Solstice - The Goddess Awakens

‘There’s a lovely little place up the street here, it’s very private,’ Lola suggested warmly.

‘That’s okay,’ replied Sarah.

She seemed drained of all energy and Lola recognised the vacant look of grief in her eyes. The poor girl was trying to understand what was happening, and the events clearly hadn’t fully registered with her yet. The warm weather was long gone now and a heavy grey cloud that hung overhead threatened more rain.

‘Looks like it’s going to rain again,’ said Lola, in an attempt to make conversation.

It wasn’t long before they reached The Pastry Boutique, a beautiful building hidden in one of the alleyways off the main road. Lola had been coming here for years with her mum and her friends. As they approached the cafe, Sarah stopped to admire the shop front, which was decorated with ornate green and pink flower mosaic tiles that curled around the shop’s sign like a beautiful garland. A large wooden-arched window was host to a multitude of colourful pastries and cakes, enticing in all who passed by. Lola loved it there, especially on a dull day like today. The warm yellow glow radiating from inside the cafe spilled out onto the cobbled alleyway.

‘I’ve never noticed this place before, it’s so quirky,’ croaked Sarah, her voice clearly hoarse from all the crying.

‘It’s opened a few years now! Wait until you see inside,’ said Lola, pushing the door open.

Immediately their senses were ignited by the smell of freshly brewed coffee, cake and chocolate that hung in the air. Lola directed Sarah towards the back room while she gave her order to the warm familiar face behind the counter.

‘Well, Lola, where have you been hiding, young lady?’ asked Madge, the proprietor of The Pastry Boutique and a very congenial woman.

Lola had instantly warmed to Madge the first time they met. She was a fantastic character, very attractive for her age, and tall and curvy, reminding Lola of Sophia Lauren. Well into her sixties now her hair had turned silver, but she had a lust for life and people. She loved to hear all about their troubles, which usually revolved around relationships, imparting her words of wisdom where and when she could.

‘Hi, Madge, how are you?’ smiled Lola, genuinely happy to see her. ‘I’m lost without my partners in crime; they’re off enjoying themselves in America this summer.’

‘And they left you here all on your own? That’s terrible, pet,’ laughed Madge.

‘I know, some friends they are!’

Suddenly Madge’s face became sullen, with all traces of humour extinguished, and Lola knew what was coming. In truth that is why she had been avoiding coming to the cafe.

‘I’m really sorry to hear about Arthur, pet, I’m sure you were totally devastated. You did him so proud at the funeral, love.’

Emerging from behind the counter in her pale blue frilly apron and matching mules, Madge pulled Lola into a warm embrace.

‘I didn’t get a chance to speak to you at the service. I miss him terribly you know,’ said Madge wiping the sides of her eyes with a tissue, as Lola tried to fight back her own tears.

‘Thanks, Madge, I’m still trying to get to grips with it too. We all miss him,’ replied Lola.

Trying to compose herself, Madge walked back behind the counter. ‘Now what can I get you, love? The usual?’

‘Yes please, and a white coffee and a piece of that chocolate cake as well,’ smiled Lola, before lifting her tray with black tea and a slice of pavlova on it. In all the time she had been coming to The Pastry Boutique her order had never changed, but today Madge added a little extra serving of two large strawberries smothered in chocolate, onto a small flowery saucer.

Lola found Sarah sitting on the large pale-pink velvet sofa in the back room. It was late in the afternoon, so they had the place to themselves. Setting the tray down tentatively, Lola took a seat opposite her. Sarah was still very emotional. Lola engaged her in light conversation as they drank their tea and coffee, waiting for Sarah to finish, before she started the interview.

‘I’m just going to set this on the table, Sarah – it’s my Dictaphone. If it’s okay with you, I want to record our conversation. No one will hear it only me, it’s just for my notes,’ explained Lola, trying her best to put Sarah at ease.

‘No problem, Lola, I don’t mind at all.’

‘My shorthand isn’t up to speed just yet,’ smiled Lola. ‘So I cheat a bit using this.’

Sarah smiled, her pale-blue eyes lighting up briefly. She was a bit smaller than Lola, quite petite, with soft auburn hair, which came to her chin in a neat bob. She was very pretty in a natural sort of way, thought Lola, as she examined her features.

‘I’m sure you’ve spoken to the police about this, Sarah, so it won’t be that formal. I just want to know about the events of that night, and anything significant you can tell me about Vikki.’

Sarah sat staring at her feet for a moment before she began to speak. ‘She didn’t kill herself. There is no way, Lola! The police have it wrong. I tried to tell them that but they wouldn’t listen!’

‘Are you saying you think she was murdered?’

‘I don’t know, all I know is that she wouldn’t have taken her own life,’ insisted Sarah.

