Chase, page 11
‘I’m sorry if I upset you,’ she told him. ‘I didn’t mean too. I only meant well.’
David didn’t speak.
The woman slipped past him and into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
David hesitated a moment longer then headed back to his seat, his mind spinning.
He slumped down in his seat and reached for the beaker of orange juice on the tray table.
Amy looked at him and frowned, seeing how pale he looked.
‘Are you all right?’ she wanted to know. ‘You look terrible.’
‘I feel a bit sick,’ he lied. ‘I’ll be fine. Probably something I ate.’
Do you tell her what just happened?
‘You know what they say about airline food?’ Amy chuckled.
David nodded, distractedly.
‘Shall I get the stewardess?’ Amy went on. ‘She’ll probably have something for sickness.’
‘No,’ David said, quickly. ‘Leave it. I’m all right.’
Tell her what the blonde woman said. Tell her about Daisy.
Amy squeezed his hand.
Tell her what? That some crazy woman thinks she’s seen your dead daughter? What fucking good will that do?
‘OK,’ Amy said, quietly. ‘Don’t bite my head off.’
‘There was a woman over by the bathroom,’ David began, slowly, motioning over his shoulder. ‘She’s pregnant.’
‘You’re not supposed to fly if you’re too far advanced,’ Amy said, glancing behind her.
‘She said she’d got a couple of months to go,’ David went on.
Amy studied him, wondering why he looked so troubled.
‘Did it make you think of Daisy?’ she said, squeezing his hand.
He nodded almost imperceptibly.
‘It’s not wrong to think of her, David,’ Amy murmured. ‘I think about her all the time.’
‘If you could see her just once more, just for a moment, would you?’
‘Of course I would,’ Amy said, tears filling her eyes. ‘Wouldn’t you?’
‘What would be the point in having her back just for one moment?’
‘Because it’d be better than nothing.’
David turned, hearing something close to anger in Amy’s voice. He saw her wipe away a tear, her eyes also coloured with that same rage he’d heard in her voice.
Tell her now. Tell her what the blonde woman said.
‘It’s all right for you, David,’ Amy hissed. ‘You didn’t kill her.’
TWENTY-THREE
‘Neither did you,’ he snapped back.
Amy sank back in her seat, wiping away more tears, glancing around to see if anyone else had seen her.
‘Let’s not do this now,’ Amy said, irritably.
‘Let’s not do it at all,’ David insisted. ‘We’ve been over this, Amy. It wasn’t your fault, it was an accident.’
‘That’s easy for you to say, David, you weren’t there.’
She looked down the cabin aisle to see where the crew were serving drinks.
‘What are you doing?’ David asked.
‘I need a drink,’ Amy hissed.
Before David could say anything, the stewardess had arrived.
‘Could I have a Bacardi and lemonade please?’ Amy asked.
David shot her an angry glance.
‘Can I get anything for you, Sir?’ the stewardess asked, passing Amy her drink.
The temptation to ask for a large brandy was overwhelming but David shook his head.
‘Just a mineral water,’ he said, quietly.
The stewardess gave it to him, dropped another packet of peanuts on each tray table and moved away.
‘Thanks for the support, Amy,’ David said, acidly, watching her as she took a large swallow from the plastic beaker.
‘If you hadn’t been talking to that woman about Daisy I probably wouldn’t need it,’ Amy told him.
‘Is that a good idea? If you’ve taken your tablets?’ David asked, nodding towards the liquor as she raised it to her mouth.
‘Don’t be so superior, David. It won’t affect me.’
‘I hope you’re right.’
‘Perhaps your psychic friend would like a drink. You can have one while you discuss Daisy.’
‘I was just telling you what she said,’ he countered. ”I didn't say she was psychic.”
‘Stupid bitch,’ Amy hissed, her sarcasm not lost on David. ‘She should keep her fucking psychic visions to herself. What the hell is she doing talking to you like that anyway?’
‘She didn’t mean any harm.’
‘Did you believe her then?’
‘It’s just strange. How could she know that? How could she know about Daisy?’
Amy shook her head and took a sip of her drink.
‘Daisy’s dead,’ she said, flatly. ‘She couldn’t know anything about her.’
‘She told me what colour school uniform she was wearing.’
‘A lucky guess,’ Amy said, dismissively.
‘She guessed right.’
‘Why don’t you ask her to contact Daisy then, David? Go on. I’m sure she’ll be able to summon her spirit or whatever people like her do.’
‘You said you’d give anything just to have one moment with Daisy.’
‘But that’s not going to happen, is it? What do you think she’s going to do, make Daisy appear now?’
‘I don’t believe it any more than you do,’ David protested. ‘I was just telling you what she said.’
‘My daughter is dead, David. That’s it. End of story.’
‘She was my daughter too, Amy. You haven’t got the monopoly on grief you know.’
A man walking down the aisle glanced at them as he passed, his attention attracted by their slightly raised voices. David shot him an angry glance and the man continued on his way to the rear of the cabin.
‘I said not here didn’t I?’ Amy snapped, undoing her seat belt and barging her way past David.
