He's After Me

Chapter THIRTY-EIGHT



We arrange to meet at Jem’s place the following evening. The next day he rings me in college at lunchtime.

‘I finish at six,’ he says.

‘I’ll be round about eight.’

‘Can’t wait!’

It’s so good to hear his voice again that I can’t help smiling.

‘Who’s that?’ asks Zoe.

‘Nobody special.’

‘Yeah right! You’ve got that same look on your face you used to have when you spoke to Jem. Sort of loopy!’

‘Don’t be daft!’ I say, but she grins and pats me on the knee.

‘Good to see you’re over Schizo Boy anyway.’

‘Jem’s not a schizo!’ I say automatically, but she’s turned away and is chatting to someone else. I take a deep breath and count to ten. When we prove all this has been Jude’s fault, she can take that back.

That evening I’ve just gone upstairs to get ready to meet Jem when Dad appears. He’s never away from the place nowadays. I hear him talking to Mum and Livi in the lounge and go back down and pop my head round the door.

‘Back again?’ I enquire sweetly, but his face is serious.

‘I’ve got something I think you should hear.’

‘What is it?’ I perch on the edge of the sofa next to Mum. ‘Better be quick.’

Dad puts his hands together and stares at the floor, his elbows on his knees. ‘There’s been a development,’ he says and he raises his eyes to mine.

‘What sort of development?’

‘Five thousand pounds has been stolen from an account.’

I feel my heart plummet.

‘Whose account?’

‘Jude’s.’

Jude’s? What’s going on here?

‘So?’

I stare at him bewildered. Mum places her hand over mine.

‘Why has it only just come to light?’ she asks.

Dad rubs his brow, then his chin. ‘Jude forgot about the account. It’s not one she uses very often. We checked all the cards at the time but she forgot about this one. But now her statement has come through and there’s five grand missing.’

‘Jem wouldn’t do that!’ cries Livi and I could kiss her. But Dad looks sceptical.

‘Look,’ I point out reasonably. ‘How could he? He’d need a password or a pin number, or something.’

‘He must have got hold of them somehow.’

‘No way!’ Livi explodes.

‘It must be Jude,’ I explain. ‘She must’ve forgotten she withdrew the money. I do it all the time. I’m for ever thinking I’ve got more than I’ve got in my account …’

‘The first withdrawals were made while we were in New York.’

‘Oh, come on!’ I can feel my temper rising. I don’t know what game Jude thinks she’s playing here, but she’s not going to get away with it. ‘Jem did not take that money. He couldn’t have!’

‘Yeah!’ Livi agrees. ‘You can’t pin this one on him!’

‘Well, somebody did,’ he says flatly and it’s obvious he’s made up his mind it’s Jem.

I lose it. ‘Maybe, just maybe, Jude made it up! Have you thought of that? Maybe your girlfriend is trying to fiddle the insurance!’

‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ snaps Dad. ‘She’s a lawyer!’

‘So?’ My voice rises with frustration. ‘That doesn’t mean she can’t commit a crime!’ Even to my own ears I sound like an hysterical child.

‘Well, we’ll find out soon, sure enough. Jude’s gone to the police. It’s out of my hands.’ His tone suggests he’s had enough of the whole thing. You can tell he and Jude have had words about it. ‘They’ll probably want to speak to you at some point, Anna.’

‘Right!’ I say, getting to my feet. ‘Thanks very much! Can I go now?’ I stalk out of the house without waiting for an answer.

When I reach the hotel I realize I’m early, but I go round the back to the staff quarters anyway and ring the bell. The door opens immediately but it’s not Jem, it’s one of his lager-swilling room-mates, the creepy one with the sore red eyes and weak chin who used to drool over the photos of me above Jem’s bed. He reminds me of a rat. His eyes light up when he sees me.

‘Where’s Jem?’ I ask.

‘Had to go out. He won’t be long. Come in and wait for him.’

I brush past him and perch myself gingerly on the end of Jem’s bed. There’s a stale smell in the room, of unmade beds and unwashed male. No wonder Jem spends as little time here as possible.

‘Wanna drink?’

‘No thanks.’ I can feel him watching me, eyeing me up, and I’m angry with Jem for leaving me alone with him. ‘Where’s he gone?’

‘Got called down to the manager’s office.’

‘What for?’

‘Dunno.’ He laughs. ‘You never know with Jem. Could be anything.’

