Of That Day and Hour: A psychological thriller (15 page)

“Love you too, honey.”

There's a moment of silence
as Jessica hands the phone over to her mom.

“Jeff.” She almost barks his
name.

“Hi, Chloe.” Jeff’s feeling
rather sheepish.

“Where’ve you been?”

“I’m sorry, a lot’s been
happening recently.”

“I don’t need to hear your
excuses.” Chloe is livid. “It doesn’t take two minutes to pick up the phone and
speak to your daughters, does it?”

“Chloe, I said I’m sorry, I
should have phoned sooner. I lost my post at the university and I’ve been very
busy.”

“Busy philandering somewhere
no doubt.”

“Excuse me.” Jeff reasserts
himself. “From what I’ve been hearing you’re not doing a bad job of it
yourself.”

“If you’re referring to
Steve, he’s a good man. What do you expect me to do, sit here and wait around
for you?”

“No, I don’t.” He asked for
that, he knows. ”Look, can we at least be civil?”

“Yes, but in future make the
effort for your daughters, if nothing else!”

“Of course I will.” He hears
her scorn, but knows he deserves it. “Is there anything else?”

“Not that I can think of.”

“Then I’ll be in touch
soon.” Jeff cringes as he says. “Could you please have a chat with Louise for
me? She refused to talk to me.”

“Are you surprised?” Chloe
certainly isn’t, from the tone of her voice.

“Well, yes, I am to be
honest. She should have got over our breakup by now.”

“Girls are very emotional,
Jeff.”

“Yes, I’m fully aware they
are, Chloe.” Jeff knows it’s in his best interests not to become too irate.

“Okay, I’ll have a chat with
her. Anything else I can do for you?”

“You don’t have to be
sarcastic.”

“I’m not.”

“Okay.” He speaks softly.
“Thank you. I do appreciate it.”

“Goodbye, Jeff.”

The phone goes silent. Eve’s
been listening from behind the door. She walks back out onto the porch, places
her hand on Jeff’s shoulder.

“You okay, honey?”

“Yeah. I’ve got a daughter
who misses me, one who won’t talk to me, and an ex-wife who hates me.”

“And a woman who loves you
by your side.” Eve bends down and plants a kiss on his lips. “Give them time.
Your wife will always hate you, but your daughters will always love you.”

“Thanks.”

“Pass me the phone. I’d
better call work and check in.”

Eve walks back into the
house, leaving Jeff to contemplate his past actions. He can easily understand
why lesser men have walked away from their families, never to be seen again.
The pain of watching loved ones being hurt by your own actions is nearly
unbearable. He consoles himself with the fact that he’d been unhappy for many
years, and it’s a mistake to stay together for the sake of the children.
Minutes pass. Eve walks back out with a puzzled look on her face.

“What’s up?”

“We can’t see Casey.” Eve
looks doubtful.

“Why not?”

“He’s in hospital.”

“Hospital?”

“Yeah, they were vague with
me as to what’s actually wrong with him. However, on a positive note they did
say he would be out in a week or so, and there’s no cause to worry.”

“Sounds a bit fishy to me.”
Jeff frowns.

“I agree, but there’s
nothing we can do.”

Jeff decides to shower and
shave. Tomorrow they meet Marcus, and he'd rather do it now than rush around in
the morning. Standing in front of the bathroom cabinet, he lathers his face and
rinses his razor in the hot water. The mirror keeps steaming up. He wipes away
a section of steam with a towel. The small gap that’s been cleared offers him a
view of his face. At first he thinks he’s mistaken; the eye in the mirror that
looks out at him is sunken, bloodshot and yellow. The surrounding skin is
wrinkled, the eye lid drooping. Jeff moves his head around this window in the
mist. His eyelashes, eyebrows and receded hair are grey; he has deep frown
lines, jowls and ears that sag. His lips are thin, and as he puckers them his
teeth are yellow, crooked and missing. Even the nose of this face staring back
appears to be longer.

“Hey sexy.” He nearly jumps
out of his skin as Eve walks into the bathroom. “Oh, we’re going to have to put
that body to some good use.”

“Hmm. Yeah.”

“What’s up?” She can tell
he's distracted.

Jeff looks back to the
mirror and wipes it, the face he’s used to seeing stares back.

“Nothing, I’m fine.”

“You sure, you’re acting
weird?”

“You startled me that’s
all.”

“Okay.” Eve doesn’t believe
a word. “I’m just going to jump in the shower.”

