He’d gone to the village shop. He hadn’t left for work at all, he’d gone to the sodding village shop. What should I do?
After all these weeks of getting away with it, today, this morning, the very last time I was ever going to do this was the time I had to get caught. I looked from one to the other of them. Henry Halliday looked from one to the other of us. And Marvin Halliday just stood there like a big idiot.
‘Good morning,’ Henry Halliday, ever the well-mannered gentleman said after a pause.
‘Good morning,’ I feebly replied.
‘Oh good, you got some bread,’ said the big idiot who by now, thankfully, had dropped his arms to his sides. ‘Saved me a walk. I’ll put some toast on, shall I?’ And with that, he took the bread from Henry’s hand and wandered as nonchalantly as you like towards the kitchen, leaving me to face his brother alone.
‘I … I have to be going,’ I stated the blatantly obvious then, hit by a shaft of inspiration added, ‘Nobody told me you were back so I came to see to Talisker, but I can see you don’t need me, so I’ll be off.’ My pathetic wittering finally over, I ducked past the man I’d been so carefully – or so I’d thought – avoiding and made my escape through the front door. I just about managed to stop myself from running towards the little lane leading to the common, where I’d parked my car in the hope it would just be taken for another dog walker’s vehicle.
My hands were trembling as I fumbled with the keys. So was my breath. Once inside, I had to sit a moment to gather myself together before even thinking of starting the ignition – the last thing I needed right now was to drive into the ditch and have to go back and ask for help.
Had he believed my pathetic attempt at an excuse, made even more improbable by what was clearly my overnight bag? What would he do? What would Marvin say? Would Marvin back up what I’d said? Had he even heard me? He’d seemed to be very engrossed all of a sudden in the preparation for making a bit of toast.
I looked through the rear window. There was no angry cat owner marching in my direction. But then, would he? Wouldn’t it be more his style to just get straight on the phone to Davina if he hadn’t believed me and wanted to know what was going on? Being a Monday, Davina would only be in the office for the morning – she always had somewhere to be on a Monday afternoon, so if he wanted to catch her, these four hours would be the time to do it. Although, as a long standing client, he might have her home number – what was I talking about? He’d have her personal mobile number – she didn’t give it out to many clients, but she would have given it to him.
Doing my best to slow my breathing, I started the car, waited for a border collie and his owner to make their way past, and did a clunky five point turn. Then I turned the steering wheel away from the village and towards Wintertown.
Unspoken prayers ran through my head that he wouldn’t call Davina. It was one thing, me telling her what had happened with Alex and smoothing over the fact that I had been homeless since he left. I could plead that I had nowhere to stay while I worked my notice and I was pretty sure that resourceful Davina would think of something. A voice in my head was telling me that if I had done that in the beginning instead of worrying what everyone would think, I wouldn’t be in this sorry predicament now.
Three ponies wandering in the road, with no evident intention of getting themselves back onto more hoof-friendly ground, made my drive all the slower, giving me even more time to worry. When I got to the car park, however, Davina’s BMW wasn’t there, which was unusual – just an empty space, as if nobody else dared park in her spot. It was the only space left though, but I didn’t risk it, so I drove on to the Asda car park. I’d go in and buy a sandwich or something later.
When I got back to the office, Katya was at her desk, also just for the morning, rummaging disgustedly through the cardboard box of animal themed Christmas decorations she really didn’t want to put up, and handing out keys and any extra instructions for the day. She didn’t say anything out of the ordinary or look at me strangely, so if anything had been said, it hadn’t started doing the rounds of the office.
‘No Davina yet?’ It was a valid question as she was never late. I just hoped my voice didn’t give me away by sounding any more interested than it should.
‘No. She had urgent call from client. She had to go sort something …’
‘Do you know who the client was?’ Try as I might, I could still hear the squeak in my voice.
‘No. Why? You lose somebody’s poodle?’ She smirked over my shoulder as Daisy came bustling in.
‘What, Bubbles again?’ She looked at me. ‘You haven’t managed to lose him too, have you?’
‘No, I haven’t!’ I jumped in, my voice slightly more shrill than it should have been. ‘Nobody’s lost Bubbles. Do you know when Davina will be back?’ I turned back to Katya.
‘She didn’t say. You want to leave message?’
‘No, it’s all right. I’ll try and speak to her at lunchtime,’ I told her, grabbing my keys and heading back out of the door. See you later.’ My nerves would be shredded by lunchtime. They were halfway there already.
It was half past ten when my phone rang. I had a key in my hand, just about to unlock Anthony and Cleopatra’s door. I jumped so much I dropped it. Answering the phone, I nearly dropped that too. It was Henry Halliday.