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‘What are you?—?’
‘I know you didn’t kill Alice.’
He takes a deep breath, as if he’s been waiting to exhale all these months. And then slowly he opens the door wider.
Inside, his flat feels cold, and I wonder if he’s trying to save money on heating. The pay-out he got from Max’s company will only last so long. Taylor gestures for me to sit on the sofa, and keeping my coat on, I do.
Finally, he speaks. ‘Why have you come here?’
‘For answers. You must have known I’d want them.’
‘No. I assumed you’d never want to see me again. When you disappeared like that, I knew it was all over. Even before Paula came up to me.’
‘What did she say?’
‘Can’t remember her exact words. Something along the lines of me being a despicable human being. She mentioned going to the police too, if I didn’t leave you all alone.’
I walk across to the window, like I’ve done in this flat many times before. Even though everything feels different now, as I look outside, I half expect to see a silver Golf parked across the road.
‘What did I do to you?’ I ask, turning back to face him.
He stares at me. ‘Nothing.’
‘Max, though. You think he ruined your life.’
Taylor nods.
‘ButI’mnot Max.’
‘I know. I never?—’
‘Where didTaylorcome from? That’s not your name.’Yet it feels like it is.
‘Actually, it’s my middle name. Everyone calls me Taylor. Alice did. All my friends.’
‘But not at work. You’re Shane Roberts.’
‘That happened by accident. When I went for my interview, I was so nervous – I didn’t bother correcting them. I didn’t think I’d get the job. I was up against hundreds of applicants. Those statistics weren’t working in my favour. But then I got it. And it was too late to tell them I go by Taylor, not Shane.’
‘That’s good because I’m not calling youShane.’
He raises his eyebrows, but doesn’t say anything.
‘You owe me the truth,’ I say. I’m taking a big gamble coming here, but I’m banking on the fact that there was a connection between us, something I don’t believe Taylor was faking.
To my surprise, he agrees. I didn’t expect it to be this simple. All the ammunition I need to get him to talk is stored in my mind.
His voice is soft when he speaks. Gentle. If I closed my eyes, it could lull me into a deep state of relaxation. ‘Everything I told you about my friendship with Alice was true,’ he begins. ‘All of it.’ He looks down. ‘What I didn’t tell you is that I was the onewho told her to talk to Max at the Boathouse. She did that for me. And it was the biggest mistake of my life.’
He looks up briefly, as if he wants to gauge my reaction, but then he stares at his hands. ‘The idea was that she’d try it on with him. Entrapment. And then I’d get photos of them that I could use.’
‘To destroy his life.’
He looks away. ‘Alice didn’t want to do it. She tried to talk me out of it. She said it was wrong.’ He sighs. ‘But she was torn because she knew how much I was struggling. I lost everything because of Max, and Alice was there picking up the pieces.’ He flaps his arms. ‘This isn’t even my flat. I lost the flat I’d bought. Couldn’t afford the mortgage. This is my friend’s place. He’s renting it to me while he’s travelling for a year. When he gets back, I’m out of here.’
‘Have you found a job yet?’
‘Thankfully, I have now. But it’s taken all this time for me to get anything. And the salary is nowhere near what I was earning at IBM. I spent years studying, got a fantastic position and worked hard to keep it, then Max knocks it down like a house of cards.’
