‘Mm.’
‘You haven’t got a profile, not in your own name anyway. Do you have a secret one?’ Alice tapped her fingernails on the table as she tilted her head and stared into Madison’s eyes. She reached over, grabbing Madison’s phone.
‘Give that back!’
Alice bolted from her seat and hurried past the bar out towards the toilets.
‘Give that back.’
The woman behind the bar stood back and smiled at their antics, possibly pleased that something was taking her mind off Amber Slater’s murder. Madison ran, hot on Alice’s tail, running through the pub and out to the corridor that led to the beer garden. She glanced out to the empty garden, then she burst through the two doors to the toilet to be faced by three cubicles. ‘Alice. Give me my phone, now. This isn’t funny.’
The cubicle at the end was shut. Madison stomped over and slammed her fists on the door. ‘Open up.’
‘It’s hilarious. Which photo do you want? The one of you standing outside a bratwurst stall at the Birmingham Christmas market or the one of you in your bikini around the pool in Tenerife?’
‘Neither. Damn you, no bikini shots. Give me my phone back, you cow. I don’t want to be on another dating app.’ She kneeled on the floor, insistent on trying to get a look at Alice under the gap at the bottom of the door. ‘Alice?’ All Madison could see was Alice’s boots tapping on the lino flooring.
As Madison laid her head on the floor, the whiff of disinfectant turned her stomach a little. ‘Alice, this floor is gross. Just unlock the door.’
‘I’ve nearly finished. Pressing the go button now. Madison, you are now on AppyDater.’
Exhaling, Madison shuffled away from the door and stood. ‘Okay, you can come out now and then I can delete it. All that effort, wasted.’
Alice’s laugh echoed through the room.
‘What?’
Silence.
‘Alice, what’s going on?’
‘You have two smileys. That’s what’s going on.’
In defeat, Madison headed to the mirror and wiped a bit of smudged make-up from the corner of her eye.
The cubicle door bounced off the wall as Alice flung it open. ‘I can’t believe it. I’ve been on it a week – nothing. Tyrone – on it a minute, gets a smiley. You – I’ve barely pushed the button and two of them are lining up and they look the biz.’
Madison snatched her phone back. ‘You used the Christmas market photo. I don’t believe you. I’m about to eat a bratwurst. How could you? Since when did I do burlesque dancing.’
‘Shut up! Have you seen the two that are interested? You can thank me now. I think I’ll swap cat café to pole dancing or something. What do you think? It must be the cat café thing that’s putting my potential dates off.’
Madison clicked the first profile that sent her a smiley. He was just a little older than her, chiselled features and looking for a good time. Local too. Enjoys competitive swimming and running. The next one lived in a town close by and was equally handsome but with more of a sparkle. His smooth dark hair and the slight look up at the camera made it feel as if he was trying to seduce her. Loves squash. ‘Wow! I mean okay… I forgive you. Thank you.’ Remember what Nanna had said.Live a little.She bit her bottom lip and smiled. ‘Would it be wrong to accept a date with both of them?’
‘Absolutely not! You go for it. That’s what AppyDater is. No one on there is looking for marriage. It’s about dating as many people as you can. The fun is always in the date.’
Madison stared at her friend’s reflection in the mirror. ‘I’m sorry no one has dropped you a smiley.’
‘Rub it in why don’t you!’ Alice nudged Madison, fluffed her hair up and headed to the door. ‘You coming?’
‘I’ll be there in a minute.’ Madison made a rubbing motion along her teeth with the side of her finger. ‘Lipstick… teeth.’ As her friend smiled then left, she locked herself in the end cubicle and pulled down her pants before sitting carefully on the unstable loo seat. The main door opened. ‘What now?’ she called out. She was met with silence. ‘Alice.’ Footsteps led the way to her cubicle. She tugged at the last three sheets of loo roll and wiped herself, quickly dressing then flushing the chain. As she went to unlock the door, she stopped. ‘Alice. Is that you?’ She bent over and saw the tip of a flat boot underneath. Those weren’t the boots that Alice was wearing, they were more like the type a man would wear. The flushing of the toilet quietened to a trickle. ‘Please get away from the door.’ Whoever was there, remained in place. She edged back and slid the lock. The lights went off, followed by the loud crash of the inner, then outer door.
Bursting out into darkness with only the sound of a dripping tap in which to gain her bearings, she stepped forwards, hands outstretched in front of her. The windowless room gave her no clues as to how far away from the door she was. She gasped as she bumped into something hard and let out a scream as the hand dryer burst into action. Reaching to the right, she grappled for the door handle and darted out into the corridor. Whoever was just lurking outside the toilet had done it to scare her, or maybe it was some sort of joke. She wasn’t laughing. With trembling fingers, she took a deep breath and gazed out into the dark beer garden. Beyond the festoon lights, she couldn’t see a thing. A shaking tree at the bottom left caught her attention. She ran through the door and tried to focus but whatever might have been there was gone.
Shivering, she hugged herself as a biting breeze swished past. She was getting nowhere standing in the cold. She hurried back and stared at Tyrone. ‘Where were you a minute ago?’
He shrugged his shoulders. ‘Here. I did go for a slash just before, didn’t I?’
Alice nodded. ‘You sure did.’ She finished her drink. ‘Anyone for another?’
