name. I supposed it didn’t matter. He grabbed his burrito and immediately began to eat, tucking into it like he was starving, shreds of onion and blobs of salsa plopping on to the tabletop.
‘I’m Adam.’
He raised a finger to indicate I should wait till he’d finished eating. So I sat and watched him as he stuffed the food into his mouth. Eventually, he finished and wiped his face with the back of his hand.
‘Did you bring the money, Adam?’ he asked, so quietly that I had to strain to hear him.
‘I did. But how much am I going to need?’
He smiled. ‘I was thinking about bumping the price to a thousand, to see how desperate you really are. But this has been fun, and you seem like a nice guy, so five hundred it is.’
‘She’s on there?’
‘Sure is. Well, you’re on there, and I’m guessing the blonde you’re flirting with is the girl you’re looking for. You didn’t tell me she was so hot.’ He laughed. ‘No wonder you fell for her femme-fatale charms.’
My God, this guy was a jerk. ‘Just show me. Please. Did you print a screenshot?’
‘I did better than that. I’ve got the video here. I downloaded it. Now, the money. Under the table, please.’
I had withdrawn the cash and put it in an envelope that I’d bought from a store up the street. I handed it to him beneath the table and he tucked it into his shirt pocket without bothering to count it.
‘Muchas gracias,’ he said, putting on a ridiculous accent.
He lay his phone on the table and tapped it a few times until an image appeared on the screen: the interior of Alison’s, close to the bar. The table where Eden and I had been sitting was at the edge of the frame, but was empty. The picture was full-colour and much better quality than I’d expected.
‘This is the start of the evening,’ he said. ‘Let me skip ahead.’
He slid his finger along the bottom of the screen and then let go so the footage began to play again. My heart flipped. There we were, clearly visible. Eden and me, though you could only see the back of my head until at one point I looked back towards the bar so my face was visible. Eden was leaning forward, saying something, and my shoulders shook like I was laughing. There were quite a few empty glasses between us and we looked like we were having a great time. We had been having a great time, and it was easy to see why Joe thought I’d been flirting with her.
‘Can you send me this?’ I asked.
‘No way. If my boss finds out he won’t only fire me, he’ll sue my ass.’
‘But we had a deal!’
I had raised my voice, drawing looks from people in the line, and he put his palms up and said, ‘Chill.’
‘We had a deal,’ I repeated in a hiss.
‘Yes, for me to look and show you what I found. I can’t give you the video.’
I hesitated. If I grabbed his phone would I be able to get away before he caught me? Before I could decide, he picked it up.
‘Here’s the best I can offer. I’ll take some close-up screenshots of Blondie and send them to you. Okay?’
I tried to protest again but he said, ‘That’s my best offer.’
I sighed. ‘I’m not giving you five hundred dollars for that.’
‘No problemo.’ He went to rise but I caught his arm.
‘Wait. I’ll give you two fifty.’
He sat back down. ‘You’ve already given me the money, hombre. I just don’t see me giving any of it back.’
I wanted to punch him. Nothing would have given me more pleasure at that moment.
‘You’re an asshole,’ I said.
‘So I’ve been told. What’s your number?’
I gave it to him and watched as he manipulated the images on his screen, zooming in on Eden’s face at several different angles and taking screenshots. A few minutes later my phone pinged several times and the images arrived.
Here it was. Proof that Eden existed.
Joe, if that was his real name, got up and patted me on the shoulder. He looked down at my uneaten burrito. ‘You want that?’
‘Take it.’
He snatched it up and left.
I stood outside Jack and Mona’s house, gripping my phone like it was a hand grenade that would go off if I dropped it, paranoid that if I let go it would vanish, taking the pictures of Eden with it. I had already messaged Callum to let him know