by E. L Barry
Just one drink, she thought again. Nicholas came back from the bar.
“Just popping to the men’s room. If the server comes to take our order, I’d like a double Jack on the rocks.”
The server came over and took their order. While Nicholas was away, Josie took the opportunity to have a look at her phone. She’d had no chance to look at it all day, as she had been so busy at work.
As she opened up the screen, her brow furrowed. There were ten missed calls from a withheld number and one from Gareth.
Spam calls aren’t that frequent.
She checked to see if there were any messages or voicemails but there were none.
I’ll call Gareth back later. So, who could be calling? Hadn’t Nicholas called me at the conference on a withheld number? I’m sure he would have told me that he’d tried to call me by now, wouldn’t he?
Confused, she checked her emails just in case. There was nothing there either, just the usual marketing emails from all her online purchases, which she hadn’t yet got round to unsubscribing from. But someone was obviously trying to get hold of her. But who? And why didn’t they want to reveal who they were?
The drinks arrived and Nicholas re-joined Josie shortly afterwards.
“What drink did you go for?” Nicholas asked pointing to her drink.
“My usual boring white wine spritzer.”
“You’re going to have to get drunk one day just for the experience!” Nicholas laughed.
Josie looked directly at Nicholas. “No, I’m not. I don’t like the feeling of being out of control,” she said, defiantly.
“That’s boring. You’ve got to do it once.”
“No chance. I’ve seen my friends get drunk and I don’t see the point. I’d rather be the boring one. Plus, I would be able to drive in an emergency.”
“Huh?” Nicholas exclaimed, “What do you think is going to happen to you? Are you going to need to jump into a car on a speed chase at the end of the night?” he laughed mockingly.
Maybe I will at this rate, Josie thought, as she was reminded that this photograph mystery was still unsolved, and she had seen more police officers and ambulances in the last few days than she’d seen in her lifetime.
Josie sipped her drink as Nicholas moved closer towards her. He put his arm on the back of the booth behind her and reclined back, “I’ll protect you.”
She caught his gaze and smiled. Smooth, she thought, as she considered whether to lean in towards him and tuck herself in against his chest. He always knows how to make me fall for him, she thought still holding his gaze.
Josie put down her drink and moved towards him. With her hand now on his thigh, his arm came down to the small of her back as he pressed her closer towards him. She melted as his lips moved closer to hers. As her eyes closed, she felt her tummy flutter as he gently kissed her. She could taste the sweetness of their drinks as their lips parted slightly and he kissed her again more deeply. Josie felt a rush of delight as he moved his other hand to her neck and drew her back in to another kiss.
“Josie?” a voice sounded in the background. She and Nicholas broke their embrace and turned towards the sound. Startled, Josie saw that it was Gareth. Blushing and confused, she replied quickly, “Gareth, what are you doing here?”
“I called you and thought you might be here. I need to talk to you now.” He looked at Nicholas and continued, “Sorry to interrupt.”
Nicholas straightened up, ran his hand through his hair, leaned in towards Josie and whispered, “We’ll carry on this conversation later…”
He kissed her neck sending a shiver through her body in anticipation. Josie shuffled herself out of the booth and followed Gareth outside to see what was so urgent that he had to come out to find her in the bar. She suppressed her feeling of annoyance.
The air was cooler now, and Josie wished she had brought her jacket with her. Gareth noticed and removed his and put it round her shoulders.
“Sorry to do this Josie, but you need to know.”
“Know what?”
“Kim got a note through her door today.”
“A what?”
“It was in an envelope under her door when she got back from the doctors. I went to go see her this afternoon and she opened it while I was there. I’ve never seen her look so scared.”
“Is she okay? What did it say?” Josie asked, even more confused. He pulled the note out of his bag and passed it to Josie.
“Here, read it yourself.”
Josie took the note and turned it over. She didn’t need to be a genius to see that it wasn’t going to be good news. The letters were cut out of newspaper and stuck down like a ransom note. Every other letter was red, contrasting against the black font on the white paper.
TELL ME NOW, OR SHE DIES
A deep fear replaced any feelings she had previously, and her feet felt like they were made of lead.
“What’s going on here, Gareth?” Josie whispered, continuing, “Is this some kind of joke?”
“I don’t know, it doesn’t make sense.”
With both hands, he squeezed hers in reassurance, took the note back and put it back in his bag.
“I’ll take it to the police,” he continued, “I’m assuming it’s you the ‘she’ is referring to so make sure that you don’t go anywhere late at night on your own, okay?”
“What?” Josie responded quickly, “I’m not letting something like this stop me living my life. We don’t even know if it’s anything to do with me anyway.” She tried to convince him, although she didn’t want to admit that it was all looking rather likely that this was connected to the photographs she had received under her door.
Should I tell Gareth? she wondered. No, I can’t. I don’t even know what I would tell him… I’ve got photos of my mum being posted to me, someone else has been injured and now my friend is being scared into believing that someone is going to die? Who’s going to die and who is ‘she’ anyway? Me?
