Chapter Thirty Four

At half past two in the afternoon Ash should have been firmly entranced by the neat rows of numbers on her computer screen. Instead, she was staring out of the window, wondering just what to do next.

She had a long list of things that needed taking care of. She should buy a car, for example. Living in London without one was all very well, but outside of the city she was going to need transport. She should also hire a moving company because she really didn't fancy moving boxes herself.

Her stomach jumped with excitement when she thought about it.

The only tiny fly in the ointment was that she couldn't tell Pen until Tuesday. She'd decided that she definitely had to tell her in person. But for some reason, Pen didn't want her there over the weekend. Something that Ash was determined not to let bother her.

She was sure that Pen had her reasons. She was sure that Pen had feelings for her. And she was sure that whatever was keeping Pen busy had absolutely nothing to do with, well, with anything that should have her thinking bad thoughts.

"This optimism thing is really starting to work out," she said out loud. She looked at the empty couch. "And talking to thin air looks a lot less crazy when there's a cat around. Maybe Mary had a point there."

She wondered idly whether Fabio would come with the shop. Of course he would, she decided. And she'd let him live there because, as George was desperate to point out, it was his home.

The first phone call came just as Ash was debating how exactly she was going to buy a car when she had zero mechanical knowledge to stop her getting ripped off.

"Hello?" she said, not recognizing the number.

"Hello?" said a voice. "Is that Ash?"

"Speaking."

"You don't really know me, my name's Moira Hadley."

"With the children," Ash said, she'd heard the name often enough. Why the woman was calling her was anyone's guess though.

"Er, yes, I suppose that's me," Moira said. "Um, I got your number from Arjun, he was going to phone you, but then he said it wasn't really a police matter and he didn't want you to panic. And, well, you would panic if you got a phone call from the police, wouldn't you?"

Ash was already starting to feel wobbly. "I'll panic at a phone call from you if you're not careful," she said. "What is it?"

"Nothing, please don't panic. It's just, well, Pen's had a funny turn is all. My kids were with her and she's alright, I think. I just… I thought you should know and Pen could really use someone with her. I'm not sure she should be alone no matter what she says."

"I'll be there as soon as I can," Ash said, already pulling out a bag and starting to cram clothes into it.

"Oh? Really? Oh, well, that's nice. Thank you."

"Thank you," Ash said, clicking the end call button.

What was all that about? What was Pen up to now? Maybe she was ill, maybe there was something going on that Ash knew nothing about. She grabbed clothes faster, stuffing everything she could think of into the bag.

The phone rang again just as she was about to leave the flat. She picked it up, thinking it might be Pen, but it was Lucy that answered.

"Ash? Is that you?"

"You called me, I should hope so," Ash snapped. "And if you're calling about Pen, I already know. I'm on my way."

"Oh, good," Lucy said, sounding relieved. "But don't worry, she's fine."

"So everyone keeps telling me. Except they also keep calling me, so she can't be that fine," said Ash. Her stomach was heavy with worry and she really didn't like the feeling at all

"She is fine, I swear," said Lucy.

"I'll come and see for myself," Ash said, hanging up the call again.

She made it out into the corridor and suddenly had an awful thought. That car that she was planning on buying didn't actually exist yet at all. She had no way of getting down to Tetherington without a rental car and she hadn't booked one.

Stealing herself, she knocked on Amanda's door.

"Oh, going away again?" Amanda asked in surprise as she opened the door.

"Yes, sort of, I mean…" Ash took a deep breath. "I mean a friend of mine is ill and I need to see her."

"Don't worry about the flat then, I'll take care of everything. A place like that won't be on the market long," Amanda said.

"Yeah, right, thanks," said Ash. She swallowed. "It's just… I have to go out of London and I don't have a car rented and I wondered if you might know someone or something or…" She trailed off. She'd knocked on the door because it was the first one there and because she knew Amanda and because she'd panicked. Probably it hadn't been the best idea.

