The Time Bubble Box Set 2, стр. 41
“I just hope the others are going to have some ideas,” shesaid.
“I’m sure we can come up with something between us,” saidJosh. “This team’s been together a long time and we’ve faced all sorts ofproblems. We solved them and we can solve this.”
“I hope so,” she said, looking across at him, desperatelywanting to believe what he was saying.
He was trying to be positive for her sake, but any belief hehad in his ability to resolve this was about to be sorely tested.
As the two of them walked beneath the bridge, he felt hersuddenly let go of his hand. When he turned to see why, he realised with ashock that he could no longer see her.
There were a few students and tourists milling about beneaththe bridge, but it wasn’t crowded by any means. He could see everyone nearbyclearly and there was absolutely no sign of Alice. Even the fastest runner inthe world couldn’t have left the immediate vicinity that quickly.
She had, quite simply, just vanished.
It was shocking and terrifying but, even so, Josh knewinstinctively what must have happened and there was nothing to do about itright now. His best move was to get to the others as quickly as possible. Afterlooking around one last time to ensure that there was no sign of Alice, heturned and ran down the passage, desperately hoping that his friends hadn’t vanished,too.
To his relief, he found all five of them in the courtyard,sitting at a long bench, sipping their drinks, smiling and laughing.
The smiles soon stopped when they saw Josh approach, clearlyin a state of panic.
“Josh, whatever’s the matter?” said Peter. “Where’s Alice?”
“She’s vanished,” said Josh. “Completely disappeared, justnow, right outside under the bridge. She’s in serious trouble – possibly evendead, as potentially all of us are.”
“Who’s Alice?” asked Lauren, with an uncomprehending look onher face.
“What do you mean, who’s Alice?” said Josh. “She’s my wife,has been for years.”
“You’re having a laugh,” said Lauren. “You’re the originalbachelor boy – you’re the last person I can ever imagine getting married. Apartfrom me, that is.”
The others were all looking at Lauren, bemused.
“Are you for real? How can you not know who Alice is?” askedKaylee.
“I’m telling you: I don’t know anyone called Alice,”insisted Lauren.
“What about the rest of you?” asked Josh. “Can you allremember her?”
“Of course,” said Hannah and the others nodded theiragreement.
“All of you can remember her, but Lauren, can’t,” said Josh.“Are you absolutely sure about that, Lauren? Don’t joke around with me becausethis situation is way too serious for wind-ups.”
“It’s not a wind-up,” replied Lauren. “I swear I have noknowledge of you ever having a wife called Alice. If anyone’s winding anyoneup, it’s you lot trying to make me think I’m going crazy by inventing someperson who doesn’t exist.”
“This is bizarre,” remarked Josh, desperately trying to makesome sense of the situation.
“Josh, you look seriously in need of a drink,” said Charlie.“Go and grab a pint and come and sit down and let’s talk this through.”
“That’s the most sensible suggestion I’ve heard all day,”replied Josh. “Just hang on here a minute while I nip into the bar, and pleasedon’t vanish on me!”
A couple of minutes later he emerged from the bar with apint of King William Coronation Ale. Sitting down with the others, he began thelong tale of everything that had happened over the past day or so, right up tothe point where Alice had disappeared.
“This Vanessa sounds like a right psycho,” said Lauren.“She’d better not try anything with me.”
“That’s the worst thing about this,” said Peter. “Going bywhat Josh says, if she did decide to do something to you, she would do it inthe past when you wouldn’t even know what was coming. How do you defendyourself against that?”
“You can’t,” added Hannah. “I think you’re in serioustrouble here and you need to come up with a plan to stop this Vanessa andfast.”
“That’s exactly why I’ve called you all here today,” saidJosh. “Who else could I turn to?”
“Do you have any idea what may have happened to Alice?”asked Kaylee.
“I don’t know but I’m fearing the worst, especially afterwhat happened to Henry. I have to face the likelihood that Vanessa’s gone backin time and killed Alice just like she did to Henry.”
“Not necessarily,” suggested Kaylee, trying to put a braveface on things. “From what you’ve told us, she despised Henry and couldn’t bearto live with him any longer. She couldn’t have hated Alice that much, surely?”
“I’m not sure about that,” said Hannah. “You heard what Joshsaid about her being obsessed by him. In her psychotic state, she probably sawAlice as the one thing standing in her way.”
“Putting her in even greater danger than Henry,” suggestedCharlie. “I’m sorry, Josh.”
“It’s OK, Charlie, I’ve already come to these conclusionsmyself, as Alice herself had before she disappeared. She knew she was in dangerand she was terrified. Sadly, it seems that those fears have come true.”
“But surely Vanessa can’t think that by disposing of Alicethat’s going to make you fall for her instead?” asked Kaylee. “That’sderanged.”
“And therein lies the problem,” said Josh. “She is derangedand power-crazed, and thinks she can have anything she wants. A lot of this isdown to her wealth. Over the years she’s got used to being able to throw moneyat anything she wants until she gets it.”
“No amount of money can make someone love you,” insistedKaylee. “The Beatles taught us that nearly a century ago.”
“We know that – but does she?”
“What are we going to do?” asked Kaylee.
“The first thing we need to do is establish the facts,” saidHannah, bringing her decades of policing experience to the table. “To beginwith, that means establishing exactly what has happened to Alice.”
“Where do we start with that?” asked Kaylee.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” said Josh. “In Henry’s caseshe nipped back a few hours in time to bump him off but I suspect we may bedealing with a longer timescale here.”
“How do you figure that?” asked Kaylee.
“Because Lauren can’t remember her,” said Josh. “If Vanessahad nipped back a few hours in time to kill her