Catch Your Death (14 page)

Something in his honesty, and the catch in his voice, touched Kate deeply. Suddenly she realized that, no, this wasn’t just about Stephen. She didn’t just see Stephen in him, alike as they were. She was attracted to him, Paul, and the rush of adrenaline and sudden lust would have knocked her off her feet, had she been standing.

She hugged him tighter to her and, at that moment, Jack snored and rolled over so he was facing the wall. Thanks, Jack, she thought, as she gently lifted Paul’s face up towards her and kissed his lips. They tasted salty with tears, and felt so soft.

He responded immediately, wrapping his arms around her waist. To her immense relief, it wasn’t like kissing Stephen. And it certainly wasn’t like kissing Vernon (kissing Vernon, as she recalled, had been more like being caught in the spin cycle of a washing machine). This was an entirely new and entirely lovely experience. She immediately wanted to rip off all her clothes, and jump on him. It was lucky Jack was in the next bed, otherwise she probably would have done, she thought, sighing with pleasure as Paul touched her breasts with the same light finger with which he’d stroked her arm.

They didn’t talk about Sarah, or the CRU, or Stephen, for the next hour and a half. The wine got finished, and Kate got stubble rash on her chin, but somehow, miraculously - particularly since they were already lying on a bed - their clothes for the most part remained in place.

‘
This is so wonderful,’ Paul whispered at one point, their tears forgotten.

Kate nodded. ‘Wonderful – but very weird.’

A thought struck her. ‘I don’t know much about you, apart from who your twin was. You aren’t married, are you?’

He smiled and shook his head. ‘Nope.’

‘
Divorced?’

‘
No.’

‘
Girlfriend?’

‘
Broke up with her six months ago. Been on my own ever since. You have nothing to worry about.’

‘
I’m married, though,’ she said sombrely, picturing Vernon’s face, twisted with rage at the realization that she and Jack had gone. For some reason, she saw him standing in the doorway of Jack’s abandoned bedroom, looking with fury at the neat Toy Story duvet cover, perhaps hurling it across the room. Perhaps sobbing, with rage and frustration. Oh god. She had a horrible feeling that the fallout from their flight hadn’t even begun.

Paul merely smiled again. There was something so calming about being with him. ‘Yeah, but you won’t be for much longer, will you? I mean, isn’t that what all this is about; you being over here?’

Kate nodded.

‘
Well then. What’s a bit of pre-emptive infidelity between friends?’ He kissed her again, and she somehow managed to forget about Vernon. For a short while, at least.

CHAPTER 19

When Kate opened her eyes the next morning, her first fleeting emotion was faint disappointment that Paul wasn’t in bed with her. But then, as the click and beep of Billy the robot being switched on announced the awakening of her son, she realized that that would have been impossible. Or, at least, extremely inadvisable. To her shame, she found herself wondering how on earth she was ever going to get any time alone with Paul. She dismissed the selfish thought immediately. Jack absolutely had to come first.

Although, now that she thought about it, perhaps it was time for Jack to go and spend a few days with his British cousins? Selfish reasons aside, it really couldn’t be much fun for him, getting dragged around with her and Paul in their quest for answers. Her sister lived in the Cotswolds. Surely she’d be happy to have him to stay for a while? Miranda didn’t even know that they were over here.

Kate decided that she would ring her today… and not just so that she could sleep with Paul, either. It would be lovely to talk to Miranda without a transatlantic hum and delay on the phone. Plus, she’d probably need to reassure Miranda that they were OK. She’d been holding off calling her so far, knowing that this would be the first place Vernon would try to track her down, and she didn’t want Miranda to have to get involved. Better that she knew nothing. At least Vernon wouldn’t be aware of Miranda’s new address – their family had moved house a few months before.

‘
Hello Billy, hello Mummy, I love you both,’ Jack said sleepily, stumbling out of his bed and into hers – the one he’d started out in last night. They cuddled, Kate pressing the top of Jack’s head against her lips, kissing his soft hair, and Jack wrapping one of his little legs around hers. He smelled delicious.

‘
We love you too, Jacket,’ she said, using his old nickname.

