Perfectly Reflected (17 page)

I sat back from the table, sipping the coffee and starting to feel the sharp buzz it always gave me. Somewhere local, I reasoned, watching the dust motes float lazily in the sunshine, hoping for inspiration. As I let my thoughts skip randomly a fractured memory crept into the back of my mind. There was something vital, something I had missed, that was nagging at me. I tried to keep relaxed, to let it work its way into my consciousness. I could see Catherine in my mind’s eye, her face carefully blank,
but I couldn’t tell where she was; I just knew it was somewhere really familiar. I sighed in frustration. Better to get on with something else then, and see if the thought sneaked back to me when I wasn’t expecting it.

Unfortunately I quickly realised that I wasn’t physically up to much that day. The longer I sat still, the worse the aches and pains became, but moving around to loosen up was unbelievably painful. I resigned myself to a day of research and of missing Callum before I went to tackle her. If I was going to have to fight, I was going to need to be able to move.

After a few hours on my laptop my energy began to fade. I wasn’t sure what was in the painkillers, but I was feeling incredibly sleepy. All too soon I was back on the sofa and drifting off again.

I woke with a start after an hour or so, full of the same sense of gloom I’d had earlier. At least I hadn’t been crying again, I consoled myself. The nagging thought was back though, that I was missing something vital, something really important. I sighed in frustration and thought about moving. I stretched carefully, checking my injuries. They didn’t feel
quite
as bad as they had earlier, so I tried a little more, swinging my legs off the sofa and standing up slowly. As long as I moved my head gently, that wasn’t too bad either. I decided it was time to take stock of the damage, and shuffled out to the hall where there was a full-length mirror.

I couldn’t help the sharp intake of breath as I saw myself. My cheekbone had a dark-purple bloom that was studded with lines of scabs where the gravel had caught me. The edges were just beginning to turn a lovely shade of green. The lump on the other side of my head was still hidden by my hair, but I could feel it every time I opened my mouth. But worst of all was hidden under my T-shirt. I lifted the baggy sleeve and looked in horror
at the imprint of the golf club, a hideous, livid, blue-ish colour. I shuddered at the thought that the blow had been intended for my head. She really had aimed to kill.

“Alex! Look at you! We
have
to report this to the police; you can see the golf club really clearly. If Mum and Dad see that…” Josh had crept down the stairs without me noticing, and had seen my arm. I hastily pulled the sleeve back down.

“Looks worse than it is, honestly,” I smiled at him weakly. “And you promised not to tell them just yet.”

“I know, but you can’t let her get away with it!” He pulled me towards him in a protective but careful hug. “She has to be taught a lesson.”

I patted his arm and drew away. “Thanks, Josh, for being so concerned, but I’ll sort it out.” I couldn’t deal with sympathy. “She’ll get what she deserves, I promise you,” I added grimly.

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m still working on that,” I admitted, “but she’ll regret it.”

“Well, you be careful. She clearly has no conscience at all. Do you know where to find her?”

“Not right now, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to track her down.” I could see the puzzled look on his face in the mirror as he stood behind me. The thought of Callum standing in exactly that position distracted me for a moment.

“How?” Josh prompted.

“Oh, well, she seems to know some friends from school, so I’m hoping to be able to lean on them for some information.”

“I hope you’re going to tell them all who did this to you, then she’ll see who her friends really are.”

“You know, that’s not a bad idea,” I said slowly. Maybe that was the leverage I could use. If she was keen to have some
ready-made 
friends she would know and care that I could turn them against her in an instant. It all hinged on whether she did actually care though, but it was something. I began to feel a glimmer of hope. “She wouldn’t like that at all. And these bruises should be nice and colourful tomorrow.”

“That’s an understatement,” said Josh. “You’ll look like a piece of bad modern art by then.” He turned me around so that he could look directly at me. “Remember, whatever you do, be careful. Psychopath is too kind a word for this girl.”

I shuddered a little as I nodded in agreement. He was right.

“OK, well, as long as that’s all sorted, what are you making me for lunch?” His tone was deliberately jovial, trying to help me feel better.

