Читать книгу Losing Juliet: A gripping psychological thriller with twists you won’t see coming - June Taylor - Страница 9

Manchester: 2007

The phone rang. She picked up.

‘Hello,’ said a voice. ‘I wonder: can you tell me, does someone by the name of Chrissy live there?’

She tried to tune in to the sounds at the other end for clues. Music. Opera, was it? A clanking of cups, possibly in a café?

‘Erm, who wants to know?’

‘I’m Juliet, an old friend from uni. We were best friends.’

The voice had a late-night feel to it, deep and smoky; the sort you might want to get to know.

‘Chrissy’s my mother,’ she said, seeing no reason to keep that from her.

‘Oh that’s brilliant! I thought I’d never find her, been trying for ages. Can I speak to her?’

‘She’s not here at the moment.’

‘Okay, well I’ll give you my number. If you could tell her I phoned?’

‘Okay.’

‘And you are?’

‘Eloise.’

‘Eloise. What a beautiful name. She chose a French name for you, that’s interesting.’

‘Is it?’

‘It’s a lovely name. She’s never mentioned me to you, Eloise?’

‘No.’

‘Well, it was a long time ago, must be nearly twenty years in fact. Getting on for that. It would be so lovely to see her. And to meet you, too. How old are you?’

‘Seventeen.’

‘Well, tell Chrissy to hurry up and get in touch or you’ll have left home!’

‘I’ll try.’

***

‘Are you absolutely sure she said Juliet?’

‘Yes, for the hundredth time, I’m sure,’ said Eloise, throwing her hands up in exasperation.

‘And she definitely asked for Chrissy? Not – oh, I don’t know – Flissy. Or just Chris? I bet she said Chris.’

Eloise gave her papers a shove down the end of the table to make some room, causing a pen to roll off the edge before she could catch it. But Chrissy made no effort to pick it up, so immersed was she in her thoughts. Eloise slid a slice of pizza onto her mother’s plate, hoping the conversation could move on from this now.

‘There you go, Pizza à la Freezer with some extra Cheese Eloise,’ she announced. But Chrissy was giving her a pleading look. ‘Oh, Mum, I told you. How many times? Definitely Chrissy. I said that you were my mother, and … What? What’s wrong with that?’

Chrissy was sawing at her crust, her fingers turning white at the ends. She caught Eloise’s eye and put down her knife, pushed away her plate and sank back against the chair. It sliced through Eloise’s optimism; she was already pinning her hopes on this long-lost friend.

‘She sounded all right to me, Mum. Why have you never mentioned her?’

Her mother tapped her lips whilst she considered her answer. ‘It’s just a surprise to hear from her after all this time,’ she said finally, allowing a sigh to escape through her fingers. ‘I never expected to. That’s all.’ She seemed to linger on that for a while until the phone started to ring, then she jolted into the air with her hand to her chest.

Eloise let it ring a couple more times. She knew her mother wouldn’t answer it; she never did.

‘Should I get it?’

Chrissy shook her head.

‘CLICK: Hi, Eloise, we spoke earlier. And Chrissy, if you’re listening to this I just thought I’d try you again, but you’re obviously out enjoying yourselves. Well, it is Friday night. I would love to see you after all these years. I hope you think it is okay for me to contact you now. You have my number but I’ll keep trying. Ciao for now. Oh, it’s Juliet, by the way. Juliet Ricci. Well, Juliet Shaw, as I was then. Remember me?’

Juliet’s words drifted into every corner of their room, twisting like smoke, fading too quickly.

‘What did she mean?’ asked Eloise, trying to hang onto them for as long as she could. ‘Why wouldn’t you think it’s okay for her to contact you now?’

Her mother stood still for a moment – she had begun to pace – frowning at the answer machine.

‘Did you fall out or something?’

Dropping forwards over her knees, the way she did when she came back from a run, Eloise was about to repeat her question when Chrissy straightened up again. Her breathing seemed normal but her hands had a slight tremble as she scooped her hair back into a ponytail, quickly letting go again.

‘No, we never fell out. Hey, shall we go and see a film tonight? I’ll skip my yoga class.’

‘Mum!’

‘What?’

‘I’m seeing Anya later. I told you that.’

‘Did you?’ said Chrissy, rubbing her forehead.

‘Oh come on, Mum. We’re going to plan our Inter-Rail trip, remember? Well you could at least try and be a bit excited for me.’

Eloise watched her mother move across to the window. It wasn’t dark yet but she snapped down the blind.

‘You’re not going Inter-Railing, I’ve changed my mind. You’re too young.’

‘What?’ Eloise let out a mocking laugh. ‘I’m seventeen for god’s sake.’

‘Besides, I don’t know Anya well enough.’

‘Of course you do.’ Eloise let her body go limp in the chair, one arm dangling by her side. She didn’t want a fight. ‘You can’t treat me like a kid, Mum. You should have done that when I actually was a kid.’

‘That’s enough, Eloise. And if she calls again, just say you were winding her up; it’s the wrong number; there’s no Chrissy living here.’

Eloise almost laughed at that too, stopping herself when she realized her mother was being serious. ‘I can’t do that. Anyway, why?’ She glanced at the time on her phone; still nearly an hour before she needed to set off. ‘So is this Juliet the reason you dropped out of uni then?’

‘Of course not,’ Chrissy replied, sounding irritated. ‘You know that was my decision.’

‘Well how would I know that? You never tell me anything.’ Then she panicked, noticing her mother was drifting, and said: ‘Okay, so you had some embarrassing girl-on-girl thing that you’re too ashamed to talk about. Is that it?’

At least it got a bit of a smile. She racked her brain for more possibilities.

‘Well did she try and steal Dad away? Did she know my dad?’

‘Yes,’ said Chrissy. ‘I mean, yes she knew him.’

‘But was it over a boy though? Was it? I bet it was.’

Chrissy got up and walked around the back of Eloise’s chair, but didn’t respond to the question.

‘God, it’s like living in a tunnel with you sometimes,’ said Eloise, trying to prise her mother’s hands off her shoulders. She wanted to turn round, but couldn’t.

‘It never goes away, Eloise. It never can.’

‘What doesn’t?’

Eloise gave her a moment then snapped herself free from her mother’s grasp, rubbing her shoulders where she had been pressing down. ‘Right okay, I’ll just call this Juliet woman and ask her. I have her number.’ Eloise waved her phone defiantly into her mother’s face.

For one brief second the world went dark. Chrissy had slapped her on the cheek.

‘What the hell was that for?’

‘Oh god, I’m so sorry, Eloise. You know I’d never hurt you.’

‘You just did!’

‘I’m sorry, so sorry. Of course I’ll tell you.’

‘Well you better had now. My god, Mum!’

Chrissy sat down and took hold of her hand, staring at their interlocking fingers whilst focusing on her breathing. Eloise grabbed some air for herself. Sometimes there just wasn’t enough to go round. When Chrissy retreated back into her silence, Eloise kicked out at the chair leg, giving her a jolt.

‘Maybe you could start by telling me how you two met, Mum,’ she said, opting for a gentler approach. Inside, she was still screaming at her.

Chrissy closed her eyes and frowned, as though the memory hung by a delicate thread.