‘Do you know that guy?’
‘Sorry?’ Caitlin looked up, distracted, as she put away her violin.
Andy was standing next to her. ‘The guy who was sitting by himself. You said his name was Nick.’
Caitlin shook her head, looked to where the man, Nick, had been sitting. He’d left without her seeing, and now the waitress was clearing the things from his table. ‘No, he spilled my drink … we talked for a few minutes. Look, Andy, are you rushing off?’
He hesitated. ‘I have the van tonight, told Brian I’d take the keyboard. I’m a bit tired, but I could give you a lift home? What’s up? Is everything okay?’
‘I don’t know. A few things have happened in the last few days … I’ll tell you about it on the way home.’ Caitlin stopped talking, and smiled as Brian, the keyboard player, came over to talk with Andy.
‘You don’t mind taking the keyboard, do you? If it’s any hassle, I can jump in a cab …’
‘No, no, it’s fine. Plenty of room in the van. And you’re all right with me dropping it round tomorrow?’
‘Sure man. That’d be great.’
Andy helped Brian out to the van with the keyboard. Brian was new to the band. He’d answered an ad that Andy had put on a Facebook group. He didn’t talk much, and none of them had got to know him beyond small talk, but they all agreed that he was an accomplished musician. He played with a New Orleans jazz band at weekends. Andy had persuaded Caitlin to go and see them in the Harbour bar a few weeks before to see if Brian would be right for their group. It was one of the rare nights out that Caitlin had enjoyed recently.
Now she stood and waited while Andy opened the back doors of the van and the two men carefully loaded in the instruments. ‘Can we drop you anywhere?’ Andy asked, but Brian shook his head and told them he was going to walk. He shared a house, Andy told Caitlin, somewhere around Stoneybatter.
Caitlin went around to the passenger side and got into the van. Andy started the engine and turned the heater on. He checked the mirrors before pulling away from the kerb.
‘Now, what’s up?’ he said. ‘I could tell you weren’t yourself tonight.’
‘Someone’s set up a Twitter account in David’s name.’
Andy turned to look at her, momentarily taking his eyes off the road. ‘What? What do you mean?’
‘I got this follower on Twitter, goes by the name of David A. The profile picture is a violin. There’s nothing else, no personal photo, nothing like that … but all the tweets are retweets to do with music. Someone is screwing with me, Andy.’
‘Christ, that’s bizarre, Caitie. Did you check – I mean have you got any friends in common, anything like that?’
‘I don’t know, I don’t think so. The account’s just been set up. The first tweet was only a few days ago.’
‘Is there anything you can do? I mean can you block him?’
‘I guess … but …’
‘But what?’
Caitlin shrugged. ‘I don’t know … maybe it’s better if I don’t. Whoever this person is, he could know something.’
‘But what about your information, Caitlin? You don’t want this guy to know about you, do you? What you’re doing, who your friends are …’
‘But it’s too late for that. Whoever he is, he’s already seen my profile. He knows about the sessions, for example. That’s why I was so uptight tonight. I was afraid he might be there, that he might be sitting there watching me and I wouldn’t know. When that guy stopped me, the drunk one, I thought it was him. Then you came along, and I realized I was being stupid. He didn’t care who I was, he was just some idiot …’
Andy was silent for a minute, hands gripping the wheel, looking straight ahead. ‘What about the other guy?’ he said. ‘The one who spilled your drink?’
Caitlin shook her head. ‘No, I don’t think so.’
‘Why not? He seemed keen on talking.’
‘I know, I know what you’re saying, Andy, and I’m not sure why, but I didn’t get that sort of vibe off him. Strange, I suppose, since I’ve been looking at everyone suspiciously recently.’
‘Hmm. I wouldn’t be so sure. He was on his own, and I’ve never seen him there before. He tried to start a conversation with me at the bar. Maybe he thought we were together.’
Caitlin rubbed her forehead. ‘God, Andy, I thought you were going to reassure me, not freak me out. I think that guy was okay, really. I just get the feeling. But apart from that, the Twitter account, I mean, there was this guy in the park. I thought he was watching me when I went on my run.’