“In your dreams! I’m an invalid. I can’t possibly be expected to make a gourmet feast,” I replied as lightly as I could manage, trying to match his mood.

“I suppose that means that it’s beans on toast again, then,” he agreed stoically, turning to the kitchen.

I decided to press home my advantage while I had one. “Perfect. Just bring mine through when it’s ready. I’ll be having a little lie down.” I could see him hesitate in mid-stride, but I knew that he wasn’t going to throw something at me, not this time. I even managed a small smile as I carefully made my way back to the comfort of the sofa.

During the afternoon I worried about how Grace was handling things. She had done really well the day before, but I was sure that she was going to have a million more questions.

I texted her to see when she would be free, and she was round almost immediately. I had forgotten that we had very few
lessons on a Wednesday and that she would be able to get out early. Within about twenty minutes of getting my text she was knocking on the front door. I’d meant to put some make-up over the more livid of the bruises, but there was no time. She looked grim as she saw my face.

“You look even worse now; I’m not sure that cover stick will do much good,” she said, putting her make-up back into her handbag. “It looks more like you need bandages and plasters.”

She was still furious that Catherine had taken my bracelet, and annoyed that I had no intention of going to the police. “But she’s stolen it from you, Alex. You just can’t let her get away with it,” she said, sitting on the edge of the sofa, her delicate frame tense. “I mean, you know it was her, why can’t you shop her to the police? They’d never believe her if she told them the truth.”

“But with the stuff she knows she could easily convince them that I was working with her. I mean, how else would she know all that personal information? And what if she runs off? If the police take her away? I’ll never get the amulet back then.”

“I suppose,” she sighed. “It’s just
so
wrong!”

“Tell me about it,” I agreed. “She absolutely has to be stopped. So, has much stuff been going round school about me today?”

Grace looked glum. “It’s not good. Ashley’s really got it in for you, and is gleefully telling everyone who stands still long enough. All our friends are defending you like mad, of course, but we can’t get away from the fact that you have been behaving a bit … oddly these past few weeks.”

“I suppose that’s all I can hope for, at least until I get back on my feet and can defend myself. But in the meantime, I need to
find Catherine. That has to be my priority. If I can find Catherine I can get my amulet back.”

“Well, I can help you with that. I’d like to give her a piece of my mind too.” She paused for a second, waiting to get my full attention. “And I have a plan!” She was looking very pleased with herself.

“Really? What is it?”

“Well, she sent me a friend request yesterday. It was waiting for me when I got home and logged on.”

“Did you accept it?”

“I wasn’t going to at first, but then I wondered if it might be quite useful to have a little route in.”

“So? What happened?”

“We ended up having quite a long chat online last night, her telling me where she remembered everyone from, and reminding me that she knows
lots
of details about my past. If I didn’t know how she knew it all it would have been too much. Luckily she doesn’t seem to have an ‘off’ button; with encouragement she just kept going.”

“And? Where is she? Did you find out?”

“Ah, well, no. I did ask quite a few times but she’s pretty slippery and managed to avoid answering. She did, however, agree to meet me in the pub tonight!”

“Really! Oh, Grace, that’s brilliant! What’re you going to do?”

“Obviously I’m not going on my own. That would be stupid, given what she’s capable of. I thought I’d take Jack, if you think it would be OK.”

“As long as you can avoid giving him too many details, that sounds like a great plan. Where shall I be?”

“Here, in bed, where you’ll be safe. I’m not risking her seeing you. Jack and I can handle her.”

“But I want to be there!” I complained.

“If she sees you, she’ll be off like a whippet, so that wouldn’t help. Anyway, the state you’re in, you’d be a total liability. Honestly, Alex, you’re moving around like an old woman.”

I tested my arms again. She was right; I couldn’t make any sudden movements. “OK,” I agreed grudgingly. “But what are you going to say to her?”

“First of all we’ll demand the amulet back, and then insist that she stops making your life a misery.”

“And you expect her to do those things, just like that?” I didn’t want to pour cold water on her plans, but it didn’t seem that well thought-through.

