The Liars

by Naomi Joy

  One last chance, I thought, as the palm of my hand pushed against cool metal. On the other side of the door I found David sitting, thumbing through notes, in one of the yellow Chesterfield armchairs that formed a seating area away from his desk. He didn’t look up as I walked in but extended his arm, signalling for me to take the unoccupied seat next to him.

  ‘Hi,’ I said, being friendly and, when he didn’t respond: ‘Should I come back another time?’

  His fingers flicked through sheet after sheet, erratically, but still he didn’t answer. Instead he raised one of his palms in my direction as though instructing me to be quiet, as though he hadn’t just called me in here, as though I hadn’t been waiting outside for the last ten minutes waiting for him to finish whatever he was doing… I hadn’t signed up to be part of David’s power play, so I tried not to let him get to me and relaxed into the chair, sighing quietly.

  ‘Is something wrong?’

  My sigh had annoyed him.

  ‘No,’ I replied apologetically. He paused and stopped shuffling the papers between his palms then he looked right at me, deep behind my eyes.

  ‘Listen, Ava, I owe you an apology. Clearly the other night has made you uncomfortable. I’m sorry if I misread the signals, truly, I hope you can forgive me.’

  He was admitting fault. I hadn’t been expecting that. I didn’t know how to respond – I wasn’t sure what signals I’d given him because I couldn’t remember anything. I looked into his sad expression, the wriggly lines that snaked across his face. He was tired. Could I forgive his behaviour? Were there mitigating circumstances given the death of his daughter?

  I wasn’t sure. I kept quiet.

  ‘So, as an apology, I’d like to offer you the job. Ava Wells: youngest Team Head in the history of Watson & Stein Partners. Sounds good, doesn’t it?’

  I was taken aback. ‘What? Just like that?’ My mind rushed to Jade. Was saying no to this job even an option?

  ‘You’ve proven yourself here, haven’t you? Besides, there was never really a contest in my mind. It was always going to be you, Ava.’

  ‘Wow, I don’t know what to say,’ I stammered. ‘Thank you.’

  He smiled a devious narrow-lipped grin that made me realise there was more to come.

  ‘Can I talk you through the added responsibility?’

  I shuffled nervously in my seat. ‘As you know, your new role means you’ll be reporting directly to me.’ He took a beat. ‘And I like to know that I can trust my employees. I’m sure you understand that.’

  I nodded slowly, massaging the knuckles on my left hand with my right.

  ‘Can I ask you a few questions?’

  ‘OK…’

  ‘Are you a trustworthy person, Ava?’

  I faltered. I know what you’ve done.

  ‘Honest?’ he added.

  ‘Yes,’ I replied, hurriedly. ‘I like to think so.’

  ‘Could you quickly explain your living situation to me?’

  I curled my chin into my neck. Was he being serious? He looked up at me, pen poised, waiting for my answer.

  ‘I live in one of your properties—’

  ‘Alone?’

  ‘Yes…’

  He stopped talking and took a note.

  ‘And you understand that property is rigged with CCTV, right?’ I realised where this was going. ‘Do you want to change your answer, Ava? Before I write this down?’

  ‘You’re seeing Charlie, aren’t you, on the CCTV? He comes every night and leaves me a note. I don’t let him in, though.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me things were this bad?’

  ‘Because I didn’t want to upset you.’

  ‘Upset me? You’ve upset me by not telling me the truth, Ava, can’t you see that? I thought we’d been through this already… that I’d been clear with what I expect. You just told me you were trustworthy and honest, but you’ve been keeping things from me… again.’

  The only way to deal with David was to play a different role, to transform into the woman he wanted to look after.

  ‘It’s not that David. It’s just, listen—’ my character’s voice broke ‘—I had to deal with Charlie for so long by myself that trusting you with everything is taking some getting used to.’

  I reached for his hand and felt him relent as our skin touched.

  ‘So you’re not seeing anyone, then.’

  I gulped.

  ‘You’re being honest with me now, are you? And there aren’t any secrets between us, correct?’

  I know what you’ve done.

  I couldn’t bring myself to verbally confirm what he wanted to hear so I squeezed his hands with mine and nodded.

  ‘You’re a wonderful man.’

  ‘If Charlie’s notes are scaring you, Ava, I can move in. I can look after you.’

