Excerpt: Staymaker

Along with the two other men that Kingsmill had enlisted to help, they took the now screaming man through the fields towards an old dew pond at the back of one of the orchards. Ferial threw him roughly to the ground, and aimed a kick at his stomach, Hawkins just lay there, coughing and doubled up in pain.

“Now, Richard,“ Kingsmill bent down close to the man’s face, and grabbed him by his hair. I have had a very bad day. I have had the revenue men sniffing round all day and then, just when I am enjoying a nice drink, I hear that you have been stealing from us. Now, if I was in a good mood, I would be content to let you have a warning. BUT the trouble is, Mr Hawkins, I don’t believe in co-incidences, and, well, them Revenue must have got the idea that the tea was with us from somewhere.” He stood up, and kicked the man in the face. Beckoning to the others, he stood back, and watched as they kicked him, screaming at him all the while.

Hawkins just lay there, curling up in the foetal position as the blows came in from all sides. Blow after blow from the men’s heavy boots rained in, aimed at his kidneys, face and back. The pain was worse than he had ever felt before, and he knew that there would be worse to come. He tried to mutter a prayer under his breath between sobs and cries, until, at last the blows stopped.

The men stepped back, and Kingsmill took a look at the battered form of the man on the ground. “Right, that’s enough,” he stated, and began to walk towards his horse. He went to the saddle bag, and pulled out one of his pistols, loaded and primed it, and pointed it at the sobbing figure on the ground. “The thing is, Richard, I can’t trust you anymore.” he said as he pointed the pistol at the prone man.

Hawkins raised his bloody and battered head, and through half closed eyes, looked straight into the barrel of the gun. “No” he screamed.

Kingsmill just casually pulled the trigger, the shot echoing through the still air, and the man fell still and silent. “Deal with it,” he ordered, as he and Ferial mounted their horses and rode back to Hawkhurst and home without a second thought, or a glance back.. The two remaining men weighed the body down with stones, and rifled his pockets, taking anything of value for themselves. They picked up the corpse of their former comrade, and threw him into the centre of the pond, where, to their relief, it sank immediately. They then made for their horses and home now in a hurry to get out of there.