Beyond Regeneration by Jenny Schwartz

Author:Jenny Schwartz [Schwartz, Jenny]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jenny Schwartz
Published: 2015-10-06T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Nicola drove into the New Hope car park, and neither turned off the engine nor shifted into neutral.

Charley took the hint and unbuckled her seatbelt. “Thanks for the lift, and the information.”

“If I were you, I wouldn’t thank me for anything.” Nicola’s brusque tone suggested she regretted her confidences. “We’ve dragged you further into a game you didn’t choose.” She shifted into reverse, and Charley slid out of the car, slamming the door.

She watched the car zoom out of the car park. Nicola would learn soon that sometimes life didn’t give you a choice. You had to deal with a situation as it stood.

Charley swiveled towards New Hope, and was struck by a thought.

“Oh, boy.” In the avalanche of fact, description and speculation, she’d overlooked what she’d initially believed to be a central issue: not once had the trio asked about Lillian’s death. Charley frowned. “And I thought that’s why they wanted to talk with me.”

It was odd that Lillian’s death hadn’t been mentioned at least once.

The day was warm, the sun almost hot. Fallen gum leaves crackled as she walked across the car park. The small gravel stones rolled and slid and clicked underfoot. Not even Nicola could cross this car park silently.

Crunch, crunch. The noise annoyed Charley. It made her progress sound definite, as if she knew where she was going and what she would do when she got there.

“Huh.” The truth was, she’d no idea what anyone was doing, least of all herself.

She reached the rough-cut lawn, and the silence of her footsteps was a relief. She forced herself into a semi-determined jog up the porch steps and inside the main building. The last two years had taught her that sometimes it was possible to fake what you needed to feel. She’d faked satisfaction with her life. Now, she pretended she had direction and an objective.

As little as she wanted to, she needed to talk with Alan, both about the QNA and about Lillian. Her determined pace faltered. She really didn’t want to approach a newly bereaved widower.

A woman in a nurse’s uniform occupied the reception desk, a phone tucked close to her ear. She glanced at Charley, who met her questioning gaze with a nod and a smile that said, Hi. Yes, I belong.

The woman turned back to her phone conversation, willing to believe Charley if it meant one less task in an overly busy day.

“Charley,” Jack called from his office.

Her shoulders jerked. He must have watched her walk up; perhaps even seen Nicola drop her off. Was his hail a reprieve from having to talk with Alan, or, by his grumpy tone, a nastier option? “Hi,” she said weakly.

“How did you get here?” He swiveled away from his computer to frown at her.

Charley smiled—not because Jack was grumpy and harassed, but because it reassured her. The Jabberwocky trio were way wrong. Grumpy and harassed wasn’t the manner of a lover. She bit her lip to stop a giggle as his frown deepened and his glasses fell off his nose.

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