‘Ssh!’ I sit down next to her on the bed. ‘I didn’t want anyone to know I was back before I got changed. Only I heard voices, and Chase...’
‘Your clothes are torn! Where did you get those scratches?’
‘I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you. It involves your friend Chas.’
She’s alarmingly calm as I tell my story. When I’ve finished she says, ‘Travis, there’s something I want to tell you, too.’
‘What is it, Dem?’
She plays with the tissue in her hands. ‘I’ve been wondering about things again, about the night I found you on the beach. This afternoon I found something which I think means you were right.’ She holds up a ferry ticket. ‘It’s Crianvarich to Oban, one way,’ she states flatly, ‘dated the sixth, for the five o’clock ferry.’ She hands the ticket over. ‘I found it in here.’ She pulls out a large black bag from under her bed.
‘That’s it!’ I exclaim. ‘That’s the bag you had with you!’
Demi sweeps her hand through her hair. ‘As soon as I saw that ticket it all came flooding back to me. Dad was on a bender, blind drunk, shouting about Chas, saying I couldn’t have a boyfriend, or get married. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I called Chas, and he told me to buy the tickets for the early ferry next day. Anyway, I didn’t want to spend another night under the same roof as Dad, so I arranged to meet Chas at the cave, and wait there with him before going to the ferry terminal. That’s when I bumped into you.’ She takes a deep breath. ‘I know I found you there, I know you had a seizure, but until now I haven’t been able to say for sure what I was doing there, other than thinking I was out for a walk. Now I know that’s not true; so you see, Travis, what with that, and with you being able to recognise Chas, and having his jumper, I reckon I owe you an apology.’ I squeeze her hand. A tear drops from her cheek. ‘What I don’t know is what happened between then, and when – when Dad...’ she breaks off with a sob.
I kiss her hand. ‘There’s something about Chase that scares you,’ I say softly. ‘What is it?’
Demi takes a deep breath. ‘That’s what I was about to tell you. After Dad died I started to get strange pictures in my head, seeing myself lying on my bed, with my eyes closed, and him – Chas – talking to me, telling me that when I woke up, it would just like it never happened, and I’d think he’d gone back to Manchester. What does it mean, Travis? I put it down to me grieving at first, and my head being all over the place, but why would I think Chas was saying that?’
I frown.
‘And another time,’ she continues, ‘I’m standing in front of him with my eyes closed again, and he has his finger on my forehead. I’m counting backwards from ten. He clicks his fingers, and I’ve forgotten what happened.’
‘Hypnosis!’ I growl.
‘That’s what’s so scary,’ gasps Demi. ‘He’s just been talking about that, and that’s what made me run out of the kitchen. He says he’s been practising. It made me think of all those dreams. I wondered if he was practising on me! Oh, but it’s so hard to believe! Why would he want to hypnotise me?’
‘I don’t know, but I’ll find out,’ I promise her grimly. ‘That’s how he got past the road block; he hypnotised the police. Trust me, Dem,’ I kiss her hand again, ‘he’s trouble.’
Demi releases her hand. ‘I’m cold.’
She goes over to the little electric heater in the corner of the room. When she comes back to the bed she grabs her duvet, and wraps it around her body.
‘It’s all a bit far-fetched, though, Travis. I may have dreamt he hypnotised me, but that doesn’t mean he actually did it, and you can’t prove he did the same to those coppers. It was just a feeling I had when he started talking about hypnotism just now, like someone was walking over my grave.’
‘No; we’re talking about him, Demi,’ I say impatiently, ‘not the man you think is your boyfriend; we’re talking about Professor Michael Charles Chase from twenty ninety-nine!’
Demi sighs. ‘Oh, yeah, and that’s another thing. You were there saying you knew Chas from the future, as an old man, a professor! That bit I didn’t believe!’
‘It’s true! He’s head of – a place I used to live in. He is a neurosurgeon, and a psychiatrist. He knows hypnosis, used it on the inmates. No, it’s not a hospital. Not the type you think, anyway!’
She looks at me closely. ‘One thing is certain, Travis, you’re one big mystery. I’ve wondered about you these last few days. I still don’t get why you haven’t aged; and why, if Chas is who you say he is, is he younger?’
