The Fell Walker Read Online Free PDF Page A

with the beauty that surrounded him. Every day he was compelled to stop and stare at the beauty of the land he now called home.
    Down below, beside the lucific lake, he could just see the roof of his cottage, hiding among the trees. He pictured his rowing boat, tied up at the lake’s edge, always ready for a lazy afternoon’s drifting, or a spot of fishing; the wild birds and animals on the lawn, and Helen, dear Helen, baking and cooking on her day off, humming contentedly, flour everywhere. He could smell the hot scones. Was ever a man so lucky?
    From Skiddaw’s highest point he moved along the ridge until he reached Little Man. He inspected the area where people were most likely to stop to take in the magnificent view.
    He had remembered correctly. The top of the mountain was convex for a few yards before it became a sheer drop. The contour naturally forced people to stand away from the absolute edge. Even if you slipped at this point you would have a few yards of safety before you plunged over the edge. The chances of it being an accident were virtually nil. You would have to deliberately throw yourself off, or be pushed. It had to be suicide or murder.
    As he turned to leave the area, he spotted something blue lying on the dark grey, loose shale, ground. Bending down, he found a badly chewed plastic top off a ballpoint pen. It found its way into the pocket of his body warmer, to share space with bits of wire, string, radiator key, numerous dog-eared bits of paper containing once vital notes, elastic bands, zip tag, and sundry electric fuses.
    Helen no longer shook her head when she saw him studiously placing them in a pile while the jacket got washed. She had long ago accepted that some men never totally grow up.

    *

    During those three weeks, Ben had phoned Sophie Lund frequently. She had been waiting, which had reassured him that she was genuine, and he had passed on the snippets of information he had gleaned. When they had spoken, it had been very brief and to the point, except for one occasion when she sounded a bit down and confided in him that her ‘project was not proceeding smoothly.’
    Ben began to sense that he was wasting his time. Even if there was something to find out, he probably couldn’t unearth it. A few more weeks, and he would phone Sophie to call it a day.

Chapter 6

    ‘A child would destroy the world if it had the power,’ Freud said. So it was with Hector Snodd as he moved into adolescence. He wanted to explode in a blaze of destruction. His years of loneliness, lack of affection, and rejection by his peers, had forged him into a morose loner. His years of pathetically trying to please were over. To hell with them. He would make them pay. He would make everybody pay.
    He started to play truant from his new high school, where the boys called him ‘Snoddy the Body’. He wandered the streets of Thurso town, stealing from shops. When at school, where he had been doing well academically, he became disruptive, deliberately played dumb.
    At the croft, he became cruel to the animals he had once loved. He enjoyed hearing them cry out in pain. He set fire to his uncle’s hay crop and to others. He fought back when his uncle tried to discipline him.
    Each time he gave vent to his destructive forces, his sense of inadequacy and inferiority faded; his burning feeling of resentment was temporarily quenched. At that moment he was in control of himself, of others. He was powerful; he was worthwhile.
    During this time, he made two life-changing discoveries. The first was normal: he loved girls. Even though they still snubbed him at school, they did not come into his circle of hate. With no experience of a mother or sister, he saw girls as beautiful, unattainable, angels from heaven.
    One girl in particular filled him with longing. Kathleen Rinaldi had a gentle, fawn-like face, golden skin, deep brown eyes. She was small and slim, and seemed shy and quiet. He loved her desperately. At least he thought it