Touched

Chapter Eighteen

Friday, midday

‘Tess darling?’

‘Yes love.’

‘Nothing.’

She sighed.

‘We need to go back home, right?’

Dan nodded.

‘How did you know?’ he said.

‘Oh I think I know you by now, lover. You’ve been trying to break it to me for the last day and a half.’

‘Am I that obvious?’

‘Beautifully so,’ she smiled and hugged him, ‘Don’t ever change, promise?’

‘As long as you don’t.’

‘I don’t think I can!’ she said, ‘It’s Ok though, I knew this would have to end soon. I know you’re worried about money. Job hunting time?’

‘Yes. Back to reality.’

‘I guess it had to happen sometime.’

They were sat on a wall in Aviemore, people watching. Dan kept his voice low to avoid people thinking he was talking to himself.

‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered.

‘Don’t apologise, I’ve loved every minute.’

‘Me too.’

He took a sip of the cappuccino he had bought from a nearby coffee shop.

‘Are you going to tell me what Susan said to you?’

‘You don’t give up do you?’

‘Nope.’

There were interrupted by a double bleep.

‘Aha, a text!’ she said.

‘You’re changing the subject!’

‘Yes. I am. Now is that Jenny again?’

‘Again? She’s only text me twice.’

‘Three times now.’

‘You don’t know that it’s her. I have other friends you know.’

‘Well is it from someone else?’

He pulled out his phone and looked at the screen.

‘No.’

‘Ha!’

‘Stop looking so pleased with yourself!’ he said as he opened the text to read it.

‘How is she?’

‘OK but she’s not going out with that lawyer again. She says he was a bit odd.’

Tess nodded. ‘I’m sure she was only seeing him on the rebound from you. And as for the odd bit, what does she expect? He is a lawyer after all!’

‘But you were one too!’

‘Exactly!’

Dan tried to take this in. ‘Anyway, she also asked me what I was doing.’

‘I hope you’re not going to be too honest.’

‘Why?’

‘Well necrophilia is a serious crime,’ she said in a mock serious tone.

‘Tess!’ he said loudly. This was badly timed as a pair of older ladies were just passing and they jumped and stared at him in alarm. Dan stared at them for a moment then, rather woodenly raised his mobile to his ear. ‘Good to hear from you, Tess,’ he said into it.

Alongside him, Tess was doubled over with laughter.

The ladies walked on, both giving rather worried glances back over their shoulders at Dan before turning and walking inside a gift shop.

‘Oh it’s a good job I love you!’ she said. She was laughing so much that tears were running down her face. Recovering a little, and wiping her eyes, she nodded at the phone. ‘So what are you going to say to the lovely Jenny?’

‘I’m telling her what you told me to tell her,’ he said, texting, ‘That I’m on my own, that I’m still touring the Highlands – on my own – and that I am being good – also on my own.’

‘And talking to yourself, on your own, of course,’ said Tess as the two old ladies walked past again.

Dan looked up and smiled at them. They started to walk much more quickly.

‘It’s a good job I love you too!’ he grumbled, ‘and given that I do and that you know it, why am I sending texts like this to Jenny?’

‘Oh that’s easy.’

‘Is it?’

‘Yes. It’s because I asked you to, of course.’

Dan just stared at her.

‘Harumph,’ he said.

‘You are using that word a lot lately,’ she said.

‘I wonder why…but I still don’t see why I’m doing this.’ He held up the phone.

‘Because she’s a sweet girl and you owe her for what you did to her. Anyway she must have excellent taste if she fancies you. And you should never burn bridges, you never know when you might need to cross them.’

‘But…’ said Dan, mystified.

‘No buts. Just do it.’

‘OK,’ he sighed, ‘I think I could do with a stiff drink.’

‘Distillery tour then?’

‘Good idea.’ He finished writing the text and sent it.

‘Then afterwards home?’

‘Tomorrow yes.’

‘Let’s go then. I’m sure that another part of the Highlands will enjoy the “Dan Jackson talking to himself” tour!’

She darted away from him as he lunged at her.

On the far side of the street the two old ladies had come out of another shop. Seeing him, they froze, then hurried back inside again.

*



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Saturday midday



Dan allowed the Skoda’s speed to climb into the mid 90’s. The M74 was very quiet and he could see for mile ahead. If he had been on his own he would have risked going even faster but, for the last week, had got used to his new speaking speed regulator. That, however, now didn’t seem to be working properly.

He risked glancing over at her. Tess was resting her head against the passenger window and was staring at the passing scenery.

‘You ok?’ he asked eventually, concern winning over his need for speed.

‘What? Sorry?’ she said with a start. She had clearly been deep in her own thoughts.

