Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,148

She could go to Vaughn’s; Dale didn’t know where he lived but Vaughn was out of town and she had no means of gaining entrance – her lifeline to Vaughn was lying in smithereens on the bedroom floor. She also wasn’t entirely sure she could even remember the way.

Briefly, she considered a non-descript hotel somewhere that would maybe buy her some time, but belatedly she remembered that it was Christmas Day, which would mean that would also be a complete non-starter. Any hotel worth its salts would be fully booked this time of year and she was in no fit state to go to anywhere that didn’t have basic hygiene standards.

The dark was starting to draw in now and the rush of the last few hours was beginning to wear off making her become aware of pain and throbbing in virtually every part of her body. Her legs were aching, her head was pounding and her left arm was still partially numb making it awkward to continually change gear. Running out of options, she pulled over to the side of the road and into a fairly secluded lay-by. She needed time to think but she was also smart enough to realise that she had to get off the road. Dale could wake up and start searching for her at any time and she couldn’t just park up here and wait. She would be like a sitting duck.

Frustrated, she banged her hand on the steering wheel, willing her brain to think. Think. There must be somewhere she could go, somewhere she could at least stay the night until she could work things out in the morning when she had a clearer head. Surely her life hadn’t been so controlled by Dale that she didn’t have anyone she could feasibly turn to?

Her handbag was on the seat to the side of her and she opened it up and started rummaging through it looking for her address book. She was hoping that she would come across somebody that she had forgotten about that she could look up in this time of crisis. She didn’t hold out much hope but she felt that it was her only chance.

As she hunted through, her hand connected with her mobile phone and she pulled it out, amazed to see that it still had some charge in it. Not all that much use to her though, as she didn’t have anyone to call. Pressing the power button on the side, the screen flashed into life and the display stated ‘One Missed Call’ and suddenly she remembered that Celeste had phoned whilst Dale had been ‘punishing’ her. A wave of relief washed through her as she realised that maybe she had just found her lifeline.

Dale didn’t know Celeste at all and he sure as hell didn’t know where she lived. Elise did know where Celeste lived and she also knew that she was going to be at home for Christmas as she and Roger were planning to spend the day together. She knew that she was potentially going to be breaking up a very romantic day for the two new lovers but she was desperate, had nowhere else to turn and she just hoped that her friend would understand.

Starting the car again, she groaned at the pain of physically getting her body to drive and tried to keep her breaths even to alleviate some of the pressure around her damaged ribs. Calling upon every last ounce of strength that she possessed, she left the lay-by and joined the main road out of town towards Eastwood, where Celeste and hopefully sanctuary, lay.

Elise found Celeste’s block of flats relatively easily and was relieved to see that the parking was in an underground garage, meaning that her car would be hidden from sight – just in case Dale did happen to drive this way.

Celeste lived in a modern block containing ten flats which had been sympathetically designed to have the overall appearance of a grand Georgian house. There was a main entrance door right in the middle of the property which led to the two ground floor flats, one on each side and then a staircase and lift arrangement to the further four floors; each of which contained another two flats. The fact that the stairs and entrance were in the centre of the property meant that as for the first floor, there was a flat on each side, effectively giving every flat their own half of the floor. This benefitted the