The driver springs forward to help, and together we manage to get Holly inside the foyer, laying her down on the visitor seats.
While he stays with her, I rush to the kiosk and summon Cath, the nominated first-aider, from her office.
Within minutes, Cath and Josh are attending to Holly, helping her inside the shop and the driver and I step back outside.
‘I’m Markus,’ he introduces himself. ‘I’m sorry that I’ve taken liberties with the parking here. I didn’t know… I mean, it was such a shock to see Holly standing there.’
‘You two know each other… how?’
For a few seconds he looks dazed, stands there like he’s altogether forgotten what day it is. I think about inviting him to sit in my chair for a moment but I can’t bring myself to do it. Not with how he’s blatantly flouted the rules here.
‘We went to school together and then we met up by accident…’ the driver says vaguely.
‘Holly called you Markus, is that your name?’
He nods and it occurs to me that this man could be a useful source of information. I’ve long suspected there’s more to Holly’s than she’s been letting on.
‘Come and sit inside for a moment, you look as if you’ve had a shock.’
I steer him into the foyer and he willingly sits down on one of the comfy chairs that Holly had been laid on only minutes earlier.
I get him a beaker of water from the cooler.
‘Thank you,’ he says.
‘You were saying that you met up with Holly again by accident,’ I prompted.
‘Yes, a year after leaving school. I told her about my life in Manchester and she jumped at the chance to…’ He shakes his head and looks at the floor. ‘She was in a bad time in her life. I wasn’t such a good friend.’
‘Why’s that?’
He shrugs. ‘My boss, Brendan, he’d been looking for a young woman suitable to be a companion to his wife. I knew there was something not quite right about it, with all the weird questions he got me to ask the girls, but I didn’t know exactly what. Then, when I got talking to Holly, I realised she’d be perfect.’ He bites his lip. ‘I swear I would never have taken Holly to him if I’d known what he had planned…’ His words trail off.
‘What happened?’ I shake my head. ‘Holly has been scared of something, of someone. She thinks perhaps somebody is following her… watching her, even. What happened to her that was so bad?’
And then Markus tells me Holly’s story.
He tells me everything.
Chapter Seventy
Holly
‘Come in,’ a raspy voice called when Holly held her breath and tapped on Mr Kellington’s door.
David opened the door for her.
‘Good luck,’ he whispered, before returning downstairs.
Inside, both Mr Kellington and Josh waited with concerned faces. Mr Kellington sat bolt upright behind his desk, and Josh had perched stiffly on the edge of one of the visitor seats.
‘Thanks for coming up, Holly. I understand from David that you’ve had a bit of a shock.’ Josh patted the chair next to him. ‘Come and take a seat.’
Her hands shook and so she tucked them under her thighs.
‘Are you feeling quite well now?’ Mr Kellington said kindly. ‘You were lucky that David caught you as you fell; you could have sustained a nasty head injury from hitting the edge of the kiosk.’
‘Yes, thank you. I’m fine now,’ she replied, shifting in her seat.
‘David said that you recognised someone who came into the car park… that it was quite upsetting for you.’
‘I thought I knew him, but I didn’t after all,’ she said quickly.
‘This is a pastoral chat only, Holly,’ Mr Kellington confirmed. ‘We are concerned only for your welfare; your private life is your own. You’re not in any trouble… as such.’
She stared at him, her heart pulsing in the top of her throat. Private life… What had Markus told David while she’d been out of it?
‘However, you’ve been acting a bit odd over the last few days,’ Josh said softly. ‘I’ve noticed, and so have some of your colleagues.’
Her eyes narrowed. She remembered seeing Ben and Martyn whispering and looking her way last night before she left.
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said, grateful that the shaking in her hands hadn’t yet transferred to her voice.
Josh sighed.
‘I’ll spell it out for you, Holly. You’ve been distracted to the point of neglecting the customers. Sitting staring out of the window for long periods of time and scribbling constantly in that notebook of yours, which I believe has nothing to do with work.’
Holly shrugged. She’d glanced out of the window a few times, making sure Emily wasn’t watching her every move, but she hadn’t been writing in any notebook. Had she?
‘They’re lying,’ she said simply. ‘Whoever told you that is jealous of my sales. They’re trying to get rid of me like happened to Lynette.’
She said the name meaningfully and fixed Josh with a look.
He coughed and glanced at Mr Kellington, who showed no sign of understanding the meaning behind it.
‘Also, I’m afraid I received a concerned call from our long-standing customer Mr Fenwick this morning,’ Mr Kellington added.
Holly remembered that the Fenwicks had popped into the shop yesterday… or had it been the day before? She seemed to be losing track of the days. Her head was only full of the chance to find Evan and take him far away, where they could make a new start together as mother and son…
‘Holly?’
Mr Kellington had been talking and she’d missed it.
‘Sorry,’ she said. ‘Can you say that again?’
‘You sold him the panther sculpture for more than double the list price,’ Mr Kellington repeated, a little more sharply. ‘Embarrassingly they discovered the guide price sticker still on the bottom when they got the piece home.’
‘So what? They’ve got more money than they know what to do with,’ Holly snapped. ‘Nothing better to do every day than come in here, buying more and more trinkets for their already overstuffed home. Why don’t they do something good with their money for once?’
‘Well! I hardly think that’s your concern,’ Mr Kellington blustered, pulling at his green-striped bow tie. ‘Lucky for us that they choose to spend their money here.’
‘You talk about this shop and the furniture in it as though it’s something important,’ Holly said slowly, shaking her head. ‘But it’s all just a load of overpriced crap that doesn’t mean anything. Don’t you see? It’s not real, it’s not what’s important in life. There are far more precious things than fancy lamps and feather-filled cushions.’
Mr Kellington’s mouth fell open.
‘That’s enough, Holly,’ Josh said. ‘I think you need to go home and rest for a few days.’
Someone rapped sharply on the door. Josh rose, but it opened before he could take a step towards it, and a figure appeared in the doorway.
Holly swallowed and closed her eyes.
‘Emily! What are you doing here?’ Josh said with a start.
Holly opened her eyes and looked wildly at the two men. They said nothing.
Emily wore jeans, boots and a black fleece hoody. With minimal make-up and her hair pulled back into a messy knot, she looked so different. As if all her power had evaporated.
But when she began to speak, Holly realised she’d be a fool to underestimate her.
‘I might not work here now, but it doesn’t mean I’ve been idle. On the contrary, I’ve been very busy since I resigned.’ She smiled and closed the door behind her.
Without invitation, she sat on the chair opposite Holly.
Mr Kellington pressed his lips together. He didn’t look happy with the situation, but he didn’t tell Emily to leave either.
‘Why are you here, Emily?’ he asked calmly.
Emily slowly folded her hands in her lap, seemingly intent on enjoying every second of whatever she was about to say.
‘I decided to look into your life before Kellington’s, Holly,’ she said. ‘Your life in Manchester, to be specific.’