The Chrysalid Conspiracy (26 page)

“It’s only a few short years, Molly,” said Lucy. “It’s when they stop you should start to worry.”

Dinner had been early evening and despite being really hungry, Amelia and Rayn were congratulating each other on their restraint (memories of Hunters Lodge still haunted them both). Unfortunately, the arrival of strawberry gateau, Chocolate fudge cake and other deliciously wicked offerings proved too much for them and they avoided each other’s eyes as they teamed up with Zac and Miles, the twins, and ploughed the table.

The boys were allowed to dish out the presents in the way only six-year-olds can. Amelia, Rayn and Molly received new tracksuits and sports clothes. Rayn remarked that Amelia didn’t need to wash her old one after all.

Rayn also got a pair of boxing gloves and a head guard. She grinned at Nigel, who made a dive for the door. The ensuing laughter prompted Rayn to confess about her black eyes.

Nigel protested that he had slipped over but nobody believed him, especially Bridie.

The selection of gifts had been well thought out, mainly due to Rayn’s insight, and everyone received something they wanted. George and Bridie both received Cuban cigars. Bridie also received a set of scalpel-like craft knives. Sambo couldn’t believe the carved leather cowboy boots, belt and hat. There was a plethora of CDs, DVDs, books, toiletries, underwear, perfumes and body lotions, the sum total of which was almost as much as the two boys received. Their presents were mostly toys and games, but the looks on their faces became a treasured memory.

Rayn slipped Amelia a small package. “From me to you,” she said.

Amelia opened it to find seven different pairs of coloured pants, each with the day of the week printed on. “I thought they might help you keep control of your room,” said Rayn, laughing.

Amelia gave Rayn a similar gift. It turned out to be training bra!

The fight didn’t last long. When they hit the floor, both boys joined in amid roars of laughter.

When everything calmed down, George stood up to make an announcement. “And now, our appreciation for our host,” he said, raising his glass. “To Lucy.” He announced. “We, ah, have a little something for you.”

Lucy sat proudly in her new chair surrounded by clothes, make-up, oils, cigarettes and ‘smellies’. She looked about to burst, her eyes moist with emotion.

“So,” George continued. “This is our gift to you, just for being who you are.” Nigel came in, no one had seen him slip out during the fight. He was carrying what looked like a covered birdcage. Placing it gently on the table in front of her, George slowly lifted the top, leaving just the tray. Nigel motioned to Molly to keep the boys away.

Lucy was speechless as she gazed at the small tree in front of her. it wasn’t the most flamboyant of miniatures. It was only about a foot all and the trunk looked too thick for its proportions. The branches were closed in with silvery yellow leaves clinging to them looking about ready to fall and, all in all, it looked quite scruffy. The tears rolled down Lucy’s face.

“I assume you know what it is,” said George quietly. “Would you like to tell the unenlightened?”

Lucy wiped her eyes. “It’s a Maiden Hair tree,” she said, her voice shaking. “Ginko Biloba. The oldest known tree species, about two hundred million years. They live for up to a thousand years, and their medicinal qualities have been traced back over five thousand years. I’ve always wanted one of my own. George, where on earth did you get it?”

“China, now don’t ask any more. I’m not even sure she’s here legally, so mum’s the word.” He tapped the side of his nose in that classic conspiratorial signal.

“Come here, everybody. I want to give you all a hug,” said Lucy, and as everyone made a fuss of her Amelia heard George talking quietly.

“It’s not your original chimera, but at least you don’t have to work with this one. You can just play with it and see where it goes. Enjoy.”

Amelia was suddenly very wide awake and alert. She had been, after the wine she had drunk in that confused state between her real self and self-image. However, her brain had become crystal clear at the mention of that word. Rayn was no help. She was sitting with one of the boys on her lap, both nearly asleep.

Amelia looked back at her honorary Granddad as he chatted with her mother and she could see that his eyes were clear and his movements steady. Alarm bells sounded in her head. But thankfully no cello.

It was the first time she had heard the word ‘Chimera’ said aloud. At least she now knew to pronounce it, with a hard C. It was the subtitle of Professor Melkins’ book and she had come across it several times in the text.

She went into the kitchen and abstractedly put the kettle on for coffee. As she came out, she met Bridie, who was trying to negotiate the dead straight corridor with some difficulty. “Come on,” she said to her. “You can use my bed as the boys are on yours.”

