The Rat Trap: ( and other stories )

By R M Tomlinson

Some of these stories are not for the faint of heart. Two perfect murders are committed that no-one ever suspects: a twisted act of vengeance by a nasty recluse goes badly wrong, and an unexpected murderer goes free, perhaps to murder again. There is a heart-warming story of two lonely people meeting in trying circumstances, a young idealist who risks his life for peace, and a fun story of a chemist and ‘natural supplements’. Seven stories to keep the reader enthralled and entertained.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781925086904

Book preview

Child

THE RAT TRAP

ONE.

About the only thing that Purdy enjoyed in life was browsing around second hand shops and flea markets. He enjoyed the musty dusty smell of most of the goods on display, and enjoyed picking them up, turning them over in his gnarled old hands, and then setting them back down with a sneer at the generally overstated price.

Most of the time he would leave without buying anything, but once in a while he found what he considered to be a pearl hidden amongst the dross. His favourite shop boasted that it sold ‘genuine antiques’ and had been owned by the same family for three generations. The current owner, Mrs Harris, was in her fifties, and could not hide her dislike of Purdy whenever he entered the shop. This was fine with him, as he disliked everyone he met in return. His surly aggression was not a mask for anything, it was an expression of his deepest personality. He was a nasty old man, and revelled in the fact.

One Wednesday morning he was browsing at the back of the shop when he noticed a new box of miscellaneous junk stacked in a corner. He opened the box, pulled a dingy oil painting of a ruined church from the bottom of a pile of prints, and recognised the signature of a very minor 19th century painter. The price was a few dollars, and excited by the prospect of getting a bargain, he hurried to the counter.

This is overpriced he snarled I’ll give you half.

Mrs Harris picked up the painting, and ran a finger over the flaking ornate wooden frame, and examined the signature scrawled in the bottom corner.

Mr Purdy she said quietly I think you know that I don’t bargain. I do believe that this is due to be repriced tomorrow at three times what is on the sticker now.

Purdy glared at her, and snatched up the painting while throwing notes onto the counter. Ignoring the slight smile on Mrs Harris’s lips, he spun on his heels and marched towards the exit without a word.

As he reached for the door handle, he noticed a shelf fixed to the wall beside the door that was piled with old metal objects. One object in particular took his eye. It was rusty, metal, had a chain attached to one side, and two wicked looking steel jaws with serrated edges clamped shut at its top. A wolf trap!

He walked up to the shelf, and with an effort, picked the trap up and turned it over in his hands. Although the rust was enough to coat his hands with a red sheen, he could see that the metal had not been eaten away, and the spring on the trap was probably serviceable.

Holding the trap gave him an idea, and a small smile twisted his thin lips. This could well be the answer to a problem that had been annoying him for months. Holding it in his arms, oblivious to the red stains on his denim jacket, he marched back to Mrs Harris. Thumping the metal onto the battered old counter, he glared at her and asked how much? There’s no price on it.

She stared at the trap with distaste. She hated the idea of an animal dying a painful death while those horrible metal jaws chewed through its