Alberta Clipper (38 page)

She closed her eyes again.  Her breathing was slow and steady, and sometime in the next half hour, Mark fell asleep.

~

At four
AM
he woke, partly because he was cold, partly because of the unfamiliarity of his sleeping position.  She was still lying beside him, but she had turned and was facing the wall.  He pulled the polyester eiderdown up over them from the end of the bed.  Then he put his arm around her, and fell back asleep.

~

The room was emblazoned with sunlight when Mark woke again.  In a second he saw that there was no sign of Christine, and for a moment he thought he must have returned to his own room at some point during the night.  But he couldn’t remember doing so, and when he sat upright on the bed, he saw his shoes under the chair where he had discarded them the night before.  He scanned the room, but there was no trace of her.

“Christine?”  He stood and went over to the bathroom door, but it was ajar, and the light was off.  When he turned it on, he could see that the room had been cleared of the bottles and jars he had noticed the previous evening.  Mark looked at his watch.  Eight forty-five.  She would have planned to be packed and finishing breakfast by now.  The first talk of the morning was to begin at nine fifteen.  She would have brought her luggage down to reception with her, ready to collect it after the conference finished that afternoon.  She was probably down there now.

Mark sat on the end of the bed and pulled on his shoes.  It was a little strange that she hadn’t woken him.  But then, he could imagine how she must be feeling.  She was probably mortified that he had seen her in the state she was in.  He could understand that.  And she was probably still upset about seeing Nick.  He wished he had woken, so he could put her mind at rest.  He would have told her that her secret was safe with him, that he wouldn’t mention it again if she didn’t want him to.  But maybe she might want him to.  Maybe she would feel like she could really talk to him now.

Mark looked at his watch again.  He had definitely missed breakfast, but if he hurried, he might catch a moment with her before the first talk began.  He scanned the room one more time, before heading out and up to his own room on the floor above to change and get his things.

~

“Hello Mr. Harrington.  Mark.”  Sally wheezed, and stuck her hand out.

Mark shook it awkwardly.  “Sally, how are you.  You just here?”

“No, I came for the breakfast.”

Mark raised an eyebrow.

“I’m just heading in now, the first talk is getting started.  Was yesterday useful?”

“Eh, yeah.”  Mark could hardly remember the conference yesterday. 

“Do you usually attend these things?  The bosses in London rarely do.  In fact, never do.  I think it’s great that you are still interested in what’s going on at the grassroots level, you know?  It’s good when a boss is willing to put himself out there and see what is really going on, and how it can affect the business.  Not naming names,” Sally blushed, “but the London bosses are a bit more ivory-tower, you know?  Sometimes you’d wonder if they don’t just get to the top and give up, and just sit in their fancy offices and play solitaire while everyone else actually keeps the business going.”

Mark tuned out as it seemed that Sally had plenty more to say on the subject, and had no need to take breaths like a normal person.  She kept talking as they walked into the conference hall, Mark’s eyes scanning the room for Christine all the while.  He walked towards the area they had sat the previous day, ignoring Sally’s gestures towards empty seats along the way.  The seats they had been in were occupied by a group of people who all seemed to know each other, and were chatting loudly even as the chairman requested everyone to quieten down and take their seats.  Mark sat down a few rows behind them, and Sally sat next to him.  He looked around again, but there was no sign of her.

“I’m just looking for Christine,” Mark said.  “I, eh, I haven’t seen her all morning.”

“Oh I saw her earlier,” Sally said, studying a page which contained the day’s agenda.  “She was at reception checking out when I arrived.”

“She was?”
Mark turned in his seat.  “Had she her suitcase? 
I mean,” he checked himself when he thought he saw a strange look flicker in Sally’s eye.  “I mean, was she actually leaving?  Or was she just paying for the room?  I presume she was just leaving her bag with the porter until after the conference?”

“I presume so,” Sally shrugged her shoulders.

Mark wanted to shake her.  “So you didn’t see her actually leave.”

“No.  I didn’t even speak to her, there was quite a queue, and she was talking with the receptionist.”  Sally looked up at Mark.  “Why would she be leaving?  I mean, she had planned to be here for both days, hadn’t she?  Otherwise we could have split one registration fee, cos I knew I wouldn’t make yesterday’s talk.  That’s a shame, if I’d known she wasn’t going to be here today -”

“She is to be here today,” Mark said.  “I’m sure she is here.  Somewhere.”  The room hushed as the first speaker took his place on the podium.  “
We’ll
see her at the coffee break,” he whispered.  But Sally’s eyes were fixed on the projected presentation, and she wasn’t listening.  Mark took one more fruitless look around the room, and then tried to concentrate on how carbon credits might impact his business in the near future.

~

“You’ll be okay you know.  You’re doing the right thing.  You need to get away from everything for a while.  Stay as long as you need to, Chris.  CarltonWachs can survive without you for a few weeks.  This will be good for you.  Aggie will look after you, and you can be there for her when, when she needs you.”

The phone went silent for a moment.

“Chris?  Chris?”

“I’m here.”

“You’ll be okay, Chris.”  Emily didn’t sound too convincing to Christine.

“It’s just, it’s just he was so good to me.  And now I’m just running away.”

“You’re not running away.  You need time.  Mark will understand.
Christine?  Are you still there?  Mark will understand.”

Christine wasn’t so sure.

“It’s almost as if it all never happened.  They’re saying we can bring her home tomorrow.  Possibly even this evening, if the consultant gets to see her today.” 
Shay
sat on the sofa in Mark’s office, cupping the mug of coffee Mark had made for him.  All traces of his holiday tan were gone, bleached by a week of terror and sheer exhaustion.  But his eyes told the story of a father who had just been given everything he had ever wanted.

