Beth had already considered her sister Lydia but she lived two hundred miles away and Beth didn’t have time to wait for her to send a cheque. She could use her own money but Shandra had said that wasn’t allowed. And then a thought struck her. It was Lydia’s birthday next week and she always sent her a twenty pound note in her birthday card. Her sister’s birth sign was Sagittarius.
Without thinking any more Beth phoned Lydia’s number. They’d never been that close, her sister was ten years her senior and they rarely saw each other. Unlike her, Lydia had procured posh genes from a great grandmother and Beth had spent her childhood staring up at a Goddess who wouldn’t deign to give her time of day. They were less than close, almost strangers, but still family. She was relieved when Lydia answered the phone.
Explaining about the wish was difficult. As usual Lydia was in a hurry, she was busy decorating, deciding where to place her latest acquisition, a Ming vase that would elevate her position at the golf club. Immediately she informed Beth she didn’t have long to waste on chatting. Almost panicking, Beth gabbled a shortened version of the fairy story to her.
“I’ve told you before, Beth,” Lydia said cutting in, her voice impatient, “You don’t need to send me twenty pounds for my birthday, or make excuses. I don’t need either.”
“No, really, Lyd, this isn’t an excuse. I’m going to give you a phone number, all you have to do is tell Shandra what your dearest wish is and I’ll pay the twenty pounds I normally send you.”
“What on earth have you got yourself mixed up with?” Lydia sounded exasperated.
You have no idea, Beth thought. She said. “Just do it for me, Lyd, it’s only a bit of fun.”
“Oh, very well, you always were a silly girl.”
Beth bit back a retort. This was no time to back chat her sister who seemed to think Beth was still a wayward teenager. Lydia was obviously hell bent on returning to the important job of placing the vase in just the right spot to attract the most attention from her friends, who, in Beth’s opinion, were even more stuck up than she was. Beth hastily gave her the number. “Do it right away,” she urged.
Grumbling, Lydia agreed.
Nine, thought Beth. Only three more to go.
Chapter 13
Tim sat shaking on the edge of his bed.
He’d opened up his laptop and there’d been a message waiting for him. Nothing unusual in that except what he read had almost bought him to his knees. His daughter, Jackie had disappeared. The message was from Trent, her husband. He said he was frantic with worry and wanted to know if Tim had heard from her.
Tim hadn’t. He spoke to Jackie regularly on the phone, every week but he wasn’t due to call her for a few days. He stared at the words on the screen. Why had Trent sent him an E-mail and not phoned him? E-mails took the warmth from conversations, there was no sense of communication; they were a one way statement. You couldn’t hear the voice, pick up the nuances, weren’t able to tell if someone was lying to you, winding you up. They stated facts, cold hard facts and no matter how many times you reread the words they never got any clearer.
It didn’t make sense to Tim. Was the truth his daughter and her husband had an argument, Jackie had left and Trent didn’t want Tim to know? Was it possible this man had upset his daughter so much she’d had to run away? But that wasn’t Jackie’ style, Tim knew her better than anyone, she would stand her ground. If she’d disappeared then it was serious.
Now, his fingers trembling, he made the call. Pick up, sweetheart, he urged, it’s dad. Whatever’s wrong I can put it right, I always do. You can depend on me.
He pressed the phone to his ear listening to it ringing out, shivering as it switched to messages. “Please, Jackie, call me. If you’re in trouble I’ll sort it. I love you.” What more could he say? He was thousands of miles away, it wasn’t as if he could jump into his car and go looking for her.
Trent’s message said she’d gone out to the shops midday and hadn’t returned. It went on to explain it was now twelve o’clock at night, Trent had phoned the hospitals but Jackie wasn’t there. Reluctantly he’d had no choice but to call the police who told him his wife hadn’t been missing long enough, and asked him if they’d had an argument.
