Teacher's Pet (17 page)

Liz
closed the door carefully behind her and looked both ways before crossing the street.  After all, you could never be sure who was watching you.  Curtains might twitch, interfering neighbours might put two and two together and then she’d be in trouble. 
Or would she?
  She had done nothing yet, committed no crime.  Just helped her unfaithful husband to get some rest.  And now she was simply on her way to see her so-called best friend. 
Who wasn’t well.  Who wasn’t well at all.
 

She began to walk up the path to Allie’s house, distracted for a moment by the colours around her becoming bright
er all of a sudden.  The gold of the heavy knocker shone out against the deep blue gloss paint of the door.  It was so shiny, it blurred slightly as she put her hand up to it.  The glare hurt her eyes, so she covered the brass with one hand as she lifted it gingerly with the other.  The knock, in sharp contrast to the dazzling hues of the hot afternoon, was muffled, somehow muted.  It sounded as though someone was tapping on a door far away, at the other end of a tunnel.

She waited for a moment, then reached into her pocket for the key.  With one last quick glance over her shoulder, she let herself in and closed the door behind her.  Leaning back against it, she felt relief begin to course through her veins.  Her heart was thumping loudly in her chest.  Now the bright colours had stopped, she was more aware of the sound and wondered if Allie could hear it too.

“Hello?  James?  Is that you?”  Allie’s cheerful voice drifted down the stairs.

Liz
took a deep, steadying breath and tried to make her voice sound as calm as she could.

“It’s me,
Liz.  Just popped over to see if you need anything.”  She was pleased with how natural her voice sounded.  How light and reassuring it seemed.  “I’ll put the kettle on, shall I?  Would you like tea or coffee?”

Allie’s voice echoed softly around the newly-decorated hallway.

“Tea, please.  And Liz, could you bring my mobile up when you come, please?  It’s in the kitchen, I think.  Thanks.”

“No problem.” 
Liz moved slowly and deliberately towards the kitchen door, willing her heart to beat more quietly, willing her head to stop buzzing.  “I’ll be right up,” she added.

She entered the kitchen and looked
around in horror.  To say it was messy was an understatement.  Allie’s usual hastily-piled up clutter seemed to have taken on a life of its own and invaded every surface.  To Liz, it looked as though someone had left in a hurry.  She wrinkled her nose in thought as she put the kettle on, picked up Allie’s mobile phone, and went back out into the hall.

“Allie?”

“Yes?”

“Paul’s not still here, is he?  I mean…. I’m not disturbing anything, am I?”  She felt her mouth go dry with tension.

“No.  He, er…. He went back to his flat earlier.  Had some marking to do, or something like that.  The kitchen’s a tip, isn’t it?”

“You can say that again.”

“Is my mobile in there?  He might have sent me a text.”

“I’m still trying to locate it,” said
Liz.  “Be up in a minute.  Would you like a biscuit with your tea?”

“If you can find any.”

“OK.”

She looked down at the phone in her hand as she walked slowly back into the kitchen.  Turning on the radio to cover the noise of the handset coming to life, she pressed the ‘texts received’ key.  Paul’s name appeared.  She squinted as she scrolled through his message:

‘I’ve got to see you again.  I was wrong to storm out.  I only got so angry because you mean more to me than life itself.  I love you and will come by later.  I can’t live without you.  Sorry.  Love, Paul.  XX’

The ghost of a smile crept across her face as she hit the reply button.  That had to be the most romantic text message she had ever seen.  Her fingers moved expertly across the keyboard.

‘I never want to see you again.  I love J.  Don’t contact me anymore.  I’m better off without a bastard like you.  Goodbye.’

She hit send and waited for confirmation before quickly turning the phone off.  Putting it down on the draining board, she picked up the whistling kettle and briskly poured hot water into the china teapot.  Humming along to the radio, she opened the fridge in search of milk.  She stopped humming when she caught sight of the array of food: all Allie’s favourites lined up for her. 
Now, who had done that?
  Someone who knew her very well, that was for sure.  Could it be Paul, or James?  Or maybe even Jeremiah?  Which one of the many men in her life had committed this thoughtful act of love?   She felt a bitter taste in her mouth as she thought of her own husband, loading a trolley in the local supermarket.  For another woman’s pleasure.

Before she could stop herself, she
had picked up the remainder of the cheesecake and put the whole dish into the lukewarm washing up water that was waiting in the bowl.  The creamy froth immediately began to dissolve.  On impulse she added a lump of Brie.  She giggled as she watched it float to the surface.  It quickly became an iceberg surrounded by vanilla mountains.  She licked her lips.

She closed the fridge and tried, reluctantly, because the food thing had been fun, to concentrate on the job in hand.  First, a littl
e milk in the bottom of both cups.  Then, the tea.  That was it: just the right shade of brown.  Next, the cups were placed onto a small wooden tray. 
Carefully
.  She didn’t want to spill any, and her hands had started to shake a little.  Steadying her breathing, she opened a cupboard and pulled out a packet of shortbread biscuits,
‘Finest’, what else?
And placed them onto the tray next to the cups.

Turning off the radio, she took another deep breath.  Only three more jobs to carry out and she could put her plan into action.  She knew she had to do them calmly and in sequence. 
The voices in her head were telling her.  And they were getting louder.

The first thing she did was to reach down towards the plug for the fridge and yank it out.  Whoever had bought that food for Allie would soon realise it meant nothing to her.  She had, in fact, deliberately let it go bad. 
In her desperate state of mind, nourishment was not important.  Of course.

