Blood Fugue (18 page)

Dingbat barrelled through the dog flap and took hold of the woman’s calf. She whirled and tried to lash out at the dog, but every time she moved Dingbat backed up, pulling her with him.

The voice that came from her then wasn’t human. Kath recognised the language from a hundred interrupted nights when Jimmy was a child. She shivered to hear the language spoken in such cruel tones. Even though the words were unintelligible, the woman spat curses of pure hatred. Kath had her opportunity now; she could reach for the knives if she wanted to, but she knew the woman would be too strong for her. She’d die by her own blade. All Kath could think of was the necklace Jimmy had given her. She reached between the buttons of her blouse and held it out.

Something was happening to the woman. It was difficult to discern exactly what in the near darkness. Her fingers lengthened, her head changed shape. She sprayed Kath with spittle as she poured forth her incomprehensible abuse and laughed when she saw the necklace. But Kath approached and the woman pulled away. Whatever changes she was going through stopped. Dingbat continued to shake the leg he held in his jaws but ended up shaking himself because the woman was now too strong for him. His teeth were doing damage though, and the woman slashed at him with her newly grown claws as Kath approached.

They reached the back door and the woman seemed not to know how to open it. Instead she pressed back against it and held her hands up to protect herself. In the gloom, her skin appeared to take on a hint of purple. Kath took the necklace off and brought it towards the cowering woman as she sank down towards the floor with her hands over her head. She looked like she expected to be beaten to death with clubs.

Kath touched the charm to an exposed part of the woman’s head. There was a thump and an amethyst flash that blinded Kath. She flew back from the woman as if she’d stood on a land mine and fell in the spilled milk, lying still in the dusk’s deep shadows.

Kath couldn’t tell how much time passed before she could move again, but when she did she was in a lot of pain. Dingbat must have been whining and nuzzling at her for a while because the kitchen was in darkness.

Once she’d managed to stand, she turned on the kitchen light to find the woman still unconscious beside the back door. She looked peaceful and Kath prayed she hadn’t killed her.

‘You think she’s okay, Dingbat?’

The dog whined and crept forward to sniff the unmoving body. He licked the woman’s face. She stirred and was soon trying to escape Dingbat’s resuscitation technique. He only wagged his tail and tried harder to revive her.

‘That’s enough, boy,’ said Kath. ‘You come to me now.’

The woman looked around her, and pulled her bathrobe tighter.

‘Where am I?’ she asked.

‘You’re in the Kerrigan residence.’

‘You’re Kath Kerrigan?’

Kath was surprised.

‘Yes I am. Do you know me?’

‘I know — I knew your son, Jimmy.’

‘I see.’

The woman looked confused, embarrassed.

‘What happened to me?’ she asked.

‘Don’t you remember anything at all?’

‘No. Not really. I remember thinking what a beautiful afternoon it was.’

‘Do you remember going for a walk?’

‘Maybe. I don’t know.’

Kath walked over and helped the woman up. There was no sign of Dingbat’s bite wounds on her leg.

‘Sit down over here,’ said Kath pointing to a kitchen chair.

‘I don’t want to sit. Can you just tell me what happened?’

Kath didn’t hesitate.

‘Sure, sweetheart. I heard a knock on the back door and saw you standing on the back porch. I opened the door and you just fainted right where you are.’

‘That’s it? What about all this mess on the floor?’

‘Well, I was making myself some hot chocolate. I don’t get many visitors and your knock just about finished my heart off forever. I dropped the milk.’

‘Oh. God, I’m so sorry. Are you okay?’

‘When I’ve cleaned up and get that pan boiling, I’ll be just fine.’

The woman took a half step forward.

‘Can I help you with it?’

‘Oh no,’ said Kath, backing away. ‘Won’t take me but a minute. You better get home before you catch cold.’

The woman looked down at her bathrobe and bare feet and blushed. Kath gestured towards the back door and the woman moved to leave. She looked small and lost as she stepped into the back yard.

‘Listen, do you want me to call one of your friends or something? Maybe the doctor?’ Kath asked.

The woman turned back.

‘No, I feel fine now. I’ll be okay. My name’s Amy by the way.’ She offered her hand and they shook. ‘Jimmy always talked about you and Burt. Said how great you were. Is your husband here?’

Kath thought she saw a hint of purple return to the woman’s eyes.

‘I think you’d better be going,’ She said.

She didn’t watch Amy walk away.

When she’d locked all the doors and checked all the windows, she mopped up the kitchen. There wasn’t too much to do; Dingbat had licked up most of the milk by then.

‘You’ve been a brave, brave boy. I think you may have saved my life.’

Chapter 20

Nicholas and Isobel Priestly sat opposite their daughter in the living room of the home they’d built themselves after years of overtime and saving every dollar they could. The silence continued. Nicholas plucked at the hairs of his goatee until Isobel shot him a tight-lipped stare. As soon as she looked away he started again.

‘What is it, Geen?’ asked her mother. ‘We want you to know that you can tell us anything. All we want is to help and to see you happy again.’

‘I can’t ever be happy.’

‘Come on, honey,’ said Nicholas. ‘Whatever you’re going through is bound to seem bad when you’re in the middle of it. But in a few hours or days you’ll feel better, I promise.’

‘Oh, you promise, Dad?’

‘Sure I do.’

Gina shook her head and began to cry. Nicholas glanced to Isobel for support.

‘Your daddy’s right, Geen. Nothing’s ever as bad as it seems at first. You’re going to start feeling better the moment you get some of this worry off your chest. We support you, we’re on your side and anything you need to say will stay between us only. Within these walls. Okay?’

