“Eva. I know you’re not like he thinks you are. I know there’s fire in you. You can beat him. You can beat them all. Why don’t you show him, why don’t you show them all not to mess with you ever again?”
Lauren’s eyes. The smile on Lauren’s lips. Eva felt a pang of uncertainty. But Lauren had been so convincing, so kind. It was as if her conscience had been talking. Then Lauren had left her to it. Lauren had returned to her plot to work. But a special seed had been sown, and all Eva could think of as she cleared the waste soil from her plot, was wiping the filthy smile from Jake Allen’s mouth.
The laughter kept on for another ten or fifteen minutes, Jake still mocking her from halfway along the green… Lauren’s words played over her mind and the fires raged on.
Patty Howard said something about Eva’s plot being like Eva’s life and Eva had chosen to take it in the worst possible way. When Jake Allen laughed out loud, Eva felt the weight and heft of the rusty school garden fork in her hand. Lauren’s words echoed in her head. She pulled the garden fork prongs from the grass. She pulled back her arm and flung the fork, the thing cutting through the air and the sudden silence. The fork sailed over two lines of plots before it plunged into the grass, shuddering an inch in front of Jake Allen’s toes. Patty Howard gasped. Jake Allen’s mouth dropped open. And Mr Allington shouted her name out loud. Nobody failed to see what Eva Roberts had done. By the narrowest of margins, Eva had escaped a week’s suspension, but had to attend a fortnight of lunchtime and after school detentions. As she emerged from the deputy head’s office, Lauren was there to put an arm around her. “Well done, Eva. He deserved it.”
Eva had barely remembered that lesson… but now she saw the part Lauren had played. Lauren had lit the blue touch paper then stood well back…
The early signs, perhaps.
Later came the bitter cold shoulder she knew she’d never deserved. The loneliness and the desperate not knowing why her best, closest friend was now her enemy. The pain and confusion had been like nothing else. And so Eva had buried it, moved on and made something of her life. But the pain never ever went. It was pathetic, but even so, Eva could do nothing but bury it deep.
The rest of the journey passed in a miserable blur until Eva parked up outside a grey pebble-dashed bungalow in Hadleigh, on the outskirts of Southend. This was the address she’d been given in Lauren’s latest text. But now Eva was here, everything was back. And everything was raw. She swallowed on an aching throat and got out of the car.
***
The door creaked open and Lauren Jaeger, her eyes glazed with unshed tears, stood in the gap.
“I really didn’t think you were going to come,” she said.
Eva tried to smile, but she couldn’t. She walked in over the threshold. The bungalow smelt of old person and greasy food, of lavender air freshener over stale air. It was warm. Lauren shut the door behind her. The floor was entirely tiled but for the living rooms. It had the air of social housing.
“My mother’s place,” said Lauren. “I never thought I’d be living with my mum ever again, not at my age, but hey, life’s full of surprises.”
“But this place is set up for an elderly person,” said Eva, realising her mistake soon as she spoke.
“My mum was older than yours, remember. Ten years and more. My mum’s pretty old now. Do you see your mother much?”
Eva winced at the question. Lauren read her face and nodded. “No, I didn’t think you would.”
Eva didn’t want to go there
“I should say hello to your mum,” said Eva, with a hint of nostalgia.
“Best not, Eva. She’s watching TV. She gets antsy about her daytime TV shows. It’s her age. She’s got dementia. Just the early stages so far, but you can see why I didn’t want Jamie threatening my family. There’s no way I could move her from this place.”
“No,” said Eva, without feeling. “Where can we talk then?”
“Through there,” said Lauren. She had her arms folded like she was cold. Eva noted she was still well dressed, her face made-up as if nothing had changed in her circumstances. She led Eva into a big back kitchen with terracotta coloured lino on the floor, a small old-fashioned fold-down table in the centre of the room, and a Baby Belling mini oven at one side. The once-white oven needed cleaning. The window overlooked a shared garden with neat flat lawn and a smattering of cheap, colourful border plants.
