by June Taylor
‘I didn’t even know about the money,’ he said, following Louie with his eyes, switching direction quickly when he lost sight of her. She carried on circling and the pattern repeated itself.
‘So why are you here in that case?’ she asked.
‘Because you’ve stolen her money, you evil bitch.’
‘Karin hasn’t explained it to you then, obviously. You see she was worried that vultures like you would be trying to get their talons into it, so she gave it to me for safekeeping. You can ask her. She knows she can completely trust me; I’m the only one she can.’
Aaron picked up a stray piece of wood and smashed it against the wall, leaving a jagged edge, holding it like a baseball bat. ‘Do you seriously want me to go to the police and tell them you’ve robbed someone of nearly a million pounds? Do you?’
‘Oh come on, I think we’re all going down if you do that. I doubt your property portfolio is as squeaky clean as it ought to be. And doesn’t it bother you that Karin is still in love with me? She always will be; you need to know that.’
‘So why is she marrying me then?’
Louie forced out a burst of laughter. She was used to not showing her fear in these situations, even though it had been a while since she had found herself in one.
She could outrun most people, yet here she felt trapped.
‘I do have a theory on that one,’ she said, digging her nails into her palms.
But that was all she said.
Let him beg.
He threw his arms out, coming towards her with the piece of wood. ‘Well?’
‘You’ll have to play nicely.’ Her hand was resting on her belt, ready to draw the knife if she had to. But he backed off, and Louie began circling him again. There was even more debris on the floor than before. ‘Karin’s had a pretty rough time of it, I’m sure you know that much at least. And looking for stability in her life. Sadly I think she’s confused that with plain old boring.’ Louie could see he was twitching, keen to retaliate, but his curiosity was stronger than his pride and he was letting her carry on. ‘She clearly views you as a father figure, wouldn’t you say? Which I can quite understand, given her own father died and you probably remind her of him.’ Louie gave him an extra-wide grin when she added: ‘Well you are a bit of a corpse yourself, Aaron.’
He made an attempt to grab her, but she was quicker, taking a step backwards out of his reach.
‘Hold on,’ she said, raising her hands to stop him advancing any further. ‘You may want to hear this next part too.’
Aaron squared his shoulders, trying to look intimidating but also preparing himself for what might be coming next.
‘I take it you don’t know that me and Karin had sex in the toilet at The Midland? Hot, desperate sex. Deep and dirty, the way she likes it. Did she tell you that? Then you asked her to marry you just after. Basically she panicked and said yes. It’s true, you should ask her. Why d’you think she was behaving so weird that night? Disappearing the whole time, coming back flustered from the toilet, cheeks all flushed, lost an earring. My god, she was hot. And at the art show, she wanted it then too, but we didn’t.’ Louie dared to move closer, jabbing her finger in his face like he had done to her. ‘I’m no expert, Aaron, but I’d say that’s not a good start for a marriage. Would you?’
He was mortally wounded; words could do that to a person. She thought he might lash out again, but he didn’t.
‘Is that why she paid you the money?’ he asked, desperately trying to make sense of it. Poor sod. ‘So that I wouldn’t find out?’
‘No. I think she was more worried that you were going to steal it from her.’
‘You’re a lying cow. I don’t believe a word.’
He was scanning the bedsit, a look of destruction in his eyes once more, and returned to the recently started painting resting on the easel. It was the latest one of Karin, although he probably couldn’t see that yet. It was Karin sawing up a tree in the garden in Ashby Road. The easel toppled over this time; he kicked it hard. Then stamping on the canvas, he put a hole through the middle of Karin’s face.
Louie didn’t try to stop him.
Wiping his forehead with his shirt sleeve, he pointed his finger at her again. ‘If you don’t return that money, I swear I will make sure you never paint another picture. Do you understand me?’
His eyes flickered, still seeking to lash out. They landed on the mannequin in the corner of the room.
