Love at Second Sight (11 page)

Mrs Davies nodded. ‘Sound advice. So he’s been in touch with you then?’

I nodded. ‘Texts, emails, but we talked about it when he was last back from uni.’

‘He keeps a photo of you in his wallet, you know,’ she confided. Effy’s mum was another one who wanted to see me back with Owen.

I felt myself squirming. I felt bad that I’d broken up with Owen. ‘That’s nice. It’s just, I... we ... we both felt that with him being at uni that we should ... you
know, no ties. He must be meeting loads of new girls there. I didn’t want to hold him back.’

‘He hasn’t met anyone special, I don’t think,’ said Mrs Davies and she gave me a meaningful look.

Luckily our chat was interrupted by prospective house-hunters. I sighed with relief as the door opened and a couple came in. I never know what to say when Mrs Davis brings Owen up. I can’t
tell her the truth, like, oh yeah, I like Owen, your son, but he doesn’t make my toes curl. Not really what any mother wants to hear!

Effy’s mum got up to greet them. ‘Hello, can I help you?’

As Mrs Davis attended to the clients, I glanced out of the window. I spotted Ben outside with his dog. He glanced at his watch then looked down the street as if looking for someone. He turned
and looked in the window. For once, he wasn’t wearing his shades. Our eyes met and for a moment, there was a jolt of recognition. He stared. I stared. No smile.

Oh this is ridiculous,
I thought.
I’m going to go and talk to him. Break the ice properly. We have to speak sometime if we’re going to be working on the clairvoyant article
together.

I got up and walked out onto the street to join him. ‘Hey,’ I said. ‘I don’t think we’ve actually met properly. I’m Jo Harris–’

‘I know who you are,’he said.

Boy, he really is unfriendly,
I thought. ‘OK. And you’re Ben Fraser and don’t say you know who you are as well because that would be obvious.’

A glimmer of a smile crossed his face. Without his shades, he was actually quite good-looking. Amber brown eyes, even features and a full wide mouth – if he smiled once in a while,
he’d be very attractive – and he had a nice voice, soft but deep. His dog nuzzled my hand so I bent over and gave him a stroke.

‘What’s his name?’ I asked.

‘Max,’ Ben replied.

‘So how do you know me?’ I asked.

He looked straight into my eyes. ‘You don’t remember?’

His gaze was so intense, like he was really looking into me. It made me feel strange. Exposed in some way. I looked away, leant on one hip and attempted to look unflustered. ‘Um . . .
Yeah. Course I remember. I saw you playing on the Heath, at the fair and then again at Camden Lock. You’re in Minted with Finn, yeah?’

‘Finn. Yeah. No, not then.’

‘Oh. The
Chillaxin
meetings. My friend Effy said you’d been at them.’ I was beginning to feel awkward, bad for not having noticed him.

‘Yeah I’ve seen you at those too. But we met before that.’

‘When?’

‘At junior school. I remember you.’ He stared at me intently again.

I felt myself blush and had to look away. I didn’t remember him from school. ‘Oh. Sorry. Long time ago I guess.’

He shrugged his shoulder and let out a sigh. ‘I guess. Whatever. Ages ago.’

‘So as we’re going to be working on an article together – the one about clairvoyants – I thought maybe we should talk about it. What angle you’re taking and
that.’

What angle are you taking?’ he asked.

‘Oh. To tell you the truth, I’ve only made some rough notes so far. I’m not sure what I’m going to write yet. We’ve seen a few. One seemed genuine, others seemed
sincere but no more in touch with the spirit world than me or . . . your dog, Max.’

‘Are you into all that stuff?’

‘Not really. It’s more Effy’s thing.’

He nodded.

‘What do you think about it all?’ I asked.

He rolled his eyes. ‘Load of tosh. Fodder for idiots.’

I laughed. ‘Don’t hold back. Tell me how you really feel’

That glimmer of a smile again. He’d be cute if he lightened up.

‘That’s how I feel,’ he said. What’s your opinion?’

‘Same as yours. Well, mainly. For gullible people–’

‘They tell people what they want to hear. End of.’

‘Yes. At least, maybe. I don’t know any more.’

‘Why? Have you’ve been told something that’s come true?’

‘Not exactly. I. . .’ I didn’t want to tell him about Lily and her pointing to my dad’s ring nor did I want to tell him about the Henrietta story. That was private stuff
plus I was getting the message fast that Ben was as cynical as me, or at least, as I used to be. Not that I’d changed my mind that much, but I was definitely wavering around the edges.

