An Autumn Crush (32 page)

‘Fancy a coffee?’ she asked, just as the entryphone rang again, causing her to mutter that it was like King’s Cross in here sometimes. It was Steve and he had popped in to see
if she was all right. He had Guy in tow. A Guy who was also very disappointed to learn that Floz was out.

Still, Coco was thrilled to be able to show off Gideon to more friends. And to prove to Steve that he really did exist.

‘I’m worried about Floz,’ said Juliet, pouring out four mugs of coffee and a sparkling water for herself. ‘She’s going to Canada.’

‘Canada? To visit? To live?’ shrieked Guy, then leashed in his anguish. ‘Why?’

‘I only wish I knew.’

‘We both feel something is very wrong with Floz,’ said Coco, pressing his hand on his heart. ‘It’s not got a good vibe.’

‘Go snooping on her PC then,’ laughed Steve, not expecting Juliet to take him up on it.

‘I could, couldn’t I? Whilst she’s out,’ said Juliet, putting her glass of water down and heading for Floz’s door.

‘Whoa, whoa, you can’t do that!’ protested Guy.

‘I can and I will,’ said Juliet.

‘I was only joking,’ Steve said to her back.

‘You can’t interfere in someone’s business like that!’ Guy called after his sister.

‘It’s a good job sometimes that people do interfere,’ said Juliet pointedly to her brother. He knew what she meant.

But Juliet was on a mission now and she was unstoppable.

‘You, stand guard!’ she said, directing her brother to the front door. ‘Gideon, Coco said you’re brilliant on computers. Help me.’

‘I . . .’ Poor Gideon didn’t feel all that comfortable hacking into a complete stranger’s computer, but Juliet had spoken and he felt her force immediately. He followed
her into Floz’s strawberry-scented room as meekly as a lamb.

‘Okay, how do I bypass her password?’ asked Juliet, switching on Floz’s monitor.

‘It’s amazing how many people have “password” as password,’ said Gideon, trying ‘password’ and seeing the proof of his statement as Floz’s
homescreen flashed up.

‘Genius,’ said Coco, mightily impressed.

‘Go into her mailbox,’ directed Juliet.

Gideon clicked on Floz’s mailbox and Juliet looked down the folders on the left: Lee Status, Finance, Canada, House of Cards . . . ‘Click on Canada,’ she said as excitedly as
if she had just found the right combination on a safe.

A noise from the lounge made them all jump.

‘Sorry, that was just me knocking into your lamp,’ called Guy.

‘Oh my God, read that!’ Juliet suddenly exclaimed, patting her heart.

We really shouldn’t . . .’ said Gideon.

“They say every story . . .” ’ began Coco, and read to the bottom of the first email. ‘Oh my, it’s an email from a dying man!’

Steve appeared at the doorway. He too knew it was wrong, but he was drawn to look over Coco’s shoulder and read along with them all. Then Guy appeared after being lured by all the
‘oohs’ and ‘ahs’.

Guy read Floz’s words to Nick, her heart pouring onto the page. He knew she had been crying as she typed this. He was jealous – jealous of a man who had this amount of pull with her.
Jealous of a man riddled with a terminal disease.

They flicked from email to email contained in the Canada file, then opened up the first one from Chas announcing Nick’s death and funeral. By this time the tears were rolling down both
Juliet’s and Coco’s faces.

‘Oh my, that’s so sad,’ sniffled Coco. ‘Poor Floz. I never imagined—’

‘That’s funny,’ said Gideon quietly.

‘Funny? What do you mean, Gid? I don’t see anything funny about it,’ snapped Coco.

‘No, love, not that sort of funny.’ Gideon did some calculations on his fingers. ‘According to this mail and when it was sent, Canadian-time, there could only have been two
days for Nick to have died, been cremated and scattered and reported to Floz. That’s a bit quick.’

His analytical brain was now tickled to ‘engaged’ status. He flicked backwards and forwards through the mails: he had a bloodhound nose and was on a trail. ‘That’s not
right either,’ he muttered to himself. ‘I wonder . . . Pass me a pen, Coco.’ Coco jumped to attention.

Then they heard a key in the flat door.

‘Guy, quick, go!’ yelled Juliet.

Guy lunged out of Floz’s bedroom door and grabbed hold of the handle of the flat door, resisting Floz’s attempt to enter.

