WHO FOLLOWS: a gripping, dramatic, intense and suspenseful thriller (5 page)

Chapter 18

“Come in, come in. Let me take your coat. Please go through to the sitting room. Make yourself comfortable Hannah, my home is your home as the Spanish say.”

“Thank you Amy. It is always so lovely and cosy in here, and look at all these beautiful flowers.”

“Let me just fetch our drinks. You would like some Champagne surely, wouldn’t you?”

“Wonderful, it feels like a celebration.”

“Yes, well I feel that it is in a way. Let me bring it through and then we can be cosy and talk.”

I am in the kitchen and she calls through to me.

“What did you think of the play Amy, I thought it was a little slow to start but it picked up.”

I have to raise my voice to answer. I really don’t like to have conversations in this fashion. I must be sure and let her know that. It is best I think to start as we mean to go on and then there are no misunderstandings.

“Oh Moet, how lovely and what pretty glasses. I always feel that you live much more graciously than I do Amy, it’s really very special to be here.”

“I am so glad you feel that way. I really was hoping that we could have quite a serious chat actually.”

“Oh, my goodness you do look solemn Amy. There’s nothing wrong is there?”

“No, no. Here we are. Cheers my dear, here’s to friendship and love.”

“Oh, erm well yes of course.”

I move to sit beside her on the sofa, she shifts away and leans against the arm. I can sense a tension in her demeanour. I must relax the atmosphere. Music, yes of course. I turn on the sound system and the room is flooded with the sounds of Mozart. I retake my seat and sip at the cool, sparkling wine. I am in heaven.

“Hannah. You do know, don’t you, how much I value your friendship?”

She shuffles a little beside me. She is tense, her back is a ramrod and her fingers twiddle and play with the stem of the champagne glass. I must get on with this and not allow the mood to sour.

“I have never known anyone quite like you my dear. I find you fascinating.”

She laughs a little, a small sound in some strange way dismissive. “Amy, I’m sorry you are making me uncomfortable.” She places her glass on the table, the condensation runs and pools on the polish. She really will need to take care of the furnishings.

Now I have to fetch a napkin from the kitchen and take a coaster from the little basket.

I take my seat again. “Where was I? Ah yes. I really feel that there is something special between us Hannah. You must feel that also, you do don’t you?”

“I like you very much Amy, of course. I really enjoyed this evening, I did, but to be honest I am wondering if I ought to go home. It’s not as late as I thought it would be and really it would be more convenient. Why don’t I just finish this drink and then I will see you tomorrow? We could have lunch?”

“No, no don’t be silly. Lunch. I don’t want to have lunch. You must stay, you said you would.” I grasp her hand and pull her to her feet. “Come and see, come and see what I have done, the effort I have gone to. Lunch. How could you even suggest going back to your flat?”

“Amy, let go of me. Let go of my arm. What on earth do you think you’re doing?”

“Come with me, come upstairs. It’s all prepared.”

She snatches her arm away and bends to retrieve her evening bag from the side stand. “I think I should just go home. It seems that maybe there has been some sort of misunderstanding here Amy. I only agreed to stay because you seemed to want it so much. Amy please understand, I like you as a friend but if I have given you any sort of idea that there was anything more than that. My God, how could you think that? I don’t know how this has happened but I must be clear I am not interested in anything more than friendship. I am not like that Amy, not – well not that way at all. I had no idea that you were, well that you .”

“That I what, what is it that you are saying? You must have felt the chemistry between us.”

“No. For heaven’s sake. No.”

She stands and turns to me, her face flushed. She clutches the little bag before her as if it were a shield. Tears have started unbidden to my eyes and through the mist I see the look on her face. She is horrified. I have seen that look before. No, this must not happen again.

She turns to leave with just a glance backwards. I must act now, I know that if she were to leave now I will never see her again. I can’t bear it, the thought is a knife in my guts. Through the lump of pain in my throat I manage to speak.

“Wait, wait please Hannah.” She turns. “Wait, I’m sorry, please, I have made a mistake. I really do apologise but please don’t go, sit down now have another drink. Please let us just talk. I understand, truly I do, and your friendship is so valuable to me please let’s just talk.”

She looks into my face and as her expression softens she raises her hand slightly towards me and a small smile touches the corners of her beautiful lips.

“Oh Amy, how sad this is. You are so sweet and I have really enjoyed spending time with you. Here sit down, sit back down, here’s your drink. Don’t be upset now. I am sure we can sort this out. I didn’t realize what was happening but I am sure we can still be friends.”

Relief floods my system, I am weakened by it. “Oh Hannah. You really are wonderful.”

“Sit down, come on let’s talk. I am sorry; I didn’t know you were hoping for more than for us to be friends. Is there no-one for you? Have you never had a, well a, partner?”

Should I tell her? The champagne is tickling at my brain. I feel unresolved. Should I tell her some of it? It would be wonderful to share.

