The Time Rip (19 page)

It was a sunny afternoon in London. Colours were vibrant after the rain of the past few days and Janet had spent the last half hour searching Portobello Road for Freya. She had seen her friend’s van parked up, but her stall wasn’t out, which was unusual.

The market was enjoyable to browse through, but eventually Janet became fed up and decided a phone call was in order if she was ever to meet Freya. The phone was picked up on the second ring which, for Freya, was almost unheard of. Generally, she either didn’t hear it or forgot to take it with her.

“Freya, I can’t believe you answered straight away. What’s the occasion, and where are you? I’ve seen your van and I’ve been searching this dratted market now for ages.”

Laughter met her baffled ears. “Hello, this
is
Freya’s phone. I am a friend of hers; she left it here the last time she came to visit. May I pass on a message for you?”

Janet abruptly stopped walking, she felt bewildered for a moment before her brain caught up. “Boy, has she got some explaining to do. That wouldn’t be Jeremy Sanders would it?”

Jeremy lounged back in his chair, legs outstretched in front of him. He had answered Freya’s phone out of simple curiosity, and now prepared to enjoy himself a little and find out more about his latest would be inamorata. Perhaps this was the person who had come back to collect her, although that still did not explain the handcuffs.

“Yes,” he replied, “And you would be…”

“Janet Green. I must confess I have been curious to talk to you. Freya’s told me lots about you.” Janet also decided she might enjoy finding out a little more about the man that had Freya in such a state.

“Ah. I trust she has been kind in her portrayal of my character, although it is nice to know I am of enough interest to discuss with her girlfriends. I have to say though: she has not mentioned you to me at all.”

“Obviously I’m not important enough when you are around.” She grinned. “I don’t think I have ever seen Freya in such conflict over a man before. You’ve certainly made an impression on her.”

“Hmm, I am not altogether sure from your tone if that is a good thing.”

“Not to worry, everything she’s said about you has been positive.”

“I am relieved to hear it. What has she said, if I may ask?”

“Hah! Not a chance. I would be careful if I were you though, Freya can be very single minded when she wants something. You might not escape from her if she gets a thing for you.”

“I may not wish to escape. Have you known her long, how did you meet?”

She hesitated, wondering how much to give away. Jeremy sounded well educated, intelligent, and Freya was already half way in love with him whether she knew it or not.

Janet decided it would do no harm for Jeremy to have the bare facts in Freya’s history. It was not a bad idea for him to know of it anyway, if he was serious about her friend, and Janet wasn’t above giving him an advantage in pursuing Freya.

“I was friends with her brother; we were at school together.” She hesitated again.

“She has a brother? Is he older or younger?” There was clear interest in Jeremy’s tone.

“Nathan was five years older. He was sixteen when he passed on. I became close to Freya after we lost him.” She kept her tone neutral.

“Janet, I am so sorry to hear of your loss. He must have been a special person.” Jeremy’s voice was gentle with sympathy and Janet had an insight into why Freya had fallen so hard for this man.

She remembered Freya saying that Jeremy seemed to second-guess her easily and realised she had just had a first hand example of this. Not many people would have picked up from her tone how much Nathan had meant to her personally, especially as they had been speaking of Freya.

“Thank you, he was special to both of us. It was a long time ago now. A car accident,” she paused, “I only told you about it because Freya is unlikely speak of it, and if you are interested in a relationship with her then you should know that it might still impact on her decisions.”

“I appreciate you letting me know, Janet. I am interested in Freya, and I promise I will be careful with her. Even if it doesn’t work out between us, it will end amicably.”

Janet laughed unexpectedly at this. “My God, when she told me you seemed to second-guess nearly everything she was thinking I thought it was just Freya being herself. Now I’m not so sure. Have you got some kind of Vulcan mind reading thing going on?”

“Anyone would have drawn the same conclusion if they had been listening. It is obvious you are very close to her. I am glad she has such a close friend in you.”

Janet paused, her thoughts elsewhere for a moment. “You know, something she said to me has been on my mind for ages. Did you really offer to do her accounts? Are you an accountant, is that your living?”

“I do bookkeeping for small companies, yes. It was a pleasure to be able to assist Freya in this small matter.”

“Small matter? Be truthful now, those accounts did not look like a small matter when they were spread over her lounge floor. You must be mad to take on that lot.”

“What can I say? She’s a beautiful girl. Just very bad at maths. Perhaps if my charm fails to capture her heart then she will still return to make use of my mathematical abilities.”

“I don’t think there’s much wrong with your charm. I’m glad you’re not chasing me, I can feel for Freya being caught up with someone with your mind reading abilities.”

Janet had been wandering through the market as they spoke and now found she had circled back to stand a short distance from Freya’s van. As she looked up, she saw her friend standing next to the vehicle. Freya was talking to a tall man who was wearing jeans and a horrible pink tee shirt, with a Muppet emblazoned on the front.