Chapter 13
Gareth and Josie agreed that he would take the letter to PC Hinton, and he offered to walk her home.
“It’s okay,” Josie replied, “Nicholas can walk me back. I think he lives somewhere round there anyway.”
“Can you trust him?” Gareth asked.
“Of course!” Josie said instinctively a bit surprised he would ask. “Have we all become suspicious of everyone now?”
“Sorry I didn’t mean…” Gareth apologised as he picked up on her tone, “I was only thinking…” he tried to explain, “Never mind. I’ll be off now, and I’ll see how Kim is again in the morning before I come into work. We’ve got the house walk through to do, so I’ll meet you there at ten.”
“Sure,” Josie replied, happy to be back on to the safe topic of work. “See you in the morning,” she replied as she took off his jacket and gave it back to him.
“See you tomorrow, and stay safe,” he said as he left.
“So, what was that about?” Nicholas asked when she returned inside. She had been talking for about fifteen minutes, she guessed, and Nicholas had already finished his drink and ordered another round for them both. So much for one drink, she thought.
“Oh, something about Kim and work that was urgent.” She deliberately avoided telling him about the note and felt guilty that she’d not told him the whole truth.
“Gareth seems like he has a soft spot for you…” Nicholas sounded like he was testing her.
“He’s just a colleague,” she replied, confidently.
She knew she kept things strictly professional at work and hadn’t picked up on anything that would indicate that Gareth liked her that way. Josie was irritated but not enough to say anything further, so she changed the topic.
“What are you up to this weekend?” she enquired. Not knowing much about him, she was hoping to have more than the one word and vague answers he’d given her so far.
“Oh, nothing much. I might have a hot date if I’m lucky.” He grinned as he leaned in for another kiss.
Josie smiled and brushed her lips against his and replied, “You might get lucky depending on where and when. I’m working on Saturday morning.”
“How about we meet at seven thirty and we can go to the Harbour this time.”
“I’ve heard it’s nice there,” Josie smiled.
“I’ll need to meet you there though as I’ve got some things to do first.”
“Okay,” Josie replied. She felt disappointed they wouldn’t be driving together like last time. It always felt different arriving and leaving separately.
Ah well, something is better than nothing.
Nicholas pointed to Josie’s first drink, “Come on, drink up, you can’t waste a good drink.”
Josie finished it too quickly and felt the alcohol go to her head. She’d forgotten she hadn’t eaten since breakfast.
Nicholas took the opportunity to put his hand on her thigh under the table. She giggled. She put her hand over her mouth. She never giggled aloud.
I must be tipsy, she thought.
A packet of crisps and half a drink later, Josie was feeling tired, and more so than usual. It was eight thirty and she’d had enough.
“I want to go now, please,” Josie interrupted Nicholas halfway through his sentence about the new supercar he was planning on buying. Josie liked cars but when she wasn’t able to follow the conversation, she knew that she needed to go home before drinking any more or doing something stupid.
“Let’s stay for one more drink,” Nicholas tried to convince her as he slid his hand further up her thigh, “I’m really enjoying your company.”
“Sorry, I need to go,” Josie replied quickly and picked up her bag and jacket.
Reluctantly, he replied, “Okay. I’ll just be a minute.”
He stood up and went towards the gent’s toilets again.
The server came over with the bill. Josie was confused.
I assumed he had already paid. Obviously not! she thought and got her purse out.
Nicholas said nothing on his return to the table, where Josie was ready to go. He offered to take Josie back home. She accepted and linked her arm in his as they walked, leaning against him, as she was feeling unsteady on her feet.
Could missing lunch really cause this much tipsiness? Josie wondered.
She felt a fogginess that she wasn’t used to, and her thoughts and words seemed to crash together and made no sense.
Nicholas didn’t seem to notice anything and chatted away about cars, holidays, watches and shoes. Ordinarily, she could quip back with something witty, even if she wasn’t particularly interested in a topic. But for some reason she felt like a spectator watching herself, and when she wanted to say something, the moment passed before she could get the words out. She felt like she was going in slow motion and Nicholas was on fast forward.
This is weird, she thought and tried to shake her head to get rid of the fog.
As Nicholas talked, he moved her arm that was linked though his and wrapped it round his waist, and he put his arm around hers. She felt his strength as he held her when they walked. She felt more like a couple strolling now, rather than friends stumbling home after a night out. Josie was quiet most of the way, but grateful that it wasn’t awkward, as Nicholas continued to talk about this and that.
He’s so nice, Josie mused as she leant in towards him. I wish I didn’t feel so awful so I could stay out longer. Maybe if I have a coffee and something proper to eat, I’ll feel better… but before she could finish her thought, they’d arrived back at her block of flats.
“I’m coming up with you,” Nicholas declared.
“No,” Josie replied, “I’ll be okay.”
Stumbling up to the building door, she fumbled inside her bag to find her key fob, which was right at the bottom.
“Look…” Nicholas started saying, “…you can barely stand.”
“No, I’m fine, really,” Josie insisted.
