by Julia Blake
‘Why can’t she?’ I asked curiously, and Scott shrugged.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘Some medical reason, that’s all I know.’
I nodded and fell silent, gazing out over the darkening countryside. From the Hall I heard shrieks of laughter and shouted conversations, there was a blast of music as someone put on a CD and I knew dancing would soon follow. ‘How long do you think the party will go on for?’ I asked.
‘God knows,’ Scott replied, stubbing his cigarette out on a step. ‘All night probably; if you’re tired, go to bed, no one will mind. After all, you have had a busy day.’
‘Hmm,’ I agree, realising he’s right, I am tired, too tired to go back into the Hall and face the nameless crowd of revellers. I sighed, struggled wearily to my feet. ‘I think I will,’ I murmured. ‘Would you tell the others I’ll see them tomorrow?’
‘Of course,’ he agreed smoothly. ‘Goodnight, Eve.’
‘Goodnight,’ I replied, ran lightly up the steps. At the top I paused, looked down, hoping for a last glimpse of him, but he’d already gone. I slipped quietly through the open front doors, seeing furniture had been pushed back to form a dance floor in the formal drawing room. Melodiously soft jazzy type music was seeping from the state of the art stereo system.
I paused by the door, unseen and unnoticed, saw Scott re-enter the room through the veranda doors and cross the room to where Annaliese was dancing with Robert. He bent, said something, and Annaliese turned and moved easily into his arms as Robert stepped to the side and accepted a glass from Ferdie. I watched them dance together, a perfect match. Scott, tall and classically handsome; Annaliese, bare foot, feminine and petite, her flower strewn dress floating round her calves and her long golden hair lightly kissing the back of his hand as he clasped her waist.
From my onlooker position, I suddenly had the strangest feeling nothing was real, that I was watching a play, with Scott and Annaliese the hero and heroine and the others standing around being the supporting acts, waiting in the wings for their brief moment of fame centre stage. I was the audience, an audience of one.
A pang of something, I don’t know what, shot through me, jealousy, a feeling of being excluded, of being outside the glass bubble unable to get in. Scott looked up over Annaliese’s shoulder directly into my eyes, something flickered in his expression and then, or was it my imagination, his arms tightened almost imperceptibly around her waist.
What was he trying to tell me? Were he and Annaliese lovers? I turned my gaze to where Robert was standing, watching them dance. I saw Ferdie glance at Scott and Annaliese, then back to Robert. Just for a moment, there was the strangest expression on his face, a furtive concern, a glimpse of secret worry, then it was gone, it was just Ferdie’s funny face again as he said something amusing to Robert, made him smile.
I was tired, emotionally exhausted, so much had happened in the course of one short day, was it any wonder I was seeing things that didn’t exist. If Robert was watching his wife dancing with her lover, then he was being remarkably cool about it, or maybe he didn’t know, or maybe he did know but didn’t care, or maybe Ferdie suspected but... or maybe you’re over reacting Melissa, I told myself firmly, you’re tired, you need to go to bed, you’re reading too much into one dance and looks you thought you saw. Go to bed, things will seem different in the morning.
I took my champagne glass back to the kitchen and filled a clean tumbler with water from the tap, drank it down whole, then filled it up again. Already, I could feel a champagne headache creeping up on me, didn’t want to start the first day of my new life with a raging hangover.
The next day I slept late, not waking until gone ten, horrified at having slept so long, afraid of what everyone would say, until I realised, upon creeping downstairs in a mortified scurry, apart from Robert and Scott, I was the first one up.
‘Good morning,’ beamed Robert, when an unsurprised Mrs Briggs, I assumed she’d already been informed of my change in status, had directed me to the morning room, where I discovered them having breakfast.
‘Eve,’ said Scott quietly, and held aloft the coffee pot, his brow quirked in enquiry. I nodded gratefully and settled myself into a chair.
‘Where is everyone?’ I asked in surprise.
‘Annaliese was still asleep when I last looked,’ replied Robert. ‘Ferdie never emerges before noon on a Saturday and I would imagine Miles has already gone, didn’t he have a lecture or something this morning, Scott?’
