— water rising. Water everywhere…
“No! No! NO!” Fighting rising hysteria, Rebecca forced her eyes open and kept swimming. A wave splashed over her causing her eyes to sting like hot pin cushions. Blinking and spluttering, the vision came again—
—“Mommy, who’s screaming? What’s happening?”
Caught in the fast flowing center of the river, a log sped towards her. It rammed into her head, jerking her from the flashback, sending her to the brink of consciousness. Passing out would be the end of her. “Oh God help!” The salty tang on her lips was unbearable. Was it just seawater? Or blood. Blood would bring sharks. She’d become fish food. She didn’t want to die.
Using every last scrap of her will, Rebecca turned and wrapped her arms around the log. Clinging for dear life, she stopped fighting the current and let it take her out to sea. At that moment, the sole purpose of her existence was to keep her arms wrapped around the log.
A primitive survival reflex locked her arms around the saving timber as Rebecca slipped in and out of consciousness. Eyes aflame, then dancing stars—then blackness. Time stretched to eternity. Darkness was falling on the outside and the inside. No more pain, no more stars. Just welcome blackness. Her arms went limp.
Chapter 23 – Memories and Meetings
The evening shift was in full swing at the restaurant when Shane and Kenneth arrived back. They’d been down to the roadhouse for a burger, and Shane had shown Kenneth his favorite surfing spot just off Nahoon point. The plan was to meet with Jason in time for the evening shift, so that they could settle this Rebecca / Rachel mystery for once and for all.
Ten minutes later, Jason was still missing. Shane hated doing nothing. Even more than that, he hated waiting. Now they were doing both and it made him grumpy. “I’m thinking we don’t need Jason. You know Rebecca, I know Rachel. Let’s go and see if Rebecca is Rachel.”
Kenneth looked completely relieved. The waiting was setting his teeth on edge too. “You said it. Let’s go.”
The receptionist looked twice as harassed as what she had earlier. Seeing them back again turned her face an interesting shade of green. “I suppose you want to see Rachel? Well she’s disappeared. Gone off without a word to anyone. Fine mess she’s left us in. Poor kitchen staff is getting the brunt of Mr. Sheldon’s anger. You’d better leave before he catches you here wasting my time.”
Kenneth’s face mirrored the concern on Shane’s. They spoke together, “Claude.”
Shane spoke first, “You stay here in case Rebecca, Claude or Jason shows up. I’ll go see if I can find Jason.” He left without waiting for Kenneth to agree.
***
Jason nearly fell overboard, but somehow managed to grab an arm just in time. They rode the swell of a wave with Jason hanging on with everything inside him. Hauling with strength that was not entirely his, Jason heaved and managed to get the body half into the boat. It was a woman. Soaked to the bone and frozen through. Grabbing her by the hips, he lifted and twisted bringing her legs on board.
Fearing for her life, Jason wasted no time checking for a pulse. He’d seen her lose her grip on the log, and knew that she’d only just lost consciousness. She drew a shallow breath, and brief relief washed through him. Then he saw the blood. Trailing down the side of her face from a jagged cut across her temple. The cold had slowed the bleeding, but she’d need to be stitched up. Working quickly, he ripped off a strip of his shirt and bound her wound. He also removed his jacket and covered her before turning the boat shore wards. She would need to get to a hospital fast.
By some miracle, Shane was already waiting as he docked the boat. “We need to get to a hospital.”
Catching the urgency, Shane ran to his vehicle and unlocked, not asking any questions. Jason clambered into the back, awkwardly hauling the woman’s inert body onto his lap. Shane was already driving when Jason finally got a look at his catch. Time froze as he brushed the ropy strings of wet, bloody hair from her face. He gasped in such shock that Shane nearly pulled over to find out what was wrong. “Keep driving.” It was a hoarse whisper but Shane heard and kept going.
There was no mistaking this face. For a brief moment her eyes opened before losing focus and closing again. The same eyes that had been haunting him since he had first seen the portrait. He held in his arms the sole focus of his life for the past weeks. How was this possible?
