Breaking Point (Drew Ashley 1) (36 page)

"So you didn't ask her at the time?"

"Hold on, Drew," he said in a quiet voice. "Let me go somewhere private." I heard some muffled sounds then Kale returned. "I'll be honest with you, Drew. I told Jazz something, and after that she went completely anal on me. I think that might be why she broke up with me. But any time I asked, she just said she felt that God was telling her that although we're meant to be together, we need to wait."

"Jazz thinks that God wants you to be together."

"Well, I'm just telling you what she told me. I'm not waiting around for her to decide when the right time is. I think it was just an excuse."

I was worried. If Jazz thought Kale was the man God wanted her to be with, that was scary. I trusted Jazz's ability to hear from God much more than I trusted mine. "What did you tell her that made her go anal?"

"Well, it's something pretty big. I only told her because I really trusted her and I needed someone to listen, but it backfired." Kale breathed heavily down the phone. "I'll tell you about it, Drew. But not yet. It pushed one girl away, and I can't risk it pushing you away."

"What's it about?"

"It's something I did before I was saved."

My mind conjured up all sorts of horrible possibilities. "Did you do drugs?"

Kale laughed. "No."

I remembered my vision about him jumping of a building. "Did you try to commit suicide?"

"What? Of course not!"

"Well when are you going to tell me?"

"I've been praying about it because I don't want it to drive you away. I'll tell you soon."

"You haven't killed someone, have you?"

"No, Drew."

"Is it something really bad?"

"Drew, we'll talk about it soon, okay?"

"Okay."

That evening, Kale, my parents, and I had a lovely dinner at the Devonshire Terrace
.
My dad and Kale got on okay, apart from my dad finding it unforgivable that he supported Manchester United. Kale was from Manchester, though, so what did he expect?

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

I was off work on Friday because I had to go for some medical tests. Dr Blake wanted to assess the level of damage that had been done by the tetrahydrozoline, so I was x-rayed and another blood sample was taken.

I switched my phone on as I made my way back to the hospital reception afterwards. As soon as I did, a call came in from Travis. I rejected it, and was about to call a taxi when I received a text from Travis, saying he needed to speak to me urgently.

I called him back. It'd better be good.

"How was your graduation?" he answered on like the first ring.

"Fine. You said I should call you urgently?"

"Yeah. We really need to talk."

"About what?" I asked impatiently. I didn't have time for this!

"Well, I had a dream last night where I was tied up in chains and someone came and took the chains off. I think it was Jesus."

I was interested now. "Really?"

"Yeah." Travis' voice wobbled a little. "I thought you might be interested to know that. It was really scary."

"Travis, that's amazing."

"What is?"

"That you saw Jesus in your dream."

"Well, I can't really remember His face or anything. In fact, I'm not sure if I saw His face. But I know it was Him."

I was speechless. God had never revealed Himself to me like that. That wasn't fair. I never had dreams. I only had stupid visions.

"Anyway Drew, I'm really sorry for all I've done to you. Can we meet today and talk?"

"I'm engaged, Travis."

"I know. So am I. I'm not trying to get you back. I just want to hang out. We can still be friends, can't we?"

"Yeah," I said reluctantly. "I suppose we can."

"So when can we meet?" Travis asked. "It's been ages since I saw you. We need to catch up, and talk about my dream."

"Well, I'm off work today."

"Cool, so we can meet?"

"Only briefly."

"That's fine. I'd rather not go to your parents' house though. I'm sure they hate me for what I did. Can we meet at Whitechapel Gallery?"

Travis and I used to go to Whitechapel Gallery for lunch every now and then. "Sure. I'm at Cross Lane Hospital so I'll just walk over."

"What are you doing at the hospital?" Travis asked.

"I had an appointment with the doctors," I stated obviously.

"Okay. See you soon."

I hung up, feeling guilty. But Travis just wanted to talk—probably about God and the dream he'd had. I'd tell Kale about it later and explain. I walked to the Whitechapel Gallery and waited. After a while I ordered our lunches. Travis always had the lobster and crayfish salad so I ordered that for him.

He still hadn't arrived by the time our lunch was served. I started eating. Thirty minutes later I called him, but there was no response.

I finished eating and ordered another drink. Still no Travis. Eventually, I had a waiter pack his lunch in a takeaway bag, then left. I wasn't angry that he'd stood me up. I was happy. I hadn't wanted to have lunch with him in the first place.

I was bewildered, too though. Why did Travis say he was coming if he knew he wasn't? It'd been an hour and a half. Well, at least I had nothing to explain to Kale now.

I was still thinking about Travis that evening when I received a call from a number I didn't recognize.

"Have you seen Travis today?" a female voice demanded when I answered. It sounded like Sharon, but I wasn't sure.

"No."

"His mum told me he was going to see you."

"Who is this?" I asked, although it was now obvious who it was.

"Sharon." Her tone was chilly. "Have you seen him or not?"

"He didn't show."

"So you haven't seen him?" Sharon asked.

"No, I haven't."

She hung up. I considered texting Travis to alert him that he was in trouble, but decided not to. He fully deserved whatever Sharon did to him.

On Saturday morning, his mum called me. I was surprised to see her number come up on my mobile phone. "Hi Carol."

"Drew, do you know where Travis is?"

"No, why?"

"He didn't come home yesterday. He said he was meeting you for lunch."

"Yeah, he didn't show up. Have you called his friends?"

