Guilty Feet (16 page)

I slumped down on the reproduction brass Victorian bed and sighed. I had a bad feeling about all this. It occurred to me that the only time a woman spends this kind of money at the shops is when she’s fed up or when she wants to look good for a new man in her life. I really hoped that it was the ‘fed up’ option, but by the look of the black bra that was still on the floor I had my doubts. However fed up my mother had been in the past, she’d always stuck firmly to M&S undies. I sighed and picked up the bra, but even before I read the fancy label I knew that it was from somewhere exotic.

So it had to be a man. And, as she’d plainly spent ages trying on so many different things, it must be a man she was extremely keen to impress.

I felt a momentary panic and looked at my watch. It was ten past eight now—plenty of time to have had an early dinner and be heading back. For a night of...I wouldn’t let myself formulate the thought, but then I looked at the bra in my hands again and dropped it as quickly as if it had suddenly burst into flames. I glanced distractedly about the room again, and although it didn’t seem likely that she would bring a man back to this mess, there was always the sofa—

Oh, God! I had to get out of there. And quickly.

I dropped the pink chiffon back where I’d found it, kicked the bra to its more or less original position, and legged it. I didn’t even tie my trainer laces, but I still wouldn’t be surprised if I broke records that night, from my house to the station. Thankfully I only had five minutes to wait till the next train for Leeds left the station, and this time I practically had a whole carriage to myself. It was only when we were well out of the station that my heart-rate began to return to normal, and it was soon after that when my mobile started to ring.

My first thought was that it must be my mother, who’d just seen me tearing down Piper Hill when she was on her way home, and I prepared a lie. She’d never forgive me if she knew I’d uncovered her smutty little secret, so I would tell her I’d found the house empty and, having forgotten my key, I’d turned straight round and headed back for Leeds.

However, a quick glance at the display screen revealed that it wasn’t my mother at all. I didn’t know who it was at first, because the caller’s number was not logged in my mobile’s memory, and I was tempted to switch it off. I couldn’t cope with anything else untoward, and the bad feeling that had started in my mother’s room hung around me still like a bad smell.

I resisted temptation, though, on the sensible grounds that it might just be important.

‘It’s Nicola,’ Nicola said before I could speak, and the first thing I thought was, how did she get my number?

‘I just rang your flat to leave a message and your father answered.’

A silence followed that I didn’t think it was my job to fill. ‘He gave me this number.’

‘And?’ I said.

‘And I need to talk to you. Can I meet you at the station? We could travel back to Leeds together.’

‘Can’t do that, I’m afraid. I’m already on the train.’

She thought about that for a moment, but chose not to share her conclusions.

‘Then it will have to be tomorrow.’

Which annoyed me. How dare she think I could drop everything just because she wanted to talk?

‘I’ve got work tomorrow, and I’m going out in the evening. If what you’ve got to say is so important why don’t you just tell me now?’

‘I can’t,’ she said shortly. ‘It’s far too complicated. How about we meet before work. Say eight-thirty outside the Italian?’

I felt myself frowning. It was beginning to sink in how odd this call was.

‘Can you give me a clue what this is about?’

‘Sorry, can’t do,’ she said dangerously. ‘All I
can
say at this point is that it’s as much in your interests as it is in mine. So be there.’

And then the phone went dead, and it was as if I’d just woken up from a dream in which lots of cloaks and daggers had been involved.

***

The door of Dan’s flat stood ajar, and at first he thought that he must have left it open when he’d rushed out that morning. It was dark on the landing, and it wasn’t until he pushed the door open wider and switched on his hall light that he saw the damage to the door. He rushed straight on into the living room and looked round it quickly. To his great relief, everything seemed to be fine.

He went into the bedroom and then the kitchen; all appeared well. Then he went back to his bedroom and opened his wardrobe. He moved his clothes aside and let out a heartfelt, ‘Phew!’ His precious guitar was still where he’d hidden it before he left that morning. He couldn’t really afford insurance, and because the guitar was precious to him he always hid it when he left the flat for more than a couple of hours. He took it out of the wardrobe now, and carried it into the living room where he placed it lovingly back on its stand.

