The Black Widow (20 page)

I hope he had a heart attack from guilt,
Cheryl thought nastily, completely untroubled by the news.

None of them would come running if I was injured.

Besides
, she thought,
I only have three clients today. I'll go when I've finished.

"There you are, Roxie," she told her client.

"Cheers." Roxie looked at her acrylic nails, longer than most people liked them and painted jet black. "They're wicked." She stood and adjusted her black satchel on her right shoulder, the lilac skull facing outwards.

Cheryl simply nodded. She didn't like Roxie. Thought the girl had never been nasty with Cheryl, Roxie still pissed her off.

Judging by the girls tattoos and black clothing with bright purple hair, she was a Goth, or whatever they were called.

Her dark clothes and bright hair contrasted with the porcelain white of her skin and the hideous excess of black eyeliner, mascara and dark eye shadow Roxie pasted on. Combine all these together, and Cheryl thought the girl should have been ugly.

But she wasn't.

Cheryl supposed the girl was an acquired taste and though she was pretty, she wouldn't have men queuing around the block for her.

Still, she was pretty enough to irritate the hell out of Cheryl.

"Can I book my next appointment for a fortnight from now?" Roxie asked. Cheryl nodded and reached for her appointments book. "I'll fancy a change by then; maybe the same colour purple as my hair."

"You're all booked in," Cheryl told her warmly.

Roxie thanked her and turned to leave. As soon as her back was turned, the warm smile fell from Cheryl's face as she watched the girl leave the salon.

Bitch.

She watched Roxie walk away until she was out of sight, then she sighed.

One more client to go, one more client to go.

The mental chant did nothing to ease the throbbing in her skull and Cheryl winced.

Again she felt relief that Sarah wasn't in today. Sallie had been in a tilly, asking the girls if they'd heard anything. Cheryl had been happy to report that she hadn't heard from, or seen Sarah the previous evening.

Cheryl smiled wickedly, hoping that one of Sarah's boyfriends had found out about the other.
Oh, how devastated Sarah would be then,
thought Cheryl. That would be fabulous to see Sarah dumped by the two men she constantly bragged about.

Cleaning off her table to prepare for her next client, Cheryl turned as the salon door whooshed open and a breathless young woman entered.

She ran straight to Rachel, the young apprentice, and tugged her arm

"Have you heard about Sarah? Isn't it awful?"

Immediately intrigued as a jolt of satisfaction surged through her, Cheryl wandered over to the cluster of excited women.

Finally, the little bitch had her comeuppance.

Sallie dashed out of the staff room.

"What is it?" she asked the girl. "What's wrong with Sarah?"

"She was attacked last night," the young woman said, her face flushed. "Someone mugged her, they stole her handbag with her purse and keys in it. They also took her engagement ring."

Cheryl huffed. "Wonder what she's gonna tell the other bloke when she had to make the report out."

Sallie looked at her, an astonished look on her face. "Is there any need for that, Cheryl?"

Cheryl shrugged. "It was probably her own fault, anyway. I bet she was showing it off, flashing it around and it caught the mugger's eye."

Cheryl instantly reddened when Sallie glared at her, glared at her in such a way that made Cheryl think she was going to sack her on the spot. Instead, Sallie put her back to Cheryl, disgust evident on her face. "Is she injured?" she asked the girl.

"No, well not too bad physically. But she's pretty shaken up."

"I'll bet. I'd better go and ring her." Sallie rushed off and the other girls began talking as one, all babbling about how terrible it was for poor Sarah.

"She'll bounce back," Cheryl told them, feeling better now that Sallie had left the room. "She'll probably be in work tomorrow, I'm sure she won't be able to resist the urge to be the centre of attention as she plays the poor little victim."

All the girls looked at her, their faces mirror-images of the next as they gaped in stunned amazement at her words.

Cheryl shrugged. She turned around and went back to her table. Aware of the sudden silence behind her, she turned, and found all the girls staring at her.

"Sarah is our friend," Rachel told her coldly, her eyes narrow. "We all like her."

"At least someone does," Cheryl retorted.

