by S. C. Ransom
“Good, she’ll want to do that. OK, so I’ll send you Rob’s number now.”
“Cheers, Jack,” I said. “See you soon.”
Seconds after I put the phone down it beeped. Rob’s number had arrived. I sat for a moment rehearsing in my mind what I wanted to say, then took a deep breath and picked up the handset again.
“Rob, it’s Alex.”
“Oh, hi, Alex, how are you?” The surprise was evident in his voice.
“Fine, thanks. Look, I was just wondering if you were around tomorrow?”
The surprise was instantly replaced by smugness. “Well now, let me see … yeah, I think I can squeeze you in somewhere.”
“Great. Coffee maybe? Hampton Hill High Street?”
“Sure, I can do that.”
“OK, so how about ten o’clock outside the theatre, then we can see which café has space?”
“Whoa, ten o’clock? That’s a bit early.”
“No point wasting the day, is there?”
“I’m glad to see you’re keen. OK, for you I’ll do ten o’clock. See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. See you, Rob.”
He was going to be unbearable but I needed to get the information and he was much more likely to give it to me if he thought he was in with a chance. The thought of spending any time with him made my flesh crawl. He had proved just how shallow and mercenary he was when he tried to sell the amulet, and I had no regrets at all that he had lost his memories of all those few weeks. I also didn’t feel at all guilty about manipulating him; I couldn’t think of anyone who deserved it more.
I had a quiet evening, planning how I was going to get the information out of Rob without making him suspicious. Josh and Max had gone out, and my mum was curious about why I hadn’t chosen to go with them.
“You two seemed to be getting on so well in Spain,” she suddenly started as we loaded the dishwasher before she went up to bed. “Why didn’t you want to go to the pub with them?”
“I just didn’t, that’s all.”
“I mean, it’s pretty clear that Max fancies you.”
“Oh, Mum, please stop! I really don’t want to discuss this.”
“But he seems like such a nice lad.”
“He is a ‘nice lad’, Mum, which is why I don’t want to encourage him. It wouldn’t be fair.”
“Not your cup of tea then?” she pressed.
“No, not my cup of tea.” I turned my back and picked up a stack of plates, hoping that it would end the conversation, but she wasn’t done.
“In that case, you may want to scarper. Max is going to be staying the night, and they’ll be back soon.”
I stopped dead, rattling the crockery I was carrying. “Oh, right. I’ll just load these and get out of the way then.”
Mum lifted the plates out of my hands. “Go now, before you drop something. I can finish off. What are you doing in the morning?”
“I’m meeting some friends in Hampton Hill at ten, so I’ll get the train. They’ll still be sound asleep that early, I’m sure. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, sweetpea,” she murmured, turning back to the dishwasher. I headed for the stairs.
I was only just in time; less than ten minutes later I heard the two of them downstairs, laughing in the kitchen. Part of me really wanted to go and join in, but I knew that it wasn’t fair. I sneaked out to the bathroom when it sounded like they were mid-conversation, and heaved a great sigh of relief when I made it back into my room without being spotted. I crept into bed and turned out all the lights except my little reading light; I didn’t think there was any point even trying to sleep. But I must have been tired because when there was a tap at my door it jolted me awake.
I was momentarily confused. Why would someone be knocking at my door? I was just trying to decide whether to ignore it and hope they went away, or answer and find out who it was, when the door slowly swung open. Max wouldn’t just come into my bedroom, surely? I held my breath as the silhouette in the doorway finally became clearer.
“Josh!” I hissed. “What on earth are you doing?”
“Oh, sorry, I was trying not to wake you up. I need the futon for Max. The air mattress has sprung a leak.”
“What? Oh, OK. Look, just dump all the stuff from it on the floor over there.” There was much stumbling and cursing as Josh attempted to wrestle the futon mattress off the chair. In the end I got out of bed to help him.
