Friends Who Lie

by Paul J. Teague

  They sat on one of the large concrete blocks that lined the road. It was definitely not a climb to complete without regular breaks. Particularly in that heat.

  ‘Are you ready to speak about it yet? I thought it might help coming up here. I can barely believe what happened myself.’

  Caitlen’s phone cheeped and she took it out of her back pocket.

  ‘It’s Luke. He says he’ll be over at the weekend. The paperwork is all sorted and he’s got a place to stay.’

  ‘You’re not moving in together then? I just assumed ...’

  ‘No, it’s a bit soon for that, don’t you think? After Terry I just thought it would be better to get to know each other again first. I don’t want to repeat that mistake. So we’ve decided to play it cool and see if we still have as much in common as we used to. I think it’ll be okay – but once bitten and all that!’

  ‘What do you think will happen to Terry?’

  ‘Can you believe it? A bent copper! And with Kasey too. I hadn’t got a clue what he was up to. Well, he’s been suspended, of course. And it looks like they’ll prosecute. Stupid idiot, what on earth was he thinking? At least it’ll all work out well for Kasey. Poor guy, he must have been scared as hell all these years. Who would have thought? I just accepted him as a friend, I never even thought about visas and all that stuff.

  ‘It’s a complicated issue, I think. It’s dead easy in Europe, but when you get into the US, life gets more complicated. Are you ready to move on?’

  Caitlen stood up, took a swig from her water bottle and continued the long climb up the winding road.

  ‘I can’t believe what a bunch of idiots we all turned out to be. I wonder what would have happened if I’d never found the money on my computer. Would we have carried on oblivious to it all? Or does money bring out the worst in us?’

  ‘Well, I think it just accentuates existing traits. Terry was on the take before he found out you had money. He was already doing it in a small way. And as for Wes ...’

  ‘It’s so hot out here in summer, I can see why everybody goes crazy over air conditioning.’

  Caitlen changed the subject. She wasn’t ready to talk about Wes. Not until they reached the top.

  ‘Anyhow, I’m going to help Kasey with his legal fees. Harriet reckons that he’ll be able to stay. Nobody needs to know about the forged identity, the visa issue should be sortable.’

  ‘Well good,’ said Gina, ‘I liked Kasey. I think he was about the only member of the group who didn’t have a row with anybody!’

  Caitlen smiled.

  ‘I think you’re right. This walk felt a lot easier when I came up here that morning. I was just thinking about it when Luke’s text came through. You realise that you saved my life, don’t you?’

  ‘No, how? You haven’t told me this.’

  ‘Well, it’s been a crazy few weeks. But I only figured it out the other day. If it wasn’t for you, it would have been my body they found up this hill.’

  ‘We’re nearly there now, this is the car park. We follow that dirt path over there and it takes us up to the cross. Last chance. You’re sure you want to do this?’

  ‘I’m sure. Let’s get it over with. Next time, we take a taxi though, right?’

  The path to the Benidorm Cross was marked by a wooden fence. There were three cars parked there, it was a steady flow of tourists coming and going.

  ‘Just look at that view!’ Gina said. ‘It never gets stale, this is the way to see Benidorm. People liken it to Blackpool with sunshine, but it’s so much more than that.’

  Caitlen stood next to Gina, the sea breeze now cooling their faces, the glimmer from the sparkling sea forcing them to squint.

  ‘The body was over there, by those bushes,’ Caitlen said, without warning.

  ‘What, beyond the fence?’

  ‘Yes, a dog found it. Some woman who lives at the bottom of the hill walks her dog here in the mornings. The police were already here when I arrived. I knew something was up the moment I arrived.’

  ‘How come you got so lucky then? Have they worked it out now?’

  ‘Yes, they got a confession. I still can’t believe it. Wes said he’d meet me up here, he’d be out for his run first. I fully expected him to be up here already. But all I found was a crime scene.’

  ‘I still don’t understand how it happened though. How did I save you? I was snoring away in the next room. I didn’t even hear you leave the apartment that morning. As it turns out, me and Prosecco don’t mix well.’

