The Mark

by Heather Burnside

  ‘Well, I suppose congratulations are in order,’ said Clare. ‘When’s the wedding?’

  ‘Oh, we haven’t really discussed that yet. We’ve got all that to come.’

  ‘Where will you live?’ asked Clare and, to Maddy, this was beginning to sound a bit like an interrogation.

  ‘I don’t know yet. Probably here.’

  ‘Really? I thought Aaron was going to buy a house.’

  ‘He is, eventually, but at the moment he’s more focused on the business.’

  ‘What about his family? Have you met them yet?’

  ‘For God’s sake, Clare. What is this? I know you’ve got a bit of a downer on Aaron, but do you need to make it so bloody obvious?’

  ‘I’m sorry, Maddy. I’m just looking out for you, that’s all. That’s what friends do, isn’t it?’

  ‘Well, I’m absolutely fine,’ snapped Maddy. ‘Like I say, I’ve never been happier, and I’m more than capable of looking after myself.’

  ‘OK. Sorry,’ Clare repeated. ‘I didn’t mean any harm. And if it is truly what you want, then I’m very pleased for you. I wish you all the best, Maddy.’

  ‘Thanks,’ said Maddy.

  But the conversation remained stilted, Clare’s obvious disapproval acting like a wall between them. Although Maddy tried to make polite conversation it was difficult when she knew that Clare would never accept Aaron. But he was her choice and if Clare didn’t approve then there was nothing she could do about it. Maddy was determined to spend her future with Aaron regardless of what her friends or family thought.

  44

  Clare put down the phone and let out a huge gust of air. Maddy’s news had completely taken her by surprise. She knew Maddy was smitten by Aaron but hadn’t thought she’d be foolish enough to rush into things so soon.

  The situation worried Clare. Maddy hardly knew the guy; she hadn’t even met his family yet! And Clare had a bad feeling about him. She was convinced he was telling Maddy lies. All the stories about the Porsche and his family in Yorkshire, who Maddy still hadn’t met, just didn’t seem to add up. Why would he still be living in a hotel? Was it just a front until he’d managed to worm his way into Maddy’s home? He already seemed to have delayed his decision to buy a home and Clare wondered why that might be.

  Despite her worries, Clare was at a loss as to how she could stop her friend making what could potentially be the biggest mistake of her life. If she passed comment about Aaron, or even asked the questions Maddy should have been asking herself, then Maddy just got defensive. And, as the saying went, you couldn’t help those who wouldn’t help themselves.

  Clare wondered if Andy had heard the news yet and what his reaction would be when he did. It was obvious from their last meeting that he already had concerns and Clare felt compelled to tell him. It might seem disloyal to Maddy, but she knew they had to band together to find a way of rescuing Maddy from this situation. Maybe he could talk Maddy round.

  She fished in her purse for Andy’s business card, then picked up the phone again and dialled the number he had written on the back last time they had met.

  *

  Andy had mixed feelings when he answered the call from Clare. On the one hand, he was pleased she’d rung him. He’d always liked Clare and it meant she was comfortable confiding in him. But, on the other hand, he was apprehensive, recognising that the call was probably in connection with Maddy and, judging by the last conversation he’d had with Clare, it was unlikely to be anything positive.

  Clare came straight to the point. ‘Have you heard the news?’ she asked.

  ‘What news?’ asked Andy.

  There was a pause before Clare elaborated. ‘Maddy’s got engaged.’

  ‘No!’ said Andy.

  ‘Yes, afraid so.’

  ‘When did this happen?’

  ‘This weekend, I think.’

  ‘Jesus! She never mentioned it when she came to pick Becky up.’

  ‘Sorry,’ said Clare.

  ‘No, no, it’s not your fault. It’s just, well… I thought she would have mentioned it. I can’t believe it. She’s not been with him five minutes.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘And she knows nothing about him.’

