The Forgotten_An absolutely gripping, gritty thriller novel

by Casey Kelleher

  She should lie, she thought, say that she hadn’t been able to get any for him today. That there had been too many doctors and nurses milling around for her to be able to steal anything. That would teach him for not showing her any attention and for always taking her for granted. Maybe then he wouldn’t be so quick to treat her as if she was just here at his convenience. Maybe that’s what he needed: a little reminder of how much he did actually need her.

  ‘Marie? Did you get them for me?’ he repeated himself then, the urgency clear in his voice. The want. The need. They both heard it there.

  ‘’Course I got you them,’ she said finally, turning and shooting him a smile. Doing her upmost to hide the tremor in her voice, so that it wouldn’t give her away.

  She didn’t want him to know that she was upset. That he’d done it to her again. Instead she pursed her mouth.

  Sometimes, not often, she secretly preferred him when they’d first met. Back when he couldn’t talk back. When he hadn’t been so full of anger and rage.

  ‘Good,’ he said simply. The look of relief flickered then on his face. As he relaxed and slumped back in his chair.

  Back to his precious computer.

  Marie picked up a carving knife and started hacking at the meat.

  ‘Are you not going to at least try and eat some of that?’ Marie said, scraping up the last bit of meat and pastry off her plate and popping it into her mouth. Robert could sit there with a face on him, pushing the food around his plate as much as he wanted. She knew that she had made a blinding meal. It was just a shame that Robert wasn’t in the mood to appreciate her efforts. ‘It’s such a waste to leave it.’

  ‘I told you already. I’m not hungry.’

  ‘Well, I’ll wrap it up and put it in the fridge for you. You can have it tomorrow lunchtime instead of one of those manky microwave meals. Full of salt those things are, and chemicals.’

  Marie drummed her fingers on the table top. Still put out at Robert eating earlier without her. Satisfied that she’d made her point now.

  She stared at Robert.

  He was acting strange tonight, stranger than usual, only Marie couldn’t put her finger on what the matter was.

  He seemed wired. On edge about something. He’d barely even bothered to taste the food she’d cooked for him, preferring to drink only the wine she’d bought instead.

  She’d only sipped at her glass, while he’d almost finished the whole bottle.

  ‘Have you taken your meds?’ She wondered if that was it, whether the alcohol interfering with his pills had made him drunk.

  ‘No. Not yet. I’ll take them later.’

  He didn’t want them yet? Marie narrowed her eyes. That was unheard of.

  Normally Robert couldn’t get them off her quickly enough, taking a double dosage to block out the pain, or send him off to sleep. Normally he’d swallow them down before she’d even taken her coat off.

  Something was definitely wrong. Tonight, his mind was clearly elsewhere.

  His gaze still studying the laptop that he’d placed on the table beside his plate.

  He hadn’t left that poxy thing alone all evening.

  Tapping away. Ignoring her. As he gulped down his wine.

  Fuck this!

  Marie slammed her cutlery down on the plate. No longer giving a shit if she caused a row now. The evening was ruined anyway.

  ‘I worked a twelve-hour shift today. Then I walked to the shop to buy everything, fresh. I came home and spent two hours cooking. For you,’ she said now. Her voice low, but her tone cutting, as intended. ‘I know what you’re doing, Robert. And it won’t work.’ She got up from her chair, taking his plate away from him. Stomping over to the bin and scraping the food away, she then started filling up the sink, all the while still talking.

  ‘You want me to be pissed off with you. You want me to storm home, and leave you alone. Well, I’m not going anywhere.’

  Again, nothing.

  Marie turned to look at him, but he wasn’t even listening to her. His head was down, once again engrossed in that fucking laptop of his.

  Marie lost it completely then; launching herself across the table, she snatched the laptop up.

  Wanting to see what it was that was so much more important than her.

  What Robert was obsessing over.

  Though the image before her instantly made her wish she hadn’t looked.

  A woman. Stunningly beautiful with vibrant red hair, and piercing green eyes.

  The sort of woman that Marie Huston was well aware she wouldn’t stand a chance against.

