The Tangled Web

by Lacey Dearie

  Adam’s expression softened and he gave a hint of a laugh. Flic looked at his eyes with hope and surprise. She hadn’t stopped to think for even a minute that he might actually understand how she felt. She thought she would have to fight harder.

  ‘Just because we’re all on the same page, that doesn’t make any of this right,’ he reminded her.

  ‘I know,’ she nodded forcefully.

  ‘I’m not here to be your knight in shining armour and save the day. I’m here to put an end to this nonsense and make sure you two don’t get any deeper in,’ he scolded.

  ‘Yep,’ she nodded again.

  They resumed walking, very slowly, towards the seating area for their gate.

  ‘I think we have to watch that one,’ he advised, nodding in Lumi’s direction without looking at her directly.

  ‘You think so?’

  ‘You don’t?’ he blinked. He couldn’t comprehend how either Flic or Vicky could think Lumi was worthy of any tiny shred of trust now.

  ‘What damage could she do now? We know who she is. All she has to do is look like she’s going to get it on with George – which won’t be too hard, believe me – and then she’s free to do as she pleases,’ Flic said.

  ‘Trust me. She’s to be watched twenty-four hours a day until we get back to Scotland.’

  Adam walked towards Vicky and Lumi again, leaving Flic standing a few feet away from them, wondering if Adam knew something she didn’t, or was just more on the ball than her. He had never struck her as the type to be naturally suspicious but she knew she was going to take his advice. If he said she should trust him, that’s what she would do.

  She watched Adam swing an arm around his little older sister and command her attention, while at the same time glance at Lumi typing into her phone without either Lumi or Vicky even noticing what he was doing.

  She walked towards the group again and took a seat. Lumi pulled back from Flic as she arrived to keep her phone out of view. She marvelled inwardly that Adam had managed to stand next to Lumi and see what she was doing without arousing Lumi’s suspicions. All Flic had to do was walk towards her and she was guarded.

  Adam himself then pulled out his phone from his pocket and typed in a message with record speed. Flic felt her phone vibrate in her bag and retrieved it to read the message.

  “She’s sent some1 a msg sayin she’ll txt when she arrives & there’s a man wth the group now. Wot did I tell u? Up to something!”

  Flic smiled. She had underestimated Adam’s spying skills all along. He was good. In fact, he was a lot better and sneakier than either she or Vicky had ever been.

  28

  15th July

  Flic poured herself a glass of wine from a can and winced as she put the glass to her lips. It just wasn’t right – wine in a can. It should be in a bottle, with a cork that pops satisfyingly when it’s removed.

  Lumi had offered to go and get some basic shopping from the mini market next to the aparthotel’s reception area and had come back with cereal, UHT milk, water, bread, fruit juice, cheese, cold meat and two cans of wine. How long did this woman think two cans could last her and Vicky, Flic wondered.

  She was hit with a flash of inspiration and poured in some of the complimentary honey which had been waiting for them when they arrived and a splash of orange juice. She sipped her DIY cocktail and heard a loud rap on the door. Flic opened the door gingerly, keeping the security chain attached, hoping to see Vicky on the other side. She didn’t want anyone else to see her with humidity-induced frizzy hair.

  ‘Good evening ma’am! Please accept this gift as a gesture of our appreciation that you have returned to our hotel.’

  Flic looked the smiling man up and down. He was wearing the regulation tan trousers and pale blue shirt and wasn’t sweating at all. She wished she could acclimatise quicker and look as neat and fresh as he did.

  She grabbed the bottle he offered out of his hands and peered at the label. She was about to correct him and say that she had never been to this hotel before and Vicky was the only one who had stayed here. Then she realised he had brought a bottle of champagne.

  ‘Excellent! Thanks babe,’ she grinned. She pulled a five Euro note from her pocket and tipped him before closing the door as he trilled his thankyous.

  She loved this hotel. Complimentary drink on arrival. Complimentary bottle of champagne. Complimentary honey. And hadn’t Vicky mentioned something about a free drink at a welcome meeting? They weren’t part of a package tour but she thought maybe she could tag along next time she saw a meeting taking place.

