by Gareth Otton
Major police stations don’t really close, but the few times Tad visited Kate on a weekend, it was much quieter. When he left Kate’s office, he found himself alone with Stella who was waiting for him further down the corridor where they couldn’t be overheard.
“What is it, Stella?”
She didn’t answer immediately and he had no choice but to wait her out. The time he waited gave him chance to read her aura which was muted again, but slightly more readable this time. It was a mess of colours that he couldn’t work out. She had mixed feelings and none of them were winning through.
“I need to apologise. Yesterday… I wasn’t myself.”
“No?”
“Look. I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I was angry, and I took it out on you. I shouldn’t have done that and I’m sorry.”
The apology sounded sincere, but he felt it was only a half truth and there was more she wasn’t saying. The question was whether he would let that slide or keep digging.
“That’s fine. Apology accepted. Now I’m sorry, but I need to—”
“Tad, what are you working on?”
“Kate’s case. She had something she wanted me to go over with her.”
The flicker of purple annoyance was all too clear even if she managed to keep the look from reaching her face.
“You know, you’ve surprised me in a lot of ways since we’ve met. But the one constant with you is that I always know when you’re lying. You’re lying now. I know I was out of line yesterday, but please lets not go back to where you involve yourself in my investigation and lie about it. What are you working on?”
He sighed. “It could be nothing. It’s just a hunch.”
“Well it’s more than what I’ve got. After you left, I confirmed what you said. She is Dinah Mizrahi, and she worked for the Israeli government, but that’s it. She shut up as soon as you left and we’ve not been able to get a word out of her since.”
He didn’t think she would. Dinah thought she was keeping her family safe by not saying anything. If there was one thing he learnt about her, it was that her strength to do anything for her family was unending. If Dinah didn’t want to talk, nothing Stella could do would make her.
“Fine. I’m getting Kate to see if she can find any information on a Gideon Jordan.”
“Who’s he?”
“The man Dinah works for asked her to find him. He said that first she was to get Jen and then this Gideon was the next target. But, he isn’t a Proxy. I figured if I can track him down and find out why Jen’s employer wants him then it might lead to something else. It’s a long shot but—”
“It’s more than what I’ve got.” She sounded excited. “If you find him I want to go with you, Tad. You’re not leaving me out of this.”
It wasn’t a request, and he knew better than to deny her. Besides, when Jen’s life hung in the balance, having Stella, and by extension the police, on his side was only a plus.
“Fine. You can come. But no promises. We don’t even know if we can find the guy.”
Stella opened her mouth to answer but was cut short when Tad’s phone rang. “Hang on, it’s Jen.” He connected the call. “Jen. Are you alright?”
“Yeah. I’m fine, don’t worry. Tad, I’ve found him.”
“You what?”
“Gideon Jordan. I’ve found him… or at least know who he is. He’s fifteen, was raised in a place called Tenby, and there was a lot of fuss made about him on local websites, blogs and papers when he finished high school early and got admitted to Cambridge. He’s in his second year there.”
Tad was already getting an idea of what Dinah’s employer might want from this kid. “What’s he doing at Cambridge?”
“I’m not sure. The articles say different things.”
“It doesn’t matter. That’s already good work. You say he’s from Tenby. Do you think he still has family there?”
“Miriam thought you might ask that. She said to say there are a few families with the surname of Jordan within ten miles of Tenby. We’ve found the addresses of most of them and I’ve just emailed the last few names to Kate to see what she can find. Is there anything else you need?”
“No. You’ve been great. Thanks Jen.”
He could hear her pride over the phone. She told him it was no problem and after a brief goodbye she hung up.
Stella had only heard one side of the conversation, but she could tell by looking at him that he had good news.
“What is it? Something in Tenby?”
He nodded and filled her in. She was less enthused when he finished. “It doesn’t sound like much.”
Tad shook his head. “I have a theory I’m working on. This new information on Gideon might tell us more than you’d think.” He opened his mouth to explain, then shook his head. “I’m on a deadline. If you’re coming, then you'll need to be ready to go in a few minutes. As soon as I see what Kate has found I’m heading out.”
Stella nodded and was already moving away. “I’ll be back here in five,” she promised. He didn’t get chance to answer before she disappeared around the corner at the end of the corridor.
Tad watched the space she had been standing for a second, trying to get his head around whether bringing her was a good idea. However, he didn’t have time to waste thinking, and he forced the problem from his mind.
He returned to Kate’s office to see what she had.
Five minutes later he and Stella were climbing into his car, and after a brief pit stop and a change of ghosts at his house, they headed west to find the Jordan family.
27
Saturday, 29th November 2015
15:55
The drive west was wet and long. Thanks to average speed checks, high traffic through Port Talbot and a crash near Carmarthen, the journey that should have taken only an hour and a half, took three.
Those three felt like nine to Stella. She had lost the easy conversation she once had with Tad. He still resented her treatment of him from yesterday, and she didn’t blame him.
