‘So, if you don’t mind my asking,’ said Jago, ‘what’s the matter?’ He had a collection of foil-wrapped parcels on his lap, given to him by Gilly as he got into the car.
Helena slowed down a little. ‘Sorry. I’m just a bit upset.’
‘I can see that, but why? Leo was OK, wasn’t he? Not my type, obviously but—’
Helena had been fighting with herself from almost the first moment they had arrived at her mother’s house. ‘Do you mind if I tell you why I don’t like him?’ Jago’s quickness to pick up on her feelings encouraged her to confide in him.
‘Of course not. I don’t think he’s ever going to be my best friend.’
‘Why do you say that?’ asked Helena sharply.
Jago shrugged. ‘As I said, not my type. So why don’t you like him? He seemed to be pretty much a ladies’ man.’
‘Maybe I should wait until we get home. It’s a bit weird.’
‘So? Your place or mine? I quite fancy having the third portion of pudding your mother gave me. Her pastry is amazing.’
‘Yours – mine – I don’t care really.’
‘Let’s go to mine,’ said Jago.
Ten minutes later, Jago had settled Helena down with a mug of tea – having offered her wine and been refused – and pulled the sofa round so it caught the sunshine. Then, having put both portions of different sorts of pudding on to the same plate, he said, ‘Spill.’
Helena sipped her tea, wondering where to start. ‘It does mean telling you something rather weird about me.’
‘Which is?’
‘Do you know what a super-recogniser is?’ she asked, desperately hoping for an affirmative.
‘Nope, never heard of it.’
Helena exhaled. She hated having to explain this unusual ability: she felt it made her sound a bit strange. ‘You obviously don’t read enough crime fiction. It means I can recognise faces, even if I’ve only glanced at them, and remember them, even years afterwards. Or even if I see them at a funny angle.’
‘Oh. That is a bit weird. But useful at parties,’ he added solemnly.
She laughed. ‘Very useful at parties but it has its downsides and this is one of them.’
‘What is?’
‘Recognising that the man my mum has started to go out with, and obviously is already quite into, is the man who nearly got her and me killed years ago.’
Jago sighed now. ‘That is awkward. What were the circumstances?’
‘He was driving a car towards us on the wrong side of the road, far too fast. If Mum hadn’t reacted so quickly he’d have crashed into us and we’d both have been killed.’
Jago didn’t speak for quite some time. ‘Are you sure?’
Helena bit her lip. ‘I’ve had the whole of lunch to think and rethink and I can’t make the answer different. If I could I would. Yes, I am sure.’
‘And he was driving too fast?’
‘For a motorway, no, but for the country lane we were on, definitely. If Mum hadn’t pulled out of his way into the ditch, really quickly, we’d have met head on. He didn’t stop although he’d obviously seen us. He just drove on.’
‘That’s outrageous.’
Helena drank some more tea. ‘We don’t know why he was driving so fast. He may have had a sick child on the back seat, or a dying dog.’
‘It’s possible, I suppose. A bit unlikely.’
‘I agree, it’s not really likely. I’m just trying to find excuses for him.’
‘Oh God, Helena! I don’t know what to say.’
‘And nor do I! Not to my mum, anyway. If I say anything it’s going to look as if I don’t want Mum to have a boyfriend, or any fun or anything nice like that.’
‘But she knows about your – superpower?’
‘Of course, but I still can’t call her or turn up and tell her Leo was the man driving the car that time. Or maybe I should?’ She paused. ‘Tell me honestly, how did you feel about Leo before I told you all this?’
Jago didn’t rush to answer. ‘Like I said, I don’t think we’d ever be soulmates.’ He paused again, for an agonisingly long time. ‘I’m not sure I entirely trust him.’
‘Weirdly that makes me feel a bit better,’ said Helena. ‘I couldn’t trust him the moment I saw him but I had to give him the benefit of the doubt. Just in case. I mean – Mum’s not likely to find many men she likes at this time in her life, is she? I know she’s not old or anything, but the chances of me finding someone are slim, and not all the men I meet are married. It must be much harder at her age.’
‘Could you talk to your brother about this?’
Helena shook her head. ‘I wish I could. But Martin’s never really approved of my superpower, as you called it. He can’t deny I have it, but I think he’s a bit jealous. Besides, he has an agenda.’
‘Which is?’
‘He and Cressida want Mum to sell her house and share out the money so they can buy a fancy-pants house with a granny annexe that Mum could live in and so look after Issi, and the massive garden, for nothing.’ It all came out in one anxious breath.
