Sleepwalk (15 page)

Her face suddenly reddened then……
had he seen it
? She thought of Tom, her neighbours son. She thought of Peter Hendford and his strong grip on her arm that night not so long ago……..Oh God! That was when things started to go wrong. After she turned him down!

‘What is it Flick? Have you thought of someone?’

‘No………. it’s just…….. no; definitely not.’

‘Tell me……. please?’

Felicity told him about Peter Hendford; in detail. He didn’t speak. He just listened, and then her mother called from the front door step.

‘Dinner is out darling. I’ve put some out for you too David so you’ll have to join us now.’

‘Come on.’ He took her hand. ‘I’m going to have lunch with you and then you’re coming back with me. We’ll pick Ollie up from my Mum’s and you can stay at mine tonight. We need to talk. Ok?’

‘Ok.’

When Felicity was younger…… much younger, she had dreamed of her knight in shining armour, riding in to her depths of despair and scooping her up onto his snowy white charger. Didn’t every young girl dream of one? Of course it was only a dream. It would never materialise. And yet, here she was with her blue eyed hero. He was tall, dark and handsome; polite and kind; someone who really cared about her. And here she was in such a pickle; temporarily homeless and fearful of her future; the victim of a mindless vengeful arsonist, and here he was; come to rescue her.
Just like he did in the dream
……..

‘Would it be okay for me to use the iron when we get to your place? It’s just a skirt and top for work tomorrow. Luckily I keep a few things here so at least I have a change of clothes.’ She waved to her mother who was standing on the doorstep hiding her worry beneath a forced smile. She hadn’t thought it was a good idea for Felicity to be staying over with this man whom she hardly knew, especially in view of recent events. Margaret would have been much happier if their daughter was here, safe with them until the police had caught up with the man responsible.

‘Flick, you’re not seriously going in to work tomorrow are you? No one will expect you to under the circumstances. I’ll speak to your boss if you like.’

‘I have to David. I’ve already had so much time off lately.’ She threw an overnight bag into the boot of his car and then hesitated. ‘Look, wouldn’t it be better if I took my own car? I can come here straight from work tomorrow then and…… I feel I should go home and survey the damage just now anyway….. while it’s still light. Obviously with the electrics and everything, the police said I shouldn’t attempt to turn a light on until the wiring’s checked out.’

‘Are you sure you want to do this now Flick? It’s not going to be a very pleasant experience for you.’

‘I…… I need to David. I need to know how bad……what’s left.’

‘Ok. Come on then. Jump in and we’ll go there before we pick Ollie up. I’d like to try and talk you out of going to work tomorrow Flick but if I can’t then at least let me help you through all this, and I can drop you back tomorrow night. I feel in some way responsible you know.’

‘How? Why would you? Don’t be silly.’

‘Like Carter said, your life was quite normal until you met me.’

‘Nonsense. My life’s never been normal.’

David drove out of Woodlands and turned right toward Knapp. Neither of them spoke until they pulled up in the parking bay outside her cottage, both apprehensive and yet both needing to see it for themselves. Felicity was half expecting to still see the fire brigade or the police there but everything appeared as normal. As they climbed the steps to the little terrace, Tom was heading toward them.

‘God Flick! Are you okay?’

‘Yes, thanks Tom…. It was a bit of a shock. Um…… this is David.’

‘Alright?’

‘Hi’

‘Bit of a mess up there Flick’ said Tom as he made his way down the steps behind them. ‘Bloody good job you wasn’t there because you’d be fried bread.’

The windows were all smashed and blackened by the fire. That was the first visible sign of any damage apart from the two bright yellow fluorescent tapes that greeted them as they reached her garden gate which had been left open and the ribbons had been cut on one side and were now flapping around in the warm summer breeze like the tail of a kite. Felicity walked through the gateway and made her way up the garden path.

‘Flick, perhaps we shouldn’t. It may not be safe.’

‘It’s my home David. I have to……. have to see.’

David followed close behind her as she made her way up the path and then stopped. The front door was intact but its pale primrose white sheen was blackened with heat damage and the paint was blistered and peeling. Felicity had only painted the door and windows a few months earlier in the spring.
All that hard work……. for nothing.
She tried the front door. It was locked. She had her keys in her handbag but instead she walked around the side garden to the back door which had been boarded up and a padlock had been fitted to its frame.

‘I can’t even go inside. That’s not fair is it? It’s my house. Why have they done this?’

She turned to David and he saw the sadness in her eyes. She peered through a gap in the boards covering the glazed part of the door and as her eyes adjusted to the darkness inside she gasped aloud. ‘Oh my God David; the stairs!’

She stood aside and he looked through the boards. Everything inside was blackened by the fire and the first three risers of the staircase were completely burned away on one side. Whoever had done this had meant business. If she had been upstairs she wouldn’t have stood a chance…….. David had seen enough, and as he turned around he heard her cry out loud, ‘No!’

She was standing halfway down the back garden looking into the far corner where the freshly dug grave of her cat had been excavated, a gaping hole in the ground; all that remained. The police must have taken it for evidence.
Oh Jesus! No one
had
told her about the cat
…………….

‘Flick. There’s something I need to tell you……..’

It probably wasn’t a good time for her to meet Ollie. She had cried when he’d told her about the cat, but only for a short while and then she had gone very quiet. At his parents house his mother had looked toward the car to see this new unfortunate girlfriend of her son’s expecting at least an acknowledgement of her presence and was quite disgusted when the girl hadn’t even raised an eyebrow or looked in her direction.

‘So is she blind David or just rude?’

‘Mum, please. We’ve just come from her burnt out cottage. She’s in shock so just leave it eh?’