So he wasn’t the only one who was suspicious, Tim thought. Maybe Trent had a history of violence that the police knew about, a list of misdemeanours, abuse against women. Tim was beginning to feel frightened. What did he know about Trent after all? In the past twelve months he’d only managed to visit his daughter once in Australia. Jackie had met Trent three years ago and married him a few months before they decided to emigrate. Or, Tim reflected bitterly, Trent had decided to emigrate. He wasn’t convinced it was what Jackie had wanted.
In his opinion Trent was controlling. He’d seemed to Tim a bit distant, cold almost, but Jackie appeared to be happy with him and Tim had to be satisfied with that. At least he had a good job as an administrator and together they’d brought a nice detached house in the suburbs. Maybe, Tim thought, he should have paid more attention, watched him more carefully.
Now his brilliant, beautiful pregnant daughter was missing.
He had to phone Trent. He needed to hear his voice, needed to know if he was being lied to. It would be five o’clock in the morning in Australia but if Trent was truly concerned then he wouldn’t be asleep.
Tim waited for the connection to be made and drummed his fingers on the bedside cabinet.
“Yes, hello.” Trent’s voice sounded gruff as if he’d been woken from sleep. So the bastard couldn’t even stay awake when his pregnant wife had gone missing, Tim thought angrily.
“Trent, it’s Tim.” He spoke sharply, “Is my daughter back yet?”
There was silence for a moment. “Tim? What the hell are you phoning me up for? It’s the middle of the bloody night.” His voice belied his words, it sounded flat as if he was saying what was expected of him.
Tim felt confused; this wasn’t what he’d expected. “Is Jackie all right?”
“Of course she is, why wouldn’t she be? Do you know something I don’t, Tim?” This was followed by a strange laugh that turned into a cough.
“I got a message from you saying Jackie was missing.”
“What are you talking about? I haven’t phoned you.”
“No, you sent me an e-mail. So Jackie’s all right?”
There was a pause and Trent lowered his voice to a whisper. “I haven’t sent you anything, why would I, I’m not crazy. Jackie’s here with me now, sound asleep. We haven’t had an argument, she hasn’t tried to run away from me, everything’s fine, just as it should be, I can’t understand why you’re phoning me. Are you sure you haven’t been drinking, Tim?”
“No, I don’t understand.” Tim felt relieved and frightened at the same time. There seemed to be something wrong in the way Trent was whispering, his breath kept whooping out on every other word as if he’d lost control of his vocal chords. And why had he said they hadn’t had an argument? Tim knew he hadn’t mentioned it. He felt a deep sense of unease; he was sure Trent had sent him the message but why would he do that? “Could I speak to her please, just to reassure myself?”
“No, you bloody can’t.” And suddenly Trent’s voice rose and Tim could hear the panic coming through. “She’s pregnant if you’ve forgotten, she needs her rest. Stop interfering in her life, old man.”
Something was buzzing in the back of Tim’s head. It had happened before to him, a couple of times in his life when something wasn’t right, like an alarm going off in his brain. It was growing stronger with every second and he was becoming more afraid. He was picking up the sounds of people talking in the background and that was wrong. Trent was lying to him and Tim could feel a hot sickness in the pit of his stomach.
“What have you done to my daughter, Trent?” He asked quietly.
There was silence on the end of the phone. Tim waited.
“Oh, God, you know, don’t you? She’s dead.” And Trent began to sob noisily.
“It wasn’t my fault, Tim, I swear it was an accident. I’m at the hospital now. They couldn’t save the baby. I’ve lost them both.”
The bedroom swan in an out of focus and Tim felt his stomach twist into a violent knot. Jackie, his precious daughter, Jackie, dead? It was impossible.
“No.” He whispered.
“I didn’t see her in the mirror,” Trent was babbling. “I backed out of the garage and I swear to you Tim, I didn’t see her behind the car. I know you’ll blame me, we’d had an argument and she ran out of the house but it wasn’t my fault, I told the police everything, they know it was an accident.” He paused as if he was sucking up his sobs through his nose. “I was going to phone you I swear but it was too painful, I can’t think straight. I never sent you a message; Jackie only died ten minutes ago.”
