‘So, what do you say?’
For a moment, he looked so much like a lost little boy that I felt our ages were reversed, and I was engulfed by an overwhelming urge to make sure that nothing ever hurt him, that I would always take care of him. I kissed him on his forehead, and then his eyelids, and then his mouth. ‘Okay … I’ll come and live with you.’
Chapter Twenty
Now.
ALICE APPROACHED THE sitting room at the B&B, her heart jumping as if it were on a trampoline. She’d been invited to have dinner with Ben’s family each night, and she’d been laying the table when Norina had appeared and told her PC Wilson had returned, wanting to talk to her. When she stepped inside the room, Ben and Norina were already waiting.
‘I think I should probably talk with Miss, er … Alice … alone,’ PC Wilson said.
‘It’s okay. I don’t mind them being here. And I’m a bit worried I might forget anything you tell me.’ She still fretted about that constantly, even though she was far less foggy than she had been a couple of days ago.
‘Okay,’ PC Wilson said. ‘It’s up to you.’
‘Have you found something?’ Alice asked, unable to wait any longer. This woman might hold the answers to who she was, how she could get her life back.
PC Wilson nodded and launched into an explanation of how she’d checked local missing persons to no avail, and they’d also had no hits on a nationwide level in Scotland.She was still waiting for information from the Metropolitan Police in London.
‘But I also contacted the bus company and asked them to check their CCTV on any routes heading in and out of Invergarrig two days ago. Someone matching your description was seen boarding the bus to Campbelltown at Glasgow coach station early on Saturday morning and getting off here in Invergarrig. I saw the footage myself, and it certainly looks like you. The clothing you said you were wearing is identical. And there’s something else …’
Alice’s eyes widened, and her pulse began to skip. PC Wilson reached down beside the chair she was sitting in and held up a tan-coloured leather bag with a cross-body strap. ‘You are clearly seen carrying this bag in the video, and it was found under a seat when the bus was cleaned. Do you recognise it?’
Alice stared at the bag. She willed her brain to do something – jolt awake, click into place, whatever it needed to do – but all she could hear inside her head was silence. It was horrible. She shook her head.
‘Is there anything helpful inside?’ Ben asked.
‘No phone or purse or any kind of ID – not even a bus ticket. My guess is that if you weren’t robbedbeforeyou got on the bus, someone found the bag after you got off and helped themselves. Sorry.’
Alice nodded sadly.
‘But there are a few personal items inside. Why don’t you take a look to see if anything jogs your memory?’
The only things left in the bag were a small packet of tissues, a lip balm, a silver keyring with three keys on it and a tube of hand cream.They could have belonged to anybody. ‘Thank you,’ Alice said quietly as she handed the bag back to the police officer.
‘We’ve finished with this now,’ PC Wilson said, smiling. ‘You can hang on to it.’ She then reached into her pocket and produced a small clear plastic bag with blue stripes and writing on it. Inside lay a birthday card or something similar. ‘This was also inside. I wanted to see your reaction to the other contents before I showed you.’ She handed over what Alice realised was an evidence bag.
‘It’s … It’s an invitation – for a wedding this Saturday. In Kent.’ Simple and classy, snowy white card with gold foil lettering. Alice read the front three times, but the names inscribed there meant nothing to her. She then turned it over to see what was on the back. ‘There’s no RSVP, no contact information …’
‘There might have been a separate card and envelope for that,’ PC Wilson said.
Alice nodded dumbly, warring against the disappointment threatening to lay on her chest like a lead weight. She reached for the silver bee necklace instinctively. It lay deeper than the neckline of her borrowed blouse, and she wasn’t about to go rummaging, so she made do with feeling for the bump of metal under the fabric. Just that was enough to provide some comfort, a sense of anchoring herself, so she didn’t get swept away on this tide of new information, none of which really told her what she wanted to know, and only added further questions to the queue inside her head.
PC Wilson gestured towards the invitation. ‘There’s some writing on the back. I don’t suppose it means anything to you?’
Through the plastic, Alice managed to read a few scrawled words:Rehearsal – 6.30 p.m. 24th Feb. Going?Was this her handwriting? She had no idea if it was or if it wasn’t.
‘No … it doesn’t mean anything to me,’ she said sadly. It was as if the door to all other memories before this week was bolted shut as tight as a bank safe. ‘Can I keep this?’
PC Wilson nodded and rose from her seat. ‘And, of course, if anything does come back to you, let me know.’
‘Yes, I will,’ Alice replied. ‘Thank you.’
While Ben showed the police officer to the door, Alice stared at the invitation. This was something, she had to remember that. It might not be a name or an address, but if this wedding invitation had been in her bag, it meant some people somewhere wanted her to share a special day in their life with her.
Now all she had to do was find them.
Chapter Twenty-One
