Chapter Seven

Lila peered over Asher’s broad shoulders and saw that Marlene was indeed standing in the doorway, a saccharine smile that didn’t reach her eyes plastered on her face.

“Mr Wagner. Lila,” she said pleasantly, cocking her head to the side and brandishing a tray of carrots, crackers, cheeses and dip. “I came to see if you were hungry for some healthy snacks.”

Asher was frozen as Marlene continued to thrust the tray into his empty hands.

“Dinner will be ready in about an hour,” Marlene continued in a sickly-sweet tone. “May I interest you in moving along to the rumpus room?”

“U-U-Uh yup, sounds grand,” Asher stuttered, the various tiny dishes in the tray audibly clinking against each other.

“Fantastic,” Marlene smiled again, still without a hint of joy in her eyes. She stepped out of the doorway, bowing. Asher seemed to have difficulty walking forward at any particularly efficient speed but moved past Marlene all the same.

“Thank you, Marlene,” Lila said, trying to match Marlene’s tone. “You didn’t have to.”

Marlene beamed at Lila, warmth brewing in her eyes as she beheld Lila’s gaze. Asher and Lila wordlessly began to walk down the hallway back to the landing before Marlene called out again.

“Oh, and Mr Wagner.”

Asher rigidly turned to face Marlene. “Yes?”

“Please give me the keys.”

Lila immediately took the tray away from Asher’s trembling hands and was unprepared for how heavy it was. As she struggled to ensure it didn’t fall onto the carpet, Asher took out the ring of keys he had obtained from the safe and tossed it at Marlene, who caught it effortlessly.

“Thank you, Mr Wagner. I will call you when dinner is ready via the intercom.”

Lila looped a free finger through Asher’s belt loop, a technique she frequently used on Daniel, and pulled him along the hallway without daring to look back at Marlene. They finally burst into the rumpus room and Lila gratefully placed the tray where the previous snack tray had been sitting when she first entered, rubbing her now aching forearms.

“What the fuck is she doing here?” Asher’s voice was barely audible from behind Lila. Lila turned to see Asher’s face was practically devoid of all colour and he was shaking from head to toe, his eyes the widest she’d seen yet. She gently tugged on his arm, attempting to coax him to the couch. He allowed her to lead him there, his breathing getting quicker by the second, to the point of almost hyperventilating.

“She’s not meant to start until a few hours from now,” he gripped his hair as he spoke. “Was she on the CCTV? How did she get there? How did she know I had the keys? She’s not a fucking ghost, is she? Am I going insane?”

Lila bit her lip, struggling to think of a response. Truthfully, she was also freaked out but knew that if she gave in to what her primal instincts were screaming now, they would both spiral into helplessness. She took a deep breath and began to count to ten, closing her eyes.

She had only gotten to ‘three’ before Asher began to clutch his stomach and dry retch, anxiety clearly getting the better of him. Lila moved to comfortingly pat his shoulder, Holly be damned.

“I didn’t see anything, Asher,” Lila whispered, her voice quivering with fear. “You’re not going crazy.”

“I’m not, right?” Asher asked again, his voice uncharacteristically shrill. “I can’t be.”

“I have no idea what’s going on,” Lila said as she tried to sound calm, but wasn’t sure if it was working. “But we can’t lose our nerve.”

Asher quickly looked up at Lila, his eyes meeting hers. It looked as though he was searching for something in them, but he then closed his eyes and nodded.

“Y-Yeah.”

He sucked in a sharp intake of air, his hand still on his stomach as he did so. Lila followed suit, this time making it to ‘ten’, drawing her breath to the tips of her fingers and toes before shaking out her shoulders. She hadn’t realised how bunched up they were until now.

“C-Can we do something else?” Asher asked in a small voice.

“What would you like to do?” Lila asked, her own voice much steadier.

“Maybe watch some dog videos?”

“Of course.”

Precisely one hour passed before a crackling voice jolted both Lila and Asher bolt upright. They had become so engrossed in South Korean dog grooming videos on YouTube that the time had sped by in the blink of an eye.