His mother decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and waved as he piled Oliver into the car and made a hasty retreat down the driveway.

‘Daddy?’

‘Yes Ollie, mate.’

‘Oozat Daddy?’

‘Sorry mate, this is Flick. She’s my friend.’

‘Oo izzit Daddy?’

‘Flick, mate. It’s Flick’

‘Vic.’

‘Yes its Vic.’

Felicity seemed to wake up then and came back to reality. She looked at David and then turned around to where the little boy was sitting in his car seat in the back; a small threadbare teddy in his hands. He beamed at her from his chair and then put his hand over his eyes as she smiled.

‘Hi Ollie. I’m Flick.’

The boy remained still, his hand still covering his eyes. He kept it there for a few seconds and then slowly opened his fingers until he could see her. Eventually his

fingers moved, slowly at first and then he dropped his arm and relaxed as she turned away. When she turned back the arm instantly came up again until either his arm was aching or he was bored with the game but the next time she turned he was smiling at her and his cheeks were quite red. Felicity laughed then and looked at the road ahead.

‘Vic.’ said a little voice in the back and he instantly covered his eyes again but the tell tale smile beneath his wrist told her that everything was going to be okay. By the time they arrived in
Rose Lane
some ten minutes later they had counted to six numerous times and she had taught him his nought times table. Nought times nought is nothing.
Naughty no
ught’
s nuffink
. His hand no longer covered his eyes when she smiled at him and Oliver seemed to have easily accepted that Daddy had a new friend called Vic.

Slim picked his way expertly through the overgrown brambles and back onto the path that led to his temporary home, a little black mongrel at his heels. He called him ‘Bits’ because that’s what he was. Terrier cross labrador cross spaniel cross lurcher. Bits of everything; although he looked mostly terrier and was quite small. The sun was coming up; emerging beneath a mass of grey white sky and beyond it was vivid blue. It was going to be a nice day. They walked this way every morning and the dog would be leaping and bounding in the undergrowth beside him but today something was holding him back. Slim turned and saw he was eating dried up faeces, possibly from a fox or another dog.

‘Bits! No! ….. Bad dog! Leave it!’

Bits was hungry. They both were; but not for much longer. They’d managed to get to the skips before the Prentice’s today. Slim had just had his best find in weeks; two whole packs of streaky bacon, three tins of baked beans, a dented tin of creamed mushroom soup and nine stale hot cross buns. The rats had been chewing a corner of one of the packs of buns but they were mostly good.

‘Come on mate. Today we’re going to eat like kings.’

He’d gathered up a pile of dried sticks as he made his way home to the bridge and now he laid them under the barrel and felt around in his pocket for the four lumps of coal he’d managed to liberate from the blue plastic bag on the garage forecourt. Hopefully two lumps would be enough to give them a well cooked feast and perhaps the other two would give them a little comfort later in the small hours of the night.
Slim laid the bacon over the blackened pieces of wire stolen from the fence behind Sainsbury’s. He was proud of his barbecue and even more proud on a day like today when he had such a feast to adorn his wire tray. Slowly the flames began to rise higher and higher and eventually, the bacon began to turn a darker shade of brown and the smell of it was driving Bits insane as he danced around under the viaduct; the overhead traffic which was gradually becoming heavier as daylight kicked in, now a distant irritation.

But neither Slim, nor Bits got to share their feast. The scream could be heard from a long way off and before you knew it the wasteland was swarming with uniforms; police, paramedics and the local river authority officer, Vanessa Gordon who Slim had had dealings with before and his face was known to her. He had to abandon their hearty breakfast, although he managed to grab his rucksack containing the majority of the fruits of his labour that morning. As he and Bits made their escape and climbed through the broken fence at the foot of the bridge the familiar sight of colourful striped socks pulled out over the legs of dirty blue jeans met them and Slim came face to face with Jonquil, a skinny blonde girl whom he’d once had under the bridge at midnight. He knew it was
midnight
precisely because she’d made such a point about them having to climax as the clock struck twelve. Of course he hadn’t managed it. You can’t just come to order at a specific time. That’s nonsense. And because he hadn’t managed it she’d gone really weird on him and they hadn’t spoken since.

‘It’s the Colonel. They must have found him.’

‘What?’

‘The Colonel. He’s dead. I heard them say.
A woman walking her dog along the river bank has stumbled upon the body of an old man
. I know who did it.’

‘The Colonel is dead? Are you for real? How do you know it was him?’

‘You think I was out of it don’t you? Ok I was stoned but I saw her and I’ve seen her before. She drove right at him.’

‘Jonky we need to get out of here. Vanguard’s here. She knows both of us. Come on!’

‘The angel of death; in her black chariot. She’s quite mad.’

Slim took the girls hand and gently pulled her to encourage some kind of movement and then he ran through the undergrowth, the little black dog in hot pursuit.

A rustling at the other side of the fence seemed to stir Jonquil into action and she pushed herself away from the stone face of the bridge support and ran after him.

Vanessa Gordon poked her head through the broken fence and looked into the wilderness of long grasses and brambles, their leaves swaying gently in the morning breeze.

‘Who’s there?’

The traffic passing on the motorway over her head was deafening and each vehicle left a thud in her ears and an echo and a sudden gush of wind that seemed to rush around the side of the bridge and flow toward her under the viaduct.

‘I know you’re there!’ she called. But the trees just swayed gently back at her. Of course if there was someone in there they wouldn’t be stupid enough to come out and show themselves, and she wasn’t stupid enough to go in. There were snakes in that long grass and God knows what else. She made her way confidently back to civilisation.

‘Have you checked the fenced off area Miss Gordon?’