Soul Protector (27 page)

“I switched into Emily to try
and help her. Her boyfriend hits her, so I decided to see my mum
because she’s a counsellor for abused women. But Mum’s boyfriend
Terry came home and he had a red aura. He must be
corrupt
.”

Tom’s expression turned more
serious, which didn’t help my anxiety levels.

“Tom, Mum is still with him.
Will she be safe?”

He shook his head. “I don’t
know. He hasn’t hurt her up until now. But we don’t know what the
hell he’s playing at. We need to get him to the Office.”

“But how?” I was starting to
get frantic.

Tom began pacing the space
between the front door and the back of his porch.

“Where’s your primary
body?”

“At home.”

He carried on wearing out the
stretch of carpet. “Damn it, Dan and the others are out on a job,
I’ll have to try and get hold of them. You and I need to go back to
yours first, so you can switch back.”

“Why? I’ve only been switched
for a couple of hours. Getting Mum safe is more important.”

“No, you have to be in your own
body. I need you to go to into your mum’s house and act normal like
nothing’s going on and then lead him out to us. That way we can
grab him discreetly.” He stopped pacing and looked up at me. “Are
you sure he didn’t see you earlier?”

I pulled a face. “I don’t think
so, but I didn’t dare look back. I just knew I had to get out of
there.”

Tom took his backpack off the
coat hook and pulled out a black top and a pair of trousers. He
pulled them over his shorts in record time.

“Right, you go. I’ll follow in
my car.”

I nodded, and spun on my heel.
I didn’t need telling twice. I had to get Mum safe as soon as
possible.

I heard Tom talking into his
Bluetooth as he climbed into his car, it sounded like he was
arranging to pick up some monitors on the way. I wondered if one of
them would be Dan.

Familiar with Emily’s car now,
I drove back to the flat as fast as I dare. When I got out the car,
Tom parked up next to me and nodded. I felt sick with nerves as I
rushed up the stairs and buzzed the intercom.
Come on, hurry
up.
Déjà-vous whipped round and hit me full on. Three times I’d
swapped, and each time had been a disaster.
Never again
.

‘Gracie’ answered and clicked
the release button. I ran up the stairs two at a time, and as soon
as she opened the door I grabbed her without speaking, keeping one
hand firmly planted on the door handle so as not to topple. One
benefit was that explanations to ‘Gracie’ weren’t necessary. As I
became myself again, I carried my new thoughts and memories with
me.

The giddy sensation I had been
expecting passed quickly. Back inside my own head, I looked across
at Emily. She looked dazed.
God, what must she be thinking?
I’d forgotten to formulate any thoughts in her mind to erase the
scene with Tom. I gently placed my hand on her arm. She blinked and
shook her head before smiling at me.

“Are you okay?” I asked
anxiously.

“Erm, yes. But, Gracie, could
you apologise to your Mum for me? After you left me there we were
chatting and her boyfriend came round. I just kind of freaked and
legged it. She must think I’m really rude.”

“No, she won’t. She’ll
understand.”

“I ended up at a friend of
yours, I don’t know how,” she forced a laugh and I noticed a flush
of colour to her cheeks. “He was a bit stressed and told me to come
round here instead.”

I was relieved she was so
vague. I didn’t really have time to switch back and start sorting
out her thoughts.

“And thanks, Gracie, for making
me face up to my problems.”

“You’re not going back to him
now are you?” I asked, fear suddenly prickling.

“No, no way. Me and Graham are
history. I think I’ll go to my sister’s. She’s been on at me to
leave him for ages. Yeah, I’m going round there right now and tell
her she’s been right about him all along.”

I blew out a deep breath. That
was one less thing for me to worry about.

I rubbed my sweaty palms
together, trying to think of a nice way to get rid of her. I needed
to get back to Mum’s fast, but I knew Emily was vulnerable, so I
tried to be tactful as I rushed the next sentence.

“Listen, can we meet up soon. I
know Mum would love to see you again, and I’m here for you
too.”

“I’d like that,” she said,
smiling.

I felt really bad getting rid
of her when she’d just made such a huge step forward, but right now
Mum’s need was greater.

“Okay, let me have your number
and I’ll be in touch soon,” I said, grabbing a pen and an old
envelope off the shelf.

