The Killer Inside by Cass Green

Author:Cass Green [Cass Green]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2019-07-17T17:00:00+00:00

ELLIOTT

I knew it was going to be hard not confiding in Zoe about five minutes after I got to her flat. She let me in with a wry expression and a greeting of ‘Hello, you massive skiver.’

There was no sign of Tabitha, which was a relief because I didn’t feel like making conversation with someone I didn’t know. I walked into the living room, where the television was showing an episode of Love Island, and sat down on the low, squashy sofa that had a tasselled African print throw over it. A book by Kamila Shamsie that Anya had been pressing me to read for ages lay face down on the table. The air smelled pleasantly of something garlicky. I let out an involuntary sigh as the sofa absorbed my weight and felt as though I were breathing properly for the first time today.

All I’d said to Zoe was that I needed a night away from home – just one night – and she hadn’t asked any more questions.

But now, as she emerged from the kitchen holding two bottles of Asahi beer, she had an expression that was going to brook no excuses.

‘Here,’ she said, handing me a bottle. ‘So … trouble in paradise then?’

I grimaced and took a long drink of the beer, which felt so crisp and reviving I almost sighed with pleasure. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to remember why I’d thought coming here was a good idea. Some part of me desperately wanted to offload the burden of what I had learned today. But I couldn’t tell her. It was simply too much to bring to her door.

In that moment, something came to me like it had been perfectly gift-wrapped. ‘It’s just that …’ I took another swig. ‘You know we’re trying for a baby and everything …’

‘Yeah, go on,’ said Zoe, curling her legs up underneath her on the chair opposite me.

‘… well I think I’m having doubts about it.’

Zoe let out a long sigh and sat back in the chair.

‘Fuck,’ she said and took a sip of her beer. ‘And Anya feels differently, I take it?’

It was scary how quickly this was all coming to me now. Maybe it wasn’t a lie.

‘Well, I think she guessed,’ I said, extemporizing wildly. ‘We had a few words last night and I just think some time away from each other will be a good thing.’ There was a silence and then I added, a bit lamely, ‘Thanks again for putting me up.’

Zoe was frowning now and pulling on her bottom lip – a habit when she was deep in thought.

‘Was it …’ she said after a few moments, ‘a really bad fight? I mean, she didn’t …’ She bit off the end of her sentence and took a swig of her beer, her cheeks darkening with what I assumed to be embarrassment, judging by the way she was avoiding my eyes.

‘Didn’t what?’ I said, with an awkward laugh.

She put her beer down on the table and then looked at me, an unreadable expression on her face.

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