The sun hung low in the sky as Alice drove back through the electric gates. She had left the house only when Faye’s mum had arrived to take over. Faye had reluctantly agreed that Alice could call her, if for no other reason than to watch over four-year-old Isabella. There’d been no sign of Johnny returning, and Alice hoped he had crashed on someone’s sofa and was in the process of sobering up.
Closing her front door, Alice was surprised to hear voices coming from the living room at the rear of the house, and as she pushed the door open with her foot she immediately recognized Dave’s raucous laugh as Ben cracked a lame joke.
‘Finally!’ Ben said, turning and spotting her. ‘We bought Chinese. I got you your usual, but you might want to reheat it in the microwave. I thought you’d have been back ages ago. How was everything with Faye?’
‘I’ll tell you later,’ Alice said, nodding in Dave’s direction.
Dave had a can of beer in his hand, and from the empty cans scattered over the coffee table in the centre of the room it looked like they’d both had a few. Some wildlife documentary was playing out on the big screen, but the volume was low.
‘The food’s in the kitchen,’ Ben added.
‘Great, thanks,’ Alice replied. ‘Can I get either of you anything?’
‘We’re fine,’ Ben said, opening a fresh can.
The kitchen was in a worse state than the living room. Empty white carrier bags, open foil pots containing the remains of whatever the boys had ordered, spoons with grains of rice stuck to them, and then two foil pots stacked on top of a plate, presumably her dinner. Moving across, she spotted three bags of groceries on the floor near the fridge. As she looked inside them, she saw the frozen goods slowly thawing.
‘Hey, babe,’ Ben called from the other room. ‘Can you bring some more beers in when you come back? Should be a six-pack in the fridge.’
She shouldn’t have been so surprised. The two of them had been inseparable for as long as she’d known them. That’s what came from two men who’d known each other since school, and had survived the perilous challenge of falling for the same woman. It was nice that they had such a strong friendship, particularly given neither had any siblings, but it did irk her when they were in one of these moods, where it was like she didn’t even exist.
Carrying the cans through, she placed them on the table nearest Ben, but neither he nor Dave looked up to acknowledge or thank her. Returning to the kitchen she reheated her food and carried it upstairs to the bedroom.
Half an hour later, and with nothing exciting on the television, she ventured back downstairs. The television volume was much louder now, and as she carried her plate through to the kitchen she was sure they hadn’t even noticed she hadn’t joined them in the living room. They’d made no effort to clean up the mess in the kitchen and she was almost certain they’d yet to leave their pit in the other room. It was now after nine and the sky was darkening as she stared out at the back garden. The thought of filling the sink with hot soapy water and attacking the greasy plates wasn’t tempting, and as she lowered the kitchen blind she couldn’t prevent a yawn escaping her mouth.
All in all it had been a stressful few days. Firstly worrying about whether everything would go to plan for the big day and if people would enjoy themselves, then the arrest. She had hardly slept last night, and now it was catching up with her.
Ready to tell Ben she was heading to bed, she was about to push the lounge door open when she heard him and Dave talking animatedly.
‘Yeah, but don’t forget what happened in Malia,’ Dave said, interrupting Ben mid‑sentence.
Alice pushed her ear closer to the door, careful not to knock it as she strained to overhear what they were saying.
‘Don’t get me started on Malia,’ Ben countered. ‘I knew we’d have trouble before we went out that night. That’s just how he is.’
‘We never should have brought him along with us.’
‘We couldn’t leave him at home. How would it have looked, all the lads invited apart from him? We had no choice.’
‘Yeah but we should’ve had a word with him, told him to keep his dick in his trousers for once.’
Ben snorted. ‘You can talk. He wasn’t the only one who pulled in Malia from what I remember.’
‘Yeah, but I didn’t get off with the missus of some hard nut looking for trouble. It’s amazing we didn’t get arrested by the local cops after the mess we left at that bar.’
‘That wasn’t technically our fault. They threw the first punch. We had no choice but to defend him, did we?’
Alice rested her hands on the door frame and leaned her ear closer to the gap.
‘I was as nervous as anything when we made it to the airport,’ Dave admitted. ‘I was sure the Malia police would be waiting at passport control, but I guess we got lucky.’
‘I could’ve killed him for that.’
‘You and me both, bruv, but now I can’t stop thinking that maybe he had something to do with what happened to that girl in Bournemouth. Did you see the look on his face when she was squirting that cream on her tits?’
‘Yeah, but he wouldn’t do anything like that,’ Ben said, the doubt in his voice obvious. ‘Would he?’
‘Hey, the last thing I want to think is that one of our mates could have gone after her and killed her, but you can’t say the thought hasn’t crossed your mind too.’
‘Listen, we’d better shut up about this for now, yeah? I’d better go and check on Alice, let her know you’re gonna stay over. You want another beer while I’m up?’
Alice didn’t wait for Dave’s answer, peeling away from the door and racing up the stairs on tiptoes, hoping Ben was too drunk to hear her padding on the carpet.