‘Yes.’
‘Well then, let’s talk.’
‘OK, if you insist,’ he said with a sigh. ‘Basically, Kayla and me, we broke up about a month before the party. We hadn’t been going out very long – about nine days, I’d say – but what annoyed me most was that she denied going out with me at all. I don’t know why, but she did. Of course I told people we’d been going out because the best thing about sleeping with Kayla Edwards is that you get to tell people about it…’
I felt my stomach twist in disgust, but let him carry on.
‘She still denied it. Everybody was calling me a liar. I don’t know why she was doing it; maybe she wanted to get back at me because I hadn’t, I dunno, treated her right or whatever. So yeah, I was pretty pissed off. I didn’t want to hurt the girl, I just wanted her to admit that she’d slept with me.’
‘Did you ever think maybe she wanted to keep it private?’
‘Listen, Jacki… that’s your name, right, Jacki? This wasn’t some sort of delicate love affair that she wanted to keep secret, locked between us forever. She came over to my house one night and basically said we should get together. I’d seen this before – somebody trying to get back at their boyfriend – and I was happy to oblige. If some guy messes up, that’s his problem, not mine. And this was Kayla Edwards. Arriving at my door, basically offering herself to me. It was like something out of a dream. Sure, she seems a bit messed up in the head, but she is also seriously hot. And it’s not like she asked me not to tell anybody. I assumed she wanted to get back at someone, but she didn’t tell me who it was, and she didn’t tell me not to tell. So I mentioned it to one of the lads, and gossip spreads here like you wouldn’t believe. But she denied it. Acted like it had never even happened. Like I’d made the whole thing up. And I’m known to exaggerate so, needless to say, nobody believed me. So, yeah, I was pissed off at her. I was pissed off at her the night she went missing. But I didn’t kill her.’
I didn’t like Calum at all, but in a weird way, he actually seemed honest. Either that or he was a really good liar.
‘Why were you at her birthday party?’ I asked. ‘If you were so pissed off with her?’
‘She lives right across the road from me, so I thought why not? I’m really good mates with Libby, and plus – free booze and hot girls… I was hardly going to pass that up.’
‘What did you whisper to her?’ I asked. ‘In the video. What did you whisper in her ear?’
‘I can’t tell you that,’ he said. ‘I didn’t have to tell you any of this. Look, I didn’t kill her, I didn’t hurt her, I didn’t touch her. At least not anywhere she didn’t want me to. Listen, I gotta go… I need to get to practice,’ he said. And then he was gone.
Hazel came over to the table, bringing me a Coke, even though I hadn’t asked for one.
‘Hey,’ she said. ‘This is on the house.’
‘Thanks,’ I said.
She gave me a sympathetic smile. ‘I know he’s not the most polite person on the planet, but he’s a good friend. I don’t want to interfere, but I just wanted to say, don’t let him upset you. He’s like that with everyone – I think he wants to keep a tough-guy image. He was really shaken by Kayla’s disappearance though; he was so upset about it.’
I wondered if he’d been upset because he was hiding something. But then again, my gut instinct was to think that he was telling the truth.
‘I don’t think he really wanted to be here,’ I said.
‘He’s just tired of it all,’ said Hazel. ‘Some people suspect him because he told everyone he slept with Kayla.’
‘Do you think he did?’ I asked.
‘Honestly, I don’t know,’ said Hazel. ‘She’s not his type at all, but then again, she didn’t really tell me who she was dating, so it’s quite possible.’
I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket. There was a text from Nick. It said:
I really miss you. I booked a train ticket to Dublin. Meet me for dinner tomorrow?
I smiled. I was so glad he was coming up. Things had been so weird between us lately – seeing him would hopefully help clear the air.
Of course. I’d love that x, I texted back.
‘Was that your boyfriend?’ said Hazel, dramatically inflecting the last word.
‘Yes,’ I said sheepishly.
‘What’s his name?’ she asked.
‘Nick.’
‘Is he hot?’
I laughed. ‘Yes.’
‘Nice work.’
‘Do you have a boyfriend?’ I asked. I was pretty sure I knew the answer though. I couldn’t imagine that somebody like her wouldn’t have one.
‘Yeah,’ she said, ‘I do. His name’s Barry. I haven’t seen him in a couple of weeks though; he’s in the army, so he’s away a lot.’
I remembered Ellie had mentioned him. She’d said that he’d been manning the door at the party. I guess if you’re in the army then you’d make a pretty good bouncer.
‘When does he get back?’ I asked.
‘July,’ she said. I thought that must be pretty hard. It made me feel bad for moaning about not seeing Nick that much. At least he was never too far away. And I was so delighted he was coming up to Dublin. Maybe we’d go to a gig or go to the cinema or just hang out, only the two of us. I was starting to make plans when it suddenly hit me. We wouldn’t be going to any of those. We were going to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream. With Special Effects.
‘I thought we could do something together,’ said Nick. ‘Just the two of us.’ He’d hardly touched his bacon and cheese fries. I put down my burger and looked out the window on to Dame Street, watching people walk past the diner. The Kinks were playing on the jukebox, my boyfriend was here, we were eating some of the best fast food in town. It should have been fun. And yet, we were fighting. Again.
‘I have to go to this play,’ I said. ‘I told Hannah I’d go, and Colin is coming up for it. I can’t not go, she’ll kill me.’
‘Didn’t you go to see her in this before Christmas?’ he asked, stabbing his fork into a piece of bacon.
‘It’s a different production,’ I said. ‘It’s sold out, but I managed to get you a ticket. Come on, it’ll be a laugh.’
Nick raised an eyebrow. ‘You should have just told me to come up tomorrow instead; I’ve told the lads I’ll practise tomorrow now, so I’ll have to go home in the morning.’
‘Come on, Nick, I totally forgot, I’ve been really busy.’
He sighed. ‘Right, fine. I’ll go to it.’
I felt kind of bad. I’d been so busy that I’d totally forgotten. I wanted to talk to Nick too, and it was so nice of him to come all this way. But I knew if I ditched Hannah’s play to hang out with him that I’d never hear the end of it from her. Besides, I was kind of looking forward to it. Sophie and Ross and Colin were all going too.
‘At least we’ll have a few hours alone before the play,’ said Nick.
‘Well actually, I…’
I didn’t need to explain. Nick looked to his right, to see Colin’s face pressed up against the restaurant’s window. A few seconds later he was inside.
‘’Sup?’ he said, stealing one of Nick’s fries. ‘Ready for some drama?’
‘Hey!’ I said. ‘How’d your date go?’ Colin and James had got on so well on their second date that they’d already gone on a third. I was so glad that it was working out. They looked so cute together – I had high hopes for them and I really wanted to hear all the details.
‘Oh yeah, it… it went well.’
We exchanged glances. I could tell he was holding back because Nick was there.
I think Nick sensed it too. ‘I’m going to the bathroom,’ he said, with a roll of his eyes.
‘Well?’ I said.
Colin scooched in closer to me.
‘It was great,’ he said. ‘We went to an exhibition in Sligo and then for a walk on the beach. It was so nice. But then I just, kind of, you know, jokingly suggested we were, like, a “couple”, but James said he didn’t want anything serious. Like, he wants to keep it casual.’