And then, because Audrey was always going to Audrey, “I found her, you know.”
“The posh bitch?”
“Well, personally I think of her as Emily. And I’ve notfound herfound her. But I’ve got some pretty promising leads.”
This time Jennifer sighed. It was quite a different sigh to Audrey’s sighing. “Of course you fucking have.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you never give up anything and you’re clearly obsessed.”
“I’m not obsessed. I’minterested.”
“Listening to an old lady talk about her girlfriend is interested. Tracking the girlfriend down when she hasn’t been seen for fifty years is obsessed.”
This was fair. This was worryingly fair. “I don’t like loose threads. It’s a quilting thing. Or a journalist thing. Or both.”
“And you’re sure you’re not trying to get closure on your ex-girlfriend by tracking down someone else’s ex-girlfriend?”
“No,” said Audrey, too quickly. “Well. I don’t know. But even if it’s true, is that bad?”
“Yes. Obviously. You can’t go around confusing other people’s shit for your shit.”
“Says the woman who just gave me a huge speech about how we could never have anything nice together because of something that happened with a completely different person.”
“This isn’t about me. And Doris isn’t about you.”
“But doesn’t Doris deserve—”
“Don’t give me bollocks and tell me it’s a delightful lychee salad, Lane. You want to do this because you’re curious or you’ve got your own baggage or because you’ve read so many Sarah Waters novels you want to live in one.”
“I…” Audrey would have debated the accuracy of that characterisation except there wasn’t a lot to debate. “This will probably end better than the average Sarah Waters novel.”
“So you’re saying it might end in betrayalormisery instead of betrayalandmisery.”
“Not all Sarah Waters novels end in betrayal and misery.”
“Name three where they don’t.”
“They’re together at the end ofFingersmith.”
“Yeah, after betrayal and misery.”
“And technically there is a happy successful lesbian couple inAffinity.”
“Neither of whom are the protagonist, who suffers betrayal and misery.”
“Okay, butTipping the—”
“Is the worst one because she winds up with a boring woman named Florence.”
“All right.” This was clearly the wrong tack to have taken. “You’ve made your point. But look at it this way: if I can find Emily and it doesn’t end with betrayal and/or misery, it would make amazing TV.”
“Fuck,” said Jennifer Hallet. “I keep forgetting that underneath the polka dots and the cupcakes you’re as cynical as I am.”
“I do also think it would be good for Doris,” added Audrey, only slightly guiltily.
Jennifer gave another deep,deepsigh and turned her face to the stars like she was seeking patience among their number. “You better not balls this up for me, Lane.”
