Sara threw the remains of her coffee onto the ground. Griffin glanced quickly at her as if startled. Then he turned back to Grace.
‘Why? Are you interested in knowing the sort of woman I’m attracted to?’
‘Maybe. Unless you two are an item.’
Sara was looking at Griffin; waiting.
‘There’s always room for one more,’ Griffin said. ‘Sara wants what I want. She always has.’
He smiled. Sara’s face was expressionless; the kind of mask you use to protect yourself, Grace thought.
‘When does this pick-up happen?’ she asked.
‘As soon as you can organise it.’ Sara stood and picked up the basket with the thermos. ‘I’m going. You and Joel can work out everything else.’
She walked away, moving jerkily without looking back, got into her black Porsche and was gone quickly, too quickly for the narrow park road.
Griffin watched her go.
‘You hurt her feelings,’ Grace said.
‘Did I?’
‘You two are an item.’
He turned back to her, his eyes seeming almost a blank, without emotion. ‘Why should you care?’
‘Because if you are Elliot, how come Sara hasn’t walked out on you?’
‘She can’t.’ He said it matter-of-factly. ‘She’ll always be there.’
‘Why?’
He grinned. ‘We’ve been together since she was fifteen. She’s never had sex with anyone else.’
He was boasting. Grace, feeling repulsed inside, laughed. ‘You can’t know that.’
‘Oh, yes, I can. There’ll never be anyone else. Not while I’m around.’
‘Then that must be true for you as well. She must be your first girlfriend. You’re the same age, aren’t you?’
‘It’s never tied me down the way it has her.’
‘Where’d you meet her?’ Grace asked.
‘At a camp she used to go to. As soon as I saw her and found out who she was, I made sure we got together. I knew she’d understand me and could help me.’
‘But did you understand and help her?’
‘I taught her how to be strong. She didn’t know what strength was before she met me.’
‘So why does she take it from you? Other women, I mean. I wouldn’t.’
‘Wouldn’t you?’ he said. ‘Maybe you don’t understand what’s between us. I’ve shown her a whole world she would never have known about. She’s done things she never would have done but for me.’
‘Oh, yeah? And what are they?’ she asked with a smile.
Briefly, he was angry. ‘Why do you keep talking about her? Let’s talk about you and me instead.’ He grew calmer. ‘You’ve turned yourself out a bit better today. Better than the nothing clothes you had on yesterday. You’re attractive. You should dress better than you do.’
‘Why don’t you let your hair out?’ he asked.
‘Why?’
‘I want to see how long it is. Maybe women with long hair attract me.’
Unwillingly, but hiding it, Grace let out her dark brown hair, which slipped onto her shoulders and then down her back. Griffin reached forward to touch it. Instinctively, she drew back.
‘You don’t want me to do that.’
‘You’ve got a girlfriend. Sara. You’ve been with her from the beginning. You’ve just told me I don’t know what’s between you. That means you’ll always go back to her.’
‘I thought I’d made it clear that doesn’t have anything to do with you and me.’
‘Maybe it does for me. Maybe I see myself as special. I’m not the kind of person who shares.’
‘You are special. I told you that yesterday. I meant it. When the time comes, it will be just you and me. But right now I want to know what you know.’
He seemed to be searching her face, much as Clive had done earlier that day, looking for something.
‘What do you mean by that?’ she asked. ‘What is it I know?’
‘Chris Newell is dead,’ he said.
‘What?’
‘I said, Chris Newell is dead.’
She sat still, unable to speak. She did not feel shock; it was relief so powerful she almost lost her grip on her persona.
‘How do you know that?’
‘Just take it from me. I’ve got good contacts, I hear things.’
‘How did he die?’
Griffin smiled. ‘You don’t want to know the answer to that. The best thing for him is that it’s over now. Let’s just say he paid a debt. I can understand that. I always expect people to pay their debts. You can tell me what it was like to look him in the eyes just before he threw petrol over you. Because he’s dead. He can’t come after you again.’
She said nothing. Thought: I never have to be afraid of him again.
‘Aren’t you going to answer me?’
‘I wasn’t thinking about anything at the time,’ she heard herself say. ‘It happened too quickly.’
‘No. There must be a memory in your head somewhere. Otherwise why were you so frightened of him?’
‘I met you to make a deal. We’ve made a deal and now I’m leaving.’
‘Answer my question or there’s no deal,’ he said.
‘I made one with Sara, if not with you.’
‘No,’ he said. ‘I’m the one who calls the shots. If I say it’s not on, then that’s the end of it. You don’t get any cash.’
This time, she was the one searching his face, trying to work out why he was asking her this. He really did want to know. It was the first time he’d shown any genuine emotion. He leaned forward, staring at her, almost impatient, his whole body in the grip of anticipation. She didn’t speak.
‘Tell me. What did you see?’ He was impatient.
‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘It was like looking into the dark.’
He sat back, watching her. Disappointment. Then detachment. All at once, she might have been a dressmaker’s dummy sitting there.
‘You have beautiful hair,’ he said in a distant voice. ‘It’s your hair I’m going to remember.’
‘I’ve got to get going. People will wonder where I am.’
He stood up. Another persona flicked into place, overlaid on the negative he had just shown her. The public Joel Griffin was back.
‘I’ll hear from you,’ he said. ‘I’ll need bank account details for the payment.’
‘I’ll get them to you. See you.’
She walked to her car at a normal pace; glanced back to see him watching her; waved in a simple way and drove away, resisting the desire to put her foot down, to speed. She was shaking but she held on. The only thing in her mind was the process of making her way safely through the traffic; it anchored her. She realised she could not tell Paul that Newell was dead. And he was. She was convinced of the truth of Griffin’s information. She had walked through a door into the strange taste of freedom, only to have it quickly replaced with the shock of her whole encounter with Griffin.
Her phone rang.
‘Your backup has you in view,’ Clive said. ‘You’re not being followed.’
‘I’m on my way to the motel.’
‘We’ll be waiting.’
