Three people were busy setting out long tables with white cloths in the open space. Wire arches were covered with pink, white and lilac silk flowers, in preparation for a party or wedding reception. The room was on the opposite side of the building to Essie’s writing room, so the view from the windows was more industrial. Liv saw the canal, warehouse buildings, cranes and a freight train.
Chloe spoke to a man in a red T-shirt and pointed towards a roof terrace with large ferns and a glass roof. He nodded, gesturing she was free to use it.
Chloe located a table. She pulled out a chair and Liv sat down opposite her.She noticed a glass square embedded in the floor, giving a view of a sheer drop down to the streets below. It lured her towards it, tempting her to jump.
‘It’s a private bar for residents,’ Chloe said. ‘I’ve been here a few times.’
Liv frowned at her. ‘How do you get inside the building?’
‘A smile gets you most places. I talk to people. The security guys love to chat about their dogs, kids, wives or whatever.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I told one I’d lost my fob and he gave me a new one. I’m very enterprising.’
‘I’d call it deceptive.’
Chloe raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, you should know all aboutthat,’ she said.
Liv thought about taking over Essie’s suite in Croatia. Maybe she and the journalist were more similar than she thought.
The man in the red T-shirt carried over two bottles of Diet Coke and glasses filled with ice cubes. Chloe smiled thanks to him. ‘No coffee, but this is nice,’ she said to Liv, pouring their drinks. ‘Now, where were we?’
Liv lifted her glass. ‘You were telling me how you sneak into the building and lie to people.’
Chloe sighed. ‘You’re very theatrical for a cleaner, or assistant, or whatever you do for Essie.’
Liv’s fingertips turned cold from the ice. ‘Tell me what youthinkyou know,’ she demanded.
The journalist drummed her fingernails on the table. ‘Not quite yet.’ She looked at Liv like she was a cat toying with an injured bird. ‘Tell me more about you. What’s it like working with Essie?’
Liv felt she had no choice but to share a few details. She had to find a way to keep the journalist on side,while also throwing her off the trail. She noticed Chloe had a tiny speech mark tattoo on her right wrist. Liv had an ampersand one on her left shoulder blade that she got for her fortieth birthday.
‘Three years ago, Essie was looking for a cleaner and I got the job,’ she said. ‘I’d always loved her books and working that close to her felt special. I’d always wanted to write too…’
Chloe sipped her drink. ‘How old were you, when you knew that?’
‘Seven or eight. I read all the time.’
‘Hmm, me, too. I’ve wanted to write for as long as I can remember. I love knowing how people tick. What life experiences shape them.’
‘Which ones shaped you?’ Liv asked.
‘Nice try, hon. I’m the journalist here.’
‘I just wondered why you want to dig around other people’s lives.’
Chloe took a strand of hair and wrapped it around her finger. ‘I only ask the questions people want answers to. Why doesn’t Essie do publicity any longer, or go to award ceremonies? One minute she’s married to a hot fellow writer, and the next she goes all Howard Hughes. So, who’s the real Essie?’
Liv bristled. ‘She’s just a normal person.’
‘Normal. Ha, right,’ Chloe said. ‘As normal as a famous recluse can be.’
Liv didn’t want to get into a battle of words. She could spar with Chloe all day, and it wouldn’t get her anywhere. ‘How’s your article going?’ she said. ‘How do these things work?’
The journalist tilted her head. ‘I come up with ideas, discuss them with my editor and work on several stories at a time. I’m hooked on this one,though. My friend the security guy has never spoken to Essie in the ten years she’s lived here. He sees her scurrying out of the building sometimes, and into a taxi. She returns after a few days. But he hasn’t seen her for months…’
‘I’ve told you, she’s working away. Just what is it you want?’
‘The story that makes my career,’ Chloe said. ‘I don’t have any formal qualifications or training. I’m fed up watching everyone advance around me, while I’m not getting anywhere quick.’
Liv knew the feeling from working at Platinum and for the Cardinals. She felt a slight buzz that Chloe hadn’t been to university either.
