You Had Me at Halo (14 page)

xxx

It didn’t take them long to cover the short distance to parking lot and Vince headed toward one of the many white Baker Colwell service vans. He slid in behind the wheel and they made the rest of the journey to Holly’s old house in silence, which was good because the closer they got, the less Holly felt like talking. Or like going in.

She had moved out when she’d gone to college, but had felt obliged to visit once a week to see her stepmother. However, since starting at Baker Colwell she had been so busy between work and Todd that she couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been home. She had a funny feeling it might not have been since Easter. Almost four months ago.

Are you okay?
Vince silently asked once he parked the van and they were standing in front of the door.

Not really.
Holly gulped.
Perhaps I don’t really need to do this in order to speak to Todd. I convinced Gemma without resorting to evidence. Surely I could do the same again. And you believed me.”

“I had overwhelming proof,”
Vince reminded her.
As much as I dislike Todd, for whatever reason, you’ve been given a second chance to get things sorted out and say your goodbyes. You need to make the most of it.

Holly, who had been about to protest, closed her mouth as she felt inexplicably reassured by Vince’s philosophy. Turned out that while this whole set up made a lot of things more difficult, in some ways she was finding his continued presence a relief from all the changes that had been thrust upon her lately. It was obviously some sort of latent Darwinian survival skill that was helping her to get on with the person in whose body she was sharing.

Thank you,
she said as she pressed the bell.

It’s fine. Are you sure you don’t want me to do the talking?
Vince asked.

No.
Holly gave an adamant shake of her head as she once again went over the story they had come up with:
Hello Mrs. Evans, you don’t know me but I’m a friend of Holly’s and I’ve come here on behalf of the Baker Colwell...
cue holding up ID card
. I’ve just cleared out her desk and thought you might like the rest of her belongings...
cue holding up the sum whole of her working life: a box containing a coffee cup, some photos and a dog-eared work diary.

As far as cover stories went, it wasn’t very original or believable, but hopefully it would be enough to get them in the door. From there she didn’t have a clue how they were going to manage it, but the law of averages suggested that something had to go right for her today. Didn’t it?

She was just about to push the button again when she heard the sound of her stepmother’s heels tapping along the marbled hallway. The door opened and Holly sucked in a deep breath as she tried to prepare herself to face her nemesis.

“Hello Mrs. Evans…”
Holly started to say but the rest of the words sort of died on her lips as she stared in front of her.

Boy.

It had to be said that her stepmother didn’t look too well. Perhaps she’d eaten something that disagreed with her at the funeral yesterday. Fish perhaps? Because something definitely wasn’t right with her pale face and her red rimmed eyes.

“Oh, hello.” Her stepmother blinked as if adjusting to the bright light of the day. “It’s Vincent, isn’t it? You and Holly went to school together for a while. Goodness, you look exactly the same.”

“Just a bit taller I guess. I was only about eight back then,” Vince said; which was probably lucky since Holly was pretty much rendered speechless.

Obviously the fish was affecting her stepmother’s mind as well. And you know she was getting a bit sick of Vince pretending they had once been friends. Enough of it already.

“Oh, well, do come in.”

“Thanks,” Vince once again answered as Holly tried and failed to not feel strange as she crossed over the threshold of her old house.

She’d been born in this house and her mother had died here only hours later. Despite the pain, Holly had happy memories of growing up, just her and her dad. Besides how could you miss what you’d never had? Unfortunately her father didn’t subscribe to this theory and she would never forget the first time their domestic bliss was shattered by the appearance of a total stranger called Jill Turner. The once-off meal quickly extended to two nights a week and Sunday afternoons, until there had finally been a wedding.

“I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to talk to you yesterday,” her stepmother said as she closed the door behind them. “I did see you at the church, but then things just sort of got away from me and by the time I went to say hello, I couldn’t find you anywhere.”

Yeah right.
She wanted to roll her eyes since her stepmother never liked Holly’s friends. Not that Vince was a friend of course, but her stepmother obviously didn’t know that, hence why she was letting them through the front door right now. She supposed she should be grateful. Then Holly realized her stepmother was waiting expectantly for an answer.

“Oh, that’s okay. I was feeling a bit strange anyway,” she said truthfully as she recalled her sudden arrival back to earth and straight into Vince’s size ten boots.

“It was that sort of day. Anyway...sorry the place is such a mess.” Her stepmother sniffed as she led the way through into the main living room. “I collected Holly’s things from her old apartment the other day but haven’t had the heart to take them up to her room yet. It all seems so pointless.”

Holly glanced around and then turned back to her stepmother. What was she talking about? Holly couldn’t remember when she had ever seen the house looking less than spotless. At times it had felt like living in a showroom with nothing out of place. Come to think of it, it wasn’t just the boxes of clothing and shoes piled up by the window that seemed strange, but the whole place looked a little...
dusty.

“That’s okay.” Holly stepped over her old gym bag and followed her stepmother through to the kitchen.

“So tell me Vincent, what can I do for you?”

“Oh...well.” Holly put the box down on the bench. “I have Holly’s personal items from work. I thought you might like them.”

            Gosh, the things a girl had to do to break into her own house...and why was her stepmother dabbing her eyes with a tissue?

“I’m sorry, I thought I’d be better after the funeral but the smallest thing still sets me off, but thank you for bringing these around. Baker Colwell has been very thoughtful. Did you see the flowers they sent?”

