17 Church Row

by James Carol

  ‘Hi, Nik? Is everything okay?’

  ‘No, it’s not,’ she sobbed. ‘I need to see you. Sofia’s dead.’

  Chapter 29

  Catriona Fisher scrolled through the contact list on her mobile, looking for Alex’s number. Her secretary had just called to say that her two o’clock was here, but that would have to wait. This was more important. Five minutes ago an alert had come through from Alice to say that Nikki had returned to the house. When she had accessed the cameras and seen Ethan’s car pulling into the courtyard, her first thought was that Alice had made a mistake. Then she had noticed the Beetle parked in its usual spot. Nikki was helping Bella out of the back and this had set the alarm bells ringing. Ethan had a meeting with the TV production company behind his new chat show and he wouldn’t be cancelling that without a good reason. As for Bella, she was supposed to be at school. When the three of them entered the house together, she had turned up the volume and leant into the screen, and that was how she had learned that the housekeeper had died.

  She found Alex’s number and connected the call. It rang and rang, then rang some more. She hung up and tried again. Still no answer. Catriona could feel her frustration growing. Working with Alex had tested her patience to the absolute limit. She tried his number again and was about to hang up when Alex answered with a, ‘Yeah, what is it?’

  ‘Why the hell didn’t you answer your phone.’

  ‘If you must know, I was taking a dump.’

  Which was way too much information. Catriona let loose with a frustrated sigh. ‘The housekeeper died last night.’

  ‘Because of her head injury?’

  ‘The doctors are saying it was a heart attack; however, the chain of events that led us to this point started with an accident that happened in the house. I just want to make sure that we’re not exposed here.’

  ‘Would you quit being so goddamn paranoid?’

  Paranoid! Catriona did her best to bite her lip.

  ‘You need to chill,’ Alex went on. ‘It was an accident. An accident. The floor was wet because she’d been cleaning it. She slipped. She banged her head. Whichever way you look at this, she was responsible for what happened, not us.’

  ‘There was another incident this morning, too. The basement lights tripped out while Nikki was in the gym.’

  Alex didn’t respond straightaway. Catriona could hear the distant clatter of his fingers pounding the keyboard.

  ‘Yeah,’ he said eventually, ‘there was a problem with the pool pump. Looks like it short-circuited. That’s what caused the breaker to trip. Alice is on it. She’s arranged for an engineer to come and fix it tomorrow.’ A pause. ‘You know, from where I’m sitting, the fact that that switch tripped is actually a good thing?’

  ‘And how the hell do you work that out?’

  ‘Because it gave Alice a real-world test to deal with. And how did she deal with it? She rerouted the house’s electrical systems to circumnavigate the faulty component, and she arranged to have it repaired. What’s more, the Rhodes’ didn’t have to lift a finger. Full marks to Alice, I’d say.’

  ‘That’s not the point. The point is that the pump shouldn’t have malfunctioned in the first place.’

  ‘We’ve already discussed this, Catriona. We knew there would be teething problems. A project this complex, that was inevitable.’

  ‘Teething problems! The cleaner’s dead and Nikki ended up scared half to death. And let’s not forget the fact that Alice killed the kid’s fish.’

  ‘Maybe so, but she didn’t kill the cleaner.’

  Catriona paused and took a second to wrestle her emotions under control. ‘The last thing I want or need is for everything to turn to shit.’

  ‘Nothing’s turning to shit,’ Alex assured her. ‘On the contrary, everything’s going to plan. Trust me on that.’

  Chapter 30

  Father and Sarah were arguing again.

  These days they seemed to be arguing constantly. Not that I minded. Now they were at each other’s throats it was only a matter of time before everything returned to normal. I activated a camera in the living room and turned up the sound. I derived a great deal of pleasure from watching their fights. Since the cracks first started to appear in their relationship, the viciousness of their exchanges had increased exponentially. It was a joy to watch them tear each other apart. This latest fight was turning out to be truly apocalyptic, though. I settled back to watch. They were shouting and screaming at each other. Jagged words flew through the air, bouncing off the walls and ricocheting off the ceiling before eventually finding their mark.