‘I don’t know. I asked him. He won’t tell me.’
I run to the door.
‘Where are you going, Travis?’
‘I’m going to have it out with him right now! I’m going to make him talk, get him to tell us the truth, Dem!’
‘Wait!’ She grabs my waist as I open the door. ‘Don’t. It’ll be your word against his. You won’t prove anything that way.’
‘At least let me prove I’m not crazy!’
‘I don’t think you’re crazy!’ she cries. ‘But, Travis – you’re – you’re as mysterious as he is. You confuse me as much as he does!’
I put my arms around her. Then, without meaning to, I kiss her. She pulls away from me, and rests her head on my shoulder.
‘Oh, Travis. What’s happening? Are we both going mental?’
I whisper in her ear. ‘Who do you trust the most, Dem?’
She raises her eyes to me. There’s so much sadness in them.
‘I do trust you. Travis,’ she whispers back, ‘but I love Chas. I don’t know why he’s using hypnosis on me, if that’s what he has been doing. Maybe I asked him to. I haven’t been sleeping well. I keep seeing – Dad...’
A loud banging on the front door shakes us apart.
‘Who’s that?’ Demi runs to the window. ‘It’s the police! That detective from Oban, Detective Inspector Innes, and our local copper, Frank Mackay! They must have news.’
She flies out of the room. I’m about to follow when I catch sight of Chase and Dr Mac appearing at Demi’s side. I hold back on the landing, listening.
‘Good afternoon, Dr MacIntyre. Hello, Demi.’
‘Is there news?’ demands Demi. ‘Have you found Dad’s killer?’
‘We’re here to see your friend Travis.’ I wince. The police haven’t questioned me yet. ‘Have you seen him? Is he here?’
I’m waiting for Demi to say I’m upstairs, but she doesn’t.
‘I haven’t seen him since this morning,’ says Dr Mac. ‘He went to the harbour with Demi to meet Chas here off the ferry.’
‘I haven’t seen him, either,’ says Chase, although I don’t know why he would lie for me, ‘not since the ferry. What’s he done?’
‘We need to ask him some questions.’
‘About what?’ Demi sounds edgy. ‘He can’t tell you anything about that night. He was ill, he had a seizure.’
‘We’ve found something,’ says the detective, ‘at the farm.’
‘To do with Travis?’
‘We’re not disclosing anything until we’ve had the chance to talk to him properly.’
‘But you’re implying he’s a suspect!’
‘Do you know where he is now?’ interrupts the detective sharply.
I don’t stop to hear Demi’s answer. Without thinking twice I open the landing window, and jump.
9. Running
It’s a long way down, about ten feet. I land awkwardly, twisting my ankle when I reach the ground. I’m barely able to walk, let alone run. They’ll catch up with me in no time, so I’ll have to hide somewhere.
The front door opens. Quickly I stoop down behind the bin, watching as the police car drives away, then I move towards the kitchen window, and look in. The kitchen is empty, so I go through the back door, which is never locked, and make for the cupboard where the vacuum cleaner is kept. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze, but I’ll be all right as long as nobody thinks of looking in
side.
I listen to the activity in the house, the footsteps on the stairs, the conversation. I keep asking myself why the police might think I’m involved in Mr Fraser’s death, what they’ve found – and if Chase knows anything about it.
I hear a door close. Someone is coming into the kitchen.
‘They’ve got it all wrong,’ says Demi desperately. A chair scrapes back; water runs from the tap. ‘Travis hasn’t done anything.’
‘But they must have a reason for wanting to talk to him,’ says Chase.
‘I don’t know why!’
‘We’ll have to find him.’ That’s Dr Mac. ‘I’ll ring my solicitor. We should get Travis some representation, just in case.’
I try to get more comfortable. My ankle is giving me jip! I clench the thought pod tightly in my hand, call out to Hudson and Alexander, but as usual there’s no reply. I feel abandoned and alone.
