Page 21 of The Quest for Excalibur
“I need to ask you a few questions. If you don’t mind.”
“Where’s Nathan?” Did I even want to see him after all these years? And on top of that, why would he want to see me? Might he still think of me as his girlfriend? How weird was that? I had so many questions.
“In the Relatives’ Room. We’re not letting him see you until we’ve ascertained the facts and found out what you know. And who did this to you.”
I frowned. “You don’t thinkhedid this, do you?”
The policeman pulled a skeptical face.
I shook my head, which hurt. “Well, he didn’t.”
He took out his notebook. “Do you know who did, then?”
I nodded, which hurt more. “My horse.”
He raised a quizzical eyebrow. “Your horse? On top of Glastonbury Tor?Really?”
On top of the Tor? I licked my lips, uncertain how to respond. “Ye-es.” It didn’t come out as brimming with conviction.
Silence fell between us. His pencil scratched across the page of his notebook for a moment or two before he looked up again. “So. You’re saying it wasn’t your boyfriend?”
“I am.”
“You’re sure? You have a lot of bruising. Not just your head. It looks like someone’s taken a baseball bat to you.” He paused, leaning forward with a mixture of compassion and earnestness on his spotty face. “You can tell me anything you like. We can keep you safe. Find you a women’s refuge. You don’t have to ever see him again. Just tell us what happened.”
I heaved a resigned sigh. “I’m telling you the truth. It wasn’t Nathan. He’d never hurt me.”
He closed his notebook. “Very well. I’m not sure I believe you though. I’ll file my report.” He began to turn away, but paused. “If you should change your mind, here’s a card for an organization that helps battered women.”
After a long pause, I took the card, laying it on the table beside my empty water jug. “Thank you.”
Five minutes later, Nathan appeared, face flustered with worry. “Gwen, are you all right?” He was gabbling, possibly with shock at having been a suspect. At still being one. “When I found you, for one awful moment I thought you were dead. What happened?” He shook his head. “Those bloody policemen thought I’d done this to you.” He sat down on the single chair beside the bed. “Fucking cheek of it.”
He must be very upset as he rarely swore, and almost never using the f-word.
I stared, taking in the man I’d left behind all those years ago. Tall, with dead-straight brown hair that flopped heavily forward over hazel eyes, he’d not changed a bit in the twelve years since I’d last seen him. “Hello, Nathan.”
The worried frown melted away. “Hello.” He gave himself a little shake. “Sorry about the rant.”
I smiled. Once upon a time I’d loved this man. Or I’d thought I did. Was it possible he’d never stopped loving me? How else had he been here to find me? Twelve years after he’d lost me.
I licked my still dry lips. I needed some lip salve in the warm dry atmosphere of the hospital. “How… how did you find me?”
He reached out a hand and covered mine, his palm soft. “When you didn’t come back, I got worried and decided to go up the Tor myself to find you. Good thing I did. You could’ve lain there all night. Died of cold. Not many people go up there in winter.”
Wait a minute?Whatwas he saying?
I struggled again with those awkward jigsaw puzzle pieces. Was this…? Could this be thesameday I’d gone up the Tor to scatter my father’s ashes? Cold fear clenched its fist around my heart, its icy fingers creeping through my body. Had all my years in the Dark Ages been somehow wiped away? “Do not believe your dreams.”
He must have seen my expression change. “Steady on. It’s all right. You didn’t catch your death. I was there to find you. And call an ambulance. You’re okay. Just a nasty bump on your head and a lot of bruises. You’ll be back to normal in no time.” He squeezed my hand.
Normal?I wanted to scream. Was anything ever going to be normal again?
A woman’s laughter, loud and triumphant, echoed through my head. Not a dream this time. The laughter was as real as Nathan’s words. My head swung around, searching for the source. Quiet patients dozing in other beds, nurses working, an auxiliary carrying a covered bedpan. I blinked, but nothing changed. “I think I need to get some sleep.” The words came out stilted and tense.
Nathan’s eyebrows rose, but he stood up. “Okay. Visiting time’s nearly over anyway. I’ll come back in the morning to collect you. They said you have to stay in overnight.” He bent and kissed me on the forehead, with warm, wet lips. Then he left.
I wiped the feel of his kiss off my skin.
