The Sister(141)

His thoughts shifted into the present. He hadn’t said where the name Miller came from. Picking up his pencil, he scribbled a note. He’d ask him tomorrow.

Looking at the clock, he couldn’t focus on it properly.

Where was he? Ah, that’s it, a note for Stella. I must buy her an Easter egg.

He flipped the light off and stumbled up the stairs past Gracie. Tiredness thickened his tongue as he muttered, ‘G'night, m'love.’ She stared back coolly.

He managed to undress and then flopped onto his bed.

In spite of his weariness, he didn’t sleep for a long time.





Chapter 122



Finding the hair in Miller’s file had reminded him of Penny again. At one time so indispensable and well trusted, he’d given her a set of keys, not only to the offices, but also to his apartment.

Penny was the first of his patients to have visited Vera. When she was old enough, she sought him out in his new practice, and he’d employed her. Always so pristine and perfect in everything she did, he had nothing but respect and admiration for her. Widowed when she was twenty-five, she poured all her energies into work. Seemingly not interested in meeting another man, she’d worked for Ryan for over ten years.

Not so long after Grace died; Penny changed in her attitude towards him. She became friendlier, more caring, and he appreciated her empathy. Little by little, not so he noticed at first, she began to change. She cut her hair, dying it blonde. Losing weight, she took more care with how she looked; her style of dress became more fashionable and daring. She also started paying Ryan more attention. He was flattered, but he saw no need to tell her he wasn’t looking to have a relationship.

One evening, as they were preparing to lock up, she emerged from the ladies room. She fixed him with a look that left no doubt as to her intentions. The smell of her freshly applied perfume was heady and intoxicating. Completely transformed from the woman he’d known, she sashayed towards him and made a bold play for him. Tempted though he was, he gently turned her down. After that, she turned into someone else, someone he no longer recognised.

He recalled how he’d taken a week off to put some distance between them, to get away from it all and allow things to settle down. When he’d returned, he found she’d slept with someone in his bed – the one he’d shared with Gracie – the love stain left behind on the sheets, plain for him to see. There had been no attempt to clean it up. She’d wanted him to know.

He asked her to return his keys. After that, things went from bad to worse. She bullied the other girl in the office remorselessly, took to smoking in the toilets in secret, and worse, she’d hidden a bottle of gin in the cistern. Penny was clearly unwell, but his sense of loyalty – after all she’d given him many years’ service – ensured he gave her every opportunity to get better. After what happened, inevitably there was a confrontation, which ended in tears. Ryan agreed to give her another chance on the condition she got help. Ryan remembered noticing through the tear streaked mascara, how pudgy and unhealthy looking she’d become.

Unable to treat her himself, he sent her to another shrink – he hated the term – but the 'Shrink' in this particular case, was a friend of his who owed him a long-standing favour.

Ryan telephoned him and following a brief discussion; he’d agreed to take her on for a couple of free sessions.

Ryan allowed her the time off without deducting her pay. So every Thursday after that, at four o’clock in the afternoon, off she would go to her appointment.

For a while, she seemed to improve, but he had a feeling she was up to something.

‘How much do I owe you so far?’ he asked his friend about two months later.

His fellow practitioner looked quizzical. ‘Owe me? What for?’

‘You know, for seeing Penny?’

‘Oh,’ his friend had replied. ‘This is sticky. I can’t talk, because she’s a client of mine.’

‘I only asked if I owed you anything.’

Falling silent, he said, ‘She’s never been.’

When Ryan tackled her about it, she stormed out, and he never saw her again. Good Penny turned bad.

Then he drifted back further, almost to the beginning of his career, when he first met Gracie. Lifting the framed photograph of her from the bedside table, he held it tightly to his chest and finally closed his eyes. A deep sigh escaped his lips.





Chapter 123



6 April, Good Friday





Stella had forgotten to set her alarm. Running late, she sped along the pavement balancing her bag in the crook of one arm and her jacket on the other. She couldn’t believe how warm it was for early April. Resting her foot on a curl in the front gate’s ironwork, she fished in the bag for her keys. Pushing the gate open, she anchored it there, and then made her way up the steps.

She unlocked the door and let herself in. Carefully replacing the keys in her bag she remembered how angry he’d been when she told him she’d lost the original set she was given.

Don’t you realise how much it costs to replace a set of keys? If you had to pay for them yourself, you might be more careful!

She couldn’t recall an occasion where he’d even raised his voice to her, let alone shouted. Her eyes stung, and she bit her quivering lip as she fought to contain her emotions. Seeing her reaction, he switched his angry expression to one of compassion. Unlocking his cabinet, he’d handed her a spare set, and told her to be more careful. Don’t lose these, and take a letter for me will you…