The Tangled Web (19 page)

‘Less people asking questions at my place,’ Flic whispered.

Vicky nodded her agreement and passed the paper to Lumi. 
She examined it closely and tucked it into her pocket.

‘We’re going shopping now?’ Lumi checked. 

Flic nodded her head.  ‘I’ll go to customer services and
find out how to get a personal shopper.  I’ll put the money on a gift-card and
tell them to spend that rather than use cash.’

‘Great, but there is one more thing I want to do before we
leave,’ Lumi asserted.  ‘You will take me to the Internet café downstairs and
show me Diana’s profile.’

13

12
^th
February

Vicky and Flic spent half an hour setting up Flic’s bedroom
ready for the photo shoot with Lumi in total silence.  Vicky was grateful for
the peace as she was still on a short fuse and suspected she would snap at a
moment’s notice.  Flic seemed to have things on her mind, and Vicky guessed she
was thinking about George and regretting her decision to accept the job to trap
him.  Either that, or she had a monster hangover.  It was Vicky herself though,
who finally broke the silence.

‘What did you tell Adam you were doing tonight?’

‘I told him you and I were having a chill out night. 
What’s up?  You’re not very chatty,’ Flic quizzed.

‘Just thinking about…everything.  Part of me is wishing we
had never started HunE-trap Investigations.’

‘I know what you mean,’ Flic sighed.  ‘At first I thought
it would be glamorous and exciting.  I kidded myself that we were going to be
Inverness’s most glamorous spies.’

‘It’s actually a rubbish job, isn’t it?’ Vicky conceded.

‘And stressful.’

‘I’m thinking about packing it in once we’re finished all
the assignments we’ve taken on.  Let Magnus take the reigns.  He seems to want
to control everything we do anyway,’ Vicky admitted.

Flic’s eyes widened.  ‘Really?’

Vicky nodded.  ‘You could keep going by yourself.  You
don’t need me.’

‘But if I’m honest, I’ve been feeling the same.  We didn’t
think this through before we started,’ Flic admitted.

Vicky grabbed her laptop and opened up the Tête-a-net home
screen.  ‘Can you log me in as Diana?’

Flic hammered in the login and password.  ‘There.  Done. 
I’ve been thinking about Diana’s profile.  You know how we agreed we’d never
add ourselves as friends of the honeys?  Well, wouldn’t it make it less
suspicious if we added Magnus and Adam?  They’ll bump up the friend count.  And
they’ll never expect that a new friend would be one of our honeys.’

Vicky shrugged.  ‘Why not?  We could even try to honey trap
them,’ she joked.

‘Yeah.  We could,’ Flic smiled.

‘I was joking,’ Vicky pulled back.

‘Of course.  So was I,’ Flic nodded. 

Vicky suspected she hadn’t been joking at all, but let it
drop and became swiftly alert when the doorbell rang. 

‘I’ll get it,’ Vicky muttered, scrambling to her feet
before Adam could reach the door and start asking prying questions. 

Vicky put the security chain on the door before opening –
it never hurt to be cautious.  Once she saw that Lumi was smiling and alone she
removed the chain and opened the door fully.

‘Hello!’ she greeted Vicky cheerfully.

‘Hi Lumi!  Come in,’ Vicky replied.  ‘Just over here to the
bedroom,’ she directed her.

‘Where’s your baby?’ Lumi enquired.

‘At home with my parents.’

‘Who was that?’ Adam shouted from the living room.

‘Flic’s friend Lumi,’ she shouted back.  ‘We’re just having
a girly night.’

There was no response from Adam, so Vicky closed the
bedroom door behind them.

‘I washed my hair, but I saw that Diana is blonde, so maybe
you want me to wear that?’ Lumi guessed, pointing to a long blonde wig sitting
on the dressing table.

‘Well, we were hoping that you would,’ Vicky nodded.

‘Fine, it’s no problem,’ Lumi smiled. 

Lumi removed her jacket and Vicky noticed what a great
figure she had.  She ran her eyes over her, mesmerised.  She’d bought jeans and
a red gingham halterneck top.  Flic picked up Lumi’s jacket and hooked it over
the back of a chair. 