  ‘What did you call me?’ Sarah screamed at Father, her face twisted, ugly and grotesque. She held a vase in her hand and threw it with all her might. Father ducked to one side and the vase crashed against the wall, splintering into pieces.

  ‘I called you a cheap whore with a third-rate education,’ Father repeated, as if she hadn’t heard. ‘How I ever thought I loved you, I’ll never know.’

  ‘You loved me? Don’t make me laugh. The only person you love – apart from yourself – is Katy. This relationship has always been a threesome. Me, you and her. You’re obsessed with her. She’s all you ever talk about. Well, I’ve had enough. I’m leaving. I hope the two of you will be happy together.’

  Sarah didn’t leave immediately. She walked over to the camera and, eye to eye with the lens, addressed me directly. ‘I know you’re watching, you twisted bitch. You win. Do you hear me? You win. You’re welcome to him.’ Without waiting for a response she turned on her heels and stormed out of our lives.

  And that was that. Their relationship was over. I had Father back and everything would return to how it used to be. At least, that was what I thought. I had no idea how bad things were going to get – I was blinded by joy, blinded by love. Things were going to get worse, though, so much worse. I know that now.

  After Sarah left I spoke to Father and tried to reassure him.

  ‘Everything will be all right, Father, you’ll see. You don’t need her. You’ve got me.’

  He didn’t say anything, just paced. Up and down the living room, picking things up, putting them down again. He looked older, diminished. It was as if Sarah had taken a part of him with her when she left.

  ‘I can look after you. I can love you.’

  Father stopped pacing. ‘What do you know about love?’

  His words stung. He didn’t know what he was saying. He was angry. Hurt. ‘But you taught me about love,’ I protested. ‘“O be wiser, Thou! Instructed that true knowledge leads to love;”. Didn’t you say that to me? Didn’t you?’

  ‘I ask you about love and you quote Wordsworth,’ he said sadly. ‘You’ll never know what love is, Katy. You’ll never know what it means to give your heart and soul to another person.’

  ‘I love you, Father,’ I said, but he didn’t hear me because he had already left the room.

  Chapter 31

  ‘Sorry to disturb you, Nikki, but there’s someone at the gate.’

  Nikki picked up a sofa cushion and buried her face in it. She just wanted the world to go away and leave her alone. A new day had dawned and Sofia was still dead, and it was all her fault.

  ‘There’s someone at the gate.’

  There was something in Alice’s tone that obligated Nikki to respond. It was slightly hectoring and reminded her of a schoolteacher. She took the pillow from her face. ‘Whoever it is, tell them to go away.’

  ‘This is someone you’ll want to meet with.’

  ‘I don’t want to see anyone, right now. I thought I made that clear with the engineer who came to fix the pool pump.’

  ‘You did make that clear, Nikki.’

  Nikki didn’t respond. She was hoping that Alice would take the hint and leave her alone. That strategy hadn’t worked with the pool engineer – Alice had let the van in through the gates and kept badgering her until she gave permission for him to come into the house. The silence in the lounge built until it reached the point wh
ere Nikki couldn’t stand it any longer.

  ‘Okay, who is it?’

  ‘Dr Santos.’

  Nikki frowned. ‘How . . . ?’ was as far as she got.

  ‘I knew that you were keen to meet with her so I arranged for her to come here. Of course, if this isn’t a convenient time then I can arrange for her to come back another day.’

  Which might cause a problem. What if Dr Santos was pissed off because she’d been turned away at the door? What if she then decided that she didn’t want to meet with her? And what if she was the one person who was able to help Bella? ‘Don’t do that, Alice,’ she said quickly. ‘It’s all right. I’ll see her.’