Guiding her up the stairs, she led her to the bed and let her sit. Bridie rolled over on to the pillows and Amelia slipped her shoes off. Making sure she was on her side, she pulled the duvet up around her. Bridie reached out and took one of Amelia’s hands in both of hers.

“Oh Amelia, that was a fantastic day. Thank you so much.” Then she said something very strange, “I do hope it’s not the last one, perhaps we can have more after Rubicon.” By the time Amelia had tucked her in, Bridie was asleep.

When she got back to the kitchen, Rayn was there making coffee. She handed Amelia a cup and smiled, her face wide-awake.

“Thanks Rayn. You looked so bright-tailed and bushy-eyed. I thought you had fallen asleep.”

“Ah,” said Rayn. “But as we have been finding out, all is not what it seems.”

“You can say that again,” answered Amelia.

“Ah, but as we have been finding out, all is…”

“Okay!” snapped Amelia. “Not tonight, please.” Her humour was rapidly abating.

Rayn poked her head out of the kitchen door to make sure they were alone. She lowered her voice and continued in a very conspiratorial tone. “I’m not sure, but I think we may be ready to take the FF out of our FFCT. We have to talk,” she said.

“Well, we’d better get a move on, I’m losing interest,” replied Amelia. “That is I was, until a few minutes ago.”

“Really?” said an over-eager Rayn. “Tell me.”

Just to annoy her, Amelia pulled her favourite trick and changed the subject.

“Can you take the coffee in please, Rayn? I must sort Mum out. It’s late and she’ll be tired.”

The evening had gone very well after dinner. Everyone seemed to be on the same wavelength when it came to opinions, humour and interests, with just enough differences to keep things interesting. The time had flown by and it was gone midnight by the time the party broke up.

Ignoring the icy fingers of doubt that had been trying to catch her attention, Amelia had had a fantastic time and she at last understood her mother’s philosophy, which was that if you have good company and good food, stirred with a little wine (not shaken), you had the meaning of life.

After coffee, with Lucy in bed asleep, George took an unsteady Sambo home. Nigel picked up the twins, one in each big arm, and said he would put them to bed and come back for Molly.

Bridie was out of it so Amelia and Rayn sneaked upstairs and brought down the cot and bedding to sleep in the living room. It was while they were setting it up that Molly surprised them.

“Amelia,” she said, out of the blue. “Did Nigel ever mention to you that he had a brother?”

Amelia and Rayn froze. Rayn recovered first.

“No,” she said. “He didn’t tell me. Did he tell you, Amelia?” Amelia silently thanked her friend for those few extra seconds.

“No, I had no idea,” she replied.

“He never told me, either,” said Molly.

Rayn waited, and then picked up the cue.

“If he didn’t tell you Molly, then how do you know?”

“Well, I was in the utility room bagging up the boy’s Christmas presents. Thank you, every one, for that by the way, they were smashing. Really made their Christmas, and mine too. Anyway, I had to pack them up to get them home tonight. I mean, if they woke up in the morning and they can’t find them, well, it could make things a bit difficult. You know what they’re like, it’s…”

“Molly,” interrupted Amelia, gently. “Nigel’s brother?”

“Oh yes. Well, I was in the utility room as I said, packing up the kid’s presents, and George and Bridie were outside smoking one of their cigars. It was so nice of them not to smoke indoors in front of the kids, don’t you think? I try to be…”

“Molly,” said Rayn, a little more firmly.

“What? Oh yes. Anyway, Nigel was out there. I don’t know why, he’s never smoked in his life so he didn’t have one. No, they were just talking, that’s all.”

“And?” both girls spoke together.

“Well, the door was open, just a little, and I know I shouldn’t have been listening but I could hear everything.”

“And what did you hear, Molly?” asked Amelia. Rayn was nearly in tears.

“Old George asked my Nigel if his brother was still in the ‘business’, whatever that means. Then Bridie asked him if he thought they were going to need him and George said that they might do if…Oh, what was it? A word I’ve never heard before. Gally something. If Gally something gets nasty…”

“Anything else, Molly?” coaxed Amelia.

“He asked my Nigel to get in touch with him and say that it’s a double time contract. Have you any idea what they were talking about?” she finally asked.

