The Tillerman's Gift

by C J Brown

CHAPTER 25

  Tuesday July 9th

  When Mia woke the sun had been up for at least an hour and a half but with the curtains drawn it was still dark in the apartment. She sprang out of bed, hurried to the toilet and emptied her stomach of its contents. Although she felt a bit better as she fell back onto the bed she guessed it wouldn’t last. She reached for the tablets that Alison had left on the bedside table but knocked them both onto the floor where they rolled underneath the bed. She moved on to her side, reached down and stretched her hand under the bed, fumbling for the pills.

  “Gotcha.” Mia sat up and took the tablets with water. She lay down again and went back to sleep. Twenty minutes later she was suddenly wide awake. The key! She dressed quickly but quietly and hurried out the door.

  “Where’s Mia?” asked Tess as she came through the connecting door a half hour later.

  “I don’t know.” Alison was worried. “I’ve just woken up. I don’t think she’s had any breakfast. And her phone is here. Maybe she’s gone to help Jimmy and his family.”

  “Oh, well, no reason for us to starve.” Tess opened the fridge. “Oh my stars! What’s that smell.” She took out what was left of the wrapped ham and put it closer to her nose.” Tess screwed up her face. “Now I know why she was feeling sick.”

  “Oh, throw it out for the cats,” gasped Alison. Tess wrapped the bad meat in ten sheets of newspaper and put in in the kitchen bin.

  Alison looked over to Mia’s bedside table. “I gave her some anti-nausea tablets. “She must be feeling alright this morning.” Just then Alison noticed a small white dot on the floor just under Mia’s bed. Going over to the bed she picked up one of the tablets she left for Mia the night before. Then, getting down on her hands and knees, she looked further under the bed.

  Alison stretched her fingers under and scraped out several small tablets. She stood and asked Tess to help her move the bed. Underneath they found a yellow, plastic pill container.”

  “Oh my god! What has she taken?”

  Disregarding the Back in 10 minutes sign, Alison banged on the manager’s door.

  “I found these under one of the beds. What are they?” she demanded before Mr Foley could register what was being thrust in front of his face.

  “Well,” he faltered, “it looks just like the pill container the police took from those druggies who rented the room before you. Gee, there must have been another one. I’m sorry if the cleaners missed it.”

  “What are they?” Alison demanded again. “Whatever it is, my daughter has taken one, possibly two!”

  Mr Foley suddenly looked alarmed. “Look, Mrs Turner, I really don’t know. We’ll have to ask the police. Best get her to the hospital as soon as possible.”

  “I can’t. She’s not here!”

  Mia’s head throbbed as she jogged towards the Pacific Coast Community Bank. Although still early the footpaths were sprinkled with shoppers. However the noise of council machinery working in front of the florist shop had deterred many of the usual café goers that would otherwise have been enjoying their al fresco breakfasts.

  When she arrived at the bank the doors were locked. She looked at the sign. It opens at nine. She peered through the glass and saw a clock on the wall: 8:40… Damn it! Hey what’s that? Mia saw someone inside the bank and started knocking on the door. When she was ignored she knocked harder. Zoe gave a disapproving look and pointed to the sign displaying the opening hours then went back to her coffee and newspaper.

  For the next twenty minutes Mia paced outside on the footpath, becoming increasingly anxious with each step. The jackhammer operating nearby seemed to be pounding directly into her head. She was standing at the door when it finally opened at nine o’clock.

  “Can I see Mr Chandra, please?”

  “Do you have an appointment?”

  “No, but it’s important.”

  “Well, I’ll check his diary. You might have to come back later, unless there’s something I can help you with.”

  Just then the door to the rear office opened. Mia instinctively gulped but then reminded herself that the axe-murderer business had all been sorted.

  “Mr Chandra,” she called out. “I’m Alison Turner’s daughter.”

  Dep Chandra masked his bewilderment with a friendly smile.

  “Hello, it’s nice to meet you. Mia, isn’t it? Are you being looked after?”

  Zoe turned to the manager. “I’m just making an appointment for her.”

  Mia took deep, quick breaths. “I don’t need and appointment!” she snapped. “You can see he’s just there.”

  “I beg your pardon, Miss,”

  “It’s alright, Zoe. I’m free now. Would you like to come in, Mia? Except for a machete, I’ve left all my weapons at home today, I promise.”

  For once Mia had no time for jokes. She reached into her pocket and took out the key.

  “Can you tell me about this?”

  Dep Chandra walked through to public area and took the key.

  “It belongs to my grandmother,” said Mia. Dep turned it over in his hand as though examining it from every angle might reveal a vital clue.

  “Well, it’s key. That much is certain.”

  “Of course it’s a key!” Mia shut her eyes tight. She felt flushed.

  Dep looked at Mia. “Are you feeling alright?”

  Mia nodded unconvincingly. Her mouth was so dry. She felt so hot.

  Dep continued, “It’s old and most likely it is for a safe or a box.”

  “A box?”

  “Possibly. A safety deposit box.”

  “Well, where is it? Look, it’s got your bank’s initials on it.” Mia was looking and sounding very frustrated. All night she had imagined that the manager’s face would light up with instant recognition and her question would be immediately answered.

  “We’re actually PCCB now, Mia. We haven’t been Town and Country Mutual for many years. Long before my time here. We don’t even have safety deposit boxes anymore.”

  He could see the look of disappointment on Mia’s face. “I tell you what. Mrs Donaldson will probably know a bit more about this than I do. She’s worked here since Adam was in nappies.”

  “Can we ask her now? Where is she?”

