All That She Can See(40)

The boat ride was colder than she’d ever experienced and each time the boat hit a wave the sea sprayed into her face. She wiped the mist off her cheeks but Loneliness liked it so much that it leaned a little further over the side. Cherry disembarked at The Barbican and the eerie silence she was greeted with made her skin prickle. She’d only visited a handful of times but it had never been this quiet, especially at the weekend. Shops that should have been open were closed and people she thought she would’ve seen were clearly shut away indoors. She crossed to the other side of the road when she approached Velina and Danior’s shop, not wanting to be seen by them and wanting to avoid her stomach churning the way it always did when she saw that red and yellow paint and those blasted white crystal ball stickers. But her curiosity got the better of her and, like slowing down and craning your neck to see a car crash on the side of the road, Cherry chanced a glance across the street. Velina and Danior were standing in the doorway, smoking their cigarettes out of long elegant holders. They watched her with hard, narrowed eyes and a chill ran down Cherry’s spine. Her knees started to wobble but she ignored them and pushed herself forward, towards the gin distillery. As she rounded the bend in the road, she didn’t need to look very hard for Chase. She didn’t even need to enter the bar. He was outside the entrance, being held by the scruff of his shirt by a man in a navy blue suit. He was much shorter than Chase but Chase was holding his hands up like it was an arrest. She could only assume he was Chase’s manager.

‘It really isn’t what you think, I swear,’ Chase begged.

‘You may have been good for business, Chase, but this?! This is unacceptable!’ The man held up the bottle of blue pills which glinted in the sunlight.

‘Oh no… ’ Cherry said, realising what was happening.

‘It’s not what it looks like!’ Chase pleaded again.

‘It looked like you were… ’ he looked around to see who was listening. Cherry pretended to look in a shop window. ‘It looked like you were taking drugs! Right at the bar!’

‘I swear that’s not what I was doing. I was just —’

‘THEY’RE MINE!’ Cherry yelled, running over to them. She snatched the bottle out of the manager’s hand but he didn’t look surprised or impressed.

‘And who are you? His accomplice? His dealer maybe, hmm?’

‘No, I’m his friend. I asked Chase to take care of my medication for me because I often lose it and then forget to take it.’

Chase’s manager wasn’t buying it. ‘Then why was he dividing the pills into little piles? Explain that!’

‘Well… I wouldn’t take a whole bottle of pills all at once, would I? Chase counts out how many I need a day to make sure I’ve got enough to last me until I can see a doctor again. Isn’t that right, Chase?’ Cherry jabbed him in the ribs. He nodded quickly.

‘Yes that’s exactly it. I’m a good friend.’ He nodded more and more, resembling one of those plastic dogs that sit on the dashboard of a car. The manager regarded them both, looking them up and down, and shook his head.

‘I’m sorry, it’s just too risky. I can’t keep you here. I have to fire you, Chase.’ Chase closed his eyes and hung his head, turning away from them both. ‘But, I won’t call the police. Just get those pills off my property.’ The manager slipped back inside before Cherry had a chance to say a word.

‘I’m so sorry, Chase.’ Cherry’s heart felt heavy.

‘It’s not your fault,’ he said, squeezing her shoulder, and Loneliness shuddered. ‘It was my idea – and I only took the job to annoy you anyway. It’s just… well, now we’ve got to find another way to give this town a bit of Normality. I doubt anyone’s going to eat your cakes, I can’t get them in the alcohol and it seems everyone is keeping a low profile anyway. It’s a ghost town out here!’

‘I’d noticed,’ Cherry said. ‘Except for your mother and Danior. They weren’t at the bakery yesterday and yet they still seem to be on full alert.’

‘Oh!’ Chase said.

‘I know. They’re just standing —’

‘No! Cherry, you’re a GENIUS!’ He shouted this so loudly that a few seagulls nearby flapped into a frenzy. ‘Come on.’ Chase grabbed her by the arm and led her back down the street. When the red and yellow came into view Cherry’s heart started racing again.

‘Where are we going? I can’t go back in there!’ Cherry cried.

Chase stopped suddenly and Cherry stumbled into him. ‘You’ve been to my mum’s shop? Why?’

Cherry squeezed her eyes shut, not wanting to see his reaction. ‘I went to go and find out if they knew about you. I had a suspicion they were… well… ’

‘Cheaters. Charlatans. Fraudsters. You name it, that’s what they are.’

‘They are? I knew it!’ Cherry fist-bumped the air.

‘I tell you that my mum and aunt are liars, cheating the population of Plymouth out of their hard-earned money, and you do this?’ He mimicked her air-punch. ‘Brilliant.’

‘Sorry,’ Cherry said sheepishly.

‘You’re mad,’ Chase declared, smiling down at her.

‘I know.’

‘I love it.’ Chase’s eyes widened at his admission and then he started laughing.