“Here, like this,” I said scathingly as I freed it easily. He gathered it up and tried to manoeuvre his way around my tiny room without knocking too many things over. I opened the door so that he could get out just as Max was coming up the stairs. He smiled as he saw me.
“Hi, Alex. Sorry to disturb your early night. See you in the morning, maybe?”
“Uh, yeah, maybe,” I stammered. “Goodnight.” I stepped back into the shadows, suddenly conscious of the skimpy summer pyjamas I was wearing. I shut the door behind Josh as quickly as I could and jumped back into bed, flicking out the light. But by then I really couldn’t sleep, and I was very aware of the footsteps that stopped outside the door ten minutes later. I held my breath and listened to the old floorboards creaking as eventually the steps continued to the bathroom.
I set my alarm really early and was out of the house long before anyone else was up. The train was full of commuters looking as if they would all rather be on holiday and I was glad when I got off after a few stops. I was ridiculously early so I went into the park. The only people out seemed to be dog walkers and joggers, so I ambled down the long path until I could find a quiet bench. As I approached the first one I realised that a stag was sitting not far away. He lifted his head, antlers catching the sunshine and fixed me with a beady eye. I knew that generally the herds of deer that roamed Bushy Park weren’t dangerous, but I never liked getting too close to the stags. Some were huge, and to my mind, all of them had a mean look about them. I quickly moved on to the next bench.
There was still a slightly cool edge to the air but the sun was warming the wooden seat. I checked my watch: I had over an hour before I was due to meet Rob – plenty of time to talk to Callum. The bench had an armrest that was at the perfect height for my mirror, so I set it up and pulled out my earpiece. “Callum? Are you around? I’m in Bushy Park.”
There was silence for a few moments before the tingle reached my wrist. It still made me shiver with anticipation to know that it meant he was right there beside me, even when I couldn’t actually see him.
“Morning, gorgeous.” His deep voice held a hint of surprise. “I didn’t expect to find you here.” I angled the mirror so that he came into view. The sun was catching the blond streaks in his hair and made his blue eyes sparkle.
“It’s a long story. I’m meeting Rob later.”
“Really? What for?”
“Because of what you told me yesterday. Do you remember that you said he was having a conversation with someone about getting out of his parents’ rented house in Cornwall?”
“Yeah – what of it?”
“I think it’s Catherine. We know she went to Cornwall, that the two of them were hatching plots together before. Maybe she’s staying at his cottage.”
Callum’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that? It makes perfect sense.”
“So what I need to do is find out exactly where the place is. I’m not exactly sure how I’m going to wrangle it out of him. Any bright ideas?”
“I suppose you could just ask,” he said dubiously.
“I know, but I don’t want him getting the wrong impression, not again. It’s really annoying that he only remembers fancying me and not the rest of it.”
“Of course,” Callum said slowly, looking out over the park. “I could do something about that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I could take those memories away. If you want me to.” He shrugged. “It wouldn’t be difficult; all you have to do is talk to him about it and then I can pounce.”
&
nbsp; “But what about your principles? You don’t like taking real memories, I know.”
“I don’t like him making you feel bad either. And it’s something I can do for you.”
I smiled at him. “It’s tempting but I think I’ll get more out of him if he thinks he’s in with a chance. Maybe later.”
“All right.” I saw him ruffle my hair, laughing. “I didn’t think I’d get away with that. It was worth a go though! I would so love to wipe you from his memory completely, the lying little—”
“Stop it!” I interrupted, laughing too. “You really are terrible, you must—” I broke off as a piercing scream made me jump. Looking up from my mirror I saw a toddler pointing at me and drawing breath for another wail as she turned and ran for the safety of her mother. “Whatever’s the matter?” I muttered to myself, then froze as I looked around.
I had been so engrossed in my conversation with Callum I hadn’t noticed what was going on around me. Three large stags were standing behind me, all nearly within touching distance. That close up they were huge, especially since I was sitting down. I could see the soft velvety noses twitching as they stretched even closer. And I could see the hard, sharp points on the ends of the antlers too.
