by Karen Cole
‘Told me what?’ says Chris returning to the room carrying couple of coffee cups.
‘Oh, nothing, women’s stuff. You wouldn’t be interested,’ Thea says glibly.
*
Abby’s still thinking about Tanseela as she and Danny walk home through the town centre. She can’t help thinking that Thea has made a terrible mistake, and she doesn’t know what she should do about it. She knows what she ought to do. She ought to tell the head teacher or Rob, but she doesn’t want to get Thea into trouble and potentially cause a lot of unnecessary grief to Tanseela. Besides, Tanseela has left the school now.
She sighs as they head through the market square, the large church lit up orange from below, the gargoyles leering down at them. But it’s not only that she’s worried about Tanseela. There’s something else bothering her. The similarity with her own situation is striking. What if Tanseela was telling the truth? What if she really believed she hadn’t had sex? Is it too much of a stretch to think there could be a connection? She shakes her head. No, that can’t be. What possible connection could there be?
‘You’re very quiet,’ Danny says as they head down the main high street.
‘Yes, sorry. I was just thinking about work.’ She wants to ask Danny what he thinks, but she can’t broach the subject without betraying Thea. She needs some time to think and work out the best thing to do.
‘Well, don’t,’ says Danny. ‘Thinking about work is strictly forbidden on a Saturday night.’
‘Sorry.’ She grins.
They talk about Danny’s sister, who is getting married in a couple of months, and her fiancé, who Danny doesn’t like, until they reach the point where their two routes home diverge.
‘I’ll see you later,’ he says. ‘Unless you want me to walk you home?’
‘Don’t be daft. I’m fine. It’s only a ten-minute walk.’
‘Okay.’ He shrugs and smiles. ‘See you Monday then.’
But once Danny’s gone, she immediately regrets not taking him up on the offer. It’s dark and cold, and the streets are deserted apart from a group of women out on a hen night. They totter by, cackling with laughter, their heels ringing on the tarmac, heading towards the market square.
Stay away from Alex Taylor. Ever since she received that message she’s been unable to shake the feeling that someone’s watching her. And it’s probably her imagination but she feels it strongly now. There’s a tingling in the back of her neck and she thinks she can hear footsteps behind her. But when she looks back over her shoulder the street is empty. She’s being paranoid, she tells herself. But Thea taking the idea of date rape seriously has left her feeling shaken and jumpy. It feels like a real possibility for the first time.
She turns down an alleyway between the café and the betting shop, taking the short cut through the car park. It’s almost completely empty. There are just a couple of cars at the far end near the recycling bins. All she can hear is the clip of her own shoes on the tarmac, the sound of her own breathing, and a faint rustling of the hedge that surrounds the bowls club. A cat or a small animal of some kind, she tells herself. Even so she jumps, and her heart starts racing, when one of the parked cars suddenly turns on its headlights. She puts her head down and walks quickly towards the exit. The car’s engine revs but doesn’t move. What’s the driver doing? She can’t shake the feeling that he’s watching her. She speeds up, her legs wobbling awkwardly. And the car begins moving. It crawls around the car park and parks again near the exit. What the hell?
She can’t help thinking about the time Ellie was attacked. When Ellie was seventeen she was walking home from the pub one night when a car stopped alongside her, and a man tried to grab her and drag her into the car. She only escaped because she happened to be just outside their house and their dad heard her cry out. Abby was only eight at the time and didn’t fully understand the implications, but she realizes now that it must have been terrifying. Ellie has never talked about it to her since, and Abby wonders why. Is it typical Ellie putting a brave face on things, or because she really has put it behind her?
Abby shivers. Why is she thinking about that now? There’s nothing sinister about the car. It’s probably just a couple. Maybe they’re making out, or maybe they’re having an argument. There could be any number of reasons why they’ve stopped.
All the same, Abby takes a small detour and leaves the car park by a different exit. She rounds the corner. But the car’s engine revs up again. It follows her out of the car park, drives past, and then parks just in front of her. She crosses the road keeping as much distance between her and the car as possible.