  I looked away, unable to explain that him moving in was a worse thought than Charlie stalking around outside.

  ‘You remind me of her, you know,’ he muttered. An invisible weight crushed me as I battled my own demons about Olivia’s passing. I welled up, enormous tears blotting my vision. ‘I just want to look after you.’

  They fell, heavy, splashing my forearms. ‘I know, David. And I’m so grateful for that.’

  But my words were feeble and false. I kept my hand locked round his.

  ‘We’ll take it slow, darling, don’t worry.’

  Were we blurring the lines we’d just agreed to redraw? I felt light-headed and took a breath, trying to steady myself, aware of how horrifically complicated my life had become in such a short space of time.

  And David didn’t even know the half of it.

  28

  Jade

  The basement meeting room had been chosen to conduct my final round interview and I made my way down the flight of stairs to the lower ground floor. The artificial lights were brighter down here to make up for the lack of sunlight and the art followed a yellow theme along the walls.

  I’d planned to wear the smart suit jacket I kept hung on the back of my office chair but, to my horror, I’d discovered too late it had acquired a stripe of paint from where my chair makes contact with the wall behind me so, instead, it was hanging inside out over my forearm to make it clear that I had a suit jacket, I just… wasn’t wearing it for the most important interview of my life.

  I knew I didn’t look the part and my knees trembled as I made my way to the meeting room.

  I offered my hand to David when I entered but he didn’t rise to shake it, keeping his fingers interlaced on the table.

  ‘Thanks for making the time to see me today,’ I said, reeling in my rejected limb. I took the seat on the opposite side of the glass table. He didn’t have any notes, or an iPad, or a phone, even. It was just him, my ruined suit jacket, and me. I put the jacket on the table – the expanse of empty glass between us felt so awkward that I wanted to fill it with something – but as it sat on top of the table it looked ghastly, informal and ridiculous, and I instantly regretted my decision. I grabbed at the jacket to put it behind me but I was moving too quickly and, instead, I pushed it, sending it to the floor in a crumpled heap. Rather than stand up and make a scene, I tried to lean from my chair and pick it up, but the jacket was too heavy and I was too far from the ground to manoeuvre it with my fingertips.

  ‘Just leave it,’ David said, his lip curled. ‘This won’t take long.’

  His hostility unnerved me. I started speaking, trying to win him round. ‘I wanted to thank you again for—’

  He held up his hand to silence me. ‘Do you really want this job, Jade?’

  ‘Well, yes, of course, I’ve been working towards this for the past eight years.’

  ‘Do you think you’re ready for it, though?’

  His emphasis was on the word ready.

  ‘More than, yes, definitely.’

  He raised his eyebrows slightly and nodded slowly as if that wasn’t the answer he was expecting.

  ‘Huh. OK. So, tell me. Why do you deserve t
his job over Ava?’

  I felt my stomach tense. He wanted me to turn on her. Now was my chance. Had he asked the same of her? Had she already spilled the secret we both shared?

  ‘Well, she’s perfectly good at her job, but I’ve been here for longer and I know more about this company than she ever will.’

  He looked impressed and I was sure a smile flashed across his face for a moment.

  ‘And are you trustworthy, Jade? Honest?’

  I looked sideways for a second.

  ‘I like staff I can depend on – loyal staff. I can’t stand for betrayal, or deceit, or dishonesty. Especially not at this level.’

  I thought of the photo on my phone in my bag. The blackmail I was going to use. The insurance policy I had to help me get the job. Ava had already out-maneuvered me. I couldn’t use it, not after this speech.

  ‘I understand,’ I said shakily.

  ‘And what do you think Olivia would say? Who do you think she’d endorse for this role?’

  I shuddered. I hated thinking about Olivia. Her voice rose in my head. She wouldn’t want either of us as Team Head.

  ‘I wish we could ask her,’ I said after a while, forcing a smile.

  He paused, his eyes crawling over me, picking through the webs that covered my words.

  ‘You were with her, weren’t you, the night she died?’

  My intestines wriggled like worms inside me and I felt rotten from the inside out. I cast my mind back.

  ‘Ava and I, we’d been partying with her.’

  I didn’t want to say too much.

  ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘But why didn’t you tell the police you took her home?’

