Cecelia Ahern 2-book Bundle

by Cecelia Ahern

  ‘He wanted to have a few words about … well, about you.’

  ‘Yes,’ Lou said slowly.

  ‘He brought me these.’ Mr Patterson reached into his pocket and retrieved the container of pills that Gabe had given Lou. There was only one pill inside. Alfred, the rat, had obviously scuttered to the skip to collect the evidence to destroy him.

  Lou looked at the container in shock and tried to decide whether to deny them or not. Sweat broke out on his upper lip as he thought quickly for a story. They were his father’s. No. His mother’s. For her hip. No. He had back pain. He realised Mr Patterson was talking and so tuned in.

  ‘He said something about finding them under the skip. I don’t know,’ Mr Patterson frowned, ‘but that he knew them to be yours …’ He studied Lou again, searching for recognition.

  Lou’s heart beat loudly in his ears.

  ‘I know that you and Alfred are friends,’ Mr Patterson said, a little confused, his face showing his sixty-five years. ‘But his concern for you seemed a little misguided. It seemed to me that the purpose of this was to get you into trouble.’

  ‘Em,’ Lou swallowed, eyeing up the brown container, ‘that’s not, em, they’re not, em …’ he stuttered while trying to formulate a sentence.

  ‘I’m not one to pry into people’s personal lives, Lou – what my colleagues do in their own time is their own business, so long as it’s not going to affect the company in any way. So I didn’t take too kindly to Alfred giving me these,’ he frowned. When Lou didn’t answer but continued to sweat profusely, Mr Patterson added, ‘But maybe that’s what you wanted him to do?’ he asked, trying to make sense of it all.

  ‘What?’ Lou wiped his brow. ‘Why would I want Alfred to bring these to you?’

  Mr Patterson stared at him, his lips twitching slightly. ‘I don’t know, Lou, you’re a clever man.’

  ‘What?’ Lou responded, totally confused. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Correct me if I’m wrong, but I assumed,’ his twitching lips eventually grew to a smile, ‘that you deliberately tried to mislead Alfred with these pills. That you somehow made him believe they were more than they were. Am I right?’

  Lou’s mouth fell open and he looked at his boss in surprise.

  ‘I knew it.’ Mr Patterson chuckled and shook his head. ‘You are good. But not that good. I could tell from the blue mark on them,’ he explained.

  ‘What do you mean? What blue mark?’

  ‘You didn’t manage to scratch the entire symbol off them,’ he explained, opening the container and holding it out so that he could empty it into his palm. ‘See the blue mark? And if you look close enough you can also see the trace of the D where it used to be. I should know, believe me, working in here, I swear by these fellas.’

  Lou swallowed. ‘That was the only one with the blue mark?’ Lazy till the end, Alfred couldn’t even reach into a skip to save his own skin, he’d had to scrape an initial off a simple headache tablet.

  ‘No, there were two pills. Both with blue marks. I took one, I hope you don’t mind. Found under a skip or no skip, my head was pounding so much I had to have one. This bloody Christmas season is enough to drive me to an early grave.’

  ‘You took one?’ Lou gasped.

  ‘I’ll replace it.’ He waved his hand dismissively. ‘You can get them at every pharmacy. Newsagents even, they’re just over-the-counter pills.’

  ‘What happened when you took one?’

  ‘Well, it got rid of my headache, didn’t it?’ he frowned. ‘Though to tell you the truth, if I don’t get home in the next hour I’ll be given another one, before I know it.’ He looked at his watch.

  Lou was gobsmacked into silence.

  ‘Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I didn’t like what Alfred was trying to do, and that I don’t think you’re a … well, whatever Alfred was trying to make me believe. There’s no place in the company for people like him. I had to let him go. Christmas Eve, Christ, this job makes a monster of us sometimes,’ he said, tiredly now, appearing older than his sixty-five years.

  Lou was silent, his mind screaming questions at him. Either Alfred had replaced them, or Lou too had taken headache pills on the two occasions he had doubled up. Lou took out the handkerchief from his pocket, unwrapped it and examined the one remaining pill. His heart froze in his chest. The faint initial of the headache tablet could be seen. Why hadn’t he noticed it before?

  ‘Ah, I see you have another one there,’ Mr Patterson chuckled. ‘Caught red-handed, Lou. Well, here you go, you can have the last one. Add it to your collection.’ He handed him the container.

