Perfectly Reflected (25 page)

He was about fifty metres ahead of me, on the other side of the road, a small briefcase in his hand. I quickly pulled my hood up over my own blonde hair, shoving my hands deep into my pockets. After a couple of minutes he slowed down and pulled a piece of paper out of the side pocket of the case. He studied it for a second, then looked across at my side of the road. I had managed to close some of the gap between us, so I turned to look in the shop window next to where I was standing. I watched in the reflection as he crossed to my side and turned up a narrow street, then I broke into a run as he disappeared out of sight. Even though I knew the address of where he was going, I didn’t want to lose him.

It was darker in the little side street, and much quieter, but he was too far ahead for me to be able to tackle him. And I still had no clear idea about what it was I was going to say to him. Fighting was out of the question, and he obviously had no moral conscience to appeal to. The only thing I could think of was to accuse him of stealing, and to do that I needed to be nearer to some other people, people who might intervene on my behalf. I fell back slightly, keen that he didn’t spot me too soon, but kept a careful eye on the road names in case we reached our destination. We passed dozens of restaurants, and the wonderful smells wafting out of the kitchens made me realise that I hadn’t eaten for hours, but I knew I was still far too nervous to be hungry. There would be time for that later though, after I had been reunited with Callum. I just hoped that he was here, that somehow he had been able to follow me.

Eventually the tiny streets of Soho opened out into a leafy
square that was surrounded by tall, modern buildings. I glanced quickly at the text message Grace had sent me earlier: the building I wanted was in the far corner.

Rob was peering at his sheet of paper again, then he set out round the left-hand side of the square. I saw my chance, and ran at full pelt around the other side, keeping behind the vans and taxis as much as I could. I wanted to be at the door as he arrived. I slowed to a fast walk as I neared the building, checking over my shoulder that he was still coming. He was too engrossed in his plans to notice anyone else, and by the time he approached the front door, I was leaning nonchalantly against a post box, the only feature on the wide pavement.

As I watched, he examined the paper one last time, then folded it and put it back in his jeans pocket. He looked towards the building, which was a sleek, modern design made entirely of mirrored glass. But Rob wasn’t admiring the architecture, he was admiring himself. He was looking at his reflection, running his fingers through his hair to maintain its carefully tousled appearance, brushing something off the shoulder of his expensive casual shirt. I wasn’t going to get a better chance.

Mirrors

“Hi, Rob, fancy seeing you here,” I said as I pushed myself off the post box and sauntered casually towards him. For a second he lost his composure completely, his jaw dropping.

“Er… umm … Alex. What are you doing in Soho?” he asked eventually.

“Oh, I think you know that.”

“Not sure I do,” he answered, obviously playing for time.

“You have something that belongs to me, and I’d like it back.” I stood facing him, arms folded, trying desperately hard to keep my nerves under control. I couldn’t afford for him to think that he could frighten me into submission. His eyes kept darting over my shoulder towards the door of the building where he clearly thought that he would be safe. He tried the denial route again.

“No, really. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t give me that. Do you think I’m stupid? You know
exactly
what I’m talking about.”

As I watched, his eyes narrowed. He was recovering from the surprise and moving swiftly on to the offensive. “Are you stalking me, Alex? I mean, I know you’ve had some issues, but really, do you have to follow me to London?”

I gave him a withering look. “I have much better things to do with my time, thank you, than follow you around all day. Just give me back my bracelet!”

He ignored me and carried on. “Because, you know, stalkers, they’re dangerous. I’m sure that the police would be interested in having a little chat with you. You’ve become quite familiar with them over the last few weeks, haven’t you?”

“I’d love it if you called the police, and you could then explain to them what you’re doing with stolen property.”

Finally he laughed. “The thing is, Alex, it was no longer yours, was it? You gave it to Catherine.”

“You know full well that Catherine stole it from me!”

“I know nothing of the sort. She said that you gave it to her because the two of you are friends. What could be more straightforward than that? It’s great that the two of you are so close.” I could see the sarcastic smile on his face, and I took a step closer, clenching my fists.

“So close, in fact, that Catherine told me all about your little money-making scheme.”

His smile faltered for a second but he quickly regained his composure. “As I believe I said yesterday, we have an understanding.”

“Once you get in there and start talking,” I jabbed towards the shiny building with my finger, “don’t you think they’ll want to know how you came to have the amulet?”

“Once they see what it does, they won’t care. They’ll be falling over each other to get the best price for the story, and I’ll be rich.”

“Is that what this is all about, being rich? You’re prepared to ruin my life and those of countless others just because you want to cash in on your fifteen minutes of fame? You’re pathetic! And don’t forget, I’ve still got proof of Catherine’s methods of persuasion.” I lifted up my sleeve to show him the bruises on my arm.

