The Bully

Chapter Thirty Two

"She's a lot better than she was, there's a real difference, some colour in her cheeks for a start. But she's thin, Bret, very thin. And quiet, barely speaks unless spoken to. Don't expect too much of her, but please, please don't give up on her." I opened my eyes at the sound of Dotty's voice and sighed, thinking she was on the phone to Bret again. Glancing at the clock I saw it was only seven o'clock in the morning. Stretching I wondered why she was on the phone up here. Usually she was very quiet in a morning and didn't come up to my attic rooms, not wanting to disturb me. Now though she sounded like she was calling down the stairs. Maybe it was a bad connection. There was a gentle knock on the door and then she came in. "Oh good you're awake. Jump in the shower lassie and get dressed," she said and then closed my door without waiting to see if I did as she said. I sighed and got up, showering and dressing in jeans and a sweater before I headed downstairs, yawning.

It was very quiet though. Usually Dotty had the radio or the TV on in a morning for the news and she'd be pottering in the kitchen. There was no sound at all though and I wondered if she'd needed to head out to the museum maybe. I went through to the kitchen and then froze in the doorway.

He was here; Bret was here, sitting at the table with a steaming mug of coffee in front of him.

I hesitated in the doorway and then he looked up, his dark eyes meeting mine with so much force that I froze. Bret's lips came up in an automatic smile before they dropped a little as he took in my wasted body, my hollow eyes. Slowly he got to his feet and made as if to approach me but I took a step back and so he resumed his seat immediately.

"Angel," he said, softly. "God I've missed you."

"Where is Dotty?" I asked, a little faintly and he smiled.

"She's just had to go to the museum. She'll be back soon. Said you're to have some breakfast and no arguing." He smiled as he said this but I was so shocked to find him there that I didn't respond. Instead I went to the kettle and automatically made myself a cup of tea which I then carried in a shaking hand to the table where I sat down opposite him. He watched me in silence for a moment, but Bret never had been good at silence. He liked to talk and he'd always had a captive audience in me from being six years old. "I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get to you, Angel. I tried to see you at the hospital but they wouldn't let me in. At first they said it was because you were in such a bad way and they weren't letting you have visitors. Then after that they said I wasn't next of kin and you weren't receiving visitors at all. We had to move on to the next city and I called every day to see how you were. Dotty called and told me she was having you back here so I figured you'd be ok, that I could talk with you on the phone until I could get out here to you. But I guess it was hard for you to come to the phone. You must be so mad with me, Angel. I should have been here, should have been with you. Dotty said there was nothing I could do, told me to finish the tour. Wish I'd come sooner though."

I shook my head and he sighed.

"I do, Angel. That night when you just vanished... I went out of my mind. At first I thought you were playing with me, that you were hiding ready to do a jump scare on me or something, but then I found your camera all smashed up and knew something had happened. Soon as I realised I called the cops but they were so fucking slow to do anything. Said that you hadn't been missing long enough, that the camera could just have been dropped. Told them I'd sue them if anything had happened to you. We went out looking, a few of us but couldn't find a thing. Then Mark told me he'd seen some guy following you in New York, described him to me and I knew. I knew who it was, Angel." He swallowed hard. "I didn't think it was possible, thought he was dead. But I went to the cops, gave them his name and description. By then you'd been missing a week so they were a bit more willing to get off their asses and do something. I didn't think they'd ever find you or if they did, I didn't think you'd be alive. When I got the call to say you were alive and safe at the hospital..." He broke off, overcome with emotion and I looked away from him. "Angel I should never have left you alone in that damn graveyard. We should have gone back to the car together and I will never forgive myself for that. I just hope you can. All that time I was giving you shit about going out alone and then I left you alone. Like a fucking prick because I wasn't keen on a few fucking stones in the dark! Fucking asshole!"