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DOROTHY UNEXPECTEDLY chuckled and Simone felt the bile rise to her throat at the freakish sound. She sensed rather than saw the way that Jack tensed up, yet dared not risk a glance at him as her friend began to speak again.

‘I was hoping Declan would suggest we do something special for our anniversary. After he was so nice to me on my birthday, I became possessed of the bizarre notion we had somehow turned a corner. If he had suggested we leave the twins with Brenda and go away for a dirty weekend, I would have been more than happy to oblige. That’s how deluded I was at that point in the marriage. He didn’t suggest a weekend away, although he did say he had booked us into an exclusive restaurant recommended to him by some guy from the city whose house they were working on.’

Dorothy clutched the hot water bottle even tighter and her eyes lost more of their focus.

‘My parents had given me a beautiful coat for Christmas, and money for my birthday, which I used to buy a new dress and shoes. I even bought a little present for Declan and hid it in the glove compartment of his car. Brenda arrived as normal to babysit, and she even put a few final touches to my makeup. She told me I looked lovely but I should be wearing a cardigan because it was a freezing cold evening.

‘I told her I didn’t want to spoil the look of my new outfit and my coat would be plenty to keep me warm. Declan promised to put the heater on in the car at full blast, and I remember Brenda laughing and saying that was present enough for any woman. She was a lovely girl. We set off for the restaurant but after a few miles Declan said he had left my gift in his desk drawer by mistake, and suggested we swing by the company on the way so he could collect it. When we got there, he asked me if I wanted to see his office while it was quiet. I was delighted. I’d only seen it once before for two minutes when it was heaving with men, and I was thrilled to get a proper look.

‘I’m getting a very bad feeling,’ Jack suddenly announced, sounding almost fearful.

‘With good reason, Commander,’ Dorothy’s eyes came back into focus and she leaned forward on her cushion and punched him lightly on the chin. Then she sat up straight again and took a couple of deep breaths to steady herself.

‘Once we got inside, Declan suggested I take off my coat so he could take a photograph of us together. There was a fancy SLR in the office they used for site visits. It had a timer button, which meant we were both able to get into the shot. I was thrilled. It was rare for Declan to show any interest in me, yet there he was taking an anniversary photograph of us like a normal husband.

‘He hung my coat on the rack and suggested I try out the fancy leather chair his brother had ordered for him. He took a picture of me in the chair. I remember I was smiling at him. I was certain we had reached the tipping point in our marriage and things were all set to improve in leaps and bounds. I was looking forward to telling him about the baby. He put the camera down and walked up to me. I thought maybe he was going to kiss me.

‘Then he walked behind me on some pretext and before I knew what was happening he had wrapped a rope around me. He tied me to the chair and gagged me. Then he put down a piece of plastic on the desk and left the office. When he came back he was carrying a box. He tipped the contents onto the desk in front of me. I recognised her straight away. She was a two-year-old Siamese cat called Fizzypop. She was Josie’s pride and joy. Declan had broken all four of her legs so she couldn’t run and didn’t have the energy to scratch.’

‘I think you should stop now,’ Jack was pale.

‘Don’t be such a fucking princess,’ Simone rounded upon him in fury. ‘This was your fucking idea so shut up and let her speak.’

‘He tortured her for an hour,’ Dorothy stared over Jack’s head, seeing another room in a different decade. ‘I knew it was only an hour because I could see the clock on the far wall of the office. I think he got a bit bored after that because he removed the gag. I begged him to kill the cat and put her out of her misery. He laughed and said if I wanted Fizzypop dead, I would have to kill her myself. He offered me his knife.

‘It was one of those switchblade yokes. He untied me and I leaned over her. There was blood everywhere. She barely had a drop left inside her little body, although she was still alive. I was terrified she would hang on, that she would somehow refuse to die. I knew I had to put her out of her misery, but I had never killed anything other than an insect before, and wasn’t sure how to do it properly.’

Jack shifted on the soles of his feet and Simone glared at him threateningly. Dorothy did not notice any of this interaction and kept talking.

‘Declan laughed when he saw how devastated I was. He offered me his knife again. This time I took it from him and slit Fizzypop’s throat. I pressed so deeply I almost decapitated her because I was determined to do the job properly the first time. She bled all over my hands, and I had to wipe them on my dress to clean them. By the time I was finished, I could barely see the pattern.

