‘Sorry,’ she said and meant it. The mattress felt like it was sucking her down, and her head contained an orchestra of tomtom players. She wondered if Essie felt this way after drinking her gin.
‘Well, I might as well get up,’ Jake said, slapping his hand on the duvet.
‘What,now?’
‘I promised I’d call Katrina. I was going to see her last night,’ he said rigidly. ‘But you weren’t here.’
Liv frowned in the darkness. They’d been leaving the boys on their own in the house since Mack was fifteen. ‘You could have gone—’
‘I was too busy worrying about you,’ he said. ‘Go back to sleep, I’ll try to be quiet.’
Jake’s side of the duvet landed on her and he got out of the bed. She heard the bedroom door open and his footsteps on the stairs.
Liv pulled the covers over her head and her eyelashes brushed against the cotton. She plumped up her pillow and tossed and turned for a while, trying to summon up a Georgia Rory story to imagine herself in. She was the custodian of Essie’s last ever book, and the satisfaction of millions of readers sat firmly on her shoulders.The responsibility made her feel like she was lying in an open grave with soil being shovelled on top of her.
Tugging Essie’s scarf out of her hair and scrunching it in her fist, Liv only managed to drift off to sleep when she breathed in the scent of Fracas.
Chapter 7
The Plastic Slide
Liv eyes pinged wide open when she woke mid-morning. She was supposed to be back at work for Platinum today and hated leaving her teammates in the lurch by not turning up. Her head throbbed when she called Hannah Cardinal and arranged to work extra time on a different day instead. Scrubbing herself in the shower did little to alleviate her hangover.
She was glad Jake had already left for work, so she wouldn’t have to face more of his questions. Her brain felt swollen and her tongue was as dry as sandpaper. But the manuscript and her monumental task to complete it were crystal clear in her head. Matilda was the longest-serving of Essie’s assistants, having lasted seven months on the job. She might know if any missing chapters existed. If Liv had to keep up the pretence Essie was still alive, the PA could tell her more about the author’s day-to-day life. She might know something about Anthony, too.
Matilda could be as difficult as Essie, so Liv texted apprehensively to ask if they could meet to discuss Essie’s work.
Why would I want to help Medusa?Matilda fired back.What did she ever do for me?
It’s for me, not her,Liv replied.Please. I really need this.
Matilda’s response took a while to arrive.Okay. Meet me at Alchemy at 2 today.
Alchemy was a huge white block on an industrial estate on the outskirts of the city, where lots of creative businesses had their headquarters. Liv grabbed the dog-eared manuscript from Essie’s flat on the way and carried it in a tote bag. It was so heavy the bag straps cut into her shoulder, leaving a red weal.
Her mouth fell open when she stepped inside the Alchemy foyer. The floor was covered with emerald green fake grass, and there was a small crazy golf pitch, a large sand pit and a turquoise plastic slide curved down from the mezzanine to the ground floor. The place looked more like a youth centre for overprivileged kids.
Liv tried not to stare at a heavily tattooed man who rode a scooter across the floor. A woman with a shaved head wore so many rings through her nose, ears and eyebrows you could hang curtains on them. Liv felt very boring in her retro Coca-Cola T-shirt and jeans. She had always envied people who did things their own way. They might dye their hair flamingo pink, or wear tartan trousers when they weren’t Scottish. She wondered how it would feel to walk into a room and to beseen.
She took a photo of the golf course and WhatsApped it to her mum.My meeting place for the day!
Very fancy,Carol replied.Hope you’ve brought your golf clubs. Come over for cake soon x
Liv replied,If it’s Victoria sponge, I’m in x
She saw Matilda heading towards her with the flounce of a catwalk model. She wore a red tiger-print dress, and pink sandals with huge wedged soles. Her lips were overplump and she had marker-pen eyebrows.
‘Liv, you didn’t have to dress up,’ she said, smirking at Liv’s jeans.
Liv consciously ran a hand down her T-shirt. ‘You look glam, as always.’
‘I’m temping here for a while, getting myself noticed.’ Matilda waved a hand as if she was royalty. ‘Follow me. We’ll grab a smoothie and you can tell me whatMedusawants.’
She led the way across the grass and up a spiral staircase to the next floor. There was a juice bar and a man’s blond spiky hair bobbed above the fruit-filled baskets on the counter. Liv took out her purse.
Matilda shot out a hand and pushed it away. ‘Don’tpay,’ she snorted. ‘It’s a perk.’
The list of smoothies was bewildering and contained ingredients Liv wouldn’t normally associate with drinks, like turmeric, kale and cucumber. ‘The Swampalicious sounds interesting,’ she said.
