The Time Rip (35 page)

Daniel regarded Jeremy with raised eyebrows as he re-entered the room, “I’d imagined a more tidy solution.”

Jeremy grimaced. “It’s not ideal. I need to get that time rip she’s found closed, but first I need to find the damn thing. Freya doesn’t want to co-operate with that.”

“What about Martin?”

“He may well have stumbled through it, but I doubt he knows its location and the less he knows, the better. Let me contact Matt. If we can’t solve it between us, I’ll let you know.” He sighed and fished out his time device.

Matt knocked at the back door some hours later as Jeremy was looking over Martin’s flick knife. Matt raised eyebrows at Jeremy who shook his head, slung the knife on the table and said, “We have a problem here.”

“Is this something I’m not going to like?”

“I have Freya’s stalker in my stone room.”

“Let me guess. He’s followed her here, and now wants to know where here is.”

“More or less.”

“Where is Freya?” Matt asked, looking around.

Jeremy grimaced, “Upstairs.”

“Is she all right?”

“Yes.”

Matt waited a second or two then half smiled. He indicated the stone room with a nod, “Why did you put him in there? We are talking about time rips here are we not?”

“It was Daniel’s decision. Besides anything else, it was a convenient place to detain him. The less he knows of this situation the better and if I am wrong and he has a device, he won’t be able to use it in there.”

Matt narrowed his eyes. “You’re still uncertain then.”

“They’re rumours for a good reason, and Freya is denying all knowledge at this point.”

“If Martin followed her here, I think we are going to have to accept that the rumours may well be true.”

Jeremy shook his head. “Kitter is not going to be happy, and Daniel has his own unique way of dealing with problems like this.”

“I’ve got a better idea than that.”

“Oh?” Jeremy raised his eyebrows.

“Get the kettle on and I’ll run it past you.” Matt settled himself at the table, “Let’s hash out the preliminaries first. What made you originally suspect there’s a time rip here?”

Jeremy sighed, “I may not have your finesse when it comes to talking to suspects, but I know when I am being lied to.”

It didn’t take Jeremy long to update Matt on all that had happened. Matt frowned over his coffee, silently processing all he had heard.

“I have to say, I agree with you. It does sound like it. We have a problem with Martin though. We cannot leave him with the knowledge he has. He is going to make trouble any way you look at it.”

“Which brings us to your idea.”

“I think we should give him to Thomas to play with.”

“How could he help, he doesn’t even work for the firm?”

Matt shrugged. “Hypnosis.”

“You’ve got to be joking.”

“Last time I caught up with him and the others down the Green Man, he was telling one of his tall tales about the latest girl he’d chatted up.”

“Exactly my point. Tall tales.”

Matt smirked. “What about Daniel? He threatened to leave Thomas to rot in one of his stone rooms if he ever attempted anything like that on him. For Daniel to make threats like that there must be something in it.”

Jeremy shook his head. “Daniel’s never hesitated with threats or violence.”

“At least give it a chance. Far better to let Thomas enjoy some mischief than deliver Martin up to Daniel’s mercy.”

“I can’t see it working. You cannot possibly erase Martin’s knowledge of all that has happened, and what of Freya? She has been intertwined with his life for far too long for that.”

“We need only erase one or two key facts, add a small suggestion here and there. Then we can deliver Martin back to his home and leave him to get on with his life, none the wiser.”

Jeremy shook his head. “What if it doesn’t work?”

Matt shrugged, “The result’s the same. You’ll have to give him to Daniel.”

Chapter 10

Freya surfaced slowly from sleep, revelling in the clean smelling warmth of the bed, not wanting to wake up, certain from the light on her closed eyelids that her alarm clock would be sounding shortly.

Her body felt heavy and achy. She wondered idly if she were coming down with a bug, rolled over onto her back and opened her eyes to gaze at the ceiling.

Her eyes wandered around Jeremy’s bedroom in puzzlement. Memory returned in a sickening rush and she sat up abruptly, gasping. Jeremy had already risen and she was torn between gratitude that she didn’t have to face him right now and embarrassment that he had seen her sleeping.

Her mind flashed back to the memory of him coming to bed. He had returned hours later when she had already been half-asleep. She had assumed when she climbed into his bed that he would be sleeping in the spare room and had woken up to find him getting in beside her.

She cringed as she remembered her conversation with him. She had demanded to know why he wasn’t sleeping in the other room. He had laughed and said if she wanted to go down and sleep on the couch then she was welcome, but there was only one bed in this house.

Before she could think up a suitable retort, he had settled down and was already drifting off. The bed was warm and the dratted couch uncomfortable, so she had grumbled a bit and turned her back on him to sleep.