‘I believe he did,’ Scott murmured, pouring strong black coffee into my cup and pushing the milk jug towards me. ‘Milk, no sugar, right?’ he said. I nodded, touched he’d remembered.
‘Help yourself to breakfast,’ commanded Robert, waving his hand expansively towards the sideboard where rows of covered dishes sat on heated trays. I murmured my thanks, wandered across to investigate, a smile pulling at my mouth, feeling as if I was in a Noel Coward play or something. I didn’t realise people still lived like this, bacon and kedgeree for breakfast, sipping coffee in the morning room, discussing the contents of their respective newspapers, it all seemed so unreal, contrived, an act.
My mobile rang as I was sitting down. Quickly, I fumbled it out of my trouser pocket, frowning as number unknown flashed up. ‘Hello?’ I cautiously enquired, aware of the barely concealed curiosity of Robert and Scott. The call was brief, my answers sparse. When I disconnected, I could feel the fear on my face.
‘Eve?’ said Robert. ‘What is it? What’s the matter?’
‘That was the police,’ I replied, breathless with apprehension, ‘Mike was arrested yesterday, they want to talk to me.’
‘What was he arrested for?’ he asked in concern.
‘Robbery,’ I answered miserably. ‘I think he got so sick of never having any money, and then he met Wayne...’
‘Wayne?’
‘Wayne Jones. We knew him at school, even then he was evil. When Mike told me he was going to work for him, I knew... I just knew what kind of work it would be, and...’ my voice trailed away and I stared silently at the two men.
‘And that’s why you didn’t want to go home,’ finished Scott. I sighed and nodded.
‘I’m so sorry,’ I said to Robert. ‘They wanted to know where I was, so I told them here, I didn’t know what else to say.’
‘That’s fine,’ he instantly dismissed my concerns. ‘This is your home now, so what else could you have said?’
‘When are they coming?’ enquired Scott.
‘Soon... now...’ I replied, staring miserably at my plate.
‘Then you’d better finish your breakfast,’ he said practically. Obediently, I sipped at my coffee, struggled to eat the food I’d piled so gaily onto my plate only minutes before, yet my throat closed in protest and eventually I pushed it away, anxiety rendering me appetite-less.
‘I think I’d better wake Annaliese,’ murmured Robert, and slipped from the room before I could beg him not to worry her. That left Scott and I. Under his direct, almost knowing gaze, I dropped my own eyes to the table and fiddled with my napkin.
‘Poor Eve,’ he dropped a hand lightly over mine. ‘Not a great start to your new life, is it?’
‘What do you mean?’ I asked, almost defensively.
‘I mean, I understand you were hoping for a clean break, to walk away from your old life as Melissa and start a new one as Eve. But I’m afraid it’s never that simple. Ghosts from your past have an annoying habit of popping up and reminding you, just when you thought you’d managed to leave them far behind.’
I frowned, wondering whether he was referring to ghosts in my life... or in his own.
The police arrived twenty minutes later, official and stern. I looked at the car parked outside the Hall and gulped in guilty misery. My very first day here, and I’d already brought trouble to the golden kingdom. Annaliese swept downst
airs, resplendent in coffee coloured silk, as they rang the doorbell. She paused, threw me a reassuring smile, winked at me, before she threw the doors open and launched into her act.
Later, years later, I would finally come to realise Annaliese had many personas, many different components to her character and that they weren’t acts, weren’t pretence. They were all Annaliese, all angles of a complex and multifaceted woman; that she could draw on them at will, selecting which personality best suited which situation.
But I had not yet learnt that, so could only watch in silent stunned admiration as she assumed what she would later tell me she called her Lady of the Manor act. Gracious and helpful, ever so slightly patronising, not enough to offend, just enough to leave the police in no doubt she was in charge, was bestowing an enormous favour on them by even seeing them. She did it so charmingly and with such a natural unassuming manner, they completely fell for it.
