by Jane Isaac
Lucky scampered around their ankles as they shrugged off their coats. The house was warm and quiet.
Lydia glanced around. “No Faye?”
Grace shook her head. “She’s gone home.”
Earlier had been a sober affair. Faye refused to let Grace take her home, in spite of the bags she’d accumulated while she’d been staying over, insisting on calling a cab. A twinge of guilt jabbed at Grace for the relief that washed over her. She wasn’t annoyed with Faye, there was no reason for them to fall out. But the focus of her attention needed to be Phil right now and she was set on restoring the house back to a family home, a place where he could walk around without his shirt on if he wished, leave his socks in front of the washing machine, watch the old war films he loved without sharing the television and feeling compelled to make polite conversation.
Lydia dumped her bags down and moved into the front room. Moments later she heard the babble of the television. “Could you close the curtains?” Grace called through from the kitchen. Perhaps she should send Faye a quick text, she thought. Something friendly. They’d grown accustomed to seeing each other daily and the dynamics had changed rather rapidly. It might be a while before they were together again. Her fingers rippled over the keys on her phone as she typed. Hope you are settling back in. See you soon xx
She was just pressing send when Lydia joined her. “Your flowers are leaking on the dresser.”
“What?”
Grace grabbed a cloth and rushed into the front room. She stared at the coffee table a moment, puzzled. “Did you move them?”
“What?”
“The roses. I could have sworn they were on the coffee table this morning.”
“Why would I move them? You must have put them there, not thinking.”
Grace picked up the vase and immediately caught her finger on a hairline fracture in the glass. A pool of water had seeped out of it, marking the wood beneath. She wiped up the water, took the flowers back into the kitchen and was searching for another vase when the phone rang. She heard Lydia scrabble across the room to answer it and busied herself with filling the new vase, sorting out the flowers.
“Who was it?” she asked when Lydia came into the kitchen.
“No idea. They hung up.” She stuck her nose in the air. “Mmm, something smells nice.”
“It’s lasagne. I thought we could take some in for Phil.”
“How was he earlier?”
The doctors had been gathered around Phil’s bedside, deep in discussion, when Grace arrived that afternoon. They’d fitted a stent to improve the blood flow through one of his arteries but were still not satisfied and talked of scheduling him in for another. It seemed his stay would be slightly longer than expected. The monitor next to him beeped and flashed. Phil’s dull eyes lit up when he saw Grace, but his face seemed tinged with grey, a testament to how much he’d aged in the last few days.
“He’s okay, love,” she said to Lydia. “He might look a bit tired and drawn when you see him, but he’s going to be fine. They’ve just got to fit another stent and patch him up before he can come home.”
“What are you going to do about your car?” Lydia said.
“Nothing I can do now.”
“The car park might have cameras there that can show who did it.”
Grace thought back to the hospital car park. With the amount of vehicles shoehorned into every space during visiting hours, people attending appointments or visiting sick loved ones, not thinking straight, it wasn’t really surprising that cars got bumped occasionally. “It’s not worth the bother,” she said. “I’ll phone the insurers tomorrow, get it fixed. At least the lights are still intact.” She wandered over to the fridge. “Don’t tell Phil, will you? I don’t want to do anything that might put him under any stress at the moment.”
“Course not.”
Grace’s face crumpled. “That’s odd.”
“What?”
Grace pulled her head out of the fridge. “I thought I had another carton of milk in here.”
Lydia rolled her eyes. “Oh Mum, you really are having one of those days.”
Chapter Fifty-Five
“Are you sure you don’t mind watching Meggy while I go to the hospital?” Chloe said the following afternoon.
They were in Grace’s kitchen, the toddler seated at the table drawing a picture of Lucky for her grandad.
“Of course not,” Grace smiled. “I thought we’d go to the park when she’s finished her picture.”
“Yay!” The toddler squealed.
Chloe laughed. “That sounds like a plan. How was Dad last night?”
“Quite upbeat, although I suspect he was putting it on a bit for Lydia. They’re talking about sending him home in a few days, as long as the next procedure goes to plan.”
“That’s great news.”
“Isn’t it?” One of Meggy’s crayons fell to the floor. Grace bent down and picked it up.
“How did Lydia take the news?”
“Good, actually. She was very grown up about it.”
“She is grown up, Grace. Well, almost.”
“I know. I forget sometimes… I was thinking about giving her Jo’s signet ring. It’s a big year for her with her exams and all.”
“I think that’s a lovely idea. It would mean so much to her.”
Grace touched her elbow. “I’ll get it now, before I forget.”
She raced up the stairs just as the sound of the phone trilled through the house.
“I’ll get it!” Chloe called out.
Grace made for her bedroom and crossed to the jewellery box, pulling out bracelets, necklaces, rummaging through the fragments at the bottom. She moved aside the earrings Phil bought her for their first anniversary, a piece of eight coin that had belonged to her grandmother and her own mother’s wedding ring. There was no sign of the signet ring. She tipped everything out, even pulled out the lining. A butterfly earring back rolled around beneath.
