Carved in Stone: Monochrome Destiny (6 page)

Deep
in thought, Robyn hadn’t noticed that she was no longer alone on the shore so
when a wet nose touched against her wrist she jumped.

Snapping
her head up, Robyn looked into the soulful black eyes of a dark Labrador. 
His gaze appeared slightly sad and a little wary.  Her quick jump had
startled him too.  His legs were wet, probably from running in the sea,
and he held his tail down and still, but his coat was luscious and shiny. 
Tightly packed with short hairs it called out to be touched, stroked

Without
thinking, Robyn automatically held out her hand to pat the dog on the head, to
sooth him and assure him that she meant him no harm.  The moment she
touched his smooth coat, he gave his approval, swept his tail into the air and
began swinging it joyously.  He took a step forwards and lowered his head
to place it on her lap, his soulful eyes looking up expectantly before she
indulged him and rubbed behind his ear.  Appearing to like the fuss, the
dog cocked his head to one side to encourage her to do it again then rolled
over to expose his underside in complete submission.

Robyn
laughed out loud as the dog let down his guard completely and exposed his
stomach, utterly trusting, and nuzzled his head into her legs in utter
pleasure.

Whilst
petting the Labrador and giggling at his response, Robyn didn’t think about his
owner.  Not until two booted feet stopped in front of her, and a deep,
smooth voice said, “I’m sorry, is he bothering you?”

“Oh no!
Not at all.”
She slowly raised her gaze.

Robyn’s
eyes drifted over dark leather boots with black laces, and up denim clad, long
legs.  Denim gave way to a black sweater that clung to a slim waist and
flat, hard stomach.  She felt her lungs tighten as her eyes swooped
further up and moved to the lean solid chest that showed clearly defined muscle
under the tight sweater.  Her heart thumped heavily as she lifted her gaze
to broad shoulders and a rolled turtle neck collar that covered a pale, long
neck, leading to a chiselled jaw that had darkened with a day’s worth of
stubble.  Her breath held in her throat as her eyes rose up to the
face.  Defined nose, high cheekbones, dark brows, black hair and piercing
pale eyes surrounded by thick black lashes.

“Oh,”
he said, “I didn’t recognise you.” The words were dismissive but she could have
sworn she caught a slight startle before they escaped his lips.  His deep
voice was clipped and his stance no longer easy and carefree.  Andrew
Obursen
loomed over Robyn and the look upon his face was of
pure disgust.

“Uh”
was all she could force out.  Her calm had definitely been shattered and
it had been a fairly pleasant afternoon.

“How
did you get here?” His deep and lustrous voice drifted on the breeze but was no
less demanding.  He stood over her, holding the dog’s lead, looking
windswept but stiff.  His stature and frown made him aloof, and she
wondered just how much starch he used to put such a board up his back and stick
up his arse.

Robyn
sat beneath him, frozen and incapable of conscious thought.  Fear trickled
into her system.  Again, the intensity of his stare and the luminosity of
his pale eyes captured her, making her feel exposed before him.

“Nobody
comes here, so why would you?” Andrew continued, his lips a thin line.

Robyn
felt the weight of Andrew’s loathing.  What did Kat see in him?  She
may have had an unexpected and unwanted reaction to Andrew’s touch before, but
without it, she could see more clearly.  This was a man who liked to keep
apart, and from the look of him, Robyn was happy to oblige.

“Kat
found it on one of her runs.” She kept her voice low, refusing to let him know
that she was riled.

One
dark brow lifted in query as his stare intensified and Robyn felt compelled to
expand.

 “She
swims here.  I thought I would come and take a look, as it was so nice
today.”  She was babbling, allowing the words to flow out too fast. 
She could have kicked herself.  What the hell was wrong with her?  To
regain control she sucked in a deep and purposeful breath as she hefted the
dog’s head from her legs.

She
was at a distinct disadvantage sitting down.  Andrew towered over her,
standing over six feet and she knew she would feel less dominated from a
standing position.

Andrew watched
as Robyn rose off of the shingle, but purposefully offered no assistance. 
This petite woman had unnerved him before with her guileless eyes and her
captivating face.  He’d spent a lifetime standing apart from others,
keeping a very precise distance, yet this woman threatened to shatter all the
barriers he had erected.  That fact made him angry.  “How did you get
here?” he demanded once again, intending to find out why she was stalking him.

“I
walked.” Her voice had a melodic cadence despite her curt reply.  It
matched her fragile frame, but also showed that she was strengthened with a
ruthless, steel inner core.  She was a mystery he had no intention of
solving, but he liked that he had angered her.

