“Lucky you.”
There’s an edge in her voice as she glances around again. She runs a hand over her ponytail, sighing. “I do wish James would answer my messages. He’s so erratic with messaging …”
Is he? He seems incredibly on the ball to me.
“… He often doesn’t respond at all. It’s a long trip for me to get here.” Her mouth turns down. “If you don’t message people back, you end up wasting their time.”
“You’re very welcome to wait if you like.”
“Thank you.” Her eyes come back to me and scan down my sweater and jeans. “Are James’s parents here?”
“They went to the 9/11 Memorial.”
“Ah.” She runs a hand over her ponytail. “I think they were a little surprised when Kevin turned up last night.”
No kidding. Say nothing, Sadie. I nod as I take a couple of mugs out of the cupboard and press the button on Des’s fancy coffeemaker. It goes through beans like it’s its life’s mission—which I suppose it is—but I love the coffee that comes out of this thing. I’m guilty of letting James purchase the beans. He was insistent, actually. He said he wanted to buy something decent.
“And what do you do at Williams Security?”
“Oh, I’m a software programmer.”
“Like James,” she says as she wanders around picking up ornaments from Des’s side tables and examining the photographs on the wall.
Well, not like James, because he’s an electronics engineer, which is hardware. This whole conversation is like walking through a minefield.
“These are gorgeous.” She waves a hand at the pictures.
“Oh, yes! Des’s boyfriend, Alex, did them.”
Her eyes narrow again. “Do you know Des well?”
She’s fishing, and I’m not quite sure why. “I think you only need to be in Des’s company for about five minutes to know him pretty well.”
She sniffs. “I wouldn’t say I know him particularly well.”
She must have met him loads of times, though. Shit. “I mean, he was my boss, so we spent a lot of time going through code and work issues. I’ve probably got a warped opinion of how much he talks to people.”
She comes to stand on the other side of the kitchen island, and I pick up her coffee from the machine. “Milk?” I say.
“Yes, please. And now James is your boss?”
“Kind of,” I say, busying myself by getting milk out of the fridge and adding it to her cup and then sliding it over the countertop toward her. “He’s been running the tech team since Des went to Korea.”
She turns and glances around again. “I’ve often wondered why Des asked James to move in here.”
Is this her real agenda? “If I know Des, it was probably something that occurred to him about five minutes before he left.”
“Right after James had that little accident,” she says, crossing her arms on her chest. “It’s odd that Des felt he needed someone to take care of his apartment so suddenly when he hadn’t offered it to James and me before.”
Offered it to James andher?
The girl’s code is red and flashing.
They’d split up!Say nothing, Sadie.I smile back at her, and she tilts her head at me.Just keep smiling.
“Do you like writing software?” And there’s that edge in her voice again.
“Well, I wasn’t very good at anything else,” I stammer out.
