Two-Faced (45 page)

‘That was it,’ she told Darren, lurching forward and almost banging her nose on the back of his seat when he slammed his foot on the brake.

Cursing under his breath when somebody drove up behind him, preventing him from reversing back, Darren shoved the car back into first gear and drove forward until he found a little space to pull into. They’d driven up and down this road three times now, and Mia hadn’t recognised any of the houses. But he hoped she’d got it right, because he really had to be heading home soon to give his dad the car or there would be ructions.

‘Are you sure?’ Liam asked her.

She nodded, and unbuckled her seat belt before getting out of the car.

‘And you’re positive you don’t want us to come in with you?’

‘
No!
’ Mia smiled weakly and shook her head. ‘Sorry, but no – I think I should do this on my own. It’s going to shock them enough as it is.’

‘In a nice way,’ Liam added confidently. He got out of the car and gave her a hug, saying, ‘You’ve got my number, so ring me when you can and let me know what’s happening. And don’t forget to let me know
your
number when you get a new phone. I’ll be back in a few days. Okay?’

Mia nodded again and rested her head against his chest, wishing she could stay like that for ever.

‘Sorry, mate, I’ve really got to shift it,’ Darren called out through the open door. He smiled when Liam climbed back into the car, and said, ‘See you later, Michelle. Hope everything goes all right. And, er, say hi to Mia for me when you see her.’

Promising that she would pass the message on, Mia waved as they set off. Then, shaking her head to get rid of the lovey-dovey emotion, she headed off across the road to confront her sister.

Sammy had just closed the front door and was about to go back into the lounge where he could hear Michelle and Kim chuckling over something or other. He turned on his heel when the doorbell rang and went back to the door, thinking that it would be Linda or Carmel coming back for something that they’d forgotten.

Taken aback when he saw Mia on the doorstep, he didn’t speak for several seconds.

‘Hello, Sammy,’ Mia said at last, her eyes glinting when she heard the laughter coming from the lounge. ‘Somebody having a party?’

Snapping out of the shock, he said, ‘Good lord. Um, sorry –
no
, not a party. They’re, um, well . . . Come in, come in.’ He waved her over the threshold. As he closed the door behind her, he was unsure whether or not to hug her – she had a strange look on her face. Deciding against it, he waved her towards the lounge instead.

‘You should hear what she just said,’ Kim laughed, turning towards the door when she heard Sammy coming back into the room. ‘We were talking ab—’ Rendered momentarily speechless when she saw who was standing there, it took her several seconds to get her bearings. Then her eyes widened and she held out her arms and rushed towards Mia, saying, ‘Oh, my God! You’re back! I’ve missed you so much!’

Sidestepping her mother to avoid the embrace, Mia narrowed her eyes as she peered from Kim to Michelle. ‘Doesn’t look like you’ve been missing me all that much,’ she said snappily. ‘Looks like you’ve been having a
great
time without me.’

‘That’s not true,’ Sammy told her, his heart sinking because their lovely, all-too-brief holiday from Mia was over. She was safe, and obviously clean of drugs judging by how well she looked, and that was good. But she’d obviously lost none of her caustic attitude, which definitely
wasn’t
good.

‘So what’s the occasion?’ Mia demanded, folding her arms defiantly and glaring at Michelle as if Sammy hadn’t even spoken.

Michelle dropped her gaze. She suddenly felt overwhelmed by guilt, as if she’d been caught red-handed stealing something – which, in fact, she kind of had.

‘Michelle’s been asked to present a cheque to the mayor at a charity do,’ Kim told her, nervously wringing her hands.

Sammy picked up her cigarettes from the coffee table and handed them to her, sure that she must need one at a time like this. Giving him a grateful smile, she lit up, her hands visibly shaking.

‘
Michelle
’s been asked?’ Mia repeated, her words dripping with venom. ‘Don’t you mean
I
’ve been asked? Or have you all forgotten that
I
’m Mia?’

Irritated that Mia was making this out to be something that it wasn’t, Kim went and stood beside Michelle. ‘Look, Mia, none of this is our fault. You’re the one who took off as soon as we got home, so what were we supposed to do – cancel all your bookings and let your career go to the wall? Yeah, I bet you would have loved that, wouldn’t you? Imagine what you’d be like if you’d come back and everything was over, eh? You’d be kicking off good style by now.’