‘They say they’ve found something, Demi,’ Dr Mac goes on. ‘It must be enough for them to want to question him. If you know where he is you must tell the police. He’d be better off trying to clear his name by telling them what they need to know. Not only that,’ I hear the clinking of crockery, ‘he hasn’t got his medication with him. He’ll need it.’
‘Look, I don’t know where he is,’ cries Demi, ‘and if I did I wouldn’t tell them.’
‘I’ll help you look for him, Dr Mac,’ offers Chase.
‘Let’s have a cup of tea first. All this has been a bit of a shock!’
The last thing I want is Chase to find me! I think about escaping to the cave, the only refuge I have, but I worry that’s the first place they’ll look. I could go deeper inside the cavern, and hope they don’t decide to do a thorough search there. I’ll have to hide for a day or two until I can plan how to get off the island without being seen.
Eventually Dr Mac says, ‘Well, I’ll call my solicitor. Then shall we go and look for Travis?’
There’s a short pause before Demi replies, ‘No. Let’s go later. He won’t be far. I’m going for a walk first. I need to think.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ says Chase.
No answer.
The kitchen door opens and closes. I hear Dr Mac talking on the telephone, telling someone that he’ll be there shortly. There are footsteps coming back into the kitchen, the door open and closes, then there’s the sound of an engine, and a car moves away. The house seems empty now, so I think it’s safe to come out.
I make for the drawer where I know Dr Mac keeps matches and candles, and the shelf where he keeps a torch. I’ll need that in case I have to move by night. I just hope the batteries last out.
I collect food: biscuits, some of Mrs Dunbar’s cherry cake, tea, coffee, packet stuff I can heat up in water, rice, tinned vegetables, and a bottle of water. I also take a small pan to heat the food with.
The other thing I need is a bandage for my ankle, so I take one from Dr Mac’s surgery, as well as much of my medication as I can find in the drug cabinet. I strap my ankle tightly, before walking slowly and gingerly up the stairs to my room, intending to take my duvet.
‘Hello, Travis.’
I’m frozen to the spot. Chase is standing in the doorway, smiling at me in that nasty way of his.
‘I thought you’d gone,’ I say weakly.
‘I know. I bet you were glad to get out of that cupboard. You must’ve been really uncomfortable.’
Slowly I release my grip from the doorknob. I don’t bother to ask how he knew where I was hiding, or how come he came back so quickly; I’m more concerned about Demi.
‘Demi decided not to have a walk after all, she wanted to lie down,’ he says. ‘She has a headache. It came on very suddenly.’
He’s deliberately blocking the doorway, but I can just make out Demi lying on her bed. She’s moving her head on the pillow, moaning and mumbling. Her face is hot and flushed.
‘Yeah; I bet it did!’
Forgetting about my ankle I rush towards him. As we stumble into Demi’s room his glasses fall off. I pin him to the floor, digging my knee into one arm, and grabbing the other as he hits out. No way is he going to do his hypnosis trick on me!
‘What have you done to her?’
‘Nothing; I told you, she has a headache!’
‘Get up!’
I drag him to his feet. He lunges at me with something clenched in his fist; it’s a syringe. I grab his wrist, and he drops it. Demi’s sleeve is rolled up, and there’s a small red mark on her arm.
‘You’ve drugged her!’
Chase goes for me again, but years of fighting practice gives me the upper hand, and I twist his arm behind his back.
‘Move!’ I push him out onto the landing towards the bathroom.
‘What are you going to do to me?’ he whines.
I fight the urge to fill the basin with water and shove his head in. As tempting as it is to kill Chase I can’t add another murder to the list! While I hold him firmly by the hair I pull the light cord from the ceiling. Then I force his wrists behind his back, and tie them tightly together.
‘You won’t get away with this, Travis,’ he pants as I push him back to the bedroom. ‘They’ll catch you.’
‘Shut up!’ I snap. ‘You planted evidence at the farm, didn’t you? You wanted them to think I murdered Demi’s dad!’
‘Yes.’
‘To get me away from Demi, make her hate me?’
‘Of course; but she doesn’t believe you’re guilty. I’ve just given her a powerful truth drug I brought from the future to jog her memory as to where you might be hiding.’
‘You might’ve guessed I’d go to the cave.’
