I glance out of the window. My car is already covered in snow and a shiver runs through me. What if I get snowed in here and I can’t get back to her? Shaking that thought away, I know it wouldn’t be for long. A human can survive for ages without food. She’d be okay without water for a couple of days and it’s not like she can go anywhere. I’m not planning on leaving her there for that long.
‘She’s not me.’Hailey’s voice rings through my mind.
I throw my beer bottle and it smashes against the table but your voice remains in my head.‘You should have let me go.’My hands are shaking and my jaw is clasped so tightly I fear I may crack my teeth if I don’t loosen up.
I slam the front door knowing I have a list of things to deal with this evening and I’m expected to be somewhere.
I will never let you go. Never!
50
Madison hobbled over to Alice’s freshly changed bed. ‘Thank you for putting me up.’
‘Don’t be daft, girl! You’d do the same for me. And your nanna looked okay so that’s another thing to relax about. You’re like a regular Florence Nightingale the way you look after her.’ Alice grabbed some extra pillows from the wardrobe and passed Madison the remote control.
‘Thanks for taking me to check on Nanna first, and for making her some food. I don’t know what I’d do without you.’ Madison paused and clutched the soft Bagpuss toy that always sat on Alice’s bed, holding it close to her chest.
‘Don’t thank me. I’ll get you back when I have an accident or a shitty hangover. For now, my bed is yours and you can stay as long as you like.’ Alice lay on the bed next to Madison. ‘I will warn you, people tell me that I snore.’
‘Great!’ Madison laughed but then the sobs came. ‘Who did this? Who attacked me?’
‘Come here.’ Alice pulled Madison towards her chest and stroked her hair.
‘He must’ve known I was at the hospital and the only way he could have known is by following me. Even I didn’t know I’d be there that day.’ Madison’s tears began to dampen the shoulder of Alice’s jumper. ‘I bet he’s out there now, watching and waiting for me to leave so that he can try again?’
‘You don’t know that. It might have been an opportunist. Wrong place, wrong time.’
Madison pulled away and shook her head. ‘I could have gone with that theory had that weird incident in the toilets at the Angel not happened. Seriously, someone was in there and they were trying to intimidate me. Then there was hedgehog man. Too many weird things have been happening lately.’ She gazed into the stuffed toy’s eyes and stroked it like it was a real cat. ‘Where’s Ty?’
Alice shrugged. ‘I called him earlier and he was totally shocked when I told him what happened. He said he’d pop by to see you in a bit but he had something really important to deal with and it couldn’t wait.’
‘When I was in the toilets, Ty left you to go to the loo as well?’
‘It was only for a moment. You know how long guys take to pee and he probably didn’t wash his hands. He’d give me that look he does if he heard me say that.’ Alice pulled an open bag of Haribo from her bedside drawer and offered one to Madison.
Madison took a sweet and began to chew as she allowed her thoughts to settle. ‘Where is he now? What could be that important? He was always here or hanging out with us in the run up to Christmas. Since New Year, we’ve barely seen him. What changed?’
Alice’s brow furrowed. ‘I hadn’t really thought about that but now that you mention it… What’s he doing with his time? He didn’t mention that his studies were getting on top of him but he does keep asking me if anyone is moving out of our block. He still wants to live here. I heard that Ali was moving so I texted him earlier with our landlord’s details. He answered swiftly saying he was on it so he is reading his messages straight away. I don’t think there’s anything in it. He’s been doing a lot of dating lately. Maybe that’s all it is.’
‘Maybe.’ Madison’s head began to twinge. She grabbed her phone and checked Tyrone’s Facebook. He hadn’t posted anything for about a week. ‘It’s odd,’ she showed Alice her phone. ‘Ty’s normally glued to Facebook and Instagram. He hasn’t even sent any of his silly TikToks to our WhatsApp group. Something’s up and we have to find out what that is.’
51
Gina parked the car around the back of the apartment block off Bulmore Drive. She watched as Vincent Jordan trudged through the snow leaving fresh boot marks across the grass. He appeared to be carrying a cardboard box containing a few tools. The orange glow coming from the street lamp shone through the trees, just catching the back of him as he cut through to get to his bungalow at the end of the path. ‘We have a good vantage point here. He didn’t even see us when he passed.’
‘I wonder what he’s been doing. Fixing something maybe. It’s late.’ Wyre stepped out of the car and grabbed her scarf. ‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’
‘The snow?’ Gina pressed the central locking and did her buttons up, wishing that she’d worn a thicker coat. She had barely got warm that day.
‘Yes, it just reminds me of what Christmas should look like but never does.’
‘Christmas is so overrated. Not only do all the idiots come out with their fighting and drinking, filling up the station, it’s an excuse to part with lots of money to buy junk that’s slowly killing the environment.’
‘I can’t argue with that.’ Large flakes landed in Wyre’s black hair and on her shoulder.
‘Let’s hurry before we turn into snow people.’
Wyre and Gina ran to the front of the building and pressed the main bell. As she touched the door, it must have been on the latch as it opened a little. Heavy footsteps thudded down the central staircase and Lauren was standing there in a dog onesie.