“Mr Wagner.” It was Marlene’s voice. Asher and Lila stared at each other with uncertainty. Three seconds passed before the intercom crackled again.

“Mr Wagner. It is time for dinner.”

“Is she eating with us?” Asher squeaked, his hands flying to his cheeks.

“It’ll be okay,” Lila said, though she was trying to convince herself just as much as she was trying to convince Asher. “It’s just dinner.”

“Y-Yeah. S-Sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. Let’s go before she talks again.”

They made their way downstairs and to the dining area, Lila growing more apprehensive with each step she took, her hands strangely ice cold despite the summer night. To Lila’s delight, Marlene was nowhere in sight. Gabriel was busy placing their plates around the dining table when he looked up at Lila and Asher, beaming. A pleasant rush of warmth washed over Lila as she returned Gabriel’s smile.

“Hi again, Gabriel,” Lila said, taking her seat. He gave a deep, flourishing bow in response before heading back into the kitchen – presumably to get more plates of food.

Lila inhaled the scent of Moroccan chicken as she looked down to see it was surrounded by roasted eggplants, red capsicum, onions, almonds and apricots, all covered in a spiced sauce, placed carefully over a bed of fluffy white rice.

“Dig in, dig in,” insisted Gabriel, who had returned with two more plates, Marlene following behind. Lila could see Asher tense up as she walked past him. Marlene said nothing.

“Isn’t it a wonderful surprise that Marlene has joined us early?” Gabriel asked, tucking himself underneath the dining table. “Apparently today is wash day for all the spare bedding and blankets. It absolutely cannot wait in this humid summer, according to Marlene.”

Marlene nodded but seemed to be concentrating on the food before her, rather than on anyone else seated around the table.

“It couldn’t wait a couple of days?” Asher asked in a strained voice, shovelling food into his mouth with more force than necessary.

“No, Mr Wagner,” confirmed Marlene, still avoiding Asher’s gaze and elegantly cutting a piece of her dinner. “Left any longer and the sheets would become mouldy. The three guest bedrooms have the finest Egyptian cotton sheets which, though luxurious, are unfortunately prone to mould. We are set for a rainy weekend and these sheets will need to be hung up rather than placed in the drier, so it needs to be done now.”

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Lila remained silent as she ate. Upon hearing the explanation for Marlene’s unscheduled arrival, she couldn’t be sure whether or not what Marlene was saying was legitimate. She did note, however, that Marlene had given an awful lot of detail for such a simple “no” response.

“Lila,” Gabriel said cheerfully, interrupting Lila’s train of thought, “I know we’ve now met properly a couple of times, but I can’t help the nagging feeling that you’re incredibly familiar – as though we’ve met before this year.”

“You might have seen her at school,” Asher replied through a mouthful of capsicum. “A couple years ago when you regularly used to drive me in. Before the bus route stopped by the Estate.”

“Aha,” Gabriel laughed amiably, “of course. That must be it.”

Dinner continued without much more conversation beyond small talk, Gabriel being the driver of all conversations.

“That was delicious as usual,” Lila said affectionately, patting her stomach as Marlene came around and collected the empty plates.

“I try very hard for you, my dear,” Gabriel replied genially before jumping to his feet and following Marlene into the kitchen.

Gabriel returned moments later with small dishes of brownies and vanilla bean ice cream, chocolate syrup and pieces of honeycomb scattered artfully across the top. Marlene floated in after Gabriel, carrying a tray of two small glass jugs filled with dark liquid, four matching cups and a small milk jug and sugar bowl.

“I’ve brought some black tea and coffee and accompaniments,” she announced, placing the tray down and pouring drinks for everyone after clarifying their preferences.

Upon finishing up dessert, Lila pulled out her phone and sent a quick text to Clare to pick her up.

Not staying the night? Clare instantly messaged back with a winking emoji.

