Dead Village by Gerry Tate Page A

pleading with him to leave them alone.
    â€˜Little Timmy has a new father now,’ she had said in the letter. ‘A father who cares for him just as though he were his own son, and there is just no room in our lives for anyone else right now.’ She ended the letter by heartlessly saying they would be leaving town soon, and not to try and follow them. There was no kiss or hug or even a wish you well wrote at the bottom. In fact it was signed using her new surname.
    She wouldn’t have to worry about this happening though, because early one frosty morning, less than five weeks since his return, they found the lieutenants body two miles outside of town. The letter she had sent lay face up beside him. He had taken his mothers car and used some plastic piping, which he had fastened to the exhaust manifold, then he ran it through a small opening in the front window, and sealed it with an old jumper.
    This brave soldier had kept himself alive all these years by thinking of when he would return to his wife and child, and become a loving family member with them again. Every wakening moment in captivity would be spent wondering what they were doing. He never gave a second thought that his wife would meet someone new, because he felt their love was much too strong for that to happen. She had always told him that no matter what happened there could only be him in her life. Now though, he had nothing, not even memories.
    Dan remembered thinking at the time, of how he would have handled the situation differently. He truly believed then that he would have been happy for his wife, happy to let her get on with her new life. Now though, he just wasn’t so sure about that decision. No, now he had made a complete u-turn regarding this feeling.
    Because now he knew he would kill if necessary. He would do what was needed to keep Lynn and his children with him. In fact, he would even kill Beatrice if he had to.
    He would strangle her with his bare hands; shoot her, stomp on her. In fact, he would use any means at his disposal to rid himself of this threat.
    For a moment he felt guilty that he could actually consider doing something like this. Okay, so once he was a boxer, and this was a sport where violence was used.
    However, outside of the ring it was a different matter. Dan didn’t approve of street violence, or any kind of violence that left innocent people hurt.
    But now Dan realised that under the right circumstances, anyone was capable of just about any damn thing. It just needed the right ingredients and the correct timing. But there was no way that he was going to lose out like Lieutenant Jones, who now lay buried in a military grave. A grave, he felt, that no one, apart from some military personnel would even go visit.
    Maybe his grandmother had something, when she once told him. ‘Your life is laid out for you son, even before you exist. It’s all in Gods great plan. Every single thing in life that has happened to you, from the time you took your first tumble, to the cut you accidentally gave yourself at work, it was all meant to be, but only he knows the reason why,’ she had said, as she pointed toward the sky, and smiled.
    Before, he had never thought this remotely possible, because to him it seemed pointless why God would do this. Now though, on this score, he also felt different.
    Now he was sure his grandmother was right. And who was he to question the man upstairs and the decisions he makes anyhow?
    Okay Grandma, this is all meant to be, he thought. And maybe with the help of Joseph Lapahie and Griff, if I can find him, all will come good in the end.
    He pointed the car toward the interstate and headed for home. He didn’t know what he was going to tell Lynn about the test, but he would cross that particular bridge when he came to it.

CHAPTER 7
    Back in Ireland, the thunder crashed as the lightning bolt lit up the whole of the forest. Tully stayed silent and still. He too was now aware of