Time Twister, Chapter 5. See Chapter 1 for disclaimers.

Nick Cutter took a deep breath before he rang the bell. The street was a neat terrace with parked cars lining the road. There were not many people around and he hoped that the woman he had come to see was in. He heard the scrape of a key and then the door opened. A grey haired woman was eyeing him suspiciously over the chain. Cutter smiled with what he hoped was reassurance and said, "Mrs Lewis? I'm Professor Nick Cutter, I work with your daughter, Jenny. I was wondering if I could have a word with you?"

The expression on Mrs Lewis's face changed. She was obviously still suspicious, but now there was worry in her eyes too. "Nothing's happened to Jenny, has it?"

"No, no. Jenny's fine, she's fine. No it was just that Jenny mentioned a friend of the family, from way back and the name seemed familiar. I wanted to ask you about it."

"Do you have some identification?"

"Sure," Cutter took out his wallet and passed over his driver's license and Home Office security pass.

Mrs Lewis looked at it in surprise, "Jenny's working for the Home Office?"

"Well, her firm's got the contract, but yes, she is our main PR officer."

"Good for her," Mrs Lewis handed back the cards, "You'd better come in, Mr Cutter."

Mrs Lewis closed the door and Cutter heard the chain being drawn back. It reopened and Mrs Lewis gestured him in. "Would you care for some tea?" she asked hospitably.

"No, I'm fine, thank you."

Mrs Lewis showed him into the front room. Cutter glanced quickly around. There were many photographs displayed, including the wedding photo he'd found in the file.

Mrs Lewis settled herself down, "Now, Mr Cutter, how can I help you?"

Cutter went fluidly into his rehearsed story. "I'm trying to trace my aunt, Helen Cutter. The family lost sight of her, oh, for a good many years now. Family feud, you know how it goes. Well, I won't bore you with the details, but my father is quite ill, and he wants to see his sister. When Jenny mentioned, just in passing that her family knew Helen, well, I thought it might be too much of a coincidence, but I haven't had much luck tracing her, so I thought, what do I have to lose?"

"Well, I'm sorry, Mr Cutter, I'm afraid I don't know any Helen Cutter, never have done."

"But surely, that's her there, at your wedding?"

"No. That woman's name is Helen, but her surname is Marshall, Helen Marshall." Mrs Lewis rose and brought the framed photo over to Cutter. "We met university, back in the sixties. Oh! That was an exciting time! We were going to change the world, me and Helen. Funny isn't it, the ideas you get when you're young. Ah, well, time goes on."

"Do you still keep in touch?"

"No," Mrs Lewis sighed, "I'm afraid Helen died. She was on a skiing holiday, must have been, about three years after Mark and I were married, and, she was caught in an avalanche. It was such a stupid, tragic thing to happen. She should never have been in the area; it was a known danger spot, but that was Helen all over, never let anything beat her. They never even found her body."

"I'm sorry," said Cutter quietly.

"Well, it's a long time ago now."

"Did you know a man named Richard Brown?"

"My, you are well informed! Richard was my first great love. I thought we would spend our lives together."

"What happened?" When Mrs Lewis raised her head in surprise Cutter hastened on, "You must think me very impertinent, but it might be important to know. Did Helen come between you?"

"God, no! Helen was a true friend. No it was Richard; he became suspicious, possessively jealous, convinced I was sleeping around. It might have been the sixties," she added dryly, "but Richard was an old fashioned guy. And it was so frustrating because I really only had eyes for him. But as Helen said, if Richard didn't trust me our lives would be a living hell. Jealousy is such a destructive force, wouldn't you agree, Mr Cutter?"

"Yes, Mrs Lewis, I'd agree wholeheartedly."

TBC