  ‘That’s just it. I remembered that Wes and I had agreed to meet at the cross, then go for breakfast afterwards. Nobody else wanted to join us, so we agreed to go alone. Fuck ‘em I thought, I’m going up to the top of that bloody hill if it kills me. I didn’t want to miss this amazing view while I was here.’

  ‘I wish I’d come with you ... I’m sorry I was out cold.’

  ‘But Gina, you saved my life. When you changed the clock on my phone, that day I got taken away by the police after wrecking that bar. You changed the clock on my phone to Spanish time. I was an hour late to my meeting with Wes. I couldn’t work out how I’d messed up the time, but I got up here sixty minutes after I was supposed to. I rolled over and went to sleep for an hour when my alarm went off. I figured it was UK time and that I still had an hour to play with. Silly cow, that I am. But it saved my life.’

  ‘Bloody hell, I thought I was doing you a favour when I set your clock properly, I didn’t realise I’d done that. So he was waiting up there for you?’

  ‘Well, he thought it was just me and him, but that’s not how it played out.’

  ‘Porter?’

  ‘Yes, Porter. He’d been trying to get my attention all night to tell me something about Wes. Well, with all the distractions going on, he never got to tell me. Once Naomi started spilling out her heart about their debt problems, I kind of got waylaid.’

  ‘How are Rhett and Naomi?’

  ‘Well, the insurance agreed to cover their fine as they’d been with them for so many years. They got lucky if you ask me, if they’d let it lapse any more than a month I don’t think they’d have agreed to pay it. I’ve bailed them out on their mortgage arrears, I’ve no wish to see them down on their luck. She should have told me sooner. Rhett managed to win back an old contract, so it’s early days, but they don’t have to work in that burger bar any more. I think they’ll recover, I’ve told them that I’ll help them if they get into trouble again.’

  ‘And Porter?’

  ‘Not so good. He’s undergoing psychiatric assessments, but it’s not looking good for him. I went to see him, you know. To thank him. If he hadn’t done what he did, however misguided, we wouldn’t be here now. I just feel so sorry for him. He’s clearly a troubled man.’

  ‘So he was waiting for Wes all the time?’

  ‘Yes, he walked ahead, even with that bandaged leg of his, so he could watch out for me. How kind is that? He can’t be all bad if he did that. He was hiding in the bushes apparently, he just wanted to make sure Wes wasn’t up to anything. You know Wes had got hold of my passwords don’t you?’

  ‘From Becky’s phone?’

  ‘Yes, she emailed me and told me what was going on. She’s been to see Porter too. It seems she has some mental health issues of her own. I would never have known.’

  ‘We’ve seen glimpses, I think. But Becky’s alright, I’ll keep in touch. She’s ended up using Porter’s psychologist, how ironic is that?’

  ‘How did Porter do it?’ Gina asked. She hadn’t pressed her friend, but she was dying to know.

  ‘Porter had walked up here to confront Wes, if he was up to no good like Porter suspected. He was just expecting to lurk in the bushes, and make sure I was okay when we met up. Turns out Porter’s had some personal issues that he’s been dealing with for some years. The suspected murder of his own brother. They’re looking at the case again, now this has happened. He admitted it all. He reckons he’s had a compelling urge to kill all this time. Who
would have thought it? Porter, the man whose arse caught fire at Erin’s Bar!’

  Gina and Caitlen burst out laughing.

  ‘Poor Porter,’ Gina said, ‘I’ll never forget looking at him and watching that smoke coming off his trousers. Well, he did you a big favour. I never warmed to Wes, he was a chancer. I take it he worked out that if he had the codes already all he had to do was get his hands on your USB drive and he was good to go.’

  ‘Yes, remember we saw him with the airport bag? He’d got his flight booked already. He hadn’t figured out how he was going to do it, I don’t think, but when stupid here told everybody that Terry had found the USB drive with all my money on, he hatched his plot. As you say, he’s a chancer. He’d got the passwords from Becky’s phone, stupid here had told him where the USB drive was. He was planning to take the drive off me and do a runner on the next plane.’

