by Angela Peach
“He just got back from duty this week” I explained. I noticed she’d shut all the windows and curtains so anyone looking in from outside would see nothing. Then we picked up the bags, and walked out of her bungalow for the last time.
CHAPTER 17
After we’d picked up the diazepam, we hit the motorway to head for London. The drive passed in no time at all and we pulled into a plush hotel on the outskirts of London with barely twenty words spoken between us. This wasn’t an uncomfortable silence-on the contrary, neither of us seemed to have anything much to say. She’d fed me a couple of the tablets as soon as we’d picked them up, and they’d lulled me into a comfortable numbness.
We checked into the hotel under a pseudonym, and carried all the luggage to our room. Once there, Spencer ran us a bath and I saw her knock down one of the valium as I undressed. When the bath had run, we both got in it together, sitting silently facing each other amidst the bubbles.
“What are we going to do?” I asked.
“I’ve been thinking about it. We’ve got about nineteen thousand pounds between both our accounts, right?”
“Yes. Mine might take a few days to access cos it’s a savings account” I said. She nodded.
“We’ll start withdrawing tomorrow. The other thing we have to talk about is where we’re gonna go.”
“Canada, right? Like I said in my session?”
I’d been thinking about this the whole drive down, and it made so much sense. The reason Pam had been unable to see who was going to die was because Alex had still been dead at the time! And now I totally understood why the only safe place for us was Canada. Everything made sense. Spencer stared at me, a pained expression in her eyes.
“Tris, I need to tell you something. Two things actually” she hugged her knees to her chest in the water. “I left a note…back at my place. I um, I basically said it was me who killed Alex.”
Her words hung heavy in the air.
“Why?”
“I wanted to make sure nobody thought badly of you. Whatever happens, whether we get caught or not, your parents won’t hate you.”
“What about your parents?”
She shrugged.
“Mine will understand. I said in the letter that I came back to find him attacking you and he didn’t seem to know who you were or what he was doing. I said I only meant to stun him with the bottle, but he wouldn’t stop. I explained that it was an accident but I had to get you away from it all.”
I looked down at the bubbles on the water. That she would take the blame for killing Alex just so my parents wouldn’t hate me was an incredible thing to do.
“Thank you” I whispered. “What was the second thing?”
There was a long pause and I reached out in the water to take her hand, to reassure her.
“Oh god. It’s going to mess everything up!” she cried, looking completely distraught.
“What?”
“I don’t have a passport.”
“Oh.”
That sort of did put a spanner in the works. I nevertheless squeezed her hand softly.
“It’s ok. We’ll work something out” I said, trying to smile at her. Her mouth twitched into a semi smile too, grateful I wasn’t angry I supposed. “To be honest, even if you did have a passport, we couldn’t have flown out to Canada anyway-they’d have tracked us down far too easily” I said, and knew it was true as I was saying it.
“So how do we get there?”
“I don’t know. We’re gonna need more money, that’s for sure.”
“I think I’ve got an idea about that” she said, looking pleased to have some good news. “We should use your genie power in some of the big casinos. We’ve got nineteen grand-if we turn that into a few hundred thousand, we can set ourselves up for a few years off the grid.”
“Use my genie power? In a casino with our life savings? Isn’t that a bit of a risk?”
“We can practice first, until you’re confident with your abilities. But I trust you. I know you can do it.”
I wished I had her positive outlook. Right now, I couldn’t see how we were going to get out of this mess but I loved Spencer all the more for trusting me.
Later, as she was burying me in the duvet, I touched my hand to her face.
“Thank you-for everything. I got us into this mess and I’m going to do everything I can to make sure we get out of it.”
“Hey, Pam said our vision of the future was a good omen. We die in each other’s arms happy, right?”
“Ok, so get into bed and hold me? Please?” I asked quietly, just needing her close comfort right now. She got under the covers with me and we tangled ourselves together as close as we could possibly get.
I didn’t expect to fall asleep, but I went out like a light.
CHAPTER 18
The next morning as we were eating breakfast, something changed in me. I’d woken up feeling agitated and anxious and taken one of the diazepam to try and calm myself down, then got in the shower. After a while of the hot jets hitting my head, I felt the fuzziness settle into me and started thinking about things more calmly.
And as we’d dressed and come downstairs, I’d felt my mood lifting. Now, sat tucking into my full fry up, I could sense Spencer watching me, puzzled.
“Tris? You ok?” she finally asked.
“I actually am! For some weird fucked up reason, I feel great!” I said, taking a bite of toast and thinking as I chewed. “I mean, everything that happened yesterday just feels like a really bad dream now. I know it was real, and that it really happened, but I also feel…free? Does that make sense?”
“Free?”
“Yeah! Like for the first time in ages I’ve got no restrictions. Since the accident, I had this idea that I wanted to live life to the fullest, make the most out of being alive and stuff, but I wasn’t! I thought my life was perfect and that I had everything I wanted, that I was doing everything I wanted to do, but it was all a lie! I wasn’t happy at all. When I met you, I realised this and now I’ve got the chance to do whatever I want with you…well, I just feel like this is my opportunity for a new start. Leaving everything and everyone behind will be hard, but I almost feel as if I already did, a long time ago.”
