Warhol's Prophecy

‘The sister apparently had a small child, a boy. Adam said the boy was killed in an accident about a year ago. You must have seen them about.’

‘I think you’ve got your wires crossed somewhere, love. Adam never had a brother or a sister. He’s an only child.’

69

SHE COULDN’T SLEEP.

Despite the fact that Hailey could barely keep her eyes open, the merciful oblivion of sleep still eluded her.

She sat up, exhaling deeply. Thoughts whirled around inside her head like some kind of emotional twister.

Walker was an only child.

Hailey ran a hand through her hair.

There had been no terrible hit-and-run accident involving his nephew, because he didn’t have one.

What the hell was going on?

‘You OK?’

She looked across to see that Rob was lying on his side looking at her.

‘Yeah,’ she lied, ‘I’m fine.’

He raised one eyebrow.

‘All right,’ Hailey confessed, ‘I’m not.’

‘Do you want to talk about it? Is it me?’

She almost laughed.

‘For the first time in ages, no,’ she said, and now Rob smiled too.

He reached across and held her hand.

Tell him the truth.

She swallowed hard.

But what is the truth?

‘It’s work,’ she told him, lying back on her pillow and gazing straight ahead. ‘As the gig gets closer, everyone’s more tense. The organization is a bloody nightmare. Trying to make sure everyone’s got what they want. Making sure no one’s toes are stepped on. Dealing with so many fucking egos.’

‘It’s what you wanted.’

‘I know, and I don’t regret going back, but things are starting to get a bit frayed around the edges at the moment, that’s all. The gig’s in two weeks. I just wish it was all over.’

‘And?’

She looked at him. ‘And what?’ she wanted to know.

‘What else is bothering you?’

‘Nothing. Really, Rob. I’d tell you if there was.’

Liar.

‘Are you sure it’s not me?’ he enquired. ‘More of those thoughts about what happened with me and Sandy?’

‘I think about it from time to time. I’d be a liar if I said I didn’t. And it’s going to be a long time before I ever completely forgive you, Rob. But this time it isn’t you that’s bothering me.’

‘Thanks for that vote of confidence,’ he said, swinging himself out of bed.

She watched as he padded towards the bathroom, pausing by one of the windows, peering out.

‘What is it?’ she asked, seeing him cup his hands around his eyes, squinting into the gloom.

‘I’m not sure,’ he murmured.

Hailey also got out of bed, joining him at the window.

He snaked an arm around her waist.

‘I thought I saw something move,’ he whispered. ‘Down in the garden. Over by the bushes.’

At the bottom of their garden, a thick growth of wild blackberry and gorse bushes separated their property from the one adjacent. In the blackness of the night it was almost impossible to pick out shapes.

‘Probably a cat,’ Hailey said, hoping she was right.

‘Yeah, probably,’ Rob echoed.

He turned to kiss her on the cheek, then they both squinted through the gloom once more, watching for any signs of movement. At that moment, the security alarm went off.

70

HAILEY’S BREATH FROZE in her lungs as the deafening explosion of sound ripped through the night.

‘Shit,’ hissed Rob, his voice barely audible above the shrill two-tone alarm.

He ran to his side of the bed and pulled on a pair of jogging bottoms, then he slid his hand beneath the bed and pulled out the baseball bat he kept there.

Protection?

Hailey pulled on a long T-shirt, her hands shaking as she draped it over her head.

‘Mum.’

She heard Becky cry out from her room, and Hailey hurried off to be with her daughter.

Rob was already advancing across the landing, the bat held in one hand.

‘Rob, don’t go down there,’ Hailey called to him as he paused at the top of the stairs.

‘Just call the police,’ he shouted back, and she realized that these words were as much for the benefit of whoever else might be inside their house as for her. Somewhere in the back of her mind she remembered reading something in a magazine advising that if you suspected burglars had broken in, you make as much noise as possible. Frighten them off.

Frighten them off? That was a fucking laugh.

Hailey’s heart was hammering madly against her ribs as she entered Becky’s room to find the little girl sitting up in bed, arms outstretched. Hailey swept her up and held her tightly.

‘It’s all right, babe,’ she said, wishing she believed that.

Becky clung tightly to her mother, the sound of the alarm still screaming in her ears.

‘Rob, be careful,’ Hailey called, watching as her husband still peered over the balustrade, trying to see into the gloom of the hallway below.

If he heard her, he didn’t acknowledge her. She watched as he descended the stairs quickly.

‘What’s happening, Mum?’ Becky blurted out.

Hailey held her more tightly. ‘It’s all right,’ she said again. ‘The alarm’s gone wrong. Dad’s going to fix it.’

She heard Rob reach the bottom of the stairs.

He looked at each of the closed doors facing him in turn, then reached for the alarm control-pad, jabbed in the numbers and silenced it.

The silence seemed worse than the constant ringing.

He could hear his own blood rushing in his ears.

Rob looked at the panel and noticed that one of the blood-red zone-lights was flashing.

Zone Four.

Wherever the fuck that was.

Each of the rooms bore a different zone number, but he couldn’t remember which was which.

Zone Four?

Kitchen? Sitting room? Dining room? Study?

He would have to check them all.

He moved to the sitting-room door first, rested his hand on the handle, then shoved it open, simultaneously slapping at the light switches.