Guilty Love (Completed)

Chapter Twenty'Three

    Linzi shivered and shook her head involuntarily. She couldn't bear the idea of going back to the flat she had shared with Barty. "Of course not," Aunt Ella quickly said. "Too many memories. And you won't want to go on with that job either, will you?"  Linzi's face darkened with stricken colour at the very idea of going back to Ritchie Calhoun's office. Aunt Ella didn't wait for her to reply. No doubt her expression had answered for her.

"Then come with us. I've spoken to the police and they would have no objection to you leaving the area, so long as they had your new address and a guarantee that you will turn up in court. As I just told you, I've got an antique shop in a village not far from Stratford-upon-Avon. Tiny village called Rushmere. A couple of hundred people and a few dogs. But we get good passing trade. People on their way to Stratford often stop, and we do rather well, financially. If you want it, there's a job for you there, for as long as you like. It won't pay as well as Mr Calhoun did, no doubt, but I can throw in free accommodation. I've got a spare bedroom in my house and you're welcome to that, or if you prefer to be independent you might like to live in the flat over the shop, but to begin with, why not try staying with me in my house, so that Gareth and I can get to know you?"

"Gareth?"

"My son," Aunt Ella said on a note of reproach. "Don't you remember him? He was only a few years older than you, surely you remember Gareth. You use to go swimming with him." Linzi remembered him then and smiled faintly. "Of course, he's fair, with blue eyes! People often used to think he was my big brother-- we looked alike."

Aunt Ella nodded. "That's right. You both have Erickson colouring. Your father always swore ours was a Viking family from way back and that was why we were all tall, fair and blue-eyed. Gareth married a blonde girl, too, but she died a couple of years ago. She had a weak heart. They had a little boy, Paul, who was only four when she died. Gareth couldn't cope with him on his own so he and Paul came to me so that I could look after them both. I expect Gareth will get married again some day, but meanwhile, I have a big house, there's plenty of room, and Paul is at school all day now. You'll like him, he's a cheerful little boy, and you and Gareth always got on well. As for the village, well, it's a friendly little place. The people are kind, I'm sure you'll soon feel at home there."

Linzi felt faintly dazed. This morning when she got up she hadn't had an idea what she was going to do when she left hospital, she hadn't even thought ahead that far, and now her life was mapped out for her. "You're very kind," she murmured again, her voice husky, and Aunt Ella gave her a searching look. "If you don't want to come and stay, say so, dear. I won't be offended. I'm just offering a bolthole, if you want it. You aren't obliged to accept."

Being given the freedom to choose made Linzi's mind up, she gave Aunt Ella a shaky little smile. "I'm very grateful, and I'd love to come."

A few days later, Linzi was allowed to leave the hospital. Aunt Ella offered to go to the flat and pack up her things, but Linzi nerved herself to do it. She couldn't go on hiding from everything forever. The physical signs of what happened had gone. The bruises  and dark stains on her skin had faded, her throat no longer hurt, her voice wasn't hoarse any more, and she could swallow without pain. The mental scars would never heal. She would have to learn to live with them.

She stopped off en route at the local department store to buy two new suitcases and as she was putting them into her car a voice said uncertainly behind her,

"Linzi?"

Swinging, she looked into Megan Hobson's face with a disconcerted intake of breath.

"Oh, hello."

A spot of red burnt in her cheeks, and she looked away. Megan would know all about it, the whole firm would know the details by now. Painful embarrassment made it hard to look at the other woman, let alone talk to her. "So, you're out of hospital! I tried to see you several times but they said you couldn't have visitors. Did you get my flowers?"

Linzi didn't know, she had been sent flowers from all sorts of surprising people, for a while her little room had looked like a florist's shop, but she hadn't even read the cards. Most of the time she had barely noticed the flowers themselves. She had not been noticing anything very much.

"Yes, thank you," she lied, though, because she did not want to hurt Megan's feelings. "It was very kind of you."

"Not at all, I was very shocked when I heard. I'm so sorry, Linzi, it's a terrible mess, isn't it?"

"Yes," Linzi said. What else was there to say in answer to such a question ?

"And poor Ritchie...," Megan watched the way Linzi's body tightened, her face grow paler, tender. Discreetly she changed the subject, "But let's talk about you, tell me the truth now, how are you ? Really ?"

In a burst of honesty, Linzi said, "Just about surviving," then wished she hadn't given so much away, and turned to slam down the boot of her car, "Sorry, but I have to go, I have a lot to do," she muttered. Megan noticed the new suitcases, she gave Linzi another quick, shrewd look. "Going away ?"

Linzi nodded.
"On holiday, or for good ?"
"For good." Linzi said shortly.
"When are you leaving ? Maybe we could have lunch..."
Shaking her head, Linzi said, "I'm going later today, I'm afraid. I must rush back to pack, now, Megan....., sorry."
"I heard you'd sent in your notice, Ted mentioned it," Megan said as Linzi got behind the wheel of her car. "How is Ted ?" Linzi asked, frowning as she remembered the accident, the shock it had given her to see Ted lying there, on his face, his body ominously still. In her nightmares in hospital sometimes the two scenes had blurred and converged, become one.. Ted one minute, Barty the next, a repeating pattern of fear and death with herself and Ritchie the connecting threads.

Megan smiled warmly. "Oh, he's okay now, and, touch wood, there'll be no after-effects from the head injury, even the headaches have stopped. Back at work this week, in fact. He's tough, my Ted." Linzi managed a smile. "Yes, thank heavens. Well, give him my love. I must rush, sorry. Bye, Megan." Then she started the engine, and Megan stood on the pavement and watched her drive away.

The flat was very neat and tidy. Aunt Ella had spent two days putting it into spick and span order, all Linzi had to do was pack up those possessions she was taking with her and stack everything else into some empty cartons to be stored by a removal firm until she'd decided what she wanted to do with them. She and Barry had a long lease on the flat, an estate agent was going to try to sell the lease, so she wanted the flat cleared.