Eva couldn’t bear the place. It was dated and oppressive. Lauren unfolded her arms and wrapped Eva in that familiar old hug, but Eva didn’t respond. When Lauren broke away, Eva saw the envelope in her hand.
“Here. This is what I owe you for getting me out.”
Eva accepted the envelope. The top hadn’t been glued down, so she opened it. She saw the cash inside but didn’t count it.
“You wanted more than I could give you, Lauren. Far more,” said Eva. She put the envelope in her handbag.
“I know. But you don’t know how scared I was.”
“Scared? I know about scared, Lauren. When you sent me up to see Jamie Blane in that apartment, with my head full of all the wrong he’d done to you, I was furious with him. I was just as angry as you wanted me to be. Furious about what he’d done to you – I was so angry that as soon as he put a foot wrong, I pulled a knife from his kitchen drawer and was ready to stick it in his chest, right into his heart. I couldn’t stop staring at his chest, Lauren. I wanted to kill him, because of what you’d said. Because of what you’d put in my head. And you know what, I almost did it. I came that close… because of you.”
“And I wish you’d done it,” said Lauren quietly. “Because, Eva… quite honestly, you didn’t do enough.”
“What?” said Eva, her eyes flaring, her face filled with colour. “Are you serious? You hired me to get you out of a violent relationship, end of story. But you cajoled me, manipulated me, primed me to kill the man. That’s not what I’m about. I’m one of the good guys, Lauren. No matter what you want me to be, I’ve only ever been one of the good guys. You’re a bad influence, Lauren. You always were, only I’m seeing things a lot clearer now.”
“How can you talk to me like that, with what I’m going through?” Lauren shook her head. “I’ll tell you, shall I? You kid yourself that you’re a good person. Listen to yourself. Think about what you’ve done, who you are. Clearer? Eva. You’re a killer. I already know you are. I read up on you, what you’ve done since we parted. That right there is one of the main reasons I came to you. That and the fact that I wanted to make amends for the past.”
“I am not a killer!” Eva barked. “Everything I’ve done I did for—”
“For cash. For cash, Eva. This is your job. You went into every case you’ve done for money. That’s it. Nothing more or less.”
“No, I worked to save people,” said Eva. She thought of the knife against Blane’s chest. The garden fork flying through the air. “Lauren, we stopped a terrorist attack!”
“I know. I read about it. And people died then too. Because you were working a case. I know more than that. You stopped some gang takeover, because you were working a case for cash… I heard you two even ended up working against some Russian plot, a few years back. It was a job, taken for money. Now don’t you tell me no one died in those incidents, because we both know damn well that they did. And like it or not, you were the cause. And why did you do it? Because it paid? Because you wanted to? Or both?”
Eva was stunned into silence.
“I got involved in some of those things because there was no choice… Others, because it was the right thing to do.”
“Stop the excuses, Eva. It’s not a bad thing. We all need money. But you’re really no saint, so stop pretending, honey. I love you just as you are and right now I need you as you are.”
Eva shook her head. “The trouble is, Lauren, I know who you really are too.”
Silence. Lauren folded her arms, her expression hard.
“Let’s hear it then,” she said.
“Y
ou’re a cold hard lying bitch. You’re a manipulator and a liar who uses people, who hurts people, the kind of person who does whatever they need to get what they want and then discards the person as soon as they’re done.”
“You’re still sore about the past. We were girls. I was a child!”
“So? You still hurt me. And right now I’m very, very sore about everything you’ve done since you came back. Since what I almost did for you. You’re a liar, Lauren. You lied about everything. I know you did. As for my job – I only ever took it on so I could help people. If I only wanted money, I could have gone to work in the city. I could have become a stock broker… or a recruitment consultant like Blane. I could have done anything else, but I didn’t want to!”
“You’re kidding yourself!”
“No, Lauren. I’m just not believing your lies anymore. None of it.”
“I hope to God you’re kidding, Eva, because I need your help more than ever.”
