The Tintagel Secret by Sarah Till

Author:Sarah Till [Till, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Novelesque
Published: 2020-04-29T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

I'm woken in the morning by Lee, who knocks on the cell door before opening it.

'Are you decent, Lizzie? I've got a nice boiled egg here for you.'

He waits outside and eventually I shout to him.

'Come in.'

He tiptoes in and leaves the boiled egg and toast, with a cup of tea, on the chair.

'Everything all right for you?'

He reminds me of the waiter at the Indian restaurant Stan and I would go to now and again when we were first courting, attentive and eager.

'Yes thanks.' I look up at him from my bed. 'What happens now?'

He smiles.

'Don't worry. I reckon you'll be home by teatime.'

He leaves and locks the door again. I look around the cell and feel the warm air conditioning. I wish this was home. I pretend that I'm in a hotel eating my breakfast and that the rest of the day will be spent just looking round shops, maybe with a little lunch, until I come home to the warmth. A little bit like my life with Stan, except I had to do all the cooking and cleaning. Much as I hated it, that life, the one I had tucked away somewhere at the back of my mind, seemed like luxury. I haven't been up to making comparisons much lately because I've had too much to worry about just surviving and making sure I do the daily route. Any spare time is spent in the library reading up on the stories, keeping it alive in my memory in case it fades and I forget why I am here. I eat my breakfast and drink my tea, then use the toilet and have a wash. Lee knocks again and brings back my clothes and my bags, and they sit there in the corner, and empty pile of me. For a day I've slipped into someone else, someone who buys slacks with an elasticised waist from Primark and showers every day.

It's amazing what a good night’s sleep can do. I sit on the bed and look back into my past, starting at the previous evening, and wonder what the hell I was thinking. Why did I go to see Andrew? Why did I imagine he would ever let me into his home? I laugh at the irony of it, and at how it's easy to see these things with hindsight. I look further back and try to pinpoint a time when I felt optimistic, but it's too far backwards and bunged up with my Dad and his stories. Every turning has him stumbling around with a whiskey bottle, shouting obscenities at us, forcing us into his car while he drives overnight to Cornwall, still clutching the bottle. The relative safety of Stan, with the danger of going insane with boredom.

Suddenly the door opens and two different policemen walk in.

'Elizabeth Nelson? Can you come with us please?'

I shove my clothes in one of the bags and pick up my life from where it's been resting in the corner. They walk too quickly for me, and I have to run, which bursts another blister on my foot.

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