Bright Angel (11 page)

‘That's right. I checked all that too but less thoroughly because I'm not sure if it really is a part of the same thing or just coincidence. It could be, you see. Come over here. I want to show you something.'

He had his back to me, crouching at the base of a tree, pointing at something – a silvery discolouration in the bark. I started to bend down to take a look, he started to get up to give me room, we cracked heads, his glasses flew off, I cried out, stumbled and tripped. He checked my fall and suddenly, I was in his arms, his face very close to mine, his eyes on mine, and I saw an expression in them that made my heart clench and my throat flutter. I said, ‘Mick, I don't–' and then I felt his arms tighten around me and a startled expression come into his eyes as he looked at something over my head. I said, ‘What's the matter?'

He didn't answer. He helped me to my feet and then I turned, and I saw...

Daniel! Daniel, standing as rigid as a statue, on the other side of the clearing, near the path. My mind flashed with lightning-bursts of confusion. What was he doing here? How had he got here? Why was he looking at me like that, with such cold, dead eyes?

Oh God. He must have come into the clearing just as Mick ... just as we – ‘Daniel!' I called out. ‘Daniel! It's not what you think!' and pulling myself away from Mick, I tore across the clearing towards Daniel. But he didn't wait for me. He turned swiftly, picked up the bike that had been lying in long grass at the entrance to the path, got on it, and cycled swiftly away. I ran after him, screaming his name, begging him to stop, begging him to listen. But he did not stop. He did not turn around. By the time I reached the beginning of the path, he was already well down it, bumping over the hard ground at such a rate his teeth must have rattled. I ran after him for a way and then I saw it was no good and I'd never catch him up. I dropped to the ground like a stricken animal, sobbing, screaming, my whole being on fire with pain. He thought I was two-timing him with Mick. He thought I had betrayed him. I feared he wouldn't believe it was all innocent. Just an accident. Just a misunderstanding. He wouldn't understand. I'd lost him. Lost him forever. And I thought my heart would break, my whole body explode with the horrible, horrible pain of it.

I don't know how long I was huddled there, crying and carrying on, but after a while I became aware of Mick's presence, hovering uneasily but patiently just at the edge of my vision. I didn't particularly want to speak to him, but as I slowly got a grip on myself, I began to feel embarrassed, not only because he'd seen me crack up like that but because, well, of what had happened just before Daniel had turned up. I mean, it had been an accident, my ending up in his arms, but there had been that look in his eyes – and I didn't want him to get any ideas about that.

I took a deep breath, scrubbed at my swollen eyes, and scrambled to my feet. I looked at Mick. I took another deep breath and was about to speak when he interrupted me by saying, ‘I'm so sorry, Sylvie. It was my fault.'

That didn't make me feel better. In fact, it made me feel worse. Small. Mean. I mumbled, ‘No, no. It's okay.'

‘It's clearly not okay,' he said gently. ‘Look, maybe I can drive you straight back to St-Bertrand – we'll catch up with him on the way. You can explain, properly. Or you could use my phone to call him. Maybe he'll have his mobile with him. It's worth a try.'

I swallowed. I couldn't look at him. I said, ‘I don't know if he will listen.'

‘Maybe not now. But give him time to cool down.'

I nodded.

He said, ‘Surely he'll come to his senses. I mean, you weren't doing anything wrong. We hadn't even kissed. Much as I, as I'd have liked to.'

I shuddered. ‘Please, Mick, don't talk about it.'

‘Okay,' he said quietly. A strange expression flickered in his eyes. They looked different without the glasses, I thought, vaguely. The brown of them was sharper, deeper, under the thatch of platinum hair, without the interruption of the frames, his eyelashes stubby but dark and thick. His face was stronger, too. More defined. He should wear contact lenses, not glasses, and then he'd really be rather handsome.

What the hell was I thinking of? Was I going mad? Or turning into one of those sorts of girls who can just jump from one guy to the other without any thought? For God's sake, what I had with Daniel was special.
Unique.
It couldn't be transferred just like that onto someone else.

Because I was angry with myself, I spoke more sharply than I intended. ‘What happened to your glasses?'

‘They got smashed,' he said, taking them out of his pocket. It was true. There was a crack right across one of the lenses.

‘Can you drive without them?'

