To: Eden
From: Kara
Date: Sunday 5 October 2014
Subject: I’m coming over again
I’m back over again next weekend. You bugger making me use up all my leave and spend my money, but I’m worried. I’m coming to see you. I don’t know why you won’t reply. Whatever it is, I’ve done, I’m sorry. I don’t remember anything that could have offended you, but please, please get in touch.
I knock on the door of The Loxley’s. With no reply, I’m about to walk away when I notice the front room curtain twitch. A woman who looks to be around her early thirties answers the door. She has a crease from a cushion or pillow denting her cheek.
‘Sorry. Kid’s in nursery. Was making the most of it.’ She looks up at me. ‘Can I help you?’
Kids? I’m confused. Jack and Sienna have no children.
‘Erm, are you Sienna?’
The woman smiles. ‘Ah. Were you wanting the owners? Sorry, they moved out. I’m renting.’
‘Moved out?’
The woman looks behind her. I can see she wants me gone.
‘Do you know where they are?’
‘They were rushing off on holiday so we needed to sort our arrangements quickly. We can’t believe our luck. We’ve been trying to get a house around here for ages.’
‘Er, that’s great. But what did they do with their stuff?’ I’m finding it hard to follow all this. Holiday? House up for rent? What about Eden? I guess she lost her job then?
‘Estate agents sorted all that out. They left the furniture, but their belongings were packed up and removed just before we got here. Listen is everything okay?’
‘My friend worked for them and she’s not been in touch. Did they leave a forwarding address?’
At the hint of some potential trouble, the woman’s face becomes guarded.
‘I've got a card for the estate agent. Just a moment.’ She closes the door on me and returns with a business card. ‘This is our contact. Maybe they can help?’
‘Thank you.’
She nods her head and closes the door. I traipse to the bus stop to return to Manchester City Centre, an impatient huff escapes my mouth. What the fuck is going on? I try and call Rick’s restaurant to see if he’s heard from her, but it’s not open yet.
Back in Manchester, I decide that when I do find Eden, I’ll kill her for putting me through all this shit. I speak to a receptionist at Simmons’s Estate Agency but I may as well talk to the bell on the top of her counter. Fed up of her prissy attitude I ask her to fetch her Manager. He gives me a lot of spiel about Data Protection and basically, although he’s polite, tells me to fuck off. Standing at the doorway I wait for a couple to pass me so I can leave, but they’re taking their time looking at the properties advertised in the window. It's like no-one else has a care in the world. I clench my jaw. I’m so tense that when I feel a tap on my arm, I pivot, a glare on my face. My eyes meet that of a young bloke, probably the same age as me. His face is pale. He rubs his hands down the top of his trousers and clears his throat.
‘I shouldn’t be telling you this,’ he mumbles, ‘and if anyone asks I’ll deny it, but a man grabbed hold of me when I showed that place.’
My breath catches in my chest. ‘You should tell someone.’
‘No,’ he says firmly. ‘I don’t want it getting out. My probation period is about to end. It’s fine. The guy didn’t hurt me but he wanted the same info as you do.’
‘He?’
‘Dark haired bloke, lighter fringe. He was hanging around the rear of the property, trying to nosy through the window. Asked where they’d gone.’
‘Anything else?’
‘Not that I’m aware of.’
‘I think they’ve gone abroad. The lady living there told me. The thing is my friend was working with them and I haven’t heard from her.’
‘Well I know nothing about that, but maybe that other bloke knows something.’
I sigh. ‘I can’t think who that could be. It doesn’t sound like her ex, but he could have had his hair done I suppose. Thanks for your help. I’m sorry to have caused anyone any bother.’
‘That’s okay.’
‘Well, I’ll let you get back to work. Good luck with your trial period. Hope it works out for you.’
He nods and walks away. I leave the agency with a feeling of hope that she is with Rick after all.
‘Are you listening, Kara? I haven’t seen Eden since before you gave up the tenancy. She told me she’d met someone else.’