‘Don’t touch that!’ Louie shouted, lunging at him.
He gave her a shove, sending her to the floor with a crack. The mannequin went over too. Louie dabbed her lip: there was blood on her hand. He followed up with a disdainful nudge to her stomach, using the end of his shoe.
‘You’ll just have to kill me,’ she said, licking the blood off her lip.
He grabbed her, suddenly, manhandling her over to the window.
She was being dragged across the floor, mostly on her knees as she was struggling to stand, and only just managed to avoid crashing her head into the window ledge as it came speeding towards her. The wood was rotten all around the frame, flaking paintwork, and a shade of mouldy green growing in the gaps, which Louie had used for a colour match in Ophelia. The sash mechanism didn’t work any more.
Aaron hoisted the window upwards. It rattled and fell down again, reminding Louie of the idiosyncrasies that she had simply grown used to in their bedsit.
Their love nest. Hers and Karin’s.
Did he realize that yet?
She thought about making the suggestion of using the broken broom handle to prop the window open, currently at eye level due to the fact that he was forcing her head down, holding her by the hair. Louie could feel a tightening in her scalp which made her eyes water.
He must have figured out a way of keeping the window open with his other hand, because she felt herself being shoved outside, her stomach ending up in a painful V-shape over the ledge. At least the knife was easy to reach in this position. Staring down at the street three floors below, she got a whiff of someone’s cooking in the flat directly beneath theirs. Stewed vegetables. A man out walking his dog was forced to stop when the dog cocked its leg against the lamp post. Cars parked either side of the road. In the breath of air above the cooking fumes she could also detect the sea, familiar and fresh-smelling.
Then she got a flash of her own crumpled body, lying broken on the pavement. A bloody stain, seeping from her head. Neighbours screaming.
Louie breathed hard.
Don’t show him your fear.
‘Could I just point out that you can’t kill me until you have the money?’ she shouted, trying to direct her voice up and back without alerting the rest of the neighbourhood.
Louie waited for him to react. One way or the other.
Moments later she was being hauled inside again.
Once her feet were firmly on the floor, she grinned at him, saying: ‘Well that was exhilarating.’ Her head was still tingling, glitter shapes floating across her eyes. She shook them away and waited for her heart rate to come down and her head to clear.
‘Right,’ she said, almost recovered, ‘let’s sit down, shall we, and try and be civilized about this? Have to be the sofa though, as you’ve smashed up all the chairs. I’m assuming you won’t want to sit on the bed, given that’s where Karin and I used to sleep. Well, we did one or two other things in there besides. Obviously. You sure about that tea?’
He was struggling to deal with the intimacy of this room now. Wasn’t quite prepared for that. He reminded Louie of a wild animal, suddenly tamed by a tranquilizer shot into its backside.
Eventually he opted for the sofa. She could tell by the way he reluctantly sank his weight into the cushions that he was wondering if they had had sex on there too. Which, of course they had. Many times. But she would spare him the details.
Louie took a seat next to him, as close as she needed to be. Despite having the upper hand, his pride was wounded, and he could still lash out at any po
int. She felt her heart begin to pound at that thought.
‘So,’ she said, trying to ignore it, ‘do you still wish the money to be paid into Karin’s account? You really didn’t seem too impressed by the toilet sex.’
He was oscillating between anger and confusion, running his fingers through his hair and then smearing them across his face. The look he gave her was full of hatred and contempt. She knew that he wanted to kill her. Her hand was just underneath her T-shirt, ready.
‘Karin loves me, Aaron.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘Because I know Karin. Better than you or anyone else will ever know her. And I can prove it.’
The bedsit was in a state, as if some drunken brawl had gone on. She picked up the mannequin, inspecting it for damage but there didn’t seem to be any as far as she could tell. It was a shame about the canvas that he had destroyed, although she hadn’t got very far with it and could easily start again from scratch.