‘You’re very quiet, that’s all.’ He said.

‘Is that against the rules? I thought you liked quiet?’ she said irritably.

Dan fell silent, raising his eyebrows in surprise. She had actually snapped at him! That was a first. He decided that saying nothing was the safest plan – perhaps not the bravest admittedly, but definitely the safest, at least for now.

He concentrated on driving for a while.

A few minutes later he felt the chill of her hand on his left, the one that rested on his thigh as he drove.

‘Sorry,’ she said, ‘that wasn’t fair.’

‘Hey we all have our moments,’ he said, ‘Is it something I’ve done or said?’

‘No love, it’s not.’

The miles ticked past.

‘Are you worried about doing that stuff about finding out what happened to you?’ he asked.

‘No. I’m not interested in doing it now, to be honest,’ she said. ‘Unless you want to, of course,’ she added.

‘I don’t want to. I don’t want to risk losing you,’ he said.

He risked another glance. She had rested her head against the window again. She still looked deep in thought but seemed much more relaxed, her face softer.

‘Eyes on the road,’ she said, ‘and you’re going far too fast.’

Smiling, Dan eased off slightly on the throttle.



Saturday evening



They got back to Dan’s flat at about 6 pm. He let Tess inside and then began to unload the car.

‘Sorry, I’m no help am I?’ said Tess from the settee as he staggered in with the second load from the car.

‘It’s Ok, you have a good excuse!’ he said dropping his load on the floor, ‘Mind you, you could try using your special powers to make me a coffee.’

‘Well I could,’ she said, ‘but it does take a lot out of me and I was trying to save some of my energies for tonight.’ She gave him a particularly dirty wink.

‘I’ll make myself an instant,’ said Dan quickly.

‘Thought you might!’

Ten minutes later, the car was empty and locked and the kettle was on. Dan unpacked the tent.

‘I’ll have to dry and air this I’m afraid,’ he said, ‘otherwise it will stink. Mind you. I’ve never done this in a flat before.’

He looked around, wondering where would be best to drape it.

‘The outer is quite light isn’t it?’ she said.

‘Yes.’

‘Would the shower rail hold it?’

‘Great idea!’ he said.

‘And the inner could go over the dining table if it’s not too muddy.’

‘It isn’t too bad. You’re brilliant, you know that?’ Dan said as he carried the outer to the bathroom.

‘I’d always suspected it,’ she said.

‘Is there much on the table?’ he called through.

Tess turned to look.

‘Not much. A few papers and a business card.’

‘Ok, thanks!’

She got up and walked over to look more closely at what they were.

‘It’s those job ads,’ she called over her shoulder, ‘you should keep these in case they come back to you.’

‘Yes, good point,’ said Dan coming back through into the lounge. ‘in fact I should check the post in case I’ve had a reply. I forgot to look. Won’t be a moment.’ The post boxes for each flat were outside, retrieved by a key.

Tess was about to sit back down when her eye was caught by the business card.

‘Dan!’ she said, clearly surprised, ‘Where did you get this card from?’

He came back through from the hall.

‘What card?’

‘This one!’ she pointed.

Dan picked it up.

‘Oh, yes. This is the guy that Jenny and I met in Bar 37, the one that worked out in the middle east. I was going to give him a call to get some contacts off of him. Why?’

‘I know him,’ she said, in an odd, slightly hollow voice. She walked to the window.

Dan looked at the card again. Alex Curry LLB, a commercial law specialist at one of Manchester’s leading legal firms.

‘Is that the firm you worked for?’ he said, walking over to join her.

‘No,’ she said, still staring out of the window, ‘I’d had enough of big firms when I left London. I was with a little practice just off St Ann’s Square.’

‘OK.’

Dan knew that there was more than this but that she was someone who preferred to gather her thoughts first before speaking. There was no point in asking before she was ready. He let her continue to stare out at nothing until she turned to look at him again. Her face softened into a smile.

‘Most guys would have started digging by now,’ she said, ‘I do wish I’d met you before.’

‘Ditto. But it is what it is. All we can do is make the most of what we have.’

She nodded.

‘Alex Curry,’ she said, saying the name slowly, ‘Alex.’

She had gone thoughtful again.

‘How do you know him?’

‘Let’s sit,’ she said. They did, together this time, their knees touching.

‘We met in the usual way, in a bar after work. You know how it is, a thousand bars in the city and everyone seems to go to just a handful.’

‘Yeah we’re a bit sheeplike.’

‘I’d only been back here a few months. I did my degree in Manchester you know?’

‘I guessed you had.’

‘When I decided I didn’t love Henry enough to marry him I also wanted out of London too. It was always too big and crowded for me. I love Manchester and missed it so I just came home. And a few months after I arrived back I met Alex.