She overreacted to unfamiliar emotions that caught her by surprise. Stella remained confident that those feelings should be pushed aside as she couldn’t trust them and didn’t need them. However, she also felt like she was throwing something away.
She didn’t know how to bridge the gap, so she said little on the way west.
Stella had been to Tenby before. The picturesque Pembrokeshire coastal town had been a popular holiday destination in her family. It was one of the few places where she actually made good childhood memories.
She remembered being impressed with the ancient walls that encircled the main part of the town and made the whole place seem like one big castle. Inside those walls was a nest of narrow, windy streets filled with old buildings, rich in character, and coloured in a mixture of vibrant, blues, pinks and yellows. The hodgepodge of unusual buildings, overly colourful facades and cobbled streets stood out in her memories, and she would be happy to see them again.
Once they parked in the town’s multi-storey, she had no choice but to break the silence.
“What’s the plan?” she asked. “Just knock on doors?”
Tad shook his head. “I don’t have time for that. Between Jen and Kate they’ve narrowed the search to four addresses. That’s what these two are here for.”
He indicated Tony and Stella. Maggie had opted to stay at the police station to keep an eye on Kate, and Charles had been left with Jen.
“What will you do?” Stella asked. It was Miriam who answered.
“We’ll take a look around the houses. We find any sign that we might be at the right location and we’ll come find you.”
Stella wasn’t used to the casual way these ghosts had of ignoring the law. She understood there was no law governing whether a ghost could enter your property, she doubted she could enforce it if there was. However, she couldn’t help but view them as people when Tad showed them to her, and it was hard to accept their ability to wander into other people’s homes and snoop about.
“Okay. While they’re doing that, what will we be doing?”
“Dinner,” Tad said. The minute he said the word she realised she hadn’t eaten all day. Suddenly she was starving.
“Now you mention it, that sounds good.” An idea struck her and for the first time that day, a genuine smile came to her face. “Being as we’re at the seaside, you fancy fish and chips?”
Tad shrugged and nodded.
Stella suggested a spot where they could meet up with the ghosts. Once decided, the ghosts vanished and Stella was left alone with Tad. The silence returned as she led them out of the car park and up to the town.
They entered the old town walls through one of the stone arch ways in the barbican gatehouse. They stopped off a few minutes later to buy their dinner and spoke only long enough for Stella to insist that they get takeout rather than eat in. With their paper wrapped parcels of food, Stella led them through the town and down the hill toward the sea.
Being a Saturday, there were plenty of people wandering about, moving from shop to shop and visiting the pubs. Above the sound of people talking there were the constant cries of seagulls. Stella found it relaxing and her contented feeling remained as they left the town square and followed the road down to the harbour and a grassy hill overlooking it. The winding path around the hill revealed several treasures including two lifeboat stations, a monument, and yet another medieval looking ruin. Most importantly to Stella, there was the view over the old island fort just off the coast.
By the time she found them a sheltered bench that was dry enough to sit on, she felt much more relaxed than she had in days.
“That’s quite a view,” Tad commented as he too stared at the old island fort, the beach surrounding it, Caldey Island off in the distance, and even the sea itself.
“It is. I used to love coming here in the summer,” she said. “I haven’t been in years.”
They lapsed back to silence as they finished their food, but it was more comfortable than the last. Stella found it easier to break this silence when she was ready to talk.
“I really am sorry about yesterday. I took my frustrations out on you. I shouldn’t have.”
“What had you so frustrated?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she answered quickly, hoping he would move past the topic.
“It clearly does. Look. You say you took your frustrations out on me, but it’s clear that those frustrations had at least something to do with me. What was wrong?”
She didn’t know how to answer and Tad spoke up before she figured it out.
“Does it have something to do with me kissing Maggie?”
Again she didn’t know how to answer and again he spoke before she could.
“I thought so.” He sounded confident, as though he had somehow read her thoughts. Was she that obvious with her emotions? She had always thought she was good at masking what she was feeling. Not for the first time he surprised her with his ability to see through that mask. “I explained about the kiss—“
“I already said, it’s none of my business.”
“I don’t buy that, Stella.” He sighed. “I can’t be bothered to tip toe past this. I’m no good at that sort of thing. Nothing will ever happen between me and Maggie. It never would have when she was alive and now she’s dead it’s still not going to. I had a crush on her for years but that was it. Those feelings are gone now, I promise.”
“Tad, I don’t need—”
“Do you know the one thing that hasn’t sucked about the last few weeks? Spending time with you and getting to know you better. Back when we first met, I have to be honest, you were pretty scary. But since that night we were attacked, I’ve had more chance to see the real you and I like the Stella that I’ve got to know since. I may be taking a big leap in the wrong direction, but I thought you might like me as well.
“Maybe I’m wrong, but maybe that’s why you had such a bad reaction when Maggie kissed me. Was I wrong? If so, just tell me because one way or the other we need to put this behind us.”