Putting the broom handle in place at the window, she watched for Aaron to emerge at street level. He came out, started walking towards the sea. There appeared to be somebody waiting for him at the end of the road, standing beside a car. Louie strained her neck to get a better view, but it was too far away to take in any detail and the car door was obscuring most of the person in any case. It was probably a female outline, although she couldn’t say for sure.
She saw Aaron getting into the passenger side. After a short while the car drove off.
41
Mel
‘You okay?’ said Mel, waiting for him to get nearer before she asked the question.
He didn’t answer.
They both got into the car at the same time. Aaron slammed his door and she could feel the tension coming off him immediately. There was blood on his sleeve, but she didn’t say anything.
‘There has been something going on, even at The Midland. I can’t fucking believe it.’ He hit out at the door, rubbing his fist afterwards.
Mel sighed. She wasn’t sure how to respond. ‘Well you don’t know for sure if that’s the truth, Aaron. Speak to Karin first.’
He was like an unexploded bomb, and the bottle of whisky he had finished off on the way over hadn’t helped either. That was on top of what he had drunk at the launch.
Mel had received the phone call towards the end of her shift. Aaron was insisting on driving over to Morecambe this evening. ‘I have to confront the bitch, Mel. I can’t leave it any longer. Just me and her, have this out.’ He said that if Mel wouldn’t give him a lift then he would drive himself anyway. It was plain from his voice that he had been drinking, even at that point, and so she really didn’t have any choice. But it was fine.
Mel faced the steering wheel, gripping it tightly, and then let go of it again. Maybe she ought to try and calm him before they set off.
‘You can’t trust anything that comes out of her mouth, you know,’ she said.
‘Whose? Karin’s?’
‘I meant Louie. Well of course she’d say something’s been going on. Because she wants you out of the picture, doesn’t she?’
Aaron fired an angry jet of air from his mouth, tipping his head backwards and pressing his fingers into his eyes. With an extended groan, his chin flopped down onto his chest again. ‘Can we just go please, Mel? I really want to be in Leeds now.’
Mel started the engine and pulled away, watching his reaction as they drove past The Midland. She was about to remark on how impressive it looked, curving into the bay as if it belonged to the landscape. Instead she put her hand on Aaron’s shoulder to acknowledge his pain, leaving things until they were well clear of Morecambe before asking him any more questions.
‘So did she say anything about Will?’
Aaron still seemed distracted. She repeated the question, this time adding: ‘Poor Will.’
He was staring out of the window, lost in his turmoil. ‘What?’ he said, turning to her. ‘No. No, she didn’t say anything, and I didn’t ask.’
‘And so what about Karin’s money? Can we get it back for her, do you think?’
Aaron said that he just wanted to sleep now. Or maybe he closed his eyes so that he didn’t have to answer any more of her questions.
The roads were quiet. Mel put the radio on low to keep herself awake. As they approached Leeds a couple of hours later, queuing to come off the roundabout, she applied the brakes harder than she needed to in order to wake him, as by that time he clearly was asleep.
‘Almost home,’ she said. ‘Do I drop you at yours?’
‘I wish you’d told me, Mel.’
‘Told you what? I knew no more than you did.’
‘You knew about Louie, that they were once an-an item. Jeez. You could have said something about that at least.’
‘I was hoping Karin would do that herself. Look, it wasn’t my place to say anything. Come on, Aaron, you still love Karin and she loves you. Am I right?’
He didn’t answer.
Mel dropped him in front of his apartment building and told him to go straight to bed. ‘And if you need me, either of you, I’m right here. Okay? You take care.’
He stumbled out of the car.
‘Hey,’ Mel shouted, forcing him to come back again. She hadn’t quite finished but didn’t want to broadcast what more she had to say. Aaron staggered over, stuck his head through the window, hanging onto the roof like he might fall over otherwise.
‘What I can tell you about Louie is she’s pretty unpredictable. Unhinged, even. I’m just warning you. Goodnight, Aaron. Try and get some sleep, you look shattered.’