Gina nodded. Nicholas held out a box of tissues to her. She took one, blew her nose and let her hands fall into her lap. He waited for her to look up, a little brighter, but she couldn’t meet his gaze.

‘I think there’s something wrong with me.’

‘What kind of thing?’ asked Isobel.

‘It’s so difficult to explain. It’s like I’m sick or something.’

Nicholas was already adding things up in his mind — the mood swings, the change in diet; it was all familiar. He sat forward.

‘It’s not the weight thing again, is it?’

Gina’s sobs, having been under control for only a few moments became worse and she shook her head, her hair hiding her face.

‘For God’s sake, Nick, shut up and let her tell us in her own way.’

‘Sure.’ He sank back into the sofa. ‘Okay.’

Gina looked up at them, her eyes raw and red, her makeup smeared and running.

‘I have these. . .gaps. . .in my memory. They’re getting worse, I think.’

She blew her nose again. As Nicholas watched her he could see that his daughter had grown up, perhaps in some moment when he hadn’t been paying attention. She looked mature.

‘How long has this been going on for?’ He asked.

Isobel took hold of his arm.

‘Nick, please.’

He shook her hand off.

‘We need to know. Well, Gina?’

‘Not long. Two, maybe three weeks. But I’m getting real scared now.’

Silence again. Nicholas wiped his palm over his mouth, pinched his lower lips in his fingers. He pointed a finger at his daughter and waded in.

‘What drugs have you taken? ‘

Gina snorted; a sad half laugh as if she knew the question would come.

‘I’ve smoked pot since I was fourteen. Not every day but definitely every weekend. It’s never done anything more than make me giggle a little and think a lot about the meaning of life. I don’t do any other drugs. I never have and I don’t plan to.’

Nicholas was shocked by the directness of the admission, but this was not a time for recrimination.

‘Okay. What else?’

‘There is nothing else. Nothing wrong with my friends or anything like that.’

‘What about this meat fetish you’ve suddenly developed?’ asked Isobel, ‘Is that anything to do with this?’

‘What are you talking about?’

‘Come on, Gina, you’ve been asking for and eating nothing but beef and pork for the last three weeks.’

Gina looked at them, her eyes owlish with fear.

‘I didn’t realise. I do that at every meal?’

‘Yes.’

Gina’s head sank down until she was bent double into her own lap with her hands over her face.

‘Oh God, oh God, oh God,’ she whispered, ‘What is fucking wrong with me?’

Nicholas stood up and took a place beside Gina on the sofa. Isobel followed, sitting on Gina’s other side. They both placed their hands on her back. All Nicholas felt for several minutes was Gina’s body shaking with spasmodic bursts of crying. When it had subsided a little, he spoke to her.

‘We can talk about this some more later, honey. You don’t have to do it all now.’

Gina sat up again and looked at her father.

‘We have to talk about it now. Before I forget again.’

‘Well, what else is there?’ he asked.

She sighed.

‘I’ve been waking up in strange places.’

‘What places?’

‘In the woods. Other people’s houses. I have no idea how I get there or why I went. I just have this sense that something terrible has happened. That I’m responsible.’

There was a pause. When Isobel spoke, Nicholas could tell she was trying to keep all emotion from her voice. But all he heard was dread.

‘What terrible things do you mean?’

‘I don’t know, mom. I just don’t know.’

‘Think back to when it started. What were you doing? Where were you? Do you remember the first time it happened?’

‘Jesus, mom, I already told you I don’t . . .’

Gina stopped shaking her head in denial and looked up.

‘What is it?’ asked Isobel.

‘Have I trained in the last three weeks?’

Nicholas didn’t need to think long. It was on of the first things they’d noticed.

‘No. Not for almost exactly three weeks. Why?’

‘It’s something to do with that.’

‘I don’t understand, Gina,’ said Nicholas.

‘I was running in the forest. Something happened. That’s where this started, I know it.’

Nicholas thought it over for a few moments.

‘Maybe you fell and knocked yourself out. That would explain a lot of this. You could be suffering the after effects of a serious concussion.’

‘Did you have a headache or a lump on your head anywhere?’ asked Isobel.

‘No. It’s something else. I feel like I lost something. Something real important.’

Nicolas frowned.

‘Lost something? What the hell does that mean, Gina?’ He stood up and paced to the window before turning back. ‘Can you tell us anything more about who else might have been out there that day? What time it was? Who saw you running? Anything at all?’

Gina thought about it for a while.

‘I left here around four in the afternoon, I guess. I remember thinking it was a little later than I usually go. That kind of purple haze was already out and I ran a little faster than usual because it gave me the creeps.’

‘Which trail did you take?’

‘The Eastern Path, I think. That’s the one I like best.’

‘Do you run past that guy’s place out on the edge of the forest there?’ asked Nicholas. ‘What’s his name?’

‘Jimmy Kerrigan,’ said Isobel. ‘God damn, I’m sure he’s got something to do with this.’

‘Take it easy, Izzy. We don’t know enough about this yet. He may not even have been there.’

‘He’s always there. Typing away in front of that window. And when he’s not there he spends way too much time in those woods.’

‘That’s enough, Isobel. We’re going to do this the right way if we do it at all. You can’t accuse a man of something when you have no evidence. That’s how people in small towns get hurt.’ He turned back to his daughter. ‘What else happened, Gina?’

‘Daddy, I swear I don’t remember anything much after I reached the Clearing and turned onto the Eastern Path. I still wasn’t warmed up by the time I got there but —

—
feeling cold was no reason to stop running or turn back. It was a reason to increase the pace. The willingness to respond to a challenge in that way was what had turned her life around eighteen months earlier. Gina could have given into the bulge the way so many other kids seemed to but that wasn’t how she saw her future.