“So
you’re renting Holbrook Cottage.”  He knew it well, had spent time there
as a boy.  Looking towards the trees where she must have followed the old
path, he couldn’t help but question the coincidence of this woman living in the
only other house that was close enough to the cove to make use of it. 
Perhaps someone was playing old games again.  He would have to put a stop
to it.  He had not returned to dig over old ground.  “Lovely, but a
bit isolated.”  He turned back to her face and caught what he thought was
surprise before her shutters came down.  His lip curved without conscious
command.

Her
eyes narrowed.  “I like that, or I wouldn’t have rented it.”  Her
answer was meant to be cold but her anger brought raw fire to it.  This
woman had a stubborn streak a mile wide yet she exuded fragility.  It was
a compelling mix that in any other situation, he might take time to
study.  Here, now, however, he had no intention of acquainting himself
further.

“Well,
Max seems to like you.” The dog was utterly smitten and currently rubbing his
traitorous body around her shapely legs.

She
glanced down at the besotted mutt and he could see her anger fade.  “Yes,
he certainly seems to.”

“Come
Max, it’s time to go.”  He needed to separate himself before that stunning
combination of pale alabaster skin, rich brown hair and wide hazel eyes had him
doing something he’d regret.  Bending down to grab the dog by his collar
and lead him away, he threw out a casual farewell.  “Goodbye, Miss
Darrow.”

“Goodbye.” 
Her words washed over him on the breeze as he turned to home.

Determined
not to run in retreat, he walked casually but with long strides over the
shingle and around the headland.  Fearing what he would do if he saw her
there watching him, he did not turn around.

The soft soles
of Robyn’s trainers slapped against the wet concrete as she ran across the rain
drenched platform and headed for the shelter of an ornate Victorian
awning.  The overhang held off the sheeting rain, but its metallic roof
clanged with every impact.  The noise added a tuneless melody to the dreary
day.

Out
of breath, Robyn looked up the track.  She was late, but not too late
thank goodness.  The hanging information screens informed her that the
train’s arrival was imminent.

Traffic
had been overly cautious on the waterlogged roads, holding her up.  The
sunny respite had ended, but at least Kat was back.  Robyn had found
things to do with her time, but the days alone had proved her reliance upon her
friend.  Kat brought colour into her monochromic world.

Finally,
the train came into view through the curtain of rain.  A small black speck
in the distance, it slowly enlarged as it drew nearer.  Robyn’s blood
began to warm.

The
train snaked forwards, slowing as it approached the station.  Edging
along, the driver struggled to fit the train’s entire length against the small
concrete platform, but he managed not to overshoot before coming to a full
stop.

The
doors began opening even before the brakes had been set.  People dashed
off and onto the carriages in a desperate bid to thwart the rain.

Robyn
stayed under the awning, keeping her head dry and a watchful eye on the
fracas.  A mixture of joy and worry ran through her stomach.  She
hadn’t heard a word from Kat since she had left.  It meant that despite
the fierce hug that Kat had given her when she left, there were still issues
between the two of them.  Robyn could hardly complain about her friend’s
need to put space between them to work it out.  Ever since the beginning
of the school year they had been living in each other’s pockets.  Such
closeness, combined with the fact that they were two very different people, had
to make problems every now and again.  Robyn just hoped that they found a
way to work through this latest issue.

The
train pulled off, the guard making swift work of shutting the open doors as the
crowd diminished and Robyn could once again see the platform.

She
found herself alone, entirely alone.  Kat had not gotten off of the train.

Her car skidded
into the makeshift parking space at the front of the cottage and Robyn leapt
out.  She’d broken every speed limit in her haste to get back, but she was
running on scared.

It
was dark.  Robyn had waited for train after train, believing that Kat
could easily have missed a connection somewhere in her whimsy, but Kat had not
shown.

That
left only three conclusions.  One, Kat was still mad at her and had chosen
to stay away longer.  Robyn didn’t want to believe that.  Two, Kat
had befallen some mishap: accident, illness, or worse.  Robyn really
didn’t want to believe that.  Three, Kat had met a man.  She hated to
accept it, but Robyn could believe that.  There had been several occasions
where they had both gone out, but Robyn had returned home alone.  What
Robyn couldn’t accept however, was that Kat hadn’t contacted her to let her
know.

Robyn
ran straight up the stairs.  She’d tried calling, texting, even emailing,
but she’d heard nothing.  Kat’s phone was going straight to
voicemail.  As she stormed into Kat’s room, adrenaline pumping furiously
through her system making comprehensive thought impossible, Robyn frantically
began searching.  She needed to find contact details, any contact details,
for Kat’s friends, especially this Danny that she was supposedly staying with.

Robyn
flicked through what little remained on Kat’s desk.  There was nothing. 
Her fear amped but she continued.  She opened the dresser drawers and
pawed through clothes.  She pulled open the wardrobes and rifled through
the boxes on the top shelf.

“For
Christ sake!” she yelled into the empty room as fear began to morph onto anger.

