by Anita Waller
‘But...’ Anna felt bewildered. ‘What’s going on, Jenny? Are you okay?’
‘I’m fine,’ she laughed. ‘Never felt better. I’m going to be away for a couple of days next week, because Adam is off to some outdoor retreat with school and Grace is going to a sleepover with her friend straight from school, so I have from nine o’clock next Thursday until three o’clock Friday free.’
‘Are you coming here?’ She felt a lightening inside her at the thought.
‘No, not this time. Soon. Make sure you charge the phone, and always keep it charged. Ring me when it arrives; I’ve already programmed my number into it. No more questions at this time, Anna. We’ll talk when our two special phones connect. Be brave.’ She disconnected.
Anna felt a little sick.
And then the phone rang again, making her feel positively bilious. Ray. Be brave. Jenny’s strange words echoed in her head, and she pressed answer.
‘And where the fuck are you?’
‘Away from you.’
‘Well, I know that, Miss Smarty Pants.’ His sarcasm left her unmoved.
‘Ray, I can’t come back yet. I need a break.’
‘You’ve had one. Now, get back home. I’m struggling here. And where’s the money?’
‘Money?’
‘Around five thousand quid, Anna. That money.’
‘Oh, that money. Spent it.’
‘WHAT!!’
The roar in her ear was deafening, and Anna laughed as she disconnected. She’d stopped feeling sick.
She sat down on her new sofa, clicked on her new television, picked up the new cross stitch design she was embroidering to hang on her new apartment wall, moved her new coffee table slightly to the left, and smiled. Spent it!
At the moment, life felt good.
*****
The new mobile phone arrived in the post, and it was fully charged. She went into contacts and saw one number, allocated to Maia.
She called the number, and when Jenny answered, she said, ‘Maia?’
She laughed. ‘I’ll leave you to look up the meaning.’
‘What name am I in your phone?’
‘Kyra. Look them both up, Anna.’
‘So, why do I have this phone?’
‘I don’t want communication between us to be traced. These phones are cheap, throwaway, pay as you go phones. I’ve loaded them with £20 each, and when things are resolved we can destroy them. I used cash to buy them and the top up, so they can’t be traced to either of us. I’ll be keeping mine on silent, because I don’t want anyone to know I have it, but I promise I’ll check it frequently. If you ring me, it will show, and I’ll get straight back to you.’
‘Jenny, you’re scaring me.’
‘Don’t be scared, Anna. One day, you’ll be happy again, I promise. It starts next week. Love you, my Kyra.’ She disconnected before Anna could say anything else, and she looked in horror at the little phone still in her hand.
Jenny’s words buzzed around her, and she made a coffee before sitting down. It was all very well to say, ‘Don’t be scared,’ but over the years, it had been forced into her psyche to be scared.
Anna pulled the laptop towards her and looked up the names. Maia – brave warrior, and Kyra – strong woman. She deleted the website from her history, fully aware if anyone wanted to trace her web browsing, they could probably do so, notwithstanding the delete button. She suddenly felt as though she was drowning, and everything was spiralling away from her. Jenny sounded so confident, so different to the person she had met up with at Trowell, and yet, she felt out of control.
Anna prayed for the first time in a while that night.
Chapter 13
Friday, 20 March 2015
Day Twelve
Anna looked in the mirror, and saw the same face she knew so well. Blue eyes, blonde hair – now needing a bit of a root touch-up – generous lips; it occurred to her she looked no different to the woman who had left Lincoln, but her soul was changed.
The sun was shining, and she decided to walk into the town centre and maybe pop in to the Cathedral. She had been with Ray to Sheffield Cathedral on one of their trips to the city, and she remembered it being a lovely place; not massive as Lincoln Cathedral was, but beautiful in its own right. She would feel totally safe in there, and perhaps it would bring a little peace into her life.
