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‘Can I sit?’ Sarah asks.
‘If you like.’ Whatever this woman has to say, Alice isn’t going to make it easy for her. She’s a criminal and shouldn’t be trusted.
‘Max isn’t coming today,’ Sarah says. ‘He wants an end to this. No more sneaking around behind his wife’s back. Who, by the way, is an awesome woman and mother. But you don’t care about that, do you? Or you would never have?—’
‘I didn’t know he was married when it started. I only found out later.’
‘I get that. I really do. But you found out months ago. And here you are, waiting for him.’
Alice doesn’t like the way she’s being blamed here, especially when it’s coming from a nurse who is stealing drugs to sell to people.
‘Actually, it’s all over.’
Sarah’s eyes narrow as she looks at Alice. ‘What do you mean?’
Alice senses fear in her voice. ‘I asked him to meet me here to end it. And to tell him that I’m telling his wife everything.’
The woman’s eyes widen and for a moment she struggles to find any words. ‘I don’t believe you. You’re obsessed with him. He’s told me everything.’
‘Ididwant it to work, yeah. I loved him. I still do. But he’s not good for me. I see that now. I’m moving on.’
Sarah looks around. ‘I don’t believe you. Why would you meet in a hotel room if you’re ending your affair?’ She glances at the bed. ‘Oh, I get it. Were you going to give him one last fuck before you ended it? You’re sick. You could have just called him or messaged.’
Alice blushes. Without wanting to admit it to herself, perhaps she’d envisaged that they’d spend one last time together. But this woman is right. It’s sick.
‘Because our relationship meant something to me. So I’m not going to end it with a WhatsApp message.’ Or rather, Snapchat. Max had insisted this is how they should communicate so that there’d be no record of their messages.
‘A pub, then,’ Sarah says. ‘Anywhere but a hotel room.’
‘Max was fobbing me off. And sex seems to be the only language he understands. He might never have agreed to meet me otherwise.’
‘You make me sick,’ Sarah says, shaking her head.
Alice’s cheeks flush with shame. How dare this woman speak like that to her? ‘Who the fuck do you think you are?’ Her voice is surprisingly calm. ‘After what you’ve been doing.’
Sarah’s face drains. ‘What?’
‘I heard Max talking to you on the phone the other day. I know all about you stealing drugs from the hospital. Selling them on to people who are desperate for pain relief. You’re fuelling their addiction. It’s immoral as well as being illegal. How can you live with yourself?’ Alice spits these words out, disgusted by the mere act of having to say them. ‘And Max is as guilty as you are for not saying anything.’ This has fuelled Alice’s desire to be rid of him, although she’s fast becoming convinced she’s handled this all wrong. Did she really need to do this after all?
It’s obvious that Alice has thrown this woman off course – whatever Sarah has come here for, she hasn’t been expecting to be confronted with this.
‘Our health is all we have,’ Alice says, when Sarah doesn’t speak. ‘You’re a nurse! You’re supposed to heal people, not wreck them. And you’ve been doing it for years!’ Alice stands up and moves to the desk, perching on the side of it. She’s looking down on Sarah now, and it helps. ‘Max didn’t tell you that I knew, did he?’
The silence tells Alice all she needs to know.
‘And you’re probably wondering why he wouldn’t, when you were so close. D’you know what I think? It’s because it suited him. Everything Max does is to suit his own needs. But he did try and defend you, if that helps. When I told him I wanted to report you to the police, he begged me not to. He told me how you’d been struggling with money, even with all the extra shifts you were doing. I get that. You’re raising your daughter on your own.’
‘It’s been so hard,’ Sarah says.
‘But now I know this, there’s no way I’ll be an accessory to it. I can’t turn a blind eye. I’m all about healing people, not hurting them. Which is why I wanted Max to come here tonight. So I could explain everything to him. Right before I go to the police with what I know.’
Sarah stands up. ‘No…please…I’m not doing it any more.’
‘Did Max send you here?’
‘No. He doesn’t know I’m here. He just told me that he was supposed to be meeting you. He only mentioned the room number because it’s my door number. He thought that was a funny coincidence. He’s leaving you, Alice. All this time you thought you were in control of this. Max has no intention of coming here.’
Her words sting, but Alice tries to brush it off. She could be lying. Desperate people will say anything to weaken you. But if it’s true, what does that matter now? ‘You really do talk about everything, don’t you?’ Alice sighs. ‘That’s none of my concern now, though. I’m moving on. I need to be free of Max, and free of you.’
