Carved in Stone: Monochrome Destiny Read online

  Walking across the shingle beach, her feet alternating between sand and rock, Robyn traversed the water’s edge as the tide lapped gently in. She watched Andrew throwing an old tennis ball for Max and found the simple act of man and dog refreshing. Max darted across the pebbles as swiftly as if he were running on a flat surface, never once losing his footing, tail wagging joyously. He bound through the shallow rippling waves spilling water into the air in plumes as Andrew threw the ball in all directions, laughing when Max fell for a fake throw.

  “You like this.” Andrew took her arm so that they could walk along the sand together.

  Robyn looked at her feet as they skirted the edge where dry met with wet, before looking up. “Yes, I like this.” She liked that it was a far cry from the animosity in Derek’s room.

  She had said nothing. She didn’t want Andrew to feel obligated to confront Derek on her behalf. Her struggles with Derek Ellis were her own and she would find a way to work with the man no matter how frightening she found him. She should never have let her anger get the better of her and confronted him like that. She knew better.

  Andrew stopped and turned. He held Robyn’s chin firmly and studied her features.

  “There’s strength in you.”

  Robyn tried to shake her head but his grip was firm.

  “Oh, I know you don’t see it, but it’s there nonetheless. I can see it today, in your eyes.”

  He dipped his mouth to hers and slowly, without the driving desperate passion of their previous encounters, he kissed her. It was gentle, sweet, meant to convey something other than desire but his heat was still there, enticing and enthralling. From his fingertips, to his firm lips, Robyn felt heat enter her and threaten to take control but still Andrew managed to keep the impatience away and give only what he wanted, what she needed. He let her go just before dark needs took over.

  “I don’t feel strong.” She felt heady, giddy almost.

  “We both have a lot on the line here, Robyn, but I want this to work.”

  They stood on the shore facing one another, time stretching out before them.

  “I want this to work too.”

  A bark drew their attention to Max as he dropped the ball at Andrew’s feet. Robyn laughed as Andrew sighed, grabbed the ball, turned and hurled it inland. He had a good arm, accurate and powerful. The ball sailed towards the grassy bank to land near the church. It was a very long throw.

  Max took off in eager pursuit as Andrew’s attention was drawn to the bank at the back of the church. Without a sound, he marched off.

  Robyn stood, baffled, as Andrew stepped over pebbles, deftly traversed the larger boulders and quickly reached the grass. She began to follow.

  Andrew’s goal was reached before Robyn found her way across the shingle. He stood just behind the church and bent down to retrieve something from the grass.

  When Robyn eventually got to Andrew’s side, he was turning an object over and over in his palm.

  Robyn froze.

  Jewels glistened in the sun.

  Her heart stopped beating as her lungs solidified. “Please tell me it’s not pink,” she whispered against the noise of the sea behind her and looked up at Andrew.

  He frowned. “It’s pink.”

  Dirty, cracked across the middle and missing a large piece, there was no denying what Andrew had found.

  Speechless, Robyn took the object from Andrew’s hand and knelt down in the long grass feeling weak. She watched the light dance off of the lighter, white stones, set in heart shapes, in a regular pattern throughout the darker surface and felt the tremendous weight of guilt settle over her shoulders. It was Kat’s phone cover.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” Andrew asked, carefully, soft.

  “It’s hers,” her voice cracked. “It’s Kat’s phone.”

  A moment’s pause stilled the air. “It can’t be hers, Robyn.” Andrew dropped into the grass, keeping a distance but trying to make her look at him. “She’s gone. It can’t be hers.”

  “I know it’s Kat’s. I saw her with it on the platform, before . . ,” she struggled to form the words, “before she left me.”

  “Robyn, listen. She left. It has to be somebody else’s.” He inched towards her but her flinch backwards made him stop.

  “It’s definitely Kat’s. She had this cover. This is hers.” Robyn held up the broken, dirty piece of plastic as if it contained all the answers.

  “Robyn, that could be anybody’s.”