  ‘I know,’ Clare repeated. ‘I’ve said all this to her but she doesn’t seem to take much notice. She’s overjoyed, like some love-struck teenager, and, no matter what I say to her, it doesn’t seem to make any difference. The thing is, she’s already letting things slide, like I told you the other day. What will things be like if he moves in with her?’

  ‘It’s not only that, Clare, I’m worried about Becky in all of this. Just what effect will it have on her? I mean, I expected Maddy to move on. I knew there would be men in her life, I’m not stupid. But I thought she would take the time to find out more about the man she’s seeing before she made him such a big part of Becky’s life.’

  He didn’t voice his added concerns that Aaron might have been lying about his business and the directorship as well, or the call from Rebecca’s head teacher. Those were his worries and he didn’t want to burden Clare with them.

  While all these things were going over in his head, Clare asked, ‘What will you do?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘But thanks for telling me, Clare. It’s best that I know. I need to get my head round it first and then I’ll think about how I want to tackle it.’

  ‘OK. Well, I’m sorry to have been the bearer of such bad news,’ said Clare.

  ‘It’s not your fault, Clare. But, like I say, I’m grateful that you told me.’

  ‘OK, well, you take care,’ she said.

  ‘Yes, you too,’ said Andy. ‘And don’t forget to stay in touch.’

  ‘Will do,’ said Clare before she finished the call.

  Andy sat for a few minutes, incredulous. How could Maddy do such a thing with a man she hardly knew?

  Since Aaron had come on the scene Maddy was letting things slide in her work life, becoming snappy with Rebecca, and spending less time with her. The upshot of all that was that Rebecca was becoming so withdrawn at school that the headmistress had felt the need to ring him over her concerns. The thought of having such a man taking over his role as Rebecca’s father-figure both angered and unsettled him.

  The more he thought, the more worried he became. As Clare had said, if Aaron moved in with Maddy then things were bound to get worse, and they were already bad enough.

  He wondered how much Maddy actually knew about Aaron, aside from the things he had told her, which were obvious lies. The man could have been a damn paedophile for all he knew! The thought made him shudder but then he quickly dismissed it; maybe he was getting a bit too carried away. There was probably nothing more sinister than the fact that he occupied too much of Maddy’s time, leaving Rebecca feeling pushed out, but that was bad enough.

  Andy went over to his drinks cabinet and poured himself a whisky. It was the only way he was going to sleep tonight with all this going over in his head. Several times he was tempted to ring Maddy but he resisted. It was too late, for one thing, and, after his last call when Maddy had hung up, he knew that he probably wouldn’t get anywhere. In the end he decided that he would speak to her face to face on Friday evening when he went to collect Rebecca, and he’d make damn sure she listened to all his concerns.

  45

  Maddy had only seen Aaron once since he’d left her home on Sunday afternoon and it was now late Friday morning. He’d stayed over on Tuesday but had respected her wishes to have an early night and had left her to get on with her work the following day. Although she missed him when she had to sleep alone, it meant that she was feeling fresher and was making more progress with her work.

  This morning she was due to interview a retired police detective who had agreed to dish the dirt on a discredited former colleague. She was looking forward to getting the interview out of the way. Then she would type up her interview notes and catch up with a few bits before collecting Rebecca from school. Later sh
e would cook one of Aaron’s favourite dishes ready for him coming round that evening.

  As she locked the house and made her way down the drive she was feeling upbeat. But as she got nearer to her car she could see something wasn’t right. The side mirror seemed to be twisted. She drew closer and was disturbed to notice that it had been wrenched out of its fixing and the glass was shattered. Somebody must have used something solid like a brick to force it out of position. Not only that, but there was a massive scrape all along the passenger side of the car.

  The breath caught in her throat as the shock of this wanton destruction hit her, and she let out an anguished yelp. Thoughts of a connection with the graffiti and the strange cars were spinning around inside her brain, convincing her that somebody with evil intentions had done this.

