The Tangled Web (38 page)

‘Couple of months?’ Flic echoed.

‘Can I have the keys please, darling?  I’ll go sit in the
car,’ Lumi chirped.

George removed the keys and passed them to her.  As she
skipped over to his car and sat in the front passenger seat, Flic and Vicky
both started to mentally fit together the pieces of the jigsaw.

‘You’re working with HER?  Aren’t you?’ Vicky snorted.

‘We’re not just working together.  We’re a couple.  Thanks
to you two,’ he smiled.

‘I don’t understand how you two can be together.  You don’t
even know each other,’ Flic reasoned.

‘She got in touch back in February to tell me I was being
investigated.  She told me all about it - how she was homeless and you two
approached her and offered her money to pose for pictures.  She told me
everything that she knew, and everything that happened afterwards,’ he stated.

‘Did she tell you she pinched the guy I had been seeing? 
And she only just broke up with him two days ago!’ Vicky sneered.

‘Yes.  She did.  I gave her a choice two days ago.  I said
if she was honest with Magnus and he still wanted her and she wanted him, I’d
leave her alone.  But I love her and I want to be with her.  She chose me,’ he
beamed proudly.

‘So she says,’ Vicky tutted.

‘She has always been honest with me.  Which is more than I
can say for you!’ he snarled at Flic.

‘So you’re leaving your second wife?  For her?  Someone you
met online?  My, my, history is repeating itself!’ Flic laughed humourlessly. 

‘Actually, Amy and I split up just after New Year.  She
left me for someone else,’ he informed them.

Christos was still watching and was close enough now to
hear the whole conversation.  George felt Christos’s eyes on him.  He turned to
look at Christos and advised him, coarsely and succinctly to leave.  Christos
stayed where he was.

‘But I don’t understand.  Why would she want evidence of
you cheating if you weren’t even together?’ Flic flustered.

‘Because she’s a psycho?’ Vicky offered.

‘Because we had a legally binding agreement put in place
before we got married to protect her wealth.  You know how loaded she was, and
she was paranoid about me being a gold-digger.  If she cheated, I got half of
everything she brought to the marriage.  If I cheated, at any time before we
were divorced, she kept everything she brought to the marriage.  She’s trying
to protect her own assets,’ George explained.

Vicky and Flic remained silent.  They had never thought for
a second to check that the person hiring their services was actually living
with the person they were investigating.  They had just assumed that everyone
hiring them was doing it because they wanted proof of their suspicions and that
the client was the injured party.  They were making the same mistake that the
people they trapped were making – trusting strangers.

‘Girls?  Would you like to come back to Paphos with me?’
Christos offered.

Vicky shook her head forcefully.  She didn’t want to get
into a car with Christos or spend any time with him.

‘I think it would be a good idea to leave now.  There’s
nothing left to discuss with…this person,’ Christos rammed home, giving George
a disgusted sneer.

‘Actually, there is one thing left,’ George said, raising
his hand to halt Christos.

‘What?’ Flic snapped.

‘Tell your darling I’m sorry he had to get caught up in all
this.  Lumi said he seems like a good guy, if a little on the stupid side,’
George mocked sympathy.

Flic’s confusion was evident.  George was determined not to
leave until he had hurt her as much as possible though.

‘You and me?  Kissing on the beach?  That was no friendly
greeting.  I did it so that Lumi could get a photo of us together and send it
to your beloved,’ he smirked.

Flic wanted to howl and scream out her frustrations.  She
pulled the mask she had been wearing for so many years back on and tried to
keep it there.

‘Actually, we’re not even together any more.  That was
pointless.  You muppet!’ Flic mocked.

‘I don’t think so.  Lumi said she overheard him telling
Magnus he wanted to get back together with you.  He missed you.  He obviously
does feel hurt or he wouldn’t have driven off, would he?’ George rolled his
eyes.

‘You’re wrong.  You’re just trying to wind me up,’ Flic
shook her head dismissively.

George moved closer to her until Flic could feel his breath
on her face.  ‘You know I’m right, honey.  I’d say this is justice.  You’ve
ruined so many happy marriages and relationships.  Now it’s time for some
payback.  How do you like having your future changed by some interfering,
meddling, scheming…’

‘That’s enough!’ Christos blasted.  He pulled George away
by grabbing his shoulder and swung his fist straight into George’s nose. 

Flic pulled back, putting her hands to her mouth.  Vicky
pulled Christos away from George in case he was tempted to throw any more
punches.

‘Let’s get out of here before we get into any more
trouble,’ Vicky shouted.

Vicky, Christos and Flic ran towards Christos’s car.  He
fumbled with the keys as he pressed the central locking button to unlock all
the doors.  After several failed attempts at unlocking the doors, they made it
into the car, fastened their seat belts and Christos started to drive away from
the scene, leaving George banging the back of the car with his fist in
frustration.

‘Are you ok Christos?’ Flic panted.

‘I’m fine.  My knuckles aren’t though.  He’s got a really
bony face!’ Christos winced.

‘Thank you,’ Vicky mumbled. 

Christos looked at Vicky sitting next to him in the
passenger seat.  Ordinarily he would have reached over and squeezed her hand
reassuringly, but since he was driving one-handed due to his bruised knuckles,
he simply smiled at her and said, ‘You’re welcome.  See?  I’m not all bad.’