Definitely not. He’s got a girlfriend, remember, Lila replied, rolling her eyes. Clare responded with a simple shrugging emoji and sent through her ETA.

“My sister will be here in about half an hour,” Lila said before catching Asher’s hauntingly pale expression, his eyes wide yet vacant. It sent a chill down her spine – his terror was overwhelmingly obvious. Lila quickly messaged her sister again.

Sorry Clare, it’s an emergency. Can you wait a bit?

A response came through from Clare a minute later.

Yeah, yeah. Just pulled over. I’ll grab some Maccas.

Thanks, replied Lila, turning off her phone.

“Actually, she’s just grabbing some dinner,” Lila said quickly. Asher looked relieved as he sipped his coffee, life seeping back into his cheeks. Gabriel threw his hands up into the air dramatically.

“Lila!” he admonished, though with a teasing tone apparent in his voice. “You should have told me your sister would be needing dinner!”

“I’m sorry,” Lila replied bashfully. “She’s always so busy, I never know when she’s eaten or not. Actually, she’s out most nights, so she always sorts herself out for dinner.”

“Well, don’t hesitate to let me know if you need me to make extra next time,” Gabriel said with a wink.

“Will do,” Lila promised, drinking the last dregs of her tea. “Thank you very much for dinner and dessert, it was lovely as always.”

Gabriel waved as if to bat her compliment away but thanked her all the same. Asher instantly stood up like a bolt of lightning had just shot through him.

“Let’s go grab your stuff,” he said in a robotic kind of way. Lila followed him back upstairs without question, hearing Marlene and Gabriel clatter away behind them.

After closing the door to the rumpus room, Asher exhaled as if he had been holding his breath the whole time that they were eating dinner.

“Lila, can you come with me?”

“Uh, I just did-”

“I mean for a bike ride. I wanna clear my head, but I don’t think I can do that without you today.”

“Oh. I can’t ride a bike on my own.”

“That’s fine,” Asher replied, looking at her with an intense seriousness that made her squirm under his gaze. “I’ve got a two-seater and can guide you through.”

Lila quickly opened her phone to see if Clare had texted her again. She hadn’t. Perhaps she was ordering dinner by now. “As long as it’s quick.”

As Lila strapped a bright blue helmet underneath her chin, she was regretting her decision to not go home earlier. Asher pulled the tandem bike from the garage and wheeled it to where she stood in the driveway, a red helmet also strapped to his head.

“We look like dorks,” Lila sighed.

“Better dorks with intact skulls than dorks with broken ones,” Asher replied seriously, swinging a leg over the front seat. Lila reluctantly swung a leg over the back seat and tried to get comfortable, which was incredibly difficult with this bike seat.

“You will need to pedal,” Asher said, glancing at her over his shoulder.

“Yes sir,” Lila replied gloomily.

Quickly they set off, Lila trying to match Asher’s pedalling. A cool breeze caressed them as Asher drove them down the street and in a direction Lila hadn’t been before. Before long, Lila began to get a sense of Asher’s rhythm and the ride was then much smoother. Streetlamps streaked overhead as they gained more speed until they eventually reached an empty park.

Asher gently applied pressure to the brakes as they slowly followed the footpath into the heart of the park. Once the bike halted, Asher kicked out his kickstand and hopped off the bike. He came around to Lila, kicking out her kickstand as well and offered a hand in getting off the bike, but she declined. After awkwardly stumbling off the bike, she unclipped her helmet and followed Asher to sit on a nearby bench.

“Do you feel better now?” Lila asked quietly as trees gently rustled overhead.

“Yeah, I do. The air doesn’t feel suffocating over here,” Asher replied, unclipping his own helmet and placing it on his lap. He loosened his tie and wiped the sweat off his brow before grinning at Lila, looking relieved.

“Agreed,” Lila nodded, swaying her feet. “By the way… a thought struck me on our ride here. Why do you have a two-seater bike?”