  *

  Six o’clock glowed on my computer screen and, off the back of the most stressful interview of my life, my feelings of guilt and paranoia were intensifying. I wasn’t sure if I’d managed to convince David we had told the police we’d taken Olivia home that evening. I’d blabbed about not being sure why that detail hadn’t ended up on record. But I knew he knew something. I should warn Ava.

  The office bar opened on a Wednesday night and, usually, I’d avoid it but I wondered if tonight I should make an exception. Ava often went and it would give me a chance to speak to her. I cracked open my pocket mirror and smeared concealer over the stress spots that had cropped up all over my chin, no doubt a result of my earlier meeting, smudged a dollop of peppermint balm over my lips and pulled my fingers through my frazzled hair. I wished I’d washed it this morning, it was lacking its usual sheen today. I changed my footwear from my work-appropriate black leather flats and slipped into four-inch shiny court shoes. I wanted to look the part, at least.

  A creeping smell of solvents filled my senses and I looked across the desk to see Georgette applying a topcoat of glitter to her nails.

  ‘Coming down to the bar, Jadey?’ She didn’t look up but had me spotted in her peripheral vision as she stuck her tongue out, zoning in on the edges of her ring finger. I thought about Ava, about what I had to tell her, and imagined her having the perfect answer for me that would entirely set my mind at ease: Don’t worry, Jade, he’s only asking about the night Olivia died because some new evidence has come to light. The police are looking at a specific timeframe, but it wasn’t until long after we’d left her. I explained to him that the reason it wasn’t in our initial statement was because that timeframe hadn’t been of interest. Now it is. Please don’t worry.

  ‘Sure, I’ll be there,’ I answered. ‘Do you have any perfume I could borrow?’

  Georgette threw me a bottle, the word Fantasy emblazoned across the front. Perhaps it would help mine come true, I thought, as I doused myself in it.

  And then my phone lit up. Josh.

  Please talk to me.

  I looked over at him. He’d put his phone back down already and was talking to the girl who sat next to him: her veneers didn’t quite fit inside her mouth. She wasn’t his cup of tea at all. Another message pinged through.

  You look great tonight.

  I’d been making him sweat since photogate. He hadn’t stuck up for me, or come to my defence, and I’d let him know I wasn’t happy. He’d apologised. He’d grovelled. And maybe tonight I was willing to forgive. I thought about how things might go if I managed to sort everything with Ava. My job came first, of course. But maybe I was worrying about nothing… Perhaps Josh would come up to me when the bar started to empty, fix his beautiful stare on me and lean in close to ask if I was walking to the tube. I’d say yes and he’d suggest stopping at a cosy bar we passed on the way… we’d duck inside and enjoy a few too many… then he’d call a cab to take us home… but we’d kiss on the pavement outside and, as the cab arrived, he’d ask me if I wanted to go back to his place. Things would get heavy in the backseat… then we’d crash into his flat a little later, not bothering to turn on the lights, kicking off our shoes and undressing each other as we made our way to his bedroom… he’d kiss me, hard, the smell of alcohol on his breath turning me on… The next day we’d call in sick at different times and spend hours cuddling in bed getting to know each other… we’d realise we’d forgotten to eat all day as the sun set. Josh would order pizza which we’d feed one another, pausing between slices to giggle about what our colleagues would make of all this… After that night I wouldn’t leave his flat ever again and the next day he’d ask me to move in with him… then, in five years’ time, when I was the Queen of the office, still managing to run the entire consumer department whilst kicking off a side business in soaps, or ornaments, we’d reminisce fondly on this night in the bar. Josh and I would joke about it: If we hadn’t gone to drinks that night, then none of this would have happened!

  Georgette and I headed down to the bar together, a cloud of her cheap perfume following us like a low-lying fog.

  ‘Here you go, sweetie,’ Georgette said gleefully as she handed me a huge glass of red wine. ‘Just what you need after the week you’ve had.’

  I looked at her suspiciously. What did she know? ‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

  Georgette got right to the point. ‘Babe, I know about the picture in the meeting. I saw it, I’m sorry.’

  I felt the walls round me start to close in. She changed her tone, ‘You looked hot anyway! Who was it for?’

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ I said quietly. If she’d seen it, everyone knew.

  ‘Boo, boring! Come on… spill!’

