Warhol's Prophecy

Becky would never have . . .

Becky?

Hailey turned and ran into her daughter’s room.

Like the other rooms in the house, it appeared relatively undisturbed. Apart from the toys.

Three of her dolls heads had been removed. Pulled free. Two of them were now in Hailey’s own bed. The third, she saw immediately, lay on the pillow of her daughter’s bed.

Three tiny plastic bodies lay together on the floor close by.

Hailey picked one up and it made a mechanical crying sound.

She dropped the doll and sat down on the edge of Becky’s bed.

Now what?

She sat trembling for what seemed like a long time, her heart hammering inside her chest.

Now will you call the police?

Hailey sat a moment longer, then wandered back into her own bedroom. She retrieved the two dolls’ heads and returned to Becky’s room, where she carefully restored the small mannequins to their correct appearance by replacing the heads of each. The blank eyes gazed at her as if they were wondering what she was doing. When all three were repaired, Hailey replaced the dolls in their usual position.

Everything in its place.

The fear she had felt before had been replaced by a kind of foreboding as she moved around the house in a trance-like state.

She had already made up her mind she wouldn’t tell Rob what she’d found today.

She would tell him that the burglar alarm needed fixing. That was all.

And there was certainly no need for the police.

Hailey changed into jeans and a T-shirt, stepped into ankle boots, and made her way back downstairs.

The dried mud on the landing and in the bedroom would brush off later.

No need for Rob to know.

Nothing had been taken. Nothing had been damaged.

Whoever had broken in had done it not for gain, but merely to prove a point. And that point had been admirably illustrated. The intruder had got in easily once. A second time would be a formality.

Hailey checked her watch.

Another forty minutes before she had to collect Becky from school.

She had time.

There was something she must do.

65

‘WHAT WAS ADAM Walker doing here?’

Hailey Gibson looked at Caroline Hacket with a curious mixture of anger and bemusement.

‘It’s a free country, Hailey,’ Caroline told her.

‘But what did he want?’ Hailey demanded.

Caroline sighed.

‘He came to talk,’ she said quietly. ‘Mostly about you, if it makes you feel any better. You hurt him, Hailey.’

‘Well, I’m so sorry about that.’

‘You should be.’

‘What bullshit has he been giving you, Caroline?’

‘You led him on. I told you that. He just wanted to know why you wouldn’t talk to him.’

‘I did talk to him. I told him to keep away from me.’

‘Perhaps it was the way you did it that he didn’t like.’

‘So you’re on his side now?’

‘Don’t be so bloody ridiculous. It isn’t a matter of sides.’

‘It sounds as if it is. Why did he come here in the first place?’

‘I told you. He needed someone to talk to.’

‘So you obliged? Very thoughtful. I suppose the fact that you fancy him has got nothing to do with it?’

‘He came here. We talked. About you. About my books. He stayed for lunch. That was it. And to be perfectly honest, Hailey, it’s none of your business whom I have lunch with. Just because you don’t want to speak to him any more doesn’t mean I have to ignore him.’

‘What time did he leave?’

‘About half-past two. Why?’

Hailey exhaled deeply.

‘I think he might have broken into the house this afternoon,’ she said finally.

‘What?’ Caroline asked, a slight smile on her lips. ‘Why the hell would he want to do that?’

‘Revenge.’

‘And what did he take?’

‘Nothing. But he was in our bedroom and in Becky’s.’

‘Was any damage done?’

Hailey shook her head.

‘You can’t accuse Adam of something like that,’ said Caroline. ‘Not without proof. What sort of man do you think he is?’

‘He was angry with me for not speaking to him.’

‘I don’t blame him, but that was no reason for him to break into your house.’

‘I think it gave him every reason.’

‘Then why didn’t he steal something – ransack the place?’

‘He wanted to show me he could get into the house any time he wanted to.’

‘And what do you think he’s going to do if he does break in again? Murder you all in your beds?’

‘You don’t know what he might do.’

‘Be careful, Hailey. Your paranoia’s showing.’

‘Don’t patronize me, Caroline,’ Hailey snapped. ‘I know what I saw.’

‘What did you see? Just let me refresh your memory. You say Adam Walker broke into your house, but he took nothing and he damaged nothing, right? Where is your proof that it was him?’

‘Who else would do something like that?’

‘Have you told Rob yet?’

‘I’m going to sort this out myself. I’m going round there tomorrow to speak to Adam and tell him to stop what he’s doing.’

‘You’ve got no proof he’s doing anything,’ Caroline reminded her.

‘Why are you defending him?’

‘Because you’re making him a scapegoat for your own guilt.’

‘What guilt?’ rasped Hailey. ‘Nothing happened between us.’

Caroline regarded her impassively.

‘Did you fuck him while he was here?’ Hailey wanted to know.

‘What difference does it make if I did or not? You don’t care about him. Do you?’

Hailey looked away from her.

‘Do you?’ Caroline persisted.

‘I don’t want him in my life,’ Hailey said flatly.

‘Good. Then leave him alone.’

‘He’s the one pestering me. Sending flowers, phoning all the bloody time, trying to