After Lee had attacked Howard Trenton in the alleyway, and stolen the youth's music player, Lee fled from the scene of the crime, heading back towards a small car-park, close to Coldsleet seafront, where he'd left the vehicle that he had travelled down to the town in. It only took Lee around five minutes to arrive at his destination. He got into the car, and switched on the inside light, just above the driver's seat. Lee pulled out the mp3 player that he'd stolen from the young man in the alleyway. He examined it carefully. Hmm, it's a good make, says on the back here that there's one hundred and twenty gigs of storage … I reckon that Rob will probably give me about thirty, forty quid for this, Lee thought to himself. He turned the mp3 player on. Touchscreen too… shit taste in music though… who the fuck is 'Godjite Puls'?
As Lee Carpenter sat in his car, messing around with the gadget that he had just stolen, his victim, Howard Trenton, entered the small car-park. It was empty, save for his attacker's vehicle. The car-park, located very close to the seafront, was barely used, even in the summer months, let alone during the middle of winter, and on a Monday evening. However, even if the car-park had been much larger, and full of cars, Howard would still have easily found his prey; the moment that the teenager detected the mugger's scent back at the scene of the robbery, the older man was doomed. Lee Carpenter could never have known it, be he had fallen prey to one of the most dangerous humans to have ever walked the Earth.
Howard moved towards the car, slowly, mechanically. He wasn't in any rush, and was feeling calm and confident now that the initial shock from the earlier attack had worn off. Howard reached the car; the occupant was sat inside, still toying with the mp3 player, totally unaware that there was a visitor just outside of his vehicle, and an unwelcome one at that. It wasn't until the car door, despite being locked, was suddenly wrenched open, that Lee Carpenter realised that his teenage victim had somehow managed to follow him all of the way back to the car-park. Lee didn't have much chance to react, before finding himself being yanked from the driver's seat by bony, yet incredibly powerful hands. Howard pulled the mugger right out of the car in one graceful movement, then onto the freezing cold concrete floor. In an instant, the much smaller teenager was astride Lee, who tried to lash out at Howard with one of his fists. This time though, Howard Trenton wasn't in a position to be caught unaware, and easily dodged the punch that was aimed at his face. After the failed punch, Howard shifted his entire body, pinning the older man to the ground.
"Get the fuck off me." Growled Lee Carpenter, his face close to Howard’s. He tried to reach into the pocket of his jeans, in order to retrieve the knife, but they younger lad's knees had Lee's arms completely pinioned against the concrete floor. Howard smiled.
"No. I think that I'll just stay here, with you, for a while." Replied Howard. He took a quick glance around the car-park and its surrounding area. The location was bordered by a small stone wall on three sides, and fenced-off sand-dunes on the fourth. "We'll be fine. No-one's going to disturb us. Let’s have some fun.” Assured Howard Trenton, before wreaking his revenge on Lee Carpenter.
Chapter Six
Instead of spending the night back at home with his family and, in particular, Mary Broderick, Howard Trenton found himself in Lee Carpenter's car, near a small piece of woodland just on the northern outskirts of Coldsleet. Howard had parked Lee's car on a fire-ride, far away from the nearest main road, and any potential prying eyes. He had deposited the mugger's corpse in the backseat of the car. Howard went around to the back door, and dragged the larger man’s body from out of the vehicle, before hoisting him, with apparent ease, over his shoulder. Howard walked into the thickening woodland.
"Nobody comes out this way in the winter." Said Howard, chirpily. "By the time that anybody does, there won't be much left of you… probably just a few bones scattered here and there." He went on, speaking to the dead mugger. "This area is rife with wildlife… whoever you are, my friend, you'll make a fine meal for a lot of the residents of this woodland. So all's well that ends well… you will actually be giving something back to the world, instead of taking from it.” Howard smiled.
After a walk that took roughly five minutes, Howard approached a stream that he'd been looking for. The woodland was just one of many locations around Coldsleet and the surrounding areas that he knew very well; ever since he had been a child, Howard Trenton was a natural explorer, and had always felt at one with nature. When he reached the stream, Howard carefully knelt down and placed the body of Lee Carpenter, face-first, into the freezing cold water. When he had done this, he stood back up, and looked down at the corpse. The water will wash away any potentially incriminating evidence from off this guy… it's a shame that I couldn't have just taken him up to the farmhouse, but I can't risk putting everybody in the same place. I wonder who the hell he is? I've never seen him in Coldsleet before, thought Howard. Not that it matters. Whoever he was, he had it coming… you just can't go around stealing other people's property like that, it's not right." Howard reached into his coat pocket, and took out the mp3 player that he'd retrieved earlier from the mugger. If this guy had had his way, I'd have been catching the bus to college tomorrow without any music to listen to. That would be horrible… I'd have to just sit there and listen to all of the other passengers whining on about trivial crap. Nah, I couldn't have been doing with that. Still, my mysterious friend here has learned his lesson. Thieving cunt.
Howard walked away from the dead body of Lee Carpenter, and made his way back to the car that was parked on the fire-ride. Right, I'll take this car back into Coldsleet and leave it exactly where I found it… on the car-park by the beach. Yeah, I could take it up into the mountains, torch it, or maybe push it off the road and into one of the ravines up there, but then that'd leave me stranded… well, not stranded, but with one hell of a long walk home, and if I'm too late in getting back, then Lucas or Kay… hey, maybe even Mary… might start getting really concerned about me, and call the police. I've got no way of contacting them out here, I forgot my stupid mobile phone this morning, it's still on the bedside cabinet, thought Howard. He looked down at his watch; it was only eight thirty. He smiled. It'll only take me ten minutes to dump this car back in Coldsleet, and then another ten minutes to walk home. I'll be back before nine. There's been many a night when I've got in a lot later. With that, Howard Trenton climbed into Lee Carpenter's car, and drove it back into the town centre of Coldsleet, leaving it exactly where he had found the vehicle, on the small car-park close to the seafront.
Howard arrived, as he had anticipated, back at home for around nine in the evening. However, his walk from the car-park on the seafront, where he ditched Lee Carpenter's vehicle, through the town centre and up to the house, wasn't without incident… an incident that came in the form of Alex Crennell, who Howard intensely disliked. Some years earlier, from infant school right the way through until the start of attending the local comprehensive, Alex and Howard had been good friends, despite a slight age difference. However, at that point, as Alex became a teenager, he drifted towards a new, small circle of friends, sharing with them a common taste in alternative music, especially metal and punk, which Howard, being Howard, turned his nose completely up at. For a while, he and Alex still remained friends, though no longer as close as what they once were, but then, something happened that really stirred Howard's anger and jealousy; Alex got himself a girlfriend. Worse than that, it was a girl that Howard had been admiring, from afar, for some months.