CHAPTER SIXTEEN
A high-pitched scream filled the air. And a split second later, the car swerved back onto the road and zoomed away into the night, leaving me standing there, shocked and trembling.
Had I not squashed myself into the hedge, I would have been knocked to the ground for certain and maybe even ended up under the wheels of that car.
The scream, I realised only much later, had come from my own lips . . .
*****
Back at the flat, I flaked out shakily on the sofa, wanting desperately to call Caleb but not having the emotional strength to do it. If my call went to answerphone again, as it had done several times that day, I’d only feel worse. And some nagging intuition was telling me that’s what would happen.
I couldn’t even reach him when I was feeling at my very worst, and right now my stomach was so uneasy, I thought I might actually be sick.
The driver of that car had been a hair’s breadth away from mowing me down and goodness knows what sort of injuries I’d have ended up with. And yet they hadn’t even bothered to stop and make sure I was all right. They’d just driven off at speed into the night.
If it had been an accident, surely any half-decent person would have felt bad and would have wanted to apologise for nearly scaring me out of my wits? Why drive off as if they really had mown me down and were worried they might get caught for reckless driving?
Unless it was just some young yobos having a laugh at some random pedestrian’s expense?
But just thinking about it was making my head hurt.
So I made a nest of cushions on the sofa and curled up to watch some TV, trying not to wonder what Caleb might be doing tonight, and who he might be doing it with.
But that was impossible, of course. It was like trying not to think about a pink elephant!
I gave my head a little shake, as if to dislodge the negativity.
You always thought dark thoughts when you weren’t feeling great. It was silly being suspicious of Caleb just because he’d been busy lately. And just to prove that I was fine about it, I tried calling him after all.
It went straight to answerphone. Of course.
But this time, I left him a light-hearted message saying I really hoped he was having a better day than I was and that I’d see him on Wednesday, mobile cake van day, if not before, and I’d bring him a chocolate doughnut which I knew was his current favourite.
The effort of sounding jolly had quite exhausted me and I threw the phone down on the sofa and grasped my stomach uneasily. The sick feeling was getting worse, but I was determined I wasn’t going to give in and go to bed.
I’d been finding it hard to fall asleep lately, worried about having another nightmare. So tonight, my plan was to stay up watching TV until I was dropping with tiredness and could no longer keep my eyes open – then hopefully, I’d sink into a dead sleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.
Knowing I should really eat something, I trailed through to the kitchen and looked in the fridge but there was nothing that took my fancy. Maybe some scrambled eggs? They were good for a tricky stomach, weren’t they?
But once made, I took one bite and knew I couldn’t face eating the rest. Maybe I was coming down with some sort of stomach flu?
My phoned buzzed and it was a text from Caleb: I’ll phone you tomorrow x
Great. So he couldn’t even be bothered to call me back. I’d have to be happy with that single, solitary kiss on the end of his horribly brief message!
I tried to get comfy on the sofa again, but I was feeling worse by the minute.
Desperate to settle my gurgling stomach, I raked through the bathroom cabinet for a remedy but there was nothing suitable.
So I went online and discovered that bananas were a good natural treatment for an upset tummy.
I stood in the kitchen, forcing myself to eat one, then – feeling scarily faint – I gave in, switched off the TV and went through to the bedroom.
Undressing quickly, I flaked out in bed, pulling the covers over my head.
I didn’t even have the energy to brush my teeth.
*****
Next day, I still felt nauseous when I woke up, although thankfully, I wasn’t actually being sick.
I breathed a sigh of relief that I wasn’t due at work until the following day, then I turned over, wrapping my arms around my tender middle, and tried to sink back to sleep.
A few hours later, when I was feeling slightly more human, I suddenly remembered I was supposed to be babysitting for Penny the following night.
I’d have to phone her and tell her I’d come down with some kind of weird virus and wouldn’t be able to do it.
Even if by some miracle I was feeling much better by then, I certainly didn’t want to pass anything nasty on to her or Will.
Penny was really sympathetic when I phoned her, asking me if I needed anything.
‘I don’t need to collect Will from school for another hour or so. I could come round and see you. Make you some scrambled eggs or something?’
‘Ooh, no!’ I grimaced, remembering last night’s failed attempt at eating them.
‘No, that’s kind of you, Penny, but I’m fine.
