‘When your Uncle Stan and I sold the factory we made a big profit on the land at the side of it because we secured planning permission for it. Your mother and I are more than all right money-wise, and we’ll enjoy seeing you buy that house rather than us having to die first so you can inherit what we want you to have, like with Stan and his son. God knows we’ve tried to make the pair of you have something from us for long enough – it’s time for you to see sense now. Take the money, son, and buy the house. You’ve coveted it since you were a wee boy.’
Perry flapped the cheque at Guy and when he still didn’t take it, he put it into his son’s hand and closed his fingers around it.
‘There, that wasn’t so hard, now was it?’
‘Dad, I don’t know what to say.’
‘Say, “Thank you, Daddy.” That’ll do.’
‘Thanks, Dad.’
Guy threw his giant arms around his father and crushed him to his chest. He loved this man so much. And he felt love from him every day of his life.
When they finally drew apart, Perry lifted up his pipe again and puffed on it. Then he turned to go and tell Grainne the good news that Guy had taken the money. ‘Go buy the house, son,’ he said over his shoulder.
Floz pulled up pictures of Osoyoos on the internet. It looked as stunning as he had described it in past emails. She wanted to see it soon – in Nick’s favourite season. Only then could she say a true goodbye. Although being anchored to grief seemed more desirable than cutting adrift and going in an uncertain direction.
Grief loses its hard edge after a time . . .
Chapter 70
Juliet was uncharacteristically down in the dumps. She’d spent hours over the weekend looking on the net for suitable houses for a family. Her mother and father were giving her and Steve a huge lump sum of money towards the wedding and a new home, which was exciting – but she was still feeling guilty about Floz.
At lunchtime on Monday she rang Steve almost in tears.
‘Look, if the worst comes to the worst,’ he said kindly, ‘we can rent somewhere big enough so that Floz can stay with us until she gets a suitable place. How’s that?’
Juliet smiled for the first time all morning. ‘You don’t mind?’
‘No, course not,’ said Steve. ‘We’ll have to put my place and yours up for a reasonable price so we’ve got a good chance of shifting them quickly. Then we’ll buy somewhere. It’s a bit messy but I’m sure it’ll all sort itself out in the end.’
‘I love you, Steve Feast.’
Steve smiled sloppily. He just hoped that the magic of their own fairytale ending would spread in Floz and Guy’s direction.
That morning Guy was walking around Hallow’s Cottage with Jeff Leppard, whose real name was Bob Sedgewick: Bob the builder extraordinaire.
‘Well, Crusher,’ mused Jeff, ‘it’s not as big a job for you as it might at first appear.’ All the wrestlers tended to refer to each other by their aliases both in and out of the ring.
‘Or for you. If you want the job.’
‘Can we do it? Yes, we can,’ laughed Jeff. ‘It’s quiet this winter, so I can set a gang on as soon as you complete the sale, if you give me a bit of notice when that will be.’
‘I’ll set things in motion straight away,’ said Guy.
‘Roof’s sound as a pound,’ Jeff went on, ‘so you’ve not got that to worry about at least. Walls need a damp-proof course, obviously, and total replastering, but I presume you’ll be getting Angel to do that bit for you. Floors all need sanding, but my God they’ll be lovely. Look at the quality of those oak boards. Fucking smashing, they are.’
Jeff was smitten with the same vision as Guy as he imagined the cottage after his lads had gotten their hands on it. Except his vision didn’t involve Floz in knickers, high heels and an apron frying bacon on the jewel of an old Aga that was in the kitchen.
When Juliet got in that night, there was a note waiting for her to say that Floz had gone shopping to Meadowhall and the answering machine was flashing.
‘Message for Miss Cherrydale. I’ve emailed you the flight costs to Canada and accommodation choices as you requested. I’m just checking that you received them as you seemed in a bit of a hurry to organize it.’
Canada? Why the hell was Floz going to Canada – and quickly? And, more to the point, was it anything to do with that so-called mysterious ‘old flame’?
Chapter 71
The answering-machine message had just finished playing when the entryphone sounded.
‘It’s me. Let me in. I have a surprise for you,’ trilled Coco. Juliet buzzed him up and in he walked – and not alone.
