Til Death Do Us Part. Stephen Edger

SEVEN

      Slumped on the four-poster, Alice tried to flatten the crease in her satin evening dress without success. Dave had insisted they go somewhere quiet to talk, and with no other obvious options, they had headed to the honeymoon suite, Faye and Tara, too.

      Dave was crouched down by the minibar, grabbing handfuls of small bottles and dropping them on the floor. He hadn’t asked whether he could help himself, but money was the last thing on Alice’s mind as she watched him pop open the lid of a box of Pringles and offer her one. She hadn’t eaten since the wedding breakfast earlier, despite the large buffet spread downstairs. She shook her head politely though, as her appetite was missing in action.

      Tara and Faye were standing on the balcony overlooking the lake, talking quietly. The cool breeze coming from the gap in the doors was welcome. So many questions were peppering Alice’s mind that she was struggling to keep up with the pace.

      Dave slammed the door to the minibar fridge and reached for one of the bottles, unscrewing the cap and swallowing the contents before tossing the bottle towards the small plastic bin by the desk. She watched him, for the first time seeing what resembled fear in his eyes. He unscrewed a second miniature and held it close.

      ‘What aren’t you telling me?’ Alice asked.

      Their eyes met, before he quickly looked away. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

      Alice’s gaze hadn’t left his face. As a teacher, she’d learned to pick up on tells when she was being lied to, and Dave’s body language was screaming at her right now.

      ‘Who is Kerry Valentine?’ she asked.

      Dave’s shoulders instantly tensed, as he turned his back to her. ‘Who?’

      The only thing worse than being lied to was recognizing the deceit.

      ‘The woman they think Ben killed,’ Alice continued. ‘Who is she?’

      ‘How would I know?’ Dave was still facing the wall, but she could see he’d put the miniature to his lips.

      She had no doubt he was keeping things from her; he was a terrible liar at the best of times, but the question was why was he lying? To protect Ben? To protect himself?

      Sliding off the bed, she moved around Dave so she could look into his eyes when she asked the next question. ‘What else did the police say to you?’

      ‘Nothing. They wouldn’t speak to me.’

      She saw a flicker of doubt in his eyes again. Keeping her tone calm but even, she said, ‘Please don’t lie to me. Ben’s my husband, and I deserve to know the truth.’ She reached for his hand and held it, surprised by how cold it felt. ‘Please, Dave, whatever it is you’re keeping from me, it can’t be any worse than the paranoid thoughts whizzing through my mind right now. Please?’

      The balcony doors opened wider and the two bridesmaids entered the room, Tara making a beeline for the collection of bottles on the floor near the fridge. Picking up two bottles of vodka, she held one out for Alice, who shook her head. Tara shrugged and carried the two miniatures back to the bed.

      As Alice turned back she saw Dave had escaped to the balcony and followed him out. The breeze was stronger out here and she felt the hairs on her arms stand on end.

      ‘Whatever the truth is,’ she said, ‘I will find it out. They won’t be able to keep Ben in there forever. The two of you will have to come clean soon enough. Just put me out of my misery. What did the police really say?’

      Dave remained where he was, staring out at the full moon peeking out from behind a single cloud in the dark night sky.

      ‘Nothing. I didn’t speak to the police. It was the solicitor who told me they were keeping Ben in.’

      Alice frowned. ‘Solicitor? Since when does Ben have a solicitor?’

      ‘He’s a mate of mine. I called him on the way to the police station and asked him to just go and check on Ben.’

      Alice didn’t want to ask why Dave happened to have a solicitor on standby, but given some of the stories Ben had told her about Dave, she could guess.

      ‘Why would Ben need a solicitor if he hasn’t done anything wrong?’ She hadn’t expected the question to sound so callous, but she couldn’t reason how the police could be so certain they had the right man unless there was a lot more she didn’t know.

      ‘The police, they … they can twist things. I promise you, Ben didn’t do what they say, but I need to make sure he doesn’t get himself into trouble by saying the wrong thing.’

      A tiny voice in the back of her head didn’t like the mention of the wrong thing, but now wasn’t the time to question what Ben could possibly say to implicate himself.

      ‘Will this solicitor look after Ben then?’

      Dave’s focus remained on the moon, but he nodded.

      ‘Will you tell me one thing?’

      He turned and looked straight at her, nodding again.

      Alice took a deep breath. ‘Who is Kerry Valentine? I know you know more than you’re saying. I know you recognize her name. Does Ben know her?’

      Alice had been trying to ignore the voice of doubt, but it was now too loud to ignore. She didn’t pretend to know all of Ben’s friends, but she was certain she’d have remembered him mentioning a name like Kerry Valentine. If he hadn’t mentioned her name, was there another reason for keeping her identity a secret? Alice’s last two boyfriends had cheated on her, and she was now dreading the possibility that history had repeated itself.

      ‘Please, Dave?’ she said when her question was greeted with silence. ‘Who is Kerry Valentine?’

      Dave buried his face in his hands and growled as he summoned the words. ‘She was a stripper I hired for his stag do.’

      Alice let the words sink in. ‘A stripper?’

      Dave lowered his hands and stared apologetically at her. ‘I’m sorry. I wanted him to have one last hurrah before he settled down.’

      ‘Wait, his stag do? So this stripper was with you in Malia?’

      Dave shook his head. ‘No, Malia was two weeks ago. This was last weekend.’

      Alice’s mind fogged with confusion. ‘A week ago? I was in France a week ago. The deal was he went to Malia with his friends, and then I’d go to Paris with mine the week after.’

      Regret was plastered all over his face. ‘It wasn’t Ben’s fault. He didn’t know anything about it. I just thought it was an opportunity to relive our old uni days. I called together some of the guys who couldn’t afford to do Malia with us and suggested we get together and knock back a few shots.’

      ‘I phoned Ben from Paris. You answered and said you were both at our place watching films and getting drunk. You told me Ben was in the toilet.’

      The crevices in his forehead sank deeper. ‘He was tied up in the back of my car at that point. We kidnapped him and made him come out with us, because we knew he wouldn’t want to break his promise to you.

      ‘I drove us to Bournemouth, to a few of the bars we used to hit in our uni days. You should have heard him though; the whole time he kept saying how guilty he felt about not staying home as he’d promised. We all swore a pact that we’d never let slip what we’d done or where we’d been. He was terrified you’d blame him for breaking the promise, but I swear to you, it was all my doing.’

      She didn’t doubt that Dave was the ringleader, but she couldn’t believe Ben had kicked up that much of a fuss. He wouldn’t deliberately lie to her, but if there was a chance of booze and clubbing, Ben wouldn’t take much persuading. Dave was obviously laying it on thick in an effort to protect his best friend.

      Alice