CLONER : a Sci-Fi Novel about Human Cloning (A Captivating Story about Reproduction Outside the Womb and Identical Humans) (19 page)

‘What’s the funny smell, Mummy?’

Seb was right. There was a curious odour as well as the odd yellow colour on the towel. Had she been prescient, choosing yellow to distinguish Janus from his brothers? She pulled out a pair of his yellow pyjamas, prepared to put his nappy on.

‘Got to go wee wees.’

‘No, Seb.’

‘Got to,’ he said and started toddling towards the bathroom.

She flung Janus back on to the bed and ran after her eldest son.

‘In Mummy’s bathroom, Seb!’ she shouted out. ‘There’s water all over the other one.’

He held his hand in front of him, staring at her. She grasped him roughly, quickly, and pushed him the long walk down the corridor. Then she saw Geraldine.

The girl - what if the girl saw what was in the bath?

‘About time, Geraldine,’ she seethed at her, then couldn’t stop herself from shrieking. ‘You’re supposed to be helping me. Take Seb to wee in my bathroom. The children’s is completely flooded.’

Geraldine, smiling good humour, took Seb’s hand. ‘All right, Lisa. I’ll see to him.’ Her normally shrewd inquisitive eyes strayed towards the front door. Her thoughts were still with Matthew.

‘Go on, Seb,’ Lisa hissed at him. ‘Do as you’re told.’

Almost hysterical, clenching her nails into her palms, she sprinted back to the bedroom. Janus was sitting in the middle of the double bed, solemnly tearing Seb’s nursery-rhyme book into shreds.

Still two infants in the cots, one on the bed. She counted them off on her fingers, then breathed relief. Her triplets were safe.

Fastening a nappy on Janus, she tucked him under her arm and backed into the children’s bathroom. She had to take Janus with her. He was different, thinner. Geraldine mustn’t see him. What’s more, he didn’t have his bracelet on. What if it happened again? As long as she held on to him he couldn’t -
clone
, she thought wildly. As long as she held on to him they were safe.

‘I’m finished,’ she could hear Seb saying to Geraldine, could hear them coming back down the corridor.

Lisa inched further into the bathroom, then forced her eyes to look into the bath. The body was still there. Lisa squeezed Janus tight, but couldn’t control her retch.

‘Mummy. Where are you, Mummy?’

Janus began to kick and then to bawl.

‘Shut up,’ she screamed at him, then remembered that Seb was looking for her, no doubt about to burst into the bathroom, and that Geraldine was with him. She kicked the door shut and locked it. The large key clattered out and on to the floor.

‘Take Seb to his room, Geraldine,’ she shouted through the door. ‘I’ll come and see him in a minute.’

The girl twisted the doorknob. ‘Anything wrong? D’you need some help? Why’s Jansy making all that racket?’

‘I
told
you it’s sopping wet in here,’ Lisa shouted at her. ‘Just get Seb off to his room.’

‘I would stay, Lisa, but…’ Presumably Matthew was waiting for her. A stroke of unexpected luck.

‘Just get Seb to bed, Gerry.’ Lisa had lowered her voice, energy draining out of her. ‘Then you can go; I’ll see you in the morning.’

‘I’m having lunch with Uncle Nige, Lisa. I did remind you. Betsy’s coming. I made sure she remembered.’ The girl rattled the knob again. ‘What’s wrong, Lisa? The door won’t open.’

‘For goodness sake! I sometimes need to go to the loo as well.’

‘Oh.’ An audible intake of breath, even through the door. ‘Sorry.’

Holding Janus to herself to quiet him Lisa heard Geraldine and Seb trotting down the corridor. Where had she put the damned bracelet?

Lisa forced herself to look at the bath ledges. She searched over every nook and cranny for the silver band but couldn’t see it. Her eyes now roamed round the other surfaces: the basin, the window sill, the cupboard holding nappies, the laundry basket. The bracelet was nowhere to be seen.

There was another knocking on the door. Lisa, her mind fixed on the bracelet, gripped the child in her arms hard enough to precipitate a wail. She relaxed her grip and absently kissed his head.

‘Anything else I can do?’ Geraldine asked. ‘Shall I take Jansy for you?’

The girl had evidently spotted something was up, Lisa was aware. But there was nothing she could do about that, no way she could open the door to her. Geraldine might know something was wrong but she couldn’t possibly know what it was. And she was probably thinking longingly about Matthew. With any luck he was waiting for her.

‘Are you okay? Jansy sounds rather miserable.’

‘He’s just grisly.’ A deep breath in, a last determined effort to keep control. ‘He must have had too much of the clotted cream and feels sick. Look in on the other two and see if they’re all right,’ she called out. ‘I’m almost through here.’

Within moments the doorknob rattled again. Lisa bit back the urge to scream at the girl to go.

‘Is it all right if I go now?’

‘Is Seb in bed?’