‘Where are you going?’ he wanted to know.
‘To speak to your fucking psychic, where do you think?’ Amy told him, slipping out into the aisle. ‘Maybe I should ask her to do a quick séance while I’m in the bathroom. What do you think?’
And she was gone.
David watched her make her way down the aisle to the bathroom. She disappeared inside, slamming the door behind her. David let out a deep sigh and slumped back in his seat.
THE MEETING
COLORADO, USA
‘What do we do now he’s gone?’
The woman looked challengingly at the two men seated opposite her.
‘We carry on,’ the first man said.
‘How?’ the second wanted to know.
‘We know what we have to do,’ the first man continued. ‘We’ve always known. So we do it. With him or without him. We don’t need anyone to guide us. Not now.’
‘But he was our leader,’ the second man offered.
‘We can manage without him,’ the first man insisted. ‘We agreed with his ideas. We’re not sheep who need him to control us.’
‘I agree,’ the second man offered. ‘We know what we have to do. We should continue.’
‘How many more?’ the woman wanted to know.
‘It depends,’ the first man murmured. ‘We keep going until the required number is reached.’
‘Or until we find the one we need,’ the woman said, flatly.
The others murmured in agreement.
They sat in silence for a moment then the woman exhaled deeply.
‘Why did he kill himself?’ she murmured. ‘And why do it in front of the priest?’
‘Perhaps we should be more concerned about what he said to the priest before he shot himself,’ the first man offered.
‘What do you mean?’ the woman challenged.
‘What do you think I mean?’ the first man snapped. ‘He could have told the priest everything. Our names. Anything?’
‘He wouldn’t have told him,’ the second man interjected.
‘Why not?’ the first man grunted. ‘If he was desperate enough to kill himself then he could have said anything.’
‘We would have heard by now,’ the woman said. ‘We would have heard something.’
‘I didn’t think he was a coward,’ the second man went on. ‘I never expected him to take his own life.’
‘It takes courage to end your own life,’ the woman countered.
‘He was a coward,’ the second man insisted. ‘Why would he do it? After everything he’d done. After what we’d done to help him.’
‘We’ll never know why he did it,’ the first man said. ‘Not now. But that’s not what matters.’
‘What have the others said?’ the woman wanted to know. ‘Have you spoken to any of them yet?’
The first man nodded.
‘Those I’ve spoken to think we should continue,’ he confessed.
‘I found the same thing,’ the second man told her. ‘No one thinks we should stop. We’re too close. We can’t turn back now.’
‘There will be others,’ the first man said. ‘There must be. We know how many there must be. We must continue.’
The woman sucked in a deep breath.
‘Have you spoken to the priest?’ she enquired. ‘The one who he was talking to when he shot himself?’
Both men shook their heads.
‘If we approach him we risk exposing everything,’ the first man muttered.
‘We have to know what he told the priest,’ the woman insisted.
‘Then you speak to him,’ the first man snapped.
‘I say we wait,’ the second man added. ‘If the police knew anything they’d have been in touch by now. Talking to the priest could just cause more problems.’
The woman ran a hand through her hair.
‘Someone will have to go to the house,’ she said, finally.
‘Why?’ the second man wanted to know.
‘To see what’s there,’ the woman told him. ‘Make sure there’s nothing to tie him to us. Us or any of the others.’
‘I’m not going near his place. Not now,’ the first man said, flatly
‘Who’s the coward now?’ the woman said disdainfully.
‘I’m not a coward,’ the first man snapped. ‘Would I have done what I’ve done if I was?’
‘You said it was best to keep our distance,’ the second man reminded her. ‘As far as I can see that includes keeping away from the house.’
‘Someone has to go there,’ the woman insisted.
‘Not me,’ the first man told her, defiantly. ‘Ask one of the others.’
‘And if they find something there? What then?’ the second man wanted to know.
‘Maybe the priest he spoke to has already been there,’ the first man murmured, cryptically. ‘Or maybe you’re just paranoid.’
‘Maybe I’m paranoid for a good reason,’ the woman corrected him.
The first man got to his feet.
‘Are we done here?’ he asked, sharply.
‘Yes we are,’ the woman told him. ‘For now.’
She remained in her seat.
‘When you’ve spoken to the others, let me know,’ she called after the first man.
He stopped as he heard her but he didn’t turn around.
TWENTY-FOUR
David turned as he felt the hand on his shoulder, startled by the touch. He snapped his head around and saw one of the air hostesses standing there.
‘I didn’t mean to make you jump,’ she said, smiling her practised smile.
‘I was miles away,’ David confessed.
‘We’re bringing some food around in a couple of minutes and I wondered if you’d like anything,’ she said, handing him a small menu.
David was about to thank her but she had already turned to the man on the other side of the aisle.