He raised his eyebrows at the multicoloured marks. “And
I thought it was just your face. She really went to town, didn’t she? But you won’t shop either of us, I’m sure.” He smiled at me slyly. “I mean, we can do a deal here; come to some sort of mutually beneficial arrangement.”

“I don’t think so,” I huffed, crossing my arms.

“Are you absolutely sure? Don’t you want to talk to Callum again? Isn’t that what this is all about, for you to be together again?” He used his hands to put inverted commas around “together”, infuriating me even more.

“So you’ll give it back then?”

“Don’t be ridiculous! I can just see a way to get what everyone wants, that’s all. You keep quiet, and I’ll ensure that you and Callum get some amulet time. Under careful supervision, of course. I know I can’t trust you that much. Then Catherine and I get to split the money. Everyone is happy!”

“That’s not what I want. Give me back my amulet now, or I’ll have you arrested for theft.”

“Now, that wouldn’t be a good idea. Let me explain the deal in a little more detail. If you cause trouble –
any
trouble – I’ll make sure that you never get to see Callum again. Everyone else will; we can really go to town on finding out all about him, his family, his real girlfriend, however old she is now. Then I’ll give the papers your video diaries, all that angst and sobbing will fill pages for the tabloids. You’ll have people bugging you about it for years, but all the time he’ll be just out of your reach.” He paused, and gave a brief leer. “They could even have you and his old girlfriend slugging it out.”

I felt a wave of horror shimmer through me. Rob had inadvertently stumbled over the one thing that would make me hesitate. Callum had been very clear on that point: knowing his
past, who he was, what had happened to his parents, would make his daily existence unbearable. I couldn’t let that happen, but I couldn’t let Rob know that either. I glared up at him from under my hood. “If I agree –
if
…” I emphasised, looking at the sudden smile on his face, “what else is in it for you? It can’t just be to keep me quiet.”

“Well, the truth is,” he started to look shifty again, “the video diaries are good, but if you’re there, willing to answer questions about how things work, well… Catherine won’t even consider talking to anyone, but if you answer the journalists’ questions, we’ll get so much more money.”

Money. That was what it was all about: pure greed. At least I knew what I was dealing with.

“OK, if –
if
– I join you, how do you plan to do things? What do they know already?”

He could barely contain his excitement. “I’ve talked to them, but not shown them anything yet; that’s what today is about.” He glanced at his briefcase.

“What are you planning to show them?”

“The video, and then I’ll get them to see one of the Dirges. They said that if I could prove it, I could pretty much name my price.”

I tried to keep my voice steady. “Have you been communicating with
them
?”

“I tried it last night after Catherine gave me the amulet. I didn’t even have to say anything – this bloke just skulked up behind me in the mirror. Made me jump, I can tell you!”

“Was it just the one of them?”

“Yeah. You know,” he dropped his voice and looked around furtively, “it’s a bit freaky. I’m surprised that you didn’t chuck it
back in the river as soon as you saw them. At least I knew what was coming. You must have been scared half to death, with weird cloaked people looming up behind you!”

“It was a bit of a shock,” I agreed.

“He didn’t seem to be very friendly, either. He didn’t say anything, just glared at me a bit. I guess I’m not his favourite person, so I’m kind of relieved that he’s stuck on the other side of the mirror.” He took another quick glance in the building’s shiny surface. “But it
is
creepy, thinking that he could be here, right next to me at any point. In fact, it’s bloody weird!”

I shoved my hands deep in the pockets of my hoodie to keep them from shaking. “Is there anyone here now? Is he watching us?” My heart was leaping in my chest to think that at that very moment, Callum could be by my side.

Rob scanned around. “No one around at the moment. You know, I’ll be glad to prove my point and get rid of this thing.”

“So you’re wearing the amulet?”

“Yeah,” he admitted, in a slightly embarrassed tone. “It’s a bit girly, so I had to wear long sleeves. Didn’t want to be seen wearing it really.”

“And you didn’t have a conversation with Callum?” I asked as casually as I could manage.

“No, I just checked out that he was there, that this wasn’t all some weird hoax. Luckily he disappeared pretty quickly, and he’s not been back. Catherine says that he should come if I call, as long as I don’t annoy them by taking the amulet off.”

“Catherine told you that?” I struggled to hide my surprise before realising that if Callum disabled Rob somehow, she wasn’t going to get her cut of the cash. That was bound to be her motivation, not concern for Rob’s welfare.