  “She only works part-time. But I am expecting her later. How about you leave this with me and I’ll have her look at it. Do you have a number I can reach you on?”

  Mia pressed her hand against her back pocket. “No, I must’ve … I don’t have my phone.”

  “I know, what’s your mother’s number. Maybe I can reach you on that.”

  Mia raised an eyebrow. Dep smiled. “Okay. How about you come back later.”

  Mia stared at Dep without responding.

  “Mia, are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Oh, sorry. Here.” Mia handed Dep Chandra the key and walked outside. She found a seat nearby and sat with her head on her hands.

  The ground is moving.

  At that moment the jackhammer started again.

  So noisy. Mia put her hands over her ears.

  A huge truck delivering concrete pulled in against the kerb and began reversing towards the workmen near where Mia sat, its loud beeping alert signal warning anyone nearby to watch out.

  Damned fridge – I’ve left it open again…

  Mia stood up groggily and tried to blink her eyes into focus.

  She stumbled onto the road confused then collapsed. Her head hit the asphalt hard. A scream from a lady walking past the bank failed to alert the driver who himself could barely hear the trucks alarm above the explosive jack hammer. Another woman waved frantically at the driver who retuned her wave with a smile and sounded his horn for the amusement of her children. Others half-shielded their eyes and braced themselves for a gruesome ending.

  Only Dep Chandra moved. He had watched Mia leave the bank, concerned that she was not well. The huge tyres were within centimetres of crushing Mia’s legs when Dep reached her. With no time to drag her out o
f the way he took hold of her feet, reoriented her body and jumped out of the path of the truck. The huge wheels passed on either side of her. Dep quickly stepped aside. In his side mirror the driver suddenly saw Dep frantically waving his arms and screaming. All at once he was aware that every eye in the street was focussed on his truck. The driver jammed on his brakes as the heavy steel casing of the truck’s low-mounted differential came to rest against Mia’s head.

  As the driver slowly moved his vehicle forward and clear of Mia’s body Zoe was already dialling 000.

  Alison and Tess rushed into the ward ignoring someone’s comment about how the hospital would close if it weren’t for the tourists. Seeing Mia lying with her eyes closed, head bandaged and attached to the machines and tubes was too much and Tess straightaway knew how her granddaughter must have felt seeing her a few days earlier.

  “She’s suffered some head trauma. I’ve booked scans so we should know the extent of the head injury within a couple of hours.”

  Alison handed the doctor the pills. “We think she accidently took some of these.”

  Tess and Alison were by Mia’s side when the doctor returned an hour later.

  “Those pills you gave me, it’s MDMA.”

  Tess and Alison looked at him quizzically.

  “An amphetamine,” he explained. “You’ve probably heard of ecstasy.”

  Alison’s eyes widened as she put her hands to her mouth.

  “Oh the poor girl, she was probably hallucinating. She could have been killed.”

  The doctor tried to assure them that he’d seen this sort of thing before. They would, he promised, flush all the drugs out of her system and Mia would soon regain consciousness and make a full recovery. Tess and Alison both thought that he looked too young to have seen very much at all outside of medical school.

  Alison blamed herself for being so preoccupied with the thoughts of Peter and distracted by the ridiculous complaint made by Savannah’s mother that she hadn’t being paying enough attention to her daughter. Tess in turn blamed her own spell in hospital saying that it had distracted them both.

  On the other hand, they were grateful that Dep Chandra had followed the ambulance to the hospital to ensure that staff at least knew the patient’s and her mother’s names. They were very grateful that the nurses recognised Mia from her previous visits to Tess and were therefore able to make quick contact with Alison by checking Tess’s file.

  When Mia was wheeled away for the brain scan Tess and Alison took the opportunity to have a quick lunch in the cafeteria. When they returned a woman was placing a large floral arrangement on the window ledge. Several colourful helium-filled balloons, tethered by gold ribbon, floated above the flowers.

  “Hello,” said Alison. The woman turned around. “Oh, you’re from the bank.”

  “Yes, I’m Zoe. We’re really sorry about Mia. Is she going to be alright?”

  “The doctor thinks she will be fine. We just hope he’s right. I believe Dep saved Mia’s life. Will you please pass on our deepest gratitude? I’ll do it personally as soon as I can.”

  “I will.” Zoe adjusted a large orchid so that it sat just right. “Well, better get back to work.”

  “Thank you for the flowers. Mia will love them.”

  Zoe walked to the door. “Oh, Ms Newell, Dep would like you to drop by the bank this afternoon. It’s about the key Mia left with him.” With a pleasant smile, she turned and left.

  “The key?” pondered Tess. “So that’s why she was there.” Now Tess had another reason to feel guilty for Mia’s current predicament. She had given Mia the key not realising that it would send her off on a wild goose chase to find some alternative meaning for the engraved letters and numbers.

  “Once she gets an idea into her head nothing will stop her,” mused Alison putting her nose to the flowers. “Mmm, they’re beautiful.” Then she read the card that was attached.

  Tess was perplexed. “If he wants to give the key back to me he should have just sent it with Zoe. Ah, I know what he’s up to. Maybe he’s hoping that you will come with me. My fault, I should never have encouraged him.”

  Alison shook her head. “I don’t think that’s it, Mum.” She read the card. “Dear Mia, we hope you get well soon. Kind regards Dep and Zoe Chandra.”

  “Oh!” Tess put her hand to her cheek. “Well, as I always say: Some things just aren’t as they seem.”

  At that moment Mia was wheeled back in to the room.

  “Is she going to be alright?” Alison asked anxiously.

  “Sorry, ma’am, I’m just the wardsman. A nurse should be along in a moment.”