The House Guest - Mark Edwards Page 0,58

she chooses to stay in human form. She held herself erect, her eyes hidden behind sunglasses, dressed all in black.

I stood as she approached and gave her a hug.

‘How are you?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know how to answer that.’ Her voice was flat; the irony and fizz that made her so much fun to be around was missing. ‘Numb, I guess. Everything seems dulled. Like, this is maybe a weird comparison, but when you switch from watching a TV show in HD to whatever the other one is called.’

‘Standard definition.’

‘Yes, that’s it.’

‘I’m so sorry,’ I said again. ‘But . . . at least they’ve caught the guy who did it.’ She merely nodded so I went on. ‘Krugman told me it was a burglar.’

‘A kid, he told me. Some nineteen-year-old kid trying to get money to buy drugs.’ I wished I could see her eyes. Then I might not have felt like I was talking to a robot.

‘Do you know his name?’ I asked. ‘The guy who did it?’

‘Dennis told me. But what does it matter?’

‘I don’t know. I was just wondering . . .’

I had been wondering if the burglar was a member of the cult, or someone they had hired to kill Jack, perhaps because they feared he would remember who he had spoken to about Ruth coming to stay – the person who had led Eden and the cult to our door.

Or maybe I was wrong about that. Maybe Mona or Jack had spoken to Eden directly.

‘Can I show you Eden’s picture? Just so you can tell me if you recognise her.’

I got my phone out before she could protest. I already had the photo of Eden open. I held it up so Mona could see it.

For a moment, I thought she was going to refuse to look at it. But then she took her sunglasses off – her eyes were bloodshot and puffy – and leaned forward. She studied the picture for several seconds.

‘I don’t know her.’

‘Are you sure?’

‘I’m certain. She looks like a thousand other pretty West Coast girls. I’ve never seen her before in my life.’

‘But she knew you,’ I said. ‘She knew details about your lives. What about Jack? Might he have spoken to her?’

‘How am I supposed to know that?’ she snapped at me, then looked contrite. ‘I’m sorry, Adam, but my husband has just died. I really don’t want to think about any of this.’

‘I know, I know. I’m the one who should be apologising. But Ruth is still missing and I have to know where she is.’

Mona didn’t recognise Eden, and I would never be able to ask Jack. So I went back to my other theory: that one of them had inadvertently spoken to another member of the cult.

‘Did you or Jack tell people about me and Ruth coming to stay?’

‘Why are you asking that?’

I could imagine her reaction if I told her I thought Jack might have been murdered by a cult. She wasn’t a dumb kid like Jesse. ‘Just humour me, please. Did you tell anyone?’

She thought about it. ‘I don’t know. I told people we had house-sitters coming. A couple of Brits we met on a cruise. But I didn’t tell anyone your names because who would be interested? It’s not like we had Emma Watson and Daniel Radcliffe coming to stay.’

‘What about Jack?’ I asked. ‘Might he have told people?’

‘I don’t know, Adam.’ She appeared to be about to start crying and I felt terrible, but I had to find out if Mona knew anything that might help me.

I pressed on. ‘They knew we were going to be there. If you didn’t tell anyone, it must have been Jack.’

‘And then what?’ Now she sounded irritated. ‘You think Eden came looking for Ruth? That she, what, watched that weird movie Ruth was in and became obsessed with her?’

‘Yes,’ I replied, again not wanting to mention the cult.

‘And what? This crazed fan, Eden, has made off with Ruth? Got her locked up in a basement somewhere? Like in that movie, Misery?’

‘That wasn’t a basement.’

She stared at me.

‘But Ruth is in danger. I’m certain of it. Earlier today I spoke to this guy who told me his friend was murdered because of something he said to Eden.’

‘What are you talking about?’

I was going to have to tell her about the cult. I started to attempt to explain but Mona cut me off.

‘This is insane. You’re insane. This Eden person didn’t come looking for Ruth. Ruth’s gone off for