Eva’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head.
“I know you lied about Jamie. The guy is a top level scumbag of the highest order, anyone can see that, but the truth is you two are just as bad as each other. You wanted him dead but you didn’t want the blood on your hands.”
“I lied about Jamie? Come on. I would never have come to you unless I was in trouble. I had a good life with him before.”
“You came to me because you wanted me to kill an innocent man. Now, in case you not sure, it’s not going to happen. It’s never going to happen. You were my friend when we were at school. But then you cut me out of your entire life. That was your choice. Coming back like you did, I decided to give you another chance.”
“Big of you. Do you have any other twenty-year-old grudges, Eva?”
“None,” snapped Eva. “But now I see you’re even worse than you were then. We’re done, Lauren. Finished.”
The kitchen door shuddered open and a small, stooped lady in a checked dress and yellow cardigan appeared in the doorway. The woman leaned on a walking stick. Even behind thick tortoise shell glasses, the years and wrinkles fell away. Eva remembered Mrs Jaeger when the woman had been their age, a glamorous thirty-something. She stared at them both the very same way she used to whenever she was upset.
“Eva? Are you two girls still bickering after all this time? When are you going to grow up? But if you can’t grow up then pipe down. I’m watching Pointless. My TV is the only pleasure I’ve got left in this life…”
With that, as if the woman had last spoken to her yesterday, the older Mrs Jaeger shuffled away into her front room.
Eva almost burst out laughing. Her rage was gone, the balloon burst. She fought the urge and bit her lip.
“Can you believe that? Living here is like being fifteen all over again. I can’t stand it but I’ve got no choice. Eva… please, you have to believe me. I’m sorry. I’m sorry about all of it. But no matter what you think of me, I didn’t lie about Jamie. You’ve been talking to him, haven’t you? That’s where this has come from. I warned you he would get in your head.”
“Not any worse than you have,” said Eva. “I’m sorry too, Lauren. But I’ve got to go. I did what I could. This is where our arrangement ends.”
“Wait, Eva. You’ve got to see, I’m not lying.”
“Those rubble bags, the clean-up equipment. It was all you. You fabricated evidence and offered it to me as truth.”
“Eva, please. Come with me. Just look at this.”
“Not more fabricated evidence, Lauren. I’ve had enough.”
“Then just follow me and see for yourself!”
Lauren led them out into the dim hallway and crossed to a white door right beside the front door. The door opened onto a small dated bathroom with white tiled walls. A faceless corn dolly stared down from a bathroom shelf. A woollen gollywog toilet roll cover sat like an ugly puppet on top of the cistern.
“Your mother’s taste in home décor hasn’t improved,” said Eva.
Lauren’s didn’t respond. She leaned towards the bathroom window, then snapped her head away.
“Just open that window and look out. But don’t open it too wide. I don’t want him to see you.”
“What are you talking about?” said Eva.
“The man in a white SUV. Just open the window and take a look. That man has been sitting there for the last three days.”
“You’re serious? A man in a white SUV?”
“Yes, now just open the window and take a look…”
Eva moved to the window, keeping to one side so her presence wouldn’t be easily noticed. She pulled the uPVC handle down and pushed the window ajar, catching a view of the manicured greens in the front garden. Beyond, she saw a narrow view of the parked cars and the semi-detached houses on the other side of the street. Eva saw a hint of a white car there, just the edge of the front bonnet. She shifted to gain a better look, but the angle made it impossible. She opened the window wider and stayed close to the wall. Sure enough, four or five cars down the street was a figure sitting behind the steering wheel of a white SUV with a high cab. The angle obscured the car’s make and model, but the sculpted body shape said it was relatively new. The figure behind the wheel had dark hair brushed back from his forehead, and though neat it wasn’t a short cut. He had thick dark eyebrows. The shade inside the car and the light reflecting on the glass made it impossible to see anything more.
“You see him?” said Lauren.
