When Annie woke again, Dolly was standing beside the bed. She started to crack a smile, and then she realized that this was in fact impossible because Dolly was stone-cold dead on a slab somewhere. She blinked, shoved herself up against the ghastly hospital pillows.
Ellie.
It was Ellie, not Dolly. How could she have confused the two? Ellie was standing there wearing a powder-blue skirt suit, clutching the metal end of the bed and biting her lip as she looked at Annie.
‘I shouldn’t be here,’ said Ellie.
Annie cleared her throat. Ellie was wrestling with some big internal problem, so she gave her a moment.
‘I really bloody shouldn’t,’ said Ellie. ‘But the police, that Hunter person, he told me you were in here. What the hell’s happened to you? He said someone worked you over, I couldn’t bloody believe it, and fuck it, I shouldn’t be here.’
‘But you are,’ Annie pointed out.
‘Is it true, what he said?’
‘Yeah, Doll, it is.’
‘Doll? What you calling me Doll for? I’m Ellie. Did you take a knock to the fucking brain or something?’
Annie shook her head. For a moment, she truly had thought it was Dolly standing there. Stupid. Her head was fuddled with painkilling drugs, that was all.
‘No, I . . . I dreamed Dolly was standing there. And I’m drugged up to the hilt. Sorry, Ellie.’
Ellie glanced around as if expecting a ghost to appear; she looked genuinely spooked.
‘What happened?’ she asked.
‘Two blokes decided to give me a kicking.’
‘But why?’
‘No idea.’
‘Chris would be spitting blood if he knew I’d come here,’ fretted Ellie, looking left and right like her husband was going to appear out of thin air and give her a bollocking.
‘Why’s that?’ asked Annie.
Ellie was back to biting her lip again. ‘I can’t say.’
Annie gazed at her, hard-eyed. ‘Can’t or won’t? Look. You’re here. So it’s time to shit or get off the pot, Ellie. Tell me what you’ve heard about me.’
‘I can’t,’ she said, desperately shaking her head. ‘I’m really sorry, but I can’t.’
Annie sat up straighter. ‘Draw the curtains, Ell. Give us some privacy.’
Her face unhappy, Ellie drew the curtains around the bed. Annie eased the covers back, winced, and swung her legs to the floor. ‘Get my stuff out of that locker, will you?’ she asked.
‘Why . . . what are you doing? You can’t just do that, you can’t just walk out of here – you have to be signed out, the doctors have to see you, they won’t—’
‘Oh, shut the fuck up,’ snapped Annie. ‘And pass me my clothes.’
Ellie hesitated, then did as she was told. As she turned to the bed, Annie grabbed her wrist. It was a hard clench, startling Ellie. She’d come in here thinking Annie looked weak as a kitten but she should have known better. Annie Carter was strong at the core, and that was where it mattered.
‘Tell me,’ said Annie.
Ellie shook her head dumbly.
‘Tell me, or I’ll tell Chris you came here.’
‘You wouldn’t!’
‘I would. You know it.’
‘It’s none of my business . . . ’
‘You got that right. It’s my business though, isn’t it? If people start beating me up and targeting my friends and treating me like dirt, it’s very much my business.’
All the colour left Ellie’s face suddenly. ‘Oh Jesus, you don’t think Dolly . . .? God, could it be that? Because of you, because of what you’ve done?’
‘I don’t know. Because you won’t tell me what’s happening, and I think you know.’
‘It’s all over town,’ said Ellie, hopelessly shaking her head.
‘What is?’
‘Oh God . . .’
‘Ellie!’ Annie tightened her grip.
‘They’re saying that you’ve been making a fool out of Mr Carter.’
‘What?’
Ellie nodded. ‘They’re saying – and this is crazy, right? This is mad – they’re saying that Constantine Barolli didn’t die. That he’s alive. And that you’ve been seeing him behind Mr Carter’s back.’
Annie froze.
‘But it ain’t true,’ said Ellie with a little disbelieving laugh, ‘is it? It can’t be true.’
Annie just sat there, staring at the floor.
‘Is it?’ asked Ellie again.
Annie didn’t answer.
Ellie’s smile died on her lips. Now her mouth was hanging open. She shut it slowly as she stared at Annie. ‘Oh. Dear. God,’ she said.
Annie looked up at her friend’s face. ‘Ellie . . .’ she started.
Ellie began to shake her head wildly. She waved her hands in front of her face, making no, no, no gestures, as if warding off something evil.
‘Don’t you dare say it! Don’t tell me a damned thing, because if it’s true, I don’t want to know. I don’t want to get involved. What, you think I’m out of my tree or something?’
‘You’re the only friend I’ve got left, Ellie,’ said Annie.
Ellie was still shaking her head. ‘No! Count me out on this one. Count me right out. You think I’d cross Max Carter? You’re off your bloody head.’
‘Ellie—’
‘No!’ shouted Ellie, and she twitched the curtain to one side and was gone.