The Perfect Lie

by Karen Osman

  ‘Thanks, Paul,’ she replied without looking up.

  Stuck up cow.

  ‘Busy?’ he tried again.

  ‘I am rather – did you need the room?’

  ‘Nope. Was just dropping my things.’ Paul slowly placed his bag in the locker giving Gloria an opportunity to make conversation, but he knew it was a waste of time.

  ‘Right then, I’ll get started.’

  ‘Thanks, Paul.’

  ‘Nice to see you, Gloria.’

  Cow.

  ‘Likewise.’

  Paul left the room knowing he would have to either sneak back into the office later to read the file when no one was around or pick Jeremy’s brains. He didn’t like his chances of the first option, mainly because it was impossible to find anything and there was always a high chance of being caught as volunteers were in and out of there all the time. Jeremy wasn’t in until tomorrow. He never liked to go in blind with a girl – he liked to have the advantage of knowing something about her before approaching, but tonight he had no choice. He would just have to talk to her himself. It was too good an opportunity to miss.

  *

  ‘Oh man! What’re ya’ doing?’

  Paul picked up the ping-pong ball that had whizzed past him with a grin. ‘Sorry, mate, you’re clearly on top form today!’

  Kyle grinned back at him, pleased at the compliment. He was only eleven years old and already on the circuit as a drug courier. He’d been doing it since he was seven. Gangs had identified him and groomed him and when he wasn’t at school, which was most of the time, he spent his days on runs. He drew the only income for his family of five. His dad left years ago when he was small, and his mum was a user herself with four kids all younger than Kyle.

  He’d started coming to the centre a few months ago and Jeremy and the volunteer team had put a loose strategy together to encourage him to keep coming to the youth club. He was a smart kid, quick too, thought Paul, as another ball bounced past him – but he knew it was just a matter of time before Kyle started on drugs himself. He thought this privately – Jeremy, the optimist, was confident they could show him a different path – but for Paul, as he knew from his own experience, some things were just inevitable.

  ‘I win!’ crowed Kyle as he slammed his table-tennis bat down.

  ‘Good job, mate!’ replied Paul as he conceded defeat. ‘Now, I’m off for a coffee to recover.’

  ‘Haha, on you go, mate, with your tail between your legs!’ Kyle laughed.

  Paul had been distracted during the game. Slavic Girl had been lounging on the sofa with some other girls and he could see from the group of guys surrounding her that he wasn’t her only admirer. He discreetly watched as she managed the group with ease, gently flirting and then retreating, until the guys were completely hypnotised. She could have asked them to jump off a cliff by the time the conversation was over, and they would have gladly done so.

  In his mind, he was trying to plan the perfect opening to meet her. He wasn’t some stupid teenager, he was a grown man and if he wanted her – which he did, oh did he ever – then he was going to have to play a smart game. He casually walked to the coffee machine, keeping her in his line of sight. He could still hear Kyle crowing over his win and a flash of pleasure went through him that for just a moment Kyle could experience what it was like to be a kid.

  But then, Slavic Girl looked over at him, and all thoughts of Kyle flew out of his mind. It took her less than a second to dismiss him and Paul curled his fist, supressing the anger that had ignited at the dismissive tilt of her head.

  Time for plan B.

  *

  Paul looked at himself in the cracked mirror above the sink. He didn’t have a full-length mirror, so he’d had to drag a chair to the sink and stand on it and move his body to see himself. Perhaps Slavic Girl had a point. He knew his appearance was mediocre and quite frankly he didn’t give a shit. To get girls before, he’d always used other means but instinctively, he knew with Slavic Girl, such approaches would backfire.

  Getting down from the chair, he collapsed onto the sofa, his only view being the yellow stains on the ceiling and, with a certainty he couldn’t explain, he knew he would need a new plan. He leapt up from the sofa immediately energised and turned on his computer, scouring the internet for Slavic Girl. He’d heard one of the kids call her Jess, so he started by searching Jess and Jessica on Facebook adding the location to the search function. It didn’t take long.

