The Catalyst (21 page)

She was deathly white. The bandage on her hand and wrist had faint bloodstains and he wondered what exactly had happened. Who could have done this to her? Surely, she would not have done that to herself? Could Jimmy have done it? The news report had stated it was an attack on a man as well.

He tried to block his thoughts as strange scenarios surfaced one after the other. At least she is still alive, he comforted himself as the police officer's voice broke in on his thoughts.

‘I take it you know the lady, sir?’

‘Yes, her name is Sunny Smith ... Sunita ... Smith. She works for me ... in my bookshop in Church Street.’

‘And can you confirm the name of the gentleman who was found with her?’

In a daze Edward glanced over at the other bed. Yes, that was apparently that bastard Jimmy Fisher all right, even under all those bandages and he was obviously not dead, more’s the pity. He felt a faint twinge of guilt at such thoughts as Jimmy did seem to be in a worse state than Sunny and he was now more certain than ever it could not have been her who had inflicted such damage on him.

So there must have been someone else at the farm, some third person. Looking at them both, he was inclined to believe such injuries were the work of a mad man. It made him shudder. Whoever it was, he just hoped they caught him soon.

‘Yes, his name is Jimmy Fisher, he's an artist and he lives at Mellyon Farm. That’s the farm where you found them I take it?’ It suddenly struck Edward that he might fall under some suspicion if he was not careful.

‘And do you know his relationship to Ms Smith?’

Edward looked the policeman in the eye, feeling sure he already knew the answer to that question.

‘Yes, I believe they were...’ he stumbled over the word ‘lovers’, it seemed such a quaint, genteel word for what Edward felt was such a sordid affair, ‘in a relationship,’ he substituted.

The police would know what he meant, they must meet such dramas everyday. He anticipated the next question.

‘I was on my way back from the Blackhampton Book Fair when I heard the news on my car radio. I was concerned that it might be Sunny ... er, Miss Smith ... from the description of the farm as ‘just outside Porthcarn’.’ He could feel the officer’s eyes closely watching his face. ‘I slept at the Moorland Inn at Blackhampton last night and was at the book fair all day.’

He wondered if the policeman was aware he was trying hard to appear casual, wondered if he could sense the sudden panicking of his heart. Freely offering such an inclusive alibi might be deemed suspicious in itself he supposed but it appeared to have been taken at face value and after all, it would be easy enough to corroborate.

‘Do you know a Jenny Lawrence, sir?’ the policeman asked, writing up his notes.

Edward was suddenly struck dumb. Of course, Jenny Lawrence! Hadn’t she lived with Jimmy at one time? He remembered all the locals had felt sorry for her living with him. Edward had just assumed she must have left Jimmy before he took up with Sunny though now he wondered why on earth he had made that assumption. Suddenly he realised it was because he had trusted Sunny to do the right thing!

That was why he had assumed Jenny no longer lived with Jimmy. He knew Sunny would hardly have given Jimmy the time of day if she had suspected he already had a partner. Oh, Great God, had Jenny still been around somewhere? Could she possibly have done such a thing to both of them?

‘I don’t know Jenny Lawrence personally, but I believe she was Mr. Fisher's ex-partner,’ he said, wondering how he could tell the truth without seeming to implicate Jenny, wondering if he even knew the truth. And why should he try to protect Jenny if she were crazy enough to do this to Sunny? Jimmy, he found, he simply could not care about despite the obvious severity of his injuries.

‘Ex-partner, you say?’

‘Yes, I think so … well ... I presume so.’

After successfully convincing the officer he knew nothing more, he was disappointed to find he would not to be allowed to stay by Sunny’s side. He felt he could hardly make a fuss now he was reassured she was in no danger so he settled down to wait outside the room until she came round.

She would need him when she regained consciousness he thought as he selected an instant tea and a chocolate bar from the vending machine and slumped on a chair in the waiting area outside the ward. Unexpectedly his eyes filled with tears as he thought of her lying in her hospital bed and he dashed them away before anyone saw them, this was no time to be weak. Damn, Jimmy Fisher, he had known he was no good. Damn him to hell!

Sunny's eyelids felt as if they were glued together as she struggled back to consciousness. She was aware of pain now, an awful lot of pain, but it took her some time to locate where it was on her body. She groaned as she tried to lift her head to look at her arm and instantly there was a kindly, concerned face above hers.

‘Hello, me darlin' … waking up a bit, are we?’ The nurse's soft Irish accent greeted her return to consciousness. Sunny swallowed, her throat was too dry to reply so she tried to return the nurse’s smile but it didn’t feel right and she suddenly remembered there really was nothing to smile about.

