Page 16 of The Last Bench

‘You’re a monster!’ Anne shouted. ‘You killed that kid, you killed Margaret and goodness knows how many others. Last week, another local teen died from an overdose, reported in the Wexford People. Did you sell him the drugs that finished him? Or perhaps you were the one who started him off on his journey to addiction? Gave him his first taste as a freebie. Like you did with Margaret!’

‘Prove it,’ Hinges replied, all trace of mirth now gone and a cold edge to his voice. ‘I’m getting sick of these games. Untie me, and let me go, before you both live to regret it.’

John motioned to Anne, nodding towards the hall. He wanted to talk.

‘I’m curious. What’s your end game? Cos from where I stand –’ Hinges laughed – ‘or should I say sit, you don’t have any idea what to do next.’ He caught John’s eye, then continued. ‘My guess is your missus surprised you with this. And now you need to clean up her mess. Tell you what, pal, let me go, and I’ll let this go. But if I’m not out that door in less than five minutes you’ve got a problem.’

‘You don’t get to make demands!’ Anne screamed.

‘No, you don’t,’ John agreed. ‘And if you don’t shut up I’m gagging you again.

John and Anne walked out to the hall, closing the door behind them.

John sighed. ‘We have to let him go.’

‘What?’ Anne was gobsmacked. ‘Not yet. We can’t let him out. Not now, not with the results out tomorrow. Not without accepting responsibility.’

‘He’s never going to give you what you need. He can’t show remorse because he doesn’t give a damn about what he’s done.’

Anne heard the truth in that statement.

‘Plus, as I said earlier, anything he’s said here wouldn’t be admissible in court, even if the Gardaí arrested him,’ John added.

Anne felt nauseous. For the first time, she began to doubt her actions. ‘We can’t let him go. It will all have been for nothing.’

‘We have to,’ John said. ‘But not for nothing. We’ll tell him that we’ll keep the video of him confessing to dealing drugs, and we won’t release it, as long as he walks away and leaves Wexford.’

‘He’ll move on to another place and start dealing there,’ Anne protested.

‘There’s nothing we can do about that. We’re not vigilantes. We’re Anne and John, a middle-aged couple who have lost one of the most precious things in their lives.’ He locked eyes with Anne, ‘But we are in danger of losing everything else if we don’t stop this now.’

Anne nodded, feeling her body sag with regret.

John’s voice softened. ‘I get it, Anne. I want to smash his head in, make him feel the pain that we both do. But that’s not who we are. I want to go back to us. Let’s call the girls and ask them to visit this weekend. Try to get hold of Michael too. We can fire up the barbecue. Enjoy each other again. Make a new memory. I can’t keep doing this . . . It’s killing me. It’s killing us.’

Anne took a deep breath and felt something change within her. Her husband’s words struck her hard, and she recognised their truth. If she kept going down this way, they wouldn’t survive. She clasped John’s hand, and together they walked back into the room.

Thirteen

Vega

7 April 2025

Hearing Anne confirm that Hinges was responsible for Margaret’s death was not a surprise. This man, whom she’d been trying to locate for weeks now, had caused so much trauma. Was he lying on a beach in Spain, living his best life, totally oblivious to the pain and destruction he’d left in his wake? Or on a new patch, in another town in Ireland, giving freebies to a new batch of kids?

‘I can’t imagine what you’ve been through,’ Vega said, her voice a little shaky. They’d got to her, this lovely couple.

‘I hope you never have to experience it,’ Anne said.

‘I haven’t lost a child, but I have lost people in my life.’ Vega stood up, and her eyes took in the garden from this perfect vantage point. Every tree was a monument to the Davis family. She turned back to the couple, who were still arm in arm. ‘Did you ever confront Hinges?’

John and Anne exchanged a look.

What was that? A look of warning passed from one to the other? Or was Vega’s mind in overdrive, as it often was?

‘Yes. Twice,’ Anne replied, as John said, ‘Once.’

Interesting, Vega thought.