‘Give me your number,’ said Ben. ‘When you’ve thought about the article more and what you really think maybe we can talk.’

I scribbled my number on a piece of paper and gave it to him. He put it in his pocket. He began to walk away then turned back. ‘Hey, Jo.’

‘Yes.’

He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to me. ‘Exhibition next week. Not far from here. It’s on at the Highgate Literary and Scientific Institute. Starts next
Friday. I’ve got a few photos in.’

‘Oh, right, thanks,’ I said. ‘Good for you.’

‘You haven’t seen them yet.’

‘No, I haven’t. I meant good for you getting work into an exhibition.’

Ben glanced at the leaflet in my hand. ‘No obligation but you could see what I do. It’s on for a few weeks. If you’re interested.’

Effy appeared down the pavement and when Ben saw her, he began to move on. ‘OK, bye then,’ he said.

‘What was that all about?’ asked Effy when she joined me.

I glanced after Ben. ‘Not sure. He’s weird, sort of intense. He’s invited us to a photo exhibition.’

‘Us or you?’ asked Effy.

‘Anyone I think. I don’t know. He’s hard to read. Says he remembers me from junior school. I felt bad I didn’t remember him.’

Effy looked down the street at Ben walking away. ‘Nice dog though.’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Nice dog, shame about the owner.’

Effy thrust the near-death experiences book into my hand. ‘In the meantime, this should keep you busy.’

‘Thanks,’ I said. As we went back into the agency to join Effy’s mum, Ben’s face flashed through my mind. The way he looked at me. Interested, but guarded, like he
didn’t want to give anything away. I made myself think back to junior school. A boy called Ben Fraser. Nope. I couldn’t recall him.

‘So who’s this Howard then?’ asked Mum when I got home later that evening.

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

Mum pointed to the answering machine in the hall. ‘There’s a message for you on there from Tash. She sounded very excited, said they’ve found Howard. Is he some new boy
you’ve got your eye on?’

‘No. Nothing like that.’

‘So who is he?’

Hmm. How to explain? Oh Howard, yeah, he’s a corpse, as in six foot under. Not what you want to hear about your daughter’s latest crush. ‘I’ll tell you later, Mum. Let me
phone Tash.’

I took the phone from the hall and went into our front room to call her. I didn’t want Mum listening in and then giving me the third degree.

‘Jo, you got my message?’ said Tash when she picked up.

‘Yes. What have you found?’

‘Dave’s uncle’s been on the case again. It’s amazing. You’re not going to believe it.’

‘Just
tell
me Tash.’

‘Oh, right. Yeah. So, Dave was looking into the census records and he found Henrietta and where she lived! Hold on, I’ve got it written down. Halville House, Trafalgar Road, London.
The record said she was governess in the household of a Dr Edward Watts, that he was head of the house, and also there on the night that the census was taken were his wife Lydia Watts and their two
boys, wait for it, Howard and Daniel and Lydia’s mother, Violet Emery.’

‘No way. Oh my God.’ I was shocked. I had never really imagined that they had
all
actually existed. And here was proof not just of Henrietta, but a whole family. My rational
mind soon kicked in. ‘Might not mean anything. As I’ve said all along, they might have been relatives of Betty’s and she was using their names.’

‘Killjoy,’ said Tash. ‘Come on, Jo. You have to admit this is interesting at least. Anyway, that’s not all. Apparently Dave’s been able to dig even further and
he’s found out that Dr Watts was married, and Daniel and Howard were christened, at St George’s church in Highgate–’

‘St George’s? I know exactly where that is. It’s just a bit further down from the square.’

‘I know. Amazing, isn’t it? We’re going to look up Trafalgar Road too in a moment. Imagine if we can find Halville House. You might remember it. And we can go to the church
too. Henrietta could have gone to Daniel’s christening. Have you ever been inside?’

‘No. Never.’

‘So you’ll come with us?’

Despite all my doubts, I couldn’t help but feel a shiver of the excitement that Tash was clearly feeling. ‘Yeah. Course but it might not prove anything. So these people existed. It
might be a dead end.’

Tash cracked up. ‘Dead end. Very funny. So tomorrow after school OK?’

‘OK.’

I hung up the phone, still feeling a bit in shock. It felt like the whole thing was building a momenturn and I was being taken along with it whether I liked it or not. It would be nice to talk
everything over with someone besides Tash and Effy
Owen,
I thought and pulled out my mobile and dialled his number.

‘Hey, what’s up?’ he said a moment later.