As the memory of the recent events came back to her she gave a hoarse cry and looked round wildly, trying to raise herself. The nurse pinned her down, shushing and calming as she tried to steady the swinging drips and watch the monitors as well as soothe Sunny.

‘Now then, lovely, just you lie still and rest quiet for me. You aren’t ready to go gallivanting about just yet. Let’s just give it a day or two, eh?’

‘Where’s Jimmy?’

‘Ah, that’ll be your man now, will it? Look, he’s right here ... just across the way.’

‘Is he ... I mean ... will he … be okay?’ All she could see in the bed across the room was a mass of bandages and her eyes filled with tears.

‘Ah, bless ye. Of course, he will. Oh, he looks a bit of a mummy at the moment but he’ll do right enough.’

‘Is he asleep?’

‘Well, no, not really. He’s just sedated for the time being … but he’s doing well. So now, just you lie calm there. Here, let me help you have a drink of water.’

Sunny obediently lay still and let the tears fall as her mind played back the terrifying images of the attack. Who was that mad woman? Even as she asked herself she knew the answer. She was Jimmy’s ex-partner, the maker of the cushions in the parlour. She was the woman Sunny had not thought to enquire about. Well, whoever she was, she had obviously not been ready to be cast aside. Maybe she had been unable to get over their separation? Maybe she was unhinged?

Even as she had these thoughts she suspected they may not be true. What if the woman was not 'ex' at all? Surely there was no way she could have somehow been his current partner, was there? Sunny stifled a sob as something suddenly told her Jimmy was, beyond doubt, capable of such duplicity. How had she let this happen? What had she been thinking? How could she have got so enmeshed with someone capable of such a betrayal?

She closed her eyes and saw again the intense hatred in the other woman’s eyes, the cold glint of the knife in her hand, the stabbing and slashing … the gaping wound across her own wrist. She remembered again Jimmy yanking her roughly out of the way and pushing her behind him, yelling at her to wrap her wrist in the tea towel and keep pressure on it.

After that everything gradually became faint and she saw things as if at a distance. She heard Jimmy shouting and the woman shrieking in reply. Then, a roar of pain and Sunny knew he too was hurt and she was too weak to help him. The kitchen had spun wildly around her and she had struggled to fend off the encroaching blackness in her mind as she heard a door slam and a key click in a lock.

Then everything had gone quiet except for the sound of someone gasping as a spreading redness dripped down onto her. She gradually slipped from consciousness only just aware of someone gently supporting her head as they tied something tight around the top of her arm.

Now she just felt sick, deeply ashamed of both her gullibility and her culpability. She suddenly remembered Edward’s words, his stumbling attempts to warn her about Jimmy and knew he had been right all along. What an arrogant idiot she had been, what a fool! She looked across at the still figure in the other bed. Did she still love Jimmy now she realised what he was really like? She was no longer able to tell.

‘Someone to see you...’ said the nurse, putting her head round the door and smiling at her. It was Edward. His worried face had never looked so welcome to her and she wanted to kiss it and apologise to him for her stupidity. She put out her good hand to him and smiled weakly.

‘It’s okay ... I’ve sterilised my hands this time,’ he said to the nurse as he took hold of Sunny’s outstretched hand. The nurse brought him a chair and he sank down gratefully onto it, trying not to weep at the weary pallor of Sunny’s face. He was shocked by how slight and vulnerable she looked beneath the bedclothes.

‘Oh Edward, it is so good to see you! You were right, I’m sorry ... I have been so stupid.’ Her eyes filled with tears again as she rushed to admit her guilt. ‘Would you ... stay with me ... just for a little while? Please?’

He shushed her. ‘Of course I’ll stay. I’ll stay for as long as I’m allowed,’ he promised as she faded away from him, back into sleep.

It was midmorning when Sunny woke again. This time there was no confusion and, blessedly, much less pain in her injured wrist but she still felt very weak. She became aware of a very tired Edward still sitting beside her bed, still holding her hand.

‘Oh Edward … don’t say you’ve been here all night?’ she said, her voice husky with sleep. Edward’s teeth gleamed white from amongst his five o’ clock shadow as he smiled at her and nodded sheepishly.

‘Yes, m’dear, he has … and he only left you to answer a call of nature,’ the nurse said unnecessarily, bustling up to them. ‘Now I think he should go and rest, don’t you?’

‘She’s right, Edward … go home and get some sleep. I really do feel much better now.’