Two hours later, feeling refreshed and much calmer, Anna walked back home, picking up a pizza on the way. She had cooked a full meal every day back in what she now thought of as her Lincoln days, and it had taken a while for her to realise she no longer had to do anything she didn’t want to do. Hence the pizza. A slimming club might definitely be looming on the horizon!
Anna ate her pizza, picked up the newspaper and did the crossword, switched on Classic FM, and relaxed. She was almost asleep when she heard the doorbell. She put down the cross stitch which had almost fallen off her knee, and crossed to the door. She looked through the spyhole and saw a man standing there. She pressed the intercom. ‘Can I help you?’
He leaned across and pressed the intercom outside her door.
‘Oh, hi! My name is Jonathan Price. My wife and I live at number 83, and we thought it would be good to introduce ourselves.’
‘One moment!’ She opened the door and looked at the man standing there. He was tall, fit, and she suspected about her age. His dark hair was short, and he had the most beautiful brown eyes. His wife was lucky.
‘Do you want to come in?’ She sort of vaguely waved her arm backwards, and he smiled. Delicious.
‘No, no! We’d like you to come to us, if that’s okay. It’s that one there,’ and he pointed in the direction of their apartment.
‘That would be nice. I haven’t really met anyone yet.’
‘Five minutes?’
Anna nodded, and watched him leave to make sure she knew exactly which door was his.
Well! Friday had just got better.
She quickly washed her face, replaced her lipstick and brushed her hair. Anna felt quite excited at the prospect of actually doing something different.
Jonathan opened the door and ushered her in. ‘Come and meet my wife.’
The apartment seemed more spacious than hers on first sight, although she came to realise it was quite a different layout. It was very open plan, made that way to accommodate his wife’s wheelchair.
‘This is my wife, Melissa,’ he said, and touched her hair.
She smiled. ‘It’s Lissy, haven’t answered to Melissa since the day I was born.’ She held out her hand, and Anna briefly touched it.
‘And I’m Anna, Anna Carbrook.’
‘Please, sit down,’ she said, and indicated towards the seating area. ‘Jon?’
He turned towards them. ‘Anna, what can we get you? Tea? Coffee? Wine?’
‘Coffee, please, Jonathan.’
Lissy was strikingly pretty. Her dark brown hair was gathered into a high ponytail, and she had glasses pushed on to the top of her head. Brown eyes were turned towards Anna, and Lissy smiled.
Anna moved towards the sofa, and she heard the soft hiss of the wheelchair tyres as Lissy followed her. ‘It’s Jon,’ she said. ‘And welcome to Haddon Court. We left you alone until we figured you’d be settled. Do you like it here?’
‘I love it. It’s exactly what I need.’
‘Me too,’ she smiled. ‘I fell in love with it as soon as we came through the door, and yes, we did have slight qualms about the lift, but we’ve lived here five years now, and there’s never been a problem with it. This apartment is three bedrooms – one is a guest room and the other is my work room. It all looks very neat and tidy in here, thanks to our wonderful cleaner, but my work room is something else.’
‘Work room?’
‘I make children’s clothes. One off, individual items. I have an internet shop, and it keeps me pretty busy.’
Jon interrupted. ‘Far too busy.’ He bent, placing a tray on the table with three pretty tea cups and a plate of
scones. ‘She works longer hours than I do. On the sewing machine all day and then sits at night doing the hand-work on the garment.’
Anna smiled at Lissy. ‘Can I see? I have a seven-year-old granddaughter and a ten-year-old grandson. What age do you design for?’
‘Up to age eight. After that, children tend to want what their friends are wearing – Adidas, Nike and such.’ She reached into a smart patchwork bag, clearly made especially for the wheelchair, and produced a catalogue. She looked up at Jon who laughed.
‘I know, I’ll get something. The dress you worked on last night?’
She nodded, and he went into the room directly behind Anna. He returned with a dress on a hanger that simply took her breath away. It was a shimmer of rainbow, with hand-appliquéd tiny fairies floating around it.
Anna shook her head. ‘This is amazing! Such skill...’