  Lou looked at him and opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, no words coming out, as he took the remaining pill from Mr Patterson.

  ‘I’d better go now.’ Mr Patterson slowly backed away. ‘I have a train set to put together and batteries to insert into a Little Miss something-or-other with a mouth as dirty as a toilet bowl, which I’ll no doubt be forced to listen to all week. Have a lovely Christmas, Lou.’ He held his hand out.

  Lou gulped, his mind still in a whirl about the headache tablets. Was he allergic to them? Had the doubling-up been some sort of side-effect? Had he dreamed it? No. No, it had happened, his family had witnessed his presence on both occasions. So if it wasn’t the pills, then it was …

  ‘Lou,’ Mr Patterson said, his hand still in mid-air.

  ‘Bye,’ Lou said croakily, and then cleared his throat. ‘I mean, Happy Christmas.’ He reached out and shook his boss’s hand.

  As soon as Mr Patterson had turned his back, Lou ran to the fire escape and charged down the stairs to the basement. It was colder than usual and the light at the end of the hall had finally been fixed, no longer flashing like eighties strobe lighting. Christmas music drifted out from under the door, ‘Driving Home for Christmas’ by Chris Rea echoing down the long, cold, sterile hallway.

  Lou didn’t knock before entering. He pushed the door with his foot, still carrying the box in his arms. The room was significantly emptier than it had been. Gabe was down the second aisle, rolling up the sleeping bag and blanket.

  ‘Hi Lou,’ he said, without turning around.

  ‘Who are you?’ Lou asked, his voice shaking as he laid the box down on a shelf.

  Gabe stood up and stepped out of the aisle. ‘Okay,’ he said slowly, looking Lou up and down. ‘That’s an interesting way to start a conversation.’ His eyes went to the box on the shelf and he smiled. ‘A gift for me?’ he said softly. ‘You really shouldn’t have.’ He stepped forward to receive it and Lou took a step backward while eyeing him quite fearfully.

  ‘Hmm,’ Gabe said, frowning at him, then turned to the gift-wrapped box on the shelf. ‘Can I open it now?’

  Lou didn’t answer. Sweat glistened on his face and his eyes moved sharply to follow Gabe’s every movement.

  Taking his time, Gabe carefully opened the perfectly wrapped gift. Approaching it from the ends, he slowly removed the tape, taking care not to rip the paper.

  ‘I love giving people gifts,’ he explained, still keeping the same easy tone. ‘But it’s not often that people give them to me. But you’re different, Lou. I’ve always thought that.’ He smiled at him. He unwrapped the box and finally revealed the gift inside, an electric heater for his store room. ‘Well, this is certainly very thoughtful. Thank you. It will certainly warm up my next space, but not here, unfortunately, as I’m moving on.’

  Lou had moved up against the wall now, as far away from Gabe as he could before he spoke with a tremble. ‘The pills you gave me were headache tablets.’

  Gabe kept studying the heater. ‘Mr Patterson told you that, I suspect.’

  Lou was taken aback, having expected Gabe to deny it. ‘Yes,’ he responded. ‘Alfred took them from the skip and gave them to him.’

  ‘The little rat.’ Gabe shook his head, smiling. ‘Predictable old Alfred. I thought he might do that. Well, we can give him points for persistence, he really didn’t want you
to have that job, did he?’

  When Lou didn’t answer, Gabe continued, ‘I bet running to Patterson didn’t do him any favours, did it?’

  ‘Mr Patterson fired him,’ Lou said quietly, still trying to figure the situation out.

  Gabe smiled, not seeming at all surprised. Just satisfied – and very much satisfied with himself.

  ‘Tell me about the pills,’ Lou found his voice shaking.

  ‘Yeah, they were a packet of headache pills I bought at a newsagent. Took me ages to scrape the little letters off; you know there aren’t many pills without branding on them these days.’

  ‘WHO ARE YOU?’ Lou shouted, his voice drenched in fear.

  Gabe jumped, then looked a little bothered. ‘You’re frightened of me now? Because you found out it wasn’t a bunch of pills that cloned you? What is it with science these days? Everyone is so quick to believe in it, in all these new scientific discoveries, new pills for this, new pills for that. Get thinner, grow hair, yada, yada, yada, but when it requires a little faith in something, you all go crazy.’ He shook his head. ‘If miracles had chemical equations then everybody would believe. It’s disappointing. I had to pretend it was the pills, Lou, because you wouldn’t have trusted me otherwise. And I was right, wasn’t I?’