  ‘Would he have killed you for it?’

  ‘It’s highly likely. Will we ever know? Porter says Wes had a knife with him, but they haven’t recovered it yet. That’s what made Porter strike him with that rock. He says he saw Wes handling the knife and the anger got the better of him. Just like that. And there’s an investigation going on about something that involves Wes in the previous resort he was staying in when he was in Thailand. They think he may be connected with a woman who was found strangled. I think things just got the better of Porter when he saw Wes all alone up there. And you heard how he behaved with Becky. Wrong place, wrong time for Wes, I think.’

  ‘You don’t think Porter would have ... if you’d been on your own?’

  ‘No. No chance. I asked him that when I visited him at the psychiatric unit. It was Wes he wanted, not me. It was never me. He was angry with Wes.’

  ‘What a group you are!’ Gina said, taking Caitlen’s hand. ‘I’ll bet Benidorm has never seen anything like it!’

  ‘Well, I doubt that,’ Caitlen replied, ‘But what a carry-on. And I thought we’d all have a lovely, relaxing break out here. How wrong was I?’

  ‘Well, you’re a wealthy woman now and I’m very pleased for you. I’m even more pleased that we’ll be going into business together. I know there have been better starts, but welcome to Benidorm!’

  Caitlen gave Gina a hug and looked out across the sea over towards Peacock Island.

  ‘None of this would have happened if I hadn’t found that bitcoin on my old computer. And look at how it threw the cat among the pigeons, we were all at each other’s throats in no time at all. It just shows you, when it comes to money, you never know who to trust.’

  Two Years After preview

  Start reading Two Years After

  London – February 2017, 23:17

  Rosie watched the first drop of blood splash onto the shattered windscreen below her. It appeared to be making the journey in slow motion, but she knew that was just an illusion, caused by the impact of the crash. In her barely conscious state, it seemed surreal. Half an hour earlier they’d been enjoying canapés and laughing at David Willis’ new goatee beard. At his age, he ought to know better.

  Liam was still, completely still. She couldn’t even hear his breathing. Her arms were numb; she tried to reach over to him, to touch him, to check if he was still alive, but she couldn’t find the strength. The engine was still running, the lights dipped but still shining out ahead of them. She could see grass, a fence and a tree. That’s what must have caused the startling jolt which jarred her neck.

  Why was nobody coming to help them? Why was it taking so long for help to arrive? Didn’t they know about the babies? Were they still safe inside her?

  She could feel the pressure of the seat belt pushing hard into the bump in her stomach. Please let the babies be okay.

  As Rosie struggled to stay awake for Liam’s sake, she tried to recall the lovely evening they’d just had, running through the events in sequence, forcing her mind to focus. She had to be awake when help arrived. She needed to tell them that Liam was AB negative, the rarest blood type. It would be a problem. Those vital seconds would count. She had to stay awake, not only for Liam’s sake but also for the babies.

  It had been such a happy gathering, the perfect ending before her maternity leave and a wonderful send-off for Gina. And David’s promise to her was the icing on the cake.

  Rosie forced herself to recount what had happened, in the precise order that it occurred. If she could do that, it meant she was still alive, and that her body was working well enough for her to get through this. She could hear a siren far off in the distance; was it for them?

  She’d already had her own leaving party, but with Gina Saloman finally off on her travels, Rosie couldn’t resist showing her face, even though she was thirty-four weeks pregnant and feeling very heavy with it. It was the source of many jokes from the guys in the sales team, but she didn’t care.

  Having twins was the best news they could have had, after trying so long. They deserved this. She’d even managed to drag Liam along to the party with her, which in itself warranted a herald of bugles. He was always a quiet one, Liam. But she loved him, and when they were together, he emerged from his shell, bright, funny and confident.

  The siren was coming closer. The blood was dripping faster. Drip – drip – drip, an annoying interruption to her thoughts. It was coming from Liam, but she couldn’t see his injury.

  ‘Liam… Liam. Can you hear me? Try to move if you can. They’re coming. The ambulance is coming. They’ll get us out of here. The babies will be fine.’