‘
Mum-mee, don’t call me that, it’s silly.’

‘
Alright, Potatohead.’

‘
That’s even more silly!’

‘
Sorry, Mr. Smellypants.’

Jack punched her in the ribs, surprisingly hard.

‘
Ow! That hurt!’

‘
Then stop calling me silly things,’ he said, on the verge of sudden tears.

Kate had forgotten how sensitive he was sometimes. She supposed it was unsurprising, under the current circumstances.

‘
Sorry, Jack,’ she said, hugging him closer. ‘Hey, listen, how would you like to go and see Amelia and George?’

‘
Who?’

‘
Your cousins, you remember them? They came to Boston once. They’ve got blond hair and big green eyes. George is a year younger than you, and Amelia’s a year older.’

‘
And their parents is Auntie Miranda and Uncle Pete?’

‘
That’s right. You haven’t seen them for a while.’

Miranda, Pete and the kids had flown out to visit them in Boston about eighteen months earlier. Vernon had made the visit as uncomfortable as he could. He may as well have placed a ‘Piss Off’ mat on the front porch.

Jack shrugged. ‘OK. I don’t mind. I might let George play with Billy, but only for a few minutes.’

‘
Good boy. Now go and have a wee, and we’ll find Paul and go for breakfast.’

m fo
Today’s task,’ Paul said, as the two of them attacked greasy scrambled eggs and rubbery toast in the hotel dining room, ‘is to track down Sarah. Can you remember where she lived?’

Kate, who was watching Jack playing with the curtain pulls – he appeared to be trying to lynch Billy – racked her brains again. She glanced up at Paul, who was chasing a clump of egg around his plate. He caught her looking, and gave her a little, but very meaningful smile, and her stomach did a small flip. She thought of the silky smoothness of his skin from the previous night, and how she couldn’t wait to get him into –

She forced herself to concentrate and pointed towards Paul’s laptop. ‘You know, I’m sure she lived locally. I have this feeling that she told me she could see her house from the Unit. Can’t we trace her on the net? Evergreen shouldn’t be too difficult, it’s not a terribly common name, is it?’

‘
No, but I can’t get an internet connection here, so let’s go and see if the receptionist’s got a telephone directory, if you’ve finished.’

Kate took a final swig of tepid tea, and made a face. ‘Yeah. It’s not the best breakfast I’ve ever had.’

Paul smiled at her again. ‘Perhaps I can take you to a hotel sometime where they do fantastic breakfasts. In the Lake District. Views to die for, and four poster beds.’

‘
Sounds good,’ she said, trying to keep her voice level. ‘You know how much I like my food…’

There was one Evergreen listed in the Salisbury phone directory. The initials were wrong, but after all this time Sarah was probably married and living somewhere else. It was almost certainly a relative though – hopefully her parents.

‘
Assuming they’re the right Evergreen, of course,’ Paul said.

‘
Should we call first?’ Kate asked doubtfully. ‘Jack, don’t do that, honey, you might get your fingers trapped.’ Jack, bored, had been playing with the heavy fire door leading up to the hotel bedrooms, as Kate and Paul leafed through the directory beside the payphone in Reception.

‘
No. We’ve got plenty of time. Let’s just drive over there and see if they’re in. And if it’s them, of course. You can just say you’re an old friend of Sarah’s.’

‘
What about Jack? Jack – stop it!’

Paul looked over at Jack, who was now kicking the door disconsolately.

‘
Yeah. Bit boring for him, really. I don’t think he should come in with us. I’ll buy a ball and take him for a kick around in their garden, if they’ve got one, while you’re chatting.’

Kate hoped the Evergreens would be accommodating. It seemed a bit cheeky to turn up uninvited and then ask that Jack could go and play football in their back garden. ‘Or in a local park.’

‘
Whatever. Let’s go.’ Paul called to Jack: ‘Come on mate, we’re going to buy a football!’

Football duly purchased from a newsagents’ near the hotel, the three of them set off in the car, heading for a village on the other side of Salisbury called Quidhampton. According to their map, the Evergreens lived on the main road through the village.

