Somewhere in Sevenoakes (13 page)

Her fingers flew fast and furious over the keyboard as she worked.

”You look ready to explode,” said Helen as she turned her computer on, munching crunchy toast.

”That's because I am.”

Helen's eyes went as wide as saucers.

”Why?”

”Because,” Maddy paused.

”Because?”

”Toilet in ten minutes,” she whispered.

Back in their unofficial meeting room, Maddy filled Helen in on the entire saga.

”He knows where I live. It's not like he couldn’t have driven around over the weekend or something. Then to find he's not on the train this morning. He's clearly trying to avoid me. Had a rethink about it all. Believes I'm damaged goods.”

”You don't know that.”

”He hasn't mentioned where he works, he never took me back to his place and I had to ask him for his phone number – he never offered it up. What would you put it down to?”

”It was an emergency phone call. His mother is sick, she's in the hospital, he forgets to write the last two digits. Drives to see her, when he comes out later his car is stolen.”

”Why not get a cab to my place?”

”His wallet was stolen. It fell out of his pocket in the car.”

”Why didn't his mother lend him money?”

”She's so ill, she can't remember the pin number for her card.”

”It's kind of far-fetched Helen. Nice try though.”

”Do you know what station he gets off at?”

”Yes. There's only two main stops in our area. I'm Orpington, he's Sevenoaks. There's no other nearby train stations that will run him directly through to London Bridge.”

”Right, the plan is,” said Helen, ”you leave work early tonight, go to Sevenoaks, stake-out his car and corner him when he comes out to get the full story.”

”What if he slept in and gets the normal train back home tonight? It might make me look like a stalker.”

”Or it might make you look like a concerned girlfriend. You said yourself he had ample opportunity to come to yours. What have you got to lose?”

”My dignity?”

”Maddy, you lost that when you spent an entire weekend in the house, with your cats hoping this James character would visit.”

”Fair point.”

With a plan in place they returned to their desks. Maddy left work at 5.30pm with the majority of the company. She was edgy thinking of how best to tackle James when she saw him. As she got to Sevenoaks a wave of nausea swept over her. She got off the train and headed for the car park. Although the station car park wasn't large, she couldn't find any sign of James' white Audi A5 convertible. Certain he had said he parked in the station car park, Maddy took another look around before approaching the station staff for advice. She was devastated to discover there was another station car park four minutes walk from the station, holding over five hundred cars.

She walked through the rows of cars, checking the make of every white car in the packed premise. There were no convertible Audi's. If James was catching his normal train he'd have arrived by now. Maddy was 100% certain James wasn't parked in the station car park and reasonably certain she hadn't missed his car in the alternate venue. She was as meticulous in studying the cars as she was with her accounting. James' car was unusual and she didn't believe she'd have missed it, even if it was hidden alongside five hundred other vehicles.

”This is pointless,” moaned Maddy in defeat.

”I thought he meant something to you,” snapped Helen, as exhausted as her friend.

”He does. But I wasted all last night searching Sevenoaks station's two car parks for a flash car that wasn't there. Now I've just made fifty phone calls, hoping I may stumble across his number and I've had no joy there. All I've got is wrong numbers, wrong voice mail or generic voice mails that may or may not be his number.”

”Maddy, you're being negative. He only missed two digits off the phone number. There's only ninety-nine possibilities right? We're accountants, we've done the maths.”

”In theory, but Helen look at his handwriting. There's a five that could be a weird version of three and two sevens which could possibly be fours. If you take those into account, do you know how many calls we're going to have to make to cover every possible combination?”

”Lots?”

”How many have you made Helen?”

”Thirty-five.”

”Let's split up your remaining calls. We'll do seven each. If we'll have no joy then we'll have to put our heads together and come up with something else.”

They ploughed through the calls with no success.

”You two girls are working late,” said Geoff.

Maddy thought he appeared stressed and troubled.