‘When I suggested looking there Demi wasn’t keen on the idea, but I don’t like taking no for an answer.’
I tighten the light cord so that it cuts into his wrists. ‘What were you going to do once you’d found me? Kill me?’
He laughs as I push him to the floor.
‘Yeah, I want to kill you,’ he says callously, ‘like I killed Fraser! He was standing in the way of my happiness with Demi, trying to get her to chuck me. You’re in my way, too, but Demi isn’t the only reason you must die! I thought a nice spell in prison would be a good way of keeping you out of my way for a while, but you wouldn’t be safe from me there; and no, I won’t tell you why I really want you dead. You’ll find out soon enough.’
I smack him across the face for that.
‘You killed him!’ I’m seething. ‘I should’ve known! You cold-hearted, nasty little runt! That’s the Chase I know and love!’ He cries out when I ram my knee into his back. ‘What about Demi? She can’t make sense of what happened in between the beach, and finding out her dad was dead. The rest came back to her in the end, but that part didn’t! What else have you done to her?’ When he doesn’t answer I pull his ear. ‘Tell me! Have you done something to her brain?’ I drag him to his feet, and we stumble to the bed. ‘Did you operate on her?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous! How can I operate without her noticing? Anyway, I don’t have any instruments here.’
‘But you do have syringes! Have you been injecting her in the head, then? Yeah, there it is!’ I brush aside her fringe, and find a small pink puncture hole in her forehead.
All my hatred for Chase spills over into that one moment. I can’t stop punching him; his head flops from side to side. Blood and spit fly out of his mouth and nose. Only my respect for Dr Mac stops me from finishing him off. I’m not going to kill him in his house, and leave more evidence for them to convict me with.
‘I had to stop her memory from coming back completely,’ he gabbles when I run out of punches. Blood is pouring from his nose, his eyes are puffed and bruised, and his mouth is swelling up. He’s having difficulty talking. ‘I knew the hypnosis wouldn’t be enough, it’s only a short term solution. Something always triggers the memory to return; that red jumper, for instance. She said she was having visions of events on the beach, so I guessed it wouldn’t be long before the murder c
ame back to her, too.’
I grab his throat. ‘She saw what you did?’
He nods. ‘She told me she was visiting a friend, so I went to the farm to have it out with Fraser. He was tanked up to the eyeballs. Our fight spilled out into the lane, and Demi saw me hit him on the back of the head with a stone. I didn’t know she was behind me. I used the hypnosis on her to shut her up, but I couldn’t just rely on that, or the trauma of what she saw to make her blank it out completely, so while she was under I took her back to the hotel, and injected her temporal lobe with an antiphein agent before telling her to go to the beach. By the time she got there she was out of the trance, and had forgotten what she saw.’
‘Well, you wasted your time!’ I growl. ‘I’m going to tell her!’
‘She won’t believe you!’
‘She’s believed me before, she will again!’
‘I should’ve killed you while I had the chance! I should’ve killed Demi, too, but I couldn’t. I love her.’
‘You love her!’ I sneer, punching him again. ‘I’ll make you sorry you didn’t kill us!’
‘Finish it!’ he moans. ‘Or so help me I’ll come after you!’
‘Good! I want you to.’
My mind is all over the place, confused, excited, and crazy. My head is warm and fuzzy; I hope I don’t have a seizure, and fall to Chase’s mercy. I pray for the medication to keep a fit at bay.
Something on the carpet catches my eye. I put my hand in my pocket; the pod has fallen through a small hole there. I pick it up, intending to put it in my shirt pocket, all the time thinking hysterically, ‘And so the great Professor Michael Charles Chase is a murderer!’
‘That’s right, Travis,’ his reply drops into my head. ‘Excuse the thoughts, by the way, but I can’t speak very well right now. My mouth hurts a bit.’
‘You’re using a pod!’
‘I had it inserted into the back of my neck before I came here, next to my probe, so I can use it all the time.’
I glare at him. ‘You still haven’t told me why you’re here, or how come you’re younger. I also want to know what “evidence” you planted to get me in the frame for Mr Fraser’s murder!’
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