I found Galbraith removing the bulk of the fax machine from the driver’s seat of his pride and joy so he could leave. I picked up the briefcase where he’d put it down and that was when he noticed me. Despite the fact that I must have looked a sight he stared at me vacantly as I caught my breath.
“I’m keeping this,” I said. “Until you get those psychopaths off my back.” I could hear them in the hall. I went up to Galbraith and stood behind him, the Taser held up by his side. Derin and Leonard spilled out onto the drive, wild-eyed and covered in foam, Leonard holding his right hand to his chest, his little finger at an unnatural angle. They looked like they’d been part-digested and spat out by some monster who decided they didn’t taste so good. The vision in my right eye was obscured. I wiped blood from it with my sleeve.
“Tell them to leave,” I said to Galbraith. I briefly pulled the trigger on the Taser and the arc of crackling blue light appeared, reflecting off the dark walls of the building. Galbraith flinched but it had the effect of waking him from his reverie.
“Time to go, I think. Tell Badem it’s over,” said Galbraith in a monotone voice.
“This isn’t over,” Leonard said, addressing me with a big smile. Derin folded away his blade and followed Leonard round the other side of the Porsche and onto the street. We turned with them and watched them go to the doctor’s surgery two doors down and get into their car and drive off. I put the Taser in my pocket and felt my face.
“Right,” I said to Galbraith. “We need to have a little chat, I think, don’t you?”
28
GALBRAITH AND I SAT OPPOSITE EACH OTHER AT THE SMALL table in the communal kitchen. Aurora was asleep in Maggie’s counselling room, curled up on the small couch where couples sat and tried to work out their issues. Now Galbraith – who’d only been convinced to stay after I’d threatened to call the police to the scene – and I had to work out our issues without the benefit of mediation. Bits of paper towel I’d stuck to the cut above my right eye had stemmed the bleeding. My cheek and lip were swollen and throbbing and my elbow, which had taken a knock on the stairs, was exchanging shooting pains with my shoulder. Galbraith, from a distance, looked like he’d stepped off his launch looking for cocktails. Up close, though, he had some golden stubble in admission of the lateness of the hour and the bottom of his eyelids were red with lack of sleep.
What with coaxing Aurora out of my office and getting her settled in Maggie’s, he’d had time to compose himself and was smiling, ready for whatever I might throw at him.
“So, why don’t you tell me what the hell’s going on?” I asked.
“Nothing’s going on. Badem’s men must have taken things into their own hands. When I speak to Badem I’m sure there will be consequences and a fulsome apology.”
“Maybe even some compensation?” I said, but he missed the irony in my voice.
“I’m sure that can be arranged.”
“How did they know we’d be here?”
“I’ve no idea.”
“No idea, huh?”
He shrugged casually. I patted the attaché case which was on the floor by my side.
“So what’s in here?”
“Medical notes, as I said.”
“Badem’s?”
“Yes,” he said, running his thumb along the groove under his bottom lip. If we were playing poker I would have gone all in.
“Shall we have a look?” I pulled the case onto the table. It hadn’t left my side since we’d come into the building and I’d bolted the front door behind us.
“You want to look at Badem’s confidential medical records?”
“Indulge me, I’ve had a shit night so far.”
“OK.” He turned the case round so that the locks faced him and turned the dials, not bothering to hide the code which I memorised just for the hell of it. Releasing the brass locks, he opened the leather flaps and pulled out a grey folder thick with papers and showed it to me without opening it. When I reached out to take it he pulled it back and held it with both hands to his chest.
“No, I draw the line at you reading the notes. How would you like it if I went through one of your confidential files?” We locked eyes and I tipped the briefcase onto its side with the open mouth towards me, daring him to react. He froze, his forced smile trying to convince me that he didn’t care that I was going through his stuff. Inside were some more giveaway pens, pads and medical brochures but what interested me was a large manila envelope with a string-tie closure. I pulled the envelope out and things shifted around inside it, settling on the bottom. I felt the contents. Round and small, like tiny marbles. Not heavy enough for marbles, though.
“What are these?” I asked.
“Be my guest,” he said. I undid the string and opened it.
“Careful,” he said. “Don’t let them fall out.”
I looked inside. Loose pearls of differing sizes along with some silk string. I reached in. They were cold to the touch and slightly gritty. Galbraith looked at me.
“My wife’s pearls. They broke and I was going to get them fixed. It’s one reason I wanted the case back so badly. I knew Aurora hadn’t stolen them deliberately. They belonged to my mother you see, and her mother before her.”
“She didn’t seem so keen on them,” I said. “Kristina I mean.”
“She can be… caustic, sometimes. But they have sentimental value to me. They remind me of Mother.” His eyes may have glistened at the mention of his mother. I put the envelope back and stood the case upright. He put the folder, which had no markings on its cover, back inside and closed it. All this fuss over some heirloom pearls.