“You shouldn’t have come in this morning,” Mark said.  “
Nina
needs you.  You should go back in to her.  Or at least go home and sleep for an hour.”

“Thanks Mark,
but I just wanted to
check up on things before the weekend.  And
Nina
’s okay now.  She slept at home last night.  I just saw her at the hospital when she came back in.”

“You were there all night?”

“Yeah, but Lucy slept.  Pretty much.  So it was okay.  Jesus,”
Shay
suddenly dropped his head
to his chest.  “I just can’t -
”  He looked up at Mark, his eyes wet.  “I just can’t imagine.”

“I know, mate.  I know.”  Mark reached over and put his hand on
Shay
’s arm.  He guessed that
Shay
hadn’t really talked about what had happened yet.  He had almost los
t a child, his baby girl.  F
or some reason,
Shay
had been offered a reprieve.  Lucy was going to be okay.  But her father was most likely still in a state of unexpressed shock.  No doubt he had being trying his best to stay strong for
Nina
and their boys all week.  Now he needed a shoulder to sob on.  Well, he had come to the right guy.  Mark found it amusin
g how he had suddenly turned in
to the person everyone opened up to.  It was a new departure for him.

Shay
pinched the bridge of his nose
.  “So,” he said
after a moment, sitting up straighter on the sofa
.  “How was Chicago?  Did you find out why they felt the need to attend our strategy meeting?  And how did the second day go?  And the conference in London?  Jeez, how long have I been out?” he smiled.  “It feels like I’ve missed an awful lot.”

Mark nodded slowly at his coffee.  “It’s been a busy couple of weeks, that’s for sure,” he said.

Just
then there was a
knock on the door, and Petra came in.  “Good morning Mark. 
Shay
,” she said when she saw him.  “I’m so glad Lucy is going to be alright.”

Shay
smiled at her.  “Thanks Petra.  I appreciate that.”

Petra didn’t move from where she stood inside the door.  “Everyone was very concerned.  I have a list of clients and colleagues who were on during the week, enquiring after her.  I’ll leave it on your desk.  The girls in reception took lots of calls too.”

Mark watched her as she spoke.  It was amazing how she could make even simple gestures of kindness sound like a to-do list. 

“Is she home yet?” she asked.

“Not yet.  Possibly today.  Might be tomorrow.”

“Right,” Petra patted the bundle of papers in her hand.  “Well, if there’s anything I can do.”

“Thank you, Petra.  I really appreciate that.  I’m hoping to be back in on Monday.  Firing on all cylinders.”

“Great.”  It sounded like this suited her schedule.  “Right, well,” she lo
oked at Mark.  “There are a couple of
things we need to go through Mark, but if now isn’t a good time?”

“You go ahead,”
Shay
stood to leave.  “I want to sort out a few things on my desk, and I’ll be going again,” he looked at his watch, “before eleven-thirty.  I need to be back in the hospital by twelve, in case the doctor has time to see Lucy today.  I want to be there for that.”

“Of course, of course,” Mark stood up too.  “I’ll talk to you again before you leave.”  He walked around behind his desk and began sifting through pages of a file lying open there.  “What’s so urgent Petra?”

“Well, I need to know if you’re still planning to go to London next week.  Or if you want to leave it until the week after, so you can see Burt Montgomery there too, like you suggested.  And we’ll have to reschedule next Wednesday’s meeting now Christine won’t be here.”

Mark looked up.  “Why won’t Christine be here?”

Petra wrinkled her eyebrows.  “Because she’s taken three weeks leave?  To go to Australia?”  Petra sounded defensive.  “She emailed me
two days ago
on
, eh,
Wednesday evening to inform me that she was taking three weeks off at short notice, and that she had okayed it with you.  At the conference.”  She shuffled through the papers in her arms, stopping at one particular page.  She scanned it quickly with her eyes, and handed it across the desk to Mark.  It was a copy of the email.  “To be honest, it’s
quite inconvenient.  I’
ve
had
to reschedule a number of meetings on her behalf.” 

She left out the ‘which isn’t in my job description’ part of the sentence, but Mark could hear it anyway.  He read the email slowly, trying to buy himself thinking time, his heart pounding all the while.  What did this mean? 
Australia?  What the hell
? 
He could feel his cheeks burning under Petra’s gaze.
 
“Of course.”  He collected himself.  “She cleared it with me at the conference.  I, I just
…
  With everything going on.”  He looked down at the file on his desk again.  “Sorry Petra.  I meant to tell you.  She had nothing urgent on and she’s due weeks of annual leave.  She didn’t use half of her days last year.”  Mark knew the quickest way to get the room back to himself was to grovel. 
He wanted Petra to leave.  He needed
to think. 
“I meant to email you myself to let you know.  And to ask you to reschedule any meetings.  She’ll be back, eh, the first of March, I believe,” he lied.  “Just check with
the team
, and make a list of anything that needs moving.”  He tried not to meet Petra’s eye, like a mouse under the gaze of a hawk.  “Look, there are a few things I need to do here,” he gestured at his desk.  “Can we sort out the London trip later this afternoon?  I’ll know what I’m doing by then.”

Petra sighed heavily.  “Of course.”  She picked up the two empty mugs from the coffee table and left the room without speaking, closing the door behind her.

Mark flopped back into his chair.  Holy fuck.  What should he do?  She was gone to Australia for three weeks.  Or, at least, that was what she said she was doing.  He had assumed that she was at the conference on Wednesday.  It had been impossible to tell, the thing was so unbelievably busy.  He hadn’t really been surprised that she had left without speaking to him.  He had guessed that she would be embarrassed.  Not that she had any reason to be.  But Sally had attached herself to his side for the day, and he couldn’t blame Christine for avoiding that.  Maybe if he had been alone, she might have talked to him.