Midnight (16 page)

‘Gone – as you well know!’

For Jack’s sake, she feigned disappointment. ‘Oh, and he never even gave me a kiss goodbye.’

Brian made no further comment. Not for the first time, he had been shocked by his sister’s behaviour. If he was Jack, he’d have been long gone. Because Molly was his sister and his landlady, it put him in a bad position; so much so that, he had secretly started looking for somewhere else to live. Though, if this development deal came through, he might even find himself in a position to put down a deposit and actually buy a place.

He could see that Molly was just using Mal to make Jack jealous. He had always been aware of his sister’s shortcomings, but lately, he had seen a side to her that had truly disgusted him. He would not interfere in her life, but once he got himself another place, she would hear a few home-truths from him – and so, for that matter, would Mal. His mate was a good bloke, but he was too trusting, and too besotted with Molly, to see what she was really like.

Torn between the devil and the deep blue sea, he wanted to warn Mal to be on his guard. On the other hand, if he told him the brutal truth – that Molly had no real feelings for him – he might risk Mal falling out with him, and he didn’t want that. Not when the man was like a brother to him, and especially not now, when they had committed themselves to working on this big project together.

Brian felt that the sooner he was out of Molly’s house, the better. He had never thought he would say it, but living under the same roof as his big sister was just too uncomfortable for words.

Now, on hearing Molly play the injured party, he decided to skip his now cold toast and make a run for it, before she came off the phone and turned her spite on him. Within minutes, he was out the door and gone.

Brian just didn’t get it. Mal and Jack, both infatuated with his sister. ‘Jack’s either hopelessly in love and can’t see the forest for the trees, or he’s hoping to change her selfish ways.’ Then he said out loud, ‘You’ve no chance, mate! Best get rid of her while you can.’ He jumped on his motorbike and revved it, hard. ‘If you don’t, she’ll make your life a misery.’

The thing was, when they were younger Molly was an OK sister. But somewhere along the line, she’d become hard and selfish.

The conversation was not going Molly’s way. ‘So nothing I’ve said has changed your mind, Jack?’ she asked in a hurt voice. ‘You’re still hell-bent on leaving me?’

‘Don’t put it like that, Moll.’ Jack felt guilty, but he was not about to undo all his plans, at least not when she refused to even discuss a middle way. ‘We can go up north together – make a new life. Get married sooner rather than later. I’m ready for that—’

‘
Are
you, now?’ Molly’s voice shook with anger. ‘Well,
I’m not
! You think you can just click your fingers and expect me to throw away my job, but you have no intention of doing the same for me. The answer is no. Unless you ask for your old job back and drop this idea of chasing ghosts, I want nothing more to do with you.’

Jack had been trying to see it from her point of view. ‘What if I didn’t accept the post permanently?’ he suggested. ‘What if I was to ask for a trial period of, say, three months? It’s not unknown for an employee to do that and still retain his old position. Think about it, Moll. Three months would maybe give me enough time to search for answers. It will at least give me a chance to do some delving – to go back to my old stamping-ground and search for the answers I so badly need.’

‘You won’t find any answers there, Jack. You’re not the only person in the world who suffers from nightmares, but other people learn to live with them. So why are you so determined to ruin our lives by going on this wild goose-chase? Why can’t you stay where you are, and maybe spend a weekend or even a couple of weekends up there? You’ll soon find out that there are no answers.’

‘That’s not what the psychiatrist hinted.’

‘Yes! That’s exactly it. He just
hinted
, and you jumped on the idea, like the fool you are.’

Jack chose to ignore that spiteful remark. ‘But I need you to support me, Moll. It’s important to me. One way or another, will you give me the time to find out if there is any truth in what he suggested – that my nightmares are rooted in real events that I can’t shut out?’

None of what Jack had said had made any impression on Molly, except to fuel her rage. ‘I wish I’d never suggested you going to see him!’ she snapped. ‘The idea was for you to get some closure of sorts. Not to leave me and go searching for something that isn’t even there.’

‘Well, whether you like it or not, this is something I have to do. It might be the solution I’m looking for, and apart from that, when the promotion came up and it was offered to me, it was too good an opportunity to turn down. Surely you can see that, Molly?’

When she remained silent, he asked her again, ‘So, are you prepared to meet me half-way?’