“Well, she won’t be able to hang on to the amulet, not with Jack menacing her.” Grace pursed her lips as she considered the problem. “As for the rest of it, at least we can try and work out
why
she’s doing all this stuff; that would be a step forwards.” She paused for a moment, then said reflectively, “You know, it’s almost as if, for whatever weird reason, she’s trying to live your life. Your friends, your brother, your bracelet. If we don’t stop her, what else of yours is she going to try and steal?”

That was a question I really didn’t want to answer.  

Thunderstorm

The wait that evening had been terrible; every time my phone buzzed it made me jump, but it wasn’t until really late that Grace rang.

“Hi, Alex, sorry, I couldn’t ring until after Jack had brought me home – I didn’t want him overhearing.”

“That’s OK.” I tried to hide my impatience. “So did she show up?”

“No, not a sniff of her.” The disappointment washed over me as Grace continued. “We were there for ages and I kept a really close eye on the door in case she came and went without saying anything, but I didn’t see her.”

“Oh, well, I guess it was a long shot.” I tried to keep my voice cheerful.

“It’s infuriating! Jack was itching to get back your bracelet.”

As she said the words I suddenly realised the danger I had put them both in, and felt myself go clammy. If Jack
had
got the amulet off her he would have been easy prey for Lucas, if he had been around. “Look, thanks for trying, Grace, but best to leave it now.” She started to protest but I cut her off. “Catherine’s dangerous, and so is the amulet. I can’t risk you two getting hurt.”

“Well, there’s nothing else I can do at the moment anyway,” Grace grumbled. “But I’m not letting her away with it, that’s for sure!”

“Maybe you could try to find some more stuff out. She’s all over Facebook. Maybe she let something drop to someone else?”

“I suppose. It just doesn’t seem very … proactive.”

“Please, Grace, it really is the best thing you can do at the moment. No one’s going to talk to me, are they, not if they all think I’m deluded.”

“OK, OK, I’ll do that tomorrow, and text you as soon as I find out anything useful.”

I switched off the phone and lay back on the pillow in relief. That could have gone so horribly wrong. I was going to have to continue investigating on my own.

The next day, Thursday, was the last full day of term, but as I still felt really stiff I made another call to the school office. I wasn’t going to be able to avoid going in on the half-day on Friday as I had to empty my locker, but there was no pressing need to be in before that. I had more urgent things to do.

I spent several hours in the morning scouring the Internet and all Catherine’s posts to my friends, trying to find out anything about her. I had no idea where she was living, except for the rather untrustworthy Facebook suggestion of Surrey, but that uncomfortable niggle in the back of my mind kept coming back to me. What had I missed? I decided to write down a list of all the places I had seen her or heard about her, to see what the common themes were. The first time was on the CCTV at the bank, next was in the pub, the golf course – where I didn’t actually see her – then there was the plan to join everyone at the end-of-term party, and of course, seeing her on the green…

I jerked upright. I hadn’t been to Richmond Green, not for weeks, but she had been there in my dream. The niggle at the
back of my brain was suddenly bouncing around. Was that what Callum was trying to tell me? “Of course!” I suddenly exclaimed out loud, jumping out of my chair and instantly wincing with pain. Callum could haunt people’s dreams; I remembered him asking me if I wanted him to go and annoy Rob that way. Callum had been trying to communicate with me every time I went to sleep. I hugged myself in excitement that he had been so close. I had just never told him that I rarely remembered any of my dreams in any detail.

“Callum? Are you there? I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to work this out. You’ve been in my dreams, haven’t you? You’ve been telling me where Catherine is, but I keep forgetting the important bits.” I looked around, but of course could see nothing. “Thank you. I miss you so much. I hope you are listening. I love you, Callum, I’ll work it out, I promise.”

I sat back down and looked at my list. She had to be in Richmond. Almost everything related to Richmond in some way or another. I would start my search there, trawling through all the places that I – and therefore Catherine – knew. I sat back, pleased with myself. It wasn’t much of a plan, but it was something, and it made me feel like I was doing my bit to get Callum back. I would check out the town from the station down to the river, scouting out my favourite coffee bars and the pubs.