“May I?” he asked with deliberate irony, gesturing at the case.
I nodded, suddenly feeling exhausted. I wasn’t in much of a state to think this through. I wanted to ask whether he would talk to Badem about his men but I couldn’t really trust what he said any more. Aurora had her passport and money and a ticket – that was all that mattered. Galbraith took the case and stood up. I dredged up a final question from my tired brain.
“What was that business about talking to Aurora alone? And let me have something real, Bill, not some spun version of the truth.”
He turned to me, and I could see him calculating what to tell me. “OK, I’ll be honest with you; I owe you that much given what’s happened.” He paused deliberately. I waited. “It’s a little embarrassing,” he said. I said nothing. “You understand that I’m trusting you with this information?” I just stared at him. He let out a long breath, then said, “I’ve been spending time with someone, a member of my surgical team. I had her back to the house when Kristina was away, which in retrospect was a stupid thing to do. Unfortunately Aurora saw us and ever since she left I’ve been a nervous wreck. I can’t afford for it to come out, the tabloids would have a field day. Luckily it seems Aurora is clueless about the value of such information in the wrong hands. I just wanted to make sure she hadn’t told anyone about it.”
“And Badem?”
“I confided in Badem and he took things into his own hands. He insisted he would get her to the airport if I couldn’t, to make sure she didn’t speak to anyone before then. I’m wishing now that I hadn’t involved him.” He sounded so reasonable when given the chance to pontificate.
“Is that why she left? Because she saw you with some woman?” I asked.
He shook his head. “I think she just wanted to go home.” He moved to the door saying, “Send me your bill; I’ll pay whatever you think reasonable.” Then he was gone.
I wanted to go home and sleep but spent the next hour clearing the drive of debris. Luckily we weren’t in a residential area so nobody had reported the sound of the fax crashing into the Porsche. Going back into the building I saw a plastic bag by the front door which contained some clothes and photos wrapped in a rubber band. I took it in, assuming by the photos that it belonged to Aurora – Galbraith must have left it. Then I cleaned up the stairs as best I could; the last thing I wanted was to give the
other occupants an excuse to try to evict me and get in a nice trouble-free homeopath or chiropractor instead. Rummaging in the first-aid kit on the kitchen wall I found some butterfly closures to fix the cut above my eye. I then took some painkillers, more than the recommended dose, and checked in on Aurora.
She was curled up, face worry-free with sleep, clutching her precious passport and the envelope in her hands. It was chilly so I covered her with a rug draped over the back of her sofa. I let her sleep a little longer while deciding where to take her. A comfy-looking armchair opposite the sofa invited me to sit in it. I accepted, putting my feet up on the coffee table. I closed my eyes just for a minute as the painkillers kicked in.
* * *
I dreamt I was cycling my dad’s heavy bike for dear life because I was being followed by two boys on racing bikes who were gaining on me. No matter how hard I cycled I couldn’t get the damn thing to move; it was like cycling through treacle. Then I came to a stop and realised I couldn’t reach the ground with my feet and just tipped over.
“George…”
“Mr George…”
I opened my eyes.
Maggie and Aurora peered down at me but I could only see them through my left eye. Light was coming through the window. I moved and everything hurt. Shit – I’d fallen asleep in Maggie’s armchair. Thankfully Maggie looked more bemused than angry.
“What happened to you, George? Who is this woman?”
“Aurora,” said Aurora, but I don’t think that’s what Maggie meant.
I sat up, feeling my face. “Sorry,” I said.
“I’ve got clients coming in fifteen, you have to skedaddle. You can explain this later.”
I stood up. My coccyx hurt from coming down the stairs. We all moved to the door.
“How did you get in?”
“There are keys to the rooms in the key safe in the kitchen. I’m sorry, your room is the first one that came to mind.”
“You can explain this later, George.”
“I’m not sure I can,” I said. I hobbled away; I seemed to have also hurt my hip. I wasn’t young enough for this sort of caper.
“Mr George, I got problem,” Aurora said as we headed downstairs. I was keen to get home and sort myself out. Besides, I wanted to be out of the place before everyone else arrived to see me like this.
“I got problem, Mr George.”
“You and me both, Aurora,” I said, checking that I had my car keys and the mobile. My suit jacket pocket was ripped, which meant I had just one jacket left that wasn’t. “Tell me in the car.”
There was still some glass on the drive that I’d missed in the dark which I kicked into the grass border. We got in the Golf and I checked myself in the mirror. Not pretty. Aurora, who had a thumb inside her passport and the envelope of money in her hands, looked at me expectantly. That’s right, she wanted to tell me something about her problems.
“What is it, Aurora?”
“Passport not good,” she said.
