The Lethal Encounter (21 page)

She made up her mind and, for
the first time in her working life, did not feel the need to consult with
anyone else for their opinion. She rummaged around in her purse and pulled out
Mary's business card. She punched in the number of the mobile phone that Mary
had scribbled on top of her printed name and waited impatiently for the call to
connect.

“Hello, its Mary.”

“Mary, hi, it's Katie
McGovern here.”

“Katie, hi, great to hear
from you. How's things?”

“Fine, thanks. Look, I just
wanted to ring you quickly to say that would be great. I was wondering if I
could contact you again later to get all the details?”

“Ah, I understand, you're at
work. Of course you can ring later.....but that's great news. I will tell my
client at once. I know they will be delighted. Speak to you later. Bye.”

“Bye now.”

Katie punched the off key on
her mobile and threw it onto her desk. There, it was done.

Immediately she felt a huge
weight lift off her shoulders and a surge of excitement flow through her body.
She had done it.....she had actually done it! Sod all of them here.

CHAPTER 16

Katie felt very detached when
she entered the office building the following day. She had spoken to Mary again
last night and gone through the job in detail and the salary package that came
with it. They had also discussed timelines and, taking into account Katie's
relatively short notice period, they had decided a start date of six weeks
hence.

Mary had agreed to get the
formal offer in the post today, so all being well Katie would be able to hand
in her notice at Shire by the end of the week…..now that would be worth a
celebration! After Katie had finished the call, she could not resist working
out what her take home pay would be on her small calculator she kept in the
kitchen drawer next to the cooker. When she had finally punched the “=” key,
her heart had given a little leap as she saw that the final figure would be
almost twice as much as she earned in the current job. Amazing! All at once,
she could see in her mind’s eye shopping trips, larger flats, holidays and many
other luxuries that she been unable to afford to date.

Despite her excitement, she
resisted doing a ring round to announce her news, instead preferring to wait
until all the formalities had been signed off. She retired to bed reflecting on
the last ten days of her life and how it had affected her.  

She now walked up the stairs
from reception to her floor as she mentally imagined handing in her notice to
Sue. True, it may seem to some that she was giving in and fleeing the scene and
to others, who subscribed to the idea of her having an affair with Peter, it
would undoubtedly prove that their accusations were justified. If truth be
told, Katie did not mind. She was happy again, and that was what really
mattered.

“Morning Katie,” said Beth,
already sitting at her desk with an extra large cappuccino sitting beside her
mouse. “How are you today?”

“Fine thanks, Beth. In fact,
could not be better!”

With that, Katie got down to
work. Whilst she was glad to be leaving, she knew she had a lot of things to
cover before the time came, and it was not like her, whatever the
circumstances, to leave her work colleagues in the lurch.

By lunchtime, she had made
further serious headway into her French project, updated all the logistics and
had two meetings with the planning team. She stole a look at the clock, felt
the pangs of hunger and decided to nip out for a quick sandwich. She got up and
slipped on her coat, before going down the backstairs and out into the
sunshine. She made a quick decision to walk to the little Italian sandwich bar
along the road rather than one of the better known coffee shop chains of which
there were several within walking distance, and hurried off in that direction.

There was a small queue when
she arrived and she took her place, examining the array of sandwich fillings
and breads on the counter in front of her. As she moved slowly along, she
settled on a prawn mayonnaise on brown and ordered it when her turn came.

“Anything else, Madam?” the
assistant said, as he expertly spooned the mixture onto a piece of thick brown
bread. “Piece of chocolate cake? Some fruit?”

Katie smiled.

“I'll just take this apple,
thanks,” she said, selecting a green and very shiny Granny Smith from the large
bowl beside the till.

“That'll be £4.25 please.”

Katie handed over some money
and took her change. She sidled passed the waiting queue, out of the shop and
strode along the pavement, dodging out of the way of the other lunchtime
walkers as they made their way hurriedly along the road.

As she came up opposite the
office, she glanced in either direction to check the traffic and, as she did
so, her phone rang. She halted momentarily and reached into her bag to retrieve
it. Then she walked out into the road, directly into the path of an oncoming
motorbike that had been overtaking another car.

It was a busy street and,
luckily, none of the traffic was travelling that quickly. If it had, then Katie
would have been in serious trouble. As it was, the front wheel of the bike
caught her leading leg and twisted it badly, causing her body to spin around
and hit a car. It was when her head came into contact with the car's window
that the real damage was done.

Katie opened her eyes and the
first thing she saw was a pristine white ceiling, with halogen spots dotted
evenly along its length. As her eyes adjusted to the light, she slowly turned
her head to the right. Immediately a stab of pain went through it and she
involuntarily closed her eyes. When the pain subsided, she opened her eyes
again and took in the surroundings. There was a heart monitor right next to
her, obviously connected, along with a drip that snaked into the back of her
right hand. Her eyes travelled passed that and on down to the sight of her leg
in a large plaster, propped up on a pillow at the end of the bed. Katie wiggled
her toes and was pleased to see them move in response, although the action
caused another sharp stab of pain along the leg itself.