I checked my watch; I had plenty of time to get ready and walk down to the station, and the train should get me into town just after lunchtime. Josh had gone out, so I wouldn’t have to think of an excuse. But I needed not to be scaring people, and a quick glance in the mirror showed that my cheek was now going a lovely purple-green shade around the large scraped area. I looked awful, so I quickly started trying to follow Grace’s instructions for covering
it up. But it was hard to concentrate, sitting at my desk looking in the mirror, wondering if Callum was there. Was he trying to make contact with me again now, I wondered? At this very second was he there, positioning his amulet where mine ought to be?

“Don’t worry, Callum,” I said out loud. “I’m going to get it back. Later today we may be together again. And if I can’t find her today, well, I’m going to keep on trying.”

I could imagine his concerned look, and the image in my head was so clear I could almost see him in the mirror beside me, almost feel that delicate touch on my hair, my shoulder; the gentle whisper of his kiss. “I miss you so much, Callum,” I whispered. “I’ll be with you again soon, I promise. I just wish there was some way of knowing that you were listening.” But all I could hear was silence.

During the walk down to the station I realised that I should have paid some attention to the weather forecast. It had turned from being pleasantly warm to unbelievably hot, so my long-sleeved top was really uncomfortable. I couldn’t risk anyone seeing the state of my arm, but I could have chosen something a little lighter to wear. I was going to roast. I quickly got a bottle of water from the little shop before I got on to the train in the hope that it might help a little.

My nerves increased the closer to Richmond we got. I still wasn’t entirely sure how I was going to tackle Catherine. The plan about exposing her to my friends would only work if she cared, and I was getting less and less confident that she would. Still, it was the best I had, and until I tried it, I would never know.

At Richmond I got off the train and made my way up the big staircase to the ticket hall. The heat was almost unbearable,
and it was even worse outside in the sunshine. I quickly ran through in my head the various places and venues where I thought I would be most likely to find Catherine, and dived across the road into the shade. First stop was the Italian deli where Grace and I regularly got our sandwiches and cappuccinos, but a quick glance around showed me that Catherine wasn’t there. I walked down the little lane full of jewellers’ shops to get to the green, and for once wasn’t tempted by the fancy chocolate shop as I went past. The green was like a dust bowl, with people scattered all around. I had a strange sense of déjà vu as I worked my way across, looking for any hint of her. It was tough not knowing what she might be wearing, because she didn’t have my clothes or my taste. For all I knew she was a Goth at heart and would be sweltering in head-to-toe black.

I worked my way back again, but couldn’t see her, so decided to make for the pubs near the river. I made a quick stop in the department store first, not least because I knew that it had efficient air conditioning, but also because I used to go to the café there a lot when I was younger. I trudged my way up the escalators to the top floor, and peered into the café. It wasn’t that busy, and a figure at the far end caught my eye. It was a girl with her back to me, bending over a newspaper. She didn’t seem to be troubling the coffee cup by her side. The hair looked the right sort of colour, but I couldn’t tell from her back if she was wearing the amulet; both arms were tucked out of sight.

I made my way through the assault course of tables and chairs, keeping a wide berth. When I was level with her and about four tables away I sat down and picked up a menu. Pretending to consider it closely I peeped over the top of it to check her out. She was completely engrossed in her paper, head down low with the
curtains of dark-blonde hair obscuring her face. Other than going over and sitting in front of her I didn’t know what to do.

I looked around me for inspiration, over the tables that hadn’t yet been cleared of lunchtime debris. At the next table there was a glass bottle near the far edge, and between it and me was a tray. I leaned over and gave the tray a quick nudge, pulling back immediately. The bottle wobbled for a moment, and I thought it was going to right itself, but finally it toppled off the edge of the table. The smashing noise cut through the quiet murmurs of conversation and every head automatically whipped around to see. Still camouflaged behind the menu I watched as the woman turned too.

It wasn’t Catherine.

