Chapter 21
Jeremy had spotted them as he entered the park gates, and was now approaching at full tilt, waving as he came. This was the very definition of a nightmare, thought Kay – something by rights she ought to be able to wake up from bathed in a cold sweat. This was everything going wrong at speed in the vast savannah of Grove Park, with no viable means of escape. Her brain immediately shrank to the size of a gazelle’s, and her leg muscles twitched with the flight response. But that lasted no more than a second or two before she started thinking again. And it surprised her how calmly and quickly she could think. She felt as cool as a barracuda drifting over a reef, as she weighed up her options. If she was going to flee, she’d have to do it now, while he was still a hundred yards away, with the details of her face not yet visible to him. But what would running look like and how would she explain it later to Dan? Could she say she’d spotted her stalker ex-boyfriend, or had a sudden, urgent need for the loo? Nothing sounded plausible.
The better option would be to try and brazen it out. If they could have met tonight as arranged, she’d have had a chance to glam herself up, emphasising the difference between her new chic self and the drab woman Jeremy had met. Her one hope was that Jeremy wasn’t the observant type, or that his memory of Library Elaine had faded in the nearly three weeks since he saw her. But if he recognised her, what then?
Deny everything , advised her inner Garfield Blake. And if that doesn’t work, wing it.
She scowled at her inner GB for this super-helpful suggestion.
“It’s Jerry,” said Dan. “I wonder what he’s doing here. Looks like you’re going to meet him sooner than planned.”
“I can’t wait,” she said.
Dan glanced at her curiously. “Last time we spoke, you sounded quite nervous of meeting him.”
“Well, I’ve had some time to think about it since then,” she said, forcing a smile, “and I’ve decided you were right. It’s going to be fine. I’m sure we’re going to really like each other.”
Dan squeezed her hand affectionately. “That’s the spirit.”
When Jeremy reached them, he was slightly breathless from having walked so fast.
“Hey Deedee!” he panted, “I’m so glad I found you.” He looked like he had something urgent to say to him but he was distracted by the sight of Kay. He bent his neck forward to squint at her as if at some curious specimen at a museum .
Here goes , thought Kay. The moment of truth.
“So you must be…” Jeremy began.
“This is Elaine,” said Dan. “Elaine, meet my brother Jeremy.”
“Hello Jeremy, I’ve heard so much about you. I’m so glad to finally meet you.”
He shook her proffered hand without removing his eyes from her face.
“Likewise,” he said vaguely. “But haven’t we met before?”
“I don’t think so.”
He continued to stare intently at her. “You know, I’m sure we have. Do you work at a library in Bush Hill Park?”
Kay felt a crumpling inside her chest, but her expression didn’t flicker as she denied it. “You must have me confused with someone else.”
“No, I don’t think I have,” he said. “You had your hair in a ponytail that day, and you were wearing glasses, but it was definitely you.”
“Didn’t you hear what she just said, Jerry?” said Dan. “You made a mistake. The woman you met at the library isn’t her.”
“But it is her, I swear. The spitting image.”
What now? Kay wondered desperately. Denial clearly wasn’t working. What the hell did wing it mean?
“Then she must have a double or something,” said Dan.
And that gave Kay an idea – a simple, stupid, half-baked idea that almost certainly wasn’t going to work, but at this point, with everything falling apart, seemed worth a try.
“Wait!” she said. “Was this woman also called Elaine by any chance?”
“Yes, she was,” said Jeremy.
Kay clicked her fingers. “Then I think I know who you must be talking about. There was a girl in my year at school called Elaine. She also looked quite like me, despite her glasses, and it became quite a joke for a while, with teachers and even some of the kids accidentally or deliberately getting us confused. I couldn’t understand it because we were totally different in personality. She was a swot, whereas I was the class clown…”
The story, though stupid and half-baked, had a weird ring of truth, she thought. She had no idea where it came from but it seemed to flow out of her effortlessly, as this namesake doppelganger of hers took shape in her head.
“I hated being compared to her – she was the very opposite of cool – and I was relieved when she had to leave because her parents moved away from the area. It must have been her you saw, Jeremy, which means she’s come back to Bush Hill Park.” Kay gave a rueful chuckle. “And it looks like she’s causing trouble for me once again!”
Dan was nodding, clearly buying the story. “Yeah, it must have been her you saw Jerry. No question about it.”
Jeremy shrugged and tilted his head as if reluctantly conceding the point. “Yeah, I suppose so – but she did look an awful lot like you.”
“Well, they say everyone has a double, right?” said Dan.
“Right,” said Kay, “and it’s just my luck that mine lives in the same neighbourhood and has the same name.”
Dan and Jerry both laughed, and with that the crisis, somehow, was over. The storm waves, slate grey and as tall as skyscrapers, that just a moment ago had crashed over the delicate coral of her carefully laid plans, threatening to destroy them, had spent their fury, and all was once again calm and sunny on her reef. How was that possible? Dan’s willingness to swallow any cock-and-bull story was one reason. The other was her ability to think on her feet – an ability she didn’t know she had until now.
As she listened to their laughter, she felt both relief and a deep sense of pride. She imagined it as similar to the pride a child might feel when they first discovered they could draw or sing. It was like finding a new part of herself. Her first thought was to call her mother and tell her about this newfound talent. Her second was the realisation that she could never tell her mother or anyone else about this. This superpower would have to remain her secret, because it had no place in any moral, law-abiding society. It was, at its essence, the ability to lie.