White Phantom Chapter Five Unexpected visitor. Chapter five. Her Friend! What he hell was she on about? Her friend! She’d only met the girl that morning. She was a kid. Beth couldn’t get her head around why a bit of a teenager would want to befriend a near middle aged woman. Beth had just killed a man and here was this silly little girl having histrionics on her doorstep. She didn’t have time for this. “Look, I’m sorry Jennifer, but it really isn’t a good time right now. I was just about to get in the bath and I’ve got some stuff to do.” “I think you should let me in. We need to talk.” Beth laughed, “Well what about, Jennifer? Is it about the book? I’ll have to hunt it out for you. I’ll tell you what, you call back tomorrow and I’ll have it ready.” Beth was fighting the temptation to just shut the door in her face. She'd killed somebody, after that bad manners and rudeness were a doddle. She was just about to follow through with her thoughts when the girl’s gaze hardened. “Don’t patronise me. This isn’t about a stupid book. This is about friendship and loyalty and it’s about not lying to someone who is supposed to be your friend.” There she goes with that friendship word again, thought Beth. “You’d better let me in,” Jennifer went on, “it wouldn’t be in your best interests to annoy me. That would be a very stupid mistake. Who knows what I could say,” her face was granite hard, “Or who to?” Beth felt dizzy. She gripped the door casing for support. This kid, who she’d met on the bus for the first time that morning, was threatening her. Did she know something? What could she possibly know? She couldn’t know anything about last night. It was just a coincidence. Some kid was having a hissy fit and Beth was jumping at shadows. “There are things we need to discuss,” said Jennifer. She’d seen the change in Beth and her own attitude altered. She was looking at Beth. She had a calm cunning in her eyes. Her anger seemed to have dissipated and she said this last in a matter of fact voice. Beth opened the door for her resignedly. “You’d better come in then, I suppose.” She led the way through the house and noticed the note that she had left for the police that morning. Hastily she picked it up and pushed into into her jeans pocket as she motioned Jennifer to a seat. Jennifer raised her eyebrow. “Secrets Beth? Secrets and lies?” She chanted in a sing song voice. “Secrets and lies and alibis.” Beth was aware of a tremor when she spoke, she tried to keep herself calm but the girl was freaking her out now. “What are you talking about? This is just a note that I left for someone, it’s nothing, none of your business.” She realised she had said too much. She was explaining her actions where no explanation was necessary. Jennifer looked amused, she was smiling. “What are you saying? What’s all this about?” Beth repeated. “Oh, nothing, nothing at all. You just looked a bit guilty about something. Calm down, you’ll give yourself ulcers.” Beth let out her breath in a whoosh. She almost laughed. Jennifer didn’t know anything after all. She was jumping at nothing and if she didn’t get herself under control she’d might as well go and shout to the world that she had just committed murder. If a young lass could pick up something suspicious by her attitude then what the hell would the police make of her? “Would you like a drink?” It seemed appropriate to offer something, ever the effusive host. “Coffee maybe, or tea?” “Have you got any Lexicon fruit fizz?” asked Jennifer, hopefully. “No,” “You’ll have to get some in, it’s all that I drink usually.” Beth actually smiled. She only wished she was one tenth as confident as this girl now, never mind at her age. The next words from Jennifer wiped the smile right off her face. “Where will I be sleeping?” “What!” for a second Beth honestly thought that she’d misheard. “Did you just ask…?” “I don’t do sofa’s. They make me restless and then I sleepwalk and shout out in my sleep really loud. There was this one time when I leapt off the sofa at my aunt's house and I ran into the kitchen. I started going through all the dr…” “Stop! Will you stop talking just for one second? Jennifer, I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking but you can’t stay here.” Jennifer rolled her eyes and pouted. “Now, here was me thinking we’d got this name thing all sorted out. It’s very rude you know, calling somebody by a name that they don’t want to be called by. It’s Phantom, okay, Phantom. I’ll tell you what, let’s play a little game, every time you call me Jennifer, I’ll call you Beth Bathory, how’s that?” She