Fragile Minds Page 0,86

come in peace.’

‘Well,’ I edged slightly nearer to the door behind me, ‘I mean, you must realise it’s not very normal to get into someone’s flat under false pretences and—’

‘Not false pretences,’ he frowned now. ‘Just an honest mistake.’

‘Whatever,’ I shook my head with frustration. ‘Anyway. As you can see, I’m fine. So you can go now.’

He stepped closer to me. My clothes were covered in dirt from the alley behind Sugar and Spice and I could hardly stand straight, I was in so much pain from Andrei’s dig in the ribs. My face was probably bleeding again where the graze on my cheek had reopened, and my left hand was badly bruised. I must have looked a complete state; I certainly felt like one, and the cab driver who’d finally stopped for me had asked to see my money up front, eyeing me warily in his mirror the whole way home as if I might suddenly combust.

‘You look – hurt. I can give you a treatment now if you like,’ Francis offered. He started digging around in his canvas knapsack. ‘I’ve got some calendula somewhere, and also some arnica. Brilliant for bruising. You know, homeopathic medicine can be really very effective.’

‘Francis. Please. I really would just like you to go now. I appreciate your kindness coming here but—’ I could hear the hysteria building in my own voice. ‘Really. I’m fine.’

He stared at me and for the first time since I’d met him, I found his gaze eerie, the eyes too intense. I could almost feel him sizing me up.

‘All right, I’ll go. But really, Claudie.’ He looked so hurt, like a droopy Bassett hound. ‘I mean you only good.’

I stepped back so he could pass; my palms were sweaty and I found that I was holding my breath.

‘Francis?’ I said as he opened the door.

‘Yes?’

‘How did you meet Tessa? Was it on that yoga retreat?’

‘I can’t remember,’ he frowned. ‘I think I was recommended by a friend. That’s usually the way.’

‘What friend?’ I asked.

He shook his head. ‘It’s hard to think now. So many spirits come and go.’

As he reached the door, he paused.

‘I answered your phone, by the way.’

‘I really wish you hadn’t,’ I said. I needed to sit down.

He started to say something about St Thomas’s Hospital ringing to speak to me about contra-indicated results, but I wasn’t really listening. Just go, just go I willed him silently, and he looked at my face, and he stopped talking and went.

As soon as he had left, I finally exhaled. Then I locked and bolted the door, and I stood, back against it, heart thumping – and I realised with a blaze of something, how angry I was. And then I thought of Amanda Curran’s words, of the man she’d met with Tessa.

Over on the sideboard, I found the card that the nice woman officer with the soup-coloured hair had left, DS Lorraine Kenton, and I rang her number. She didn’t answer, so I left a message asking for her to call back.

Then I went into the bathroom, took two strong painkillers for my bruised ribs, and got into the shower. And that was the last thing I remembered for a while.

SATURDAY 22ND JULY SILVER

Molly and Matty were watching Doctor Who in the living room and Anne was changing bed linen upstairs when Ben arrived home. Silver called his eldest into the kitchen before his grandmother got there first.

‘Good innings?’ He thought his son had been watching the County Cricket down at the Youth Club, but from the way Ben was blushing, Silver would hazard a guess he’d been up to something different altogether.

‘I see.’ He grinned at his lanky son. ‘She’s a cracker, that Emma, isn’t she?’

‘I’ll say.’ Ben opened the fridge, immediately scavenging for food, his tousled dark hair falling across his face as he leant in to look for spoils.

Silver remembered kissing an enthusiastic Ruthie Burton round the back of the Mock Turtle on a boiling summer’s day, just before he met Allana. He grinned. ‘Her mum wasn’t bad in her day either.’

‘Yeah,’ Ben smiled pleasurably at the thought of his sunny-faced girlfriend, and ripped a leg off the roast chicken Anne had served up for tea. ‘She said she knew you. She’s still not bad for an old bird. I can’t believe my luck, Dad.’

‘Why not? You’re a good-looking lad.’

‘You sound like Mum.’ Ben’s handsome face darkened. ‘’Cept Mum don’t think Emma’s good enough for me.’

That made sense. Allana was never going to let