The Collared Collection (8 page)

‘Aw, Mum, that’s so sad,’ said Alex, pouting.

‘That’s part of a mother’s job description, Alex – being sad is number five, being a crotchety old killjoy is number six.’

‘Yeah, right.’ The boys sniggered in harmony, with a lot of elbow nudging going on.

‘Ginny is going to be here soon and while we have a chat, David is taking you into town to buy a couple of pieces of school uniform.’

Alex was horrified, ‘School? You don’t mean we have to go back there?’

‘Can’t we have a few more days off?’ Sam pleaded.

‘Nope. Back to school bright and early tomorrow morning – you’re going to be staying with your dad and Polly, remember? They’re both out at work all day, so you have to go to school – sorry, that’s non-negotiable.’

‘Ah, pants,’ Alex sulked some more. ‘I bet Polly would let us stay at home, if we asked her – she’s well cool about stuff like that.’

That’s because she’s only just out of school uniform herself, Callie thought.

She heard Ginny’s car screech to a halt down below and looked out the window to watch her manoeuvre into a very tight parking place. She may have been mistaken, but she thought she crunched the car behind. When she rang the bell, Callie pressed the entry buzzer and waited in the corridor for the lift to arrive, butterflies rampaging around her gut.

‘Callie!’ Ginny leapt forward with arms open wide, jacket flapping and boobs ahoy. They hugged each other tightly.

‘Damn, I’ve missed you,’ she whispered, only just then realising how much.

‘Me too,’ Ginny wailed. ‘Bloody bastard men!’

Uh-oh. Callie realised she was going to have to make a very swift confession about hot-off-the-press developments between her and David.

Alex voiced his disapproval of their emotional reunion from the doorway, ‘Oh yuck! Girly stuff – puke!’ He stuck two fingers in his mouth and pretended to vomit.

‘Enough, Alex, you horrible boy,’ Callie warned him. ‘You and Sam get yourselves ready to go shopping with David, will you? Try and pull those shorts up, Sam – you look like an advert for Oxfam.’ He slouched off. ‘Come on through, Ginny.’

David appeared from the kitchen, looking sheepish. ‘Hi, Ginny, nice to see you again.’

Somehow keeping her mouth rigid she replied, sarcasm dripping from her lips, ‘Oh, you too. Off out now?’ She looked hopeful. Callie couldn’t help feeling sorry for the guy, practically being thrown out of his own place – and after he’d been so good to her and the boys.

‘Err … yes. I’m just waiting for the coffee to perc then we’ll be out of your hair.’

Ginny scoffed, ‘We’re quite capable of doing that.’

Callie spoke out of the corner of her mouth, embarrassment singeing her ears, ‘No hurry, David.’

He smirked. ‘Oh, I think there is,’ and shot a meaningful look at Ginny, who glared back, not intending to budge an inch.

‘Bloody bastard men,’ she seethed.

Chapter Fourteen

Callie waved goodbye to David and his ragamuffin entourage and handed Ginny a mug of the coffee he’d brewed for them. He’d even set a plate of chocolate biscuits on the tray; far more consideration than Ginny deserved, she felt.

‘What happened to your poor face?’ she asked. ‘Did you smash into something escaping from the fire?’ She grabbed three biscuits and ate the first in two enormous bites. Looking apologetic and spitting crumbs, she explained, ‘Missed breakfast.’ She brushed morsels from the lapels of her charcoal grey trouser suit onto the floor.

‘Oh, wow,’ she realised, ‘there’s so much I have to tell you – I’m not sure where to begin.’

Ginny balanced on the edge of her chair, ‘OK, go over everything that’s happened since you threw me out.’ Her stiff pose and stare screamed that she expected an immediate and heartfelt grovelling apology.

‘Look, I’m really sorry about that and I didn’t want us to fall out, but you left me no choice. You knew I’d had to cancel my date with David because Prick let me down and didn’t have the boys to stay over for the weekend. Then when David turned up unexpectedly, you threw yourself at him. Poor guy didn’t stand a chance.’

‘Err, excuse me – I wasn’t flirting with myself!’

She frowned, ‘I know that. You both took advantage of my delicate state …’

‘Callie! You were plastered! You fell asleep sprawled all over the kitchen table.’

‘I know that too … um … actually, I’ve since made it up with David.’

‘Well, I guessed as much, since you’re here.’

‘He was at my house when it caught fire – thank goodness. He got us out alive.’ She prayed she wouldn’t probe for details of what he was doing there.

