The Tangled Web

by Lacey Dearie

  That message wasn’t meant for you Pam it was for your Dad

  Wee Mela at 21:32 on 14th July

  What’s all this Pam business about?????

  Magnus Pellicci at 21:34 on 14th July

  Hey Mela, the last thing I want to do is fight with anyone, I just wanted to make friends with Ruth

  Adam Robertson at 21:35 on 14th July

  Stop flirting with my little sister’s friend! She’s too young for you and you’ve just broke up with one girl. Thought you said you were done with women? Go and get some beauty sleep for your TV appearance tomorrow. You need it, you ugly git.

  Wee Mela at 21: 37 on 14th July

  HEY VICKYYYYYY! I got him! I got him! Christos is a rat! I got him!

  Peter Blackwood at 21:40 on 14th July

  Bob was wrong before. This is BETTER than Eastenders!

  Vicky dropped her phone into the sink from shock and her brain scrambled to piece everything together. She picked up her phone. She cursed succinctly, realising that she had left the tap running and the kettle was overflowing. In fact, her right hand had become numb with the weight of a full kettle and the temperature of the icy water.

  She had to read it through again. She set the kettle down on the worktop and attempted to dry off her BlackBerry with a dishtowel which had been lying around. She swore again as the screen began to fade.

  What was she going to do? How could she tell Flic? Did Magnus know everything about Lumi? Is that why she had turned up in tears? This was not what they needed right now.

  And Adam! Oh God, how were they going to explain this to him? She could imagine the lecture she would get. A big family falling out was on the cards, she could tell.

  She went to the living room and took a seat on one of Flic’s cosy brown couches. Right now, she wished she could text Christos and tell him what was going on. Maybe he wouldn’t know what to do. He probably wouldn’t have any solutions for her. But he would listen and provide jokes to take her mind off things. He would lighten her mood. If only she hadn’t dropped her phone in the sink!

  She stared at the suitcases waiting to be transported to Flic’s car and then onto sunnier climes. That was, if they managed to get away now. If Lumi wasn’t going to back out. If Lumi still had her passport and Magnus hadn’t kept it! Vicky was horrified at the thought.

  She started to fidget with her hair and realised that their plans were about to be completely wiped out. There was no plan B anymore. She wouldn’t get to Cyprus to meet up with Christos. Flic had no chance of getting Adam back. They didn’t have their business. She would lose her job because of what she’d written on Tête-a-net. There was a big family falling out ahead. And Peter was probably going to write another story, about their downfall this time. At least the truth was out about Lumi. That was the one positive thing to come out of the conversation she had just read.

  ‘Did I hear you putting the kettle on?’ Flic asked, peering round the door frame.

  Vicky couldn’t reply. She stared at Flic.

  ‘What’s wrong? What’s happened?’ Flic frowned. She shuffled her way around the barely opened door and creaked it closed behind her. ‘Is it something to do with Lumi?’

  ‘You’d better switch on your phone and check Tête-a-net. Then let me log on with your phone and delete what I wrote about going away,’ Vicky whispered.

  ‘What’s happened?’ Flic pressed. Her face crumpled with concern and she switched her phone on. ‘Why can’t you use your own phone to delete it?’

  ‘I dropped mine in the sink when I checked my profile. It’ll need to dry out.’

  Vicky watched Flic sit back on the couch slowly and turn paler as she read on. The occasional, “oh no,” involuntarily escaped from her lips as she was reading.

  Flic put her phone down once she had finished reading. ‘Lumi’s just getting dressed. I loaned her some clothes.’

  Vicky had expected Flic to have a way out. She always seemed to know what to do. Why not this time?

  ‘Any solutions popping into your head?’ Vicky ventured.

  Flic shook her head ferociously. ‘We do nothing. We just go ahead as planned.’

  Vicky raised her eyebrows. That wasn’t what she had expected to hear.

  ‘Lumi just said that she and Magnus split up. She didn’t say anything else,’ Flic intimated.

  ‘Do you realise how serious this could be? I’m going to lose my job! My brother will never speak to me again! Peter is probably going to write another story!’