Andy had just turned the van into Caitlin’s road. He slowed down as he approached the house, and Caitlin realized she’d forgotten to leave a light on again, despite her resolutions.
‘Jesus, Caitlin. Was there anyone else around?’
‘No, I think that’s why I got so nervous. There are normally other joggers. It wasn’t that this man did anything, he was just sitting there on a bench. I cut my run short he unnerved me that much.’
They’d stopped outside the house. Andy looked at her. ‘Do you want me to come in for a minute?’ he said.
Usually she’d say she was fine, but this time she accepted Andy’s offer. She didn’t feel like walking into the dark house alone.
As soon as she opened the door, she felt for the light switch. ‘Would you mind putting the kettle on, Andy. I just need to pop upstairs.’
She went upstairs, turned on the landing light and then went into each room, turning on the lights, checking that there was no one there.
Downstairs, she could hear Andy opening and closing cupboards, rattling mugs. He knew where everything was kept. Apart from Gillian, he’d been the only regular visitor to the house since David’s disappearance.
‘Tea?’ he asked when she appeared in the kitchen.
‘Thanks.’
Caitlin sat down at the table. Her laptop was there. She was almost afraid to switch it on, but it would be better to do so while Andy was there, rather than allowing something to freak her out later. Besides, she wanted to show him the account for David A, let him know that she wasn’t just being paranoid.
Andy moved round the kitchen as she booted up the computer. She logged into Twitter, saw that she had a message notification. She glanced behind her, clicked into her messages. It was from Dar Bryan.
Caitlin glanced over her shoulder. Andy was coming towards her, mug in hand. She closed the message before he could see.
‘Do you want toast?’ Andy asked.
She shook her head. ‘No, I’m fine, make some for yourself though.’
She remembered nights when they’d all come back to the house together, David, Andy and herself. Andy had stayed on the camp bed in their spare room most weekends. Sometimes, he got out of bed before them, had coffee ready when they finally emerged. It was never an awkward trio. David knew that she liked Andy as well as he did – and he was never jealous either – even when Andy blatantly flirted with her, David knew he had no reason to worry.
Caitlin clicked on the search button – typed in David A’s handle. She wasn’t prepared for what she saw there; she turned too suddenly, caught the mug with her arm and slopped its contents over the table.
‘Andy, quick,’ she said, ‘look at this.’
A picture had been tweeted earlier in the evening from the wine bar.
It showed Caitlin and Fran, the singer, chatting before the show.
‘Christ,’ Andy said, putting his mug down and leaning in over Caitlin’s shoulder. ‘He was there.’
Caitlin scrolled down, nothing else, just that one shot. She looked at the picture again, examined the angle it was taken from.
‘That guy, the one who introduced himself, Caitie, it has to be.’
Caitlin shook her head. ‘No.’
‘What do you mean no? Who else could it have been? He was keen enough to talk, wasn’t he?’
‘It’s the wrong angle,’ Caitlin said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Whoever took this was sitting to my right. That guy, Nick, if he’d taken it, it would have been from the other side.’
Andy sighed and straightened. ‘That’s assuming somebody took it from where they were sitting, Caitlin. My guess is, it was taken from the bar.’
He had a point. It could have been taken from the bar, and so any number of people could have taken it.
‘What should I do, Andy? Block him?’
Andy stared at the screen. ‘No, not yet. He already knows where to find you. Let’s just see what he posts next. He might give himself away somehow. Follow him back even – he won’t be expecting that.’
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘I’ll leave it for now.’ She sat back, picking up the mug of tea that was cooling.
Andy pulled out a chair and sat opposite her. ‘Look, do you want me to stay tonight? I’m not comfortable leaving you. I can pull out the camp bed …’
Caitlin nodded. She hadn’t let anyone stay over before, even when she was distraught in the weeks after David’s disappearance. She preferred to be alone, but now she was glad of Andy’s offer. There was little chance she’d sleep that night, but at least she wouldn’t have to worry that the person who’d taken that picture had followed her home.