Chapter 5
Two hours' later, my phone buzzed with an incoming message. When I checked, it was from Sihtric.
'Hi Skade. Police just asked me some questions about you and Skorpa.' Below this message, dots indicated he was still typing. I clicked on his profile and selected 'Call.' He answered and his face appeared on the screen, looking tired and scruffy.
"Hey. You look like you just crawled out of bed."
"I did. Police woke me up banging on my door. I was working until 4am."
"What did you tell them?" I asked.
"Only the truth. That I picked you up and took you to the Cauldron, then about midnight you and Skorpa got in my cab and I drove you to your place. Then I took him to the Coalpit." The Coalpit was a bar where bikers and rockers hung out, and it stayed open until at least two in the morning at the weekends.
"You did?"
"Yeah, he said he was going to hang out with some friends. It took about half an hour to get there. There was an accident on the main road and I had to go around the Acorns housing estate. He gave me a huge tip. I was surprised."
"That's good."
"What happened with that Haeston guy? The cops only said Skorpa was suspected of putting him in the hospital. He couldn't have, though. I saw Haeston staggering around and yelling right before you got in my car. I remembered him when I saw him on the news this morning."
"Exactly. Skorpa hardly touched him. I think Haeston was just pissed off because I was with Skorpa and he couldn't get to me. When you drove me to the Cauldron, I said I was late, but it was actually because Haeston had been stalking me and I didn't want to walk and risk running into him."
"Shit, what a creep! In that case, he got what he deserved, whoever did it. He didn't hurt you, did he?"
"No, I was just freaked out by it. You didn't see anyone else with him last night?" I asked cautiously.
"No, I was just waiting for someone to get in the car so I could take off. I remember some big beefy guy holding the door open for you, like you were royalty." He laughed. "Then I started driving. I hope they let Skorpa go. He's a thug and I wouldn't want to get on the wrong side of him, but he's obviously not done what he's being accused of this time. He'd be a bit daft to, wouldn't he? He's only just got out of prison."
"Yeah. Thanks, Sihtric."
"No probs. Hey, did you take some photos last night?"
"Yes." I laughed. "I got plenty of Bloodhair just for you. I was right in front of him. I'll send you them later."
"Thanks. Now I'm going back to bed."
"Sweet dreams." I ended the call.
I checked the time, then after a moment's hesitation, I called Skorpa's number. It went straight to voicemail and I assumed the phone was turned off and that he was still in the police station. I didn't know how long these things took to resolve. Presumably, the police would go to the Coalpit and ask questions to confirm that Skorpa was there.
I called Brida next, and an hour later, I went over to her house to hang out. Aethelflaed was at work. I told her about everything that had happened so far, and we watched the news at two o'clock, and three, but there was nothing new other than that Haeston was doing well in intensive care, and that Skorpa was in police custody. But then the news at four said that Skorpa had been released, after several witnesses had provided alibis.
"Thank God for that," I muttered. I was tempted to call him again, but I didn't want to do it while I was with Brida. She'd think I was mad.
We put a movie on and halfway through it, Aethelflaed came home with a bag of Chinese food she'd picked up on the way. There was enough to feed the five thousand, so the fact that I was there wasn't a problem. We all ate and shared a bottle of wine. Then I left and walked home. They only lived five minutes away from me. Once I was back in my flat, I called Skorpa again.
"Yeah," he answered after a couple of rings.
"Hi, this is—"
"Skade?"
"Yes."
"I'm glad you called. I wanted to say thanks for what you said to the cops but I didn't have a way to get in touch. I didn't even know if they'd be able to find you. I could only tell them your name was Skade and describe you."
"They spoke to the Cauldron managers. Those guys have known me for years. I started going there when I was fifteen. I should probably tell you my real name is Kaitlyn. I know yours, from the news."
Skorpa laughed. "Sven is very common in Denmark. I wanted something more memorable."
"Why Skorpa?"
"The original Skorpa was a Danish warlord back in the ninth century. I thought it was interesting."
"I like it," I said. "So, I saw on the news a little while ago that they let you go."
"They didn't have a choice, although I'm sure they would have been delighted to send me back to Bovingdon. You and Sihtric both said Haeston was fine when we took off. Sihtric drove me to the Coalpit, and a bunch of people there said they saw me. Haeston was already in the hospital before I left when it closed."
"I assumed Ragnar and Erik must have finished what you started. I didn't mention them at all when I was interviewed," I told him.
"Nor did anyone else; not even Haeston. He must have decided to pin it all on me because I got in the way of him bothering you."
"Most likely."
There was a short silence and I thought I heard him drinking something. "Well, I owe you now," he said then.
"Not really. It was the least I could do. I actually got to enjoy the gig after the first few minutes."
"You liked my company, then?"
"It was better than Haeston's." I laughed a little.
