AllFreeNovel
Share Us
His face is so full of hope and joy that I almost can’t bear to let him down. ‘I’m sorry,’ I say. ‘This is about me and Poppy.’
‘Sure. Of course it is.’ He checks his watch. ‘How about a quick coffee, and you can fill me in on how it would all work if I buy you out?’
While he’s in the kitchen, I walk around Cole’s living room, studying the Impressionist paintings he’s hung on the walls. I can’t recall the names of any artists, even though Cole often mentions them.
I sit back down, moving the cushion out of the way. My hand nudges something hard. I lift the cushion and see there’s a phonethere. I pull it out and I’m about to shout to Cole that I’ve got his phone when it hits me that this can’t belong to him. I turn it over and study the case. A pink glittery case.
Confused, I realise where I’ve seen it before.
Cole comes back in, carrying two coffee cups. ‘Here you go,’ he says. ‘Now tell me that isn’t the best coffee you’ve ever tasted.’
I stand up and stare at him, all the words I want to say struggling to find their way out. ‘What are you doing with Katy’s phone?’
The colour drains from his face as he looks from me to the phone. ‘I can explain,’ he says. He places the cups on the coffee table, spilling coffee in his haste to get them out of his hands.
‘Where’s Katy? Why have you got her phone?’
‘She…she left it in the shop. I meant to give it to her, but?—’
‘You’re lying. I’ve been calling her. I told you that. I’ve called her loads of times.’ And that’s when I realise that Cole is the one who told me Katy had quit and wasn’t coming back. I haven’t heard a single word from her.
He turns to the door, his eyes darting around. ‘I…I don’t know…’
‘What’s going on?’ I scream at him. ‘What are you doing with this?’
Cole shrinks back. I’ve never spoken like this to him before, and it must take him by surprise.
‘She was…she was in my business.’ Droplets of sweat have formed on his forehead, and his skin looks hot and red. ‘I had to stop her. It wasn’t meant to happen. I had no choice.’
I’ve heard enough. Still clutching Katy’s phone, I run for the door, leaving my coat on the sofa in my rush to get away from Cole.
THIRTY-TWO
THE DAY OF THE MURDER
As soon as her client has left, Alice sinks to the floor. This session was exhausting. Normally she can just guide her clients, and let the people she’s training do the work themselves, but Tania always seems so needy. Alice has to do everything alongside her. Every lunge. Every squat. Every plank. She doesn’t usually mind, it’s just today it’s drained her. Sucked out all her energy in one hour.
She sits cross-legged and takes a deep breath, forcing her mind to be calm. Lately there have been too many jumbled thoughts invading her brain. Most of the time, she can’t make sense of them. One minute she’s panicking about the business, then her brain flits to her mum and the guilt Alice feels for not having seen her in ages. Then it’s Taylor, and how he’s going on and on at her to finish this thing up with Max. He just doesn’t understand. You can’t help who you fall in love with, can you? And Max is right there in her head, always, overshadowing everything else.
Alice pulls herself up from the floor and stretches. Her muscles ache, and she needs to get out of these sweaty leggings and T-shirt and get in the shower. She checks her phone butthere’s nothing other than a message from one of her clients asking if she can reschedule her session tomorrow.
After replying that it’s no problem, Alice’s thoughts turn back to Max. She’s sent him three texts already this morning, and he hasn’t replied to any of them. He’ll say she’s harassing him, but when will he realise that if he just replies to her in the first place, she won’t have to bombard him with more messages? Surely that’s a no-brainer?
She finishes her stretches, then wipes down the mats and dumbbells, placing them back in the corner of the gym. As always, she sprays some White Company Flowers scent across the room, to freshen it up. There are no more clients today, and she always does this before she locks up.
Inside the house, she calls for Simba and Willow, and the cats come running up to her, their claws click-clacking on the wooden floors. ‘At least you two love me,’ she says. ‘Or do you just want some food?’
They mewl at her, and she fills their bowls with kibbles, standing back to watch them for a moment. She’d be lost without them, even more so than she already is. Sometimes it’s like she’s swimming in a swamp, and every so often she reaches a patch of clear water, but it always turns back to the murky darkness. The tangle of vegetation, the thick mud and floating debris. This is exactly what’s happening in her head. Once, Alice tried to explain it to Max, but he’d just looked at her blankly and told her she was beautiful. Right, like that’s all a woman wants to hear.
When she hasn’t heard from him by lunchtime, she calls his phone. He’ll be at work and he’ll be furious that she’s calling him, but she no longer cares.
He doesn’t answer. In desperation, she calls his work number. She’s only done it once before, that time they had a huge row, and she promised him she wouldn’t call him at theoffice again. But Alice is starting to give less of a damn with every passing second.
She’s sick of being second best, of giving him all of her and getting nothing in return.
‘Max Chambers,’ he says, when he answers. His voice is professional. Different to the gentler voice he reserves for her when he knows she’s on the other end of the line. Unless he’s annoyed with her.
‘I need to see you,’ Alice says, smoothing a large strand of her hair. She does this when she’s nervous. Max is always commenting on it, telling her it’s distracting, but he can’t see her now so she doesn’t care.