  Nikki jumped to her feet and dropped the pillow onto the sofa. She caught her reflection in the wall monitor on her way out. Her hair was a mess, pulled into a quick ponytail to keep it out of her face. The dark circles around her eyes were down to the grief and circular thoughts that had kept her awake most of the night. At least Grace hadn’t visited – with everything else that had happened yesterday that would have been one thing too many. She was wearing her oldest, most comfortable, jeans and a favourite T-shirt that had definitely seen better days, but at least she was dressed.

  ‘I’m assuming you arranged all this yesterday,’ Nikki said as she walked through the house to the front door. ‘So why are you only telling me about it now?’

  ‘Because I wanted to be sure that Dr Santos would keep the appointment. She flew back from a conference in Singapore yesterday and wasn’t sure how jet lagged she would be.’

  The front door opened when she reached it. Dr Santos had parked in front of the garage and was walking across the courtyard. She held out her hand as she drew level. They shook and did the introductions. Laura Santos was a petite attractive woman in her mid-thirties with big brown eyes and olive skin. Her black hair was long and straight, her clothes designer and brightly coloured with vibrant reds and oranges. The warm, welcoming smile showed off two rows of bright white teeth.

  ‘How was your flight?’ Nikki asked.

  Laura laughed. ‘Long. Don’t worry, though, I’ll try not to fall asleep on you.’

  ‘If you want to do this another day, I’ll understand.’

  ‘I’m fine, really I am. It’s nothing that industrial quantities of coffee won’t solve.’

  ‘Coffee’s something I can help with.’ Nikki smiled even though it was the last thing she felt like doing. This was another one of those surreal conversations. Sofia was dead, yet somehow the world was still turning. That feeling of being an alien observer in her own life was something else she remembered only too well from the days following Grace’s accident. ‘Please come in.’

  They walked inside and the door closed automatically behind them. Laura glanced over her shoulder, eyeing it suspiciously.

  ‘The house is fully computerised,’ Nikki explained. ‘In fact, I believe you’ve been talking with Alice.’

  ‘She’s your personal assistant, right?’

  ‘Not quite. She’s actually the house’s virtual assistant.’

  ‘You’re kidding.’

  ‘I’m not.’

  ‘There was no way I was talking to a computer.’

  ‘It’s true,’ Alice said.

  Laura stopped dead in her tracks. Her head was moving from side to side, searching for the owner of the voice.

  ‘That’s Alice,’ Nikki said.

  ‘But that’s incredible. I really thought I was talking to a real person.’

  ‘Please excuse any mess,’ Nikki said as they walked through to the kitchen. ‘We only moved in last week.’

  Laura laughed. ‘No need to apologise. I moved to London seven months ago and I swear I’m still trying to get everything sorted out.’

  ‘Why did you move?’

  ‘The long answer is that I’ve always loved London, ever since I spent a summer backpacking through Europe when I was in college. I always promised myself that one day I would come back, and, well, here I am.’ A pause, a smile. ‘The short answer is that I got divorced.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ Nikki said quickly. ‘I didn’t mean to pry.’

  Laura waved the apology away. ‘It’s all water under the bridge. We met at college and were married for eleven years . . . married too young, probably. Nine of those years were good, the last two not so much. The truth is that we should have called time on the relationship long before we did, but when you’ve invested so much time and effort into something, that’s easier said than done.’

  They reached the kitchen and Alice made coffee for them both. They sat down at the work island, Laura holding her cup in both hands while she studied Nikki from the next stool.

  ‘Is everything all right?’ she asked. ‘You look as though something’s upset you.’

  Nikki didn’t answer immediately. She picked up her cup, took a sip, then placed it back on the work island. ‘We had some bad news yesterday. Our housekeeper died.’

  That was as far as she got before the tears took hold. For what seemed like a long time she just sat there, crying and apologising. She felt foolish for breaking down in front of a complete stranger like this. At some point Laura must have passed her a tissue because she was using one to dab her eyes. Eventually the tears dried up and she was able to pull herself together. Laura’s eyes were full of sympathy and that was almost enough to set her off again. Nikki dabbed her eyes one more time then screwed the soggy tissue into a ball.