"Of course," Carol snapped. "Will you call me if he gets in touch?"

"Yes."

By midday it was all over the news that Travis was missing. My mum and I watched the news while my dad looked online for a new car for my mum.

"This makes me feel uneasy," my mum said.

"Why?" I asked. "He probably went partying or is with another woman somewhere." I snorted with disgust. Travis was going to be so embarrassed when he realised the whole country was looking for him.

***

On Monday, Travis still hadn't shown up. At lunch time, I read about his disappearance on the News24 website. The police had found his car near Whitechapel Gallery. That meant he'd actually come. I wondered where he could be.

Harvey came down while I was reading the story and said he wanted to see me. He had a woman from the HR team with him. I followed them to an empty meeting room.

"News24 has just received information about Travis Haywood's disappearance that I thought I should alert you about," Harvey said. "Because the decision has been made to report it, regardless of you being our employee."

"What is the information?" I asked.

"That he was on his way to see you when he disappeared."

Great! I wondered how that had leaked.

"This implicates you as having had something to do with his disappearance," Harvey said. "So the decision has been made to suspend you with immediate effect."

I was shocked. "Aren't I innocent until proven guilty?"

"The suspension is indefinite," Harvey said, ignoring my question. "Since you have no direct line manager at the moment, I will contact you to let you know when you can come back to work."

It sunk in slowly. Harvey was suspending me, just because Travis had been on his way to see me when he went missing.

"You will receive full pay while you're on suspension," Harvey said. He looked at the HR woman. "Have I left anything out?"

She confirmed that he hadn't.

I went back to my desk and put all my work away. I shut down my computer, diverted my phone to the office answer machine, and then left.

My dad was out when I got home. I remembered that my mum was off work this afternoon and they were going car hunting. My mum and I were going to tell my dad about the bomb, the vandalism, and the poisoning, this evening. I hoped he wouldn't freak out.

I went to the kitchen thinking I'd make myself some toast and found that the bread was stale. I couldn't stand the sight of mouldy bread, it completely grossed me out. I tossed it into the bin and decided to order from the local Chinese takeaway. I found the leaflet and made my way upstairs.

The most sickening smell assaulted my nose as I ascended the stairs. I wondered what it could be. It was vile. I stopped breathing. I couldn't let myself inhale it.

When I got upstairs I noticed that my bedroom door was wide open. I never left it that way. My door was always closed. Maybe my dad had been looking for something.

I went to check if the smell was coming from the toilet. I didn't look into the toilet bowl because I didn't want to see whatever it was. I just flushed it and then went to my room.

I shook off my shoes, scanning the takeaway menu for something to eat. I felt like beef in black bean sauce. With rice or noodles? I wasn't sure. I bounced onto my bed. There was something hard and lumpy under my duvet. I patted the lump then yanked the duvet off and screamed, jerking back. It was Travis.

I glared at him, then screamed again in horror. He was dead!

I ran down the stairs, the pounding of my feet in tandem with the thumping in my heart. I ran out of the house and called my mum and asked her to call the police. "Why?" she asked. "What's going on?"

"Travis' body is in my bed!"

"What! What do you mean?"

"Mum, I feel sick. Call the police, will you?"

My stomach hurled. Before I knew it I was on the floor. I didn't know what to do or where to go. I needed to get away from here. There was a killer on the loose and he or she might still be in the neighbourhood.

I hailed a passing black cab and sank into the back seat, feeling faint.

"Where to?" the cabbie asked.

I realised he'd asked that twice already. "Um, to…the Savoy Hotel."

I tried to keep from shaking as the car weaved through the streets. I was scared out of my mind. I didn't even have the strength to pray, I just wanted to get away from it all.

Kale called while I was sitting in a room at the Savoy, my chest tightening with lack of air. I was finding it difficult to breathe. "Kale?"

"Hi Drew."

I clutched my chest, as I tried futilely to take in some air. I was choking.

"Are you okay?" Kale asked.

"No." I tried to drag in a breath. "I can't breathe."

"Where are you?"

"The Savoy." My head felt light. I was going to pass out.

"Your mum just called and told me what happened. I can't believe it."

Tears were spilling down my cheeks. I sank to the floor trying my best to calm down and breathe. "I can't breathe Kale, I'm going to suffocate."

"Open the window."

My head was whirling. I was going to die.

"Drew, are you listening? Open the window."

"I can't get up."

"You can." Kale sounded panicked. "Just try. Slowly."

I opened my eyes and looked toward the window.

"Try your best, Drew. Tell me when you've stood up."

I pushed myself up and staggered to the window and pushed it open.

"Drew?"

"I've opened the window."

"Good, now focus on your breathing. Breathe in and hold it, count to two, and then breathe out."

Kale repeated his instructions a few times and I followed them. The tightness in my chest relieved a little, but my head was still spinning.

"Hold on Drew, I'm going to call an ambulance for you with the other line, okay?"

"Yeah."

I listened as Kale spoke to the emergency services. "God, what is going on?" I whispered. The visions I'd had about Travis being in danger came back to me. Had they been prophetic? If they were, was there something I should have done? "Why is this happening?"

I heard Kale tell the emergency services that I was at the Savoy and that they should ask at reception for my room number.

"Who is doing this, God?" I said, my chest tightening again. I wondered if Kale was in danger, too. What if my bad visions about him were going to come true too? "God, am I supposed to do something about it? Or was Travis' case just a coincidence?