‘Declan took his knife back then wrapped Fizzypop in the plastic and scooped her back into the box. The blood was starting to dry on my hands and I asked Declan if I could go and wash them. He laughed in my face and said the blood would serve as a reminder the next time I thought about contacting Josie or disobeying his orders in any way. I had no way of cleaning my hands except on an old tissue I found in my pocket, although I managed to get my coat back on.’

‘What was the photograph all about?’ Jack sounded strangled, and even though Simone had lost every bit of colour and was clutching her abdomen, she managed to glower at him.

‘Declan wanted to get me out of my warm coat,’ Dorothy replied evenly. ‘The dress I was wearing underneath was very light for the time of year, and he knew I’d be freezing cold. The heating was off and it was only February. Declan was all layered up in winter woollies, while I was tied to that chair wearing a polyester frock and a pair of tights over my best underwear. Bearing in mind it was our anniversary. I assumed there would be some obligatory lovemaking, and I wanted to look nice in case he got all spontaneous.’

‘I cannot believe the bastard died so cleanly,’ Jack said woodenly. ‘What happened then?’

‘Declan threw the box into the boot and told me to get into the car. He made some comment about how he couldn’t very well take me out to dinner looking such a mess, but apart from that not a word was spoken. Brenda was in the sitting room watching TV when we got home, which meant I was able to run upstairs and take a shower while Declan drove her home.

‘He spun her some yarn about me coming down with food poisoning. I was desperate to sleep with the twins in their room, but was terrified he would come home and do something to me in front of them. I got into my own bed with a hot water bottle and prayed like I’ve never prayed before. I think I must have been in shock because I fell asleep, and when I woke up there was no sign the other side of the bed had been slept in. That was how I spent my second wedding anniversary.’

‘Will I fetch you a brandy, Boss?’ Jack sounded hoarse.

‘No thanks,’ Dorothy suddenly smiled. ‘It’s ironic really. When that young fella pulled a knife on me in the car park that day, all I could think about was Fizzypop. Not the Sick Puppy or the 911, just poor little Fizzypop and what she was forced to endure because I refused to give up my friend. He was carrying one of those flickblade knives as well, that’s what made me think of it. It’s a good thing Keith had no idea what was really going through my mind. I thought about her again the day of the Pipe Incident. When I felt Marco’s blood seeping into my dress, it was as if I was back in that bitterly cold office watching that little cat being tortured with razorblades and pins and cigarettes.’

‘Did he hurt you as well?’ Jack’s voice rasped like sandpaper.

‘I have no recollection of him ever punching me or anything of that nature,’ Dorothy leaned forward so she could reach him. She touched his chin, then traced a line down the front of his neck.

‘It’s not that he didn’t want to. I’m positive he did. But at the same time, he was acutely conscious of leaving any tell-tale marks. There was never anybody like Declan for covering his tracks. I also believe, having had years to ponder the situation, he had a deep understanding of the psychology of torture. His intention was to break my spirit and destroy me in the same way I had destroyed him by falling pregnant and going ahead with the marriage.’

‘Did you find out why he didn’t come home that night?’ Simone was proud of how calm she sounded even though she was dying inside.

‘Brenda always found him extremely attractive and they started an affair that night,’ Dorothy explained. ‘She was a very respectable girl who wouldn’t have thrown herself at a married man. I figure the bloodlust got him going and he hit on her. He could be charming when he wanted, and the poor girl was no doubt bowled over by him.’

‘It sounds as if you had a lucky escape that night, Boss,’ Jack rumbled, looking sick.

‘Yes,’ she replied thoughtfully. ‘I often wonder what would have happened if she hadn’t distracted him. I’ve always been grateful to her for taking him off my hands for a while, although I was never able to thank her. Brenda didn’t realise I knew exactly what was going on, and behaved normally whenever she came around to babysit. I didn’t treat her any differently because I was terrified she’d get sick of him and bail on me.

‘I was determined to finish my course, and I needed her to take care of the twins. Plus, Declan was clearly getting all the sex he wanted from her, and I was equally as terrified he’d start demanding his marital rights if she ditched him. I played dumb and did my best to keep things sweet.’

‘So when you told me you ended your friendship with Josie because she was having an affair with Declan, that was a total lie,’ Simone managed to squeeze the words past her constricted throat. ‘Did Josie guess what happened to her cat?’

‘Fuck this,’ Jack muttered, ‘I’m going for brandy.’