Rob had stopped listening to me anyway and was expanding on his clever plan. “The guys here, they’ll be able to work out who he is, when he died, everything. My idea is, we get the dead guys to talk to us in return for information about who they really are. They don’t know that, do they? We can drip-feed them information in return for their cooperation. I mean, they’re bound to want to know.”

I saw my chance. “Why don’t you let me have a word with them first? They like me, I’m sure I can get them on board.”

Rob’s laugh was harsh and callous. “Do you think I’m stupid? I’m not handing this over to you! You’d never give it back.” His left hand automatically circled his right wrist. Now I knew where it was, so I had one last try.

“I didn’t expect you to do that,” I said, shrugging as if I didn’t care. “But the thing is, Rob, we could do with one of them being around when we talk to the publicist, don’t you think? It’ll be a bit embarrassing if you get the PR team excited and no one appears. If you let me see it – not wear it, obviously,” I added as he put up his hand to protest. “If you let me see it, I can tell if any of them are around; if someone is nearby. If not, you can line one of them up. How does that sound?”

I could almost hear his brain ticking over.

“How do you do that, then? Tell if they are around?”

“Just practice,” I said as casually as I could manage. “It sort of blinks sometimes, in the right light, when someone is there. Haven’t you noticed?” I couldn’t believe he was buying all this. Or that he had accepted my sudden agreement to join forces with him. His greed was clouding his judgement.

“I’ve not noticed anything like that at all.”

“You’re probably not tuned in enough yet. Thinking about
it, it took me a few days. Do you want me to check now? If someone is around we might not have to wait for too long.” I shrugged as non-committally as I could manage. How could Rob not hear my pounding heart? He needed distracting. “Never mind, I’m sure Steve and his colleagues will wait. So, did they say exactly how much money?”

The word money galvanised him back into action. “I guess you could have a quick look, but I’m not handing it over, is that clear?”

“Perfectly clear,” I said, as soothingly as possible. “Show me your wrist.” I leaned towards him, hands carefully in my pockets. Rob took a quick, furtive look around us, as if to check that we weren’t about to reveal ourselves to a mugger, then slowly began to unbutton his shirt cuff. I couldn’t help holding my breath.

Slowly, slowly, he pulled back his sleeve and there, nestling on his wrist, was my amulet, perfect and whole; the deep blue and green stone flashing in the sunlight, the intricate silverwork gleaming against Rob’s pale skin. I had forgotten just how beautiful it really was, and before I realised I was going to do it I let out a sob, which I hastily changed to a cough. Yet again Callum was so close I could almost feel him.

“Come on then,” Rob said impatiently. “Can you see anything or not?”

I frowned as I peered at it from a distance, my hands still firmly in my pockets. “I can’t tell. Turn it this way a bit.” He did as I asked, angling the stone towards the light. “Ahh, left a bit, no, stop there, over a little. Oh, never mind! I’m sure it’ll be OK.”

“What? Can’t you see anything? Come on, try again!”

“It’d be much easier if I could see it more clearly. Can I come a bit closer?” I was careful not to move until he nodded, warily.

“I’m watching you, so no funny business, right?” he said in a snide voice, with his free hand covering the amulet completely as I came within reach.

I stepped back, hands up in the air. “It’s up to you, Rob. It’s your party.”

It was his turn to frown. “OK, OK, calm down. Come on.” He gestured me forward again.

“Look, why don’t you keep your hand on the band while I check it out? Then I can’t possibly do anything you don’t want me to.” I could see him trying to find the flaw in that argument, but finally he gave in, and holding on tightly to one side of the amulet, he held his wrist out towards me.

My mind was racing, but I had to stay calm. I was just so close, so close to everything I wanted. Tears pricked my eyes and I blinked quickly to get rid of them. I examined the stone from about an arm’s length, making more non-committal noises. “It’s really not clear. Can I just move your arm slightly?” I put my hand up but made no move towards him until he nodded.

My hand closed around his wrist just above the amulet, and I realised as I gripped him just how clammy my palms were. It was too late to do anything about it; I could only hope that he didn’t notice. I continued to move his wrist in strange directions as if searching in the hidden depths of the stone, making quiet umm-ing and err-ing noises. Then, when he too was concentrating hard I shouted, “Yes, look!”

He jumped, instinctively jerking his arm inwards, pulling my hand down towards the amulet as he did so. I was ready, and in that swift movement I managed to wedge my finger under the silver band. “Callum! Help! It’s me – come quickly!” I was shouting loudly now, hanging on to Rob’s wrist, unable to keep the longing
from my voice. “Cal—” Rob pushed me away viciously, breaking my grip on his wrist before I could finish saying his name again. My contact with the amulet was broken. I stumbled as I tried to move my legs quickly enough, and found myself sprawled on the floor.