Then there’s the sound of a car door being opened behind her, and someone calls out and there’s the sound of footsteps behind her. She’s really panicking now, her heart hammering away, pummelling her ribs. She stumbles forward, diving into the alley that runs past their back garden, but the footsteps follow her. She speeds up, resisting the urge to run. Don’t let him know you’re scared, she thinks. She’s nearly there. If she shouts out now, Rob or Ellie will hear. The footsteps get faster and faster. He’s going to catch up any second. He’s gaining on her.
Abby calls out. ‘Ellie! Rob!’ But her voice comes out as a frightened croak. Her heart is pounding out of her chest. She puts her hand on the gate but it’s too late. Someone grabs her by the shoulder and she screams at the top of her lungs.
Fourteen
‘Calm down, love,’
She’s gibbering and shaking with fear. Her vision is clouded with panic, but she turns and makes out the face of an old man with a short grey beard. He’s looking down at her with a concerned expression. ‘Are you okay?’ he says. ‘I didn’t mean to frighten you. I just wanted to give you this. You dropped it in the car park.’ And he puts something small into her trembling hands. In the state she’s in, it takes her a couple of seconds to register that it’s her purse.
‘Oh,’ she says. ‘Oh . . .’
And then the door flies open, and Rob bursts out in his dressing gown. He’s wild-eyed and he’s brandishing a large, sharp kitchen knife. ‘What’s going on?’ he blusters. ‘Are you alright, Abby?’
The old man looks alarmed and raises his hands in a gesture of surrender. ‘She dropped her purse. I just wanted to give it back, that’s all. I didn’t mean to frighten her.’
‘Is that right?’ Rob looks suspiciously from the man to Abby, still gripping the knife.
Abby nods. Now the panic is subsiding, she realizes she’s made a mistake and is starting to feel very embarrassed. ‘Yes, it’s true. Put the knife down, Rob.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ she mutters to the man as she hurries into the house. ‘And thank you.’
‘That’s alright, now,’ he says as she shuts the door. ‘You take care of yourself.’
*
‘What was all that about?’ Rob asks, pouring her a cup of tea in the kitchen. ‘With all that screaming, I thought you were being murdered. That poor man nearly had a heart attack when I came out with the knife.’ He chuckles.
Abby shakes her head and manages a small smile. ‘I don’t know. I thought he was going to attack me.’
Rob stares. ‘Why the hell would you think that?’
‘I don’t know. I suppose I’m just a bit on edge at the moment.’
‘You can say that again.’ Rob places a cup of tea in front of her on the kitchen table. ‘You shouldn’t be walking about late at night by yourself anyway, especially in your condition. Next time, why don’t you give me a ring and I’ll come and pick you up?’
Abby sips the sweet tea. Her hands are still shaking so much she nearly spills it. She feels she needs to explain what must seem like a massive overreaction. ‘It’s just I think someone might be following me.’
‘What, like stalking you?’ Rob raises his eyebrows.
‘Yes. I’ve been receiving these weird messages lately. Did Ellie tel
l you?’
‘No. What kind of messages?’
She tells him about the flowers, the text message warning her to stay away from Alex.
‘Am I getting wound up over nothing?’
Rob frowns. ‘I don’t know, Abs. You think your boyfriend’s ex is really that crazy?’
‘What if it’s not Alex’s ex? What if it’s someone that’s jealous of Alex, not of me?’ She groans and puts her head in her hands. ‘I don’t know. I feel like I’m going crazy.’
Rob laughs and ruffles her hair. ‘What do you mean, going crazy? You always were crazy, Abigail, but that’s why we love you.’ He sits down opposite her at the kitchen table. As he sits, his leg accidentally brushes against hers and Abby shifts away a little, disconcerted. She wonders vaguely if he noticed. If he did, he gives no sign.
‘I’m sorry I woke you up with my screaming,’ she says. ‘And thank you for coming to my rescue. You’re my knight in shining armour.’
He grins. ‘It’s okay. I’m awake now. Did you have a good time?’
‘Oh, yes . . .’ she’d almost forgotten about Thea’s dinner party. ‘It was nice.’ She thinks about the revelation Thea made. If anyone knows anything about Tanseela, it’ll be Rob.
