Dead Push (Kiera Hudson Series Two#7) (21 page)

“That’s my wife’s arse you’re grabbing,” he scowled, his heavy jowls wobbling.

Now that I was no longer looking into the woman’s eyes, she stepped back from me, then turned to look at her husband.

“What’s going on, Jill?” the man asked, holding two dripping ice-cream cones in his podgy hands.

“Huh?” she said, running a hand through her hair and looking as if she had no idea what had just happened. She probably didn’t, in all fairness.

“I went to get some ice-cream, only to come back to find you in this man’s arms,” he said, looking more upset than angry. “You promised me nothing like this would ever happen again after I caught you with Bill.”

Jill and Bill, I smiled inside. You couldn’t make it up. I looked the woman up and down and how I envied good old Bill, whoever he was.

The woman glanced up at me, then back at her husband. As if now remembering what she had seen in my eyes, she grabbed her husband by the arm and said, “C’mon, let’s go and find some seats.”

“Who was that man?” I heard her husband demand as they walked away.

“I don’t know… it was nothing…” I heard the woman start to say.

Knowing that I would have to look the woman up before I returned to my own
where
and
when
, I took my seat amongst the other parents gathered around the edge of the pool. I sat low in my seat and watched the show. There was a raised platform on which a row of adults were gathered on. I guessed the people sitting on the seats were the school teachers. I noticed a vacant seat and wondered if that had been where Mrs. Last was meant to have sat.

Oops! I thought. Ah well, never mind, she’s probably a lot more
comfortable lying down in the woods. I wiggled in my seat. The chairs weren’t very comfortable anyway. I’d probably done her a favour in a strange way.    

The headmaster stood and welcomed the parents and the mayor of the town. He explained that it was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the school and a swimming gala had been arranged to show off the proud sportsmanship of the school and to celebrate the opening of the school all those years ago.
As the headmaster stood and talked bollocks, I looked around the swimming pool. In the back row sat Isi-bore. Once the headmaster had finished boring us all near to unconsciousness, the swimming gala began. I didn’t know what was worse, listening to the headmaster, or watching the school kids swimming back and forth in the water. I glanced back at Isi-bore, and by the soppy look on his face I could tell he was enjoying it. Why wasn’t I surprised by that? 

Just when I thought I couldn’t bear it any longer, the headmaster stood up again and addressed the crowd.

“I’m sure you’ll all agree that this has been a wonderful event today.”

Really?

“It goes to illustrate the school’s team spirit and love of sports. But, ladies and gentlemen, the day is not over yet,” he continued. “We now have something very special for you. We are very proud of this young athlete. I understand she has been working tirelessly for some weeks to put on a spectacular finale. It is with great pleasure that I now introduce, Melody Rose.”

Okay, so this is why Isi-bore is really here. He wanted to catch a glimpse of his girl in her swimsuit.

Pervert!

I was definitely warming to him.

Melody came out of the dressing room and walked silently along the edge of the pool. With her head bowed, she made her way to the diving board. She was dressed in a long, white dressing gown, which trailed out behind her. She kind of reminded me of my stalker – the bride. I pushed thoughts of her from my head. Melody’s hair was tucked out of sight beneath a swimming cap. She slowly climbed the ladder to the highest board. Everyone in the crowd sat with their tilted heads on their necks as they watched her progress. She glanced only once at Isi-bore. I looked back at him. What was going on between these two? Did they have something planned? But by the look of bewilderment on his face, I sensed that he didn’t know what was about to happen either. The audience sat in a hushed silence.

Melody reached the highest diving board. She stood motionless, like a statue. Then suddenly, she peeled back the dressing gown and let it slide away. The crowd gasped, and I smiled. The rose tattoos I had seen on her back now covered every inch of her naked body. All of the roses were closed, apart from one covering her right breast – just over her heart. This rose was open and full of colour. Melody
stood, back straight and removed the swimming cap. Her once blond hair now flowed thick and bright pink down her back. I looked over my shoulder at Isi-bore and he was grinning from ear to ear. He didn’t look like he was getting his rocks off because the girl he loved was standing naked before him – he was grinning with pride.

I looked back at her and continued to smile, too. I had never spoken to the girl – she didn’t know that I existed, but that didn’t stop me feeling strangely proud of her, too. I was proud of her because she might as well of had
Fuck-Off
tattooed across her forehead in red ink. She was telling everyone in this room – everyone that she might ever come across – that she was Melody Rose and she was different. She was telling them all she wasn’t ashamed to be different and she no longer cared what they or anyone else thought of her.

Good for you, Melody Rose, I smiled inside.
Good for you!
   

Then, looking out across the pool at her friend Isidor, she said, “For one day, Isidor, I just want to be me.”

She then dropped over the edge of the diving board. With a lump growing in my throat, I watched her splash into the water below. The crowd lost sight of her and the stunned silence was deafening. Then she appeared from beneath the water with the biggest of smiles on her face. And for the first time I realised she truly did look beautiful. Something then happened that I wasn’t expecting. The other pupils gathered around the pool jumped from their seats and started to cheer. The noise was ear-splitting. Hearing their cheers, Melody started to punch the air with her fist. It was like she was starting a revolution, not only in the room, but inside the other kids gathered beside the pool. It was like an electric charge had been set off. I looked at all the smiling and beaming faces of the school children, and knew that Melody’s defiance meant something to them too. Not one of them would ever forget this. They would tell their husbands and wives, recount this story to their children, their grandchildren, each of them never forgetting the importance of being true to yourself. Not to ever let anyone change you. 

