Читать книгу The Armageddon Game - Lynne Fox - Страница 10

CHAPTER 4

It had taken the Australian lawyers several months to settle my father’s estate and I’d managed to have my parents bodies kept in cold storage all that time maintaining that, my situation being what it was, I had neither the money nor the necessary presence of mind to deal with their funerals any sooner.

The delay had given me ample time to plan my disappearance; getting Alberto on board was the final piece in the jigsaw and he’d proven a real asset. ‘How did you get on with Dr Chang?’

He grinned back at me the flash of his white teeth in his dark face illuminating his features. ‘Fine, just as you predicted. I asked him if he thought it’d be beneficial to let you have a few short trips outside before the funeral day – with me in attendance of course.’

‘Of course, Alberto; I wouldn’t dream of going anywhere without you!’

‘I said I thought it’d make it easier for you, reduce the emotional stress if you didn’t have to cope with the strangeness of being outside St Joseph’s after so long plus the strain of the funeral.’

‘And he agreed; just like that?’

‘Not until I reminded him of your offered donation and that if you suffered a relapse due to the stress of it all he’d probably have to wait for his money.’

Now it was my turn to grin. ‘You learn fast, Alberto. Well done.’

We used the trips Alberto had so cleverly negotiated to begin constructing my new identity. Using an internet café we searched the records for a female baby who had died on the day I was born and then sent in a request for the birth certificate. This was surprisingly easy presumably because people often mislay such items so no questions were asked.

I intended, when my money ran out, to work cash in hand at casual jobs and I felt the birth certificate would be a proof of identity that most people would accept if needed.

I’d rented a mail box facility and had all correspondence and Alberto’s airline ticket to Venezuela delivered there. Over the months I’d slowly removed monies from my bank account in cash and placed it in a safe deposit box I’d rented in another bank so that when I absconded I could exist without leaving a money trail as the general public were mostly willing to accept cash that they could hide from the taxman.

Sitting in Alberto’s car I went through the plan one last time. ‘After the funeral ceremony you’ll drive me to the mail box shop and I’ll collect your airline ticket. You’ll then drive me to the train station where I will hand the ticket over to you. We will then both go our separate ways and you will never try to contact or find me ever again. Do you understand, Alberto?’

Alberto nodded and our pact was sealed.

The day of the funeral was cold, grey and raining causing people to bow their heads to the watery onslaught, taking little notice of what was going on around them – perfect. Only Alberto, I and the funeral directors were attending; I’d made it plain that I didn’t want the ‘support’ of any St Joseph’s staff and none of my parents’ English friends had been in touch about funeral dates. I expect, learning of my father’s crime and knowing that I was incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital they didn’t feel inclined to be associated with such a family.

On one of our trips out I’d purchased a plain, black dress, matching coat, shoes, handbag etc. It felt strange as I put them on, it was as though I were already slipping into yet another persona and I had to concentrate to keep Annalee Theakston with me for just a little longer.

Alberto too had dressed for the occasion; in a sombre, grey suit he was more handsome than ever and I felt a slight twinge of regret that he would no longer be a part of my life.

Sitting in the back of the chauffeur driven funeral car with Alberto, Liliad on my lap the whole thing felt a little macabre; like we were the bride and groom at a Goth wedding. I noticed the driver kept glancing in his rear view mirror, perhaps slightly apprehensive at having a ‘psycho’ as his passenger. I had to stuff a hankie in my mouth to suppress the giggle that threatened to spill out of me.

Against tradition I insisted on Alberto and myself being seated in the front pew as the coffins arrived; I had no intention of dutifully following my parents up the aisle. Crematoriums don’t seem to cater for two at once so one coffin was laid on the conveyor belt and the other on trestles beside it. I wondered who was going into the flames first and hoped it was my mother.

The celebrant I’d hired, a smart woman in her late thirties, shuffled uncomfortably at the lectern. Obviously more used to a bigger audience she kept giving anxious glances in my direction. We’d never actually met, I’d merely written her a few, a very few, words giving next to no details about my parents’ lives from which the poor woman had tried to cobble together some form of eulogy but when she began speaking of family bonds I interrupted her. ‘Perhaps we can just go on to the committal, please.’

Her relief was palpable and the whole thing was over in less than fifteen minutes.

As Alberto and I left the chapel our driver moved toward us. I lowered my head and dabbed at my eyes, hugging Liliad close to my breast. Quietly I begged that he allow me a few moments to wander the Gardens of Remembrance before we headed back. The weather being like it was he was only too happy to take up Alberto’s suggestion of a few moments inside with a cup of coffee. As I started toward the formal gardens I noticed his look of incredulity that a grown woman needed to cuddle a doll for comfort and he turned his back on me with relief.

Alberto soon caught up with me. ‘My car’s over by the back gates as we agreed,’ he said as he fell in alongside me. We both quickened our pace until we were almost jogging the last few yards. Fumbling in his pocket for the key Alberto pressed the remote and the car flashed into life.

Gratefully I sank onto the front passenger seat, settling Liliad on my lap. My feet were throbbing; running in heeled dress shoes was not a good idea. Alberto dropped into the seat beside me bringing the smell of cold and damp in with him. The rain of earlier had increased so that drops clung to his suit and glistened on his wiry, black hair. He turned the key and as the engine grumbled he turned on the heater and taking a brief glance in the rear view and wing mirrors he pulled smoothly away from the kerb and headed toward town.

By the time we arrived at the Mail Box shop it was getting close to lunchtime. Alberto kept the engine running as I entered the shop and reclaimed the items I’d stored. As soon as I returned, he pulled away heading for the train station. He kept glancing down at the objects on my lap, a nervousness making his driving slightly erratic. I laid a hand gently on his arm, ‘It’s OK, Alberto; it’s all here as I promised – your new life is about to start.’ I smiled reassuringly and was rewarded with a brief nod of his head in confirmation.

Pulling into the train station car park he turned off the engine and swivelled in his seat to look at me intently. ‘Where will you go?’

‘Oh, I’m not going to tell you that. Here,’ I handed him the two packages; one a thin envelope containing his plane ticket, the other an A4 padded envelope containing some cash. ‘To tide you over,’ I said in answer to his silent question.

He took them from my hand. ‘Aren’t you going to open them?’

He shook his head. ‘No need.’

‘OK,’ I smiled, ‘thanks for that vote of confidence, Alberto; in fact, thanks for everything. Have a good life out in Venezuela.’ I picked my handbag up from the foot-well and, cuddling Liliad, made to get out of the car. Alberto laid a hand on my shoulder.

‘Take care, Annalee.’

I calculated there was a very slight risk that Alberto would take the ticket and money as evidence of my duplicitous behaviour and then report me to the authorities to gain a bundle of brownie points for his career. He could claim I’d given him the slip and absconded after the funeral but I didn’t think he would. As our plans had progressed he’d become more enthusiastic at the prospect of such a marked change in his circumstances. On balance I reckoned I was safe but nonetheless I wasn’t going to leave anything to chance.

I nodded and left without a backward glance. Hurrying into the railway station I stopped just inside the entrance and waited until I saw Alberto drive away before heading to the bank where I collected the cash I’d been depositing. Stuffing five hundred pounds into my handbag I placed the rest inside a plastic bag and then inside the foldaway carrier bag I’d hidden in the inside pocket of my coat and carefully placing Liliad on top of it all I retraced my steps to the station, obtained a one-way ticket from the machine and caught the one thirty train to London.