Chapter 38
The morning sunshine began to turn as per my mood: gloomy and blustery as a storm began to gather in the heavens. I felt restless, the previous day a burden on my mind, dominating my thoughts. I kept my eyes to the television for any further news about Michael Cooper, but nothing was being given away. It wasn't that surprising really: the press wouldn't be privy to any intimate details of a police investigation as sensitive as this.
I wondered what the concierge had said, what he'd seen. His words still ran through my mind - he has quite an appetite today. At first I'd thought nothing of it, not even realizing how inappropriate the comment was. I had other thoughts rushing through my head at that point to take any heed of it.
Now, however, I could think of nothing else. Kyle was right - the words did suggest that he'd had another visitor that day, another visitor like me. Stripper, prostitute, someone to provide pleasure of a particular nature. There was nothing else his words could mean.
He'd have told the police about it all. He'd have told them about me as well. I just hoped Kyle was right: that any post mortem would take me out of the running. That it would show that he was dead long before I'd got there.
I thought back. When I'd reached for his pulse, touched him to check if he was alive, was he still warm? Was he cold? I couldn't remember, it hadn't been noticeable either way. If he was still warm, perhaps he'd only just havebeen killed.
But the blood - it had seeped everywhere. Through his shirt, onto the armchair, down to the carpet. That would take time surely, for all that blood to leave his body? And with that blood loss, surely he'd be cold.
F*ck Alice, think. My mind turned it over and over, trying to conjure an answer from nothing.
What did it matter anyway. Kyle had assured me I'd be fine. I had to trust that that would be the case, that nothing would connect me to things. Perhaps they'd find the culprit soon, and that would lay everything to rest.
I walked to the window and looked out at the gathering clouds. It was a Sunday, and Adam's Park, across from the hotel, was beginning to clear as the morning sun began to become shrouded by heavy clouds. I could see people hastily gathering up their picnics and groups of young people - probably students - deciding that this was a Sunday best spent inside as they rushed towards the exits.
I heard a knock at the door that made me jump.
“Excuse me, is anyone in there?” The voice sounded foreign.
“Yes,” I replied.
“Sorry miss but I need to clean the room for the next guest. Check out time is midday.”
I looked at my phone and saw that the time was approaching that mark. I walked towards the door and opened it up, seeing a couple of cleaners waiting patiently outside in the corridor.
“All yours,” I said as I walked past them and down the corridor, my purse in hand.
“Thank you miss, have a good day.”
I could hear the sound of thunder cracking in the sky as I entered the lift and hit the button for the lobby. F*ck me this storm has come around quick. Not twenty minutes ago the sky was clear blue.
I stepped from the elevator and set the keycard for the room at the front desk. As I did another bolt from Zeus flashed outside, lighting the now darkening sky as the rains began to pour down. Perfect timing, just perfect.
I stepped towards the exit and peered out. I could see several people gathered under the canopy at the front of the hotel, squeezing up against the outside wall to hide from the rain. I laughed slightly at the sight. For some reason I always found it amusing when people were caught out by the weather. And round here, it was prone to change on a whim.
I stepped through the main door to the sight of a torrent. I looked down the street to see my beaten up ride being hammered by the downpour. She'd certainly suffered a lot worse in her time.
OK Alice, make a run for it. It's only fifty meters.
I tucked my handbag under my coat and took off, much to the surprise of the others gathered under the shade of the hotel entrance. Within ten meters I was getting soaked, the rain turning me into a water-rat within seconds, my hair mangled and wetted, make up cascading down my face.
I reached the car and pulled the keys from my purse, opening the lock and diving inside. It was loud as I shut the door, the tin can roof exaggerating the sound of every raindrop, the view through the windscreen obscured by dancing droplets.
I put the key to the ignition and turned it, the car groaning as it always did. The engine chugged feebly, a heavy choking sound I'd grown accustomed to hearing, before giving in.
I turned the key again, the engine once more gargling like a drunk. Great. Perfect timing.
I tried again and again but knew it was in vain. By my fifth attempt, the sound of engine had been reduced to nothing more than a whimper. Perhaps it was time for a new car.
Well this was just perfect, it really was. I was sat there trapped in a f*cking tin can, the world falling to shit outside. I had so much work to do I couldn't even begin to know where to start, and oh yeah, I'd just witnessed a murder.
I reached for my phone to call a taxi. Out of charge. Wow this really is the day that just keeps on giving.
OK, back to the hotel, they can call me a cab.
I braced myself for the hit as I opened the door, the water immediately splashing up off the ground and into the car. I stepped quickly, shutting the door, and ran back towards the hotel.
When I got about halfway I saw a car cruise up beside me, the window winding down as it came to a stop.
“Alice, hey Alice,” I heard a man shout through the heavy thunder.
I looked in through the window to see Tom behind the wheel of his car, some four wheel drive Land Rover or something. “Yo Alice, hop in.”
Without thinking I stepped into the front seat beside him, the inside warm and comfortable. I could see him grimace slightly as my soaked clothes rubbed against the material of my seat, but he didn't say anything.
“I saw you in your car down there. Having engine trouble?” he asked.