‘So, did you go to bed with him? He’s a stud, eh?’ She licked her lips.

She didn’t want to discuss David’s prowess in the sack. ‘Dee was murdered.’

Her jaw dropped, ‘Dee … your neighbour, Dee?’

‘Yes. I found her body – I went round there and she was dead in the bath.’

‘God! You poor thing!’

‘The house was empty after that, but I saw an intruder there on Saturday morning.’

‘Did you recognise him?’

‘Difficult; he was wearing a balaclava.’

‘You’re kidding me! In the middle of a sodding heat wave?’

‘I swear – then I saw him again on Saturday night. I caught him looking through my kitchen window, so he threw a brick at me. That’s what happened to my face. It was nothing to do with the fire.’

Ginny looked concerned – and baffled. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Pretty much – I must have a hard head. Giles is dead too.’

‘What? No! He was murdered too? With Dee?’

‘Not at the same time, but it was most likely Balaclava Man who killed them both … and then he set fire to my house, because he thought I could identify him.’

Ginny peered imperiously down her nose at Callie. ‘You surely have to be making this up?’

Callie shook her head.

‘How did Giles die?’

‘He was hit over the head in his garden – and he was holding a balaclava when I found him.’

‘You found
him
too? That’s unbelievable!’

‘He actually died of a heart attack, after he reached hospital.’

‘Jeez, that’s tragic – those poor kids are orphaned.’

‘I know. I don’t know where they are staying, or who’s looking after them …’

She squeezed Callie’s hand. ‘See how you need me around to look out for you?’

For another half hour, punctuated by a second pot of coffee, plus Ginny’s frequent interjections of incredulity, Callie trailed through a detailed account of the train wreck her life had so recently become.

Ginny sighed. ‘Poor Dee. I mean, the woman was a God-awful pain – and a crashing bore – but no one deserves to die like that. Think how frightened she must have been …’

‘I’d rather not, actually – there are certain circumstances where ignorance truly is bliss. I didn’t think you really knew her?’

‘Huh, only from getting stuck with her at a couple of your barbecues – she’d absolutely no conversation apart from her kids and that school committee … but on the other hand – and with hindsight being such a wonderful tool – I always felt she was being guarded in what she said.’

‘Like she was hiding some deep, dark secret?’

‘Possibly, I don’t know exactly what I mean, but I always got the impression she wasn’t being entirely straight with me. She kind of monopolised the conversation so that she could control it.’

‘That’s your nasty, suspicious legal mind at work – but there must have been something in her past. People don’t get themselves killed in their own house like that for no reason; she was targeted. It certainly wasn’t a case of her disturbing a burglar, because the place was as immaculate as ever – and anyway, that wouldn’t explain Giles. I suppose he was the lucky one, getting banged over the head – he probably didn’t know anything about it.’

‘I’m not sure “lucky” is
quite
the right description, Callie.’

‘Err … yes, you may have a point.’

‘And you’re absolutely sure you’ve no inkling who Balaclava Man is? Not even a tiny, miniscule suspicion?’

‘No – not a clue.’

Ginny rubbed her hands together in a passable impression of Fagin. ‘It’s like a Hitchcock horror, isn’t it – him still hiding under the bed when you were on the phone? Cue the spooky music!’

‘Don’t remind me – I nearly died when David told me that.’ She pictured herself standing beside the bed, a great big hairy hand about to seize her ankle. She vigorously shook her head to throw out the image.

‘I still can’t believe David’s a cop. Strange I’ve not come across him in court.’

‘Perhaps he never catches anyone – but I hope he nabs Balaclava Man PDQ.’

Callie got up and strolled over to the window, preparing to take the bull by the horns. ‘Ginny, err … could I possibly come and stay with you for a while? I don’t know how long it will be before we can return to the house – there’s a lot of damage on the ground floor. It’ll just be me – Prick is having the kids. Oh, and I have a babysitter dogging my every move, until Balaclava Man is bang to rights.’

Ginny beamed at her friend. ‘I’m offended you have to ask – mi casa, su casa for as long as you need it. And I met today’s guardian of the peace downstairs in the lobby; a sort of Eddie Murphy lookalike. Very dishy.’ She giggled.

Callie had to laugh. ‘You’re incorrigible … and thank you, I really have missed you, you cow.’

‘Flattery will get you everywhere … so, you and David – will it stay the course, do you think?’