Nicholas firmly gripped her elbow as she buzzed in, and they entered the foyer. He said more sharply,
“I insist.”
Josie looked up surprised, “Ow, that hurt,” she winced as she moved her arm away from him.
Josie was feeling nauseous now but continued to make her way slowly towards the lift, no longer propped up by Nicholas. He followed her closely behind.
“I’m okay,” Josie repeated.
“You’re not and I’m taking you up.”
Josie raised her voice now, “NO!”
From across the foyer, Derek heard and came over.
“Everything okay here?” he asked, looking between the two of them.
Josie replied, “I want to go up to my flat on my own.”
Nicholas took a step back. It was clear that he wasn’t going to be able to go up with her now.
Josie woke up with the worst headache she had ever experienced. It took every effort she had to eat something as the nausea from the night before hadn’t faded. She had somehow managed to drink a large glass of water before she fell asleep, but she must have been in rough shape when she came in, as she woke up fully clothed. That had never happened before.
Would Nicholas have got me drunk? He was only joking, wasn’t he?
Getting ready, Josie wasn’t prepared for the pain of the sunshine in her eyes and the loud noises of the traffic as she made her way to work. Now she understood why her friends had been so grumpy the day after a good night out.
So much for ‘good’, she thought.
The day at the office was just as busy as the day before with calls and emails coming in left, right and centre. Josie barely had time to catch up but had made a promise that she was never missing lunch again, no matter what!
She vowed to start tomorrow by bringing a packed lunch. With Kim still out of the office and Josie’s new promotion, the time available to nip out was very little to non-existent.
Later on, the house walk through with Gareth was uneventful as they worked side-by-side, only mentioning the letter once and that the police were going to look into it.
Gareth was going to see Kim again after work. They were spending more time together and for the first time Josie felt jealous.
She had messaged Kim and called but hadn’t received a reply. Maybe it was because the accident involved something to do with her, or maybe Gareth was what Kim needed right now. It was all a mess and Josie felt she had nobody to turn to.
On the drive back to the office, the phone rang. It was a withheld number. Josie froze, not sure what to do. She lost concentration for a split second while she decided whether to answer it or not.
A car horn sounded and Josie looked up to see the red of brake lights. She slammed her foot down as quickly and as hard as she could. Just in time and with only a few centimetres to spare, she stopped behind the car in front.
“That was too close!” she exclaimed as the phone was still ringing.
Josie knew that she didn’t have long to answer before the caller would ring off, but she also knew she couldn’t afford to talk in the car after that near miss. It would have to wait.
Josie didn’t know if the fear she now felt was because she had just missed having a serious accident or because of a missed call.
All Josie knew for sure was that answering the phone was not worth the danger of having an accident and hurting herself or worse, someone else.
The lights changed and she pulled away. Out of the corner of her eye, in the wing mirror she spotted a familiar 4x4. Michael’s? she thought.
“I need to stop being paranoid. I am not being followed. Stop it Josie,” she reprimanded herself as she made it back to the parking garage then walked back to the office. At her desk, she sat down and saw the telephone message pad.
‘Michael called – please call back.’
Chapter 14
Josie stopped in her tracks. Another coincidence? All Josie had had to do over the last few days was think about something and it would happen.
If I think of Nicholas, I bet he’ll turn up at the f
ront door again!
Wondering why Michael wanted her to call him, she dialled his number. No answer. No answer machine either. She put the message on the side of her desk in the ‘still to do’ pile and went on to the next message. To her astonishment the next message was, “Nicholas came in – he’ll come back later.”
Nooooooo! Josie screamed and put her head in her hands. What is going on today? I can’t take any more of this.
She went into the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror. Her eyes, even with makeup, looked tired. She stared intently at herself.
Smashing her hands on the sink repeatedly, Josie raged, “What have I done to deserve this? How on earth do I figure out what’s going on? How do I get off this rollercoaster? I hate, hate, hate, hate this!”
The next bash of her hands was one too many.
“Ow, pull yourself together Josie. Now think!” Josie bowed her head and paused.
Right, what do I need? A drink of water and some fresh air. She took a deep breath. What am I going to do? Finish work, get changed and call Mr Mellors and ask his advice? No, wait, should I try my father first?
Josie panicked, as she was unable to decide which would be the best option and cause the least offence. She needed to talk to Mr Mellors about her father’s health and it would make sense to go and see him.
Okay so that’s a plan, Josie thought firmly and stood up tall, pushing her shoulders back and tilting her chin upwards before she declared, “I’ve got this!”
The rest of the afternoon flew by. It was almost as if the pep talk had cleared the path ahead and everything fell into place like magic. Josie needed that to happen and as she was locking up, she finally felt herself smile.
Josie’s smile was short lived, however, as on the walk home her phone rang again.
Without the danger of being in the car this time she looked and saw it was a withheld number. Her confidence started to slip, but she couldn’t avoid withheld numbers forever. It could be her doctors as they couldn’t leave messages and if it was a spam call it wasn’t hard to hang up. She convinced herself enough that she clicked the ‘answer’ button.