She gingerly shifted her head
to the left and saw that, as far as she could make out, she was more or less intact.
She closed her eyes again and tried to remember what had happened. It had all
been so quick. She remembered looking at the screen of her phone and noting
that it was Jodie calling…..and then nothing.

“I see you're awake then?” a
friendly voice said.

Katie turned to see a nurse
who had placed a temperature gauge on the end of her finger and was checking
the readout.

“What happened?” Katie
managed to croak.

“I'm afraid you were involved
in a tussle with a motorcycle…..and the motorcycle got the better of you. But
don't worry, you've only broken your leg and banged your head. Everything is
fine. Now, how's the pain?”

“Only my head really.....but
not too bad.”

“OK, we'll give you another
quick dose of painkiller. It may make you drowsy, but that's fine. You just lie
back and get some sleep.”

“What about work and stuff.
People will be worried.”

“Don't worry. You were on the
phone to your friend and she rang your work. She's just arrived by the way. Are
you up for a visitor?”

“That would be great,
thanks.”

“I'll let her know. She's
only outside.”

With that, the nurse left the
room and a few moments later a distraught Josie burst in.

“Bloody hell, McGovern. Are
you trying to cram all of life's experiences into a couple of months or what?”

Despite the throb in her
head, Katie smiled.

“Well, I like to keep things
moving on, you know that.”

“What happened? I've been so
worried. One minute we were talking and then there was this enormous thump and
then nothing. They said you were hit by a bike and your leg is messed up a
bit.....they had to operate apparently…..but it’s OK now and the bump on your
head was only glancing.”

Josie took a deep breath as
the nurse returned to administer some more drugs. She smiled.

“This will help the pain.”

“Thanks.” croaked Katie. Her
throat felt as dry as a piece of sandpaper and she looked to one side to see if
there was some water.

“Help us with a drink Josie,”
she said.

Josie picked up the glass and
held it to Katie's lips as she sipped gently.

“I rang your work and spoke
to Sue. She sent her regards and said not to worry about your work.”

“I accepted the job offer
today, Jos.” said Katie. “I was only going to wait for the official letter
before handing in my notice. It looks like I'm going to be taking sick leave
instead.”

Katie suddenly felt sleepy
and her eyelids drooped.

“Sorry, I think I'm going to
be boring company,” she muttered.

“No probs. I'll just go and
get some mags and stuff for you.....” Josie's voice trailed off as she got up
and walked to the door.

Katie heard her mutter to
someone but could not discern the words. The next moment she felt another
presence beside her. She turned her head and tried to focus but found it
difficult.

“Katie. Katie. It’s me,
Peter.”

“Peter? Peter? What are you
doing here?” Katie managed to reply.

“Sue sent an e mail round and
I saw it and came straight over.”

It took Katie several moments
to decipher this news. At last she spoke.

“But why? The last time we
spoke, I think I told you to fuck off.” Katie whispered.

“Oh Katie, I've been such a
tosser....and I'm sorry about that momentary lapse in my normal cool and suave
approach to women. When I saw the email, I just knew I had to get here to see
you.”

“That's nice,” was all Katie
could muster before slipping off to sleep.

Josie's return interrupted
him. She stopped and regarded him quizzically.

“Hi there. I suppose you must
be the one and only Peter Jarvis. We've heard a lot about you recently.”

“All good, I hope,” replied
Peter lamely.

“No, not all, to be honest,
but enough to know that you could be an important part of Katie's life if
that's what you want. She's a very special friend you know,” added Josie,
trying to inject a note of fierceness into her voice.

“Well, you probably know by
now that I'm probably not very good at the relationship thing, despite
everything else.  But I do know a good thing when I see it…..and I think
Katie is a very good thing.”

“Good. I'm Josie by the way,
one of Katie's best mates.”

She took Peter's hand and
shook it.

“Peter Jarvis, but I guess
you know that. Look I must be off. If you are here when she wakes up, tell her
hi. I'm not sure she will believe I was here at all unless she gets reminded.”

“I will. I'm sure we will see
each other again.” replied Josie smiling.

When Peter had left the room,
Josie watched his retreating back and saw one of the nurses give him a double
take and then smile to one of her colleagues.

“Oh dear, Katie. What have
you got yourself into?” she thought wistfully.

Almost exactly an hour later,
Katie stirred. She turned her head and the first thing she saw was Josie
sitting in the comfy chair beside the bed, thumbing through the latest copy of
Hello! magazine.