‘Who knows? He did invite me to stay here, but it’s very early days and I’ve no idea where the relationship will go, or even if it will survive.’

Ginny was dumbfounded. ‘Callie! He invited you to share his bed – I sneaked a peek and there
is
only one – and you turned him down to bunk up with me?’

‘Yes, I don’t know why … perhaps because it just didn’t seem right … oh, I really don’t know. I should probably be certified – he’s been great through all this trouble and the kids adore him.’

‘Ah, but does he adore them?’

‘Seems to – he’s very good with them. He relates to them and they respond.’

‘That’s because men never graduate beyond the mental age of ten and a half, so he’s on the same wavelength as Sam and Alex. The male of the species remains a kidult forever.’

‘Ginny! You’re becoming a bitter and twisted old maid!’

‘And proud of it.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘I suppose this means I have to be pleasant to him from now on?’

Callie grinned. ‘That would be nice … if it’s not too much of a strain.’

Sadness suddenly clouded Ginny’s face. She spoke softly, ‘Actually, if I’m honest – and I admit that’s a rarity, I am a barrister for Christ’s sake – I’m jealous as hell of what you have, Callie. Two brilliant kids – and your marriage to Dominic wasn’t all bad, pre-Freckle Face – now it seems you’ve landed drop-dead-gorgeous David. To top all that, he gets on well with the kids; talk about landing with your bum in the sodding butter!’

‘Oh yeah, everything in the garden’s rosy red, Ginny – in case you haven’t noticed, I have no job, very little money, and now no home.’

‘Don’t be so negative! Look at what you do have … you never go home to an empty house after a hard day pretending you’re Super Woman incarnate, who doesn’t need anyone else in her life. I have to practically beg the cleaners to go for a drink with me after work sometimes, when I can’t face the thought of another night in alone with a frozen microwave meal and too much wine. And while we’re on the subject, you do too have a job – my offer still stands. We’ll get you kitted out in a power suit and you can start in a couple of days, so our man Bernard has time to show you the ropes before he leaves us. Agreed?’

She didn’t have to think twice, ‘Agreed … thanks, Ginny, you’re a real pal.’

‘Balls.’

Callie offered Ginny the plate of biscuits again, while debating with herself whether to empathise with what amounted to a confession of loneliness and feelings of non-fulfilment. She didn’t, letting Ginny retain some dignity after baring her soul. There would be other opportunities to talk it through … but her words went some way toward explaining her behaviour the last time she was at the house – and also earlier with David. She realised you never really know people as well as you think you do, let alone how much they are hurting inside.

Ginny drew in an enormous breath, ‘Enough – this conversation is getting way too deep. We should learn from what’s happened to Dee and Giles – we never know what’s round the corner, so live for the moment.’ She brushed crumbs from her lap. ‘It’ll be so brilliant having you to stay – just like uni, but with the added attractions of crow’s feet and cellulite.’

‘Ginny, you have a perfect figure and a youthful face – stop fishing for compliments.’

Ginny ran her fingers through her salon-perfect blonde bob. ‘Oh sod off – I’ve got minute tits, when I remove the silicone booby-boosters. I can’t quite bring myself to face up to the knife.’

‘No! How come I didn’t know about the chicken fillets before?’

‘Because I didn’t tell you! My dad used to say I had two backs. Now, get your glad rags on and we’ll hit one of the pubs down by the river – Eddie Murphy can come with us and we’ll ring David and tell him to meet us there with the boys for lunch. Don’t worry, I’ll behave.’

‘Ginny – this stunning little outfit I’ve borrowed from David is all I have. I’m fresh out of glad rags. Un-singed ones, anyway.’

‘Perfect choice – as my mum used to say, who do you think is going to look at you, anyway?’

‘Your mum had a lot to answer for.’

It was a flippant remark, but Ginny’s look was dark. ‘Yes, actually – she most certainly did.’

Chapter Fifteen

‘Aw, Mu-um!’ Alex tried to twist away while his mother straightened the collar of the Nike shirt David had bought him (‘Don’t sweat it, Callie; if you must insist on paying me back, there’s no hurry’) along with a pile of other clothes and ‘stuff’ for him and Sam. Dominic was waiting to whisk the boys away as they said goodbye in their absent host’s hallway.

‘Now don’t forget your manners, both of you, and try to do little jobs around the house for Polly to help out. You are more than capable of making your own packed lunches for school, so you can start with that. And always make your beds.’