Dark Eyes of London (12 page)

He expected some emotional reaction when Jane brought home some of Lisa’s personal effects: birth certificate, passport and bank statements. Also, some photographs of the two of them when they were growing up.  Lisa rented her place, and her landlord kindly said to Jane that there was no rush to move Lisa’s personal stuff out. He would like to advertise for a new tenant in the New Year: Jane said this would be all right; after all, this gave her almost two months to go through her sister’s things. When Jane brought the effects home, Sully was surprised at how little stuff there was - the box was only slightly larger than a shoe box.  He was also slightly surprised that Jane just left the box on top of the dining table, and showed no inclination to go through it. Not with him there, at any rate.

The next day the box was gone. When he asked Jane what had happened to it, she just replied that she had put it away. She didn’t say where.

Sully’s job meant that some days he was able to work from home, just using his laptop. A feature of his job that he and Lisa found useful now and then. One morning, when Jane had left, he started to search for the box. He wanted more than anything else to say goodbye to Lisa personally, and wanted in particular to look at some pictures of her when she was growing up. He looked around Jane’s drawers, carefully replacing anything he had moved, but found nothing. Then it was time for a work conference call. This took over an hour, and Sully never returned to his search.

Jane was clearly dealing with things in her own way; he still needed some form of closure.

*****

Staring into the washroom mirror, he was brought back to the present by Jim Fanning, who had returned to the gents.

‘Sully, we’re waiting for you,’ he called out, sticking his head round the door. ‘Holland’s starting to pace up and down, looking at his watch.’

‘Coming,’ Sully replied, splashing some cold water over his face and following Fanning back into the conference room. Holland gave Sully a disapproving glare as he and Fanning sat down, Sully mumbling an apology.

‘Now we’re
all
ready,’ Holland said, ‘we can move on to the new Best Practices I want you all to roll down to your District Managers to implement as a matter of urgency.   High penetration rates  -  and I reiterate that I expect seventy-five percent as a
minimum
- are of no value if the sales are not compliant and that your advisors are not following the regulator’s guidelines.’

Interesting, Sully, thought: if things were going well, the advisors are
our people
; if not so well, they are
your advisors
. Very interesting.

For the rest of the afternoon, Holland droned on and on. Sully’s attention wavered from Lisa to Holland and the rubbish he was spouting, to Jane, and back to Lisa.

The meeting wound up at ten past six and all the delegates hurried to get out of the building. Muttering all sorts of profanity and obscenity about Holland and his ability, they all quickly left the premises and headed for the car park. They said their goodbyes and went to their respective cars.  As he turned the ignition key, Sully checked the LCD clock on his dashboard: six twenty-five, so he should be home half seven, quarter to eight at the latest. Jane normally got home around six, so should be preparing dinner. He sent her a brief text to say he was on his way, and then headed off.

His route home was mainly on a main A road, a dual carriageway for most of the journey. Traffic was still relatively busy, and it was raining, so he was not in for a good drive.

As he made his way home, he again found his mind drifting back to Jane’s sister. And to Jane, and how she was coping. And his own guilt. The constant back and forth motion of the windscreen wipers was having a hypnotic effect, and more than once he had to brake hard to avoid running into the car in front as the traffic queued at a roundabout.

He thought again of the day he met Jane, the day they started to become an item, and the day Jane introduced her sister to him. The day he and Jane moved in to the flat, Lisa was there helping them move in. The day he was at home working on something on his laptop and
Lisa called round. She was dropping something off for Jane; Jane had obviously forgotten as she was at work. Being at home, Sully was still wearing the tee shirt and boxers he wore to bed. He made Lisa a coffee; they sat chatting, and things went on from there...

