everything he put her through, and it wasn’t pleasant.
‘Did you ever stop to wonder whether any of it was true?’ Toby asks.
‘What are you saying?’
‘Your friend’s a lying bitch. And you fell for it. I feel sorry for you, Orla.’
Tears sting my eyes as though I’ve been slapped. ‘How can you—?’ I splutter but Toby cuts me off.
‘I bet she’s just fucking with you,’ he says. ‘Call me when she shows up. Or better yet, don’t bother. I couldn’t give two shits whether she’s alive or dead. In fact, I hope she is dead, and rotting in a gutter somewhere. At least then she won’t get her hands on money she doesn’t deserve. And, if she does show up, well, remember that I warned you.’
With that he hangs up. I stare open-mouthed at the phone, wondering if I just imagined the conversation, but my ears are still ringing from his words.
‘Everything OK?’ Konstandin asks.
I shake my head, unable to answer.
‘What did he say? He sounded angry.’
I nod. ‘He thinks Kate’s faking it.’
Konstandin double-takes at me while driving, not understanding.
‘It was her ex-husband, Toby. He said I didn’t know her at all. He told me she was a liar, that she’d lied to me about things.’
‘What things?’ Konstandin asks, frowning.
‘I don’t know. He didn’t say.’ What did he mean?
‘Do you want to go in still?’ Konstandin asks and I look around, confused, before seeing that he’s pulled up and parked opposite the police station.
I blink at the low brick building. Shit. My head is all over the place. My heart’s beating so fast it’s as if I’ve taken speed. It’s anxiety. I recognise the symptoms. My chest is tight and I’m finding it hard to breathe. I need a few moments to pull myself together. What am I going to tell the police? Toby’s words keep dinging around my head like bullets, tearing all my previous suppositions to shreds. What if she has done this as an attention-seeking plot?
I’m so tired my brain isn’t functioning right. How can I believe Kate would do something like that? I look down at her phone, charging in my lap. It’s got five per cent battery. I press the home button and the screen lights up. It asks me to input a passcode. Damn. Though honestly, what was I expecting?
I look at Konstandin. ‘Do you think she is faking it?’ I ask, slamming my mouth shut the moment I’ve asked it, ashamed of myself for voicing doubt. It’s Toby’s fault.
Konstandin’s expression becomes very opaque. He sighs and turns to look out the front window of the car, his hand fumbling as usual for his cigarettes. He doesn’t light one, just plays with the box. ‘She already deceived you once. She hired those men, one of them to sleep with you. So, if you’re asking me if she’s capable of lying and faking something, then yes.’
He does have a point.
‘Look,’ he says. ‘I don’t know your friend. But I will tell you this: in my experience humans are more capable of deception than we give them credit for. Everyone lies all the time. The question would be why though? Why would she do all this? Why would she want to put you in this position?’
‘I don’t know.’ Why did she lie to me about Toby calling? Who was she talking to outside the restaurant if it wasn’t him? Who upset her so much she came back to the table in tears?
‘And if the men didn’t drug you, who did?’ Konstandin asks.
I shift uncomfortably. ‘The barman?’ I ask. ‘A stranger? Maybe I wasn’t even drugged. Maybe I was really drunk.’ I press the heels of my hands over my eyes and stare into a dark void. It had already crossed my mind that it was Kate but hearing Konstandin say it too makes it all too obvious that it was her.
I hear her scream the word ‘bitch!’
‘You told me you were drugged,’ Konstandin says, touching me lightly on the arm so I look up. ‘I believe you.’
A sob rises up in my chest unexpectedly. ‘You really think Kate might have drugged me?’ I ask, removing my hands and blinking away stars.
Konstandin takes a cigarette from the pack. He taps it against the dash before lighting it. ‘Maybe,’ he says, inhaling.
‘But why would she do this?’ I ask, my foot hitting the car door as my frustration leaps out of me.
‘That’s the big question. If you can work that out, maybe you can find out why she is