She scribbled down her mobile
number on the back of it and handed it to me. We hugged our
goodbyes and she retreated back down the communal stairs, with me
just a few paces behind.

I jumped into the passenger
seat next to Tom and gave him directions to Mum’s. I was so
nervous, I hardly dared breathe. I couldn’t stop shivering and
wrapped my arms around my body to try and make it stop.

Tom looked over at me. “Hey,
it’s gonna be okay.”

I gritted my teeth and
nodded.

“How long have your mum and
this Terry guy been together?”

“A few months.”

“Well he hasn’t hurt her yet,
and we’ll make sure she’s safe from now on. It’ll be fine, I
promise.”

I took a deep breath. “Thanks,
Tom.”

“For what?”

“For staying positive. I’d be
freaking out much more if you weren’t here.”

He smiled at me. “All part of
the service.”

“But can you keep talking to me
until we get there, because I’m only inches away from total
meltdown.”

“Sure.”

He looked thoughtful for a
moment, like he wanted to say something but didn’t quite know how
to broach the subject.

“Gracie, I still can’t get my
head round you and Dan splitting up. You two made such a good
couple.”

I felt my heart sink. I’d been
hoping for something more light-hearted.

“Well, you’d have to speak to
your brother about that, he was the one who decided we should break
up.”

Tom looked a bit sheepish. “I
don’t need to. I’m regularly inside his head, remember? I’d try and
change his mind for him, but it’s against the code. Anyway, he
thinks you’re still hung up on an ex.”

I looked out the side window
briefly. Normally this would have been too painful to talk about,
but after recent events I just felt numb.

I shrugged. “That’s all
history. I’m over my ex, but Dan chooses not to believe me.”

“Oh,” Tom took his eyes off the
road to look at me for a moment. “I think that may have more to do
with
his
ex than yours.”

I stared at him, willing him to
carry on.

“Listen, I don’t know if I’m
breaching patient confidentiality,” he said winking at me, “but Dan
hasn’t had a girlfriend for a good year. The last one he went out
with broke his heart.” He stopped for a moment to check my
reaction. I swallowed hard, bracing myself for the details.

“They were together for about
six months. There was no questioning they loved each other, but she
didn’t like his job. She hated the fact he had to go on call and
drop plans at the last minute, but mostly she hated that it was all
so secretive and he couldn’t share any details with her.”

Maybe I wasn’t that numb. I
hated the thought of Dan with someone else, but it would have been
hypocritical of me to begrudge him having a past.

“They used to argue a lot.
Mainly because she convinced herself he was having an affair. To
cut a long story short, she told him to work nine to five or it was
over. He told her he couldn’t give up his job, so she cut him dry.
Within weeks she got back with her ex and came round to show Dan
her new engagement ring. She finished off by telling him she made a
mistake getting together with Dan as she’d never stopped loving her
ex.”

“Classy.”

“Yeah, ‘course, she only came
round to rub Dan’s nose in it and make him jealous, but he couldn’t
see that. He thinks she was just using him all that time, and it
knocked his trust in the fairer sex. So I’m afraid you’re suffering
for her mistakes.”

“Did she get married to the
other guy then?”

“What do you think? As soon as
she realised her plan wasn’t working, she dumped the poor guy and
came crawling back. But Danny boy had put his barriers up by then.
You, Gracie Reynolds, were the first one to knock them all down
again.”

I shook my head sadly. That
explained a lot. But I had no time to fret about it. I filed it
away, ready to torment myself by picking over it at a later time,
when I wasn’t so worried about Mum.

We made a slight detour to pick
up three monitors who were waiting for us. I hurriedly looked from
one face to the next, but Dan wasn’t among them. Tom did some quick
introductions as they climbed into the car and we carried on
driving towards Mum’s house.

Although Tom kept up the
pretence of being calm, he cursed at every red light and every slow
driver en route.

We finally turned into the
familiar estate, and Tom parked just round the corner from Mum’s
house.

Tom turned to me. “Right, let
me have your phone. I need to punch in this number in case you need
it.”

I handed it over and watched
him tap away.

“I’m going to park here for a
minute to make sure he doesn’t see you’re with us. You walk down to
your Mum’s, and we’ll park up by that big willow so we’ve got a bit
of privacy. You tell Terry your car has broken down up the road,
and make him come outside with you.”