  No words could change how she now felt. The weight that had landed upon her when she saw what he held was enormous.

  “I’ve never seen another, have you?” Mixed emotions turned to anger. She was angry at herself for allowing other people’s views to cloud her own. She was guilt ridden and desperate.

  Robyn started looking around her. “Is there any more, of the cover, or the phone?” If they found the phone she could prove it was Kat’s.

  Andrew shook his head then reached out and placed a hand over Robyn’s, the pink plastic became sandwiched between their palms. He had meant to calm, to assure, but the warmth that flowed into her only managed to horrify her further. It was that same attraction between the two of them that had driven Kat away in the first place and after all of Robyn’s assurances to her, she was here, with Andrew, as Kat knew she would be.

  “Don’t do that. Don’t try to placate me.” Robyn pulled her hand from Andrew’s and felt icy tendrils leach throughout her body. “Do you know what this means?” She stared at him as her mind screamed the truth. “She came back here. She came back and she didn’t come to see me.” The evidence was there, solid in her palm.

  “Robyn, think of the facts. Is it more likely that this phone cover belongs to a stranger, or that it is Kat’s and she returned here, sometime in the last month, without contacting you at all?”

  His words cut like a knife, reopened the old wound and Robyn knelt there bleeding freely. “I pushed her away Andrew. I made her leave. She was my only friend.”

  “You did nothing of the sort.”

  Robyn stared at him and felt shame wash over her. “We fought over you. She ran because she knew I would be here, with you.”

  “I couldn’t have made it clearer to Kat that I wasn’t interested. You can’t blame her disappearance on what we have, what we can have.”

  “I have to know why? Don’t you understand? I need to know that I didn’t do this.”

  A barely noticeable flicker of anger darted across his expression before he pushed it aside and relaxed. He grabbed her hand.

  “Please, think will you? The police have closed the case. They know she left the country. Think about what happened the last time you were sure there was more to this.” He knelt directly in front of her. “Remember what I said, I don’t want you to go. Remember the warning you had from the Head. This is a small town, and memories fade slowly, you cannot afford to stir this up again.”

  Perhaps some would have dropped it. Some would have accepted what they had been told. Robyn had already allowed herself to believe that Kat had left because she merely wasn’t getting along here, but she had known that wasn’t right. Now, the evidence spoke differently. Kat had been back. Kat had avoided her. It was Robyn’s fault that Kat had left.

  “I have to go.” She saw disappointment in Andrew’s face “I need some time alone. I’m not good company at the moment.”

  Robyn thought she read concern in his eyes but there was an element of something else. Was it panic? “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he whispered tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

  “No, I’ll be fine. I have to go for a drive, I need to think, to calm down.” He still held her hand and she was desperate to get out of there, to do something. She needed to distract him so that he would let her go. “How did you see the case from all the way over there?” she nodded towards the sea.

  “Oh. Um it was glinting in the sun,” he seemed caught out by her question.

  Robyn looked across the expanse
of grassy bank, across the wide pebbled beach and away to the shore where they had stood. When she looked back, Andrew relaxed his grip.

  “I have to go.”

  He nodded solemnly and whistled for the dog.

  “No, you stay,” she realised that he planned to walk her to the car, “Max is enjoying his game of fetch.”

  Impulsive, definitely; reckless, probably; dangerous, maybe, it didn’t bother Robyn as she marched straight through the door of the police station.

  “Miss Darrow?” PC Godwin’s questioning smile greeted her at the front desk.

  “I have new evidence.” she placed the phone cover on the desk.

  The young PC picked it up with a puzzled expression and turned it over in his hand. He looked up, brows raised.

  “It’s Kat’s mobile phone cover,” Robyn pointing to the jewelled hearts. “I found it this morning at the abandoned church, yet I know that she had it with her when she left.”

  The PC sighed and dropped his shoulders. “Miss Darrow, even if this does actually belong to Miss Harris, what crime do you think has occurred here and how is this evidence?”