A nasty smirk on her lips, Mia said, ‘Good speech, mum. Been rehearsing that for long, have you?’ Flicking a dirty look over the pair of them, she added, ‘And since when have you two been so buddy-buddy?’

‘Oi!’ Kim snapped, pointing the cigarette at her. ‘You’re the one in the wrong here, lady! Shell’s done you a massive bloody favour by standing in for you. And I’ll tell you what, she’s done a bloody good job of it, an’ all. She’s been on telly, and everything.’

Mia clapped slowly and sneered. ‘Well, whoopdy-doo. She’s finally gone and done what she’s been trying to do all her life – turned herself into me. But it’s over now, sweetheart.’ She directed this at Michelle. ‘I’m back, so you can get your giant cuckoo feet out of my shoes.’

‘You’d best pack in talking to her like that,’ Kim said defensively. But Michelle touched her mother’s arm to quieten her before she could say any more.

‘She’s right. This is her life, and she’s back now, so I don’t need to keep on standing in for her.’ Literally stepping out of her sister’s shoes now and holding them in one hand, she gathered up the long skirt of the dress with the other and walked over to Mia. ‘Here.’

‘You don’t really think I’m going to touch the filthy things, do you?’ Mia snorted.

‘Well, they’re the ones that suit the dress best,’ Michelle told her evenly. ‘Anyway, I’m glad you’re back. Just give me a minute to get changed, and your life’s all yours again.’

‘Now let’s not be too hasty about this,’ Sammy protested. ‘Mia’s nowhere near ready to pick up the helm just yet. This is too important a function. She’s not prepared.’

‘So it was all right for
her
to stand in for
me
at the drop of a hat,’ Mia reminded him frostily. ‘But now
I
’m not ready to be myself again. Don’t make me laugh!’

‘She’s right,’ Michelle told him. ‘This is her night, not mine. I’ll get changed.’

As she walked out into the hall her heart sank when she heard her mum immediately start arguing with Mia. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. Mia was home and they should be rejoicing, not throwing daggers at each other.

Two steps up the staircase, she hesitated when the doorbell rang. It didn’t feel right to answer somebody else’s door when you were a guest in their home, but when Sammy didn’t come out after a few moments she had no choice. It was either that or go back into the room and annoy Mia again.

Liam had his back turned when she opened the door, and because he was the very last person she would ever have expected to see here, Michelle didn’t recognise him. She said ‘Excuse me,’ and was smiling when he turned round. But the smile slid from her lips as soon as she saw his face.

Embarrassed to see her, because he’d hoped that he wouldn’t have to, Liam said, ‘Hello, Mia . . . Sorry to disturb you, and don’t worry, I’m not stopping.’ Holding up the small suitcase that the real Mia had left in the boot of Darren’s car, he said, ‘Michelle forgot this. Could you give it to her, please?’

At that precise moment, Mia marched out into the hall, her voice angry as she yelled at her mum, ‘Don’t even bother trying to deny it! I can see exactly what’s been going on while I’ve been away. You and that fucking bitch have stitched me up good and proper! But if you think she’s—’ Gasping when she saw Liam staring in at her through the open front door her mouth opened and closed silently. ‘Liam,’ she managed to whisper after a moment. ‘This isn’t what it looks like.’

Speechless, because his head felt like it was being crushed, Liam looked from her to Michelle and back again.

Feeling bad for him because she could see the confusion in his eyes, although she had no idea what was going on herself, Michelle said, ‘Are you all right?’

Just that one short, caringly spoken sentence told Liam everything he needed to know. Looking up at her, his eyes filled with regret and pain and anger, he said, ‘She’s done it again, hasn’t she?’

Rushing forward now, Mia pushed Michelle out of the way and ran out to him. Clutching at the front of the jacket as genuine tears gushed from her eyes, she said, ‘I didn’t do anything this time, Liam . . . I swear I didn’t lie to you. I tried to tell you who I was, I
remember
. But you didn’t believe me.’

‘No, you’re right, I thought you were delirious,’ Liam conceded. ‘But if I’d known I wouldn’t have bothered. Because you’re poison.’

‘I’m
not
!’ Mia sobbed. ‘You’ve spent the last three weeks telling me how much you love me, so how can you suddenly say I’m poison? I’m the same person now as I was then.’