‘I didn’t go out much to be honest. I wasn’t interested but that night it was a friend’s birthday and I didn’t want to be rude.

‘Alex seemed so sweet at first. Quiet, thoughtful. He loved classical music too and so do I. That first night we met he invited me out to the Bridgewater. He had a spare ticket for a concert a few nights later – well he said he had anyway. I almost said no. I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend or anything like that really. But then I thought, why not? I was a bit lonely to be honest.’

Dan let her speak without interruption, sensing she had something important to tell him.

‘And it was OK, I enjoyed his company. At the start anyway. But there was one very odd thing, right from the start which set quiet alarms off somewhere in the back of my head’

‘What was that?’

‘He insisted that we keep it quiet that we were going out. He said it was because he hated how gossipy it was in the circles we worked in and that he wanted a private life for once.’

‘He had a point,’ said Dan, ‘You can’t seem to do anything in town without everyone knowing it almost before you do yourself.’

‘I know, and that’s why I went along with it. I like my privacy too. But then, after a while, it started to feel all wrong. It felt like I was always sneaking around, like I was having an affair, like I was his dirty little secret.’

‘Did you think he was married?’

Tess nodded. ‘It crossed my mind more than once, but then he said I could call him any time I liked – oh I don’t know.’ She shrugged.

‘So what happened?’

‘Well, as I said, it was fine at first, I had a good time with him. But then I saw a different side of him.

‘There was one night when we were due to go out and I just couldn’t. I just had to work late on a rush job, you know how it is sometimes?’

‘Yes of course. I would have thought he would have too.’

‘So did I but instead he went ballistic at me over the phone. He was really nasty, offensive, swearing at me and calling me…some really horrible things I don’t want to repeat. I was just so….well shocked I guess. I mean, I hadn’t done anything had I?’

‘So you stopped seeing him?’

Tess looked embarrassed. ‘I should have done. I was going to. But he came to see me though, so apologetic and begging me to forgive him. He seemed so genuinely upset. He told me how stressed he had been, that he was being driven into the ground and that the way he had reacted had been completely out of character and how badly he felt about what he had said.’

‘You took him back?’

Tess nodded, ‘Yes but it was worse than that. As an apology he gave me a first class ticket to Dubai. He was going there on business at the weekend and wanted me to go along.’

‘You went with him?’ Dan could not keep his incredulity out of his voice.

She nodded again. ‘It was a stupid thing to do, I know. I don’t think I was thinking straight.’

Dan took a deep breath.

‘So how was it?’ he said.

‘Again, at first, it was Ok. To be honest I didn’t see too much of him in the day, they work you hard out there you know, long hours. It was a nice hotel though and we had the evenings together.

‘The second night I was there though, when we were waiting for the lift to go down to dinner I saw a chambermaid looking at me oddly. She was half hiding behind a door; I quickly realised that she was trying to keep out of sight of Alex whilst wanting me to see her.

‘The next morning, as soon as Alex left the hotel to go to his meetings there was a knock at the door. It was the chambermaid. She looked so scared. She told me that she had something important to tell me about Alex, and that I had to believe her.

‘I listened. She told me that the previous year she had been working in a hotel in Abu Dhabi. Alex had been staying there and got talking to her. He told her that he could get work for her in Britain and a visa and work permits and persuaded her to come back to his room. He was nice there too at first, then he changed. He started to feel her up and when she said no and tried to leave he raped her and half killed her.’

‘Didn’t he get arrested?’

‘No. He went to the hotel management and told them it was consensual, that she let herself into his room, wanted to be dominated, wanted it rough and then she’d screamed “Rape” and asked for money. They believed him – I think he had friends in some very high places there and the hotel just wanted to hush things up.’

‘But you believed her?’

‘Totally. She was a really lovely girl, married, kids back in Mumbai living with her mother, her husband away in Saudi working on construction sites. She showed me her scars too. And, don’t forget, I’d seen his temper too.’

Dan nodded. ‘So what did you do?’

‘I packed, went to the airport and bought a ticket home on the next available flight. I left him a note to explain why I had gone, not the truth though; I just gave some lame excuse about it being too soon for me after Henry and that I wasn’t ready to be with anyone.’

‘Did you see him again?’

‘Yes. He came round to my flat – once.’

‘And?’

‘The same pattern as before; at first smooth, convincing, trying to persuade me to come back to him but then, when I wouldn’t, he got really abusive. I was really scared; I knew now what he was capable of. Luckily the phone went and I was able to answer it. He just left. I never saw him after that.’

‘When was this?’

Tess thought for a moment.

‘I guess about 6 weeks before…well, you know.’

