I have to go.’
‘Go?’ My mouth tasted rank, as dry as if it had been lightly powdered. I opened and closed it a couple of times, noting it made a faintly disgusting smacking sound.
‘To work. It’s Friday?’
‘Oh, God. What time is it?’
‘A quarter of seven. I have to shoot. Already running late. Will you be okay letting yourself out?’ He rummaged in a drawer and withdrew a blister pack, which he placed beside me. ‘There. That should help.’
I pushed my hair back from my face. It was slightly damp with sweat and astonishingly matted. ‘What – what happened?’
‘We can talk about it later. Drink your coffee.’
I took a sip obediently. It was strong and restorative. I suspected I would need another six. ‘Why am I in your T-shirt?’
He grinned. ‘That would be the dance.’
‘The dance?’ My stomach lurched.
He stooped and kissed my cheek. He smelt of soap and cleanliness and citrus and all things wholesome. I was aware that I was giving off hot waves of stale sweat and alcohol and shame. ‘It was a fun night. Hey – just make sure you give the door a really good slam when you leave, okay? Sometimes it doesn’t catch properly. I’ll call you later.’
He saluted from the doorway, turned and was gone, patting his pockets as if to reassure himself of something as he left.
‘Hold on – where am I?’ I yelled, a minute later, but he was already gone.
I was in SoHo, it turned out. One giant angry traffic jam away from where I was meant to be. I caught the subway from Spring Street to 59th Street, trying not to sweat gently into yesterday’s crumpled shirt and grateful for the small mercy that I was not in my usual glittery evening clothes. I had never really understood the term ‘grubby’ until that morning. I could remember almost nothing from the previous evening. And what I did remember came to me in unpleasant hot flashbacks.
Me sitting down in the middle of Times Square.
Me licking Josh’s neck. I had actually licked his neck.
What was that about dancing?
If I hadn’t been hanging onto the subway pole for dear life, I would have held my head in my hands. Instead I closed my eyes, lurched my way through the stations, shifted to avoid the backpacks and the grumpy commuters locked into their earphones, and tried not to throw up.
Just get through today, I told myself. If life had taught me one thing, it was that the answers would come soon enough.
I was just opening the door to my room when Mr Gopnik appeared. He was still dressed in his workout gear – unusual for him after seven – and lifted a hand when he saw me, as if he had been trying to locate me for some time. ‘Ah. Louisa.’
‘I’m sorry I –’
‘I’d like to talk to you in my study. Now.’
Of course you would, I thought. Of course. He turned and walked back up the corridor. I cast an anguished look at my room, which held my clean clothes, deodorant and toothpaste. I thought longingly about a second coffee. But Mr Gopnik was not the kind of man you kept waiting.
I glanced down at my phone, then jogged after him.
I walked into the study to find him already seated. ‘I’m really sorry I was ten minutes late. I’m not normally late. I just had to …’
Mr Gopnik was behind his desk, his expression unreadable. Agnes was on the upholstered chair by the coffee table in her workout gear. Neither of them asked me to sit down. Something in the atmosphere made me feel suddenly horribly sober.
‘Is … is everything okay?’
‘I’m hoping you can tell me. I had a call from my personal account manager this morning.’
‘Your what?’
‘The man who handles my banking operations. I wondered if you could explain this.’
He pushed a piece of paper towards me. It was a bank statement, with the totals blacked out. My eyesight was a little blurry but just one thing was visible, a trail of figures, five hundred dollars a day under ‘cash withdrawals’.
It was then that I noticed Agnes’s expression. She was staring fixedly at her hands, her mouth compressed into a thin line. Her gaze flickered towards me and away again. I stood, a fine trickle of sweat running down my back.
‘He told me something very interesting. Apparently in the run-up to Christmas a considerable sum of money was removed from our joint bank account. It was removed day by day from a