  He also found her on Instagram, where she had several thousand followers. And once Paul started scrolling, he could see why. Pose after pose, mainly semi-naked, assaulted Paul and he felt himself get hard again. This time, he didn’t need to hide it and he quickly pulled down his jeans, his finger scrolling through the images faster and faster.

  *

  Paul woke with his trousers around his ankles and quickly shrugged them off and went to the toilet. Fully awake, he saw his computer was still on but in sleep mode, and putting on some underwear, he sat down and restarted it. It was three in the morning, but he felt wide awake.

  He continued his search; it was easier now he knew Slavic Girl’s second name and he carefully memorised all her details, and then he saw a Facebook post that made his heart stop. She’d taken a picture outside an office block in central Manchester, hands behind her head, head to one side, eyes closed, like she was at the fucking beach rather than in a grimy city.

  My first photoshoot! the caption screamed.

  God, she was absolutely stunning. But it wasn’t the fact that she modelled that made his heart stop – he could have guessed that. It was the name of the office block – Trident Square. He continued browsing for another half an hour. Eventually, he gave up, tiredness pulling at the corners of his mind and finally, he turned off the machine and went back to sleep.

  *

  For once in his life Paul had got lucky. He’d gone into the youth centre a little earlier than usual the next day. Saturdays were busy and because he didn’t have a shift at the hospital during the day, he’d been less rushed. He’d spent the afternoon at his computer tracking various social media accounts. The problem was he sometimes got too impatient and the girls were just cockteasers. Especially Slavic Girl – her social media was like a porn site. He cautioned himself to give it time – if he rushed it, she would bolt.

  So, when he arrived at the centre, he was the only volunteer there and there were only a couple of kids hanging out watching TV. He’d gone into the office to put his bag away and that’s when he caught her. Red-handed as well, her long fingers wrapped around the notes in the petty-cash box. She’d started when she saw him come in and as he stared at her, he couldn’t believe his luck.

  He wondered if she would run – it was what he would do – but his bulk blocked the doorway and there was no other exit. Besides, she would most likely trip over the boxes in her haste to get away. He could see her realise the same thing at the exact same time he did, and he watched as she smiled at him. It was a smile of secrecy and possibility and Paul felt the familiar pull of arousal.

  But he wouldn’t be that stupid again.

  ‘Planning on going on a shopping trip?’ he said watching her closely. She hadn’t expected him to say that and he watched her plan her next move.

  ‘Just looking for some change for the coffee machine,’ she said, innocently.

  Yeah, right.

  ‘Really? Well, you’ll only find notes in there.’

  ‘So I see,’ replied Slavic Girl smoothly, returning the cash and closing the box. She must have opened it with a hairgrip, thought Paul. Honestly, Jeremy was such an idiot sometimes. She stared at him, daring him to make the next move.

  ‘How about this. How about I buy you a cup of coffee – with a pound coin,’ he added for emphasis, ‘and you put that box back where you found it and we’ll say no more about it.’

  Slavic Girl smiled at him then, believing she had him completely under her control.

  You think you do.

&
nbsp; ‘Sounds good to me,’ she replied calmly as if he hadn’t just caught her stealing.

  He held out his hand to her and she took it without hesitation as Paul guided her out of the office and into the common area where the coffee machine was. As she let go of his hand, he put his hand on her lower back and gently pushed her towards the sofa to sit down while he got the coffee. As he handed her the steaming cup of liquid, theirs eyes met in mutual understanding and Paul gently rested his hand on her arm.

  March 2018

  37

  As soon as Claire stepped into the office, she sensed something was wrong. Elaine, back from her sick leave, was the first person she saw and instead of her usual good morning, she quickly picked up the phone and spoke into it, not meeting Claire’s eye. As she walked through the open-plan office, she felt eyes upon her but when she met their gaze, heads quickly dropped.

  What was going on?