  ‘What do you mean trust you, who the hell are you, what is this all about?’

  ‘Now,’ he said, looking at Lou sadly, ‘I thought that was pretty clear by now.’

  ‘Clear? As far as I’m concerned, things couldn’t be more messed up.’

  ‘The pills. They were just a science con. A con of science. A conscience.’ He smiled.

  Lou rubbed his face tiredly, confused, afraid.

  ‘It was all to give you your opportunity, Lou. Everybody deserves an opportunity. Even you, despite what you think.’

  ‘Opportunity FOR WHAT?’ he yelled.

  The following words that Gabe spoke sent shivers running up and down Lou’s spine, and had him wanting to run immediately to his family.

  ‘Come on, Lou, you know this one.’

  They were Ruth’s words. They belonged to Ruth.

  Lou’s body was trembling now and Gabe continued.

  ‘An opportunity to spend some time with your family, to really get to know them, before … well, just to spend time with them.’

  ‘To get to know them before what?’ Lou asked, quiet now.

  Gabe didn’t respond, looking away, knowing he’d said too much.

  ‘BEFORE WHAT?’ Lou yelled again, coming close to Gabe’s face.

  Gabe was silent but his crystal-blue eyes bored into Lou’s.

  ‘Is something going to happen to them?’ His voice shook as he began to panic. ‘I knew it. I was afraid of this. What’s going to happen to them?’ He ground his teeth together. ‘If you did something to them, then I will –’

  ‘Nothing has happened to your family, Lou,’ Gabe responded.

  ‘I don’t believe you,’ he panicked, reaching into his pocket and retrieving his BlackBerry. He looked at the screen: no missed calls. Dialling the number of his home quickly, he backed out of the basement stock room, giving Gabe one last vicious look, and ran, ran, ran.

  ‘Remember to buckle up, Lou!’ Gabe shouted after him, his voice ringing in Lou’s ears as Lou ran to the underground car park.

  With the BlackBerry on autodial to Lou’s home, and still ringing out, Lou drove out of the underground car park at a fierce speed. Thick, heavy rain plummeted against his windscreen. Putting the wipers on the fastest speed, he drove out of the empty car park and put his foot down on the by-then-empty quays. The beeping of the seat-belt warning got louder and louder but he couldn’t hear it for all the worrying he was doing. The wheels of the Porsche slipped a little on the wet roads as he raced down the backroads of the quays, then up the Clontarf coast road to Howth. Across the sea, the two red and white striped chimneys of the electricity generating station stood 680 feet tall, like two fingers raised at him. Rain bucketed down, leaving visibility low, but he knew these streets well, had driven up and down them all his life, and all he cared about was driving over the small thread of land that separated him from his family and getting to them as quickly as possible. It was six thirty and pitch black as the day had closed in. Most people were at Mass or in the pubs, getting ready to put presents together and leave a glass of milk and Christmas cake out for Santa, a few carrots for his chauffeur. Lou’s family were at home, having an evening meal – that he’d promised them he’d join – but Lou’s family weren’t answering the phone. He looked down at his BlackBerry to make sure it was still dialling, taking his eye off the road. He swerved a little as he moved over the middle line. A car coming at him beeped loudly and he quickly moved back into his lane again. He flew up past the Marine Hotel at Sutton Cross, which was busy with Christmas parties. Seeing a clear road ahead of him, he put his foot down. He raced by Sutton Church, raced by the school along the coast, passed through safe, friendly neighbourhoods where candles sat in the front windows, Christmas trees sparkled and Santas dangled from roofs. Across the bay, the dozens of cranes of Dublin’s skyline were laced in Christmas lights. He said goodbye to the bay and entered the steep road which began to ascend to his home on the summit. Rain bucketed down, falling in sheets, blurring his vision. Condensation was appearing on the windscreen, and he leaned forward to wipe it with his cashmere coat sleeve. He pressed the buttons on the dashboard to hopefully clear the screen. The ping, ping, ping of the seat-belt warning rang in his ears, and the condensation rapidly filled the windscreen as the car got hotter. Still he sped on, his phone ringing out, his desire to be with his family overtaking any other emotion he should have felt then. It had taken him twelve minutes to get to his street on the empty roads.