Both Amelia and Rayn were not lying when they denied any knowledge of it.

“When they came back in, he didn’t say anything, so I thought it best not to mention it, bless him. Are you sure he didn’t tell you?” She sounded very proud of him.

“Are you going to ask him?” questioned Rayn.

“Oh no. We were both brought up in separate care homes. We’ve both done some pretty stupid things and we never pry. He’ll tell me when he wants to. I’m sure he has his reasons. It’s like when he…”

“Hi Nigel!” Amelia called as she heard him at the outside door. Rayn stifled a sigh of relief.

“Please don’t tell him what I’ve told you,” finished Molly. “It’s his business.”

When they’d finally gone, the two girls flopped back on the sofa, stunned by Molly’s verbal avalanche.

“Rayn, I’m going to bed. First one up cleans up the mess, okay?” Lucy had always been quite adamant that cleaning up was a party stopper and, anyway, with any luck it would still be there in the morning. She was always right on both counts.

“Good idea,” said Ryan. “And I for one refuse to get up.”

Rayn stripped off and crawled into the cot, which nearly tipped over but she just about made it. Amelia just slipped her shoes and jeans off, wondering how Rayn could sleep naked. Amelia always felt so vulnerable. Plus, with those dreams she was having, she might wake up running up the village High Street…stark naked.

After she had done her regular security check of doors and windows, she checked on Bridie. She was sound asleep, snoring slightly. The digital clock was sulking, having been ignored since school had broken up.

“Don’t mess with her,” she told it. “You’ll lose.”

Her mother was still awake and they talked for a while about what a fabulous Christmas it had been, and thanked each other for being…well, each other.

Standing in the kitchen, Amelia couldn’t take in the mess. She was no longer tired but certainly not up to that job. She smiled as she ‘sensed’ movement and put the kettle on.

Taking two cups of coffee into the living room, she cleared a space in the debris and nipped back upstairs to get the book. By the time she got back, Rayn was hovering over one of the cups like a kestrel ready to dive on its prey. Dressed in blouse and pants in deference to Amelia’s shyness, she took a sip and, with a resigned look, told Amelia, “Sometimes I don’t know whether I love you or hate you.”

“We’re not going to get any sleep till we’ve talked this through, are we?” Amelia said to her.

“I suppose not,” answered Rayn. “So what did you pick up?”

“Two words, mainly.” She patted the book on the table next to her, “both were used this evening by our ‘suspects’ and both are in the book. Oh, and I think my mum’s involved as well.” She felt uncomfortable admitting this and wondered if this was how Rayn had felt when they’d identified her mother.

“Do you mind if I say something before we go on?” Rayn looked very apprehensive.

“No, go for it,” said Amelia, determined to take whatever was coming.

Rayn rummaged around the table and found one of her mother’s cigars. She took some time to get it going but finally sat back. “First things first,” she said, without showing the slightest effect from the cigar. “I love my mother, more than anything in the world. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course. I feel the same way about mine.”

“Right. I know she has been lying to me. Long before this conspiracy thing.” Amelia knew that this was difficult for her friend and kept quiet.

“I’ve never believed her story about my so-called father. She said she had a one night stand with this gorgeous guy, got pregnant and he moved her into that caravan with his mother and was never seen again. When the mother died we just kept it.”

“What do you think really happened?” Amelia asked softly.

“No idea,” she said. “But I got her to tell me his name. Toby Mgee. When I was older I asked around. It turns out that Toby Mgee was a five-foot nothing, skinny little whinging drunk. He was dirty, stupid and a very bad thief. Now, look at my mum. She’s like an Amazon. What would she be doing with him? Not exactly the gorgeous hunk.” Rayn was getting animated, as if this had taken a long time to surface. “And look at me, Amelia. How could I be the offspring of a creep like that?”

“Are you sure about his identity?” asked Amelia. “You could be wrong.”

“No chance. A lot of people knew him. And anyway, he was dead at the time of their… their assignation, for want of a better word”.

“Oh Rayn, I’m so sorry. It must have been a terrible discovery,” sympathised Amelia.

“No. That’s all over now. It’s gone. The point I’m trying to make is that my mum loves me. She loves me so much she’d die for me. I believe that. She’s proved it time and time again while bringing me up.” Rayn was having difficulty keeping her voice down.