LAST RITES. Neil White

of what he really wanted from her. Instead, she watched him walk out and then listened as the bolt slid back into place.

      She was alone once more, and she let the tears flow as the heartbeat noise started again, her hands clamped tightly over her ears.

       Chapter Ten

      I went to Luke's gym next.

      It was part of a new development, all glass and steel girders, built on the site of a demolished mill on the outskirts of Blackley. Shops were on one side, entertainment on the other, as long as you liked bowling and pizza. Luke's gym was in-between, a guilt trip as you walked back to your car.

      I could see the metal frames of the equipment and exercise bikes as I got near to the entrance, the poseurs gallery lined up in rows near the huge windows. I could hear music thumping out of speakers as I walked inside, accompanied by the occasional clang of weights. There was a bored young woman in a polo shirt at the reception desk. She glanced at my midriff and reached for an application form. I put my business card on the counter.

      ‘I'm writing a story on Luke Howarth,’ I said. ‘Is there anyone I could speak to?’

      I detected a change in her mood. ‘The press came here last week,’ she said, her voice timid. ‘I thought you'd all got bored.’

      I shook my head. ‘Luke deserved more than that,’ I replied, guessing that she might be a friend. ‘I want to find out what happened to him. Were you one of his friends?’

      ‘Not really,’ she said, but then looked apologetic. ‘I don't mean that I didn't like him. I haven't been here long, but he seemed pretty nice. Callum was Luke's best friend.’ She looked at her watch. ‘He'll be on a break soon. I'll page him to come down.’ Then she pointed me towards the coffee bar in one corner of the gym.

      I was halfway through my latte when I saw a tall man walking towards me, his skin dark, his hair shaved afro. He wore the same uniform polo shirt as the girl on reception, but he filled it, the sleeves tight against his arms, his broad chest visible through the cloth. I stood up to greet him, my hand outstretched. ‘Callum, I presume.’

      He didn't take it.

      ‘Thanks for seeing me at short notice,’ I added.

      He sat down and folded his arms.

      ‘Had your fill of journalists in the last week?’ I ventured.

      He paused for a moment, and then relaxed, and his eyes lost some of their hostility. ‘I just can't see what good they have done. Luke was just a passing story to them, but he was my friend.’

      ‘Well, I'm not writing for the dailies. I'm writing a feature.’

      ‘On what?’

      ‘On Luke. A tribute.’ I tried to hold his gaze as I said it, so that he wouldn't spot the lie.

      ‘What do you want to know?’ he asked.

      I tapped my pen on my lap and asked, ‘How about Luke and Sarah? What kind of couple were they?’

      ‘You'll need to write two stories to get that,’ he said.

      I was confused. ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘They weren't a couple,’ Callum replied.

      I was still confused.

      ‘C'mon, get real,’ said Callum, shaking his head at me. ‘They were fucking each other, that's all. Have you been out of the game that long?’ Before I could ask him what he meant, he added, ‘No offence, but you don't look like a man on the hunt.’

      ‘But I get the impression that they were “Luke and Sarah” – you know, a couple,’ I said, looking down at myself, seeing the old boot-fit jeans and tatty jumper, bought the year before and worn too often.

      Callum snorted. ‘That's because she killed him. Go back a couple of months, maybe even less than that, and Luke was my friend, and Sarah was just one of the girls he was seeing.’

      ‘So it was casual?’ I asked, still surprised. Katie had talked like it was a whirlwind, that special one.

      ‘Casual? Oh yes, very casual,’ Callum answered, laughing slightly, his eyebrows raised. ‘Yeah, sure, Luke liked her. She was good-looking, and had a great body. He met her in one of the clubs in town, and it seemed like most of the eyes were on her.’

      ‘A good notch on his belt?’

      Callum shrugged, unapologetic. ‘Think of the women you wish you'd been with, and I bet one is a teacher. Something about it, isn't there? The discipline, the respect.’

      ‘Maybe for schoolboys,’ I replied.

      Callum blinked, spotted the jibe. ‘Maybe in ten years' time I'll think like you,’ he responded.

      A smile flickered on my lips. He'd won that point. Then I remembered about the rage, the knife in the chest. And I thought about what Katie had told me, and so I said, ‘What if I told you that Sarah was getting in deeper, perhaps much deeper than Luke?’

      ‘She knew the score, they all did,’ he replied, and then it was his turn to smile. He had spotted me for what I was: settled. But he presumed that I wanted his life. Sometimes I liked the idea of being single, but it was like waiting for summer: you expected the sunshine but only ever got showers.

      ‘What do you mean “all”?’ I asked.

      Callum laughed at me. ‘He was a fitness instructor. Do you have any idea what it's like?’

      I shook my head.

      ‘Middle-aged women try to hang on to their youth by booking one of us,’ he continued. ‘They try and get back to a shape that they haven't had since they were teenagers, and in between breaths they try and seduce us.’

      ‘And do they?’

      ‘That depends. Some of the women look good, and sometimes there are some young clients, maybe young women trying to burn off the pregnancy weight. Our only rule is that they have to be single; we don't want angry husbands coming down here.’

      ‘Cramp your style?’

      ‘Don't look at me like that,’ he snapped at me. ‘We all know the rules. Do you think the women care about us? Course not. We're just muscles to them, something different from their ex-husband. Sarah was the same. All coy and reserved on the outside, but once you take them home, well, you can guess the rest. Luke said it was like peeling off a mask, you know, like the angel was really the devil in wings and a white dress.’

      ‘So there were other women?’

      ‘Luke was a good-looking bloke – there were always other women.’

      ‘Anyone special? Or any who didn't like being unsuccessful with him?’

      ‘He didn't tell me that much,’ Callum said, softening slightly. ‘Just man-talk, you know, all about the conquests, not the losses.’

      I made some notes, scribbles that I knew I would have to make sense of later. He had some good quotes, but I was starting to feel uneasy. Katie had described the relationship as close, but now Luke's friend had described it as relaxed, and whatever it had been, Luke had ended up with a knife buried into his chest. The two things didn't add up.

      ‘Did Luke have a temper?’ I asked.

      Callum looked surprised by the question. ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘I'm just wondering why Sarah would stab him, if it was so casual. Self-defence?’

      ‘No,’ Callum replied warily. ‘Luke was a pretty chilled-out kind of person.’

      ‘But maybe there was something affecting his mood.’

      ‘What like?’