The Liberation of Alice Love

by Abby McDonald

  “Stefan got me a solicitor.” Alice finished her cocktail, plucking out the wedge of fruit that adorned its sugared rim. “And an investigator too, to try and track down the money you stole. It was Nathan,” she added. “The man from their anniversary party?”

  Immediately, Alice regretted the remark. It was confidential, the sort of thing a friend would share, and sure enough, at the mention of him, Ella brightened. “Really? How did that turn out?”

  Alice carefully collected herself again. “Well, he was useful when it came to bailing me out in Rome. Carina doesn’t send her regards,” she added.

  Ella looked astonished. “You got arrested?!”

  “Everyone seems to find it an amusing prospect.”

  “No, it’s just…” Ella looked at her more closely. “You look different. You seem different, too.”

  “I’ve had a lot of life-changing experiences this summer,” Alice replied coolly. “Carry on.”

  Ella paused, looking uncomfortable. “Then, well, you know the rest. I went to Rome, and then down the coast for a while under a different name, to put some distance between the identities. Then I flew here. I’ve been in town almost two months.” She looked up. “How did you find me, anyway?”

  “You weren’t as clever as you thought you were.” Alice explained briefly about Rupert and the Angelique connection.

  “That’s it?” Ella gave a wry laugh. “It’s always the unexpected things, I suppose. How is Rupert anyway?”

  “Fine,” Alice replied, thrown by the genuine interest in her voice. “He’s in town actually, trying to find work. The usual audition circuit.”

  “And Flora and Julian?”

  “They’re all right too.” Alice watched her carefully, before adding. “At least, Flora is, I haven’t heard from Julian since the night he decided to hit on me.”

  “No!” Ella snorted. “Idiot.”

  “Yes, well…” Alice sighed. “I quit the agency too. Not that I had much choice; Vivienne heard I was setting up here in L. A. and flew into quite the rage.”

  “I wish I’d seen it.” Ella grinned.

  Alice smiled back without thinking. Then she caught herself. This was the risk, she knew, to be lulled back into their casual banter as if nothing had ever happened, but already, she could see how easy it was. After all, Ella was the same as she’d always been.

  “So, what now?” Ella asked, uncertain, tracing circles on the tablecloth. “Was it true what you said, about not calling the police?”

  “Would you stay, if it wasn’t?”

  Ella glanced down. “Probably not,” she admitted quietly. “By now…I’m looking at a lot of time in prison. I won’t stick around for that. But I want to.” She gave Alice a sad sort of smile. “I like it here. I found a great apartment, and I’ve started some classes, to meet people—for real, not as targets,” she added quickly. “I’ve even got a kitten. His name’s Marmaduke.” She gave a doting smile.

  “So you’re planning on staying, for good?” Alice paused, a little thrown. She’d been expecting a flimsy pretence of a life, just another name in Ella’s ongoing charade, but instead it sounded as if she was laying genuine foundations here, something permanent.

  Ella nodded. “At least, I was. It all depends—”

  She stopped midsentence, interrupted by an arm snaking around her from behind and an enthusiastic kiss landing on her cheek. “Angelique!”

  They both started, but their new guest didn’t notice. He beamed across at Alice from beneath an ill-fitting baseball cap before turning back to Ella. “Great, you haven’t been waiting on your own. I’m so sorry,” he said, apologetic. “They’ve been keeping me hostage at the gates all day, I had to call in backup just to leave the house.”

  He looked back and forth between them, waiting expectantly.

  “Oh, sorry,” Ella finally said in a faint voice. “This is, an old friend from home. Alice, meet Chris.”

  “H—hi.” Alice was lost for words for a moment, staring into the chiseled features that had adorned many a billboard and magazine cover.

  “Great to meet you.” Chris shook her hand enthusiastically. “Anyway, we’re all over at the bar. Shall I get you some drinks?”

  “Thanks,” Ella replied, her eyes not leaving Alice. “We’ll be over in just a sec. Girl talk,” she added, with a grin.

