‘Oh bugger.’
She giggled. ‘It sounds funny when you say it.’
‘Sleep well, Olivia.’
‘Goodnight, Dr. Kane.’
I turned around and left her among her plants. A mysterious nymph who would haunt my dreams that night.
16
Olivia
My sister telephoned. ‘Shall we go for some cold fish?’ she asked.
I laughed, happy those words sounded familiar. They had come from behind the veil. I did not know in what context, when or where she had said them to me before, but I knew she had. That was how she described Japanese food. ‘Why? Are you on a diet?’ I asked.
‘A bit,’ she admitted.
We agreed to meet for lunch at Nobo in Mayfair.
I arrived early so I ordered a glass of pale cream sherry and waited for her upstairs. She breezed in looking very Sloaney in a vintage Hardy Amis pantsuit and camel hair coat. I smiled and gave a little wave as she approached.
‘Traffic was a nightmare,’ she complained as she plonked down her Gucci tote, took off her coat and dropped it carelessly on the seat next to me. Elegantly she eased herself into our banquette and turned to me with a flick of her head. ‘You look well. Are you off somewhere nice?’
‘No, I’m going home after this.’
She lifted a languid finger at a passing waiter and he made for her, smiling. He obviously knew her.
‘I’ll have whatever she’s having,’ she told him and he disappeared with a deferential nod. That was the thing about my half-sister. She was like her mother—no matter where she went, she immediately and effortlessly commanded fawning respect. She was so different when I first met her after my amnesia it surprised me we even shared the same gene pool.
I took a sip of my drink. When she turned toward me, I said, ‘I saw Maurice the other day.’ Maurice was a friend of hers.
‘Really? Where?’
‘At the butcher.’
‘How is he?’
‘Still reeling from his divorce, I dare say. He asked after you.’
‘Did he? I wonder why. He’s a blithering idiot,’ she dismissed callously.
The waiter came with her glass of sherry and we placed our orders.
She turned to me resolutely. ‘So how are the sessions with the hypnotist coming on?’
I shrugged. ‘All right, I suppose.’
‘What on earth does that mean? Have you or haven’t you remembered anything yet?’
I shifted uncomfortably. ‘A bit.’
She raised her eyebrows. ‘What, exactly?’
‘Well, I remembered a few occasions. The birthday party when I was five, my mother telling Daddy she had cancer. Oh and I remembered finding Jacobi in bed at fifteen with his hardcore German transsexual magazines.’
We grinned at each other.
‘Well,’ she said with a mischievous look. ‘He’s a screaming transvestite now.’
‘What?’ I exclaimed.
‘Yes,’ she confirmed briefly and suddenly changed the subject. ‘What else have you remembered?’
‘The other memories are unimportant little pieces of the big puzzle.’
‘That’s it? Unimportant little pieces of the big puzzle. At his prices?’
I colored. ‘We are making progress, but Dr. Kane is cautious so there is no question of false memories occurring.’
She stared at me. ‘I can’t imagine there are any buried memories, can you?’
‘I don’t know. I do have the odd unsettling dream.’
‘What kind of unsettling dream?’
I bit my lip. ‘Just strange things that don’t make sense.’
She laughed. ‘Dreams are not supposed to make sense. You should see what mine are like. That’s no excuse for dragging out your…treatment.’
That tiny pause was meant to tell me she did not think much of my treatment. ‘He’s not dragging out my treatment. He’s just being cautious. He thinks I could be damaged if the process is not done properly.’
She looked at me in a non-committal way. ‘Like what happened to his wife?’
He was married! I gazed at her in shock. ‘His wife?’ I croaked, feeling such a fool.
She leaned forward, her eyes shining with some emotion that I could not figure out. ‘Yes, didn’t you know? She committed suicide in the most horrendous way. Locked herself inside her car in a Starbucks car park with their two children and a few gas tanks and pulled the pin off a grenade. From what I understand the children were just babies.’
The world tilted to an unnatural angle and my mouth dropped open with horror. ‘What?’
At that moment the food arrived and Daphne transferred her attention from me to the two waitresses who were standing by us.
I shut my mouth with a snap. My order of rock shrimp tempura was carefully placed in front of me, and a platter of iced Kumamoto oysters topped with caviar, and a trio of Nobu sauces on the side, was set in front of Daphne. I stared at my food blankly. When I raised my head Daphne was smiling at me.