Mike Shevdon: Sixty-One Nails

"Thanks, Jackie." I was about to say I had another call waiting, but the lie stuck in my throat. It was a ruse I had used many times to cut short awkward calls, but I just couldn't say the words. I settled on an alternative. "You're a treasure. I don't know what I'd do without you."

There was a stream of further questions that I couldn't hope to answer without a lot more time.

"You're just going to have to cope, I'm really sorry. Ask Jim if you're not sure. OK. OK, bye. Bye." I closed the connection and sighed.

"That is something else I wanted to tell you," said Blackbird. "Lying isn't the same any more. The Feyre can tell when someone else is lying and they don't lie themselves. It's too…"

"Uncomfortable?"

"That's a good description. It's not that you couldn't lie, but it provokes a sense of discord that rankles in your heart. The more you use your magic, the stronger it will get. You're much better off telling the truth. Magic and truth are siblings, which is why true names have power."

"You might have mentioned it before I called the office," I suggested.

"There's so much I haven't told you, Rabbit, so much you need to know. I don't entirely know where to begin."

I was beginning to realise that, as much as I found that untruth rankled in my own heart, the words of others also held the same note. Blackbird wasn't lying. In fact it threw everything she'd told me into a new light. It briefly occurred to me that this might be yet another layer to this elaborate deception but I had felt it for myself. I knew it was so.

"You should make one more call before we go," she advised.

"Go? Go where?"

"We can't stay in one place for too long, Rabbit — or rather you can't."

"OK. Who should I call?"

"Your ex-wife. Tell her you can't come and collect your daughter this evening."

"Blackbird, I can't tell her that. We've already had one argument about it this morning."

"Do you value your daughter's life? You'd be putting them both in danger. Is that what you wish?"

"You know it's not, but what can I say to her? She already thinks I'm unreliable, unpredictable and a host of other words beginning with 'un'."

"Find a version of the truth she can accept," suggested Blackbird.

I opened my phone again then placed it on the table, looking at it. I really didn't want to make this call, though in my heart I knew I had no choice. I couldn't look after my daughter in these circumstances. I picked up the phone and stood up, excusing myself from Blackbird for a moment and walked a little way away across the open pavement to gain some privacy.

I took a deep breath and rang her. The phone buzzed for a while without answer. Finally she picked up.

"Yes?" Her voice was cold and curt.

"Kath, it's Niall."

"I know who it is. Your number comes up on the phone."

"I need to talk to you about tonight, about the weekend."

"We've had this discussion, Niall. You're coming to collect her after you finish work, whatever time. That's what we agreed."

"I know, and you know I hate to let you down."

She paused, then said, "I know you're going to."

"Kath, this is more complicated than you realise. Something happened this morning."

"Was it something more important than your own daughter?"

"It concerns Alex as well."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, if I come and get Alex, I'll be putting her in danger."

"What do you mean? What kind of danger?"

"There are some people after me."

"After you? What kind of people? Niall, have you been drinking?"

"I'm quite serious, Katherine, and no, I haven't been drinking. I'm very sober right now. Look, I know it sounds preposterous but you have to believe me. It isn't safe."

"What are you talking about? You just think you can make up some story and it will all go away, is that it? Good ol' Kath. She's always there when I want to go gallivanting off somewhere. She doesn't mind. She's used to being the housekeeper, the drudge, the domestic. Is that it?"

"No, it isn't like that. Something happened to me on the underground this morning. I nearly died. There was an ambulance. I had to be revived."

"Where are you now?"

She could probably hear the traffic on the Charing Cross Road.

"I never made it into the office. I'm not going in. There was a woman, she rescued me."

"I might have know there'd be a woman involved."

"Oh, please. She's about sixty, OK?"

"Well, I suppose that's a bit old, even for you."

I sighed. Despite Katherine's accusations I had never been unfaithful to her. "Look, she's a doctor. She revived me. I collapsed on the platform and she was the only one who helped."

"Where are you? A hospital?"

"No, I'm in Trafalgar Square."

"Well, it can't have been that serious then, can it?"

"Listen, Kath. I need you to understand. I've got involved in something unexpected. There are some people who are trying to find me. I can't go to the hospital and I can't have Alex with me."

"Are you in trouble with the police?"

"No. There's no police involved."

"Then go to them. They can protect you."

"It isn't like that. The police would think I was nuts."

"They're not the only ones."

"This is serious, Kath. Do you want Alex to be in danger? Do you want her harmed?" The other end went silent. "I can't be with her, Kath. I'd be putting her in danger and I can't do that."

"What have you done, Niall?"

"Look," I took a deep breath. "I just need you to explain to Alex that I can't be there tonight. She'll be expecting me and I don't want to let her down, but-"

"Oh, so you don't want to let her down."

"Or you, OK? It's too dangerous. These people may be following me and I don't want them anywhere near the two of you. In fact," an idea occurred to me, "could you go away for the weekend?"

"What? I was planning to go away. Remember?"

It was suddenly apparent to me that she was lying. Her words sounded sour, somehow, filled with deception. Why would she lie to me about something like that? I shook myself. It didn't matter. I just needed her to look after Alex.

"I know, I know, but for me, could you take her away with you? Take her to the coast, maybe somewhere in Europe?"

"Europe? I haven't got that kind of money and you damn well know it, Niall Petersen."

"I'll pay for it," I volunteered.

"Well, I'm very pleased that you can afford to spend weekends swanning off to Europe, but we have other priorities in this house." Her voice had taken on its familiar sarcastic tinge. I couldn't afford to get tangled in this well-rehearsed debate right now.

"I can afford it if it means Alex doesn't get kidnapped," I stated coldly.

"What do you mean, kidnapped?"

"I mean taken away from you, and me. Hurt. Harmed."

"You're not serious?" She sounded frightened now. "What kind of trouble have you dragged us into, Niall?"

"I don't know. I'm just trying to be very careful with the people I care about and I care about the two of you." I think some of the emotion in my voice travelled down the phone line because it went very quiet. "Are you still there?"

"Yes. I'm here." There was a further pause. "Where can we go?" All of a sudden she was taking me seriously.

"I don't know, and don't tell me. It's better I don't know." Echoes of my conversation with Blackbird came back to me. "Use the internet, book one of those last-minute city breaks somewhere, go today."

"I can't just drop everything, Niall."

I knew she could. "Yes you can," I insisted.

"You really are serious, aren't you? My God."

"Yes I am."

"What do I tell Alex?"

"Tell her it's a surprise trip."

"Not about that, about you?"

"Tell her I love her." My voice broke at the end of the sentence and I had to stop and breathe for a moment.