  Vicky felt a few tears welling up in her eyes. She wished right now she could be at home in her bed, watching recordings of Tellytubbies with Sasha. Why on earth didn’t she appreciate how enjoyable a simple uncomplicated life could be?

  Flic stood. She walked over to her suitcase and removed her netbook. She passed it to Vicky.

  ‘I’ll tell you what you’re going to do. First thing you do is remove that thread from Tête-a-net. Then you deactivate your profile. I’ll do the same with mine. You dismiss any questions from your boss about a holiday this weekend as weird unexplained rumours. Say you’ve planned a trip for next year to Cyprus with Sasha. That’s what you meant about leaving on a jet plane. You can worry about actually getting there later.’

  ‘What about being sick? What if my boss phones me? What if he drops round to my house looking for me?’ Vicky wiped away a tear and wished Flic had the answer to every problem.

  ‘You’ve got a conference call facility on your home phone, don’t you?’ Flic’s question was met with a nod from Vicky. ‘Great! If we time it correctly, Pamela can have a conference call with you and your boss. She can phone you on your mobile from home, and phone them at the same time, then stay silent while you do your dying swan routine. If they have caller ID or dial 1471, the boss will see it’s your home number and it will have been you that’s been speaking from that number. Simple!’

  ‘How do we get Pamela to agree?’ Vicky sniffed.

  ‘I’m sure we can think of some kind of bribe,’ Flic replied dryly.

  ‘Ok, that’s that problem dealt with. Just a few hundred others to solve now,’ Vicky grimaced.

  ‘There are NO problems. Only challenges. I think you should be more worried about Pamela’s comment about Christos.’

  *****

  Adam signed off from Tête-a-net and stared at the desktop. It looked like Vicky had deleted her profile from Tête-a-net in the last half hour. A damage limitation exercise, no doubt. He wondered how she would get round this one if her boss heard about her trip. He couldn’t believe she had announced online that she was going away. He really thought she was smarter than that.

  He was tempted to say that it was HER problem – her own doing and she needed to take the consequences. A year ago, that’s exactly what he would have said. But things had changed. She hadn’t been herself. He realised that she wasn’t the same person she was before and part of it was down to the depression she went through after Sasha’s birth. The rest of it was just stress and stupidity.

  He sighed heavily and wondered how he had become the big brother here when it was Vicky who was older. He felt like she had her finger on the self-destruct button and he was determined to stop her from pressing it.

  There was only one thing he could do. He couldn’t fix anything from here, in Inverness. He couldn’t let her fly off to Cyprus and make more mistakes. He opened up the browser and searched for Glasgow Airport’s website. There were two flights to Cyprus the following day, five minutes apart. He removed his credit card from his wallet and decided that his next search online would be to find out which flight was cheaper.

  27

  15th July

  ‘I still haven’t got a reply from Pamela. She must have gone to bed early last night,’ Flic scowled.

  ‘That would be a first. I don’t understand what she could possibly have meant when she said she got him. Christos knows not to say anything that could be construed as being flirty to Kayla,’ Vicky huffed.

  ‘Maybe h
e was flirting with someone other than her,’ Lumi reasoned.

  ‘He wouldn’t do that.’ Vicky shook her head sharply.

  ‘Oh, please. They all would,’ Lumi sneered.

  They moved forward one more place in the check-in queue; Lumi clutching her passport and phone in her hand, Vicky pulling along her little weekend case and Flic pushing her huge suitcase, which was almost as tall as Vicky, with all her strength.

  ‘That’s going to be too heavy,’ Vicky worried, nodding towards Flic’s case.

  ‘It won’t be. It’s not as heavy as it looks. I’m just struggling to manoeuvre it in these heels,’ Flic grunted, pulling the case into position. ‘Can’t wait to get it checked in though and go for a daiquiri.’

  ‘What if they have stairs at the hotel? You won’t be able to carry it up them,’ Lumi pointed out.

  ‘I told you, it’s not as heavy as it looks. I’ll just slip my shoes off and drag it behind me,’ Flic insisted.

  ‘They’ve got ramps. And porters to help you. I’ve been to this place before a few years ago. It’s all good,’ Vicky informed them.