32

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject:  OMFG

Date:  16
^th
July

Alright biatch?

I dunno if you’ve heard from someone else already, but it’s
all kicked off here.  We got in major trouble from the Tête-a-net bigwigs and
all our profiles have been shut down.  They said our IP addresses will be
logged and they won’t let us open any more profiles.  I have no idea who tipped
them off.  Could have been after Scarlett’s Roland Reading episode though.  It
got aired on Friday.  OMFG.  Who would have thought it, eh?  Scarlett and
Maggie!

How’s Cyprus…ahem… I mean Ibiza?

Mela Moo :) xoxoxo

*****

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: OMFG

Date: 16
^th
July

Hiya

I think I’ve got a rough idea of who might have tipped them
off.  I think it might have been Magnus’s now ex-girlfriend.  Who has run off
with Flic’s ex-husband.  Don’t ask.

Ok.  We’re not in Ibiza, we’re in Cyprus.  We took that
assignment on and it backfired on us.  Details later.  Can’t be arsed typing it
all out on my phone.

Scarlett and Magnus?  Have I missed something?

Vicky

xx

*****

To: [email protected],

CC: [email protected],

       [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Re: OMFG

Date: 16
^th
July

Yeah, u have missed shit loads!  Scarlett was on Roland
Reading on Friday.  Must have been shown while u were travelling.  She demanded
a lie detector test from Peter 2 prove he hadn’t been cheating and he passed
it.  Then he said he couldn’t trust HER any more, after she hired a team of virtual
slags to spy on him.  (They bleeped it out but you could fully tell that’s wot
he was saying) (It was noted that the slags in question declined 2 comment or
appear on the show)  Then Maggie appeared, representing HunE-trap
Investigations.  I had no idea he had done that.  Magnus was uber professional
and plugged us shamelessly until the tables were turned and Peter accused HIM
of having an affair with Scarlett.  It was denied (obv) and Scarlett announced
she was pregnant with Peter’s baby.  Tears followed and Roland congratulated
her.  Then Peter announced he had a vasectomy years ago and didn’t tell her and
it couldn’t possibly B his baby.  Then Scarlett went in2 labour.  She was
stretchered off and Peter said he would like 2 come back for DNA testing on a
follow up show. 

****

To:  [email protected],

       [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Re: Re: Re: OMFG

Date: 16
^th
July

Why do I find this amusing?

Flic

x

*****

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Evidence

Date: 16
^th
July

Hi Vicky

I know you won’t receive this until you get home and back
to work, but I thought I’d send it now.  Please store the attached sound file. 
I recorded the conversation between you, Flic and George this afternoon as a
voice note on my phone.  You can use it to send to Amy.

Christos

xx

33

16
^th
July

Flic hadn’t showered or made any effort with her hair for
going out that night.  She had tried to be subtle with her make-up since
arriving in Cyprus but she still sweated most of it off and hadn’t taken the
time to re-apply it.  When she caught sight of herself in the mirrored counter
in the bar earlier, her hair which was normally sleek and smooth had
practically turned into a seventies style Afro.  It was very unlike her to go
out without religiously straightening her hair, fake-tanning her body and
applying a mask of make-up.  The truth was she didn’t care tonight.

Flic had an unwanted hollow feeling in the pit of her
stomach.  It had been there all afternoon, all evening and she suspected it
might stay for at least a few days.  The idea in her head that after all this
was over, she would get back together with Adam, was never going to be anything
more than an idea now.  He probably hated her.

On arriving back at the apartment earlier, she sat staring
at the TV.  When they received an email from Pamela spilling the beans about
Scarlett and Magnus having a baby together, Vicky had stayed silent, keeping
her iPod headphones plugged into her ears and had then gone outside to sunbathe
by the pool alone.  Flic’s only remark had been, ‘I wish I’d gone on the show
now.  That sounds like the best episode of Roland Reading ever.’

Neither of them had been in the mood to go out for a drink
but they’d done so anyway.  Flic hadn’t wanted to admit she wasn’t a hardcore
party animal and wanted a night in.  Vicky hadn’t wanted to admit she was still
upset about the day’s events.

Lumi hadn’t returned to the apartment.  She had taken no
suitcase to Cyprus with her, just her handbag, and that had been with her when
she ran off with George.  There was no need for her to return.  Vicky and Flic
hadn’t spoken about her, or even mentioned her or George since they got back to
Paphos.  Christos had had the good sense to keep quiet and not try to speak on
the drive back.  It had been a silent journey.

They had taken a walk to look for somewhere to have dinner,
deciding to avoid the restaurant they’d been to the previous evening in case
George and Lumi went back there (although Flic noted that it was unlikely since
Lumi had posed as waitress the previous evening and was probably barred from
the premises).  They had picked up a burger at the local McDonalds and walked
around aimlessly and silently, eventually finding a bar with live music from an
Irish singer who had one hit back in the nineties that neither of them could
remember the name of.

‘Anybody in from Scotland tonight?’ the Irish singer
asked. 

Vicky and Flic gave a half-hearted wave and Vicky mumbled a
feeble, ‘Yay.’ 

‘I’ll bet I know your favourite band!’ the singer grinned
at them.