Page 27 of The Way We Are Now

‘Listen, between you and me, and I shouldn’t be telling you this, Anna, but it’s some girl called… Fiona…?’

‘Fiona?’ Hope soared.

‘Faith?’ Roddy pondered the conundrum. ‘Felicity. That’s it. From London. Cracking-looking bird from what I hear. Can’t say I know her.’

‘She’s my housemate,’ I said dully.

‘Fuck!’ Roddy stared and then pulled me into him, my head banging into his fetid armpit. ‘Look, do you want to… you know? Have a drink? Come back to mine?’ He stroked my hair, his hand reaching for my backside in a little squeeze.

I gave him a look, ran back to Clare and, taking her arm roughly with one hand and my book bag with the other, manoeuvred her out through the crowd, through the door and out into the rain.

‘It’s Fliss,’ I said, bursting into tears. I set off walking, no idea where I was heading, where I was going, walking almost in circles in an effort to move away from this terrible thing I’d just been told. ‘It’s Fliss, Clare.’

‘Fuck!’ she said, her retort echoing that of Roddy, five minutes earlier. ‘And is she? You know…?’

I nodded. ‘I need to walk. Need fresh air. Oh, bloody hell, Clare, she’s dead. In that disgusting rat-pee-infested canal.’

Clare reached for my hand, and I let her hold it, both of us finding comfort from the other’s proximity.

After ten minutes walking in silence and the rain, Clare said, ‘I’ve got a stitch, Anna, and I’m soaked. Let’s get the bus. Come on.’

I imagined the DI and his sidekick would be back at the house, questioning Katy, waiting for Clare and me to return. But nothing. Something as dreadful as this, and yet the status quo seemed as it was before we knew the truth; the clock ticking its relentlessly steady beat in the kitchen, the door to the kitchen open at its usual forty-five degrees, the first step on the stairs to be avoided at risk of catching one’s heel in the threadbare excuse for a carpet. Katy was still upstairs and, without another word, we both headed up towards her room. Halfway up, we stopped as there was a loud knock at the front door.

‘That’ll be the police again now,’ I said, going back down. Clare carried on up to break the awful news to Katy, and I went back down to let them in.

‘Why on earth did you tell the police I’ve been seeing your friend? That I was her boyfriend? That she’d been staying with me in my room?’ He was speaking even before I’d opened the door fully.

‘Sorry?’ I stared at him, not quite grasping how the two police officers I’d been expecting had morphed into Theo Mandeville.

‘Which bit didn’t you understand? Do you want me to repeat all that?’ Theo was obviously finding it difficult to keep his temper.

‘Sorry,’ I said again. I didn’t seem to be able to articulate any other words.

‘Look, can I come in?’

I opened the door to him, and he walked past me, uncertain which door to go through. ‘In here.’ I overtook him and he followed me into the kitchen.

‘What’s going on? I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten your name.’

‘Anna.’

‘So?’ Theo moved to the kitchen sink, leaning against it as he shot me a questioning glare. I was about to speak, when Katy and Clare came back down the stairs and joined us.

‘This is Theo,’ I said to Katy.

‘Theo? As in, you know…? Theo?’ If the whole thing hadn’t been so awful, I’d probably have laughed at the change in Katy’s demeanour as she realised who the unexpected arrival standing in the kitchen was.

Theo lifted his hands towards Katy in a gesture of irritation. ‘Sorry, you seem to know who I am. Have we met?’ His clipped vowels were unable to betray his clear exasperation.

Katy’s usual composure appeared ruffled. ‘Well, you know…’

‘No, no, I don’t.’

Katy started again. ‘I believe you’ve been seeing a lot of Fliss…’ Sounding a bit like an investigating officer herself, she trailed off as she saw Theo’s face.

‘But why?’ Theo seemed genuinely perplexed. ‘Why would you believe that?’ He air-mimed the word crossly. ‘Who said that?’

I took over. ‘Well, she did. Fliss did. She led us to believe that she’d been seeing you for quite a few weeks now. Out most nights with you.’