There were two of them, one, the younger, was as I imagined a policeman to be. Dressed in uniform, he was introduced as PC Mulholland and stood by the door, his inferior rank to the other evident from his body language. The other, Detective Inspector Williams, was older, dressed in a rumpled brown suit, his mild face looked kind, almost fatherly, yet his eyes were sharp. I shivered slightly; he would be more difficult to fool.
Annaliese insisted on serving them coffee in the drawing room. Even the keen eyed older one unbent enough in the face of such full on charm to accept a cup, whilst the younger one was plainly beside himself with admiration. His round honest boyish face gazed at Annaliese in awe as she fussed and fluttered, handed round biscuits, made sure everyone was settled and comfortable, before seating herself beside me on the sofa, facing the man with the knowing eyes.
‘Now then, Melissa,’ he began, setting his cup on the table and leaning forward. ‘Do you know why we’re here?’
‘Well,’ I faltered nervously. ‘You said on the phone Mike had been arrested for robbery, but I really don’t know why you need to see me.’
‘It’s routine, Melissa, nothing to worry about, but I do need to ask where you were the night before last, Thursday night.’
‘I was here,’ I was able to reply honestly, my gaze locked directly onto his.
‘Was anyone else here too?’ he asked.
‘Gracious yes,’ Annaliese answered before I could speak, ‘both myself and my husband, and four other friends who were also spending the evening with us. We all watched a DVD and had a Chinese takeaway. In fact, Scott and Melissa picked it up in town for us on their way here.”
‘I see,’ he replied slowly. ‘What time was that?’
‘Scott, darling,’ Annaliese languidly turned. ‘What time did you pick up Melissa?’
‘Straight from work,’ he replied smoothly. ‘We didn’t want to eat too late, so I picked up the Chinese first, and then collected Melissa at 5.30.’
‘So, you hadn’t been to the flat since you left for work that morning?’
‘No,’ I shook my head. ‘Not since the morning.’
‘I see,’ Detective Inspector Williams looked thoughtful. ‘And what time did you return home?’
I hesitated, unsure what the correct answer to give was.
‘I ran Melissa home at about 2.00am,’ again someone else answered for me. My eyes flicked up to meet Scott’s coolly steady ones, as he smoothly slid his answer in front of the Detective Inspector for his examination.
‘Ok,’ said the Inspector, looked directly at me. ‘I want you to tell me, in your own words, Melissa,’ his eyes darted almost imperceptibly in Annaliese and Scott’s directions as if warning them not to intercede on my behalf again. ‘When you returned to the flat you were sharing with your boyfriend...’
‘He isn’t my boyfriend,’ I interjected hastily.
‘Well, he seems to think differently, Melissa.’
‘Yes, Erm, we were in a relationship, but it’s not been right for ages, months really. I was planning on moving out, finding somewhere else to live, but was waiting until he was back on his feet, work wise, that is.’
‘I see,’ he replied, and his tone implied he did, all too clearly. ‘Anyway,’ he continued. ‘When you returned to the flat you were living in with Michael Tate, was he there?’
‘No,’ I replied. ‘But then, I wasn’t expecting him to be, he’d text me earlier in the evening he was staying out all night, so I knew he wouldn’t be there when I got back.’
‘Tell me about the boxes, Melissa.’ The question was direct, almost brutally so and I knew he was trying to catch me out. I’d been expecting it though, so was prepared. Keeping my features even, my voice steady, I looked him straight in the eye.
‘Mike put some boxes in the lounge last week. I asked him what they were, but he told me to mind my own business.’
‘And just like that you did?’ enquired the Detective Inspector casually, stretching out a hand for his coffee. ‘I wish my wife was as obedient.’
I flushed angrily at the implied accusation hidden beneath the words.
‘What do you mean?’ I demanded hotly.
‘It seems a little strange to me, you weren’t in the least bit curious to know why he’d dumped so many boxes in your small flat, and precisely what was in them?’
‘Well of course I was curious,’ I stated firmly. ‘And worried, I was very worried what he was getting himself into, especially as he’d been seeing so much of Wayne Jones. But when I asked him he got really angry, we fought about it and I was too scared to push any more...’
