Page 136 of The Black Trilogy

“Yeah. She thought it would be better that way, what with not being your favourite person right now.”

Luke tore a hand through his hair as Nick’s words sank in. “I need to talk to her. Surely if she left at the same time as us, she’ll still be on her way to the airport? I’ll go after her. Is she flying out of Heathrow?”

Nick looked at his watch. “No, out of Northolt, and she’s already taken off.”

Since when did commercial airlines fly out of Northolt? It had been over a year since Luke last chartered a jet from there, so maybe things had changed?

Movement by the front door caught his eye, and an awful evening became even worse. Why wasn’t Tia in bed? Her eyes settled on him, and she veered in his direction.

Now he’d have to break the news about Simon, Ash, and everything else himself. Tia would be devastated Ash had left. They’d grown so close in the time she’d been with them, and of course, she didn’t yet know about Ash’s deception.

He walked over to her, slowly, as if by dragging his feet he could somehow put off that talk forever. Tia looked so young and vulnerable at that moment, lit up by the security lights on the outside of the house, her face pale and her frame gaunt. The ordeal of the past few days showed in the way she carried herself.

Luke put his arm around her, but she shook it off. Seemed that having a big brother who cared was still totally uncool. Instead, he put his hand on her back and gently steered her inside. People milled around all over the place downstairs, talking into phones and writing notes, and he didn’t want to have this conversation with an audience.

A policewoman started towards them and he waved her off, bypassing the rest of the crowd. They could wait. He led Tia back up to her room where she sat at the top of the bed, hugging a pillow to her chest. Luke perched on the edge, facing her. For a few minutes, they just stared at each other. Luke didn’t know what to say, and it seemed Tia was in the same boat.

Finally, Luke broke the silence. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.”

“What happened? Can you talk about it?”

He wasn’t sure whether Tia would tell him all the details, or even if he wanted her to, but the masochist in him couldn’t stand being kept in the dark.

“I want to tell you, but I’m not sure I remember everything right. It’s hazy.”

He reached over and squeezed her hand. “It doesn’t matter if you forget things.” It might be better that way. “Just tell me what you can.”

“I was walking home from Arabella’s. I remember seeing a van up ahead, and I was going to cross the road to avoid it. But then you got out the driver’s door. What were you doing in a van?”

“It wasn’t me. The man who took you, we look alike.”

Tia shuddered. “Creepy.”

“What did he do?”

“I don’t remember anything else until I woke up in a bathroom. I was on my own, but my wrist was chained to the radiator. The taps didn’t work, and I had to drink funny tasting water out of a bottle. I think he put something in it. I didn’t want to drink it, but there was nothing else.”

Tia paused, and a tear rolled down her cheek. Luke reached out and wiped it away with his sleeve as thoughts of murder ran through his mind.

“I needed to use the toilet, but it didn’t flush.” She screwed up her face at the memory. “The smell was disgusting. I thought I’d been abandoned. One night, I dreamed you came through the door, but then you left. You didn’t leave, did you?”

Tia dissolved in tears, and Luke struggled to keep his own eyes dry.

“It wasn’t me. I swear, it wasn’t me.”

Should he hug her? Or leave her to calm down? This was why he needed Ash—she’d know what to do. In the end, he opted for the middle ground and stayed on the bed while Tia continued.

“The room didn’t have any windows, so I didn’t know if it was day or night. My thoughts were all jumbled. Maybe that’s what they mean when they say someone’s lost their mind?”

“You hadn’t lost your mind. That situation would make anybody think odd thoughts.”

“Nothing made sense. But then I remembered Ash reading me a poem once. She made me a copy. It started ‘If you can keep your head when all around you are losing theirs…’ And that was funny, because it wasn’t those all around me who’d lost their heads; it was me. I’d lost my head. But I kept repeating the poem over and over, to have something in my head that wasn’t fog. But I couldn’t remember one part, and that annoyed me more than anything.”

“What part couldn’t you remember?” Luke asked. He’d look it up.

“‘If you can make a heap of all your winnings; and risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss; and lose, and start again at your beginnings…’ I just can’t remember the line that comes next.”

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