“Crap!” I muttered to myself as the staff started hurrying over. I shuffled to the far side of the table I was sitting at, as far away from the mess as possible, then stood up in a nonchalant manner. A girl in an apron gave me a look but I just shrugged and smiled. “I think you must have poltergeists,” I said as I hurried past.

I slipped guiltily out of the store, enjoying the last of the cool air as the heat of the street hit me like a wave. Before I turned towards the river there was one more place to check: the little children’s bookshop in The Lanes. It was a haven of peace, even keeping the toddlers quiet, and I knew that it was possible to browse there for hours. I was getting a bit old to be a regular customer, but I usually popped in if I was in town. I returned the smile of the guy behind the counter as I walked in, but tried to look as if I was in a hurry. He enjoyed a chat and today I really didn’t want to get sucked into that.

A twenty-second tour proved that she wasn’t there, and I was edging out when I got caught.

“Ah, good to see you. Looking for anything specific?” He was leaning on a marketing display for a new boys’ adventure story and I thought for a moment that the whole lot was going to topple over. The cardboard was wobbling alarmingly.

“Thanks, but not today. I’ve just lost a friend of mine and I thought she may be in here.” I carried on edging towards the door as I spoke. “No sign though. I’ll see you soon!” I managed to get out of the door just in time. I heard a brief exclamation of horror and then the noise as the books and the display came crashing down.

I kept peering into the shops as I worked my way down to the river, but it was fruitless. Finally I ended up at the pub I had come to the other night with Grace. The big French windows out on to the terrace were open and the sounds of the river drifted up from below. The place was packed; it was an ideal venue for a hot summer day. I decided that I deserved a brief treat after all the searching, and went to the bar to order a cold drink.

Clutching my ginger beer I made a quick tour of the room, but yet again I was disappointed. My plan was failing spectacularly. There was no way I was going to be able to get the amulet back if I couldn’t actually
find
Catherine.

For a change there was no one there I knew, which I guess shouldn’t have been a surprise given that everyone else was in school. I found a small empty table and sat down, resting my feet for a while. As I sat there I became aware of my various aches and pains and remembered that it was time for another of my super-strength painkillers. I rummaged in my bag and then realised that I had left them on my desk. I was just going to have to manage without them. I dug a little deeper and found a couple
of paracetamol, so I took them in the hope that they would take the edge off.

I didn’t know where else to go; I had been sure that she would have been in one of those places. Had I been wrong? Had Callum actually been trying to tell me something else? I sat for about half an hour racking my brains and trying to figure out where else I should go, slowly sipping my drink and hoping that the painkillers would kick in. The pub was surprisingly full of people for a Thursday afternoon; it seemed as if plenty of office workers had abandoned their desks in the heat, and the terrace was the perfect venue to try and catch the breeze. I kept watching the people coming and going, but Catherine remained stubbornly absent.

Finally I gave in; she wasn’t going to turn up. I could retrace my steps, or walk across the bridge and on towards Twickenham. That was a reasonable option, I realised, as it would take me past the White Swan pub, where I had found the amulet in the mud. It would also mean that I could walk along the towpath next to the river, and that was likely to be rather more pleasant than walking back through the hot and dusty town. I drained the last of the melted ice from my glass, and stood up, wincing at how stiff I had become. My hand automatically reached for my empty wrist. “I’m going to keep trying, Callum, I promise,” I whispered under my breath.

As I had hoped, the towpath was much cooler than town. It was a long way round, walking by the river rather than by the road, but much nicer. This loop of the Thames was also fairly quiet, with the fields of Petersham on the far bank. It was almost like being in the country. I passed a few other walkers, but it was much less busy than it would be at the weekend. I was idly watching one woman
with a pushchair who was coming towards me around the corner when she looked up at the sky and suddenly increased her pace; her head went down and the buggy started bouncing along over the gravel. I looked up to see what had caught her eye and realised that, behind me, a huge thundercloud was looming. As I watched, a jagged shard of lightning leapt across the sky, followed almost immediately by an ear-splitting crack of thunder. Even though I’d seen the lightning, the noise made me jump and I could hear the wail of the child in the pushchair fading into the distance.