“Sure.” Covering his actions
he says. “Later I’ll make you feel like you should.”

“Promises, promises.”

Jeff looks in the mirror and
then finishes shaving; all’s as it should be.
 

The big day has arrived.
Placing the suitcases into the trunk of the car, Jeff thinks to himself that
anyone would think that Eve’s going for a two-week vacation, rather than a
weekend. He steals
himself a moment to look out across
the plain. The sun’s already heating up the soil beneath his feet; it’s going
to be a long, hot and sticky drive today.

Eve walks out onto the
porch, and looks at Jeff standing there. She never dreamt six months ago that
she would see him again, let alone here.

“Breakfast’s up.”

“Thanks.”

Jeff walks back to the
house. Eve’s sitting at the table; the smell of fresh coffee fills the air.

“This looks good.”

“Thank you.”

“It’s already hot out
there.”

“We live in the desert.”

“Yeah I know.” Eve’s sense
of humor sometimes grates on him. “I was making conversation.”

“Touché.” Eve can see he’s
not amused. “Big day today, how do you think it will pan out?”

“I don’t know. If all else
fails we can get back in the car and drive home.”

“Nothing to lose and
everything to gain.”

“So you keep saying.”

“That’s because I’m right.”

“Some of the time.”

“All of the time.”

With breakfast and banter
over, they clear the table and wash up. Eve appears to have become a woman
obsessed; she’s checking twice that everything’s switched off.

“Are we done?”

“I’m just checking this.”

“You’ve already checked
once, it’ll be fine.”

“It’s called peace of mind.”

“It’s called obsession. Come
on, otherwise we’ll never get out of here.”

“In a rush now, are we?”

“Behave.”

With the front door locked
they walk down the steps and over to the car. It rumbles into life, then barks,
blowing dust up behind them. They drive up the old track. For protection Eve’s
attached a small silver crucifix, one that had belonged to her grandma, to the
rear view mirror. It swings to and fro via its rosary beads. Once they reach
the highway Eve puts her foot down.

Jeff looks back towards the
house. He’s unsure if he’s witnessing an atmospheric refraction due to the
heating of air over the ground, but the ranch appears to shimmer, and then
disappears.

“Look at the house.”

Yet the very moment Eve
does, the ranch instantly reappears; all is as it should be.

“What am I looking at?”

“Nothing; must have been an
illusion.”

“What must have been?”

“Well, the house didn’t
appear to be there.” He sighs, he knows he’s going to sound nuts. “As soon as
you looked it reappeared.”

“The desert can do strange
things to a man.” She loves teasing him.

“Behave yourself.”

“It’s quantum physics.”

“No it’s not.” Jeff chuckles
to himself.

“The house wasn’t there
until I looked, then it was. All matter and thus energy is schizophrenic, and
only comes into a solid existence when an observer observes it.”

“Yes, but I was observing it
wasn’t I?”

“You don’t count.”

“What’s this, pick on me
day?”

“Like I said, the desert
does funny things to a man.”

They continue to drive
onward through the plains. The Camaro takes everything in good stride, even
though the morning heat increases steadily by the hour.

“What time is it?”

“Midday.”

“We’ll pull over here and
get some food and gas. This is the last station for a while.”

Near a cluster of trees
stands the white timber built gas station. A red painted stripe stretches round
the lower quarter of the building, and neatly matches the red sign above the
apex. It reads, ‘Gas, oil and fuel.’ On the old baked concrete pad sit the red
and blue pumps.

“This looks authentic.” Jeff
adores folk history, and rustic buildings.

“You mean old.” Eve can’t
grasp where his nostalgia for the past comes from.

She drives in and draws up
alongside one of the pumps, then steps out to fill up. Jeff meanwhile is trying
to place the gas station. It feels familiar to him. He shrugs the feeling off,
but can’t shake off the accompanying unease. Another car pulls alongside. Jeff
has an immediate knowing. Four males in an open top car, all of them muscular,
bare chested under leather vests. This car’s no mid-life crisis for the driver;
it’s vintage, unrestored, and all eyes turn to Eve.

“Shit.”

Jeff smells trouble. He
tries his best not to make eye contact with them. This has to be one of his
worst nightmares. Eve on the other hand doesn’t fluster; she’s spent every day
of her life with men staring and mentally undressing her. In fact most of the
time she takes it as a compliment paid, but not when they stare like dogs in
front of her partner. She places the nozzle back and calmly puts the filler cap
on, before walking into the building. Wolf whistles soil the air behind her.

