‘Really? Am I about to be treated to another precious nugget of Gabriel information?’
‘I really don’t get why you find me so interesting. I’m just me.’
‘Just you with your curious accents and almost pathological desire not to tell me anything about yourself. You know my most shameful secret. How is that fair?’
‘If the most shameful thing you’ve ever done is have a one-night stand with an ex-boyfriend that you believed to be single at the time, I’d say you’re doing pretty well.’
‘You’re right,’ I tell him. ‘It’s not the most shameful thing. The most shameful thing is that I murdered both my parents.’
‘Did you?’
‘Of course not, but once again you’re trying to deflect the conversation away from you. So which other members of your family don’t live here, where do they live and why?’
‘My sister Blessing lives in Kent, in the UK,’ he says.
‘See? That didn’t hurt. Whereabouts in Kent?’
‘Tunbridge Wells. She’s a nurse in the hospital there.’
‘You’re doing so well,’ I mock-encourage him. ‘And why does she live in the UK when the rest of the family is here?’
‘Because she fell in love with a British guy and married him. Do you really want to see where I grew up? It’s not very glamorous.’
‘If I want glamour, I can always go on the tour awful Amy has organised for the day before we fly home.’
‘Things no better with her then?’
‘No, and you’re changing the subject again. What’s your connection to the UK?’
‘How do you mean?’
‘Well, you alluded to having spent some time there when I first met you, and you have a perfect British accent, when you’re talking to me at least. And now we discover that one of your other siblings is also living in the UK.’
‘Remind me what your job is?’
‘I’m in recruitment, why?’
‘Wasted. You should have joined the police force. No criminal would be able to resist your relentless questioning.’
‘I wouldn’t need to be relentless if you weren’t so secretive. Are you on the run?’
He laughs. ‘What on earth makes you think that?’
‘Because nothing about you adds up. You’re a Jamaican pianist with an English accent, who is desperate to reveal as little about himself as possible. And, although I’d be the first to admit I know very little about music, even I can spot that you’re way too good to be working in hotels.’
He sighs. ‘OK. I’m not on the run. It’s just that I, umm, move in certain circles as part of my normal life, and when I come back to Jamaica, I like to put all of that to one side as much as I can.’
‘What the hell is that supposed to mean? You could be anything from royalty to a drug runner with a description like that.’
‘I’m neither of those things. Look, the easiest way to explain it is if you just Google me.’
‘Google would know you?’
‘Try it.’
I pull out my phone and unlock it before remembering something important. ‘I can’t. I don’t have a data package so my phone only works over Wi-Fi.’
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a very sleek-looking smartphone. ‘The code is two triple four.’
