Harvest (50 page)

Rachel chuckled to
herself. “I just hope she isn’t a complete
bitch
until I drop dead.”

“
I’m sorry I hit
Cat.”

“
Don’t
worry,” Rachel waved the apology away. “Just something I could only
ever
think
of doing. Might
have done her some good. Just as long as you are
okay.”

Kelly nodded and waited to see
if Rachel would talk about how Kelly had ended up on the floor. It
didn’t look like she would. “The way she retaliated. I find it
frightening.”

Rachel fixed Kelly in a long
stare. “She could be the key to stopping this. An otherworldly
power against an otherworldly threat.”

Kelly nodded.

“
As frightening as that
may be.” Rachel agreed after some time.

“
How did you two ever end
up with the relationship you have?”

“
Oh, it
wasn’t always like this. Until her mother died it was nothing like
this. I was a family friend. No, that sounds too distant; a good
friend of Catherine’s mother and like an unofficial aunt to
Catherine. We were always doing things together, just the three of
us.” Rachel looked lost in fond memory. “I loved her mother,” she
hastened to correct herself: “I
love
her mother so much. Her death didn’t end
that.”

“
We met in hospital in the
maternity ward, Helen and I. We were in beds next to each other. I
was a little old to be having a baby and there was a worry of
complications, so I had been sent to hospital a week prior to my
due date. Helen was on the ward early too, for monitoring due to
complications. It can be very boring in hospital but we got on so
well, I can honestly saw there wasn’t a dull moment while I was in
her company. She could laugh easy and hard but she had a touching
maturity, most definitely brought about by Cat’s father ending
their relationship as soon as she got pregnant. He decided he
didn’t want the responsibility of fatherhood. Didn’t want the
commitment. Cat is of the understanding that they fell out while
she was still a baby. Truth is he did a bunk as soon as Helen
started to show signs of being pregnant. I went into labour two
days before Helen. Helen’s father was estranged and her mother had
died a few years before. She was alone. So I stood by Helen for the
birth and pretty much in raising Cat too. You see although my
delivery went well my baby didn’t make it through its first night.
I had a little girl.”

Rachel sensed Kelly’s well of
sympathy and waved her down before she could talk or attempt to
offer comfort.

“
I was there for Helen
when it was her big day. It seemed important to me somehow. She had
a girl. Helen asked what I had called my baby – and she asked if
she could use the name so that I would know there was still a
little Catherine out there that owed something to me.”

“
I understand why you keep
trying to reach her.”

“
My
partner left a little while after we found it would be too
dangerous for me to attempt to bear children. He desperately wanted
something I couldn’t give him. Adoption wouldn’t have been enough
for him. It was painful but I let him go. I had Helen, and I had
Cat and they filled the gap left by my Catherine and my partner.
Helen and I stayed friends until cancer took her from us nearly two
years ago.” Rachel fixed Kelly with a look of desperation. “I
did
love
her though – Helen
that is. I don’t know what that makes me.” Rachel finally broke
eye-contact. “Perhaps it’s as Cat says,” she stated
dismissively.

“
Not everything needs to
be labelled. And what Cat said and the way she said it doesn’t
describe the love you felt for Helen. It’s just spite and
resentment at what you and Helen had. Cruel words for something
beautiful.” This time Kelly didn’t let Rachel wave her comforting
away and she put an arm around her and pulled her close and let her
cry her wracking sobs against her chest.

Chapter
Thirty Seven

Craig glanced furtively over
the bushes while Kelly crouched by a pile of gas cylinders waiting
for his help in lifting one, she let out a sigh, but he ignored
her. The denuded land was between a row of shops that were heavily
armoured with metal security grills and a playground surrounded by
a pen of chain-link fencing. Kelly had told him there had been
houses there that had been pulled down for a new development but it
had fallen through and nothing had been done with it, so it had
become over-grown and collected derelicts and fly-tipped waste. The
gas cylinders had been dumped there but the Council had yet to do
anything with them, Kelly had suggested they procure them.

“
Come on,” she huffed with
little tolerance.

“
We don’t want to get
caught.”

“
No we don’t, but you
standing there like a meerkat peering over the only cover we have
is only going to draw attention to us.”

He dropped to his haunches and
took hold of the cylinder and they hauled it over to the car.
“Considering we are strapping gas cylinders to a Yugo I didn’t
think we were worrying about being conspicuous.”

“
Let’s just get this done
shall we.”

He limped after her back
to the cylinders and they repeated their chore until they got all
four in the car and strapped on top. “I don’t think she can take
anymore Cap’n.” Craig announced in a bad impression of
Scotty
from
Star Trek
. She agreed, but didn’t laugh which
left him feeling like a prick. He leaned against the side of the
small car and flexed his foot at the ankle and winced as he set it
back on the ground.

“
Still hurting?” Kelly’s
tone was cold and flat.

“
I’m okay,
thanks.”

“
Shall we go?” She started
to walk around to the driver’s side.

“
What’s up?”

She stopped in front of the car.
“I am worried about Jason.”

Her tone implied it should have
been obvious. When they had woken up that morning they had found
that Jason and Cat were gone. It was a worry, but Kelly had been in
this frame of mood since last night. “Me too. Cat seemed to get on
really well with him last night, so I can’t imagine she would let
anything happen to him.”

“
You’re not worried about
her?” Kelly threw her hands in the air, her tone of voice
incredulous. “I find it weird that Cat causes so much trouble for
us and you and Rachel won’t even consider that Jason might be at
risk being with Cat. Wherever they are.”

“
Not as much risk as he
will be in later.”

“
Oh, you are willing to
acknowledge that now?” Her voice was thick with sarcasm.

