. You stood like that.” Romeo couldn’t say anymore.

He saw Chad from the cottage, remembered the way his hands had momentarily tightened on the railing when Romeo tried to pull him away.

Chad looked at him a long moment, then turned his attention back to the river running beneath them. It was five meters below with a fast-flowing current.

It had been the water that had almost killed him, not the drop itself.

Chad kept staring. His expression became more and more vacant until Romeo couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Enough,” Romeo snapped, rushing forward. He grabbed Chad by the arm and yanked him away from the railing. Chad didn’t resist. He looked up at Romeo with big eyes, rain streaming down his face, then made his way back to the car.

Romeo peered over the edge, torturing himself with the sound of furious water, before joining Chad in the car.

“These are the facts,” Chad said softly, “A witness said he jogged past me at approximately 5:15. I was against the railing staring straight ahead. He ran back the other way ten minutes later, and that’s when he saw me heave myself over the railing, then jump.”

Romeo remained mute in the backseat. Chad’s eyes stayed on him in the mirror, fiery and focused.

“He said I never looked down, I stared straight ahead into the distance,” Chad looked out his window. “At what, I don’t know. He heard me shout something when I surfaced, but the current dragged me under. He managed to stop a car. The driver happened to be a paramedic on the way to work. They ran down the bank on the opposite side, spotted my coat. They got me out...”

“How long...”

“They think I was under between six to eight minutes. An ambulance was called. It arrived on scene at—”

“No,” Romeo balled his hand on his thigh. “How long had you been thinking about this?”

Chad turned his head. “I ... I don’t under—”

“How long had you been planning on killing yourself?” Romeo tried to push down the anger, but it rose in his chest. “When we were away, Mercutio woke me up. He was whining, distressed, because you had shut him inside. You were standing on the balcony. The balcony at the edge of a cliff with the swirling sea beneath you.”

“I can’t remember—”

“Were you going to do it then? If I hadn’t have interrupted you, would you have jumped? Would you have left me like that? Would you have let me find you like that, battered on the rocks below or maybe the sea would’ve carried you off and I never would’ve known what happened to you.”

Chad bowed his head.

“Is that what you were planning? Did I interrupt you?” Romeo asked savagely.

Chad didn’t answer.

“You were never going to see Josh that day. This wasn’t a spur of the moment decision. You’d been planning it.”

“I—”

Romeo squeezed his eyes shut. “You didn’t take Mercutio with you. You always take him when you go to see Josh. He loves Josh and Josh loves him, but you didn’t take him. You knew you were coming here. You knew what you were going to do.”

“I don’t—”

“Yes you do!”

“I don’t!” Chad twisted in his seat. “I don’t know, okay? I don’t remember a balcony. I don’t remember coming here and jumping!”

“Is that why we’re here right now? So you can try again?”

Chad glowered.

“Because I’m not going to stop you, Chad, go right ahead.”

The words were acid in Romeo’s mouth and his stomach rolled at such a thought, but they kept coming. “Hell, I’ll even help you. I’ll throw you over the fucking edge. I’ll hold you under until water fills your lungs.”

Chad turned away. “I want to understand, I want to know, that’s why we’re here, but you shouting at me isn’t going to help yourself, or me.”

“I have no interest in helping you. It’s too late for that.”

“You’ve made that clear,” Chad snapped, taking off from the curb.

They drove in stifling silence and, once back, Chad disappeared to the bedroom.

Romeo opted for the outhouse.

Chad had cleaned the place up, and there was no sign it had been Romeo’s cage a day earlier. He did what he could on the gym clutching his right hand to his chest while using the leg press, and only working out his left arm. It didn’t satisfy him in the way his workouts usually did.

He could exhaust his body, but his mind was a constant swirl with Chad the eye of the storm and the monster snarling and snapping from the other side just waiting for Romeo to let it out.

It was only later when he was unable to sleep in bed, Romeo thought back to the bridge. The fog of anger had left him, and he frowned, remembering how Chad had spoken in the car.

Like he was the detective again.

Chad was looking at his own suicide attempt like it was a case.