“Oooh, I’ve just seen someone I definitely wouldn’t mind being charmed by, and he’s talking to Freya.”

“Oh,” Jeremy’s voice was crisp with interest, “and who is the lucky person who’s caught your eye?”

Janet laughed softly, “Jealousy is a bad trait you know. Anyway, no need to worry; I’ve decided that he’s going to be mine. I don’t care if she saw him first, I’m going to take him home and feed him.”

“And he is…”

“I have no idea. Tall, dark, and cute. Slightly scruffy and, hmm, about two days beyond a five o’clock shadow by the look of it, but wearing his jeans extremely well and a Muppets tee shirt too, which is always a bonus as it shows excellent taste.”

“Which Muppet, is it Gonzo?”

“No, it looks like Animal, playing the drums.”

“Is it in revolting neon pink and has he equally horrible pink tennis shoes?”

“You know him, don’t you?”

“Gregory Jones, I’ve no doubt.”

Janet stopped and surveyed the man, “How do you know him? Oh God, don’t tell me he’s your evil twin, that I couldn’t put up with.”

“Evil twin? Good grief, I can see your unhappy influence on Freya, or is it the other way around? To answer your question though, no. Although I have many brothers, Greg Jones is not one of them. He is a work colleague. If you want a tip for your pursuit, he likes his coffee strong enough to bend a spoon in and he once told me his ideal woman would be Miss Piggy from Sesame Street.”

“Now your lack of education is showing. Miss Piggy is from the Muppets not Sesame Street, but thanks for the tip. I think I am going to practise being charming to your friend. You want me to pass a message to Freya for you?”

“No, thank you, I will catch up with her soon, no doubt. It was a pleasure to speak with you, Janet.”

“Thank you, it was nice to hear from you too. I’ll let you know if my charm works on your friend.”

“Do. I shall look forward to hearing from you.”

Jeremy disconnected Freya’s mobile from his time device. He had been playing around with it, trying to collect her voicemail messages.

There had been several from Martin and one or two from her parents. He had been about finished when Janet called. Now he sat back and thought through all he had discovered.

The messages from her parents were pitiful to listen to. Their tone and content indicated people desperate to love their child and afraid of her rejection. He had wondered what could have happened to cause such a circumstance. Having talked to Janet, he supposed it could have its roots in unresolved grief.

He knew from going through her personal effects that Freya had recently turned eighteen. If her brother had been five years her elder when he had passed away at age sixteen, Freya would have been eleven at the time.

He could only guess at the mountain of grief Freya’s parents must surely have suffered, but would it have caused them to reject Freya? Perhaps their tentative messages had their roots in another cause entirely.

He had no answers. Janet had said that Freya would not speak of her brother. He could only presume this was due to her grief over his death. He knew little of grief or the counselling of others.

He had originally studied to be an actuary and then fallen into his current profession through his friends in the police force. Now he worked for his Government enforcing the removal of felons to the courts system, and covering his activities with a civilised veneer of bookkeeping.

He could only imagine how such a loss, at so young an age, would have influenced Freya’s ability to trust and form relationships. He guessed Janet had originally befriended Freya because Freya represented a living link to the boyfriend Janet had loved and lost; but whatever Janet’s motives might have been, she clearly loved Freya now and had a close relationship with her.

He sighed. Whatever the issue, he would try to be gentler with Freya because, clearly, it would take time to win her trust and he could not say he had done a particularly good job so far.

The messages left by Martin posed another problem. Freya had been dismissive of Martin when she had spoken of him, but it was clear to Jeremy that Martin was obsessed with her and might be more of a problem than she realised. He might choose to intervene in that, although Greg had apparently already sent the man packing.

For now, he would give Freya some time to think through the implications of everything she had learned. She had been assured she would not be taken to the courts, and he still had her keys, mobile and accounts to give back. If she did not come to him within a week or so, he would return her paperwork and try to salvage what he could of his relationship with her.

With this resolution in mind, he decided to have another look around for the elusive time rip. He had reached as far as the road the other side of the field and now intended to wander further along it.

His research had indicated that time rips could be noticed by an anomaly in the area. So far he had not seen anything unusual and was still of the mind that someone had come back to collect Freya, but it did not hurt to look.

Some hours later, Jeremy wandered back to the house. He made a drink and strolled around the grounds once more. It was intensely frustrating to have no idea what he was looking for. He might walk right past the thing and not see it.

He sipped his coffee and narrowed his eyes against the afternoon sunlight, the sound of a bicycle bell intruding on his thoughts. A young boy cycled up to the house, leaned his bike against the wall and went to knock on the front door. Jeremy sauntered after him, choosing to meet him outside rather than walking through the house.

“Hello,” he called out, “What can I do for you?”

The boy pulled off his cap somewhat nervously and came to meet him holding out a small cardboard box. “Delivery for you, sir,” he said. “Well, for a Mr Sanders. Would that be you, sir?”

“Yes. I haven’t seen you around here before have I?”