There
was nothing there.  The clothes hangers were all but bare, the drawers
mostly empty and what little remained in the storage boxes just appeared to be
receipts and catalogues.

Robyn
slumped onto the bed.  The room was empty.

She
snapped her head up and looked at the desk.

The
room was indeed empty.  Kat’s laptop was gone.  Why the hell had she
taken that?  It wasn’t like Kat to think about doing work, unless she’d
planned on being away all week.

Robyn
strode to the desk.  The cable to charge the laptop was also gone, but
tucked behind the desk and coiled onto the floor was Kat’s mobile phone
charger.  Well that at least explained why she hadn’t made contact.

Feeling
deflated, Robyn began to tidy the mess she had made and stopped when she closed
the wardrobe doors.  In anger, she had wrenched them open to get to the
contents, but now she realised that there was something else missing.  One
of the doors held a full length mirror, and tucked into that mirror there
should have been lots and lots of photographs.  Kat always recorded their
time together and placed a picture in the frame after a night out.  There
should have been loads of photos crammed into the frame, showing the two of
them smiling, having fun, but there were no photographs at all on the mirror.

Feeling
heavy hearted, Robyn walked to the bin by the desk.  She found the photos
under other rubbish. Kat had ripped every single one in half, deleting Robyn
from her life, and had then thrown them all away.

Robyn walked up
the high street where every face seemed to glare at her, every smile hid menace
and every hood covered a monster.  She knew that her emotional state was
affecting reality and tried to ignore what she thought she was seeing, but it
didn’t stop her worries.

Kat
still hadn’t called.  Kat didn’t want to come home.  Their fight was
still tainting the air between them and Robyn didn’t know how to fix it.

Robyn
had woken that morning from one of the worst dreams she’d ever had.  Tired
and sorrowful she’d fallen asleep in Kat’s bed wondering why her friend
couldn’t forgive her.  When sleep had eventually come it had only come to
taunt her.

Robyn
watched Kat staggering into an alley.  Unaware of her pursuer, Kat was
having a loud conversation on her phone and walking forever further into the
dark.  Clumsy on her heels, she had no chance when the attacker struck. 
Robyn screamed at her but Kat couldn’t hear.  He was only after the
phone.  The bright jewels were highlighted so well, even in the dark, and
he shoved Kat aside as he grabbed the device and ran away down the alley.

From
the violent shove, Kat stumbled into the wall, her head slammed into the solid
brick, the crunch audible and deadly.  Robyn watched in horror as Kat slid
down the brickwork to fall in a crumpled heap on the hard ground, deep red
liquid sliding down her face, soaking her dress and starting to pool around
her. 
Crimson against black and white.
 
So much crimson.

The
dream had troubled her, but Robyn knew that it wasn’t real.  Her
subconscious was simply conjuring reasons for Kat’s lack of
communication.  Eventually she had to admit that she preferred the fact
that Kat was simply still mad at her.

Shuddering
from the memory of the disturbing dream, Robyn found that, for once in her
lifetime, she was grateful that she could no longer see colour, for all that
red had disturbed her deeply.

She
walked into Ellie’s in a bit of a daze.

“Hello
Robyn. 
Alone today?”

The
word ‘alone’ pierced like a sword.  It must have shown on her face because
Ellie swept around the counter and was at Robyn’s side in a moment, pushing her
towards a seat.

“What’s
wrong?” she murmured as she reached up to the sign on the door and switched it
to ‘
Closed
’.  There were no other customers at
this early hour.

“Kat
didn’t come home.”  It was the first time Robyn had voiced the words and
her desperation filled them.

Ellie
sat down.  “Do you have any reason to be worried about her?”  Her
kindly face offered a comforting smile.

“She
said she’d be on the train and she wasn’t, isn’t that reason enough?” 
Robyn immediately regretted her sudden vehemence, “I’m sorry, it’s not your
fault.  I had a bad night.”

Ellie
reached across the table to lay a comforting hand over Robyn’s.  “Robyn, I
only meant that, well; Kat has never seemed too reliable.  She’s what some
would call ‘flighty’.  Is there any reason that she would prolong her
stay?”

Robyn
shrugged, there was reason
alright.        

“You
see.  You worry too much.”  Ellie patted her hand before pulling hers
back.

“I
just wish I could call her to make sure.  Her phone’s off and I don’t even
know who she’s staying with.”  Robyn had tried again this morning but the
phone was still ringing directly to voicemail and her texts were being ignored.

Ellie
smiled.  “You sound like her parent, not her friend.  Give her some
space.  You two have been inseparable since you came to town.  It’ll
do you both good to have some time apart.  Now, will you stay for a cup of
tea, or do you have anything else to do?”

Actually,
Robyn did want to do something, while the rain was absent.  With a
thankful nod she made her way home.