The man with him was tall and well-built, had thick curly brown hair and trendy black glasses, and was everything that Coco’s past partners had not been. There were no piercings or tattoos or pink streaks or weird trousers. Gideon was in a geek-chic suit. He was very handsome, Juliet decided, in a sexy businessman sort of way.
‘This is Gideon,’ said Coco, his face all smiles. ‘We were just passing and Gideon said “Come on, let’s call in and see your girlfriends.” Where’s lovely Floz?’
‘Meadowhall, shopping,’ explained Juliet, giving Gideon a nice friendly hello kiss. Fabulous aftershave.
‘Fancy a coffee?’ she asked, just as the entryphone rang again, causing her to mutter that it was like King’s Cross in here sometimes. It was Steve and he had popped in to see if she was all right. He had Guy in tow. A Guy who was also very disappointed to learn that Floz was out.
Still, Coco was thrilled to be able to show off Gideon to more friends. And to prove to Steve that he really did exist.
‘I’m worried about Floz,’ said Juliet, pouring out four mugs of coffee and a sparkling water for herself. ‘She’s going to Canada.’
‘Canada? To visit? To live?’ shrieked Guy, then leashed in his anguish. ‘Why?’
‘I only wish I knew.’
‘We both feel something is very wrong with Floz,’ said Coco, pressing his hand on his heart. ‘It’s not got a good vibe.’
‘Go snooping on her PC then,’ laughed Steve, not expecting Juliet to take him up on it.
‘I could, couldn’t I? Whilst she’s out,’ said Juliet, putting her glass of water down and heading for Floz’s door.
‘Whoa, whoa, you can’t do that!’ protested Guy.
‘I can and I will,’ said Juliet.
‘I was only joking,’ Steve said to her back.
‘You can’t interfere in someone’s business like that!’ Guy called after his sister.
‘It’s a good job sometimes that people do interfere,’ said Juliet pointedly to her brother. He knew what she meant.
But Juliet was on a mission now and she was unstoppable.
‘You, stand guard!’ she said, directing her brother to the front door. ‘Gideon, Coco said you’re brilliant on computers. Help me.’
‘I . . .’ Poor Gideon didn’t feel all that comfortable hacking into a complete stranger’s computer, but Juliet had spoken and he felt her force immediately. He followed her into Floz’s strawberry-scented room as meekly as a lamb.
‘Okay, how do I bypass her password?’ asked Juliet, switching on Floz’s monitor.
‘It’s amazing how many people have “password” as password,’ said Gideon, trying ‘password’ and seeing the proof of his statement as Floz’s homescreen flashed up.
‘Genius,’ said Coco, mightily impressed.
‘Go into her mailbox,’ directed Juliet.
Gideon clicked on Floz’s mailbox and Juliet looked down the folders on the left: Lee Status, Finance, Canada, House of Cards . . . ‘Click on Canada,’ she said as excitedly as if she had just found the right combination on a safe.
A noise from the lounge made them all jump.
‘Sorry, that was just me knocking into your lamp,’ called Guy.
‘Oh my God, read that!’ Juliet suddenly exclaimed, patting her heart.
We really shouldn’t . . .’ said Gideon.
<
br /> “They say every story . . .” ’ began Coco, and read to the bottom of the first email. ‘Oh my, it’s an email from a dying man!’
Steve appeared at the doorway. He too knew it was wrong, but he was drawn to look over Coco’s shoulder and read along with them all. Then Guy appeared after being lured by all the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’.
Guy read Floz’s words to Nick, her heart pouring onto the page. He knew she had been crying as she typed this. He was jealous – jealous of a man who had this amount of pull with her. Jealous of a man riddled with a terminal disease.
They flicked from email to email contained in the Canada file, then opened up the first one from Chas announcing Nick’s death and funeral. By this time the tears were rolling down both Juliet’s and Coco’s faces.
‘Oh my, that’s so sad,’ sniffled Coco. ‘Poor Floz. I never imagined—’
‘That’s funny,’ said Gideon quietly.
‘Funny? What do you mean, Gid? I don’t see anything funny about it,’ snapped Coco.
‘No, love, not that sort of funny.’ Gideon did some calculations on his fingers. ‘According to this mail and when it was sent, Canadian-time, there could only have been two days for Nick to have died, been cremated and scattered and reported to Floz. That’s a bit quick.’
