‘I know you must dislike me, Georgie, and we really tried to fight it, but love is love. It finds a way, doesn’t it?’
‘It hurt,’ she says. ‘But only for the first five years.’
‘Children?’ I ask.
She shakes her head again.
‘Oh, to be child-free, what a perfect life you must have.’
‘I have a lot of freedom,’ she says.
‘We have two children,’ I say. ‘Six and four. A handful, as you might imagine.’
‘I’m sure they do you proud,’ she says, and glances again towards the exit.
‘Have you ever seen Stephen here?’ I ask. ‘He goes to this gym. I would’ve thought you’d have crossed paths.’
‘I only do classes. Not many men in Pilates,’ says Georgie. ‘I’ve got...’
She can’t think of anything, and I don’t help her out. She looks like someone frozen on Zoom.
‘Anyway, must go,’ she says. ‘Nice to meet you.’
‘We must do coffee,’ I say.
She smiles briefly and scurries away quickly. It’s so dark that she soon disappears into the shadows of the row of leafless trees.
I head back to my car, reminding myself how far I’ve come, from that young woman in a stolen dress and someone else’s shoes with a pieced-together story trying to find her anchor in the world.
I hear an electronic beep as Georgie presses her key fob. A car flashes its orange lights, and two bright headlights startle the darkness and half blind me. I shade my eyes as she drives towards me, heading for the exit. I watch it go and wave, which is when I notice the car – a smart blue Audi A3.
Chapter65Surveillance
Saturday, 18 January
Cait meets me at Pret. No one in our circle comes here. The counter staff don’t speak to you, and everyone looks like they’re waiting for a bus. It’s the first thing I mention to Cait when she arrives.
‘That’s the point, Lalla – we can speak privately here,’ she says in a hushed, conspiratorial tone.
‘So what did you find out at Hollis’s flat? You’re looking tired. I presume you stayed late?’
‘I had to. It’s his address, but there’s no way I could get in. He was there the whole time, so I just watched him from one of those industrial bins. I could see right into his living room.’
‘Brilliant work, Cait, and did you find anything out?’
‘He’s good-looking, isn’t he? And he’s so committed to the wheelchair thing. I didn’t see him stand once. I really got into it. I think I like stalking.’
‘Well, it’s nice to see you broadening your interests.’
I sip my coffee while Cait retrieves her notebooks and tries to find the right page. The coffee is surprisingly good. Cait casts another suspicious look around the café and says, ‘The police knew I was there.’
‘How?’ I say, about to throw my coffee over her as the last thing I need is the police talking to Hollis.
‘I have to report to the police station every week. It’s a condition of my bail, and I didn’t realize they monitor my location. They told me off for being out after curfew and asked what I was doing.’
‘Christ, Cait, you’ve got to be more careful. Did they ask for a name?’
‘No. They just said they’d re-arrest me if I was out again after curfew.’