didn’t wait for an answer but ran to the deep window sill where Beth kept a collection of over fifty little Wade animals. Often she’d thought of getting rid of them but the collection had grown from childhood and some of the pieces carried strong memories of happy days. Jennifer picked up one of the larger ones. “Aaaand,” she continued, elongating the word, “every time you call me Jennifer I’m going to smash one of these stupid things. I can see you aren’t very bright Beth Bathory, so I’m going to have to educate you.” Jennifer was obviously nuts. On top of everything else that she had to cope with, Beth had the misfortune of having taken the number six bus. “Okay, Miss, that’s it … out! I want you out of my house right now.” “I can’t, nowhere to go.” “I don’t care, Jennifer. Get out.” “Oh dear, Jennifer again, just remember, this is going to hurt the polar bear far more than it’ll hurt you.” She swung her arm back and flung the Wade ornament hard against the opposite wall. It broke in two and lay on the carpet by Beth’s feet. Jennifer put a finger to her mouth. “Oops, sorry.” The girl turned her eyes on Beth and stood with her left hand on her hip in a stance of defiance, challenging. It was Beth’s move but she didn’t know what to do. This was ridiculous, she was intimidated, and even a little bit frightened of Jennifer. She decided that the best course of action was to try and reason with her. “Look Phantom, you can’t stay here. I don’t even know how you came up with the idea. I’ve got to be up early in the morning for work. I’m not prepared for visitors and like I said earlier, I’ve got a lot of stuff on at the moment and have plans for this evening.” “Well somebody’s going to have to look after me, I’m only fifteen and I get frightened at home by myself.” “Well, where are your family? Where do you live?” Jennifer chose to ignore the second question and replied only to the first. “Oh, they’re away skiing in San Moritz. They won’t be back until next week, so you see, I’ll have to stay here. You’re my friend and I have nobody else.” “But, it’s just not convenient, I’m sorry, Jennifer. You must have some family that you could stay with. Why on earth did your parents go off without making arrangements for you? It’s ridiculous.” “Oh, I lied to them. I said that I was staying with a friend from school, but that didn’t work out.” “Oh, there you go then. You’ll just have to go and see this friend and sort things out with her family. Would you like to use my phone to ring her? I’m sure that if you’ve fallen out, she’ll be just as happy as you to make it up again.” “I can’t,” Jennifer’s voice trembled and her bottom lip crumpled. “She died yesterday and in all the fuss her parents have forgotten about me. I don’t blame them, it’s understandable. I don’t suppose they’ve even noticed that I’ve gone” “What? Oh, Jen…Phantom, that’s awful. What happened?” “Well, I just left and walked around all night and then this morning I met you and you seemed nice and,” “No, I mean what happened to your friend?” “Oh, she stepped out in front of a Mazda 323. It was red and had a really cool sticker on the bumper. I think it’s a mistake though, it didn’t look right. I think they should get a re-spray and have it black.” “And your friend was killed?” “Yes, poor Carrie, it cut her head right off and they had to put it in a separate bag.” “That’s terrible. Were you there? Did you see it?” “Yeah. There was a lot of blood, man and all these people ran around the road screaming and getting all hysterical and stuff. So, can I stay?” “Yes, for tonight anyway, but I’m going to have to ring these people. They must be worried about you, and on top of everything that’s happened they must be frantic.” “Oh, no, it’s cool. I told them that mum had broken her leg skiing and had come back early.” “But you said that you didn’t think they’d have noticed that you’ve gone? You said that you didn’t tell anybody.” “No, you said that. I said that it would make no difference if I was there or not. They won’t notice that I’m not there because they’ve got funerals and stuff to sort out.” “Oh, right.” Beth felt trapped but what could she do? She couldn’t turn a fifteen year old out onto the street with nowhere to go. She was obviously traumatised. The accident didn’t seem to have hit her properly. She’d have to tell somebody that the girl was here though, but who to tell? Social services maybe? Or her school, yes that was a good idea, she’d ring the school and let them know. But she couldn’t do that until Monday and she didn’t want to be stuck with her until