By now he’d come to the conclusion that he’d had a very lucky break. Someone had clearly broken into the flat but had been disturbed. It occurred to him that he should check with Aisling and Libby. To see if they were all right and ask them whether they’d heard anything.

He went up to Libby’s flat first. Her door seemed fine, and when he got no reply he went down to Aisling’s. Her door looked secure as well, which was a relief. He wasn’t surprised to find her out, she usually was, but it was while he was standing in the lower hallway that he wondered how the would-be burglar had got through the chain door, which showed no signs of forced entry.

It was then that he remembered the key that they kept outside for emergency lock-outs.

He opened the door, stepped out into the darkness and walked along the side of the building. They kept it lodged in the spout of a downpipe that led into a drain, and he reached down now and felt for it. It was gone.

This was very strange indeed, as only those who lived in the house knew about it and it seemed unlikely to Dan that an opportunist thief would have stumbled upon it. But, since there seemed to be no other possible explanation, he had to assume that this had happened.

He went back to his flat, and it was just as he was heading towards the kitchen to make some tea that he spotted the scarf lying over the arm of the sofa.

Chapter Thirteen

I arrived ten minutes early and was surprised to find Nicola already there. I didn’t have a key for the Italian, and as there was nowhere open nearby as yet it meant that we had to huddle for warmth in a jeweller’s shop entrance on the other side of the precinct. Nicola was wrapped in a floor-length overcoat that must have cost a bomb, but I, rather foolishly, had only a jacket over my skirt, and although I was wearing thick black tights, my legs were still freezing. If global warming was a reality, then somehow the city of Leeds had managed to escape its effects.

‘So what’s all the fuss about?’ I began, trying to keep my teeth from chattering.

Nicola gathered her scarf around her chin. ‘It’s about our parents,’ she grimly replied.

‘All of them?’ I asked her blankly.

‘Effectively, yes, but essentially just my father and your mother.’

And that was it. She didn’t need to say any more. I just knew.

‘Oh, God,’ I said.

‘So this hasn’t come as a complete surprise, then?’

I shook my head. ‘It’s all beginning to make perfect sense, I’m afraid,’

‘There’s nothing
perfect
about it,’ Nicola said indignantly. ‘And it’s got to stop. My mother’s threatening to kill herself if it carries on.’

I knew how histrionic Barbara Dick could be, but I didn’t say this.

‘I don’t expect she means it,’ I answered lamely instead.

The precinct had been practically empty when we’d arrived two minutes before, but like magic now scores of people were already milling around us. Tables and chairs were being erected outside coffee houses—though I couldn’t imagine anyone being daft enough to use them today—and some of the jeweller’s shop staff had started to queue outside the doorway we were occupying. With a silent nod of agreement we moved away, and together, a disconsolate pair, we wandered up and down the precinct discussing our errant parents.

‘The thing with our mothers is that they are just so competitive,’ I said with a sigh. ‘And, ashamed as I am to say it, I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what this is all about. Getting her hands on your mother’s husband has got to be the ultimate coup.’

Nicola nodded agreement. ‘I know, but it’s not going to bring my father back. He’s told her he’s in love with your mother.’

‘No!’ I stopped and stared wide-eyed at Nicola. I couldn’t believe it. It was one thing having a fling, but... ‘And how does
she
feel?’

‘That’s what I was hoping you could tell me.’

I shook my head and we moved off again. Oddly, I didn’t feel the cold any more—which must have meant I was in a state of shock, I think.

‘I haven’t a clue what’s in my mother’s head at the moment. All I do know is that two days ago she was demanding that my father went home, so it must only just have started.’

‘As a full-blown affair, maybe, but they’ve been flirting with one another for months, according to my mother.’

I thought about this for a moment. ‘I’m not sure if my dad realised that, but he did say they’d been seeing a lot of your parents and I do know he wasn’t very happy about it.’

‘Is that why he left?’

I just nodded. There didn’t seem any point in telling her the whole story.

‘I didn’t know anything till I got home. I take it you weren’t expected last night?’ She glanced at me sideways, then suddenly let out a little gasp. ‘Oh, my God, you didn’t find them together, did you?’

