‘No. It can’t. Spare me a minute.’
Annie could see the reluctance on Ellie’s face as she sat down opposite her at the kitchen table.
‘What is it?’ asked Ellie.
‘Gary said something odd to me,’ said Annie.
‘Oh? What?’
‘That I ought to behave myself.’
‘What?’
Annie nodded. ‘I don’t know what he meant by that, and he wouldn’t explain. Do you know what he meant, Ellie?’ She was gazing intently at her friend’s face.
Ellie’s eyes slipped down and she shrugged. ‘Gawd knows. Gary’s never liked you. You know that.’
Chris passed by the open kitchen doorway.
‘Chris!’ called Annie.
There was a moment’s delay, then Chris appeared. Sheepish, she thought. That’s how he looks. Like he don’t want to see me here. Like he don’t even want to know I’m breathing.
‘Can I have a word?’ she asked.
Chris looked at Ellie, not Annie. ‘I’m busy,’ he said, and walked on.
There was a tense mood in the kitchen now as the two women sat there. Ellie was staring down at the tabletop, Annie was staring at her friend.
‘Ellie,’ said Annie.
Ellie didn’t glance up.
‘Ellie, what the fuck’s going on?’
Ellie stood up suddenly. She pushed her chair in, her eyes everywhere but not once resting on Annie’s face. ‘I can’t,’ she said, and seemed about to bolt from the room.
‘Wait! All right. Forget about that. But look – Dolly. Do you know anything?’ Annie stood up too, and looked urgently into Ellie’s face. ‘Come on, Ellie. This is Dolly we’re talking about. The police want anything we can give them. We have to give them everything we can.’
Ellie paused. Her eyes flicked to Annie’s face and then away.
‘All right,’ she said with a sigh.
‘Her family – can you think of anything about them? Any little detail, no matter how small? If you do, tell me.’
Now Ellie did look at Annie. ‘Why? So far as I know, she wasn’t even in touch with them. Hadn’t been for years.’
‘Does she have brothers, sisters? What about her parents? Are they still alive?’
‘I don’t know. I’ll have to think. Now I really must…’ And she was gone, bolting for the door, leaving Annie sitting there alone.
Next morning, after a sleepless night, Annie got up and was out of the club before anyone else had stirred. She hailed a black cab and went to an address across town and mooched around the shops on the high street until she saw a BMW pull into a space. A man got out – squat, solid as a tank, dark-haired, and dressed neatly in a black suit, pale blue shirt and matching tie. Annie walked over as he stood at the door of a shopfront, over which the logo