  “Got it.” Chris winked, and then strolled off, apparently oblivious to the whispers and wide-eyed stares he left in his wake.

  “You know Chris Carmel?” Alice asked in a hushed voice, the moment he was gone. Ella gave a delighted grin.

  “I know!” For a moment they were united in disbelief. Ella beamed. “We met in Italy, just hanging out by the pool one day. He’s a great guy, really down to earth. Then I bumped into him again, when I arrived in town.”

  “By accident or design?” Alice asked, quickly coming back down to earth. Of course: the photo at the hotel, that had pulled her even further down this path. She should have known an opportunist like Ella wouldn’t have let the screen god simply pass her by.

  Ella gave a guilty grin. “Maybe I checked to see which parties he would be at. But it’s not like that,” she added hurriedly. “The rumors are right. He’s, you know, gay.” The last word was mouthed silently, with a careful glance around. “Anyway, we were going to hang out tonight. There’s a whole group, industry mainly, but some ‘normal’ people too. They’re really nice.” She paused, giving Alice a hopeful look. “Do you want to? It would just be dinner and then a club or something.”

  Alice was lost for words. “You’re inviting me out to…party?” She had to check, just to be sure of Ella’s nerve.

  “We’ll talk more later,” Ella promised brightly, then she snapped her fingers, struck with a new idea that, of course, had nothing to do with her guilty conscience and the trail of lies she’d left in her wake. “Call Rupert, and have him come too. There are always all sorts of producers and casting people buzzing around Chris,” she added with a sage nod, as if she were already the agent she’d apparently been claiming. “It could be a great chance for him to meet people, start making himself known.”

  “Ella!”

  Only moments ago, she’d been talking fearfully about prison, and now she wanted to go lounge around with movie stars? Alice couldn’t believe the nonchalance.

  “What?” Ella caught Alice’s expression, quickly adjusting her own enthusiasm down to a more serious tone. “I know, we still have lots to talk about, but it’s hardly as if I’m going to bolt now. This could be a great chance for Rupert, and you too.” She added, getting to her feet.

  “You stole my identity,” Alice said slowly. “They all think you’re me.”

  “No, they think I’m Angelique, and you’re Alice. Simple.” Ella waited, expectant.

  “Rupert knows that’s my name, remember?”

  Ella shrugged. “So it’s a huge a coincidence! Our mothers must have been reading the same pretentious novels; it’s easily explained.” She bounced on the spot. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

  Alice was still trying to understand this sudden switch when she looked up, catching the briefest look of desperation skitter across Ella’s face. Then she understood, Ella was still absolutely terrified. Of discovery, of the police, of having her golden little world here pulled apart—everything that Alice could do so easily, with just a single phone call. No wonder she was trying so hard to drag her off to the VIP section, Alice realized. She probably hoped that if she dazzled her with A-list friends and a riot of fun, Alice could be persuaded not to give her up.

  “All right,” Alice decided. It was reassuring to know that she still had some small measure of power over Ella. And it was true, a part of her was curious to see this new life of hers up close. She got to her feet and gazed at Ella carefully. “But we talk more later.”

  “Absolutely,” Ella vowed. “It’s going to be fun, I promise!”

  Alice was wound too tight with caution to enjoy herself, but as she lounged
in the dim VIP section of an ultra-cool club, watching as Ella laughed and joked with Chris and his surprisingly genuine group of friends, she had to admit, it wasn’t entirely bad. Seeing Ella in her element like this was almost reassuring. She seemed, to Alice, to be exactly the same person she’d been back in England, albeit with a different name, and new stories to tell her accomplished acquaintances. Ella, on the other hand, wasn’t quite so relaxed: her gaze flicking over to Alice every few minutes, anxious, as if she expected her to stand up and denounce her as an imposter at any second.

  “What did you say your friend’s name was?” Rupert leaned over, raising his voice to be heard over the DJ’s eclectic mix of hip-hop and Broadway show tunes.

  Alice paused. “Angela,” she said, deliberately muddying the word with a sip from her exquisite cocktail.