then. Beth felt guilty, the poor kid was going through hell and all she wanted to do was get rid of her. Maybe she could contact Jennifer's parents and explain to them what had happened. “Have you spoken to your parents?” “Nah, they’ve left their mobiles at home.” “Well couldn’t you ring the hotel?” “Don’t know where they’re staying.” “So they’ve gone away without leaving any contact info in case of an emergency? That seems unlikely, surely they must have left something?” “Well, see, my brother as supposed to be at home this week, but something came up and he’s gone away too.” “Well can we ring him?” “Don’t know his number. What’s for tea? I’m starving.” Beth went into the kitchen to make something to eat, it gave her thinking time. Jennifer was fussy, didn’t like this and didn’t like that, eventually they settled on pizza and chips. Her visitor had been with her less than an hour and already Beth was in trouble with work. It was the bi-annual audit, she only had to go into work on a Sunday twice a year and it had to go and be this bloody week. Her boss was less than impressed when Beth rang up to call in sick for the following morning. She had never lied to her employer before but said that she had suddenly come down with a stomach bug that had knocked her off her feet. No, she didn’t think she’d be feeling better by the morning. Yes, of course, if she was, she’d come right in.” It was something else for her to feel guilty about but at least it was sorted and an item to cross off the worry list. As she cut the pizza into slices she tried to pull her thoughts into order. Her life was usually so staid and disciplined. She lived by routine, nothing much ever changed and the only unpredictable aspect was Maggie. In just twenty four hours everything had changed and she felt out of control. What was she going to do about Jennifer? The police could arrive at any minute. She was going to run away. Should she just pack a bag and run away while Jennifer was asleep, stick to the plan? The girl wasn’t her responsibility. It was all messed up and she was suddenly so tired. Another thought struck her about the girl who had been killed. Surely there would be a police investigation about that. Jennifer was a witness. They’d want to speak to her, wouldn’t they? Had she been taken to the hospital, checked over? Beth had no idea how to deal with a traumatised teenager. It was obvious that the accident had upset Jennifer terribly, even though she wasn’t showing it. Her behaviour since the moment they met had been very odd. Where the hell did she go from here? She wanted to do what she always did when she couldn’t think straight, she wanted to ring Maggie and ask her advice about Jennifer. But, she didn’t need to, she knew exactly what Maggie would say and the tone of voice she’d use to say it. She’d say, “For Christ sake, Beth, why do you always let people walk all over you? You’re too soft. Tell her to piss off and find some other sucker to take pity on her. She’s not your problem.” She couldn’t ring Maggie, it would only complicate matters. After they had eaten their meal and Beth had picked up the plate that Jennifer put on the floor at her feet she tentatively broached the subject of her stay again. “So, Phantom, I’ll sort the spare bed out for you for tonight but tomorrow we are going to have to make some alternative arrangements for you. I work you see, and I’m just not used to young people. I mean, what about school, for instance?” “Oh, that’s no problem, its half term.” “Really? Which school do you go to?” “Ulverston Victoria high school, why?” Well, young lady, Maggie’s kids go there and I know for a fact that they were off for half term two weeks ago. So that isn’t true, is it?” “No, I lied,” said Jennifer, nonchalantly. “Oh, for God’s sake Jennifer, how can I help you when you won’t even tell me the truth?” Jennifer glared at her. She ran to the window sill and picked up another Wade figure. It was the otter, one of Beth’s favourites. Her father had bought it for her when they visited Lowther Wildlife Park, the year before he died. “Don’t,” yelled Beth, but it was too late, the otter lay in pieces on the carpet. Jennifer turned around with a smug smile and sang what sounded like a nursery rhyme. Elizabeth Bathory hired me. Put me in a vat of tea. Left me there `till half past three. Wicked Elizabeth Bathory. Beth began to cry. “I can’t cope with you. I’m sorry, I’ve changed my mind, you’ll have to go.” “Oh,” said Jennifer, slyly, “but I can’t Beth, because, you see, I know what you did last night.”
Copyright © 2008 Sooz |