  She began ripping off the gold foil around the cork. It was really Vicky’s booze, but she knew Vicky would have shared it and wouldn’t mind if she started without her. The door rapped loudly again and she felt a surge of guilt. It had to be Vicky coming back from her visit to the hotel’s Internet café.

  She opened the door, again without unlatching the security chain and was met with a smiling Adam.

  ‘Yassou Flic!’ he grinned.

  She unlatched the chain and grinned back. She had no idea what he had just said, but it sounded Greek.

  ‘Where’s Lumi and Vicky?’ he whispered.

  ‘Lumi’s in the shower, Vicky’s downstairs trying to write a blog,’ Flic whispered back.

  They heard the hum from the shower stop and Adam’s eyes shot towards the bathroom door. He pulled Flic towards the balcony and closed the glass door over just enough to block out their conversation.

  ‘Have you noticed her doing anything else suspicious?’ he asked.

  ‘No, not really,’ Flic replied. She felt apologetic and guilty. She knew she should have been watching more closely. The truth was she didn’t know exactly what kind of activity she was looking for.

  Adam shook his head. ‘She’s definitely up to something. Where’s her phone? We’ll check it quickly before she gets out of the bathroom.’

  ‘She took it in with her,’ Flic halted him. ‘What is it with you and checking people’s phones?’

  He ignored her remark. ‘You wouldn’t call that suspicious? Taking a phone into the shower?’ he scoffed.

  Flic looked down at her feet awkwardly. What made her think she could ever be a spy? She was useless at this.

  Adam shook his head again, dismissing the beginning of their conversation and changed the subject. ‘I visited a few restaurants on my way here to ask if they needed any staff. Vicky said Diana’s supposed to be working as a waitress out here, according to an old message she sent George, so he’ll be expecting to meet a waitress. I thought we could get Lumi working in a restaurant for a night or two and get him to visit her at work.’

  ‘Right, good idea,’ Flic nodded. She hadn’t thought of ways to get Lumi and George to meet each other yet. In fact, the more involved Adam became, the more disorganised she felt. She wasn’t surprised that they’d gotten themselves into such a mess.

  ‘The bad news is I didn’t have any luck. The only business looking for staff at the moment is a car hire place round the corner. Office looks like an old hut. They need a valeter,’ Adam continued.

  ‘But that’s no good. She needs to be a waitress,’ Flic interrupted.

  ‘I know, but if we can’t get her a job as a waitress, we need a back up plan. She can’t live here without a job, so we should concentrate on making her look believable any way we can,’ he explained.

  ‘Right,’ Flic nodded. It made sense, but she would rather there were no continuity issues George could find fault with.

  ‘The good news is, while I was doing that I found a nice place we could have dinner tonight,’ he continued.

  Flic brightened, assuming that he meant the two of them could have dinner together that night. Alone.

  ‘Once Vicky gets back and the Cheeky Girl gets out of the shower, we can head over there,’ he added.

  Flic tried her best not to look like she was disappointed. She kept the smile fixed on her face. ‘Great!’ she breezed, turning towards the patio doors and h
eading back inside. She picked up the wine and honey cocktail again and took a large glug.

  ‘What’s that you’re drinking?’ Adam asked.

  ‘I’m trying to invent a new cocktail. It’s not quite right though, it needs a bit of work,’ Flic winced. Right now it tasted like the sweet and sour sauce from the local Chinese take-away, but with a kick. It wasn’t quite right.

  ‘Wonder what Vicky’s blogging about,’ Adam mused, throwing himself onto one of the creaky sofa beds and picking up one of the tabloid gossip magazines Vicky had bought at the airport.

  ‘She’s probably trying to get an explanation out of Christos and Pamela as to what was meant by Pamela saying she “got him.” I think he must have said something flirty to Kayla to call Pamela’s bluff. He probably got fed up of her pestering him,’ Flic shrugged.

  Adam’s face crumpled. ‘I hope that’s what it is. Vicky’s been really close to him over the last year or so. I’d hate to think the guy who helped her so much with her depression turns out to be a rat.’

  ‘She thinks he’s one of the good guys. You don’t think he could be….’ she shuddered and trailed off.

  ‘I hope not. But let’s not forget it wouldn’t be Vicky he would be betraying. He’s got a girlfriend and umpteen kids, hasn’t he? I’d feel sorry for Vicky finding out her friend is a rat, but I’d feel worse for his partner,’ Adam reminded her.