The winter night was fast closing in, the darkness coming quickly even though it was not yet five o’clock. In spite of that darkness Stella knew Tad had no trouble seeing her expression. For the first time in memory, she had no idea what that expression might be.
He caught her off guard. There was something about such radical honesty that made it hard to respond and she struggled to even find an answer within her own mind let alone speak one aloud. The silence dragged between them and in panic she realised she needed to say something or things might go bad again.
“You might have been right. I’ve been… confused since that night we were attacked. I normally have a handle on things and—“
She didn’t like how that sounded. She tried again.
“I’m not good with people. I’ve had a lot of bad relationships with both friends and family, and I find it’s easier to be alone. Then this last week it’s been so easy talking to you, it got me confused. I don’t know what I was expecting, but when I saw Maggie kissing you it surprised me and I didn’t know how to react.”
She looked over to see his reaction and found him staring at her. There was a strange little smile growing on his face which made her forget what she had been about to say.
“What?” she asked.
“I knew you liked me.”
Everything about the statement made her mind travel back to secondary school. From his tone of voice as he almost sang the words, to the actual statement itself, it all felt juvenile. She couldn’t help but laugh.
“I never said that.”
“Sure you did. You made me work for it and I had to read between the lines, but you definitely said it.”
She laughed again. “I thought we were having a serious conversation.”
“We are. I just like to know where I stand. It’s all becoming clear now. I should have known. Women always get this way around me. They can’t keep their heads on straight.”
She tried to snort mockingly and laugh at the same time. The combination of the two had her choking. It must have been hilarious as suddenly Tad was roaring with laughter. He was laughing long after she had stopped choking, and his laughter only made her laugh as well.
It was one of those situations where each person’s laughter was spurred on by the other. It kept the amusement alive longer was normal, and by the time they quieted there were tears in both their eyes.
When she finally calmed, she leaned back against the bench and turned to find him looking at her again. There was a big smile on his face and she wasn’t surprised to find that his magic had returned. Once more his smile triggered her own. She didn’t mind. If his magic power over her was to make her happy, then who was she to complain?
Now she had locked gazes with him she couldn’t look away. Slowly his smile was fading, and he was leaning forward. The movement set off all kinds of alarms in Stella, but she leaned forward as well.
They were close enough that she could feel his breath upon her face and she was suddenly very aware of the smell of his cologne. She continued to lean closer, and she closed her eyes, waiting for his lips to touch hers.
After a few seconds she thought the hesitation would kill her. A few more seconds and she realised he wasn’t going to kiss her.
A sudden panic washed through her.
Had she misread the moment? What did she look like to him right now? Leaning forward with her eyes closed… What was she even thinking? Hadn’t she just spent the last two days telling herself that she didn’t want to be in a relationship? She was married to her job. She didn’t need this.
She opened her eyes to find he was no longer leaning in and had turned his head away. She was about to feel hurt by his rejection when suddenly she heard it too.
She only recognised one voice. It was a voice she had heard so many times when she worked with her that she could never forget it. It was too quiet to make out the words, but Miriam was coming towards them.
What surprised h
er was that the second voice didn’t belong to Tony, and it sounded American. Another woman was talking to Miriam. That meant that whoever was coming could not only see Miriam but could interact with her. Another Proxy maybe? Stella didn’t think so for some reason. Tad said they weren’t here looking for a Proxy and she had the feeling they were unlikely to stumble across one.
Another ghost then.
She got her answer when Miriam, Tony and a third figure walked around the corner. She was suddenly glad that Tad had pulled back. If he hadn’t, they would have walked around the corner just in time to see the two of them kiss. That would have caused yet more complications. Besides, she didn’t even want anything to happen with Tad… did she? She was so confused right then that she was actually glad for this distraction.
“Finally, here you are,” Tony said when he spotted them. “This place is a bit out of the way, Stella. If we hadn’t had Emily to guide us, we never would have found it.”
“Speak for yourself,” Miriam said. “Some of us can read, so I’d have been fine.”
Tony rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to speak when the third figure, Emily, beat him too it.
“You're Thaddeus Holcroft?” she asked. “The Proxy?”
Tad was turned away from her, so Stella only saw the edge of his frown when it appeared.
“I am. How do you know me?”
Emily was a small, black woman who looked like she was in her late seventies. She had a slight hunch and from the way she leaned over, Stella felt she should probably have a cane. Stella wondered whether ghosts would take such things with them into the afterlife. They seemed to take their clothes. She still knew too little about ghosts to guess at an answer and now wasn’t the time to ask. She focused on the conversation.
“There aren’t many Proxies left in Britain, so you’ve become famous in dead circles.”
From what little Stella could see, Tad looked as confused as she was.
“Okay. I think I might be a little lost. Who are you?” Tad asked.
“We found her waiting for us at one of the addresses,” Tony said. “You should have seen what was waiting at one of the other addresses though mate. There were these two chicks who were showing up Miriam and Kate if you know what I mean. They were gorgeous as well—”