I pull up a chair in the restaurant and slump into it, my heart in my boots. ‘I don’t know what to do, Rick. It’s so unlike her to not be in touch.’
‘It’s bloody strange for her not to have her phone on. That thing was permanently glued to her ear.’
‘I’m getting worried.’ I rub my arm and glance around the restaurant.
‘Look, she’ll be on holiday with them, like that woman said. Give her a bit longer to get in touch. She’s most likely on a jet ski somewhere right now, or a yacht.’
I sigh. ‘Do you think so?’
‘Yeah. Maybe there’s no Wi-Fi out there. You know what she’s like, she’ll be trying out the new experiences.’
‘You’re probably right. I just have this sinking feeling in my chest.’
‘Well, much as I’d like to stand and chat about your feelings, Kara, we’re busy.’
I sigh again. Rick always was a fucking dickhead.
‘I hope they get better service than I did. You didn’t offer me a drink all the time I was here.’ I let the door swing behind me before he answers back.
As I’m still not satisfied, my next visit is to the police station. I’m taken into an interview room by an older PC. He takes out a notebook and makes notes as I speak.
‘So she works for these Loxleys? Who’ve rented their house and gone on holiday?’
When he puts it like that, I feel foolish.
‘Yes, but she’s not answering her emails or her telephone.’
‘Depending on where she’s gone, there can be rubbish internet and phone connections. It’s not like England, love. She got any family she might have been in touch with?’
‘No. I’m her only close contact. She was fostered. I checked with her ex-boyfriend. He hasn’t heard from her either.’
The PC perks up. ‘Ex-boyfriend you say? Was it an amicable split? Anything to say they’d been together lately?’
‘He’s not seen her since they split up-months ago. I believe him. You’re right. I’m overreacting, aren’t I? She’s probably on holiday.’ With a tight smile on my face, I get up from my seat. ‘I’m sorry to have wasted your time.’
‘Listen. Give it a couple more days. If you hear nothing, we’ll look into it. Starting with that ex-boyfriend.’
I inform him of my contact details and leave the station. There’s absolutely nothing I can do but wait.
Back at Dave’s I fire up my laptop and send another message.
To: Eden
From: Kara
Date: Friday 10 October 2014
Subject: Demented
Please, please send me a quick message to let me know you’re safe. I’m going mad here, imagining you dead in a ditch or kidnapped or something! I’m at Dave’s if you need me. Love Kara xxx
I go back through our messages, looking for any clues as to her whereabouts, wondering if I’ve missed something. The last one was her telling me how bored she was. They must have cheered her up with the holiday. I click further back where she’s moaning about the building works. A chill goes up my spine. They were renovating. Why would someone have work done to the house then leave? Why the rush? Who puts a tenancy on a property to go on holiday? Then I come across the message about the one-night stand she had in the club. The one she looked up when she was bored. I click on it to open.
To: Kara
From: Eden
Date: 31 July 2014
Subject: Sex on Legs
This is that guy I met
at Escape/Find when you wouldn’t come out (glad you didn’t now!) I imagined him to be some secret billionaire. He’s an Estate Agent! Admittedly he owns the agency, but still!
I move to the end of the email and open the attached picture.
There’s a suave looking guy in a suit, standing outside his estate agency. Not the one I was at today. I take in the chiselled features. His dark hair. Lighter in the fringe where the sun has lifted it. The estate agent’s words ping back at me like an elastic band. It’s him. The one who was searching the property. Trying to find Eden and threatening the Estate Agent.
Quickly, I cursor back to the email. I’ve even found out from Facebook that he eats at Paulina’s every Monday night. I’ve turned into a stalker hahaha.
I now know what I’ll be doing this Monday evening. Work can wait. It’s time to see what Xavier Harrington can tell me about his visit to Eden’s.
Chapter Ten
Xavier
One thing I’m not expecting while enjoying the flavours of a butternut squash risotto is a small, feisty looking brunette in my face. She barks my name at me, her hand on her hip. She’s not much taller than me when I’m sat down. Despite her ferociousness, it makes me want to giggle. Jane, my regular Monday evening dinner partner is peering at me with a raised eyebrow. She’d probably like it to be an angry girlfriend here to confront me for stringing them along. Unfortunately, she knows that’s not how I roll.
