Page 154 of An Unholy Affair
‘Yes, of course, but only if you need to. Go be with her if you can.’
‘Thanks.’ He switched calls. ‘Eveline?’
‘Jack… Not well,’ she slurred.
He leapt to his feet, sprinting towards the rectory. ‘I’m here. Talk to me.’
Her breathing was ragged. ‘Ja—’
Then the phone went dead.
Reaching the front door, he pounded on it, then tried the handle. Locked.
He ran to the side of the house, trying the back door. Also locked.
Where did Finn say he left the spare key?
In the darkness, Jack felt for a series of clay plant pots stacked against the side of the house.
One, two, three… He lifted the fourth, grabbed the key, and fumbled to unlock the door.
‘I’m coming!’ he shouted, barrelling through and slamming it behind him.
The kitchen was empty, so he ran up the stairs. ‘Eveline! Are you up there?’
Entering her room, the lights were out, but the curtains were open. The moonlight illuminated her, sprawled on the bed in her pyjama bottoms and a vest top, shivering as if she was lying in snow.
‘Fuck!’ Jack rushed to her side, moving her hair off her forehead. ‘I’m here.’
She was boiling hot and dripping with sweat, her eyes open but unfocused.
‘Eveline?’
She seemed lost in a nightmare, mumbling incoherently.
‘Angel, I’m just going to turn the light on, okay?’
She didn’t respond.
He flicked on the main light and she howled as if it was burning her, rolling onto her front, her arms wrapped around her head.
‘Jesus!’ He turned it off and came back to her side. ‘It’s okay, love, it’s off.’
Her shivers were turning into shudders. The bedding beneath her was completely soaked through. This didn’t look like any ordinary fever.
He took her hand. ‘I’m going to call a doctor. I’m getting you some proper help.’
‘No!’
‘Eveline, can you hear me?’
‘God… Need you…’
Was she talking tohimor God?
The seeming clarity of her thoughts disintegrated once more into confusion. Jack heard his own name, but Eveline also cried out for her mother and God again, as if she was lost in hell with no way out.Fuck!He dialled 111 and got through to a nurse after explaining Eveline’s symptoms.
‘What’s her current temperature?’ the woman asked.