‘It’s for a five-year-old who is to be bridesmaid at her mum and dad’s wedding. They wanted something really special for her, and we had lots of discussions about it. They came for a final fitting yesterday before the wedding in three weeks. Yes, it’s expensive just for one day, but it will be a day to remember for all of them.’
‘I need to bring my daughter-in-law to meet you. I don’t see my grandchildren very often, as they live in Leicester, but I want a dress for Grace. Jenny will know best what Grace would like, so would it be okay if I bring her across next time she is here?’
Lissy laughed. ‘Of course, but we didn’t invite you around to sell you a dress. We wanted to get to know you, to let you know there’s usually someone in here, if ever you need to have something delivered and you won’t be in, and to offer you tea and scones. Made by Jon, as I’m no housewife, and never wanted to be.’
It was Anna’s turn to laugh. ‘I have a friend called Charlie who is a textile artist of some repute. She also doesn’t “do,” as she puts it. She says it traumatises her creativity.’
‘Charlie Lewis?’
Anna nodded. ‘You know her? Her name is actually Charlie Armitage, but she kept her maiden name for use with her work.’
‘I know of her. Who wouldn’t?’
‘Then you must come across to my place and look at my quilt. It absolutely lights up my bedroom. Take a couple of hours off one day this week, and come have a coffee with me. I’d love to show you what I’ve done with the apartment.’
Unknowingly, Anna had just organised the means of their future alibi.
*****
She went to bed that Friday night, feeling a little more at ease with herself. It had been a good day. The three of them had talked and talked, with Lissy revealing a car accident in her teens had put her in the wheelchair.
It bothered neither of them; Jon had never known her when she could walk. They had met at a mutual friend’s wedding, and followed that meeting up with a wedding of their own, some six months later. He clearly adored her, and Anna could see why. She was beautiful; long, dark hair, warm, brown eyes, and a smile to melt hearts.
Jon worked a lot from home, but had a solicitor’s office in Paradise Square in the legal centre of Sheffield. He was clearly a very intelligent man; it shone out of him.
Anna slid into bed and remembered she had asked Lissy to come for coffee and see her quilt. She promised herself she would follow up on it, and she picked up her book. She was asleep before finishing the first page.
Chapter 14
Saturday, 21 March 2015
Day Thirteen
Although it was still only mid-March, the year was certainly warming up, and Anna sat on the balcony with coffee and toast for about an hour before deciding what to do with her day.
She felt she needed a job. It wasn’t for financial reasons; it was for her. She needed some sort of purpose, a reason to get out of bed. Prior to her leaving Ray, she had worked every day running the business. Anna had initially started by just doing the accounts, but within a couple of months, she had taken everything on, from ordering bricks to doing VAT and tax returns. Ray had turned a room at Lindum Lodge into a state of the art office and paid her a healthy salary.
Anna had enjoyed the job; living with the boss was the downside.
She knew her strengths were administrative, but she was not altogether sure she would get a good reference! And, if she was being brutally honest, Anna wasn’t sure she would have chosen office manager as her career path; it was very much thrust upon her.
The world, as they say, was very much her oyster now. Should she make pearls, or sink into oblivion? Anna leaned back in the chair and felt the warm sun on her face. Closing her eyes, she decided oblivion would do for the moment.
The peace didn’t last long. Anna heard the letter box rattle, and she stepped back inside to retrieve her usual junk mail. It wasn’t the postman but a note from Lissy saying thank you for the previous evening. She smiled – Anna liked both Lissy and Jon, and decided when she went out she would pick up a bunch of flowers for her. It had been a very enjoyable, if unplanned, evening.
She glanced at her new phone, which she hadn’t taken with her to number 83, and saw that “Maia” had called at 6.43 pm.
Anna didn’t know what to do. Call her on the iPhone? Call her on this phone? On the landline? It all seemed very cloak and dagger, and although she didn’t believe for one minute Jenny would carry out her threat to kill Ray, she certainly seemed to be planning something.
Anna had always been very good at burying her head in the sand.