‘We were talking about Tanseela Jamali. You remember her? You gave her extra English lessons last year, right?’ she says.
‘Tansy? Uh-huh.’ Rob stands up, takes a beer from the fridge and opens it. ‘Yes, lovely girl.’
‘What’s she like? I mean, I taught her before, but I never really got to know her. She was so quiet.’
Rob takes a slug of beer and wipes the foam from his beard. ‘Bright. Hard-working. Sweet. Why do you ask?’
‘No reason. It’s just Thea was talking about her tonight. What are her family like?’
‘Um . . . nice, friendly. Her mum makes the best chapatis.’
‘What about her dad?’ Abby vaguely remembers a short, anxious-looking man at parents’ evening. She can’t imagine him as a child-abuser, but then again, how would she be able to tell?
‘Didn’t see him much. Seemed nice enough. Bit strict maybe.’
‘I know her brother, Abdul. I taught him last year, and she’s got an older brother too, right?’
‘Yes, Javid. He’s at university, studying Engineering, as far as I know.’
Abby rests her elbows on the table. She’s thinking hard. ‘Did she go out a lot partying?’
Rob stares at her. ‘That’s a strange question, Abigail. I have no idea. But I would be very surprised if she did.’
Abby nods. Tanseela certainly doesn’t seem like the party type. If someone has slipped her a roofie, it’s hard to know when it could have happened. But then maybe she wasn’t abused or raped. Perhaps she lied to Thea after all. Perhaps it was a simple case of teenage sex with some spotty boy at school, and she just didn’t want to admit it to Thea. It’s the most likely explanation.
‘Well, I’m going to head to bed,’ says Rob, draining his beer. ‘I don’t know about you, but I’m knackered. Don’t forget to turn off the lights when you come up.’
But Abby is still on edge, wired. There’s no way she’ll get to sleep now. She switches on the TV and tries to numb her mind. There’s a programme on about people buying storage lockers in America, but she can’t concentrate. Thoughts are whirling in her head, and the events of the evening replay in a jumble. The man with her purse, Thea and her offer to take her to a clinic, Tanseela, Chris and what he said about her talking to Danny’s friend Hugo.
Hugo Langley.
Seized by a sudden conviction that Hugo Langley is important somehow, she takes out her phone and goes on Facebook. A quick search reveals five Hugo Langleys, none of whom seem like they could be the Hugo Langley she’s looking for. She clicks on one that hasn’t got a photo, just an anonymous white silhouette. But it’s clearly not Danny’s friend. He lives in Sweden for a start. Disheartened, she scrolls through her feed, takes a quiz: What kind of Disney princess are you? Apparently, she’s Merida from Brave. Then, finally feeling sleepy, she climbs the stairs to bed.
As she reaches the top of the stairs her mobile vibrates in her pocket making her jump. Who the hell would be messaging her at this time of night? She waits until she’s in her bedroom, the door firmly closed before reading the text.
It’s from Alex.
How about dinner tomorrow night? Just as friends, no funny business.
Fifteen
The lights in the stairwell are on a timer and they turn themselves off just as Abby climbs the stairs to Alex’s apartment. She fumbles for the light switch in the darkness, fighting a sudden irrational panic. She’s never been scared of the dark before, but lately everything seems to frighten her. She runs up the next flight of stairs before the lights can go out again and is relieved when she reaches Alex’s door. From inside she can hear music, Nick Cave’s deep, strangled voice crooning away.
‘Abby, come in,’ says Alex, grinning as he opens the door. As she brushes past him, his eyes flick down to her belly and widen in shock. Now Ellie knows about her baby, she wants him to know too, and she’s deliberately worn a tight dress that shows off her bump. She looks at him carefully, gauging his reaction. She’s pretty sure his shock is genuine. Either that or he’s a very good actor.
His flat is open plan, modern and masculine. The lounge area is dominated by a large flat screen TV and a black leather sofa. The kitchen and lounge are separated by a stainless-steel breakfast bar where Abby hoists herself up onto a stool, accepting Alex’s offer of a glass of Coke.