‘Who rang you?’

‘My sister.’

‘Did you tell her what had happened?’

Tess shook her head.

‘No. I think I felt a bit ashamed about it all. I’d been really stupid, it just wasn’t like me.’

Dan rubbed his chin and frowned,

‘What is it? You changed your opinion of me?’

‘No! Not at all,’ said Dan looking surprised, ‘No, what I’m really worried about is that this is who Jenny went out with last week.’

‘Oh,’ she said, understanding, ‘Well…as long as he…got his own way, so to speak, she would probably be fine.’

Dan shook his head.

‘Tess, that was the conclusion I jumped to about her. She’s not like that, in private she’s the complete opposite of what you’d think. She’s quite shy and doesn’t sleep around.’

‘Sorry. That was a bit cheap of me.’

‘Hey,’ said Dan, ‘I should have told you.’

He leant over and kissed her.

She smiled, ‘Thanks,’ she said.

He leant back and sighed again. This was going to be difficult, he thought.

‘I need to ask you something,’ he said.

Tess nodded.

‘It’s OK, I think I know what it is. You want to know whether it was Alex who killed me.’

‘Yes. Sorry.’

She stood up and walked to the window, back to her “thinking” place.

‘You have realised that I try not to think about that night,’ she said.

‘I have. It must be upsetting.’

‘But I have to though.’

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

‘I only saw the person who attacked me for a moment,’ she said, ‘I had been watching telly but was feeling very uneasy. I still don’t know why; maybe it was a sixth sense, maybe I’d heard something but it hadn’t registered. Whatever I was really spooked. Anyway I got up to have a look around and he was just there, right next to me. He just came out of the shadows. I couldn’t do anything.’

Dan stood and went over to her. She turned to meet him and let him draw her to him. His touch warmed her and she rested her head on his chest.

‘He had a knife,’ she whispered, ‘I didn’t see it at first, not until after he had stabbed me. He never said anything, he just stuck it in me. It hurt so much.’

He squeezed her tighter, cold against warmth.

‘Did you see his face?’

‘No. He wore a ski mask. Black. He was all in black.’

‘How did he get in? Wasn’t your door locked?’

‘It was locked definitely. I always lock myself in. I usually put the chain on too.’

‘But not that night?’

‘Probably not,’ she whispered, ‘I’d been shopping, my hands would have been full when I came in. I must have forgotten.’

Dan kissed the top of her head.

‘Could it have been him?’ he asked again.

She didn’t reply straight away.

‘I don’t know,’ she said at last, ‘He was about the right height and build I guess but that applies to a lot of men – you included. So I just don’t know.’

Dan thought for a moment. What could she have seen that might have helped? Then it came to him. He knew what she had been looking at in the moment that she considered that it might have been him.

‘Did you see his eyes?’ he said.

She frowned. Dan could tell exactly what she was thinking: Yes, his eyes. I did, I looked into them, when he plunged the knife deep into me, before the pain hit. Think about those eyes. Dan had seen them in the bar, not that he was used to looking in a man's eyes but they were striking. Blue. Flecks of hazel, almost orangey those highlights. She’d seen them before. He knew the moment that she knew.

Alex’s eyes.

‘Oh God!’ she said pushing Dan away in shock, ‘Oh my God, yes! It was him Danny, it was him! We have to tell her…I mean, you have to tell her!’

‘Calm down love. How am I going to do that? How would I explain how I knew?’

‘I don’t know!’ This was the most upset Dan had ever seen her, she seemed close to panic, ‘How the hell did he get in to my flat? How?’

‘Did you give him a key?’

‘No!’

‘Did you lose a set?’

‘I only ever had one,’ she said, ‘I actually had big arguments with the developers about it. They were holding my flat for an investor who never paid up. For some reason they gave me what was going to be the tenant’s set, they’d mislaid the investor’s set somewhere.’

‘Who were the developers?’

‘Blue Castle. You know them?’

‘Yeah. They’re OK, not the best but not bad.’ Dan had a sudden thought, ‘Wait; Blue Castle is run by two guys, an architect and a surveyor – Denis O’Reilly and Dermot Curry. I’d never made the connection before. I bet Dermot is a relative of Alex!’

‘That’s how he got the key!’ said Tess, ‘Oh Dan, we have to tell her, warn her.’

Dan looked at his watch; 7 pm. Not too late.

‘I’ll call her,’ he said.

Tess nodded, ‘But ask to go round and see her, and right now. Don’t take no for an answer.’

‘Why?’

‘Just humour me, OK?’

‘OK darling,’ he said, picking up his phone and searching for Jenny’s number, ‘What do I say when I get there?’

‘When we get there. I’m coming with you.’