She tentatively pressed “Maia” on the new phone – decision made. “Maia” didn’t answer, and Anna knew it was because she had to keep it silenced. She would just have to wait for her to ring.
She rang within five minutes.
‘Good morning.’
‘Good morning, Jenny. Everything ok?’
‘Everything’s fine. I won’t be around Thursday, and so I thought I’d better remind you. I’m leaving all mobile phones in the house. Won’t talk any more now, because I’m going to ring you later on your iPhone. We are now officially in touch although I don’t know where you’re living yet. I won’t say we’re in touch until it actually crops up, the longer we can sidestep the hassle, the better. Be good, talk later.’
And she disconnected!
Anna shook her head; Jenny was like a whirlwind. This was the girl she had known prior to their marriage but her behaviour was becoming more intense than she remembered..
She did a bit of a spruce up of the place – any room would look and smell better for a quick burst of furniture polish – and then she went on the computer.
Anna typed in “Michael Groves” and “Lincoln,” and waited to see if anything would be thrown up.
It was, and she sat back with slight feeling of disbelief. She pulled up a couple of the websites his name had generated, and it was clear he was still in Lincoln. A little more work and use of her credit card gave her his address and phone number, and she sat back in shock. He had been so easy to trace.
It wasn’t a shock he was still alive; she had deliberately lied to Jenny about that. She didn’t want her trying to track him down and bring him into the equation in any way. His wife had died, and for all she knew he could have remarried. His business continued in his name, and the website stated he was retired. He had stayed in accountancy. When Anna had known him, Michael had worked for a company, but that had changed at some point, and he had formed his own firm.
She locked the knowledge away in her heart for the moment, made a note of his address and telephone number, and wiped the history from her laptop. She poured a coffee, didn’t give in to the urge for a biscuit, and sat back on the sofa.
Jenny rang a few minutes later, and they had a light-hearted chat about everybody and everything. Jenny confirmed Ray was getting angrier with every passing day, but he really had no idea of her whereabouts and wanted her home. She added Mark had spoken to him on several occasions, and the thing that had really bugged him was the £5000 she had taken from their joint account!
Anna
had known this would hurt him – and the transfer of the funds had been so easy. Their joint account could be used by both of them, and only needed one signature or one instruction. It had taken two seconds to move it to an account of hers that Ray couldn’t access. ‘Shall I send him a cheque for it?’
‘That would be good,’ Jenny laughed.
‘The funny thing is, I didn’t need it; I just did it because I could. When all this is over, and we’re apart permanently, I’ll reimburse him for half of it.’
‘You won’t need to do that’. Her tone had changed. ‘The man is going to die.’
‘Jenny...’
‘Anna, what he has done to the two of us, and unknowingly to Adam, has condemned him. He doesn’t belong in our world. Only death will get him away from us. For certain he will never leave you alone for the rest of your life, even if you divorce him. He won’t be able to stand the fact you’ve walked away from him. Look, I have to go now, because I have to get Grace ready for her night away tomorrow, but I will be ringing again over the next couple of days. On the other phone. Miss you, and I’ll see you soon.’
They disconnected, and Anna shivered. The distance between them in miles was vast, and she couldn’t talk her down over a phone. She clearly had something planned, and Anna didn’t know what to do.
She walked by the river and up into the town centre, feeling very unsettled. She bought a bouquet of flowers for Lissy and another plant for her own balcony. A couple of candles in storm jars were added to the shopping, and she felt better when she began the walk back home.
Anna met Jon in the lift and handed the flowers to him. ‘They’re for both of you anyway,’ she explained. ‘You made me feel so welcome yesterday. And please tell Lissy I am in tonight, if she’d like to come for a drink. I might even manage a cake to go with the drink.’
His smile was awesome, and she felt like a silly schoolgirl, giggling as she entered her apartment. She clearly wasn’t too old to appreciate a good looking feller!
Anna quickly put together a coffee cake and prayed that the oven worked – she hadn’t actually done any baking in it yet.