  ‘Yeah, of course.’ Flic nodded. Adam clearly wasn’t aware of Vicky’s crush on Christos. Or the fact that Christos was doing nothing to discourage her.

  *****

  ‘So where is it we’re going tonight?’ Vicky asked.

  ‘A wee restaurant that does mostly international food, but some Cypriot food too. Looks like a nice place.’ Adam attempted to be reassuring.

  Vicky and Flic exchanged dubious glances but remained silent. Flic couldn’t help remembering Adam’s idea of taking her out for dinner on their first date. Their only proper date. She winced, reminiscing to herself about how she’d had to check the seat for dust before sitting down and she was sure her feet had stuck to the floor. The menu was filthy and sticky and the lightbulbs had blown so they were practically eating in the dark. She hoped the place they were going to was an improvement. Perhaps it was a good idea to find a nice restaurant on the way to the one Adam had chosen and suggest stopping there instead.

  ‘It’s just round this corner, to the right,’ Adam announced.

  Damn! Flic thought. It was too close to be able to suggest somewhere else on the way. Unless she suggested the fish restaurant they were just about to pass.

  ‘Y’know, I’m not into international food tonight. We can have that anywhere. What about a nice local dish? I hear they do great fish dishes here!’ Flic suggested.

  ‘From where? There?’ Lumi pointed to the restaurant they were passing. The stench was making Flic’s stomach churn and she noticed that the bins outside the restaurant were overflowing. Some local cats had started to raid the contents.

  ‘Live a little!’ Flic commanded. She wasn’t convincing herself though and realised she had no hope of convincing anyone else.

  ‘No thanks. I’ll take Adam’s suggestion,’ Lumi sniffed.

  Flic watched as Lumi checked her phone again and started to key in a message. Who on earth was she so obsessed with that she had to check that phone every five minutes, Flic wondered.

  ‘Here it is! I’m for a beef stifado.’ Adam rubbed his hands together and licked his lips as he eyed the menu displayed under neon lighting outside the restaurant.

  Vicky read the menu. ‘So they do chicken and beef? Flic, they might do fish too!’ Vicky brightened.

  Flic stood back a few paces and looked at the outside of the restaurant. It was nice. It wasn’t Michelin starred, but it was the definitely the best option in the street. And there were locals heading in to the take-away door around the corner. She knew that if the locals were dining there, it had to be ok.

  ‘I’ll maybe try the stifado too,’ Flic muttered, feeling confused. Adam had rubbish taste in restaurants, didn’t he?

  She watched him open the door for Lumi and his sister and noted that he hadn’t once opened a door for her the whole time they were together. Granted, he was either in a wheelchair or on crutches for the majority of that time, but she thought back to that night they went for dinner. He hadn’t bothered opening a door for her then. She felt herself glare at him angrily. She realised it was silly to feel hurt about something that happened – or didn’t happen – months ago, especially when she and that person were no longer a couple, but she couldn’t help feeling a bit miffed.

  Adam turned and caught her glowering. He grinned in her direction.

  ‘What the hell is so funny?’ she snapped.

  ‘You. Wondering how I managed to pick such a nice place?’ he sniggered.

  She ignored his question and moved towards the door before he had the chance to let it go and spring shut in her face. He grabbed the crook of her arm and pulled her back towards him.

  ‘Did you ever think that maybe I was seeing how keen you were on our first date?’ he asked.

  ‘Not very, would be the answer,’ she sniped. ‘Not after the way you behaved.’

  ‘Come on, we both know that’s not true. And if you were put off by going to a dodgy pub for a meal, you couldn’t have been that keen to begin with.’

  Flic eyed him warily. Could that be true? Did he actually have a bit more class than she had initially thought? He had certainly been surprising her all day.

  ‘That was risky,’ she cautioned him.

  ‘It paid off. I knew you were interested. The only thing that bothered me was your phone going nuts the whole time we were out. And the fact you were flirting with someone else. THAT was a bigger risk,’ he reminded her.

  Flic watched him walk towards the table Vicky and Lumi had chosen by the make-shift window made of plastic blinds to allow the cooler breeze into the room and felt like she had just been knocked off her high horse.