She scooted suddenly off the bed, looking about for yesterday’s clothes. Her blouse was okay as it was mostly smocking anyway, but the skirt was beyond help without an iron. Then she noticed a soft cotton skirt hanging over the back of a chair. It was similar to the ones she had seen on the women of Joe’s village. The material was a dark grey and felt cool and heavy. It draped around her figure, only just missing the floor.

She looked down dubiously. The wooden boards were cold on her feet. She searched out a pair of thick woolly socks from a chest of drawers. They were far too large, but toasty warm and would do for now.

She found Jeremy in the kitchen. Sunshine had already painted the land with warm colour, but the kitchen was cool; the whitewashed walls looking almost blue.

She lounged in the doorway, watching him whisking something in a bowl. Then he was turning to fill the kettle, his movements graceful, dark hair tousled as if he couldn’t be bothered with a comb, and a slight shadow on his jaw. Freya realised she had never seen him anything other than clean-shaven and the stubble made her suck in a breath. He was far too good looking.

His shirt, sleeves rolled up to reveal tanned forearms, was un-tucked from trousers that bore an uncanny resemblance to jeans in their cut, although they were clearly not denims.

She was still annoyed with him for keeping her here though. He had taken advantage of her tiredness by sleeping beside her, but she had to admit it was her own fault for being too tired to care. She could have said she wanted to sleep on the couch and made her escape, but it would have been a rotten drive back up the M4 in the dark.

When she really thought about it, he had only once come after her. Every other time she had come looking for him. She felt like an addict around him, constantly thinking of the next fix.

It was just as well he had needed to sleep last night, because if he had wanted something else she wasn’t sure she would have stopped him. She studied his perfect profile. The sudden thought of his kisses had faint colour rushing to her face.

He turned slightly then, noticed her standing in the doorway, and gave her a warm smile. Freya searched for a distraction before he guessed at where her thoughts were going.

“What happened to Martin, did you take him back last night? You didn’t hurt him, did you?”

“Martin is not going to be bothering you again, Freya.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, is he okay?” Freya feigned annoyance to try to cover her confused feelings.

“He’s fine, I have taken him home. Fortunately, he has suffered a slight memory lapse. I don’t believe he’ll be bothering you again, but it would be as well for you to stay away from him.”

“Memory lapse? What—”

Jeremy chuckled softly and the sound shivered down her spine. “Don’t enquire too closely. Matt came up with a solution that is highly illegal. The less you know of it the better. Just trust me that as long as you stay away from him, he won’t come near you again.” He placed a mug on the table, “Coffee for you.”

Freya was half-tempted to demand exactly what had happened, but the sound of his gentle laughter made her hesitate. She sat down at the table with a word of thanks and cupped her hands around the mug.

Having learned of her preference for latte, Jeremy had begun to concoct his own version for her, warming milk on the stove and adding the coffee shot afterwards.

Freya had lived most of her life taking care of her own needs where possible, knowing that her happiness depended only on herself. The care he took to please her was unsettling. She did not want to need someone.

He began to make toast and soon the table was cluttered up with breakfast things.

She watched him whenever she thought he was not looking, wondering when and how she could make her excuses to leave. Not that she even wanted to leave him; it was just that she knew she had to.

Jeremy looked up from his toast, eyes narrowed thoughtfully for a moment. “Wondering how soon you can make your escape?”

She jolted and glared at him. “Stop doing that.”

“Stop doing what?”

“Reading my mind. It’s really unsettling.”

He looked up at her, a smile playing around his mouth, “I have decided that you need to learn how to play poker.”

“What? Why?” What was he getting at now?

He nearly laughed at her baffled expression. “Don’t worry, it’s a fairly easy game to learn. The trick is in keeping your expression from giving away your hand. I think some practise bluffing at cards will help you immensely in keeping your strategies from me. After all, you should at least have a fighting chance.”

Freya’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. “Does the word arrogance have any particular meaning for you?”

He grinned and said, “Perhaps we should discuss the time rip that you have found.”

Freya stiffened slightly and then forced herself to relax and take another sip of coffee. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He laughed at that. A sunny sound that filled the kitchen and his dark eyes with warmth. “That was much better. Freya, you do not have a time device, you said as much last night. Your van is parked the other side of the field in 2008. Therefore the time rip is somewhere in the fields around this house. I understand if you do not know its exact whereabouts, but perhaps you could retrace your steps from last night for me.”

Freya put her head on one side. “Okay.”

She had her lies all worked out this morning, and she fully intended to lead Jeremy on a wild goose chase far away from the doorway.

Breakfast finished, Jeremy stood and held out a hand. He drew her towards the back door. “Just show me where you walked last night. Don’t worry about the rest.”