I don’t bother to reply, then he says, his voice light, teasing, ‘Thought you’d been dumped.’

‘Did you now?’ Not my interpretation of events. I give him a dirty look and get to my feet, my arms wrapped tightly around me, annoyed that Jem would confide in a low-life like him. But then I notice the mass of photos of me has disappeared from the wall and decide that even with his limited number of brain cells, he had probably worked it out for himself.

‘Was thinking of asking you out myself,’ he says. I feel his piggy little eyes leering at me and dart him a look of disgust. His eyelashes are glued together with blobs of creamy gunge. I feel sick.

To my relief the phone rings and his attention is diverted. Saved by the bell. Literally.

‘Manager wants to speak to me too,’ he says importantly, putting the phone down. ‘Something going on. Won’t be long.’

‘Take your time.’ I breathe a sigh of relief as he goes out. Creep!

I wander listlessly round the room, wishing that Jem would get a move on. I hate it here in this mean, sordid little cell. Above two of the beds – not Jem’s, thank goodness – are pictures of glamour models sporting enormous, impossibly circular breasts. I peer in the single wardrobe next to Jem’s bed and am surprised how few clothes are in it. I never realized he possessed so little. He always looks cool.

His laptop is on his bed and I notice it’s still on. He must’ve been using it when he was called away. I go to close it down for him and tap the mouse. Loads and loads of folders appear. Some of them have girls’ names on them. Megan, Laura, Kally, Holly … Maybe I shouldn’t be looking at these? Too late now.

I click on to Holly and a photograph appears of a young girl, about Livi’s age, smiling provocatively into the camera. Her shoulders are bare. I move on quickly to Laura and see the back view of a young woman walking into a building. It looks like a school. I scroll through the rest of the folder. There are scores of photos of her, none of them posed, as if she’s unaware of the photographer’s presence. She looks nice. I wonder who she is? She could be Jem’s older sister, but he’s never mentioned any siblings.

As I close it up I notice a folder with my name on and click on it with a grin. At least he hasn’t deleted me completely from his life. I am amazed at the number of photos inside – there must be literally hundreds – some of them posed, most snapshots of me I wasn’t even aware he was taking. The mark of a good photographer. He’s even got some of me and Livi outside Dad’s apartment. I squint at them in surprise.

I don’t get this. Something’s not right.

Apart from the few days when Dad and Jude were in New York, Jem has never been to their apartment. Let’s face it, I haven’t either, except for the one overnight stay with Livi. But here’s a photo of my sister and me running towards Wharfside, heads down on that very night. Here’s another of us by the entrance, shaking raindrops from our hair. It’s a good photograph; you can see the raindrops suspended in the air. There’s a close-up of Livi, her mouth wide open, laughing, and one of me, pressing the bell.

I didn’t know Jem then. Did I?

The penny drops. That was the night I first met him! He was on the bus! Livi was singing out loud and he laughed at her. He must’ve got off behind us and taken the photographs.

Then the next morning, he was at the bus stop.

And then he was at the shopping centre.

That was no coincidence. He was after me!

Wow! He must have fallen for me that first night on the bus. I knew it! I remember that charge passing between us, like an electric shock. Jem and I were meant to be together.

And stupidly, I’d nearly allowed the evil Jude to split us up. If the police wanted to see me, I’d tell them everything. I’d have to admit we stayed uninvited at Dad’s flat and I’m not very proud of that. But at least the truth would come out at last. My father’s vile girlfriend had cashed in on the situation and pretended things were missing so she could claim on the insurance. And she’d let poor Jem take the flak for it all! I can’t believe how we all fell for it.

All except Livi. She’d never stopped believing in Jem.

It’s time for me to put things right. Come on, Jem, hurry up!

I click off my folder and something else catches my eye.

It’s another folder with a girl’s name on it.

Jude.





He’d been so excited waiting for her to come. Like being on a first date. It was, in a way. He was going to start again, wipe the slate clean.

Well, he wasn’t going to confess, obviously. He didn’t need to. She’d buy that story of his about the insurance, now he’d planted it in her mind. She’d believe him, he knew she would.

They could go off to London together. Tonight! Leave that sad loser and his stuck-up whore of a girlfriend behind for ever. He didn’t know what he’d ever seen in her.

She was one in a million, his Anna. He didn’t want to lose her.

Then the manager had called. Wanted to speak to him urgently.

Sod it.

Better be quick.