  In her peripheral vision she saw a neighbour approaching. He was an elderly man who lived a few doors down on the other side of the road. Maddy didn’t know him well. He was one of those people who said a cheery hello whenever they passed, but now he was striding towards her with purpose. Perhaps he knew something about the damage to her car.

  ‘Is everything all right?’ he asked.

  ‘Not really,’ said Maddy, her voice a bit shaky. ‘Someone’s damaged my car.’

  The neighbour came round to the passenger side of the car and surveyed the damage.

  ‘I thought it was strange,’ he said. ‘There was a young woman here last night. Oh, not that I was being nosy. I couldn’t sleep, you see. So I went back downstairs for a cup of tea. I often check the windows before I go to bed and I happened to see her after I’d finished my tea. She was there for ages but I couldn’t tell what she was doing because she was on the other side of the car. I decided to go outside and see what she was up to but by the time I got to the front door she was gone. Then I forgot about it, to be honest, till I saw you looking at the car.’

  ‘A woman?’ asked Maddy, confused as it didn’t seem to fit with the man who had been watching the house. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘That’s right,’ said the man. ‘A woman. He’d have been pretty small if it had been a man but, no, I’m sure it was a woman.’

  ‘What did she look like?’

  ‘Well, I couldn’t see much of her because, like I say, she was on the other side of the car, and it was dark. But, from what I saw, she had long, bright red hair. It looked dyed, y’know, one of these bright colours that a lot of the youngsters have these days. And I think she was wearing some kind of bomber jacket but, other than that, I couldn’t really tell.’

  ‘Right, so you think it was a young woman?’ asked Maddy, her heart now beating rapidly.

  ‘Yes, I think so.’

  ‘What time was this?’ she asked.

  ‘About half twelve.’

  Maddy couldn’t think of any more questions to ask so she walked round the car to see if there was any further damage.

  ‘That side’s OK,’ said the man before Maddy had chance to look.

  She came back to the passenger side and stood staring at the broken mirror and huge scratch in the paintwork. ‘I can’t believe it,’ she kept muttering. ‘Who would do something like that?’

  The man patted her arm, sympathetically. ‘I’d get onto the police if I were you, love. They’re a bloody disgrace, the youngsters these days, and the girls are getting just as bad. Not that the police will do much, but at least it’s a start, isn’t it?’

  Maddy just looked at him in stunned silence, his words not really registering.

  ‘You can send the police to mine, love. Don’t worry, I’ll tell ’em what I saw.’

  ‘Thanks,’ said Maddy, but she didn’t really feel thankful.

  The aftershock was now beginning to hit her and she could feel her eyes cloud over with tears. Once the neighbour had left her she went back indoors. For a few moments she sat on the sofa going over this and the other incidents in her mind and trying to make sense of it all.

  The only person she could think of who might have it in for her was her ex-boyfriend, Rob. But would he really do something as malicious as damaging her property and spying on her? He might have been the jealous type, but she’d never thought of him as malicious. And where did the woman come into it? Unless he had a new girlfriend who was jealous of his past relationships.

  But it didn’t really stack up. Her relationship with Rob had ended months ago and she hadn’t heard from him in ages so why would he start doing spiteful things now? And why would a new girlfriend bother about something that had been over months previously?

  Maddy couldn’t face her planned interview; her mind was in too much turmoil to focus on work. But she couldn’t cope with being alone at the moment either, so she rang Aaron to try to garner some emotional support.

  As soon as Maddy heard his familiar voice and began explaining what had happened, she became overwhelmed by emotion and found it difficult to speak.

  ‘Hang on, I’ve just got a bit of business to attend to, but I’ll be round as soon as I can,’ he said.

  It seemed an age before Aaron arrived and by the time he got there it was early afternoon. In the meantime, Maddy had deliberated over whether to get the police involved then finally decided it was about time she told them everything. When Aaron walked through the door Maddy collapsed, sobbing, into his arms.