  Rosie felt herself drifting again. She forced herself back into awareness; she needed to stay awake. If she let herself fade, she couldn’t help Liam, and she was no use to him if she passed out. The pain was so bad that all she wanted to do was melt away from it. A few more minutes, stay with Liam just a few more minutes. Make sure the babies aren’t hurt.

  She’d been jealous of Gina Saloman at first, leaving work like that, with only a rucksack, her laptop and a dream. Heading for Spain, setting up her own nomadic business, hoping to leave the workplace for good. Gina’s future life would be everything that Rosie’s wouldn’t be. She was about to lose her freedom, but it was what she and Liam had chosen. When they’d discovered it was twins, they couldn’t have been more ecstatic. An entire family at one sitting. The doctors had said that might happen with fertility drugs.

  Gina had been a popular member of the team at Willis Supplies Ltd, so it had been a good turnout for her leaving do. They were all there, helping themselves to the free booze amid a tirade of sexist and tasteless jokes from the sales guys, as if equal rights and workplace rules had never happened. David had laid on quite a spread. He liked Gina; everybody knew that. She’d be a big loss to the business.

  She could see the flashing of blue lights and a glimpse of a red fire engine. Thank God. They’d get the two of them – no, the four of them – out of that crumpled wreck and into a hospital. And what about that man who was walking on the pavement? Where was he? Was he the person who alerted the emergency services?

  They would stop Liam’s bleeding. The blood bank would have his blood type and he’d be saved. Then the doctors would check the babies and give them the all-clear. They’d get through this. If she could only stay awake, they’d make it out, she was certain.

  Gina. Think of Gina’s party. Stay awake.

  There had been so much happiness at the leaving event, and she couldn’t recall when she’d last seen everybody having such a good time. It had been a masterstroke loading up with party poppers, cardboard hats, blowers and even a piñata. She’d thought she was going into labour when she saw how Terry Fincham had sabotaged the piñata; he’d replaced the candy with a selection of sex aids.

  There had been gasps of astonishment as a small vibrator, a packet of exotic condoms, a vibrating ring and a hostile-looking butt plug had tumbled to the ground, accompanied by a tube of Smarties and a Mars Bar. Terry knew how to get a party going. After the gasps of shock had turned into laughter, the Prosecco came out, and they were
away: raucous laughter, filthy jokes and office banter.

  Was Liam drunk? She couldn’t remember. Would they find he was over the limit? Surely they’d save him first and breathalyse him later. They wouldn’t waste time, considering his injuries. Or could they tell from his blood? She didn’t know. She’d never been in a car accident before.

  At the sound of voices, Rosie wanted to cry with relief. At last she could pass over the responsibility for Liam to someone else. She didn’t have to be the strong one for all of them – the firefighters would take the strain.

  There was a female voice; she hadn’t expected that.

  ‘Does it hurt? Are you okay? What about your partner? Is he your husband?’

  Rosie felt herself drifting again. Why was her rescuer upside down? No, she and Liam were upside down – the car had flipped. The firefighter was speaking to her through the shattered window to her side.

  ‘We’re going to have to cut you out, my love. You’re safe now, we’ve got you. Try to hang on a little longer. We’ll get you out, don’t worry.’

  A few minutes more, that’s all she needed to manage. Then she could sleep. They’d pack her off in an ambulance, give her something for the pain, and congratulate her on the babies. She’d wake up hours later, and it would all be fine. And Liam would be conscious. They’d stitch up his cuts. The blood was beginning to pool now; they’d need to attend to that straight away.

  David Willis had offered her a promotion at the party. It couldn’t have come at a better time.

  ‘Of course, it stands for when you’re back from maternity leave,’ he’d told her with a smile. ‘Come back to the office whenever you’re ready, and when you do, you can have that corner office. It’s yours, Rosie. Just make sure you don’t get too caught up with the twins and decide never to come back to work again.’

  ‘We can’t afford to do that.’ She’d laughed. ‘A small terraced house in London costs a fortune. Liam and I will be working until we’re a hundred years old before we get it paid off.’