‘Wow!  Look at your figure!  Some people are just born
gorgeous,’ Flic winked, hoping to appeal to Lumi’s vanity.  Instead, Lumi
nodded and began to make herself at home, picking up a framed photo sitting on
one of the tables.

‘I recognise you Flic.  Who is the man in the photograph?’
Lumi asked.

‘My boyfriend, Adam.  He’s Vicky’s brother.’

‘Your brother’s nice.  He reminds me of an athlete.  Very healthy
boy,’ Lumi grinned.

‘He’s spoken for,’ Flic snarled.  Lumi didn’t reply but
raised one eyebrow and smirked over at Flic.

‘Somebody’s wearing Eternity,’ Lumi trilled in a sing-song
voice.

‘Oh, that’s me,’ Vicky looked shocked. 

‘What?  You’re surprised I know the scent?  That’s ok. 
Nobody expects the homeless to know anything about designer perfumes.  Make a
mental note to stop stereotyping people,’ Lumi instructed, reminding them both
of a strict schoolteacher.

Flic and Vicky both felt colour rise to their faces. 

‘It’s my favourite,’ Lumi shrugged, ignoring their
embarrassment.  She carried on amusing herself by looking around the room,
taking everything in and pretending to be impressed. 

‘Are we almost ready?’ Lumi asked.

‘Yeah, let me help you with the wig then we’ll put on some
make-up,’ Vicky offered.

Vicky found that Lumi was easy to work with.  She was happy
to go along with anything Flic and Vicky suggested and Vicky didn’t have to
work too hard on the complexion side of things.  Her skin was flawless, if a
little dry and weather beaten but her complexion was too olive for her to look
like a natural blonde.  Most of Vicky’s foundations tended to be on the paler
end of the spectrum and she had to borrow some of Flic’s make-up.  Despite this,
it only took twenty minutes to get her ready.

‘Ok, I’m going to stand behind the desk and you sit there
as if you’re using the computer,’ Flic pointed towards the desk chair.

‘Do I look at the screen?’ Lumi asked.

‘No, put your hand towards my camera, but not too close to
the lens.  I want to make it look like you’re clicking a button on a webcam,’
Flic advised.

‘Do I smile?’ Lumi asked.

‘Yeah, we’ll try one like that, then we’ll try one where
you’re pouting and another where you’re blowing a kiss to the camera, and
another looking away in that direction over there,’ Flic reeled.

‘How are we going to get around the blue eye thing?’ Vicky
fretted.

‘I’ve set the camera to take black and white pictures, like
you suggested,’ Flic confirmed.

‘That’s a great idea,’ Lumi interrupted, pulling another
pose.

‘Have you modelled before?’ Flic probed. 

Vicky wondered the same thing as Lumi seemed very relaxed
in front of a camera.

‘No I’ve never done modelling like this.  Just photographs
for my ex-boyfriend,’ she winked. 

Vicky and Flic exchange grins, guessing what Lumi meant.

After taking around fifty pictures, Flic uploaded them onto
the computer and the three women trawled through the images, finally deciding
on five of the best pictures to put on the profile.  Then Flic uploaded them
onto Tête-a-net. 

‘I forgot already, which guy is the target?’ Lumi checked.

‘It’s this guy,’ Flic grimaced, tapping the screen to point
to George’s picture.

‘George is listening to the new album by Coldplay,’ Lumi
read his status message aloud.  ‘Shit taste in music,’ she sneered.

‘You don’t need to worry about who we’re trapping,’ Vicky
assured her, pulling thirty pounds from her purse and handing the notes to
Lumi, who snatched them and held them up to the light.

‘Thank you ladies, it’s been fun,’ Lumi chirped.

‘No, thank YOU.  Now we have a face for Diana,’ Flic
reached out her hand to shake Lumi’s in thanks.

‘Feel free to drop by and buy my magazines again,’ she
offered buttoning her jacket.  ‘And one more thing,’ Lumi began. 

Vicky and Flic both looked over at her expectantly.