He left the room at a run and Simone took the opportunity to stand up and rub her aching back. She also tested the hot water bottle but found it was at a comfortable temperature for cuddling, therefore decided against interfering with it.

Jack returned at a sprint and poured brandy into three tumblers. He handed one to Simone and said he didn’t care how many gaybees she was carrying, they would understand when they were older and doubtless forgive one transgression. Simone did not need much encouragement and took a swig of the liquor.

Dorothy sipped her own drink and started talking again. ‘Josie freaked out when she realised her favourite cat had disappeared. Rumours had been circulating about Declan for a while, although she always ignored them. This time, one of the neighbourhood biddies had actually seen him hanging around Josie’s house, and convinced her he had somehow been involved. Of course, there was very little proof he had abducted Fizzypop, although the whole street suspected him. Nobody wanted to get the police involved and bring the neighbourhood into disrepute, so they didn’t bother to report him. They did something far worse.’

Jack lifted her brandy glass and pushed it against her lips. She obediently took another sip of the fiery brew and then began to talk again.

‘With the exception of one old man called Karl, they began to treat us like pariahs. Josie told me straight up she knew I was covering for my creep of a husband, and wanted nothing more to do with me. The situation was hideous. I was a mess. I couldn’t seem to snap out of it and that was when I lost the baby. It’s ironic really...’ she trailed off.

‘Why is it ironic, Dottie?’ Simone enquired sharply.

‘Because my miscarriage exercised a calming effect on Declan,’ Dorothy murmured around the rim of her glass. ‘I don’t know if it was because he genuinely regretted the fact there might not be another son, or if he got off on the pain I was experiencing. Regardless of the reasons behind it, he definitely seemed calmer. The fact that Brenda adored him helped the situation greatly. If I’ve learned one thing during this lifetime, it’s that all psychotic cunts love to be adored.

‘A few days after the miscarriage, I said I was going back to college and he didn’t try to stop me. When Rudy asked if I was all right, I was sorely tempted to tell him the truth, but chickened out. It didn’t seem right to burden him with the knowledge. Life didn’t exactly go back to normal because it had changed forever, but things quietened down and there were no more horrible episodes. Needless to say, I never spoke to Josie again so Declan knew I had no real friends. After a couple of weeks when I was feeling calmer about things, I told Declan I was leaving him. I assumed it would be a straightforward enough process. He didn’t want to be married to me, and I was sure he’d be delighted to see the back of me.’

‘I’m guessing he didn’t react in the manner you were expecting,’ Jack’s eyes were fixed on her face.

‘He suggested I give the situation serious thought before taking such drastic action,’ Dorothy sipped more of the brandy. ‘He made it sound as if I was the one who was being unreasonable. Then he said it would be a shame if anything bad were to happen to my sisters or parents just because I was too immature to understand that all marriages need work. He said Simone would miss those long legs of hers if they were broken so badly they had to be amputated, and Bel would miss her hair if it was all shaved off. He also said Viv would really miss her pretty face if acid was thrown on it.

‘I got a terrible shock when I heard all this. It never entered my head that he would threaten my family or hurt my friends. I didn’t know what to think or believe and I was still in shock over Fizzypop. I still hadn’t made up my mind what to do when I went to college the following week.’

‘I’ll be a full-blown drunk by the time this story is done,’ Jack complained, and took a large swig of his drink. ‘What happened at college?’

‘There was no sign of Rudy and nobody had heard from him. There were no mobile phones in those days, which meant there was little any of us could do to contact him. I assumed he was sick, and would show up soon enough. The weeks went by and still he was a no-show. I asked the tutors if they had heard from him, and they told me he had taken a job up north, but I didn’t believe them.

‘For an entire month, I was convinced Declan had hurt him in some way. I was deeply paranoid by then and jumping at shadows. I didn’t believe the tutors when they told me he had moved away, although that’s exactly what happened. Rudy had a family crisis and had to take off at short notice. He was offered a job near his parents, and decided to accept it because he was getting fed up of living down south.

‘I eventually found out he stopped at my house on the way out of town to let me know what was going on, and encountered Declan. The evil bastard promised to give me the message but of course he never did. The damage was done by the time I discovered Rudy was alive and well. I had lost a stone in weight and every bit of fight had left me. I even began to lose my hair with the stress of it all. I told Declan I had reconsidered my position and promised never to leave him.’