Chloe was in the hallway, fastening her coat when Grace reached the bottom of the stairs. “I can’t find it,” Grace said.
“What?”
“The ring. It’s not in my jewellery box.”
“Maybe you put it somewhere else for safe keeping?”
“No, I definitely put it in there. I remember.”
“I’m sure it’ll turn up, don’t worry.” Her face slackened as she watched Grace rake a hand through her hair. “What is it?”
“I don’t know, there’s just a few things that seem to be happening at the moment.” Grace relayed her experiences yesterday: the damage to the car, the vase of flowers moved, the milk disappearing from the fridge. “Lydia thinks I’m losing my mind. Maybe I am.”
“You’ve been under a lot pressure. It does make you do strange things. Maybe Faye popped back yesterday evening to collect some things. You gave her keys when she was here, didn’t you? She might have moved a few things around, trying to be helpful. Why don’t you text her?”
“I messaged her to see if she was settling back in. She hasn’t replied.”
“She’s probably busy. There will be loads to do now the plumbers have finished. Try her again later.”
Chloe was grappling with her keys as another thought occurred to Grace. “Oh, who was it on the phone?”
“Nobody. Caller hung up by the time I got there.”
“Not again. That’s the third time today.”
***
Grace was sitting at her dresser getting ready to visit Phil later that evening when her eyes rested on her jewellery box. Maybe she should have another look. She applied a layer of lipstick, pulled the brush through her hair, and then shook the box upside down over the bed. The bracelets and necklaces glistened in the light. A couple of the pieces dropped off the edge of the duvet and rattled to the floor.
She was bending down to pick them up when she realised Lydia was at her door.
“You all right, Mum?”
“I can’t find Jo’s ring. You haven’t
got it, have you?”
Lydia shook her head. When Grace looked up again she’d gone. She stood and walked over to her mobile on the bedside table. Three texts to Faye had gone unanswered. It was so unlike her not to respond. She tentatively pressed call, listening to the rings before it went to voicemail. Now she really was worried. Maybe there was a problem with her mobile. She moved across to the landline, entered the numbers to Faye’s mainline.
“Hello?” The voice that answered sounded full of sleep.
“Faye? Is that you?” The line went quiet. “Faye, it’s Grace. I just wanted to check if you were okay?”
“I’m fine.” The reply sounded cold, detached.
“Are you sure? You don’t sound yourself.”
“What do you want?”
Grace cleared her throat. “I just wanted to see if you were okay. And check on the keys.”
“I put them in the dish in your hallway. Anything else?”
“Yes, I can’t find Jo’s signet ring. I-”
“Are you accusing me of something?” Her voice lowered, sending a bitter chill through Grace.
“Of course not. I just thought I must have put it somewhere. That maybe you’d seen it when you were here, only I…”
“I didn’t. Goodbye Grace.”
The line went dead.
Slowly, Grace replaced the phone in the cradle. She took to the stairs. Sure enough, the spare keys were in the bowl in the hallway. Grace stared at them a moment, trying to wrap her head around the bizarre way that Faye had reacted. Had she done something to upset her? Because if she had, she couldn’t for the life of her think what.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Grace closed the front door behind her. Phil’s mood had been off this afternoon, the frustrations of no promise of a release date clearing scratching away at him. She called out for Lucky, but there was no response.
The house was cool today, no rush of warmth from the central heating. She made her way upstairs, checked the central heating switch. It was set to time, just the way she’d left it that morning.
After checking each bedroom, she finally stood outside Jo’s. The door was still closed. She hesitated for a split second before pressing the handle, pushing it open. It was empty. Her shoulders dropped.
Grace made her way downstairs, into the front room and glanced around. The flowers sat on the dresser where she’d placed them back yesterday. She moved into the kitchen, checked the fridge. Everything looked in order. She drew a deep breath, felt the oxygen relax her as she exhaled. Maybe she’d been imagining things yesterday?
She was still looking around the kitchen when the phone rang, making her jump.
“Hello?”
The line went dead. She clenched her teeth, replaced the receiver, picked it up and dialled 1471. The number was withheld. She was just thinking about raising the issue with the phone company when it rang again. Grace snapped up the receiver, ready to give the caller a piece of her mind when Chloe’s voice filled the line.
“Hi. Just thought I’d check everything was okay?”
She quickly recovered herself. “Oh, hello. It’s all fine, thank you.”
Grace gave her an update of the visit that afternoon and was just finishing up when she heard Meggy’s voice in the background getting louder as she pleaded to speak to her grandma. Chloe refused to let go of the handset. The child started crying.
“What about you, Grace? I was worried about you after all the things that happened yesterday.”
“Sounds like you’ve got your hands full,” Grace said. “Don’t worry about me, everything’s good here. Thanks for phoning, darling.”
“You’re welcome. Ring me if you need anything.” She rang off, her attention diverted.
Grace removed her coat and wandered through into the utility room to hang it up. She caught her foot on the edge of Lucky’s basket, looked down to apologise and was surprised to find it empty.