‘I was telling
Michelle
I love her, not
you
,’ Liam reminded her, gritting his teeth as he tried to pull her hands off him without hurting her. ‘Didn’t you hear
any
of what I said to you before we set off this morning? I said I know we haven’t really got to know each other yet this time around, but I loved you for who you were when we first met.’

‘Yes, but I was the one you were closest to even then,’ Mia countered passionately. ‘You never made love to her. You never took her to your flat and made her coffee, and sat talking to her for hours – that was all
me
.’

‘And you know what I was thinking when I was doing all that?’ Liam came back at her angrily. ‘I was wondering why you’d changed – yes, even then. Why’s she suddenly acting like a slut? I kept asking myself. Why’s she making nasty little comments, then pretending she was only joking?’

‘You’re lying,’ Mia sobbed. ‘If you thought that, why did you carry on sleeping with me?’

‘Because I was holding on to the memory of the sweet girl – the one I hoped would come back to me if I put up with the other side of her for long enough. Call me stupid – I probably am – but you were
never
the one I wanted. I was always wishing you’d turn back into her.’ Liam pointed his finger at Michelle, who was still standing in the doorway with tears trickling slowly down her cheeks. Yanking Mia off him now, he turned to Michelle, and said, ‘I’m so sorry . . . I had no idea.’

‘Look, do you think we could take this inside and calm everything down?’ Sammy asked. ‘Only we have a very important function tonight, and we really can’t—’

Liam shook his head, held up his hands and started to walk backwards down the path.

‘
LIAAAMM!
’ Mia screamed, collapsing to her knees.

Sammy told Kim to get Mia inside and went off down the path after Liam, calling, ‘Just a minute . . . I need to talk to you.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Liam said, glancing out along the road for Darren who should have found somewhere to turn around by now. ‘I just can’t, mate. My head’s battered.’

‘Could you at least tell me what happened to Mia?’ Sammy persisted. ‘You see, we haven’t seen her in some time, and now she’s turned up out of the blue we need to know if she’s . . . well, to put it bluntly, is she clean, or is she still taking drugs? Can we trust her?’

‘You’ll have to ask
her
what’s really going on,’ Liam told him wearily. ‘’Cos I thought I was rescuing Michelle. I mean, I saw all the pictures of Mia everywhere,’ he went on, total confusion in his eyes now. ‘So how could it have been anyone else
but
Michelle locked in that room. It doesn’t make sense. And I wouldn’t even believe it
now
if I hadn’t just seen them together. I just . . .’ Trailing off, he threw his hands up in a gesture of despair. ‘Am I going mad, or something?’

‘It’s a long story,’ Sammy told him. ‘And that’s just
our
side of it. But may I ask what you meant about her being locked in a room?’

Liam sighed and said, ‘Look, I can’t say too much, because this is a dangerous situation, and the less you know, the better off you’ll be. But she –
Mia
– was being drugged and kept prisoner, so me and my mates went and got her. She’s been with me for the past few weeks, and I can guarantee she hasn’t touched anything in days, so she should be totally unhooked by now.’

Sammy licked his lips and glanced nervously around before asking, ‘Was Steve Dawson involved in any of this? I only ask because if he was, or is, then I need to think about moving these ladies somewhere safer before he finds them – as you just did.’

‘We only found you because Mia directed us here,’ Liam reassured him. ‘But, yes, he was involved. So, if it makes you feel safer, do what you’ve got to do.’

Respecting him for his honesty, Sammy extended his hand. But just as Liam was about to shake it a police car drove past, and he groaned when he saw Darren on the back seat.

‘A friend of yours?’ Sammy asked.

Liam ran his hands through his hair as he watched the car disappear, and said, ‘And my lift back into Manchester. His dad’s going to kill him if he doesn’t get the car back. He’s supposed to be taking his mum to Blackpool tonight for some big competition.’ Laughing without humour, he added, ‘How ironic is that . . . ? The poor sod only went out of his way to drop Michelle down here because he’s so obsessed with Mia, but he had
Mia
in the car the whole time!’

Sammy shook his head. ‘Well, I suppose the very least I can do after you’ve put yourself to so much trouble is offer you a lift. If you’d just come inside while I try to think up a life-threatening illness to excuse Mia’s – sorry,
Michelle
’s – absence from the charity function, we’ll head straight off.’