‘Hurry up!’ Juliet hissed at Gideon, who was writing something on his hand. ‘Oh and look, there’s a mail from the travel agent. Delete that quick.’

‘You can’t—’ began Steve, but it was gone. ‘I suppose you’ve deleted that answering-machine message as well, haven’t you? Oh Juliet.’ He knew she
had, he didn’t need her to affirm it.

‘Damn, the screen’s frozen,’ said Gideon, seeing an egg-timer appear. ‘She needs this machine servicing. It’s running so slowly.’

‘Pull the plug or something,’ Juliet panicked.

Outside, Floz was tugging on the door handle, aware that Guy was pulling it from the other side because she had just seen him – between the second when she managed to open it and when it
snapped shut again.

‘Guy, it’s me!’ said Floz, bemused as always with the antics of the man. What was he up to now?

‘Yep,’ said Guy, for want of something better to say. He knew that this wouldn’t do his standing any good with her at all. And how the hell was he going to explain what he was
doing? He mouthed ‘Quick’ at Juliet, who was holding out her hands in a gesture of helplessness.

‘Let me in,’ said Floz. ‘What is going on?’ She couldn’t imagine in her wildest dreams why her flat-mate’s brother would be holding the door shut so she
couldn’t get in.

Coco held up five fingers to Guy – five seconds then he could let go. Meanwhile, Juliet flung herself on the sofa, Steve flung himself next to her, Gideon and Coco assumed a tableau of
innocent chit-chat with Juliet and Steve. Guy counted down and then released the handle.

Floz opened the door tentatively, and stepped into the flat the same way in case Guy had any more surprises in store.

‘Sorry,’ he said. He couldn’t have sounded more pathetic if he’d tried. ‘Just my little joke.’

‘Guy Miller, you are not funny,’ trilled Juliet, trying to help and doing anything but. ‘He thought it would be funny to not let you in,’ she said to Floz.

‘Yeah, I gathered,’ said Floz, sidling past Guy as quickly as she could and over to where Coco was standing with Gideon.

‘Guess who this is?’ said Coco, pointing to his boyfriend.

‘You must be Floz,’ said Gideon, leaning over and kissing Floz on her cheek. Floz nodded and said a quiet, ‘Hi.’ Her head was still trying to work out why a
thirty-four-year-old
man
would play a game too puerile for a five-year-old.

‘Just a flying visit. We have to go,’ said Coco, twittering nervously. ‘I need food. And I promised to cook.’

‘I have to go too, I’m working in an hour,’ said Guy, doubting that Floz would be in the least concerned about that. Steve also stood. A nervous mass exodus.

‘Isn’t Gideon nice?’ said Juliet, after kissing Steve ’bye and closing the door. ‘I’m so glad you caught him before he left.’

Floz nodded. But she wondered why Gideon had red writing all over his hand. And why everyone had acted so oddly when she came in.

The evening didn’t end its peculiarity there. Juliet’s mobile kept ringing, and each time she disappeared into the kitchen to answer it. There were at least five phone calls during
the evening, and goodness knows how many texts.

‘You okay?’ said Floz.

‘Fine,’ said Juliet, who didn’t look fine at all. ‘I’m just going out for a while.’

‘At this time?’ It was half-past ten.

‘Yes. I want to – to get some fresh air. I’ll see you in a bit.’

‘Juliet, are you really okay? Do you want me to come with you?’

‘No!’ she barked, then repeated the word quietly. ‘Sorry, I mean no. I won’t be long. Just a little nip out. Nothing for you to worry about. Honestly,’ she
lied.

Juliet and Coco stood behind Gideon, who was operating Coco’s pink laptop.

‘Do you see the way “greif” is spelled?’ said Gideon. On the screen in front of him he had the mail he had forwarded from Floz’s PC sent to her by Nick.

‘Wrongly,’ said Juliet.

‘Precisely. And do you see the way it’s spelled here?’ He opened up another forwarded email. This one from Chas Hanson.

‘The same – wrongly,’ said Juliet.

‘Nick Vermeer and Chas Hanson make the same errors. And they both write
its
with no apostrophe when the meaning is
it is
.’