  Robyn had to try. “I know, deep in my gut, that this is Kat’s. And if I’m right, then Kat must have returned to Porthmollek.”

  “If Miss Harris has decided to return, I hardly think that it is a police matter.”

  He was being uncooperative in the extreme and condescending. Robyn wondered what had happened to the helpful police officer that had come to her home only a few weeks ago.

  “Look, PC Godwin, Brian. I know that I sound dramatic and perhaps a little unhinged, but please listen to me and understand. If this mobile phone case is indeed Kat’s then I need to find her, desperately. I need to know why she came back to the town and yet didn’t come to see me, even if only to collect the rest of her stuff. I also need to know how this got to where I found it.” What she really needed was to find Kat, by any means necessary and talk to her about Andrew. Robyn couldn’t see how she could continue their relationship with this cloud of guilt hanging over her. If Kat had indeed returned and had been staking out Andrew’s home, as the mobile case suggested; then Robyn really needed to talk to her.

  “I’m sorry, but the case is closed. I have already spent more time and resources on this than I would normally. And this,” he pointed to the cover, “does not give me the evidence I would need to open it again.”

  Robyn sighed. “Is there anyone else? Someone I can hire perhaps, someone that could find her for me?”

  PC Godwin shook his head. “I don’t know what you’re used to, but this is a quiet community. Not only are there no secrets here in the first place but we certainly don’t have any private investigators.”

  “But,” she tried.

  “Goodbye, Miss Darrow.”

  Angry, lost, desperate for understanding, Robyn marched up the High Street to Ellie’s.

  “I have to know Ellie.” Ellie was sitting opposite her with her own coffee after listening to her woes.

  “Oh, Robyn, I thought you’d accepted that Katherine left dear. You seemed so much more content in the last couple of weeks. I thought that you’d agreed with what the police found.”

  “I did, I thought I did.” Robyn looked into her tea cup as if the answers would miraculously float to the surface, “I don’t know. I can’t be certain that the phone cover is Kat’s but that’s irrelevant now. That piece of plastic has shown me that I have to find her, talk to her. I have to know why she left. I have to be certain that it wasn’t because of me.”

  “Robyn, listen to me dear. Katherine left. Whatever her reasons, they were her own. Now, I think that you have some unresolved issues of your own.”

  Robyn looked up at her. “What do you mean issues?”

  “The fact that you’re so determined to believe that you’re the reason that Kat left says more about you than her. You need to focus on yourself, Robyn and work out why Katherine’s leaving has made you so empty.”

  “Have you ever made the wrong decision Ellie?” Robyn’s words were a pained whisper.

  Ellie looked at her cautiously over her glasses before she answered. “You don’t get to my age without making a mistake or two, Robyn.”

  Robyn nodded in agreement. “Well this time, Ellie, I’m not wrong.”

  ***

  Soon afterwards, across town, a suited man looked up from his desk and was surprised and a little pleased to see who had walked through the door. He knew that the smirk gave away his glee, but he’d never been one to hide his true feelings, not from this man, his benevolent benefactor.

  “She’s out of control isn’t she?”

  “You don’t have to look so gleeful about it.” The shorter man strolled in and dropped into the chair opposite. “And you don’t have to tell me that you told me so.”

  He barely contained his laugh. Everything was falling quite sweetly into place. It was amazing what you could achieve when you put your mind to it, especially if your mind was as finely tuned and as devoid of conscience as his.

  He reached into his bottom drawer and pulled out the bottle of Le Burguet cognac that he stored there. He was a man of fine tastes and varied pleasures. The thousand pound cognac was the one pleasure that his colleague shared with him.

  “You always know just what I need.” The shorter man sighed as he was given a large snifter.

  “When you cast off the trappings of conscience and live only in the land of pleasure you learn to do just as you desire. Once you have reached enlightenment of your own inner needs, you learn to read the desires in others.” It was a philosophy to live by, one that he lived every day.

  “My desires run much deeper than fine cognac.”