”You okay Geoff,” she asked sliding the checklist of phone numbers under a book.

”I'm fine Maddy. Busy. Business is moving, snowballing I think. I'm too old to keep up.”

”That'll be the day,” said Maddy. ”I can't imagine you ever slowing down. It's us youngsters who can't keep up with you.”

”Everything changes, even me,” he said sadly.

”Is there anything I can do to help out – work-wise I mean?”

”No Maddy, you do more than enough for this company. I'm impressed you're both staying late. I appreciate the hard work, Helen. Don't sleep under the desks though, I don't want the cleaners complaining.”

The girls watched him leave the office.

”Serious guilt-rush,” said Helen.

”I know,” agreed Maddy. ”I think work is wearing him down, to be honest. I hope he's okay.”

”Geoff's fine. He always bounces back. Heart and soul of the office.”

”Too true. I couldn't imagine this place without him. Hope it was a bad day and nothing more serious.”

”Should we make more calls,” suggested Helen, trying to focus Maddy on the task at hand.

”We've rang ninety-nine mobile phones Helen, without success. It's impossible to factor every combination in because of the poor handwriting. Besides which, Geoff's already having a rough time. I don't want him having a heart attack when the next phone bill comes through given we've rung all those mobile numbers. They aren't cheap calls. Maybe we should leave it to fate.”

CHAPTER 9

”We're not leaving it to fate,” announced Maddy, as Helen sat opposite her Wednesday morning.

”Take it James wasn't on the train last night or this morning.”

”No, he wasn't.”

”You're looking very angry Maddy.”

”I am. I've not had a wink of sleep.”

”Love wasn't meant to be easy.”

”Helen, seriously, I am grateful for your help but clichés only serve to annoy me.”

”Sorry,” she apologised, smirking.

There was silence as Helen pretended to work, waiting for Maddy to reveal the latest developments. As she suspected, Maddy's private resolve didn't take long to break.

”I got up super-early this morning, took a cab to Sevenoaks and I swear I walked those car parks till my feet ached. I looked at every car till an hour after the departure of his normal train and that white Audi never parked in the station. I even scouted the nearby streets, in case he's the free parking type. No car.”

”When did you get in then?”

”Five minutes before you. Geoff's in a right mood and on my case about work, which means I'm going to have to chase the entire department to get everything he wants done by the end of today. It's hard enough to keep my focus. This whole James thing is turning out to be Mission Impossible.”

”What should I do then?,” said Helen attempting to pacify her.

”Tell everyone I'm not a complete cow when I chase them for up-to-date accounts on all our contracts. Geoff needs them before lunch, I can't start collating and reporting until everyone has emailed them over to me.”

”What about James?”

”What about him? I can't force him to love me. I can't force him to like me. It feels futile at the moment. I'm best off locking my heart and throwing away the key.”

”Who's being melodramatic now? Heart, locks and keys; talk about clichés.”

Helen saw Maddy's eyes well up.

”I was only trying to be funny.”

Maddy stared at the ceiling. Something was wrong and she couldn't pinpoint exactly what. Her entire life was spiralling in directions she'd never envisaged. She'd spent so much time creating manageable conditions that one variable thrown into the mix had her feeling useless to regain control over her life. Having successfully managed to prevent the tears, she met Helen's concerned face.

”How can I work on getting James back, when everything is kicking off in the office? This is going to sound weird but I feel like there's something going on that we know nothing about.”

”They're probably making a new director or getting in a partner.”

”Yeah, and James is stuck in the hospital with his very sick mother after his car and wallet were stolen,” she said sardonically.

Helen returned to her work, leaving Maddy to her mood. The tension in the office was palpable. Maddy dropped the reports in Geoff's office without saying a word to him. She chewed on a pen, studying the piece of paper containing James' incomplete phone number.

When the hands of the wall clock reached 5.30pm she heard people shifting in their seats. Helen grabbed her handbag to leave.

”I've got it!” proclaimed Maddy.