  ‘Eh, it’s OK,’ he said. ‘I’ve seen the damage and we can soon get it fixed. And you should be able to claim it on your insurance.’

  ‘It’s not just the damage, Aaron,’ she sobbed. ‘It’s the thought that someone’s watching me, someone bad enough to want to destroy my property. I’m worried about what they will do next.’

  ‘All right,’ he said, holding her tightly. ‘Try not to worry. I’ll be with you as much as I can and when I’m not here make sure you keep your doors and windows locked. I think you should phone the police as well and let them handle this now.’

  ‘I already have done,’ she said. ‘They should be here any minute.’

  ‘Shame,’ he said. ‘I could have given you something to calm you down, but we don’t want them walking in to the smell of dope, do we?’

  For precious moments she stayed where she was, with Aaron enveloping her in his strong arms. His presence was soothing; it felt as if a big warm blanket of love and support were wrapped around her. Maddy didn’t want him to let go but then the doorbell rang and she felt him pull away.

  ‘It’s OK, I’ll get it,’ said Aaron, and he walked out of the lounge.

  Maddy heard him opening the front door, followed by the sound of voices in the hall, and she tried to calm down and mentally prepare herself. The police were here.

  *

  Aaron didn’t really want the police sniffing around but he had suggested Maddy should ring them because he was doing what would be expected of him. He didn’t want to raise Maddy’s suspicions but in fact he detested the police and, in the preceding years, he had regarded them very much as the enemy.

  He had been on edge as they’d waited for the police to arrive and he had rushed to answer Maddy’s front door as there was a chance that one of them might recognise him, and he preferred to face that situation without Maddy watching. Even if the officer didn’t say anything, the body language between them might have given him away.

  Aaron answered the door to two officers, one male and one female. He was relieved that he didn’t know either of them. Thankfully, Flixton was covered by a different police force from the area where he normally operated.

  He showed the officers through to the lounge and offered everyone a drink. Meanwhile, the female officer sat on the sofa with Maddy and the male officer sat on the armchair across from them.

  By the time Aaron returned to the lounge Maddy was looking more composed as she related her story to the police.

  ‘So, let’s look at the incidents one at a time, shall we?’ said the female officer. ‘Let’s start with what happened to your car and then we can discuss the graffiti and the strange cars you’ve seen outside your
house. When did you discover the damage?’

  Aaron listened while Maddy answered the officers’ questions. He hadn’t yet heard all of the details about what had happened to Maddy’s car so he was interested in what she had to say, especially the part about the woman her neighbour had seen.

  ‘OK, we’ll be speaking to your neighbour separately,’ said the female officer, in response to Maddy telling them what her neighbour had said. ‘But can you tell me in your own words how your neighbour described the person he saw last night?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Maddy. ‘He said it was a woman, young, not all that tall, and with long, vivid red hair, dyed, he said. Oh, and he thought she was wearing some kind of bomber jacket.’

  ‘What do you mean by “not all that tall”?’ asked the officer.

  ‘He said something about her not being tall enough to be a man.’

  ‘OK. Anything else?’

  Maddy shook her head. ‘No, that was it. He said it was dark so he couldn’t see much.’

  ‘OK, can you think of anyone who might fit that description?’ the police officer asked.

  ‘Not really, no,’ said Maddy.

  But Aaron knew who it was as soon as Maddy described her. And that realisation angered him. He suspected that the same person was probably responsible for the graffiti as well. Aaron felt his muscles tense and outrage showed in his features. He quickly tried to disguise the strained expression on his face.

  ‘Do you have any enemies or can you think of anyone who might have wanted to damage your property?’ asked the police.

  ‘No,’ said Maddy. ‘I deal with a lot of people from different backgrounds because of my work, though, and some of my exposés are hard-hitting. So there’s always a chance that somebody connected to an article might be a bit upset. But I make it a rule never to let the interviewees know where I live.’

  ‘OK,’ said the police officer while her colleague took notes. ‘Is there anyone else you can think of?’