  “That is true my friend, that is true.”

  The shorter man narrowed his eyes. He fizzled with power. “It was a great day when I found you, but do not confuse my frankness with friendship. You jumped the gun with her friend. I have no doubt as to your motives and now you have left all of us in a very precarious position.”

  Yes, he had made a mistake, not in taking Katherine, he was certain of that, but in letting his barriers down with this viper. The man did not lead without reason.

  “She had become a danger and I took her out of the equation.” His voice remained steady even as his mind replayed those wonderful hours of enjoyment.

  “You took her too soon and you know it. Now this girl won’t leave it alone and she is dragging others into it. We are close to our goal and her meddling threatens everything.”

  “Then allow me to assist. I assure you that she will not be meddling for long.”

  The cold look that crossed the room would wilt any other man, but he was one who worked outside the realms of the norm. He let the gaze burn into him, but felt nothing of the fury within it. You had to care to feel such.

  “No, there are already too many questions being asked. Another disappearance will raise too many suspicions. This needs to be handled much more carefully.”

  The opportunity that he yearned for was slipping from his grasp and he could not keep the disappointment from his tone. “That is a shame. I was looking forwards to round two, so to speak.”

  “Round two may well come, but not yet. I believe that we have a window here to correct your mistake. I have already implemented plans.”

  One eyebrow raised in enquiry. “Then I wish you luck, but at the same time, I hope your plan fails. Come and find me if that is the case.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Robyn sat in her kitchen thinking about Ellie. She was right. Robyn had issues that perhaps she hadn’t dealt with as thoroughly as she had thought, but that knowledge wouldn’t change her path. Robyn knew better than most why it was important to fix past mistakes. If she had hurt Kat enough to make her leave, then Robyn was going to find her and make up for it.

  Realising that the dishes weren’t going to do themselves, Robyn hauled herself up and walked to the kitchen.

  As the bowl fill with bubbles, she n
oticed something out of the window above the sink.

  The cottage had a small back lawn, surrounded by trees. It didn’t get much sunlight, shaded as it was by the surrounding foliage, so it was often muddy and boggy. Robyn only used the little garden to occasionally dry clothes.

  Darkness had fallen whilst she wondered about Kat, but there was a brilliant moon illuminating the lawn. Now, standing on that lawn, still as statues and facing her, were five dark figures. Robyn would never have seen them, with the internal lights reflecting off of the glass, except for the white masks that they all wore. Masks, picked out by the moonlight, glowing. Featureless, white and ethereal, they had no mouths and no noses, only black ovals where hidden eyes watched.

  A gasp burst from Robyn’s lips as terror seized her and set her heart racing. Five faces, captured in the moon’s glow: supernaturally static, unnervingly faceless and undeniably real.

  Robyn threw herself to the side seeking cover from the observing eyes. Ghosts, spectres, demons, her mind considered the possibilities as she backed into the corner adjacent to the window and tried to make herself as small as possible. Her breathing was ragged. Blood drained from her system leaving her extremities cold and shaking, and she could feel her fingers curling in as shock took over.

  Incapacitated by fear, Robyn’s body was frozen as her mind reeled. What were they? Were they real? What was she going to do? What were they going to do? One thing was for certain, she couldn’t stay there, cowering in the corner, alone.

  Robyn closed her eyes. This couldn’t be real. Reality was being contorted from the normal to the grotesque. Her concern for Katherine had been built into a hallucination by her psyche.

  Clutching the countertop for strength, Robyn dragged herself forwards and opened her eyes. She had to know if they were real and she had to know if they were still there.

  Approaching the window, Robyn could see that the moon had been obscured by cloud. With the total inky blackness of the night complete, she could see nothing but for the reflection of her own face on the window pane. Her breath escaped on a sigh. It was her, it had to be. Vivid imagination gone wild, she must have been imagining things. Her eyes strained to see into the darkness but the garden was obscured, until the cloud crossed the moon and light flooded the scene once again.