  ‘Oooh, do they have a decent bar?’ Flic asked.

  ‘They do. You get a free drink on arrival, free drink at the welcome meetings, free liquors after dinner if you’re eating in the restaurant and there’s even champagne at the breakfast buffet in case you have something to celebrate. You’re sorted,’ Vicky chortled.

  ‘Excellent!’ Flic grinned.

  ‘Flic, do you think you might be an alcoholic?’ Lumi mused.

  Vicky stifled a snigger, knowing what was to come.

  ‘No!’ Flic bluntly cut her off.

  Eager to change the subject, Vicky pulled Lumi’s passport out of her hands. ‘Come on, lets see the passport photo that put Magnus off you for life,’ she whooped.

  Lumi reached for her passport but Vicky held it away from her. Lumi shouted something in Romanian, attracting the attention of a group of lost Arabs who were pacing up and down the check-in queues looking for the Dubai flight. When it was clear she had been louder than she had planned, she gave up her fight to get her passport back.

  Vicky examined the document. She opened up the red booklet and searched for stamps. There were none. She flicked back to the photograph page.

  ‘Luminitia Titulescu. That’s your name? Titulescu? Oh my God!’ Vicky giggled.

  ‘Shut up!’ Lumi snapped.

  ‘You could be a porn star with that name!’

  ‘You’re a fucking imbecile,’ Lumi grumbled.

  ‘Imagine it! “Confessions of a Big Issue seller!” Brilliant!’ Vicky sniggered, and passed the passport back to Lumi, who was now fuming.

  ‘Not as bad as my married name, that was Goodbody! And my mother’s maiden name was Topliss,’ Flic chuckled.

  ‘Oh, I feel quite dull in comparison. Robertson’s not a very exciting name, is it?’ Vicky sighed.

  ‘I happen to like it,’ boomed a voice from behind them.

  ‘Adam!’ Vicky panted. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’

  Under normal circumstances, she would have given him a hug. She needed one - really needed one! She had been too proud to ask for one from Flic and Lumi wasn’t even an option. She felt her eyes well up when Adam pulled her into a cuddle of his own accord.

  Once they had pulled away, he nodded a greeting to Flic who had suddenly become stiff and awkward. He turned his attention to Lumi.

  ‘Hello Diana...Or should I say Luminita?’ His eyes narrowed to slits.

  ‘Lumi is fine, thank you,’ she squirmed.

  ‘Adam, what are you doing here?’ Vicky asked again. For the first time she noticed that he was wearing shorts, had a holdall slung over one shoulder and was clutching his passport.

  ‘I’m going on holiday,’ he grinned.

  ‘Holiday? To where?’ Vicky blinked.

  ‘Cyprus. Aren’t you at the wrong check-in desk for Ibiza?’ he asked, pretending to examine the various queues.

  Vicky’s face flushed and she bowed her head. She had no idea how to get around this. There was simply no way that they could even board the fight without Adam noticing.

  ‘Relax! I know you’re going to Cyprus. And I think I know why too. I’m going to keep an eye on you two and make sure you don’t get involved in any more mischief. Or should I say, you three?’ he nodded towards Lumi.

  ‘Yes, I’m going to Cyprus,’ Lumi quavered, her face devoid of any emotion or anxiety, but her voice giving her away. Vicky surmised that Lumi was doing a much better job at facially masking any feelings than she could ever manage.

  ‘Magnus told me all about your fight. Said he’d found your passport and you told him everything,’ Adam advised Lumi.

  ‘That’s more than she’s told us. We had to find out on Tête-a-net,’ Vicky humphed.

  Adam shot her a stern look and Vicky realised the irony in her statement. A lot of information had been given away in just one comment thread.

  ‘I didn’t know how to admit that he knew everything. I didn’t just hurt myself with my confession, I affected all your lives too,’ Lumi whimpered.

  Vicky tutted to convey her annoyance and lack of sympathy. ‘You told him everything?’ she asked.

  ‘Everything,’ Lumi nodded.

