PAST AND PRESENT

Chapter 1

PAST AND PRESENT

 

Briony Tello got out of bed, looked out of the window, didn’t like what she saw, and went to have a shower. Her two sons, Michael and James, had already had breakfast and gone to school and college. The three had lived alone in the flat since the head of the family had left the year before. There had been no note and no sign of where he might have gone. In that year they had spent a lot of time talking about why he would have gone, without ever arriving at a conclusion. Briony had the very typical life of home to office and office to home. In order to break the monotony, she sometimes changed the shopping days with the laundry days, just to do something a little different. The walk to work was the same every day and so was the greeting of John, who worked with her. “Hello. Like a coffee?”

“Thanks,” Briony looked around her, and asked, “Are we the only ones to have come in?”

“We’re the only ones so far,” pushing his chair closer to Briony’s.

Their workmates entered the large spacious office, and sat down at desks like Briony’s and John’s, which held computers. They were all employed by a marketing company and it was the most monotonous job imaginable. After an hour, Briony got up and rubbed her aching neck and back.

 

At lunchtime everyone’s timetable was different, and Briony preferred that, as it meant she didn’t have to listen to or answer questions about Jasper’s disappearance, she had lunch in a café, and then went for a stroll around the nearest department store. All of a sudden she felt someone’s eyes on her. She looked up carefully, and saw a man staring at her. Without a second thought, she turned round, and made for an escalator and the exit. In order to make sure she was safe, she returned to the office by a different route.

Back at the office the boring work carried on. Halfway through the afternoon, John walked over to Briony’s desk, and said, “There’s a pre-wedding party for Paul in ‘The Flowering Cherry’, would you like to come?”

“Who’s paying?”

“Paul is,” John said.

“OK, then. I’ll come.”

 

When Briony got home she went straight to her bedroom and changed from her office clothes and put on a track suit, and went into the kitchen to get supper ready for the three of them. The evening meal was the only time of the day that she and her sons were together to talk, exchange news, ideas. That was the moment she missed Jasper most.

When they had just about finished eating, the doorbell rang. Michael went and opened it. “Mum, there are two policemen at the door who want to speak to you.”

Briony and the two policemen went into the living-room, and Briony asked them what they wanted to say.

The older of the two said, “Mrs Tello, we’ve been informed that your husband, Jasper Tello, is in hospital up in the mountains. He was involved in a serious car crash. You were named as his next of kin, and the hospital sent us your name and address.”

“How did the car crash happen?” Briony asked them.

“The vehicle skidded on the icy road and went into a tree. He’s now in Copse Hospital, and the road conditions up there are very bad.”

“Was he alone in the car?” Briony asked them.

“I’m afraid we know nothing about anyone else being in the car. If you’re thinking of travelling up there, you’d be best to go prepared with the correct tyres on the car, warm clothes, a thermos of a hot drink, and sandwiches. All these things are not much, but if you get stuck in the car, then you’ll be grateful for sustenance.”

“Thank you both for coming round to inform me. Now, I’d better go and tell my sons about the accident their father has suffered. Good night.”

“Goodnight, Ma’am, and go carefully on the icy roads - if you go.”

Briony went back to the kitchen and told the boys everything the policemen had told her. “The hospital is in a mountain village with difficult access. You know I don’t like travelling by car very much, but before I leave, I’ll make sure there’s enough food for you both while I’m away. By the way, I’d prefer you to stay at home, please, and I’ll ring you every day.”

Then, when the boys had gone to bed, she rang the hospital where Jasper had been admitted. A woman’s voice answered, “Good evening, Copse Hospital. How can I help you?”

Briony said, “Good evening. I’ve been informed by the police that my husband, Jasper Tello, is a patient in your hospital, and I’d like to know how he is, please.”

“He’s fine, and is sleeping at the moment.”

“Thank you. Goodnight,” Briony rang off.

 

Inside her bedroom, Briony began packing her suitcase for the next five days. Her head was full of images from the past shared with Jasper, from when they met to the day he left. Once she realized he had gone for good, she and the boys had carried out a complete overhaul of the flat, making it unrecognizable for Jasper - should he decide to return.

 

That night it proved hard for Briony to fall asleep. It was no use counting sheep or any other animal. She didn’t want to take a sleeping tablet, so went into the kitchen, heated up some milk with honey, and sat at the kitchen table with her head in her hands.

James had heard her get out of bed and had followed her into the kitchen, and said, “I’ll come with you to keep you company. I don’t understand why you are travelling so far to see the man who walked out on us.”

Briony turned to her son, and said, “James, I’m not going for him. I’m doing this for myself.”

 

Briony didn’t like travelling by car but she had no alternative. The morning following the visit from the police, Briony rang the office and spoke to John. “Hello, John, could you do me a favour, please?”

“Yes, of course, what can I do for you?”

“Could you tell the boss I’ve had to go north where Jasper has been in a car crash?”

“Where is he right now?”

“He’s in a hospital called Copse Hospital high up in the far north.”

“Do you think you’ll have him back?” John asked her.

“I shouldn’t think so, not after he left us as he did.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll tell the boss. Have you any idea when you’ll be back?”

“I’m not sure, but I suppose a week at the most.”

“Bye, Gorgeous. The office won’t be the same without you.”

 

Briony tidied up the flat a bit, and then began to get ready for the long car journey. She put on her long dark winter coat and boots, grabbed her suitcase, and hesitated a short moment before opening the front door to her flat and leaving. She took the lift down to the garage in the basement, where she got inside her car. It was the last thing she wanted to do, and she felt trapped behind the steering-wheel, when what she really desired, was to get out and forget all about it.

She drove out of the garage into a smelly blue grey haze of car fumes. The traffic was barely moving, and to add to that, there was a group of teenage boys running in between the vehicles and banging on the windscreens. That added misery to the slow moving long line of cars, which forced the drivers to hit their horns. The noise was infernal. The traffic police were not in any hurry to get the traffic moving till they wanted it to. Therefore one side of the road was cleared while the traffic was building up on the other side. The situation was worse than desperate for those waiting to move forward.

The sound of a police helicopter was heard by everyone, even inside their cars, and even by the police. The hope felt by the drivers disappeared when the helicopter disappeared in another direction. Briony was well and truly fed up, and opened the glove compartment and found sweets and gum. The act of chewing the gum was a distraction, and thus occupied, continued on her way as the cars in front of her began to move.

The traffic began to thin out and there was more space between the cars, and Briony was less tensed up. From time to time the helicopter made another swoop over the traffic. At times it flew so low it was possible to see the pilots inside.

The queues at the toll-gate to enter the motorway weren’t as slow as they could have been with the heavy traffic, and soon Briony paid up, and passed through onto a better and faster road.

As she set out on the motorway, she wondered what she would find at the end of her journey.