  Flic took her place at the table and half-listened to them rant about a group of women on their flight earlier. Lumi chatted about her old life in Romania as a hotel receptionist in the most luxurious hotel in Bucharest and divulged gossipy details of visits from various heads of state and pop stars. Vicky talked about her previous visit to Cyprus with her old boyfriend, Colin, and for a minute, talked about the travelling he was doing without her. Adam changed the subject and started to tell embarrassing stories about Magnus’s antics while drunk, much to the delight of Lumi and Vicky. Flic tried to be attentive and managed to pick up the gist of the conversation, but she was unfocused and her mind was fixed on Adam and how much more clued up he seemed than she had realised.

  A pretty waitress took their order and chatted with them. It took her three attempts to take their order, the first failing due to a pen which had run out of ink and the second failing as her notepad ran out of paper. It broke the ice and they started some friendly banter with her which continued throughout the meal. They managed to keep a conversation going with each other during dinner too, despite the fact that they were all clearly suspicious of Lumi and she was suspicious of Vicky and Flic. They each ordered a coffee after the meal and were planning to stay a half hour longer to savour their drinks when a group of vocal, but well behaved English men entered the restaurant.

  ‘There goes the peace and quiet,’ Vicky tutted.

  Flic heard them but couldn’t see them as her back was to the door. ‘Live and let live, Vicky. They’re probably here on holiday and just enjoying themselves. They’re not doing anyone any harm.’

  ‘Yeah, but they’re noisy.’ Vicky stuck her tongue out at Flic.

  ‘I like it when people are noisy. Shows they’re having fun. They know how to enjoy themselves. Not like us, we look like a bunch of miserable gits,’ Adam remarked, rolling his eyes.

  ‘I get enough noise at home with a toddler running around. I want peace and quiet while I’m away,’ Vicky moaned.

/>   ‘Right, I’ll go and ask them to keep the noise down,’ Flic teased.

  ‘Go on then!’ Vicky laughed.

  ‘I will!’ Flic joked.

  ‘I’d like to see that,’ grinned Lumi, letting her guard down and joining in the banter.

  ‘So would I,’ Adam agreed.

  ‘Right, here I go.’ Flic stood up, wondering how far to take the joke. She pushed her chair aside, stepped away from it and turned towards the group of rowdy men.

  ‘Go on!’ Vicky cajoled.

  Flic halted when she saw the group. She recognised two of their faces. They had been at her wedding. They were George’s friends. And if his friends were here, she guessed that he must be too.

  Her blood roared through her ears and she felt a little bit dizzy. She wasn’t ready for this. She was unprepared. And besides, Lumi was with her. The whole plan would be ruined if George saw his ex-wife having dinner with Diana.

  Flic swivelled round and sat down quickly. She couldn’t risk George seeing her. She lowered her head and motioned to Adam for him to come closer.

  ‘I think George is over there,’ she mumbled.

  Adam’s expression sobered. ‘Is he with that group?’

  ‘I’m not sure. I recognise a couple of them. They’re friends with him. If they’re here, I’m guessing he must be too.’

  Adam lifted his head slightly to look at the men. Lumi didn’t look and stayed where she was, fidgeting with her phone. Vicky was less subtle and jerked her head up to get a better view of them. Adam grabbed her elbow and pulled her back down.

  ‘Quit that!’ he demanded.

  ‘Sorry,’ she whispered.

  ‘Right, they’re all busy looking at their menus. Turn round now and have a look. Tell us if you see him,’ he instructed Flic.

  As she turned around they all seemed to lift their heads from their menus and examine the restaurant.

  ‘It’s impossible to look without them seeing me,’ Flic hissed.

  ‘Do you have a compact with you? Use the mirror,’ Adam suggested.

  Flic reached down onto the floor and lifted her bag. She pulled out a silver jewelled compact and pretended to fuss with her hair, directing the mirror behind her towards the group. It took a few moments to examine each of them using her compact and locate George. She had been right. He was there. She could only see the back of his head, but that was enough. He had a mole behind one ear which she recognised. She was hit with a flashback of kissing it softly in the mornings when she woke up and found him lying with his back to her. She cursed to herself, wishing she could bury all of these little memories.