She smiled encouragingly at him as he stood up. Physically, she didn’t feel that good but she certainly felt a great deal better than she had yesterday. Right now her real pain was more emotional than physical, the shame at her own naivety and stubborn selfishness boring holes in her soul. And yet, despite it all, here was Edward still loyally supporting her.

‘Yes, perhaps you’re right … I’ll be back when I’ve had a short nap and a cleanup.’ He rubbed the bristles on his chin, still looking down at her doubtfully.

‘Go on ... I’ll be fine ... I’ll see you later.’

‘Do you need anything? Shall I bring anything back with me?’

She shook her head. There must be things she needed for a stay in hospital but just at the moment she didn’t have the energy to think what they were. She smiled up at him reassuringly. His hand was still in hers and she pulled it with slow impulsiveness towards her lips and kissed it.

‘No … just you … thank you for being such a good friend, Edward. I hardly deserve your kindness.’

He smiled down at her, touched at her gesture of tenderness but sad as he realised that she still only saw him as a ‘good friend.’ He wanted so much to respond to her with affection, even if it was only with the affection of a friend and almost bent to kiss her forehead before thinking better of it, knowing he couldn’t bear to see any look of surprise on her face.

‘See you later then,’ he said, giving her an awkward nod instead.

For some reason Sunny found herself trying not to look across to Jimmy’s bed after Edward had gone. Her peripheral vision told her he was lying very still and she presumed he was still sedated. Suddenly, she knew she couldn’t face seeing him when he woke up. She needed to get out of this room. Turning to the nurse she asked when she could go home and was alarmed to find she would not be discharged from hospital for at least another two days and then only under supervision of either friends or family.

The only concession the doctors would allow was a move onto an ordinary ward now she was no longer at risk. She was also assured she would be told the moment Jimmy came round and although she smiled and thanked the nurse she just hoped she could somehow leave the hospital before that happened. Their love affair now seemed deeply shameful and she felt dirty and defiled, as much by her own actions as by Jimmy’s deceit.

‘He’s had quite an operation, you know?’ the nurse informed her and, in spite of her apparent change of feelings about Jimmy, Sunny at once found herself becoming alarmed. ‘I expect he’ll tell you all about it once the doctors have put him in the picture properly.’

Sunny lay in her bed, hiding the emotional battle raging within her, hardly able to bring herself to think of him being dreadfully injured because of her. She was uncomfortably aware it was more than likely she owed her life to him.

Even so, she still had to get away from him, having by now totally convinced herself she never wanted to see Jimmy Fisher again ... ever.

Chapter 19

I am cold, so cold. It’s dark and I'm frightened. Help me! Help me, Jasper!

Jasper jumped at the anguished words as they came unbidden into his mind. He was sitting in his car, parked in the cliff-top car park near Peryllus Cove, waiting for the sun to rise above the horizon, waiting for daylight. He had been waiting for hours, waiting since he left the hospital, determined to find Jenny before the police did.

He knew she must be somewhere nearby, he had found her car hidden amongst bushes down a nearby green lane. There had been blood on the steering wheel. He knew she would be down there in the cove, he could feel it. The hairs on the back of his neck rose as he thought of her. The only thing he didn’t know was if she was still alive.

She must be down there, in their childhood hideaway just below him, frightened and alone in the cold and dark of the cave at the end of the beach. Or she could be already dead, now just a corpse drifting with the tide, her cry in his head just the fantasy of a feverish mind.

He was desperate to get into the cave to see if she was there but it wasn’t simply a case of climbing down the cliff side. The tide was in and strong and unpredictable currents presently cut the cave off. Within him anxiety warred with common sense until anxiety finally won and he could no longer bear the feelings within him.

For God’s Sake, his was the blood of pirates and smugglers, of course he could find his way through the water to reach her if she was in the cave. It should be second nature to him. He tried not to think he might have got soft with city living. No, he decided, I’ll be all right, I’ll just take it slowly. For a moment he still hesitated, wondering if he was being watched before shaking his head with a hard laugh at himself. Smuggler’s blood will out, he thought, only this time the watchers would be the police rather than the Revenue men.

He wondered briefly if the local police were clever enough to have set up surveillance on him suspecting he might know where the prime suspect he had alerted them to could be found. He rather thought they were but still he hoped they had not set anyone on to follow him just yet. Cautiously looking round he strained to peer into the shadows of the small car-park and only when he was absolutely sure he was alone did he leave his car and make for the overgrown path that wound down the cliff to the cove below.

The clamour in his thoughts got louder as he struggled to find a way down the cliff side. If she had climbed this way before him the vegetation was giving nothing away and he tried not to think she might simply have jumped from the cliff top onto the rocks below. She had to be here, she had to be in the cave. If wishing could make it so, she would be there.