She studied me intently as I spoke, eating her breakfast slowly, and when I finished talking she nodded.
“Ok” was all she said, and I smiled. Whether or not my mind was putting the horrid events from yesterday into the background to give us a chance to concentrate on escaping, I didn’t know. It was probably a delayed form of shock I was experiencing and everything might all suddenly slam into me like a train when I was least expecting it, but until then I was just going to go with it.
Back up in our room, I got the locket from where I’d hidden it.
“Spence? I’d like to give you your birthday present now. I’m sorry it’s late” I said sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Hold on, let me get yours as well-we can do a swap” she went over to a case and retrieved a small box, then sat next to me holding it out for me to take. I took it and placed the necklace in her palm in exchange. As I opened the lid, I heard a gasp of shock from her. I echoed it when I saw what was inside.
The locket in the box was identical to the one I’d just given to her!
We both turned to face each other in astonishment.
“Where did you get this?” she asked.
“It’s an heirloom. It’s been passed down through my family for decades. What about yours?”
She stared at me for a second.
“The same. I got it from mum when we were there the other day, but it needed cleaning. That’s where I was yesterday morning when I left you. I dropped it off at the jewellers, and drove back to the quarter mile mark, but when I went back to collect it, I had to wait in the queue for ten minutes and it made me late.”
“This is crazy! Why would our families have the same locket passed down?” I asked, studying the intricate engravings on the shiny silver. They were p
ractically identical.
“I don’t know. My mum was going to pass it down to me when I got married, but I asked her for it early-she was a bit reluctant at first. Out of all my mother’s jewellery, I know she treasured this the most. Probably more than her wedding rings I think!”
“That’s exactly how I feel about this one! And how my father felt before he gave it to me.”
We both studied our lockets completely at a loss for answers, and when none presented themselves under our scrutiny, we sighed, put them on and left it at that for now. We had a lot to get through today and, mysterious as it was, there were more important things to concentrate on.
We left the hotel and headed for the banks to try and withdraw our savings. We told them we needed the money urgently, and although it wasn’t their normal company policy to pay out on the same day, by early afternoon we had exactly nineteen thousand, three hundred and seventy seven pounds in our pockets!
We went straight to a shop that sold high quality wigs and purchased eight-a mix of mid, long and short lengths of red, blonde, black and brunette hair. Then we went shopping for some expensive clothes to go to the casinos in and actually had fun trying on all the slinky dresses!
Tired, we returned to the hotel to devise our plans for the next few days. Using the internet, we made a list of all the casinos within fifty miles. We didn’t want to attract too much attention, so planned on making a few big wins at as many as possible rather than fleecing one out of hundreds of thousands.
We also needed to practice my genie power as everyone kept referring to it. So after we’d phoned down for room service, we discussed how to do this.
“Ok, try this-when our food comes up, make it so there’s a free dessert and bottle of champagne with it, compliments of the hotel!” Spencer said, trying to tuck her dark hair under one of the long red haired wigs.
“Um, ok, what sort? Chocolate torte, raspberry pannacotta, trifle or ice cream?” I asked, reading from the menu.
“Chocolate torte!” she replied straight away. “What about you?”
“Mm, the same I think. But this seems too simple! Going to a casino is much bigger in the whole scale of things. I need something more challenging if I’m going to believe we can do this.”
“Ok, well in that case why don’t you make a random celebrity knock on our door by mistake!”
“Ooh, that’s a good one! Who?”
“I don’t know! Surprise me!” she said, winking at me in the mirror. I racked my brain, trying to think of someone I knew she’d like.
“Ok, I think I’ve got the perfect one! They’ll knock in about half an hour!” I said, remembering that the trick to it actually happening was for me to believe it would.
“What do you think?” Spencer turned around, flicking her new long red hair over her shoulder.
“You look like a secretary” I said, smiling. “A very sexy secretary!”
She came over and straddled my lap, pushing me down onto my back on the bed.
“I was hoping more for a sexy teacher” she purred, teasing the bottom of her t shirt up so I could just about see the curves of her breasts. I reached up and touched them.
“I could go with that!”
A knock on our door stopped us from going further, and Spencer climbed off to answer it with a groan.
“To be continued” she called back.
It was room service…complete with two free complimentary desserts of chocolate torte and bottle of champagne! We thanked him and closed the door, then whooped in delight.
“Oh my god! I can’t believe it! I mean, I knew you’d do it, but I still can’t believe it!! How the fuck does it work, Tris?” she asked, mouth and eyes open in awe. I felt slightly breathless-I’d totally believed it would work, but it was a massive rush to see I could make things like this happen!
“I have no idea! But I can see why Pam advised against abusing this power-it’s tempting to go a little over the top with stuff” I said lifting the lid from our meals. They smelled delicious and we both troughed through them, ravenous from trekking round London all day. As we were just finishing the last mouthful of torte, there was another knock at the door and Spencer froze.