Wonder and amazement were quickly snuffed out by the devastating reality of what would have happened had he not been there. Rebecca would have drowned as surely as her Mom had so many years ago. He went cold at the thought of how close he’d been to ignoring the urge to go out on his boat. It was enough to make him queasy. He drew her more tightly to himself, trying to warm her with his body heat. His clothes were already soggy and cold from carrying her.
Stuck at a red robot, Shane broke the silence, “Bad news, Rachel was missing from the restaurant. Nobody had seen her since before we went looking for her at lunchtime.” The robot changed and they pulled off.
Jason hesitated before replying, “Shane, this is Rebecca.”
“What?” It was a credit to Shane’s driving skills that he remained on the road. “How on earth—”
“I was out on my boat, and the current brought her right to me, clutching a log to stay afloat. As she reached me her strength gave out, she lost her grip on the log and would have drowned. “Shane, if I hadn’t been there—”
“Don’t think about that now. You were there, by some miracle.”
Shane turned into the hospital parking lot, and swung around to Jason and the girl in his arms. His eyes stretched wide in a face the picture of disbelief. “But that’s Rachel! That’s the girl who kipped in your bed.”
***
Lisa put down the phone and added another message to the long list of calls to be returned. She was completely annoyed. Stanton Trent was normally impossible to deal with on a personal level. That was one thing. But he’d always been impeccably diligent professionally - which is why he’d made such a success of his business.
But for the past two weeks he’d shown no interest whatsoever, leaving her to cover for him. Which—if she were honest—she wouldn’t have minded at all, if he’d only let her in on what was going on. From the small amount of contact that she’d had with him, she could tell that something had rocked his foundations. He was not the same man who had employed her six years ago and been meticulously predictable ever since.
With a sigh, she turned back to her computer to answer the e-mails that had come through urgently requiring his attention.
***
Three floors down from where Lisa sat putting out administrative fires, Stanton Trent stood facing a locked door. He held a key in his hand, and was debating with himself whether he should use it or not.
Not really knowing what swung the decision; he closed his eyes and inserted the key into the door lock. He turned it and the door swung inwards, making perspiration break out in his palms. He’d run from this for so long that part of him had shrivelled up and died inside. Frankly, he was tired. Like an engine firing on three cylinders, the rest of his life had had to compensate for the dead wood of those five years. He couldn’t carry on like this.
The room beyond was a simple study, with very little by the way of decoration. The bookshelf was the most impressive feature, being an ornately carved work of art depicting exotic birds frozen in flight. The only light source was a solar tube that somehow managed to connect the sunlight outside, with this little room buried in the middle of the mansion, with no natural access to the outdoors. Modern technology was amazing. The result was a round puddle of light that made the pale lemon carpet glow as if a UFO were about to land. A small desk and chair were the only other objects in the room.
Moving across to the bookshelf, Stanton couldn’t help chuckling as he reached up and tweaked the beak of a strutting peacock that inhabited the top right hand corner. Immediately, the entire bookshelf swung back to reveal a staircase circlin
g deep into the heart of the mansion. Stanton had had it custom built at great cost, and it thrilled the little boy inside of him. He had devoured books as a child, mystery novels, spy thrillers – whatever he could lay his hands on. Having his own secret passageway had delighted him. Though now, it was home to his most painful memories. Half of him never wanted to go down there again. Ironic that his boyhood fantasy had become the tomb of his teenage hopes.
But he was not one to turn back once he’d made a decision. Steeling himself, he stepped down into the blackness. As his foot touched the step, it lit up – an idea borrowed from his favorite Stephen Lawhead book. So he descended down the staircase, leaving a trail of light in his wake. Round and down until he reached the room at the bottom.
***
As soon as Rebecca was settled in a cubicle in the emergency room, the Sister on duty shooed Jason and Shane into the waiting area. Rebecca was still unconscious and the cut was bleeding profusely now and needed immediate attention.
“Where’s Kenneth?”