“Well, yes there was someone once. I had a friend. She was younger than I. Her name was Maria.”

“Oh what happened, why are you not together now?”

I take a breath. “She died Hannah, she is gone.”

A hand flies to her mouth as she gasps. “How awful. Amy I am so very sorry I really am. When was this, when did she die? Was she ill, an accident? Oh my goodness. Maybe you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Yes, an accident. That’s it, there was a terrible accident.”

Chapter 19

She is here, she is in my home. We talked long into the night and climbed the stairs together. I was circumspect at the bedroom door. I simply touched her arm and wished her pleasant dreams. I know, yes I know that just now she is a little unnerved and unsure but the first part of the plan has been accomplished.

In the night, when the moon sailed amongst the clouds and my world was quiet and still I went to her room. I trod along the landing with great care. The glassware lining the window sills glowed with the silver moonlight and the dark shadows of great trees painted mobiles on the walls.

There are no locks on my internal doors. I have never felt the need for them. I gently turned the knob and stepped over the threshold into paradise. She lay quite still, the bedding was barely disturbed. Her hair tumbled in a gleaming wave across the pillow and her skin was kissed and burnished by the gentle glow through the voile curtains. Black lashes lay against the smooth alabaster of her cheeks and her hand curled like a sea shell beside her head. I listened to her breathing, the waves of her life shushing in the peace. I was enraptured, a magical princess has entered my realm and here she will stay.

I stood for many, many minutes sharing her sleeping world, drinking in her beauty and glorying in my good fortune…

I knock gently on her door and wait for her early morning voice to invite me in.

“Oh, Amy, breakfast in bed. You really shouldn’t have done. I haven’t had breakfast in bed for years and years.”

She reaches her pale, slender arms towards me to take the breakfast tray. I remove the bud vase. “I’ll just put this rose here beside you. It is a bit top-heavy and I wouldn’t want you to spill it.”

“Thank you Amy. Here sit on the bed. You have only brought one cup. Why don’t you bring your drink in here and sit with me?”

I almost skip to the kitchen, I am light-headed with happiness. My dreams are real, she is in my home. She sits now in her bed and we are to breakfast together. The bliss of it all dizzies me as I fill my mug with fresh coffee and tread back up the stairs.

“Amy, about last night.”

“Please Hannah. I apologise. I had made some very silly assumptions and I am truly sorry. Your friendship is so very precious to me. I understand, of course I do, that maybe my feelings for you are not reciprocated. That is fine with me if only it is not a problem for you. More than anything I want us to stay friends. Please now, make my day and tell me we are alright?”

“I admit I was taken aback for a while. I hadn’t thought about, well erm you know anything other than friendship.” A blush creeps up her cheeks and she toys with the butter knife. I am surprised and delighted at her coyness.

“I know, I know.” My instinct is to reach to her and take her hand but I hold still. The situation is very delicate. She turns to me.

“Look, I am sorry if I overreacted last night. I value your friendship and, well, as long as it is all in the open and understood that friendship is what it is then everything is fine. Is that alright?”

“That is absolutely wonderful.” She smiles with relief and takes a bite of toast. The day is blessed with sunshine, the coffee in my cup is hot and delicious, it is bliss.

“My goodness Amy, that was a big sigh.”

“Ha, yes my dear but a sigh of happiness. I am so happy to have you as a guest and so relieved that we have sorted out our misunderstanding.”

“Yes, me too it was very unfortunate but it’s alright now. I was very sorry to hear about your friend, what was her name. Mary?”

The day is spoiled. Just like that the bliss of the moment is shattered, the pleasure tainted and the atmosphere ruined.

“Maria, it was Maria. Please don’t talk about it. I don’t want you to talk about it.”

“Oh, please don’t be upset. You know sometimes it is better to talk about the sad things, bring them into the light. Don’t you think?”

“No, not in this case no. You know nothing about it and I don’t want you to talk about it. I have to go and sort out the kitchen now. You take your time, enjoy your breakfast, don’t rush to come downstairs. Relax, it is Sunday, just relax.”

I don’t slam the door, I close it carefully, quietly but my nerves jangle, my breath is shortened and my hand shakes. Why did she have to do that, I should never have mentioned Maria, what was I thinking? …

“I’ve brought my tray Amy, thank you so much, that was a lovely treat.” She has dressed in jeans and a shirt, her feet are bare and she appears relaxed and at ease. I try to recapture the happiness of before she spoke of Maria but it is there nipping at my heels. She knows now, she knows that there was someone else and it is human nature that she will want to pry and question. It may be better to deal with it now, to lay it to rest so that she can move on and not fuss about it.

“I find it hard to talk about Maria. You do understand don’t you? It is painful for me. I have thought about it though and you may be right. It could be that it would do me good to revisit it. Would you mind awfully, it wouldn’t be too much of an imposition?”

“No, no of course not. It’s what friends do, isn’t it? Helping each other, confiding.”

“Shall I pour you more coffee?”