“Lucky?” Once again her call was met with no answer, not even a whimper or the scuffle of paws on the kitchen tiles. Her mind raced. Occasionally Lucky climbed the stairs and, if there were any doors left open, snuck into one of the bedrooms and hauled herself onto one of the beds. But she hadn’t seen her up there. Grace walked into the front room, through into the dining room and back into the kitchen, her eyes scanning every nook and cranny: sun traps, comfortable corners, regular haunts where Lucky would normally lay. Lucky was a small dog, but she couldn’t disappear entirely. Perhaps she’d used the cat flap, was outside. It seemed unlikely on a dreary day like today, but worth a check.
As soon as Grace entered the garden she spotted the open side gate, hanging on its hinges.
“Lucky?”
There was no response.
The gate was always locked from the inside. Maybe she’d forgotten to lock it that morning. Maybe it hadn’t caught the latch when it closed and the dog had taken herself for a walk. She raced through the gateway, down the side of the house, frantically looking around. She had no idea how long Lucky had been missing. The dog could be anywhere right now. She hovered at the end of the driveway, wondering which way to turn. They usually walked right, out to the end of the road and then left towards the park. Without giving it another thought she retraced their steps, calling out for the dog. A car raced past as she reached the main road. Lucky had no road sense. She quickened her step.
She could see the entrance to the park in the distance and picked up speed. Just as she got there she saw a ball of fur on the edge of the grass, beside a tree stump. “Lucky!” she called again, but the dog didn’t move. Grace rushed to her side. “Lucky, what are you doing down here? You gave me such a…”
The dog’s eyes were open, but she appeared to be in a trance-like state. Her tongue was hanging loose and she was panting heavily.
Grace saw pools of red on the grass around her. Blood.
She didn’t see the woman wandering out of the park with her poodle. Tears were running down her cheeks as she lifted Lucky’s languid body into her arms.
“Are you okay?”
The voice behind her made her jump.
“My dog…” She looked back to the tree stump. Beside it was a pile of broken wine bottles. Scattered in between the shards of glass were small dog treats, the treats Grace bought especially for Lucky. Her favourites.
The woman gasped. “Who would do something like that?”
Grace shook her head. And the words she spoke surprised even her. “I don’t know. But they don’t deserve to live.”
***
“She’d gone into shock,” the vet said. “We’ve removed quite a bit of glass from her paws. It’s left some nasty cuts on two of her pads, the front right is the worst affected. Looks like she ran right through the broken glass before she saw it was there.”
Grace slowly nodded. Yesterday had been a whirlwind. The woman in the park had driven her and Lucky straight to the vet who immediately admitted the dog, stitched her wounds and kept her in overnight for observation. She’d turned the incident over and over in her mind. The side gate to their garden was always locked. She was sure she’d checked it.
“Will she be okay?”
“We’ve checked her heart and other organs and they seem fine. She’s stable, but she has lost a lot of blood. She’ll need to take it easy for a while.”
Grace closed her eyes. It had been raining yesterday morning. Lucky refused to go outside. She’d had to be coaxed. Grace had towelled her down, put her in her basket before she’d left the house for the hospital. If the gate had been open, surely Lucky would have disappeared first thing?
“Somebody’s been in the house,” Grace said to Chloe as they left the vets. “The side gate is always locked from the inside. There’s no other access to the garden.”
“Maybe you forgot to lock it, or left the gate open. You have been a bit forgetful of late, Grace.”
“I didn’t. I know I didn’t. Those treats are unusual, we have to go to the pet shop on the other side of to
wn to get them. Who, outside of the family, would know about them?”
“What are you saying?”
“I don’t know… I just… well something has been niggling me recently. Faye has pretty much disappeared. She’s ignoring my texts and then when I finally did speak to her, her voice was cold, detached.”
“You surely don’t think it was Faye?”
“I don’t know, I can’t think of any other explanation,” Grace said. “I thought I was going mad, all those things moving around at home. But Lydia and I talked it through yesterday. What if she had something to do with it?”
“You can’t think that.”
“Can’t I? Who else had keys to my house? Perhaps she copied them before she returned the originals.”
“She wouldn’t do that.”
“Wouldn’t she? There’s something else. I contacted the phone company. The nuisance phone calls. It’s all the same number. They asked me if I recognised it. It’s Faye’s mobile.”
“I don’t understand. Maybe she was returning your calls?”
“But some of them were in the middle of the night. She withheld her number and she didn’t speak.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. But she clearly feels aggrieved at something.”
“Why don’t you speak to her?”
“I tried again yesterday. She wouldn’t answer her phone.”
“It doesn’t make sense. Why would she hurt Lucky?”
“I don’t know that either. You know what Lucky’s like, she wouldn’t go anywhere with a stranger. But she adores Faye. And Faye knew that park was our usual walk. It wouldn’t have been difficult to lure her down there. I can’t think of any other explanation.” Grace ground her teeth. “I won’t have this though, I won’t have her upsetting my family.”
“Calm down, Grace. Think of Dad.”