  She was about to go into her office, when she saw the blinds of the main meeting room were drawn. Dropping her bags and coat inside her office, she went to investigate. Peering through the crack in the blinds, she saw Julia and the senior leadership team gathered around the table. They were standing up, clearly having finished whatever business they had been discussing but still listening intently to what Julia was saying.

  Claire quickly checked the calendar on her phone. Had she missed a management meeting? There was nothing in her calendar. She was just checking she was looking at today’s date when the door opened and Julia appeared.

  ‘Claire – do you have a minute?’ Not waiting for a response, Julia headed back into the room and Claire waited as everybody else filed out. No one looked her in the eye.

  ‘What’s going on, Julia?’ asked Claire coming into the room and shutting the door behind her. She looked at her partner, immaculate as always, but her face was troubled.

  ‘Maybe you should sit down for this, Claire,’ said Julia, walking towards the window, her arms crossed.

  ‘I’m fine – what’s going on?’ she replied, joining Julia at the window.

  Julia turned towards her and for a second, Claire was reminded of a nature programme she had watched, Lions in the Wild, or something like that. Two females had circled each other, one eyeballing the other, as they fought to see who would crack first.

  ‘Julia!’ cried Claire, her impatience finally rising to the surface.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Claire – I really don’t know how to tell you this.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘We have to take you off the Rose Aiker case.’

  Claire sat down, half relieved, half puzzled. ‘That’s it? That’s what you wanted to tell me? Fine. But why all the drama? Did she complain about me because I told her she couldn’t just come into my office anytime she wanted? You know I never wanted that case any—’

  ‘Claire!’ Julia’s voice cut sharply into her diatribe, the tone unlike any she had ever heard from her friend before. Amidst all the confusion, she had a premonition that after this conversation, her life would never be the same again.

  ‘Claire – we have to take you off the case because Rose Aiker has named Joshua as one of her attackers.’

  ‘Joshua? Joshua who?’

  ‘Your Joshua, Claire, I’m so sorry.’

  Afterwards, she would try to recall the rest of the conversation but the only memory she could summon was of a picture hung on the wall at the end of the meeting room. It was a cheap framed black and white poster of New York and she and Julia had chosen it together when they’d first moved into the office, both having high hopes of expansion into the glamorous city. They’d renovated since those early days, replacing cheap furniture and décor with something more appropriate for a successful law firm but somehow that picture had escaped the cull. As Julia’s words about her son pierced her consciousness, her only thought was that they had not expanded to New York as they had hoped.

  ‘Claire?’ Julia’s voice flew over her. She didn’t want to hear what else she had to say. The idea of Joshua doing something like that was so preposterous that Claire had the urge to laugh.

  ‘Claire!’ She felt Julia’s arm on hers, as she guided her to a chair to sit down. Julia took a seat next to her and turned so she could look at Claire directly.

  Slowly, Claire turned her face to her oldest friend. ‘It’s a mistake,’ she said simply.

  ‘Of course, it is,’ replied Julia softly. ‘I know it’s a shock, but we’ll get it sorted.’

  Claire nodded, her mind slowly giving Julia’s words access and then she felt her body revolt at such a suggestion and her eyes blazed on Julia’s.

  ‘Why would Rose say such a thing? How does she even know his name?’

  ‘She said something about seeing a photo on your desk that triggered a memory,’ replied Julia. Claire felt something click.

  ‘I need to talk to her – she’s confused,’ announced Claire suddenly standing up.

  ‘No!’ replied Julia, quickly. ‘Claire, that’s not a good idea. Let me handle it. I’ll sort it,’ she continued. But it was too late – Claire had heard the panic in Julia’s voice.

  ‘I know Rose,’ countered Claire. ‘And I need to get to the bottom of this.’ The photo of the half-naked girl on Joshua’s phone from last year popped into Claire’s mind and she quickly pushed it away.

  ‘I know, I know you do,’ replied Julia, soothingly. ‘But we need to handle it carefully. Without emotion,’ Julia added pointedly.

  Claire knew Julia was right but in that moment all she wanted to do was shake Rose until she admitted her mistake. Claire sat back down into the chair and put her head in her hands. She felt nauseous. What was happening? She felt Julia’s arm come around her shoulders and it was then she started to cry.