‘Of course not,’ I said, shuddering at the thought. ‘This is the first I’ve heard about it. The house was empty when I got home.’ I considered telling her about my suspicions, about the state of Mum’s bedroom, but I didn’t think it would throw any new light on the situation so I kept quiet.

‘She was with my father. He was very up-front about it to my mother,’ Nicola added wryly. ‘He told her he was going to suggest moving in with your mother.’

‘But he can’t! My dad’s only been gone for a couple of weeks,’ I said, as if that sealed the matter.

‘Well, there’s one way to stop that happening,’ Nicola said slyly.

‘How?’

‘You must speak to your father. Tell him he must go home at once, before it’s too late.’

I remembered how I’d felt yesterday, how I’d believed my parents could be happier without one another, and despite all these uncomfortable revelations it struck me now that nothing had changed.

‘Have you considered the possibility that we should just leave them to it?’

Nicola stopped in her tracks and a young man in a hurry walked straight into her back. She gave him a withering look and turned her attention back on me.

‘That’s easy for you to say,’ she hissed. ‘You haven’t got a fiancé whose parents believe in marriage for life. They’re due to meet my parents next weekend, and Lord knows what they’ll make of all this if they find out about it.’

‘If they’re decent people they’ll feel sorry for you, I’d have thought,’ I said a bit pompously.

‘I don’t want them feeling sorry for me,’ Nicola snapped. ‘And besides, they’re not decent people. They’re religious bloody maniacs!’

We looked at each other for about ten seconds—me trying to keep a straight face, her trying to keep up the act. I’m not sure who it was that laughed first, but I do know that it became a bit raucous. Not the sort of laughter you normally hear at that time of the morning in a busy Leeds precinct.

It was getting close to nine when we finally pulled ourselves together. Too late for any more talking. So we said our goodbyes and promised to keep one another informed of any further developments.

***

Dan had sent a reply to Sarah’s e-mail the night before and gone to bed early. He’d tried reading his book, but had found his concentration kept wandering. He was worried about that scarf. He couldn’t be sure, but it looked like Jo’s. She’d had one very like it, anyway, a genuine Burberry that his mother had given to her the previous Christmas. And he’d certainly have noticed long before now if she’d left it behind when she moved out.

The first thing he did when he got up was to call a locksmith. It wasn’t just his flat door that would need a new lock, he’d realised during the night. The front door lock would need to be replaced as well, because if someone had a key to it they could easily come back. The locksmith promised to be there within the hour, so while he waited for them to arrive he went downstairs to Aisling’s flat and knocked on her door.

She was still in her pink bathrobe, but when he told her what had happened she insisted on going up to the flat to see the evidence for herself.

‘Wow!’ she said as she examined the splintered wood on the door. ‘Wait till my parents hear about this!’ She grinned at Dan. ‘On second thoughts, maybe I’d better keep quiet. Or they’ll insist I move out immediately.’

He told her about the missing key and her eyes rounded with excitement. She looked like one of the Famous Five, on the verge of a big adventure.

She followed him into the flat and looked around.

‘Seems you’ve been really lucky,’ she said. ‘They could have had a field-day with all those CDs.’

He nodded in agreement. He’d already scanned his CD collection, and been reassured by no obvious gaps, and his expensive hi-fi system was still mercifully intact.

‘They must have been disturbed,’ Aisling said, voicing Dan’s original theory.

Unless it wasn’t a burglar, he thought now, but didn’t say. Unless it was Jo, who’d come back to the flat for a reason that wasn’t clear to him yet and then just left her scarf by accident. She certainly knew about the front door key, and since she’d left her flat key behind she wouldn’t have had any other way of getting in without breaking the door. But, although he’d gone over this scenario many times in his head, it still didn’t feel right. It didn’t seem like something that Jo would do, and what possible reason could she have had for breaking into the flat?

He went into the kitchen and filled his kettle.

‘I don’t suppose I can tempt you with anything,’ he called out to Aisling, remembering her previous comments about his coffee.

‘No, thanks.’ She followed him in and stood in the door-way, watching him as he rinsed one of several unwashed mugs. ‘Have you spoken to Libby about it?’ she asked.

‘Not yet.’

‘Well, she was out too, so I don’t suppose she’ll be able to help.’

Dan dried one of the cups on a grubby tea towel.