Shane slapped his forehead. “Oops. In all the excitement, I left him at the restaurant in case you or Rebecca showed up. I’d better go fetch him.”
“Do me a favor, take him home please? He’s so highly strung; my nerves just couldn’t take it.”
“Gotcha. He’s going to want to come here though – you know that?”
“Just tell him that they’re not letting anyone in to see her. You can also let Tim know that he needn’t be phoning around to find her anymore. I guess it’s still a good idea to find Claude if we can. I’m sure he had something to do with Rebecca’s unplanned swim in the middle of winter.”
“No doubt. By the way have you seen this?” Shane reached over to the waiting room table and picked up a copy of the newspaper with Rebecca’s smiling face gracing the cover.
Jason’s heart doubled briefly as he took the paper. “This was taken at the restaurant. Must be how Claude found her.” He studied her face in silence for a moment, before turning back to Shane. “You’d better get going. I’ll be fine here.”
“I have my phone on me. If you need anything, give me a ring.” He slapped Jason on the shoulder and left.
***
There was no furniture in the room, other than six leather beanbag seats. The carpet was snowy white and as soft as goose down. And there was a chest. Like something borrowed from medieval times, it was a wood and iron monstrosity that had been dumped unceremoniously against the wall opposite the stairs.
Key in hand, Stanton made for the chest. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, he unlocked the chest and swung back the lid. Reaching inside, he pulled out carefully ordered bundles of letters. So far, so good.
True to his meticulous nature, Stanton carefully arranged the bundles in date order, starting from the oldest and ending at the most recent. Not stopping to think, he opened the oldest yellowed letter and started to read…
***
“Are the two of you related?” If the sister-in-charges’ eyebrows crept any higher, they’d be nesting in her hair. Desperate not to be denied access to Rebecca, Jason answered as truthfully as he could manage, “Not yet.” He added a wink and a winning smile that, when filtered through his high anxiety levels, came out rather like a grimace.
The sister nodded knowingly, “I see. She’s not wearing any ring?”
“She’s quite fussy.” Jason looked completely sheepish. Lying had been so easy before.
“I understand.” She smiled and gestured toward the cubicle. “She’s awake. Come with me.”
He’d been on this brink—about to meet the blue-eyed girl—so many times. At Maxine’s house, the Rochester’s and the closest yet, the restaurant. Every single time, she’d either been a step ahead, or else snatched right out from under his nose. He hardly dared to believe that when the curtain was drawn back she would still be there.
And yet she was. Face pale, black hair a tangled mess across the pillow. The nurses had cleaned the blood off her face and neck as best as they could, but her hair would have to wait for a shower. Her temple was swollen and puffy, already showing signs of the colorful bruising to follow. Many—too many—dark stitches crossed the jagged slash that was the cause of all the panic. Her pale eyes watched his every move as he approached the bed, all at once wary and weary.
The nurse pulled the curtain closed behind herself as she left, affording them some measure of privacy. She looked so fragile. Everything in him wanted to pick her up and enfold her in his arms, hold her as close as he did on the way to the hospital. Protect her from a life that seemed so set on destroying her.
“Do I… do I know you? The sister said you are my… well, that we are—”
“Engaged?” Jason did a quick check outside the curtain before finishing his sentence, “No, we’re not.” He saw the relief in her sigh and it stung him in a way he didn’t care to examine. “You won’t know me. I rescued you from the sea, kinda took over where the log left off. I didn’t think they’d let me see you if we weren’t family, or at least connected somehow.”
She smiled at that, before grimacing at the pain from her cut. “Thank you, for rescuing me that is. I don’t know where I’d be without you. To be honest, I have no family. At least none that I know about.”
Her pale eyes were red from the salty water, but she was still the most beautiful creature Jason had ever laid eyes on. The moment grew awkward.
Grabbing her hand in his, his heart sank at the sight of the thick blackness encircling her wrists. Looking into her eyes instead, he shook vigorously only to freeze as she winced. “Oh I’m sorry. You must be sore all over. I’m Jason.”
She choked back a laugh, caught his eye and dissolved into delicate chuckles.
