Til Death Do Us Part. Stephen Edger

‘Know about what?’

      ‘Apparently Ben, Dave and the boys went to Bournemouth last weekend when we were in Paris. Did Johnny mention it to you?’

      The look of surprise on Faye’s face indicated he hadn’t. ‘Johnny can’t have gone. He was looking after Isabella because I was away with you.’

       EIGHT

      Dave had now left the balcony and re-entered the room. ‘Johnny left Isabella with his mum for the night and then collected her Sunday morning. I’m sorry. He was sworn into the same pact, and couldn’t tell you the truth. There was no reason why any of you should have found out where we were. Nothing of incident happened, and we all returned to Southampton first thing on Sunday.’

      Alice felt saliva building at the back of her throat as she asked her next question. ‘Did you pay for Kerry to have sex with Ben?’

      ‘Absolutely not! I wouldn’t do that to you, Alice. Nor would Ben. He is absolutely smitten with you, and wouldn’t look at another woman.’

      It was the answer she wanted to hear, even if she wasn’t sure whether she could believe a single word out of Dave’s mouth.

      ‘So you went to some kind of strip club then?’ she pressed.

      Dave reached for a bottle of lager from the collection on the carpet and snapped the lid off. ‘You remember Abdul from earlier?’

      She nodded.

      ‘He had the keys for this old bar. It had gone out of business, but it was quiet and we knew we wouldn’t get disturbed. So we went there, buying some booze from a local grocer’s, and then someone suggested we get a stripper and pay her to give Ben a private dance.’ He suddenly fixed her with a hard stare. ‘He knew nothing about it until she arrived. We tied him to a chair and watched as she performed a lap dance for him.’

      Alice could feel the vomit rising in her throat again as she pictured Ben on a chair while a beautiful young woman danced provocatively for him. ‘Where did you find her?’

      Dave whipped out his phone and presented the Internet search history. ‘I typed: “private dancers, Bournemouth”, and I called one of the first numbers that came up. She rocked up twenty minutes later, with her own music and speaker. Ben emerged from the toilets and we quickly grabbed him and tied his wrists behind the chair with some rope Abdul found behind the bar. She did a dance using some squirty cream and made him lick it off her, and that was it.’ Dave swigged from the lager. ‘Then she cleaned herself up, I handed over the money and she left. We stayed at the lock-up for another ten or so minutes and then we tied Ben to a pole outside and pulled down his trousers. We left him there while we headed out to buy more booze.’

      Her eyes widened. ‘You left him tied up in the street? He could have got mugged or killed, or God knows what!’

      ‘It’s what you do on a stag do. We were just messing with his mind; we never had any intention of leaving him there all night, we just wanted to see how scared he got. We eventually went back and let him go, drank for a further hour or so before we all passed out. We woke up and headed home, stopping for breakfast on the way.’

      ‘Did you tell the police all this?’

      ‘I tried, but they weren’t willing to listen. They told me to come back in the morning and someone would take my statement then.’

      ‘What about Ben?’

      ‘They said because he’s been drinking today, they’re not allowed to interview him until the morning, but they’ve said they’ll do so first thing. All being well, the solicitor reckons he’ll be out by lunchtime.’

      The gentle vibrations in the carpet suggested the loud music from the party was still going. If Ben was back by lunch, at least they wouldn’t have to cancel the honeymoon, but right now she would happily give up the trip to Barbados to have him here with her.

      By ten o’clock, even the happiest of revellers had left the dance floor, and as Alice looked around the room, the only people who remained were those who were staying the night at the hotel. Through the fire exit window, Alice could see what looked like a heated argument between Faye and Johnny. Faye had been furious to learn that Johnny had abandoned their daughter for a night out with his mates, and it didn’t look like he was too pleased to be challenged on it.

      Alice’s stepbrother Scott was chatting to Abdul and a second man that Alice vaguely recognized. She knew he was someone that worked with Ben, but for the life of her she couldn’t remember his name. The three of them were sitting at a table on the other side of the hall, so it was impossible to know what they were talking about, though she suspected Ben’s arrest wasn’t far from any of their minds. Dave had promised to round up the group from Bournemouth and have them go with him to make statements at the police station in the morning.

      Alice’s mum had headed up to bed shortly after Alice had returned to the party, and Tara looked as though she might fall asleep at the table at any minute.

      ‘You should go up to bed,’ Alice suggested.

      Tara suddenly gave a jolt as she realized she was being addressed. Reaching for her glass of wine, she knocked it back. ‘I’m not going anywhere without you.’

      Alice was touched by her friend’s loyalty, but it wasn’t fair to be keeping her up unnecessarily. ‘I’m probably going to head up too. The sooner this day ends the better.’

      Tara pulled a sympathetic pout. ‘Do you want me to stay in the room with you? I’ll be lousy company, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be alone tonight.’

      Alice choked back the emotion building in her throat. ‘You don’t need to do that. I’ll probably be asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow.’

      Tara crossed her arms. ‘I’m not taking no for an answer.’

      Alice leaned across and hugged her. ‘Thank you.’

      The two women stood and Alice took a final cursory glance around the room to check she hadn’t missed anyone she should thank for attending. Faye and Johnny had disappeared from the window, presumably to return to their room, and Alice waved goodnight to Scott and the other two before peeling out of the room and heading up to the honeymoon suite. Tara said she would collect her things from her room and return.

      Once inside, Alice changed into her negligee and dived under the covers. Next door it sounded like Johnny and Faye’s argument had resulted in the noisiest make-up sex Alice had ever heard. Tara knocked on the door moments later and climbed into bed too.

      ‘Do you want me to stay awake until you’re asleep?’ Tara yawned, the alcohol in her system making her drowsy.

      ‘No, I just want to sleep,’ Alice replied, switching off the bedside lamp.

      Barely two minutes had passed before Tara began snoring. It was the cue Alice had been waiting for. Reaching over to the bedside table, she switched on her phone and opened an Internet search window, typing in the name ‘Kerry Valentine’. It had been a long and stressful day, but Alice’s mind wouldn’t allow her to rest until she knew as much as she could about this mystery woman.

       NINE

      Sunlight was already streaming through the open balcony door, and the cool morning breeze was enough to raise goosebumps on Alice’s arms as she stirred. Rising from the bed, she moved across to the door and gently closed it, pulling the curtain back across, casting the room in a dim shadow.

      When sleep had come, it had been interspersed with memories of the cuffs being snapped around Ben’s wrists and the sound of the van door being slammed. So vivid were the visions in her dreams that she’d woken believing the whole