“No, no that’s fine. Why don’t we go and sit on your little patio? It looks to be a lovely morning. Just let me pop back upstairs and I’ll join you in a couple of minutes.”

She runs back up to the first floor and I step out to wipe the condensation from the table and chairs. The coolness of the breeze is a surprise. From inside the house it seemed that it was a warm morning but there is a chill in the air.

I head for my room and as I pass her door I stop, I will warn her to bring a wrap or a cardigan. I lean towards the wood to tap.

“Yup, getting there. It’s slow but there is progress. Speak later.” There is a beep.

Who is she calling? Why is she using her mobile in the bedroom? I didn’t hear it ring so the call must have been outgoing. A tiny knot of disquiet curls and stretches in my gut.

Chapter 20

Birdsong drips from the trees as the sun warms and opens the few flowers that have made an appearance. A gentle brush of warmth kisses my cheek as we sit in silence on my patio. I detect an air of discomfort. The early camaraderie has dissipated leaving something that I can’t pin down. A nervousness has crept between us probably as a result of the conversation that I feel neither of us really wants to have. I will take control, move things along.

“We didn’t live together, Maria and I. We hadn’t reached that stage. I had known her a few months and we had only just begun to feel close.”

I am aware that I must choose every word in this conversation with great care. I cannot afford to let down my guard for one moment and I must keep it short. “I am not sure I can talk too much about it you know.”

Hannah reaches and touches my arm, she smiles. “I think I understand, only tell me about it if you really want to. I don’t want to put you under pressure.”

“We met when I was doing part-time work in the college. She wasn’t a student of mine, nothing like that. She worked in the administration department. We talked occasionally and of course there was the odd reception where we met and we became friends. We went to the cinema together, that sort of thing.”

How much of this can be the truth. I must keep this simple. I wonder now why I have started it. There was no real need, I am confused. She confuses and confounds me. I am struck by a lowering feeling. I wonder if this is the way that I should allow my life to go. I could end it. No no, no the thought is horrible. I have worked so hard to reach this stage I only have to lay this ghost and then we can be happy together. I will hold my nerve. Glancing up I see that she is watching me, her hands are still in her lap, her bag hangs on the back of the chair. Why does her bag hang on the chair? Why does she need her bag, how odd?

“It has always been difficult for me you know. Relationships. I am older than you my dear and so these things are more awkward for me. I knew from when I was in my teens that there was a difference between my feelings and those of my friends, classmates. We all had crushes on our teachers at school, but for me I think it was different.” She coughs, I fear it is with embarrassment. Steeling myself I continue. I can’t look at her now, dreading what I may see in her eyes. Would I see a truth that I don’t want to acknowledge? Maybe disgust as with Maria. This is so hard, I am not sure I can carry it off.

She leans to me again, reaches and squeezes my hand. I believe that she may really want to help. Perhaps in her kindness and her compassion she really does want to help me. Tears leap to my eyes and dribble down my face. I feel ridiculous. What an awful day this is.

“Anyway, I never had boyfriends. I have lived a solitary sort of life. My friends married and so on, but I found it easiest to keep myself involved in my work. University was torture for me, even though my degree is in art it wasn’t as you may think. A popular misconception is that art students are free and easy in their ideas, that they are accepting and open to everything. It’s not true, not in the places that I lived and not with the people in my life. Anyway enough of that. I have never had a close relationship neither with a man or a woman and that’s it and all about it.”

“But Maria, it was different with Maria – yes?”

Hannah’s eyes are kind but her voice has a strange hard edge, or is it imagination on my part? “At first we were friends, she seemed kind and as though maybe she understood me. I was misled.”

“How, how were you misled?” She is pressuring me to tell her things that I need to keep hidden.

“She let me think that maybe there was a chance for something more than friendship. Looking back I maybe misread the whole thing. I don’t know.”

“But the accident, you said she had an accident.”

“Yes, an accident.” My heart thumps my hands shake and I am finding it difficult to take enough air into my lungs. I am dizzy. I can’t do this. I must end this now.

“I’m sorry Hannah, that’s all I can say. She is gone, dead and I try not to think about it.”

“But what happened, what sort of accident was it, a car, a fall?”

“An accident, that’s what it was, a mishap. Let it go, enough.”

My head is pounding now, my control is slipping. Why is she insisting on going on? Is it some sort of ghoulish voyeurism? She doesn’t need to know this. I thrust to my feet.

“That’s enough Hannah, no more. This isn’t helping, let’s stop it. I am not feeling too well to be honest.”

“Where is she Amy, where is Maria?” Her voice has hardened, there is a different tone, the kind friend has been overtaken by a harder, firmer character. I glance at her. She is gripping her bag before her, not over her shoulder with the long strap but held awkwardly in her arms. I glance at it and she pulls it closer to her body. There is something wrong. I look back into her eyes, there is guilt there, and there is a glimmer of fear. What is she afraid of, not me? Surely not me?