Next, she slipped out a slim, plastic container from her pocket and emptied a small quantity of white powder into one of the cups of tea.  That should send Allie off to sleep.  And make
Liz’s job quick and painless. 
After all, she didn’t want her to suffer, now, did she?

The third task was by far the easiest.  So easy, she almost forgot to do it.  She opened the washing machine and dropped Allie’s mobile phone into it, before setting it off.  On delicates, naturally.  Mobile phones were sensitive things. 
And Allie was in despair because her man had walked out on her.  So, if she was just about to drown herself in her own bathwater, you would expect her to do a few odd things beforehand, wouldn’t you?

Chapter Fifteen

Paul whistled to himself as he pulled up at the service station.  He locked the car doors and began to peruse the selection of flowers outside: carnations, lilies and chrysanthemums.  By this time in the afternoon, they all looked a bit sad, as though they had wilted through sheer desperation at not having been bought.  He quickly located what he wanted, a small bunch of red roses, and headed for the cash desk, grabbing a bar of chocolate on the way: 70% cocoa, Allie’s favourite.  Just before joining the short queue, he picked up a box of strawberries.  Luscious and ripe, he knew Allie would be unable to resist them.  He was feeling optimistic.  Surely, all he had to do was to apologise to her, then kiss her, for her to realise that they were made for each other.  That they were meant to be together.  As well as present her with a few of her favourite things, that was…

“Next!  I said next!”  The surly-faced assistant scowled up at him.  He noticed she was called Karen and was, according to he
r badge, ‘happy to help.’

As he put his shopping down on the counter, her expression changed and she began to smile.

“Will there be anything else, sir?”  she asked, her tone much softer now.  “Would you like some champagne?  It’s on special offer…”  He smiled: it was obvious, after all, what he was up to.  The items in his basket screamed out ‘apology to a woman’.

“It’d go nice with the strawberries,
” continued Karen, “only £10.99.”

“OK
,” he said, grinning.  “I’ll take a bottle.”

She keyed in his purchases and gave him an inquisitive look:

“Have you got a loyalty card, sir?”

“N
o.”

“Would you like one?”

Someone in the queue behind him coughed gently.  He sensed a slight urgency.

“No thanks,” he said, paying in cash.  “I’m not really the loyal type.”

Karen’s eyes widened just a little and her smile disappeared. 

“Next?”  Her gaze was already directed at the next victim and the scowl had returned.

He shook his head as he turned to go.  Some people had no sense of humour.  That woman needed a change of job.  Life really was too short not to have what you wanted.

He reached his car in two strides, placed his bag carefully onto the passenger seat and pulled away smoothly.  He felt, strangely, as though he were walking on air.  Or even flying.

He pulled out into the stream of afternoon traffic and inched forwards towards the next junction.  Turning on the radio, he began to tap his fingers to the music.  He felt alive again, on the cusp of something momentous, something that was about to change his life.  Nothing was going to get in his way.  Not today.

He turned left and headed towards Allie’s.  Just as he reached the roundabout by the church, he heard the message tone on his mobile.  Glancing down, he saw it was from Allie.  H
e pulled over quickly and stopped under a tree by the park.

As he began to read the message, he frowned.  Then slowly, very slowly, he put the phone back down.  A feeling of di
sbelief began to numb his body. 
Surely not.  How
could she do this to him?
 

He turned off the engine and gazed to his right, out over the green open space, towards the tall oak trees by the allotments.  His thoughts were racing
around his head, crowding out his mind.  He couldn’t seem to stop them coming. 
How could he have been so stupid: to think that she would put up with his unreasonable behaviour? His mistrust and deceit?
He could feel his heart beginning to beat more quickly as he put his arms on the steering wheel and gently lowered his head.  His chance at happiness was ebbing away from him once more. 
Not again.  God, please, not again.

Allie opened her wardrobe and looked at what was on offer.  She was feeling much better since her leisurely soak.  Doctors really should consider prescribing bubble baths, candles, aromatherapy oils and soothing music to overtired patients, she thought, as she tried to decide between two cotton dresses, one green and one blue.  Eventually, she plumped for the latter, which was slightly shorter.  Just in case Paul came by later.  There was no harm in showin
g a little leg, now, was there?

She pulled the dress on and glanced at herself in the mirror.  Although her hair was rapidly frizzing up at the sides, she thought she looked good for someone in shock.  Her cheeks were still flushed from the hot water and her eyes looked rested and calm.

She turned round to check the back view and jumped, despite herself.  Liz was standing in the doorway, staring at her, tray in hand.

“God,
Liz, I didn’t hear you come up,” she managed.  “You scared me.”

“Sorry.” 
Liz smiled back and put the tray down.  “You’re looking well, Allie.  Much better than you did when we left you yesterday.” She sat down on the edge of the bed.  “How are you feeling?”

“I feel fine, now I’ve had a rest.”

There was a pause, as Liz looked her up and down.

“Would you like your tea here, or shall we go down?” 
Liz asked, her eyes on Allie’s face. 

“We’ll go down, shall we?”  Allie bent to pick up the tray, but
Liz stopped her.

“No, you don’t,” she said.  “I’ll carry that.”

Allie straightened up.

“Yes, m
a’am.”  She was aware of an uncharacteristic edge to Liz’s voice.  A slight irritation.  “But the kitchen’s a mess.  I don’t think there’s even the space to put a cup down,” she said.

“We can sit in the front room,” suggested
Liz, grabbing the tray and straightening up in one decisive movement.  “It’ll be more relaxing.  I can tidy the kitchen for you later.”

“That would be nice
,” said Allie, following her out of the room.  “I don’t think I can face that mess right now.”

As they went downstairs, a familiar sloshing sound caught Allie’s attention.