His analytical brain was now tickled to ‘engaged’ status. He flicked backwards and forwards through the mails: he had a bloodhound nose and was on a trail. ‘That’s not right either,’ he muttered to himself. ‘I wonder . . . Pass me a pen, Coco.’ Coco jumped to attention.
Then they heard a key in the flat door.
‘Guy, quick, go!’ yelled Juliet.
Guy lunged out of Floz’s bedroom door and grabbed hold of the handle of the flat door, resisting Floz’s attempt to enter.
‘Hurry up!’ Juliet hissed at Gideon, who was writing something on his hand. ‘Oh and look, there’s a mail from the travel agent. Delete that quick.’
‘You can’t—’ began Steve, but it was gone. ‘I suppose you’ve deleted that answering-machine message as well, haven’t you? Oh Juliet.’ He knew she had, he didn’t need her to affirm it.
‘Damn, the screen’s frozen,’ said Gideon, seeing an egg-timer appear. ‘She needs this machine servicing. It’s running so slowly.’
‘Pull the plug or something,’ Juliet panicked.
Outside, Floz was tugging on the door handle, aware that Guy was pulling it from the other side because she had just seen him – between the second when she managed to open it and when it snapped shut again.
‘Guy, it’s me!’ said Floz, bemused as always with the antics of the man. What was he up to now?
‘Yep,’ said Guy, for want of something better to say. He knew that this wouldn’t do his standing any good with her at all. And how the hell was he going to explain what he was doing? He mouthed ‘Quick’ at Juliet, who was holding out her hands in a gesture of helplessness.
‘Let me in,’ said Floz. ‘What is going on?’ She couldn’t imagine in her wildest dreams why her flat-mate’s brother would be holding the door shut so she couldn’t get in.
Coco held up five fingers to Guy – five seconds then he could let go. Meanwhile, Juliet flung herself on the sofa, Steve flung himself next to her, Gideon and Coco assumed a tableau of innocent chit-chat with Juliet and Steve. Guy counted down and then released the handle.
Floz opened the door tentatively, and stepped into the flat the same way in case Guy had any more surprises in store.
‘Sorry,’ he said. He couldn’t have sounded more pathetic if he’d tried. ‘Just my little joke.’
‘Guy Miller, you are not funny,’ trilled Juliet, trying to help and doing anything but. ‘He thought it would be funny to not let you in,’ she said to Floz.
‘Yeah, I gathered,’ said Floz, sidling past Guy as quickly as she could and over to where Coco was standing with Gideon.
‘Guess who this is?’ said Coco, pointing to his boyfriend.
‘You must be Floz,’ said Gideon, leaning over and kissing Floz on her cheek. Floz nodded and said a quiet, ‘Hi.’ Her head was still trying to work out why a thirty-four-year-old man would play a game too puerile for a five-year-old.
‘Just a flying visit. We have to go,’ said Coco, twittering nervously. ‘I need food. And I promised to cook.’
‘I have to go too, I’m working in an hour,’ said Guy, doubting that Floz would be in the least concerned about that. Steve also stood. A nervous mass exodus.
‘Isn’t Gideon nice?’ said Juliet, after kissing Steve ’bye and closing the door. ‘I’m so glad you caught him before he left.’
Floz nodded. But she wondered why Gideon had red writing all over his hand. And why everyone had acted so oddly when she came in.
The evening didn’t end its peculiarity there. Juliet’s mobile kept ringing, and each time she disappeared into the kitchen to answer it. There were at least five phone calls during the evening, and goodness knows how many texts.
‘You okay?’ said Floz.
‘Fine,’ said Juliet, who didn’t look fine at all. ‘I’m just going out for a while.’
‘At this time?’ It was half-past ten.
‘Yes. I want to – to get some fresh air. I’ll see you in a bit.’
‘Juliet, are you really okay? Do you want me to come with you?’
‘No!’ she barked, then repeated the word quietly. ‘Sorry, I mean no. I won’t be long. Just a little nip out. Nothing for you to worry about. Honestly,’ she lied.
Chapter 72
Juliet and Coco stood behind Gideon, who was operating Coco’s pink laptop.