"Sarah is a well liked, valuable member of this team," Sallie said sternly as she strode back into the room. "A mugging is a very serious incident, Cheryl. I'd like you to leave as soon as you've finished your last client."

Shit. Now I've done it.

Cheryl wished that she felt nothing at the blunt dismissal and the stares from all the girls, but she couldn't. She was embarrassed and hurt.

She felt like crying.

She began to prepare her table for the next client, listening in on the conversation as it continued behind her.

"She's very shaken up," Sallie told the girls. "She was dragged into the alley behind John's bakery on her way home from a pub late last night. The mugger took her handbag, ripped her engagement ring from her finger then shoved her headfirst into some bins before he ran away. She's a little bumped and bruised but she sounds more emotionally harmed than anything."

"Oh God," Rachel said. "That's so bad. What's happening now?"

"Well, the police are involved now. Hopefully they'll catch this maniac before he does it to another young woman. At least she wasn't seriously harmed; it could have been a lot worse."

Cheryl smiled with her back still turned so no-one could see her. Although still reeling from the knowledge that she wasn't exactly popular here right now, the thought of Sarah being thrown into some bins after being mugged did cheer her up.

Now there's some Karma for you.

The salon door suddenly whooshed open again and Cheryl turned as she heard Sallie explaining that they were closed for their dinner hour at the moment.

Standing in the doorway, her face flushed and her eyes red from crying, stood Mrs Collins.

"Oh Cheryl," the woman cried, rushing towards her. "I'm so sorry to have to do this here."

Cheryl groaned inwardly. Why did the woman have to come into her work?

"Oh Cheryl," Mrs Collins said again, grabbing her hands in hers as she visibly shook. God, the drama for the girls was just too much today. They all stood gaping with morbid curiosity. "You must not have received my message this morning. I'm afraid your dad—"

"I got the message," Cheryl assured her, squeezing her hands reassuringly. "I'm heading straight to the hospital after my last client."

The room was suddenly quiet and Cheryl felt everyone's eyes on her. Mrs Collins stared like she had been slapped. Her mouth opened and closed so she resembled a stunned fish.

What the hell is everyone staring at?

"Your father's in hospital?" Sallie asked incredulously. "What happened?"

"I don't know," Cheryl replied. "Like I said, I'm heading there soon so I'll find out."

"You came to work...even though you knew..." Mrs Collins's voice trailed off. She lowered her head, then shook it as she pulled her hands from Cheryl's grip.

"What happened to him anyway?" Cheryl asked. "You said he'd been taken to the hospital, but you never said why."

"I always felt sorry for you," Mrs Collins muttered, still staring at the floor. "I always felt that your dad was too hard on you. But, now I see it. Now I see why you're such a disappointment to him. You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

Mrs Collins turned away.

"You have my permission to leave now," Sallie told her Cheryl, her face registering evident disgust. "That is, if you want to."

Cheryl rushed after Mrs Collins and grabbed her arm before she left the salon. "What happened to him? What happened to my dad?"

"He's a strong man," Mrs Collins muttered, her hand resting on the door. She seemed to be staring straight outside. "I'll never forget his crumpled body laying in the road. I...I thought he was dead. Your mother was screaming, I had to pull her away while some other neighbours tended to him whilst we waited for an ambulance." She turned and looked at Cheryl, and her features hardened. "Somehow, someone lured your father out of the house and into the street. Then, they ran him over with their car before driving away."

Chapter Twenty Five

Cheryl entered the hospital, dreading the scene that awaited her.

My life is falling apart.

The girls' at work had all glared at her as if she were pure evil in its truest form. "I didn't know it was so serious," Cheryl had said.

Sallie stared at her, her expression set in disgust. "When your parent's neighbour calls and tells you your dad was rushed to hospital in an ambulance, I think serious is implied. But then, a mugging is amusing to you, so maybe your idea of serious and mine are completely different." Sallie had turned her back to Cheryl as the other girls watched. "You can leave now, Cheryl. In fact, I insist on it. Let us know how your dad is doing, won't you."

Cheryl had left with all eyes on her. No doubt, as soon as she left, they had all started talking about what a cold, cruel, heartless bitch she was.