‘
Although I wouldn’t really call this a main road,’ Kate said, as Paul drove slowly down what was more like a narrow country lane.

‘
There! Primrose Cottage,’ Paul cried, pointing at a low, Thirties-style bungalow.

‘
Wouldn’t really call that a cottage, either,’ she said, trying to swallow down the nerves in her belly at what she was about to have to do.

‘
Where are we going? Can we play football now?’ Jack had undone his seatbelt before the car had pulled to a halt.

‘
Hang on, mate. We just have to go and see if these people are the mum and dad of someone your mummy used to know, a lady called Sarah.’

‘
Why?’

Paul and Kate looked at one another. ‘Bit tricky to explain,’ said Paul. ‘It’s a long story.’ He turned back to Kate. ‘She might even still live at home. That would be handy, wouldn’t it? Save a bit of time.’

‘
Mmm,’ Kate said, not at all sure if she was ready for this. Jack opened his mouth to demand more explanations, so she added hastily: ‘You’re being a very good boy, Jack. Promise you’ll be good a little while longer, while I talk to them, OK?’

‘
OK. As long as I can have an ice-cream afterwards,’ Jack said moodily.

Kate had imagined that Sarah’s parents would be an elderly couple, and so when a very attractive, youthful woman in her fifties opened the door, Kate initially assumed that they had the wrong Evergreens.

‘
Um – hello,’ she said. ‘I’m really sorry to bother you. I’m looking for Sarah Evergreen’s parents? I’m an old friend of hers.’

The woman was silent for a moment, and the look on her face told Kate that she hadn’t come to the wrong place after all. She wondered if Sarah and her family might be estranged – Sarah had been a stroppy madam when Kate knew her.

‘
Yes,’ she said. ‘I am Sarah’s mother.’ She smiled then, and stuck out her hand. ‘Any friends of Sarah’s are welcome here. I don’t recognise you, do I? Have we met before? I’m Angela.’

‘
Kate.’ Kate shook Angela’s hand, and smiled back. ‘I knew Sarah from the Cold Research Unit. This is my friend Paul, and my son, Jack.’

Angela flinched at the mention of the CRU. Both Kate and Paul noticed, and Paul raised his eyebrows at Kate when Angela wasn’t looking.

‘
Come in, come in, I’ll put the kettle on. Hello, Jack, I like your robot, he’s rather super, isn’t he?’

‘
He’s called Billy,’ Jack said, hiding behind Kate’s legs.

They processed into the small house, taking up too much room in the cramped living room. There was a huge painting of Sarah, a photograph which had been rendered in oil on canvas, hanging over the fireplace, and Kate recognized her immediately.

‘
How is Sarah?’ Kate asked, thinking how attractive she looked in that picture. ‘It’s been ages since I saw her. We meant to keep in touch, but …’ Her voice petered out at Angela’s expression.

‘
You don’t know? I thought you said you were at the CRU with her?’

Kate glanced at Paul. ‘I was. We were roommates. What…?’

‘
So you were there the night of the fire?’

‘
Yes.’ Kate had a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. She reached out and took hold of Paul’s hand. Even Jack was quiet, sensing the atmosphere. He’d retreated to an armchair, where he was tinkering with Billy.

Angela swallowed hard, and her eyes filled with tears. ‘I’m so sorry to have to tell you this. I assumed you’d already know. But Sarah – she died in the fire.’

‘
No she didn’t!’ Kate blurted, without thinking.

‘
Kate!’ Paul squeezed her hand.

‘
I know this must come as a shock to you, but I’m afraid it’s true. She became trapped in the burning building and… didn’t manage to escape.’

Kate shook her head. ‘No. No.’

Angela thought she was upset at the news, and ushered her over to the sofa, pressing her shoulder gently to make her sit down. ‘I’m surprised you didn’t read about it in the papers afterwards?’

Paul sidled over to Jack, and began chatting quietly to him about Billy’s myriad functions.

‘
I’m not from Salisbury. Anyway, I was in hospital for some time after the fire, and then I went away to the States. That’s why I didn’t know.’