He nodded. ‘I've got some sunglasses in the car. Prescription ones. They'll do. I've got another pair of glasses back at the campground anyway, so I'll be right.' He spoke in a toneless sort of manner, and I thought maybe I'd offended him. I didn't feel good about that. I mean, he'd only ever been nice to me. Just because he seemed to be keen on me and I wasn't attracted to him in that way was no reason for being horrible.

I said, ‘I'm sorry, Mick. I don't mean to be rude, it's just that...'

‘I understand,' he said, gently, and touched my shoulder. ‘You've had a shock. It's quite okay. And I, well, I really like you but I understand that you – well, of course you don't feel the same way. Not with Daniel around. It's quite all right. I'm not upset. Really, I'm not.' He smiled, faintly. ‘I just want to help you.'

‘Thank you,' I said, rather choked up by his kindness.

‘We still friends then?'

‘Of course.'

‘Good. Okay, what do you want to do?'

‘Can we go back? I mean, not to Daniel's. Not yet. But I just want to go home. If that's okay.'

‘Of course it is.' He switched on his phone. ‘I'll just see if there's a quicker way to go back to the car from here without all the bush-bashing. Ah, yep, if we go down that path on the other side of the clearing and turn left at this point here–' tapping on the screen – ‘we should be able to join up again with that other path that will lead us back to the car park.' He looked at me. ‘You all right?'

I nodded. I didn't really feel ‘all right' – how could I? – but I'd got over the worst of the pain. And I kept thinking, he just needs a bit of time. Just a bit. Given time to think, Daniel would cool down and I could explain and things would go back to what they'd been and everything would be fine.

I hung on to that hope all the way back to the car and all the way back to St-Bertrand. We didn't see Daniel on the way. He must have long gone. Mick didn't speak along the way, for which I was very grateful, because I needed silence. But when we got back to the town and parked in the usual spot, he turned around to look at me and said, gently, ‘Sylvie, remember I'm there for you if you need me. Don't hesitate to call me, okay?' He pulled out a notebook from the glovebox and scribbled his number on it. ‘Don't hesitate. Any time of the day or night, okay?'

‘Thank you,' I said. ‘You're, you're so kind, Mick.'

‘Kind?' he said. ‘No. I'm not kind. I just, well, we're friends. That means something to me.'

‘And to me,' I said in a rush, touching his hand, briefly. ‘Thanks again, Mick. And sorry about that performance in the forest. It must have been very embarrassing.'

‘It's cool,' he said, with a little laugh, ‘don't worry about it.' He hesitated. ‘Look, Sylvie, I hope you clear it up with Daniel – but there's something I think you should know. Although maybe it's not the right time and I don't want you to get the wrong impression and–'

‘What is it?' I asked, warily.

‘Look, I wondered if you knew about Daniel's uncle, Benedict Udo?'

I stared. ‘What do you mean? How do you know about him?'

‘I Googled him,' he said. ‘Yesterday afternoon. I mean, I looked up Daniel. After we – we ran into each other, on the road. I – just wanted to know who that guy was. Because–'

‘Okay,' I said, hurriedly, not wanting him to explain further, ‘and what did you find out?'

‘That he's the nephew of a guy about whom there are all sorts of rumours floating around.'

My palms prickled. ‘What rumours?'

‘Ben Udo is rumoured to have links with organised crime in London,' he said quickly, giving me a sideways glance.

My pulse raced. I thought of what Marc had told us, of how Ben Udo had been attacked – and of how evasive Marc had been when I'd asked him why. I thought of how evasive Daniel himself had been, when I asked him about his uncle. How he wanted to get Gabriel away from there, to look after him himself. Now, staring at Mick, who looked as though he expected me to explode, I thought that here was an explanation. Here was something that fitted. I said, through the thickness in my throat, ‘Only rumoured?'

‘Nobody's proved anything against him. He's far too clever. A real fox. In fact, funnily enough, that's what his company's called. Fox Financial. Anyway, it's all just rumours. There's nothing definite, see? I mean they didn't say
he
was a known criminal – just had him vaguely associating with people who were really quite dodgy.'

‘That could mean anything,' I said. ‘He could just know them innocently – I mean, criminals are just people, so they'd have friends and relations and acquaintances just like everyone else.'

‘Didn't sound like that,' he said, shaking his head. ‘But Udo's rich and successful. I expect he has teams of lawyers to come down like a ton of bricks on anyone that would come out and say it for sure. Look, Sylvie, I'm only telling you so you can have a bit of background info. Then you can understand why Daniel might be highly strung – if he knows his uncle's a crook, or if he's scared of him, or trying to protect his little brother from it, he could be, like–'

‘Yes,' I said. ‘I see what you mean. Thanks.'