Tim tried to cling onto hope, “But you said...”
Trent’s voice rose to almost a scream, “I know what I said but I don’t want to believe it, you have to understand. I want to be in bed next to her because this has to be a dream, doesn’t it, Tim?”
Tim understood that Trent was distraught but he had no words of sympathy, his own loss was too great. There was no room for anyone else’s pain and grief. He couldn’t shake off the terrible feeling that this was somehow his fault.
“I’ll take the next flight over,” he managed to choke the words out.
There was silence for a few moments then Trent whispered, “No, don’t. Just before Jackie died she regained consciousness, her last words were that she wanted to be buried next to her mum. Oh, God, Tim, I’m so sorry, I’m going to have to send her body back to England.”
Tim stopped breathing.
His daughter was coming home.
The magazine lay on the table open at page nine. That was the dress she wanted to be married in, Ruby decided, it was perfect except it was ridiculously expensive. She could just imagine Rick’s face when she walked down the aisle wearing it, he would love it, the way it was shaped to show off her figure. Not for her a huge candy floss dress, she wanted slinky and sexy.
She couldn’t believe how lucky she was to be marrying Rick, he was such a catch; Ruby knew all her friends were envious of her. He was tall and good looking, sure of himself. If the little voice in the back of her mind troubled her sometimes, having a dig about him being selfish, moody and inconsiderate then she pushed it away. Nobody was perfect and she really wanted her special day, to be the centre of attention.
She picked up the piece of paper with the phone number on, that the lucky customer had sold her. Twenty pounds out of her wedding fund had been a wrench but Ruby was a great believer in fate.
Last night she’d had a terrible dream. She’d been walking down the aisle and when she’d looked down her wedding dress had been in tatters, ripped and dirty with grey smudges. Rick had been standing by the altar dressed in jeans and a t-shirt staring at her in disgust. The man sitting at the church organ playing the Wedding March had half turned, his eyes bulging out of their sockets as he hit the wrong notes changing the tune to the funeral march. Cobwebs had fallen onto her head and she’d felt them crawling into her mouth.
Everyone was slow clapping, jeering and she’d wanted to turn and rush out of the church. There was the stink of dead flowers all around her and every step she’d taken had been an effort as she’d tried to limp down the aisle. She couldn’t seem to get any nearer to her bridegroom; it felt as if she was walking backwards away from her heavenly wedding.
She’d woken up to find she’d been crying. She didn’t attempt to work out what the dream meant, instead she’d immediately picked up her magazine, turned to page nine and studied the dress she wanted. There was nothing tatty about it; it was gorgeous, just as her wedding was going to be.
Ruby was in her bedroom, her parents were downstairs and her two little brothers were out playing. Very soon she’d be living with Rick in their rented one bedroomed flat and she couldn’t wait. Rick had wanted them to get married in a registrar office at first but after her initial shock Ruby had been adamant. This was the one day in her life when everything had to be perfect and that meant a big white wedding. The guest list had grown over the months, everything was costing more than they thought and it was deleting their savings so much that it frightened her. She desperately wanted more money.
She got up, closed her bedroom door then sat back down on the bed. She should have made the call in her break but she’d decided to wait until she got home, she didn’t want anyone overhearing her conversation.
Here goes, she thought. She dialled the number and lay back resting her head on the pillow. The last cold dregs of sunshine were glittering on the window pane and Ruby hoped it would put in an appearance on her wedding day, she didn’t fancy being a soggy bride.
“Is someone there?”
Ruby came back from her daydream, she hadn’t realised the phone had been picked up.
“Yes, sorry. I want to speak to Shandra, I’ve been given this number.”
“Of course you have, though you’re a little late phoning me, you almost too late.”
Ruby felt a rush of panic. “I’m not, am I?”
“Do you always leave things to the last moment, my dear? You should be careful that time doesn’t catch you and trip you up. So you’d like a wish, wouldn’t you?”
“Yes please.”
“Just a couple of questions, Your full name?”
“Lucinda Ruby Turnbull. Only my friends call me Ruby.”