“Umm, Callum, this must be you. They don’t normally do this.” I spoke as quietly and as evenly as I could, not wanting to startle them. Those antlers could definitely do a lot of damage.
“I knew there was a reason I didn’t normally come into the park,” he laughed, clearly amused.
“Do you think that you could walk away, please, nice and slowly so that they follow you?”
“They’re not going to hurt you.”
“That’s easy for you to say, Mr No-real-body-to-damage. Please, walk away now!”
“All right. Go back to the gate and I’ll catch up with you there.” The tingle went and I continued sitting completely still for a moment. Finally I risked moving my head a fraction. I could see the three stags walking together in a line away from the path. Other deer were wandering up from different directions. I turned the mirror to see the whole scene and if I could glimpse him. Generally he arrived and left too quickly to actually see him walking about, but this time he was there, perfectly reflected in the little mirror. I had to suppress a giggle. He was doing a full-on Pied Piper impression, cloak blowing in the breeze, beckoning the deer to follow him. He saw me looking and waved, then blew me a kiss with a flourish and a bow. I pocketed the mirror and headed back to the gate.
As I had anticipated, Rob started sleazing all over me the minute he arrived, and I found it really hard to keep the distaste out of my voice as we queued for drinks.
“So, Alex, good to see you. What’s brought about this sudden change of heart then? Have you realised that you actually do find me completely irresistible?”
“No, delightful as you are, Rob, don’t forget that you’re going out with Ashley, not me.”
“Where have you been? I split up with Ashley weeks ago. Right now I’m single and loving it.”
My heart sank. He was going to be even harder to control without the threat of Ashley to slow him down. “Oh, I didn’t know that. I’ve been in Spain for the last two weeks.”
“And you’ve come back looking even more gorgeous. Great tan!” He caught hold of my hand and lifted my arm, pretending to examine it from every angle. I gently extracted it.
“I know I shouldn’t sunbathe, but I do find it hard to resist. Not that I can do it for long though.”
“Shame I wasn’t there to help you with your suntan lotion,” he said with a definite leer. It was too early to tell him what I really thought; I needed information first. So I smiled tightly and changed the subject.
“Shall we take these through to the garden out the back?” I gestured to the coffees.
“What don’t we get them as take-outs? We can go into the park where it’s nice and private.” He ran his hand down my spine, making me jump.
“I’ve ordered them in proper cups so that we can stay here.” I made my voice as firm as possible. I wanted Callum to be able to listen in, and that obviously wasn’t going to be possible in the park.
“OK, if you want. We can always go for a walk later.”
I ignored the last comment and led the way out into the tiny walled garden behind the café. It was disappointingly quiet, the little cast-iron chair and table sets all empty. Rob looked around and nodded. “Not bad, not bad at all.” The oily tone in his voice was making me want to scream.
Once we were settled he leaned over, his elbows on the table. “Come on then, Alex, I’m not daft. What’s up? Why the sudden need to talk?”
This was the difficult bit. Exactly how was I going to be able to get the information that I needed? I had been arguing with myself about the approach all morning.
“The thing is, Rob, I’m worried about a friend of mine. We, um, had a bit of a row and she’s gone away. I could really do with her address so I could write her a note and apologise.”
He looked at me with a puzzled frown. “So why do you want to talk to me?”
“I think you might know where she is. Her name’s Catherine. Catherine River.”
He sat back in surprise. “You know her?”
“I sort of introduced you a couple of months ago. It’s probably during that time you can’t remember.”
“Really? It was you? She didn’t mention that.”
“As I said, there was a bit of a row. Do you know where she is?”
“Sure, she’s staying at the house we’ve rented down in Polzeath. Not for much longer though. In fact, she should be leaving today or tomorrow.”