I nodded. “F*cking thing won't start. Need a new one really.” I hadn't seen Tom since that night at his frat house, so my guard was well and truly up. And now, of all times, wasn't the time to reminisce about it.
“So you need a lift back to campus?”
“Um, I was gonna go call a taxi from the hotel.”
“Nonsense, I'll take you.”
He put the car into gear and pulled off, the engine purring as it should, the ride smooth and quiet, even with the torrential downpour outside. He didn't give me a chance to protest.
“So what are you doing out here? Caught in the park?”
“Oh, yeah,” I said, lying, “it really turned suddenly.”
He laughed. “I know. Sorry, I don't mean to laugh, it's just funny, you know, when people get caught out by the weather.”
“I know what you mean. I thought the same until that person was me!”
He laughed again. He seemed so much more normal than I'd seen him before, much more casual. I guess I'd never actually seen him on his own - he was always either surrounded by friends or drunk at a party.
“So Alice, I haven't seen you for a while around campus. Been busy?” I couldn't tell whether there was any suggestion in his voice, or if I was just imagining it.
He must have remembered what happened the last time we saw each other. Or maybe I was giving him too much credit.
“Yeah, lots of work on.” I regretted the words as soon as I'd said them. I knew what was coming next: some sexually loaded remark about the nature of my 'work'.
“Oh yeah, college is getting busy huh.”
Surprising - no mention of my stripping. Maybe Tess was right, maybe he really had promised to keep things to himself.
I nodded and looked out the window. “And you?”
“Same I guess. It's tough sometimes, managing my college work with my football. It takes up so much damn time. Not just the training and the games, but the social side of it as well.”
“Yeah,” I scoffed, “but you can't complain about that!”
His eyes were falling flatter than I'd ever seen them. “Yeah, that's what most people think. But at the end of the day, getting a good degree is gonna do more for me than playing football here. It's not like I'm gonna go pro or anything, so what's the point?”
This was a side to Tom I'd never seen. He actually seemed sensible, even sensitive.
“I thought you were gonna go pro?” I asked. He was supposedly the star player in the team.
He shook his head. “Do you have any idea how many people actually make it from college teams? Not many. I'm doing all right here, but the NFL is another step up. It's low percentage.”
“Shit, yeah I guess.” I'd never seen him so serious, so practical. It was like he'd given up on his dream. Or, at least, what I'd assumed was his dream.
“So what are you gonna do instead. What's your degree again?” I don't think I'd ever known.
“Law.”
“Law!?”
“Yeah,” he said, laughing slightly, “why are you so shocked?”
“I dunno, I guess I had you pegged as someone here on a football scholarship doing a Mickey Mouse subject. Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I just didn't have you pegged as an academic, that's all.”
“No, no that's fine,” he said shaking his head, “it's a misconception that lots of people have about me. Don't dwell on it.”
I was in a slight state of shock sitting there are an awkward silence fell on us. I thought it was common knowledge that Tom was a bit of a dunce, a guy getting by with his old man's money and sporting proficiency. To be doing law he must have been clever as well, something I'd never in a million years have thought about him.
But then, I'd only ever seen him at parties or cruising round campus with his football cronies. He was the type of guy who'd always been popular, always been adored. I guess that had sunk into him to make him what he was. Now, sitting there with him alone, I could see another side to him entirely. I bet Tess will love him even more now!
“So Tom, I wanted to ask you about the last time I saw you. You know, at your frat house.” I don't know why, but something compelled me to bring it up, clear the air.
“Yeah, I'm sorry about all that. I know I can be a major dick sometimes.”
“It's just a sensitive topic for me. It's not really true, all of that.”
He glanced over to me, his eyes friendly and understanding. “Yeah I know Alice, that's what Tess said. That sort of rumor can get someone chucked out of college, so I put it to bed right there.”
I felt an overwhelming feeling of thanks towards him. I don't know why. It was only something that any decent human being would do, quash a rumor like that. But then, I never thought he was that person, so it just jumped out asan extraordinary thing for him to do.
“Thanks Tom, I really appreciate that.”
He screwed up his face, as if it was nothing. “Nah, don't mention it. I'll always have your back Alice.”
“I think you're misunderstood around here!” I said, bringing a jovial tone back into the conversation.
“Yeah, don't tell anyone though, I kinda like the image sometimes.” He said it with a smile, his white teeth flashing against his tanned skin. He really was beautiful. I knew that, of course, but his personality had never fit with it. It didn't matter how good looking you were if you were a dick, and that's the regard I'd held him in. Until now.
“Right, here we are.”
He pulled the car into the lot outside my halls but kept the engine running.
“Thanks so much Tom, you're a lifesaver.”
“Yeah, well, it's nice to be seen as a good guy from time to time,” he joked.
“Haha, yeah I'll bet. The bad boy football player can be a real turn off for the girls huh!”
“The right girls, yeah.” His tone was more serious as he looked at me. “The types of girls attracted to that image - they're not for long term consumption! There's a reason I'm always single.”
“And I thought it was so you could f*ck as many girls as possible!”
He laughed. “Well, there's an element of that to it.”
I smiled as I opened the car door, the rain still bombarding the tarmac outside. “Thanks again Tom, I'll see you around.”
“Don't leave it so long this time.”