“
I agreed with your
concern.” He kept his tone steady despite the anger that swelled in
his chest. He didn’t want to fall out with anyone, especially Kelly
and especially on a day like today.

She folded her arms and cocked
her head to one side. “It didn’t feel like it last night.”

Craig held his hands up, and
some of his anger bled into his voice. “A lot happened last night,
Kelly. We got attacked by that thing, then there was all that
arguing between Cat and Rachel, I was trying to comfort Jason, yeah
I didn’t take a lead but I didn’t really know what to say or do
during a lot of that but I contributed, I took part.”

She looked away and down, and
leaned her weight onto one leg. “I know I’m sorry.”

Craig decided that Kelly was
hard to get close to. He would have thought their friendship, which
although was very new, would have stood up against last night. If
anything he thought they would be even closer today. “That’s ok.
Everyone needs to blow off a bit of steam. Especially at times like
this.”

“
I just don’t trust Cat.”
She squeezed her hands into the pockets of her tight jeans. “Jason
says he was being stalked by that thing, and now he has gone
missing with Cat. What if she is under the things influence like
Harry or Malik?”

Craig nodded. “It’s possible,
yeah. But we had to fight pretty hard to get her out of that
building last night so I can’t imagine that was all a stunt for us
to take Cat in. Plus she’s pretty much been a bitch since we met
her so she wasn’t making the best job of getting in with us. I
can’t imagine that Jason is all that important to the thing in the
basement either. There are plenty of other victims left for it to
take. We don’t know why they have both gone missing, but they both
took part in figuring out what we are doing today, so I can’t
believe they won’t be coming back to do their part.”

“
What if they were both
taken?”

“
By the thing? We all
agreed it was possible, but if it could take them it would have
probably taken all of us. No, I think they just went out. Maybe
Jason was scared and Cat took him out to comfort him. I don’t
know.”

“
It would have only taken
them to leave a note to stop us worrying.” Kelly shook her head
disapprovingly. “If they don’t come back?”

“
I think we need Cat, but
we go ahead as planned, I guess.”

“
You are right. You’re
right. I’m sorry.”

He kicked a chunk of rubble into
the thick weeds that sprung up all over the site. “Is that why you
have been so short with me since last night?”

“
I’m sorry.”

He shrugged, although it
bothered him more than a shrug could express. Despite what they had
been going through they had had some nice times chatting together.
He had been more open and intimate than he had been with anyone for
a long time. He wondered if that meant anything to her. Meant as
much as it now did to him. “Just save all that defensiveness up for
when Cat comes back or we get down in that basement.” He offered
her an awkward smile and got one back in return.

They both climbed into the car.
The engine professed and turned over wheezily as Kelly turned the
key in the ignition. “It does this now and again. Just got to give
it a few minutes and she usually starts up okay.” Kelly let the
keys hang and rested her head on her side window.

A light drizzle of rain spotted
the windows and pattered sparsely on the roof of the car as they
sat quietly. “Lets hope we don’t have to make a horror-film-exit by
car at The Heights.”

“
Don’t start mocking the
car again.”

Craig briefly held his hands up
and widened his eyes in mock fright.

“
I bet I know how you are
feeling at the moment.” She looked at him blankly. “I will admit
I’m scared if you do too.”

She turned back to the
window and stared at a fleck of rain, barely enough to form a
running rivulet. “Before this the most I was ever scared was when
my marriage broke down with Ian. I was frightened of losing him;
absolutely
terrified
of losing
what we had, losing someone’s love, and what life would be like
without it. I thought that was it for me. I thought life was over
for me. Now, facing this all that feels so stupid!” She slammed her
palms against the steering wheel.

“
God, I love angry women.”
She smiled back at him, and blushed and he knew he had the old
Kelly back again.

“
I wish
I could go back and tell myself to lighten up and not see the end
of a relationship as the end of the world. Doing what we are going
to do today, and the consequences of that: that’s
real
fear.”

“
It certainly puts things
in perspective,” Craig admitted.

“
Anything you wish you
could change?”

“
Renting a flat in The
Heights.” They both laughed. “I wish I had achieved something. All
I have is a rented flat I can barely afford, debts I keep moving
around but never reduce, no love life and a half-arsed attempt to
go it alone. Not much of a life.”

“
I’m the other way round,
after Ian I have just focussed on me. It’s about all I can manage –
and just lately I have come to realise I haven’t done a very good
job of that.”

The grey cloud was passing over
and returning the blue sky to them, there would be a rainbow
somewhere. He remembered a drunken Sunday afternoon at his flat
with Vicki when she had spotted a rainbow over the city, and she
had dragged him off of the sofa to watch it. He had thought they
might kiss that day. She had belched loudly instead sending them
both into giggles. “I think my friend Vicki is dead.” Craig found
himself saying, feeling instant relief, like getting a splinter out
after a good few days digging at it.

Kelly was quiet for some time.
“What makes you say that?”

Craig explained the photograph
and that Vicki hadn’t answered her phone or responded to his texts.
“She hasn’t even showed up at the office. No one has seen her since
she came to see me yesterday.”

“
I don’t know what to
say.”

“
It’s okay. Maybe I’m
thinking the worst.” Craig provided his own unsatisfying
platitude.

He flinched at her hand suddenly
being on his leg and she took the gesture back. “Sorry, I wasn’t
expecting it. Put it back.” He knew it was a stupid thing to say,
but she did it and the connection felt good. For a few moments they
sat together, deliberately not looking at each other and stared out
of the windscreen watching the grey cloud scroll away. When there
was only blue sky she reached for the keys and the engine came to
life as her hand left his leg.