“Doesn’t that mean you, too, Jack?” a voice said, over the roar of the crowd.

I looked sideways, to find the bride now sitting next to me.

“It doesn’t apply to me,” I said.

“You let your mother change you,” she said. “You didn’t have to turn out like her. Melody refuses to be like her mother. Melody’s life has been very much like yours…”

“There’s one difference between Melody and me,” I said, getting up from my seat, not wanting to hear any more.

“And what’s that?” the bride called after me.

“Melody is stronger than me… she is better than me,” I said, walking away through the roaring crowds.

I looked back only once, to see Melody being dragged from the pool by one of her teachers. I just hoped she was strong enough to deal with the hurt that she would inevitably receive for making a stand. And perhaps that’s why I never made a stand – because I was sick of all the hurt. It seemed easier to hurt than let yourself be hurt. Both Isidor and Melody had confronted their demons without becoming a monster like I had.

Potter

I stood in the mouth of the alleyway and looked out at Kiera’s apartment. It was fully dark now. The rain had stopped at last. The air was still damp, but there were very little clouds in the sky, and the stars shone through, as did the moon. I still wasn’t certain of what I was going to do, but I had to do something. Lilly’s warning kept circling around and around in my mind. With the other Potter dead, who was left to warn Kiera of the trap I feared Sparky had set for her tonight?

“But you’re not meant to be saving her, Potter,” a voice from beside me said.

I looked down to see the young girl standing behind me in the alleyway. Her pale white face looked up at me from the dark like a small moon.

“Hey, little girl,” I said.

“Yes?” she smiled.

“Scram!” I barked.

Just like she had before, she waved her corpse-white hand at me,
then melted away, back into the darkness she had crept from.

I looked back at the apartment block across the street. The light in Kiera’s living room was turned off, sending her apartment into darkness.
My heart started to race. The front door swung open and Kiera appeared from the other side of it. Her long, jet-black hair hung straight on either side of her pale face. Her lips were full red, and her eyes bright. She was dressed all in black, as was standard on these types of operations. There was no difference between this Kiera and the Kiera I had fallen in love with. Were they not both the same? I wondered as she approached her car. My heart started to quicken. Wasn’t this Kiera really my Kiera, separated only by a piece of tracing paper? Whether she was mine or not, I couldn’t let Kiera walk into a trap. I couldn’t let her die, however bad the consequences might be for me. Maybe Jack should have come? I wondered as Kiera opened the car door and climbed inside. Maybe he would have been able to keep his head better than me. I doubted it – but perhaps.

I heard the sound of the car engine rumble into life. Kiera switched on the headlights,
then pulled away in the car just as I pounced across the street.

“Potter!”
Kiera screamed, slamming on the brakes.

I pressed the palms of my hands flat against the car bonnet.

“Have you lost your mind?” she said, winding down the window and looking at me in shock. “I could’ve killed you.”

“I changed my mind about tonight,” I said, coming around the side of the car and opening the passenger door. “I’m coming with you.” I sat down, drawing my knees up until they almost touched my chin.

“Why the change of heart?” she said, looking sideways at me in the dark, the engine ticking over.

“That’s the problem,” I said, looking back at her. “My heart has never changed from the way I feel about you, and it never will.”

As soon as the words had passed over my lips, I wished I could’ve taken them back. I’d just wanted to be kind, but I had instead said the cruellest thing. If Kiera did survive tonight then she would think I was back in her life. But the Potter in this world was dead and I had to go back to mine.

Kiera looked at me and I prepared myself for another punch in the face. With tears standing in the corner of her eyes, she leant forward and kissed me softly on the cheek.

“What was that for?” I asked her.

“For being the most infuriating man I have ever met,” she whispered, turning front and setting off down the road.

“Is that a good thing?” I asked.

“Not for me, I guess,” she half-smiled to herself.

I wasn’t sure if she was paying me a compliment or not, so I didn’t say anything and lit another cigarette. If Kiera survived tonight, then before I left, I would tell her the truth. Kiera deserved that. I would tell her everything. I would show her my wings and tell her to go run and hide and to never look back. If that fucked things up in some way, then I would have to live with it. What was Lilly going to do – send me to my room? And besides, what would she do if she was in my situation and she had the chance of saving her daughters – saving Murphy?

“But she isn’t your Kiera Hudson,” a voice whispered.

I looked over my shoulder, half expecting to see that little girl waving at me from the backseat. But she wasn’t there. It had been my own voice warning me this time around.

“Is everything okay?” Kiera asked. “You look kinda stressed.”

“It’s nothing,” I lied, looking front again. “It’s been a while since I’ve been on a stakeout.”

“It will be fun,” she smiled at me. “Just like the old days. We met on an undercover job, remember?”

“How could I ever forget?” I smiled back.

“Can you remember what you called me?” she asked.

How the fuck should I know? I wanted to get off this topic, and fast. “Mmm… I can’t really remember.”

“You were a real jerk,” she said.

“That doesn’t sound like me,” I smiled at her.

“You called me Miss Marple, and can you remember why?” she glanced at me.

“Because… because…” I said, acting as if the memory was just out of reach. 

“Because the dead body of that kid was hidden in the boot of the father’s car just like I said it would be, and you said it would be hidden in the attic,” she said, filling in the blanks for me.

“Oh yeah,” I said. “How could I ever forget that?”

“You know what my sense of smell can be like,” she said. “That’s
another reason I knew that you were spying on me from that alleyway.”

I thought Kiera saw things – not smelt things. So there were subtle differences between the two
Kieras. “You could smell the cigarette smoke?”