Sully blinked repeatedly. He saw the sign for a lay-by ahead. He signalled and pulled in. Turned off the engine and sat in the car. After a few minutes he got out and walked round to the passenger side. He turned his back to the car and the traffic speeding past. Not that they could see him in the dark and rain. In the heavy rain he looked out across the fields and began to cry. First just sobbing then his shoulders began to shake as he wept uncontrollably.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tom had just taken a telephone call from a library customer who had reserved a book online four weeks ago and was still waiting for the book to be available. The book in question was a copy of  Shaw’s
Androcles and the Lion
, not a volume with which Tom was too familiar, but obviously popular somewhere as it was now two weeks overdue. Tom reassured the customer, a Mrs Watson, that as soon as the book was returned, one of the library staff would telephone her. This seemed to satisfy Mrs Watson, and Tom was able to end the call.

As he replaced the phone on the cradle, he felt his mobile vibrate. He picked it up, and checked the display: it was Amy.

‘Just be a second,’ he mouthed to the fellow librarian who was sitting at the desk opposite, and answered the phone. ‘Amy, hi.  Hold on a second. I’ll just go outside,’ he said, taking the phone out through the rear exit to the staff car park at the back of the building. ‘That’s better,’ he said when he got outside. ‘What’s up?’

‘Tom, I need somewhere to go. They’re on to me,’ she cried breathlessly. ‘Mr Fleming called me into his office, and there was -’

‘Wait, wait. Take it easy.  I can’t make out what you’re saying.  Start again from the beginning.’

Amy started to explain what had happened that morning, but got more and more hysterical, and Tom found it difficult to catch what she was saying, particularly with the noise from traffic wherever she was.

‘Amy, Amy: listen. We need to get you out of that flat of yours till this is all over.’

‘But, I can’t go back there. They might be there.’

‘Tell you what. Tell me where you are. I’ll make an excuse to get off here. I’ll meet you; we can go back to your place together. You can get a couple of days’ clothes and stuff and crash at mine. Until this is all over. All right?’

‘Okay. Thanks,’ she sobbed.

‘Where are you then?’

‘Stratford.’

‘Stratford? Why Stratford?’

‘Don’t know.  I just left the office, ran to the tube station, and got the first train that came in.’

‘Okay.  Look - you can get an Overground directly here from Stratford.  Can you do that?’

‘Yes, think so.’

‘Do that now. Get off at Willesden Junction.  I’ll meet you at the station. I’ll be on the platform. Okay?’

‘Willesden Junction,’ she repeated.

‘Tell you what,’ he added. ‘Text me when your train leaves, er - Kensal Rise. Then I’ll know which one you are on.’

‘Yes. Right.’

‘Good girl. Now get on that train. I’ll be arranging to get off work and walk down to the station.’

They both said their goodbyes and
Tom went back inside. He looked around for Carla Mayo, his supervisor. He found her in the oversized books department. She was kneeling down, checking some books on a bottom shelf to a computer printout.

‘Oh, Carla,’ Tom said. ‘I was looking for you.’

She looked up at him, her eyes squinting slightly as the sun was shining through the large windows right onto her.

‘Well, you found me,’ she said. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘I wouldn’t normally ask this, but -’

‘Oh, yes?’ she interrupted.

Tom continued, not picking up the irony in her voice, ‘I need to take a day or two off. Some family stuff has cropped up. I’ll take it as annual leave, of course.’

‘Of course.’

‘So I’ll just pack up my stuff and get off, is that all right?’

‘I guess it will have to be,’ she sighed. ‘When do you expect to be back?’

‘Not sure. I think...’ he began, running his hand though his hair.

‘Why don’t we just say we’ll expect you next Monday morning? Will that give you enough time to sort out your - family stuff?’

‘Should be,’ he nodded. ‘I hope so, at any rate.’

‘Okay,’ Carla said, returning to the bottom shelf. ‘See you Monday.’

‘Thanks,’ Tom said, backing away.

‘Oh, and Tom?’ Carla called out.

Tom turned round.

‘Hope it all gets sorted out.’

‘Thanks,’ he said again, and returned to his desk. He checked the time. It was about ten minutes since Amy’s call, so he had half an hour to finish up here and get down to the station.