‘Tash has found Henrietta, the family she worked for and where they lived.’

‘No way!’

‘That’s what I said. What do you think?’ In the background over the phone, I heard someone talking to Owen. ‘Oh. Bad time? Sorry, Owen, are you busy?’

‘No, it’s fine. Just got a mate over for supper.’

‘Mate?’

‘Susie. She’s on the same course as me.’

‘Oh. Hey, no matter. I’ll call another time, yeah?’

‘Yeah,’ said Owen, then I heard him laugh at something Susie had said then he hung up. I was surprised to find that I felt jealous. Owen was always there for me. Complete attention.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about sharing him with another girl.

‘Jo, dinner,’ Mum called from the kitchen.

‘Can I eat later?’ I called back.

‘No. It’s salmon. It will dry out and I want to hear about Howard.’

Reluctantly I went into the kitchen and prepared myself for her questions. There was no point fighting it, when Mum wanted to know about something, she wore away at it until surrender.

Mum sat opposite me. ‘Are you OK, Jo?’

I nodded. ‘Yes. Fine. Why?’

‘Just you seem preoccupied lately. Is anything worrying you?’

‘No. Not really.’

‘You know you can always talk to me.’

‘I know.’

She got up and put our food out on plates. We ate our meals in silence. Suddenly she started to laugh.

‘What’s so funny?’ I asked.

‘Oh ... just hearing Tash mention a Howard earlier.’

‘So what’s funny about that?’

‘It brought back some memories. When you were little, you had an imaginary friend. We were quite worried about you for a while because you talked about him, and to him, non-stop until you
were about five. Don’t you remember?’

I shook my head.

‘You used to insist that he ate at the table with us,’ Mum continued, ‘and I had to lay a place for him. It was most unlike you because apart from that, you were such a
serious, sensible little girl’

‘So what’s made you remember all that now?’

‘Tash’s call. You see, in a world of Sams, Daves and Mikes, you called your friend Howard. Such an oldfashioned name. We wondered where you came up with it.’

I almost choked on my supper.

As we stood outside St George’s church on Wednesday evening after school, I stared up at the tall spire and tried to see if it evoked any memory. It didn’t.

‘Does it feel familiar?’ asked Tash.

I pretended that I was going to faint. ‘I . . . oh . . . yes, oo, it’s all coming back to me–’

‘She’s messing about,’ said Effy. Take no notice of her.’

‘Of
course
it’s familiar,’ I said. ‘I’ve been past here a million times on the way to school but beyond that, no, I can’t say it’s bringing
anything up.’

Effy looked disappointed.

Tash pointed at the door where an elderly-looking vicar with white hair was going in. ‘Hey, it’s open,’ she said and tugged on my arm. ‘Let’s go in.’

Effy was off in a flash. The decision had been made for me. We
were
going in.

Once inside the dark interior, we could see that the vicar was up near the altar on the left. I gazed around at the pews, the stained glass windows and the chapel. It felt so quiet and peaceful
and the smell of frankincense mixed with the fragrance of lilies from the enormous displays filled the air. I breathed in the scent and silence but had no feeling of deja vu. The only sensation I
got was that the altar was on the wrong side. For some reason, when we’d gone in, I’d expected it to be on the right of the door.

The vicar saw us and came towards us. ‘Can I help you?’

‘I was wondering if you kept records of people buried here? If there was a cemetery at the back of the church–’ I started.

‘We . . . I’ve been doing some family research and . . .’ said Effy, ‘and my great-great-uncle was a parishioner here. I believe that he was married in St George’s
and might even be buried here. Um ... do you have any records? It would mean a lot to his family’

I went red as she lied away, but when she mentioned the part about her great-great-uncle being a parishioner, the vicar looked interested.

‘Do you have an idea of when he died?’ asked the vicar.

‘Oh! Can you remember, Tash?’ she asked.

‘I think about 1910 or maybe a bit later,’ said Tash.

‘What was his name?’

‘Edward Watts,’Effy replied.

Watts? Hmmm, I can’t be a hundred per cent sure without looking it up, but the adjoining cemetery is small so it’s unlikely that he’s buried here. The population expanded in
the late eighteen hundreds to such an extent that it was too much for the local graveyards. So because of the date it’s more likely that he’s buried elsewhere. I’m sorry to
disappoint you. However, several large cemeteries were plotted to cope with the numbers so you could try Highgate Cemetery down the road, it’s much bigger and took the overflow. There are
regular tours you could join.’