Jacob Bauer had been right to believe there was nothing much wrong with me: some bruising to the back of my head – no concussion, though – and some more and heavier bruising on my right foot and ankle.
I couldn’t see him or Annie as I limped back out into the reception area, when I heard a child’s voice call my name. It was Annie, of course; little mosquito girl, all eyes and knees and feet, appearing to skim the floor as she ran towards me.
‘We told you we’d wait,’ she shouted. ‘Daddy’s got the car ready outside.’
It made me feel warm inside to have someone waiting to take me home.
‘I’m sorry,’ Annie said, putting her hand in mine. It was so thin I feared my fingers might meet through the soft flesh as I clasped it back.
‘What are you sorry for now?’ I asked her.
‘For scaring you and making you run out in front of Daddy’s car.’
‘We’ve been through that. It’s my fault if I don’t look where I’m going.’
Back at the house, Jacob Bauer and Annie insisted on helping me inside. I assured them yet again that I was perfectly able to manage by myself, but he made me sit down in the kitchen with my foot on a stool. Next, he removed the bandage, and having found the freezer without asking, which was cleverer than it might sound as it was built into a kitchen unit, brought out a packet of peas and placed it on my naked foot. I winced and Annie started giggling.
‘Would you like a cup of coffee?’ I asked her father.
‘I’ll make it,’ he said. ‘You stay exactly where you are.’
‘There’s apple juice in the fridge,’ I said as I watched him move round my kitchen as if he had a map. ‘For Annie.’
He didn’t need to ask me where anything was but just went about finding it all, mugs, milk, spoons, and he seemed to have no problem working the espresso machine. ‘Espresso? Cappuccino?’ he asked me.
‘Cappuccino, please.’
‘Yes please, Daddy,’ Annie said. At least the one he made for her was mostly milk.
‘You’ve done a brilliant job on this place,’ he said as he sat down. ‘It’s quite an undertaking refurbishing a house like this while retaining its character.’
I felt ridiculously pleased at the compliment. ‘I did it together with my godfather,’ I said. ‘He’s got excellent taste. And lots of money,’ I added. Then I regretted having sounded tacky, but Jacob Bauer didn’t seem to have noticed.
We had barely started on our coffee when the doorbell rang. Annie ran to get the door. ‘It’s Archie,’ she shouted from the hall.
Jacob Bauer leant across the table and whispered, ‘I could say you’re not allowed visitors.’
I gave him a quick smile and shook my head. ‘Come on in, Archie,’ I called. ‘We’re in the kitchen.’
I asked if he would like a cup of coffee, if Jacob wouldn’t mind making him one. He told me that considering the hour he would prefer tea if there was a pot going.
He was holding a copy of the newspaper I had been reading earlier. Following my gaze he handed it to me. ‘It’s for you. Funny how it was only the other day we were talking about her. Terrible story. Dreadful. Thought it might cheer you up. Who would have thought.’
‘That’s so kind of you. Actually I read part of the article at the hospital but I didn’t have time to finish it.’
‘That’s what happens when you’ve got friends in high places,’ Archie said, looking at Jacob Bauer. ‘The rest of us would have had time to read the whole newspaper. Speaking of which, I’m hoping to get hold of a copy of the book today or tomorrow.’
‘The autobiography? How? It isn’t out yet.’
Archie touched the tip of his nose. ‘Old Archie’s got his contacts,’ he said. ‘Friend of mine’s in the second-hand book business.’
‘Do you know who they’re talking about? Jacob Bauer asked Annie.
Annie shrugged. ‘No idea.’
My head was beginning to hurt again and my foot was throbbing and I wanted to go and lie down but that would leave poor Archie with gossip interruptus and that would be unkind. ‘Do tell us more.’ I gave him an encouraging look.
Archie sat down, his legs splayed, and a look about him as if he were settling down for the evening. ‘Most of his stock are review copies but this one was very hush hush, for obvious reasons.’ He winked at me.
Out of the corners of my eyes I saw that Annie too was attempting, but failing, to wink. ‘Daddy, how do you do it?’
Jacob Bauer winked.
‘Embargoed,’ Archie said. He tasted the word and seemed to like it. ‘Oh yes, embargoed,’ he repeated. He sat back in the chair and looked at me expectantly.
‘But Daddy, how do you do it?’
The sun was pouring in through the south-west-facing window and the warmth, combined with the effect of the strong painkillers, was making me sleepy. I opened my eyes wide, imagining that each of my eyelids was being held up by a very small, very helpful imp. One had a green hat on and the other one’s was red. ‘Gosh. So how come he’s able to get hold of a copy?’
‘Ah,’ Archie sat back in the chair. ‘You may well ask. But you see he in turn has a contact who works in a warehouse. For books,’ he added.
Jacob Bauer was fidgeting, tapping his finger on the table, twisting round to look out of the window and Annie, I realised, had left the room. With an uncharacteristic sensitivity to moods Archie seemed to realise that he was losing the attention of his audience.
‘Anyway, he’s getting it for me.’ Then he shook his head and said, as he had when he had first arrived, ‘Terrible story. Dreadful.’