  “Oh, great! She seems nice!” Rupert looked around, unable to keep the joyful expression from his face. He’d hit it off with Chris almost straight away, the pair of them diving into debate over some British comedy show, and soon, Chris had been suggesting to Perry (his manager) and Cleo (one of his battalion of agents) that they set Rupert up with an audition for his upcoming vampire-versus-zombie apocalypse movie sequel.

  Rupert pushed back his flop of fringe. “Did I say thank you enough already?”

  Alice laughed, glad of his presence in the midst of all this uncertainty—a reminder of something honest. “It was only a drinks invite. Besides, I wanted to see you while I was in town. This time,” she added quickly.

  He shook his head. “It’s not just drinks, Alice, you know that. It’s…access, exposure, getting seen by the right people.” Rupert nodded at the casual designer suits. “I could never pull it off on my own. It’s why I never got anywhere, back in England.

  “But—”

  “I know,” he cut her off, before she could object. “Good actors rise to the top, eventually.” He repeated the oft-spoken mantra. “But come off it—we both know that’s not true. The ones who stay at the top, they’re the good ones, yes, but plenty who manage to grab their way up there for a while are just better at playing these games.”

  Alice gave his shoulder a supportive squeeze. She’d never been too comfortable among these sorts of people either, thinking herself too dull or sensible to blend with their outré lifestyles. But if there was one thing she’d learned from her brief spells as Angelique—and Juliet, and even Ella—it was that perhaps she wasn’t that sensible after all.

  “That’s why you need one of these cutthroat agents.” She grinned, nodding around at the collection of fast-talking industry types with gleaming grins and a phone console never far from their fingertips. “They play the game, so you don’t have to.”

  Rupert paused, drumming his fingers briefly on the tabletop. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about that. I’d like you to do it for me. Be my agent, I mean,” he explained eagerly. “If you want me as a client, that is. It just seems like perfect timing: you coming over here, right when I need you most. What do you say?”

  Alice cringed under his hopeful gaze. “I…I don’t have enough experience yet,” she protested. “I couldn’t do you justice.”

  “Not at all,” Rupert insisted. “You know contracts inside out, and you’re already introducing me to all the right people. What more is there?”

  “I can’t,” Alice apologized, busying herself with a napkin. “I really—”

  “Can’t what?” Ella collapsed beside her with a breathless grin.

  “Alice is refusing to represent me.” Rupert adopted a woeful expression.

  “Why not? That’s a great idea!” Ella exclaimed. Alice gave her a look.

  “You know why not,” she said, keeping her voice measured. “I’m…just starting out on my own. I wouldn’t be up to the responsibility.”

  “Nonsense,” Ella declared. “Don’t worry,” she told Rupert. “She’ll come around. She’s just a little overwhelmed by the whole Hollywood thing.”

  “Um, can I have a word?” Alice practically pushed Ella out of the booth and into a back hallway.

  “What are you playing at?” she hissed, the moment a leggy blond sashayed past them into the toilets. “Fucking with everyone else may be OK with you, but this is Rupert! He’s a decent guy!”

  “I know he is,” Ella protested. “Which is why I think you’d be the perfect agent for him.”

  Alice sighed. “In case you’ve forgotten, you’re the one saying you’re a hot-shot L. A. agent, not me.”

  “So why don’t you?” Ella folded her arms, a note of challenge in her tone.

  Alice blinked. “What?”

  “Do it. Move here, agent—for real, I mean,” Ella insisted. “We could set up, together. I’ve been telling everyone about the Angelique Love Agency, so why don’t we make it with the real Angelique Love attached?”

  Alice’s mouth dropped open, for what felt like the tenth time that day. “Are you insane?”

  Ella shrugged. “I know, it’s a crazy idea, but that’s what makes it genius! You have the legal experience, I’ve been developing all the contacts…”

  “Ella—”

  “And the best part is, I’ve been registering everything in your name all along, so it wouldn’t even be a lie.”

  “Stop!” Alice cried. “Just…stop.” She caught her breath, waiting for a trio of girls draped in skintight denim and leather to giggle past before asking, “Are you even listening to yourself? This is all lies, Ella, all of it. No, wait,” she corrected herself sarcastically. “That’s not your real name either.”

