She looked at him through tear-filled eyes. “I love you too Ian. Don’t... no...”
Ian closed his eyes and fell limp in her arms.
Alice stared into space as the bedroom filled with men and guns.
126
Kapoor looked into the hospital room and saw Ian propped up in the bed reading. She knocked on the open door and he looked up.
“All right if I come in?” she asked.
He put the book down. “Sure.”
She pulled up a chair and sat by the bed. “So, how are you?”
“Getting there. The physio is difficult. Still hurts to walk.”
“You gotta keep at it, huh?”
He nodded. “You drop by to see how I am, or is there something else?”
“I’m here more in a private capacity. The techs recovered a lot of stuff from Lewis Cole’s phone and we’re tying up loose ends, chasing connections.”
“Why? I thought he was a loner?”
“We’re investigating people who encouraged him to attack Alice.”
“Good luck with that. You want to fill up all the jails? Did you see what people posted on social media? Are you going to prosecute all of them?”
Kapoor ran her hand through her hair, still familiarising herself with her new hairstyle. “We’re looking at one person in particular. They told Cole that Alice was staying at the Metro. Encouraged him to 'give it to her’ and ‘smack that bitch hard’. Went by the username HardBoy97.”
“Bloody hell. That sounds ominous.”
“You could say. We tracked her down...”
“Her? Thought you said he called himself hard boy?”
“It’s easy to hide behind a username, and direct messages on social media are normally hidden from the wider public. You use them too, right?”
“What?”
“DMs. Direct messages.”
“Suppose.”
“Well it turns out Cole wasn't the only person she DM’d on a regular basis.”
Ian swallowed. “Who was she?”
“Do you know Jo Page?”
Ian’s face coloured, and he nodded. “Yes.”
“Friend of yours?”
Ian nodded again and winced.
Kapoor cocked her head. “With benefits?”
Ian squirmed and shrunk back into the pillows. “What did she tell you?”
“Let’s just say she cooperated.”
“I had nothing to do with it. I would never do anything to endanger Alice. You know that.”
Kapoor cocked her head at him. “Yeah? You’ve a Twitter account too, right?”
Ian blinked. “Uh huh.”
“You sent a tweet saying…” Kapoor pulled a small notebook from her pocket and read “LOL #champagneterrorist deletes account and flees UK after Twitter pressure!! #SouthKen. Care to explain?”
“I was only trying to help. Someone had smashed our window with a brick. I figured if people thought Alice had fled the country, they’d forget about her. You know, leave her alone.”
“You tell her that?”
Ian grunted. “I took a knife for Alice.”
“If we thought you were part of it, we'd be having a very different conversation.” She slipped the notebook into her jacket.
“You going to tell Alice?”
Kapoor leaned back in the chair and put her hands behind her head. “You know, there can be days in life where you look back and say, yeah, that’s when I changed. Like a moment in time you can point a finger at. A specific thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Kapoor nodded. “See, when I was in my twenties, I had boyfriend. I loved him. Thought he was the greatest thing ever. I was sure we would spend the rest of our lives together. House. Kids. Cat. You know, happy ever after and all that. All that youthful naivety.” She shook her head. “April 16th. It was a Tuesday and the sun was shining when my best friend told me she had been sleeping with him for months. I lost a lot in one instant. The love of my life. My best friend. Innocence and trust. So yes, I changed that day.”
“Sorry.”
“Don't be sorry. Who needs friends like that? It was a lesson I needed to learn. Granted, I would have preferred to learn it in a less severe manner, but hey...” She spread her arms wide and smiled. Then she got to her feet.
“Are you going to tell her? I mean, can’t we just, you know...”
“Forget about it?”
Ian nodded. “Yes.”
Kapoor laughed. “That would be convenient, wouldn't it?”
“It’s over. Finished. Cole’s dead. Alice is safe. What’s the point?”
Kapoor stopped at the door and turned to him. “If you can't see the point...”
“But if it wasn't for me, he’d have killed her.”
“A proper hero, huh?” Kapoor put her hands on her hips. “Then I’m sure you’ll have the courage to do the decent thing.”
“What’s that?”
Kapoor just smiled and walked out.
127
For the second time in recent weeks, Alice retraced her steps from the past. With her head held high, she walked along Prinsessegade until she came to the bar. It was late in the afternoon and the place was open. She strode in and looked around. Nothing was as she remembered. Perhaps it was the light and the absence of customers.
The barman looked up. “Hi, can I help?”
“I used to drink here when I was a student. Haven't been back in years, guess I just wanted to see the place again.”
“The good old days, huh?”
Alice looked to him and smiled. “Sure.”
“Well if you need anything, let me know.”
“Is it okay if I take a photo?”
“Go right ahead. Say something nice on social media too. It helps.”
Alice wandered around until she came to the corner where she’d sat 12 years back. She plonked herself down on the sofa and wondered whether it was the same one. She took photographs on her phone and nodded to herself. After several minutes, she got to her feet, thanked the barman with a wave and left.
Outside, she put on her sunglasses and headed to Torvegade where she stopped at the pedestrian crossing. When