Why didn't I just go to the hospital straight away?

Too late now. She would just have to try and make up for her absence.

Cheryl approached the ward, then the nurses station according to the directions that Mrs Collins had given to her, though somewhat reluctantly since she wouldn't even look at Cheryl. "I'm here to see Mr Tompkins," she told the chubby nurse who sat tapping at a keyboard. "Are you friend or family?" the nurse asked without looking up.

"He's my dad."

The nurse looked up then, her eyes sympathetic. She nodded. "I'll check which bed he's in."

Reading the notes on her clipboard, the nurse frowned then looked at Cheryl. "Your name is Cheryl, yes?"

"Yes."

The nurse nodded. She no longer regarded Cheryl with sympathy, instead, Cheryl thought she saw confusion and suspicion on that round face. The nurse turned and walked down a long corridor, heading deeper into the ward. She hesitated to turn and glanced back at Cheryl. Her frown of suspicion had deepened.

She disappeared from view a second later.

What the hell was all that about?

Cheryl sat down on a chair to wait, thinking of the talking too she'd give that nurse when she returned. She was a family member of a patient, why was she being made to wait here?

Cheryl jumped to her feet when her mother appeared at the end of the corridor, the nurse walking behind her. Cheryl felt all her anger at the nurse completely disappear when she saw how terrible her mother looked.

She walked as if the whole weight of the world had collapsed on her slight shoulders. She looked smaller than she usually did and her hair stuck out at odd angles around her head. Though her face was down, Cheryl could still see that she was awfully pale.

Her mother walked stiffly, as if keeping herself together depended on how rigid she could keep her posture. Her hands were gripped in front of her and Cheryl saw she was fiddling with her wedding band.

Cheryl felt a lump in her throat. Okay, so she wasn't, and never had been, close to her father. But she loved her mother dearly. She should have come straight to the hospital as soon as she heard the message from Mrs Collins, if anything just to support her mother.

"Mum," Cheryl said as soon as her mother was close enough to hear her. "Is dad allrig—ow!"

Her mother, with a strength Cheryl didn't know she possessed, gripped her arm in a vice-like grip and all but dragged her from the ward. Tears immediately glazed Cheryl's eyes, not so much at the pain but from the shock. Her mother had never acted so aggressively before.

"Mum, you're hurting me!"

People stared in shock and the nurse followed closely behind, watching the whole scene but doing nothing to pull her mother off her.

What the hell was going on here?

Outside the ward, her mother released her. Rubbing her arm, Cheryl recoiled from the look of rage on her mother's face. "How could you, Cheryl?"

"Mum, I'm sorry. I only had three clients so I went to work. If I'd known it was so serious I'd have come straight away."

"Cut it out, just cut it out," her mother yelled shrilly. "Your own father!"

"Mum, I said I'm sorry. Okay?"

"You're sorry. You're sorry. Is that all you have to say for yourself?"

"Can I see him?"

Her mother stepped back from Cheryl, the look of hatred on her face making the tears that glazed Cheryl's eyes fall freely down her cheeks. "No, you can't. I left orders at the desk that you shouldn't be permitted inside."

"You can't treat me like this," Cheryl whined. "I bet Tess is in there."

Quick as lightening and just as shocking, her mother stepped forward and slapped Cheryl hard across the face. Onlookers gasped and the nurse finally moved forward to intervene. She placed her hands on Cheryl's mother's shoulders and pulled her backward, murmuring something that Cheryl couldn't hear.

"From today, you are no longer my daughter. Now go. And don't ever come near us again."

Cheryl sobbed as the nurse led her mother back into the ward. She rubbed her stinging face as her mother's last words sank in. She realised that people had actually stopped to watch and were staring at her.

She cried harder.

***

Cheryl stood outside the hospital waiting for the taxi, her tears now dry on her stinging cheek. Eyes had followed her as she walked away. No-one offered to help her.

She stared at the ground, trying to make sense of her mother's actions. Her father must be in terrible condition to make her mother flip like that. Obviously, Cheryl had taken the brunt of those emotions because she hadn't dropped everything and rushed to the hospital to sit by her father's bedside.