Paul, “perfect.”
“Good, sit back and enjoy the heat,” he replied before reaching for the stereo and turning up the volume, the cab was soon filled by the sound of Country and Western.
The driver dropped him off on the outskirts of Inverness, “you know the way to the centre?”
“Aye,” replied Paul, “thanks.”
The driver shook his head, “women,” was all he said before turning to look out the windscreen, Paul thanked him again and closed the door.
It was just before 5am when Paul reached the deserted town centre, the white covered streets gave no indication that anybody had walked along them, he walked through the deserted streets as it was too cold to stand still. A police car slowed to look at him as he was walking along Bank Street; it drove away only to return a few minutes later, “morning,” said the officer as he stopped next to Paul.
“Morning officer,” he replied, Paul looked up at the sky, “don’t suppose you know if the trains are still running?”
The officer seemed convinced by the question, “last we heard they were still checking the lines,” he paused for a second, “station will be opening soon, you will get more info there.”
Paul nodded and looked at his watch, “I’ll head up there, thanks.”
“Do you want a lift?” asked the officer.
“No thanks, my train is at lunchtime, so I’m not exactly in a hurry.”
The officer was about to say something when his radio came to life, he looked Paul up and down before reaching for the handset, “the weather is supposed to get worse,” he said to Paul before answering the radio.
Paul nodded in reply and started to walk away. He walked in the direction of the station and found a café that was just opening for the day, he smiled at the petit girl with soft blue hair that was rushing between kitchen and the counter, she stopped to look at him, “we don’t open for another 15 minutes,” she said as she reached for the pile of rolls that were on the table, she shivered as her body got used to the coldness of the morning, she stopped and looked at him again. “Do you know how to work that?” she nodded towards the coffee machine.
Paul looked at it, “looks the same as the one we had in the pub when I worked there.”
She started at him, “good, you get it up and running and you get a free coffee, Meg has phoned in sick, make mine strong, no sugar.”
“Sure,” replied a slightly stunned Paul.
“Bacon and egg ok?” asked the young woman from the kitchen.
A sudden memory hit Paul, “just egg thanks,” he paused for a moment, “I’m a vegetarian.”
She appeared in the doorway and looked at him, “yeah, how long?”
“Since last night,” Paul replied.
She laughed at him, “good for you, I try to stay a veggie but I can’t resist bacon first thing in the morning.”
Paul turned his attention back to the coffee machine, a few minutes later he had it up and running, the young woman appeared from the kitchen with 2 plates and placed them down on the nearest table, “how are you getting it on with the coffee?” her question was answered as the sound and smell of freshly brewed coffee filled the café.
Paul placed a large coffee in front of her, she nodded towards his plate as her mouth was full, a yellow dribble of egg yolk slid down her chin, “thanks.”
She wiped the egg yolk away and smiled at him, “I’m Scarlet by the way.”
Paul looked at her and then at her blue hair, “Paul,” he paused and looked at her hair again.
“I know,” she replied running her fingers through her hair, “just want to be different, so,” she paused and took a sip of coffee nodding her head in approval, “so what brings you to Inverness, I take it’s not for the sunshine?”
“Just passing through,” he replied, he took a sip of coffee, “have you heard of a place called Yakcam?”
Scarlet nodded her head, “used to drive through it when my Aunt lived in Bettyhill.”
“Do you know anything about it?” he asked as casually as possible.
She thought for a moment before shaking her head, “why do you ask?”
“My brother used to talk about the place all the time, just wanted to know what he liked about it so much.”
“Why don’t you ask him?” she asked.
“He,” he looked at her, “he’s dead.”
“Shit,” she shook her head, “I’m sorry,” Paul just shrugged his shoulders, he didn’t know what else to say.
“Hold on,” said Scarlet standing up, she grabbed her roll and stuffed it into her mouth before walking into the kitchen, she returned with her laptop and passed it to Paul, “Google it,” she added.
Paul opened the laptop and waited for it to boot up, he picked up his coffee and took a drink, noticing that his hand was shaking.
“Morning Bobby,” said Scarlet as she walked over to the counter, Paul turned and saw an elderly man standing at the counter, his clothes were ripped and dirty, Scarlet grabbed a polystyrene cup and filled it with coffee and handed it to him, the old man smiled and turned and walked out the café, “what did you find?” she asked him, Paul was still watching the old man as he left, “call it Karma,” she added as a way of an explanation.
Paul typed in Yakcam into the search engine and got a hundred pages in response, he skimmed the first page and nothing stood out, he tried the next few but still nothing.
“Any luck?” asked Scarlet.
“Nothing,” Paul replied.
Scarlet thought for a moment, “maybe it wasn’t the place he liked, maybe it was a girl.”
He looked at her and then at the laptop, after Yakcam he typed in Jorid and hit the enter key, “his eyes bulged as he saw the name Jorid mentioned.”
“Told you it was love,” said Scarlet smiling at him.
He opened a link and it was for a missing woman, he looked at the picture on the screen and pointed at it, “I saw her, Jorid, I saw her.”
Scarlet got up and moved to Paul’s right, she read the page, “you recognise her from a 20 year old picture?”
“What?” he turned to look at Scarlet.
She pointed at the laptop, “it says she disappeared 20 years ago.”
Paul shook his head, “I saw her last night and she looked like that, exactly like that.”
Scarlet shook her head at him, “she must have aged in 20 years?”
“I’m not bloody crazy, it was her, and she looked like that,” shouted Paul.
Scarlet stepped back from him, “ok, well breakfast is on the house and, well I think you should leave.”
“I saw her,” replied Paul in a hushed tone.
“Leave before I phone the police,” demanded the once friendly Scarlet.
Paul stood up from the table, “sorry,” he said to Scarlet, “I didn’t mean to,” he shook his head, “I saw her,” he said to himself more than Scarlet.
4 hours later Paul was staring out the window of the Glasgow bound train watching a white covered Scottish landscape smear by, he put his hands in his pocket and felt his mobile phone, he remembered switching it off when he lost reception 2 days before, he turned his phone on and a minute later it beeped several times, he had 10 missed calls, 16 text messages and one voicemail, he dialled a number and listen to the voicemail.
“Paul, it’s your Dad, you need to come home, you need to be by my side when we bury your brother, he died a hero, his sergeant said he saved the lives of four of, look I know you don’t understand why he joined the army but, you are all I have now,” there was a softness in his voice, “no doubt you are still chasing shadows, but your mother is gone, son, it’s been 20 years, I know you miss her, I miss my Jorid every day, we need to, son, Pauly, come home.”
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Alone Into The Distance Page 3