‘Why are you so sure about that?’ asked Lola, feeling a little uneasy about interviewing Sarah when she was clearly so upset. She didn’t want to push her too far in asking her to talk about her friend’s death when it was still so raw. But, she contented herself that Sarah had been keen to help – after all she was Vikki’s best friend.

‘You didn’t know Vikki. She loved life. She was a bit shallow sometimes, but she was a kind person, and she loved her mum and dad. I know she wouldn’t have committed suicide. I know because she knew what it was like to almost lose someone that way.’

Sarah fell silent, pulling her sleeves over her hands. Lola’s eyes automatically followed the movement and caught a glimpse of the white scars that appeared on Sarah’s pale wrists. It was clear why she believed that Vikki had not taken her own life.

‘She had helped someone close to her through that,’ whispered Sarah faintly.

‘Can you tell me about that night, Sarah?’ asked Lola after a moment’s silence.

‘Vikki had been really looking forward to the party for weeks. She’d met Alex around May, after he came back from university in America. It was at one of those functions, you know the sort you would see in Tattler, with all the beautiful people,’ smiled Sarah. ’Vikki was there as part of the whole Miss Northern Ireland thing. She had won it the previous year.

’Anyway, they had a sort of thing going on. Vikki was really taken by him. He was handsome, smart and extremely rich, so he was her ideal man. He seemed quite generous as well. He gave her a charm for her bracelet as a birthday gift. It was a little owl, I think, and it was a two-carat diamond, she was ecstatic. She’d thought she’d met her prince charming. But they only met up every now and then.

‘Alex didn’t take it as seriously as Vikki did, but she was always on call. So, when he invited her up to his house for the weekend, she was there in a heartbeat. I could tell that Alex Stein wasn’t serious about her. I tried to tell her, but she wouldn’t listen. He was only using her, and because of that, I didn’t really like him much. There was just something about him I didn’t trust, Lola.’

Lola wasn’t surprised by Sarah’s opinion of Alex; she had sensed the tension between them back at the office. She would have been the same if someone had mistreated Clara, Ruby or Orla. Lola felt a little embarrassed, because she had found Alex attractive just as Vikki had. She wasn’t really sure what to say or how to respond, so instead she waited until Sarah continued.

’Anyway, Vikki went to this party. I didn’t go, it wasn’t really my scene to be honest, but I went up with her for the weekend, we stayed at our student house. She left for the party at about 11pm, and that was the last time I saw her.

‘I was woken at around 3.30 am by a call to my phone, but I didn’t reach it in time. I checked my voicemail and it was Vikki, but she mustn’t have hung up straight away as I could hear her talking to someone.’

Sarah was staring into the distance now, deep in thought. Tears began to run down her cheeks, falling in droplets onto her light denim jeans. Lola handed her a tissue not sure whether to continue the interview or not.

‘If I’d only answered that call,’ wept Sarah, the hurt and anger tangible in her voice. ‘Or even if I’d gone with her, Lola, none of this would have happened!’

Lola knew exactly how she was feeling – the what-ifs – but the truth was there was nothing Sarah could have done.

‘Listen to this and tell me what you think,’ said Sarah handing Lola her mobile phone to hear Vikki’s last message.

‘Hi, Sarah, it’s me,’ chirped Vikki’s light and airy voice. ‘I thought you might still be awake and I was absolutely bursting to get telling you all the gossip! I’ve had an amazing night. Let’s just say that there’s more to Alex Stein than meets the eye, he certainly lived up to his reputation,’ giggled Vikki excitedly.

The message had been cut off abruptly, while Vikki was in mid-sentence. All Lola could hear now was static, and the click of Vikki’s heels on the pavement. Then she heard what Sarah wanted her opinion on, the light purr of a car engine, which sounded like it was slowing down. For some reason Lola got the impression that Vikki recognised the person in the car, as he called out to her. It was a deep male voice with a very distinct Belfast accent. He was offering her a lift. The sound was badly muffled, but Lola could tell that Vikki got into the car and closed the door, and then the call ended.

Lola’s mind was racing, how could the police have overlooked this? She knew she was no detective, but this was a vital piece of information. Whoever was in that car could have been the last person to see Vikki Jones alive.

‘So what do you think, Lola?’ asked Sarah nervously.

She told Lola that she had listened to the message countless times, and believed that she could make out a car and a voice, but when she gave it to the police they seemed less impressed. She had protested, but they said that it was incoherent. Since then she had worried that she’d made it all up in her desperation to find her friend. She was hoping that Lola would agree with her that the message was indeed significant.

‘I’m trying to get my head around this, Sarah. I mean how on earth could the police have overlooked this? It’s a disgrace!’ ranted Lola in disgust. ‘Who did you speak to? There is really something wrong here.’

‘I had been told that the detective leading the investigation was a DCI Campbell, but when I called he was out. So I spoke to one of his team, I can’t remember his name, but he just dismissed it. He made me feel as though I was grasping at straws.’