‘Do you see the way “greif” is spelled?’ said Gideon. On the screen in front of him he had the mail he had forwarded from Floz’s PC sent to her by Nick.
‘Wrongly,’ said Juliet.
‘Precisely. And do you see the way it’s spelled here?’ He opened up another forwarded email. This one from Chas Hanson.
‘The same – wrongly,’ said Juliet.
‘Nick Vermeer and Chas Hanson make the same errors. And they both write its with no apostrophe when the meaning is it is.’
‘So they went to the same school and Canadians are crap at grammar and spelling?’ Juliet shrugged her shoulders. So far she wasn’t seeing anything that incriminating, considering Coco had told her she must come over right NOW and see this.
‘And they both use the same spacing after a full stop. Well, no space at all, actually,’ Gideon went on.
Juliet tried not to say a sarcastic, ‘Wow.’
‘I could point out quite a few similarities of expression and syntax as well, but I’ll skip it because here’s my main point,’ explained Gideon. He typed in an address and hit enter. A page came up full of gobbledegook writing. ‘Not a program known to the masses, but luckily enough I have access to it.’
‘What does all that mean?’ asked Juliet.
‘It means,’ said Coco, ‘that Nick and Chas Hanson both sent those emails to Floz from the same computer. From all the evidence I’ve seen so far, I think they might be one and the same man.’
Chapter 73
The next afternoon Juliet and Steve sat in Guy’s tiny flat drinking coffee. Juliet had worked through her lunch-hour and left early. Steve had picked her up and driven her straight over there for a quick emergency pow-wow before Guy went to the restaurant to start his shift.
‘I don’t know how to handle this,’ said Juliet, ‘but I’ve got to say something. Floz is planning on heading out to Canada.’
‘Why, though?’ said Guy. ‘Is she going out there to see where this Nick’s ashes are supposed to be scattered? I can’t work out what the scam is, if there is one.’ It was a total mystery to him and he’d been thinking about it quite a bit since the previous night when Juliet called to tell him what Gideon had discovered.
‘Is Gideon absolutely certain that this Nick and Chas are the same bloke?’ Steve asked. Like the others, he hadn’t a clue what could be going on.
Juliet’s phone rang. It was Coco. Juliet put it on speakerphone.
‘Where are you?’ he asked.
‘Guy’s flat. We’re just talking about what to do about Floz. How sure is Gideon that Chas and Nick are the same person?’
‘Very sure. Is Guy’s computer on? What’s his address? I’m sending through an email now.’
Guy dictated his email address and opened up his laptop on the table. A mail appeared in his box within seconds. Guy opened it to find a newspaper article.
HANSON, Cody Campbell b. 14 April 1979, d. 22 September 2009. Born in Victoria, BC. Left to mourn him are wife Lysa Hanson, mother Mary Hanson, father Chas Hanson, sister Serena May Vermeer, brother-in-law Rocco Vermeer, niece and nephew Veronica and Vincente Vermeer, and cousins May Campbell Hanson and Constance Campbell Hanson. Memorial tba. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to CDS Military Family Fund c/o CFPS, 379 Lafleur St, Ottawa, ON. Condolences may be offered to the family at [email protected]
Published in the Victoria Post, 27 September 2009
‘Are you still on the line?’ asked Coco. ‘Here’s Gideon.’
‘Hi, Gideon,’ said Juliet, confused to say the least. ‘Who the feck is Cody Campbell Hanson?’
‘Someone who committed suicide last year,’ said Gideon. ‘I trawled the net and I found the obituary in the Canadian newspaper. Look at the name of his father.’
Juliet read: ‘ “Left to mourn him are wife Lysa Hanson, mother Mary Hanson, father Chas Hanson” . . . Chas Hanson?’
‘Read on.’
‘Okay: “father Chas Hanson, sister blah blah and brother-in-law Rocco Vermeer, niece and nephew Veronica and Vincente” et cetera. I don’t get it.’
‘Floz asked Chas when Nick’s birthday was and he told her April the fourteenth. That’s also Cody’s birthday. And both Nick and Cody died on the twenty-second of September – although Cody died last year and Nick supposedly died in 2010. And note that Nick has the same surname as Chas’s son-in-law – Vermeer?’
An Autumn Crush Page 25