‘It's gotta be hard, having to hang around people like that,' said Mick.

‘Yep.' My thoughts were racing. I said, ‘I wonder if the film people know? I mean, he's bankrolling their film. If it's crooked money...?'

‘I don't expect they asked any questions. People are good at closing their eyes when it comes to money. And it's not like Udo's ever had anything proven against him. He hasn't even ever been charged, as far as I know.'

I nodded. Suddenly I just wanted to get far away from him. I mean, why had he told me? It could only be to turn me against Daniel. Well, it wouldn't work. I said, trying to sound as friendly as I could, ‘Look, Mick, sorry, but I've got to go.'

‘Sure,' he said, smiling a little sadly. ‘I'm sorry to have raised it, but I thought you should know.'

‘Mmm,' I said.

‘And look, Sylvie, just cut him some slack. Give him some time. The guy's obviously had a hard time.'

I looked at him. And he seemed genuine. I said, uncertainly, ‘Er, thanks, Mick. I'm sorry for – you know. You've been so nice.'

‘Think nothing of it. Take care. And look, give us a call if you have a problem. Okay?'

‘Thanks,' I said, smiling at him for the first time since that awful moment in the clearing.

‘No worries,' he said. ‘Hey, by the way, I looked you up too, yesterday. Saw your You Tube channel. It's great. Liked that Houdini one especially. He's one of my heroes. The clip was really well done. Like you got all the info in but it was entertaining too. The others were pretty good too.'

‘Oh, glad you liked them,' I said, blushing.

‘Maybe one day you might think of doing one about investigating UAPs,' he said. ‘I can give you heaps of info.'

‘Yep. Maybe one day. See you, Mick.'

‘See you soon, then, darlin',' he said flippantly. I ignored that last bit, and hurried up the hill towards our house.

Claire was out and I could hear Freddy banging away on the computer downstairs. I didn't interrupt her. I wasn't eager to talk about what had happened, so I crept upstairs as quietly as I could.

Mick was right. I had to give Daniel time, I thought. But how much time? How long had it been since that moment in the clearing?

Upstairs in my room, I soon found my mobile, sitting on the bedside table, half hidden under a book. That was a bit weird. I was sure I hadn't seen it earlier. But maybe I hadn't really looked. Oh well, it didn't matter. I picked it up and went to Contacts. I went to Daniel's number, which I'd entered yesterday. I sat there on the bed looking at it, looking at his name. Even the letters themselves made me feel shivery with longing. I had to speak to him. I had to clear it up. I couldn't bear it. I went to Options. First on the list was Call. My finger hesitated over it. I stared at it, trying to steel myself, trying to get my thoughts into some sort of order. What should I say first: Sorry? Or I love you? But I had done nothing to be sorry for. Only been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I mean, saying that would mean admitting I had done something wrong. No, best just say I love you. But if I said that he might think I was just being arrogant or stupid. Refusing to admit anything had happened, even if it was an accident, just one of those things.

I jumped. Was that the sound of a siren? I went to the window and looked out. But my room faced onto the view of meadows and cows so I could only see them, peacefully grazing. The siren was louder now. Was that another one? Suddenly struck by a fear I couldn't even name, still clutching my mobile, I ran out of my room to Claire's, from where you could see the road, and the car park. And, racing up the road towards the town, was an ambulance, followed by two police cars, their lights flashing, their sirens going.

They didn't stop at the car park but turned and went carefully up one of the cobbled alleyways towards the town. I hadn't seen any vehicle except the food delivery van go up them – they were so narrow there was room for only one car in them and even then ... I didn't stop to think about it, but ran downstairs and banged out of the house and into the garden. Terror clutched my heart – horror – my head spun, I had a ghastly feeling that I knew where they were going, that Daniel, maddened by what he'd seen, had had an accident, had been knocked off his bike or run over by a car – and that he was...

I ran to the end of the wall where I could see down into their garden but I couldn't see the front of the house where the cars would be. So I just hopped on top of the wall and jumped down into the garden and ran round the side – and there I saw the ambulance, and the police cars drawn up, the ambulance doors wide open, and then the paramedics came out of the house, carrying a still body, covered with a sheet, on a stretcher between them – and I knew my worst fears had come true. Something terrible had happened.