Honestly. Well, I’m getting there.’ I was sitting rather gingerly on the edge of the bed at the time, wondering if I could possibly brave the shower or whether that would be thoroughly unwise since I was alone in the flat with no one to pick me up if I fainted. ‘But thank you.’
‘Well, just please take care of yourself and phone me if you need anything. Anything at all, okay?’
‘Thanks, Penny. Sorry about babysitting.’
‘Hey, don’t worry about that. To be truthful, I don’t even want to go out. I’d far rather stay in and relax than have to get dressed up to meet some man with whom I’ve quite possibly got absolutely nothing in common.’
I managed a chuckle. She was only saying that to make me feel better, but it cheered me up.
I decided I felt well enough to drink some tea, and as I waited for the kettle to boil, I thought about the previous night and the car that had almost run me over. What could have made the driver lose control like that?
Had it been some young teenager, who’d just started driving and was showing off to their mates?
But it had seemed too sinister and precise for that. It would have taken some skill to mount the pavement at speed and narrowly miss me like that.
A chill settled inside.
Maybe it hadn’t been an accident at all. Perhaps whoever was behind the wheel had driven at me deliberately?
But why?
To scare me?
I swallowed hard. If that had been their motive – whoever it was – it was definitely mission accomplished . . .
*****
Caleb called me ten minutes or so after I’d said goodbye to Penny.
‘Hey, I hear you’re not feeling great?’ he said, sounding worried. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Oh, just a virus, I think.’ Penny must have phoned him and told him. No one else knew I was feeling ill.
‘Right. Best place for you is in bed, then, taking it easy and drinking lots of fluids.’
‘Thank you, doctor,’ I joked. ‘I suppose a home visit is out of the question?’
‘Sorry?’
‘I wasn’t being serious, Caleb. I would hate you to catch what I’ve got.’
‘Right.’
‘I’ll let you know when I’m feeling better. Hopefully I’ll see you on Wednesday.’
There was a brief pause. ‘Wednesday?’
‘Cake run day? I usually pop into the site office?’
‘Oh, yes. Sorry. Yes. You said you’d bring me a chocolate doughnut. Look, I need to go right now. But take care of yourself, Katja. And stay at home, okay?’
I said goodbye and ended the call, feeling strangely unsettled.
Stay at home, okay?
His insistence that I look after myself seemed weirdly at odds with the distracted way he’d been recently. The funny banter between us –always one of our greatest strengths – had been non-existent during that phone call. It had been literally like talking to my GP!
When the phone rang again a moment later, I pounced on it in the wild hope that it was Caleb again, wanting to apologise for sounding weird.
But it was another name that flashed up.
‘Maddy? How are you?’
She groaned. ‘Not as bad as I was last night but I’m still feeling pretty sick.’
‘What? Really?’
‘You’ve been feeling bad as well, haven’t you?’
I frowned. ‘How do you know that?’
‘Because Jaz just phoned me to say she was feeling nauseous and Ellie’s chutney kept repeating on her. And funnily enough, that’s exactly what’s been happening to me.’
‘And me as well!’ I gasped.
‘I thought so. I phoned Fen and she said she felt a bit sick yesterday and was starting to worry she might be pregnant again! But she says she feels fine today.’
I frowned, finding it hard to process this. ‘So hang on. Are you telling me you think it was Ellie’s chutney that made us all queasy?’
‘What else can it be? We all had some, didn’t we? And we’ve all been feeling rough ever since?’
I frowned. ‘Wouldn’t Ellie have felt rough herself if she’d been tasting the chutney as she went along?’
‘Maybe she was ill, but she put it down to some other cause?’
‘I really thought I was coming down with some weird virus.’
‘So did I. Until Jaz phoned and we realised it could be something we both ate.’
‘It wasn’t nice. The chutney. But actual food poisoning?’
‘Who’s going to tell Ellie?’
‘Not me.’ I shuddered at the very thought.
‘She has to know. I mean, she’s donating multiple jars of the stuff to the WI sale and it’s happening next week. Can you imagine the news headlines if she manages to make an entire village ill, just in time for Christmas?’
‘Ellie the Sunnybrook Poisoner?’ I groaned. ‘Oh, don’t.’
‘Someone has to tell her and it sounds like you’re all chicken,’ pointed out Maddy. ‘I’ve got a horrible feeling it will have to be me.’