  ‘As if someone like her would be interested in you!’ she said then, unable to help herself. as her chest started to constrict. Her heart pounding away inside her.

  But her words didn’t seem to sting as she intended. Instead, Robert didn’t bother to reply.

  He was on his feet then. Making a grab for the laptop. Slamming Marie into the wall behind her as they struggled. Snatching the laptop out of her grasp as she slid down to the floor.

  Winded then, but not from the blow. Marie looked up at him through her tears.

  Cursing herself for being so weak and crying, when inside she was fit to kill him.

  ‘Is she the reason why you’re so fucking preoccupied lately?’ Marie said, a tremor in her voice as she spoke. The hurt inside her like nothing she’d felt before. ‘That bitch. What is she, your new fucking girlfriend?’ Marie spat now, as she felt the surging rage inside her. Jealousy eating her up.

  ‘You think that she’d like you?’ Marie said with a nasty, bitter laugh as Robert didn’t reply. The hurt inside her so overwhelming that she wanted to be sick.

  She wanted him to hurt too.

  ‘That she’d settle for someone like you!’

  Robert slammed the laptop shut and flung the machine down on the table top.

  Still he didn’t speak, instead he slumped down on the chair.

  He could hardly deny it, could he? His fascination with the woman on the screen. She’d seen the image with her own eyes, she knew his secrets.

  Whoever the fuck this slag was, she appeared to already have Robert firmly under her spell.

  Marie got to her feet then. Pacing the small dining area as she felt the rage inside her building. Growing so large inside her that if she didn’t do something, she’d physically explode.

  ‘It’s not what you think,’ Robert said, his eyes still low.

  ‘Isn’t it?’ she spat. Aware now that he couldn’t even look her in the eye.

  The rotten, using bastard.

  Taking the piss out of her, all the while he was lining up his next fucking love interest.

  What the fuck did he think she was? Someone that would allow a man to mess with her like that. Someone who would just go without a fight?

  Marie looked over at the kitchen side. Her eyes resting on the carving knife from earlier, propped up, abandoned on the side of the pie dish.

  She’d kill him, she thought.

  That’s what she’d do, if he attempted to leave her.

  If he dared to leave her.

  ‘What is it then?’ she challenged, getting to her feet.

  Her palms sweating as she talked herself into picking it up. About how she would plunge it so deeply into his chest.

  If she couldn’t have him, no one else would either.

  Instead she’d be the one that watched as his life blood poured out of him, as he breathed his last breath.

  At least she’d have that.

  ‘Tell me!’ she screamed.

  She needed him to say it. To confirm her deepest fears. To give her the reason to do it.

  To kill that fucking bastard right here and now.

  ‘That’s Nancy…’ he said, his eyes wide. The expression on his face as if Marie would know what that meant somehow. As if somehow he’d proved himself.

  ‘I don’t give a fuck what the bitch’s name is—’ Marie started, only Robert interrupted her.

  ‘No, Marie. Do
n’t you understand? It’s her. I remember now.’

  ‘Remember what? Who the fuck is she?’ Marie shook her head, confused.

  His girlfriend. His wife.

  That would be just her fucking luck.

  Indignant now, the rage inside her all-consuming.

  Nancy?

  Robert had never mentioned anyone’s name before. Marie would have remembered.

  She didn’t know any ‘Nancy’.

  Robert laughed then.

  Manically, sounding strange and hollow as it left his mouth.

  ‘What the fuck is so funny?’ she said then, staring at the man as if he was deranged.

  He must be.

  He was laughing so hard now that he had to hold onto his sides, as if he suddenly couldn’t contain himself.

  Laughing hysterically at a joke that she’d been clearly left out of.

  Doubled over, he stood in front of her, his whole body shaking.

  Then, sinking down to his knees he grabbed her by her hands.

  Looking up at her earnestly, as if a light bulb had gone off somewhere inside his head.

  As if finally he could see.

  ‘I know who I am, Marie. I remember everything. My real name. I’m Daniel Byrne. And that woman on the screen. Nancy. That’s my cunt of a sister.’

