Joanna began collecting used serviettes from the table, passing them to Christian. ‘So, how are the kids?’ Relief washed over Cherie. She could leave Christian and Joanna talking while they all went into the garden.
Isaac grabbed his old bomber jacket and left the room with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, looking like he didn’t have a care in the world. That was typical of him. Cherie always said that he never took anything seriously.
Marcus almost fell over the door frame.
Christian left the plates for a moment. ‘You okay, mate?’
‘I… I think so. It’s the wine. I should have taken a leaf out of Cherie’s book and stayed away from it. Nothing a bit of fresh air won’t sort.’
Cherie’s heart boomed away. She knew Marcus wasn’t okay. Her so-called friend was getting too wasted. They’d all known each other a long time and Cherie could sympathise with Marcus. This was typical Penny – save it all up until it needed to escape in such a way that a trail of destruction had been left. It was the same when Penny told Marcus that she’d been sleeping with a colleague. He’d badgered her until she just blurted it out at a family party in front of his grandmother, but all that had happened years ago. Marcus had forgiven her and they’d moved on. ‘Come on, Marcus.’ Cherie grabbed his arm. ‘Let’s get some fresh air and have a catch up.’
‘Good idea,’ Marcus said as he wiped the sweat from his brow, just under his bleached hairline. ‘Wait.’ He leaned over and pulled a spliff from his pocket. ‘I think this will lighten the tension around here. It will for me, anyway.’ He began to half-stagger past her.
‘No, it won’t.’ Cherie nudged him, hoping that Christian hadn’t heard. The little smoke was something they’d always done when they’d got together as a reminder to each other that their secret had remained in the box for another year and that they all depended on each other’s silence to keep it locked away. ‘Put it away. You need your thoughts on Penny at the moment. What if she calls and you’re stoned?’
‘What’s going on?’ Christian leaned in as he walked across the kitchen holding the tiramisu. ‘Is everything alright with Penny? I thought it was just a twenty-four hour thing.’
‘It is. Penny’s having a hard time at work too. Stress.’
Christian gave a sympathetic smile. ‘Send her our love.’
Cherie brushed her hair from the corner of her mouth as her stare bored into Marcus’s. ‘I’m sure it’s nothing that won’t sort itself out.’
‘Well, if there’s anything we can help with, just shout.’
Christian, always wanting to help. All she wanted him to do was carry on faffing with his tiramisu so that they could talk. Marcus headed to the garden to be with Isaac, leaving Cherie standing in the doorway of the kitchen. ‘I’ll be back in five.’ Christian had barely noticed her speaking as he turned back to Joanna and laughed at some anecdote she was telling him. Joanna then leaned over in her leopard print miniskirt to pick a piece of bread up and her auburn locks reached the kitchen floor.
‘Cherie,’ Isaac called.
‘Coming.’ She left them to it and hurried outside where they sat at the old patio set, passing the spliff around. Despite the wine, her friends suddenly seemed sober, like the evening had been nothing more than an act.
Isaac snatched the spliff from Marcus and trod it into the ground. ‘Okay, which one of you sent the message? No games, just out with it.’ The security light glinted off his nose ring as he leaned back in the creaky patio chair.
Marcus glared. ‘I received one. It just says, I know everything.’
‘Same,’ Isaac replied.
Little did they know that Cherie was keeping some secrets of her own and she wasn’t about to reveal her hand.
‘Penny said I’ve been acting weird and I was when I received the message. I didn’t know whether to say something to her so I didn’t. She didn’t mention that she had one but then again, she doesn’t tell me much.’ Marcus slammed his fist onto the glass table, sending the plastic potted cactus bouncing close to the edge. He exhaled plume after plume of white mist into the cold night as he seethed.
Isaac was grinding his teeth. ‘You should have asked her. It’s typical of you, Marcus. You’re a self-centred prick sometimes.’
‘What? Me? Penny walked out on me yesterday morning. I’ve got enough on my plate. You always did just think about yourself.’
Isaac flung a hand in the air for attention. ‘What do we know? There’s a freak killer on the loose and they killed Alex. He was our friend. Okay, he was a drug addict. He had problems and enemies. He’s killed, then we receive weird text messages.’ He stared at Marcus, then Cherie and not one of them cracked. ‘Whoever sent these messages knows everything.’
‘I don’t know who I can trust any more.’ Cherie tried to hide her trembling hands.
‘Oh, shut up.’ As Isaac’s gaze fixed on Cherie’s, her heart felt as though it was about to burst from her chest. She wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of seeing through her. She was sure that Alex’s murder wasn’t random. ‘Let me see your messages.’
‘I deleted mine,’ Marcus replied. ‘I know Penny has been looking through my phone and I didn’t want to worry her.’
‘I deleted mine too. I just thought it wasn’t meant for me.’ Isaac sat back with a grin across his face as if he thought he was clever by doing so. ‘How about you, Cherie? When did you receive your message?’
She hadn’t received anything, but she wasn’t going to bring suspicion upon herself. Were they all lying about this message? Maybe it was a trap. For a second it felt as though their menacing eyes were on her, like they knew something but weren’t letting on. ‘It was about a week ago but I deleted it too. I didn’t want Christian to see it.’ She paused. ‘So, who’s lying? Isaac, don’t play games with me. Did you send the message? I just need to know. It’ll be allhaha, very funny. A bit of a sick thing to do but then again, we know you’re not normal in that sense.’
Isaac half-turned away. ‘Shut up, Cherie.’