“Hi.”

“Hi.” The attendant shows
concern. “I hope those boys aren’t bothering you?”

“I can handle them.” Eve’s
confident; no man will intimidate her!

She walks to the fridge,
opens it up, and reaches in. She walks back to the counter with two bottles of
pop and sandwiches.

“Gas and these please.”

“That’ll be sixty two
dollars.”

Eve hands the money over
with a smile; there’s no eye contact, the assistant can’t keep his eyes off her
breasts. Taking her goods from the counter Eve turns and walks back out. Now
all she has to do is get past these creeps. One is standing by the pump, whilst
the other three men get out of the car, and head in her direction. She’s makes
no eye contact with them. Meanwhile Jeff has one hand on the door handle; he’s
no idea what he can do, but he would be out of the car the instant anyone
touches her. Thankfully all the men do is stare and comment as they pass.

“Sexy lady.”

“Hey, she don’t want you,
she needs a real man.”

“And that’s you?”

 
Eve ignores the comments and walks back to the
car. With relief, she steps back in and hands the goods over to Jeff.

“Let’s get out of here.”

“For a moment I thought
there was going to be trouble.”

“They're full of shit.”
She’s angry. “Don’t give them a second thought.”

“I was ready for them.”
Bravado maybe, but Jeff knows he would have got out of the car.

“You did the right thing,
honey.” They pick up I-70 just before the busy suburban skyline of Kansas City.
The car’s now covered in dust, it’s been a long drive, nearly ten hours. They
could have taken the interstate most of the way, but Eve prefers the back
routes.

“Are we nearly there?”

“Yeah, it’s not far now.”

“Have you been here before?”

“I’ve been on this road a
few times. Kansas City, just the name reminds me of the Wizard of Oz.”

“You could say we’re off to
see the wizard.”

“Well he’d best not be full
of shit like Dorothy’s.”

Two lions cast in
regal stone sit on their pedestals and flank the high wrought iron gates,
bathing in the surrounding tropical greenery. The hot tires of the Camaro roll
on cool cobblestone and halt outside these perimeter defenses. A security
camera records their every move.

“Wow, is this it?” Eve’s
impressed.

“It’s the correct address.”
Jeff’s face distorts at Eve’s enthusiasm.

“He’s worth millions!”

“I guess.”
        

“Jealous?” She knows he is.

“No!”
              

“I’m only teasing.” Eve
playfully touches his shoulder. “Don’t get so defensive.”

“I’m not.” Jeff diverts Eve
away from his jealousy. “The intercom, honey.”

“I can see it.”

“Its okay, the gates are
opening.”

The electric gates open and
Eve drives forwards onto the beautifully landscaped driveway. The surrounding
trees arch around and cradle them. This makes them both feel like tycoons; they
really ought to be chauffeured in by limousine. Intermittent rays of sunlight
glisten like diamonds; toying with the leaves, and their ever on-going
subconscious banter. Jeff feels that it’s in these magical moments that the
human spirit has found inspiration, and has been driven forward by this
glimmering notion of hope.

The driveway opens out, into
a spectacular courtyard enhanced by a glorious fountain surrounded by prairie
bloom and perennial flowers. The American Queen Anne style house is impressive;
beautifully ornate, but calm in its palette of browns, white and grey. The
complex architecture is comfortably cradled within the landscape, with
picturesque elm and oak trees, shrubs and woody vines. Eve drives alongside a
large black SUV and stops. For a moment there’s only silence.

“This is beautiful.”

“It is.” Jeff concedes only
to himself that Marcus has done well.

“Is that him walking towards
us?”

“Yeah.” Jeff’s emotions are
uncertain, in this strange moment of anticipation. “That’s him.”

After all these years, Jeff
can see that Marcus's distinctive and recognizable walk is still familiar to
him. The face of youth he recognizes from a distance ages as Marcus walks
closer. Both men greet and shake hands with a firm grip.

“Welcome to my home.” Marcus
smiles with awkward relief. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Likewise.” Jeff finds
himself unexpectedly but reservedly pleased to see Marcus. “I would like to
introduce Eve.” His hands gesture towards her. “Eve, this is Marcus.”

“Welcome, Eve.” The
misdemeanor of the past constrains Marcus; he tactfully shakes hands with Eve,
without leaning forward to kiss her. “It’s good to meet you.”

“Thank you.” He appears
charming. “It’s good to meet you too.”