Lola got a sick churning feeling in the pit of stomach, indicating to her that somewhere in this case there was foul play at work. Hearing what Sarah had to say only strengthened her conviction that Vikki had indeed been murdered. She could feel that this story was more complex than it first appeared. One of the Stein’s maids had seen Vikki get into a black car, and here was the proof that she did. Now Lola wondered who, or what, the authorities were protecting. The answer to this question flashed like a neon sign in Lola’s mind, but the very thought horrified her.

‘Would it be okay for me to take a copy of that voicemail, Sarah?’ asked Lola.

‘You can do that?’ questioned Sarah.

Lola nodded her head, and then lifted out a small memory card from the back of her purse. Inserting the card into Sarah’s phone, she saved the voicemail as a media file, and transferred it onto her memory card. Removing it from the phone, she placed it back into her purse again for safe keeping.

‘Thanks, Sarah, you’ve been a great help. I understand how difficult this is for you. Believe me, I do! Losing your best friend like this takes a lot of getting used to, but the pain will get easier to manage in time.’

Lola reached out and squeezed Sarah’s hand. She looked so alone.

‘My life won’t be the same without her,’ replied Sarah. ‘I suppose you need to be getting back to the office, Lola.’

Sarah sat up to put on her coat.

‘You’ve given me a lot to look into, and I’ll try my best to get to the bottom of this, for you and Vikki’s family,’ promised Lola.

Lola shouted her goodbyes to Madge, as she and Sarah made their way back out onto the main street. It had been raining, but the sun was trying it’s best to break through the thick grey clouds. Far off in the distance a rainbow was visible, reminding Lola of the beautiful prisms that hung in her bedroom, a gift from Arthur.

‘Once again, Sarah, I can’t thank you enough. Take care of yourself and we’ll speak soon.’

‘No, Lola, thank you for your time, for listening to me, you’ve been great.’

As Lola turned to leave, Sarah called after her. ‘Be careful, Lola!’ A quizzical look spread across Lola’s face, the last time someone had said that to her she’d been attacked. ‘He seems to have a thing for you too,’ shouted Sarah, as she walked off in the opposite direction to Lola.

Lola immediately knew who the ‘He’ was in Sarah’s warning, and it was not lost on Lola as she returned to the Ballyvalley News, where she tried in vain to get in touch with the young detective. It had been an intense day and Lola was relieved when the clock struck 5pm. It took a while for her computer to close down, so she was the last to leave the office. Stepping outside she was surprised to see Alex leaning up against the wall. The evening sun bounced off Alex Stein’s light blonde hair and bronzed skin. His shirt sleeves were rolled up, revealing his taught forearms and his designer watch. He was like a vision, his dazzling smile momentarily disorientating Lola.

‘Can I give you a lift home, Lola?’ asked Alex confidently.

Lola tried not to look at him, as if by avoiding his gaze would somehow make her immune to his advances. ‘No thanks Alex, I’m fine,’ declined Lola, continuing to walk on by in case she changed her mind.

A sharp wave of electricity ran through her body as Alex pulled her by the hand. She turned to face him.

‘Look we didn’t get off to such a good start. I feel really bad about what happened. How about we start again?’ he said, all traces of arrogance now faded from his face, as he looked beseechingly at Lola.

She couldn’t resist, she was never one to hold grudges, and despite her better judgement, she wanted to believe him. She also knew that she was falling into the same trap as every other girl Alex Stein had snared. But he’d met her on a bad night in Portstewart and perhaps the same was true of him. However, Lola wasn’t willing to give in that easily.

‘What is the old saying, Alex? You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. You should think about that,’ said Lola cheekily goading his next move.

Lola turned on her heels and strode off towards the town, leaving Alex to watch her walk away from him yet again. Leaning up against the wall, he watched Lola admiringly until she was out of sight. This was going to be a bit harder than he thought, but deep down he knew that his interest in Lola Paige reached beyond that of the Hell Fire Club and her connection to Arthur Delphian.

Lola was buzzing as she walked home, the electricity and butterflies throughout her body still playing havoc. She was in complete denial, putting her present state down to hunger and stress. Suddenly Arthur’s words of caution came back to her, he had told her to be wary of new people that came into her life.

Lola had meant what she had said to Alex about first impressions. Her gut feeling about someone was usually correct. She knew Alex had a dark side, of that she was sure, she had first-hand experience of it that night at the party, and she didn’t trust him. There was also the small fact that Vikki Jones was with him on the night she disappeared. Yet here she was drawn to him all the same. No matter how she reasoned with herself, for the first time in her life her head and her heart were pulling her in opposite directions. She and Alex had nothing in common at all, they were polar opposites, but like the opposing sides of a magnet, they were attracted to each other, the force field too strong for either of them to withstand.

Never one to give in easily, Lola knew there would have to be a truce between the two, as there had been today. Through Vikki Jones’s death they had been able to create a temporary hiatus in their little game of cat and mouse.