Skorpa chuckled. "Not big on compliments, are you?"
"Not really. You'd have to work harder to earn it," I teased. He was surprisingly easy to talk to, and I wondered how I'd found him intimidating in the beginning. It was only his reputation and, obviously, things he had done that made him seem scary, but he had only been nice to me so far.
"Will you meet me for a drink some time?" he asked.
"Um—"
"You can say no."
"Is it a date?" I blurted.
"It's a meet me for a drink and get to know me a little bit. You decide."
"Okay." I swapped hands with the phone and wiped my suddenly sweaty palm on my leg. "When?"
"Anytime you like. I don't have anything else on."
I hesitated. Tonight was only a few hours away. Tonight was too soon. He might think I was excited to see him. I swapped the phone again and wiped my other hand. Sunday was usually dead everywhere, and Monday was girls' night at Aethelflaed and Brida's house.
"Tuesday?" I suggested.
"Sure. Get your taxi driver buddy to drop you at the Coalpit at seven. He knows where it is."
"The Coalpit?" I repeated. I'd only ever been in there once. It had been full of Hell's Angels and guys that looked like Ragnar and Erik. There had only been a handful of women that I'd noticed. It had a couple of pool tables, a darts board, a huge screen for watching sports on, and a bar meal menu of everything with chips. I had nothing against it at all, but I didn't like the idea of walking into it on my own.
"Skade, I'm not really a wine bar sort of guy." He laughed.
"Wine bars aren't my thing either. The Coalpit is fine," I said quickly.
"It's fairly quiet on weekdays," he added.
"Okay. Tuesday. Seven o'clock."
"See you then." He ended the call and I put my phone on my computer desk. "Shit, what did I just do?" I muttered.
I didn't talk to the girls until I saw them on Monday night, except for a quick called from Gisela on Sunday. When we had all settled in with an Indian takeaway and some beers, the gossip started. Aethelflaed and Brida both bemoaned the fact that they hadn't had so much as a sniff of a date in months, and Gisela smugly announced that Uhtred had bought her some earrings, for no reason other than that he loved her. Brida made vomiting noises.
"You two are so romantic, you make me sick. What about you, Skade?" She turned to me. "Any more fake hunks on the Net you're after?"
"Get lost. I haven't heard anything more from Haeston, thank God. He's probably still in hospital."
"I saw they let Skorpa go," Aethelflaed said. "Apparently he had alibis."
"One of them was me," I told her, and proceeded to fill them in on my interview with the police.
"He'll probably turn into your next admirer, Skade," Gisela teased.
I cursed my pale skin as my cheeks warmed. The slightest blush was much too obvious.
"Skade?" Brida leaned towards me. "Have you heard from him?"
"Um—"
"Did he call? What?" Gisela pressed.
I rolled my eyes. "I might have agreed to meet him for a drink tomorrow."
"Are you serious?" Aethelflaed's eyes went comically wide.
"You have a date with Skorpa?" Brida frowned.
"It's not really a date. It's more of a—I don't know—thanks for getting me off the hook?"
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Gisela asked. "He's not exactly a fine upstanding citizen."
"Maybe not, but—"
"You can't possibly think he's attractive," Brida said. "He's covered in scars and he's probably old enough to be your dad."
"I don't think so." I shook my head. "Look, it's nothing. Just a drink."
"You really think you can trust him?" Aethelflaed asked.
"Where are you meeting him?" Gisela put in.
"I wish I hadn't said anything now. We're just having a drink at the Coalpit."
"Oh, wow. He really knows how to treat a woman." Brida grimaced.
"Drop it, will you? Like I said, it's not a date."
"Well, what do you think a man who's just spent more than a year in prison will be after, Skade?" Aethelflaed said anxiously.
Skorpa's words came to mind, after I'd invited him in for coffee: "I got out of prison two days ago. If we're alone up there, it's not gonna be coffee I'm after."
"Just don't worry about that," I told them. "Believe it or not, when Sihtric dropped me off home on Friday night, I asked Skorpa in for coffee and he said no for that exact reason. I'm a lot less worried about him than I was about Haeston."
"You're out of your mind," Brida said. "Why even have a drink with him and get him all worked up if you're not interested? He might not want to take no for an answer."
"And what if I was interested?" I picked up my beer and gulped some. "What if I got to know him and decided I liked him? You'd still think I was out of my mind."
"Yeah, I would."
"So, don't ask me about it then. Forget I said anything." I slumped down in my armchair and nursed my beer. The four of us talked about everything together, but on this occasion I wished I'd kept my mouth shut. I could see where they were coming from. Only three days ago I'd questioned my own wisdom in approaching Skorpa for help, but that was then. I'd been pleasantly surprised by the short interaction we had. So, why shouldn't I get to know him better? Who was it going to hurt?