“I hope you like her?” I said, winking. She jumped up and, after a quick check in the mirror, went to answer it.
“Oh! Oh, I think I’ve got the wrong room. I’m so sorry!” said the lady outside. Even I was impressed with myself for this!
“Kate Winslet?? You’re Kate Winslet, right?” Spencer gasped, totally starstruck.
“Yes, sorry! I don’t normally make a habit out of knocking on people’s doors in hotels, but I left my key behind when I went for dinner” Kate said apologetically.
“Can I have a picture with you? I’m a huge fan!”
“Sure! You’ll have to be quick though-I’m really late to go out!” she said, laughing.
I scrambled around looking for a camera, and we managed to get a few good pictures of us all before Kate had to go. I shut the door and turned to see Spencer gazing at me in astonishment.
“Tristen! That was fucking Kate Winslet! Oh my GOD!”
“Even I’m surprised! I thought the torte trick was impressive” I admitted, a massive grin on my face. She pulled me close and kissed me happily, but I could feel her holding back slightly and I knew why. “Spence…I want you to make love to me?”
“Are you sure? I didn’t want to, you know, just in case it was too soon” she said quietly.
“I’m sure. Just be gentle?”
“Of course.” She led me over to the bed and we undressed between kisses. Then she made love to me, softly, tenderly and lovingly.
Afterwards, as I lay in her arms listening to her heart beat, I felt her body tremble slightly as if she was crying.
“Oh Tris, I’m so sorry. I should have come back sooner. I…” she started crying properly and I sat up to hold her.
“Hey, it wasn’t your fault. All of this…it was supposed to happen, remember?”
“I just keep thinking, I came back too late, I couldn’t stop him from…from hurting you. I’ll never let anyone hurt you ever again. I swear” she said as I kissed away her tears.
“I know. No one will ever hurt either of us again” I promised, and deep in my heart, I knew this was the truth.
We fell asleep shortly after, happy in each other’s arms.
CHAPTER 19
“I’m a little bit worried about how gorgeous you look” Spencer was saying as we walked into the second casino of the day. Since I’d put the long brunette wig over my blonde hair, she hadn’t been able to take her eyes off me and I could feel her gaze actually stroking me it was so intense!
“Do you prefer me as a brunette?” I asked, purposely adding an extra wiggle to my behind as I walked slightly ahead of her.
“Uh, I think we should keep hold of these wigs! I prefer you as a blonde, but you look hot as a brunette!”
I felt her hand lightly trace down my lower back and rest on my cheek.
“You’re not helping my concentration, honey” I whispered huskily.
“Sorry! I can’t help it! You look stunning in that dress!”
I knew how she felt. Every time I allowed my eyes to wander over her body, snug in a beautiful cream coloured silk dress, I forgot to breathe! And knowing she had opted not to wear underwear just added an extra hint of excitement to the whole day!
We decided the best way not to attract attention was by playing the roulette table. It was a game you couldn’t cheat at, and any wins we accrued would be written down to just pure old luck. At the last casino, we’d got thirty thousand with ‘lucky’ wins. So now, armed with nearly fifty grand, we were aiming to leave here with between one and two hundred thousand.
“What about that one?” I asked, pointing to a table where a couple of well dressed men sat looking bored. We’d been told this was the area for high paying players, and had attracted a lot of glances from men as we passed their tables to get to it.
&n
bsp; “Looks good to me. You ready?”
“Yep! Let’s go win some money!”
We placed some small bets of five thousand pounds and I let us lose the first two, then win three. We giddily clapped and cheered ourselves on, and occasionally gave each other little kisses. It was kind of fun being ‘Mara’ and ‘Georgia’ and flirting with the men a little. They seemed buoyed by our laughter and energy and didn’t seem to mind when they lost, their attention taken by us hugging and kissing in our slinky dresses!
We stayed for nearly two hours, and left slightly drunk from the bottles of champagne one of the men at our table had bought for us. I’d given him a kiss on the cheek to say thank you and told him I had a feeling he was going to have a good win soon. He’d smiled and told us we’d brightened the afternoon up for him. Then, with two hundred and eight thousand pounds, we got a taxi back to the hotel and made love on top of it!
Four days later, we’d won just over five hundred and twenty nine thousand pounds and agreed it was enough! We got the cash changed over to Canadian dollars in smaller quantities at various post offices and travel exchanges, wearing the different wigs to avoid being recognised and linked back to who we were and where we might be headed. The last thing we needed was for someone to remember we’d been in and changed a lot of pounds into Canadian currency. Even though we sort of knew we were going to be alright in the long run, we just didn’t want to get sloppy.
We then bought a second hand car from a very dodgy youth (who seemed far too stoned to remember even selling his car, let alone who to!) and packed it with all our stuff. We’d taken the plates from our car, and left it in a rough part of town with the keys in the ignition-with any luck it would be stolen, re-sprayed and trashed before it got found and traced to us.
“Ok, now for the hard part” Spencer sighed.
“Are you ready?”
“No. I’m scared is what I am. How are we going to do this?”
