“So, it was an orgy?”
“No! No, I wasn’t involved, I was just spying on them.”
“You’re not coming across great in this conversation.”
“No, it wasn’t like that,” I say, exasperated. Although I realise it was exactly like that. “The point is, it wasn’t… gentle. It was like, rough.”
“Rough? Okay, who doesn’t like a bit of rough play,” Craig admits.
“No, likerough-rough. Like ‘I’m going to choke you until you pass out’ rough.”
Craig sighs. “I miss nights like that.”
“Craig, listen to me: there’s this whole tension with Pete that feelslike—like—”
“Like what?”
“Like if I leave him here long enough, Pete’s going to turn into one of those missing person posters too.”
Another pause. Then Craig says, more soberly, “Okay. That doesn’t sound great.”
“Doesn’t sound great? Craig, I’m basically living in the set of a true-crime podcast!”
“All right, calm down. You need to take a step back. If James really is controlling, this could end badly. I think you should keep your distance.”
“I can’t just—”
“You can,” Craig interrupts, voice hardening like the detective he is. “You need to think clearly.
“Can you look into him?” I ask.
“Look into him?”
“Like police-look-into-him? His background. Does he have a violent history?”
“I can’t just look into anyone for no reason.”
“Please,” I plead.
Craig sighs. “I’ll see what I can do. But you need to keep your head down. And don’t get any more involved. Have a few days away from Pete. It doesn’t sound like anything good will come of this.”
“And here’s me thinking polyamorous relationships were the new healthy norm.”
“Well, compared to this, mine positively is.”
When I hang up, my hands are shaking.
I head downstairs, trying to look normal, which probably just makes me look like a guilty man in a BBC crime drama. James is in the hallway, speaking to Pete.
“I’ve left the spare key where the cleaner can find it, under the plant pot by the back door” he says, like Pete’s too dense to have figured that out himself.
“Right,” Pete murmurs.
James grabs his jacket and leaves, door clicking shut behind him.
The house feels instantly lighter, like someone’s opened a window. Sam is nowhere to be seen.
Pete pokes his head around the kitchen door, smiling. “Coffee?”