‘No.’ Molly would not give way an inch. ‘I won’t move up there with you. Nor do I intend playing the little wife-in-waiting. Putting my life on hold, while you take off on a whim No, Jack! I want nothing to do with any of it.’

‘Which means you want nothing to do with me. Right?’

‘If you want to look at it that way.’

‘You really don’t want to marry me – that’s the truth isn’t it?’

‘Yes, you’re right. I don’t want to marry you, Jack. Not when you’re so pig-headed and selfish, you can’t even do what I want.’

‘But this isn’t altogether about
you
.’ For a fleeting moment, Jack actually began to wonder if he really was being selfish, but after he had gone her way as far as he could, and still she was unable, or unwilling, to meet him half-way, what was he to think?

‘This is a big decision for me,’ he reminded her. ‘I need to find some peace of mind, if I can. You trying to hold me back tells me only one thing.’

‘What’s that?’

‘We don’t have a future together. We don’t have the kind of partnership that makes for a happy marriage. Perhaps we never did. Here am I, trying to find a middle way, but you’re only interested in what
you
want. You’re not even trying to see it from my point of view. You don’t respect my feelings, or any decision I make, unless it complies with yours.’

After this tussle of wills, he was beginning to see more clearly. ‘You obviously don’t understand that this is a last resort for me. Sometimes, I feel as though I’ll be cursed with these nightmares till the day I die. You may be right, and maybe there aren’t any answers – but at least this way, I’m trying to do something, and I desperately want you with me.’

‘Huh! Well, that’s not going to happen!’

Jack could see he was fighting a losing battle. ‘Won’t you even consider coming with me, just for a week or so – to see how the land lies? And if, for whatever reason, it doesn’t work out, we can think again. Say you’ll give it a try at least?’

‘Sorry, Jack, but this conversation is at an end.’

‘I’m sorry too. I’m sorry we couldn’t reconcile our differences.’

‘Your fault, not mine,’ she insisted.

Jack shrugged. ‘If that’s how you feel about it, I won’t bother you again. But if you do change your mind, you know where I am.’

‘Oh, but I think you’re the one who must change
your
mind, Jack.’ She played her last card. ‘I think you should know . . . Mal Shawncross has asked me to marry him. And I’m going to say yes.’

‘I see.’ Jack knew about Mal from Brian. He also knew how much Molly meant to him. ‘Mal’s a good bloke,’ he told her quietly. ‘Brian says he adores you, Molly. I’m sure he’ll take good care of you.’

‘He
will
, yes!’ Molly was furious that her plan had backfired. ‘Is that all you have to say?’ she demanded. ‘Aren’t you even going to try to fight for me, and make me change my mind?’

‘What’s the point? If you agree to marry Mal, you obviously don’t want me, and now I’m done arguing and talking. Like you, I need to get on with my own life.’

He felt betrayed, yet oddly relieved. ‘I’m glad for you both,’ he said – and was surprised to find that he meant it. Then, there was little else for him to say, except, ‘Bye, Moll. Thanks for everything. Take care of yourself.’

When he replaced the receiver, Molly threw a tantrum. Furious that her little ploy did not get the result she wanted, she upturned the small table, sending the phone crashing to the floor. ‘You’ll regret doing this to me!’ she yelled. ‘You bastard! I hope it all goes wrong for you!’

At Curtis Warren Motors, the morning had been frantic. The new stock had attracted a good turnout, which continued right up to lunchtime.

‘I’ve never known it so busy.’ Jan was kept on her toes behind the desk.

‘It must be the new promotion,’ Bill decided.

Jan had other ideas. ‘Nah. I reckon they’ve heard that Jack is leaving, and as he normally trims his own commission to make a good deal, they thought they’d best get in before he goes.’

‘I would
never
cut my commission!’ Bill bragged. ‘I need the money.’

‘Why? Have you got a wife and six kids hidden away somewhere?’ Jan found him easy to tease.

‘No way! I need the money because I mean to have my own showrooms by the time I’m thirty.’

Having emerged from his office to deliver a batch of mail for the post, Jack overheard his remark. ‘I’ve no doubt that you’ll do it too,’ he told Bill. ‘In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me to find that some day you own a string of showrooms right across the country.’ He drew an imaginary sign in mid-air: ‘Bill West – Autos to the Stars.’

Bill blushed. ‘Don’t take the mickey, Jack. It’s my dream. I know it’ll take time, but I
will
do it!’