I wipe my mouth with a napkin. ‘I’m sorry. Do I know you?’
‘Where’s Eden? You were at the house. What do you know?’
My ears prick up. ‘You know Eden?’
‘She’s my best friend. Now, where is she?’
Everyone is staring at us. Mondays are busy in Paulina’s as it’s discount night, but still, a hush is descending.
I gesture at Paulina, who is Jane’s sister and the reason we eat here each week.
‘Could we have an extra chair, please?’
‘Sure. Would you like a drink?’ she asks the crazy, small woman.
I hold out a hand. ‘I’ll introduce myself, although it would seem you know who I am. Xavier Harrington, and this is my friend, Jane Burrows.’
‘Kara Mitchell. Like I said I’m Eden’s best friend.’
I can see Kara trying to work out who Jane is to me. Friend? Lover? It’s a crazy mixed-up world of non-typical relationships these days. Good luck working this one out.
‘So firstly, I don’t know where Eden is.’
I watch her shoulders slump as I deliver my words.
‘I was really hoping you weren’t going to say that. Can you tell me why you attacked the Estate Agent?’
I look over at Jane who gives me a motherly glare of disapproval and know I’d better explain myself.
‘Listen. I don’t know how much you’re aware of so I’ll start at the beginning.’ I gesture to the chair Paulina has brought. ‘You may like to take a seat.’
Kara sits down.
‘I met Eden at a club.’
‘Escape/Find?’
‘Yes. We hardly spoke, to be honest. I intercepted when an idiot was trying to pick her up.’
‘Yes, I’m aware of what happened that night,’ she tells me, her stare piercing.
I scratch the back of my neck, uncomfortable. Next, I turn to Jane and give her a raised eyebrow, suggesting I’d like to be alone for this conversation. She has finished her dinner now but fills up her wine glass and sits back, going nowhere.
‘Well, that was it. Then a couple of weeks ago I was showing a property in Altrincham and there she was, walking down the street with some food shopping. She saw me and dropped one bag, so I helped her repack. A bloke came out of the house and told me she was working and to leave her to it. She went in. I went home.’
‘So how did you meet the Estate agent?’
‘I wanted to see her again, so I-’ I cough. ‘I looked up the homeowner’s details, made a bogus appointment to see them at their Ad agency and went to see Eden instead. Except there were no Loxley’s and no Eden. The house was up for rent. The estate agent wouldn’t tell me anything, so I… persuaded him.’
Jane shakes her head.
‘That’s it?’ asks Kara.
‘What else could I do? I don’t know her, other than as a hook-up in a club. She goes around clubs looking to pick up anyone and everyone. I saw it for myself.’
‘She’s confused and trying to find herself. She’s not some kind of weirdo slapper,’ Kara fires back.
‘I didn’t say she was. I just said I didn’t know her.’
Kara places a hand to her forehead. ‘She’s not been in touch since before she went away. No emails. There’s no answer from her phone. Nothing. She didn’t even tell me she was going on holiday.’
‘If they left quickly, perhaps there wasn’t time?’
Kara’s eyes go glassy and her lip wobbles. ‘Something about this isn’t right. What if she doesn’t get in touch? What then? I’ve told the police and everyone is telling me to wait. What if I’ve put her in danger?’
‘How can you have put her in danger?’
Kara sighs. ‘I’m the one who told her about the Loxley’s and told her to go for it. I thought it would be good for her to have an experience where she could let herself go before she went travelling. She’s such a lost person. I love her to pieces and wanted her to be okay when I left,’ Kara cries.
‘What do you mean? What experiences?’
‘The Loxley’s have an open relationship. They wanted a live-in lover.’
I pitch back in my seat. My chair scraping across the floor. ‘I’m sorry. What?’