‘Well, well,’ I said. I was about to nod off again but seeing the way Archie seemed to shrink before our indifference I gave myself a little wake-up shake and tried to look alert and interested, ‘So you really think it’s true? She actually killed someone?’
Archie straightened up and he looked purposeful once more. ‘I fear so, Eliza. I very much fear so. And now it turns out that Cass Cassidy was not even her real name.’
‘That happens all the time with actors, though, doesn’t it,’ I said.
‘It’ll almost certainly turn out to be some kind of a stunt to help sales,’ Jacob Bauer said. ‘So I really wouldn’t worry one way or another.’
Just then Annie returned. Walking up to me she hissed in my ear, ‘It’s finished, isn’t it, the jug?’ I felt a little shower of spittle hit my skin and some puffs of hot heavy breath and for some reason this made me smile. I whispered back. ‘Just need a final clean-up. You didn’t touch anything, did you?’
‘Of course not.’
Jacob Bauer had grown alert once more. ‘What have you been doing, Annie? Have you gone somewhere you shouldn’t?’
‘Not at all,’ I said. ‘We’ve got a little project going, that’s all. Annie was just checking on its progress.’ I turned back to Archie. ‘I’m so sorry, we never got you that tea.’
Before Archie could reply Jacob Bauer made a great show of looking at his watch and said, ‘And now it’s too late. Well, there we are.’
Archie opened his mouth to speak when Jacob Bauer continued. ‘Eliza must rest. Doctor’s orders.’ He got to his feet and Archie followed, but reluctantly.
‘How’s Julie?’ I asked him, wanting to finish the visit on a bright note.
He didn’t quite look me in the eyes when he replied. ‘Oh, she’s very well, thank you. Both of them are. Of course, they’re extremely busy. I was to have visited but . . .’ His voice trailed miserably.
‘Well, thank you again for bringing the paper,’ I said. ‘Just what I needed to cheer me up.’
‘Murder has that effect on some people,’ Jacob Bauer said as he opened the front door. I frowned at him. He really should stop tormenting poor old Archie.
‘That’s not what we meant and you know it,’ I said. Then I couldn’t help smiling because he was pulling funny faces behind Archie’s back. ‘I was of course referring to the thoughtfulness of the gesture of bringing me the paper,’ I said. ‘It’s what I love about the square, the neighbourliness.’
Archie got back some of his swagger. ‘Community spirit doesn’t happen by itself, of course. We all have to do our bit.’
Having managed finally to shoo Archie out of the door Jacob Bauer walked back with me into the kitchen to clear away the cups and to ask if I needed help with supper or getting upstairs or anything else. I assured him I was perfectly able to manage on my own and he looked relieved.
‘I’m so sorry,’ I said. ‘This business has taken most of your day. I’m sure you had other things planned for your day off.’
‘Nothing at all,’ he said.
Annie nodded. ‘I like it when things happen.’
‘Fair enough.’ I held her back for a moment as her father walked out into the hall. ‘I’ll bring the jug over as soon as I’ve done that last little bit.’
‘You’ll bring what over?’ Jacob Bauer asked.
‘He hears everything,’ Annie said.
‘And I heard that too,’ he said. ‘Now come on, Annie, we must get back.’
We joined him in the hall. ‘Foot raised, continue with the ice and phone if there’s anything. Anything at all. I mean it.’
The doorbell went again. This time the visitor was Sheila. I noticed that her cardigan was buttoned the wrong way. ‘There you are.’ she stepped inside and grabbed Annie, pressing her close. Annie squirmed and broke free.
‘Is there a problem, Sheila?’ Jacob Bauer asked. His voice was friendly enough but I detected irritation behind the even tones.
‘Well, thank God, you’re both all right. I had no idea anything was wrong until Mr Fuller told me just now. Someone could have phoned, you know.’
‘It’s your day off,’ Jacob Bauer said.
Sheila’s flat cheeks coloured and she swept at her hair. ‘So I shouldn’t care, then, should I? That’s how it should be from now on? Oh, it’s my day off so I don’t care.’ She glared at me. ‘What were you thinking of? I mean, really? Anything could have happened.’
Before I had a chance to reply Jacob Bauer turned to me and said, ‘I’m very sorry about this. I’ll explain to Sheila how this was not in any way your fault.’
And they were gone, Annie being the last out of the door and giving me a thumbs-up sign as she left.
I sat in the kitchen as dusk fell, watching as the lights came on in the windows of the houses around me. For a moment I felt happy, part of the world around me, rather than some undeserving hanger-on. Then I thought how stupid I was, how clumsy. Sheila had been right to be angry with me. Anything could have happened. Jacob Bauer could have driven straight into a lamp-post or into another car in his efforts to avoid the madwoman running to the rescue of someone not at all in distress. And if Annie had needed help, and if I had managed to save her rather than endanger her father, would that have wiped my slate clean? Of course not. Rose would still be dead. Rose was always still dead.
The next morning I was woken by the phone. It was Katarina. She was calling to tell me that Uncle Ian had passed away in the night. ‘There was no pain, no trauma,’ she said. ‘In fact, I think he was talking to Rose.’