As the door to Room 6 was opening, Kelly hopped a few paces to the boarded-up end of the corridor. She slapped a frown on her face and put her hands on the wood panelling, like she was examining it.
Meanwhile, LB staggered to a stop in the centre of the alleged laundry room. Through a gap in the thick curtains came a single dusty shaft of light. LB looked around in the gloom. There was no laundry. No beer crates. No bottles, apart from the water by the bed. It was simply a bedroom. With a bed. And a figure, under a mound of bedcovers, slowly rolling towards her.
LB’s heart was pounding. From the corridor, she could hear the boom of Johnny’s voice, and Kelly’s high-speed distraction chatter. LB’s feet were rooted, eyes fixed on the bed as one skinny arm flopped down on top of the covers, then another, and the figure started to sit up. LB ducked down at the end of the bed, hand over her mouth, knees to her chest. She was facing the door, and was about to crawl for it, super-fast, when she heard the sound of someone settling against the headboard, the flick of a wall light.
‘I can see you in the mirror.’ It was a woman’s voice, low and husky. She cleared her throat.
LB turned her head to an enormous mirror leaning against the wall opposite the bed. She could see herself in an embarrassing ball, half lit by the shaft of sunlight, and the woman in a black strappy top, propped up against a pillow, glowing in the lamplight. She was pale and thin, with a mass of tousled black hair, smudges of mascara under her eyes.
‘We look like a theatre performance,’ said the woman. She gestured for LB to stand up. LB slowly obeyed. The woman squinted at her.
‘You, by the looks of you, must be Lotus Blossom Behan.’
LB’s eyes widened.
‘I’m Suze,’ said the woman. ‘I’m Johnny’s wife. Or Johnny’s my husband… Is one better than the other?’
‘How do you know who I am?’ said LB.
‘I know you from when you were little,’ said Suze. ‘Before all this, Johnny and I owned a club in Dublin. Well, bar, nightclub, restaurant.’ She raised her fingers in quotes: ‘ “Beloved by the stars”. Wild nights, and mellow Sunday brunch with the family. We used to joke we held the stars in our hands. While they exploded.’ She laughed. ‘Not your dad, obviously. Very well behaved.’
LB waited.
‘Sorry,’ said Suze, ‘what was I saying? Oh yes – you. So, wild nights and brunch on Sunday, with family. Including little ones. Your parents always brought you when your dad was in town.’
‘Wow,’ said LB. ‘I don’t remember that.’
‘Well,’ said Suze, ‘do you ever remember a lift with an entire galaxy on the inside, pressing all the buttons? Up and down, up and down.’
LB’s eyes lit up. ‘The spaceship! Oh my God. I was obsessed!’
Suze nodded. ‘And now, here we are.’
‘I’m so sorry for just… bursting in. We didn’t know anyone was… we thought the room was—’
‘A laundry room?’ Suze nodded. ‘No… but I am trying to clean up… my act.’ She paused. ‘I’m going through some… things. It’s unfortunate timing you all being here – on the one hand. And on the other, excellent, because, to be honest, we needed the money. And we love your dad. He’s always been good to us…’ She paused. ‘We were good to him too, of course.’
‘Well, thank you for having us!’ said LB. ‘We’re having a great time. And the food is great and…’ She trailed off. She noticed the self-help books stacked on one bedside cabinet, the crumpled tissues on the other.
Suze smiled. ‘Go on – ask, whatever it is.’
‘Just,’ said LB, ‘Have you – it’s none of my business – but ever been… crying at night?’
Suze froze. ‘Oh! I didn’t expect you to ask that. You can hear that?’
LB nodded. ‘Sorry.’
Suze closed her eyes, banged the back of her head on the headboard. ‘Johnny Metcalfe, I’ll kill you.’ She looked at LB. ‘These walls were meant to be soundproofed. But Johnny obviously…’ She sighed. ‘Obviously, that costs more money.’
‘Sorry for asking about the crying,’ said LB. ‘It’s just the others thought… well, I thought too… it might be…’ She shrugged. ‘A ghost.’
‘Maybe let’s keep it that way,’ said Suze, nodding firmly. ‘Now that I know you can hear me I might do my crying somewhere else. In the rain, maybe.’ She laughed. ‘So… I won’t tell if you won’t.’
‘Not even Johnny?’ said LB.
Suze shook her head. ‘Not even Johnny.’
‘Does Réiltín know you’re here?’
Suze nodded. ‘But… let’s neither of us mention our little encounter to her, either.’
LB followed Suze’s gaze around the untidy room, the scattered magazines, overfilled boxes, piles of shoes, elegant clothes draped across different surfaces or discarded on the floor.
Suze smiled. ‘Not really living my best life, am I?’
Lockie, Rupert and Amber were sitting on Kelly’s bed, watching her pace.
‘Where is she?’ said Kelly. ‘Oh my God.’
‘Calm down,’ said Lockie. ‘Seriously, what could have happened to her?’
‘But why wasn’t she back?’ said Kelly. ‘Right after she heard me and Johnny leave?’
‘We’ll ask her on her return,’ said Rupert.
‘Imagine,’ said Kelly, ‘trying to come up with a story about why someone like me is standing in the dark, feeling up some random wood?’
‘What did you say?’ said Lockie.
‘Ugh,’ said Kelly. ‘That’s the whole point. I couldn’t come up with a story. So I pretended I was sleep walking.’
‘At 8 p.m.’ said Rupert.
‘Study nap,’ said Kelly.
Rupert and Lockie laughed.
‘Shut up,’ said Kelly. ‘What if someone kidnapped her? Like, they found out who she is.’ She gasped. ‘Réiltín! She’s a total stalker. You know she’s obsessed with Antsy.’
‘And she’s taking her chance now,’ said Rupert. ‘Réiltín gets McQuaid fired, the email goes out to parents, and the masterplan begins!’
The door opened gently and LB walked in. She locked eyes with Kelly. ‘Don’t ever do that to me again.’
‘I saved you!’ said Kelly. ‘I pushed you to safety.’
‘How did you know it was safe?’ said LB.
‘Otherwise, both of us would have had to be sleepwalking,’ said Kelly. ‘What would be the chances of that?’
‘Oh my God,’ said LB. ‘That was your excuse.’
‘What took you so long anyhow? What were you doing? Was there alcohol in there? Was I right? Only one night to go for a céilí back-up plan.’