Jago frowned. ‘Oh. I don’t think your mother would like that, would she? Unless she absolutely loves gardening.’
‘She quite likes it but wouldn’t want to do it day in, day out.’
‘So what has this to do with Leo?’
It was a reasonable question. ‘He’s something to do with property and, as you heard, he valued Mum’s house. She must have asked him to. She will have got him round because Martin and Cress guilt-tripped her into it.’ She sighed. ‘Maybe I’m paranoid, but I got the impression they knew him already.’
Jago considered this. ‘Are you sure you won’t have a glass of wine? I definitely want one and I don’t want to drink on my own.’
‘In which case I will.’ She smiled. ‘I really appreciate having you to talk to about all this. I’d have talked to Amy but she hasn’t met Leo and she would probably just see him as a good-looking older man, perfect for my mum. And if I said anything against him she’d just think I was jealous, or that I wanted to be the only one with a presentable boyfriend.’
He grinned. ‘Glad to know you think I’m presentable.’
‘Obviously I’m bigging you up a bit for friendship’s sake,’ said Helena, smiling back at him. ‘Were you going to get wine?’
‘I was and I am.’ A few minutes later he handed her a large glass of red. ‘I hope you like it.’
‘What we have to wonder is would Leo like this wine? He’s obviously a bit of an expert,’ said Helena.
‘I don’t actually care if he likes it or not. But I want you to have something you like. Then we have to find a solution to your problem.’
‘Oh, that’s delicious!’ said Helena, having taken a sip. She was finding Jago very easy to talk to and the wine would make him even more so. ‘I’m not sure we can find a solution. It happened such a long time ago.’
‘I have some contacts that might make it possible. Can you give me the details of the road, the day, and the time of your near miss?’
‘Yes I can.’
‘Well, that is amazing! Do your superpowers mean you remember dates as well?’
‘Not the super-recogniser one, no, but the other one.’ She paused for effect, enjoying the fascination in his expression.
‘You have two?’
‘I kept a diary so we know the date and we can work out the road because of where we going.’ She felt very smug. Being a super-recogniser was interesting and rare but it was a God-given talent. Keeping a diary meant effort.
‘So why did you keep a diary? Or is it something all girls do?’
‘I did it because the recognising thing made me different at school and I was bullied a bit. It’s why I don’t tell everyone – anyone really – unless I have to. The diary was my friend. I had Amy, of course, but I put more in my diary than I told her.’
He nodded. ‘After all, you couldn’t expect Amy to care what the date was when you went—’
‘—to visit my bro at university,’ she finished.
He got up and fetched the bottle of wine. When he had topped up their glasses he said, ‘Why don’t you give me all the info and let me see what I can find out?’
It took Helena a few moments to grasp what he was offering but much longer to think what to reply. ‘The thing is, Jago, I’m not used to other people dealing with my problems.’
‘I wouldn’t be dealing with it, I’d just be getting information for you.’
‘But you’re so busy—’
‘And so are you. As I said, I have contacts – people I met under rather strange circumstances – that could make things quicker for me.’
‘That sounds incredibly shady!’
‘Well, it’s a bit shady but not incredibly. And not morally wrong, I promise.’
Although she was tempted, Helena still wasn’t sure. ‘The thing is, I’ve told you more than I’ve told anyone else—’
‘Because I was the first friend on hand. I know you don’t know me that well but I promise you can trust me. And I’d like to get this sorted out. I think your mum is wonderful and I’d love to help her. Wouldn’t it be great if Leo was carrying a heart to a transplant patient which was why he had to drive so fast?’
She couldn’t help smiling. ‘I don’t think they send vital body parts across the country in Beemers.’
He returned her smile. ‘OK, that’s a long shot but there could be a good reason – a benign reason – for his speeding and I’d really like to find it out for you.’
Helena rubbed her eyes to help her think and then remembered she’d put make-up on. ‘Damn,’ she muttered. ‘Now I look like a clown.’
‘The joy of being with a friend is that you don’t have to care what you look like,’ said Jago.
Helena wasn’t sure how to take this. He was right, of course, but somehow it did matter what she looked like. But it was too late now. ‘OK, Jago,’ she said, ‘I’ll take you up on your kind offer. And I’m really, really grateful.’
She liked Jago a lot and couldn’t help feeling it was almost a shame he was just a friend.