  Twenty-One

  ‘Take a seat, darling,’ Nancy said, guiding Bridget Williams to the sofa, before placing the bunch of flowers she’d bought for her friend down on the coffee table in the centre of the room. ‘Put your feet up, that’s an order. I’m going to get one of the girls to bring you in a nice pot of tea and something to eat. You are not to move off this sofa, okay? Felicity is on her way over and she’s going to keep you company.’

  ‘She’s going to babysit me you mean?’ Bridget said, eyeing Nancy. ‘I’ve already told you, Nance, I’m fine, seriously. They wouldn’t have discharged me if I wasn’t. And despite the way you’re mollycoddling me, I’ve still got the use of my arms and legs, you know. I can manage.’

  ‘I know you can.’ Nancy looked at her mate, noting that she did look a lot better today. Smiling and chatting the whole journey home. She had some colour back in her cheeks again too. ‘I just want you to take it easy for a bit, that’s all. At least indulge me a bit, Bridge.’

  ‘But I don’t want to put my feet up. I want to help. It’s the opening night and I told you I’d be here to oversee everything ran smoothly. No matter what.’ Bridget grinned, triumphantly. Insisting that she’d be back here tonight no matter what; even if the nurses hadn’t let her go home, she’d have still found a way. She’d been adamant about that.

  ‘Well, I’m glad you’re “home”.’ Nancy smiled then, genuinely. Glad that Bridget really was doing okay. ‘But I really just want you to take it easy, Bridge. The girls will all be in later, and they all know what to do. If you need anything, Felicity will be right on it. If there’s any trouble, call Jack. He’s at home with Scarlett tonight, but he can be here quicker than you can put the phone down. Okay? I mean it, Bridge. Tonight you are to do nothing that doesn’t involve keeping your feet up and getting some rest.’ Switching the TV on, Nancy passed her friend the television remote and a pile of magazines. ‘You must be knackered.’

  ‘Yeah well, if the nurses had given me a private room instead of sticking me on a ward with a load of geriatrics I might have got some sleep. I tell you, Nancy, some of the things that I’ve seen and heard on that ward the last couple of days… have left me scarred for life! Those old people really did let everything hang out, and the noises they make. Half the time I wasn’t sure whether the sounds were coming from their mouths or their arses.’ She shuddered at the memory.

  ‘Oh, I can imagine,’ Nancy said, not wanting Bridget to enlighten her with any of the finer details. ‘I bet you’re already missing your old mate, Hilda. Aren’t you?’

  ‘Hmm, well she certainly won’t be missing me! Not after I told the old battleaxe where she could shove those slippers of hers that last time she bent over and flashed her crack at me. I swear she was doing it on purpose, just to make me gag.’ Bridget giggled. Suddenly glad to be away from the place.

  Home.

  That’s what this place was to her now.

  Looking around at the plush furnishings and impeccably decorated room, Bridget decided that she could quickly get used to it.

  Then, sinking back on the settee she shook her head in wonderment at Nancy. ‘I’m so glad to be home though, Nancy. And this place looks amazing.’ Glancing at the immaculate lounge.

  This part of the house was off bounds to the punters. It was purely Nancy’s and Bridget’s domain. Tastefully decorated in subtle tones of beiges and creams. Simple but stylish, exactly as Nancy had envisaged.

  ‘You did it, Nancy. Can you believe it? You actually did it. All of this.’

  She grinned at her friend then, proudly.

  She was seriously blown away.

  Somehow, even with everything going on this weekend, the girls, Nancy and Jack had all clubbed together and managed to get this place ready just in time. The piles of unpacked boxes had all been sorted out and the last of the furniture had been delivered. The builders had finished all their last little jobs and touch-ups on the place.

  This was it.

  It was full steam ahead from now on.

  ‘We got a different security firm in to fix the alarm system now,’ Nancy said, still annoyed that she couldn’t get hold of the cowboys that she’d paid to sort it out in the first place. ‘And I’ve got security on site around the clock. We’ll be taking no chances of anything else happening here. I want you and the girls to feel totally safe.’

  Bridget nodded, knowing that Nancy felt partly responsible for what happened to her, only it wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t anyone’s fault but the arsehole that had broken in here that night.

  ‘Has Jack had any luck, tracking them down?’