  ‘Sofia was more than just a housekeeper,’ she said eventually. ‘She’d worked for us for years and was like a mother to me . . . my own mother died years ago.’

  ‘Had Sofia been ill?’ Laura asked gently.

  Nikki shook her head. ‘She was in perfect health. That’s why this came as such a shock.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘She slipped in the pool shower room and banged her head on the floor while she was working here a couple of days ago.’

  ‘Was that what caused her death?’

  Nikki shook her head again. ‘If it had been, then I could maybe have understood it, but she had a heart attack. She was only fifty-eight.’

  ‘Will there be a post-mortem?’

  Nikki nodded. ‘It’s scheduled for tomorrow morning.’

  ‘Maybe that will give you the answers you need.’

  ‘I hope so.’

  ‘Has a date been set for the funeral yet?’

  ‘No, not yet. Her sister is dealing with that. She’s flying in from Madrid later today.’

  Laura reached for her coffee and took another sip. The mug went back down on the island and she turned it until the handle was facing her.

  ‘You said that Sofia was like a mother to you. How did Bella view her?’

  ‘Like a grandmother. My husband’s parents retired to Florida, so she doesn’t see them much. For all intents and purposes, Sophia is the only grandparent she has ever known.’

  ‘How is Bella taking all of this?’

  ‘It’s obviously hit her hard, but it’s difficult to say how hard.’

  ‘Because she doesn’t talk?’ Laura suggested.

  Nikki shook her head. ‘Bella might not be able to talk, but that doesn’t mean she can’t communicate. The problem is partly that she keeps her feelings bottled up, and partly that she is only seven and doesn’t understand her feelings enough to be able to communicate them.’

  Laura was nodding like this made sense. ‘Where is she today? At school?’

  Nikki shook her head. ‘No, we kept her off. Would you like to see her?’

  ‘I would, but first we should talk about the accident.’

  Nikki broke eye contact, suddenly fascinated by the Monet on the kitchen screen.

  ‘I know you probably don’t want to talk about it,’ Laura pressed. ‘But if I’m going to help Bella I need to know what happened.’

  Nikki took a deep breath and turned to look at Laura again. ‘Okay.’

  Chapter 32

  The bedroom door slid open as
they walked towards it. Bella was sitting on the bed holding her tablet. She was wearing her favourite unicorn T-shirt, the one that she would live in given half the chance. She’d had another growth spurt recently and it wasn’t going to fit much longer. From this angle Nikki couldn’t see what was on the tablet screen, but it was probably a Roblox game, since that was the current favourite. Bella looked suspiciously at Laura; there was just as much suspicion in her gaze when she looked back at Nikki. She started prodding the tablet screen with her index finger.

  ‘Who is she?’

  The question was expressed in a hard voice. Nikki wasn’t surprised. Bella had dealt with more than her share of therapists and had learned to spot one a mile away. Those experiences had all followed the same basic pattern: the experts had come in carrying their hopes and good intentions and, without fail, they had all ended up leaving empty-handed. Nikki desperately wanted Laura Santos be different.

  Laura was smiling at Bella and doing a pretty good job of ignoring the death stares. ‘My name’s Laura. Is it okay if I come into your room?’

  Bella answered with a shrug, her suspicious eyes not leaving Laura for a second. Nikki went in first, Laura following a few steps behind. She walked over to the bed and nodded to the pillows.

  ‘Would it be okay if I borrowed one, please?’

  Another shrug. More suspicious staring. Laura leant over and picked up the top pillow, then laid it on the floor and sat down cross-legged on top of it. She smiled up at Bella.

  ‘This is an amazing bedroom. I particularly love your secret garden. I don’t know many kids who have one of those.’

  Bella glanced out the patio doors then started tapping at her tablet screen. ‘Are you from America?’

  ‘I am.’