  Her eyes were hungry.

  If I didn’t give her any clues she’d just make something up, so I kept it vague.

  ‘OK. Well, it was for a guy I’m seeing, I’ve been seeing, for a bit, he’s really into sexy pictures… he’s… younger.’

  ‘Oooh! How exciting!’ She didn’t believe me. ‘What’s his name?’

  I looked at her. As if I would tell you that, babe.

  ‘Was he the one that sent you flowers the other day? Everyone was talking about those, your mystery delivery.’

  I should have spun her a story about those already. I was on the ropes.

  ‘He’s really thoughtful,’ I croaked.

  ‘Rich, too, by the looks of it, they weren’t cheap. I spotted red roses in there! He must really like you.’

  ‘I guess so. Anyway, I don’t want people to know about it, I’m trying to keep it private.’ Georgette rubbed my arm and assured me my secret was safe with her. We both knew it was anything but.

  I left Georgette with David’s plastic PA who’d trotted over to us with a bottle of Champagne and told us proudly it was all she drank. It’s always the cheapest, trashiest people who make up stupid rules like that to try and convince you they’re in some way refined or distinguished. After two glasses I bet she couldn’t tell the difference between Bollinger and Lambrusco. I sat in one of the large, leather armchairs in the bar area, crossed my legs like a schoolgirl and pushed my dress between my thighs, covering my modesty. For a change. I pondered whether I should write something back to Josh. He hadn’t turned up at the bar yet and I was desperate t
o see him in person: to turn our offline relationship on. Maybe it was the wine talking as I spun my fingers across the screen, but I wanted to be forward, I wanted to be bold, I wanted this, us, to be a thing. I didn’t want to have to keep hiding it.

  Why don’t you come to drinks tonight… then maybe we could grab one after? I’d like to hear exactly how sorry you are in person.

  I felt good about it. I didn’t think about how I would feel if he said no, that part wasn’t really in my plan. I knocked back the last mouthful of my wine and shuffled between the now packed-out bar area to replenish my glass. Damn: all out. I’d have to head to the storeroom. I jogged down the stairs to the basement. It was eerily quiet down there and the lights were the kind you had to motion-activate. The darkness of the corridor before me filled the glass in the doorway, a blacked-out window into what lay beyond. I opened it timidly, hoping it would set the motion detectors off without me stepping into the blackness to do so. It took a couple of seconds but, sure enough, the corridor illuminated one row of lights at a time and led me, like emergency floor lighting would on a plane, to my destination. I strode to the end, past the basement meeting room from earlier, and punched in the store room code, waiting for the lock to click open. I leant against the door, using all my weight to open it. It was on a slow-close hinge which made it almost impossible to manoeuvre in a hurry. The wine was stored behind the door to the right of the store room entrance. As I walked into the refrigerated room, goose bumps dotted my bare arms and I bustled round the racks as quickly as possible. In a bizarre twist, the red wines were stored in a fridge-like contraption, keeping them warmed from the cool air designed for the white wines and champagnes round them. I traced my fingers across the bottles… Cabernet Sauvignon, no: bad memories. Malbec: too heavy. Pinot Noir: too fruity. Merlot… hmm, OK, Merlot it was. I clutched the bottle in my hand and slammed the warm-fridge-door shut. As I made my way back out into the store room, I heard something from the back of the room, behind the rows and rows of client stock. I dismissed it at first but, as I turned towards the door, I heard it again, a kind of muffled chitter-chatter that drew me in like a fish on a line. What was so secret it had to be discussed down here? My curiosity piqued, I tiptoed towards the sound, increasing my speed as I passed each section and the noises grew louder. I heard laughter, kissing, closeness, contact. I peered through the shelves and then I saw her – Ava. Hair messed up, cheeks flushed, eyes clamped shut, the top button of her see-through blouse undone, her arms round his back, her mouth attached to his as he pushed her against one of the shelves full of AthLuxe apparel. I dropped the wine bottle I was holding and it smashed as it hit the wooden floor, expensive Merlot splashing upwards, covering my shiny court shoes and the bottoms of my legs in deep red stains, then dribbled down to the floor, spreading out, seeping between the cracks. Their heads span round at the sound. Ava smiled apologetically and bit her bottom lip. Josh barely moved, he didn’t even bother to let her go.