The House Guest - Mark Edwards Page 0,37

‘You were knocking back the tequila pretty fast. What do you remember?’

Ruth concentrated. ‘I remember eating dinner. Oh God, dancing in the garden, in the rain. I remember you, me and Adam sitting around talking. Did we hug? The three of us?’

Eden nodded.

‘I remember . . . a car?’

‘That was my car,’ Emilio said.

‘I don’t understand. And where was Adam?’

‘He was passed out,’ Eden answered. ‘Do you not remember our conversation? When I told you about this place?’

Ruth strained to recall it but nothing came. ‘No.’

‘You were talking to me about your agent and your career and how unhappy you were. How you didn’t think you were being looked after right. You were crying, saying you were completely confused about what to do. Do you remember?’

‘I think . . . I think so.’ She definitely had a memory of talking about that. But hadn’t it been earlier in the evening, with Adam? Perhaps she had repeated herself. It had been on her mind, anyway.

‘And that’s when I told you I knew people who might be able to help. You got really excited, said you wanted to meet them.’ Eden smiled, and Emilio and Marie smiled at her too. So many smiles. Ruth felt like she was bathing in their light. ‘You asked me to call them right away, so I did. Emilio drove over, and it was when we went out to see him that you slipped down the steps.’

‘And we brought you here,’ Emilio said.

‘Maybe we should have taken you to the hospital,’ Eden said, ‘but Marie used to be a nurse and I wasn’t sure if you had health insurance. I thought you’d be better off here. Marie checked you over and then I put you to bed and let you sleep. I found the number for the rehearsal studio and phoned them.’

‘They weren’t very friendly,’ Emilio said.

‘Eden told me,’ Ruth said, with a lurch in her stomach. ‘Oh God. Sally . . . I have to talk to her.’

‘Why?’ said Marie. ‘She sounds horrible. Why would you want to work with someone like that? Someone so unforgiving? I’m sorry, but she sounds like a total bitch.’

Ruth was surprised to hear herself laugh. ‘Yeah. She is. But she’s a genius.’

‘She doesn’t sound very clever to me, if she’s prepared to let you go just because you missed a rehearsal. I think you’ve had a lucky escape.’

‘But . . . my career.’

Eden touched her hand. ‘It’s going to be fine, Ruth. I promise. We’re going to help you.’

Ruth stared at her. She realised she was exhausted, the pain creeping back into her bones, and she felt an overwhelming urge to bury herself beneath the duvet and hide in the oblivion of sleep.

‘You seem exhausted,’ Eden said. ‘Let me help you back to bed. We can talk more later.’

Ruth allowed herself to be led out of the room and back to the bedroom. She fell on to the bed, eyes closing immediately. It was strange, the way the tiredness had come on so quickly.

‘I’ll come back when you’ve rested,’ Eden said, her voice sounding like it was coming from far away even though she was sitting on the edge of the bed.

‘Wait. Does Adam know where I am?’ Ruth asked.

‘Let’s talk about that later,’ Eden replied.

Ruth slid towards sleep. As she drifted off – or was it later, during the night? – she heard Eden speak again, although her voice sounded different. Not like hers at all. In fact, it sounded very much like a man’s voice.

‘You’re going to be one of us,’ it said.

Chapter 18

Callum came back to the table with our pints. I really didn’t want mine. After the other night, when I had been half poisoned by alcohol, it had been a struggle to get through my first drink. But Callum downed his quickly, and I wondered if he was an alcoholic. He had the broken veins around his nose, the watery eyes. Perhaps he had started drinking after his wife died. Or when Sinead disappeared.

‘What do you mean, Eden’s a recruiter?’ I asked. ‘A recruiter for who?’

‘That’s exactly what I asked,’ he said. ‘And as soon as I asked it, the guy I was talking to on Facebook got cagey. He said he didn’t know exactly. Only that he’d heard things. About a secret organisation. A group with no name, or at least no name that anyone knows. He said he’s heard them describe themselves as a network. That some people said they were a religion,