  Finally, his phone beeped to signal a call coming through. He looked down and saw Ruth’s face – her caller ID picture. Her big smile; her eyes brown, soft and welcoming. Glad she was at least safe enough to call him, he looked down with relief and reached for the BlackBerry.

  The Porsche 911 Carrera 4S has a unique four-wheel-drive system which grips the road far better than any rear-wheel-drive sports car. It allots five to forty per cent of the power to the front wheels, depending on how much resistance the rear wheels have. So if you accelerate out of a corner hard enough to spin the rear wheels, power is channelled to the front, pulling the car in the right direction. All-wheel-drive basically means that the Carrera 4S could negotiate the icy road with far more control than most other sports cars.

  Unfortunately, Lou did not have that Porsche model. He had it on order. It would be arriving in January, only a week away.

  And so when Lou looked down at his BlackBerry, so overwhelmed with relief and emotion to see his wife’s face, he had taken his eye off the road and had dived into the next corner much too fast. He reflexively lifted his foot from the accelerator, which threw the car’s weight forward and lightened the rear wheels; then he got back on the accelerator and turned hard to make the corner. The rear end broke traction and he spun across to the other side of the road, which was the deep decline down the cliff’s edge.

  The moments that followed for him were ones of sheer horror and confusion. The shock numbed the pain. The car turned over, once, twice and then a third time. Each time, Lou let out a yell as his head, his body, his legs and arms thrashed about wildly like a doll inside a washing machine. The emergency airbag thumped him in the face, bloodying his nose, knocking him out momentarily so that the next few moments passed in a still but bloody mess.

  Some amount of time later, Lou opened his eyes and tried to survey the situation. He couldn’t. He was surrounded by blackness and found himself unable to move. A thick, oily substance covered one of his eyes, preventing him from seeing, and with the one hand he could move, he found that every part of his body he touched was covered in the same substance. He moved his tongue around his mouth, tasted rusty iron and realised it was blood. He tried to move his legs, but couldn’t. He tried to move his arms,
and could just about move one. He was silent while he tried to keep calm, to figure out what to do. Then, when for the first time in his life he couldn’t formulate one single thought, when the shock wore off and the realisation set in, the pain hit him at full force. He couldn’t get the images of Ruth out of his mind. Of Lucy, of Pud, of his parents. They weren’t far above him, somewhere on the summit; he had almost made it. In the darkness, in a crushed car, in the middle of the gorse and the hebe, somewhere on a mountainside in Howth, Lou Suffern began to whimper.

  Raphie and Jessica were doing their usual rounds and bickering over Raphie’s country-music tape, which he liked to torment Jessica with, as they passed the scene where Lou’s car had gone off the road.

  ‘Hold on, Raphie,’ she interrupted his howling about his achy breaky heart.

  He sang even louder.

  ‘RAPHIE!’ she shouted, punching the music off.

  He looked at her in surprise.

  ‘Okay, okay, put your Freezing Monkeys on, or whatever you call them.’

  ‘Raphie, stop the car,’ Jessica said, in a tone that made him immediately pull over. She leapt out of the car and jogged the few paces back to the scene that had caught her eye, where the trees were broken and twisted. She took her torch out and shone it down the mountainside.

  ‘Oh God, Raphie, we need to call emergency services,’ she shouted to him. ‘Ambulance and fire brigade!’

  He stopped his brief jog towards her and made his way back to the car, where he radioed it in.

  ‘I’m going down!’ she yelled, immediately making her way through the broken trees and down the steep incline.

  ‘You will not, Jessica!’ she heard Raphie yell back, but she didn’t listen. ‘Get back here, it’s too dangerous!’

  She could hear, but quickly zoned out from his shouts and could soon only hear her own breath, fast and furious, her heart beating in her ears.

  Jessica, new to the squad, should never have seen a sight like this mangled car, upside down and totally unrecognisable, in her life. But she had. For Jessica, it was all too familiar; it was a sight that haunted her dreams and most of her waking moments. Coming face to face with her nightmare, and the replaying of a memory, dizziness overcame her and she had to hunker down and put her head between her knees. Jessica had secrets, and one of them had come back to haunt her. She hoped to God nobody was in that car; the car was crushed, unrecognisable, with no licence plate, and in the darkness she couldn’t tell whether it was blue or black.