  Nancy shook her head. Wishing that she could say different. But it looked like whoever it was had got away with it. Thankfully, not killing Bridget or getting away with the money in the process, but that still wasn’t the point.

  Despite the fact that Nancy had managed to break the bastard’s nose, and had droplets of the man’s blood on the hallway floor, and all over her top – she’d been convinced that Jack could trace the fucker through that, through his DNA, only it had come back without a match.

  Whoever it was, didn’t have a criminal record.

  So now they had nothing to go on. Nothing at all.

  Jack had told her that the chances of finding the fucker were slim to none.

  Though she had no intention of telling Bridget that.

  ‘Right, I’m going to go and check on the girls and make sure everything’s ready to go, then I’m off out for some champagne.’

  ‘Ooh, ’ark at you! I was going to say, that’s a lot of effort you’ve gone to tonight, just to chauffeur me home from the hospital. Who you all dolled up for?’ Bridget said narrowing her eyes. Suspicious now.

  She’d been feeling crap as it was after lying around in hospital the past few days, but following Nancy out to the car as the woman tottered in front of her wearing a designer fitted dress and patent Jimmy Choo heels had only made her feel even worse. Especially when she’d seen all the admiring glances Nancy had been getting from every male they passed, while Bridget trailed behind, in a scruffy grey tracksuit and Ugg boots, her hair unwashed, scraped up on the top of her head in a messy bun. Completely invisible, it seemed, in Nancy’s shadow.

  Not that she minded really, of course. Now she was home she couldn’t wait to get a nice hot bath and feel clean again.

  ‘Well, as it happens. I’ve got a date,’ Nancy said, acting coy now.

  Knowing the interrogation that was sure to follow.

  ‘You’ve got a date? Nancy Byrne, “the Ice Queen”!’ Bridget laughed making fun of the nickname that Nancy knew everyone called her behind her back.

  Coming from Bridget, Nancy ju
st laughed, knowing that her friend meant it playfully to wind her up.

  ‘Who is it?’ Bridget said then, narrowing her eyes. Certain that Nancy hadn’t even hinted at anyone’s name lately. ‘Do I know him?’

  The woman hadn’t mentioned anyone, ever, in fact. Not in the four years that Bridget had known her. Dedicated only to Scarlett and her job, Nancy always claimed she didn’t have time for men.

  ‘Jesus, Bridge. Steady on with the Spanish Inquisition, babe. It’s just dinner and a few drinks. I am entitled to a bit of male company every now and again,’ Nancy said, regretting even mentioning it to Bridget now. Her friend was already chomping at the bit to find out all the details.

  ‘If you must know, his name is Philippe Augustine. He’s a business associate. You don’t know him, but he’s really nice.’

  ‘Nice?’ Bridget said, pursing her mouth. ‘That’s all I get? Nice? You gotta give me more than that, Nancy. Have you been out with him before? Does he know about Scarlett?’

  Realising that Nancy was picking up her bag now, ready to leave. That she was just going to leave Bridget here in limbo, Bridget shook her head.

  ‘Oh, no, no, Missy! You can’t just leave me hanging like that, Nance. Come on, give me something at least. You can’t just announce that you’re off out on a date and not tell me anything else.’

  Standing at the door, thoroughly enjoying herself now. Glad that her personal life seemed to be doing the trick of taking Bridget’s mind off the shitty couple of days she’d just endured.

  Instead she just grinned and shrugged her shoulders.

  ‘Don’t wait up for me, babe, I might be very, very late.’ She winked then.

  ‘Okay, what have you done with the real Nancy Byrne?’ Bridget squealed. ‘You filthy mare! Oh, don’t you worry. I’ll be waiting up for you. There’s no way I could sleep now, knowing that you’re out on a hot date with someone.’

  Nancy turned on her heel, chuckling to herself all the way down the hallway, on her way to meet the very handsome Philippe. Son of one of her father’s old contacts.

  Nancy had been resisting Philippe’s advances for months, but after the conversation she’d had with Jack in the car on the way back from the charity ball, Nancy had finally decided to take the bull by the horns and put the man out of his misery.