42
Karin
Aaron had mentioned to her that he would have to shoot off straight after the launch and therefore couldn’t stay for the celebrations. At the time, Karin had done her best to conceal her disappointment. It sounded like it was important, whatever it was, a meeting or something, but even so it was rather short notice. In the end he left without saying goodbye because Karin was in the middle of an interview, which was a shame as she had hardly seen him all day.
The launch was over now, and had been a success. Everyone said so. Why wasn’t she feeling a little more elated then? But really, she knew why. Because she had desperately wanted Aaron to say that he was proud of her. In fact the only person to actually tell her this was Louie, who texted to let her know that she was watching her on the news, glowing with pride. Even coming from Louie this still meant something. Without really knowing why she did it, Karin texted back to say thank you for caring.
She had the same mixed reaction when she read Louie’s next message about Will. It said how sorry she was to hear that he had drowned. Karin shuddered to remember that Louie may have been responsible for Will’s death.
Two days on from the launch, she still hadn’t seen very much of Aaron. He had come back late on Saturday night, drunk, and been working ever since. But this morning, before he left for the office, they agreed to sit down over dinner and make a plan. The way Aaron kissed her goodbye as he went out the door gave Karin some reassurance that there might actually be a way out of this and a glimmer of hope for the future.
Their future. Together.
She was still prepared to write off the money, being the easiest solution of all, but Aaron was in no mood to let Louie get away with it and had made that very clear. Karin did wonder at what point the bank would raise concerns if this money was to yo-yo once more out of Louie’s account and back into her own, where it had landed in the first place from her mother. Might it look like there was some money laundering going on, switching it about like that? Then again, the bank knew her and Louie as a couple now. In any case, Aaron dealt with large sums all the time with his property deals, so he must know ways around it, if indeed this was a problem.
They could discuss the details later.
In preparation for this evening, Karin had walked into town to buy some ingredients from M&S. She wanted it to be special, in spite of the inevitable challenges their dinner table d
iscussion would create. As she stepped into the lift, trying to get her bags of shopping under control so she could press the button for the tenth floor, the sparkle of her engagement ring caught her eye. Karin had to admit that something had changed whenever she looked at it now. The initial euphoria of – Which part of Leeds would they live in? In what sort of house? How many children would they have? When would be a good time to start a family? – had turned into How will this end?
But if they could devise a good plan this evening then maybe there was a chance.
The possibility of a fresh start.
Karin had already suggested that as soon as the money landed back in her account, they could get on a plane and build a new life for themselves. Somewhere. Anywhere in the world, in fact. And even though she had no idea how to reach this next phase, she was beginning to feel excited by it, believing it might actually be possible.
Karin had never imagined leaving Leeds since making it her home just over a year ago. She would be sad to abandon the charity, the projects and the people associated with it, but other than Mel she had no real ties here. She had even worked out a plan for Mel too, if she could be persuaded to come and join them once they were established. She could get a job, maybe meet someone over there. Mel was always talking about wanting a change of scene.
Aaron seemed to be in favour of this plan.
The lift came to a jolting halt on the fifth floor, reminding Karin that there was a whole mountain to climb before they got to that point. She noticed her fingers had turned white where they wound through the handles of the carrier bags, and she was just swapping them over when a family with a pushchair entered the lift. Karin shuffled up to make room, smiling an apology for her bags. She looked at their happy little unit and it made her want to cry.
Stumbling into the hallway, she closed the door with her foot and went into the kitchen with the provisions. Tomato and mozzarella salad followed by a fat, juicy steak, cooked rare, just the way Aaron liked it, with sweet potato fries and homemade relish. For dessert, her special chocolate pudding loaded with Grand Marnier. Cooking wasn’t really her thing but she knew that Aaron’s ex-wife had some flare in this department, so she was keen to make an effort, and especially tonight.