"Wait, a friend?" Amanda said, tilting her head to one side. "This wouldn't be your Princess Charming, would it?"

Ash managed a slight smile thinking that Pen made the perfect princess with all her golden curls. "Yes, actually, yes it is," she said.

Amanda disappeared behind the door for a moment and when she came back she was holding a set of very expensive looking car keys. Ash's eyes opened wide.

"I can't take those," she said, seeing the BMW logo on the back.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Amanda. "Jason will just have to take the Tube to work like everyone else."

The keys dangled temptingly in front of her and Ash eyed them, biting her lip. "I… I shouldn't."

Amanda reached out, took her hand, and planted the keys directly in it. "Nothing stands in the way of true love," she said. "Nothing."

"Who's at the door?" Jason's voice floated through from the living room.

Amanda gave Ash a secret smile. "Go on then. I'll deal with him. The car's in the parking garage, just press the unlock button and you'll find it."

And Ash fled, the keys in her hand.

Her phone rang again as she was running down the stairs.

"Ash? It's George."

"I know. I'm coming. Pen's fine," she gasped, lugging her bag down yet another flight of stairs.

"Oh. Yes. Right."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Good," said George.

"You're the third person to call me."

"Huh. Well, we're worried."

"About someone that three people have assured me is absolutely fine?"

"We can still be worried," George said. "Just… drive safe."

THE CAR DROVE like it was floating on air but Ash didn't have the time to truly appreciate it. What she did have time to do was thoroughly chastise herself for ever getting into this mess in the first place.

"If I hadn't been stubborn, if I hadn't been stuck in my ways, I'd never have left," she said to the empty car. "And then Pen wouldn't be alone."

Well, Pen wasn't exactly alone. After Moira, Lucy, and George had called she'd had another call from Mr. Gupta and then one from someone called Elspeth, who apparently worked at the school. All in all, half the town seemed to have got her phone number from somewhere and she was beginning to suspect Arjun Gupta of leaking official police information.

It was after eight by the time she was pulling into a parking place on the high street. She'd hit every traffic jam between here and London. She grabbed her bag from the car and walked down the street, past the shuttered bookshop, to the bakery where the lights still gleamed from the window.

George and Lucy were sitting at a table, coffee cups and empty plates in front of them.

"Oh thank god, we thought you'd never get here," George said, jumping up as Ash came in.

"Actually, we thought you'd changed your mind and decided to stay in London," said Lucy, as George turned the bakery sign to closed and locked the door behind her.

"Why would I do that?" Ash asked, stung.

Lucy shrugged. "Changed your mind, like I said."

Ash felt a prickling of heat on the back of her neck. "Changed my mind about what? About Pen? About the nicest, best, most decent person any of us will ever have the chance to know? About the most beautiful, loving, generous person I've ever met? Why would I do that?"

"Well, you did leave," pointed out Lucy.

George shook his head. "This isn't helping anything."

"Where is she?" asked Ash.

"Upstairs, asleep," said George. "Which is exactly where she needs to be."

"Tell me what happened," Ash said.

With a sigh, George began to tell her about the fundraisers, the jumble sale, the crocheted animals, the cakes, the babysitting, and everything else that Pen had been doing.

"And I painted pictures," Lucy added at the end.

Ash shook her head. "She was doing all that?"

George nodded. "She was over-tired. Hadn't slept, I think. Then she just fainted dead away in the middle of the shop. Moira's kids had to go and find a policeman."

"I don't understand," said Ash. "Why was she doing all that? What for?"

Lucy and George looked at each other, then George told her everything, the entire flimsy plan that they'd had. And when he got to the end he looked bereft and sad.

"The worst part is," he said. "It was all for nothing. We can't rent the shop and Pen overheard us talking about it and had another funny turn and then we had to put her to bed and the doctor came in and checked her over and gave her something to make her sleep for a while."

Lucy nodded earnestly. "And the bookshop's sold," she said, just to be clear.

Ash looked at them both, their sharp, peaked faces tired and sad and then she did the unthinkable. She laughed.