‘I’m guessing you’re not drinking,’ he says. He lifts a tea towel off a bowl and takes out a ball of dough. ‘Hope you like pizza. My speciality. Perhaps I should have made more. I didn’t know you were eating for two. How many months are you?’
‘Five.’
Has he made the obvious connection? Abby wonders. Five months ago. New Year’s Eve. If he has, he’s not letting on.
‘Boy or girl?’ he asks casually.
‘I don’t know yet.’ Abby sips her Coke, then puts it down. Is it her imagination or does it taste a little weird? How easy would it be for him to slip something into her drink? she thinks. She’s alone in the flat with him and entirely at his mercy.
Alex spreads the tomato sauce on the dough, frowning. ‘Is the father still in the picture? Should I be jealous?’
‘Nope, and nope,’ says Abby.
‘Good.’ He gives her a lopsided grin that completely disarms her. Of course he’s not going to drug her. She’s being paranoid. She picks up the Coke and gulps it down to prove to herself that she’s not afraid.
‘Does he know about the baby?’ he asks, as he puts the pizza in the oven.
‘No,’ Abby says slowly, giving herself a chance to think. ‘It was Ben. You know, the guy I told you about? We got together again around Christmas time. It was just that one time and I don’t want him to be involved, not after the way he treated me.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant before?’ he asks later, as they sit at a small table, eating the pizza. There’s a rose at the centre of the table and candles. It’s a pretty obvious attempt at seduction, but Abby can’t help feeling touched at the effort he’s gone to.
‘I didn’t think it was important. I didn’t think I was going to see you again. Anyway,’ she counters, ‘why didn’t you tell me you had a kid?’
‘Oh . . . Danny told you about Dylan huh?’ Alex scrolls through his phone. ‘This is him,’ he says, showing her a picture of a dark-haired little boy, about two years old, holding a watering can and smiling shyly at the camera. ‘He’s a year older than that now, though.’
‘He’s gorgeous,’ she says honestly.
‘He’s great,’ he agrees. ‘Best thing that ever happened to me. They change your life, kids. My life was a mess before Dylan. It was because of him I turne
d it around.’
Abby looks around at the flat. There’s no sign of the domestic disorder that goes with a young kid – no toys, no high chair, no baby bouncer.
‘Where is he at the moment?’ she asks.
‘He lives with my ex, Bethany.’
*
After they’ve eaten, they sit together on the squeaky leather sofa. Alex shuffles up close to her. ‘You haven’t changed your mind, have you, about what you said the other night?’ he says. ‘Cos I really like you, you know, Abigail.’ He takes her hand and rubs the palm with his thumb. His touch sends troubling sensation racing through her body. She extracts her hand carefully and shifts away a little. She knows where this could lead, and she also knows that it’s probably not a good idea.
‘Why did you break up, you and your ex?’ she asks, trying to distract him.
Alex sighs and sits forward, the mood broken. ‘It was her who broke it off. I was really angry when she cheated on me, but I would have taken her back, mug that I am.’
Abby absorbs this. If Bethany was the one who finished the relationship, why would she be jealous of Alex now he’s seeing someone else?
‘Does she know about me?’
Alex shrugs. ‘I don’t think so, why?’
She shows him the message on her phone.
‘Stay away from Alex Taylor,’ he reads out loud. ‘Shit. Who sent you that?’
‘That’s what I want to know. Could Bethany have sent it, do you think?’
‘No way,’ he says. ‘That’s not her style. Anyway, it’s not from her phone. Look.’ He pulls his own phone out of his pocket and shows her Bethany’s number.
‘She could have used a different phone,’ Abby says.
‘Well, yeah. But like I said, it’s not her style. Besides, she’s moved on, got herself a new boyfriend.’ His expression darkens. ‘Anyway, I don’t want to talk about Bethany. I want to talk about you and the other night.’ He leans towards her, smiling. ‘I really enjoyed kissing you.’ Abby smiles back and feels the heat in her face and neck. She can’t help it. Even if she weren’t in the situation she’s in, he would be all wrong for her, she knows that, but there’s something about him that’s magnetic.