Slowly, so slowly the sun was creeping over the horizon as he stumbled on rocks and roots still hidden in the shadows. By the time he reached the bottom of the cliff his left knee was aching after a particularly painful altercation with a large boulder and his legs bore the gashes made by the briars he had pushed through but he had made it without falling to his death so maybe Jenny had too.

‘Bloody hell!’ He gasped out loud as he took a final step down and felt the bone-chilling coldness of the sea rising up to his knees. The salt water stung the cuts on his legs spitefully as he strained his eyes towards the cave, now faintly visible as a sinister black shadow eaten into the greyness of a sheer cliff-face. It was time to wade towards it, there was no other way to get there.

He tried to remember what the beach was like. It had been many years since this place had been their special refuge but he found he could still remember the layout of the cove with its tiny crescent of sand, tumbled rocks and deep bank of pebbles at the foot of the cliff

He felt sure it was possible to wade through the water across the rocks and over the submerged beach to the cave but he still had a healthy respect for the strong currents that would pull at him. The rocks too, hidden beneath the water, could shift and trap his feet. What was even worse, he now remembered, was that the seawater could often make small areas of this beach into a sort of ravenous quicksand.

The sensible thing to do would be to wait till full daylight and low tide but he knew he would not do the sensible thing, there was no time to do the sensible thing. Suddenly he was aware of another problem and frantically tried to remember if the cave filled up completely with water when the tide came in. If it did and Jenny really was in there ...

His mind rapidly rejected the thought. He knew he had no option but to wade over to the cave and check if she was in there and, if she was, bring her back with him and hide her somewhere safe. It wasn’t that far to the cave, only the sea and the poor visibility made it difficult.

Help me, Jasper! I’m frightened
!
The whispered words inside his head made him move. Jenny was in the cave, he was now sure of it. She needed him and that was all he let himself think about as he moved carefully out into the water. The sea only came up to his knees but it was frighteningly cold and he wondered if he would succumb to hypothermia before he could reach her. Could you get hypothermia if you were only immersed up to the knees, he wondered.

The question lodged irritatingly in his mind and continued to occupy him until he slipped on seaweed covered rocks and fell headlong into the water. Bollocks! Well, won’t have to worry about only having wet knees now he thought, scrambling frantically to his feet as fast as he could, gasping with the shock and spitting out salt water.

Moving more carefully after this he felt his way with his feet over the submerged rocks, finding they suddenly gave way to sand and he plunged down until he was up to his thighs in water. His teeth were chattering now and the wind, slight though it was, cut through his clothing with ruthless efficiency as he tried to block out all thoughts of the cold.

As he had suspected, the receding tide was producing strong undertows that now began to swirl around him, pulling and pushing like playground bullies and he strove to control his rising fear as he waded warily through them towards the cave. Occasionally they pushed him so violently he had to stop and steady himself, trying to plant himself on the sand below to withstand them despite his fear of quicksand.

As he neared the cave mouth he could hear the change in the sound of the sea as it became a hollow, slapping sound echoing round the vault of the cave. Narrowing his eyes he peered into its dark interior, groping towards the opaque darkness to the left of him until his hand connected with stone and he could feel his way along the rock wall as it curved inwards into the cave.

Just as he stepped forward into the cave however he immediately felt what he had been dreading, the pull of quicksand sucking greedily at his left foot as it sank into a deep pool against the wall of the cave, rapidly pulling him deeper and deeper down into the water. Terror mounted in him as he struggled to stay upright and pull away from the swallowing sand.

Frantically, he felt the rock face for some sort of help, hurriedly wedging his left hand into a narrow crevice and gripping a narrow ledge with the fingers of his right. His prompt actions bought him a little time to hold himself still against the relentless pull of the sand and, breathing hard, he momentarily rested his head against the cave wall.

Fortunately the sand under his right foot still seemed to be relatively solid, though his right leg was bent at the knee as his left leg had been absorbed deep into the quicksand. The sea was lapping halfway up his chest now as he crouched, trapped by his leg and he was frighteningly aware that not only was he freezing cold but he was beginning to weaken as well.

It was terrifyingly obvious to him that if he couldn’t get out of the situation immediately, he could drown or be totally swallowed by the sand. He needed to use the strength of his right leg straightening itself to pull the left one out, that was if he still had enough strength to do that.