“Very well, Lucinda, what’s your birth date?”
“July 20th 1997.”
“Cancer. Do you know you’re intuitive?”
“What does that mean?”
“Well, my dear, you could be physic.”
“I’ve never seen a ghost,” Ruby said doubtfully.
“Oh, there’s so much more to being physic than seeing ghosts. It’s all about knowing the strangeness and embracing it.”
What was she talking about? Ruby sighed. The old crone was far out and she had an awful crackly voice that grated on her nerves. She was beginning to feel silly now believing the woman in the shop; this was just a scam to rob her of twenty pounds.
“I’ve changed my mind,” Ruby said.
“No, my dear, you haven’t. You’re just afraid of the truth.” Shandra chuckled, “still, enough of that nonsense; are you aware that your fiancé is cheating on you?”
Ruby gasped, heat rushing into her cheeks. “That’s a terrible thing to say,” she spluttered. “How did you know I’d got a fiancé?”
“He’s playing games with you, hiding his infidelity behind a cloak of caring, thinking you’ll never find out. He’s laughing at you behind your back I’m afraid, my dear. Do you know a tall blonde girl with a butterfly tattoo on her shoulder?”
Ruby immediately thought of her best friend, Jessie, and she closed her eyes as a cold feeling of despair washed over her. “Yes,” she whispered.
“Ask her where she was last night and who she was with.”
“No.”
“You know, don’t you?”
Ruby did know. Jessie had spent the night at a hotel, a two day spa break with her sister, at least that’s what she’d told Ruby. Strange though, now Ruby thought about it but Rick had been away too, visiting his Uncle for the same two days. She’d asked if she could go with him and he’d laughed. You wouldn’t enjoy it, he’d told her.
The sick knot in the pit of her stomach tightened just a little bit more. There wasn’t anything going on, she told herself, the old woman was winding her up. Nothing had changed; she was still marrying the man of her dreams. Maybe it was time to put the phone down.
“Tell me what you wish for.” The crackly old voice broke into her thoughts.
“A one million pound lottery win.” Ruby replied without hesitation.
“Is that all? Why not a ten million pound lottery win?”
Ruby squirmed, “No, a million will do just fine,” she said. What was wrong with the woman? She seemed
determined to get a rise out of her. Of course Rick wasn’t cheating on her, the woman had no right to make things like that up.
“Go outside into the middle of the road and you’ll find a lottery ticket that has just dropped out of someone’s pocket.”
The phone call cut off abruptly.
Grinning now, Ruby made her way downstairs. This was either the best twenty pounds she’d ever spent or the biggest con ever.
She saw it almost immediately; a small flat white piece of paper lying just as the woman had told her in the middle of the road. Fortunately it was a quiet street, not much traffic. It occurred to her that the old woman had planted it there but then she laughed. That was impossible, Shandra didn’t know where she lived, couldn’t have possibly known what she’d wish for and she wouldn’t have had the time anyway.
Ruby glanced up and down to make sure she wasn’t being observed and then walked over to it and picked it up. It was grubby, stained and dirty as if it had sat in someone’s pocket for a very long time. Was it even possible she was holding one million pounds? Her heart was banging with excitement, she would have to check the numbers on the internet, maybe go back several weeks to the unclaimed lottery numbers.
The one thought that kept going round in her mind was that Rick would want her even more now she was rich. Sex and money, Rick loved both of those things. He wouldn’t be playing games with Jessie if Ruby was holding the purse strings.
She stood there in the middle of the road reeling with disbelief and excitement. She didn’t see the motor bike turning too fast out of the side road, the driver losing control of the handlebars as it spun round and hit her. The ticket flew out of her hand and she was thrown across the road, her body rising with the momentum, hitting the top of a parked car. She was just enough aware of what had happened before her body flipped over and she crashed down, her head hitting the kerbstone.
And she was back in the church, the funeral march still playing but this time she was sitting crouched in a wheelchair and watching as Rick and Jessie stood hand in hand at the altar.
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