I nodded.

“And remember, Gracie, you have
to act natural.”

“Okay,” I said, fumbling with
my seatbelt clip and trying to yank the strap while it was still
locked in.

“Hey, hey, stop a minute.” Tom
put his hand gently on my shoulder and looked at me. “Calm down and
take some deep breaths. It’s going to be okay.”

I nodded at him and slowed my
breathing down, but inside I was a bag of nerves. I freed the
seatbelt, jumped out the car and began walking round the corner
towards Mum’s house. As soon as it came into view, I knew we’d
lucked out. Terry’s car was gone.
Damn.

I stopped walking and tucked
myself in tight behind the willow. I dug into my pocket, pulled out
my phone and tapped in Mum’s name. She picked up after a couple of
rings.

“Hi Mum, is everything okay,” I
asked, trying to erase the panic from my voice.

“Hi love. Yes, I’m fine thanks.
I was just going to ring you. Your friend Emily disappeared on me.
One minute she was here, then Terry arrived home after work, and
she took off. I think maybe she’s a bit wary of all men, and that’s
why she left. You should call her.”

“Oh, no it’s okay; she got in
touch with me. She asked me to apologise to you, I just forgot.
Sorry, Mum.”

“That’s okay darling, tell her
not to worry. She’s welcome back any time.”

“I will. Erm, is Terry
around?”

“No, he had some important
business to attend to. He won’t be back until tomorrow evening.
Why? Is everything okay?”

“Yes, yes of course. Listen
I’ve got to go. You take care.”

“And you. Bye love.”

Damn, damn, damn.

We were all deflated. Tom
dropped the monitors back, and then took me home.

“I think I should have stayed
there, Tom. I can’t leave her on her own, what if he comes back
early?”

“Don’t worry, Gracie, we’ll
have monitors keeping an eye on your mum’s place regularly over the
next twenty four hours. Tomorrow evening I’ll pick you up early and
we’ll wait for him to return. Just to be on the safe side, keep
your phone close to you at all times in case he turns up sooner and
we need your help.”

I frowned at Tom, biting my
lip. Something could still go wrong.

“Gracie, don’t do anything on
your own. It’s not safe. Do you understand me?”

I nodded at him, jumped out the
car and waved him off, watching until he was out of sight. I
bypassed the entrance to the flats and carried on walking to the
car park at the back. I opened my car door, climbed in and drove
all the way back to Mum’s. I parked close to the spot where I’d
phoned Mum earlier, just out of view, obscured by the big willow
tree on the corner. I sat there waiting all night, dozing on and
off, just in case.

I saw a black Mondeo drive past
almost hourly and felt sure he must be the monitor staking out
Mum’s street. I saw the milkman and the paper boy come and go. I
saw the local residents evacuate on mass during the morning rush
hour, and at about nine thirty, I saw Terry’s car approaching from
the opposite direction.

He pulled up on Mum’s drive and
I fumbled around for my phone, which must have dropped off my lap
while I’d been snoozing. I managed to extricate it from underneath
my seat, and hurriedly searched through the names until I came to
Tom’s. I was just about to press the ‘call’ button, when Terry came
out of Mum’s house holding his briefcase and climbed back into his
car.

He pulled off the drive and
disappeared in the opposite direction. I chucked my phone on the
passenger seat. No time to call Tom, I couldn’t lose sight of
Terry. I put the car into gear and headed in the same direction. I
needed to catch up with him so I could tell Tom and the other
monitors where he was. I knew Tom would be cross with me for
working solo, but I was too worried about Terry hurting Mum. I
vowed he wouldn’t get anywhere near her ever again if I had
anything to do with it. And if he did spot me, I thought, at least
I’d lost my aura.

After about ten minutes, he
turned off the main road, in the opposite direction to the housing
estate he supposedly lived in.

I kept at a safe distance as I
followed him into a notoriously seedy part of town. Gradually the
houses grew more run-down and depressing, until we turned into a
long street with rows of derelict houses on either side. The
newsagents and pub looked like they’d been boarded up and abandoned
long ago and graffiti was scrawled on every available surface. The
icing on the cake was the rubbish, it was everywhere; strewn along
the road, the pavements and speared on the branches of a half-dead
tree.