Jason was missing something, “Why are you laughing?”
“I’m sorry. My bizarre sense of humor.” Putting on a stiffly formal tone, she managed to stop laughing long enough to choke out a single sentence, “Pleased to meet you Jason, my name is Sore All Over.” She promptly dissolved all over again.
The happy sound was infectious and Jason found himself grinning.
Pain prematurely evaporated her humor. Trying to breathe gently, she smiled at Jason. Completely unaware, Jason hung on to her hand, “It’s okay Sore All Over, I know who you really are.” He paused, savoring the moment of uniting the name with the person, “Rebecca.”
All traces of amusement disappeared. Suspiciously retrieving her hand from his, she asked, “How did you know? Who are you?”
Jason, old boy, how do you say this without sounding like a sicko? “I’ve been following your trail across the country. Quite a run-around you’ve given me.”
Rebecca pushed herself halfway upright, and got that I’m-about-to-bolt look in her eyes.
“Wait! Please don’t panic. I’ll explain. Besides, you owe me. You slept in my bed!” He forced himself to take a seat next to her, hoping to look less intimidating and calm the situation down somewhat.
Her jaw dropped in amazement. “That was your room?”
“Believe it or not, yes. I was searching the country for you, and you were sleeping in my bed. How weird is that? Anyway, I’m so glad I found you.” His brow creased as he wondered where to start. “What do you know about your parents?”
Rebecca shrugged, “I grew up in an orphanage. I don’t have parents.”
“And from there?” Jason suspected he had most of the pieces of the puzzle, but hearing it from her mouth would confirm his trail.
Curiosity got the better of her reticence. “Then I started working for the Rochester’s and Hazel – the housekeeper – became the closest thing I’ve ever had to a mother.”
“She is quite an amazing woman.” Jason interrupted without thinking.
“How do you know Hazel?” Shock was written all over Rebecca’s face.
At a loss for words, all Jason could manage was, “We’ll get to that. Carry on.”
Frowning as much as h
er damaged brow would allow, Rebecca said, “From there I spent some time with a couple in Stutterheim, Pete and Doreen. They were wonderful, but I suppose you know them too.” The last was added sarcastically.
Jason smiled, shrugged and nodded all in one, while trying not to look guilty.
Rebecca rolled her eyes and shook her head, “I don’t really know what to make of all this.”
Jason opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by the nurse, who poked her head through the gap in the curtain, “Sorry to break it up lovebirds. But we need to keep you overnight, Miss. We’ve got your bed ready upstairs. Are you on any Medical Aid Scheme? We need all your details, and if you’re a private patient there’s a deposit that needs to be paid.”
Rebecca floundered. Jason took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze, while answering the sister, “I’ll take care of all that. You just make sure she’s well looked after.” The nurse gave him a plastic smile and answered in a mildly patronizing manner, “Of course, Sir.”
Jason’s heart caught as he turned back to Rebecca. She was so much more beautiful than he’d ever expected; on the outside and the inside. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Thank you Jason.”
There was nothing else to say. He gave her hand a brief squeeze before turning to leave. He tried to let go, but she clung to him as if her hand were glued to his. Turning back, he was shocked to see her pale eyes clouded in panic. “What’s the matter?”
Her voice was so soft that he had to lean closer to hear, “Claude. What about Claude?”
Her hand trembled in his. Injecting confidence into his voice, he said, “He doesn’t know you’re here. Even if he did, he wouldn’t be allowed in. You’ll be safe. I will come back in the morning, okay?” He looked directly into her eyes as he said it, and he saw the fear subside slightly. Unable to stop himself, he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “Goodnight blue-eyes.” It took super-human effort, but he somehow managed to turn and walk away.
Chapter 24 – Of Daughters and Divine Meddling
The official working day was over and Lisa had come to a decision. Having proved true to his self-imposed hermitage over six years, she doubted Stanton would have broken his habit now. She shook her head at her unintended pun. He was somewhere within these walls and she was going to find him. And he was going to spill his guts and tell her what was going on.