‘George is looking for more pictures already.  Take a look
at the homepage of Diana’s profile and see for yourself.  And Diana is now
friends with your boyfriend Flic.  I’ll find the way out myself,’ Lumi smirked
and then closed the door.

‘Nothing gets past her!’ Flic snapped, peering at the
laptop screen.

‘Tell me about it!  And when she was talking about somebody
wearing Eternity, it felt more like an accusation than a compliment,’ Vicky
moaned then suddenly started looking round the room frantically.

‘What’s wrong?’ Flic frowned.

‘She’s taken my wig with her!  I didn’t even notice,’ Vicky
stropped.

‘I didn’t notice either.’

‘I think we should log off and get something to eat.  Maybe
by the time we get back somebody else will have commented on her pictures or
someone else will have accepted her friend request.  She might have some hot
new friends to make George jealous,’ Vicky reflected.

She was right.  During the hour that they were in the
kitchen making cheese and pickle toasties, Diana got six picture comments and
messages from five of her male friends.  One of those friends was George. 

‘Listen to this!  “Czesc!!!  Tell me more about yourself,
like for example where in Poland are you from?  How did you find my profile and
why did you add me?  I’m looking forward to hearing from you.  See you
smacznego.”  Then he’s put a little kiss and a smile.  What does smacznego
mean?’ Vicky wondered aloud.

‘I’ve got no idea.  Trust him to try and speak Polish to
her.  Nobody else has done that,’ Flic snorted.

‘Let’s look it up,’ Vicky bubbled, her enthusiasm returning
now that they were getting quick results. 

‘I can’t get my head around the fact that he’s using Polish
words.  The whole reason for making Diana Polish was because Polish was a
language he definitely didn’t speak.  This is a disaster!’ Flic groaned. 
‘Maybe he’s testing her out because he’s suspicious.’

‘Relax!  He doesn’t suspect a thing.  He’s just trying to
impress her,’ Vicky shrugged.

‘I don’t know, I think he’s a bit suspicious,’ Flic
countered, her guilt clearly fuelling her paranoia.

‘According to this website, the literal translation for
smacznego is bon appétit.  So what’s he trying to say?  Enjoy your dinner?’
Vicky scoffed.

‘I don’t know,’ Flic muttered.  Part of her had hoped that,
even though she took this case on, she would never have to converse with
George.  She hoped it was a big fat failure so that she would never have to
speak to him.  She felt like banging her head against the wall, realising that
those hopes conflicted with her wish that Amy experienced the exact same
heartbreak she had felt.  She really did wish he would hurt Amy – just without
having to be involved in any way herself. 

She had to put her indifferent face back on.  She couldn’t
let anyone witness her feeling anything at all where George was concerned.  She
took a deep breath and attempted to steady her nerves.

‘Chill!  I told you, he’s just trying to impress her. 
Look, this site says that smacznego means tasty.  He fancies her.  He’s trying
to flirt with her.  We’re halfway there already Flic!  That’s enough to report
back to Amy,’ Vicky blustered.  If Amy was satisfied with that one comment,
they could forget this ever happened.

‘Great,’ Flic respond without enthusiasm.  ‘I’ll email Amy
tonight.’

‘Uh-oh,’ Vicky gasped.  ‘Adam’s sent her a message.’ 

‘What does it say?’ Flic panicked, scrambling off the bed
and rushing to the computer.

‘Not much really.  He just says hi and it’s nice to see a
picture of her.  He’s asked if he knows her because she’s added him and his
mate Magnus,’ Vicky summarised.

‘He sounds suspicious,’ Flic said. 

‘Of course he does.  He works for HunE-trap
Investigations.  He knows a fake profile when he sees one.’

‘I suppose,’ Flic conceded.

‘Oh my God,’ Vicky panicked.

‘What?’

‘Oh no.’

‘What is it?  Is it Adam?  Or George?’

‘No, it’s Magnus.  He’s put a comment on for her.  A public
one.  This will ruin everything!’

‘What has he said?’ Flic quavered.

‘He says, “I know you!  You’re The Big Issue seller from
Inverness!  Why have you lied about who you are?”  Flic, what are we going to
do?’

14

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