Trying to hold onto any logical thought processes was now becoming more difficult as the fear of disappearing below the surface of the sand took hold of his mind. His imagination wasn't helping in other ways either, beginning to frighten him with lurid pictures of the sort of things that might be lurking in the water, in the quicksand, strange, slimy monsters with tentacles and stings, all waiting to grab and devour him.

‘Oh, for Pete's sake, grow up, you big kid!’ he burst out, angry at his inability to control his thoughts. Deep at the back of the cave something stirred. He distinctly heard a slight scrape and a falling pebble and fear made him instantly invent the image of some hideous sea monster. With a sudden strength lent to him by an instant shot of adrenalin, he planted both hands against the cave wall and pushed up with his right leg as hard as he could until the knee locked straight, feeling the gradual releasing of his left foot as he did so.

He breathed a silent sigh as it continued to ease out of the sand, trying not to pant with exertion in case doing so gave his position away to whatever it was lurked in the cave. Then there was a whisper.

‘Jazz? Is that you?’

His relief was so complete he nearly broke down in tears. It was Jenny, she was here. His intuition had been right all along.

‘Yes, Jen ... yes ... it’s me … keep talking so I can find you.’

‘I’m cold, Jazz ... I’ve been here ages.’

‘Are you in the water?’

‘No, I’m on a sort of ledge. I fell asleep and when I woke up it was dark and the tide had come in and I didn’t dare get down into the water in the dark.’

‘Don’t worry, I’m nearly with you, sweetheart’, he said wading through the gloom as fast as he dare, his arms outstretched, feeling his way towards the sound of her voice and grateful that so far the floor of the cave seemed to be smooth, firm sand.

‘Jazz ... I can’t see!’ he heard her whisper. There was fear in her voice.

‘I know, neither can I but the sun is coming up and we’ll soon be out in the light ... we’ll soon get home now I’ve found you.’

At that moment, as he felt along the back wall of the cave, his hand connected with something soft and springy in the blackness, it was Jenny’s hair. Instantly he gathered her up into his arms and held her tight, sobbing into it.

‘Thank God, thank God...’

‘I’ve done something, Jazz ... something terrible.’ The anguish in her voice made him want to cry even harder and he gulped hard to regain control of himself.

‘I know ... we’ll sort that out once we’re home. Let’s not think about that now,’ he said, desperate not to think about what she had done. ‘Right now we need to get home and get you warm and dry.’

His eyes were becoming more accustomed to the gloom of the cave as the sun gradually started to light up the cove outside. Slowly he waded back through the water towards the beach, guiding Jenny and delicately feeling his way with his feet, anxious to avoid any further incidents with quicksand.

Once outside the light was good enough now for him to plough through the sea towards the bottom of the cliff-path with a little more speed and certainty than on his outward journey. Jenny stumbled clumsily behind him but he pulled her on relentlessly, very much aware of his own fast-failing strength and the fact he was becoming colder and colder.

‘Jen ... we must hurry.’

‘I know … but honestly, I can’t see...’ Her voice seemed muffled behind him.

‘I know it’s hard to see in this light ... but we’re not that far away from the car now.’

Even as he tried to infect his voice with enough enthusiasm to keep her going he was aware the short journey towards the beach seemed interminable.

Eventually they were stumbling out of the sea and over the rocks towards the bottom of the cliff, gasping for breath as they sank down thankfully onto the grass.

‘One last push to the top of the cliff then we’ll soon be home,’ he said, rubbing her arms vigorously, hoping to warm both of them with the action.

It was a diversionary tactic to stop himself worrying he might not have the stamina left to climb to the top of the cliff. He felt completely sapped of strength and only the need to protect Jenny gave him the willpower to go on. As it was he never knew how he managed to get her up the cliff and into the car.

His arms still shook with the exertion of pulling her after him as he drove the short way home with the car heater blasting out. He knew the police could pick them up at any moment and he almost wept with relief as he turned onto the farm track with Jenny sitting silently beside him.

‘Thank God, we’re home! Oh look, I left the yard light on. I must have left it on when I came out to find you.’

He glanced at her and smiled but she did not respond.

‘I can’t see it...’ she said, flatly.

‘There it is ... look, just ahead.’

‘I can’t see it ... I can’t see anything. I haven’t been able to see anything since I was in the cave and thought about ... about what I’d done.’ She was crying again now and trembling violently.

‘What do you mean? Why can’t you see?’

He wrenched the car to a halt in the farmyard and turned to look at her. To his relief she looked normal, there was no indication of any injury to her face. He continued to scan her face, trying not to look at the bloodstains on her jumper. Although she stared towards him she seemed to be looking beyond him and with a sickening jolt he knew he was looking at the farseeing stare of the blind.