with a key-card, but that didn't stop her. She went to the top floor, opening out on a blank corridor with doors spaced along it.
The ones with trays outside were obviously occupied. The problem was figuring out which ones were empty. The receptionist would have it all on the computer, but there was no way to access it without attracting attention. She went to a door and listened. Was that the faint sound of snoring? She moved on.
Four doors down she found a room that was quiet. She put her hand on the door handle and the light blinked to green. The door opened easily. She opened the door and let herself in.
'Who's there?' A voice came from the darkness inside.
'Sorry Madame, it's… room service.' The lie twisted on her tongue. 'I've got the wrong room. My apologies.' She slipped out again and pulled the door shut behind her, sliding sideways away from the viewport in the door. After a second she heard the lock behind her click shut and the rattle as the chain was put across. She slipped away down the corridor.
The doors all looked the same. If only she could figure out which ones were empty.
At the end of the corridor was a door with a brass plaque mounted beside it. The plaque said, The Seven Dials Suite. 'In for a penny…' she whispered. She put her hand on the door control and it blinked green.
Pushing through she found a hallway with low-level LEDs leading like runway lights into the room. She let the door almost close and then rested it against the latch so she could escape quickly if she needed to.
'Room service?' She called, experimentally, into the room. There was no reply.
She edged forwards along the corridor and nearly jumped out of her skin when the latch clicked behind her and the door closed. Heart beating fast, she went to the end of the hall. It opened out into a room with floor-length glass windows looking out over the rooftops. The city light illuminated comfortable chairs with chic magazines arranged artfully on occasional tables, and doors leading off to other rooms. This was more like a luxury apartment than any hotel Alex had ever stayed in. She crept through the apartment, finding other rooms with huge beds freshly made and a marble bathroom with an enormous tub.
'How the other half lives, eh?' she whispered.
Satisfied that the apartment was empty, she went to switch on the lights, but they were dead. She tried another switch, but that was dead too. Maybe there was a power failure? The LED lights in the hallway still worked, though. On an impulse she went back to the door and found a slot where your keycard would fit to switch on the power. She placed her hand on it, but nothing happened. I wasn't that it was locked, it simply didn't work.
On reflection, she thought that maybe it would be better if no one saw light coming from a room that should be empty. She could manage in the light from the windows and all she really needed was a bed. She locked the door from the inside and put the chain across for good measure. She went into the bathroom and washed her hands, then splashed her face in the sink, dabbing her face with the snowy towels. In the mirror her eyes glowed faintly blue back at her.
She glanced at her wrist. Dropping the towel, she went back to the main window overlooking the rooftops. Unlocking the balcony doors, she stepped out in to the night and examined her wrists. The buds that had been there had opened into dark flowers, black petals folded back to reveal long stamen. What did that mean? She rubbed at them, but they were dyed into her skin. Tattoos were supposed to be fixed, weren't they?
The night air was cool and it was somehow private up here. She tried to imagine herself staying here legitimately, but she could think of no circumstance where she would be accorded this kind of treatment. Maybe if she'd stuck to the guitar and been a rock star?
Closing the door on the balcony, she rubbed at her wrists as she wandered around the apartment. She found a fridge in a cupboard and opened a pack of cashew nuts and a mineral water, eating them laid out on the huge sofa. There was champagne in the fridge, but she wanted to keep her wits about her. This was no time to get silly. She would save the orange juice for the morning.
In the bedroom she stripped out of her outfit, telling herself she would need to acquire some clean underwear in the morning and that M amp;S in Covent Garden would be a good place to do that. She left the curtains open. Having spent so many days in rooms where it was always light, she liked sleeping with the curtains open. Climbing into the huge bed, she drew the light quilt across her and laid in the dark, listening to the city sounds filtering across the rooftops. She laid there, eyes open, long into the deep of the night, before sleep finally claimed her.
TEN
When I visited Alex's room the next morning, she was still not there. What with my argument with Blackbird and then the reconciliation, plus having to reclaim the baby to the knowing smiles of Lesley, I had convinced myself that Alex would return under her own steam and that she would be in bed this morning and I could take the opportunity to have a calm word with her.
It was a shock to see that she hadn't been back. The room was exactly as she'd left it. I returned to the suite I shared with Blackbird.
'She's not been back,' I told Blackbird, who was feeding the baby.
'Stop pacing up and down. You're distracting him from his feed. Maybe she's staying with her mother?' Blackbird suggested. The noisy sucking resumed.
'If she is, then goodness knows what she's told Katherine.'
'Perhaps it would be a good idea to get in touch and see what the situation is. Alex must realise that she can't stay with her mother long term. It isn't going to work, Katherine must see that.'
'You don't know Katherine.'
Blackbird went back to feeding the baby.
'OK, I'll call her. I'll go and find a mirror in one of the spare rooms and see if I can catch her at home.'
'Are you cutting me out?' There was a note of warning in her voice.
'No. No, really. I just thought… Katherine may not be too pleased with me at the moment.'
'If you start excluding me from everything again, I won't be too pleased with you either.' She smiled to soften her words. 'Call her. It's OK. I'll be quiet as a mouse and your son has his mouth full.'
I went to the mirror and laid my hand on it. 'Katherine?'
Condensation spread out around my hand as the temperature in the room dipped. My son grizzled, but then continued to suckle. There was a hissing sound of random static, then a ringing tone.
'Hello?'
'Katherine? It's Niall.'
'Niall! Thank God! I've been ringing every number I have for you. None of them work! Don't you have a mobile that works any more?'
'No… it's complicated. Is Alex there?'
'That's why I was trying to get hold of you. She was here, last night.'
'Where is she now?'
'I don't know. She ran out on me. I tried to call her back, but she'd vanished before I could find her. I've called Kayleigh's parents — they haven't seen her.'
'What did you tell them? She's supposed to be dead.'
'I'm not that stupid. I just asked them if Kayleigh was OK.'
One of the changes in my relationship with Katherine was that I could tell when she lying or being evasive, like now. I let it go. Now was not the time. 'Has Kayleigh seen her?'
'No, no one has. Where is she, Niall?'
'She didn't come back here last night. Her bed's not been slept in. As far as I can tell, you were the last person to see her. What did you say to her?'
If they'd had some kind of row, that would go some way to explaining Alex's absence. She was probably sulking somewhere.
'I didn't get chance. She was in and out before either Barry or I knew she was here.'
The evasion in her voice was getting stronger. 'What are you not telling me?'
'I think… Maybe she got the wrong idea.'
'About what?'