“What do you mean, not good?” She opened the passport to where her thumb formed a bookmark and handed it to me. Squinting through my left eye I made out a colourful visa stuck to the page above which was a stamp partly obscured by Aurora’s thumb: As A Domestic Worker In A Private Household for up to 180 Days.
The problem, which Aurora thoughtfully tapped on, was the Heathrow entry stamp on the visa – it was dated nearly a year ago.
29
I SAT IN THE CAR SOMEWHAT DEFLATED, THEN ANGRY AT Galbraith. Had he known about the expired visa? Maybe he hadn’t, maybe he’d just taken the passport off Kristina and not even thought to check it. Then I was angry with Aurora. How had she not known about the visa? It must have been stamped when she came into the country, she must have had some idea of how long she could stay, even if she didn’t have access to the passport. But she could have been told anything by her employers and had no choice but to believe them; maybe Kristina had told her the visa had been renewed.
I didn’t really know where to take Aurora now. My plan had been to pop home, get changed, then drive her to Heathrow and wait around until she got her plane but that was now out of the question. As far as I could tell she was an illegal immigrant. What would happen if she tried to board a plane when she’d been in the country illegally for nearly six months? This was beyond me. I needed advice. In the meantime she needed somewhere to stay. Aurora nudged me and pointed through the window. Sandra, arriving for work.
Upstairs in the office, with Aurora in the bathroom, I gave Sandra the highlights of the previous night and Aurora’s current situation. She studied me, frowning thoughtfully as I sat in the chair feeling the swelling on my lip.
“I don’t suppose you’re going to call the police about these two psychos?”
“How can I? I’d have to tell them the whole sorry tale including about Aurora and who knows what they’d do with her. Don’t worry, their time will come.”
“I’ll phone the charity that I spoke to; they’ll at least be able to advise on her options. Meanwhile, what are you going to do with her?”
“I was thinking—”
“Forget it, I’ve got my sister-in-law coming to stay tonight for the weekend.”
“Which sister-in-law?” Sandra didn’t have a brother, and Jason and Ashley had different fathers.
“I only have one. I was married to Jason’s father, not Ashley’s.”
“Of course. I thought you hated his guts?”
“I do, but I got on with his sister who agrees that he’s an arsehole. He’s got no interest in Jason but she comes once a year to catch up on what he’s doing. The point is, George, I haven’t got the room or the time to babysit runaway maids who are in the country illegally.”
I raised my hands defeated but she hadn’t finished.
“Can I point out that you have got room, since you’re rattling about in a three-bedroomed house on your own most of the time? Surely your girlfriend won’t mind Aurora being around, or is it going to cramp your style?”
“OK, OK. I’ll take her back to mine,” I said, standing with some difficulty.
“Go home and clean up,” she said more gently. “Have some breakfast. I’ll let you know what the charity says as soon as I’ve spoken to them.”
* * *
I drove Aurora back to my place, explaining on the way what the situation was as best I could. When I killed the engine in my drive she gave me the cash from the envelope.
“You keep safe?” she asked, nodding.
I put Leonard’s Taser in the drawer of the small telephone table in the hall where I found an old tobacco tin I used to stash my hash in before they genetically modified the stuff and it got too strong to smoke. Showing Aurora, I put her cash in the tin and put it back in the drawer. I took her into the living room, where she eyed my small TV. I gave her the remote and headed upstairs.
Linda had already left, of course. Whether it was last night, after I hadn’t returned, or this morning, I didn’t know. I showered, taking inventory of my various bruises and cuts. They were mainly cosmetic, apart from my elbow which as well as being bruised was painful when I picked anything up. I would have to get it looked at. I nearly wandered downstairs in my underwear before remembering Aurora was there, probably still recovering from the shock of not having a giant TV like Sandra’s she could watch her beloved soaps on. I had at least upgraded from my old black-and-white cathode ray tube for something flat and in colour, albeit quite small according to current standards. Sandra had told me that the Galbraiths had given Aurora a large TV in her room – opium for the oppressed.
When I got into the living room she was hunched over it and jumped up when I came in. Force of habit, I assume.
“I make food?” she asked.
“No. I’ll make food. If I can find anything.” I pointed to the TV. “Do you ever watch Mr Galbraith on TV?” I asked.
“No,” she said, switching it off.
“You can watch it if you want.”
“Can I wa
sh hair?” she asked, pulling at it.
“Of course.” I led her to the bathroom and found some women’s shampoo and a hairbrush that Olivia had left in a cabinet. I told her she could change in the spare room and went to look for a fresh towel. When I returned with it the shower was going so I opened the door to the spare room only to see Aurora naked, her back to me. I gently closed the door and put the towel in the bathroom.
In the kitchen I found a note on the table from Linda: Woke to find you didn’t come home last night! Hope everything is OK?
The Runaway Maid Page 14