Entwined by Elizabeth Marshall Page A

else.”
    I lifted the jug of milk and swirled it into the white froth.
    “Go on then, Corran.”
    “Do you want some?” I said, holding a tube of sugar across the table.
    She shook her head. “No, ta.”
    Staring down at the cup I sprinkled the sugar onto the coffee. “It was a cold Saturday afternoon,” I began, staring down at the grains of brown sugar nestled in the folds of the froth, “not long before we were due to leave York. I left Simon at home to finish the packing with Duncan and went looking for a pound of cheap mutton. It was getting late when I started to head home, so I took a shortcut through some alleys which brought me out here, on Grape Lane.”
    “But it wasn’t called Grape Lane then.”
    “No, it wasn’t, and it was a route I usually wouldn’t have taken,” I paused and lifted the cup to my mouth. The coffee was good. “I got into a bit of trouble …” I stopped and stared down at my cup.
    “What kind of trouble?” Rose asked.
    “A man grabbed me from behind and threw me against the wall of a house. He… well, you know,” I said, trying not to remember too many of the details.
    “You were assaulted?” Rose said, wide-eyed.
    “I suppose you could call it that, but no, not really, he… errm, he didn’t get a chance to do anything.”
    “Why?”
    “Because someone came to my rescue.”
    “Who?”
    “A man.”
    “So what did he do, frighten the guy off?”
    “He killed him.”
    Rose’s mouth fell open and her eyes widened to the size of saucepans, she moved her mouth as if to speak but no sound followed.
    “You don’t half attract trouble,” she said, when at last she found her voice.
    “I have noticed.”
    “So you got attacked by this random guy in a place called Grope Lane and then another random guy shows up and kills the guy who attacked you?”
    I nodded. “Something like that.”
    “What did Simon say?”
    “I didn’t tell him.”
    “Why? You must have been beside yourself.”
    “I was shaken, pretty scared but…”
    “But..?” Rose prompted as I stopped mid sentence.
    “He warned me not to tell anyone.”
    “So you knew this guy?”
    “Well no, I don’t think so.”
    “You either knew him or you didn’t.”
    “I didn’t know him, he just looked so familiar, yet he wasn’t.”
    “Well, what did he look like then?”
    “He was tall and tanned, well-dressed but untidy. There was something military about his manner – and he had a scar from one side of his face to the other and only one eye.
    “Oh my God! That’s awful. Did he have a patch?”
    I shook my head slowly, “No, it was plain for anyone to see. A gaping dark hole where his right eye should have been.”
    “Could Simon have known him, from his days as a Redcoat?”
    “He might have done I suppose. I don’t know, Rose, it was all so long ago now.”
    “So you never told Simon?”
    “No.”
    “Wow,” Rose said, visibly overwhelmed.
    “Come on,” I said, draining my cup, “I’ll show you this thing on the wall outside.”
     
    Once outside the restaurant, I turned around, to face the Slug and Lettuce.
    “See that brick?”I asked, pointing to the outside wall of the restaurant.
    Rose squinted her eyes against the sun and a frown on her forehead told me she hadn’t seen it.
    “Follow the pipe down the wall.”
    “I see it,” she squealed, as the brick with the mark of the pig came into view.
    “I’ve lived here all my life and I had no idea that was there,” she said, taking my arm and turning to walk up the lane.
    “You gonna show me where this guy assaulted you?” she said.
    I shook my head. “Forget it, Rose. It happened a long time ago.”
    She scrunched up her nose and frowned.
    “Then why are you so afraid?”
    “What brought you to work at the Hall?” I asked changing the subject.
    Rose didn’t answer immediately. She stopped walking and turned to peer through the window of a bridal shop. A young girl stood in front of a mirror clad in her long white