They sat in silence as they digested the news. Clearly, Andrew thought, things were still up in the air, but it seemed they’d been given a few months’ respite at least. After a while the atmosphere returned to something approaching how it had been before, though they were understandably more subdued. Before too long it was time for everyone to leave. Andrew fetched their coats. You’re nearly there, he told himself. As he watched the others readying to go, he was expecting to feel a great wave of relief at having survived the evening, especially now that it seemed his job was safe, at least in the short term. But instead, with each good-bye he said, he felt not relief but fear, and it seemed to spread up through his body like he was edging slowly into freezing water. He pictured Carl composing his next message—demanding to know where his money was, or maybe telling Andrew that he was about to bring his world crashing down instead. And then there was Diane. Ever since he’d told Peggy everything, the memories that he’d repressed for so many years had been begging for attention, and tonight they were coming to him thick and fast. It was as if a trapdoor had opened above his head and Polaroids were cascading down on him: A lingering look across a smoky room. Kissing as the snow fell. The fierce hug on the platform, the embers of that embrace warming him until he was home. The parched grass of Brockwell Park. The paleness of her skin illuminated by lightning. Orange frames next to cracked slate.
Peggy leaned in to hug him good-bye.
“Well done,” she whispered.
“Thank you,” he said back automatically. As she let him go, it felt like all the breath had been taken from him, leaving him light-headed. Before he knew what he was doing, he’d reached out and taken Peggy’s hand. He was aware of the others looking at him, but in that moment he just didn’t care. In that moment, he realized that all he wanted was for Peggy to know how wonderful he thought she was. And even though the thought of saying those words was terrifying, the very fact he was considering doing it had to mean something. It had to mean he was ready to let go.
That was when Cameron opened the front door and a rush of cold air came down the hallway, eagerly searching out warmth to attack.
“Wait!” Andrew said. “Sorry, everyone, but would you mind just waiting for a minute?”
After a moment, the others filed reluctantly back into the dining room like schoolchildren who’d been kept back after class.
“Um, Andrew . . . ?” Peggy said.
“I’ll be right back,” he said. He could feel his heart starting to thump again as he skittered into the kitchen. Jim, Alex and Rupert all looked at the door, frozen in fear that they’d been discovered. When Andrew asked them to follow him they exchanged confused looks, but Andrew forced a reassuring smile.
“It’s fine,” he said. “This won’t take long.” He ushered them down the corridor and into the dining room, where he introduced the two equally perplexed groups.
“What’s going on, Andrew?” Cameron asked, once they’d arranged themselves in a semicircle.
“Okay,” Andrew said. “I’ve just got a few things I need to tell you all.”
— CHAPTER 34 —
Andrew listened to the phone ringing out and gulped down half a glass of tepid pinot grigio.
“Andrew, what a pleasant surprise.”
“Hello, Carl.”
“Funny you should call—I’ve just checked my bank account and I still don’t seem to have my money.”
“It’s only just come into my account,” Andrew said, trying to keep his voice even.
“Well,” Carl said, “you’ve got my bank details, so as long as you transfer it straightaway then we won’t have a problem.”
“The thing is though,” Andrew said, “I don’t think I am going to transfer it.”
“What?” Carl snapped.
“I said I don’t think I am going to transfer it.”
“You are,” Carl said. “You absolutely are, because remember what happens if you don’t. All I need to do is pick up the phone and you’re fucked.”
“This is what I mean,” Andrew said. “I appreciate that I may not exactly deserve this money—that perhaps my behavior did cause some of Sally’s unhappiness, and maybe more than that. But the thing is, we still loved each other, and I know that what I’ve been lying about might’ve been hard for her to deal with, but I think it would have been easier for her to understand that than the fact you’re blackmailing me.”
“Oh please. You really don’t get this, do you? I am owed that money. I wouldn’t be having to do this in the first place if you’d just done what was right. So you listen to me. It’s very simple, okay? If that money isn’t in my account within twenty-four hours, then your life as you know it is over.”
The line went dead.
Andrew let out a deep breath and felt his shoulders slacken. He leaned forward in his chair and looked at his phone, which was on the dining room table. There were seven others placed in a circle around it, all of which showed that they were still recording. There was silence in the room. Andrew looked down, his cheeks burning. There was a flash of movement, and for a second Andrew thought he was about to be attacked, but then he realized it was Peggy, a split second before she threw her arms around him.
— CHAPTER 35 —
Andrew waited until the taxi had wound its way out of the cul-de-sac, stopping to let a fox diligently trot across a zebra crossing, before he spoke.
“Am I going to get fired, then, do you think?”
Peggy handed him the bottle of wine she’d smuggled into the taxi and he took a surreptitious sip. “Honestly? I’ve no idea,” she said.
The work lot had left in another cab. Jim and Alex had decided to stay a little longer at Rupert’s, not being able to resist the opportunity to see his attic and its dedicated Rocky Mountains–themed train setup.
“I couldn’t quite tell how everyone reacted at first, when I told them everything.”
Andrew had only given the short version of events to the others, and describing his deception that way made it sound all the more stark. He’d braced himself for scathing interruptions from Keith and Meredith, but neither of them said anything. Nobody did, in fact, until he got to the part about Carl, at which point Alex launched into a furious rant about how they weren’t going to let him get away with it. She demanded that Andrew call Carl right there and then, explaining to him impatiently exactly how he’d need to play the conversation to get Carl to reveal unambiguously what he was doing. She cajoled the others into giving her their phones, lining them up on the table and setting them to record. Afterward, they listened back on each one and decided that Meredith’s recording was the clearest.
“Great, so you just need to send that to Andrew now,” Alex told her.
“Oh right, yes. How do I . . .”
Alex rolled her eyes and took the phone out of Meredith’s hand. “Andrew, what’s your number? Right, there. Done.”
Afterward, Rupert had suggested bringing out some “decent” brandy to toast the plan’s working so well, but the suggestion was met with only a halfhearted response. Cameron, in particular, seemed eager to leave.
“Well. That was obviously . . . what a funny old evening,” he said to Andrew. “I’m away for a few days, did I mention that? Training courses and whatnot. But we should talk properly when I’m back. About all this.”