  *

  Claire felt a warm drink pressed into her hands. She had no idea how long she’d sat with Julia, shock suspending the slow seconds of time. She sipped the sweetened tea and looked at her friend.

  ‘What now?’ she asked, releasing herself from Julia’s arm, which had been around her.

  Julia adjusted her position but still left a hand on Claire’s forearm.

  ‘Well, first we need to make sure you’re okay and that’s why I met with the partners first thing. We’ve agreed it would be best for you to take some official leave – be there for your family – just until this is all sorted out.’

  ‘You mean not work at all?’ asked Claire in surprise. ‘I thought you said I’m just off the Aiker case.’

  But even as she said the words, Claire knew it was fruitless. One of the founders of the firm involved in a case? It was a potential PR nightmare, not to mention conflict of interest and the legal ramifications.

  ‘We think it’s the right thing to do, Claire – not just for the company but for you and your family.’

  Claire closed her eyes, trying to think but her thoughts were hazy, their usual sharpness dulled. She felt Julia’s fingers squeeze her arm supportively, but it felt too firm and suddenly, she wanted to get out of the meeting room. She couldn’t breathe. She stood up quickly, surprising Julia. ‘I need some air.’

  ‘Of course,’ said Julia, walking to the window to open it.

  Claire continued to stand, a part of her just wanting to escape but another part of her needing to know more.

  ‘We’ll work this out, Claire,’ reassured Julia. ‘We’ll talk to Rose and find out what’s going on. It seems strange she’s only just remembered and there will be an explanation I’m sure. I will work on the case with Greg and Chloe and I’m positive it will all be resolved, and you’ll be back at work in no time.’

  Claire took a deep breath. She felt reassured by Julia’s words – she was rarely wrong about a case and she trusted her friend implicitly.

  ‘But for now, you need to call Chris and go home and be with your family and leave this to me. Okay?’

  ‘Okay,’ agreed Claire, suddenly desperately tired.

  ‘Are you okay to drive or do you want me to call you a taxi
?’

  ‘I’ll be fine. The drive might help me clear my head a little.’

  The two women left the room and Julia waited while she went to get her bag. Claire went to reach for her laptop and some files to pack but Julia gently removed them.

  ‘You won’t be needing those. Take a break, Claire – we’ll handle everything,’ said Julia softly.

  As Julia walked her to reception and called the lift, Claire felt the unease that she was being walked out. With a last hug, Claire watched the lift doors close on Julia’s retreating form.

  *

  She’d called Chris as soon as he got into the car. He’d listened in disbelief.

  ‘What will happen to Joshua?’ Chris had asked.

  ‘Hopefully nothing – it won’t get that far,’ replied Claire trying to sound more confident than she felt. ‘At the moment, his name is just on a list, nothing more.’

  ‘Should we not ask Joshua about this?’ asked Chris.

  ‘What good would that do?’ replied Claire. ‘It’s simply a mistake – he doesn’t even know who Rose is!’

  Chris didn’t respond, and Claire waited for him to agree.

  ‘What?’ she asked when Chris didn’t say anything.

  ‘Nothing,’ replied Chris. ‘Where are you now?’

  ‘I’m in the car driving home. Shall I meet you there?’

  ‘I’ll be there in two hours.’

  Two hours?

  ‘Chris – I…’

  She’d wanted to tell him about the partners voting for her to take a leave of absence from the firm. That she wouldn’t be able to work until this was all over. How she had a really bad feeling about it all. How she didn’t know how she would cope being at home for two hours alone. How she was frightened.

  But he had already hung up.

  *

  Two hours later and Chris still hadn’t turned up. She’d told Lucy to go home early and made arrangements for both boys to be collected by their grandparents after school and for them to stay the night. She’d put away the laundry, unloaded the dishwasher, and wiped down the bathrooms. She’d drunk endless cups of tea. She’d called Chris again to find out where he was, but he hadn’t picked up.