felt sick at the thought of it. The car had slammed into the crash barrier and she had come away without a scratch. Just a bruised wrist and an almighty scare.
Someone was banging furiously on the window. Chantal turned to look and unlocked the door from the inside so the concerned-looking man could open it.
"Are you OK?"
"Yeah, thanks...just a bit shaken up, that's all."
Two other cars had stopped, their occupants keen to check on her well-being, but Chantal just wanted them to leave her alone.
In the end, she felt bad for thinking that because they removed her lacerated tyre and replaced it with the spare, allowing her to resume her journey.
She was running two hours late now and would have to let Alfredo know. She would call him, but only once she'd listened to the old Guns N' Roses song that had started to play over the speakers...she adored this track.
… and it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain…
OK, so it wasn't November, but it was certainly raining. Better to let the candle go out and then light a new one once the rain stops or you've found some shelter.
Sometimes I need some time... on my own
Sometimes I need some time... all alone
Everybody needs some time... on their own
Don't you know you need some time... all alone…
She definitely needed some time all alone.
The brake lights of the car in front came on, warning her to slow down.
She was stationary in seconds. A traffic jam.
What the hell...?
Luckily, there was a sign informing her that there was an Autogrill a few hundred yards up the road.
Stopping at the services would be infinitely preferable to sitting in the jam like a lemon.
“Twin Olive Trees B&B, Alfredo speaking. How can I help you?"
"Hi Alfredo, it's Chantal."
"Chantal?" He sounded confused, as if it were a name he'd never heard before. "Why are you calli..."
She butted in because she knew what he was about to ask.
"I tried you on your mobile a couple of times but you didn't pick up, so I thought I'd ring you on this number."
Silence for a few seconds, then the hesitant voice of Alfredo.
"Oh, right, the mobile...I must have left it charging somewhere. What's going on? Is there some kind of problem?"
Chantal sighed.
"Actually, there is. It's more than just traffic; I think there must be an accident or roadworks. I haven't moved for about 20 minutes. Well, I have moved, but only a hundred yards or so."
She paused, wondering whether to tell him about the puncture, but decided against it for now. She didn't want him to worry.
"It's no problem if you get here a little later than advertised," he reassured her.
"I've even thought about staying over somewhere and setting off again tomorrow morning. I mean, I could be stuck in this for hours. Luckily, there's some services a few hundred yards ahead. I'll stop there and..."
"Staying over somewhere?" he repeated incredulously. "You've got to be kidding, right? You're my guest tonight. Why on earth would you pay for a room somewhere else?"
"I might not be with you till gone midnight. I don't want you having to stay up late."
"Right, good one..."
"What do you mean?"
There was a pause, and when Alfredo replied, his tone was severe.
"I'm an insomniac. I lie wide awake every single night. Trust me, waiting up for you will not be a problem."
Feeling embarrassed at having touched a nerve, Chantal cleared her throat and sought to end the conversation.
"Great, so I'll see you later then?" Okay?”
"Fine," he replied. "OK, bye."
CHAPTER 13
The clock on the C2's dashboard told Chantal it was just after ten o'clock. She was nearly there. Another 1.5 miles according to the sat nav.
The countryside all around was enveloped in a late-winter mist. The whole setting gave Chantal the creeps. She felt as though she was in one of those horror films where a Z-list actor plays the guy who gets captured and eaten by zombies. However fleeting, the thought frightened her and sent a shiver down her spine. She flicked the car's central heating up a notch, sending a blast of hot air into the passenger compartment.
A decrepit road sign told her that some place or other (she couldn't make it out) was 9 miles away. A bit further on, a wooden sign bearing a date from a couple of years earlier declared: “Simone and Clarissa had sex here for the first time”. Slightly lower down, on the same sign, was a drawing of a cock and a pair of tits underneath some writing: WE DON'T GIVE A SHIT!
Just as she was wondering what kind of place she'd come to, Chantal noticed that the sat nav was now saying she had 2.4 miles to go.
How was that possible?
She was getting further away from her destination.
Perhaps she should turn ar...
Suddenly, there was the most horrendous noise.
Chantal instinctively slammed on the brakes.
At first, she thought maybe she'd strayed too close to the edge of the road, but it couldn't have been that because the car was fractionally over the centre line.
There it was again, that fine line...
She pulled over to the side of the road. There was no crash barrier, but there was a very steep drop as the road fell away. People round here had to be mad driving on these roads all the time.
She turned off the engine, opened the door and got out of the car. There was an icy chill in the air. Chantal looked around but there was no sign of what might have caused the noise.
She knelt down to look under the car and thought she could see something towards the rear end. She stood up, walked towards the boot and knelt down again to take a closer look. Gross! A black bin bag had got caught between the silencer and some other component that she didn't know the name of. She tried to kick the bag and gagged at the stench coming from it.
No joy, so she fetched the warning triangle from the boot and used it to unhook the bag.
Job done.
Chantal