“Yes,” said Eva. She stared at the man a moment longer, but then he shifted in his seat and looked up from what he was reading, and Eva quickly pulled the window shut. Eva turned away from the window, leaned back against the tiled wall and looked Lauren in the eye. Her anger was still there. These days Eva felt she could barely even trust her eyes.
“Three days? He’s been there that long?” said Eva.
“Yes. I texted you didn’t I? I think I noticed him as soon as I moved in but I made sure to check for the last three days. He’s been here virtually all the time. And I know he’s watching me, Eva. I can feel it. I told you, I’ll never be free of Jamie until one of us is gone. That man out there has been sent to kill me. I know he has.”
“You say you’ve seen him watching you? But you say you’ve never looked back at him. Are you sure he’s not here for some other reason?”
“What other reason could there be? Because he likes sitting in a car all day on a quiet street? Eva, he’s a working-aged tough guy in a brand new car. You’re not telling me this is some kind of coincidence?”
Eva shook her head. “No. I’d doubt that very much.”
Lauren and Eva exchanged a look while Eva processed her thoughts.
“Then what is it?.”
“I’m thinking, that’s all.”
“I suppose I might deserve the scare you’re giving me right now,” said Lauren. “The boot’s on the other foot now, eh? After all I’ve done, it’s the least I deserve.”
“Sorry? The scare?”
Lauren nodded. “Yes. I knew you doubted my story, I know you thought I’d lost it, but I never lied to you about Jamie. Jamie wants me dead.”
“The evidence you gave me, Lauren – none of it was real.”
“Yes it was, Eva.”
Eva frowned. “Really? Which parts?”
“You can see for yourself. He’s here. The man from the emails, Ironvelvet. The emails are what counts, they always were. That guy out there… that’s why I can’t leave this house or my mother. Jamie has pushed the button, Eva. He’s set everything in motion.”
“You think he’s the hitman? He doesn’t look like what I would have been expecting—”
“Who were you expecting? Arnold Schwarzenegger? Jamie turned you against me. Eva, the killer is outside waiting for me! Wake up!”
Eva recalled the man from The Perryman, the friend called Henry. The man in the car wasn’t Henry. But that didn’t mean Ironvelvet wasn’t real.
“I did speak to Jamie Blane, but only because I realised you’d been lyi
ng to me.”
“Only to get you on side. To make you help me. I knew you wouldn’t help unless I persuaded you.”
“The truth would have done a better job on that score.”
“The truth is sitting outside in a white car, Eva.”
Eva sighed and took a brief moment before she spoke again.
“Suzie Appleby has already moved into the penthouse. I saw her there. It looked like she was playing house.”
“Little bitch. I already told you, Jamie is working to his plan. Their emails talked about emptying the nest, remember? Well, what do we have here? The nest is empty and there she is, already jumped into my bed. The only part that hasn’t happened yet is me being wiped from the picture. But that’s coming, Eva. Jamie is ruthless, and now you’re involved, he won’t waste any more time.”
Eva damned herself for being so unable to read any of the people involved. She believed in one, then they turned out to be a liar. She turned to the other and found out they were worse. It seemed she couldn’t trust anyone these days, least of all herself.
“Wait here, Eva,” said Lauren.
“Why? Where are you going now?” said Eva.
She raised an eyebrow as Lauren walked out of the bathroom. Eva shook her head and folded her arms. A moment later Lauren returned with her handbag.
“You said what mattered was keeping me safe. But it’s not just that, is it? It’s my mother too. My family. You did what I asked before, even though you doubted me, and I appreciate that. But now you know how serious my situation is, I need your help again. I need your help now more than ever.”
Lauren unzipped her handbag and pulled out her purse, opening it and producing another slim bundle of notes. Eva saw lilac twenties and a hint of a few red coloured fifties in the stack. The woman held out the cash and looked Eva in the eye. Eva held back.
“What are you asking me to do now, Lauren?
“I want you to deal with this situation properly. To make it go away. For good.”
“Jamie accused you of being abusive too.”
Play With Fire Page 7