  ‘Well, now that Magnus knows who Lumi is and how she came to be Diana, that’s one less thing for you two to lie about and one less person to lie to,’ Adam announced to Vicky and Flic. ‘One less thing on your conscience. If you have one. Now let’s get the rest of this nonsense sorted and forget HunE-trap Investigations ever happened? Right?’

  Vicky nodded but Flic remained quiet and observed the conversation. She wondered what Adam must be thinking, knowing that she was going to such lengths to assist in the breakup of her ex husband’s current marriage. She had asked herself umpteen times in the last few days what she was playing at. The answer was, she didn’t know and she had never been the type to do too much soul-searching. She just had another glass of whatever was handy and got on with it.

  ‘Good,’ Adam nodded. ‘I really wish I could wipe out everything that’s happened this year and start it all over again.’

  Vicky stroked his arm and patted it, knowing that he had meant the accident and HunE-trap Investigations. Flic however, had to fight back a little tear. She assumed that he meant their relationship too.

  *****

  After they had checked in, gone through the security rigmarole, had breakfast at the Drum and Monkey pub and bought a few treats for themselves at the duty free shops, they made themselves comfortable in the departure lounge and began watching Sky News. While Vicky and Flic debated whether brown sauce or ketchup went better with square sausage, Adam turned towards Lumi, who had begun to check her phone for the umpteenth time that morning. He had noticed when he had been standing behind them at the check-in queue listening to them talk that Lumi had one eye on her phone and the other on the girls.

  ‘I’d switch that off and try to enjoy the journey if I were you. Magnus isn’t going to phone. He’s already selecting his next victim,’ he cautioned her in hushed tones.

  Lumi snapped her eyes towards Adam. ‘I’m not waiting for Magnus to phone. He’s not even on my radar now.’

  Adam smiled and nodded then watched her check her phone again. He didn’t know her very well. Until yesterday, he had thought she was Diana, his friend’s girlfriend. He had thought she was the down-on-her-luck Polish ex-chambermaid who had been rescued from a life of poverty by his best mate and swept into a world of glamorous apartments, designer clothes and cocktail cupcakes. Now, all he knew was that she was a homeless alcoholic who had seen a rich sucker she could latch onto and taken her chance. He would be watching her even closer than he would be watching his depressed sister and his obsessed with her ex-husband ex-girlfriend. This would be no holiday for him.

  The monitors showing the status of departures changed and they were instructed to go to their gate. The conversation halted between the Vicky and Flic
as the four of them collected their bags and began walking down a long corridor towards their gate. Flic saw a chance to have a shot at explaining herself to Adam.

  She pulled on Adam’s arm to gesture that he should hang back from Vicky and Lumi and talk. He slowed his pace accordingly and furrowed his brow, waiting for her to speak. Adam appeared irritated and Flic guessed that he wasn’t interested in listening to what she had to say but she was going to try anyway.

  ‘I just wanted to say…this isn’t what you think it is. I’m not doing this for the reasons that you think I am,’ she stammered.

  Adam sighed. ‘So why ARE you doing it?’

  ‘Vicky was so intent on getting away for a few days. And seeing Christos. She’s not been thinking straight. I tried to talk her out of this – maybe not very hard – but I did try. Before I knew what had happened, Lumi was coming too, and I was actually talking her into coming because Vicky had gotten cold feet when we went to see Lumi. We would have looked nuts, just showing up for no reason, so I had to go ahead with it and persuade her. I never thought for a minute she would agree to come with us.’

  Adam stopped walking and stared straight into her eyes. She was aware that she wasn’t putting across a convincing argument. Tempted to give up, she groaned and rubbed her forehead.

  ‘Let me guess – it seemed like a good idea at the time? Then before you knew what you were doing, you were in too deep and couldn’t find a way out? Is that what you’re telling me?’ he quizzed.

  Flic nodded her response. She realised it sounded weak and pathetic. She couldn’t make it sound otherwise.

  ‘Been feeling that way myself about the whole HunE-trap thing recently,’ Adam conceded. ‘A lot of things seem like a good idea at the time. If you don’t stop and think them through, you end up…’ he trailed off.

  ‘You end up on a flight to Cyprus with a load of regrets about the trip before you’ve even left the airport?’ she ventured.