Asher looked over at the bike before chuckling. “It’s actually my parents’ bike. Dad never learned how to ride a bike, so Mum got it one Christmas and it was their ‘couple thing’ for a while before she got busy with work. Looks absolutely ridiculous doesn’t it?”

With smiles on their faces, they sat in a comfortable silence before Asher spoke again, his tone much more severe.

“Do… do you think Marlene did something to my Mum?”

Lila sighed and swatted away a mosquito as she contemplated his question. She had been expecting it for a while now but hadn’t found an answer yet.

“I don’t think we have enough information to conclude anything,” she said slowly. Asher clenched his fists to the point where his knuckles turned white before quickly unclenching them.

“Okay. There’s something seriously wrong with her though.”

“That much, at least, is clear,” Lila concurred, looking up at the starry night sky, as if celestial beings would provide answers via the constellations.

“I’m glad you agree.”

A soft gust of wind swished past them as Lila racked her brains to say something – anything – that might comfort Asher. In the distance, Lila could hear possums darting between branches and squabbling with one another, but they provided absolutely no inspiration.

“At least you have Gabriel,” she said quietly.

“I can’t stop thinking about why my Mum was adamant about sending him home the day before she disappeared,” Asher revealed tensely, swallowing hard. “Was he angry enough about that to hurt her? Or did she find something out and wanted him gone?”

Lila didn’t have a rebuttal to that. While it was true that they didn’t have enough information to confirm literally any theory, it didn’t mean that it didn’t exist somewhere they hadn’t looked yet.

“You know,” said Asher, gradually turning to face Lila. “As much as I roam the streets at night and in the morning to find her, I also do it to escape.”

“I thought as much,” Lila replied simply. “I would too.”

“So that’s normal too,” Asher muttered.

“I don’t think you should look at me as the standard for ‘normal’,” smiled Lila. “After all, I’m here with you in the dead of the night, aren’t I?”

“I guess so,” Asher laughed. “Most people would’ve run off for sure by now.”

“Glad I’m not most people. In fact, last time I checked, I was just one people.”

Asher chuckled again before planting his hands on his thighs, slowly getting up from the bench.

“Where to from here, Lila?”

“For the investigation or like… now?”

“Both.”

“Well, I think we need to cool it down a bit,” Lila said, placing a finger on her chin. “Marlene is freaky as hell and that won’t help us think rationally if we try and plan something now.”

Asher nodded in agreement. “Makes sense.”

“We could just focus on our English project in the meantime.”

“Also true,” Asher conceded. “While I don’t like sitting on my hands, I get what you’re saying, Lila. Let’s just… take some time to collect our thoughts.”

“Let’s go back, then,” Lila suggested. Asher clipped his helmet back on in response and in no time, they were back at his place, skulls definitely still intact.

Lila sent a message to Clare that she was ready to go now as they climbed the staircase yet again. Assembling her things together, Lila suddenly turned to Asher, having seen him shifting his weight between his feet as though he had too much energy to spare.

“Remember you promised you’d stop going out so often?” Lila asked, glaring at Asher. He raised his hands in a ‘wait’ motion and gave her a small smile.

“Scout’s honour,” he said, tapping his chest with a closed fist. “I’ll be fine.”

“You better be,” Lila said tersely, zipping up her bag with her English notebook inside. “You’ll need to sleep if you want to think about the next steps. Plus, we’ve still got school tomorrow.”

“Yes ma’am,” he replied, saluting her with a grin. Lila couldn’t help but grin back. She was comforted that he at least seemed to be in higher spirits than he was at dinner.

A car horn sounded outside and Lila quickly slid her backpack on her shoulders.

“Must be my ride,” she said.

“I’ll have to let you out again,” Asher replied, leading the way back downstairs. It was eerily quiet down on the first floor. Lila briefly wondered where Marlene was hiding now. She mentioned nothing to Asher as he typed in the security code and opened the doors for her.

“I think we have English tomorrow,” he said as she struggled to put her shoes back on.

“I think so too,” Lila replied, almost falling over but catching herself in time. “So, I’ll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”