  “So we make it true,” Ella said, her voice rising with a peculiar intensity. “No more running, or stupid cover stories; I’m telling you—it’s perfect. I’ll just take another surname, or say we’re cousins—that would work, wouldn’t it?” she looked at Alice, as if for approval. “And you’ve quit the agency now, so why not take that leap to agenting you’ve always wanted?”

  “I’ve been agenting,” Alice shot back. “For the last month now, until Vivienne ruined everything, but you wouldn’t know that, would you? Because you left!”

  Ella stopped. She looked at Alice curiously. “Is that what this is all about? You’re mad at me for leaving? Because I am sorry for that—I didn’t want to go.”

  She said it as if she’d had no choice in the matter. Something in Alice snapped.

  “No, Ella. I’m mad at you for lying, and cheating, and stealing my entire fucking savings!” Alice yelled, her voice ringing out in the small space. “Oh, yes, and leaving too. God, I trusted you. How you could even think I’d let you keep playing this charade, let alone go into partnership with you?”

  Ella fell silent for a moment. Then she looked over at Alice, almost nervous. “So why haven’t you told the police yet, if you hate me so much?”

  Alice shook her head. “I don’t hate you.” She sighed. “You just…don’t understand. All this time, I’ve been trying to figure out who you are. Why you’d do this to me. Months, going over every bloody receipt for some clue! I even—” She broke off, about to mention the mess with Nadia, and her own forays into the world of aliases and impersonation.

  “You even what?” Ella looked chastened, at least.

  “Nothing.” There was no use. Ella didn’t see how much she’d hurt her. That was the difference between them. “But you understand, don’t you? Why this is ridiculous. I mean, Ella, when I think about everything I went through because of you, and here you are, barely pausing for breath between your glitzy parties and shopping sprees. Funded by loans in my name,” she added bitterly.

  “You didn’t have to pay for them,” Ella replied cautiously. “You got everything back.”

  “And that makes it all right?”

  Ella paused, a stubborn look lingering on her face. “Relatively, maybe…”

  “Look.” Alice stopped her with a sigh. “I’m not going to debate the morality of what you’re doing. I mean, you’ve probably contributed more to the world than I have with all that ch
arity.”

  Ella looked up. “You know about that?”

  “I told you,” Alice said, with a pale smile. “I tracked everything. Hazel was pretty pissed with you for leaving, but I said you had a sick relative. In Australia.”

  Ella looked truly surprised. “Oh. Thanks.”

  They were silent again, nothing but the muffled thump of the bass between them. Alice felt a heavy pull of disappointment in her chest, where once excitement had been. All that clarity and closure she’d been so determined to find seemed just as far from reach as when she’d been an ocean away. Ella had nothing for her, after all, just a mismatched handful of justifications and excuses. It was as much as anyone could offer in support of their actions, she supposed, but Alice had expected more.

  She’d needed more.

  “Can I show you something?” Ella asked suddenly. “We can go in my car. It wouldn’t take long.”

  Alice rolled her eyes. “You’ve been drinking,” she pointed out. But something in Ella’s expression made her pause. What else was she here for, if not to hear what she wanted to say? “Fine.” Alice sighed, giving Ella a familiar look of reproach. “I’ll drive.”

  Chapter Thirty-five

  The city at night was a stream of neon and headlights, the breeze warm through their windows. Ella directed her down a series of quiet side streets, skillfully avoiding the angry rush of the main freeways.

  “What’s this?” she asked, turning Alice’s tiny console over in her hands.

  “The GPS tracking on your car,” Alice replied, with a glimmer of a smile.

  “Oh.”

  No more was said for the rest of the journey to Santa Monica, until Ella instructed her to pull into a deserted parking garage, tucked under a stretch of modern offices and bathed in the pale glow of security lights.

  “Let me guess,” Alice remarked drily, as she descended into the concrete basement. “You’re planning on killing me, hiding my body, and assuming my identity for real?”