‘Scared of Mike?’
‘No, scared of Wayne, he frightened me, the way he looked at me, as though...’ I broke off and looked away, across the room I was aware of Scott turning from his position at the window, his eyes still and thoughtful.
‘Why did he frighten you, Melissa?’ the Inspector’s voice was gentler.
‘I knew him from school, knew the reputation he had, what he was capable of. I was so scared he was dragging Mike into something dodgy. I tried to warn Mike, but he wouldn’t listen, he’s weak, easily led,’ I looked pleadingly at the Detective Inspector. ‘He’s not a bad person,’ I continued. ‘He’s finding it hard to settle to a job and he hates not having any money.’
‘Tell me what happened that night, Melissa.’
‘I came here for the evening,’ I stuttered, not wanting to admit I’d seen Wayne turn up at the flat, had known they were up to something. ‘Scott ran me home at about two.’
‘What did you find when you got home, Melissa?’
‘More boxes,’ I paused and swallowed. ‘I was really angry with Mike and decided to have it out with him when I saw him.’ Scott’s gaze was still on me, rock steady, unwavering. Annaliese gently slipped her hand in mine. Somehow, they gave me the courage to draw back my shoulders, look the Detective Inspector straight in the eyes, calmly and coolly lie.
‘He must have come home sometime during the night though, because, when I woke up, he was in bed fast asleep. I didn’t want to have an argument before going to work, so I left him sleeping, thinking I’d talk to him when I got home.’
‘So you left him asleep in bed and went to work.’
‘Yes.’
‘Only, you didn’t go to work did you, Melissa?’
‘No, I didn’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘I’m not sure, really. I got to the door and realised I’d had enough, I don’t like my job and yesterday it all seemed too much. I decided to take the day off and visit Annaliese instead.’
‘Did you phone to let her know you were coming?’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘I don’t know,’ I shrugged. ‘It didn’t occur to me.’
‘How did you get here?’
‘I walked.’
‘All the way from town?�
��
‘Yes.’
‘That’s quite a step, Melissa.’
‘It was a lovely day, I felt like walking.’
‘What time did you get here, Melissa?’
‘I’m not too sure, about one, I think, certainly not much later.’
‘Can you confirm that, Ms Macleod?’ he suddenly turned the spotlight on Annaliese.
‘No, Inspector, unfortunately, I was out at a charity lunch.’
‘I see. Is there anyone else who could confirm what time you reached here, Melissa?’
‘No, no one was in.’
‘So, you’d walked all that way only to find the Hall empty, locked up?’
‘No, the back door was unlocked, I let myself in...’
‘Is there a point to all of this, Detective Inspector?’ Annaliese questioned sweetly. ‘I mean, Melissa has already told you she knew nothing of her ex-boyfriend’s nefarious goings on, so unless you are accusing her of something, do you really need to interrogate her in this manner?’
‘Merely gaining background information, Ms Macleod,’ the Detective Inspector replied calmly. ‘Trying to see the whole picture, as it were.’
‘Well, it was a jolly good thing Melissa did decide to pay me a visit yesterday, Detective Inspector,’ Annaliese retorted hotly.
‘Oh, why was that?’
‘Because she saved the life of our friend, and her unborn baby’s life too!’
The Detective Inspector raised his head and regarded me with interest. ‘Is that so?’ he commented mildly.
‘Well, I don’t know about saved their lives,’ I mumbled
‘Oh, don’t be so modest, Melissa,’ insisted Annaliese, and proceeded to tell him exactly what had happened. The Detective Inspector drained his coffee cup, placed it carefully back into his saucer, nodded his head thoughtfully. For a moment there was silence in the room, once again, I had the feeling I was watching an act, a play, with the policemen, Scott, Annaliese, even myself, all acting out pre-determined roles.
‘Thank you, Melissa,’ the Detective Inspector suddenly said and rose to his feet. ‘You’ve been most helpful.’ Annaliese and I rose too.