He glanced at the menu and made his selection then he put it on the tray table, noticing that his hands were trembling slightly. He wondered what was causing the small, almost imperceptible movement. He looked at the liquor in Amy’s glass for a second then shook his head. It wasn’t that. He smiled to himself. Not the DTs. That was something else. He looked behind him in the direction of the bathroom but there was still no sign of Amy. She seemed to have been gone for ages, he mused. But, then again, it wasn’t as if she could go anywhere other than the bathroom was it? If they’d argued anywhere else she could have stormed off but not on a transatlantic flight. He felt a certain amount of comfort in that realization at least. He was already beginning to regret telling her about the blonde woman and her psychic pretensions.
But were they pretensions? What did she hope to gain?
David let out a deep sigh.
He tried to relax, slumping back in his chair, avoiding looking out of the window if he could help it. The sight of blue sky and banks of cloud wasn’t so relaxing to him when viewed from 38,000 feet. He sipped from his own beaker, his gaze fixed on the small screen in the seat back ahead of him. There was a film showing, but he hadn’t taken much notice of it. He knew it was The Meaning of Everything, he would have recognised most films if he was honest. He was about to reach for his headphones when he sensed movement beside him and turned to see Amy standing there, waiting for him to let her return to her seat.
He stood up enough to let her pass and she dropped back into her seat and looked at him.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, quietly.
‘You don’t have to be,’ David told her. ‘I shouldn’t have said anything. I should have kept it to myself.’
‘You can’t avoid mentioning Daisy for the rest of our lives, David.’
‘I know, I don’t want to but I shouldn’t have told you what that woman said. I was stupid.’
‘You were trying to protect me?’ she cooed.
‘I suppose I was,’ David murmured, squeezing her hand.
‘She obviously believes it. What about you? Do you believe what she said?’
‘I suppose I wanted to. Even though I know it’s impossible.’
Amy squeezed his hand.
‘I know how you feel,’ she said, wearily. ‘I think about her every day and how I could have saved her.’
‘It wasn’t your fault,’ David insisted.
‘There must have been something I could have done, David. If I’d got her out of the car in time or...’
‘You couldn’t do anything, you know that,’ he snapped, cutting her short.
‘But how...unjust was that? I get out of that wreck with a few minor cuts and bruises and Daisy is killed. Where’s the fucking justice there?’
‘The doctors said it was a miracle.’
‘A miracle for me. It wasn’t much use to Daisy was it?’
‘I could have lost my wife and my daughter. I’m grateful I didn’t.’
‘Grateful to who, David? The lorry driver? He got out without a scratch too didn’t he?’
‘The hospital chaplain said I should thank God.’
‘If that was down to God he’s got a fucking warped sense of humour.’
‘What the hell else was he going to say? Some people find comfort in that don’t they?’
‘In God? Good luck. It was the same when my Dad died. They asked if we had any religious beliefs, do you remember?’
‘I do. I remember what you said.’
‘I said not any more.’
‘I can understand how you felt.’
‘And then, a year later, it happens to my daughter too. Thanks God.’
‘Someone once said that God is a sadist but probably doesn’t even know it.’
‘I’ll second that.’
They sat in silence for a moment then Amy sipped at her drink.
‘Didn’t your mother suggest talking to a clairvoyant, not long after...’ she said, the words trailing off.
‘I think that was more for her benefit than ours,’ David murmured.
‘Maybe she’s trying to contact us,’ Amy offered.
David looked incredulously at her.
‘That’s what they say isn’t it?’ Amy went on. ‘That when psychics or clairvoyants see a dead person’s spirit it’s because that person wants to make contact with the living.’
‘How the hell do you know that?’
‘I went on the internet after Daisy’s death and looked it up.’
‘You never told me.’
‘What was the point? I knew it was bullshit but I thought I’d look anyway. It’s amazing what you do when you’re desperate.’ She sipped more of her drink.
‘You were trying to find ways to contact our daughter and all I was doing was trying to resist having a drink.’ He raised his eyebrows. ‘That makes me feel so useful.’
‘I was so proud of you when you didn’t hit the bottle again. It would have been so easy for you.’
‘And logical,’ he laughed bitterly. ‘I wanted to, Amy. Every fucking day and night I wanted to. I wanted to hide from what was going on and what I was feeling. I wanted to hide inside a bottle, just like I had done before.’
‘But you didn’t.’
He shook his head imperceptibly.
‘Perhaps I should have,’ he murmured.
TWENTY-FIVE
‘I wanted to hide too, David,’ Amy told him. ‘I still do. Every day is an effort. Just getting out of bed. And when I go into Daisy’s room...’
She turned away from him.
‘I know, I feel the same,’ he told her. ‘I can’t even go in there most days.’
‘But every time I do I can hear her voice and I know she’d still be alive if it wasn’t for me.’
‘Amy, that’s not true. What happened was an accident. There was nothing anyone could have done to prevent it. Especially you.’
‘Would you feel like that if you’d been the one in the car with her when it happened? I doubt it.’
‘What happened can’t be changed...’
‘What if it could?’ Amy interjected.
David looked at her in bewilderment.
‘Changed? How?’ he wanted to know.
‘If there was some way of...’
‘Of what? Of bringing our dead daughter back to life?’