‘He’s reading his helicopter book.’

‘Right, then. Off you go.’

‘Good-night, Lisa. You too, Jansy.’

It was at this point that Lisa remembered what had happened to the bracelet. In her haste to take it off she’d simply dropped it in the bath. It must be with the body.

Janus was wriggling under her arm. What time was it? Was Alec due back? Sick, shocked, distraught, she turned, knocking the baby’s head against the bath. A shrill long scream brought her back to reality. Had Geraldine heard that? There was no further clatter at the door. She must have left.

Holding her breath, averting her eyes, the kicking infant still under her left arm, Lisa placed her right hand into the bath and tried to feel for the bracelet. The slimy bath, its bottom covered in a glutinous mixture of soap, dirt and that odd yellow liquid, revolted her. Unable to hold Janus she laid him on the floor. He began to cry pitifully. Not the raucous bawl of a few moments before, but the small pathetic cry of a tired infant.

Desperate now, Lisa knelt beside him and pulled the plastic duck away from the plug hole. She hugged Janus, trying to quiet him. His drawn-out tired mewl inspired her to lever on to the stool, to pick him up, to rock him. He’s only an infant, she told herself. He couldn’t possibly be held responsible for anything that had happened.

The final slosh of liquid running out of the bath energised Lisa into one last attempt to find the bracelet. The body of the dead infant lay, oddly thin and limp, its feet towards the drain. Retching, she’d no choice but to return Janus to the floor. Forcing herself to action she moved the body’s legs away and at last saw the bracelet on the bottom of the bath. JANUS, the letters winked at her.

She clutched it, allowed the legs to plop back and turned to the living child. His eyes gleamed wet as he tried to writhe away from her searching arms. He was afraid of her. Her shouting, presumably, and the way his head had bumped against the bath, the unceremonious manner in which she’d dumped him on the floor.

She clasped him to her, tears of relief at his safety pouring down her face. She could not bear to look at the other child, the baby she’d only briefly known. Tears for his short sad life welled into her eyes. She couldn’t stop.

A loud rat-tat-tatting at the back door made her freeze. Frank back with the car already? She wasn’t expecting him till much later on. He mustn’t see her like this, must
not
come in. She wouldn’t respond, just pray he’d simply leave the keys downstairs for her.

A short interval of silence as she tried to stop the flow of endless tears, then the sound of the old door being opened lurched her heartbeat into a faster pace.

‘Missus! Us broughten t’car backalong,’ a voice Lisa recognised as Don Chivers’ called up the stairs.

Lisa sat rigid, cringing against the bath, pretending she wasn’t there. Another series of loud knocks as the stockman tried to make himself heard.

‘Us’ll leave t’keys,’ Lisa heard him shout.

Terror made her clamp Janus harder to herself. The child began to cry, then howl. She tried to hush him, tried desperately to find a dummy, a bottle, to fill his mouth, pressed a toy duck into his hand. He wouldn’t stop. The noise would almost certainly bring Don Chivers running up the stairs and into the bathroom. She had to get out of here.

Kissing Janus, Lisa forced herself up and out on to the landing, rocking the child now merely wailing on her arm. She looked down to see Don standing by the kitchen door, his horny muscled hand holding her car keys.

Light crinkly eyes swept up, spotted her and Janus, stopped still. He was about to put the keys down and retreat when Janus began to screech, to toss on Lisa’s arm and try to haul himself away. Instinctively she put her hand up to the child, the bracelet dangling from two fingers, glinting in the hall light. She knew at once that Don had seen it. His eyes stayed mesmerised on her hand. She had to distract him, to reassure him that Janus was as he’d always been, that nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

‘He’s overdone after the party,’ she shouted down. Her voice sounded husky, unreal.

‘Oh, arr.’ His eyes now moved, flitting from her hand to Janus.

Janus had stopped shrieking, was quieting down. ‘Bit better now,’ she pointed out as she gathered the tired child tighter into her arms and rocked him.

Don didn’t leave, but stood, his grey eyes firm, unblinking, now rivetted on the silver. Lisa slipped the bracelet out of sight under Janus’s nappy. ‘Thank you
so
much for bringing the car back so quickly,’ she squeaked, breathless but determined. ‘I told Meg there was no rush.’ She brushed her arm across her face, pushed her hair back, acutely aware that she looked strange, out of control. ‘If you could leave the car keys on the stairs?’

The man went on standing there, unmoving, staring at her tear-stained face. At last he put the keys on the first tread, then looked up at her again. ‘Them baint stout arter they fust’uns,’ he finally brought out. He went on standing there, irresolute.

Using every ounce of will power she could muster, Lisa stood firm. ‘I won’t come down,’ she said jerkily, tasting blood as she bit her lip to keep herself from screaming. ‘Jansy is very tired. I have to get him straight to bed.’

