“I’ll be right over, okay? Just stay there. I’m on my way.”
I tucked my phone back into my pocket, my heart racing. Not again. His timing was immaculate, as usual.
“What is it?”
“I’ve gotta go. Some kind of drama at her place.”
Maia wiped her eyes. “I’m coming with you.”
Bridget, Alex and I had been here before, and I wanted her as far away from Alex as possible.
I took her by the shoulders and kissed her, on the forehead this time. “It’s okay, I can handle it. I’d rather you stayed here and tried to get some rest.”
She drew herself upright. “I’m fine. I want to come, I want to make sure Bridget’s alright.”
She was stronger than she looked and twice as determined. I had the feeling that arguing with her now would be pointless.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT made me more anxious. Bridget’s phone call or the fact that Maia was coming with me.
She would not be dissuaded, no matter what I said. It both frustrated and impressed me. She may look fragile, but she had a will of iron. I wrote that down on the mental, if short, list of things I knew about her.
“I’ve never met Alex,” she said, staring out the window at the twinkling streetlights reflected in the water as we crossed the bridge into town.
She may not have met him, but he clearly knew all about her, if his drunken tirade at the pub was any indication. This had the potential to get very, very ugly. As with any situation involving Alex, it was almost a foregone conclusion.
“Are they close?”
That was a loaded question. Yes. And no, not anymore, a fact that I knew was breaking Bridget’s heart. Alex was pushing her away, along with everyone else. When Em disappeared, Alex changed. He became obsessed with every little detail of her case. He was desperate, volunteering for every search, every march. He was everywhere, plastering photos up in shop windows, on websites, walking the streets. He second-guessed the cops’ every move. He was prone to wild accusations – that they weren’t doing their job properly, that they’d missed things – even that they’d been hiding things from us.
But as time marched on and no answers were forthcoming, he slipped into a deep rage. And, along with the police, I was the focus of that rage. He targeted me relentlessly, to the point where I wouldn’t answer the door anymore and withdrew from the outside world for fear of running into him. It took Vinnie threatening him with legal action to get him to back off a bit. He went about tearing apart everything around him, every relationship he had, including the formerly close bond he had with both Bridget and Henry.
“They used to be, before he started drinking.” I rolled my shoulders, keeping my eyes on the road. I wanted to shield her from as much of this shit as possible. “He’s a bit of a handful. He’s older than Em, we were in the same class together at school. We used to be friends, once upon a time.”
She was quiet for a few moments, and I hoped that would be the end of it. I was wrong.
“I saw him hit you, at the beach that morning.”
My heart felt like it weighed a tonne. I had hoped she’d forgotten about that. I was sure as hell trying to.
“Yeah, well. Let’s just say we’re not close anymore. These days, he drinks too much and makes a pain in the ass of himself.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. He’s so bloody angry all the time. I stay out of his way as much as possible. Like I said, he’s a pain in the ass when he’s drunk, and lately he’s almost permanently drunk. Stupid bastard. One of these days I’m just going to clock him and be done with it. I’m sick of all the bloody accusations.”
“What accusations?”
I kept my eyes on the road. “He blames me, for what happened to Em.”
“What? Why?”
Because I was the last one to see her alive. Because I didn’t care enough to do anything at the time. Because I didn’t deserve her. Take your pick.
“It’s… complicated,” I said instead.
We fell into an uneasy silence. I didn’t like hiding this from her, but it wasn’t something I was proud of. We were still finding our feet. I didn’t want her to think badly of me. I didn’t want her to look at me that way. I didn’t want to lose her.
“What do you think’s going on?” she asked a few minutes later, as we drove through town.
“I have no idea, but I could hear him shouting in the background. Might have to call the cops again if he gets out of hand.”
“Again? Does this happen a lot?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her looking at me. “Now and again.”
We pulled up outside Bridget’s place a few minutes later.
“Is this it?” Maia asked, leaning forward to get a better look. “Wow. This isn’t at all what I expected.”
I followed her gaze, trying to see it through her eyes. It was difficult, taking that step backwards. Bridget’s place was like my second home.