Jack kindly reassured him, ‘I wasn’t taking the mickey. I really meant it, Bill. You’ve only been here a short time, but already you’ve proven yourself to be a born salesman. You’ve got a knack for making the right deal, and that only comes naturally. Many others have to learn the hard way.’

‘A born salesman!’ Bill was highly flattered. ‘Do you really mean that?’ His boyish smile lit up the room.

‘I do mean it, yes – and I’m not the only one who thinks so.’

‘The customers are of paramount importance and good judges. They like and trust you. They know you won’t flannel them into buying a car they don’t really want.’

Bill returned the compliment. ‘You taught me that, Jack,’ he admitted. ‘You showed me how the customer is more important than anyone else. ‘Look after them and they’ll look after you.’ That’s what you said.’

‘There you go, then! Keep that in mind, and you won’t go far wrong.’ Picking up his coffee, Jack took it back to the office.

‘I wish he wasn’t leaving,’ sighed Jan. ‘I’ll really miss him.’

‘We all will.’ Bill had no doubts about that. ‘I suppose he’s got a lot to think about, mind you, what with moving up north to take on such a highly responsible position.’

‘Yes, but if you ask me, Jack’s got a lot more on his mind than work just now.’ While Bill was always looking for the next customer, Jan enjoyed keeping her eyes open and her ear to the ground, for any juicy snippet of gossip. Leaning forward, she lowered her voice to a whisper: ‘He’s got woman trouble. After what I overheard earlier when he was on the phone, I reckon he’s about to chuck his girlfriend for good. And about time too, if you ask me!’

‘Why do you say that?’ Against all his instincts, Bill was intrigued.

‘Mind your own business.’ Jan regretted even mentioning it. ‘I’m not telling.’

‘Ah! Now you’re beginning to wish you hadn’t tittletattled . . . You like him, don’t you? I mean, you
really
like him! In fact, you fancy him rotten!’

‘Keep your voice down, or he’ll hear you!’

‘Admit it, then.’

‘All right, I won’t deny it.’ She glanced to where Jack was seated in his office, head bent over a pile of paperwork. ‘Who wouldn’t like him?’ she murmured. ‘He’s a good bloke.’

‘Yes,’ Bill taunted her, ‘
and
he’s about to receive a top-of-the-range company car.
And
he’s on his way to becoming a boss-man, with an outrageously generous salary.’

‘It’s got nothing to do with any of that. Like I say, he’s a good bloke, and there aren’t many of them around.’

Later, with the rush having slowed down, Jack arranged for his calls to be covered, while he took an hour out for lunch. ‘If it’s urgent, just call me on my mobile,’ he told Jan.

Getting into his car, he drove off towards Leighton Buzzard’s town centre. After parking, he made his way to Banbury’s main rivals, Johnson & Everett. For once, it was quiet there, for which he was grateful. He was also pleased to see a familiar face behind the desk. Having met her through Molly, he greeted the young woman with a smile.

‘Afternoon, Tess,’ he said. ‘You’re looking good, I must say.’ Daintily built, she was a pretty woman with a thick cap of black hair and a set of perfect teeth that dazzled when she smiled – like now.

‘Jack Redmond!’ Scrambling out of her chair, she came round to him. ‘How lovely to see you. What are you doing here?’ Peering out of the window, she asked cautiously, ‘Is Molly with you?’

‘So she’s not told you, then?’ Jack asked.

Tess sighed. ‘I sort of heard, but I wasn’t sure. What’s it all about, Jack? You and Molly . . . well, I mean, it seems crazy that you two should split up. One minute I’m thinking of buying a new outfit for the wedding, and the next I hear there’s been a rift.’ She gestured for him to sit beside her on the couch in the waiting area. ‘So, is it final? Have you really broken up?’

Jack was wary. Though he had much respect for Tess, he knew how close she was to Molly, and he warned himself not to say too much. Or he might live to regret it.

‘It seems so, yes,’ he answered.

‘But
why
?’

Jack gave a shrug. ‘It might be best if you were to ask Molly that.’

‘I did, but she wasn’t very forthcoming.’

‘Well then, maybe we should just leave it there, eh?’

‘If you say so.’ Tess looked him in the eyes. ‘Are you wanting me to speak with Molly on your behalf, is that it?’