‘She said that the two of you have decided to stay friends “for the time being”,’ Aisling said speculatively.

Dan groaned. ‘I was trying to be gentle.’

‘Chicken,’ she said.

‘How does she seem?’ he asked.

Aisling shrugged. ‘Not bad for someone who’s been rejected after a one-night stand. But that’s probably because she thinks she’s still in with a chance.’

‘It wasn’t like that,’ Dan said as he got the jar of coffee out of the cupboard. He looked over at Aisling. ‘To be honest I’m not even sure anything happened. I can’t remember much after we got back to the flat. I was pretty far gone, I’m afraid.’

‘We all were,’ she said reassuringly.

‘But I presume you knew what you were doing when you invited Steve in?’

‘Oh, yes,’ she said, grinning. ‘And I expect you’ll be horribly jealous, but it’s too late now. You had your chance and you blew it.’

‘I’ll just have to get over it,’ he said, playing the game. Then he frowned. ‘But you’d think I’d remember it if we actually, well, you know...’

‘Had sex?’

He nodded his head.

‘Well, maybe you didn’t. Maybe you fell asleep before it got that far.’

That was what he was beginning to think, but it wasn’t what Libby had implied. He poured water over the coffee granules.

‘She didn’t tell you that we had, then?’

Aisling thought about this. ‘She didn’t go into any details. It was just an impression I got. I’m going out with her soon, though,’ she said. ‘I’ll ask her if you like.’

‘No, thanks,’ he said with feeling. ‘Best leave it as it is, I think.’ He looked over at Aisling again and shook his head. ‘Don’t you ever do any work?’

‘Just because I don’t have a typical nine to five job, it doesn’t mean I don’t work hard. I was out till gone midnight last night.’ She told him briefly about a new bar that she’d been to the night before. She’d been in charge of the opening night PR and made it sound very exhausting.

They went back to the living room together and Dan put his mug down on the coffee table.

‘So, what are you up to with Libby?’ he asked as he wandered over to the CD collection and browsed the ‘D’ section.

‘I’m doing her a favour, as a matter of fact.’

‘Oh, yes?’ he said as he took out Miles Davis’s classic 1959 five-star album
Kind
of
Blue
.

‘Uh-huh. I’m going to pose as her and meet a would-be buyer for some of her vinyl.’

Dan, who was heading towards the hi-fi, looked round at her sharply.

‘You’re what?’

‘Well, you know she doesn’t want any of her father’s friends finding out that she’s selling his collection? And because this man wants to meet the seller, I’m going to pretend that it’s me.’

‘Isn’t that a bit odd?’ he said.

Aisling shrugged. ‘Maybe, but I’m looking forward to it. I’ve always fancied myself as an actress.’

Dan was still frowning as he opened the CD case. Then he frowned harder and shut it again. It couldn’t possibly be. He opened it again and shook his head. It was.

‘What’s up?’ Aisling said. She moved towards him and looked down at the case. The CD was inside, but it was broken into tiny pieces, as if it had been smashed with a very hard object.

‘Wow,’ she said as he handed the case to her and went back to the shelves.

He took another one out at random, and with a sigh of relief found it intact. Then he took another, just in case, and it was smashed too.

‘Shit!’ he said.

He took several more off the shelves, and most were OK, but some definitely weren’t. It could take all day to go through them all, but he was fairly sure that there would be others.

‘Jeez,’ Aisling said as she inspected the damage. ‘Looks like you weren’t so lucky after all.’ She looked at him doubtfully. ‘I take it you are insured?’

He shook his head. ‘Unfortunately not.’

***

I was dying to tell someone about what was happening with my parents, but there was only Giovanna and I could hardly tell her. Besides, I knew by now that she’d spoken to my father last night. To my great surprise, she’d agreed to go out with him anyway. He must have more charm than I’d ever have guessed.

It was still a bit tricky, though, working with her. She knew that I knew that she was going out with another married man, and the fact that this one was my father naturally made it awkward for her. It made it awkward for both of us, and I thought I should say something really, but I didn’t know what. I tried a few openings out for size in my head but they all sounded wrong. The best I could come up with was ‘Don’t worry, Giovanna, I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.’ And somehow I didn’t think that would go down too well.