‘So they went to the same school and Canadians are crap at grammar and spelling?’ Juliet shrugged her shoulders. So far she wasn’t seeing anything that incriminating,
considering Coco had told her she must come over right NOW and see this.

‘And they both use the same spacing after a full stop. Well, no space at all, actually,’ Gideon went on.

Juliet tried not to say a sarcastic, ‘Wow.’

‘I could point out quite a few similarities of expression and syntax as well, but I’ll skip it because here’s my main point,’ explained Gideon. He typed in an address and
hit enter. A page came up full of gobbledegook writing. ‘Not a program known to the masses, but luckily enough I have access to it.’

‘What does all that mean?’ asked Juliet.

‘It means,’ said Coco, ‘that Nick and Chas Hanson both sent those emails to Floz from the same computer. From all the evidence I’ve seen so far, I think they might be one
and the same man.’

The next afternoon Juliet and Steve sat in Guy’s tiny flat drinking coffee. Juliet had worked through her lunch-hour and left early. Steve had picked her up and driven
her straight over there for a quick emergency pow-wow before Guy went to the restaurant to start his shift.

‘I don’t know how to handle this,’ said Juliet, ‘but I’ve got to say something. Floz is planning on heading out to Canada.’

‘Why, though?’ said Guy. ‘Is she going out there to see where this Nick’s ashes are supposed to be scattered? I can’t work out what the scam is, if there is
one.’ It was a total mystery to him and he’d been thinking about it quite a bit since the previous night when Juliet called to tell him what Gideon had discovered.

‘Is Gideon absolutely certain that this Nick and Chas are the same bloke?’ Steve asked. Like the others, he hadn’t a clue what could be going on.

Juliet’s phone rang. It was Coco. Juliet put it on speakerphone.

‘Where are you?’ he asked.

‘Guy’s flat. We’re just talking about what to do about Floz. How sure is Gideon that Chas and Nick are the same person?’

‘Very sure. Is Guy’s computer on? What’s his address? I’m sending through an email now.’

Guy dictated his email address and opened up his laptop on the table. A mail appeared in his box within seconds. Guy opened it to find a newspaper article.

Published in the
Victoria Post
, 27 September 2009

‘Are you still on the line?’ asked Coco. ‘Here’s Gideon.’

‘Hi, Gideon,’ said Juliet, confused to say the least. ‘Who the feck is Cody Campbell Hanson?’

‘Someone who committed suicide last year,’ said Gideon. ‘I trawled the net and I found the obituary in the Canadian newspaper. Look at the name of his father.’

Juliet read: ‘ “Left to mourn him are wife Lysa Hanson, mother Mary Hanson, father Chas Hanson” . . .
Chas Hanson
?’

‘Read on.’

‘Okay: “father Chas Hanson, sister blah blah and brother-in-law Rocco
Vermeer
, niece and nephew Veronica and Vincente” et cetera. I don’t get it.’

‘Floz asked Chas when Nick’s birthday was and he told her April the fourteenth. That’s also Cody’s birthday. And both Nick and Cody died on the twenty-second of September
– although Cody died last year and Nick supposedly died in 2010. And note that Nick has the same surname as Chas’s son-in-law – Vermeer?’

‘But who the heck is this Cody bloke?’

‘Sending email now. Found this in the
BC Times
archive; it’s another Canadian newspaper.’

Guy opened the attachment.

‘Bloody hell,’ said Guy. ‘Though I still don’t get how all the pieces fit together.’

‘No, but this fucker Chas Hanson knows,’ said Juliet, incensed now. ‘What do we do, boys?’

‘We could tell Floz what we know so far, or . . .’ Gideon stopped and sighed.

‘Or what? Come on, Gideon. Help us,’ pleaded Juliet.

‘It’s totally unethical and very wrong.’

‘Just tell us, please.’

‘Well,’ Gideon said slowly, hating that he was even suggesting this, ‘I could set up a false email address and someone could pretend to be her and write to this Chas bloke. But
please don’t let it be me.’

‘Juliet, you’d be the best person,’ said Coco.

‘No, I wouldn’t,’ huffed Juliet. ‘I could write a “Tell me what’s going on, you sick bastard” letter though. And don’t you think it’s a bit
dodgy with both of us in the same house? I’m bound to drop myself in it.’

‘I don’t want Juliet pressurized,’ put in Steve. ‘Guy – you do it.’