people who put magnets on fridges had loads of them, reminders, mementos, little heart-warming messages, but this was one alone. There was no sign of any other magnets and a quick look around revealed no other notes or reminders. I tried to remember if it had been there when I last came to the flat, but with all the blood and the mess I might easily have missed something that mundane.
There’d been no arrangement between Claire and I to meet in October, assuming that 19/10 was meant to indicate the nineteenth. Paddington Green was an area behind Paddington Station, not far from Edgware Road. It had improved since the modernisation of the station – that whole area had used to be a haven for muggers and low-life. Even now, it wasn’t an area a woman alone would care to linger. So why would Claire arrange to meet there? Was she meeting shady characters for some reason connected to her role as clerk? That didn’t seem likely, and if she didn’t normally leave notes on the fridge, why leave one that was months out of date? Was it there as reminder of something, or did I have a namesake she’d met in October?
But what if the note wasn’t left by Claire? What if it had been put there after she’d been murdered by whoever had cleaned up the flat? If so, why did it have my name on it? Was it meant to implicate me? I tried to remember where I’d been on 19th October, but that was months ago. Was there something special about that day? If it was meant as a clue, it was a particularly obscure one. It was odd. There wasn’t enough information there, and anyone else finding it might be intrigued by the incongruity of it but they would be hard-pressed to make anything out of it.
Unless that was its purpose. A note left that only the person it was intended for would find or be able to make anything of. Everyone else would walk past it, but the person whose name was on it would look twice. Was it meant for me? If that was the case then it must have been left by someone who knew there was a connection between us. Still, there was no point in leaving a note for me that was months out of date.
So if 19/10 wasn’t a date, what was it? A meeting needed a date, a time and a place. It had a place, and it had a date, but no time. What if 19/10 wasn’t a date, but a time? What if it was 19:10? If that was true then we had a time but no date. What kind of meeting didn’t need a date? Only a meeting that was today. Taking the note carefully from under the magnet, I pocketed it.
I would get Big Dave to drop me at Paddington Green, and this time I would be taking my sword.
As soon as the hand released her, Alex drew a breath to yell for help. The hand clamped back over her mouth. “Mmmmmmm!” she squealed through the hand.
She was running out of oxygen. Spots were beginning to appear before her eyes. She struggled to get an arm free, anything to make release the hand clamped over her mouth and nose. Suddenly it released and air rushed out of her. She took another huge breath and the hand clamped back over her mouth and nose.
“We can carry on like this or you can be quiet,” whispered the voice. Alex made some small, whimpering noises. “Can I trust you not to scream?” She nodded again. The hand was gradually removed and she spent a moment just breathing, drawing big gulps of air into her as the luminous dots floating in front of her vision receded.
In the darkness, she gradually became aware of the person still holding her. The size of the hand held ready to silence her was clue enough. “Tate?” she said.
“Shhhh,” he warned. “Just breathe.”
She gradually caught her breath and relaxed against him. In a strange way it was comforting to be held like that. As she relaxed he eased his grasp until she simply leaned against him, encircled within his arms. “What are you doing here?” His question was whispered close to her ear.
“I saw you sneaking out and I followed you,” she admitted.
“Why?” he asked her.
“Why not?” she asked. “I thought you were up to something.”
“I’m on Warder business,” he said. “You could have