“Sarah’s waiting for us at
the entrance.” Marcus indicates that they should start walking towards the
house. “She’s very excited to have female company for the weekend, not that I
lock her up of course.” Marcus’s hands stretch out and rock up and down,
emulating scales. “It’s just that our socializing evolves around work.”

“I’m looking forward to
meeting her.”

“How was the journey?”

“Enjoyable. Eve insisted on
driving so I had chance to look around.”

“Well it’s not just cows and
cornfields; KCK is one of the best cities in the world.” Marcus reinforces his
love for the area. “When I’m done, I intend to be firmly planted in this soil.”

Sarah stands by the front
door. She can see that Marcus has jumped the first hurdle. He’s been awfully
tense for the last twenty four hours, constantly pacing round the house for
most of the day. She walks out of the entrance to the house to greet them.

“This is Sarah, my beautiful
wife.” Marcus speaks with pride.

“Hi.” Sarah projects a warm
and welcoming smile.
 

Jeff follows Marcus’s lead
in the introduction stakes and shakes Sarah’s hand. “It’s good to meet you.”
Sarah leans forward and kisses Jeff on the cheek. He appears flustered, so she
breaks away and turns to Eve.

“And you must be Eve?”

“Yes.” Eve’s relieved; her
first impressions are good.

The girls give each other a
hug and a kiss on the cheek. The boys walk in front towards the entrance to the
house. Eve loves Sarah’s cool red streaks that flow through her hair,
complementing her pale skin and slim body. Jeff had better keep his eyes firmly
off!

“I love the color of your
hair.”

“Thank you.” Sarah smiles.
“I couldn’t help noticing your lip piercing; I’d love one, but did it
hurt?”
 

“It’s no big deal; you’d be
fine.”

“Do they numb it first?”
Sarah knows underneath it all she’s a wimp.

“No, it’s just a scratch and
it’s over.” Eve stretches her arm out towards the house. “You have a beautiful
home.”

“Thank you.” Sarah
understands just how lucky they are. “We’re privileged to be able to live here,
although we do have to make sacrifices to maintain the property.”

“I’m sure you do, but
standing here I would say it’s worth it.”

“Yes, we’re happy here.”

“It’s nice to see them both
together, isn’t it?” Eve probes, she wants to know how Sarah feels about the
boys' reunion.

“It is.” Sarah has a
question of her own. “Do you know Marcus?”

“No, I’m only going from
what Jeff’s told me.”

“To be honest, he only
mentioned Jeff to me last week. Apparently he’s missed him all these years, and
has only just and uncomfortably confessed to me about what happened back then.
Did Jeff discuss it with you?”

“Yeah...he told me.”

“Marcus isn't that kind of
guy, Eve.” Sarah’s picked up on Eve’s doubt. “I’ve never known him to play
around. Give him a chance and he’ll prove his worth.”

“I’m sure he will.” Eve
realizes Sarah’s picked up on her concerns, and lightens up with a smile.

Inside they are greeted by a
spectacular entrance hall, with a lush curved stairway, ethnic tapestries, and
a large oil-on-canvas painting. This demands observation through sheer size
alone, bullying the beholder into looking. The abstract work represents a
mother cradled over the infant in her arms, the unbreakable bond between mother
and child. The tree of life arches up around her back, whilst the branches and
leaves shade them. Multi-colored lines of browns, reds and purples signify
abstract soil, and blue zigzags create rivers with multi-colored fish swimming
in them.

“It’s a beautiful painting.”
Eve stands in awe.

“Yes.” Sarah smiles, it’s
one of her own paintings, but she doesn’t like to boast. “The tree of life;
Mother Nature and our place within. I like to think it captures the essence of
humanity.”

“It does.”

“Are you both coming?”
Marcus and Jeff are waiting for them.

“Yes, darling. I’ll give you
a tour of the house later, Eve. Would you like a coffee?”

“Oh yes please.”

“Did I hear coffee?” Marcus
smiles to Sarah.

“Yes.”

“Would you be a darling?”

“Of course.” She turns and
smiles to Eve. “Go through and I’ll join you in a minute.”

They walk along a hallway as
wide as Eve’s living room. The floor is sanded, stained and varnished, and
lined with Indian floor rugs. On a handmade oak table stands two carved African
figures, softly illuminated by a hand painted red and gold lamp. Two blue
ethnic vases sit underneath the table, nestling besides a wicker basket.
Everything around them has a spiritual feel. The vibes are that of a house at
peace with itself, and as they walk into the living room, it’s evident there’s
been no expense spared.