It all makes sense. Jack’s reaction outside. It was one of ownership. Oh, my God. She was their lover.
‘More than ever now, I’m sure she’s gone on a holiday with them. Probably to experience more than travel,’ I say.
I beckon to Paulina and ask for the bill.
‘Right, if that will be all?’
Kara looks at me coldly. ‘How dare you judge my friend? You weren’t judging her when you were sticking your cock in her.’
She takes a piece of paper out of her handbag, along with a pen and scribbles her name and contact details on it. She throws it at me.
‘If you hear anything from her, at all, please get in touch with me. I know my friend and something isn’t right. I’ll probably be back in Spain, so email is best.’ She throws a fiver on the table. ‘To cover my drink.’ Then she flounces out of the restaurant.
Jane turns to me. ‘Well, Xavier. Looks like my scared little pony has become a dark horse. Come on, you can drop me at home and tell me everything on the way.’
With the bill settled we leave the restaurant. Usually it’s with a satisfied feeling but tonight I leave with my stomach churning and my brain perplexed about the enigma that is Eden.
‘Do you know that’s the first time I’ve ever heard about a date of yours? I have wondered about you, you know?’
‘What? That I’m gay?’
‘No, that maybe you were too damaged for relationships. I’d hoped not. This might have only been a hook-up, but the way this girl got to you. It’s nice to see you interested.’
‘It was a hook-up. Base, carnal desires, nothing more.’
‘I know all about those. That’s how me and your Dad started, remember? I’m not proud of myself for dating a married man.’
‘He was hardly married in the typical sense.’
‘I know, but still. My own parents brought me up better than that.’
I put my hand on hers. ‘Never regret your relationship with my father. It brought you into my life. Without you, after losing my dad, who would have stopped me going off the rails, hey?’
‘You’re like a son to me, you know that, don’t you?’
‘I do. You’ve told me enough times. Now quit the soppy shit. I’ll turn into a girl.’
‘What are you going to do about this Eden?’
‘There isn’t anything I can do, is there? I
don’t even know her surname?’
‘It did sound strange. Fancy living with a couple and being a sex slave.’
I give a hearty laugh. ‘Oh, Jane. I don’t think she was kept in a cellar or anything. Different strokes for different folks and all that. Look at me.’ I tip my chin down towards my chest. ‘Not for everyone, that.’
‘When that special someone comes, they’ll love all of you,’ says Jane.
I think of the girl I exposed my chest to in the club. A girl who said nothing at all as if it was all perfectly normal.
After I drop Jane at home, I continue to my apartment in the City Centre. Chosen as I didn’t want to be too far away from the branch in case of emergencies. I lock up, shrug my clothes off, leaving them in a heap on the floor and dive under the duvet.
Resting my head on the pillow, I let my mind wander. Picking up a woman in a club was so unlike me. She brought out my base desires. I’d seen other people fuck in there, but never joined in myself. When I’d seen that she was going to leave with that other man, some feral instinct kicked in. She had to be with me. When I think of Jack, acting like he owned her, I feel sick. She was okay with that. Okay with him fucking her. I wonder if she’d ever thought of me? I scoff at myself. Of course she didn’t. I was just one amongst a cluster of fucks. I’m amazed she even recognised me when I saw her at the house. Frustration has me clenching my fists. How the hell did Kara know how to find me? Why didn’t I ask her? Sometimes I’m so stupid and naïve. I feel a tension headache descending so I close my eyes and bring forth the image of a dark club, a hot girl and my cock plunging into the depths of her warm pussy. I use my hand to gain release though it doesn’t clear the frustration from my mind. First thing tomorrow, I need answers from Kara and a surname for Eden.
I pick up my mobile and dial her number.
‘You’re lucky you got me. I’m about to set off for the airport.’
‘Oh, yeah. You said you were leaving for Spain. Do you live there?’
‘I’m a Tour Rep. Anyway, what can I do for you?’
She’s abrupt and I can’t blame her with how I ended our conversation yesterday. ‘How did you know where to find me last night?’
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