Chapter 5: The Three Legs Of Mann

Putting a pair of disposable gloves on, he took the bag out of his boot. Walking back past the house in the dark, he had a hooded jacket on. Reaching the house, he opened the gate, tipped out the inner bag with envelope attached behind the gate then walked on, taking a circular route back to his car.

Back at his car, the outer bag and his gloves went into the container he now carried in his boot. Anything in here got burnt as soon as he got home. On the way home he sent a text to the journalist on a burner phone saying, ‘Check your front gate.’

The following week the local paper carried another excellent article by the young reporter. He explained photos had been sent to him that showed Keith with his arm amputated.

He explained the arm had been sent to him and the police had confirmed that it was Keith’s arm. He published one photo with the stump and the end of the arm blurred and listed all his crimes.

As he had done before, he had taken copies of the photo’s before passing them on to the police. There was no mention of the note about his first article or the code.

VOTES

Away at university, Danny had had the information of Tony Appleton’s drug dealing and his previous with Gerry Adams. He voted ‘Terminate’ without a qualm. Not long after he got all the details of Keith Brown. The first thing he noticed was that he was only two years older than he was. But when he saw what he had done he didn’t hesitate. ‘Terminate’ he responded.

Lewis was in school on both occasions when he got his request. He studied the details of the crimes for both of them and sent his ‘Terminate’ response for both of them. He felt sad that it should happen to someone so young but felt sure that if left he would get even worse, not better.

THURSDAY ON THE ISLE OF MAN

By Thursday Buttler and Sandra had made love at least twice a day and had done a lot of sightseeing. They had been on the horse drawn tram along the prom at Douglas, then taken the electric railway along the coast to Ramsey at the tip of the island. They had alighted at Laxey and visited the famous Laxey waterwheel and many of the towns along the route. Even toured a couple of ancient castles.

But most of all they had held hands as they walked and done a lot of talking. Sandra hadn’t told him anything about what her father had done but she had told him everything else about her life and family. Except of course about making love to Lewis.

Likewise, Butler hadn’t told her about what Tudor had done to him or what he had done to Len. But again, he had told her all about his family and every other aspect of his life.

A number of things were becoming increasingly clear to both of them. They were very happy together all through the day. They were even happier together at night. But most of all, although no one had mentioned it, they both knew they didn’t want to part at the end of the week.

Butler couldn’t see any solution. Without a job he couldn’t stay and sponge on Sandra. He saw little likelihood of getting a job in a strange country either, when he had been unsuccessful at home.

After breakfast on Thursday, they returned to Laxey on the electric railway. There they changed over to the Snaefell Mountain Railway and went up to the summit.

When they alighted at the summit, everyone went over to the viewing area. Sandra and Butler went too. As they stood looking out over the island Sandra told him, ‘This is where I scattered my parent’s ashes from.’ Butler put his arm around her and said, ‘That must have been hard.’

When all the others went into the cafe they went for a walk around the summit. The day was clear, and the views were tremendous. As they returned, the next train was just arriving, so they went into the café which was almost empty.

They ordered a lunch and sat chatting as they ate. Then they took the next train down the mountain. They returned to Douglas on the electric train and had a walk around the shopping area of Douglas.

They went into the Isle of Man Museum, which was very interesting. Butler learned that the Manx symbol of three legs, represented three Manx kings from the thirteenth century.

He had never thought about it much before but in the past, he always assumed that when he heard reference to ‘The Three Legs of Man’ it meant that the symbol was intended to mean a Manxman’s two legs and his cock.

When he told Sandra that, she couldn’t stop laughing. It took her a while before she was able to stop breaking out with an occasional chuckle.

Then late afternoon Sandra suggested they called in at the hotel where she worked and have a coffee and some cakes. When they arrived, the third receptionist was on duty, so Butler was introduced to her. They ordered coffee and cakes from the café just off the reception area, but Sandra said, ‘Let’s sit out in the reception area, there’s a better view of the bay.’

They were almost finished when Dominic and another man came past. ‘Hi Butler, how’s the holiday going?’ Dominic asked. ‘Great, thank you.’ Butler said, ‘We’ve been all over the island, it’s lovely.’

‘This is George,’ Dominic said introducing the man with him, ‘He’s part of our staff.’ ‘I wonder, could I borrow you for five minutes whilst you’re here Sandra?’ he asked. ‘Of course,’ she said standing up. ‘George, I won’t be long,’ Dominic said, ‘Would you keep Butler company.’ ‘Sure.’ George said sitting down.

‘What sort of work do you do, Butler?’ George asked. Butler told him about his two jobs and how his last one had ended. ‘That was hard luck,’ George said. ‘So, you used to be left on your own to lay out and prepare the ground for landscaping, is that right?’

‘Yes,’ Butler said, ‘It was heavy work, but I enjoyed it.’ ‘Have you done any other building work like plumbing or electrics or anything?’ George asked. ‘No, only knocking plaster off the walls of a derelict house,’ Butler told him. ‘I’m not sure I’m clever enough to do other stuff.’

‘Labouring is a very important part of building work,’ George told him, ‘But when you can learn to do the preparation work like setting out levels, that means you’ve learned a skill. So, don’t knock yourself. Not every labourer could do that.’

George saw Dominic and Sandra returning, so he stood up. ‘Well, they’re back.’ he said. ‘It’s been nice talking to you Butler, enjoy the rest of your holiday. Good luck with the job hunting when you get back home too.’ he shook his hand.

After they had gone Sandra said, ‘George is nice isn’t he. He’s in charge of the maintenance work for the hotel.’ ‘Yes,’ Butler said, ‘All the people you know seem very nice.’

By the time they returned to Sandras flat it was six o’clock. ‘Let’s sit down and plan our day for tomorrow.’ Sandra said. She spread a map of the island out on the table. She opened a game of draughts and used the counters, placing one on every part of the island they had visited so far.

All the counters were down the east side of the island with Snaefell in the middle. ‘Right,’ Sandra said, ‘Tomorrow we’ll get an all-day bus pass, and we’ll do a tour down the west side of the island.’

As Sandra was putting the draughts back in their box, there was a knock on the door. ‘I’ll go,’ Sandra said. She returned a few minutes later with a man who at first glance Butler thought was George.

Then Sandra introduced him, ‘This is Malcom,’ she told him, ‘He’s Georges brother.’ Malcom sat down and said, ‘George and I started a building business years ago and we’re now well established. When George got the chance of looking after the hotel maintenance he took it.’

‘I remained running the original business and now we do small building work all over the island, but mainly here in Douglas. Theres me, a plumber, an electrician and a joiner. Although we often have to muck in together to do other things.’

‘George called me earlier and suggested you might be interested in a job with me.’ Butler’s mouth dropped open. ‘Yes please,’ he said hardly able to believe his ears. ‘Then I’ll give you the job as our labourer for three months,’ Malcom told him. ‘You’ll be on a basic rate of pay of ten pounds per hour for a forty-hour week. After the three months we’ll review the situation.’