“Wow.” Eve’s expectation is
rewarded. “I love this room.”

“You’re a lucky man.” Jeff’s
suitably impressed.

The room is big, light and
airy. The outer wall feels like it’s made entirely out of glass, covered by
beautiful white lace drapes that filter the light into an elegant glowing aura.
The wood floor has a Greek gold border pattern, and what must be the largest
mansion sized rug they’ve ever seen. Two large brown leather sofas sit,
alongside the upholstered single armchairs that are pushed together, surrounding
a coffee table on three sides. The furniture faces the window and the larger
than life white marble Venus de Milo statue that presides over the room.

“Make yourselves at home.”
Marcus gestures towards the seating.

“Thank you.”

Jeff and Eve sit down and
make themselves comfortable. The distressed leather is beautifully soft to the
touch.

“It’s good to see you again,
Jeff.” Marcus reinforces his message. “I’m genuinely pleased you could make
it.”

“Yes.” Jeff has an aura of
sadness. “It’s been a long time.”

“Too long.” Marcus wishes to
deflect Jeff away from old history. “But let’s not dwell in past mistakes, I
believe we have plenty of ground to cover.” He spots Sarah, which is the
perfect distraction. “Here’s Sarah with coffee.” He has a beaming smile. ”She’s
good to me, you know.”

“I can see that.” Jeff
smiles towards her as Sarah places the tray on the table.

“Do you take sugar, Jeff?”

“No thanks.”

“Eve?”

“I’m sweet enough.” Eve
flashes a smile. She adores the surroundings and now that Sarah’s here she can
ask. “How old is the house?”

“Marcus.” She turns back to
Eve. “It’s more his thing.”

“It was completed in 1886.”
Marcus sounds pompous, although he doesn’t realize he comes across as such. “We
take pride in being privileged caretakers who are just passing through, and
would like to think we can give the place the same care and attention as our
predecessors did.”

“Well, we try our best.”
Sarah tries to relax the tone.

“It must cost a fortune to
run?” Jeff’s curious.
 

“You can see it as either a
money pit or an investment. We have to put our money into something, and it
might as well be something we both love.”

“I can see the attraction.”
The conversation’s flowing and Eve’s inquisitive. “How long have you been
together?”

“Fifteen years.” Marcus
speaks with pride.

“Do you have any children?”

“We’re not blessed, and
you?”

“I haven’t personally.” Eve
looks to Jeff to see what he says.

“I have two daughters.” Jeff
has a twinge of guilt, and shame.

“I do recall Jack saying you
were married years ago.” His eyes look up as he tries to recollect the
conversation, then back to Jeff. “I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you.”

“Don’t be.” Jeff smiles and
looks to Eve. “If it did I wouldn’t have the pleasure of Eve’s company.”

“He has to say that.” She
feels herself flush, loving the admiration.

“Would you like children,
Eve?”

“In the future, perhaps.”
She deflects the question away from her secret yearning for children. “And
yourselves?”

“Who knows, for now we’re
both content as we are.” Marcus reinforces and questions his belief by turning
to Sarah. “Aren’t we darling?”

“Yes, we live for our work.”
The prospect of diapers, crying babies, and the loneliness of being isolated
from Marcus for most of the day, whilst he’s at work, isn’t appealing to Sarah.
She's wise enough to know that, during the day at least, the task of nursing a
baby would fall to her.

 
“Do you both investigate the paranormal?” A
leading question, Jeff knows, but it’s why he’s here.

“We do.”

“Have you found any
definitive proof?”

“Oh yes.” Marcus looks
serious. “You wouldn’t be here otherwise. We’ll do everything we can to help.”

“Thank you.” Relief colors
Jeff's voice.

“You have to understand our
research is government funded, the public are not aware and we’re not permitted
to release any findings.”

“And if we did we’d only be
discredited.” For the first time, Sarah appears firm and business like.

“Yes, or worse disappear.”
Marcus raises his hands. “Not that I’m in the business to create conspiracy
theories.”

“I understand. Anything you
share with us will be in the strictest confidence.” The conversation lightens
again.

“Thank you.” They wouldn’t
be here if Marcus didn’t believe he could trust them. “Last I heard you’d
become a Dr. Davies.”

“That’s correct.”

 
“A specialist within your own chosen field.”
Marcus appears suitably impressed. “What do you specialize in, Eve?”

“I’m a psychiatrist.”