‘Baint long afore ’un goes,’ the voice continued, low.

‘Thanks again,’ Lisa shrilled at him and began to edge away.

‘Oft times them be dead right soon. Not’ing as be done but bury they critturs,’ he shouted after her. ‘Tha’ be t’right t’ing as us ’ud do.’

Almost hysterical, Lisa ran back into the nursery and slammed the door. She couldn’t stand the man; he was a ghoul, a harbinger of doom. She sat on the bed, clasped Janus between her knees, grabbed his left wrist. ‘You’re wearing this,’ she wept at him. She slipped the bracelet on and clasped it shut. Utterly drained, all she could do was dress the shrieking baby in his pyjamas, then place him in his cot. She tottered to the double bed and lay down on it, intent on making sure there was time for Don to leave before she went downstairs.

CHAPTER 16

Lisa, gasping and out of breath in the triplets’ room, lay back on the double bed, waiting for her racing pulse to subside. She tried to drain her mind; without success. The bathroom images flashed lurid and clear.

She levered her torso up, great shafts of pain stabbing her brain. None of it could be true. She was slipping out of reality, her mind a turmoil of emotions. Exhaustion, perhaps. A whole year of looking after the children, no holiday. Added to that the party today, her fury at Geraldine’s desertion, bathing the triplets on her own. Worn out, she’d hallucinated. That’s what it must have been.

She looked across the room, holding her head, trying to still bands of tightening aches. Three cots, she counted on trembling fingers, holding three infants. One year old today. Her triplets were toddlers now. Janus, Jeffrey and James. She pointed them out to herself: yellow for Janus, red for Jeffrey, blue for James. All stretched out in their cots, all present and correct.

A vision of the lifeless baby in the bath flooded back. A silent unmoving body, intense blue, staring eyes, gold curls - exactly like her triplets. A shaft of fear tightened her lungs, and Lisa’s whole being shuddered. There was no noise or movement from the children. All three were lying still. Too still? A thudding in her ears as Lisa’s blood surged through and pulsed, strong and overpowering, through her head, distending pain. She wanted to get up and found herself held down. Her muscles refused to obey the impulses she sent to her brain. She let herself sink back, tears flowing. Had one of her little ones died? Was she denying it?

Slowly, the rushing in Lisa’s ears receded. She succeeded in lifting an arm, pulled herself up to sitting and then stood. Fighting back dread, she lurched towards the cots, grasping at bars. The babies appeared to be asleep. She could hear them breathe, could see their clothing rise and fall, noticed their little fists were curled. James had his left thumb in his mouth and Lisa now saw the bracelet on his wrist. JAMES, she read; then read it again. It still said JAMES.

She turned to Jeffrey. He was lying with his left arm under the duvet. Lisa folded the bedding back carefully and raised up the little limb. The silver bracelet blinked JEFFREY at her. Breathing more easily she slid the arm back under the duvet.

It was Janus’s turn. She sagged towards his cot and grabbed the top rail. He wasn’t asleep yet. He was lying, eyes wide, unblinking, evaluating her. The blue irises didn’t move; they stared at her. She felt the intensity and then, taken off guard, saw the gleam again, lasering into her head, her brain, her mind. A tingle of alarm arched through. She braced her legs and forced her face towards the child.

‘Hello, Jansy.’

The baby went on staring as before.

‘Time to go to sleep,’ she murmured, dipping her hand into the cot, stroking him. He twisted his head away, then turned back to stare again, unmoving, truculent.

His bracelet; she simply had to see it. She could not go back to the bathroom, and what it might contain, without first making sure. It was ridiculous to be afraid. The child in the cot was only one year old. She was the stronger, she could pull up his arm and check his wrist. ‘Just want to see your arm,’ she cooed at him, softening her voice. His eyes grew less intense, began to move.

The insistent trilling of the cordless on the bed startled her. She gawped, unable to move her feet, virtually catatonic. Her left hand clutched the cot rail in a vice-like grip. The ringing stopped; Lisa felt able to relax her hand away and draw herself upright.

The phone began to ring again. Waves of panic flowed from her guts to her head. Her blood, suddenly released, rose to her face, making her feel as though her skin were burning. She put her hands up to her cheeks to cool them. She had to take control. She hit her clenched right fist against her left arm, releasing fingers, and forced herself to go to answer the insistent trilling.

‘Ha... hello!’

‘Lisa! There you are at last. You sound odd. Is something wrong?’

‘It’s you, Alec.’ She hiccupped, sat on the bed and leaned back on the scattered cushions interspersed with toys. ‘I’m just utterly exhausted.’

‘Of course, darling. Thought you might still be in the midst of things. The party. How did it go?’

‘What?’

‘The birthday party, Lisa. Is something wrong? What’s going on?’

‘The party, yes. All right, I suppose. I’m just completely drained.’ Lisa sighed a long deep sigh of utter weariness.