‘Jamie? What are you doing here?’
Jamie came in without waiting to be invited. ‘I’ve been trying to ring Alex all weekend. He’s not answering,’ he said, injecting his strange flat speech with a touch of indignation. ‘Where is he?’
‘He’s out,’ Chloe replied, heart sinking. Jamie wasn’t easy to talk to at the best of times. In theory she felt sympathetic towards Jamie and his problems, but when actually confronted with this bewildered, erratic man, she usually felt more awkward than anything else.
‘When’s he back?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You must know.’
‘I don’t, I’m sorry.’
Jamie looked at her as though trying to figure out if she were teasing him. ‘So where is he?’ he repeated.
‘Jamie,’ she said, exasperated now, ‘I really don’t know.’ She walked back through to the kitchen with Jamie following her. ‘Do you want a drink?’ she asked politely.
Jamie was looking round the room as though Alex might leap out from a hiding place at any moment saying, ‘Boo’ and grinning. ‘Just water,’ he said, going over to the tap and pouring himself a glass.
‘So,’ he turned around and leaned against the sink while sipping his drink, ‘how come you don’t know where he is?’
Chloe closed her eyes, steadied her thoughts, and sighed.
‘He’s gone to help a friend,’ she said.
‘Which friend?’
‘Julia.’
‘Julia? I don’t know any Julia.’
I’m sure you don’t know all Alex’s friends, Chloe felt like saying.
And then she realised. Jamie might actually be a source of information here.
‘Old girlfriend, dark hair, turned up out of the blue. Seems to be having some problems.’
‘Old girlfriend? Well, that’s got to be Amy – he’s only really had two of you that lasted beyond a month!’ Jamie grinned.
‘Amy?’
‘Yeah, Amy Duvalis, they went out at university and afterwards went on a long holiday together, but then she disappeared. Something happened to her.’
‘What? What happened?’ She was eager to see if Jamie’s version of events matched Alex’s.
‘I think she got attacked.’
‘Oh,’ Chloe said, her mind whirring. ‘I see.’
‘Yeah,’ Jamie said, pouring himself another glass of water. ‘Alex was a mess. He was gutted.’
‘Oh,’ she said again, unable to think of anything else. It was the same story Alex had told her. But why the hell did the woman have two names? And how could Chloe compete with tragedy? And was it awful that it was this thought playing on her mind rather than any sympathy for the woman?
There was another knock at the door.
‘I’ll get it, maybe it’s Alex,’ Jamie said, completely incurious as to why Alex might knock at his own front door.
Chloe closed her eyes. She didn’t want anyone else here. When she heard Mark’s voice, her heart sank.
And then the phone rang.
She rushed to pick it up. The line was faintly crackling, but she could hear Alex’s voice saying hello.
‘Alex, where are you?’
‘Chloe, don’t freak out, okay. Did you get any of my messages?’
‘I haven’t had a chance to check,’ she lied, not wanting to admit that she’d deleted them. ‘What did you say?’
‘Oh god; well, listen to them, please. It’s just – look, I’m on a plane. I’m going with Amy to -’
‘Amy? So it is Amy? Hang on – a PLANE?’
‘Yes, it’s Amy. And yes, a plane. I can’t talk much now, but, Chloe, please, you have to -’
And then the phone was snatched out of her hand. ‘Alex, where the hell are you?’ Jamie blurted down the phone. ‘You promised me a trip to the pub last night, I waited for you.’
Chloe had the urge to grab the phone back off him and hit him over the head with it. But she was far too polite for that – which was something that, seconds later, she would regret immensely.
‘I came to find out where you were,’ Jamie replied in answer to the questions Alex was obviously asking. ‘Yeah, she’s fine. Why? Thingy’s here. You know, the lawyer bloke,’ he said, lowering his voice a notch or two even though Mark was by now only a few feet away.
There was a pause while Jamie listened. Then he held out the phone to Chloe. ‘He wants to speak to you again,’ he said, looking cross.
‘Alex,’ Chloe began, hating herself for feeling guilty.
‘Why is Mark there?’
‘I don’t even know myself yet,’ she said, trying to keep her tone light. ‘He’s only just got here.’
Even though it was the truth, she felt like she was telling a lie. She looked at Mark, who rolled his eyes and lifted his briefcase pointedly. ‘Work,’ she added. ‘Remember that case, the Abbott one? It came to a head this morning, so we’re panicking a bit.’
‘I see.’ Alex’s voice had a new, cold edge to it. Chloe felt completely on the back foot, and desperate, as though she were the one entirely in the wrong.
‘Look, I’ve got to go, Chloe,’ Alex said, as Jamie leaned forward next to her and said, ‘When’s he coming back?’ Alex seemed to have heard him. ‘Tell Jamie I’ll ring him at home.’
‘Al, at least tell me where you’re going?’ Chloe asked.
But he’d already gone.
Chloe felt tears welling again but the company she was in kept them at bay.
Jamie looked warily at Mark. ‘Chloe, I’m going to go, okay?’ he said.
‘Okay,’ she nodded, and followed him along the hall.
At the door, Jamie turned around. ‘I don’t think Alex likes him being here,’ he said, nodding his head towards the kitchen.
‘It’s okay, Jamie,’ Chloe told him, knowing without a doubt that he was right, ‘he won’t be here long.’
‘Right,’ Jamie replied, and then disappeared into the darkness of the evening without another word.
Chloe turned and headed back to the kitchen, where Mark was waiting with an annoyingly condescending look on his face.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, more aggressively than she intended.
Mark held his hands up, which, along with his briefcase, contained two bottles of wine in a plastic bag. ‘I need a partner to drown my sorrows with.’
‘Oh, Mark, I…’ Chloe’s hand rubbed her stomach as she thought of all the excuses she could use as to why she wasn’t drinking. ‘I’ve got a full day at work tomorrow, I don’t know if I…’
‘You can have a couple of glasses, Chlo, you’re not a complete lightweight,’ Mark said presumptuously. His eyes flickered over the items around the room – including a big picture showing a smiling Alex and Chloe peering out from a shiny wedding car and holding champagne flutes.
‘Everything okay?’ he asked.
‘Fine,’ she said. She felt slightly appalled at how easily the untruth tripped off her tongue, and Mark, lightning-quick predator of lies in the courtroom, merely nodded as his eyes lingered on the picture for a second, before he grabbed a bottle out of the bag he was holding and unscrewed the cap. There was a determined, slightly manic glint to his eye that made Chloe feel uncomfortable.
‘How’s your dad?’
‘Awful. Let’s not talk about it,’ he said, brandishing the open bottle as he turned towards the kitchen cabinets. ‘Now, where do you keep your glasses?’ He began searching through cupboards, energetically pulling doors open and letting them swing shut with a bang.
‘Are you okay, Mark?’ she asked nervously.
‘Of course,’ he said dismissively, then exclaimed, ‘A-ha!’ as he found what he was looking for and pulled two glasses from the shelf. He brought them over to the table, and Chloe sat down hesitantly, unsure of what to say.
He poured their wine, pausing to lift his glass to hers, looking directly into her eyes and saying, ‘Cheers.’
His piercing gaze was disconcerting. ‘Cheers,’ she replied uncomfortably, clinking glasses and watching as Mark raised his to his lips.