I tried not to let my excitement show. “Oh really?”
“Yeah. It was all a bit tricky. After I had lost that chunk of memory, when you found me in London, she rang me. It was very odd. I mean, she clearly knew all about me, and I had absolutely no memory of her whatsoever. But I had agreed to let her stay in the house, it seems. Mum went a bit mental when she found out, but as I’ve been sick she let me off.” He paused for a second to take a slurp of his coffee. “So how do you know her then?”
“Oh, from way back. We were at primary school together and she came back to the area recently.” I felt a bit guilty lying to him but I wasn’t going to tell him the truth, and the tale about school was what Catherine had been telling people when she appeared in June. “You said she was going to be leaving?” I asked as casually as I could manage. “Do you know when? I’d really like to write to her.”
“No point in doing that. She’ll be gone tomorrow and the post will miss her. Why don’t you send her a text?”
“I lost all my contacts when my phone got wet.”
“You want it?” he asked, pulling his phone out of his jeans pocket.
“Umm, yeah, that’d be great.”
He quickly scrolled down through his lists of contacts, pressed a few keys and within seconds there was a bleep from the phone in my pocket. “There you go. So what did the two of you argue about? Was it a proper catfight?” I could see him struggling not to leer again.
“Please! Nothing so exciting. She was trying to manipulate a friend of mine into doing something she wanted, and I didn’t think it was right, that’s all.”
“And now you want to make up?”
“There’s stuff we need to talk about. Are you sure that she won’t get a letter? I’ve got one ready to send.”
“You can try if you want, but I reckon you’ll miss her.”
“So what’s the address?”
“I don’t know! I’ve never been there. We’re going down for the first time next week. The plans all got scuppered by me being in hospital. Dad’s been moaning about the wasted cost for ages.”
“Any chance you can find out exactly where it is?” I asked as lightly as I could. “I mean, how did you tell Catherine where to go?”
Rob looked puzzled for a moment. “I have no idea. My memory is still a bit patchy sometimes. I suppose I could ask my dad. I know r
oughly where it is, but that’s not much good for a letter, is it?”
I took a deep breath and tried not to scream. He wasn’t being deliberately obstructive, not really. “If you could ask today, that would be brilliant. I just think it’s easier to explain things in a letter than a text.” I tried to relax my fingers, which were gripping the sides of my chair in frustration. “So I know you’ve not been there, but what’s the place like? Does it overlook the sea? Easy walking distance to the front?”
“Yeah, we’ve rented a place just up the road before. It’s on the hill overlooking the town, near to the fancy new hotel. Mum likes it because she can go and use the spa when the rest of us are surfing.”
“Sounds cool. When are you off?” Relaxing my fingers wasn’t working so I picked up my coffee cup.
“At the weekend, although I could be persuaded to go down a few days early, make sure she’s left the place all neat and tidy.” He leaned forward and let a finger gently graze down the edge of my arm. The yellow aura above his head pulsed brightly. “Fancy coming with me? You’d love it down there.”
“Rob, we’ve had this conversation several times now, and I’m not going to change my mind. Just because I’m here doesn’t alter that.”
He was about to answer when there was a spectacular noise from the other side of the wall, making us both leap in our seats. His coffee shot across the table and mostly landed in my lap.
“What the hell was that?” he shouted as the strange baying continued. It sounded a lot like animals trying to kill each other.
“Maybe it’s the stags fighting in the park. It’s just the other side of the wall,” I bellowed over the noise. Then as suddenly as it had started it stopped, and I found myself shouting into the silence. “Wow. They are noisy beasts.” I looked down. “Um, Rob, I seem to be rather a mess – I’m going to have to go home and change.”
“Sorry about that,” he said, gesturing towards my wet clothes. “You can come and dry off at my house if you want.” I was about to accept as it would be an excellent excuse to get him to search for the address when he continued. “Everyone’s out today. We’d have the place to ourselves.”