“Holly was well liked,” Vince butted in and before Holly could respond, her stepmother started to nod her head in agreement.

“I can imagine. She was a lovely girl.”

What? Holly almost squeaked out loud, because really this was getting stupid.

“Where are my manners?” Her stepmother seemed to come out of her daze. “Would you like a drink? A cup of coffee or iced tea or something.”

“No thanks,” Holly said before Vince started to cough.

What?
she snapped at him.

I could use a coffee.

We’re in the middle of a covert operation and you want a drink?

It’s been a busy morning.

Fine.

“Actually, Mrs. Evans.” Holly forced herself to give a light-hearted smile. “A coffee would be great.”

“Black no sugar,” Vince added.

“That’s how Holly had hers,” her stepmother reminisced in a sad voice, oblivious to the fact Vince had taken over. In fact for some reason Vince was being chattier than normal. Still, she supposed it saved her from having to do so much talking.

And could Holly just say it was lucky she loved Todd so much because this whole idea of coming back to her old house was just weird. With a capital W. Why was her stepmother pretending to do the grieving thing in front of Vince Murphy? It just didn’t make any sense, but before she could ponder it further, the phone rang.

“Excuse me,” her stepmother said as she picked up the handset. After a minute or so, she put her hand over the receiver and gave them an apologetic frown. “I’m so sorry, I might be a few minutes. It’s the local paper. They came around the other day to do a small story on Holly and they just want a few extra details. I think she would’ve liked to be in the paper.”

Well yes, to be honest it had always been her secret ambition to be in the best-dressed section, or perhaps the most-loved couple with a photo of her and Todd looking absolutely adorable in matching jeans and white T-shirts (with a kitten or a puppy in their laps). In fact just about anything would have done—except the obituary column.

“I’m sure she would’ve,” Vince once again took over. “While you’re on the phone, would you like me to carry those boxes upstairs for you? I don’t mind.”

Holly groaned. As if her stepmother would ever fall for such an over-zealous Boy Scout routine, but a moment later she was proved wrong when her stepmother gave a grateful nod.

“Vince, that would be lovely, but I hate to take up your time. I know how busy you must be. Holly certainly worked hard enough.”

“It’s nothing,” he assured her and after she told him it was the second bedroom at the top of the stairs, she returned her attention back to the phone and Holly was left blinking.

I can’t believe that worked.

Vince shrugged as he walked back to the front room and picked up two boxes.
It seems like she’s had a tough couple of weeks.

Haven’t we all,
Holly retorted before immediately feeling lousy. Vince was right. Even though Holly didn’t like her stepmother, it was obvious she had been left behind to tie up all the lose ends.
Sorry,
she mumbled in a contrite voice.
It just feels weird being back here.

Don’t apologize,
Vince said as he took the stairs two at a time and pushed her old bedroom door open with his foot.
You’re doing okay.

Thanks.
Holly felt a bit taken aback by the unexpected vote of confidence. Vince really seemed to understand how she was feeling and for a moment she wondered if it was more than just being polite, however before she could ask, Vince used the base of his shoe to gently push the door open and Holly found herself face to face with her old life.

She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d been in there, but was surprised to see it was exactly the same. For some reason she had assumed her stepmother would’ve turned it into a home gym just out of spite. Apparently not. Though to be honest she probably could’ve taken down the Spice Girls poster. After all, it might be appropriate for a twelve-year-old girl to want to be Posh Spice, but right now with Vince standing next to her, it didn’t seem quite fitting.

He really was finding out all her dark dirty secrets after all. Still, while she would’ve been mortified if Todd ever saw her old room for some reason it didn’t matter that it was Vince. Perhaps it was because she would never see him again after tomorrow?

They quickly dumped the box down and headed back down for the next one. It took five trips in all and Holly realized that if she weren’t dead, she would’ve been forced to have a serious clean out of her shoe closet. Two boxes just to hold sandals? It suddenly seemed a bit excessive.

Once they were back in her old room, she knelt down and carefully pulled the tape away from the first box. Although they were labeled, she wasn’t sure where her pearls and the mixed CD would be.

Holly pulled the cardboard back and felt a jolt go through her as right at the top was the outfit she had been planning to wear the night she died.

She bit her lip as her fingers touched the delicate silk of the shimmering red dress. How different everything would’ve been if she
had
managed to come back from the bathroom and slipped it on as planned.

The stupid thing was that she hadn’t even felt tired or woozy when she first hopped into the steamy water. She had been a little bit jumpy, but that was only natural considering she was going to be become engaged to the man of her dreams later that night. What girl wouldn’t be jumpy? Especially since she hadn’t managed to apologize to Todd at that stage.

She’d had one other argument with him when they first started dating. It was over something silly but Todd had ended up being quite mulish about it and Holly had quickly realized that if you wanted to date a Scorpio, you had to learn to say sorry from time to time. Really it wasn’t such a concession.

            She thought back to her bath. It was probably the combination of the warm water and the small gin and tonic she’d been drinking to calm her nerves. But one minute she’d been covered in bubbles, reading her bridal magazine and next thing she knew she was waking up in heaven.

Dead.

Hey,
Vince said in a soft voice.
Are you okay?

I...I don’t really know
, Holly gulped as she chewed on her bottom lip.
I guess I was just having a flashback. But don’t worry. I won’t ruin your manly image by crying.