He arrived at the station in plenty of time. He had been waiting on the platform when Amy’s text came through. Five minutes later her train pulled in. The doors slid open and a large number of passengers alighted. Tom looked up and down the train and eventually saw Amy standing outside the second carriage. He waved to her. She saw him and walked down the platform to him. When they met she put her arms around him, under his arms and holding onto his shoulders. He put both arms round her waist. Her cheeks were red and her face felt cold. She clung on to him tightly for a moment.

‘Well, you made it,’ he said, pulling himself away.

‘Sorry to have called you,’ she said. ‘But I didn’t know what else to do.’

‘You did the right thing,’ he said, leading her over to a bench on the platform. ‘Come and sit down here. Now tell me what’s happened.’

As they sat there Amy related what had happened to her that morning. Her being summoned to see Fleming and seeing the albino sitting in the CEO’s office. Then seeing him try to get into the lift and the look on his face as the doors closed.

Tom scratched the back of his head and looked around. ‘Yeah. I remember that guy. It was in Hyde Park, wasn’t it? In the Gents. He must have been following us.’

‘I can’t go back home now,’ she said.

‘No,’ he agreed. ‘Not yet. Let’s do what I said on the phone. I’ve managed to get the rest of the week off work.’

‘You have?’

‘Sick relative. Let’s both go down to your place, before it gets dark. You can pick up a few things, couple of days’ clothes, and come back here. I would suggest you don’t go back to work yet, either.’

‘Oughtn’t we go to the police?’

‘And tell them what?  As far as they are concerned, Lisa fell in front of the train. The inquest said it was accidental death. So for them it’s case closed. And what do we know about your firm and what this guy Fleming’s up to?  Nothing.’

Amy nodded slowly. ‘No. You’re right. We don’t know anything.’

‘Yet. We need to get evidence. Anyhow, our first priority is to get you out of their reach. They don’t know me.’

‘The white haired guy does.’

‘True, but he doesn’t know where I live. You’ll be safe up here. We’ll just have to keep our eyes open when we come back up here tonight.’

‘You want to get my stuff now?’

‘Might as well.  Last night I used the tube, changed at Elephant, but it’s probably quicker to get one of these down to Clapham Junction, and change there.’

He looked up at the dot matrix indicator screen. ‘Look - there’s one in two minutes.’

The journey took them forty minutes. As they left the station, Tom stopped at a kiosk and bought two Snickers Bars. ‘Hungry?’ he asked Amy, handing her one.

‘A little. Thanks.’

They took the short walk to Amy’s flat eating their chocolate. Outside the house Tom paused, and looked around and up the street.

‘Can’t see anything suspicious,’ he said. ‘Let’s go in. But keep your eyes and ears open.’

Still looking around they followed the path and climbed the steps to the front door.  As they passed the steps leading down to the basement flat Tom peered down them, but saw nothing untoward. Amy let them in and they cautiously climbed the stairs to Amy’s floor. Apart from the sound of a television playing on the top floor, the house was silent.

‘Give me your key,’ Tom whispered to Amy. She did so.

Tom listened at her front door and slowly put the key in the lock and turned. He slowly opened the door to the flat. They both went in and looked around: it was just as they had left it that morning. Tom shut the door behind them.

‘Best not be too long,’ he said. ‘Just enough things for a couple of days.’

Amy went into her bedroom and took a backpack from her wardrobe. As she was packing, Tom wandered round her living room. He picked up a CD case which was lying on the floor in the corner of the room. He must have missed that when he tidied up last night.

Amy went from the bedroom into the bathroom and heard her pack some items from the cabinet there. She came into the living room holding her backpack.

‘All packed,’ she said quietly.

Tom was peering out of the window, up and down the street; he turned and smiled at her. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Let’s get off.’ He looked out of the window one more time. ‘Oh shit.’

‘What is it?’ Amy asked, joining him at the window.

Through the net curtains, they could see a large black car parked five or six houses up the street. Both front doors opened, and two men stepped out. They both wore a white shirt under a dark suit and matching tie. The man climbing out of the passenger seat was short, bald and had a thick moustache. The driver was the albino.